by Poppet
I give them a smile when I reach them, “Hello Seithe.” I give her a wink and she grins at me as if we're about to get up to mischief.
“Hiya Zaria. How's things?” he says.
“Okay,” I nod.
“It's time to give the girls some space,” Phoebe smiles up at him with sunlight catching the cosmic hues of her hair.
He can transport her anywhere, which is such a bonus. We never have to wait for planes and trains when we have Jowendrhan, Seithe, and Darise around.
“Call me when you need me, okay?” He hunches to give her a kiss goodbye, takes five steps closer to the park, looks around, and vanishes with a wink aimed at us.
“How are you?” she smiles, linking her arm in mine and automatically walking.
I hand her the extra coffee I bought, “Um, hell, I don't even know where to begin.”
Leading her into Pionirski Park, we wander past well trimmed lawns and box hedges cut low enough to frame bright red tulips and haunting blue phlox.
The lamps set out at intervals along the pathways look like clusters of mistletoe berries on bevelled iron arms. This walk is gorgeous any time of the year, but right now it's fragrant and inviting, perfuming the air and redolent with fresh green notes.
It used to be the King of Yugoslavia's garden. If we keep walking we'd get to Parliament, which is housed in what used to be his palace. This is a king's feast enjoyed by commoners. We're walking over ancient land full of history, when really it wasn't very long ago that this was a haven for our royalty.
Taking this walk is a testament to our Serbian world. If we kept walking we'd reach the statue of Prince Mihailo Obrenović. He is the one who finally freed the Serbian people from Turkish rule.
I'm tempted to take her to the Prince's statue, to tell her we should be free from tyranny and that is why we even have neuri.
Instead we end up stopping underneath a tree off the pathway and I slip down to rest my arms on my knees. Balancing on nature's green carpet I drink my coffee with my ass leaning on my heels. “Phoebe, we've been through a lot together. You helped me end the last vampyre / neuri war...”
She sits down in front of me, crossing her legs and inhaling the steam from her own cup, “Spill it. Cut the bullshit and tell me why I had to travel halfway around the world to have coffee with you.”
“Darise was with another woman last night.” Meeting her dark blue gaze, I launch the grenade that shatters lives, “She looks exactly like you and me.”
“Oh?” she says, her voice dropping to deadly serious while her eyebrows raise as if she's about to punch someone.
“Jo says she's Darise's ex-girlfriend. Her name is Božena.”
I'm deliberately not saying his full name so he can't sense where we are or what we're doing.
“Zaria, spit it out dammit! What the hell is really going on?”
Swallowing, losing interest in my coffee, I exhale heavily, “Jo turned Božena into a vampyre last night.”
She pales, making her long black hair look like the folds inside the coffin of a cadaver. “He what?!”
“Phoebe, this is heavy. This is so damn dangerous for all of us. The neuri are beyond angry because this territory was given back to them by Venix before he left. The neuri call the shots here and Pravus is their hunting ground for mates, it no longer belongs to the vampyre. And now...”
I take another earth halting deep breath, and say, “Now Jo has started a new war. The neuri alpha family are outraged, especially the oldest and youngest. It's so damn complicated... and to top it all off and make it even worse, is I was so angry with Darise I dumped him, I just ran out of Pravus straight to Zauran.”
“And what does Zauran say about what happened with Jo turning a female?” says Phoebe, shielding her eyes and scrutinizing me.
“I don't know if he knows. I spent the night with Zauran and woke up to his family telling me the news. He was out at the time due to an emergency.”
“You spent the night with Zauran?” Gnawing her lip, she examines her fingertips before meeting my gaze again. “Zaria, what are you saying? You're now a neuri woman?”
“Yes. It took me half the night to realize it was what Venix wanted me to do anyway. We have his blessing. But I just can't handle another war! I don't know what the hell to do.”
She inhales, looking at the view of the bright green leaves of spring on this perfect sunny morning. “Three of us? And now she's vampyre? I didn't even know that was possible.”
Watching her troubled countenance, I say, “Phoebe, we're in danger. The neuri seem really interested in you, me, and Božena, but Zauran told me he would protect both of us. I don't know what the hell to think about Božena, but Zauran's brother Sveta was really angry Jo got hold of her in neuri territory. He broke a rule when he did that and I'm really afraid of the two sides clashing again. I asked Jo to fix it, but I have no clue if he did or not.”
I meet her gaze with the seriousness of a woman before a jury. “We need to tell Seithe, maybe he can talk some sense into Jo? I refuse to talk to Darise because he's a grade A asshole who was trying to get into her pants behind my back. And I'm so upset with Jo I just get hysterical.”
“Not to mention you are now Zauran's girl.” She slaps my arm, really damn hard, “You stupid woman. Did you even think it through? You didn't think maybe you helped to start the war? That maybe you running off to Zauran started this retaliation?”
Oh god! No, that never occurred to me.
Shit!
“He didn't say a word about it. Joey seemed really shocked to see me with Zauran's bite mark,” I say, thinking back over the last twenty-four hours.
“Your what?” she says, cocking her head and looking at me like I'm high on dope.
Moving my hair which is identical to hers, I show her the circle on my neck. It's teeny-tiny. “No one will even notice it, Phoebe.”
“Why the hell did he mark you?”
Swallowing harder, my chest feels like I'm inhaling chlorine. “I'm pregnant with his babies.”
“Since when?!” she says so loud strangers look at us as they dawdle along the path.
“Last night.”
“Bullshit Zaria. How gullible are you that you're buying his PR crap? I say we get a pregnancy test and prove it to you. There is no possible way for you to be pregnant after one night and “know” you're pregnant. How do you even know this? Are you the magic baby maker or something?”
“He told me I am. They can control their bodies the same way the vampyre can.”
“And you believed him?” Phoebe slaps my arm again, even harder. “Wake up and smell the manipulation!”
God, she's filling me with doubts; peppering me with them.
“You know what, you are right, let's get a test-kit and go home and check it out. There's a pharmacy at Depo,” I say.
She stands with me, dusting off her light blue jeans and adjusting her dark blue hoodie. Aiming our disposable cups at the closest bin, she gets rid of our trash and glowers at the park, “Now I'm really glad you called me. Let's go.”
Linking her arm with mine, she literally drags me back to Bulevar, looking both ways at the busy street. “Which way, Zaria?”
I point, and she heads straight into the wind which is picking up as if we're about to have a storm. Pausing as we wait at a traffic light to cross the street, I check the sky behind us, noticing how heavily purple-black the thunderclouds are. Lightning jumps across clouds, but we're still standing in sunshine. It feels weird, like a portent of danger.
With the pregnancy test in my hand, walking to the check-out with Phoebe, I almost die of fright when I see the pale woman already there paying for the same item as I'm holding.
Snatching Phoebe back behind a row of cold and flu medication, I whisper urgently, “That's her! That's Božena.”
Phoebe sneaks to look at her, and I follow suit, shocked at how ill Božena looks. She's pale and glistening, as if she has a terrible fever.
“And that's Jo
's girl, right?” Phoebe hisses spitefully to me.
“I guess,” I whisper back.
“Then we'd better introduce ourselves because we're as good as family now,” and before I can do a thing she's marching off to the counter, directly to Božena.
Cripes!
But she was sucking Darise's face off last night and I really want to deck her. And why the hell is she getting a pregnancy kit? Whose is it? Darise's or Jowendrhan's?
Phoebe is shameless with her smile, shaking Božena's hand and name dropping Darise and Jo as if they're rock stars who grant free passage into anyone's life.
She shows off her ring and I overhear her telling Zena she's married to Seithe, and just heard about her and Jo, offering her congratulations.
Ugh! Get me out of here.
I give Zena the once over, amazed at how we are all built like cloned copies of each other. Her hair is waist length and raven black, her skin smooth and pure like créme brulée; her eyes are dark sea blue and match her sweater. She's also wearing jeans but there's a noticeable bulge in them.
I saw her last night in skin tight clothes and that baby bump definitely wasn't there then.
Phoebe keeps the bitch talking while I pay for my own pregnancy home-test kit, stuffing it into my pocket as I angle toward the doors and the other two. Dammit, I don't want to talk to her. I want to kill her, painfully and slowly.
The door blocks with incoming traffic and I pipe behind Phoebe and Božena, giving Phoebe my death-stare. She turns to guide Božena out of the store when two big men block the doorway, and instantly the two girls in front of me are locked in purple and orange compulsion stares.
Oh god!
No!
While their minds are captured I'm ready to bolt, but the handsome older brother strikes his long arm out and grips my black sweater, hauling me closer and forcing me to face him.
Look at me Zaria.
I refuse, sealing my eyes shut, terror pumping my heart loud as a foghorn.
JOWENDRHAN! I yell mentally.
But this time nothing happens.
Zaria, open your fucking eyes or I'll kiss you right here in front of your sisters and my brother, and you can explain that to Zauran.
Dread devours my dreams as I open my eyes, meeting the power and instant hold of purple magic.
These two are not my sisters.
Wrong, Zaria. There's a lot we learned today, but right now little one I need you to be docile and obedient for me, okay? No shouting or running, you are coming like a demure woman so we can get you somewhere safe. Zauran and Jowendrhan are both missing, there was a lot of blood and something entirely too supernatural to be good for your health, or ours. I need to get you home so we can figure out what the hell is attacking us. Now is not the time to fight, let us protect you, for fuck's sake, alright?
Bullshit! I hiss back.
It's a mistake because the power of his mojo floods into my veins, weakening my knees and swamping my torso. My mind is completely sequestered by his will.
Unable to object my body moves without my permission, while his smug voice licks the underside of my soul, The things I could do to you three now.
There's a dreadful gap of silence before he murmurs so low I barely catch it. Who would stop me? No one.
He pauses in front of me briefly while Sveta leads Phoebe and Božena away from us, Closer than your shadow Zaria. Closer than your soul. If you think Zauran is powerful you have no idea who I am or what I'm capable of.
He steps closer, swirling the haze into my lungs, hiding me with his wide shoulders from passersby, and I'm breathing in temptation and lust and shivering delights.
I chose you first, sweetheart. Phoebe is my second choice.
I'm pregnant, I blurt out, forcing my voice into his head with pure panic.
He smiles, pulling me deeper under his spell, “We'll see about that.”
With a muscular arm wrapped possessively around me, I'm corralled back outside onto the lip of the hectic Bulevar, directly into a waiting car. It's so busy, the time of day so rushed, that no one will notice us being kidnapped.
I can't scream, curse, kick, or run.
Forced onto a luxurious black leather padded seat, his warm big body slides in next to mine, his hold never releasing me.
The door slams closed with the finality of judgment and the vehicle starts maneuvering into the other lane.
Helpless, I stare out of the window at a world smashed with supernatural wind. Skirts, clothes, and hair, are whipped by the gale howling through Belgrade. The wind is so unbelievably ruthless it makes the trees look like they are doing yoga.
We've tipped the balance. We've done something terrible and now we're going to pay.
A thumb runs up and down my nape, his hand still holding my neck in the manner of a leash on an animal he knows will break for freedom at the first opportunity. The wind rocks the car, and the sky is so dark it looks like twilight beyond the tinted black windows.
It's unsettling that catastrophe is breathing at us while the engine purrs as if it's a domesticated kitty for the man driving.
As I notice Sveta's marigold eye dust completely embalming Phoebe and Božena, Ryan's hand tightens marginally on my skin, his voice coming back, I've waited an eternity to meet you Zaria. It's time we had a little privacy, just you and me.
Oh cripes.
Chapter 17
Zauran:
Every spike of my pulse sends suffering through my body. It's agonizing, drawing breath is purgatory.
Inhaling is torment.
“Zauran!”
My eyes are so swollen they can't open. Forced to suck in shuddering air through my lips, I sound like a monster being strangled.
Unable to see, I grunt a response.
“What the hell were you thinking, Zauran?”
'It' sneers my name. 'It' sounds male.
Furnace heat stabs between my shoulders, sinking terror into my spine, ripping my soul in half with obliterating agony.
My spirit is yelling abort, abort, through me. It's the only thought taking precedence, save for one image. Zaria.
Flinching away from the source of torture, chains scrape over stone, halting the buck and reflexive lunge to escape the executioner.
Manacled, blind, I'm at the mercy of a deranged avenger.
“You broke my laws, Zauran.”
The voice is so loud I feel as if he's speaking with a loud-hailer against each of my ears, forcing searing hell right through my eye sockets and into my head.
Tears course from the pain, the shock hammering my heart into froth.
Laws?
Who the fuck are you?
*
Jowendrhan:
My leg is pounding where my kneecap popped, and no matter how hard I try to heal myself the fucker just keeps attacking me so I'm back to square one.
Crawling over coarse ground, stony ground, I battle to get away, with chains scraping like harsh snake scales along with me... until I run out of length.
Desperate, bracing against the movement I sense around me, something sharp and white-hot stabs into me, holding me down in my own sweat and blood on the cold floor.
It's shredding me, inch by painful inch, my entire body going into spasm with the howl of agony chaffing my throat.
“Jowendrhan!” it roars, echoes, like we're in a hollow cavern deep inside perdition.
Panting, my lip torn from my own teeth, blood thick in my mouth and rasping every ragged inhalation, I listen over the bashing cacophony of the pulse in my ears.
“What the hell were you thinking, Jowendrhan?”
He says my name as if it tastes foul on his tongue, but his voice is strangely familiar to me.
My other knee pops, and I'm shrieking, grabbing for the appendage when something solid stands on my arm and grinds the bones in my wrist.
“You broke my laws, Jowendrhan.”
It's said so close to my face I can smell the fire in his breath.
I
know you!
“They're naw yer laws,” I mumble over swollen lips and tongue, through shattered teeth. “Yar hithtory, motherfahka.”
His answering laugh splices my skin, my blood gushing out, coating me with ticklish fever except for the fear now annihilating my logic.
I'm going to fucking die!
*
Božena:
Opening my eyes, it takes me a moment to realize I'm staring down the barrel of a gun.
Snapping upright, scrambling back until I connect with a wall, I'm overcome with trembling.
“Who are you?”
Why the fuck are you pointing a gun at me?
Darting my focus away from him, I absorb my surroundings in a quick glance. It's an unfurnished room with just this bed in it, the rest is simply waxy green wall which seems backlit, giving the room an alien glow.
“Vampyre are not welcome in my home, Božena. You are the first, and I intend to ensure you are the last.”
He's huge, tall, handsome, and malevolent.
He's... that... that guy!
“Yes, we've met. Briefly. You stumbled in Pravus and I helped you regain your balance.”
“What... why... me?”
“Scream all you want. Bash the walls and holler for your lover, this is a prison where no vampyre can save you.”
“What do you want with me?!”
His aim at my head doesn't falter, but his eyes do soften with that dangerous smile. “Your maker is incapacitated, we presume. He left behind a lot of blood and... bits... He won't be coming to rescue you or your vampyre pod.”
Memories flood back and it's instinct to cover my belly with both hands. The man has a gun for chrissake!
“I've done nothing to you! Let me go.”
I have to get out of here. I need food - rest. I need help because I don't know what the hell Jowendrhan did to me. I'm not sure if I imagined the stranger with burnt-whiskey hair and his weird orange light, the fever hit me pretty damn hard.
Whose baby is in my belly?
My vision prickles with panic and tears blur the glorious but deadly man.
