Chapter 9

Realm of Sey Eneerg

-Main POV: Deraj-

Deraj had attempted to escape the sisters after they had talked about burning him and his friends alive. He had only taken about three steps before he felt a warm hand grab him. He blinked and found himself in a new place, alone with Phoenix, the fiery woman that took pleasure from the thought of burning him alive, and Trinity, the woman that enjoyed suffocating her enemies. They stood in a spacious living room. Deraj threw his hands up in the air, not knowing what else to do. The women immediately jumped back, staring him down and accessing the threat.

"Don't kill me!" He pleaded.

"Don't give us a reason to!" They yelled in unison, both glaring at him. Trinity continued, "Lower your hands before I take your air until you pass out."

"Uh, okay," He replied, lowering his hands slowly.

"Don't you know? Raising your hands like that is a threat to a witch. We don't take that behavior lightly. Bad new toy, behave!" Trinity said, her hands on her hips and the glare still plastered on her face.

"He's not your toy, Babe. He might be Misha's though," Phoenix said, eyeing him with curiosity.

"Excuse me?" Trinity demanded, looking at her mate then back at him, her glare somehow intensified.

"Pay attention to how they look at each other, Babe. It's obvious they have the hots for each other. Now I've got to go get his friends before they try to run. I don't feel like chasing them down. Don't kill him while I'm gone," Phoenix said and then disappeared.

"If you hurt my little girl…" Trinity said as she took a threatening step towards him. He immediately went to raise his hands but stopped himself. Instead he took a step back.

"I won't! I swear!" He insisted.

"You won't like the consequences if you do. I promise," Trinity stated coldly.

"Yes, ma'am!" He replied.

"Excuse the fuck out of you! Don't ma'am me! Phoenix would burn you alive if she heard you insult me like that!" Trinity said, offended.

"I- I'm sorry. It won't happen again," Deraj said.

Phoenix reappeared, her hands on Leira and Aidan. She immediately released them. Leira and Aidan quickly looked around then looked at Deraj for direction.

"Everything is going to be okay. Just don't raise your hands and don't call them ma'am," Deraj said, attempting to calm them.

"Excuse you! Did you call my wife ma'am, you little fucker?" Phoenix demanded, flames engulfing her hands instantly.

"I- I didn't know any better. But I do now! It won't happen again. I swear!" Deraj insisted.

"It had better not. You won't like me if it does," Phoenix promised, flames dancing in her green eyes.

"Yes, ma'- I mean, I understand," Deraj said.

"Be back in a flash," Phoenix said, continuing to glare at Deraj as she disappeared.

"May I sit down?" Leira politely asked Trinity.

"Well, that is what the couches are for," Trinity replied, rolling her eyes at the question. Leira and Aidan sat down on the soft blue couch. Deraj took a step towards the couch, intending to join them.

"Not you. I don't like you right now and people I don't like aren't allowed on the couch. It's a house rule," Trinity stated. Deraj stood awkwardly, waiting for Trinity's next instructions.

"Dude, I wish I had some popcorn!" Aidan whispered loudly to Leira.

"I know right!" Leira whispered back just as loudly. They both giggled. Deraj threw a glare their way but remained silent, hoping his silence wouldn't piss off the witch.

"Just what are your intentions with Misha?" Trinity demanded.

"I- what?" Deraj asked, confused. Heat spread across his cheeks.

Phoenix reappeared with Relyt and Elyk. She released them immediately. They looked around, looked at Deraj then at Leira and Aidan. Relyt shrugged his shoulders and went over to the couch and sat down beside Aidan, Elyk following his lead.

"Babe, what's wrong?" Phoenix asked when Trinity had continued glaring at Deraj rather than looking at her when she had re-entered the room.

"This little shit doesn't want to tell me his intentions with Misha," Trinity stated.

"I- I don't have any intentions with Misha. I don't even know her!" Deraj insisted.

"So you want to know her, huh?" Trinity demanded, making it sound dirty.

"I- I don't know. Maybe. Is that a bad thing?" Deraj asked, confused.

"Yo, anyone got any popcorn?" Relyt asked Aidan.

"I'm sayin' bro!" Aidan whispered back loudly.

"Do you hear that, Nix? He wants to know our little Misha!" Trinity said after turning to Phoenix, using air quotes when saying the word 'know'.

"Yeah, babe, I already told you that," Phoenix said, rolling her eyes. She continued, "It was bound to happen eventually. And honestly, at least she's not dating in her teens,"

"Dating?" Trinity gasped. She turned towards Deraj, one hand on her hip and the other pointing a finger at him. She continued, "You think you're going to date our little Misha?"

"I, uh, no?" Deraj asked.

"No? Why the hell not? You think she's not good enough or something?" Trinity demanded. Phoenix put her hands on Trinity's shoulders, preparing to hold her back if needed.

"How about everyone sits down and shuts up until I get everyone home? Now!" Phoenix demanded.

"But, BAAAAABE!" Trinity whined.

"No. I've got to get the girls as well as his other friend. I don't want you killing anyone while I'm gone," Phoenix said as she guided Trinity over to the comfy blue loveseat.

"You said no killing but that doesn't include maiming, right babe?" Trinity continued arguing on the way to the loveseat.

"No bloodshed!" Phoenix clarified.

"So that's a yes, right? I mean, you know I'm an air witch and I don't need to shed his blood to hurt him," Trinity said.

"Not while I'm gone. You know I have FOMO!" Phoenix replied.

"Fine, I guess I can wait," Trinity said as she stared at Deraj coldly.

After getting Trinity sat down, Phoenix turned and saw that Deraj was still standing.

"I said sit," Phoenix ordered.

"She said I wasn't allowed on the couch," Deraj stated nervously.

"Then sit on the floor. I don't have time for this," Phoenix said. Deraj sat down on the floor.

"No one get up or talk until I get back or Trinity might kill you. You've been warned," Phoenix said then disappeared.

Everyone sat silently and waited. Trinity continued to glare at Deraj the entire time, obviously still contemplating killing him. Moments later Phoenix returned with Annod and Star.

"Sit on the couch and don't talk. Otherwise Trinity might kill you," Phoenix instructioned the girls. After they sat down, Phoenix disappeared again.

They continued sitting in silence. Trinity glaring at Deraj while he stared down at the floor. Annod casts terrified glances at her friends and tries to avoid drawing Trinity's attention. Star and the rest of them looked entertained. After a short while Phoenix returned with Evee and Misha. Phoenix then walked over and sat down with her aggravated mate.

"Why do they look so scared? Trin, what have you done to them?" Misha demanded.

"I haven't done anything. Yet. Oh, but how I would like to," Trinity stated, her glare very obviously directed at Deraj.

"Okay! First things first. We need a detailed report of what exactly happened. All the way up to us arriving. Misha first and then Deraj," Phoenix said, changing the subject.

"Where's Kat?" Trinity asked.

"Cleaning up. Then she has something she needs to do so she'll be around in a bit," Phoenix replied then waved Misha on.

Misha told her side of it. When she got to her plan to remove the collars she added, "And I think it would have worked too but instead I went with those meddling kids!" And pointed at Deraj and friends. After Misha finished her side of it, Evee wore a troubled look.

This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

"What's eating you, Vee?" Trinity asked.

"We should have set the other prisoners free," Evee stated, glancing at Phoenix then quickly away.

"Baby girl, we didn't know about them nor did we care to know. Our only objective was releasing Misha. It would have taken too long to figure out if each prisoner would have fought with us, gotten in our way, or was flipped and would have fought us directly. Their death was a mercy and it was quick. At least we didn't leave them to be experimented on as humans enjoy doing," Trinity stated, her green eyes glowing red from the thought.

"Are you sure their deaths were quick?" Evee asked quietly.

"My fire burned so hot, they died almost instantly," Phoenix stated.

"But that guy, Shane, that Misha just told us about…" Evee began.

"Yes, I know. I wanted him to burn slowly. To suffer. And thus he did, at least until Kat put him out," Phoenix said, a bitter look on her face towards the end. Evee nodded her head in understanding, her face still troubled.

"If it makes you feel any better, we scanned their footage before going in and there were no other prisoners on the premises at that time," Deraj stated.

"It does. Thank you," Evee said, her face brightening.

"You did well on the battlefield, Misha. We are very proud of you," Trinity commended Misha.

"Thank you, Trin. I didn't like killing Shane. He deserved it but I didn't enjoy it like I thought I would when I was in that cage," Misha stated.

"Kat and I will take you hunting pedophiles eventually. Those kills you'll enjoy," Evee stated, a dark glint to her eyes.

"One thing I would like to know, why didn't you use your powers on the ANAL agents when they grabbed you at the night club?" Phoenix asked.

"I didn't have time to grab their auras. They were attacking me back to back. Tonight, I had enough distance between me and them to grab their auras before they could attack me," Misha replied.

"So we need to work on your speed of grabbing auras during a fight," Phoenix stated.

"Agreed. And her combat skills against multiple attackers," Trinity added.

Great. More fighting and more training. Misha thought.

"Okay, now it's your turn," Phoenix said, gesturing to the silent Deraj.

Deraj told his side of it. He left out his original mission as well as his connection to Misha and the dreams he'd had of her. Misha's face scrunched up at parts and Deraj wondered if she had been dreaming of him as well. That was a terrifying thought. She might know things that could compromise his mission. If so….. What would he do about it? After finally meeting her he was having a hard time just thinking about leaving her. He would, but all he wanted to do was hold her close and kill anything that threatened her. But what if he was the threat? He wondered. Immediately he knew deep in his soul that he could never hurt her. Maybe he could stay and get to know her. No, he had to leave. He had a mission. He had to-

"Hey, earth to Deraj!" Trinity said, snapping her fingers at him.

"Sorry. I got lost in my thoughts," Deraj responded, jolted back into the present moment.

"So you were saying that your friend Scarlet hacked into ANAL's cameras," Phoenix said, waving him on to continue. Deraj's crew all snickered at the labeling of Scarlet as a friend. Deraj threw them a quick warning glare and they all shut up. He didn't want to tell the witches that Scarlet was his spaceship so he had worded it in a way that made her sound like a person. Which she would have appreciated. And honestly, she was his friend.

"Right. That's how I found Elyk. Then we," he gestured to his crew, "all met up at their headquarters. We knocked out the ANAL agents that would have gotten in our way. They should've all slept for about thirty minutes, plenty of time to get Elyk out. However, Misha was somehow able to see us and we lost a little time debating why that was," Deraj said, throwing a glare at his guys as he remembered the delay. He hadn't intended to release Misha but after seeing her, he couldn't make himself walk away. He had been filled with so much anger over her wounds.

"That is a good question," Trinity said, looking over at Misha with a contemplative look on her face. Misha appeared to be trying to puzzle it out as well. She absently chewed on her bottom lip, sending tingles all over Deraj's body. He had a sudden urge to grab her and claim that bottom lip. Deraj discreetly adjusted himself when he felt his second head begin to grow. He definitely didn't want that head to take control of his actions. Trinity would kill him.

"Continue," Phoenix ordered, her eyes narrowing in suspicion.

"Right. I ordered the others to go ahead and release Elyk while I stayed behind and released Misha," Deraj said.

"And me. Don't forget about me or I'll tell your wife," Star said, genuine hurt in her eyes. He had forgotten about her but he wasn't dumb enough to tell her that.

"Yes, and you, Star," Deraj said. He was proud of himself for remembering her name. He hadn't even remembered her from the night club until she had told them about it.

"We then met back up with the others in front of the cage Elyk had been in. Then we began our exit and bumped into all of you," Deraj said.

Evee clapped her hands, jumping up and down. "Wow! What a great love story! And they lived happily ever after!" She squealed.

"Shut up, Evee! What are you even talking about?" Misha demanded, her face turning red.

"I think she's talking about how your boyfriend rescued you and gave you that pretty dagger to make your first kill with," Trinity stated, her glare burning a hole into Deraj. His own face heated uncomfortably.

"Oh my God, he's not my boyfriend!" Misha insisted. She looked over at Deraj and he hoped that the wound he felt in his chest wasn't showing on his face.

"I'm so sorry. Please ignore them," Misha said.

"Y'all cut it out," Phoenix ordered.

"But they're so cute! Misha and Deraj sitting in a tree, K, I, S-" Evee began singing.

"Shut the fuck up, Evee! Stop picking on Misha!" Kat growled as she walked in the room.

"Kat! You've been gone so long! You missed their entire love story!" Evee beamed.

"I think I just missed a minute or so of you being retarded. No worries, you'll have another retarded moment shortly, I'm sure," Kat replied with a smirk.

"Nuh-uh!" Evee responded.

"Yeah-huh!" Kat shot back.

"Everyone shut the fuck up! I still have questions and you all are giving me a headache. For fuck sake," Phoenix growled. Everyone fell silent.

"Thank you. Now. Deraj, what species are you?" Phoenix asked. Deraj briefly debated lying to her but he was pretty sure she'd catch him in the lie and burn him alive. If he said he was a vampire, she'd probably insist on watching him drink blood. The thought alone made him nauseous.

"Nekawa," He answered truthfully, surprising his crew.

"Oh, c'mon! He just made that up!" Trinity yelled.

"Babe, chill," Phoenix whispered, petting Trinity's hair in a soothing manner.

"I'm with Trin on this one. We've been around a long time and none of us have heard of Nekawas," Kat stated.

"We're not from this planet," Relyt stated, looking at them like they were morons.

"Oh my Gods, they're aliens! Misha's dating an actual alien!" Evee squealed, clapping her hands.

"I am not!" Misha fumed. She looked at Deraj and added, "Not that there's anything wrong with that. We're just not, you know…"

Deraj nodded his head. So she wouldn't be opposed to dating someone outside of her solar system. That's good to know. Wait, no, it doesn't matter! I need to get the mission done and leave this planet. Get as far away from her as possible before she ruins both of our lives. He thought.

"Next question. Where is Scarlet?" Phoenix asked.

"She's waiting for us close to the ANAL headquarters," Deraj said. His crew snickered in unison.

"Why do you all keep laughing every time he mentions Scarlet?" Phoenix demanded.

"Oh my God, is she your wife?" Star demanded, looking jealous. All of his crew busted out laughing, gasping for air. Deraj glared at them.

"If someone doesn't clue me in on the joke right now I'm about to start burning things!" Phoenix threatened.

"We're aliens. We have spaceships. Scarlet is Deraj's emotional spaceship. And it practically is his wife with the way it talks to him," Leira explained around bouts of laughter.

"Is that who you were talking to on the phone? I bet you're not even really married. You lying prick!" Star yelled.

"Does she look like a trashcan or a porta potty?" Misha asked, her eyes hooded. She was figuring it out. Everyone looked at her, then at him.

"Uh, neither right now. She is able to camouflage herself as anything. Right now she's invisible," Deraj replied. So she has been dreaming of me. That's not good. He thought.

"How did you know that?" Kat asked.

Misha debated how she wanted to answer her sister's question. They already thought she was a freak and they were already picking on her about her attraction to Deraj. To tell them that she had been dreaming of him would be like begging for more torture while handing them a sharpened blade. But if she lied and it came out later…

"I was just wondering if his ship could take on different forms," Misha lied, hoping Deraj would keep his mouth shut. Deraj raised his eyebrows but said nothing.

"That was a really weird way of asking that," Kat stated, suspicion showing clearly on her face.

"Well, I'm weird. Moving on. Why are y'all on Earth?" Misha asked.

"Do we have to answer all of your questions? That has nothing to do with what happened tonight," Leira stated.

"Hmm. Well y'all can answer them or we can release Phoenix on y'all. Your choice," Kat said.

"Nope, we'll release me on them. If anyone is hurting him, it's going to be me," Trinity stated, smiling at Deraj.

"This is why I have no friends. Because y'all threaten them!" Misha yelled. She continued, "Can y'all just be nice?"

"Nice? That's no fun, Mish," Trinity whined disgustedly. She looked offended.

"Y'all have gotten their whole side of the story. Just let them go now. Please," Misha said.

"I think we should offer them a safe place. Keep them close while we figure out why Misha could see them," Phoenix suggested.

"They know too much to let them leave," Kat agreed.

"We don't know anything and we don't need a safe place," Deraj stated, as if he had a choice.

"What about Star?" Evee asked, sizing the girl up.

"What species are you anyway? I've never encountered a person who could send me through a portal without even seeing or feeling the portal open," Phoenix stated, eyeing Star curiously.

"I'm a genie," Star replied.

"Yeah, right," Kat said, rolling her eyes. She continued, "Genies aren't real and if they are then they are extinct,"

"I'm the last of my kind. I was at that night club looking for a potential mate," Star said, eyeing the men in the room.

"She may have come into Misha's life as a witch trial. We can't kill her," Phoenix stated.

"Fine," Evee said, crossing her arms over her chest in aggravation.

"Misha, I wanted to congratulate you on your first kill. You did great! And the way you used your powers on your other opponents was impressive," Kat commended her.

"Yeah! Death by orgy, that's a new one! I gotta give you mad props for that!" Evee beamed to Misha.

"Well, there was that one time..," Phoenix said, looking over at Trinity. Trinity shook her head. Phoenix continued, "Uh, nevermind,"

"Yeah, I've never seen a love witch use her powers like that," Kat agreed.

"It was so cool!" Star beamed.

"You handled yourself well. I couldn't even tell that you hadn't ever killed before," Deraj added.

"Thanks guys," Misha said, her blush returning.

"C'mon, Evee, let's go set up rooms for our guests," Kat said.

"We really need to go," Deraj argued.

"Take it up with Phoenix and Trinity," Kat said as her and Evee walked out of the room. Moments later the house whined as it expanded, making the guests jump.

"What was that?" Annod asked.

"Just witches adding rooms to a house. Nothing to worry about," Misha said.

"Can we please leave?" Deraj asked Phoenix.

"No. Not until I figure out a few things," Phoenix replied simply.

"Okay. Can we at least have Elyk's collar removed?" Deraj asked, realizing that trying to leave was a lost cause. Phoenix looked at Trinity who shrugged her shoulders.

"We did say we'd remove them. Better have Evee do it though. Otherwise they might lose their heads. And then we'd have to hear Misha whine about that," Trinity said.

"EVEE!" Phoenix yelled.

"And mine too, right?" Star asked, batting her eyelashes at them.

Evee walked in the room a minute later. "What do you want?" She asked.

"Will you carefully remove our guest's collars please?" Phoenix asked.

"Both of them?" Evee asked, glaring at Star. Star smiled sweetly back at her.

"Yes, Vee, both of them," Phoenix stated.

"Oh, and show them to rooms as well please," Trinity said.

"Fine," Evee said. As Evee removed Star's collar she whispered to her, "We will have our fight. You're not going to escape this ass whooping," Then she removed Elyk's collar.

"Right this way," Evee said.

"Can your liquor be the first stop on this tour, please?" Star pleaded, hopeful, giving Evee puppy dog eyes.