Chapter 75

(Lisa's POV)

I set up an automatic watering system for my plants and got everything I needed to work from home before returning to Valin's Family Mansion. When I got back Innoccence was brushing Aluma's hair with the intensity of a tired mother. Aluma was wincing so I guess this kind of thing hurts even her kind.

"Stay still! Your hair is too pretty for you to let it get so tangled!"

"I'm sorry!" Aluma replied with a tear in her voice. I locked the door and put my bags down as I headed over to assist Innoccence and save Aluma. 

"Hey for tangles you should start at the ends, not the roots!" I chastised, and Aluma thanked me with her expression. "And we should get some water and moisturizer for now, I'll see if there's any in the house... don't start combing till I get back!" Innoccence pouted, folded her arms, and rolled her eyes. Looks like compliance to me. Once I was in the bathroom, searching through the cabinets and countertops I felt a shift in the energy around me. It felt like going down in an elevator. I didn't know what to make of it till Aluma yelled,

"Lisa come down here!" I grabbed a spray bottle full of water and ran down the stairs to see someone completely unexpected... Valin. It was him, but shirtless, with long flowing hair that stopped above his ankles. It also appeared that his eyes and hair's color saturation had been turned up... Is this how he looks naturally? Is it okay for him to be so underdressed?... Well, it's fine, and I'm probably the only one who cares, but when I glanced at the other women they were totally gawking at him! The heck?!

"An enemy has infiltrated the area, I ask that you all stay inside. The security system is active but it will only protect those within the premises." It was his voice. His words seemed to snap the other two out of their trance. It sounds like him but... 

"Who... what are you?" I murmured. His actions are nothing like Valin's. Would he really stand there stone-faced after not seeing me for days? No.

"You may call me number 105. I am part of a security system created by Valin Gebel. Years ago he cut his hair and implanted the strands deep into the earth under this home, creating me and many others." His hair? "I do hope that answers all of your questions." I nodded.

"What's outside?" Aluma asked,

"An enemy... an Afarion that is emitting hostile energy." After hearing this her silver eyes began to glow and dual silver daggers appeared in her hands.

"I'll take care of it." She mumbled.

"Fine, if you go outside I will no longer assist or protect you." He reminded her. Aluma ran outside regardless, and on instinct, I stepped to follow her but Number 105 stopped me by grabbing my hand. "You have no powers, leaving the house would be foolish."

"But Aluma..." I began but he interrupted me,

"You will become a liability out there for her and you are the current primary resident. Your safety is at the highest priority." My heart fluttered. Valin activated this system for me? "Until the threat is removed you are not allowed outside."

"What about me?" Innoccence chimed in, probably tired of being left out of the conversation.

"You are free to leave but once outside the system will no longer protect you." After his answer, she returned to pouting. Valin created this system out of strands of hair... does that mean there are as many clones as there were hairs on his head?

"Does the system remaining active imply the original... Valin is safe?" I asked. The clone stared into my eyes and said,

"No, our power source is from the Earth itself. If our master was to die the system would not be affected." This... system sure doesn't know how to comfort people. I will think of it like a machine from now on.

(Aluma's POV)

I stepped into the backyard to minimize the possibility of being seen. As soon as I was 10 feet from the mansion I felt a man grab me from behind. He put one hand on my neck and used his other arm to keep my limbs pinned to my sides.

"Mmm... you're not the queen." He whispered, before licking my neck. I jolted and controlled the Earth at my feet to send thousands of needle-sized shards into his skin, and made them detonate. The man screamed and let me go, so I spun to get a good look at him. He had stringy dark green hair, pale skin, and dark circles under his eyes, but a firm, well-built body. "I am sorry for startling you miss." He stated sluggishly, while his arm slowly repaired itself. "I am looking for my queen, Tana. She was tracked to this location. I can tell you are an Infaniyan, so you are most likely disgusted to know you've been harboring an Afarion. Worry not, I don't want to fight, I'm just here to return her to where she belongs."

"Shut the f$%# up you f#$king creep. You licked me! And now you're saying you don't want to fight?! Too late for that #$%*&." I said, pointing my daggers at him.

"Oh... so you already knew what she was... I see.." He slipped into the ground... He must have been trained particularly for sneaking. I extended my wings and flew no higher than the rooftop of the mansion so I could get a clear view of the ground. That's when a long tentacle-like root shot out of the ground and dragged me out of the air. I cut at it with my daggers but the root was so thick that it was hard to slice through it completely and it was only a split second before I slammed hard into the Earth. My ears were ringing, and my head spinning when the man crawled out of the ground and looked down at me with a sheepish grin. "Are you ready to tell me where my queen is now?" I swiped at him, but he dodged just out of my range and I stood back up, fighting off my dizziness. Once the world stopped spinning I threw my dagger at him, he sidestepped out of the way but wasn't expecting my dagger to split into thousands of needles that dug deep into his face and eyes. He swore and gave off an ear-piercing shriek, as I moved in to slit his throat before he had time to recover. "Wait! He wants to make her the queen officially! I am just a messenger! I have good news! Please-"

"Please, shut up," I replied, lopping his head off in that same instant. "Good news, my ass." I wiped the blood off my face and sighed, that's when Jey's brother's system clone appeared and said,

"Threat is eliminated... are you in need of healing?" I looked at it... 

"No, I can handle it myself." It's been so long since I had to fight, that my hands were shaking and I could hear my heartbeat in my ears. When I came onto the back porch I noticed several deep scratches in the wood. "What happened here?" I asked.

"Yesterday, another Afarion attempted to enter the house. The primary resident is to be protected so I Eliminated the threat and had the body incinerated to spare her any mental trauma." .... That's scary! I can't be more insensitive than some robotic security system so I rinsed the blood from my body using the water hose, and then I buried the body of the strange man sent to capture Tana by opening up the Earth, letting him fall in and closing it up after him... When I finally came inside, I saw that Lisa's hand was being held by part of the system we met earlier... that is odd. She wasn't looking at him but he was staring at her, seemingly expressionless, but in his eyes I could see notes of deep affection. 

"I was so worried! You foolish, idiotic, dummy!" Innoccence yelled, running up to me and hugging me. It looks like she's been crying. It's so odd how attached she's gotten to me in only a few days when she was enamored with my man not too long ago. I know it's genuine though, she's even the one who asked to help me with my hair this morning... unless that was just a plot to cause me pain... which is also plausible. Lisa rushed over and hugged me next.

"I'm glad you're okay... I was watching through the window. You were so awesome and your wings are beautiful." She noted. I smiled and tapped her cheek saying,

"We should eat something good to celebrate how well that went." At my suggestion her face brightened up, she then started looking through the cabinets and said,

"Looks like I have the ingredients for a chocolate cake! That sounds good to everyone?" Innoccence was still sniffling as she enthusiastically yelled,

"Oh yeah! Bake me a cake, cutie!" I giggled.