Duchess Thera <> Chapter 1, 2, 3

~Chapter 1 ~ Rain & Raven             

            It had been pouring raining all day and it only figured that come night, it would be to. The small city was empty and lifeless, so it seemed. A huge black raven was perched up in a tree, glancing down at me. I watched his eyes look down at me and I pulled my jacket tighter, afraid that maybe he could see beneath my clothes. That only seem to please the raven who started laughing or what seemed like laughter. He was letting out an ugly sound, a mixture of satisfaction and cruelty. I just glared up at him and he ruffled his feathers once.

         I was soaked to the bone already and the bus was 30 minutes late. I grumbled too myself before slowly walk down the street heading to my unseen destination. The black raven stayed beside me in the trees that lined the sidewalk. The huge red brick apartment buildings towering to the sky on my right and the raven to my left. No cars rushed by and the seeming busy place was empty. 

         “I hate you Hajar” I said glaring at the raven as I walked. “This is all your fault that I walk in this rain, all of this is completely your fault” I said my feet splashing water up onto my bare ankles from the puddles. “We both know you failed, again” the words were effective cause the raven came to a sudden halt. “Oh yes, Hajar, you failed in capturing me and you’re the ring leader” I laughed a bit at this, just to add to the fierceness of my words. “I hate you, go peck on someone else’s corpse you idiot” I said as he continued to follow me. “Stupid bird” that seem to hurt him a bit as well.
         
         “There watching you” I said softly, coming to a stop and turn to look at the raven. “Both of them are and you remember the last time well enough” I said softly, my white hair dancing on the sudden breeze. “They will come for you” I said my silver eyes meeting with the raven’s black one, for the longest of time. “You will die” I said harshly and he immediately flew off, disappearing into the rain.

         I followed the road several blocks until I came to another looking red brick apartment.  Except that this one had the right address and I slowly opened the door. I climbed the stairs, glad to be out of the cold rain. I climbed the 5 flights of stairs to the 5th floor and slowly looked for apartment 40 - H. I found it nestled into the very corner of the building, away from all others and that thought pleased me. No one else had room this high up and it suited all of us fine.


~Chapter 2 ~ Rocco

        As I approached the door, it quickly opened and I was greeted by a stern face. He had red colored hair that looked beautiful in the sunlight. His eyes were a fierce red mixed with a topaz. That darted to my face as soon as I appeared and already his arms were folded. I let out a sigh and stood in the hallway with my backpack, debating whether I should stay or not.

         “I cannot leave you alone for a minute, can I” he wasn’t asking a question. “No, Rocco” I said answering and that only made him angrier. “You refuse to share personal stuff with me, your protector but you would go blabbing everything to Hajar” he said venom rising in his voice and I felt rather scared.

         Silence filled the hallway but I didn’t care about that. He looked at me for a long minute before his face softened a bit. Making Rocco mad was not something you could fail at but it was certainly not something you wanted to succeed at, like I did. He never completely lost it with me but I have seen him loose it once, it was the scariest thing ever. Think of a nightmare, where a killer is coming after you and times that by 100 on the scary part, that was Rocco with his anger.

         “Δούκισσα, forgive me” Rocco said bowing using the Greek word Duchess, in our native tongue. “Συγχωρείστε ακριβώς δεν το αφήνετε να συμβεί πάλι (You are forgiven just don‘t let it happen again)” I said and he smiled widely. “Hi” he said in a small voice and I laughed softly. “Good evening, Rocco” I said as we both headed inside.

                Rocco had been my protector for as long as I could remember. Since I was a little baby and he hadn’t aged any. He cared deeply about me and that was part of the reason he was assigned to protect me. He  also had a gentler side that only Zephira and me could bring out.  He was married, to Zephira for longer then he was protecting me but I think he liked it that way. The less I knew the more advantage he had over me or so he thought. Plus he figured any day now I would tell Hajar everything and he didn’t want Hajar to know any more about him then he already knew.

         The thing I did know about Rocco!

1. He absolutely has a soft spot for any kind of romantic movie, chick flicks. Don’t ask!

2. He still has nightmares but most of those things are really random, snakes, baby birds.

3. He is never arrogant, sometimes selfish, over confident, bossy and an amazingly weird.

4. He would risk his life for me, no matter what. After all that is his job.

5. Him and Hajar have major history together. From what I’ve heard, they both have a death wish on each other. 

6. His true age is really unknown, I place him somewhere around late 20’s in this life. I know I’m right! 



~Chapter 3 ~ Zephira

            A women with red curly hair was rushing around between the stove and the table. She was whistling to herself and her eyes were darting for every movement. Zephira almost dropped a fork but her fast reflects, caught it before it even had a chance to hit the floor. I had become use to that a long time ago.

         “Hi, Zephira” I said placing my bag next to the door as Rocco went t sit on the couch. “Oh, yeah, Hi” she said rather lost in the bustle of activity. “How was your day” she asked and I felt Rocco’s eyes on me. “It was alright I guess” I said using the normal teenage term, for it sucked. “That bad huh” she said placing a huge piece of meatloaf on the table before turning to look at me. “Yep” I said softly as Rocco’s eyes turned back to the TV. “Have you grown any since you left this morning” she asked tilting her head and then rushing over to give me a hug. “No” I choked out as she squeezed the air out of me.
         
         Rocco was laughing and I glared at him over Zephira’s back. He just chuckled silently acting like it really amused him something fierce and I just rolled my eyes, adding the tongue as well. Zephira gave me another huge squeeze and I felt like my eyes were about to pop out of my head at any minute.

         “Are you hungry” she asked moving to the kitchen again but not before hitting Rocco in the arm. “Not right this second” laughing at Rocco as he rubbed his arm. “Why not I made my famous meatloaf” she said and I closed my eyes a moment. “If you don’t mind I think I’ll change and then head up onto the roof” I said and tension immediately filled the room.

         “No, I won’t allow you, to got to the roof this late at night and not after Hajar was with you this evening” Rocco said and Zephira came to stand behind him. “Really, oh, Thera weren’t you scared” she asked and I shook my head. “No I wasn’t” I said angrily. “Of course not she was spilling all our secrets” Rocco said switching the TV off. “No” I said loudly, glaring at him dangerously. “She was having a therapy session with the raven boy” he said and I felt the anger about to boil over. “Stop it, shut up” I screamed loudly and the room fell silent.

         I grabbed my bag and slowly left the room.