Chapter 58

Akirexer felt the gamarax flow violently through her body. Her wounds started to heal until they disappeared completely. Not even a scar was left. Her fangs grew longer and her eyes beamed red. She tightened her hold on her glowing sword. In a blink of an eye, she charged at Umandaang and the two exchanged thundering blows.

Akirexer made sure that Umandaang remained on the ground with her. She remembered her training and kept an eye out for his tail and flames. Umandaang tried to hit her with his tail but failed each time. He was puzzled by Akirexer's maniac behavior as she violently attacked him. She didn't even stop when he clawed at her. She just kept lashing out at him.

I am now on the defense? Umandaang couldn't believe it.

Umandaang got so caught up in the fight that he left his bottom jaw out in the open. Akirexer tossed her sword aside and landed one powerful punch that sent Umandaang straight into the sky. She jumped after him and hit him with multiple punches and kicks. The last side kick sent him crushing down.

Umandaang felt drowsy and weak. He laid down flat on his belly with his legs spread out. Akirexer landed with a ground shaking thud. Her sword reappeared in her hand as she made her way to Umandaang. Umandaang let out a soft laugh and puffed out smoke from his nostrils.

"After so many years I can finally leave this dreadful place." He said and Akirexer paused in her trucks. "Remind me of your name, none pure."

"My name is Akirexer." Akirexer blurted out.

"Akirexer? I see, so Sharaina named you after her mother? This is interesting." Umandaang calmly replied.

Akirexer was surprised to find out that her name belonged to Queen Sharaina's mother. It was at that moment that she understood why Queen Sharaina got so furious with her when she rejected the name.

"None pure..." Umandaang's voice interrupted Akirexer's thoughts. "You are my mistress now therefore I will serve you." Umandaang continued. "It is almost time for the third day hence your time is almost running out. Place your hand on my head and complete our pact."

Puzzled, Akirexer asked Umandaang, "What do you mean my time is almost up?"

"No darkas god without a dragon can survive in the Dragon Territory for more than three days. They drop dead after the third day if the dragon they challenged doesn't kill them first. Hurry up and place your right hand on my head." Umandaang explained.

Akirexer got closer to Umandaang but halted. Umandaang sensed her skepticism and gave her an assuring node. Akirexer then got close enough and let out her right hand. She placed it on Umandaang's head. As soon as she felt the coldness of his scales, a force she had never felt before took hold of her. She felt like she was been electrocuted and hot steamy water was rushing through her veins.

Akirexer screamed loud in pain. Umandaang morphed into a huge bright mass of red mist. The mist got into Akirexer's dragon mark with a stinging pain. As soon as it all got in, all the pain was gone. All that was left was a panting Akirexer on her knees. A huge portal appeared before Akirexer. Akirexer looked at its splendor in awe.

****

Queen Sharaina sat on her throne with her legs crossed. In her hand was a glass of gaku berry wine. Only one maiden fanned her while Wadose read reports to her. Queen Sharaina heard everything word he said but she was too lost in thought to make sense out of any of it. She put her wine glass to her lips and paused. A grin swept across her face.

"Umandaang." She said loud enough for Wadose and the puzzled maiden to hear.

****

At the Serial Takers hideout, all the members except Alex, sat outside waiting for Akirexer. Alongside them were Quix and Rose. Quix finally made up his mind to see Akirexer and Rose shared the same desire. She had tried to summon Akirexer earlier but failed so she instead summoned Maradina.

"So she has been gone for close to three days?" Rose asked everyone.

"Yes she has." Waxx answered Rose from the porch.

Waxx glanced over to his brother who did his best to avoid him at all times. Waxx never thought that he would see the day that Quix would go to his house willingly. Not after what happened between them a long time ago.

If I can't forgive myself for what happened, why do I still expect him to forgive me? Waxx silently thought with a distant look on his face that only Derrick noticed.

A spark was heard and everyone braced themselves as they watched a giant portal violently cut through the air. Rose got so afraid that she jumped into Quix's arms who just stood there dumbfounded as he held her bridal style.

The portal grew bigger and bigger until they saw a humanoid figure approaching from beyond the light. The girls chuckled among themselves whereas Waxx, Bruce and Derrick smiled. Josh just maintained his blank facial expression as he smoked alone at the far end of the porch. He had just got back after going M. I. A for weeks.

Akirexer finally got out of the portal and it immediately closed behind her. She was stunned to see everyone happily looking at her. Akirexer grinned and placed her hands on her hips.

"I didn't know that I was this special." She teased them. Akirexer took notice of the compromising position Quix and Rose were in. "Rose? Vice commander Quix?"

Rose, red with embarrassment, quickly got off Quix and pulled her skirt down before fixing her hair. Quix on the other hand, cleared his throat and tried his best not to look directly into Akirexer's questioning eyes. Everyone else giggled underneath their breaths. Neither dared to laugh out loud.

"I thought of paying you a visit. I had no idea that you went into another dimension to fight a dragon." Rose said as she tried her best to hide her embarrassment but it was so obvious.

Akirexer held back her laugh but failed to keep a smile off her face. "I'm sorry I didn't explain that part to you. Thanks to the gamarax boost vice commander Quix helped me get, I was able to complete my training. Speaking of which, what are you doing here vice commander?"

Quix didn't say anything but pulled out Akirexer's hairpin out of his pocket.

"My hairpin! I thought I'd never see it again."

Akirexer gently took it from Quix's hand. For only a second, they each felt the touch of their hands. They both gazed into each others eyes as their hearts secretly raced. Akirexer was first to snap back to her senses and she broke eye contact. Her withdraw pushed Quix back to his senses too.

"Congratulations on achieving your dragon powers." Quix broke the awkward silence.

"Thank you." Akirexer answered back and gave Quix a tight lipped smile.

Quix opened a portal and glanced back at Akirexer. "I guess I'll see you on the battlefield. Try not to die, you and I have some talking to do." He winked at Akirexer and got into the portal.

Rose felt distraught over what she had just observed. She couldn't deny the fact that there was a physical attraction between the two. Her heart dropped at the thought of losing Akirexer to Quix. Rose felt so shattered that she couldn't stop herself from frowning.

"Are you okay?" Akirexer asked Rose but she didn't answer.

Akirexer went closer to Rose and held her shoulder. Rose got startled at the sudden contact and she couldn't help but gaze into Akirexer's concerned eyes.

"Rose, are you okay?" Akirexer asked her again.

Rose nodded her head slowly. "Yes I am. I'm just feeling a little light headed that's all." She lied.

"You sure?" Akirexer leaned closer and Rose stared at her cherry lips.

"Y-yes." Rose blurted out.

"Okay I'll take your word for it." Akirexer broke away from Rose. She then set her eyes on Waxx. "I can sense Britney. Is she in the house?"

"Yes she is. Congratulations, you are an aunt." Bruce answered her instead.

Akirexer gasped at his words. "For real? I have to see her right now." Akirexer excitedly turned to Rose. "Come with me." She insisted and Rose obliged.

Akirexer sensed Britney in the room the Serial Takers accommodated her in during her stay with them. She knocked three times before opening the door. She saw Britney weakly lying in her bed with Alex sitting by her side. Sleeping peacefully on the other side of the bed was their baby. Akirexer went to where the baby was and she carefully lifted it up. Britney and Alex warmly smiled at her.

Rose got into the room and immediately went to peep at the baby in Akirexer arms. The baby looked so adorable with its pink puffy cheeks and tiny fingers on its chest. Akirexer and Rose exchanged smiles as they admired the baby.

"Isn't he cute?" Britney asked them.

Akirexer looked over to Britney with tears of joy in her eyes. "It's a boy? Aw Britney what have you named him."

"We thought that you would be best to name him Whitney." Britney cheerfully replied to Whitney and Alex gave her hand a gentle and loving squeeze.

"Let's call him Alex Jnr because he looks so much like his father." Akirexer happily said.

"What?" Alex was surprised by her answer.

"I think it is a wonderful idea." Rose agreed.

"I think so too." Britney added.

Alex chuckled. "Little Alex Jnr? I love it."

****

3 MONTHS LATER

Steve and Asher put their new born twins to sleep in their respective cribs. Steve lovingly held Asher's waist as they admired their babies. After a while, Steve took hold of Asher's hand and led her out of the room. He turned off the light before closing the door. As soon as they were back in their own room, the couple dramatically threw themselves on their bed.

"I never thought that I would miss your mother. Who knew taking care of babies was this hard?" Steve yawned.

"I miss her more. At least we were able to take afternoon naps when she was around. Those two babies just can't be quiet when they are awake." Asher whined.

"I'll never take sleep for granted again." Steve remarked and cuddled Asher from behind.

"I'm just happy that you were granted paternity leave honey. I would have died taking care of Samson and Samuel alone."

The couple were starting to snooze when Steve's phone suddenly rang. He reluctantly took it off his headboard and put on his glasses in order to see who was calling. Asher scowled when she saw that it was none other than Rose. Steve felt tensed and watched the phone ring until it cut. He put it on silent and placed it back on the headboard. Asher angrily faced away from him.

"Asher, why do you get like this every time Rose calls me?" Steve softly asked.

"She is always flirting with you. Why is she even calling you this time of the night? It is fucking 2AM."

"I know it is late but you shouldn't be angry about Rose. There is absolutely nothing going on between us." Steve tried to reason with Asher.

Asher covered herself with the blanket. "I trust you. It is her that I don't trust. She is an opportunist bitch."

Steve held Asher's hand and she shrugged him off. "Asher please, don't be be mad."

"Just leave me alone Steve. I want to sleep." Asher sternly said to Steve and he gave up.

Steve rested his head on his pillow and sighed. He took off his glasses and closed his eyes to sleep when Asher's phone rang. Asher got puzzled and reluctantly got her phone. She was shocked to see that it was Rose calling her. Asher scowled and picked up the call.

"What is it Rose?" She rudely asked and Steve sat up.

Asher, I know that you are the reason why Steve isn't picking up my calls but I'm not going to go into that. Please just turn on your TV right now.

"What?" Asher was confused but Rose hung up on her.

"What did she want?" Steve asked Asher.

"She told me to turn on the TV." Asher answered.

Steve quickly got out of bed and turned on the TV. What he and Asher saw astonished them. The chilling feeling of fear crept into them as they gazed upon their TV with their jaws dropped.

The whole world looked at their TV screens dumbfounded. None of them could understand what was going on. It was the same image no matter what channel they tuned into. Laptops connected to the internet were not spared from the mysterious image.

The Serial Takers, Enchanted Seven and all darkas gods across the globe looked at the image of Escabitha on their screens. Just below was a running timer. The humans wondered what was going to happen once the timer stopped. They waited anxiously for it to stop. Each tick made them feel even more curious. When it stopped, they held their breaths.

The image disappeared and was replaced by a live filming of Escabitha adorned in dark clothing with a diamond crown on her head while she held up a crow mask in her right hand. Her tongue licked her dark lips while her yellow eyes twinkled.

"Greetings humans, I am Escabitha...great one of the vampires. For so long my people and I have walked among your kind. For many years we have been forced to hide from you lowly beings. Worst of all, we have endured the cruelty of our predators."

"Well, it is high time things changed. This world was meant to be ruled by us and only us. No more shall we be hunted down. I apologize for all the horrors you will have to endure just for us to attain our goal for freedom."

"This isn't your war therefore I wish that you weren't going to be caught up in the cross fire. You should understand, however, that this is the nature of fire. It destroys everything in its path including the innocent."

"Vampires across the globe, take your positions and fight for your freedom. Eat and drink to the fullest to that you have the strength to kill the beasts that have terrorized us for years! The time is now!"