FOUR YEARS EARLIER
"Do whatever it takes to win, even if a monster gets hurt. They're wimps they will just lay on the ground and cry, if they even got a look from one of us." Just like in the human world, coaches in the monster world are known to be a lot stricter when it comes to training boys compared to girls. All of the boys burst into cackles. Cole jumped to his feet.
"Those ghouls aren't wimps they're actually a really good team,, you have no right to say those things about them" Cole said.
"Oh Cole, there girls, the way their coaches handle situations is different from how our coaches approach the same scenarios. The boys coaches tend to push us harder and demand more resilience, because it's been proven that boys are much more stronger than girls are. It's just a fact." Vex said.
"That doesn't fucking mean you get to act so aggorent, boys have their strength and but we also have big weaknesses, and that's the same with girls. It is so disrespectful to place a label on a group of people" Cole stormed out and went into the boys bathroom and took out a little white ball. It looked like a magic eight ball. Cole pressed on it and a projector came out of it. "Sky, I need to tell you something" Cole said. "Our team is going to try to hurt you monster. Your team need to be able to find a way to beat us so no monster gets hurt"
"Okay I'll tell my team, thank you Cole, see you out there" I said, Cole sighed, and walked back into the locker room.
I walked into the locker room with a steely determination. I saw that my team already giving up. Their spirits dampened by the words of the vampires' coach that hung ominously in the air. I stood tall on the locker room benches, your voice booming with conviction. I tried rallied my team, igniting a fire of determination within each player.
"Come on, girl, we've dedicated our lives for this moment, for six years. It's our blend of monsters and humans within the team that fuels our strength and resilience. Let the vampires underestimate us, let them think they hold the upper hand. No amount of arrogance or self-assurance on their part can make us second guess ourselves." but my team wouldn't budge. "Come on girls, you know we're better than this, did we give up when Luna broke her leg?"
"No" only two of my teammates no, they said this like it was a question.
"Did we give up when it was nine nothing, against the werewolves?"
"No" A few more said.
"In 2017 New England Birds, did they give when they lost State Championships ship? Even though they were undefeated through the regular season"
"No!" They all yelled.
"See? If we give up they will crush us, but if you go out there and work together there is no way the boys will beat us we just need to find their weakness. Now answer me this question: are we going to win or lose?"
"WIN!" They roared.
We skated onto the ice and for once the boys were scared. When we were warming up we noticed that the boys don't work together on things, when one of the boys has the puck they won't pass it at all, they would just skate it down and hope they score, we also noticed that only one player would have the puck most of the time, so we took that to our advantage, my team would cover that player so the boys couldn't pass to him. As we huddled for our last two minutes of the game.
"I know I don't normally do this, but Sky Luna I am intrusting you to be defense" Our coach Alex said, Luna and I nod. "The rest you will do everything you can do to help Sky and Luna, and I don't care that you monsters aren't defense, if even one boy passes Sky or Luna I want you on their ass! Is that clear?" Alex smiled. Our eyes locked, a shared understanding. "Sky, sign us off" We all put our hands together in the middle.
"Who are we!?" I yell.
"Stars!" My teammates yelled.
"Who are we?!"
"Stars!"
"Who are we?!"
"Stars!"
"Stars on three!"
"One, two, three Stars!" We re-entered the ice, our hearts pounding with anticipation. The face-off ensued and with Zoe's quick pass, I went towards the goal. I summoned every ounce of strength, and shot the puck towards the net. Time seemed to slow down as it soared through the air. Finally, the puck crossed the goal line, sending our team into a frenzy of celebration.
After the game me and my team came out of the locker room and saw that the boys were pissed off because they lost to girls, and because of that it brought their ego, down a lot. The vampires have always said we are not good at playing hockey, and they are better than us. So when we won, that shut them up.
"We all are going to go out to celebrate, want to come Sky?" Luna asked.
"I'm good, I'm going to hang out with Cole for the next's few hours until our next's game" I noticed that one of the boys couldn't get his eyes off of me, after thirty minutes of him staring at me he walked over to me. He didn't seem pissed at all, in fact he seemed happy about losing to the biggest game in hockey, he walked up to me and started talking to me.
"Nice game, you monsters are good, for a couple of girls."
"Thanks we work very hard to be who we are today" Cole walked up to me.
"Yeah my team is never going to forget about this, to be honest no monster is going to forget about the vampires who haven't lost a game in decades, lost to girls. But they'll be okay, this won't kill them, probably" Cole and I chuckled. Cole looked up and when he and the boy locked eyes, they both got tense they seemed to know each other, but not in a good. Cole and the boy stared at each other for a few more minutes when the boy broke the glare.
"My name is Vex." He reached out his hand.
"Nice to meet you Vex my name is Sky," I shook his hand. Vex and Cole were shooting daggers at each other.
"We should hang out sometimes. We both have a few hours until our next game?" Cole didn't like the idea at all, he walked in front of me.
"It's okay Cole, it would be nice to hang out with a new monster, besides you need to pick up your brother" I said, he huffed in frustration, and crossed his arms. I've never seen Cole dislike a monster so much before. What happened between them that was so bad? "After this we can go out for ice cream, my treat, I'll get your favorite vanilla eyeball." He signed, turned into a bat and flew away. "Okay, what do you want to do?" Vex decided we should go out for coffee. Vex seemed like a really nice boy, he didn't care that he lost. I told him I play left wing. Vex was defensive because whenever he is on the ice he has never let any monster score on his goalie or cross the blue line when they are trying to score on the goalie. "Granted you weren't able to stop me from both of those things." Vex laughed.
"I guess not, you're different from any other monster I have met" We talked about what we liked to do. I thought we could be good friends. We walked outside and Vex pulled into a corner, he made me very uncomfortable, our faces were almost touching. "I can't let a pretty girl like you go away just like that, can I?" He said, coming closer to me. I started to panic, what did Vex want from me? I hit him with my wing, he let go of me in pain. I tried to run but he blocked the way.
"What do you want with me?" I couldn't shake Vex off of me.
"What I want is for you to date me" I wasn't going to just dump Cole and go out with him. "You don't want to disagree with me, I can make your life miserable if you cross me. There are bad spirits on the other side, just as there are bad people in this world. Come on Red you know you want it…." Again he slammed me against the wall. Red? Why was Vex calling me Red? I opened my eyes and saw Cole punch Vex into a couple of trees, Vex spirited towards Cole and they started fighting. Vex slashed Cole in the arm, leaving three cuts. Vex kicked me into the building, and I crashed hard to the ground, Cole eyes glowed green, lightning started striking the ground, it stuck the roof and the walls crashed on top of me. Cole's eyes went back to normal and he ran over to me.
"Sky, are you okay? I'm such a fucking idiot I shouldn't have left you alone with him" he said looking for me, he found me under a pile of rocks, he got them off of me and hugged me in relief. I was so glad that he was here.
"I'll give you until the end of the day, meet me at the park, when you have made your decision" Vex smiled. The smile he gave me wasn't one from mother to child: it was one from predator to prey. Vex said and disappeared in the shadows. I got a plan. I fell to my knee, my right wing was broken, Cole snatched my hand.
"What are you doing?" Right as he asked he knew the answer, his face became paler than mine.
"I have a plan, trust me on this please?" He signed. He was going to have to trust me on this. I hug Cole.
"We're going to be okay Cole" Cole buried his face into my hair.
"We'll get through this Sky, I know we will" After a log embrace, we pulled away, I smiled softly and flew back to the park, Cole watched me fly away, having a sinking feeling in his stomach. When I arrived at the park, I was ready to make this deal with Vex, I was willing to do anything to keep my friends and families safe.
"I was thinking you wouldn't show" I saw Vex coming out of the darkness "so will you date me or will I have to slit your throat?"
"Let's make a deal, you can't hurt my family, my team or my friends if I agree to date you, and you can't tell any monster know the real reason why I'm dating you, just tell them I dump Cole and started dating you because I love you more than I love Cole" I was going to make this as difficult for Vex as possible.
"I admire you Red, you know how much I love you. And you will learn to love. Demons are constantly looking for new recruits, both in the living world and the spiritual." Vex laughed.
"So do we have a deal?"
"Deal" Vex said, my plan might actually work.
I've been 'dating' Vex for the past a two years, and it has been the most hellish time of my life. The only thing that was keeping me going was getting to see Cole on the weekends. As the weekend approached, anticipation of spending time with Cole fueled my excitement. To my delight, Vex's hockey game was hours away, giving me the opportunity to have Cole's undivided attention. Just when I was set to visit Cole, Vex intercepted my path.
"Where are you going Red?" He asked, "I wanted to ask you something Red" I huff.
"What is it Vex?"
"You see, a little harpy told me you and Cole have been seeing each other when you don't see me, is this true?" My face lost color. How did he find out? I could see in Vex's eyes that he was incandescent with me; he wanted to kill Cole right now. Vex snatched my hand and he forced me to follow him, he lead me to an abandoned building, and he forced me to go inside with him. There was a black room in front of us. Vex threw me into a room and slammed the door shut. I fell hard to the cold dark floor, there was nothing in here, all there was was a glass window, that was at least ten feet by ten feet.
"The room you're standing in will get colder every minute, it started at thirty degrees, it is now negative ten," he was right the room was freezing, "By the time Cole finds you, if he finds you, you will be died!" Vex lend his shoulder against the wall, and closed his eyes. As the time passed my hair was turning crystal white, and my skin was turning gray, and my eyes were turning white. These are the stages of when a monster is slowly dying.
"Vex, can I ask you something?" He raised his head slightly telling me that I can continue "Why do you hurt monsters?" Vex didn't answer me right away.
"When I was six, I heard a crash and a scream. I ran down stairs to see a horrifying sight. I saw my Mom on the ground with blood coming out of her chest, I wanted to know what happened, I heard another crash from outside, I ran out to see what all that noise was and what I saw were werewolves burning down a part of my house. I was able to chase them away, I ran back in side and hugged my Mom knowing that I only have a few more minutes with her. She died. I became an orphan. If it wasn't for those stupid werewolves my mother would still be alive to this day. The moment my moms body went limp in my arms, my whole body changed, both physically and mentally." Vex said.
"Vex I'm so sorry that happened to you, no child, especially at your age, should ever go through that. I know how it feels to be an orphan, I was one for the first three years of my life. I know how you feel about losing a parent. Both of my birth parents are dead"
"My once crystal white hair turned midnight black, with a striking white streak down the middle. With this unexpected transformation, a surge of anger coursed through me, making it easier for bitterness to seep into my interactions with everyone, including those closest to my heart. Unconcerned with the consequences of my actions or the potential losses I might face, a dark desire took root within me, a desire to witness the world engulfed in flames of damnation." Cole growled, his eyes glowed bright red. "Those that don't go mad every once in a while, eventually go mad permanently." Vex said. "Sometimes your imagination plays tricks on you; sometimes it doesn't. Knowing the difference can save your life . . . or your soul."
I than realize something, those eyes, I know those eyes very well, Vex was suffering on a deeper level than I thought. I felt a sharp pain go through my ankle, Vex's hands gripping my ankle tightly, causing me to let out a piercing scream that echoed through the room.
"Sometimes, the things you see in the shadows are more than just shadows. You can never fully rely on the words of others; beneath the surface, there lurks a far more sinister truth." Before Vex could speak another word, Cole swiftly lunged forward, his fist connecting with Vex' neck. Sparks of green electricity crackled and sizzled around the room. I created a high-frequency sound that shattered the glass around me, granting me the opportunity to stumble towards Cole. I collapsed to the cold ground beneath me. Cole knelt beside me, Vex regained his composure. "You will pay for this Cole, and when I defeat you, Red will be mine!" He said then he flew away. I wanted to go after Vex, I couldn't just wait for Vex to hurt me or kill another monster, I had to do something, but what can I do?