by Zara Zenia
“I guess.” Roger’s disappointment is apparent as the wrinkles in his forehead scrunch up like wiggly worms.
“Let’s go then.” I spin to exit the room.
It’s not exactly a command, but I try to be forceful and open about the fact that I don’t want to be in this dark and gloomy box any longer. I know it’s not my place to order anyone around here, and I should probably be cautious with my emotions. It’s just the simple fact that Roger already promised me I’m free to come and go as I please. Now comes the ‘go’ part.
“Hang on.” Roger tugs on my shirt.
I turn around, giving him a puzzled glance. “What is it?”
“Remember what I said last night?” Roger whispers under his breath.
“Yeah.” I nod with understanding. “You told me not to be lenient when it comes to trusting the others.”
Roger’s face flashes with reassurance. “Exactly.”
“So, what do you suggest?” I ask and glance down the dimly lit hallway. Shadows dance and flutter on the walls through the eerie lantern light.
“I will walk ahead of you,” he instructs. “Just stay behind me and everything will be okay.”
“That Brent guy seems okay,” I mention as we walk.
Roger snorts. “If you think arrogant kings who are totally full of themselves are okay then I guess you’re right.”
“He doesn’t seem as brooding and creepy,” I tell him.
“He’s both of those things if you ask me,” Roger calls out over his shoulder with a laugh.
We reach the den and I glance around. It’s empty and silent. “Where is everyone?” I peer up at Roger expectantly.
Roger appears to be as confused as I am. He waltzes around the room, checking behind corners suspiciously as if he’s worried somebody will pounce from behind a darkened surface.
“I think we are alone,” he finally says and plants his hands on his hips.
“It would appear that way,” I respond with relief.
Roger scrunches up his nose in a reflection of angst. He paces nervously and runs a hand through is dark hair.
“What is wrong with you?” I quiz him, standing on the far side of the room as I anxiously wait to see what he’ll do next. Paranoia creeps into my throat like bile.
“We are going about this all wrong.” Roger shakes his head and continues to pace, refusing to look at me.
“Going about what wrong?” My voice is a siren in the dark.
“We aren’t handling the situation the way we should be.” Roger continues to be as annoyingly vague as possible.
I swat at the air with frustration. “Roger, you aren’t making any sense.”
He stops pacing and stares at me in the shadows. His eyes are aggressive, warning. “We need to take this one step at a time.”
I don’t have time for his mind games and head tricks. If he wants to send somebody on a wild goose chase he should chose somebody who loves riddles and puzzles. That somebody is surely not me.
I turn around and calmly begin striding toward the door.
“Where are you going?” Roger calls behind me.
“I really need to get back to school, Roger,” I tell him in a tone that inflects there’s no room for debate. My mind is already made up about this decision.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Brent
“Come on, blood sucker.” I toss Carl like a wet noodle into the door in the middle of the tree.
“Don’t shove me,” he bellows defensively, rubbing his newly bruised arm from where I just threw him.
“You had your fill,” I growl. “Now it’s time for you to do what we want.”
I glance up at my brother, Ken. He’s snickering with delight. He loves it when I get testy with the blood suckers.
“I hope that deer was worth the risk of us being found,” Ken hisses. “Next time I’ll shove all of its parts down your throat.”
“Thanks for taking me.” Carl wipes the remnants of the animal’s red and clotting, sticky blood from his lips. “I had to hunt. I was starving.”
“After smelling the human girl’s blood I’m sure you are.” I give him a malicious grin.
“Yeah.” Carl shrugs defensively. “Okay, like you don’t already know that I want to suck her dry. In fact, it’s all I can think about. I’m salivating over the idea of sinking my teeth into her juicy and pulsing neck.”
“But you won’t.” Ken smacks his palm against the wooden door of the tree with the winding and flailing branches that look like waving arms. “Because we need the human girl.”
“Whatever.” Carl rolls his eyes like a sullen child and pushes past us.
I stand there rooted to the ground for a few moments, absolutely repulsed by Carl’s description of how he wants to destroy Katie by diving head first into her veins.
“Wait.” My voice shouts through the air and I boom in front of Carl before he can walk through the door in front of me.
He gives me a perplexed look and cowers slightly, relaxing his shoulders and wincing as if he expects me to strike him.
“What is it?” He groans after a few seconds.
“I am going in first,” I command. “I’m the king.”
“You aren’t the king here,” Carl dares to mumble under his breath.
I spin around reflexively. The back of my hand smacks against the side of his face, making brutal impact with a crunch.
“What the hell?” Carl stumbles backwards in the dirt and falls on his ass.
Ken roars with laughter and slaps his knee. He points at Carl with patronizing amusement. “That’s what you get for being a disgusting blood sucker.”
Carl scowls up at Ken and me with burning hatred, seething. His hand protectively covers the red welt from the wound left from the brunt force of my hand hitting his skin. His sharp fangs glisten when the sun hits them just right.
Sorry,” I grumble and turn around. “Next time don’t cross me.”
I’m already on pins and needles, and Carl isn’t helping my case or making this situation any easier for me. I guess I’m still bitter about the fact that I had to wait out in the misty, foggy darkness while Carl found an animal to hunt and kill. He sucked the deer dry and I watched as its black eyes glassed over. It seemed to last an eternity until death finally consumed the poor beast.
I glare at Carl as I shove my shoulders past him, barreling back into the safety of the den.
“Oh shit!”
“What the hell?” a female voice sounds wounded in the darkness.
“Katie?” Roger’s voice is distant, but the pounding sound of footsteps running toward the door are unmistakable.
“Ouch.” Katie rubs her face protectively and takes a deep breath through obvious pain.
I guess that I’m zero for two today when it comes to injuring faces. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t expect anyone to be right behind the door,” I tell her apologetically.
I shoot an icy expression at my brother as he snickers behind me. He ceases all laughter immediately after sizing up one glance of my domineering stare.
“I’m fine. Really.” Katie flicks her gaze up to me and then hastily breezes past me. “I am just leaving anyway.”
“Leaving?” I thunder, although I don’t anticipate sounding so threatening before the word booms from my mouth.
“Katie tells me she wants me to take her back to college today,” Roger states in a regretful tone.
“And you are actually going to let her leave?” Carl cries through the darkness in a rushing panic.
“I told her she could go if she wanted to.” Roger glances between us.
“Why?” Ken blurts out the one question on everyone’s mind.
“Because she’s not our prisoner,” Roger states defiantly. “I want her to trust me, and the best way to do that is by not breaking a promise.”
“What a load of shit,” Carl sneers behind me. “She belongs with us now.”
Katie visibly trembles as her eyes dart from one of us to
the next in paralyzing fear. “I’m sorry, I still don’t think that I’ll be of any good use or service to you,” she states remorsefully. “I have work to do back in New York.”
“What sort of work?” Ken jabs. He leans in close to her and towers.
Katie recoils and visibly gulps hard. “College,” she responds meekly. “I have classes and responsibilities and tests and—”
“And nobody cares.” Ken waves his hand dismissively in the air as if she’s telling him what the weather will be next week. “We all have responsibilities sweetheart, and some are more pressing and important than others.” He eyes her with a raised eyebrow, daring her to defy him.
I know my brother is not fine-tuned and can be inept when it comes to communication, especially with humans. He never even attempts any effort to look into the window of another soul and try and understand what it’s like to him.
To Ken, primal dragon instincts are the only prominent thought in his mind. He’s engrained that way. He doesn’t understand social situations and he certainly isn’t interested in learning. The only thing Ken trusts are his dragon instincts.
“Katie.” I approach her gently with a pair of kind eyes.
“What?” she sniffs.
I wonder if she’s getting ready to choke back a sob. It sounds as if she’s stifling raw emotion. I understand where she’s coming from.
“I don’t want to hurt you either,” I stammer.
“Then let me leave,” she retorts with bravery.
“If you just allow me to explain—”
Katie cuts me off, “You are singing the same song and dance as the rest of them. I’m no closer to understanding anything you all are trying to tell me than when I first arrived here.”
“She’s right.” Roger nods with chagrin. His bottom lip pokes out in agreement with her.
I heave a long-winded sigh. The weight of the world rests on my shoulders and it’s a heavy burden to have to constantly carry around.
There’s a pause in the room, a silence that floats densely through the damp, cold room. After a few minutes of nobody saying anything, Katie takes a step toward the door. “Right. I’ll just be going now.”
“You don’t know the way,” Roger protests.
She eyes him with irritation flashing in her eyes. “I have my cell phone. I’ll use my GPS if I have to.”
“There’s no service out here,” Carl laughs ironically.
Katie groans in frustration and glances up to the ceiling of the den.
“If you leave then our future is doomed.”
The words expel from my mouth like hot lava spewing from a volcano top. I don’t know where the outpouring of honesty is coming from, but once the flood gates are opened there’s no stopping them.
Katie’s eyes narrow with intrigue. “Go on.”
“Not only will all the vampires die,” I gesture to Carl and Roger, “but so will my dragons.” I know I sound pitiful and repulsive to the others, but if I can gain Katie’s empathy then maybe we have a shot after all at survival.
“How am I going to help save you? I’m only one person. A human person.” Katie folds her arms across her chest defiantly.
“I can’t let all the one’s I care about die,” I tell her. “I am the king. Everyone looks to me for solace, protection and justice.”
“Goodbye.” Katie whips around and her blonde locks fall behind her back.
“No wait,” I shout, on a fleeting hope that I have one last chance to prove to her how necessary it is for her to be here with us right now. “If you just come with me…”
“Don’t you think I’ve been enough places with you creatures?” She eyes the four of us.
“Yes.” I place my olive toned hands in front of me. “I understand how that must look, and how frustrated you must feel.”
“Where do you want me to go?” Katie blinks, expressionless in my direction.
“I want to talk to you alone,” I propose, knowing it will not be well received.
“No way.” Just as I expect, Roger objects and steps in front of me.
“You are not in charge here,” I growl at him. “I promised not to harm her either.”
“It’s fine.”
“What?” Roger and I both turn at the same time to stare at Katie in shock.
“I’m already here. I will talk to you alone. You are the king, I know you can’t legally harm me.” Katie stares at me without a flinching ounce of fright.
“Thank you.” I smile at her and clap. “You won’t regret this.”
“It’s just because she doesn’t know the way without her GPS,” Carl laughs. Ken slaps him on the back of the head and Carl whines with pain.
Katie shrugs. “I guess missing one day of classes won’t be the end of the world. I can get the notes from the teacher through e-mail later. But if I go with you, you better follow through and tell me whatever it is that you want from me.”
I give her a swift, professional nod. “Agreed.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
Katie
“Wait in your room.” Brent gazes at me with definitive direction in his eyes.
“Aren’t we leaving?” He’s confusing me.
“We will leave soon,” Brent advises me. “First, I have to take care of some business.” He nods to his brother.
Carl and Roger exchange a glance.
“Roger?” I look to him for rejoinder.
“It’s fine.” He nods. “I actually trust Brent. Then he casts a sideways glower at Ken.
“Okay.” My arms fall to my sides. “I guess I have no choice in the matter.”
“You always have a choice, remember that,” Roger tells me as I trudge back down the narrow hallway, stumbling in the darkness.
I plop down on the cot and a cloud of dust plumes into the air, making me cough. Groaning, I lean back. Who knows where Brent will take me. I might as well make the best of it and rest while I can.
A few minutes later, a knock jolts me into alert mode. Whipping up to a standing position, I edge carefully to the door. I open it slightly and notice that Brent’s standing on the other side.
“Hello.” He smiles.
“Hi.” I wearily look him up and down. He reminds me of a warrior of some sort. Proud and sturdy, just like a dragon.
“Are you ready?” He glances past me into the room.
I too look around, then give him a sarcastic smirk. “I don’t have many bags to pack, now do I?”
Brent erupts into laughter that startles me. “No, I suppose you only have the clothes on your back eh?”
“Yep.” I nod. I’m ready to get this over with.
We walk in silence back through the den. Roger is there. His eyes dart nervously between Brent and me, but he says nothing as we walk away. He knows as well as I do that he’s no match against a dragon shifter.
Brent places his warm hand on the small of my back, nudging me along but gently. “Come on,” he whispers. “Let’s go.”
The door creaks open and my eyes burn. Blinking against the pain, I shield them with my palm. “It’s really bright,” I chuckle.
“Yeah,” Brent nods as if he understands. “It takes some getting used to after you’ve been down below for a while.
“So where are we going exactly?” I stare up at him once my eyes are better adjusted to the blaring sun.
“Follow me and you’ll find out.” Brent beckons me with a wave of his hand in his direction.
“Okay.” Each step I take crunches the leaves beneath my feet. Trepidation pounds in my heart and stings in my throat. I stop walking to gape at Brent.
“Why is there a car in the woods?” I ask. Internally I wonder a more pressing matter. How did the car get here and from what path?
The car itself doesn’t have the same features you’d see on an average car, which puzzles me. It’s an oval shape and has thin wheels like you’d see on a motorcycle or a moped. Glass windows encase the entire vehicle. Industrial metal features and color make it look out of pl
ace here in the woods.
“It’s mine,” Brent responds abstractly.
Taking a deep breath, I step inside. Brent closes the door behind him and walks around to the other side, climbing in.
A control board flashes with multi-functioning buttons. Some are round, some are square. Most of them glow green, yellow or red.
“What is all this?” I ask. This is an absurdly wild type of car, but then again Brent is not from earth.
“This is how I steer the vessel,” he responds.
Vessel? That’s odd.
“You’ll want to strap yourself in for this part,” Brent advises me. He points to a strap behind me that resembles a five-point harness that a race car driver would use.
“Are we going to be flying through the forest?” I snort.
I’m only joking, but Brent’s expression is stoic. Gulping anxiously, I do as he instructs and strap myself in. If he promises to protect me, then I have to take his word for it. He knows what he’s doing more than I do and I have no choice but to trust him.
He presses a gloved hand to a large green button in the center of the console, then clicks a throttle into gear. The car begins to vibrate, and I hold my breath in anticipation of what might happen next.
“Just hold on,” Brent roars through the enormous sound of the engine engulfing us.
“Okay,” I whimper. My fingertips are numb with nervousness.
The car begins to ascend into the air, hovering over the ground. The leaves below swirl and dance as they are upturned by the engine thrusters below the car, which I’m now anticipating must be some sort of shuttle or space craft in disguise.
The limbs of the trees wave goodbye to us as we climb higher into the atmosphere, soaring through the clouds at a speed close to that of an airplane. I close my eyes because I’m afraid of the unknown. It’s not the first time I’ve gone on an intergalactic trip, but at least then I knew exactly where I was heading.
“We might run through some shaky turbulence when we leave the atmosphere,” Brent yells to me across the seat.
“Okay,” I nod and brace for impact.
