Chapter 9

The Twins entered the gym to find a girl, petite in stature with sleek jet black hair pulled into a long braid, training with a baton that was longer than she was. Pausing, they stayed on the sidelines to watch. She wielded her baton with incredible speed and precision, at times moving faster than their eyes could see and as she got closer to them, they could hear the baton whistling through the air.

As their commander entered the gym, David asked, “Commander, who’s the new girl, she’s good, although a bit small don't you think?”

Commander Jake Michaels just laughed as he grabbed a baton off of the wall and joined the girl. As more Centurions joined the Twins on the sidelines to watch the show, Jake, who stood a good foot and half taller, said to her, “Let’s do this and show them why size doesn’t matter!”

The girl smiled wickedly and nodded. To the awe of everyone watching, they faced off in an intense battle, moving so fast and powerfully that they couldn’t see the batons, only hear them. Back and forth they went, Jake struggling to keep up. Finally, in a series of lightning-fast moves, the girl had Jake pinned to the ground, both batons in her hands.

“Holy Hell!” Keith exclaimed. “I’ve never seen the Commander bested like that!”

Jake laughed as the girl helped him up only to hand him both batons. Walking towards the Twins, she smiled wickedly as they looked at her stunned. “Thea?!?” they exclaimed in unison as she winked at them before leaving without saying a word. Turning back to the Commander they asked, “Was that Thea Prince?”

“Yup!”

“But what happened to her hair and eyes? Where is the pink?” Keith asked, stunned.

“And she didn’t say a word! She’s not the silent type! A smart-ass yes, but not a silent one,” David added.

Jake smiled and shrugged. “She was here when I got in a little while ago. Hasn’t said a word this whole time so your guess is as good as mine. But wherever she picked up those moves it shows every one of you why you should never judge a situation by appearances. Grab your batons. Time to get busy!”

~~*~~

Sam scowled as he watched Thea approach. Her hair was a very messy dark blue, her eyes were lined with thick black makeup that showed off eyes that were now golden in color. Wearing dirty torn jeans, a ratty tank with just a black bra under and enough spiked jewelry to make the local goth kids jealous. It was a look he’d never seen before. “Thea, this is an interesting look. Are you here for lunch? Damian has been looking for you.”

“Fuck Damian!” she spat as she surprised him further by lighting up a cigarette.

“You can’t smoke that inside. You know that.”

“Fuck you!” she growled as she threw her cigarette at him as she went inside.

“What was that?” Sam asked out loud as he pulled out his phone and called his prince. “Thea is here but I hardly recognized her. Something is definitely not right!”

“I’ll be there shortly,” Damian replied with a sigh. A short time later, Damian arrived at Mythos.

As Sam opened the door he said, “She’s inside. Azriel has already broken up two fights involving her.”

“Ok,” he sighed again with a nod as he walked in only to find Liam looking pissed.

“Your woman has gone off the deep end. Get her out of here,” Liam growled angrily as he held an ice pack to his cheek.

“What happened? Did she get you?” Damian asked as suddenly he heard the distinctive sound of an energy blast. Quickly heading in that direction he found Azriel, a guardian Daemoni, bent over in pain. “What happened?” Damian demanded.

“She decided to blast me because I was watching her. Then she vanished. My Prince, she’s not the Thea we know.”

“Do you think this has to do with the Ahriman attack?” Liam quietly asked, his anger turning to worry.

“Usually if something is still wrong after an attack it shows immediately. I suspect it’s connected but I need to talk to Celia. There’s more going on than just the attack,” Damian stated before vanishing from Mythos.

Damian appeared around the corner from Thea’s office so as not to frighten Celia. Turning the corner, he approached her desk. “Celia, can we chat?

“Damian! Of course! Let’s go into Thea’s office.” Once they were inside the office and the door was closed, she asked, “Is Thea ok? She’s blocking me again and I’ve been worried sick!”

“No, she’s not, unfortunately. Before she started blocking you did you sense anything? Another presence or something that didn't seem right to you?” he asked.

“I haven’t sensed the Ahriman since the attack. But something has been off since then. I could never put my finger on it so I figured it was because of everything she went through. Then I sensed something weird the other night. Let me ask you this, when you were in Thea's mind, did she have three guardians?”

“No. She had two. A young girl and a dragon-like warrior. Why?”

“Generally, I turn off our connection at night otherwise it can cause sleeping issues for me. But before I did the other night, I swear I heard a soft female voice singing to Thea. She was sleeping but it was different from a dream, almost as if it were penetrating the dream.

“It was so odd that I glanced into her mind and was immediately blocked by three guardians, a young girl, the warrior and a woman. It was so fleeting that I just figured I was too tired to sense things right. When I woke the next day, she had completely blocked me and hasn’t been in the office since.”

“I was afraid of that. I think Innara is up to no good. I need to find Theanna as soon as possible. I think I’ll head upstairs to see if Darius or Helen have either seen her or can sense her. Whatever is happening isn’t good.”

~~*~~

Darius sighed heavily. He hadn’t seen Thea since she’d gone home with a headache. She was so prone to angry outbursts since the attack. Now he was getting strange reports about the appearance of a girl that looked like Thea but didn’t act like Thea.

Running his hands over his face he struggled with what to do. If he made her too angry, he could lose her to Nihasia or worse, to Innara. He couldn’t lose her like he had Nira. Oh, how he missed his Nira. Thea was like her in so many ways.

Standing up he decided to visit Nira’s grave. Maybe it would give him the clarity he needed. Walking out of his office, he simply said to Merie, “I’m going out. Only call me if it involves Helen or Thea.”

Merie nodded.

Heading down the elevator and out to his private garden, he approached the statue of Nira when he suddenly paused. Moving quickly, he approached a lady with white blonde hair, just like Nira. As he reached out to grab her arm, the lady turned around and looked at him angrily. “Theanna?” he gasped in surprise.

She looked so much like Nira. She had her hair and her violet eyes. “What do you want?” she demanded. “Why did you hide her from me?”

“I never hid her. You never asked about her.”

“You never let me know her.”

“Theanna...”

“Stop calling me that! Everyone keeps calling me that horrid name!” she snarled holding her head, Daemoni horns starting to appear as her hair started to darken.

“What should I call you?” Darius asked, suddenly very concerned.

“NO! NO! NO!” she cried out as her horns seemed to phase in and out. Looking up at Darius, pain showing in her eyes, “D...” he heard as she vanished.

Darius pulled out his phone and called Damian, “We have a big big problem. We need to prepare!”