Chapter 18

"Okay, Lance, Hector. Let's get this meeting over with. Don't leave out any details." Hector nodded his head.

"Except, please don't go off on a tangent on how hot that chick was again." Lance shakes his head after he says this to Hector.

"He did the same thing last night! Wouldn't shut up about her." I exclaim. He's ridiculous.

"You both wouldn't be shutting up about it either. I just was caught off guard, like how is someone so evil so hot." I smacked the back of his head again.

"Ouch. You're gonna give me a concussion or something." Lance was trying to hold back a laugh but was failing miserably.

"Okay, okay. We have to be serious now; let's go do this." Once we went into the huge conference room, the energy was completely stale and thick. Not all the council members could be present physically, but even you could feel that tensions were still high where they were here.

The head of the council was always an Elder Being. They have been around for thousands of years; they were basically gods. I'm still not quite sure exactly what Elder Beings are, besides just going by Elder Beings. Maybe they truly are gods; who knows. What I do know is that they are very powerful but inherently do not like confrontation. They kind of remind me of monks in the human world. Their mission is never about gaining more power; they are humble and rarely resort to any type of violence.

"It has come to our attention that Alium, Earth, and the council are being threatened. Today we are joined by a survivor, who has a message from this malicious group who refer to themselves as, 'Kalayavana.' Hector, please inform the council what the message is and everything that happened." Hector took his time telling every detail of what happened, even without mentioning how hot the woman was, which earned an impressed glance between Lance and me. He told us about how many were there, what supernatural beings were present at the time, how he lost his arm, how he went into the portal, and hid, then told everyone the messages that were to be given. When he told the council about what the woman said directly to me, it made me extremely uncomfortable from the number of eyes on me at that moment. I did my best to keep myself calm.

I had to answer a million questions on who I thought this could be, but honestly, I had no idea. I've been alive for a very long time and have met a lot of people. None that I remember ever showing signs of being evil or hungry for power. But that's one of the scariest parts; you don't ever truly know everything about a person. You only see a version of them, not every single part. I hope I can remember something that will point me to someone before it gets worse.

About four hours later, the meeting was finally done. Lance was giving me a look that I didn't like what so ever. Soon we were being stopped by Carol and Chloe.

"Hey, thank you both for helping Hector last night." I shook my head.

"It's no problem whatsoever, Carol. How are you both doing with everything?" I looked at her and Chloe.

"Better. We are so thankful that he's alive. We thought…" Carol starts to get caught on her words as tears come to her eyes. I put my hand on Carol's shoulder to help show comfort as I helped subside the pain.

"Thinking he was dead was one of the worst experiences we've had in our family in a while, but he's here now and alive, and that's all that matters." Lance hooked his arm around Chloe's shoulder and brought her into a hug. We caught up a bit more and finished with meeting up next weekend for dinner. Especially so Carol can meet Mila.

"Alright, Lance, once we get back to the house, I'm just going to grab some clothes, then go stay with Mila. I don't feel comfortable leaving her alone." I looked over to see him nodding his head.

"I get it, Em. I feel the same with Els. Just don't forget next weekend is dinner with Carol, Chloe, Hector, and the rest of them." I rolled my eyes at this. He always thinks I'm going to forget.

"I know, Lance. I'm not going to forget." He replied with a hum as he turned up the music. I hope Mila is okay.

Mila's POV:

With every breath I take, the cold air comes in to extinguish the rising heat within me. Everything around me starts to blur more as I pick up my pace. I forced my legs to move faster and faster. I come to a stop at the end of the path that meets the beach, and I let out a loud therapeutic scream. I screamed for my mom, myself, all the pain we've had to go through all these years; I screamed for having to leave my best friend, for having to live my whole life in fear, and because I still had to worry about that piece of shit.

Once I was done screaming, my whole body felt lighter. At this moment, I just lowered myself to the sand and closed my eyes, welcoming the cool saltwater air to embrace me. I could feel the sun starting to make its presence known as warmth subtly wrapped itself around me. At this moment, I was at peace. I felt safe; I felt free; I felt alive.

"Hey there, you okay? I heard you screaming." I took a deep breath before peaking out of my right eye to see who was talking to me. It was a woman; she was beautiful. Usually, in these moments, I would be embarrassed, but I didn't have enough energy for that. I just closed my eyes all the way and shifted my face to get more of the sun's warmth before responding.

"I'm fine; thank you for asking. I feel a lot better." I heard the woman lower herself down to sit beside me.

"Yeah? Well, it did sound like you got a lot of that scream." I just hummed in response, not really wanting to hold a conversation. I just wanted to enjoy the peace around me just a little bit longer.

"So, what's your name?" I rolled my eyes even though they're closed.

"If I tell you my name, will you let me enjoy this moment in peace?" You could hear how annoyed I was by the tone of my voice.

"Maybe." I huffed, then opened my eyes to find the girl a little closer than what I was comfortable with. Her eyes are so green; they're practically glowing. I scooted myself away from her before responding.

"I'm Mila." She stuck her hand out for me to take. I rolled my eyes and took hers into mine. Damn, her hands are so cold. Wait. I yanked my hand away from her grip and flung myself back, ungracefully making it back onto my feet.

"I'm Lina, and by your reaction, I take it, you know what I am?" She started to walk towards me.

"Stop! Don't take another step towards me." I shouted at her as I brought my pepper spray out. She put her hands up in surrender.

"I'm not going to hurt you. I heard you scream while I was out searching for food." My eyes went big, and I gasped.

"No, no, no. Animals, like a squirrel or something, not humans. I just wanted to make sure you're okay. I don't think you realize how many times women scream, and it's usually because they're in trouble." I tightened my grip on the pepper spray as she neared. I don't know what it was, but as she neared, there was this force making me put it down to my side.

"What the hell?" I exclaimed. I looked down at my hands, not knowing what was going on with my limbs. When I looked back up, I was face to face with the woman again; only when I went to move away from her, I couldn't.

"You're okay. I can control people's motor skills, so to say. See? I told you I'm not going to hurt you. Now, if I let you go, will you not pepper spray me?" I just slowly shook my head, signaling that I wouldn't do anything. Soon I felt like I was back in control of my body.

"I'm sorry. I just know some of you are bad." She took a few steps back away from me, which made me let out a breath of relief. I didn't know I was holding.

"It's fine, I understand. I'm glad you're okay. Is it okay if I walk you back to at least the main road?" I nodded.

"So, Lina, right?" She nodded, signaling that I was correct.

"What's your story?" She smiled at this.

"I was turned in the 1800s by a beautiful seductress. She saved me." I smiled at this.

"Is this why you stick your nose into other people's business when they're screaming? You want to save others like how you were?" She looked over at me, smiling.

"Yeah, something like that. Well, here we are, Mila. It was good meeting you. Do you mind if we exchange numbers?" I sucked in a breath at this moment.

"I already have a girlfriend. They're actually my mate; that's how I know about your kind." She chuckled at this.

"Just as friends, I swear. Maybe you, me, and our mates can all hang out together sometime?" I could feel my cheeks heat up.

"That's so embarrassing. I'm sorry. Here let me see your phone." She handed me her phone, and I handed her mine.

"See you around, Mila." With that, she had already disappeared back towards the beach before I got a chance to tell her goodbye. I turned around and started to jog back to my house. I've got another friend. It didn't take long for me to get back to my house and when I got there, I saw Emma's car in the driveway. This brought a smile to my face immediately.

"Hey, I'm back home!" I shouted at the door. Soon I felt two arms spin me around and lips meet mine. I smiled into the kiss. I didn't open my eyes just yet after the kiss but just leaned my head against hers. I couldn't get the smile to come off my face.

"Hey, there, love, I missed you so much." I didn't think my smile could get any bigger, but it did. I finally opened up my eyes and met hers. The blue and green swirls in her eyes were glowing brightly. I knew she was feeling the same amount of happiness I was.

"I missed you too. I'm going to go shower; then we can catch each other up on our days, sound good?" She smiled and nodded her head.

"Sounds amazing to me. See you in a bit; I love you." I gave her a small kiss before responding.

"I love you too," I said as I was making my way upstairs to my room. I can't wait to tell Emma about my day and my new friend.