14 Chapter 13 Part 2

Adriana POV

"The bird as in the flying kind or...?" Alec scrunches his nose.

For a few beats, no answer is heard, since Eros seems perfectly content standing with his mouth agape, breathing heavily. I shift in order to see more of his face, and in doing so notice an angry looking scratch on chin and shoulder, leading downwards and connecting with a ripped shirt.

Someone's been having fun then.

He groans. "Yes! What else could it possibly be? It attacked me for goodness sake! Do you not see my shirt?"

"Yes but last time you mentioned a bird attacking you..." Alec chuckles, and I notice the remark coaxed a subtle grin out of Kellen. Don't tell me this is a regular occurrence.

"Don't make me think about it," one of his hands covers his reddening face. My lips curl upwards; this might be interesting.

"She had real talons, that one. Pink, if I remember. Nice butt, too. Little too possessive though, wouldn't you say?" he looks up dramatically, feigning reminiscence as I snort uncontrollably.

"Alec, this is serious. Stop it."

"Sorry," he grins again, and Kellen giggles quietly.

Shaking his head, Eros sighs, bringing his hand up and dabbing a sleeve on the wound, soaking up a trickle of blood. The cut isn't deep, but it looks like there should be a lot more blood than a single trickle. It's also strange that Alec and Kellen seem unaffected, since every time I have bled someone has freaked out. It most likely also needs cleaning, but he doesn't seem as concerned about it, his focus clearly elsewhere.

"A bird gave you that?" I ask, pointing towards it.

He turns, as if just noticing my presence. "Yes."

"Where is it?"

"Why would you want to know?" He laughs, though it is humourless. "You're more likely to get hurt by it than any of us, if only because you lack the sense to avoid it."

"What if I wanted to congratulate it? I've been wanting to kill you since this morning, but this is better." He raises a brow as if challenging me, his cold stare telling me that he probably wont change his mind.

Shrugging my shoulders, I sigh in defeat. Karma or not, maybe he's right that it's not the smartest choice.

Will I let that stop me from seeing the thing? No. Not a chance.

"I'm just curious. Why is a bird such an issue? It can't be that bad."

The expression on his face told me he was ready to argue, however Alec cut quickly in. "She knows a lot already. If you're not even going to let her see it you might as well tell her what's going on."

He groans again, grumbling something before turning and walking back out with a scowl on his face.

Well ok then. I guess I'm seeing it.

Alec groans, following shortly after, only stopping briefly to smile warmly at a sheepish Kellen who appears to be staying behind. It is only at this point when I begin to ask myself, what the hell am I doing? Mr Macho Warhammer got bested by a bird and I'm going to go say hi.

Then again, I am in the middle of nowhere with a bunch of supernatural whatsits. A bird can't be that bad in comparison.

Besides, I kind of want to know how big it is. I will seriously piss myself if it's a pigeon.

With that image in mind, I was almost about to snicker, when a string of curses sounded from outside.

Following the sound, I quickly find myself in the clearing, staring at what is most definitely not a pigeon attack.

Look, I never said I make smart decisions.

It's fucking huge.

The bird is nothing like I had imagined; its neck resembles that of a peacock, its wings that of an eagle, while its body is a combination of both. The colour is probably the most striking thing about it though. Its back is like fire, covered in feathers in oranges, reds and yellows, and a glimpse of its front is a much darker selection of purple hues. The wings, spread wide in an offensive stance, are dotted with a mixture of all of these. To top everything off, it has Eros pinned beneath its feet, writhing and wailing helplessly.

I stare at the creature in awe.

Things only get more entertaining when Becca comes to Eros's aid, waving her arms and screeching like a banshee, trying to push the bird off. Her eyes become a deep purple, her lips becoming a somewhat twisted smile. I assume this was supposed to intimidate the creature, however it was ineffective; with one swipe of its wing, it bats her away effortlessly as if she is nothing more than a fly, causing her to faceplant the floor.

Eros yells, swatting his hands at the bird's face and kicking out - this doesn't achieve much other than making him look like a deranged nutter suffering from leg spasms. He is also becoming even more pissed by the second.

"OH FOR FUCKS SAKE YOU STUPID RAT GET OFF!"

It squawks in response, snapping its pointed beak at his face. As amusing as this has been so far, my breathing actually stopped when its beak only narrowly missed him. Someone needs to help before this gets out of hand.

I scan the surroundings, looking for anything that can help. Becca is knocked out with a face full of dirt, and Kellen is stood quivering as he watches from the window of the hut. Alec is making a valiant attempt to push the bird from behind, but even I can tell that won't work. The thing has already proven itself to be far to strong, and - stupidly, I know - all our weapons are inside. There is only one way I know to get something like that to move. Distraction.

I can't believe I'm about to do this.

Bending down, I pick up a rock near my foot. I take a deep breath.

All or nothing.

With all my might, I throw the rock at the bird's head, holding my breath in the brief few seconds before it meets...

The floor.

For fucks sake.

I guess we're on to plan b then.

"HEY! BIRD BRAIN!"

It halts its attack, turning. Narrowing its eyes, it steps off of Eros, stalking towards me.

I did not think this through.

As it approaches, I step backwards. Glancing behind the bird, I see both Eros and Alec stood beside each other, eyes bulging. I bring my focus back onto the creature, only to find that it as got even closer. In panic, I move back again, only to trip.

It keeps stalking closer, never looking away from my face. Its head lowers, leveling with my own. My eyes close involuntarily.

I wait for what feels like forever for something, anything. Yet nothing happens.

Slowly, I crack open an eye, taking a peak. What I see is certainly not what I expect.

It is now sat down on the grass in front of me, its wings curled back against its body and its head cocked to the side as it observes me. Its feathers ruffle as it watches me gape at it.

It moves its head, tilting it to the other side and squawking loudly, startling me. It no longer appeared threatening, however - the sound was light, almost friendly. I wonder if it realises that I insulted it.

I take a moment to study it - the colours really are magnificent. Although... something isn't quite right.

Inching closer, I examine the bird's neck. It's feathers are arranged  strangely, some of them sticking up in a ring. As I inspect it, the creature bows its head.

Hoping that it is no longer a threat, I reach out my hand to touch it. Its feathers are incredibly soft. Its head remains bowed submissively and its eyes close as I inspect it with growing confidence.

As I had suspected, the arrangement of feathers is indeed abnormal. The tips of my fingers brush against a knot of something rough that I assume is string. Taking hold of it, I untie it, and the bird's head lifts back up, its yellow eyes peering at me.

On a length of old string, I find a miniature sort of tube is attached, made of an intricately carved golden metal. The carvings show flames rising from the bottom, and a ring of occult-like symbols just above them. I recognise some of them as protective. On the lid, the word 'Venus' is carved in a simple cursive style next to a miniature bird.

Finding the catch, I start to open the container, only to have it snatched from me by a dirt covered Becca, who seems to have awoken while I was looking at it. She tosses it to Eros, earning an irritated croak-like sound from the bird. It is clear that something still has Eros in a state of shock however, as the metal tube simply bounces off of his torso and onto the ground. As soon as he notices, he picks it up, but not before receiving a snort from Alec.

Quickly, the siblings come up either side of Eros, watching as he opens the tube. The bird drops down, lying on the ground with an expression of exasperation that I wasn't even sure an animal could pull off.

After a few seconds of waiting, curiosity gets the better of me. "What does it say?"

They all look up, Alec in particular looking as if he is about to respond. His sister gets there first.

"It doesn't matter. Nothing that concerns you," she claims flippantly.

"I could have been bird food a few seconds ago. Of course it concerns me," I reply, crossing my arms. Aside from the fact that I'm literally the weakest one here yet the only one who managed to get the thing, I'm not letting them keep this from me. I gather that they have enough secrets as it is.

She grins patronisingly. "Ria, it was sent for Prince. It's really none of your business."

Exsqueeze me, really? Yes, because it's sooo confidential that you can read it over his bloody shoulder like a fucking parrot. I'm the one who got it, thank you very much.

In front of her, Eros snickers at God knows what before sauntering over to me, smirking at my obvious displeasure. As he does so, the bird tenses, glaring at him with suspicion.

Clearly the thing has something against pretentious elves.

When he finally stops in front of me, he winks, handing me the tube and mouthing a quick "thank you". This brings a monster of a smirk to my face, knowing that Becca is probably steaming out of her ears right now, her opinion having been disregarded. Even when she isn't in a mood, if there's one thing she won't stand for, it is being ignored - in fact she would usually have started yelling by now. However, since she believes that His Royal Highness must have his butt thoroughly kissed, I suppose I'll have to settle with watching her slowly implode.

Which, by the way, is exactly what she is doing, if the redness of her face is any indication.

I don't know what's up with her today, but I'm beginning to enjoy it immensely.

Now ignoring her, I take out the slip of paper.

"My Prince,

I have sent Venus to inform you of my impending arrival in three days time.

There is no comprehensible way to explain my reasoning through writing, as I don't fully understand much myself.

Take a look and make of it what you will."

On the reverse of the note, I find an image, seemingly hand drawn with oddly placed droplets of coloured ink forming a few splashes of colour. It is as if the artist didn't quite know what they wanted to paint.

What is most strange about it is what it contained. On the left, an oblong shroud of black ink, with vague indications of a humanoid stature. On the right, the face of a snarling wolf, its fearsome eyes being the most prominent feature. And in the centre, atop a slab of stone is a single blossom, with the light splash of fuschia almost leaking from its edges.