by Jade White
“Rachel?”
“Yes.”
“We are raising a kid together and are partners now for life; that we had already decided. So I wanted to know if you would like to tie the knot.” Shawn got onto one knee and grabbed a small box from his pocket. “Rachel, will you marry me?” Shawn asked.
I felt breathless. I couldn’t believe what was happening. My eyes began to water as my hands shook. “Yes!” I replied.
Shawn smiled largely while my tears fell. “Don’t cry!” he said.
“I’m just so happy that I can’t stop them,” I replied.
Shawn laughed. “I don’t want you to cry, though,” he said.
I laughed with him. “This is the best day of my life,” I said as I wept.
“Mine as well,” Shawn said. He began to wipe my tears away with his thumbs. Our eyes met and we stopped breathing for a moment. Shawn leaned in closer and I felt my eyes close out of habit.
We kissed, slow and sensual. It was about our joining rather than about heat or passion. It was about tying ourselves to one another rather than sexual attraction. Shawn’s hand went down from cradling my face to caressing my neck. I enjoyed the soft feeling of his lips on my own and the heat in my chest that meant I was secure and happy.
We parted and looked at each other through lidded eyes.
“I love you,” Shawn said for the second time ever.
“I love you too,” I replied for the first time.
We gazed at one another, enjoying the moment, feeling the breeze and each other’s heartbeats go from two to one. We sat together in that field for what might have been an eternity because the moment was so perfect that both of us refused to let go.
We sat in silence and watched the stream together. Shawn’s hand was in mine and his thumb caressed my skin. “I can’t wait to be with you,” Shawn said.
“We’ll always be together,” I said.
“Always,” Shawn agreed.
CHAPTER 15
“The Crow”
“Mistress?”
“Yes Crow?” she answered.
“We are all set,” I said.
“Good,” she cooed. “I’ll make the call.” She giggled under her breath. That dragon shifter had a lot coming to him.
“Rachel”
As Shawn’s phone rang I felt that terrible feeling in my gut. The last time it had rung, we went and rescued Missy, but it would have nearly cost us Michael’s life had we not made a plan.
Shawn answered it. “Hello?” he said.
He remained silent as the person on the other end spoke.
“Let him go,” Shawn demanded in a dark tone.
I sat up and looked on with a heart full of worry. What was going on?
“Fine,” Shawn said after a moment and hung up angrily.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
“It was the phoenix shifter, she’s taken Bartley hostage,” Shawn answered.
“Hostage?!” I exclaimed.
Shawn sighed. “I’ll deal with it.” Shawn stood and began to walk to the apartment door.
“Wait!” I said.
Shawn turned around with a questionable look on his face.
“Please be careful,” I requested.
“It’ll be fine,” he replied, “she probably just wants to fight and then that’ll be the end of it.”
“What if she wants more than a fight?” I asked, that feeling in my gut agreeing with me.
“I doubt it,” Shawn said.
“Shawn”
I prepared myself for battle, stretching and lunging before heading out. Rachel kissed me on the lips and wished me good luck but there was a terribly worried look on her face. I wanted to get back to her as soon as possible.
I wondered how the phoenix had found my hiding place and who she worked for. What worried me most is that someone else might now know my location which was a big problem, however it seemed that she was doing this out of her own interests so there was a chance that she hadn’t told anyone yet.
I walked to the entrance that Bartley protects. There, I stripped of everything except my boxers and exited topside. Outside it was dark, the stars were out and the wind was cold. I looked around me but no one was to be seen.
“Phoenix!” I called out. “I’m here, so give back Bartley!” I yelled.
I felt tired and just wanted to go back to Rachel. I couldn’t wait until this was all done so I could return to her.
Suddenly, a woman popped out from behind a large rock, and in her hand she held something the size of a lighter. The woman had red hair tied into a ponytail and striking green eyes. Freckles dusted her nose and cheekbones but her facial features were sharp enough to make me uneasy. The woman smiled at me and then pressed her thumb onto the button atop the lighter-like object.
The ground began to shake underneath me. I lost my footing and fell to my knees but my eyes stared at the woman in front of me.
“Hahahaha!” she laughed, “goodbye Sub-Dublin!” she exclaimed.
The object she was holding wasn’t a lighter, but a detonator to bombs! Reality crashed on me suddenly, almost drowning me in their powerful waves.
“No!” I yelled.
Rachel! Michael! Kathleen! Missy! They were all down there! What if the city had completely collapsed on itself, killing them?! The ground still shook and waves of tremors continued to shock its way through the ground. There was no way that the city wasn’t affected, and the main exit had collapsed in on itself!
I felt rage and sadness well up and explode inside me. It was a sudden crack of emotion and it tore my insides apart. I began to change into a dragon and I roared in mourning. How dare this woman do such an evil thing? How dare she attempt to take so many lives!
The woman laughed, her hands spread out at her sides. “Perfect,” she muttered, “Perfect!” She too began to change. Her hair turned to fire while her skin grew feathers. She grew and grew in size until she was the same as I. She opened her beak to speak.
“Do you want revenge for what I have done?” she asked.
“I do not just want, I will get,” I answered before pouncing atop of her.
We struggled. The fire of her feathers stung but my scales absorbed most of the heat. I wrestled her down to the ground but she tried to peck at my eyes with her beak, which forced me to retreat and jump off her large form.
She stood and stared at me. I hunched my shoulders to pounce and waited for her first move. We began to walk and circle each other, both wanting to get the better of the other. She cocked her head at me as if taunting. I felt rage build up inside me once again and against my better judgment, I pounced first. She jumped to the sky and landed on my back. Her beak clamped down painfully no my neck. I tried to use my wings to shake her off but she refused to budge. I then whipped my tail blindly towards my back, which caused her to lose balance and fall.
She fell to the ground and I pounced, grabbing whatever I could with my claws and slashing blindly. The heat of her feathers hurt but I felt nothing beyond the rage in my belly that fired my fighting intent. She kicked me off with her weak bird legs so I was able to recover quickly but by then she was up in the air.
I followed in suit and took off. I then breathed in heavily before letting out a scream of fire. The fire did not affect the phoenix at all; in fact, it seemed to make her burn brighter which frustrated me. I knew I needed to calm down and think properly and strategically but all I could think about was the people in the city whom were probably crushed to death. I felt that rage burn again inside my belly and against my better judgment I let out another beam of fire.
The phoenix laughed as her wings grew larger in size.
“You really are stupid!” she said. “Don’t you realize that you’re only making me stronger?”
I felt anger in my gut and fire in my throat but I refused to let another breath of it out. I had to think clearly for Rachel, for Michael, for Kathleen, for Missy. I was at a disadvantage in the skies; I needed to bring it back to
the ground where I had some semblance of balance and ability to attack without fire. I barreled forward and tackled the phoenix, taking her to the ground. She struggled and tried to free herself by flapping her wings and using her beak to injure me but I refused to budge. I slashed at her with my claws and bit her neck.
The heat of her flesh burned my tongue but luckily it had some protection against fire since that was where I breathed it out. I bit harder and ignored the pain until I tasted blood. She then pecked at an already open wound on my shoulder, which made me wince, which allowed her to be released from my hold. We began to circle each other on the ground once again. The landscape around us was ravaged by our large scale battle, there were indents in the ground where we had fallen and were tackled, bits of fire remained as the grass was scorched from both of our abilities.
The phoenix tried to fly back into the sky but I quickly grabbed a hold of one of her skinny legs and threw her to the ground. She yelped in pain as I attempted to break her leg with just my grip. I heard a crack under my hand as she cried out in pain. She staggered backwards away from me and fell onto her back. I lunged at her but she was able to roll out of my way. I heard another crack and I saw she had somehow fixed her leg by putting it back into place. I cursed her healing abilities.
She sneered at me. “You think you’re stronger than me?” She asked.
“Am I wrong to think so?” I replied.
“No one is stronger than me,” the phoenix yelled.
Her eyes dilated and I could see she was excited. This woman was getting high off our fight. She was excited to have her life in peril. She killed all those people just to fight me? How desperate and deprived was this woman?
I thought of all the citizens of the underground city, all the days they wouldn’t be able to live because of this woman’s selfishness. I felt rage grow inside me. Anger pumped through my veins but I refused to let the adrenaline control me. I suddenly remembered that she had mentioned that she had taken Bartley hostage but I couldn’t see him anywhere in the vicinity. All I could see around me was the burning phoenix’s blinding feathers.
“Where’s Bartley,” I demanded in anger.
“Bartley?” the phoenix repeated. “The old fart?”
“What did you do with him?” I asked angrily.
“Tied him up and attached him to a bomb,” she replied.
I felt that anger bloom in my chest once again but I smothered it before it could ruin my judgment. I breathed and focused on simply that. I needed to win this battle, and I wouldn’t be able to if my fighting spirit relied only on anger and pain.
I thought of Rachel, of our dreams of being together, of the happiness on her face when I asked her to marry me. I thought of Michael and his favorite toy train that I was going to replace and his love for his mother. I thought of Kathleen and her kindness and ability to reach out to those in need. I thought of Missy and her loyalty to her friends and her way of simply battering through a problem. I felt warmth in my chest, a new confidence made itself known to me.
I could do this. Not for me, but for them. They wouldn’t want this woman to get away with the atrocity she had just committed, so I wouldn’t let her.
“What’s wrong? Someone scared?” the phoenix taunted.
I refused to let her words get underneath my skin. Instead, I simply stared at her wordlessly. She continued to yell taunts and obscenities at me but I refused to make the first move. Finally, she got fed up and impatient and lunged with her beak at me. I dodged easily and went for her neck, only this time I locked my jaw into place and refused to let go. I slashed at her body with my front claws and continued to clamp down with my jaw.
Finally, I heard an obscene crack and then she fell lifeless to the ground. Her fire feathers began to dampen and she slowly returned to being the human she once was. Her body was terribly mangled and she had huge gashes in her belly and a large bite mark on her neck. I stood triumphantly over the body but felt emptiness in my gut.
I heard the scuttling of another person so I called out to them, “Don’t move!”
A man with black hair was fleeing from the scene and stopped mid run as I yelled. I stayed in dragon form and sauntered up to the man. He was shivering and crying but stayed in place.
“Who was she?” I asked, “Who sent her?”
The man shivered. “Mistress has no n-n-name,” he stuttered, “she just wanted to fight powerful people.”
“Who is she working for?” I asked in anger.
“No one!” the man cried out.
“Liar!” I yelled.
I opened my mouth and breathed in heavily.
“Wait, wait, wait!” the man cried. “S-she did work for a man in New York for some time.”
“What was his name?” I asked.
“I d-d-don’t know,” the man replied. I believed him since at this point his pants were soaked in his own pee.
“Leave,” I demanded.
The man quickly shifted into a crow and flew off into the distance. I sighed and shifted back into my regular form. I looked around at the damage we had done to the area; it looked terrible. I walked back to where the entrance to the city was and opened up the door only to be greeted by a collapsed tunnel. I felt my heart burn. I never thought such a thing would happen. I wasn’t prepared for this much death and destruction after we had just figured everything out.
I felt tears begin to gather in my eyes. I willed myself not to cry but couldn’t help the overwhelming feeling of loss take over. I mourned. I wept. I sobbed. I fell to my knees and let the tears roll down my cheeks freely as I dreamed of what once was, of what things were to be.
I had been dreaming of the wedding Rachel and I would have, I was going to ask Kathleen for us to have it topside so that Auntie could come and celebrate with us. I was going to cry when I saw Rachel in her beautiful wedding gown with Michael in a tiny tuxedo carrying the wedding rings.
I felt loss overcome my rational thoughts. I mourned what could have been, what I had once upon a time, the possibilities that the future had and now in the blink of an eye, they had turned into ash.
CHAPTER 16
“Shawn”
I was living in the city. I had no friends here, nor any acquaintances. I let myself go. I lazed around all day and gazed at nothing. Sometimes I had nightmares, other times I had dreams, but I couldn’t escape what had happened. I blamed myself. I wish I had checked the tunnel first to see if there was anything suspicious but I thought that at the time they only wanted to talk to me, not to make me unable to retreat. I wished that I had done something more. I wish I had kissed Rachel just one more time, wished I had hugged Michael just one more time.
My regrets piled by the day and soon I had a heap on my shoulders that weighed me down. I became sluggish and unhappy with everything. I used up my savings to stay at an apartment but soon, it was all gone and I was left with nothing but the clothes on my back.
I spent my days on the streets, begging for money or for a scrap of food. I was beginning to lose my sense of self, of meaning, of everything. I almost had it all, but all it took was one person to make my world come crashing down and collapse in on itself. At some point, I felt nothing. The weeping stopped and the mourning stopped.
Instead I thought of what I did have back then. The possibilities that were abound with my relationships. There were numerous things that I wanted to do and was excited to share with the people around me. I wished for those days to return. One day, they did.
I was walking down the street with my head hanging low and my hands in my pockets. I heard a child laughing and I had learned long ago that even though it may sound like Michael, there was no way it could be. After all, he was dead.
“Shawn!” a voice cried.
I looked up to see a ghost; it was Rachel. She wore a warm winter coat and held hands with a child the age that Michael might have been had they lived. I felt my jaw drop.
“R-R-Rachel?” I stuttered.
“Shawn!” she crie
d out and pulled me into a large hug.
I was encapsulated by her familiar smell, which instantly put me at ease. I didn’t know how this was happening but I felt joy deep within my gut as I squeezed Rachel close. Tears fell from my eyes onto her coat but I didn’t care, she was with me now!
“Am I in heaven?” I asked as Rachel pulled away.
Her face smiled at me as her tears fell like mine. “No darling, you’re alive, oh thank god you’re alive,” she said.
“I’m alive? No! You’re alive!” I exclaimed. “You and Michael, you’re both alive!”
Michael looked up at me with a smile. “I was wondering where you went, Papa,” he said.
“Papa?” I asked.
“He said he wanted to start calling you that right after you left to get Bartley,” Rachel said.
“How, how are you alive?” I asked.
“I should ask the same thing,” Rachel replied.
We both smiled at each other. Life was amazing.
“Rachel”
Shawn, Michael, and I returned to the apartment I had with Missy and Kathleen. There, I let Shawn freshen himself up in the bathroom and lent him some extra clothes. After he came out, he looked like the Shawn I had known rather than that homeless man who had an immense familiarity to him. Shawn sat down on the couch across from me and twiddled his thumbs.
“So, what happened?” he asked.
“Well, after you left, a large sound boomed through the city. Large rocks started to fall from the ceiling and people were running everywhere trying to escape. Kathleen led all of us through a back exit but it was really small so we had to evacuate single file. Most people made it out except the few who had refused to leave their homes,” I explained.
Shawn sighed in relief. “I thought- I thought everyone was dead,” he said.
“We thought you were dead. Kathleen checked out the entrance a day later and said she found blood and burnt grass everywhere, what happened?”
“There was a woman, a shifter. She wanted to fight me and thought I might try to escape back into the city so she bombed it. We fought, but I won.”
