Strangling My Voice: Zena's Story

21

Mum = Amelia or Mila

Maman = Lara

The weekend unfortunately came to an end. I said my goodbyes earlier, so they wouldn't be seen by my friends. We were on the jet back to Amalfi and it was incredibly awkward. Ever since that incident with Mel, she's been closed off and grumpy. I often heard Vera tell her that it's not what it looks like. Not sure what she means, but I hope Mel's mood brightens.

It was a quick flight to Amalfi and an even quicker ride home. My moms had some things to do, so they weren't home. Duomo greeted me with a hug. I giggled when he picked me up to swing me from side to side.

"Can I take a break now?!" I heard Ellio in the back.

Duomo put me down. I raised a brow at the evil glint in his eye. I followed him to the courtyard to see Ellio holding 3 cedar blocks above his head. I rolled my eyes at Duomo. He responded by laughing and yelling at Ellio to do squats. Ellio cursed him off while squatting with the blocks.

"Should I bother training or are you going to actually teach us something productive?" I crossed my arms.

"Depends, principessa." He mimicked me with crossing his arms. "I think this is a productive usage of my time." He grinned.

I rolled my eyes and went to get changed. When I came back, I saw that Duomo was sitting on the blocks. He kept yelling at Ellio to hold the position. Ellio was red in the face as he held the blocks and Duomo over his head. I chuckled and clapped my hands. Ellio looked about ready to pass out. I thought it would be funny to throw a gust of wind at Ellio.

I loudly laughed as Ellio was knocked back. I began wheezing when Duomo fell to the ground. Yep, he was right... this is a productive usage of my time. Duomo rubbed his bum while glaring at me. Ellio gave up trying to stand. He said the grass was comfier.

"Okay, combattente." Duomo got into a fighting stance. "Let's see what you're packing today."

I motioned for Duomo to strike. I was on the defense and blocked his punches and swings. I deflected his direction and kicked him off balance. I snickered when he flopped on his back. He used my distraction to swipe my leg. I yelped before doing a back flip.

Duomo kicked himself up and darted towards me. We were moving so fast. I could tell Duomo wanted me to use my abilities, but they scared me. I always refrained from accessing that side of me, which is why I knew Duomo's mission was to force that side out. Plus, he had been trying to lure my wolf out of me. I don't know why he kept trying since it was a lost cause. My eyes widened as his hand shifted into a claw. I ducked as he ripped through the air.

"Damn, I thought we were sparring." I cautiously walked back.

"We're training." He had his other hand change as well. "Meaning you're going to have to do better than that to beat a wolf." He smirked as his eyes glowed.

"You got this, Z!" Ellio cheered on the ground.

I gulped when Duomo sped towards me. I quickly flipped over his head and used his back to kick off. He stumbled a few steps while I gracefully landed. Duomo tuned with a demonic grin. He cracked his neck a few times before shifting into his lycan counterpart. Even Ellio gulped at the size of Duomo's lycan.

Either shift, access your vampiric side, or use magic. He spoke through the mind link.

"You should use one of the options above." Ellio commented from the sidelines. "I'm just gonna wait over there." He then ran to a safe distance.

"Duomo, you know I'm not comfortable!" I complained, but his wolf only snarled at me. "You said we would take things slow with hand to hand combat."

Everyone needs to progress if they want to get better

He howled and then got on all fours. He then sped towards me. I tried to jump over him again, but he expected that. He grabbed my ankle and threw me down. I grunted from the impact. My eyes widened and I rolled out the way of his fist. I pushed myself up and stared at him in annoyance. He was taking this too far.

Let's go! Fight me!

"You want a fight?" My hands formed into fists. "I'll give you a fight." I spat.

I felt a sticky liquid in my palms, so I looked down to see blood. I stopped squeezing my hand and saw that my nails had extended. I was shocked that I accessed a part of my wolf side. I haven't been able to do that in over a year. My breath hitched when I saw my skin was a pale blue. I had enacted my vampire/ wolf side. I then growled and sped towards Duomo. I began swiping at him with supernatural speed. He was struggling to keep up. I then conjured up a wave of energy and blasted him through a tree. I smirked at him struggling to get up. I had another wave of energy waiting to collide with his chest.

"Brava!" I glanced up at the clapping. My moms were watching with amused smiles.

"That was great, tesoro. But you need to calm down and practice restraint and control." She jumped off the balcony. "Now, deep breaths until you can shift back."

I was fighting every instinct to annihilate Duomo. My mum shifted my head from Duomo to her. She allowed her eyes to glow gold. She held my shoulders and intently stared at me.

Practice control and resist the urge. She commanded through the mindlink. You're stronger than you think. Suppress the animal.

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. I willed myself to return to normal. When I sensed satisfaction in my mum, I opened my eyes. She was smiling widely at me. I glanced down and noticed my skin had returned to its normal color.

"Personally..." We looked up to see my maman leaning over the railing. "I quite enjoyed the show of Domenico's ass being beat." My mum glared at her curse. "It was her idea to end the fun." She had an amused smirk on her face.

"Will he be-"

"I'm alright." Duomo stood up. We quickly averted our eyes at his naked form. "Doing all good. Everything is fine and working right-"

"DOMENICO, COVER UP!" My mum yelled while we chuckled.

"Decently dressed now." We turned to see him in joggers. "Now, that was incredible, principessa!" He spun me around. "Don't you think?" He asked my moms.

"Yep!" My maman quipped.

"She did extraordinary." My mum complimented.

"You took me by surprise with your power." Duomo admitted.

"Domenico." My maman hopped off the balcony. "You weren't the only one surprised. Definitely keep training her wolf. I'll have someone else train her vampire side. And then I'll take her on." My maman had an impish smile.

"Who would be my vampire teacher?" I jogged after her.

"Hailey." She winked while I blushed.