Hunt

Sunk in a couch, Caliope was silent as Maxwell and Falshore discussed new security measures for the wedding. Vanessa was bringing coffee to Caliope but she refused it, making it difficult for her to know how to help.

"You should have told me he tried to reach to you again... I would have come to be with you before..."

"You are sweet, Nessa... but you wouldn't have done much and you would have wasted valuable time best invested now for my wedding..."

Caliope tried to make her friend feel better, and it worked; Vanessa was smiling at her and nodding. They remained hugged in silence as both watched Amra nod with some advices he was getting from Maxwell.

An hour later, Elaine finally arrived at the residence accompanied by two men; both were dressed in long-sleeved shirts and trousers, they had their hands tattooed but only one had some silks wrapped in his head. Caliope couldn't help to notice how one was smiling and the other one was more serious, avoiding eye contact. They both bowed their heads to Maxwell and Falshore, and then turned towards the rest.

Elaine rushed to Caliope "What happened? We got here as soon as we could after Pronab's call, but signal was not very well down town..."

"We are trying to make some adjustments for tomorrow, most of all, security... I will make things simpler, we can't have any human here besides the bride and the bridesmaid." Maxwell's words were clear, and he didn't give a hint of a different choice to make.

Pronab walked next to Elaine and whispered to her ear, and she shook her head, sitting next to Caliope, she kissed her cheek and hugged her "It will be ok darling, he won't be able to ruin your day..."

Amra had been dead silent for a long time, but when he finally spoke, he said only "There are no questions about it... he won't."

They remained quiet for a moment until Falshore raised his voice "I have an idea..."

Maxwell sighed "I was hoping we wouldn't come to that..."

Amra looked at Falshore and invited him to speak more "What are your thoughts?"

"Let's play a hunting game..."

Pronab's eyes glittered "I hate to admit this but I like how you think."

Elaine shook her head "A hunting? You are taking things too far!"

The man with turban was now grinning, exchanging some eye contact with Falshore; probably there was something about hunting that appealed to them. Amra was pondering and quietly letting them discuss the many different options.

Caliope was squeezing Vanessa's hand still a little shocked with what she was hearing, and fear started to take over her once more; Elaine only caught this after Amra walked towards them, he kneeled and took Caliope's face in his hands, making her look up at him. Everyone in the room went quiet 'There is much about our world, their world, that you have yet to know... but trust me on this... no one will harm you, no one...' he whispered in her head. She swallowed and replied 'you are playing to be God... deciding on whose life is worth taking... I didn't know you could do such thing... you are no different from our tyrants and oppressors...' He shook his head 'We are very similar in many ways, but we are also completely different... I will let them explain this to you better...'

Elaine realized they were both talking to each other in their private way, but the room was getting tense, so she decided to speak up "Caly, darling... what is troubling you?"

It was Amra who turned around and replied "We will talk about this soon Elaine, right now, please introduce us..."

Elaine blushed some and gave a step aside, looking at their guests. She nodded at them and then introduced them both. "I am sorry, my worries won this time... Amra, Caly, Vanessa, Pronab... these are The Meng Generals, Meng Yi and Meng Tian... they are the Twin Generals... Generals, this is Amrafel... his Asteria Caliope... her friend Vanessa, she is human. And Pronab, whom you have heard of as well."

Meng Yi, the one who seemed to be more outgoing, gave a step forward and bowed his head "Thank you, Elaine... enchanted to meet you! we have heard so much about you, it is wonderful to finally see you in flesh, we owe you so much Star Princess..."

Caliope blushed as she noticed he was referring to her, and his eyes darted into her soul. She felt some strange shivers and forced herself to smile in return, bowing her head the best way she could. "Please, it is me the one who is pleased to meet you Generals..."

"This is my brother, excuse him if he is a bit shy at first, just give him time..."

The younger one sighed to his brother's words and bowed his head "Nice to meet you all..."

Caliope felt instantly comfortable with him "Welcome, I hope you had a good fly."

"Indeed we had, and now I can see we were missing much fun here..."

"I wouldn't call it fun, General... there has been some stressing situations in more personal levels than we expected." Elaine replied, working hard on keeping herself together while she addressed them.

Maxwell broke the introduction "Your chambers are ready, with everything you requested, as usual... you all can feel at home there."

"Thank you Maxwell." Tian's gentle tone was soothing for Caliope, she smiled at him. She also noticed how Tian was softer with Maxwell, he even smiled softly at him. Amra made her focus on the couch and then both sat together as the rest took the seat in the different chairs around. "Pronab, please explain what they mean by hunting." Amra was bringing back their attention to the immediate situation.

"It is quite simple, they are referring to hunt down your ex-boyfriend, Caly..."

"Hunt him down?! He is a person! A human being! What are you going to do with him?"

Falshore frowned "Isn't it obvious? We will make sure he will never bother you again."

Pronab stepped in and became defensive, he didn't like Falshore, even tho his idea was something he enjoyed, his manners towards Caliope were unacceptable "Is not obvious for her, and she is right to want to know more about this, she doesn't have a sick mind like yours."

"You liked my idea..."

"I do, but she is not like that."

Maxwell sighed "throughout the centuries, we have kept low profile and remained as only fantasy in people's minds... we can't jeopardize having our existence revealed to the world, they are neither prepared nor ready for this kind of exposure..."

Caliope almost sobbed "...but he is after me, not you..."

Pronab looked at her and tried to smile "You are now part of our world, you are also half immortal... your life is now with us as well... and he is obsessed with you."

Meng Yi laid against the wall as he spoke "We are familiar with obsessive people, every few centuries, if not less, there are humans who become famous for their obsession."

Elaine nodded "...it is sad, our own kind sometimes loses the path and fall into some obsession..."

Vanessa was curious, and even though she kept quiet most of the time, her curiosity was stronger this time, she sensed something was wrong "What does that have to do with hunting a human down?"

Pronab replied to her, his voice soft and gentle "When a human has proven to be a danger to us, and is someone ill minded, it is our duty to stop him, and this is one of those cases... the hunting is just a fun way to do this..."

"If he was a regular guy, we wouldn't have much to worry, we would stop him, and that would be the end of this. But he has money, power in the human's world... he has resources and contacts... he has protection and means to make it difficult to us to reach to him without showing ourselves to more humans." There was hate in Falshore's voice, but also a truth that Maxwell couldn't deny "To hunt him is to find out a way to reach to him and make sure he will never represent a threat to us anymore."

Caliope lowered her head "I am almost afraid to ask how you are going to do this..." but Pronab grinned "Mind games, Caly... General Yi is the best at it... General Tian is his perfect complement."

The General Yi grinned "We can make this a fun and entertaining game for the wedding visitors." Caliope frowned "With all due respect, General... I don't want to be worried about that in my special day, I don't find it entertaining..." but then she sighed, she couldn't deny that his ex lover represented now a bigger problem "I understand he doesn't only represent a threat to me with his obsession, but also to all of you... He had been obsessed with me since a very long time, but seen me with another men must have pushed him to the limit. I am sad to be responsible for this in a way, so please excuse me if I don't want to participate in what you find entertaining." Amra took her hand and she turned towards him immediately "It is not a fun game for me. When it comes to you, I care little to nothing about anyone else. I could find him and bring him here in very little time, make him suffer and then vanish him. But I think their option is less drastic under your eyes." She nodded, there was no denying that if Amra took care of this, the ending would be much more dramatic. "Will he die? If they catch him?"

Pronab shook his head "We WILL catch him, and no... he won't die... but he will be removed from your life and our minds."

"What will you do to him? What are these mind games?" Vanessa asked almost timidly.

"You have not seen this much yet but, each of us has a gift, powers you call them, and the Generals have a very unique one."

General Yi worked his best to smile kindly, but even then his demeanor was devilish "Once we get to him, I will lock him inside his own head, a virtual bubble only in his imagination..." he looked towards his brother, who broke his silence with a nod "We will lock him in a dark Closet, were his worst fears will drive him to insanity. That is our gift. I will paralyze him physically, and my brother will paralyze him mentally."

A moment of silence took over after this explanation, Caliope nodded slowly and realized how things reached to that point. A part of her still felt guilty, but another part of her was happy he would get a punishment. Vanessa was satisfied with the explanations and seemed to also be happy about the choice made as course of action, only Elaine seemed sad and put an arm around Caliope "Not everything we do is like what you read in the fairy tale stories..."

Later, as Caliope was slowly undressing to get in the shower, Amra was looking at her a little worried, he could sense her mood and her worrying mind, and he was attuned to her thoughts and feelings. In another moment and time, he would be more worried about the way he felt attracted to her, how each minute they were alone, he wanted to get closer and more intimate with her; but right now, all he could think of was her being ok. "You tell me what you would like me to do to him, and I will... give me an option so I could make you happier."

She lifted her gaze to him and sighed "I wish I knew what to do, or how... but I guess what they are going to do is better than death. Please don't get me wrong, I am sad about the situation, but I think I finally understand how important this is, he needs to stop being something to worry about, to me or you..."

"Then change that face, I feel an urge to comfort you when I see you this sad."

"I want to, just give me some time to let this information go through... I need a shower, but after that, I want us to just enjoy the dinner and be happy."

"I will be waiting then..."

An hour after, Caliope was powdering her cheeks with some makeup, courtesy of the Malaysian Generals. The exotic color and smell made her smile. Suddenly, what she was seen at the mirror became blurred, and as she looked around her she found herself being surrounded by a growing darkness. Panic started to take over her; the most secure place in the world and she was being under attack. The room went completely dark, she wasn't able to see even the walls and the roof. She opened her mouth and gasped as she realized she had no voice, only whimpers and heavy breathing; she wasn't even able to scream for help. She started to drop some tears as a cold wind caressed her skin; she was still wrapped in her towel. She kneeled, stretching her arms trying to find something near her, but not even her chair was close. She crawled a few meters but nothing was to be found. She hugged her legs and closed her eyes, burying her face between her knees. 'Amra! please! help me!' she tried to scream in her mind but heard nothing in return, she was completely alone.

She didn't know how long it had been since the darkness took over, all she knew was that it had been long, she felt the darkness was cold and the silence deafening. Her heart pounded erratically, sometimes faster, sometimes slower; she felt panic and numbness take over her in waves. Was this it? was this death? She started to feel relieved that this death came with no pain. Oh but there was pain; she felt her heart ache for Amra, she tried again to scream for him 'Amra...!' but her words felt empty, just as the space of nothingness surrounding her.

'Asteria...!'

She lifted her head as she heard Amra calling her, but all she could find was darkness around. Was it really him? was she imagining things? She knew that darkness and solitude could drive someone crazy, but she could swear that was him. She tried again to speak but it was pointless, no sound could come out of her mouth. She closed her eyes again and tried to reach to him.

'Can you hear me? Amra?!'

'I can... barely... I am coming for you...'

'I don't know where I am, or what happened... please... please hurry...'

'Something... something is making it hard for me to reach to you... but nothing will stop me... I will find you love...'

Then silence again, and Caliope started crying.

'Amra... don't stop... talk to me... I am losing my mind...'

But she did not heard any answer. She was starting to believe it was all just her imagination, that she imagined Amra talking to her, and she was still lost there, in the void of darkness. More time passed before she was able to actually stop crying, she could now only hear her own sobbings. Then a blinding light appeared, so strong and so intense she couldn't open her eyes. After a few seconds, she tried to see, as her eyes were beginning to adjust to the new combination of colors; from the light that resembled to a tearing fabric, something came out of it, a hand and then a head and a body. She couldn't yet adjust her sight to whom it was, but she was happy she was not there alone anymore, in the silence and darkness.

"I found you..."

Amra grabbed her and pulled her hard, so hard it actually hurt her, but she overlooked the pain as she was too happy to find him. She sobbed and then finally lost consciousness; she was safe now, she could give in.

It took her a while to finally open her eyes; the light was hurting her sight and she had to cover herself with her hands.

"Let me cover this for you, too much light? there, now the curtains are closed." She recognized Pronab's voice and sighed in relief. This time she could open her eyes without feeling them hurt; seen Pronab next to her, she smiled and sat on the bed where she woke up, she looked around to find Amra and Elaine also sitting near her. She opened her mouth and could not find her own voice again.

Elaine seemed to be lost in some deep emotion, she was worried to a point of exhaustion "You are safe now my dear..."

Amra got up and sat next to her, looking at her eyes as he caressed her arms "My love..."

She tried to speak but sound could not escape her lips, she started to cry again and Amra held her tighter "You are safe love, don't cry..."

'I can't talk... my voice... is gone... I don't know... what happened!' her panicked voice echoed in his head. He turned towards Elaine with anger and she stood up immediately "She can't speak... he left her voiceless..."

Elaine frowned "That bastard!"

"I think I can take care of that, if you allow me..." Pronab tried to sound as convincing as possible. Amra looked at him, trying hard to not let the rage consume him; he was about to lose the very little patience he had towards the person who did this to her "Whatever you can do, do it now please..."

Pronab gave a step closer to Caliope's bed and nodded "I will need you two to leave the room please, give me time and space to concentrate..."

Amra frowned slightly, but then nodded, leaning to kiss Caliope's forehead before letting her go. She nodded at him and watched them walk out. As soon as the door closed, she turned to look at Pronab, curious, hopping, anxious.

"Just relax, take deep breaths and let me do my job..."

She nodded again and tried to relax, taking a deep breath and then leaning against the cushions. He sat next to her, put a hand over her eyes, and another one on her long neck "Close your eyes..." he whispered.

She did, and felt a little uncomfortable as darkness was around her again when she did. But as only a couple of seconds had passed, she felt his heavy breathing close to her face. Too close. Now her uncomfortableness became nervousness and she felt goosebumps on her skin. The time seemed to stop, as he pressed his lips on hers. She held her breath, and found that powerful electricity run over her body again; he kissed her harder.

Only then she realized what was happening, and pushed him back then slapped his face.

"Pronab!"

As soon as she said his name, he smiled and stood up, rubbing his cheek after the altercation, Elaine and Amra rushed back into the room and Caliope gasped.

"I... I can talk!"