by H. T. Night
“Please open the door,” I asked. “It’s a matter of life or death.”
Apos opened the door and looked at me and said, “Romeo, come in. Of course I know you.” Apos looked at Juliet’s bleeding neck and shoulder and said, “Oh my. Let’s get her to one of the cots.”
Apos had a couple of cots in his living room that he obviously kept for this very reason. He was known as a guy who would help a guy out if he had been in a fight and needed to be stitched up without any officials knowing. Although the guy got high all the time, he was an amazing doctor and an even more amazing warlock. He combined the two, and we needed a miracle at the present moment.
I laid Juliet gently on the cot. “We need to give her something for the pain,” I said. Juliet was sweating badly and her face didn’t look well. A normal human being would have died a long time ago from such a wound to the neck. Not Juliet, she was immortal and she was a fighter.
Juliet lied on her back and Apos went to work. He had seen many wounds to the neck in his day. It took him no time to give her anesthesia and other drugs for the pain then stitch up her wounds. Juliet was knocked out, sleeping quietly. Apos worked on cleaning her wounds and bandaged her up, then stripped off his surgical gloves. Juliet would come in and out of consciousness. I wasn’t sure how bad off she was.
“She lost a lot of blood and is still losing a lot of blood, internally,” Apo said to me, very concerned.
“What does that mean? She’s immortal,” I said. “Blood shouldn’t matter.”
Apos said, “Being immortal only makes it harder for you to die. Juliet is losing a lot of blood and the wound to her neck is as bad as I have seen without the person dying. She is holding on for you, Romeo. There is no other way to say it. She should be dead. I don’t know how to save her. I think it is irreversible.”
“Irreversible?” I asked. I was numb. There had to be something we could do. My mind was absolute mush. My heart was in so much pain that I couldn’t even see straight. My Juliet was slipping away. I was desperate. “What about Mary’s Blessing?” I asked.
“Mary’s Blessing? You know about Mary’s Blessing? Wow, you and Mercutio were close. We have never shared the knowledge of that serum with anyone.”
“I know what it does. It takes someone to a place far away from here. It kills your earthly body, but as immortals, we don’t disappear. We get lost in our heads.”
“You know the only way to help her in regard to that is that she will never return,” Apos said.
“But she will be there? Right? At the place the serum takes you?”
Apos looked at me and said, “Yes.”
“I have one question for you. Did you and Mercutio ever take Mary’s Blessing at the same time?”
“We did, a couple of times,” Apos answered.
“What happened?”
“We went to the place together.”
“What place is that exactly?” I asked.
“It’s a place where peace and love fills your heart. The whole time you are there, it feels as if a celebration is happening in your heart. Nothing else seems to matter, other than the love you feel.”
“I’ve been there, Apos. I can’t explain it, but I have been there and so has Juliet. Everything has led me to this moment. Every life moment that I have lived thus far, all of that information, was given to me to prepare me to make this decision wisely. I’m not letting her go. Damn the consequences. We both need to go there, to that peaceful, love-filled place, and to never come back.”
“You are talking about an overdose.”
“Will an overdose kill us?”
“It coul+0"fy">
“But what do you honestly think?”
Apos looked at me and said simply, “I don’t think it will kill her, but at the correct dosage, will keep her body in a kind of suspended animation. I think it is the only chance to save her.”
“How much should she take? If she is dying, we need to do this soon.” I looked down at Juliet and held her hand while she slept.
Apos answered, “Normally, we would only take 20 milligrams of Mary’s Blessing. That would send you off to fantasy land for a good eighteen hours.”
“Then we need to give her 2,000 milligrams. We need for her to stay there a very long time. Long enough for me to join her.”
“2,000 milligrams would kill her. 2,000 would kill a hundred elephants. Mary’s Blessing is not time released. It hits all at once. Look, I’ll give you 200 milligrams and that should damn well put her in a coma.”
I looked at Apos and I was just beside myself. I couldn’t imagine the suffering she was going through. I couldn’t imagine the kind of hate that was in the hearts of the members of my own family. Benvolio was dead to me in more ways than one. I just stared at Juliet and slowly shook my head in disbelief.
“Who did this?” Apos asked.
“My own cousins,” I said.
“Wow. You’re serious? Wow.”
“The cousin who I thought I was closest to was the one who stabbed her.”
“Appalling. Inconceivable!”
I nodded, my throat tight with anxiety. My mind was blurry.
It was hard, but I tried to resist the need to throw my body on top of Juliet and just hold her and protect her from any more harm that might befall her. Instead, I held sten>“Is there a chance, Apos?” I asked.
“A chance for what, Romeo?” Apos said staring at me
“A chance for us to be together away from here?”
“I hope so, kid.”
Chapter Twenty
I sat there holding Juliet’s hand for the next few hours. Suddenly, I heard a cough and I looked down at Juliet, and for a split-second moment, she woke up.
“Juliet,” I said. “Can you hear me?”
Juliet’s eyes focused in on my face and said, “Yes, darling.”
“Can you see me?” I asked.
“Yes,” her voice a little more clear this time.
“Honey,” I said. I struggled to speak. Then I went down on my knees next to the cot. I knelt down and my face was about three inches from Juliet’s. “You’re not well, sweetie, and we are not sure how much longer you have.” Tears dripped from my eyes. But I continued talking, fighting through the crackling of my voice. “There is a place for us. That you and I can go that is far away from here. It is not in this time or space. But as sure as I am of our love, I am certain we will be there together.”
Juliet looked into my eyes with a painful hope. “A place for us? Where we can be together?” she asked slowly.
“Yes,” I said.
“And it is far away from here?”sten> I sa
“Yes,” I answered.
“Then,” Juliet struggled to speak. “You and I…must go there together.”
“I promise you, we will.” I stroked Juliet on her forehead and kissed her gently on her lips. “Are you prepared to do this?”
Juliet turned her head slightly in my direction and said, “Yes, I am.” Then Juliet said something really funny. She struggled out the words, “You’re not going to beat me over the head with a club are you?”
“No, my love,” I laughed and nodded my head at Apos. That was to give him the okay to go get the serum. Apos left the room and I looked down at Juliet. “We will not be doing that,” I said as I held my breath for a second, trying to fight through the tears. “It will be a serum. All you have to do is drink it.”
“And you will join me?”
I looked down and nodded. “I promise, my love.”
Juliet looked me in the eye and said, “Come closer.” As I did, our lips touched. Then we slowly kissed, whispering ‘I love you’s’ to each other.
“I love you, Romeo.”
“I love...you...Juliet.”
Then I slowly tilted her head back and Apos handed me Mary’s Blessing. I tilted Juliet’s head just to the left and I gave her all of the serum.
At first, nothing happened. Then, in about thirty seconds, her body strengthened up in one las
t flex and then her body released and she went completely limp. I held her lifeless body lispan> and I knew I would probably never see her in this world ever again, and that thought was more than I could bear.
The next three minutes were the longest of my life. I placed Juliet in my lap and held her like a baby. If she was to die and her body disappeared then I would be lost without her forever. But if her earthly body stayed here, then there was still a large chance. So, I held her tightly and prayed she wouldn’t leave me.
Seconds felt like minutes, and minutes felt like hours. I held Juliet’s body, praying that she would not leave this Earth. I looked up at the clock and a good five minutes had gone by and it was very clear to both Apos and me that she had gone to the good place and her body was staying.
A relief washed over my body as I held Juliet tightly in my arms. I never wanted to let her go. I held her with all I had. Apos looked over at me and I asked him, “What do you know?”
“About the families?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“You don’t want to know, Romeo.”
“What’s happening? I want to know.”
“Trust me. You have enough on your plate already.”
I stared at Apos and said, “I may never see them again. You will tell me right now what is happening.”
Apos stared at me, took a deep breath and said, “It’s all going down tonight. There is an all-out war happening. Every fighting member of both families is meeting in Times Square at midnight. Not even Prince Escalus can stop it.”
“I doubt if he even wants to.”
“There are rumors that he is secretly pining for a showdown because he is exhausted frs e="24" aligom trying to stop it. He wants to end this infighting of immortals.”
One way or another.
I held Juliet tightly and continued to rock back and forth in the rocking chair with her on my lap. “What time is it?
”
“11:28,” Apo said.
“That is more than enough time to get there before midnight. Give me another vial with 200 milligrams of Mary’s Blessing in it.”
“Are you sure, Romeo?”
I nodded my head at Apos.
Apos left the room to prepare me a vial of Mary’s Blessing.
To go.
Chapter Twenty-one
I knew what I was going to do. I just had no idea, how exactly it was going to go down. I needed to take Juliet’s body down to Times Square and show everyone exactly what they’d done.
Apos returned with the vial.
“Swear to me on your gods that this is Mary’s Blessing,” I said to Apos.
“By my gods, I swear to you, Romeo. That is Mary’s Blessing in the vial. Promise me that this is what you truly want to do.”
“It is. It is the only option I’ve got. Without Juliet, there is no breath left in me.”
“Good luck, Romeo.”
“Thank you, Apos, for all that you’ve done.”
Apos nodded his head and I turned and faced the door, carrying Juliet’s lifeless body in my arms. I stepped out on 67th Street and I flagged down a taxi outside the apartment. It wasn’t easy flagging one down with a lifeless woman draped over my shoulder. I had no idea what the taxi drivers must be thinking as they whizzed by without stopping.
Finally, one stopped. He pulled up next to me in his cab and rolled down the window. “Is she bleeding?”
Actually, she was no longer bleeding since her neck and shoulder wound had healed itself.
“She’s just real tired,” I said. “She had a lot to drink. Does that matter?”
“It sure as hell does,” the Middle Eastern cab driver snapped back at me. “I’m not going to allow a passed-out woman in my cab with a man who is not her husband.”
I looked down at Juliet. I knew in my heart I was her husband as much as any man had ever been a husband to any woman in the history of the world. I looked the taxi driver in the eye and said, “Yes, I am her husband. She is very ill. Please take us.” I handed him a hundred-dollar bill.
The taxi driver took it quickly and looked me in the eye. He said, “I believe you.” I heard the auto-locks thunk and I opened the back door of the cab.
I placed Juliet gently in the cab’s back seat and I sat right beside her, holding her up. “Take me to Times Square, 44thStreet and Seventh Avenue.”
I shut the door and the cab driver took off. In the cab, I could feel a darkness come over my body, like a shadow of foreboding, the closer that we got to our destination.
As we went down 8th Avenue, I could see I could see the Capulets marching up the street, yelling and making their way to 44th Street. 44th and Seventh Avenue is the heart of Times Square. They were a few minutes from that location.
“Drive faster,” I said to the taxi driver. “I want to see up ahead.”
The taxi driver stepped on the gas and weaved the cab in and out of traffic. In a couple of minutes, we were up near 51st Street. “Slow down!” I yelled at the taxi driver.
I looked down toward 7th Avenue and I could see my family marching up the street, with Benvolio leading the charge. My angered burned toward him, but my rage for him was eclipsed by my love for Juliet.
We needed to get to where the opposing groups would meet in the middle. That looked to be right at 44th and 7th. Exactly what I had originally thought. “Go back to 44th Street and make a left. I want to go to Seventh Street.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, I’m sure. Just do it.”
The cab driver reluctantly made a couple of turns and got us flipped around so that we were heading back to 44th Street. He turned left on Seventh and we headed to the front of the street. The taxi driver drove to the right into a taxi lane, right in front of 44nd Street and Seventh Avenue. At some point, many years back, a fourteen-story luxury hotel named “The Globe” was put in on that corner.
I stepped out in front of The Globe Hotel and to the left, I could see a legion of Montagues coming up the street in both werewolf and human forms. They would surely all be werewolves before they engaged in their epic fight. To the left, I could see the Capulets marching up at a brisk pace, screaming at the top of their lungs. For blood.
The taxi driver gasped.
“Don’t move your cab!” I yelled at the taxi driver.
“Are you kidding?” the cab driver said. “There’s about to be an all-out war out here! I’m out of here!”
“Don’t move your cab!” I screamed. As I screamed, I turned into my werewolf form and was inches from his face. I snarled at him. The cab driver jumped out of his cab and ran down 44th Street.
I knew I didn’t have much time. I went into the back seat and kissed Juliet on her forehead with my werewolf mouth. I’ll be back for you. I thought. I probably had a better chance of having her hear me in her head as the werewolf than I would by speaking aloud to her breathless body in my human form.
I stepped out of the cab and I turned toward The Globe Hotel. The hotel was connected to bars, restaurants, and playhouses. I jumped on the fire escape and ran up the iron stairs as fast as I could in my werewolf form. I jumped to the top of the roof and the view of the unfolding scene was breathtaking. I had never seen more vampires gathered in one place, not ever. All of the vampires in the area were backing the Capulets tonight. Numbers. They were always daunting, but tonight, the gathering of the Capulets was massive.
I took a deep breath and looked to the other side—the werewolf numbers were just as impressive. This wasn’t just a Montague and Capulet war. This was a vampire and werewolf war. Immortal species vetalsparsus immortal species.
I looked across the street and on the rooftop, I could see Count Paris and Prince Escalus looking on and they even had a camera crew. They were allowing it to happen. They were surrounded by police officers who weren’t going to do anything. Paris and Escalus were there to watch a showdown and they were out for blood.
I looked down and I saw the two sides get closer and closer. I knew that very
soon all hell was about to rain down on Verona tonight, the hell of the immortals in all of their battle glory.
Something visceral took over my werewolf body. I’m not sure exactly where it came from but I always knew I had this kind of cry in the depths of my soul.
I howled out in absolute harmonious rage. The sound was deafening. Many nights I had cried on top of the Statue of Liberty’s shoulder, but there was no cry such as this. My howl was heard throughout the entire city. It didn’t matter what borough you were in, you heard my cry out to the night. It was a prayer cry and a war cry. This was my love song to everyone. It came out as a roar of my despair, it came out as a cry of my agony. I howled and howled in a thunderous sound that shook the earth and buildings and completely shattered nearby windows. The glass fell like diamond dust, the pieces so small they sparkled like rain in the city lights.
Everyone stopped, and looked to the top of the building. Now, I had everyone’s attention. Then I did something even more impulsive. I dove off the fourteen-story building to the street below, my strong legs under me.
Everyone was in shock. No one knew what to make of me. I landed hard on the pavement, on all fours, tensed and ready, but not ready to fight, ready to speak my piece.
I stalked around, looking at both sides then turned to my human form. “Why?!” I screamed. “What is this all for? When will it end? How many will have to die before one side or the other, or both, are destroyed?”
“Out of our way, cousin,” Benvolio yelled out to me. “You don’t belong here anymore. You chose you Yofonr side. Traitor!”
“You don’t exist to me, cousin!” I yelled out. Then something very powerful came over me. I looked at Benvolio and he had done horrible things, but Juliet’s and my love was bigger than his hate. I looked at Benvolio and changed my statement, “Wait! Listen! You do exist to me, cousin. What you did should be unforgivable, but I can stand here and say that I forgive you. If there is to be peace, let it begin with us, cousin! Peace within the werewolves, within our kin, and extending the wish for peace to the vampires! To let us become as we all should be, a legion of wise and peaceful immortals!”
