Chapter 15: A Bad Surprise

A week after

Today is Valencia's birthday and we have been preparing her birthday surprise in my old house. Of course she doesn't know about all this. Luna took her for a walk while the rest of us we decorating the house. Jacob and Luka were busy with the lights while Vanity and I were decorating the cake. It was a delicious hot cake. "Valencia's favorite flavour!" Vanity exclaimed excitingly as she sprinkled some chocolate on the cake.

After an hour, Luka finally alerted us that she was coming so we switched of the lights and hid under the table.

"Surprise!!" We all said in unison.

"Thank you guys!" Valencia said as she wiped her tears. "Come on!" I dragged her towards her cake which she immediately fell in love with as soon as she saw it. "Happy Birthday Valencia!" I hugged her tightly. "Thank you for supporting me all this time." I whispered and she smiled. "No problem Hannah."

We cut the cake and started distributing it among us which was delicious. "Let's sit on the couch." Luna suggested as she walked towards it and we all nodded.

As we were talking about how we were preparing her birthday, Jacob lean beside me, "The cake was delicious, how about you make one for me," he whispered in my ear. "Sorry but I'm busy." I said as I lifted my chin slightly upwards. Luna and the others couldn't help but giggle at us.

"Hey guys did you notice a change in Valencia?" Confused we all looked at each other, the only ones who knew what was happening. Suddenly a thought struck my mind. Could it be possible? I closed my eyes and opened them again, revealing my brown ones. Everyone looked at me surprisingly.

'What are you doing?' Jacob asked through the mindlink and just then I caught Valencia's scent. 'Her scent is different...' I took a few more times to analyse it until, "She's an eagle!" Voice startled almost everyone because it was my human and eagle voice together but they were happy and excited at the same time.

"When did that happened?" Luna asked as she broke a hug with her. "It happened yesterday. I was feeling a bit weird, I could hear almost everything and my eyes kept changing it's color until I finally transformed into a bird." We were a bit surprised by how she transformed because usually someone would transform in contact with the forest but it could also be that she was angry.

"So what's your kind?" Jacob asked curiously. "I'm a golden eagle." Oh well she is kind of our opponent. Everyone started looking at me and Jacob with a grin on their faces. Jacob and I looked at each other in confusion. "Looks like you have an opponent!" Luna smiled devilishly. "Only when we are eagles we are opponents besides we have always been opponents." I smirked at Valencia and Vanity.

"Yeah! In fact i'm glad to be her opponent!" She grinned at me. "Now Valencia can take care of all my revenge!" Her eyes sparkled with naughtiness. "Oh really! Do you want to be my opponent?" I plastered a smug on my face. "Sure I'd be honoured to do this!" She stood up, her face glowing with determination.

"How about we all have a race and let's see who wins?" Luka suggested. We all nodded and headed out.

Jacob's POV

The girls came out and started discussing about where the race starts and ends.

Finally they decided that they are going to fly towards North, and then take a detour as soon as they reach the school yard and come back again.

"I'm pretty sure Luna's going to win this." Luka looked at her while encouraging her. "No, I think Hannah is going to win this race," after all my mate is strong and fast. "No no Jacob I think you're mistaken here. Luna is the one who will win the race." He explained calmly. "No Luka you're the one who's wrong. Hannah is the largest bird of you all of course she's got a lot more speed than Luna."

"Luna is going to win the challenge!" Luka started raising his voice as he protested.

"No Hannah will win the challenge!" I replied back.

Hannah's POV

"No Luna will!!"

"No Hannah will!!"

What's going on over there? "Hey guys stop arguing!" Vanity tried to stop them. "What's going on here!" I walked up to them but they weren't listening.

"Guys..."

"Guys."

"Boys!!"

I finally snapped which I think made my eye color change because they stopped and they were looking at my eyes but I ignored them. "Why are you arguing about?"

"We were just talking about who would win the race?" They smiled at me and Luna. "Whatever! Let's go Luna." I decided to ignore them because if we continue they are going to start a fight again. We all transformed and moved forward. On the starting line stood me, Luna and Valencia and Vanity who was in her wolf form was going to be the judge. As soon as Vanity barks the race starts so we had to wait for her call.

As I said, Vanity barked and we all set off at the speed of light. The soft wind brushed my feathers as we soar into the blue sky. The huge trees were covering us from the sunlight even though it was piercing through each the leaves.

We flew through almost all the obstacles. The trees were the most difficult ones because once you lose your focus you'll be hit by branches. For now only Valencia was the one ahead of us and Luna was just beside me.

Crystal turned to give me a devil look before she increased her speed. 'I'm going to win this sis!' I linked her and surpassed her. She stopped for a sec and then came back to her senses. 'One more to go and I win this!' I said to myself as I dodged the branches with full speed.

Soon we arrived above the school and we turned back. Not long after Valencia's eagle looked back, I flew past her. 'Never let yourself be distracted!' I linked her and she started flying faster. Suddenly I found myself beside Valencia. We were both soaring at the same speed and had the same movements. I smiled to myself and flew up which made her a bit confused so she continued her way.

After about a meter higher than her, I dived down. That way my speed increased two times and I beat her. As I thought we arrived at the finished line where Jacob and Luka stood and the winner was me. Too bad for Luna, she came out last but at least we had fun. We were tired as soon as we changed back to our human forms. Later I joined the others and they congratulated me with warm hugs.

"For your first time, I must admit you almost beat me in the race." I smiled and picked up a cup of water to drink. She blushed a little bit at my compliment to her.

Valencia was not really the type who would want parties specially not with a lot of people so we did a small party among ourselves. We did a lot of activities and played a lot of games in which I wasn't really a pro.

At night we all watched a movie and we eventually decided to stay here and return tomorrow.

It was already 4am and we still hadn't sleep. "I'll be right back guys!" I said and stood up to walk out of the room. I walked our and closed the door behind me. The old wood which were making creepy noise had me almost startled. I was heading towards my room to get my phone. I opened the door and immediately sensed someone. I searched for the scent but it was a bit faint. It seemed suspicious but I couldn't see anyone so I reached for my phone that was on the table but before I could do so, someone grabbed my arm.

"You again!" My eyes immediately changed as soon as it realised who it was. Even if I'm blind I can recognise that touch is non other than Rhys's. "It is really not what you think Hannah. OK you don't believe me but at least you can hear me out." I nodded and sat on my bed with both my arms crossed. "What do you have to say!" I almost yelled.

"I'm here to help."

"And how am I supposed to trust you, let alone believe you!" I rolled my eyes and looked away. "If I had to kill you then why help you?" His eyes caught my attention after what he said. Is he really helping me? But what if it's a trap? Will I make a mistake by not believing him like I did for Valencia and Vanity? He seemed to be telling the truth I could see it in his fire-like eyes.

I want to believe you but I can't at the same time.

Just behind him I could see the sun rising through the window. The sun rise background were perfectly matched with his crimson red hair. "Get out of here Rhys!" I grabbed his arm showing him the way out. "Not Today Hannah! Do you think I did all this for no reason?" He shouted. "And don't worry about the others, I just locked them in the room for a while." He added.

"I don't want to listen to you! Get the hell out!" I ignored his facial expressions and opened my door, pushing him out of my room. "You are not even sure of what you are doing!" He shook his hands abruptly off mine. "I know what I'm doing!" I opened the backdoor and dragged him outside. "No you don't!" He pulled me back making me face him. His eyes were red with a little bit orange in it. The glow in his eyes were as if they were on fire.

I couldn't move. I was frozen. It was his eyes, his glance was so powerful. "Now listen to what I have to tell you. Eliana has a lot of warrior eagles with her and they will be coming in a few minutes. The warrior eagles are half birds and half human that have almost the same strength as me and they are here to kill you." Was he really telling the truth? I mean a few days before he was the one trying to kill me so how can I trust him.

"I'm telling the trut-" He stopped midway focusing around him. He heard it too, the cracking sound in the woods. It wasn't that loud but we could here it. "Get inside!" He ordered but I kept on standing.

I was about to move forward when I noticed something on the roof. It was a man, behind him I could see two pairs of wings. He had two black wings in each side and he was holding a golden spear. His eyes were the same as our kind; a yellowish colour.

"Warrior eagles!" I frowned. Of course it had to be them. I could feel the rage that was in my eyes. "So you know who we are." The man grinned at me. "Did you know that no one knows us except the one to whom we work for." Another voice behind us said. He was a few metres away from the ground and he had a silver spear instead of a golden one.

"Too bad I'm already aware of your existence." Rhys replied with his arms crossed. "If I were you I would have remain silent." The other guy landed and bent his silver spear at him. "And what are YOU going to do if I don't remain silent." Rhys smirked. "Don't you dare underestimate a warrior eagle's power." He moved the spear slightly at him while a frown appeared on his face. "Just so you know I don't follow silly birds orders."

"Enough already! We are not here to talk. We are here to kill!" The man banged his golden spear. He seemed to be the leader because when he yelled, everyone took it as an order and turn to face me. 'Whatever you do, don't transform; you'll be more vulnerable in your eagle form.' A similar voice rang in my brain. 'Since when can you mindlink me? I thought you could only read thoughts!' He ignored my question and moved a step forward.

"Do you really think you can defeat a Phoenix?" He smirked, showing them his red eyes. One of them was about to back down when the leader stopped him. "We are not ordered to kill you but to kill your fellow friend who's next to you." The man replied. His smirked faded into a frown as he came in front of me.

"Then you'll have pass through me first." He crossed his arms in a defensive way. "If you say so."

I was quiet; I didn't know what to do. Should I defend myself? Should I trust Rhys? I was in deep thought that I wasn't even aware someone was about to attack me but Rhys pushed the man along with his spear, away. "Get inside the house!" He shouted. Like hell I'd do that. 'I can defend myself too you know!'

'Can you stop being annoying at least for once!' He rolled his eyes and attacked the man. I ignored him and joined the fight.

In a fraction of seconds, a man flew towards me with his spear directly at me which I dodged a bit easily but little did I know that there was someone else behind me. I turned around to see another spear coming towards me. Luckily I dodged it but while doing so, I fell to the ground.

Rhys was handling this so well and all I was doing was to dodge the attack. A man who was fighting him fell to the ground and his silver weapon got away from him. He lifted his eyes to look at me. We glared at each other for a quick second before we ran for the same spear. I grabbed the spear which was a few millimetres from his grasp and pointed it towards him.

He had a shocking expression. "H-How are you able to touch that?!" He stuttered between his words. Everyone stopped even Rhys looked at me. They all were giving me shocking faces along with gasps.

"What do you mean?" I asked, confused. "No one can touch a warrior's spear unless... you are a warrior eagle." Rhys wondered. Everyone was confused. "That can't be possible you are not a warrior eagle, if you were one, you would have the scent of one." The leader said.

Just then we heard a piercing call echoed in the forest. Everyone's attention turned behind them and they all looked at each other. One by one started flying away and soon the leader flew away giving us a warning that they'll come back. I turned to Rhys who was looking at the forest.

He turned to look at me and a gave him a smile but instead he ran towards me. A sudden flame took over his body and he flew just above me. I turned around to see what happened and I saw one of the warriors coming directly at me with his spear. "Hannah!" Luna's voice reached my ears. I looked at the house and saw Jacob and the others.

I was about to tell them everything but before   I could, I heard a whimpering sound behind me. I could smell blood already and it was fresh. Someone was hurt. Even after what Rhys did, I was somehow praying that it wasn't him but I guess my prayers were not heard because when I turned to his direction, I saw the red Phoenix badly injured on the ground. The silver spear was pierced through his arm.

"Rhys!" The rage that I couldn't hold anymore finally reached it's limit and I transformed in such a rush that the man didn't even have the time to make a move. I slayed him with my powerful claws. He immediately regretted it and flew away. I followed him, making sure he wouldn't come back. After a couple of distance, I was finally convinced so I returned back to the spot.

Just a few metres away, I saw everyone standing near the injured bird and landed near him. "Stay away from him!" Jacob warned me. 'He won't hurt us!' I mind-linked. Luna approached me and she patted my head, telling me to go change myself.

I rushed towards Jacob's room where everyone stood. There was Rhy lying on the bed. His arm bleeding without stopping. "He won't make it..." Luka informed us. Sadness immediately formed in everyone's faces. "We can at least try!" I replied. I refuse to let him die like this. "We can't! He's poisoned." Jacob looked at me sadly. He knew I was as shocked as everyone was.

"You mean that weapon had poison on it?" Luna asked, giving Jacob and Luka a puzzled look and they nodded.

That means that we can't do anything for him. He won't survive.

I felt the tears stream off my eyes. Jacob walked towards me and gave me a hug, reassuring me that it would be ok with would not be. Luna was also crying while Valencia, Vanity and Luka were consoling her.

I moved closer to Rhys and sat next to him. I looked at him for a while before I heard his heartbeat stopped. Everyone knew he died. Luna started crying in Luka's arm, Vanity and Valencia were sobbing in each other's arm and I was sitting there frozen.

"He protected me till he died..." I said in realisation. Tears filled my eyes.

Jacob approached me and gave me a tight hugged. I buried my face in his shoulder. My hands were tightly gripped to his shirt. I started sobbing. "I should've believed him!" My grip on his shirt tightened even more.

Jacob couldn't say anything because he was as shocked as me. He didn't know what to do to help me calm down.

A thought suddenly flashed in my mind. I broke the hug and wiped off my tears. "Eliana. She was the one who started it! I'm going to end this now!" I clenched my fist furiously and walked out of the room slamming the door loudly.

"She is going to pay for what she has done!" I've had enough of her. I was not going to stay quiet while she kill all my families.

"Wait! Where are you going?" I ignored Luka's voice and continued. Suddenly someone grabbed my hand and pulled me back. "Luka leave me alone!" I turned around but saw Jacob instead. "Leave me alone Jacob." I said as calmly as possible. I didn't realise that my hands were bleeding until he showed me his surprised face. I guess I cleched my fist too much...

"Let's go inside." He cupped my face and smiled. His green eyes somehow seemed to be comforting me. I finally decided to walk back with Jacob and Luka beside me.

When I opened the door I couldn't believe what I heard...