by N P Hector
Although Romulus was a massive wall at 6’5” with wide shoulders Jiu jitsu was a game of mind and leverage. Rolling out of the position, he managed to twist around to subdue Cullum.
Cullum tapped the mat twice to signal his surrender. Both men sat on the mat catching their breath. Romulus sat with his elbows resting on his outstretched knees. Cullum made a stretch for his water bottle and took a swig.
The man was a hell of a good fighter. Romulus always picked him when he needed to work off some frustrations. He was too scared of permanently breaking anyone else. But Cullum was one of the best fighters he’d seen. More importantly, he gave as good as he got. He rubbed his sore arm as Cullum spoke, “you were off today, Romulus.”
Few would have the guts to challenge their leader so openly and to question his strength. But Cullum knew that Romulus wasn’t so invested in his own ego. In fact, if Cullum had flattered his ego after Romulus had such a poor showing he would have been tempted to wipe the floor with the younger warrior. He didn’t need sycophants inflating his ego. Romulus grunted in response and pushed his long white blonde hair out of his face.
Cullum prodded further. “Does it have anything to do with the lovely visitor we had yesterday?” Romulus turned to glare at him, his dark eyes burning. He didn’t justify the question with a response.
“Ah, it does. Don’t worry, she’ll come around.”
“She doesn’t remember me” he ground out. Rising to his legs, he pulled out some pads and a kicking bag. Although the heavy bag would have easily required two men to carry it, Romulus dragged it across the mat. Pushing it into place, he picked up the pads and tossed them to Dougall.
Dougall donned the gloves and stood in a fighting stance. Romulus also assumed the stance and lifted his hands to his chin. Dougall held the mats and pushed a bit in resistance as Romulus hammered shots home.
Dougall raised his eyebrows and grunted under the strain of Romulus’s punches. He decided to add his own advice. “Give her time. She wasn’t raised in the order like you were.”
He wheezed out a breath as Romulus kicked so hard his ribs compressed under the force. God, he was happy he was part of the sect. Facing Romulus in battle was something he never wanted to experience.
The force of their leader’s blows increased exponentially as Romulus spoke. “I’ve waited for her all this time. All these years. And I finally find her.” Whack. The sound of his hand colliding with the sparring gloves echoed through the room.
“I finally find her and she doesn’t know me.” Whack, whack.
He delivered two crosses in quick succession. Dougall dropped the mitts and Romulus picked up the kicking pad. Holding it with both arms, he leaned into the kicks Dougall delivered. Romulus never trained with anyone who didn’t put their whole effort into the regiment, and so Dougall put his entire body weight into the strikes. Romulus barely moved.
Dougall readjusted the pad and raised it so there’d be more of a challenge. “Look, when we found you we knew immediately from your mark that you were Adrian. Back from the dead. We were able to share your history. She was raised in the human world.”
The men dropped the training gear and moved to the pull up bars. Romulus had them installed once he took over as leader when he witnessed his sect’s embarrassing attempt at scaling a wall.
“She won’t even touch me” he ground out.
“Can’t really blame her there, friend.” Dougall chuckled.
In response, Romulus dropped a hand and held his entire weight with the other hand. Reaching to the side he delivered a stern shovel punch to Dougall’s kidney. Dougall wheezed out and Cullum snorted. Romulus grasped the bar with both hands now and they finished their set.
They dropped to ground and Romulus brushed his hair back from his face and grunted. “She doesn’t...recognize me.” He put his hands on his hips and paced back and forth, stretching as he went.
Cullum raised a brow at his behavior and looked to Dougall for help. When the man with braids in his hair shook his head and shrugged his shoulders, Cullum tried his best to reason with him. “So, bring her to the pool. She’ll remember then.”
Dougall nodded his head, “she’ll remember eventually. Just let her adjust.”
But the great man still continued to pace. He was beginning to resemble a caged tiger. Any moment now he’d deliver a vicious bite. Both men flinched as Romulus stopped pacing long enough to deliver a savage kick to the training dummy. His hands clenched at his side, he bit out “but what if she never remembers?”
“I’ve never seen you scared of anything, and now this tiny girl has you worried? Jesus, man. You won her over once decades ago. Do it again.” Cullum looked at Dougall like he was a crazy person for making that suggestion. Romulus was known for being fearless and for winning every fight.
“That was a different time, a different place. This time Sorcha is...more fiery. The pool is my best option. I’ll show her how she felt then.”
Cullum and Dougall exchanged a glance. Cullum spoke, “Romulus, if it’s meant to be it’s meant to be. No one can change fate.”
Romulus strode out of the gym and slammed the door open with the heel of his palm. “I can’t lose her again. My office in 30.”
The streets were dark and the string lights from a nearby restaurant lit up the street. Jamie, Joan, and Selene strode out of the crowded bar on the corner of the main street. Laughing and flushed with wine, the women embraced briefly as they said their goodbyes.
As expected, Jamie and Joan had hit it off during their Vietnamese dinner at Jamie’s favorite restaurant in the city. The two had laughed and shared plates. Selene had sat back, satisfied to watch her new friend and old friend bond.
Now that the night was ending, they were exchanging numbers and promises to meet up again soon. Waving goodbye, Jamie called out “Joan! Call me next time you want to go for Chinese and I’ll show you the place Selene and I always go to.”
Selene pretended to be affronted, “without me?”
Jamie’s heel got caught on the cobblestone of the street as she stretched out to flag down a taxi. Selene steadied her by the elbow to make sure that her friend didn’t hit the street.
Jamie giggled and hugged her friend. “It’s just because Joan and I have a lot of catching up to do. You can come to the next girls’ night.”
Jamie hopped in a cab and waved at them as it sped off. Selene stepped by the side of the road to hail their own cab, but Joan laughed and pulled her back. She clicked her tongue and pat Selene on the shoulder. “I’ll be providing tonight’s transportation service.” Selene raised an eyebrow as Joan directed her to a darkened alley.
She dug her heels in when they reached the mouth of the dark alley. It smelled like urine and was filled with overflowing garbage bags. Joan tugged at her elbow, but Selene yanked her arm back. “Um-- that’s a really sketchy alley. Shouldn’t we just take a cab or a bus?”
Joan smiled and waltzed into the alley, seemingly unconcerned by the smell and rustling among the garbage. “Trust me, I’m the scariest thing you could come across in an alley - aside from Kem, of course.” Joan looked around quickly and then opened a portal beside the garbage bin. It was pale white like an opal and iridescent in the darkness. Selene tossed a look over her shoulder to make sure that no one could see the circle on the brick wall. Joan stretched out her hands like Vanna White and showcased the portal. “After you, Mrs. Head Negotiator.”
Not wanting to keep the portal open longer than necessary in such a public place, Selene grimaced and linked arms with Joan. “Together?”
Joan stepped forward comfortably and tugged Selene along. She felt like a puppy being forced on a walk. She felt her stomach drop at the thought of being dragged through the portal again. No matter how many times she went through one, it seemed like she couldn’t get used to the strange sensation. It always sent her stomach to her throat.
Joan, of course, did not have the same misgivings. She cat walked comfortably towards the portal
and dragged Selene along with her. Seconds later, Selene had the feeling of coming out of a waterslide again. While she was sprawled unceremoniously on her apartment’s white, plush carpet, Joan had landed gracefully and taken confident strides in those killer heels of hers.
Cheek to the floor, Selene resolved to vacuum tomorrow. Or the day after. But definitely sometime this week. Selene wobbled to her knees and braced herself using the rustic coffee table. “I will never get used to that.”
Unconcerned with Selene’s wobbling Joan sat down on the couch and kicked off her heels. “Trust me, my parents said it took me forever to learn. Don’t worry about it.” Stretching out on the couch, Joan asked “wine?”
That’s exactly what I need after a trip through the waterslide.
She kicked off her own shoes and shuffled across the carpet to get a bottle and glasses. But before she could reach the wine fridge in her island, Joan hushed her and urged her to sit down. “No worries, I’ve got it. Red or white?”
Selene waved her hands flippantly to signal that she really wasn’t too particular. She watched, fascinated, as the bottle and two glasses moved from the kitchen to the coffee table. The glasses were filled with sumptuous red wine and one floated towards her.
Seeing the shocked look on Selene’s face Joan smiled, “trust me, you’ll get used to that real quick. It’s my favorite trick after a long day.”
“I think that the portal and glasses are about as much as I can take.”
Joan took a thoughtful sip and swallowed. “Oh Sel, you’re definitely going to need to get used to that and a lot more.” At Selene’s blank look Joan elaborated. “Let me put it this way. You know Alexander the Great?”
“I took a classics course in undergrad. So, kind of. Why?” She had taken it with her friend Jamie because the Classics majors were all cute, brooding Indiana Jones wannabees.
Honestly, she didn’t remember much. But she remembered Alexander the Great. Their eclectic old prof had put on a steamy movie about the conqueror to critique the numerous historic errors.
She and Jamie had sat in the back of the lecture theatre giggling and drooling. That was probably the only reason she remembered anything about Alexander the Great. Plus, she was always a sucker for a tragic story.
Joan refilled the wine glass. Hands free, of course. “Well, Romulus is kind of our Alexander the Great. The promised one. The shining heir. And he is that because he can do what I just did” Joan waved her hand in the air to indicate the portal and the wine “and so much more.”
“So, he just has a ton of power so he’s in charge.”
Joan raised her hand and shook it a bit. “It’s a bit more than that. You see, we’re all born with power potential. Some more so than others. It all depends on how powerful the star you were borne from was.” At Selene’s nod, Joan reasoned that Romulus had filled her in on the whole “star explodes and souls are made” thing. “But Romulus had the potential and the ability to learn quickly. It wasn’t always that way, but he quickly separated from the pack.”
Selene told herself that she wasn’t interested but she couldn’t help but ask, “why did he separate from the crowd?” There was something about the man that was just so…intense. So passionate. When he looked at her he really looked at her. She felt like she saw straight through her skin and all the mushy bits and right to her heart. The man’s stare made her toes curl.
Combined with his killer good looks, the man was deadly. But she assumed that it wasn’t his broad shoulders and silver hair that had made him so distinct.
Joan took another swig. “Well, he was good long before it happened. Always in the top few at training camp. Always that silent but deadly guy. You know? The guy who’d watch a fight develop and two guys hammer at each other, and then step in and level the fight with one punch. That guy. But after you--err-- Sorcha died, and he went along with her, when he was reborn in this life. So poor kid had to go through training camp twice, if you can believe it.” She shuddered and pointed towards herself, “even I hated training camp. I love running it. But man, I would not want to do that twice.”
“That bad?”
Joan nodded. “So anyways, second time at training school and he’s still that strong silent type. But this time around he was different. He had something extra that the other recruits did not.”
“What was it?”
“He had this...this insatiable hunger to learn everything. To be powerful.”
Selene took a gentle sip and asked, “so he was more power hungry?”
Joan shook her head and was very adamant that it was not the case. “He wasn’t power hungry, he was vengeful. Because of you, of course. He couldn’t save Sorcha, and he promised that he’d never let that happen again. So, in this life, as soon as he got the memories back, he trained relentlessly. And now he’s head of the Order.”
Selene stretched out and leaned against the armchair. “I know he’s like…your king of whatever the equivalent is. But you must understand, I don’t know him. I met him for the first-time last night. Just because he thinks we were lovers in the last life-- soulmates-- doesn’t mean that we should be together in this life, right?”
Joan nodded thoughtfully and filled Selene’s glass again. “Yeah, that’s fair. But you do find him attractive, no?”
And that was the question she had most wanted to avoid. She had been asking herself the same thing ever since she met Romulus.
Would she have been attracted to him without all this messy soul mate business? Selene reflexively wanted to deny it, but she liked Joan, and wanted to be honest with her. More importantly, she wanted to be honest with herself. “There’s something about him that’s just so… it hits me right in the pit of my stomach.”
She cradled her belly. “I don’t know what it is, but when he looks at me, I feel so seen. I don’t even know how to describe it.”
Joan rested her elbow on the edge of the couch and rested her chin on her hand. She’d seen this type of emotion from newly fated couples. It was always so much fun to watch.
Admittedly, most of the women she’d seen go through it had been excited to find their fated, but they had been raised in the Order. But she remembered how it felt to experience that fated rush. “Butterflies?”
“Try a bull ramming itself into my midsection. He just looks at me like…” Selene shrugged. She couldn’t even put it into words. She’d never experienced anything like it before. Some small part of her worried that no one would make her feel that way ever again.
“Like you’re the most precious thing in this world?”
That was the closest way she could explain it. He looked at her like she was so precious he would never let her go. It was terrifying and thrilling at the same time. “Yes.”
“So, I know that the fact that he thinks you were soulmates in the last life doesn’t mean that you should be together now, but is it reason enough to run away from him now? You’re attracted to him. He obviously loves you. Why not give it a try?”
Selene finished her wine and addressed her new friend, “I want him to love me for me, not just the idea of me.”
Her new friend lifted her glass in a toast. “Don’t we all.”
Chapter Six
I want to be your soulmate, even if I don’t believe in them.
– Colleen Hoover
Selene shot awake to the sound of the floor just outside her door creaking. Thinking that it was just Joan up and about to get water, stretch, or do god knows whatever members of the “Order” did, she snuggled deeper into her pillow and tried to go back to sleep. She had to be up early again.
Selene was just stretching out when she heard a thud outside of the door. Her heart accelerated and she felt it beating rapidly in her chest.
While part of her felt fear, the other, sleepier part of her was annoyed at the prospect that this would be the second time in the span of 48 hours that someone had broken into her room.
Reaching down to pull out the baseball bat she had kept
under her bed and used when Dougall intruded, she gripped it tightly and slowly moved the covers off her legs. Her bedroom was dark, and she could tell from the lack of light under her door that it was still dark in her living room.
She stood beside her door now, bat in hand. She oscillated between wanting to open the bedroom door and feeling stupid for holding a bat because she thought she heard a thud. But then the sound of glass shattering-- potentially the wine bottle they’d left on the coffee table-- filled the apartment.
Taking a deep breath Selene prepared to open the door. But suddenly her bedroom door was flung open and a shape burst through. Swinging the bat like the all-star she never was, Selene threw all her weight forward. But the bat seemed to suspend in the air, and she quickly realized that it was Joan-- and not an intruder.
“Oh my gosh, I thought you were an intruder! I am so --”
Joan put all her body weight against the door and jiggled the handle. She hissed in frustration when she realized that Selene’s bedroom door did not have a lock on it. “Selene, listen to me, I think Kem sent people. We need to get you out of here.”
Selene nodded and moved towards the window. Joan whisper yelled, “no! Not the window. I think they might be below your window, too.”
Selene pulled on a sweater and moved beside Joan to brace the door. Now that whoever was in the house realized that they knew, the intruders ruthlessly beat at the door. The frame reverberated with every hit and her lungs shuddered with each shake.
She pushed against the door and looked at Joan. Her friend’s hands were glowing dimly. “Can you create a portal?”
Joan shook her head. “Kem must have found a power disrupter. A member of the Order gone to the dark side. We have to get out of here the old-fashioned way. Any minute this door is going to get broken down. You take boxing, right?”
“Only recreationally! I don’t compete.”
Joan shook her head, “you do now. Just do your best to get to the door.”
A fist broke through the door space between them. Joan flung open the door and shoved her body into whomever was on the other side and pinned them to the ground. “Selene! Go!”
