Winged

s e v e n t e e n

Chapter Seventeen

Missy

     I was absolutely convinced about two things. The first one was that Victor had trained somewhere that made him an expert at massages; the next was that the oil he used to soothe my dry skin would one day be the death of me. I was barely awake as I lay sprawled out and exposed on Victor's lap. Hums of contentment left me as he worked the oil into all the little crevices I couldn't reach with my claws.

     "You look drunk," Kate commented as she poked my nose. I snorted and stretched out my tiny body.

     Victor chuckled, "Don't get too comfortable, we still have to go to work."

     I sighed softly and stood up as Victor finished up. Hunting sicora was one of the things that I loved, so I wasn't too bummed out about having to go to work. After putting up the oil kit, Victor came over and clipped on our harnesses and leashes. As soon as he finished, he squatted down and gave me a stern look. I looked away with a 'hmph'.

     "Now, now, don't make that face. Last time, you went crazy when we detected a sicora. Missy, I'm only telling you this because you fire-lizards are precious and you getting hurt or worse would be the last thing anyone would want."

     Victor picked me up and scratched my head.

     "Please try and keep yourself under control, I don't want you or Kate getting hurt, ever."

     His words were coated with emotion. I didn't have to look at his face to know that he was holding back tears. Just the thought of us getting hurt made this big softie cry like a newborn baby. Though, I didn't mind. It made me love him all the more.

     Purring, I nuzzled his chin and reassured him that I would keep my cool. Kate bumped the side of his head.

     "Let's go, and Victor, no crying!"

     With a chuckle, I climbed onto Victor's shoulder and we were off.

     "If you guys behave, I'll get a big bag of crayfish and let you guys do your thing."

     Kate and I chirped excitedly. It's been such a long time since we had crayfish, and I missed the taste of the little critters very much. If keeping myself in check meant that I get to have crayfish, then that's what I was going to do.

-*-*-

     'A crawler,' I whispered into Victor's mind, 'I can smell it.'

     I growled softly and stood up on Victor's shoulder pads, gaining the attention of the other guards. Unclipping her leash, Kate flew into the nearby storage room and circled it, finally landing in front of the air vents and hissing menacingly.

     Seeing this, the Kymari rushed over and Victor ordered Kate to land on his fist.

     'Good job,' I whispered to Kate. She sent me a grin before allowing Victor to clip her leash. The crawler was quickly disposed of, along with another crawler cocoon that was getting ready to hatch. I was glad crawlers and some ktari were the only things we came across. I didn't really want to tackle any dangerous sicora. The morning song had eased my fear and unease from that time, but I wasn't ready to go through it again just yet. Healing that guard took a lot of energy from me for some reason.

     Since then, the Elders were working on ways to acquire more of our venom without hurting or disturbing any of the wild population. Of course, the ex-spy and the others were kind of wary, but the others knew the sicora posed a threat, and if the sicora wiped the earth clean of the Kymari like they did on another neighboring planet, we would be in danger.

     Some donated their venom willingly, but others were still a bit too scared to get to close to any Kymari. The Elders were hoping to convert our venom into a pill form and have them required to be on hand to any Kymari guard. Of course, they wished all of the Kymari citizens could have this, but our population was still much too small to accomplish such a feat. It was going to be a very long time before that happened.

     I was glad we were making a difference.

     Though everything was fine at the moment, I was still very worried about Melissa. She was clearly a threat and something was very, very wrong with her. Her behavior was not how Kymari acted. Her black eyes and murderous expression were still etched into my mind. I hated not knowing what was coming next. I hated not knowing what she was planning on doing to us.

     One thing I did know was that she wanted to separate Kate and me from Victor. She wanted him all to herself. Of course, we had told the Elders and shared the images of her with them, but I was still uneasy. As if she knew she was under suspicion, Melissa had completely disappeared. As soon as that was discovered, I made sure every fire lizard knew of Melissa and the danger that she posed. I wouldn't have her hurting any of my friends.

     Her disappearance sparked outrage, and now every citizen of the Earth knew to keep a lookout for Melissa. This made me happy, but I was also frightened. With everyone knowing what she looked like and keeping an eye on her, how had she not been found yet?

     Some time later, we were finished with our usual work and Victor, as promised, was going to the local grocery store to buy a big bag of crayfish. I could barely contain myself as I thought of the big pot of steaming crayfish.

     "Oh, I haven't had them in so long!" Kate chirped as we approached the stand that held the live crayfish. As I looked into the tub filled with fat, juicy crayfish, I was overcome with the urge to take them all.

     "I want them all!" I chirped.

     The lady at the stand laughed quietly at our excited behavior. Victor's eyes met hers and his neck flushed. I smiled evilly and swished my tail mischievously. Kate followed my action as we all both stared down at him.

     "I can see what's happening!" I thrilled as I swished my hips. Kate turned to me with a feigned shocked expression.

     "What?"

     I continued on, "And they don't have a clue!"

     Kate flared her wings as Victor studdered his order to the beautiful Kymari woman. Kate and I continued on.

     "Who?!"

     I swished my hips to the other side as I thrilled the next line, making sure Victor could hear every word.

     "They'll fall in love and here's the bottom line, our trio's down to two!"

     Kate feigned a sad expression, "Oh."

     The lady at the stand was giggling cutely as Victor fiddled around with his money and shakily introduced himself.

     I fared my wings as I started on the next verse, "The sweet caress of twilight, there's magic everywhere, and with all this romantic atmosphere, disaster's in the aiiiiiiiiirrrrr!"

     Victor whispered for us to be quiet as his face and neck grew redder in color. Kate and I whistled the next notes, gaining the attention of the other shoppers as we both broke out into song once more.

     "Can you feel the love toniiiight? The peace the evening briiiings! The world for once, in perrrrrfect harmony, with all its living thiiiings!"

     Victor bowed to the woman in apology and rushed out of the store as we erupted into peals of laughter. Victor covered his face as he hastily made his way to our home.

     "You guys!" he whined as we continued our song.

     We teased poor Victor all the way home, and didn't let up until the steaming pot of crayfish was done.

Hoped you liked the chapter, I especially enjoyed writing it. xD Please vote and comment, I would greatly appreciate it.

Song: Can You Feel the Love Tonight by Ernie Sabella, Joseph Williams, Kristle Edwards, Nathan Lane, and Sally Dworsky.