MY DARLING DAREDEVIL

Daciana's suspicion

Aziza’s heart was pounding in her chest when she cut the last man down. The strong smell of metal, gas, diesel and the horrific scent of blood filled her nostrils and plunged deep within her stomach. But she had already been one with that smell. The sight of blood, the stain and the smell of it was like sweat that was attached with her pores, it clothed her skin.

She had always been the predator and they, the prey, but even as she perceived the blood, the burning smell, the gas and smoke that had purged the environment around her, she knew that things were not simply the way it only seems. She tried to ease the panting of her heart and calm down the blood thirsty demons within her before she lowered her gaze to the men on the floor.

He had called her name, not just her name but her full name. A name only a few people knew to be hers, yet he had so comfortably called out the name like they knew her. She thought killing them would end her fear and uneasiness, her fear for death, for Damon but no. At the very last moment, she realised that it was bigger than she had imagined. The attack was far bigger than anything she had seen and whatever had just happened was only the beginning of what was to come. The question was, what should she be preparing for?

That thought flew out of her mind when she heard the loud groan of the man she was to save, followed by a clunking sound. She spun around instantly and found Damon trying to get up on his feet. The sound of his pounding heart rang loudly in her ears and it only increased by the minute. Her heart skipped by a mile at the sight of him, then it began to race and her legs found ways to start moving before her consent. Her demons raged and panted within her in excitement and relief and she pushed her way towards him.

Damon stood up and groaned again when another pain hit him from the side of his head. He could feel liquid dripping from his head and he placed his hand at the spot, truly there was liquid and he could only suspect what it was. Surely, when he had looked at it, it was blood. He had taken a blow on his head when the car was capsizing earlier but fortunately, it was simply a blow and he had more on his mind. The first being the red hair.

His eyes turned firstly to the woman who had saved his life again and his heart picked up and raced within him. There was blood on her face, her hair was sticking to her body and face as well and her eyes had a bit of darkness within them. Yet he found her the most beautiful at that exact moment. His heart danced with joy and excitement, his being jumped up and down within him and the relief he felt in his heart was like a burning flame.

Aziza stopped herself from jumping on top of him and stopped a little distance away from him. It took everything within her to control herself from holding him and crying in his arms. Still she held back and pushed the tears that clouded her eyes. His cloth was torn at the shoulder and blood had run a straight line at the side of his face, even a part of his silver hair was dirty. He looked exhausted standing underneath the sun but the brightness in his eyes pierced her heart like the sun itself.

He stared at her as well. He accessed her from the crown of her hair to the very soul on her feet. Aside from the blood that scattered all over her face, her clothes and her trouser had been torn in the knee too. There was blood all over her knees as well and he could not help but feel uneasy about it. The blood at the other part of her body was surely not hers but the one down there….

He lifted his gaze back to her face and his heart caught in his chest again. What would he have done without her? How would he have coped without her? What if she had died and never showed up again in front of him? The thought of never seeing her again left a terrible taste at his mouth and it filled his heart with grief.

Aziza refused to move from the spot she stood but her gaze remained on him. Her heart and everything within her pulled her towards him, yet she refused to give in to what was swallowing her up. But Damon didn’t care about that, he could not hold back the scary thought in his head, the fear in his heart and the bare thought of losing her. He took hasty steps towards her and closed the space between them then he pulled her into a hug and enveloped himself within her scent mixed with gas, smoke and blood and the feel of her body. She froze the moment her body hit his and for a moment, the tears in her eyes fell down unable to hold itself anymore. His touch burned her and his scent filled her nostrils. His strong hold against her made her melt in his embrace and the thought of never letting go pierced through her heart. Slowly, she lifted her hand and wrapped around his lower back as more tears came running through her eyes. She had lost him once, it might not have been to death, but she was not planning to lose him again.

Damon’s heart beat slowed down and settled at the touch of her embrace. He tightened his hand around her, scared that something bad might happen again if he let her go. For the first time in his life, the great Damon Roxwell felt useless. He had left her behind, to her fate, a fate that could only be death. With all the power in the world, he still could not go back for her, he could not take her with him and be the one to keep her safe as it should be. Guilt and regret were the only thing he could feel for being so powerless, yet she had come for him, she had saved him again and again and again and again. His life was practically hers now and he was not willing to take it back.

“Try to come a bit early next time,” he mumbled into her hair. She giggled and for the first time, the light sound that came from her made his heart grow fonder. She wiped her tears and slowly pulled away from him, then she looked at his body again.

“Are you alright?” He gave her a nod for assurance, though his head greatly protested against his movement, then he looked her up again.

“Are you alright?” he asked.

“I’m Aziza…” she teased with a smile on her lips, a smile that made his lips to remain curved.

A growl came at the end of her sentence like someone wanted her presence to be felt. Aziza rolled her eyes, perceiving the wolf she had told to go back home. Damon flinched and followed the sound of the growl to find a wolf, a very majestic one coming towards them, a wolf bigger than what wolves should actually look like. He stared at it warily and turned to Aziza who didn’t even bother to turn in its direction.

“You shouldn’t be here,” she said dryly. He raised his brows at her, wondering who she was talking to. Then he heard a cracking sound and turned back to the wolf. More cracking sound followed and bones kept breaking to his dismay. He flinched at the very feel of the pain the wolf might be going through and winced when it didn’t stop breaking bones. But before his eyes, the wolf he had just seen transformed into a woman who gracefully stood up from the ground and stood erect, naked. Then he realised what he had just seen, a werewolf transformation and his mouth dropped.

“I could not be sure that you could handle yourself,” Daciana replied to Aziza’s previous comment and looked around.

“This is worse than a blood feast,” she cringed. Aziza’s lips twitched and she turned to Damon and gently placed a hand at the both sides of his torn suit. He knew exactly what she wanted and readily pulled it off his body and gave it to her. She walked towards Daciana and hung it over the wolf’s shoulder to cover a bit of her body.

“You didn’t tell him that you lost your powers for a moment and even broke your knees,” she said audibly with a smile on her lips at Aziza’s kind gesture. The cold-hearted demon seemed to have a heart after all.

“Wait…what?” Damon followed their conversation and started towards them. Aziza flashed Daciana a glare just before Damon held her arm and made her turn to him, then he accessed her again till his eyes dropped on her knees.

“How did you break your legs,” he continued.

“It was more like her bones dislocated and spurted out from her trouser,” Daciana went on to explain.

“It’s nothing,” she flashed the wolf another glare but Damon didn’t have it. He suddenly went on his knees and held her knees to feel the bones in them. He simply could not imagine the pain she had been through and yet she had been there to help him. The touch of his hand made her freeze and a sensation spread all over her body like cold ice.

“I’m okay,” she pulled herself away from him uncomfortably and kept a distance between them.

“Are you sure? How can you suddenly lose your powers? Are you not born with them?” he continued as his heart became unrest. Aziza thought about his words for a while, yet she could not think of any reason why her powers would suddenly disappear. It was alarming especially with what she had to go through earlier, but she had no answers. So she turned to Daciana who suddenly had a frown on her face.

“What is it?”

“Powers do not just disappear like that, this is a…” she paused.

“A witches doing,” she had wanted to say. But she knew Russel was the only wizard Aziza knew and it made her frown deepen till it became a very angry look that tightened her jaws. A second after she decided to keep to her thoughts just for the meantime.

“We’ll find out what is happening after we clear up this mess,” Aziza sighed and looked around again at the bodies, the explosion, the guns and bullets lying around. Fortunately, the road was quiet so no one had come across them yet.