Shattered Skies: Beginning's End

by Heather Linn

  As much as I just wanted to get the hell out of the palace, I knew that if I left without telling Akia I was leaving, then suspicions would rise as to why I had left so abruptly. I didn't need that just then. I had to go face the scariest man I knew. Even more chilling than the thought of facing him was knowing that I didn't fear him because he could so easily snap me like a twig, but because he made me feel things that I had never felt before; things that he had no right having any control over at all.

  My heart skipped a beat at just the thought of going to him. It pissed me off that my body so easily betrayed me. I was losing control of myself because of this monster and I had to do something before it was too late. Earlier when I kissed him, I made him believe that I would be back, but the more that I thought about it, I wondered how was I going to keep him out of my dreams? He said that he wasn’t doing it on purpose and I knew that I wasn’t, so how could I control something that I couldn’t begin to understand?

  I guess I would just have to continue to believe that the ring on my finger was enough. The fact that the Doc was one of them shed light as to how he knew about such a ring. Still, I had to distance myself from Akia, just in case the ring was a fluke. I was not going to chance losing the rest of my family because of stupid emotions that I didn't trust. I hated Dr. Walker; I hated myself for letting my guard down. I hated even more that this would be the last time that I would ever see Akia.

  We had to get Dr Walker and get out of this place. There is no way that we could stay around here together, especially with a renegade, unmasked Vampire. I was not willing to send the rest on their way and stay behind to play giddy little school girl games with Akia. Not to mention the fact that if I got intimate with Akia, I was pretty sure he would turn to dust. Of course that would put an end to the problem all together, wouldn't it? I had my head down and I was so lost in thought that I wasn't paying a bit of attention to where I was going. I looked up in just enough time to see Akia coming out of a doorway with his head buried in a notebook but I didn't have time to stop or shout out a warning. We collided and I took the brunt of the impact with my head. Somehow, I had managed to catch his elbow and the force knocked me to the floor. The room started spinning immediately. I hit the ground so hard that the wind was knocked out of me. Akia was on the floor with that creepy speed they all had.

  “Cat! Cat, are you OK? I am so sorry. I wasn't paying attention. Please tell me you aren't hurt.” I wanted to tell him that I was fine, but the words would not register.

  It wouldn’t be possible to keep receiving head injuries without garnering some kind of brain damage. My words weren't being formed. I tried to sit up and the world took a violent dip. If I had eaten anything in the last two days I would have vomited right there for sure. I was guessing it was another concussion. I had to get up and stay awake. Problem being, as soon as I remembered how important it was to stay awake, I felt myself rapidly drifting off to sleep. I hadn’t truly slept in a long time. I mean unless you can count unconsciousness, which I am sure, you can’t. The floor was oddly comfortable and warm. All I wanted to do was lay there and close my eyes, so I could get a little sleep. After that, saving Dr. Walker and the others would be a lot easier. That was all it took, a little bit of justification was enough to seal the deal. I drifted off to sleep easily without thinking about it. Good. I was tired of having to fight for everything, easy sounded good right now.

  “No Cat, look at me. You can't go to sleep.” No, damn it, I had said I needed easy and I meant it. Maybe if I ignored him he would just go away. “I think you have a concussion. If you go to sleep you might not wake up. Normally I wouldn’t be worried how it might affect you but with so many other weird things happening, I am.”

  Now that wasn’t a bad idea. Me not waking up would cause enough of a distraction to take Akia’s mind off of Dr Walker; at least for a little while. It would be long enough for the guys to save him and get to safety. Yes, that sounded like a plan, and besides, I didn't want to open my eyes. I was warm and his voice was soothing. I just wanted to relax. I deserved it. I’d had a hell of a past few days.

  No matter how much I tried to ignore Akia he wouldn’t go away. Maybe I had been asleep so long that I wouldn’t be able to wake up even though he wanted me to. Then just like every other time before, my curiosity got the best of me. I had to know. I opened my eyes just to see if I could. It was so bright that my eyes were burning. I saw what I was hoping to see; Akia was leaning over me, looking down at me. I was warm, I was comfortable, and with him that close to me, once again I felt safe. I smiled up at him... you stupid, stupid girl, was the last thought that swirled through my mind before sleep overtook me.

  I was dreaming of the first time we were allowed to sneak out of the cave and play in the snow. It was way too dangerous, but Dr. Walker knew that we were just children and that we needed something normal. The snow was cold and wet and fun. I remember thinking that day was going to be the best day of my life. For a moment we all got to be just kids. There were no monsters in our world that wanted nothing more than to find us and hurt us. We were just kids playing and learning, and loving every minute of it. I could feel the snow; the guys were building snow forts and the girls were making fake little snow caves for their baby dolls and I stood there in the cold watching all of them. I knew that I should be playing with the girls, but the boys were having so much more fun.

  “Come play with us Cat. We are going to have a snowball fight. You can be on my team,” Darien giggled. It had been so long since I had heard him laugh; I hadn’t ever realized that I missed it. Everything was perfect. I was happy; I mean truly happy.

  Then the monster came. He grabbed me and started running. I was in his arms, too scared to move. He was so strong that I knew if I did anything to make him angry, he would kill me. My friends were far behind me and the perfect snow day was gone. It was just me and the angry monster running into the night. As suddenly as he picked me up, he dropped me. I was waiting for the blow when I made contact with the cold ground and the blow never came. The monster had dropped me on something soft. It was so dark I couldn't see him and that was good because I was too scared to look. I could feel him though; his rough hands were around my neck and I could feel his hot breath on my skin. I was scared and excepting something horrid; I knew that I was helpless and that he could do anything that he wanted to me and there was nothing I could do to stop him.

  So, this is what it feels like to realize you are going to die. You don't fight it; there is no fear, you just feel calm acceptance and wait patiently. I knew what he was going to do to me. He had stolen me from my home and away from the others because he was hungry. Not for food like I ate, but for something that only I could give him. He wanted and needed my blood to survive. I laid there waiting. It was OK; I had known that one day this would happen; we all knew. Dr. Walker had told us from the beginning to expect it. I waited for the teeth to come. Instead of his teeth I felt him shake me.

  My eyes flew open, I couldn’t catch my breath. I looked around. I had no idea where I was but I wasn't the little girl in the snow from my dream. The monster however was still over the top of me, looking down at me like he was going to strike. For a minute, my first instinct was to fight. I wasn’t a scared little girl anymore. I knew what to do to defend myself; and then I remembered.

  “Akia what are you doing? Get off of me now and let me up.”

  “Kitten I need you to be still for a minute. We have to make sure you are not going to fall asleep again. I was afraid you weren't going to wake up the last time you drifted off.”

  I didn't know what he was talking about and I really didn't care. All I knew was that I had to get away from him. I wasn't in the mood to deal with him at the moment. “I said get off of me!” I shoved him with all of my might and sat up all at once. Instantly, I knew that was probably the dumbest thing that I had done in a while. My vision exploded into colors so bright that I instinctively closed my eyes, which only made things worse. I felt myself swa
y and fall backwards, but before I could hit anything, Akia caught me in his arms.

  “Cat, I don't know why you are so defensive around me. I need you to forget that you hate me for a few minutes. We have to make sure that you have no serious injuries because if you keep pulling stunts like that last one, you are going to hurt yourself badly.”

  As much as I hated to admit it, I knew he was right. When you can't even sit up without feeling like your head is going to explode then you know there is something wrong. So I did what I had to do; I lay there quietly. I was of no use to anyone if I died due to self-inflicted stupidity. Of course, it would be a lot easier if I could stay still without having to listen to him ramble on. Why wasn’t anything ever perfect enough for me?

  “I wish I knew what it was that I do to constantly upset you. I do not go out of my way to do things to push you away. Earlier, you kissed me, and now you are acting like I am some kind of sadist.” There was something in his voice that made me want to answer him, but I had no idea what I could safely say without risking certain death, and call me crazy, but I was a big fan of breathing. He had no idea just what kind of monster he really was to me, but then again, how could he when he thought I was as much monster as he was?

  “Could you please stop making this about you Akia? You are the most arrogant man that I know. I am laying here with a throbbing headache that I am sure you caused somehow, and you are sitting there acting like the victim. Believe it or not, Akia, the world doesn't revolve around you!” It hurt to yell, but that is what I needed to do to get my point across. I was tired of watching what I said around him. His entire life people had been telling him what he wanted to hear and that needed to be stopped. As much as it hurt, I opened my eyes and looked at him.

  He was just sitting there. I wasn't even sure he was breathing. There was nothing but rage in his eyes, and I knew at that very moment that I was looking into the eyes of the man that was going to kill me some day. The thought should have petrified me into getting up and getting the hell out of his palace. Yet I felt a wave of calmness. I had just seen my destiny; I would die by the hands of this man, and there was nothing I could do about it; it was my fate. Knowing my fate was irrational and calming all at the same time.

  It wasn't until he spoke that I realized that the end wasn't going to be today. “You are wrong. The world does revolve around me. I am God here. Whatever I say goes. I am the end all and the be all and I hate it." The last part was said in a fading whisper, so faint that I wasn't sure if I had even heard it or if my mind had been playing tricks on me.

  “What did you just say?”

  “Oh come on, you heard me. I said I hate it. I hate having everything that I have and I hate being perfect.” Akia sounded almost human; what a funny thought!

  “There you go again. Poor me, I have wealth and power. I have everything I want and it isn't satisfying. You are the most pathetic individual I know Akia. There are people out there with nothing at all. You have the world and you expect me to believe that you don't want it? Ha! If you want me to feel sorry for you, you are missing the boat. You are nothing but a joke.” It felt good to chastise him; I couldn't cry for the loss of my family. I couldn't weep for the fact that I had killed a sister who had never had a menacing thought in her life, but I could rip into him with ease. I wanted someone to hurt as much as I was hurting and I didn't care what it would take to get them there.

  “You know that if I wanted to I could keep you here Cat. I could force you to be mine; I could chain you to my bed and never let you leave. I could do whatever I wanted to you, and no one would even try to stop me.” Well at least he wasn't feeling sorry for himself now. He was back to being arrogant Akia which just made it all the more easy for my meanness to come out.

  “You would have to chain me. I want nothing to do with you. I am not even sure why I came back. But the only way that I will ever stay is if I am chained to your wall. You make me sick. You are weak and simple minded and you have no idea how to run your palace, let alone the planet. You are no God. A stupid caged human could do a better job than you.”

  There were tears running down my face and for the first time in my life someone other than Darien was seeing me cry. There were tears of anger, tears of hate, and tears of loss, and there was nothing that I could do to stop them. I let them run down my face and I didn't care what the ruler of the planet thought about the weak frail woman bawling on his bed.

  “You are right,” he said and with that, he turned and left.

  I had messed up again. Before I had given us a month’s head start and now I had taken it away. What was it about this monster that could turn my life every which way but right? There was nothing I could do to fix this now. My only hope was that Akia stayed pissed for a long, long time. I never got the goodbye that I had wanted, but that was all right. If he hated me, it would be easier for him when I left; easier for him, for Dr. Walker, and easier for Darien and Jaden. How had I messed up so many things in such a short time? They were all amazing men and I knew that very second that I’d never come to deserve any of them again.

  I sat alone and I cried. I cried away all the hurt and pain. I cried everything away until all I had left was numbness. I had lost a lot in the past two days and everything and everyone I’d lost deserved to be mourned. Once my tears were dried and gone, I made a promise to myself that I would never let tears fall again. No tears could bring back my family and no tears could tell me why my heart wanted the one man that I knew I could never have. I wasn't weak and I wasn't going to start acting weak now. All my lost loved ones deserved me to be strong. I needed to avenge those lost and I was going to stop at nothing until I earned my vengeance, and if that meant killing every monster that walked the planet by myself then I would do it or die trying; it really was as simple as that.

  Akia never did come back. Not that that was my problem. When the last tear fell, despite my headache, I got up and I pushed through it. This chapter of my life needed to end and it wouldn’t end unless I was willing to let it happen. I was done crying and I was done caring for monsters. My job was to kill them and that was what I was going to do. I was going to take down every one of them that I could, and I was going to watch them die. I was going to make sure they knew as they died that I was just a useless human. I wanted them to realize that I was the lowest life form on the planet and yet they were the ones that would soon turn to dust, forgotten. I needed to see the look in their eyes the second they realized that they had no idea that I had been playing them. Their look of despair would be my new inspiration for living; nothing else would matter to me ever again. I was ready to kill the light that refused to burn out inside me and for once I would welcome the darkness in me with arms wide open.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  When I finally made it back outside, the air was refreshing. All of the tears had dried on my face and it made me feel stronger. I went and I found Darien and Jaden sitting just where I had left them back at our meeting point in the middle of the woods.

  “Where the hell have you been? I didn't send you up there to have sex with your boyfriend, I sent you so we could get Dr. Walker out of there tonight.”

  Wow, Darien was in rare form tonight, and I wasn't in the mood for it at all. “Look you son of a bitch. I know your pride is hurting so I will forgive you for talking to me like that just this once. You disrespect me as a part of this mission one more time though, and as far as I am concerned you can be dead with the rest of the family. I wasn't having sex, I hit my head and I was unconscious. You are just being mean and trying to make yourself feel better by hurting me. I am done hurting for the night Darien, do you get me?”

  Darien didn't say anything. He just stormed off into the woods leaving me standing there with steam coming out of my ears. I felt so bad about everything that I needed someone to tell me things were OK. Up until this point that someone had always been Darien but now he was out of it.

  “Go easy on him; he is having a hard time dealing with all thi
s. He lost something that neither of us will ever understand,” Jaden pleaded, coming up quietly behind me.

  I knew Jaden was right. Darien had lost a baby that he didn’t even know about. I am sure finding out that you were so close to having a family just to have it swept away was horrible. Once again, it was my doing, and instead of letting it go, I had lashed out at him. I didn’t want to carry all of this pain any longer so I lashed out again.

  “Ha! What is tonight, asshole night? What do you mean go easy on him? What about me? I know that he is upset about Jewel and the baby but how do you think I feel? Their blood is on my hands Jaden. He hasn’t had to deal with the reality of murder yet. I will dream about the look in her eyes until the day I die. She thought I was there to save her Jaden. I told her that everything was going to be all right and worst of all, she believed me. I have to live with that and I am not breaking down and tearing apart the only people that I have left like he is.”

  “Cat there is something that you need to know. Things are way more complicated than you think. Sure, he is upset about the baby, but Darien is a very practical man. He knows that this is no world to raise a child; he actually fought with Dr Walker about the Doc’s plan for us to have families for a few years there. Darien is more upset that he’s lost the woman he thought he was going to spend the rest of his life with.”