Chapter 56 War Between Dragons and Fairies
Reiya glared at Reese with hatred. How evil could a person be? She was trying to count to ten and regain her composure, but it was hard. She had to force herself not to douse him with her water elemental skills. Though evilly, in her head, she kept replaying how that scene would go down.
“Well? Just do it already.” Reese folded his arms over his head as a cocky grin spread across his face.
Asshole. Reiya looked at him through squinted eyes, not hiding how irritated she was with him.
With a shaky hand, she reached her fingers out and brought them closer to him, hesitating there for just a moment.
Breathe, Reiya, breathe. You can do this.
She locked eyes with Reese, who continued to smirk at her, daring her to continue.
Ugh, I never realized how much of an asshole he was until now.
He was practically Xander, just in another body.
She squeezed her eyes shut and moved her hand the rest of the way forward, seizing one of the small cards in his hand and drawing it back to herself.
She opened her eyes as she flipped the card around.
“NOOO!!!!” she yelled as Reese laughed heartily.
She got the Old Maid again. How?! How did she lose every single time?
This was getting ridiculous. And Reese was such a sore winner.
He was now standing up, his hands clamped together over his head, shaking them in victory.
She sat there, looking at him with the utmost annoyance.
“Aww, poor little fairy. You want me to let you win a round?” Reese flashed her an evil grin.
Fuse … lit. Reiya grabbed the bowl of fruit on the table and began launching them at Reese. He took off running, laughing and dodging the raining fruit. Reiya sped off after him, determined to at least hit him once. It was the only thing that would make her feel a little bit better at this point.
He grabbed his own bowl of fruit and flipped a rectangular wooden table over to form a shield. “Better run, princess. It‘s counterattack time.”
Pfft, run? Never. Reiya flipped over her own table. The war between dragons and fairies had begun.
“Maybe if you apologize, I’ll go easy on you,” Reese chuckled, trying to provoke her.
Reiya let out a snort. “You need to pray to your deity that I go easy on you.” She launched an assault of grenade apples and oranges. Unfortunately, they all narrowly missed their target. Next, she was under siege. She dodged side to side as the bananas and grapes floated over top of her.
They were getting nowhere like this. It was a stalemate between the two opponents who seemed evenly matched, the barrage of fruit flying all over the place.
She was on her last bowl, and ammunition was running low.
There comes a time when you know what must be done.
An ultimate sacrifice … a dangerous maneuver, but it was her only chance now.
She would try to take him by surprise by sprinting at him.
She would wait and attack right after his next launch of fruit.
She took in a deep breath, knowing she would have to be fast and would only get one shot at victory.
It’s in moments like this when you know you have to dig deep and reach the warrior inside.
She grabbed her last few pieces of fruit.
Fly swiftly and true. She crouched and braced herself for her opportunity.
She waited until he threw his next wave of grenades and went for it, leaping over her table and sprinting toward him.
She heard his shocked gasp, but it was too late.
She smirked to herself as she torpedoed her fruit toward him.
DIRECT HIT! She watched the fruit smash into his side and an apple slam against his cheek.
Sweet victory … almost. She didn’t take into account the fruit that littered the ground.
Her foot landed on an apple, and her body launched forward.
She closed her eyes and braced herself for the hard impact.
“Oooof.”
She landed against something firm and warm. It wasn’t hard and cold like the floor or wall would have been. She opened her scrunched-up eyes to see she was being firmly held.
“Are you okay?”
Reiya looked up to see Dex peering down at her in concern.
She gave him a sheepish grin and nodded.
“Thanks to you, I am unharmed.” She heard him let out a sigh of relief.
He helped her to her feet but still kept his arms around her.
He continued to inspect her until he was convinced she was fine, then kept one arm around her protectively.
“What happened here?” Dex raised an eye as he looked at the fruit hurricane in the room.
“Reiya, are you alright?” Reese walked up to her with a worried, guilty expression.
She giggled and nodded. “We had a fruit fight,” she answered Dex, then continued to giggle at Reese. “You should see your face. It has the imprint of an apple on the side.”
Reese reached up and chuckled as he wiped his cheek.
Dex laughed as he looked around the room. “Dang, I joined the wrong party. This looks like a lot more fun.”
“It was probably best that you didn’t. After all, it would look pretty bad to be bested by a girl, like Reese was.” She grinned triumphantly and watched a side smirk grow on Dex’s face.
“Sweetheart, beating Reese here is one thing. Beating me would be something entirely different.”
“Sorry, this isn’t a ‘political talk and fancy drink’ category. This isn’t something you would excel at. Best to know your limits,” Reiya teased her new friend.
Dex looked down at her with amusement. “Are you provoking me, little fairy bug?”
“Umm … bug? And there is nothing to provoke.” Reiya glanced around the war zone. “We ran out of ammunition.” She looked up at Dex and saw his continued amusement. “What’s so funny?”
“You really think you can beat me, don’t you?” He had a cocky grin on his face, just like Reese had before.
“You dragons are just too adorable. You all think you’re impervious to losing. It makes it all the better when you do lose.” Reiya liked provoking the dragons, what with their arrogant nature.
“We’re hosting one of the biggest gatherings here. Do you really think we’re out of fruit?” Dex asked with a mischievous smile.
Reiya’s eyes perked up. “Are you sure your royal, pampered self can handle it?”
Dex grinned. “Reese, come with me. We have some fruit to gather.” He took his arm away from Reiya and the two men left. It was time to prepare for war.
Reiya grinned as they hauled in several large baskets full of fruit. Oh, this is going to be brutal. One of the best things about Dex joining in was that all the blame would now fall on him. One thought did slip into her mind, though … Is this going to be a dragons versus fairy sort of thing?
She watched as another table was prepared as a third barrier. “So, is this just a free-for-all? Or am I going to be fighting two brutes off?” She played the weak, innocent girl routine and raised her hand over her chest.
Dex chuckled at her innocent act. “It wouldn’t be fun just picking on a weak fairy now, would it?”
Oh, he’s going to hurt for that one, Reiya silently promised herself as she positioned herself behind her table. It was funny how a spontaneous game earlier was now a methodical match.
“You sure you don’t want to back out? You won’t get another lucky shot on me again.” Reese grinned at her as he tossed a pear in the air.
“I bet you would love that, so you won’t have to be humiliated again.” Reiya smirked and wiggled her brows in triumph.
“Well, if you two lambs are ready, it’s time for the slaughter.
” Dex ducked down behind his table in excitement.
It was funny. These big, scary dragons were just a couple of kids.
They were no different from the brothers she grew up with.
Maybe that was why she got along with them so well and so quickly.
Being around them sort of felt like … home.
The first fruit was thrown, and it was on.
There was no going back now. The shadows of fruit were seen over the ground as they each made plopping and pounding noises as they landed.
Fruit met with fruit in the air and splattered their fragments over the battlefield.
Reese sent a menacing barrage of attacks toward Dex, who countered back magnificently.
Meanwhile, Reiya sent deadly shots of fruit toward both distracted men.
An orange clipped Reese in the arm and an overripe apple splattered on Dex.
Both men turned and glowered at her, with an intense desire to maim.
Reiya gulped. She was now the pinnacle of their attention.
The fruit soared toward her from every direction, and she leaned in close to the table to try to avoid the deadly siege.
She cautiously peeked over her barricade when it happened.
A lemon that Dex had thrown hit the corner of her table.
It splattered, and the juice went right into Reiya’s eye.
She grabbed onto her eye and inhaled sharply. Ugh, woman down. The tears instantly poured out. She squinted her eye shut and began waving her hands frantically trying to fan her eye out.
“Ugh. Sorry about that. Are you okay? Here, let me help.” Dex grabbed onto Reiya’s hand and tilted her chin up, blowing into her eye.
“Do you want a cold washcloth, Reiya?” Reese watched her as she began to giggle at herself sympathetically.
“No no, I’m fine. No, Dex, you’re making it worse.” Reiya tried pulling back from Dex, but he held her firmly so there was no escape.
“What happened in here?” A low snarl sounded from the doorway.
Using her good eye, Reiya looked toward the door and met with Xander's eyes. Through her blurry tears, she could see someone else was behind him. It was Lee, and he did not look happy. Xander was now glaring at Dex and his hand on Reiya, a gesture that Dex did not miss.
“Is he possessive much?” Dex chuckled as he watched Xander stomp over toward them.
Xander reached out and gently took Reiya into his arms. “What happened in here? Are you okay?” He reached his hand up and began wiping her tears away.
“Ouch, no, no. It still burns. Don’t touch it.” Reiya pouted and rubbed her eye. “Geez, Dex, you’re such a sore loser.”
“Aww, come on. I didn’t mean for that to happen.” Dex smiled at her, though still looking at her with concern.
She squinted at Xander. “I got lemon juice in my eye.”
Xander reached his hand up and wiped her eyes. He ran his palm over her gently, trying to make sure all the juice was gone. He then shot a dark look at Reese. “Go and get a wet cloth already!” he growled angrily. Reese shot out of the room in a sprint, in fear for his life.
“Xander, he offered to get me a cloth and I told him I was okay.” Her voice was quiet, and she gave him a soft smile.
“He should have gotten it anyway. Let me see.” Xander examined her eye, which was red from being irritated. Reese handed Xander the damp cloth and quickly backed away. “Why were you throwing food at my mate?!” Xander turned his head, glaring at the two men.
Reiya giggled and cupped her hands on Xander's face. “Will you calm down, grouch? We were having fun. It was a game. Besides, you would be proud of me. I drew first blood. Oh, don’t you even look at me like that, mister. I can already tell you’re way more competitive than me.
You would have done the same thing in my shoes.
Spare me the lecture, because I am not listening. ”
Xander chuckled at her and shook his head. “What am I going to do with you?”
“Hmm ... how about joining in the next time there’s a fruit fight?” Reiya scrunched her nose up and bit her bottom lip.
“Sweets, playing with them is not like playing with me. That’s like going from the amateur division straight to professional.” Xander rolled his shoulders back smugly.
Reiya scoffed and tilted her head over to Dex and Reese. “He’s calling you guys amateurs.”
“I heard.” Dex scoffed and folded his arms across his chest. He raised his brows with a smirk. “Care to put that to the test?”
Xander chuckled darkly. “Bring it on.”