Hawtness - Hawtness – Volume 4 – Epilogue

 | Volume 5

“LALALALALA!”

“BUIO!”

“LALALALALAAA!”

“CUORI SPEZZATI!”

“Ahhhhhh!” I screamed jumping up and down. “Samantha will be
so jealous when she learns that I went to a concert in Italy!”

“Is this really what normal humans enjoy?” Ryan asked,
standing next to me.

The pair of us were in a massive theater hall. Demetry was
on stage, singing loudly into the mic while a guitar riffed in the background
and dancers leaped around on stage. Most of the song was in Italian, but I
recognized the main riff, so I was on the same level as all the other teenage
girls who had come to the concert to yell their heads off.

“Girls, mostly… ugg, it smells like body butter in here.”
Rune complained noisily.

He might have earned some angry looks, but when the girls saw
the group of pretty boys near the front of the stage, they couldn’t help but
blush.  A few were shooting me, standing
in the middle of them, some jealous stares and looks, but I had long sense gotten
good at ignoring these kinds of looks. I would have already been burned to ash
just walking around high school if I let these looks get to me.

All of the guys were there, except for Xavier, who wasn’t bold
enough to be the only adult in a group of teenagers. Honestly, there were a few
older men there, but considering the pink shirts and the adoring expressions on
their faces, it was probably good that he wasn’t being associated with them.

“Ah, come on, it’s fun! There are other guys here. Don’t act
like you’re all too cool to dance at a concert! See, Daniel’s getting into it,
he already has his shirt off!”

“Daniel always has his shirt off!” Rune growled.

“You guys… is no one going to dance?”

“I’m sorry, Jane…” Stephan lowered his head. “I’m just not
that good at it.”

“I’m interested in this so-called dance.” Allan wiped his glasses
clean. “So, women frolic and move provocatively, all to catch the attention of
the man in front, the so-called alpha.”

“There is nothing alpha about Victor.” Daniel snorted.

“I don’t know why you’re complaining. You have Alex over
there who is willing to join you with the screaming and dancing.” Andrew offered
helplessly.

I glanced over at Alex. She was with a bunch of other girls
at the foot of the stage, desperately trying to touch Demetry’s.

“I love you!”

“Have my babies!”

“Take a look at these!”

“Alex, put your shirt down!” I screamed as she flashed the
stage.

Those were the screams and shouts of the women in front.
That was a crowd I wasn’t apart of. They were a bit too extreme for even me. Of
course, Alex shone in the group, even being the one who was the most extreme.
Upon flashing Victor, who happened to know she was a bisexual succubus, his
mouth twitched uncomfortably and while singing he made a hidden gesture to
someone off stage.

A few moments later, security came by and ended up dragging
Alex away. She left kicking and screaming, turning to us for help. We all pretended
that we didn’t know her as she was dragged away. The plane back wouldn’t leave until
tomorrow morning. Hopefully, a night in an Italian cell would teach Alex some
restraint. She was wearing my face, or at least an approximation of it. I’d
appreciate if she didn’t keep flashing her body around for others to see it, even
if they body was a bit shapelier than my own.

“Hey, Ryan.” Rune suddenly spoke up in the awkward silence
after Alex was dragged away. “Just a thought, but if you danced, wouldn’t that
be the robot?”

“Rune!” I admonished him.

Asking Ryan if he could do the robot would be like expecting
Stephan to do the thriller! That was totally prejudiced toward supernatural
beings! Rune had the shamelessness to shrug like he hadn’t said anything wrong.

“My programming includes dancing routines of many varieties.”
Ryan said, not catching any of Rune’s sarcasm or teasing at all.

“Show us!” Rune smirked.

Ryan nodded, and then put is arms out in ninety-degree
angles and started moving them.

“That’s the robot.” Rune laughed.

“Totally the robot.” Stephan nodded.

“Very well, how about this?”

He brought his arms out and waved them, while back up and
remaining in place.

“Also, the robot.”

“Perhaps this robot is too inclusive of a name? These moves
are nothing alike!”

I decided to ignore the conversation as Ryan switched from
one robotic dance to the next. Since it wasn’t Lilith who had created him, that
meant that there was still someone out there who made Ryan. If that was the
case, they must have had a sense of humor, as they loaded his dance routines up
with only variations of the robot. However, he wasn’t the only robot.

“Allan, how is Mia?”

“Her damage is extensive.” Allan responded in a low whisper
that only I could here over the lyrics. I will need to obtain some parts, and
it will take some time to repair her. Maybe six months, optimistically.”

“Ah… I see…”

That was disappointing. I had hopes that Mia could shine
some light on Ryan’s origins. Then again, she might be as clueless as he was.
Well, if Lilith was willing to toss her away, then she probably couldn’t be that
bad. Anything Lilith hated was probably a decent thing. At least, that was my
reasoning.

“I need to go to the little girl’s room. I’ll be back!”

The guys were just starting to try to show Ryan how to
dance, and their moves were extremely embarrassing. As they were drawing the
attention of more and more audience, I definitely didn’t want to be in the
center of all that. It turned out that none of the guys were particularly
skilled dancers, at least compared to the trained Demetry.

There was a line to the bathroom, and it took nearly five
minutes to get in. I was a little annoyed because I felt like I was missing the
concert. However, I had no choice but to wait my turn patiently. I finished up
quickly, and then I life my stall. The second I walked out, I noticed that
something was off. It was suddenly very quiet.

Looking around, I realized that the entire bathroom was
empty now. When I went into the stall, every other stall was filled, there was
a line out the door, and a girl at every sink. In the thirty seconds I had been
in there, everyone had disappeared, and it was no deathly quiet. Even the
singing, whose low baritones could still be heard booming even from here, were
noticeably absent. It was like I had walked into a dead zone.

Looking around nervously, I walked over to the sink and
began to wash my hands. The sound of the sink running was like a waterfall in
the relative silence. Just as I was going to leave the bathroom quickly, I
looked up at the mirror. Except, instead of my own face, I saw the face of a
woman I hoped to never see again. It was Lilith looking back at me, her
familiar disdainful look was gone. Something else was different about her too.
When I had first seen her, she had the face of about the age of most of my
teachers. She was late twenties, maybe thirties.

However, her face was younger now, looking closer to twenty.
It only made her look more beautiful, but also made me uneasy. She had a beautiful
pendant around her neck with a magnificent red gem in the center. She was
fingering it unconsciously as she glared at me.

“L-lilith!” I was glad I had just went, or I might have peed
a little.

“Jane…” She said, her eyes lowered. “You think things are
really done between us?”

“A deal is a deal!” I said, my voice just an octave higher
than it should have been.

“I honor my pacts…” she snorted. “That’s the only reason I
let you walk out of that church alive.”

“Ah… well… then…”

“They left me.” She said suddenly.

“What?”

“That vampire of yours, he caused my magic to distort. The
control I had over my loves… I lost them, one after another.”

“I’m… sorry?”

I wanted to say good riddance. She had basically been forcing
them to be with her against their will. Now that they were freed, it was probably
for the best.

“I don’t need your sympathy!” She snarled. “The only reason
I’m telling you is so you know I have nothing holding me back from getting
vengeance. If the end doesn’t kill you, I will!”

“The end?”

“Ryan was my first! When you took him away, you took away
everything from me!” She ignored my question and continued to speak. “So,
naturally, I’ll make you pay!”

“Look, I don’t want any trouble.”

“It’s too late for that! It’s time…” she looked up. “Tsk…
your vampire friend has realized I’m here. This isn’t over, Jane! I’ll be back!”

The lights suddenly flickered, and sound returned all at
once. My reflection was back to normal too. I took a deep breath. As much as I
hated to admit it, I was a little afraid of her.

In fact, since the boys had caused me to risk my life so
many times, I was starting to become very aware of my short comings. I also
became aware of everything I could lose. My friends could be snapped away at
any second.

When I left the bathroom, all of the guys ran up to me.

“Jane, are you okay? We felt…” Andrew began.

“Somethings coming, isn’t it?” I asked, causing all of the
guys to stop short.

Their expressions turned weird, and they all were glancing
away awkwardly.

“Lilith’s boytoy’s mentioned something, and just now she
said something about the end. There was also the werewolves. And star
organizations. What happened in the past… that wasn’t the end of this, was it?
Please answer me!”

“We don’t know!’ Andrew said worriedly. “We really don’t
know what’s coming. That’s the truth. There are signs… something will be
happening, but no one knows what. Did Lilith… say or do anything…”

I shook my head. “She just warned me.”

“That witch should really bugger off!” Rune responded angrily.
“You don’t need to take he threats seriously, Jane. We’ll protect you.”

“No. It’s time I started to be able to protect myself. Can
you guys… um… can you teach me how to fight?”

If I wanted to survive what was coming, I needed to be ready.

 | Volume 5