by Dawn Gray
“Julian?” I asked, again, as I opened the door, quietly, and peeked in. I saw almost nothing through the steam, until I got close enough to the shower and watched the curtain drawback, and then Julian stepped out.
I watched the water glisten off him, as he stood there, naked, toweling off his hair.
* * * * *
“Maybe, we should skip to the next part.” Michael, suddenly, suggested. I opened my eyes and looked at the others, who were staring at me in shock, then I looked at Julian, who was looking away, trying not to smile, but I watched as the corners of his mouth turned up.
“Um, excuse me.” I said, softly, feeling my face heat up with embarrassment. “I need some air.”
“But,” I heard Lauren say as I walked towards the direction of the East Garden. “You're already outside.”
As I sat down on the steps of the garden, near the statue of the Cherubs, where Nick had instructed me to go the night we met, I closed my eyes, letting the visions flow once again.
* * * * *
He didn't notice me right away, and that gave me the opportunity to watch him for a few minutes. It amazed me to look him over and remember that he looked the same way he did before. I knew now, why it had been so hard to resist him the first time, as he proceeded to dry off the rest of his body.
His arms and chest were well defined and his abs rippled into what people called a “six-pack”. His butt was tight and shapely, just the right size, and his thighs and calves looked as though they had been molded from clay, just perfect and that was the only way I could describe him if anyone had asked.
It was then that he looked up and over my way, which made me shrink back into the corner as he slowly made his way over.
“Caitlyn?” He whispered as he rounded the corner and looked down at me. My eyes, even though I tried desperately not to look, scanned down his entire body, then back up to those smiling eyes. “What are you doing in here?”
“I was looking for you.” I replied, quietly, and then glanced down again. “Just not like this.”
Slowly, he moved closer to me, which made me fidget with my shirt and he smiled as he leaned down close to my face. I was trapped in his eyes when I looked up, and all expression in them turned to want. One hand was on the wall beside my head, and the other came up to my neck, where it rested gently, as his lips came closer to mine.
“Maybe, this isn't such a good idea.” I whispered, reaching up to hold him at bay, but when I placed his hands on his bare chest, I knew exactly what I wanted.
“I'm sure it's not.” He answered and kissed my cheek softly. I closed my eyes as I felt the hand from the wall come down to hug my waist.
“Is this going to hurt us?” I questioned, letting him kiss my neck as I wrapped my arms around him.
“I won't let it.” He replied and captured my lips with his; fire seemed to ignite within me as our kisses became more passionate.
Not long after, in a haze of love and lust, I vaguely recalled stepping back into the shower with him, both of us naked, and wanting the other's affection, to the point where we could have gotten totally lost in it.
We made love, slowly, against the wall of the shower, letting ourselves drown in each other until the hot water ran cold, and as I shivered violently, Julian wrapped a towel around me and carried me back to his room.
“Can I ask you a question?” I whispered as he lay me down on the bed, where I slid over and under the covers. Julian smiled, as he walked over and started a fire, then came back to me.
He towered over me, as I lay flat on the bed, and smiled again.
“No more questions, Cait.” He answered.
“Just one.” I insisted. He nodded as he slipped under the covers with me and wrapped his arms around my body, pulling me close. “Were we supposed to be together like this?”
“I don't know.” He whispered, against my shoulder as he moved his lips over my skin. “Is it a problem?” He laughed, glancing up at me. “Do you want me to stop this now?”
“No, but I wonder if Larado had this in mind when he told you the prophecy.” I giggled. Julian rolled his eyes and leaned in closer once again. “There's something else.”
“No.” He said, sternly, his lips only inches from mine. “No more questions, no more wondering, just you and me, and right now.”
“Okay.” I replied and nodded, slightly, as his lips met mine.
My eyes opened and I looked down as arms circled my waist. I turned a bit and looked at Julian, who was sitting right behind me, one leg on either side of mine, and he kissed my cheek softly.
“Do you think this is a good idea?” I asked.
“Do I care?” He responded.
“You should, she's your “girlfriend”.” I mocked then turned and faced the statue again. “I was thinking...”
“I know; I could feel you.” He replied, smartly, giving me a playful grin. He raised his eyebrows and licked his lips.
“I was thinking about the baby.” I finished.
“Oh.” Julian said and sobered up, as he looked away. “What about it?”
“Do you think it will be safe, from this, from our connection?” I asked, softly.
“Do you want it to be?” He whispered in my ear as I looked up at the night sky.
“I want it to be safe. Damien is already part of something so much stronger than I think I can handle. I don't know if I can deal with two of them being that way.” I got up holding on to his hands until I was too far away to continue to grip them, then I let them go. “He knows. Damien knows about you, and me, and the others and what you are. He has the sight.”
“I know.”
“How? How could he be so much like me when I tried so hard to protect him?”
“I told you why, Caitlyn.” Julian whispered. “Don't you remember, that morning, when you told me what you had learned, I told you what I had done, to you, for Damien's sake.”
“What the hell did you do?” Ashley's voice interrupted us, and Julian and I both looked up at her, quickly, as she stood at the stop of the entrance to the garden, with her arms crossed. “Tell me, Julian. Tell me what you did with her and that child.”
I looked back towards Julian, who looked at me, then looked down. This was going to be a bit hard to explain.
“You have to hear what I learned before Julian can tell you what happened.” I said quickly, and then watched as Julian caught my eyes and shook his head. “She wanted to hear the rest, so she had to hear everything before she learns anything else.”
“Who are you to tell me what I need or don't need to hear?” Ashley said coming down the steps. She stood right in front of me, staring me down. “I'm the queen of this so called race.”
“And, who do you think made you that way?” I asked.
“Caitlyn, stop.” Julian said, standing up.
“What are you talking about?” She questioned me. I shook my head, not telling anything until I felt like it.
“Fine.” She snarled, and then stamped her foot. “Tell your damn story, and then you, Julian and I are going to set some things straight.”
I watched her step back, then turn and walk away. I sighed, lowering my guard, and then I turned and looked at Julian.
“She's letting that whole “queen” thing go to her head, isn't she?” I asked, crossing my arms as I looked in the direction she had gone. “What a royal pain in my ass.”
“Come on.” Julian whispered, as his fingers wrapped around mine. He held my hand protectively. “Let's go and get this over with.”
Julian stood by me as we stood in front of the others once again, and I folded my arms over my chest as I looked down at my feet, then I looked up at the people around me and smiled, but when I looked at Ashley, the smile faded. I took a deep breath, let it out, and then stepped away from the wall.
“Early that morning, after I had learned enough about the people in the past, I decided that I had to let Julian, and Nick in on my thoughts.”
* * * * *
“It's a curse.” I told them, facing the window as both Nick and Julian sat on the chairs behind me. I turned towards them and then I stepped over to the chair across from them. Julian sat with his legs crossed, leaning on his left hand, which was propped up by his elbow and Nick looked as though he was ready to bolt at any moment, but they both stared at me, waiting for me to continue. “Before Larado was born, a long, long time before he was even thought of, there was a man named Klamara. His wife was being held hostage by this witch and her vampires, and the only way he could get her back was to do what the witch asked.
“He convinced a village that he could protect them from the vampire attacks, so, they didn't need the fires or the garlic or lights to keep them away because he had set something up, some sort of perimeter so they couldn't pass.
“He went back to the witch, told her to give his wife back, but she denied him because he didn't bring her a child to sacrifice. So, he told her to basically go to hell, and give him back his wife. She told him that she could never leave because now his wife was a vampire.” I sat down in the chair, pulled my knees up to my chest, and closed my eyes. “She was also pregnant.”
“Oh, God.” Nick sighed, shaking his head. I glanced over at him and shrugged.
“He cursed the child and anything it produced, which means any children the baby had all the way down to line. To Larado,” I whispered and looked over at Julian, “to me, and now, to Damien.”
“Damien is not at risk.” Julian whispered, looking away from me.
“He is, because he's my son.” I added.
“Something else protects him.”
“I know about the Kingdom of the Nine, Jules, and I don't think that his part in it is strong enough to protect him from Klamara if I should happen to fail.” I said, shaking my head. “The man that confronted Larado was Klamara. The red clouds in my memories, the man who raised his hand and struck me with such force, was Klamara, and now, after three years of total memory loss, I know why he's coming after me again. Because, I am what he desires, and even though he didn't start off this way, he's killed thousands of innocent people because of his cause, which makes him evil.”
“Damien is mine.” Julian whispered. I looked at him quickly, after being thrown completely off guard by this comment and I listened to Nick sigh, loudly. Julian looked up at me and then stood. He moved, slowly, across the floor and knelt there; staring into my eyes. “He's mine and yours.”
“Don't do this to me, Jules.” I begged and got up, then shook my head as I moved away from him. Slowly, I turned and looked back at him. “What did you do to me, to him?”
“I know you had gotten pregnant by Robert. I was still your protector, whether you remembered me or not.” He started, then sighed and looked up at me. “Remember when you were four months pregnant, you were in an accident, one that put you in the hospital?”
“I remember.” I said, softly, and closed my eyes. “I almost lost him. A car hit mine and I was bleeding, but they didn't understand from where, so, they kept me overnight for observation.”
“The next morning, the bleeding had stopped and the baby was fine. Even an ultrasound determined there was nothing wrong with him.” Julian answered.
“You gave me your blood, didn't you?” I asked, calmly, glancing over at him. Julian shook his head, but it seemed to only be a slight movement. “So, what does that mean? Why didn't you tell me about this then? Why didn't you show yourself to me, let me know about our connection? Maybe, we could have ended this sooner.”
“There's something else.” He whispered.
“Oh, God, what now?” I said, rolling my eyes.
“I'm not so sure Robert was the one who got you pregnant.” He replied, looking away.
“Oh, please tell me you’re joking!” I closed my eyes, putting my hands to my face.
“Remember that first night you came back here? How you made the comment about me being the one in your fantasies?” I nodded, not looking up at him. “Think about the first time I showed up in your dreams.”
I sighed, sat back and moved my hands, but I held my eyes tightly closed.
“It was just before I became pregnant, about two weeks before I took the test. I replied, opening my eyes.
“I didn't give you blood at the hospital. He healed himself.” I looked up at Julian, my eyes felt hot, like they were on fire, as the tears started to flow. I stood up and walked over to him, and then slapped him, squarely, across the face. Julian closed his eyes; his head had whipped to the side.
“You son of a bitch! How could you do that to me? After all this time, after all this bullshit! Why didn't you just tell me, and if you say it was to protect me, I'm leaving!”
Julian didn't say anything, in fact he kept totally silent, and this made me clench my fist, and turned to leave the room.
“I didn't say anything, and you're still leaving.” Julian said, softly, which made me stop in the doorway.
“You didn't have to say it.” I replied. “It was written all over your face.”
I walked out of the room and down the hall before I heard the light footsteps behind me, and I stopped near a window and waited for whomever it was to catch up.
“He didn't tell you because we made a pact not to.” Nick's voice whispered in my ear as his hand touched my shoulder.
“Don't! Don't protect him; don't defend him. He had no right to play with me like that, and my son, what he did to him was...” I stopped my sentence and closed my eyes.
“So, you believe Julian is his father?” Nick asked. I shook my head.
“I don't know what I believe, but what I know is that I'm leaving, now!” I moved away from him, and continued walking. I stopped at the stairs, looked up, hesitating, and then kept walking towards the front door.
I moved out into the early morning light, hugging myself as I moved across the lawn towards the side of the house. The long wooden walkway that made a path through the dunes clicked under my feet and besides the crashing waves that I was moving closer to, it was the only sound I heard. I stopped at the end of the walk and looked out over the ocean as the sun reflected off from it.
“Beautiful, isn't it?” A voice picked up from behind me. I straightened up, knowing the person that the voice belonged to was not one of my favorite people. Slowly, I turned and looked at Creolas, who walked up to stand beside me. He looked straight ahead as he held his hands behind his back. “It's quite tranquil.”
“What do you want?” I asked, snapping at him. Creolas looked over at me with those red eyes.
“Ooh, feisty aren't you?” He smiled. “Did your lover scorn you?”
“Look, Creolas, I'm not in the mood, really.” I sighed, calming, myself. “What do you want?”
“They did what they had too.” He answered; his voice took a soft tone, as he turned to look back at the ocean.
“So, now you’re defending them, taking their side?” I asked him. Creolas smiled, and then shook his head. “Then, why did you say something like that?”
“To let you know that whatever they did, it was to keep you from harm.”
“Oh, yeah, and right now I could be in a lot of trouble because I'm standing here with a man who drew blood at least twice and tried to seduce me, which, by the way, was the most pathetic attempt I've ever seen, and where are they?” I hollered. “Moping around in the house.”
“You won't defeat Klamara.” He whispered as I walked off the walkway onto the sand. Slowly, I turned to look at him, at his red hair blowing in the breeze, and started to ask him how he knew this when he put up his hand. “I was listening to you explain your little memory trip and I thought I'd be honest with you. You can't kill him; he's already dead. You can't destroy him, he's thousands of years old and his anger is larger than anything you and those two baboons can conjure up.”
“What do you care?” I asked him honestly. The smile faded from his face and his eyes grew dark. I watched him shift in the spot he stood in, then he looked up at me, his expres
sion was one of pure hatred. “What did he do to you, Creolas?”
“Nothing.” He said and turned to go.
“That's it?” I asked, shrugging as he took a few steps up the walk. “After all of your warnings about how we can't do this or that to him, you're just going to say nothing and walk away?”
“I don't know what I came out here for, O'Neal.”
“Now you just sound like Nick.” I replied, crossing my arms. “Did he hurt you? Did he make you realize what a bastard you are for taking advantage of young women by pretending to be someone else?”
“No.” He said, as his anger mounted.
“Then, what did he do?” I asked, again. “What do you care what happens to us?”
“I don't care what happens to them.” He replied, and looked at me, his eyes glowing.
I watched him come closer, and then he grabbed me by the back of the head and held me there. I didn't even bother to try and move away from him, because, at that point, I didn't care either.
I stared at him, into those red eyes and it suddenly occurred to me exactly what Creolas was so hateful about.
“How did he do it?” I asked.
“Do what?” He growled as he moved closer to my neck, baring his teeth as my heartbeat jumped into racing mode. I reached out a hand and placed it on his chest, feeling him jump back a bit and his muscles tense at that fact that I had touched him.
“This.” I whispered, patting him there, lightly. “Did he do this to you?”
His hand relaxed, letting go of my hair, and he placed it gently on my neck. He didn't move back, but stayed close to my ear as his breathing began to pick up its pace, and I turned a bit to look at him as he eyes closed slowly.
“Tell me, Creolas.” I whispered.
“Why?” He asked, harshly, but reached up and grabbed my hand, the one that rested on his chest and gave it a gentle squeeze. “So you can take pity on me? So you can know just what kind of an abomination I am?”
“To understand why you're warning me about this man.” I replied. Creolas backed away this time, releasing me totally, and he stood with his back to me.
