Chapter 7

Culebras

 

Every moment that occurred after was left in a blur, all but a fading memory, barely even existent other than as a thought. The bar was left in chaos, these things came out from the darkness, all of us backed up towards the exits. I was brought back into reality and out of my thoughts when Athena pulled at me.

"We need to go", her voice echoed through my ears but barely registered into my mind. I followed her, still shocked of the sudden outburst, which made me more or less paralysed.

Richard and Seth set off after us and soon we all stood cramped in the corner of the locked front door. My heart was racing in my chest whilst observing the situation between Seth and Athena; my obliged sister.

I was left to think the situation out, although it seemed much to complicated, what were those things? Sure enough, they had fangs, which pointed toward one simple explanation - in fact, it would be rather irrational to not expect something like a vampire. Because after all, always expect the unexpected, that's what my uncle always told me.

The sudden roar of something from the back brought my attention over to the creatures, they seemed all to have lost interest in whatever was at the back, more now so; they had their sights upon us all.

"Guys.. we have a problem", I mumbled barely audible but they all seemed to register my words.

The situation accelerated roughly, blood and bullets flew at all directions, I did my best to keep behind the three of them. But another one of those creatures brought me down onto the floor, which caused me to let out a scream.
The thing hovered over me, fangs out and ready to strike at any given moment, I shut my eyes tightly while covering my face. But the impact never came and a weight was lifted from me with a sharp sound. I opened my eyes to see Richie standing closely to me, he had some sort of knife like object in his hand, there was dust beneath his feat.

"You okay there, sweetheart?", Richie let a grin form on his lips but I saw the distanced concern in his eyes while he reached a hand out for me. I grabbed it, without a word spoken and let out a small breath.

"Thanks", I managed while Athena and Seth came up to us both. I felt my mind race, almost spin, this didn't make any sense; why was this all happening?
Wasn't it enough for me to be reunited with my so called sister after years - it had to be during some sort of feeding ground? I felt chills run up my spine and had to rush my hands through my hair to brush away the thoughts.

"Hey.. are you okay?", Athena's voice brought me back into sanity.

No.

"I don't know. I don't know what's going on here or what those things are and what that dude from earlier was talking about and I don't know if I'm okay right now. I just don't know!", I rambled loudly without letting myself even breath. I let out a short huff, something resembling a laugh, but there was no emotion; no clarity; just emptiness. Richard let his stare fall upon me in a light way, there laid recognition in his eyes for a moment.

"Okay, relax. It's all good, just take a breath and sit down", Athena spoke calmly but her eyes showed all but calmness. Her hand landed on my shoulder gently but I tensed instantly; which caused her to take it off immediately. I distantly walked over to a seat and sat down silently.


20 minutes later

We were sat back in safety in the Gecko brothers car, Athena, Seth and Richard were all drained from head to toe with blood, fortunately I managed to keep myself away as much as possible. The air inside the car smelt of dried up blood from those creatures. It made me sick. I kept myself quiet and stared dreamingly through the window away at the bright daylight.

The others started up a conversation, but I had since the start tuned out, I couldn't deal with much more of this now. It just made me want to jump out the speeding car. I closed my eyes and let myself slowly drift off into some sort of rest; but I could still hear the chattering that went around in  the car between them all.

"Culebras. They are almost like vampires, except they are more snakelike than bats. The dancer girl, she's called 'Santanico Pandemonium', she's like their queen", Athena said even as she had no idea what she was saying herself. I opened my eyes and looked at her strangely confused.

"So you knew what they were? Wait, how do you know?", Seth questioned just as confused as the rest of us. Athena looked rather uncomfortable with all of our stares on her.

"Believe it or not, I don't know how I knew all of that", she admitted and shook her head slightly.


1 hour later

When we finally pulled up into the parking lot of a motel, I felt myself yawn, we then went into the motel. The man behind the desk stared at us, clearly startled and scared of our appearance. Athena, I and Seth awaited for Richard to return as he went up to the desk to get us rooms.

"You got us rooms?", Seth asked his brother.

"Better. The dude was so scared he gave us the key to a little villa just down the road. We are getting the beach view!", Richard declared with triumphing grin and a slight chuckle.

"Looks like we are on vacation", Athena said and opened the car door again. I followed her moves and slid into the car. I started playing with my fingers, not certain of why, but there was some confusion in the air around us.

"So... The Falkov sisters?", Seth started which instantly caught my attention; my head snapped up right when Athena was about to say something and the words poured out of my mouth.

"She is not my sister. My sister died when I was just a kid", I stated harsly but knew I shouldn?t have, the look that came across Athena's face made me want to take it all back. The car ride fell back into silence right away and I let out a short sigh before rubbing my temples with the use of my hands to rid of the headache that had occurred.

We arrived up at the villa only 10 minutes later, it looked amazing! You could see the light blue waves across the waters just a few meters away from the house; the fresh smell of the ocean struck my nose as I exited the vehicle and a small smile let itself onto my lips.

The others rushed over to the house but I stayed for a while, enjoying the moment and letting my mind at ease in the light calming winds around the area. I made my way slowly across the beach, the sand covering my converse as I walked, this place was peaceful. I could stay here for forever if I so had to. I walked closer to the waves, the sound of them hitting few rocks by one side brought me back a familiar feeling; had I been here before?

"Hey, gorgeous", someone spoke from behind me, although without turning around I could tell it was Richie. Soon enough, his frame came into view and I hinted a small smile upon his lips. We stood there for a while, silence between us, the only thing heard were the continuous crashing of the waves. But it felt comfortable. All until I remember all of the stuff we had gone through; the kiss.

"Hey, I just wanted to thank you, for you know saving my ass back there", I turned to him slightly with a unsure smile on my face. I didn't know what I felt at that moment, but something in his eyes when he looked at me made me feel safe.

"It's fine, anytime", Richie nodded with a serious tone. That was more of the man that I knew. Even when I didn't actually know him. But I knew he cared about his brother and would basically do anything for him; same for Seth. So why did their relationship bug me the slightest? Was it because I had dismissed the thought of having my sister back?

"Nikki?", Richie's voice broke through my thoughts and made me look at him; he stared at me with confusion and concern.

"Yeah, I'm fine", I mumbled and looked over at the ocean once more to try and hide away from his beautiful eyes.

"What's going on?", he asked and stepped closer which forced me, again, to look at him. I gave him my very best fake smile and shook my head; to confirm everything was alright, but unfortunately he didn't seem to buy it and placed a hand on my arm.

"You can tell me", he assured with a calming tone. I looked into his eyes, the sun shone across his face; which made his blue eyes glow even further under his framed glasses. They studied me intensely, clearly looking for a way into my head, he was desperate to know my mind; just as I was desperate to know his.

"The truth is.. I'm scared, scared that the girl inside there really is my sister, the sister I lost so long ago and that our father kept from me and me from her. I just don't understand why he would do that.. why would anyone keep us apart? I just don't understand", I breathed and felt the tears burn at the brink of my eyes; threatening to spill at any given moment.

 

Richard stood in silence, his arm still placed upon my arm, a gentle look crossed his face. He seemed to take in all of my words; unravelling them in his own mind; understanding them and making a conclusion to himself. He took a brief pause before he looked into my eyes again.

"I can't answer all of your questions, but what I do know from my own taking of this situation is that your father wouldn't have kept you two apart unless it was important", he said with a soft tone; a sweet smile came over his lips, one that I was yet to know before. I knew he was right.

We stood in silence once more and his hand had left mine while we both admired the view in front of us - it was certainly breathtaking.

"Thank you, Richard", I gently spoke which brought his eyes over to mine again.

"Anytime, sweetheart", he grinned and we both laughed lightly. It was real.

-

Richard and I walked back up the stairs towards the small villa a while after when the sun had started to fade upon the soon dark skies. Richard opened the door for me and I smiled while we stepped into the warmth. I slipped off my shoes and walked into the living room to find Athena laid onto a couch and Seth by her side. She looked pale.

"What's going on? Is she okay?", I asked hurriedly and rushed over to her. Seth looked at his brother and they shared some sort of thought. I didn't bother it and bent down to Athena and grabbed onto her hand softly. I felt the guilt rip inside me.

"She passed out at a sudden, I'm not sure what happened", Seth stood up from where he had sat next to Athena and I felt a tear slip from my eyes as I looked at her. Her hands were cold.

"Athena", I mumbled softly trying to shake her slightly, to no avail Athena laid just as still, her chest rising and lowering in the slightest of ways; almost like she was peacefully asleep. I looked over at the two brothers who were speaking in hushed voices. I let go of Athena, stood up and practically ran across the room while I pushed Seth against the wall roughly; the rare rage inside me bubbling up and through my veins.

"What the hell did you do to her?", I practically shouted and pressed him further into the wall; Seth stared clearly shocked at me and at a loss of words. Sure, I wasn't one to lash out easily, but when I did; it was said to be rather bad.

"I didn't do anything to her, I told you!", Seth snapped back while trying to get out of my grip, but I had my hand around a very sensitive spot around his neck; which at the right amount of pressure would send him to the floor.

"Hey, calm down Nikita", Richie tried from beside us but he barely dared to touch me when I sent him an unrecognisable glare. We were all interrupted by grunts that came from the couch, Athena stirred in confusion and coughed slightly which made me drop my grip around Seth's throat.

"Athena, are you okay?", I asked barely giving her space as I hugged her tightly. She let out a confused laugh and I pulled away. 

"Did I miss something?", Athena looked at all of us in turns and I smiled gently at her.

"Your sister may be small, but she is damn strong when she needs to be", Seth complained and rubbed his sore throat while he sent a glare my way. I let a innocent smile onto my lips and Athena looked at me confused.

 

"We're sisters now are we?", she joked and I felt embarrassed.

"Let's just say someone got me to a better sense", I admitted and glanced at Richard who seemed occupied with his brother once more but I could see his slight grin.

"So, what happened to you?", I asked Athena and sat down next to her on the couch.

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Worst ending ever. But, hey, what can you do? Like this chapter for more.

Also I tried something different with the gifs. Not sure if it's a keeper. Let me know what you think.

— lovi

"It looks like we have something extra special for tonights show", the ugly dude from earlier said and two light turned on from above and shone straight on me and Nikki. I looked around confused as to what was about to happen, I looked at Nikki and she was just as confused as me, the anticipation grew amongst the crowd as they all stared at us.

"The Falkov sisters!", he shouted and the room went dead silent. My breathing stopped and I just stared right at Nikki. This wasn't how I wanted to tell her, but the question remains. How do they know who we are? All of the business men stared at us with something in their eyes. The entire room was silent, there was nothing there but tension and everyone's eyes were on me and Nikita. Even Seth and Richard looked chocked.

My attention suddenly got placed on the guy that was holding my arm, his grip loosened a bit and I looked at him for a second to see him staring right at me and I could see how pale he has became it almost looks like if he has seen a ghost. Or worse. All of sudden all the doors and windows got locked and I looked up to see all of the business men get out of the bar. That's when everyone started panicking as they all sat up from their seats and looked around among themselves searching for answers as to what was happening. But then music started blasting from a corner and this Mexican looking rock band started playing and the lights were off of me and Nikita and it started shining on stage, a half naked girl walks out with a snake around her and I just stare at her. She looks so freakishly familiar, I know I have seen her somewhere. She started dancing to the beat and every guy in the room stared at her like a bunch of hungry sharks, I couldn't stop staring at her. All of sudden the sound of a fired gun caught everyone's attention and I looked around to see where it was coming from, and I saw the ranger. The one I shot earlier, how is he still standing? But he didn't shoot at me, he shot at Richard and I guess he missed since Richard was still standing tall and fair. All of sudden the girl on the stage started running towards them, I stared at her as her eyes turned yellow and her skin started to look like snake scales. Everyone were in shock and suddenly a voice in my head started yelling
"get yourself out of here". I grabbed the dude that was holding me and kicked him straight were the sun shines and he crumbled to the floor. I ran towards Nikki that was still frozen and I grabbed her arm gently as I gave her slight smile.

"We need to go", she snapped back to reality and nodded at me as we ran towards the exit door. I pushed the door but it wouldn't open and I tried pulling it but nothing helped. I pulled out my gun to shoot it when someone put their hand on mine.

"There is no use, the door is badly locked. There is no way of opening it, so don't waste your bullets", I looked at Seth with a glare as I put down my gun. Richie was standing behind Nikki and we all just looked at each other with confusion.

"Then how the hell are we supposed to get out of here?", I snapped as I looked at Seth and Richard with annoyance and anger written all over my face.

"Guys... We got a big problem", Nikki spoke from the back and we all looked at her with confusion, we followed her eyes and that's when we saw these bizarre looking creatures. They were basically eating the people inside the bar, it was blood flying everywhere and and I saw how the ranger was thrown into a wall by the dancer girl. For just a "normal" girl she sure is strong as hell. Suddenly four of the creatures looked at us and they started running towards us in full speed, I looked at Seth and Richard as we all took our guns and started shooting, but nothing stopped them.

"What the hell are these things?", Seth shouted as we were shooting, but it didn't help much since they got closer and closer. Suddenly I get attacked by one of them and I fall in my back dropping my gun. The "thing" was so close to my face and I can swear I saw fangs, and scales all over her. I held my elbow at her throat and tried to push her off of me.

"You seem tasty, Falkov.", she kept coming closer and closer to my neck.

"You are one ugly bitch", I kicked her off of me and I stood up looking a round to find Nikki, one of those "things" we're on top of her, I grabbed my gun and started shooting at it to get its attention. And I guess I succeeded because before I even could blink the creature that at first looked like a girl was now in front of me and was pushing me up against the wall. I let out a loud agonizing scream as she sunk her fangs into my neck.

"Need some help", I heard Seth's speak behind her as he stabbed her with a knife and it went right through her chest, she screamed loudly and in a matter of seconds she turned into dust. Me and Seth looked at each other with a shock written all over our faces.

"What the hell are they?", I looked at him as my eyes widened, did that seriously happen?

"I can't believe I'm actually saying this and it actually makes sense to me. But I'm gonna go and guess they are vampires.", he spoke and I just looked at him with no emotion on my face. I just stared at him blankly while holding my neck since it was bleeding a little because of that 'thing' that bit me.

"You can't be serious? Vampires? Really? This isn't twilight.", I shook my head as I took my gun up from the ground.

"They have fangs and they are fast as hell and plus they die when u stab them in the heart. You got any other suggestion of what that could be?", he came closer to me, as I glared right at me like if I had offended his great ancestors.

"If that's a freaking vampire, does it mean I'm going to turn all vampy on everyone?", I said with amusement in my voice.

"Does it look like I'm a vampire expert?", he walked back to Richie as I walked up to Nikki.

"Hey... Are you okay?", I asked her unsure, I didn't know what more to tell her. I mean she just found out who she is and who I am to her. I'm not sure if she is taking it well.

"I don't know. I don't know what's going on here or what those things are and what that dude from earlier was talking about and I don't know if I'm okay right now. I just don't know!", she is talking so fast I think she might pass out.

"Okay, relax. It's all good, just take a breath and sit down.", I put my hand on her shoulder and I could feel how tense she got. I immediately took my hand away as she slowly sat down while taking some deep breaths.

20 minutes later ...

By now I was covered in so much blood you couldn't even tell if I was even human. Just cutting through those 'vampires' and using a damn chainsaw to tore them apart just covered me in their filthy and disgusting blood. We have killed about 15 or 20 of those things and I don't think any of us could go any further, none of us had energy left. Suddenly the sun was shining through the window and we heard the doors magically unlock. I looked around at Seth, Richard and Nikki as we all immediately ran towards the door, Richard and Seth pushed the doors open and we all ran towards the car. Seth opened the car doors and we all jumped in as he hit the gas pedal. I looked around at everyone in the car, Richard, Seth and me we were all covered in any type of blood by now. While Nikki only looked like someone might've accidentally bled on her, I didn't mind that. Because I don't want her to turn out like me, someone who has no trouble shooting or killing others.

"I need a damn shower", I groaned as I laid back on the car seat slowly closing my eyes.

"I think we all do", Richard said from the front as he let out a sigh.

"how about we talk about what the hell those things were back there", I opened my eyes and looked next to me at Nikki, and then I looked at Seth through the mirror.

"I don't think any of us knows-", Seth started but suddenly I heard my own voice interrupting him.

"Culebras. They are almost like vampires, except they are more snake like than bats. The dancer girl, she's called 'Santanico Pandemonium', she's like their queen.", was I the one saying that? It felt like someone else was talking for me and suddenly I was back up again. Everyone looked at me with wide eyes and question marks written all over their faces.

"So you knew what they were? Wait how do you know?...", Seth asked while looking at me trough the mirror. But I really don't know how I knew that.

"Believe it or not, I don't know how I knew all of that.", I said unsure as they all gave me a strange look, I just shook my head slight in confusion as I looked outside the window.

1 hour later ...

We finally arrived at a motel and we all stepped out of the car, as we entered the motel the guy at the desk looked at us with fear in his eyes as he gulped. I don't blame him, four people that are covered in blood just walked into his hotel and he probably thinks we are serial killers. I guess we kinda are. We stood behind as Richard went up to the desk to get us a room that was big enough for all of us. After a few minutes of Spanish talking he came back with a key and I just let out a breath in relief. I was gonna take a shower soon.

"You got us rooms?", Seth asked Richard as Richard gave me a slight smirk.

"Better. The dude was so scared he just gave us the key to a little villa that's just down the road. We are getting the beach view", he chuckled slightly as we walked out. A villa? Even better.

"Looks like we are on vacation", I said as I opened the car door and sat back in the car with Nikki by my side.

"So.. The Falkov sisters?", Seth started and just like that the air was full of tension, as I went to open my mouth I got interrupted by Nikki.

"She is not my sister. My sister died when I was a kid.", I just stared at her long and hard, why would she say that? I'm sitting right next to her, does she not believe it or is she ashamed to call me her sister? I just looked outside the window as I tried to control my emotions like I usually do.

We arrived at the villa after ten minutes of driving and no lies, it looked amazing. We were right next to the beach and it almost looked like we were in a movie.

"this is what I'm talking about Rich!", Seth said with excitement as I let out a little laugh.

"I got dibs on the shower", I said as I immediately ran into the house as Richard opened the door. I started to look for the bathroom and the shower. I need to get out of these cloths asap. I final found the bathroom but unfortunately Seth was already standing at the door.

"Too slow", he smirked as I rolled my eyes at him.

"I ain't in the mood for this, so just get the hell out.", I shook my head as I walked up to him.

"Make me", he smirked again, oh how much I want to slap that smirk off his face. I grabbed him by the arm to drag him out but he just grabbed me hard and pushed my against the door as he came real close to my face with a spark in his eyes and smile playing on his lips. He came closer and closer, he pushed a bit of my hair away from my face and tucked it behind my ear, he came close to my ear and whispered.

"It so fun having you around right now", I felt a shiver go through my body as he lets me go and starts walking down the stairs.

"Why?", I said behind him as he lets out a laugh.

"You're fun to mess with", he laughed as he walked down the stairs, I just shook my head with a slight smile. So he want to play games? I like games.

I closed the bathroom door behind me and locked it, I put on the hot water and I started to take of my bloody cloths. I looked into one of the drawers and thankfully there were towels in there so I just took one out and put on a hook. I stepped into the shower the hot water hit my back and I felt relaxation come over me as I let out a deep breath. This is exactly what I need right now after the longest and weirdest week ever. I closed my eyes as the water ran down from the top of my head, but that's when I heard the voice again.

'Athena...' I looked around to see if there was anyone in the bathroom but there was no one there, the voice was coming from the inside of my head. Who is that? Why is that voice so similar? I snapped out of my thoughts as I ran my hand through my wet hair, but there was one thing I couldn't stop thinking about. Why would Nikki say what she said in the car? I couldn't help but get emotional, the sister I finally found again after believing she was dead for all these years didn't want me as a sister. Even though I was in the shower and already wet I could feel a tear escape my eye and slowly go down my face. I close my eyes and let out a deep breath, I need to control myself. I can't let things get to me, that's what dad taught me.

After almost an hour I was finally done showering and honestly I feel like a burden was lifted off my shoulders, that's how relaxed I felt. I remembered that my clothes were in the trunk so just shrugged and wrapped a towel around me as I stepped out of the bathroom, yet again I was face to face with Seth. Why is he standing outside of the bathroom?

"Waiting for some magical fairy to pop out of the toilet or what?", I said sarcastically as he rolled his eyes at me. But I noticed how his eyes started to take in every inch of my body, he looked at me from head to toe as water was dripping down from my hair. And I swear I could see him bite his lip for a second.

" so what's with you and your sister?", I looked at him as I my smirk dropped, I just looked down for a minute before looking back at him.

"You heard her, I'm not her sis-", I grabbed onto Seth's arm as I almost fell backwards, suddenly my head was spinning around and I couldn't hear Seth clearly, it almost sounded like if his voice was echoing.

"Wow... You okay?", he looks me in the eyes as he helps me to maintain my balance.

"Yeah I'm fine", I lied, my head was spinning and I honestly could see three Seth's talking in front of me.

"You sure? Because you look like you are about to pass out.", he holds unto my arm slightly as he looks at me with slight concern in his eyes.

"Yeah, I'm sure-", I almost loose my balance again but Seth's holds onto me tight so don't fall backwards.

"You know, you're probably right. I'm going to pass out.", and just like that I fell down to the floor as everything went dark and Seth's voice faded.

Am I dying?...

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I am so so SO sorry for the wait friends, I've been going through some stuff with life and school and I didn't have time to write. But I hope you like this chapter :)

Like & comment ^~^

// Sara