Tearful Reign

by V L Friends

  His eyes shot to mine with a look of alarm but he could not respond.

  “It’s time!” shouted Caleb.

  There were countless amounts of wolves now slowly stalking toward us and all stopped a hundred yards away. Julian held me in front of him roughly by my jacket, as Caleb stood off to the side many feet away. The King was nowhere to be seen, so I assumed he was in the chopper.

  Then I saw him again. The giant black wolf stepped out from his pack. It was none other than Leland himself. I felt the needle of the syringe just then as Julian secretly emptied the contents of it into my back.

  “Well, well, we meet again. You just keep getting uglier and uglier. You know, it is just getting sad that you can’t seem to get the message that you are not wanted.” Julian was at it again.

  “Amusing! Always the antagonist even till the end,” Leland chuckled with a low growly voice.

  “Well, you see now, that is where you are wrong. This is not my end,” Julian said while giving me a little shake. “You see, I can’t just have you sniffing around trying to take something that belongs to me and since you can’t take the hint, it’s time I do you and our kind a favor and end this chase once and for all.” Julian took a dagger from his sleeve and in one motion tossed it in the air and caught it for effect as he grinned at Leland.

  “Julian. Please,” I pleaded hoarsely with tears just like I was told to. One might have thought I was a good actress but the truth was the tears were real and a part of me did think he was going to kill me even if he did place a bag of blood beneath my jacket just over my heart. This could still be real and a setup so Caleb and I would comply.

  “What the hell, Julian?” Caleb protested.

  “Silence, brother,” Julian snarled.

  Louis stepped out of the trees with a look of horror. He looked battered and bloody.

  “He has lost his damn mind,” Louis said. “Kill him this time!”

  Leland opened his mouth to speak but Julian did not wait. He took the knife and plunged it into my heart.

  I let out a gasp and fell to my knees, then I looked down at the blood all over my chest. I felt the pain. Before all went black I could hear Caleb’s scream.

  “Noooo! What have you done?! This was not the plan!”

  Epilogue: My Very Own Coffin

  My eyes opened but all I could see was black. Was I really dead? If so, where did I end up in my afterlife? As awareness kicked in I noticed I was face down and when I lifted my head it bumped against something solid. My body was lying on something solid but still flesh. It was another person and they were breathing. Thank God! For a moment I thought I was lying on a dead body. Steel arms wrapped around me as I began to shift to move away.

  “Shhh, hold still and be quiet,” The body whispered softly. I knew that voice. It seemed too soft and gentle to be speaking this way but there was no mistaking that voice.

  I tried to speak but all that came out was a croak.

  His hand came to my face and he pulled my head back to his chest and began stroking my cheek softly in little circles.

  “It’s too soon; you should have been asleep longer. Try to calm yourself and concentrate on breathing slow, deep breaths,” Julian whispered gently. I could feel the vibration against his chest as he spoke and I just leaned into it.

  Finally, after many swallows, I tried again.

  “W-Where—?”

  Well at least I made one syllable.

  “We are en route to Alaska. To the Polar Castle,” was all Julian said. I needed more.

  “M-more,” I croaked.

  “We are in the cargo hold of a small plane. The oxygen is minimal so I suggest you not talk or try to move,” he said and was beginning to shake out of his temporary sweetness. His hands were still stroking me though. It was comforting to feel them stroking my hair and my back.

  As I lay there quiet and still, the only thing now moving was my mind and it began to wonder. The last thing I remembered played out in my head: Julian stabbing me, the blood, the pain, Caleb’s desperate cry. Confusion must have been overwhelming me, or maybe it was the drugs, but I began to sob uncontrollably. I wanted to get away from him but he held me in his vice grip arms and my body just wouldn’t cooperate.

  “Easy now, you are fine. We put on a good show. Very convincing death scene, by the way. I really wish you could have seen the funeral, very beautiful. I could not officially attend since I was the enemy for killing you but I watched from a distance. Both Shane and Caleb were in on it by the way. All in all, it worked out beautifully.” Julian seemed to be boasting.

  My misery seemed to be going unnoticed. I thought he had really tried to kill me. I felt the pain of that piercing stab in my heart in more than one way. Now I was furious and began to struggle to get away from him. My head and elbow smacked hard on something above. I pulled up slowly but the realization hit.

  “W-Wha—?” I stuttered.

  “We are nailed into a box. To be more specific… a coffin… together.” I could hear the humor in his tone of voice as he delivered the last word and knew, though I couldn’t see, he was smirking. “I figured we needed some quality time together,” he said, tone still full of humor.

  That is when I really lost all control. At first, I began to beat on Julian’s chest and torso, anything I could hit was fair game. But my breathing became labored and wheezing interrupted my assault.

  “What the fu—!” I tried to yell but only a few syllables came out hoarsely.

  “Out! Out!” I screamed, but it only burned my throat worse.

  “You always have to be such a pain in the ass! Calm down!” he said as he tried to hold me still.

  His hands jerked up and the lid to the coffin cracked. Another blow and it was off. I scrambled off him, or tried, but my body betrayed me and I merely sunk pathetically onto the cold, hard, metal ground outside the smooth, shiny, long box. I lay there, stunned, unmoving but free.

  I heard movement, some rustling, but I couldn’t even lift my head to look. I was in full panic attack mode and all my concentration went to breathe as I panted. Soon hands were moving me and something was placed over my mouth as cool air streamed into my mouth and nostrils. It was an oxygen mask. Julian pulled me to his lap and once again I could feel his hands stroking my hair and his lips on my forehead as he cradled me.

  “Your body is still recovering from being in stasis for more than a week. Your muscles need to be worked slowly. No more outbursts, love, okay?” He spoke as his lips kissed the top of my head.

  A tear dripped down my cheek. Easier said than done.

  Julian let out a sigh.

  “I know why you are upset. You think I really tried to kill you.” The humor that was in his voice disappeared. He sounded—sad. “When I saw the way you looked at me after I finished explaining our plan, I knew what you thought. I know you think I am a monster and capable of such things… hell, I did really try to kill you once.” He seemed to be breathing heavy and I was afraid to look at his face but I was sure it was that of a man in agony.

  “But that was not me, Anaya. I could never do that. Seeing you look at me that way just… well…” he trailed off. He was holding me tighter now and I just let him.

  We sat like this for what seemed like hours until there was shaking and a sharp jolt and that seemed to pull us out of the mood.

  “Well, it looks like the plane is landing. We should get back in the coffin. The crew is human and completely oblivious.” He moved me from his lap and stood.

  I shook my head violently. No way in hell was I getting back in that coffin!

  “I thought you would say that.” Julian let out a heavy sigh. “Okay, well, I guess I will have some compelling of humans to do.” Julian began to pull a thick blanket around me. “It is going to be wicked cold here in Alaska.”

  This was Julian in rare form. A thought crossed my mind just then and I had to know something.

  “Julian, why were you in the coffin with me?”

  He s
mirked and shrugged. “I couldn’t let you be alone when you woke up.”

  “So how long have you been in there with me?” I expected him to say a few hours but instead…

  “Oh, three, four… days,” was his answer.

  I gasped in unbelief.

  His expression turned to a smirk again as if to steer us away from some uncomfortable conversation.

  “It was a great bonding time. You were in rare form… silent!” he chuckled.

  I stared at him, not missing his sarcasm at my expense, but at the same time not missing his tone, which had more affection than what he obviously could handle, because he began to busy himself suddenly with putting the coffin back together.

  “Besides, I couldn’t let you have all the fun.”

  This was the side of Julian that no one ever saw but me and, even then, it was a rarity. He could have nailed me in the coffin alone and simply waited for my screams in terror to come let me out. He could have left it up to Caleb or Shane to rescue me from Louis. He could have turned his back on me, like I thought he would, after seeing his painful defeated expression the last time I saw him just before I was captured by Louis, but he didn’t. He had even teamed up with the angel army to rescue me. That moment when I was watching him move about gathering our things about the plane, realization hit me. Julian would always come for me.

  “So, what now?” I said.

  “First. We visit the Polar Bear King. He insisted and I really didn’t want to refuse. He helped us and, truthfully, I didn’t really want to poke the bear when we needed him to help you escape. I know he probably will insist on you staying there with him, as he seems to be obsessed with you, but leave that to me.”

  Julian gave me a mischievous grin as his eyes sparkled. The look went serious in a second as he continued. “Then, well, I have connections in Europe that will make it easy to disappear for a while. We are all set to meet Caleb and Shane in France in about a month.”

  “Sounds like you have planned it all out,” I said.

  Julian nodded, looking at me now. He reached out his hand for me to take and with deliberation said, “Are you with me, love?”

  I took his hand, knowing that it held a deeper meaning than just to help me to my feet and nodded.

  I really had no idea what was in store for me in this new life but I had no other choice than to find out.