Fiery Love- Chapter 41

Aurora made the ground make little walls to dodge the fireballs Enel was shooting at her with her staff and then go back down after each shot. Serena had suggested that she try her powers in combat. It seemed like a good idea so that she'd be even more prepared if she had to use them in a fight, especially after the fiasco with the Strikers gang. So far she'd used every element against her and was now onto fire.

It had been a week now since it had happened. Everything had been fine since then. All the Strikers gangsters were in jail and the bombs had been disarmed. There hadn't been any problems and she didn't have to have anyone watching her anymore, which was nice.

Enel shot another fireball at Aurora and she jumped in the air to dodge it and it hit the rock behind her instead, leaving a scorch mark. She landed on top of the rock and then jumped as she fired at her again. She dodged every fireball she shot at her and made a few go back to her. She made rock hands rise and grab her ankles and hands and then made a vine take her staff away.

Aurora smiled as she panted. "Well, I think that's enough for now." She made the hands let Enel go and handed her back her staff as they disappeared. "What to you think, Serena?"

"Yes, that's enough for today." Serena replied. Though her presence made it colder, it wasn't that noticeable because of how cold it already was. "That was excellent Aurora. You're getting stronger everyday." She turned to Enel. "Thank you Enel for helping."

Ene smiled. "Of course. Anything for Aurora." She panted and looked like she needed to sit down, so Aurora made a little tree grow. She made it's branches bend and weave to form a chair and made leaves grow as a cushion for her. She stared at it with an amazed look and sat down. "Thanks Aurora."

"You're welcome." Aurora smiled and made another one grow for her and sat down in it to rest.

Enel looked at Aurora, a little worried. "How have you been since what happened with the Strikers gang?"

"I've been fine." Aurora replied. She hadn't thought about it a lot since it was over and done with. "Why?"

"I just wanted to make sure everything was okay." Enel said. "I'm glad to hear everything is."

Talking about what happened reminded Aurora of something that actually made her curious. "Hey, Enel. Do you know why the spells in the books they used didn't work against my powers?"

Enel thought for a moment. "I'm not entirely sure. I looked at the books that they used. I know why most of them didn't because some were weak spells and others weren't meant for what they were trying to do, but I don't know why a couple that most likely would have didn't."

"It's because against her powers," Serena joined in. "even those spells are weak. Those spells were meant to work against magic that could cause something like that. Not natural born powers, and not powers like hers. There are practically no spells that could work."

"Why?" Enel asked curiously. "Not that I want to use a spell against her, I'm just curious."

"It's because her powers are like that of Mother Nature." Serena replied. "The best way I can describe it is like trying to fight nature head on. You can't. You may be able to for a little bit, but nature will win eventually. Nature cannot be stopped or controlled. No matter how hard you may try." She turned to Aurora. "That's how powerful you are."

Aurora looked at them both. "But what about the spells I've let Enel test on me before?"

"The spells Enel has tested on you," Serena said. "from what you both told me earlier about them, are harmless spells. That's why they would work when she used them on you. Plus your powers weren't awake when she did them."

"That makes sense."  Aurora paused. "So are there any spells that would work against my powers?" She was as curious as Enel to know now.

Serena shrugged. "I'm not sure. I know of a few that would give you a hard time. As to actually working against your powers or controlling them, no."

Aurora sighed. "That's a relief."

"Not that we'd ever have to use them against you." Enel laughed.

Aurora laughed with her. "Yeah." That was definitely true. She wouldn't use her powers for anything bad, maybe have a little fun with them, but nothing bad. She felt her phone vibrate and pulled it out to answer it. "Hello?"

"Hey, Aurora." Raoul said on the phone.

"Raoul?" Aurora asked confused. "How did you get my number?"

"Thrax gave it to me." Raoul replied. "Though I practically had to beg him for it."

That surprised Aurora that Thrax would give it to him. "Why did you need my number?"

"Because I wanted to let you know that what Thrax asked me to make for you is done." He sounded really excited about it. "I wanted you to come see it and try it on." He paused. "That's why Thrax wouldn't give me your number at first. I wanted him to see you in it, but he wanted to see it first. I got him to give in, though. If you could come over as soon as you can, that would be great."

"Yeah, sure." Aurora said. "I'll be there in a little bit." She was curious to see what it was that Thrax had Raoul make.

"Great! See you in a little bit." Raoul hung up.

Aurora put her phone back in her pocket and looked at Serena. "Is there anything else you wanted to do?"

Serena shook her head. "No, that's it."

"Then I need to go." Aurora stood up. "Raoul needs me to try on what Thrax had him make for me."

Enel stood up. "I'll go ahead and go then. See you later, Aurora."

"See you later, Enel." Aurora gave Enel a hug goodbye and then she used her staff to leave. She turned to Serena. "Until next time Serena."

Serena smiled and nodded. "Until next time Aurora." She then disappeared.

Aurora quickly made her way through the woods and to her car. She reached it within a few minutes and got in. She didn't want to keep Raoul waiting long. Plus she and Thrax were going out somewhere later to celebrate taking down the Strikers gang, so she wanted to do this as quickly as possible. She started her car and made her way to his studio. After forty-five minutes she reached it and parked her car.

She got out and walked inside. Everything looked the way it had the last time she was there, except the fabric on the tables was different, as well as the clothes on the racks. She heard footsteps coming from the room in the back and soon after Raoul came into the room with Francine, Luke, and Rose.

She smiled as he walked towards her. "Hey Raoul."

"Hello Aurora." Raoul took her hand and kissed it like he did before. "Are you ready to see what I've made?" He gave her a big smile. She nodded. "Right this way." He lead her to the back and to the room with mirrors and a stand. He walked past them and lead her to one of the changing rooms.

Francine came into the room and walked to where they were. She had a red dress in her arms. "Here it is." She carefully set it down in a chair that was in there and then walked out with Raoul behind her and closed the door so that Aurora could try it on.

Aurora looked at the red dress for a moment. Now that it was in the chair she saw that it had a slit on the right side, a yellow belt design around the waist and then another one higher with three yellow diamonds on the design. It had a sweetheart neck line and sleeves that were long, shoulder-less, and wider at the end. She undressed and changed into it. It felt like silk and fit her perfectly.

She walked out of the changing room and Raoul lead her to the stand to have a better look at her. He stood back and stared at her with a big smile on his face. He twirled his pointer finger. "Do a little twirl, please."

Aurora did as he asked and looked at herself in the mirrors as she did. The dress looked amazing. When she stopped twirling she saw how they all were smiling excitedly and found herself smiling as well.

"You look so beautiful!" Rose let out a little squeal.

"Like a princess!" Francine clapped her hands excitedly.

Raoul went over to a stool and picked up a shoe box and then walked towards Aurora. "Now put these on. They go with it." He opened the box and revealed a pair of red open-toed heels. She pulled them out and slipped them on. They fit perfectly and felt very comfortable. "You look absolutely stunning. So what do you think?"

Aurora blushed a little as she smiled. "I love it." Raoul smiled and extended his hand to help her down. "Thanks. I should probably go ahead and change out of this." She headed to the changing room to get out of the dress.

"Oh, no need." Raoul stopped her. "You can wear it to where you're going with Thrax tonight."

Aurora looked at him a little surprised. "Really?"

He nodded. "Yes. I asked him where you two were going and this dress is perfect for it. Francine, go get her other clothes."

Francine went into the changing room and came out a few second later with Aurora's clothes neatly folded and her shoes on top. "Here you go."

Aurora took her clothes as Francine handed them to her. "Thanks."

"You know, you should consider modeling." Luke said thoughtfully. "You'd be fantastic."

Aurora laughed and shook her head. "No, that's not for me." She loved teaching martial arts.

"Well you'd better get going." Raoul walked her to the front and the others followed. "You don't want to be late for your date with Thrax."

Aurora walked over to the door and turned around. "Thank you, Raoul. This is a really beautiful dress." She was going to thank Thrax for having him make it, too.

"You're welcome." Raoul smiled with pride in his eyes. "It's my best one yet."

Aurora waved goodbye to them and then walked outside. Surprisingly she felt nice and warm in the dress. She had to hand it to Raoul, he did an amazing job. She got in her car and put her other clothes and shoes in the back. She started her car and made her way to where she was meeting Thrax. It was a hotel that had a restaurant in it and was pretty fancy. They were going to have dinner there and stay the night. The more she thought about it the more it made sense that the dress would fit the occasion.

After a while of driving she reached it and parked her car in the parking lot. She got out and walked through the parking lot and onto the walkway up to the building. It looked enormous. She walked up to the door and a man on the inside opened it for her. She smiled politely to him as she walked in. "Thank you." He smiled and nodded back.

She took a few steps into the building and looked around. It was very impressive, and definitely fancy. She didn't see Thrax anywhere and wasn't sure where to go, so she walked over to the front desk clerk. "Um, excuse me."

He looked at her and smile. "How may I help you?"

Aurora smiled politely. "I'm here with Thrax Roja. He said he'd made reservations and for me to just meet up with him here, but I'm not sure where he is."

"One second, please." He looked at the computer and started typing. "Ah, yes. Here it is. He came in just a little bit ago actually." He gestured for one of the people working there to come over to the desk and he walked over. "Just follow this young man and he'll lead you to where you need to go."

"Thank you." Aurora followed him to where she needed to go.

~~~~~~~

Thrax stood waiting for the table to be ready. He'd gotten there early to make sure everything would be ready on time. The hotel's restaurant had a good reputation, but he wanted to make sure. Plus he knew Aurora would be a few minutes early too. Most likely five or ten.

A waiter walked by with a trey that had glasses with champagne in them and offered him a glass. He took one and took a sip as he watched him walk off. He tugged on the collar of the suit he was wearing. Normally he would have worn his usual attire, but that wouldn't have worked for this place. Though he still had his chain with him. He took another sip and then heard a familiar male voice.

"Hey, Thrax." He turned around and saw Carlos walking up to him. Maurice, Roy, Stan, Jack, and Bruce where with him too. Great.

Thrax gave them an annoyed look. "What are you guys doing here?"

"Well we heard you'd be here and wanted to congratulate you on your victory with the Strikers gang." Roy said. "So congratulations. None of us have to worry about them anymore."

Jack went and patted Thrax on the back. "Way to go Thrax. So have you, you know, taken care of the leader yet?"

Thrax shook his head. "No, I'm gonna take care of him tomorrow." He grinned. "I'm letting him worry himself ragged first." Plus he wanted to wait until after he celebrated with Aurora.

Maurice looked around. "So where's Aurora? We figured she'd be here with you?"

Thrax narrowed his eyes at them for a moment, then relaxed. "I came here early. She'll be here soon." Not that it was any of their business to begin with.

"Alright." Roy took a sip from the glass he had in his hand. "We were just curious."

"Oh, by the way," Stan said. "We figured we'd just celebrate here since we're already here. If you and Aurora want you can join us later." He gave Thrax a little smile. "You know, if you don't already have other plans than just dinner."

"Thanks, but no thanks." Thrax just wanted to spend tonight with Aurora. "As much as I enjoy how we celebrate victories, count me out this time."

Roy shrugged. "Suit yourself. We figured we'd ask anyway in case you wanted to." His eyes moved towards the staircase and they suddenly widened and his jaw dropped, as well at the glass he had in his hand.

The others looked at him a little surprised and looked to see what he was staring at. Their eyes' widened and jaws dropped as they stared, too. Thrax gave them a weird look. They seemed to have a mesmerized look on their faces. He looked to see what they were staring at and had the same reaction.

Aurora was walking down the staircase in a beautiful red dress. Of course Raoul did red, he should have known he would. As he continued to stare he saw how the design showed off her features perfectly. She looked absolutely beautiful. As she reached the bottom of the stairs she scanned the room and he could tell she was trying to spot him. Soon her eyes rested where he was and she gave him a big smile and made her way over there.

Roy put his hand on Thrax's shoulder, still staring. "Thrax, you lucky dog."

In one gulp Thrax finished his drink, and without looking, put it on the tray as the waiter walked by, never taking his eyes off of Aurora. He smoothed out his suit and straightened the tie he was wearing.

"Hey Thrax." Aurora said when she reached him, still smiling.

Thrax grinned. "Hi, baby." He wrapped his arms around Aurora and kissed her. "You look beautiful."

"You look handsome." Aurora whispered. "Thank you for having Raoul make this." Thrax was happy that she liked it. She turned her head and saw the others. "Hey, guys. I didn't expect to see you here."

Thrax looked at them and frowned. "Yeah, they came to congratulate me on the victory over the Strikers gang."

"And also celebrate since we won't have to worry about them anymore either." Bruce added.

Stan saw how Thrax was glaring at them, wanting them to leave, and clapped his hands together. "Well, we'll leave you two alone to your night." He signaled the others to go with him to their table. "It was nice seeing you again Aurora."

"It was nice seeing you again, too." Aurora waved as they walked off and they waved back. Then she looked up at Thrax. "So how's your day been?"

"It was alright." Thrax grinned and pulled Aurora close. "But it's better, now."

A maitre d' walked over to them. "You're table is ready." Thrax and Aurora nodded and followed him to their table.

When they reached the table the maitre d' pulled out the chair for Aurora and she sat down in it, while Thrax seated himself. He placed the menus in front of them and then pulled out a notepad and pen. "May I start you off with something to drink?"

"Bring us a bottle of your best wine." Thrax said. He looked at Aurora to make sure that was fine with her and she smiled and nodded.

"Very good, sir." The maitre d' walked off.

Thrax picked up his menu and scanned through it. "So how's your day been?"

"It's been good." Aurora scanned through her menu. "I practiced some more with Serena. Enel helped, too."

"Really?" Thrax looked at her curiously. "How did she help?"

"I'll tell you later." Aurora replied. "When no one's around."

Thrax nodded in agreement, knowing it was best not to talk about that with so many people around that could overhear. They both went back to looking at the menu. A few minutes later the maitre d' came with a bottle of wine and showed it him. He nodded let him pour some into their glasses.

The maitre d' then pulled out a notepad and pen. "Are you two ready to order?"

~~~~~~~

Aurora and Thrax made their way down the hallway and to the elevator. Dinner had been amazing and now they were heading to their room. It was getting late now and she was feeling pretty tired. They reached the elevator and he pushed the button and they waited. It opened a few seconds later and they got in.

Thrax pushed the button to the fifth floor and then stood back. "How was the chicken?"

Aurora smiled. "It was good. How was the fish?"

"It was pretty good." Thrax started to undo his tie.

Aurora looked at him and saw what he was doing. "What are you doing?"

"Taking this stupid thing off." Thrax said as he continued to undo it. "I hate ties, but I prefer them over bow ties." He finished taking it off and undid the top button on his shirt. "That's better." Aurora giggled and shook her head. He stared at her for a moment, then grinned and wrapped both ends of the tie to his hands. Then he draped it over her until it reached her waist and pulled her against him. "This is much better."

"Thrax." Aurora laughed. "We're in an elevator. What if someone walks in on us?" She pressed her hands against his chest.

"Then I'll just make them walk out." Thrax gave her a playful look and started kissing her neck.

She closed her eyes from how good it felt. "Mmm. You know you can't do that."

Thrax sighed. "Yeah, I know." He began giving her teasing bites and licks. "Be nice if I could, though. Then again, there are stairs that they could use."

Aurora giggled. "You're terrible." But she loved him anyway.

He chuckled and pressed his lips against her. The elevator stopped and they pulled back and watched as it opened up. They had reached their floor. They stepped out and walked down the hallway as the door closed. They walked all the way to the end and turned the corner. They continued to walk until they were about halfway down the hallway and then stopped.

Thrax reached into his pocket and pulled out a key card. He unlocked the door and opened it. They walked in and he went and turned on the lights and then closed the door, but not before he put something on the outside of it.

"What did you put on the door?" Aurora looked around at the room. It was enormous. There was a little table with chairs, a flat screen TV, chest of drawers, a closet, and a king sized bed with a nightstand on both sides. She noticed that the door to the bathroom was open and saw that it was fairly large too.

"Just a do not disturb sign." Thrax took off his suit jacket and went over to the closet. "What do you think of the view?"

Aurora looked and saw a glass door that lead to a little balcony. She walked over and looked outside. The view was stunning. "It's amazing." She looked around at everything she could see. When she was done she went over to the bed, took her open-toed heels off, and sat down. It felt so soft. She let herself fall back on it, just wanting to lay there for a minute. "This is so soft."

Thrax chuckled and hung up his suit. Then took his shoes off and finished undressing. He went over and got onto the other side of the bed and hovered over Aurora, grinning as he looked down at her, just wearing his boxers. "Ya might want to get out of the dress before you fall asleep."

Aurora looked up at Thrax and giggled. "Where did you put my stuff?" She knew he'd gotten some of her things together for her while she was teaching and brought them with him. He pointed over to the second drawer down. She got up and went over to it. She opened it and pulled out a pair of pajamas and went to the bathroom to change.

She turned on the light and closed the door behind her. She quickly changed out of the dress and into her pajamas. Then she brushed her teeth and walked out and turned the light off. She saw that Thrax was already underneath the blanket and reclined on the pillows with his arms behind his head.

She went over to the closet and grabbed a hanger and put the dress on it and hung it up. She went back over to the bed and saw her hairbrush on the nightstand. She grabbed it and brushed her hair and then placed it back where it was. Then she got underneath the blanket on the bed and snuggled next to Thrax.

Thrax moved his arm from behind his head and wrapped it around Aurora. "So what did you and Enel do when you where practicing using your powers?"

"We fought each other to see how well I would do in a fight if I needed to use my powers." Aurora replied. "You know, just making sure my reflexes would be quick enough with using them."

"And how did that go?" Thrax asked curiously.

Aurora smiled. "It went great. She didn't touch me once and neither of us got hurt." She let out a little yawn. "I was thinking that maybe sometime next month, I'd go to the cave that they told us about. The one that leads to my ancestors ancient kingdom."

Thrax ran his hand through her hair, which felt really soothing. "Are you planning on going by yourself?" Concern could be heard in his tone.

"Actually, I wanted you to come with me when I do go to check it out." Aurora paused. "If you want to." She'd be fine going by herself if Thrax didn't want to. She'd probably bring the others with her if she did bring anyone, but she wanted him to be the first to see it with her.

Thrax grinned. "Of course I'll go with you. I'd kind of like to see what your ancestors hid down there."

Aurora closes her eyes and smiled as she sighed. "Me too." She was glad Thrax did want to come. She thought for a moment and giggled.

Thrax looked at her and chuckled. "What's so funny?"

"I just started thinking," Aurora looked at Thrax."that as soon as the others find out, they're going to want to come, too."

"Tell them that they can come next time." Thrax kissed her forehead. "It's not like we're going on a hike. We don't even know what's down there. There could be booby traps for all we know."

"I could ask Serena next time she pops up." Aurora said thoughtfully. "It was her generation that hid the kingdom. I'm sure she could tell me about some of the stuff that's down there, if not all of it." She covered her mouth as she yawned again.

Thrax yawned after she did. "Yeah, that would be a good idea." He gently kissed her lips. "Goodnight, baby."

"Goodnight, Thrax." Aurora kissed him back and rested her head on the soft pillow. "I love you."

"I love you too." Thrax reached for the light and turned it off. Then wrapped his arm around Aurora. Soon they were both off to sleep.

~~~~~~~

"Alright." Kai spread out pictures that had names on them on the table. "So these are all the ones that you know that were involved with taking you out somehow?"

They were in a conference room at their hideout. Getting Don out of jail had been a cinch, and they had done it earlier that night. They had run into a bit of an altercation with the guards, but had easily handled it. As soon as they got there they immediately went to work on finding out what they needed to know to try and find out who they were looking for. He had told them everything that had happened, and now it was time to look at the people that it could possibly be.

Don nodded as he stared at the pictures. "Yeah, but why did you mainly want to know about the women that were involved? I mean, you did ask about the men, but then you asked about the women that they knew. Why so interested in the women?"

"Because, my friend, who we are looking for is a woman." Kai replied. "That much we know for sure. As to which woman, well..." He slowly looked over the pictures. "That part is still a mystery."

"What can you tell us about any of them?" Rune, the guy with the wolf on his medallion asked. He had told Don his name after they put him back in his cell to wait until they bailed him out. As did the other, whose name was Darius.

Don pointed to the group of pictures to the left. "These are the women cops that were involve in the investigations and arrest." He pointed to the group to the right. "These are women that are either friends, girlfriends, or wives of the men cops and some of the women cops that were involved. I don't know much about them other than that really."

"What about this one?" Kai pointed to the picture in the middle. "You said she's Thrax's girlfriend. Do you know anything about her?"

"Yeah." Darius, who was standing in the corner joined the conversation. "You went after her to get to him. You must have done some digging on her at least."

"All I really know is that her name is Aurora and she's a martial arts teacher." Don replied. "She's a beautiful woman." He looked at Aurora's picture. "A really beautiful woman. But other than that she didn't seem that unique. I didn't find anything of importance on her."

"Appearances can be deceiving." Kai stared at the picture of Aurora.

"I heard that she's friends with some sorcerers and sorceresses, though." Don offered.

"Plenty of people are friends with a sorcerer or sorceress." Rune said. "A sorceress isn't what we're looking for. They wouldn't have been able to do what was done, at least not at that level of power. And the spells you tried would have worked. Some of them, anyway."

"That's all I know." Don looked at them and then felt a little nervous. "You're not going to put me back in jail and let Thrax kill me, are you?"

Kai smiled and chuckled. "Of course not. This has been a big help. We're not going to put you back in jail for Thrax to kill you just because you can't give us some personal information about these women. We knew it wouldn't be that easy anyway."

Don breathed a sigh of relief, then remembered something. "Wait. I remember her saying that we had no idea what we had gotten ourselves into. But honestly I think she was just talking about Thrax." There was silence in the room as Kai thought about what he just said. Then he let his curiosity get the best of him and broke the silence. "So what are you even planning on doing when you find out who the one you're looking for is?"

Rune gave him a stern look. "That's on a need to know basis at the moment."

Don looked at Rune and saw how he was staring at him, so backed off. "Alright." He started to think again and looked at them curiously. "How many of you guys are there? I've seen a few others around the parts of this place that I've been, but that was just a few tiny places."

Darius grinned. "Oh, there's a whole bunch of us. More than you can count. Men and women. This place is bigger than you can possibly imagine."

"I don't suppose I'll see more of this place?" He asked, curiosity in his tone.

Kai placed his hand on Don's shoulder. "In due time, my friend. In due time." He looked at the clock on the wall. "It's late. Go get some rest and then we'll continue in the morning."

Don nodded. He stood up and yawned as he stretched. "I'll just head to my room then."

"The guards outside will take you there." Kai said. "We don't want you getting lost."

Don smiled. "Thanks." He walked out the door. "As soon as we find out who it was that caused me so much trouble, I'm gonna make her pay."

"What do you think about him?" Rune asked as soon as Don was out of earshot.

Kai frowned. "Don is a fool and a coward that hides behind his big boy toys. He acts tough when he has them, but then cowers in fear like a child when they're gone."

"How much do you think we should tell him?" Darius asked. "He seems bent on killing her." He looked at the pictures. "Whichever one of these women she is."

"I don't think we should tell him our plans." Rune said. "He couldn't possibly comprehend it. Most likely won't even go along with it."

"We'll tell him enough to keep him quiet." Kai replied. "We'll let him know who we've narrowed it down to and let him think we're going to let him have revenge. We need her alive and unharmed. If he tries anything, we can easily get rid of him."

"So what's the plan for finding out which one is her?" Darius picked up one of the pictures.

Kai looked at Darius. "We'll wait a little while before we start. It may look suspicious if we do anything so soon to Don's gang being taken down and then his escape." He looked at the pictures to the left. "Then once we've waited long enough, each of us will investigate one of these women and see which one is who we're looking for. We can go ahead and chose now, though. If anything, we'll just observe them from a distance for now, and remain unseen as much as possible while we do."

"It'll take a while." Darius put the picture down.

Rune grinned. "But it'll be worth it."

"Indeed it will." Kai picked up the picture of Aurora and stared at it with particular interest. "Let's keep a close eye on this one. She may know something."

"I assume that means you'll be investigating her, then?" Rune folded his arms and raised his brow, still grinning.

Kai looked at Rune and smiled and nodded. "Yes it does." He put the picture down. "One way or another, we will find out which one is her. Then we can commence with our plan."