Ashlee - Chapter 8

I cant breath, there is too much smoke. I walked down the hall searching every room for my mother, I cant find her! I heard her scream from somewhere down stairs and then heard a thump. It was getting too hot and the fire was spreading I had to get out before the house collapsed. I ran down the stairs and saw my mother lying on the ground her body lifeless and soaked with blood, in the corner I saw a shadow but then it was gone. I ran to my mothers body and held her in my arms trying to call for help, but I couldn't talk I had breathed in to much smoke. I felt the fire surround me and I couldn't move, I fell to the ground and stared into my mothers dead eyes.

Tap tap tap. What was that noise? It was useless to try and think, I was going to die here.

"Roxanne? Are you in there?" I heard someone calling for me and heard the tapping again. Someone was at the door, but who? I couldn't place the voice but I recognized it. I cried out in pain as fire burned my skin and the mans calling got louder and more frantic.

"Roxanne open the door! Whats wrong?" I reached for the knob but I couldn't get close enough. 'Help me! Help!' I tried talking but it was nothing more than a whisper. My vision went out and I started to fade into darkness, but then someone was there by my side shaking me.

"Roxanne, wake up!" I felt the fire fading away and I opened my eyes.

I woke up and found Shaun by my bed, shaking me. I let out a ragged sigh and sat up. It was just a dream, thank god! I was sweating and the sheets were wrapped and tangled around my body.

"What the hell was that about?!" I looked at Shaun and saw I really scared him. I shook my head trying to clear up the fog and got out of bed.

"It was just a nightmare." I started cleaning up trying to wash away the nights horrors. He didn't leave right away probably making sure I was okay but then he got up and walked to the door.

"Hurry up and get dressed. Met me outside when you are done." I looked out the door and then back at him. Was he crazy or something?!

"Its still dark outside!" He just shrugged it off and left me to get ready. I tried not to think of the dream but it seemed so real.

I really thought I was going to die and I still felt heat where the fire had scorched my skin. I got dressed and brushed my hair, finished my tea and looked in the mirror. I leaned in closer and saw that my eyes had changed. Like my father said they were like cats eyes but different somehow, and they were a light lush orange. I smiled at my own reflection and headed out to met Shaun; Except I couldn't find him. There was a rustling sound behind me and I turned to find no one was there.

Was he testing me? I heard more sounds and turned to face the direction of each one, but each time nothing was there. So I stopped and waited for it to get closer, I heard the trees rustle a couple more times but I didn't turn, then there was a soft thump. It was quite again and I felt something coming closer, I turned as fast as I could and found a little gray cat trying to sneak up on me. It was a bit bigger than Daisy and looked like ashes or maybe something else, Kind of like..

"Good job." I jumped when I heard Shaun's voice and knew what the cats fur looked like, Shaun's hair. He walked closer and the cat ran up in step beside him.

"This is Lucifer." At that Daisy came bouncing up to play with the new cat but Lucifer only stood there and looked at her in confusion.

"What was that all about?" Shaun looked back at me and then at Lucifer.

"I wanted to see how close he could get to you with out you noticing. But it looks like he didn't do such a good job." He just meowed in protest as if saying he did a wonderful job. I smiled and Shaun motioned for the three of us to follow him. We walked until we were in the middle of the forest.

"What are we doing here?"

"We are going to do the something that we just did, you sit here and we will try to sneak up on you. All you have to do is make sure we don't get close enough to touch you." I nodded getting the point, I closed my eyes and waited, and waited, and waited. I was about to ask what was going on when I felt something too at my right and opened my eyes to see Shaun reaching for me. Unprepared I screamed and fell over eminently feeling embarrassed.

"Your suppose to be concentrating, I could have killed you right then if I wanted to."

"Oh, thanks." He just shook his head and walked away, we did it over and over again sometimes it was Shaun or Lucifer, and others it was Daisy.

After about ten times I got the hang of it, feeling them just before they got too close. Shaun only smiled and I didn't like it, they all walked away again and I waited for a sound. I heard something behind me and I waited for it to get closer, but then it was at my right then my left, then I heard them getting closer from all three directions. Their trying to ambush me!

At the last second I jumped up and sprung forward turning around to face them but they scattered. Okay, now what? Someone was coming closer again but I couldn't see them, I jumped to my left at the last second and saw Daisy flying past me. I ran and dodged as they tried to grab me one after the other. Finally they caught me off guard when Lucifer pounced from my right and Shaun grabbed me from behind.

"Very good Roxanne, for your first time." He let go and we headed back to the village, making out way to the arena

"Do you know how to fight?" I nodded, Mark had taken me to his gym and made me learn how to defend myself when my first boyfriend had hit me after we broke up.

"Come at me."

"What?" I looked at him like he was crazy, he would take me down before I even got the chance to touch him.

He just gave a little gesture with his hand to come at him and he put up his fist. This is not going to be fun. I took a deep breath and lurched for him, of course he sidestepped me and I stumbled over myself.

"I'm not doing this, I only know how to defend myself." He dropped his fist and stood in front of me.

"Okay, then defend your self." I didn't even have time to respond before he came at me, I tried to move but I stumbled and fell. Shaun caught me and stood me back up before coming at me again, a little slower this time.

I managed to stay away from him but only by a couple seconds. He managed to trip me up and I went tumbling to the ground again, and again he caught me. He never hit me only showed that he could if he wanted to, meaning I wasn't doing good enough. After a while we stopped and he let me catch my breath.

"Your reflexes need to be faster and then you will be fine." Between breaths I managed to get a few words out.

"And how, do you suppose I do that?"

"First lets work on your form and technique." He showed me how to sidestep and duck attacks better without losing my footing and how to counter attacks while keeping my guard at the same time. There were so many things I didn't know, I thought my head was going to explode by the time we were done.

"Okay now lets go for a swim." He walked off towards the river and I just stood there. Once he noticed I wasn't flowing He turned around and looked at me like I was the weird one.

"Are you going to just stand there and look dumb or are ya gonna come and learn." I followed after him and we headed down the river until there was a big clearing in the water. He got in and walked to the middle, the water went to his wait witch meant it would be up to my breasts.

"How exactly is this going to help?" He walked back over to me and pulled me in the water, dragging me to the center.

"If you can move fast in the water, you can move faster on land." Okay, I guess that made sense. He came at me again and I struggled to stay standing in the water. He was taking it easy on me and eventually I got use to the waters resistance.

"So how did it go last night?" The question came out of nowhere and caught me off guard sending me underwater but I don't think that was his intention, he was trying to stick his nose in my business. I surfaced and prepared for a frontal attack but instead he came at me from my side witch I stepped away from and tried to pay attention.

"How do you mean?"

"I mean what happened?" He kept his face straight but his eyes showed he was concerned.

"Nothing really, just the usual stuff." He continued to come at me and I continued to defend myself. Maybe things would be a little more interesting if I gave him a little scare.

"Yeah he took me out to the woods and spread out a blanket, then we made love under the moon..." I continued on with the lie but once he heard the words 'made love' he froze and I made a blow for his chest that sent him underwater. He surfaced a little confused and continued on charging at me.

"Oh so..the 'Usual stuff', huh." He looked like he was thinking but I wasn't sure, he just stood their and looked up, kind of like he was trying to see into his own head or something. "So you uh, do that kind of thing often?" We stopped fighting and he just stood there looking at me. Eventually I couldn't help it and I burst out laughing coming close to tears from the look on his face.

"Calm down, I was only kidding." He looked like he didn't believe me and then his face got serious again and we continued fighting.

What if he didn't believe me? What if he thought I was some kind of sex addict? I didn't mean to but I got mad, how could he think I would even do something like that on a regular basis?

"You thought I was serious didn't you?!" He looked up and shook his head frantically.

"Oh my god! You did, you really thought I was some kind of dirty w***e!" He kept shaking his head in confusion as I threw harder blows his way.

"Your the one who said it."

"Your the one who believed it! And you didn't even care, you just stood there." Apparently I looked really mad cause he backed off a bit and got out of the water. He kept facing me, as if I was about to explode, and backed away holding up his hands in surrender. No way is he going to get off that easy.

"Where do you think your going?" He didn't answer, just ran. And I chased after him soaked to the bone but I didn't care. I caught up to him when we got to the village and he took his stance preparing for a fight he didn't want to have anything to do with.

"Roxanne, I think your getting overwhelmed."

"I think your scared." He wanted to respond but I didn't let him, lunging at him one hit after another he only blocked my attacks. I wasn't calming down a bit when I finally knocked him to the ground, or well I would have but he did a back handspring and landed back on his feet. I just charged at him again, and he tried to calm me down again but nothing worked.

"I just couldn't bare to think of you with him!" I had felt like I was flying through the air I was running so fast, and when I heard those words I lost my footing and went flying forwards right into him. He embraced me and held me close as we fell to the ground together. We didn't move I just sat there and he didn't let me go. He what?!

"Roxanne..." It was softly spoken and sounded like a prayer, but I couldn't talk to him I had to get away. I stood minding, where I put my hands and left him there.

I ran for my room and closed the door behind me. Daisy had been asleep on my bed and cocked her head when I came rushing in. I walked over in a daze and plopped down beside her. Was he jealous? Surely not. His words repeated over and over again in my head. 'I just couldn't bare to think of you with him!' I got up and went to the window, Shaun was sitting on the step of the arena twirling a flower between his fingers.

"Maybe I imagined it?" Daisy meowed from the bed and went back to sleep.

"Good thinking, a nice nap will make things better." I pulled off my shoes and wet clothes and went to bed with Shaun's words haunting me all the way.

I wasn't able to get to sleep, I drifted in and out for about an hour until finally I gave up. I got dressed and opened the curtains to see that the sun had just risen and Mark was out training, Shaun was nowhere to be found. I was glad, I didn't know what I would say to him. I liked Kaden, and Shaun was a great guy. But I...growled. I was so confused! Pushing the whole thing to the back of my head I went out and greeted everyone.

"Morning honey, how did it go with Shaun earlier?" I wanted to shake away the thought but I couldn't let anyone know something had happened so I just slipped on a smile and lied.

"Great! I learned some handy stuff." Mark scoffed. Really, that boy needed to learn when enough was enough. One day he was going to get himself seriously hurt and if he kept it up, that day just might be today.

"C'mon Roxy, how much could you have learned in a couple of hours?"

"Quite a bit......even a little I could have done without." I mumbled the last part and watched as Mark was taught some of the things I had learned earlier. I walked around in a daze trying not to think of Shaun or Kaden, but once I got the thought out of my head others popped up and it proved useless to try and stop them

"Roxanne!"

"Hey Katara." She lead me over to the stables for some privacy and appeared to be listening intently. I just stood there confused. Was I suppose to be talking? She sat there for a couple more seconds before bursting into fits.

"C'mon Roxy spill, what happened last night with Kaden? You look so depressed."

"Depressed would be an understatement, and the worst part is it went great last night with Kaden.." I told her about the rose, the valley, and the blue moon. Which she whined about.

"I wish I could have seen it! But if it went so well why are you so sad?" I let out a sigh and wondered if I could trust she wouldn't tell anybody.

"You promise not to tell anyone?" She looked at me before answering and I saw her face soften.

"Roxanne you don't have to tell me if you don't want to. But we are friends and that's what friends are for, right?" I smiled and so did she, the fact that I had made a friend here that I could trust was comforting. So I told her about the joke with Shaun and she laughed, but when I told her what he had said she got serious again.

"Do you like him?"

"No." At least I don't think I did. He is handsome, and nice, and respectful, and understanding, protective, mysterious...

"I don't think so, I don't know, maybe?" The more I thought about the more I realized how comfortable I was with him. I looked back at Katara who had a devilish smirk across her face that I didn't care much for.

"What?" Of all the things that could have been going through her head I didn't expect what she said next.

"You want him, don't ya?" I almost fell over at the thought, did she really have to say that!

But it didn't matter we burst into fits of laughter and headed for to the dinning hall for lunch. We sat and ate with my father and Mark again, still no sign of Shaun. Where could he have gone?

"How bout we fight after lunch Roxy, see if getting up early helped you any." I looked at my brother and shook my head. If he wanted to fight I wasn't about to turn him down, any chance of proving him wrong I was going to take, but I wanted to go looking for Shaun. I guess I should leave him alone for now.

"Okay, your on."

"But no wussy stuff, I mean real fighting, full contact and no rules." I cocked my eye brow and held out my hand as if to make it a deal. I was sure I could at least defend myself but he looked really sure of himself, maybe I missed something.

Apparently I had missed a couple things, Mark somehow had become the hulk or something, he was all brute strength, but I was unstoppable. I guess when I was going at it with Shaun I was to pissed to noticed how fast I was moving. Which was the only upper hand I had on Mark, since I couldn't get close enough without being hit. We went at it for a while, he couldn't catch me and I couldn't knock him down, no matter how many times I hit him. I had to think of something.

"Hey Mark, you said no rules right?"

"Yeah, why?" I didn't answer just zipped around to confuse him then hid behind a tree. He looked around in confusion and I tip toed up the stairs and over a bridge until I was standing above him.

"Are you giving up? Or do you need time to catch you breath?" I swung my legs over the rope as Mark continued to look around.

I took a deep breath and jumped, I planned on landing on him, but he moved forward and I dropped down right behind him. He noticed, but before he could turn and hit me I dropped and swept his legs out from under him in one swift kick. He came tumbling down with a grunt and then a sigh, accepting defeat. Everyone laughed as I helped him up and we joined in. It was one of many fights to come, might as well enjoy them while they were till simple.

"Looks like you learned something after all." I froze at the sound of Shaun's voice but then turned to face him with a big smile on my face.

"I did have a good teacher." Katara gave a thumbs up from behind him and I choked back a laugh. He smiled back and turned to leave. Probably a little to desperately I jumped at the chance to settle thing with him.

"Shaun!" He turned back around and I was suddenly worried, afraid that he didn't want anything to do with me anymore.

"C-can we go for a walk?"

"Sure." We headed into the forest for privacy walking in silence for a bit, Shaun was the first to speak.

"I'm sorry if I made you angry earlier.." I opened my mouth to protest but he shushed me with a flick of his wrist and continued."I shouldn't be telling you who you can see and who you cant, its just that me and Kaden...We don't get along so well, and I don't trust him." I was confused, I had thought he was jealous, but all it was was his way of telling me he didn't trust Kaden? For a second I got a little mad, but It went away, he was trying to protect me.

"'Well thank you Shaun, but I can handle myself." He nodded and we continued walking through the forest, until we reached the cliff Kaden had taken me to last night. It was as beautiful in the day as it was in the night. I walked to the very edge and tilted my face towards the sun drowning in the light.

"If you fall-"

"You'll catch me." I looked back at him letting him know I was serious. "You said if I fall, you'd be there to catch me not matter how far I fell." A smile washed over his face and I saw the man he tried to hide from everyone else.

"I guess I did."