Chapter nine

[Derrek’s POV]

My eyes flew open and I cried out in shock as I struggled to jump out from under my blanket. Shock turned to complete and unadulterated rage as I began to shout expletives at Blake. Blake was doubled over on his bed practically crying of laughter while I was stuck under a blanket of ice.

Literally a blanket of ice.

Blake had tucked the edges of my blanket under my mattress and frozen it completely to ice and I was too in shock to do anything but struggle under the freezing blanket. “You freaking ass!” I shouted. I tried to ignore the freezing coldness that seemed to want to seep into my pores and I concentrated on my anger.

I thought of the heat of the desert, the heat of stepping on burning coals and imagined the blistering temperature of the surface of the sun and I began to feel the ice surrounding the blanket melt quickly into lukewarm water. The blanket began to set alight and I threw it off of me, glad to have finally gotten out from underneath it.

“Aw man! You should’ve seen your face!” Blake shouted between bursts of laughter. “Ahhhhh!” he shrilled in a high pitched girly voice throwing his hands in the air.

I did not sound like that.

A gust of air blew out of my nostrils like a bull readying itself before charging. I tightened my hands to fists, my knuckles white against my skin, and I grabbed the fire that was burning holes in my blanket and threw it straight at Blake like a baseball. The burning red flames lit up the room and flew straight at Blake’s head. “Whoa, crap!” He ducked quickly just in time for the flaming ball to scrape over the top of his hair. “Not the face damnit!”

It seemed as though he didn’t take me seriously enough. I raised both hands up above my head clapping them together and flames grew within my palms. As I spread them farther apart the flames grew and I quickly clapped my hands together again. I’d cut the large flaming ball into several darts and I grasped them all in one hand.

The room was dark and the fire darts were the only source of light seeing as outside the sun had yet to rise. What the hell was the time?! My flicked over to the alarm clock, only just realising that it hadn’t gone off yet even though I’d set it for half five. The bright red numbers read just past four o’clock and I growled. Why in the hell would this freaking Elemental even want to wake up this early?!

“Seriously?! It’s barely past four o’clock Frosty! What the hell!?” I shouted rolling one fire dart between my fingers.

He coughed back a laugh and snickered, “It’s payback Matchstick!”

“No... this is payback!” With great precision I threw the darts quickly one after the other and spelt a ‘D’ with the flames across Blake’s t-shirt. He jumped up from the bed and cried out panicking as the darts melded back into a flame and it began to take over his shirt.

He started jumping up and down while patting the burning parts of his shirt and I saw steam rise as he swatted the fire leaving hand shaped marks of slight frost where there was once fire.  I hoped that t-shirt was expensive, I thought grimly. I slumped back onto my bed and cringed. My sheets were wet from the melted ice and there really was no point in going back to sleep seeing as I would have to wake up in about twenty minutes anyway. I concentrated on my body temperature, making it rise and I saw the air wobble a little at the heat waves emanating from my skin.

In three seconds my bed sheets were dry again and I groaned as I hauled myself up from my bed and dragged my tired body to the bathroom. Stupid Elemental waking me up, I cursed in my head as I stepped under the spray of the hot water. Why couldn’t I have been put with any of the other Elementals? Why couldn’t he have been just shoved in with the other Elementals? As a matter of fact, why couldn’t he just sleep in the hallway?

I cursed when I realised that I needed to calm down because I was heating up again and the water was barely touching my skin before it evaporated. I sighed and finished my shower, it probably would be for the best that I hurried before Blake pulls another one of his pranks-

Suddenly the water froze as it reached my hair and I found myself stuck to the shower head by a stream of frozen water drops. “Motherfu-!”

Fire burst over my entire body and the ice was as good as gone. I wrapped a towel around my waist and practically kicked open the bathroom door just in time to hear his hysterical laughter and the front door slam shut.

I was about to blow a fuse.

I think I may actually kill the Elemental very soon!

I spotted Blake’s bag that he was bringing during the trip and I grinned. Payback will be a bitch! I walked over to the bag already forming a plan on what I can do and in my mind I was doing an evil laugh – Mwahahaha!

***

Instead of meeting everyone outside, I grabbed my bag and knocked on Val’s door. It was twenty to five and outside it was barely light. I heard a shuffle on the inside and the sound of the door unlocking reached my ears. The door was pulled open and a sleepy looking Helena stood in the doorway.

“Hey Helena, wake up a bit late did we?” I asked with a smirk.

“You could say that” she looked back into the apartment towards the bedroom before continuing, “Val had a pretty bad night last night. She kept crying out in her sleep and I needed to soothe her before she settled down a bit. She never wakes up when I have to soothe her, but I don’t even think she knows she has these types of nights”

I frowned a little. Val’s been having bad nights? “How often does this happen? And what do you do to soothe her?” I whispered back.

She shrugged and sighed, “I know she has nightmares every night, but about three times a week they get pretty bad. I usually just sit on the edge of her bed and just stroke her hair and tell her everything is okay. Poor thing”

“Sparky? I thought we were meeting outside?” Val walked out from the bedroom with her duffel bag flung over her shoulder and I changed my frown in a smile. Helena obviously didn’t want Val to know she sometimes kept her up so I decided to keep that quiet as well.

“Yeah well... I was going to, but then I thought ‘why the hell would I want to wait with a bunch of Elementals?’” I rolled my eyes. “Sleep well?”

Her eyes flicked away before nodding a little too enthusiastically (now that I knew she was lying) before smiling, “Yep”

I swapped a glance with Helena who shrugged a little. “So who’s riding with who?” I asked as I carried my and the girls’ bags and they carried another bag of food and drinks. Before she answered my question I spoke up again, “I’ll let you know right now... Frosty is not riding with me! If he gets anywhere near me during this trip Frosty the Snow Elemental will melt”

I saw her and Helena roll their eyes, as though they’d heard it all before but I was serious. The payback I had back in the apartment wasn’t good enough just yet and I was still thinking of another way to even up the scores. “How about we just keep the same groups that we drove with down to my place for the holidays?” Val replied making it sound like a question.

I groaned. “Tadpole! This is a ten hour drive! No offence Helena, but I want to at least spend that drive with my girlfriend”

Helena laughed and shook her head. “How about I drive your car Derrek? Then you can ride with Val”

I was already grinning and nodding my head at her suggestion, “All we need to do is kick Frosty out from the car and there’s no problem”

Helena shifted uncomfortably and stared her feet. “Yeah, sure he can ride with me, Cara and Cameron”

We were just in the main lobby standing near the exit of the building when Val stopped walking and turned to Helena. “Helena, is there something bothering you with Blake? I’ve noticed that you seem a little uncomfortable around him compared to the other Elementals. Has he done anything to make you feel that way?”

“Oh uh... he hasn’t...” She stuttered.

“Because we’ll keep him in my car if you’re uncomfortable with him”

“Tadpole! NO!” I groaned.

“Sparky, shush up”

Helena grimaced and began nervously tapping her foot. I don’t think she realised that she was doing it but she continued while she spoke, “Oh, I don’t mind... I guess-“

“Are you sure?” Val stared at her friend seriously not wanting to make her feel uncomfortable in a car full of Elementals I was guessing.

“Tadpole! She said she-“ My rebuttal was cut short when a handful of snow was thrown at my face. What the hell was it with people today?! I coughed it out and stared accusingly at Val. “Tadpole, what the hell?”

She giggled and dusted her hands together. “I said ‘shush up’” she winked and I rolled my eyes.

That seemed to have broken the ice, so to speak, and Helena burst out laughing. She didn’t seem nervous or uncomfortable now as she covered her mouth to stop her laughing at my expense. “No Val, it should be fine. You enjoy the road trip with your man”

I smiled triumphantly and winked at Val. “See? That faceful of snow was totally uncalled for Tadpole” She laughed and I only just managed to duck out of the way of another ball of snow she conjured and threw my way. “Hey! Don’t make me make your hair shorter woman! I think you’d look good with a nice little army style haircut!”

“Don’t you dare Sparky! I still haven’t forgotten about you sunburning your name onto my skin last year!”

Helena and I burst into laughter and we all continued to walk through the doors outside. The sun was barely winking over the horizon and all the Elementals were standing by the building, some leaning against the wall. “About time! I’m freezing my ass cheeks off here!” Sophia shivered.

“We’ll bring the cars around then let you know who’s sitting in what car” Val called out and she and I quickly walked off leaving Helena and the bags with the group. We brought the cars around and left it running so the heat could warm up the cars. We stood back with the group and they looked expectantly at us. Blake grinned at me and I couldn’t help but scowl back, but secretly grinning on the inside because that meant he hadn’t seen my prank back at him. That was all for the better because it would end up so much funnier if he only found out when we reached Crane’s Hollow.

“Okay so in my car is Sparky, Sophia and Bree” she nodded to the girls and they nodded before grabbing their bags and throwing them in and jumping into the warm vehicle. “And that leaves Helena, Blake, Cara and Cameron in Sparky’s car”

Blake straightened up immediately and darted his eyes between the car and something else before a little smile pulled at the corner of his mouth. I raised an eyebrow but when his eye caught mine his smile slipped off and he stalked off to jump into the front passenger seat of my car.

“Let’s go, let’s go Tadpole!” I called out and slapped her ass, laughing when I managed to dodge her snowball.

***

[Val’s POV]

I sat in the passenger seat of my car listening to the music on the radio play in the background. Derrek had insisted that he drive and I try to get some sleep so that maybe later on in the road trip we could swap drivers. I didn’t want to sleep though. After last night’s re-run of nightmares I figured I’d had enough ‘sleep’ for a few hours.

I dreamt I was the monster I was before again and was completely in control of my actions. I dreamt that I loved the smell of fear of my prey and the bloodlust was just empowering. In my nightmare it felt completely natural, but now that I was awake and was able to think properly the thought made me sick to my stomach.

These nightmares felt different from the ones I was forced into having last year. Last year I felt as though something was creeping over my brain and it sent chills through my very being. These felt a little more normal... just like night terrors, and less like I was trapped in my own head.

The clouds from last night had cleared and the sun peeked over the horizon sending little bursts of light streaking into the sky. The rays of sunlight changed the colour of everything, the dull blue-grey sky lightened into different hues of blues ranging from the left over midnight blue of the night time to a pale baby blue. The majority of the stars disappeared while only the brightest of them continued to twinkle and the glow of the moon had dimmed. The greyish snow brightened to a perfect white and I looked over the grounds staring at the glistening view.

“So...” Bree piped up from the back, “You guys seem pretty close. It’s really cute! Was it like love at first sight?”

I scoffed straight away and began laughing, “No way! Sparky here crashed into me and refused to help me. Instead he blamed me and walked away!”

“Well you should’ve watched where you going huh Tadpole?” I rolled my eyes and swatted him on the arm. “You probably couldn’t help it. I know I’m amazing”

***

After the first five hours of driving we stopped over by a clearing near some trees to stretch our legs and have something to eat and drink. I’d managed to sleep for an hour and luckily no nightmares plagued my dreams. It would’ve been hard to explain to Sophia and Bree what my screaming was about.

I jumped out of the car and stretched my arms up high hearing my bones click before shaking out my limbs. Man it felt good to get out of the stuffy car. Derrek seemed to be fine around the two Elementals and it made me wonder whether he was warming up to them or if he just had issues with Blake.

Speaking of the Blake, Helena parked behind us and she was red with laughter. I hadn’t actually seen her quite so alive since last year and I wondered what could’ve made that change in her in the last four hours. Helena, Blake, Cara and Cameron hopped out of Derrek’s car and I saw Blake smiling brightly.

“Hey, how was the drive? You find it okay?”  I called out to her.

She smiled and nodded her head, “Yeah definitely. Blake kept me entertained the whole time, he’s really funny” I was actually pretty surprised. Helena always seemed to have some sort of aversion to Blake and it seemed as though that sticking them in a car for four straight hours was a solid way to break the ice. Go figure...

I turned my eye to Blake who shrugged and walked over to the group of Elementals. We grabbed the food and drinks and headed over to the clearing covered in snow and laid out several layers of blankets. Bree handed out sandwiches, fruits and snacks while I twirled my hand over the icicles that dangled off the branches of the trees and sent the water flying over to the kettle.

Once it was full I walked over to Derrek with my puppy dog eyes and held it out to him. “Please Sparky?” I batted my eyelashes, probably looking like an idiot, and he just laughed and groaned.

“I’m a stove now Tadpole? Really?” I just smiled, holding it out to him and he rolled his eyes before holding the bottom of the kettle.

In a matter of seconds the bottom of the kettle was glowing a warm orange and after a minute the kettle began to whistle, spitting out steam from the boiled water. “Thanks” I winked before taking it back and pouring it out into the Styrofoam cups filled with instant coffee.

As we ate and drank I snuggled closer to Derrek stealing his natural body heat when all of a sudden a snowball flew straight at his face. The look that was etched onto his face was priceless and even though I was splattered as well I couldn’t help the stream of laughter that bubbled its way up my throat as he spluttered the snow out from his mouth.

“BLAKE!!!” he shouted before jumping to his feet and running after Blake. He somehow managed to catch up and tackled Blake to the ground throwing snow to his face while Blake attempted to do the same. A stray handful of snow missed and caught Cameron on the side of the head.

Suddenly out of nowhere snowballs were flying everywhere! I squealed and grabbed Helena as we ran for the trees in the clearing for cover. The Elementals had found a slight dip in the snow and were laughing as they threw snowballs at us and each other. It seemed as though it was every man for himself!

I scooped my hands in the air and the snow shifted into a large pile. I then began to cup my hands and perfect snowballs shifted out from the pile of snow. With a flick of my wrist I sent it to Helena and she grinned before tossing it into the trees. As the snowball threw through the air towards the trees, she made snatching movements with her arms and the branches moved along with her curving around the snowballs lightly.

The entire time we were working on the snowballs we were being pelted over and over by hysterical Elementals, thinking they had the upper hand. They had grouped together and stopped throwing snowballs at each other and decided to gang up on me and Helena. I saw Derrek duck for cover behind a tree close to us and ran over grinning.

 “They have no chance!” I laughed hysterically. I continued to make snowballs and threw them to the trees while Helena instructed the trees to catch them. “Let it rip!” I shouted, grinning like an idiot.

Helena bent backwards, her arms stretched as far back as she could on either side of her, and the trees began to bend back. As she threw her body forward and clapped her hands together, the trees behind copied her and sent snowball after snowball at the Elementals, not too hard of course.

Shrieks and cries of laughter instantly followed and soon they were running toward us with armfuls of snowballs. Helena began to throw some back at them but I ran forward instead. As soon as a snowball was thrown I stuck my arm up and motioned to catch it, stopping it mid air, and I easily threw it back.

It came in handy to by surrounded by my element.

I didn’t even need to touch the snow!

“Hey! That’s no fair!” Cameron shouted smiling brightly.

“I’ve got it covered!” Bree shouted back. I looked at her and she grinned before quickly swiping her hand across the air. A huge gust of wind instantly blew the snow around. The snow was lifted into the air and thrown around us like a soft blizzard and it was impossible to see anyone and distinguish who was who. “It’s a fair game now! Last one standing wins!”

***

“Dude... my face kills!” Derrek complained as he slapped the back of Cameron’s head. “Just because you have strength as one of your abilities doesn’t mean you need to use it”

Cameron guffawed and rolled his eyes. Everyone was lying on the ground panting hard after the epic snowball fight. Derrek was literally on the ground, having melted the snow beneath him. “That was so much fun” Cara smiled.

It was nice to see Cara come out of her shell a little. She was painfully shy and to have seen her running around with us laughing and screaming was a hopeful sign that she might loosen up and become more confident. “I think Blake got what he deserved though” I snorted.

 “Shut up Val” Blake groaned, causing Helena to giggle. Blake ended up getting the majority of the snowballs, most splattering against his face, and his cheeks and nose were a nice shade of red. Derrek chuckled at my side and turned to face Blake.

“Maybe I should call you Rudolph now?”

********************************************************************************* A/N

And this is my Christmas present to my fans =D Merry Christmas!

Or if you don’t celebrate Christmas Happy Holidays!

I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I’d like to take my presents as comments and votes XD hehe

I hope everyone has a safe holiday and has a wonderful time with loved ones!

Nix <3