| ~EPISODE TWO~ POSSESSED AND DISTRESSED |
| ~Part Two~ Amara groggily sat up in her bed, not fully awake yet. Glancing at her watch, she sighed at seeing the time was 3:35 pm. She had gotten about 10 hours sleep after coming home from a little "joy ride" in Nick's Jag to San Antonio. She had gotten pissed off at him yet again and had a little "episode" which resulted in her stealing the Jag and just driving. She ended up in San Antonio before coming home. She pulled on a clean pair of jeans and a blue t-shirt before trying to brush out the mess of knots and tangles in her hair. As soon as she felt like she was finally winning the war with it, there was a soft knock on her door. "Come in," she said. She glanced up to see who had knocked and turned back to her mirror when she saw who it was. "Looks like you're back," Nick said, entering the room. He sat down on the unmade bed. "Have fun on the road?" "What gave it away? The fact that you're in here talking to me or that Lil Jaggy's back in her spot?" She turned away from her mirror and watched him. "And no, I didn't have fun." Nick glanced over to her. "Actually it was Lil Jaggy. And why didn't you have fun? And why did you take off anyways? All I know was that you were pissed at me, went nuts and left. I can't even think of what I did to set you off" He added a small shrug. Amara turned back to the mirror, placing her hands on the bureau. "I didn't have fun because I was either too busy being pissed at you or too busy feeling sorry for myself. And I was pissed off at you because you hurt me that night, after that huge fight in the kitchen. You didn't even ask if I was alright." He stood up and walked over closer to her. "Well, I'm sorry for not asking if you were alright. I mean, you weren't down there trying to keep Mercy from killing everyone, or killing those shadow things. You looked fine from what I could tell, so I didn't ask." He sighed and ran his hand through his hair. "So, I'm sorry. Now, why did you feel sorry for yourself on your little trip to San Antonio?" "Why do you think?" She lowered her head so he couldn't see the tears starting to fall in her reflection. "I went crazy. And it doesn't help that there were newbies there. And this whole thing...god, it just keeps getting worse and worse, and there are times I wonder if it'll ever go away or if I'll be stuck with it my entire life..." Nick didn't need to see her face to know she was upset. He could hear her voice cracking and the unmistakable sound of crying. So he did the only thing he could do; he walked behind her and put his arms around her waist tightly, trying to comfort her. "Amara, it'll be ok. You won't have this for the rest of your life, I'll make sure of it." Amara turned around and put her arms around his neck, burying her face into his shoulder, still sobbing. "A-and what if I do? What...what if there's no way to stop this?" Nick sighed. "There has to be a way to stop it. We just haven't found it yet." He looked around the room and noticed the few bags of luggage she had around the room. "Oh right, I almost forgot...you're leaving soon." She let go of him, wiped her eyes and nodded. "Yeah, tomorrow. I leave around 3 pm LA time, and I get home 1:30 am Newfoundland time." Nick nodded, then stopped. "1:30 am? What time is that here?" Amara mental calculated the time difference. "9 pm." Nick laid back down on her bed and stared at the ceiling. "You know, we should do something because you're leaving. Something fun." "No, Nick, we can't do anything fun," Amara replied. "Yes we can." Nick frowned and sat up straight. "Give me one good reason why we can't." Amara reached over to her dresser and picked up the manila folder, tossing it on to the bed. "That's why. I want to have that done before I leave." Nick sighed and rummaged through the folder containing their mission. He wasn't in the mood to go out killing demons tonight. He was still a little sore from fighting Mercy the other night. "We have to do this tonight before you leave?" Amara nodded. "Yes. But first we have to find out where we'll find this Manta." "Well, let's think. Where would a sex-hungry killer hang out?" Nick asked. She shrugged. "I don't know, Nick. Where do you hang out?" Nick frowned in confussion. "What does where I hang out have anything to do with the mission?" Amara sighed and sat down on the bed next to him. "Nevermind. Now, seriously, where do you think she'd go to mate and kill?" "L.A. club scene? Plenty of places to find drunk guys willing to have sex." She raised an eyebrow at him. "Really? Well, you're so desperate to get laid, I'm amazed you haven't tried that approach yet." Nick wanted to take a shot back at her, but aware of the possible consequeneces, he didn't. Instead, he replied, "Let's leave my current lack of a sex-life out of this. We have a mission to do, and if we have to go to the L.A. club scene, I need to get a shower." He stood up and placed the folder back on the dresser. He was about to head out of the room when he spotted Amara's charmbracelet. He picked it up and examined it. "Where's Stitch?" he asked, referring to the charm of the Disney character he had brought her back from Hawaii. Amara stood up and tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear. "Um...yeah...about that. You see, I was really mad at you because you were being all cocky...so I...um...I flushed it down the toilet." Nick blinked a few times, letting her words sink you. "You...you flushed Stitch." She nodded. "Yeah, but I was mad...I couldn't control it, you know that." She felt as if she was trying to redeem herself. Nick sighed. She had a point. She couldn't control what she was doing when she got mad. "Look, let's just...forget about it alright? It wasn't really your fault, and Stitch is gone. So let's do our mission. And quickly. I still wanna do something fun before you leave. Even if that means we just stay here and kick each others asses in Soul Calibur 2 or Mortal Kombat or something." "Alright," Amara replied. "Now go get your shower that you badly need. I'll do some research, see what I can find on this Manta." Nick saluted in response. "Yes ma'am." He turned and marched out of the room. "Well, look at that," Amara said after he left. "You really are insane." She turned on her computer and proceded to work. ***** It was about two hours later and Nick still hadn't come back to Amara's room. That didn't really bother her since it gave her plenty of time to research Manta. She clicked the print button on the screen, and listened to the whirring sound of the printer, waiting for the paper to come out. She glanced down at the clock in the corner of the computer. 5:53 pm. The room quieted down when Amara noticed the printer had stopped. She collected the paper and moved to Nick's room. She knocked on the door, and a moment later, Nick answered, the tips of his hair still wet. "Does it usually take you two hours to get a shower?" "Yes," Nick answered, moving aside to let her in. "Especially when I turn on the tv and there's a good porn on." Amara stayed where she stood and held out the piece of paper. "Whatever, Nick. Anyways, I found these." Nick took the paper and skimmed over it. "These are the names of guys this Manta has killed?" She nodded. "Yeah, and she always goes to the same club, The Praying Mantis." Nick smirked. "Are you serious? Well that's a little obvious." "I know, but who knows she's really a praying mantis?" Amara took the sheet back from him. "Now, it says that her mate is often tall, good-looking and the one most if not all the ladies want. So you should have no problem." Nick looked at her in puzzlement. "Wait, what did you just say?" Amara looked up from the paper. "What? I said you should have no problem. You're tall, for some reason girls want you, and I can't believe I'm saying it, but you are good-looking." "No, I was aware of that. It's just the fact that you said it." He gave a small shrug. "Scary." Amara gave a shrug of her own. "So like I said, this mission should be no problem. Looks pretty easy actually. More likely than not, she'll chose you as her new mate, you go where it is you go and you kill her. Sound easy?" Nick nodded. "Yeah it is. I could almost do it by myself." She shook her head in disagreement. "That's where you're wrong. I know you Nick. You're a sex-crazed maniac who probably would not say no to getting laid. You'll be so caught up in whatever goes on, you'll forget your mission is to kill and not score. Therefore you need me to actually kill the demon." Nick's mouth dropped open. She really did know him. But there was one thing she forgot. "Amara, you may be right and maybe I am a sex-crazed maniac, but there's one thing wrong with your little theory. I may be a sex-crazed maniac, but I'm a sex-crazed maniac for Faith, not a giant praying mantis." "Right. Let's see if you remember that tonight. So what car are we taking?" She turned around and headed downstairs. Nick followed right behind her. "Do you have to ask? Lil Jaggy." Amara scanned the key rack, looking for the set for a car she wanted. "No, I've had enough of Lil Jaggy the past two days." She grinned when she found the keys to her Mercedes Roadster and moved to the weapons room, grabbing 2 daggers, tossing one to Nick then heading out to the garage. Nick let out a fake gasp. "Thou shalt not speak ill of Lil Jaggy." He followed her into the room. "But you have to admit she handles good." He caught the dagger and moved with her to garage. Amara got inside the drivers seat of her car. "Oh, she handles fine. She's just not has comfy as this." She ran her hand out the window and over the shiny black exterior of the car. "Yeah, yeah, yeah," Nick hopped into the passenger seat. "Lil Jaggy's the best and y'all know it." Amara just shook her head and drove off. ***** Amara and Nick sat a booth near the back of the club. Since she was driving, Amara was only drinking coke and was on her third one. Nick on the otherhand was on his second beer. He had gotten several offers to dance from various girls as well as some drinks. He turned down the drinks, afraid he'd be too drunk to concentrate on his mission, but he did dance with a few girls and usually got a phone number. "You know," Amara said sipping her coke, "if I were you, I wouldn't tell Faith about dancing with other girls and getting numbers." Nick shrugged. "It's part of the mission. Any of these girls could be Manta and I'm just seeing which ones she could be. All part of the job, I'm sure she won't mind." He paused for a second. "But just to be safe I'm still not going to tell her." Amara rolled her eyes and continued drinking her coke. She looked around on a little, trying to see if anything out of the ordinary was going on. Not spotting any, she turned back to Nick. She blinked at the image she saw. Nick was crouched on his seat also looking around. "Nick, what are you doing?" "Looking for Manta," he replied. "And how is you crouching down on the top of your chair going to help?" Nick shook his head and sat down normally. "It didn't." A small grin crept on his face. "But I saw something that might." Uh no, Amara thought. What's he gonna do now? She let out a sigh. "Why did you see?" He pointed up towards a stage. "It's a stage. And according to that sign, karoke night. If I go up there and sing, I might be able to spot her." Amara nodded. "Ok, well, you go sing and look for her and I'm going to the bathroom." She got from her table and moved to the otherside of the club where the bathroom was. Nick stood up and went over to the stage. He spoke to the host for a moment before the host gave him a list of the songs to chose from. He skimmed the list, not finding anything he particularly liked. He was about to chuck this idea and find another way to look for Manta until he saw the song he knew he had to sing, "Summer of 69" by Bryan Adams. He told the DJ the song and stepped up to the mic. Once the music he started, he began to sing, still keeping an eye out for the demon. "I got my first real six-string, bought it at the five and dime, played it till my fingers bleed, was the summer of '69..." ***** Amara stepped out of the cubicle and washed her hands. She could hear the beginning of "Summer of 69" and what sounded like Nick's voice coming from the outside the bathroom. She moved over to the towel dispenser, frowing when she discovered it was empty. She wiped her hands on the back of jeans and headed towards the bathroom door. Standing in her way was a young woman, medium height, long red hair with green streaks, piercing green eyes and very beautiful. "Sorry, I don't mean to be a bother, but can I ask you something?" Her voice was a little high, but sounded sweet nonetheless. Amara slowly nodded. "Um, sure I guess." The young woman giggled a little. "That guy you were sitting with...are you guys like, together?" Amara shook her head. "No, we're just here as friends. In fact, he's seeing someone else now." The young woman's face fell a little. "But, you're here together, like, there's no one else here with you? Just you two? As friends." Amara thought this over. "Yeah, as friends, you could say we're here together." The girl nodded and walked over to her. She placed a sleeper hold on Amara, grinning as her body crumpled limply to the floor. "Good. I don't need anyone messing up my plans." She stuffed Amara into a cubicle and walked out of the bathroom. ***** Nick finished his song to much applause and stepped off the stage. The plan didn't work. He didn't see anyone that could have been Manta. He didn't see Amara come out of the bathroom either. Nick shrugged it off and sat back down in his booth. Maybe when Amara comes back they'll be able to come up with some other plan. He thought about buying another beer when a young woman sat down next to him. "I'm sorry, but that seat's saved." Nick said without really looking at her. "Oh, I'm sorry," the woman said in a sweet, high voice. "I heard you sing, and you're really good. And I've watched you dance too, you're great at that." She smirked. "Makes me wonder what else you're good at." She held a hand out. "My name's Manda." Nick gave her a strange look and reluctantly shook her hand. "Hi, Manda, I'm Nick. Sorry, but I can't really talk or anything right now." He blinked at her hair. "Red and green? You like Christmas?" Manda smiled and nodded. "Yeah it's my favorite holiday. But enough talking, let's...do something else." "What can we do? I already told you I don't really have time to do anything." Manda smirked and inched closer to him. "There's lots we could do..." Nick blinked and inched away. "Look, Manda, I'm flattered, but I have a girlfriend, and I love her very much." "You mean that blonde in the bathroom?" Manda scoffed. He shook his head. "No, Amara's not my....wait, how did you know Amara was in the bathroom?" Manda blinked trying to come up with an answer. "Well, um...I said I was watching you, and I saw her with you." Nick studied her for a moment, then his eyes widened a little. "You're name isn't Manda. You're Manta! What did you do Amara?" Before Nick could say anything else, he watched in horror as the beautiful young girl that was sitting beside him transform into a slimy giant praying mantis. He ducked under the table to avoid her. Where was Amara? he thought. And why wasn't anyone else helping? The other patrons at the club just kept dancing, drinking and having a good time. Manta let out a shrill laugh and broke the table with her arm. As if reading his mind, she answered his questions. "Your little friend is out cold and won't wake up for a while. As for everyone else, they can't see us. Your friend will, but by that time you'll be long dead." She reached towards him. Nick rolled away, trying to avoid her. He needed someway to alert Amara and get her to help him. He didn't want to be injured by Manta, for fear of being killed. He had to find something else. He remember he had his dagger hidden in his boot. He reached down and pulled it out. Then, with out swift movement he sliced his arm opened, praying that Amara's ring would wake her up. ***** The burning of the ring on Amara's finger woke her up. She bolted straight up, rubbing her head. She was still in pain, but that didn't matter. Nick needed her and that was the only thing on her mind. She stood up and ran out of the bathroom in search of her partner. ***** Nick ducked away from Manta again, this time avoiding her fangs. There wasn't a lot of places for him to escape to. He had stabbed her a few times with his dagger, but it didn't seem to help very much. He would have used his ring to set fire to her ass but he had to keep moving, not being able to get an aim. Nick kept jumping around, this time, catching himself in a corner. He saw what looked like a grin appear on the mantis's face. He tried to escape, but the demon was too quick. She put her arms around his waist and lifted him up. Nick tried to wriggle free but it was no use, Manta was holding him too tightly. He felt himself being brought closer to her mouth. He closed his eyes and waited for death the take him, but it never did. Instead, Nick found himself falling to the ground. When he opened his eyes, he saw Amara with her ring pointed out towards Manta's wrist. Manta screamed out as her hands burnt. She had a new target now...Amara. Leaving Nick on the floor, she started to chase after Amara in hopes of killing her. Amara ran, trying to avoid the demon, much like Nick did. She tried using her ring, but also found it very difficult to aim. Eventually she found herself in an opposite corner of the booth from her partner. She removed her dagger from the hem of her pants, trying to find a spot to kill her. She glanced over at Nick who was starting to stand up. She could only hope that he'd be able to help her in time. When he stood up, Nick realized that something was wrong with Amara. He saw that she was in the same predicament he was in moments before: trapped in a corner by a giant praying mantis. He spotted his dagger and grabbed it. He ran towards the mantis and sliced her legs, making her fall. Amara jumped out of the way and using her own dagger, she slashed off the head. The demon turned to dust and the booth went back the way it was before. Amara glanced out and noticed that no one even noticed what was going on. "Did they not see us?" She pointed to everyone else in the club. Nick shook his head. "Nope, Manta did something, and they couldn't see us." He took a look around the club. "Can we go have that fun like I mentioned before?" "Honestly, Nick, fun right now sounds like going to sleep." She headed for the exit. Nick followed her, making his way through the crowd. "Seriously? Come on, you're leaving tomorrow." She turned back to him. "I know...a long journey tomorrow and a hard day today. So come on, let's go home." She left the club and got into the car. The only thing Nick could do was follow her. ***** Amara sat down in a hard plastic chair in the airport, trying to get comfortable. She glanced up at the screen hanging from the ceiling which was telling her that her flight was leaving in 15 minutes. Her luggage was stowed away, except for her carry-on which contained the 5th Harry Potter book she was re-reading, her mp3 player and a change of clothes in case her luggage was lost. She looked to her right to see Nick leaving a small shop in the middle of the airport starring at 2 packages of gum. He sat down next to her. "Did you want the regular or sugar-free?" He held up the packages of cherry flavoured gum. Amara took the regular one and opened it, placing a stick in her mouth. "I'm taking my cellphone with me," she said in between chews. "I don't know how good it'll work though. So if you want me, call the house number first. You have the house number right?" Nick reached in his pocket and pulled out a a slip of paper. He looked at it and returned it to his pocket. "Yup." "And don't forget, I'm going to be 4 and a half hours ahead of you. So don't call at like 11 pm here. I don't think my parents will appreaciate being woken up at 3:30 in the morning," she said with a small grin. Nick laughed. "Yeah, and same goes for you. Don't be calling at 5 in the afternoon for you. That's 12:30 here, and I won't be awake yet." She smiled. "Fine...e-mail me the gossip if you want. Oh, and don't forget to feed Monty. I'll be pissed if I come home and find him dead. I'll be blaming you." Nick shuddered at the thought of feeding the salamander. "Don't go...you know...acting all crazy up there. I won't be there to stop it." "I know," she said with a sigh. "But I don't think I'll go crazy. You won't be there." She grinned at him. Before Nick could say anything, a voice came over the loudspeaker. "Flight 246 to Toronto is now boarding." "That's my flight." Amara stood up and grabbed her carry-on. Nick was confused. "But, the voice said that the flight was to Toronto, not Newfoundland." Amara nodded. "I know. I have to change planes in Toronto before going home." She reached up and gave him a hug before leaving. "Have fun, Amara," he said. "And bring me back those Jam Jams you were talking about. I need to taste those. They sound good." She let go of him. "I will. And please get laid. I don't want to hear about how you're the only sexless non-newbie of the group." Nick nodded. "I'll try my best." The voice came back over the speaker, saying that this was the last call for the flight. "I gotta go. I'll see you in a few days, Nick." She slung her bag over her shoulder and raced for the terminal. Nick watched her leave. When he couldn't see her anymore he walked over to the window, waiting and watching as the plane left. Once the plane was an unrecognizable speck in the sky, he turned around and left the airport. He hopped into his Jag and started home. |