My muffled screams of pain filled the air as new found tears began to spill down my face. My fists clenched and unclenched in utter agony, my legs tensed to the point I thought I was gonna pull a muscle. As brief as that pain came it was replaced with the sickening feeling of sting running through the wound, it stung a bit as it came into contact with the torn flesh. “Two more,” Mr. Benny whispered softly, taking the towel out of my mouth to replace it with a new one. His spirit animal Gamba was doing a horribly good job at holding my small frame down on this motel mattress. The next two stitches burned just as badly as the rest and once they were done, I let out a sigh of relief. It was at that moment I realized, Gamba hadn’t realized me.
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I spat out the now spit filled towel and looked over towards Mr. Benny who was taking out a child’s nightmare, a bottle of cleaning alcohol. I knew how much that stung on wounds, so just the thought of it touching the worst injury I had ever suffered made me start to squirm to get free. “No, absolutely fucking not, no!” I shouted my voice coming out much higher than I wanted. Gamba held me steady as Mr. Benny put another towel in my mouth.
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“I am not gonna let that injury get infected, so we need to clean it now, you are lucky I didn’t do it while it was still open.” He said sternly as he dabbed a cotton ball with that terrible liquid.
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A loud high pitched scream filled the night.
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“Alright arms up please,” my throat felt raw and scratchy from all my screaming and I had lost all the fight in me. I did as the man ordered and he carefully slipped one of my sleeping shirts over my now wrapped chest. My side hurt with every small twist, same with my left leg, my ankle was propped up on a pillow still hurt from the fall I took. My head was not trying to murder me anymore, but was lighty pounding like a drum. Worst of all of my injuries was my pride which felt like it had been shattered into a million pieces. I hadn’t even seen it coming, one second I was barely standing over her crawling body. The next thing I knew I was sent flying backwards and through that stupid dinosaur skeleton that collapsed down upon me. After that everything felt like a blur of pain, but worst of all was knowing that she had spared my life. Aiko had been shattered against the weird looking serpent dragon she probably hated me for allowing it to happen.
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Now here I was, an heir to a throne of blood sitting in a stuffy motel room having to be cared for by her butler. Could anyone blame me when I started to cry like a pathetic little girl. I seemed to have an endless amount of tears and no matter how much I tried to wipe them away, my face was quickly overcome with rivers of tears. I felt my weak body lifted off the bed, a moment later I was sitting on Mr. Benny's large lap as he brought me into his arms for a hug. One that I refused to ask for but desperately needed. He gently shushed me, stroking my back with one hand and holding my hand with the other. “It’s alright, everything is okay now, now please rest, Lady Ivy.”
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I buried my face into his shoulder. I felt sick to my stomach, nearly ready to vomit at any moment. I couldn’t catch my breath, I couldn’t find the mental off switch that would make me stop crying. I couldn’t understand, how could she beat me like that? How she had gotten lucky? Why didn’t she just kill me? How could I explain to my hirer that I had lost and needed a few days to fully recover? My head was now pounding against my skull almost like a new heart had formed in there. I gripped Mr. Benny’s shirt so that my nails cut through the soft fabric and racked against his chest. “I am gonna kill her! I am gonna kill her!” I repeated over and over again I kept shouting that decree over and over again, until finally the pain and tiredness overcame me and I slowly feel into darkness.
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My body jolted up and I found myself back in that old room. That odd man was still sitting at my bedside, I heard the brief sound of water splashing beside me. I tried to sit up but he placed a hand on my chest and carefully pushed me back down. “Easy little one, rest for a minute or two.” One of his soft looking hands squeezed out a small cloth sending droplets of water falling back into the basin beside me. He gently folded it in half and laid it against my forehead. “You took quite an interesting road to find me, but all roads home are different.”
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“What do you mean? Who are you?”
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He opened his mouth and I saw him mouth a few words to me but I couldn’t hear them. A horribly hissing sound filled my ears right as he said his name. “Did you hear me?” He asked and when I shook my head, he said. “I had a feeling you couldn’t, or rather you didn’t want to hear my name just yet.”
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“Why wouldn’t I want to hear your name?”
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“Because it is one you were told to hate.” I looked up at him in confusion. His brown eyes were so gentle that it was almost unsettling.
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“Where am I?”
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“We are in a house long since destroyed.” He answered plainly.
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“Where, what city?”
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“Nazareth.”
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I snuggled deeper into this oddly comfortable bed. “I don’t understand what you are talking about. I have never heard of that city before in my life?”
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A light chuckle escaped his perfect lips, now that I was looking at him a bit better. He looked like the perfect man that anyone on earth would like to date. We sat in odd silence, the people around me still frozen in place looking towards me and him with tearfilled eyes. Eventually I got the strength to swing my legs over the leg of the bed, they felt slow and heavy like I was in mud. He offered me a hand to help me stand up but I rudely slapped it away. “I don’t need your help.” I said sharply.
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A second later I found myself slamming face first on the stone floor, a sharp pain ran up my side where I had been injured. Tears once again threatened to spill from my eyes. I saw that same hand held out to me and I half expected him to be laughing at my foolishness, but he wasn’t. “Can I help you up, my dear?”
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I hesitantly nodded my head and he helped me stand to my feet. Both of my hands immediately clutched at my side, I felt a bruise had formed from some injury I had taken but I didn’t know why. “T-Thank you,” I said politely.
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“Don’t thank me, thank the father.” He said briefly looking up towards the sky. “Come with me for a minute, I wanna show you something.” He held his hand out to me once.
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My smaller hand was nearly engulfed in his, he wasn’t a jepei user but he had a powerful spirit on him that threatened to overwhelm me. We walked out of the door and I shyly pulled myself behind him, outside there was a group of people waiting, women in plain white and brown dresses, men in dull colored robes. “Why are they all waiting out here?” I asked as we passed through the crowd.
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“Those that needed to see to believe,” he answered.
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As soon as we escaped the sea of people, we somehow ended up at the end of a pond. I turned back but the crowds were gone and it was just me and this man. “If I can’t say your real name for some reason, can I give you a nickname?”
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“How can you give me a nickname if you don’t know my true name?” He asked, giving me an amused smile. He reached out and took up a small jug. I hadn’t even seen him set up this small blanket that now houses a jug and a small basket overflowing with bread. “But by all means, you can call me whatever you choose to call me.”
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I looked at him for a few moments and for some reason only one name seemed to come to my mind. “Immanuel? Can I call you Immanuel?”
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He poured out two cups of a thick white liquid and gave me a gentle smile. “Immanuel. Why did you pick that special name?”
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“Why is it special?” I asked.
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“Do you know the meaning behind that name?” I shook my head and he went on. “It means, God is with us, in hebrew.” He reached out gently, taking me by my injured side. It stung for only a moment but then there was nothing there, in fact it felt better than I ever imagined it feeling before in my life. “So why did you pick that name?”
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“I don’t know?” I allowed him to pull me closer and sit me down beside him. “It just felt right, are you okay with that.”
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“I am called name things, and given many titles, I am just glad that we are speaking.” Immanuel said holding up a piece of bridge he closed his eyes and gave thanks before splitting it in half and giving me one piece.
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Took a few curious nibbles before asking. “Why would you be happy to speak to me? And what did you do to me back there? And where are we?”
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“So many questions,” he said not unkindly. “I saved your life back in the past, we are at my favorite spot in my home city.” He answered, he looked up at the skies for a minute almost as if he was waiting for a reply. “As for why I am happy to speak with me, is it because there is a chance I can bring a group of people that have forgotten and hated us back from the brink.”
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“Who are those people?” I asked.
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“People who were tricked and deceived by a serpent they loved.” He looked towards me and placed his hand over my eyes. “Open your eyes.”
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My eyes snapped open and my body jolted up to a sitting position. My leg stung for a brief moment reminded me of what happened the night before. However, oddly enough my side wasn’t hurting that much anymore. My vision quickly adjusted, and a brief trail of sunlight was starting to shine through the dirty cracked blinds of this room. I heard faint snoring coming from my left, Mr. Benny was sleeping in the bed next to me, his chest lighty rising and falling with every breath. “I would suggest you stay quiet for a few hours, Benjamin only recently fell asleep.” I followed this deep voice to find the large cat resting on the floor between our two beds. “He has been up all night keeping your fever down. I expect a proper thank you when my father wakes up again.”
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The golden lion climbed up onto my bed and rested beside me, his massive frame spilling over the edge of the bed. “Where are we?” I asked.
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“I believe in a motel, little lady.” said Gamba. “He couldn’t quite bring you to a hospital without questions being asked.” Gamba looked up at me and then nodded to my right. “Also you might wanna make sure, Aiko is okay. She has been worried sick since she awakened a few hours ago.”
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“A-Aiko?” I questioned and now I fully noticed curled up against my side was my prized pink serpent. My hand ran over her scaly head and without opening her eyes she snuggled against my palm. “I’m okay, baby girl, I promise I am.”
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“I wouldn’t say you are ok, you took quite the beating. Your right leg has a gash in it, your left ankle is hurt, and your side is the worst of all of them. How you managed to pull yourself out of that wreckage is quite the feat.” said Gamba.
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“I lost,” I said, laying back down in bed planting my hands firmly over my face. “I lost last night cause that stupid dragon caught me off guard!”
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“Lower your voice,” Gamba said in a mix of whisper and growl. “It seems that your first mission was a failure.”
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“It wasn’t a failure just yet, she is staying in the city.” I said allowing our brief encounter to race through my mind. “The only problem is my cover is blown and now it is gonna take longer to find her and get closer to her again.”
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“Than I suggest you spend these next few days figuring things out.” said Gamba as he rested his large head against my outstretched legs. “You need to rest, you lizards have the annoying ability to heal from injuries overtime, it makes you reckless in battle.”
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“I was not reckless.” I said now using the large cat as a pillow. “I underestimated her, and it will never happen again.”
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Hours went by slowly as I watched the horrible television in this motel. The only thing that seemed of interest was a twilight zone marathon that kept me busy. They had a few pretty good episodes running. Aiko had awakened but wasn’t speaking to me or even meeting my eyesight, I knew she felt just as bad as me. Animal spirits help in combat acting as a second eyes and ears and another weapon, if they took too much damage they had to go back to the netrix gemstone to heal. So without Aiko it was like losing an eye or an ear, and it was the ultimate failure for a spirit animal if their user was injured while they were healing. I heard a loud groan followed by the creaking of the bed as Mr. Benny sat up. His hand weakly patted the bed for his glasses dangling off the bed by one of the steams.
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“Lady Ivy, you're awake.” Mr. Benny said with a loud yawn. “And I see, Gamba kept you company while I was asleep. How are you doing?”
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“How do you think I am doing!?” I snapped. “I was cheated, she hurt Aiko and now I have to…” My voice trailed off for a moment. The realization of what this defeat meant hit me like a truck. “I-I need to call my hirer and explain the situation before things go back.”
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Mr. Benny took out my damaged phone and instead of handing it to me he held the broken screen up to me. It hadn’t looked as bad last night but in the daylight, I could fully see the damage. A large spider web like crack was embedded onto the screen. One corner of my phone was flashing on and off from the damage. However that wasn’t what worried me, it was the single text message icon. I slowly tapped on it and it was a text from an unknown number. Give me your current location and I will bring lunch and or dinner tonight, we need to talk.
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“Damn it.”
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It was around five o'clock in the afternoon when there was a tiny knock on the door. Mr. Benny looked through the small peephole and opened the door. Whitney Dawnbreaker was standing in the doorway, she was a blue suit and a large puffy coat that protected her from the cold. She was holding two boxes in her hand, white with the name of some pizza parlor. As soon as that smell hit my nose I realized just how much my body was craving food. “I hope you enjoy pizza,” as she stepped inside she hooked her heel on the back of the door and closed it herself. “Choosing a motel in Hell’s Kitchen was an interesting choice, hopefully no one tries to take my car.”
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“Well you should know Oren can’t just go to a hospital when injured.” Mr. Benny said, taking the two bottles of soda she had also brought with her.
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“Thank you for your help, Benjamin was it?” She looked around or very plain looking motel room before taking a seat on Mr. Benny’s bed. She crossed one leg over the other and reached into her purse pulling out a metal flask. “You can have those sodas, I brought my drink, a bit of whisky does wonders in calming my anger down.”
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Mr. Benny opened one box of pizza and handed me a slice. “Any reason why you are so angry?”
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“Maybe because I was promised success last night.” She turned to face me for the first time since she had come into the room. “I believe your exact words were, this will be over tonight. So imagine the surprise I was welcomed too when I came back to my museum and found my prized skeleton in shambles. Blood covering the floor and the door was unlocked meaning any one of my prized relics could have been taken from me.” The anger in her voice almost made me want to cower like a little kid. She took a few long gulps from her flask. “So please explain to me before I lose my fucking mind, what the hell happened and how you are gonna fix it!”
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“Stop Aiko,” I said, sensing my snake was ready to attack this woman. “I deserve her anger and more over for this small setback.”
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“A small setback?” Whitney questioned. “That girl is still alive and after this she could have very well left this city by now. So what is stopping me from ripping your contact in half, taking back the money I gave you up front, and reporting to your mother of this grave failure?”
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“Because the hunt isn’t over just yet!” I answered folding my hands together on my lap and trying to be as serious as Poppy would have been in this situation. “Listen to me, she is after something else that you have, that is why she was there in the first place. She is not gonna leave the city, I know that for a fact. She is injured right now, the same as me, so I have time to find her, and she isn’t going to leave for a few more weeks.”
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She took another sip from her flask before responding to me. “How can you be so sure about all of this?”
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“Because I have been spying on her since I came here.” As much as it stung my pride, I lowered my head towards her in a deep bow. “I am sorry for breaking your skeleton and I am sorry for leaving the place terrible. I underestimated her, but I promise you this that it will not happen again.”
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She was silent for a few moments. “Why did it happen to begin with? Why did you supposedly underestimate her? From what I saw on my camera’s this morning she was keeping up with you. At one point she had you on your hands and knees at her mercy.”
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“Than you saw how quickly I turned the tables and would have killed her if that stupid dragon hadn’t attacked me. If she didn’t have that we wouldn’t be having this conversation.” I answered simply.
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“Why did you underestimate her?” She repeated her anger, finally showing signs of leaving. “Lift your head and look me in my eyes.”
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I did as she demanded and felt the edges of my mouth lift just a tiny bit. “I thought she was weaker than me, that was how she presented herself and an Oren never tries at full strength unless the opponent is worth our time.”
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Whitney took a deep breath and her calm smile slowly returned. “Is she worth your time now?”
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“Yes ma’am.”
“Will you end this properly this time?”
“Yes ma’am.”
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She took one last sip of her flask, her cheeks now flushing pink. “Then I suppose our contact is still valid, but understand something little girl.”
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“Lady Ivy,” I said firmly.
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“Lady Ivy,” she said, adding a bit more emphasis on the words. “I have a rule both for my children, my workers, and those in my daily life. Three strikes and you are out, so see this as strike one. Do not fail me again or I will have no issue going to your mother and requesting someone a bit older.”
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“Are you gonna tell her what happened last night?” I asked, trying my best to keep the fear from spreading through my voice
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“No I will not and you have my word on that.” She put her flask back into her purse. “Remember this is strike one, two more and you are out, both literally and figuratively.”
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“I will pay for any damages done to the skeleton.” I said.
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She waved her hand at me dismissively. “Don’t worry about that. Luckily for you none of them were damaged, just a few small cracks that I need to look into.” Whitney took out her cellphone and seemed to text someone. “Benjamin, can you hand me a slice of pizza please. All this drinking does wonders for the appetite.”
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“Since you asked so nicely.” Mr. Benny said as he gave her one of the pieces of plain cheese pizza.
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“Aren’t you gonna eat?” She asked, nodding towards my pizza that was now laying on the bed beside me.
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“No thank you,” I said feeling my hands starting to tighten into fists, my broken nails digging into my palms. “I am not hungry anymore.”
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She shrugged, eating in mostly silence. “At least have one piece later, you will find this city makes the best pizza in the world… well other than that of Italy.”
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“I will keep that in mind.” I whispered to myself, now hoping that she would just get out of my motel room already. “What else do you have that she could want?”
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“Lady Ivy, I have only shown you the tip of the iceberg. I have much more in that museum but I save those for more special events.”
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“Which events so I can see?”
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She fixed me with a perplexed look. “Why do you want to know.”
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“Because I need to see what she could be looking for to get a chance to redeem myself.” I said plainly.
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“I am having one in four days, so if you want to come by then by all means you are welcomed. Though I suggest you get someone a bit older than the children’s dress you wore the first time you came to me.”
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“I thought it was pretty nice,” I thought to myself as I gave her one more bow. “I will, thank you Ms. Dawnbreaker.”
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