Amanda showed no signs of anger, sadness or frustration. If anything, Tyler thought Amanda looked relieved.
"Good. Anyone who is against you is against us. I don’t care what race they are," Amanda said while kissing him on the cheek. "How are you doing though, do you feel guilty about killing a person?"
"Not anymore. When I saw the dead body and thought about how we were framing someone, I got a little emotional. I am lucky to have all of you and great familiars because if I didn’t, I don’t know that I would have been able to do something like that...but if their intent is to aid the race invading our planet and has already started draining Vexarra’s very core, then I’m not going to feel bad about it. I just need to know you’re ok," Tyler smiled while running his hand through her hair.
"I’ll be fine, I promise. I got what I needed off my chest. Now I’m just worried about Kass." Amanda frowned. "She always plays it off like she’s so confident but I don’t know, this has to be really difficult for her. To go three years thinking one thing only to realize that reality might not be true is... a lot."
"Yeah, me too...but something tells me Zinnia isn’t working for them because she wants to. She had to know Mojo was an elf so I’m sure she’s wondering the same. Why would the race eliminated by the enemy be working with them?" Tyler sighed. "Other than power, what do they have to gain? I can’t think of anything."
"Me neither. I was so mad at first but when Sophie and Nyxara were talking about it and Isis stayed with Zinnia in the realm I realized I’m just letting my emotions get the best of me. I know I’m close to SSS, I can feel it!" Amanda exclaimed, lightning up with excitement.
"That’s good! So you won’t have any problem attacking the slums of Vexa tomorrow?" Tyler grinned.
"As long as we have a plan, you know I’m there! Thank you for taking the time to let me know but seriously Tyler, I’m finally in a good place emotionally. I have my new family and my new life to worry about, not the past and the way all of those traitors treated me," Amanda said with a kiss. "Now spend time with Kass mister! She needs you right now."
"Ok and if I start slipping emotionally and you notice, please let me know. I love you babe, thanks for spending time with me," Tyler said while giving her a big hug.
"You’re welcome, now let’s go see the other girls!" Amanda smiled.
Amanda walked out of the room with Tyler and they noticed Zinnia was talking to Kass.
’When did she get here?’ Tyler thought, confused. ’Shouldn’t she be helping clean up the mess? Did she really take care of it that quickly?’
He didn’t want to intrude so he sat next to Sophie and Nyx, who were researching any news or stream information they could find on the city of Vex.
They found two news articles about the OEA abandoning a certain area of Vexa due to too many attacks on their officers. The OEA was known to have some of the best ability users, so this was a large red flag and cause for concern. If they backed off, it meant the state of affairs had to be horrendous.
"Looks like we know where to go," Shadow said confidently. "It’ll be good to let loose and rip some throats out!"
"Someone needs some time in the woods," Tyler laughed. "I like the confidence, seriously though is everyone good? I didn’t even notice Ritsu and Isis leaving. I feel like I’m not being a very good host lately."
"Stop it," Rex chuckled.
"We’re fine, we all have our little areas we can go to if we want to get away anyway. You don’t notice because you’re one of us and not human anymore. Just know we’ll always be there when it matters," Gaia reassured Tyler.
"I never doubted that, but it’s good to know. Tomorrow is going to be a shit show. We have to be careful not to kill innocent people."
"Yeah...but how innocent are they if OEA won’t even go in there?" Alexandria snarled. "I say we torch the place and have Gaia rebuild it."
"We’ll see how it goes. I just hope the maroon mask shows up. I want a fight and that’s a good way to get my staff to 10." Tyler smiled.
******
Zinnia and Kass were talking about what transpired over the day and Zinnia wanted to know more about Kass’ little sister. Surprised by her straightforward approach, Kass was reluctant to share any information at first.
"Why do you want to know about her Zinnia? She told us all the whole story. How you killed everyone, burned down the village and had she not hidden in a bush and ran for it when she did, you would have killed everyone."
"Blonde hair, black eyes with white crosses for pupils. She was wearing black pajama pants and holding a white teddy bear when she ran. Is that enough or do I need to explain more? I want to know how she’s doing," Zinnia asked politely.
"How do you know all of that?!" Kass gasped.
******
Kass remembered the day the little girl collapsed at her village’s entrance 3 years ago. Her parents decided to get her into a top school in Vespa, which was about 30 miles from her village. They saw potential with her unique demon arts so they contacted the best high schools in the area.
Over her sophomore summer, Kass spent several days at different schools displaying her unique demon arts until eventually Ability High, which was the prep school for Ability Academy, accepted her. She had only been there for a few weeks and didn’t really have any friends.
Most demons didn’t have horns, but Kass’ pink ones stood out and kids would often tease her. On a rainy day, some boys were giving her a hard time, pushing her into the mud and a young Sophie appeared. She stood up to the kids, helped Kass off the ground and told her if anyone ever messed with her, they were messing with Sophie too.
"Let me see your clothes, I think I can use a spell to clean them off!" a young Sophie said confidently.
"Are you sure? Aren’t they going to just make fun of you too? You’re really popular here," a young Kass said with tears in her eyes.
"Who cares about being popular, if I’m not the best student to graduate from this school and don’t get into Ability Academy, none of that matters!" Sophie said while using a combination of water and fire to get the mud off of Kass’ pants. "See, good as new!"
"Thank you...I’m Kass. I’m from Zavana. I don’t really know anyone here..."
"The demon village? That’s so cool! I’ve never been friends with a demon before. I heard you can do some really cool things. Why don’t you ever stand up for yourself?"
"I don’t want to hurt anyone..." Kass blushed, wiping her tears away.
"Well, don’t let people hurt you either, that’s just silly! If it’s them or me, I’m always going to choose me!" Sophie said with her chest puffed out.
"You’re really nice. Who is that boy staring at you?" Kass asked.
"Oh that’s my new boyfriend Markus. He’s a senior and he’ll look out for you too!" Sophie said while Markus approached them.
"You ok babe?" Markus asked Sophie.
"Never better, this is Kass. She’s a really cool demon." Sophie smiled.
They became close friends after that. Kass noticed the way Markus treated her at first but eventually noticed how quickly he changed. It had only been a few months and he started lying, sneaking around and she was certain he was hooking up with other girls. She tried hinting to Sophie, but she wouldn’t believe it and she didn’t want to risk losing her friend or any of the new friends that came with being friends with Sophie, so she never pressed the issue.
Markus and Sophie had their first big fight at school so Kass offered to let Sophie hang out at her place. Sophie said she was fine and decided to go home herself.
’Well, I hope she’s ok...’ Kass thought while she got into her car, unaware of the horror she was about to drive home to.