DARE THE DEVIL

Maddie's confrontation

Russel was still very much unconscious in his deep sleep and Aziza wished nothing more than to wake him up from that sleep. Damon was taken by a demon, who had brought him to the human world to keep him safe. No one knew if keeping him safe was the reason he took him back but she needed to go too. To see him. he called to her after all and she couldn’t wait. Everything as of the very moment had been dropped aside and going for her mate was the only thing her focus remained on.

“Do you think he would sleep longer?” Sloan entered the room and found a spot beside her.

“He may. But I need to wake him up,”

“He lost a lot of strength, Aziza. Let him rest,” Sloan protested.

“He will rest when I finally leave to get Damon.”

“I think he is safe, and if he wasn’t, wouldn’t you feel it?”

“We are both in two different worlds, it might not work that way. Moreover,” she lowered her gaze, feeling a prick in her heart as emotions flooded her.

“I can’t stand being so far away from him.” Sloan jammed her lips shut and looked away. She wasn’t the one having a mate, neither was she the one in love. She had no right to speak on such matters.

“Will you take me with you then?” she mumbled to her hearing.

“I mean, when you finally leave, will you take me with you?”

“No,” Aziza snapped without taking a breath.

“Of course not. Are you mad?” she turned to her with sharp eyes.

“So you will just leave us here?”

“You belong here, you have a life, a career and a home,”

“I have no one here, except for you and Maddie,” she pouted.

“Maddie would be here, would you just leave her to have me babysit you in my world?”

“You won’t babysit me, I can take care of myself.”

“There are no humans in my world. Just vampires, werewolves, demons, witches. The likes of me with nothing but blood thirst and discrimination against humans or weaklings as yourself. I would babysit you and I do not plan to look after someone else when I have Damon to find. I am not taking you with me. Stay with Maddie, is that clear?” her eyes raged, darkness slowly overwhelming her. Giving the warning signal to not be dared. Her words were final.

“What if Maddie also wants to come with?” Sloan sighed, ignoring her warning. Aziza folded her hands into a fist and pushed back a growl.

“She wouldn’t.” she turned away, hating the direction the discussion was going.

“But what if she would?”

“She wouldn’t”

“Don’t be so sure about it. She likes you enough and….” She grabbed her arm.

“I can’t stand being so far away from you,” her eyes glistened, giving a needy look and her lips elongated, leaving a striking shade of red and brown skin popping in her face.

“That’s gross,” Aziza palmed her hand on her face and pushed her away.

“Don’t do that again,” she slapped her hands together, removing imaginary dirt. Then turned around to leave.

Maddie was relaxed against the door with her eyes closed and her hair falling backwards. Her nose rings glistened with the reflection of the light. Her lips had a purple lip gloss, complimenting her dark eye shadow that seemed to have been redone. Her scent filled the air, and it was just like her, dark with a hint of something extra. Lavender.

“Don’t tell me you are going out? With that magician out there, I doubt anywhere is safe,” Aziza said to her furrowing her brows into an uptight frown. Maddie opened her eyes and turned to her. She might have freshened up and dressed up but she wasn’t going out.

“No,” she responded and ran a hand through her earlobes, touching her earrings in the process realising she dressed up just a little bit too much.

“I am not going out.” She added nervously and straightened up.

“Then why are you dressed?”

“Because I have a life and would want to look beautiful sometimes,” she snapped.

“Okay…” Aziza’s lips twitched and she walked past her, leaving no room for more questions or discussions. But she knew something was in the air. The two of them followed behind her like kids needing something from a mother. Words hung in the air and the beat of their hearts raced for a strange reason.

“How about Nikko?” Maddie asked when they were out of the room and were heading towards Sloan’s room.

“What about him?” she sighed, realising why they were following her. They did like Nikko.

“He is here, that means he needs your help.”

“I don’t help strangers,” she retorted, neither halting, taking a breath or considering her words.

“He isn’t a stranger,” Sloan entered, walking steadily behind her.

“He has been here for you more times than I can count. He had speared you a lot of times from hunters and even became a friend.”

“Yet, an arrow was shot through my heart while he stood over me, ready to do the bidding of his people, the hunters like a lap dog,”

“Aziza….” Maddie gasped. Slightly outraged. This time, the red hair stopped walking and turned around abruptly so she could see their face.

“Yes, he had been of help to me. And one time, he was a friend. But remember, I wasn’t the first person to pull the trigger. I never do that, I never attack first.” She snapped, recalling that rainy night.

“He was a friend, and an enemy. Don’t expect me to suddenly feel sorry because he didn’t succeed in ending me.” She was upset by the way they viewed things. He turned out to be a hunter, he had lied and fooled them all this while. He had attacked her and even joined his people to end her at their last attack.

“He was in a tight spot, Aziza. At least, he is one of your kind now and has no one else.” Maddie entered.

“And what should I do about that?” she glared at her.

“Have a heart, at the very least.” Maddie yelled, her eyes blazing quickly as well.

“We owe you nothing, he owes you nothing. f**k, you have done absolutely nothing to deserve our hospitality, you’ve done nothing to deserve our friendship, not even the love and care and support we give you.”

“Do you think you earned any of that? With your nasty attitude, bloody path and anger issues. No, you didn’t. You never did.” Her voice grew and her words stung.

“Our lives have been turned upside down because of you and we are constantly put in danger because of our involvement with you. Yet we are still here, still loving you, still beside you without any reason to be. Simply because, we took a liking to you and loved you for this shitty person you are.”

“As a hunter, a man who knew nothing aside from the fact that your kind is simply an enemy to him, he didn’t have to care, he didn’t have to protect you, he didn’t have to keep you safe. He didn’t have to be friends with you or take care of you at all. Not in the very least, but he did anyway. My guess is he took a liking to you too without needing to. He overlooked all your flaws, your reputation, everything just as we did when he didn’t have to. He only had to look out for himself, we only had to look out for ourselves, still, we didn’t.” She yelled. Emotions pulling at her and Aziza’s selfishness fueling her to spit out so much.

“He realised his mistakes and instead of running to the hunters, he came here. He knew you might end him, he could easily bring you down and us along with you if he wanted to. To prove his loyalty to the hunters, he could do so with a snap of his fingers. But he is here, tired, hungry, lost, homeless and helpless.”

“Don’t be a suck up b***h and f*****g look the other way for ones. Think of someone else other than yourself.” She stormed away.

Aziza gaped at her retreating back and for a while and remained speechless. Her words struck, her heart bled and it left her needing to yell, to snap, to hurt. But she remained speechless. She was rather hurt, pained, slapped in the face for what exactly? For caring. Her words ran through her mind over and over and over again till it stuck.

“Uhmm….” Sloan slowly stepped in front of her feeling tense.

“She didn’t mean that,” she entered nervously.

“She just feels sorry for Nikko and hoped you would help.”

“We know you are scared that he might betray you and have the hunters up your ass before you know it. But his story is legit. You saw his eyes, he healed. He is one of you, and he needs our help. We can just repay the help he gave all those times.” She explained more calmly. Trying her best to cover up Maddie’s words, yet it wasn’t enough.

Aziza’s eyes left the direction she had been staring at for some time, and it met Maddie’s own. Her lips twitched, and her heart fell deeper into a sea of darkness.

“Sure, he can stay. I paid my debt, right?” Her lips stretched into a small smile, yet darkness pulled at her eyes.

“Aziza….”

“And for the records. While I fear that the hunters might be unto me, I fear for you and Maddie who would be in front of it all.”

“Call it selfish or see me as a stuck up b***h. Your safety was more of what I thought about.”

“Aziza…” Sloan’s heart fell.

“Don’t worry. I will be leaving your life soon anyway. At least, you both would have deserving friends, and a well deserved life filled with well deserved peace.”