~Battle of the Beauties (Part 1)~

Lez woke up early morning the next day, noticing Drake wasn’t there beside her. She wrapped the blanket to cover her body and started to look for him. She searched from the entire house, but Drake couldn't be found elsewhere. She opened the door to have a peek hoping to see him outside, and she was suddenly surprised as Drake opened the door before she did.

“Oh! Hello, there beauty.” Drake greeted her with a kiss on her lips.

She was momentarily stunned while wondering where Drake might have been.

“Where have you been?” she calmly asked.

“Morning routine.” He replied. “I went for a jog and bought us our breakfast.” He added.

Drake noticed the wrapped blanket around her and quickly made a gag.

“You’re not dressed yet? I bet you want some more then?” Drake smiled as he entered the house.

“Ha! Ha! Funny, Mr. Scott.” She replied as she closed the door.

“I’m going to school today, Drake. Could you please drop me by my house so I can prepare myself for school?” Lez made a request.

“Um, yap about that. I made a call with your parents earlier to prepare the things you need for school so I could pick them up on my way from my routine, but they insisted on dropping them here, so I gave them my address instead. They’ll be here any minute now.” Drake said that surprised the lady as soon as she heard it.

“What? You’re joking, right?” she thought her boyfriend was just making fun with her.

“Nope! I’m not.” Drake replied on a straight face.

Beep! A sudden horn of a car was heard in the distance.

“Oh! They're here!” Drake quickly recognized as he peeked at the window.

“What? Wait! I’ll go get dressed.” Lez got nonplussed as she quickly went inside the bedroom while Drake went outside to greet her parents.

“Good morning, Mr. and Mrs. Anderson. “ Drake greeted first as Lez’s parent’s got out of the car.

“Hello, Drake! Um, where’s Lez?” Mr. Anderson quickly asked, noticing that his daughter was not there to greet them.

“She’ll be out in a moment, sir. She was about to take her shower when I informed her that you’ve arrived.” Drake replied, and without a minute passed, Lez came out.

“Hi, dad! Hi mom!” Lez greeted her parents and gave them a big hug and a radiant smile.

“Hello, sweetie! How are you, honey?” Mrs. Anderson greeted back to her daughter.

“I’m fine, mom, thanks.” Her radiant smile showed it.

“Yeah, I can clearly see that.” Mrs. Anderson was teasing her daughter, giving her a hint as she smiled back. It’s like saying that she knew what they’ve been doing, and she’s been there.

Lez just bit her lips and shied away.

“You two take care of each other okay?” Mr. Anderson said. “And Drake…” as he put his right hand to Drake’s left shoulder. “I know you are a fine man, and I know you love my daughter that much. I want to thank you for doing your best to protect her from any harm. And I trust you on making the right decisions for my daughter.” Mr. Anderson tapped Drake’s right arm as a sign that he gave his permission to do the best thing for her daughter as a father’s job would do.

“I will, Mr. Anderson, and thank you for your trust.” Drake genuinely replied as they both gave their trustworthy smile at each other.

“We’ll be going now. You two have a great day at school.” Mr. Anderson’s farewell words as he gave the bag to Drake and hugged her daughter goodbye.

“See you after school, sweetie.” Mrs. Anderson hugged her daughter goodbye.

“I expect her to be home after school, Drake.” Mrs. Anderson added as she smiled at Drake.

“I promise, Mrs. Anderson. I’ll bring her home.” Drake assured the worrying mother to bring her daughter back to them after school.

“Bye, mom! Bye, dad!” Lez and Drake waved goodbye to Lez's parents and went back inside the house.

“That was so embarrassing,” Lez commented as they reached inside.

“Hungry?” Drake quickly asked.

Lez smiled at him before she answered.

“I’m starving already,” Lez replied.

“We’re going to have some bacon and eggs. How’d you like yours?” Drake asked while preparing their breakfast.

“Fried, please,” Lez answered as she went to the bathroom to take a shower.

“Wow! Convenient. Same as mine.” Drake self-talked about how they liked their eggs cooked the same way.

Later on, Lez came prepared as their meal was already on the table while Drake was coming out from the bathroom just finished his shower.

Lez had a long stare at her boyfriend’s slightly wet body covered only by a towel coming out from the shower room. She bit her lips as the scene turned her on.

“You can start having your meal. I’ll be with you in a while.” Drake said, looking at her girlfriend with an aggressive look.

“What? Is something wrong?” he asked as he recognized her girlfriend was still staring at him.

Lez slowly walked towards Drake and put her left hand to his chest, pushing him towards the wall.

“Hey! What are you doing? We’re going to be late if we do that.” Drake stated as he knew what his lady was thinking for that moment.

“You’re right!” she replied, turning her 'heat' off and giving him a peck instead.

“So you’re coming to school too?” she asked after she seated on the table grabbing some food.

“Yap!” He replied as he went inside the bedroom to get changed.

“But, the school already knew and expected you to be back days later. So you could stay home or do whatever you want for the days to pass by.” Lez explained.

“Yap! I know. But it’ll be boring if I just stay here and do nothing. Besides, I love to be with you, so I must go.” Drake replied while he was inside his bedroom preparing.

“How touching of you, Mr. Scott. So you want to be in school because of me?” teasingly, she asked.

“Mostly all the time Ms. Anderson,” Drake whispered in her ear.

“That was fast.” Lez was surprised as Drake was all set and ready for school that quick.

“Hey, I can move a lot faster, remember?” Drake reminded her of his ability.

“Oh yeah, I forgot about that,” she replied as she laughed at herself for forgetting.

“Yeah, by the way. I’m planning to visit Mike at the hospital this noon on our way for lunch. Would you like to come?” Drake liked to have a visit to his friend, for he hadn’t visited him yesterday.

“Yeah, sure! I’d love to. Just wait for me at the parking lot before lunch.” Lez replied while having her meal.

“Cool!” Drake commented as he started his.

………………………………………………………………………………

Lez and Drake arrived at school and met their friends who did not expect him to appear on that day due to his injuries.

“Hi, Lez! Drake?” Dave called. He was with Jay and Dan as they approached him and made a brotherly hug.

“Hi, Dave! Hi Jay! Hi Dan!” Lez replied. “Have you seen Becca and the others?” Lez asked.

“Yeah! They were at the Admin Hall earlier last time I saw them.” Dan replied.

“Thanks. Drake got to go first. Meet you here later at lunch?” Lez asked.

“Sure! I’ll wait for you here at lunch.” Drake waved goodbye at her girlfriend.

“Bye, guys!” Lez bade goodbye to Drake and his friends.

“How about you guys? Are you coming with us later at lunch to visit Mike at the hospital?” Drake asked his friends.

“We would love to, bro, but the coach needs us the meet later at lunch. Remember? We will be against the Eagles tomorrow at their home court. Without our captain and our Ace in the game, who knows what the result will be, but it will be a big disadvantage for us.” Jay explained.

“But Dude! How are you up, bro? I thought you were badly injured.” Dave said as that was what he saw before Drake got confined.

“We visited you at the ICU, but you were not there.” Jay inserted.

“We found your sister there instead and asked her what happened, and she told us the whole story.” Dann happily said. “Can I see your chest?” the three were eager to see Drake's chest to see if what Alex told them was true.

Drake unbuttoned his shirt and showed his unscarred chest.

“Holy fuck, bro!” Jay’s reaction.

“What the hell?” Dann reaction.

“Jesus Christ, Drake, that is insane! Not even a scratch was visible from the big hole in your chest. You’re like fuckin’ Wolverine, bro!” Dave’s reaction as the three was really astounded by their friend’s ability to heal fast.

“Well, you three have good luck for our game tomorrow. I know I can trust you guys to win the game.” Drake entrusted his friends to give tomorrow’s game their best against their most rival school, the Eagles.

“Bro! We thought you could go with us? You know, to assure our win.” Jay assumed that Drake would help them win the game.

“I can’t go, for now, bro. You know, the demon is still out there, and we’ve got to stop her.” Drake keenly hoped to catch demon Linda and stop her from creating more chaos and getting it worse.

“Yeah! We understand, bro. Humanity’s future is at stake with the battle you have.” Dave contemplated the future result of their battle with the demon.

“Hey! Here’s a deal for you three. If you win the game tomorrow, I will buy you any pair of shoes of your choice. Any…. your choice. That is if you win. So do your best.” Drake promised his friends a price if they won the game against the Eagles.

“Alright!” “Yeah!” the three rejoiced as if they had already assured their win.

“And that’s a closed deal, my friend,” Dave said while raising his fist in front of Drake as they all fist-bump and walked towards their respective rooms.

Drake was about to enter his room as he noticed something from afar.

“Linda?” He saw someone on a corner that he assumed was Linda and ran towards the area but found no one in the vicinity.

“I must be hallucinating.” He self-talked as he went back to his room.

But truthfully, Linda was really there, and she was hiding in a corner.

“Found you, my love.” She said while laughing menacingly.

………………………………………………………………………………..

Later on, Drake was waiting at the parking lot for Lez to come by. He was sitting on his bike as he noticed something from afar. It was Linda; Drake clearly saw her with his own two eyes. He went after her, but Linda was just playing with him. His phone started ringing but just ignored it as he was eager to find Linda and capture her by himself. He heard Linda’s voice humming but could never see her. His phone keeps ringing as calls keep coming unanswered. He never realized his eyes were now glowing blue. He is way farther now from the place where he should meet Lez. It was just his hallucinations due to a spell Linda cast on him when he kissed him while he was pierced but didn’t know that. His eyes stopped glowing blue. He went to check his phone to see who was calling. The name Clem was written on the phone as the caller. Suddenly, his phone rang again. This time it was Lez who was calling.

“Drake? Are you at the parking lot right now?” Lez asked at the phone.

“Nope! But I’ll be there in a minute.” Drake replied, backtracking his steps towards his bike.

“Okay! I’ll have to go to the bathroom first. I’ll meet you in a minute.” She replied while entering the girl’s bathroom.

“Okay! I’ll wait for you there.” Drake replied.

“Okay! See yah.” Lez said before she hung up the phone.

She checked herself in a mirror before she went inside one of the cubicles. Later on, Lez heard a sudden bang of the door followed by a clicking sound of the lock as someone has entered the room, locking the place. She tried to ignore the horrific thought in her mind but could not erase the bad feeling about it. She kept herself quiet, listening to the stillness of silence, identifying who was with her inside that room. She hoped it was just a girl putting her makeup on or just having a pee like her. But she thought wrong, as she began to hear a male voice whistling while kicking every single cubicle door open. She can listen to the whistling sound in front of the last cubicle she was in as it suddenly stopped.

Bang!

The locked door got pronged open as a powerful kick destroyed it, with Lez inside screaming in fright, covering her head with her arms.

A man quickly grabbed her out on that cubicle and slammed her in the nearby walls, with both arms crossed pinned upward. She felt the tremendous pain from the impact on her back as she was roughly slammed on the wall.

“So you’re Drake’s most precious girlfriend, huh?” the man quickly asked, whispering in her ear.

“Who are you? And why are you doing this?”Lez wanted to activate her flame ability, even just a little, so she could burn that man and try to escape in the process but doesn’t know how to do it.

“Let’s just say, I’m a friend of your boyfriend, who wants to steal his precious girlfriend.” He whispered as he licked Lez’s ear for a quick moment.

“You bastard! Get off of me!” Lez squirmed and tried to kick him off, but the man was strong enough to hold her down and quickly showed a quick draw knife in front of her face.

“You can’t hurt me with that moron.” Lez was certain enough that her barrier would prevent the knife from hurting her.

“Are you sure about that?” the man whispered as he quickly dropped her arms and made a cut in her left palm.

He stepped backward away from Lez and made a soft chuckle while watching her palm bleed.

“Hahahahaha… now you stay there, or I’ll stab you to death.” The man threatened her with her life.

Lez could not believe what she was witnessing right now. She was bleeding, and the knife cut through her skin without activating her barrier. Confused and wondered how this could happen. Tears began to fall, fearing for her own life as she began to plead.

“You’re wondering how this knife hurt you, aren’t you?” The man asked with a maniacal face.

He slowly picked out something from his jacket and showed it to Lez.

It was the Book of Lock and Key.

Lez was shocked and wondering how he got the book in the first place.

He laughed.

“Thanks to your idiotic boyfriend arguing with my girlfriend that day, then came you, who rushed out from the scene, and the fool went chasing after you. Yes! I’m the one who took the book that he left on the table. Yes! I was there. Watching you all the time. Yes, I was there watching them fight, as my girlfriend turned into a hideous monster as what she is right now.” Chris started to cry, telling Lez of what he had witnessed.

“It was all your boyfriend's fault why my beloved Linda was like that in the first place. She attempted suicide not just once due to the shame your boyfriend begets her. That is why I got so happy when I saw my demonic girlfriend stab that bastard in his chest. I thought it was the end of him. I thought he was dead, but NO!” Chris screamed in anger. “How could he be still alive after that? I saw that gaping hole in his chest while bleeding on the floor. Then it comes to my mind that maybe he is a monster like my girlfriend had become.” Chris slowly approached Lez, pointing his knife towards her.

“That’s why I started to wonder about this book. As I remember your boyfriend reading this. It was Latin. Ha! Latin, the one thing I’m good at.” Chris is an Italian-American of an Italian historian mother who taught him how to speak or write Latin since he was a kid.

“Well, the good thing is, I’ve found out your weakness, Key. And I want to exploit it to avenge my girlfriend and myself to that trash boyfriend of yours.” He pointed his knife at Lez’s neck, turned her around, and started to tie her hands behind her using zip locks. He began to kiss and lick her cheeks while holding the knife on her throat.

“Please don’t hurt me. I’m begging you; please let me out of here.” Lez sobbed as she feared being stabbed by the man standing right in front of her with a knife.

“Shut up bitch! I’m going to do to you what your boyfriend did to my girlfriend. I’m going to enjoy playing your gorgeous body.” Chris whispered close to her ear and turned her back around, now facing him as he laughed and started to unbutton Lez’s shirt one by one with his knife.

Lez’s cleavage started to show as Chris maniacally laughed and quickly groped her breast, licking and kissing with her bra still in it. She shook her body, trying to push Chris away from her, and found an opening to give him a head-butt as Chris raised his head as he tried to laugh in his enjoyment.

Chris took his steps backward as he felt the blow in his nose as blood started to drip down on the floor. It only made the man rage more towards Lez.

“You wanna die bitch!” Chris was about to stab Lez with his knife, then suddenly,

Bang!!!

The bathroom door got destroyed due to a powerful force enough to break the locks open.

“You first bastard!” Drake suddenly appeared between the two out of nowhere who kicked the locked door open and is now holding Chris’ arm, stopping him from stabbing Lez.

A quick kick to his groin made Chris fly away, and straight to the wall, he crashed, resulting in the loss of his consciousness.

Lez suddenly regained her composure as she saw her boyfriend standing right before her, saving her from the probable harm she was about to experience.

“Are you alright? What’s Chris doing here?” Drake quickly checked his girlfriend’s condition and saw her crying while her hands were tightly tied behind her back. He remembered the knife Chris was using, searched for it, and then set her hands free.

Lez was glad Drake came just in time and quickly hugged him as her thanks to her boyfriend.

“Let’s get out of here before someone notices us inside,” Drake told Lez to avoid any interrogation that will lead to them.

“Drake, the book, inside his jacket,” Lez informed her boyfriend about taking the book Chris took.

Drake searched in Chris’ jacket and was shocked that Chris found the Book of Lock and Key after forgetting and leaving it on the cafeteria table.

He could hear someone is approaching, so he made her girlfriend grab at him tight as he sped himself up out of the room and into the parking lot without being noticed.

Drake put Lez stood on the ground while checking and asked her. “Are you okay?”

Lez quickly stopped her crying as she hugged and kissed him long enough to make him feel her profound thanks towards her boyfriend.

“I’m fine now, thank you,” Lez replied as her arms still wrapped around Drake’s neck while they both looked into their eyes.

“Oh! Your shirt.” Drake recognized the loose buttons on his girlfriend’s shirt as it revealed her sumptuous cleavage in front of him and gave him her jacket for cover.

“Come on! Let’s just get out of here and find ourselves something to eat.” Drake suggested getting Lez away and forgetting about the things that happened.

They drove away using Drake’s bike to another place.

“You think you can get away from me, my love?” unnoticed by them, Linda was watching above the school building as she spread her demonic wings and flew away, following wherever they may go.

The couple made a stop in a fast-food diner and ordered two cheeseburgers with a fries and mountain dew meal.

Drake was walking towards their table as he saw his girlfriend being stupefied from the happening while looking afar. He felt guilty about not being there earlier as he promised to protect her at all times.

“Lez? Are you okay?” Drake is getting worried about his girlfriend.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” She deeply sighed as she replied with a weak voice.