EP.180|The Eyes Are The Windows To The Soul

"Which one should I do?" Araden spun the boxes stopping it when he reached Operetta "oh~ little miss Mommy of the Year."

"What makes you think you have the strength to last an entire year with these maniacs, chasing down the grail, fighting monsters, all with a little bun in your oven," Araden smirked, flashing into the box only to lift up Operetta's chin.

"My offer still stands, you join me and I offer safety for you and the little human." Araden wagered.

"I said no Araden," Operetta walked to the other side of the box, Araden pinned her to the wall "come on, forget about safety, I can give you more than that," Araden leaned in to whisper "way more than that little Hunter can."

"I'm perfectly fine with my Hunter!" Operetta stated, pushing Araden away from her.

"Little demon over there? Really? He's gonna be the father of your child?!" Araden burst out laughing "we both know Hunter wouldn't be a great father."

"What makes you say that?"

"Think about it Operetta," Araden flashed out of the box "before Hunter met you, he would sleep with hundreds of women, sneak out in the morning and never call them again."

Araden smirked, "who's to say he won't do it to you and the baby?"

She was hesitant with her answer "be-because! Hunter and I promised we'd be there for each other."

"A promise?" Araden rolled his eyes "promises are meant to be broken."

"Not this one!" Hunter yelled. "Shut it!" Araden scolded, holy magi flooding Hunter's box with holy magi, the demon screamed in pain.

"As I was saying, for all we know, Hunter could abandon ship as soon as the baby is born," Araden said. "He wouldn't leave me like that." Operetta stated.

"Well, he left you on the Demonic Islands," Araden countered "remember?"

"I remember," Operetta began, her eyes filled with rage "I remember you erasing all of my memories of my best friends and my boyfriend!"

"Don't forget the almost arrange marriage!" Hunter piped in.

"And Hunter has always been there for me! I don't know where you come from but in the Villain Iles, that's call commitment!" Operetta glared at Araden.

Araden was about to say something else but Operetta cut him off "and another thing! What happened to you Araden? I don't know why but something tells me you weren't always like this."

Araden growled, "you should know what happened to me."

"We don't though! So why don't you explain it to us," Operetta's voice softened "I know a part of you deep down doesn't want this chaos to continue."

Araden sighed, she was right, he really didn't want to hurt the VKs but they had to learn their lesson.

Araden looked into her eyes, something about made him want to spill out all his secrets.Damn it! Stop it Araden!

Araden shook his head, "stop that! You cannot use those eyes!"

Operetta had a confused look on her face "my eyes? What in the gods and goddesses names are you talking about?"

"You gotta be kidding me right?" Araden shielded his eyes, "you don't know what your eyes can do to people?!"

"Well, people have always said my eyes were my best feature," she mumbled, soon raising her voice "but other than that, no."

"Operetta, you eyes manipulate people! In a good way! Just like she did." Araden growled. "Her...?" Operetta mumbled, soon brushing it off.

Operetta then thought about Araden's words, thinking back to one moment in particular.

After a long night of drinking with the VKs, the other went home but Hunter and Operetta stayed at the bar.

"Hunter," Operetta stared down at her filled shot glass "I don't know, people said it taste weird."

"It's one shot Operetta," Hunter rolled his eyes, chuckling a little "imagine it like taking cold medicine."

"That's not helping." Operetta muttered, "I'm not a big drinking person..."

"Fine, if you won't drink it the traditional way," Hunter took the shot, swallowing it before kissing his girlfriend, his tongue lacing with her's.

She could taste the vodka on his tongue, even though she never drank a single drop of alcohol, she could still detect the bitterness of the vodka soon turning sweet.

She smiled and wrapped her arms his neck in a loving fashion, separating the kiss, gasping for air "Hu-Hunter..."

"See," Hunter backed away, "vodka doesn't taste that bad."

Operetta blushed, her fingers brushing lightly on her lips "I-I-I..."

"What's wrong?" Hunter tilted her head. "Tha-that...wa-was..." she stammered, scrambling for words.

"Oh no...don't tell me that was your first kiss?"

Operetta shook her head "I-I've never frenched kissed a per-person before." her mind was still reeling.

"Awe," Hunter kissed her forehead "well, I'm glad I was your first."

"On a good note, you know what vodka tastes like," Hunter noted, Operetta nodded and smiled at Hunter.

"I'm sorry your first french kiss wasn't in a more romantic setting." Hunter apologize. "It's alright sweetie." Operetta starred into Hunter's brown eyes "there's something troubling you? Isn't there?"

"It's nothing darling," Hunter tried to look away from her greyish-purple eyes but he just couldn't look away. Something about her beautiful orbs made Hunter want to tell her his darkest secrets.

"Please tell me," Operetta whimpered "I don't like it when your hurting."

Hunter could see a little shimmer of blue in her eyes, he could feel this wave of relief rushed over him "I haven't been sleeping," he was trying to say that he was fine, but he couldn't lie to her.

"Why?" her voice was soft and filled with concern. Hunter tried to stay quiet but yet again, her eyes prevented him from lying "remember how I was an assassin?"

She nodded, holding his hand. "I've been remembering these killings, and just how dark I was back then..."

"Hunter," she placed his hand on her lap "you should tell me these things," she pouted her lips "I'm your mate for God's sakes."

Hunter couldn't stop the words that came next.

"Will you marry me?!" he practically shouted.

The entire bar went silent, Operetta blushed badly "wh-what?"

"Brazzan!" Hunter mentally yelled out for the demon. "Don't look at me, you said what you said." Brazzan chuckled.

Why can't I stop myself?!

"I want to marry you."

Hunter! Shut up! You've been dating for 3 months!

He tried to stop his words but he just couldn't "I wanna be there for you."

Will you stop?! You're gonna scare her off!

"I want to protect you."

Shut. Up!

"I want our kids to be just like you."

Okay, that's it, I'm outta here!

Before Hunter could say anything else, Operetta placed a finger on her lips "stop talking before you embarrass yourself even more."

Hunter nodded as Operetta continued "Hunter, I think it's very sweet you said all these things but we've been dating for 3 months."

"I'm sorry...it's just when I looked into your eyes, I can't help but just spill everything!"

Operetta chuckled, brushing a few strands of his hair back "it's alright, it was so cute seeing you get all vulnerable.""Shut up..."

Operetta was snapped out of her flashback when it suddenly became warmer.

"Since you wanna use your stupid eyes on me!" the heat turned into flames at Araden's snap "I'll just have to burn them!""Shit!" She cursed, backing up to the edge of the box to escape the flames.The sound of growling could be heard from behind Araden. A cocky smile appeared on his face "oh?" he turned around to see Hunter was furious "is that anger I hear?"

Hunter pounded his fist on the wall "I swear Araden, if there is so much as a single burn on her skin I will rip your head off and mount it to a wall!"

Araden fake gasped "oh no! I'm shaking in my boots!"

"I'm serious Araden!""Sure you are honey," Araden walked over to his box "just as serious as those flames are in your mate's box!" by a simple clap of Araden's hands, the flames grew larger and hotter, beginning to burn Operetta's feet.

"Agh!" She hissed, she tried to conjure up her ice shield but the box seemed to cancel out her powers.

"Let's see how many degrees it takes for little miss Mommy of the Year to crack." Araden smirked, pulling up a chair, sitting next to Hunter's box as he watched the demon struggle at the fact he couldn't rescue his mate.

"Where's the grail?"

"We don't know!" Operetta screamed, the flames reaching hitting her knees.

"Where's the grail?"

"WE! DON'T! KNOW!""Yes you do~" Araden cooed, sipping his tea as he upped the flames.

"No I don't!" Operetta yelled, tears brimming her eyes as the flames went passed her stomach, thanking the gods that the protective barrier was still around the baby, not even flames could extinguish that.

"Stop it!!!!" Operetta yelled, the flames reaching her neck. Araden smirked, he watched Hunter's eyes filled with pain and suffering.

"Awe," Araden filled the box with flames "her screams are so cute!"

"You monster!" Hunter scolded, his eyes turning a crimson color. Araden laughed darkly "thank you."

As the flames died down, Operetta coughed up smoke that began to fill her lungs "why...why do you...hate us?"

"I don't hate you darling," Araden walked close to her box, a vicious smirk on his face "I despise the lot of you."

Operetta raked her fingers through her hair to see it was now neck length "my...hair..."

All her life, she never liked her hair, but now that it was gone, she felt empty.

Operetta was known for a lot of things, such as her voice, her ice powers, her personality, her music.

But her red hair was the best way to single her out from a crowd.

For the longest, she didn't like that, but the VKs taught her how to accept her differences.

"Ho-how...HOW COULD YOU?!" Operetta roared her eyes gleaming with anger, the room grew quiet "you horrible, barbaric, tertouris, devious demon!"

"Oooh~ big mama's mad." Araden cooed, smirking slyly.

"Stop calling me that! It's derogatory and mean!" Operetta slammed her hands on the fist on the glass, ice spreading on the walls of it "just because I am pregnant doesn't mean you have the right to call me such things!"

Hunter smiled widely, he loved it when Operetta was mad, he couldn't deny it. Operetta was hot as hell when she's mad.

"And another thing," Operetta picked up the clumps of her red hair on the ground "what makes you think you can just burn people like their BBQ?! Which, by the way, gave me 3rd burn and cut off half of my hair!"

"You should be thanking me Operetta, you never liked your hair to begin with." Araden rolled his eyes, Operetta glared at him.

"When I was younger I didn't. I used to put myself down a lot when I was little, I was shyer than a caterpillar, I couldn't accept the fact had weird red hair, or no magic until I was 14, or that I wasn't prettier than the other girls."

"But when I met Hunter and the VKs and everyone we met on this journey, they all taught me that if I'm gonna survive in this world, I shouldn't change everything about me to fit in."

Hunter smiled, the determination in his girlfriend's eyes was everything he needed to know she was okay.

"Now, obviously there's something coming on a deeper level, you just won't tell us. You're using this grail thing as cover," Operetta looked into Araden's eyes "just open up...it'll be okay."

"Open up..." Araden starred into Operetta's greyish-purple eyes.

"Why are you doing this?" Operetta asked gently.

"Nadia...she why..." Araden stopped himself, shaking his head and quickly looking away from Operetta "no! I'm doing it for world domination!"

"No you not." Operetta sighed, shaking her head, "but it's okay, I know a little part of you is doing this for this Nadia chick," her voice lowered, whispered, "it's nice knowing you have feelings, you won't be alone for much longer, we'll find her."

"I don't care about you or your dumb feelings!" Araden walked off, leaving the VKs alone "I'll be back, and when I do, I'll make sure to hurt Operetta extra because of her big mouth!"

Araden slammed the door, leaving the VKs to see who the next victim would be.