Chapter 8: Flight School
October
Alexus rolled her wings in the air as she and Stacy swayed to the beat of the music. "THIS IS SOOO COOL!” She screamed looked at herself in bat form in the mirror. Stacy laughed. "You know, I once thought vampires couldn't see their reflections."
"Yep, that's a myth, how else would we be able to remain so fabulous." Stacy joked, extending her wing. “I can’t believe you hadn’t seen how you looked until now.”
“Yeah…well, I kept trying to figure out how to shift, but it never worked.”
Stacy raised her brow. “So that means you haven’t flown yet?”
Wide eyed, Alexus feverishly shook her head no. “I don’t think I’m ready.”
Stacy nudged her with her wing towards the window. “It’s like riding a bike. You stumble a few times, but you quickly get the hang of it. Plus, I'll be with you the entire time.” The thought of that did make her feel comfortable, and so Alexus finally agreed. Flapping her best towards the window, Stacy turned and smiled at her. “Okay, so you just want to get into a sort of a glide, and the flap to give yourself some height. Don’t overdo it though, or else you’ll dive right into the ground.” Alexus was terrified, but she also was curious.
Well…if I can figure out how to slap Demetri with an armoire, then I know I can do this.
So with a mental pep talk, and help from a friend, Alexus soon found herself stumbling through the air, but nonetheless flying.
“OH MY GOD! I CAN SEE EVERYTHING FROM HERE!” She screamed. Looking outward, she could even see Mavier taking a walk around the grounds. She flapped her wings feeling the freedom in the air.
I can’t WAIT to show Demetri!
“ALEXUS! STOP FLAPPING SO HARD!”
But it was too late. Having been distracted by her thoughts, Alexus's eyes almost bulged from her skull as she started to plummet. She panicked. The harder she flapped, the faster she seemed to fall, and as she saw where she was landing she let out a shrill. “NO! NO! NO! LOOK OUT!”
“Alexus?” Demetri looked around, but he didn’t see her anywhere. He grumbled. “That incessant woman always finds a way to get in my head.” He rolled his eyes.
Where the hell is she anyway? She knows we have a clan meeting.
“DEMETRI LOOK OUT!”
“ALEXUS I’M NOT IN THE MOO-BLOODY HELL!” He screamed as he felt something slap him so hard, it almost knocked him off his feet. He couldn’t see, whatever it was covered his entire face.
“HOW DARE SOMEONE THROW SOMETHING AT ME?! SHOW YOURSELF!” He fumed.
“DEMETRI STOP TALKING!”
He could hear her voice, she sounded so close. “Alexus, where the hell are you?”
“AHH…STOP TALKING!”
He heard her scream again. He swung his large arms, but for some reason he couldn’t get whatever was on his face off to find where she was. The more he tugged, the more it latched on, making his blood boil. He screamed. “WHAT SORCERY IS THIS?! COWARDICE! BLIND ME SO YOU CAN TAKE A SWING?! VILLIANY! NOTHING BUT MUTINY I TELL YOU! WHEN I GET MY FUCKING HANDS-“
“AHHH…DEMETRI STOP FUCKING TALKING!”
But he couldn’t control his anger. He was being attacked and what was worse, they had caught him off guard. Not only that, but they did it in front of Alexus. Was she telling him to stop talking because they were threatening her? Were they hurting her? He could hear her screams of anguish. In all his years of being alive, no one had ever been so lucky to catch him off guard, but somehow in a blink of an eye, they’d managed to both blind him and hurt his little vampire. He whirled around wildly punching in the air knowing that if he was lucky he would eventually strike someone. His eyes red, his rage bubbling over. “IF YOU FUCKING LAY A HAND ON HER I SWEAR I’LL-“ As his large hands fumbled with the object, his eyes widened.
Is…is that a wing?
“DEMETRI I’M STUCK IN YOUR HAIR!”
His face turned to sheer horror as he realized why Alexus's voice was so close. He wasn’t being attacked, she’d flown and landed on his face. He reached up the top of his head, and dislodged her wing then finally pulling her from his face, he saw her glare at him.
“Dumbass.” She seethed.
“HOW IS THIS MY FAULT?! ALL YOU HAD TO SAY WAS IT WAS YOU! BUT NO! YOU KEPT TELLING ME TO STOP TALKING AND-“ That’s’ when the lightbulb went off. He could have sworn her batty face had a smirk.
“Dumbass”
He blew steam from his nose. “Shift back”
She looked down at his hands. “I-I don’t know how.” She was pissing him off. He was embarrassed and that made him angry. Waving his hand, he turned her back into her human form. “Thanks…” She muttered.
His face beet red, he could hardly look at her. If he’d put two and two together, he knew exactly why she kept screaming for him to shut up. He rubbed the back of his neck. “I-uh-well…because…”
She eyed him. “Why are you acting like that? It’s not like you haven’t had your face there before.”
Demetri's face was almost as red as Alexus’s lipstick. “YEAH BUT THIS IS WEIRD!” As soon as he said it, he realized he’d made a mistake. Alexus's eyes cut so deeply into him, he preferred to have actually been attacked by someone else.
“SOOO NOW IT’S WEIRD HUH?! YOU SLURPED ME LIKE YOUR FAVORITE BOWL OF SOUP, BUT NOWW IT’S WEIRD?!”
His mouth dropped to the floor. “I DID NOT SLURP YOU!“
She sneered. “Ate me like your last meal before execution.”
He rolled his eyes and sneered back. “Don’t act like you didn’t return the favor.”
“Yeah, but the difference between us is that my face doesn’t turn red talking about it. I ROCKED YOUR WORD WHEN I DID IT, AND IM PROUD AS HELL! HAD YOUR TOES CURLED SO HARD, YOU ALMOST PULLED THE WOOD FROM THE FLOOR.”
“HOW DARE YOU! MY TOES WERE NO-“
“Um…Primus?”
Demetri’s face went from red to white as a sheet. As he turned around, he saw his entire clan looking at him. Some faces in horror, others trying their best to stifle a laugh. “If any one of you so much as giggle, I’ll skin you alive.” He turned back around to face Alexus, but she’d already stormed off leaving him in his embarrassment alone.