Dracosapiens: The Birth of Half Breeds, Chapter 17 Part 1

Chapter 17: Hell Hath No Fury Like a Woman's Scorn1

Sidewalk, School Gates, Sheridan High School 3.24pm October 6th Monday EST2

My heart was in turmoil. I couldn't believe how weak and defenseless I felt as I sat here dejectedly on the filth encrusted sidewalk. Ambulance and police lights flashed all around me, my sight was naught but a red, white and blue blur of agony. I wasn't sure exactly what to compare this feeling to, but if I had to take a guess, I would say that right now, I felt like Superman – locked in chamber full of kryptonite under the watchful gaze of his deadly foe. But even our situations in that predicament were differential. True, with all our powers we still had no way to help the ones we cared for, but at least Superman would have tried. Me? I just stood there and watched the damsel get pummeled by a food delivery truck. I was no hero. I was...the Lex Luthor of this story.3

Yasmine was giving her unsettling statement to the police in between her own gut-wrenching sobs and moans. I felt so bad for her. She too, held herself responsible and the police didn't believe even for a second, that a girl would simply run out blindly onto the road. They were changing between the possibilities of suicide and being pushed. That was what they assumed from the driver's evidence anyway. It appeared as if the explanation from a couple of kids was irrelevant. The heartless bastards. The way they looked down their noses at my girl, jotting things down on those stupid pads...I wanted to beat the living crap out of them. How dare they do this to her! Wasn't she suffering enough? 4

Yasmine's hands were shaking uncontrollably as she faced the men in blue. Tears continuously poured from her eyes and her head jerked nervously in my direction. 5

They say that in books, it takes a while for the protagonist to realize what has happened when somebody dies. To believe in the reality. Yasmine and I more than believed, we were just horrified by the circumstances. When you're told that a friend is going to die, you never expect how death will take them. But this...this just didn't feel right. Sarah Moore was supposed to go down fighting. Instead, she went down under the bonnet. It was as if some kind of sick and twisted game was being played upon us. Her death was disturbingly ironic and my eyes burned and clouded at the thought.6

“So what you're saying, missy, is that you were nowhere near this kid when the truck came by? I find that hard to believe.” One of the burlier looking police men glared at her beneath thick, hairy eyebrows. He obviously had some kind of superiority complex because he puffed out his chest threateningly, making his spotless badge and belt buckle shoot off light beams under the sun. Adrenaline flowed freely through my veins as I contemplated the million ways I could make this man regret his accusations. Yasmine was already at breaking point, but it's not like we could tell them the truth.7

“Easy Chief,” said his partner warily. “She's just a kid. Look at her. The girl's pretty torn up.” The Chief sighed impatiently and stormed off to go speak to the driver again. His partner followed looking truly apologetic. I wasn't entirely certain that would still stop me from beating him up though. Rage and despair were a dangerous concoction.8

I felt safer staring blindly at my sneakers. Sarah's parents were wailing beside a stretcher, a white and blood-stained sheet covering what was left of their daughter. Straight up they had told the police that it was nobody's fault, that whatever happened was unintentional, but it didn't make the pain any easier to bear. To think that I was just one power burst away from saving her...I didn't deserve their sympathy. I deserved to be under that damn truck.9

I couldn't bear to face them as they watched Sarah's stretcher being uplifted into the ambulance. Yet another despicable irony. An ambulance was designed to save people, but Sarah was already lost. My fault. She died because of me.10

The anger inside me swelled to maximum and my hands began to shake. I watched Yasmine's eyes widen in terror as my body shook with the developing transformation. My hands formed the deadly shape of murderous claws and I growled at the police men in longing. It was that simple. They needed to die. Somehow I knew that their own suffering would make mine all the more durable. I would feel satisfied. Content.11

'BZZZZZZZ.' My train of thought was distracted by the sudden buzzing of my phone – an incoming call. I pulled it from my shorts pocket and glared hatefully at the screen. The rage within me dissipated in an instant. Kyle was on the other line.12

You should answer it, whispered Greg solemnly. He'll find out soon enough. Best to hear it from a friend than another source.13

I nodded, glad that he had finally voiced an opinion. He hadn't said a word to me this entire time. Maybe he understood just how much I was hurting. 14

Yasmine tottered over to wrap her shaking arms around me in comfort. Her eyes held little more than pain but I thought I saw a faint trace of interest as she looked up from me to the mobile. “Kyle,” I answered tonelessly, Yasmine gasping in shock.15

“Oh good, I've got you,” he cheered excitedly, not picking up on my mood. “I've spent the past five minutes trying to get through to Jake and Ella. They must have their phones off or something. But no matter, you'll never guess what happened.” 16

I didn't respond. “Give up?” he cackled. “Well Luke and I cracked the code!”17

“Code?” I asked dully, confused by his hysteria. “What code?”18

“The Book's code,” he laughed. “Luke had this idea, a stroke of genius really, and before we knew it, we learnt how to read it. We've translated the entire alphabet of their language so now all we have to do is look on the index page – yes I know what you're thinking but they actually have one, the idiots – and then we can figure out what we need to kill the Magiks! Isn't that great?!”19

A thousand answers swirled around in my head. I wasn't sure which one would be the most appropriate. Should I be blunt and flat out say that the girl he always had a thing for was dead? Or should I lead up to it subtly? And then there was the matter of what might happen when I told him. If he was alone, would his heart break too?20

“L – Listen...Kyle...there's...something I have to tell you.”21

“Hold on,” he laughed, “there's somebody at the door. The way they're knocking, they may just bring down the house!”22

“No, Kyle. I have to tell you now. It's about Sarah...she's...” But I never got any further. I was listening to what was happening on the other side of the line. The sounds were so loud and jumbled, like tuning in to a bad radio station. Garbled screams echoed through the receiver and the panic rose in my chest. I had heard a voice that couldn't be mistaken. 23

Their timing was too perfect. Right now, the pleasure of killing sounded ideal and it seemed that at long last the Magiks had come back to town. Adriana's high pitched laughter was the last thing I heard before the phone line went dead, and for some strange reason, I couldn't help but smile.24