“This brings me back to the courtyard days,” she whispered into my ear.
“Except it’s a lot easier now than it was before,” I added.
“It feels more right, huh?” she asked affectionately, drawing me closer. I could feel the warmth of her body as she rested against my chest, peacefully swaying to the song. “I’m glad we were able to see past our differences and make this work, Lance,” she whispered.
I stroked her hair affectionately, feeling like the luckiest man alive to have a girl like her. I held her close to me that night, not wanting to let go as she slept. It had been a long time since I’d felt this way for someone and in a way, I think it frightened me.
When Rachel died, a piece of me died with her. I never thought I would feel this way again—not for a normal girl, let alone a fiend. Lara somehow reminded me of the happiness I had once felt with Rachel. I couldn’t put my finger on why, but I guess it was just the way she smiled, making me feel like a million bucks every time I was around her. She would purr occasionally in her sleep as I lay there stroking her, realizing that this was the girl I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. I woke up early the next morning, making sure not to wake her up as I slipped out of bed. I silently put on a pair of shorts and then tucked her in affectionately before I left.
I walked down past the food market, taking a left into a jewelry store. The cashier watched me as I looked at the selection of rings. I finally found one that I knew Lara would love. The small, reddish diamond sparkled as the light from overhead danced off it.
“Is there any way I can work for this ring?” I asked the lady at the counter.
She sniffed the air for a second, picking up on my scent. “We don’t serve humans,” she shot back.
“Please … I don’t have much, but this must be worth something,” I begged her, pulling out the twenty crome, my silver medal, and a gold watch that I had found during the battle.
She glanced at my items, and when she saw the medal, she looked at me a bit more warmly. “You must be that human who was riding the fiend around, killing soldiers and blowing up artillery.” I nodded. She grabbed my stuff and put it in the pocket of her shorts. “Tell you what,” she said. “You clean these windows and counters, and you can have the ring.”
I happily accepted her offer, and I finished the job two hours later. As promised, she gave me the ring, wishing me good luck. I put it in my pocket and jogged back up to Lara’s room, hoping that she was still asleep. To my surprise, she wasn’t lying there anymore. I cautiously opened the bathroom door when I heard sounds coming from there—Lara was puking her guts out. She swiftly turned to me, panting, about to say something, and then turned back to puke in the toilet again.
“Are you all right?” I asked, taking a step closer.
She shook her head, looking up at me again. “Just … just leave me alone. It’s my tricnoses. I don’t want to hurt you … I’m not safe right now. Go away. I’ll come out in a bit.”
I nodded and obediently closed the door. I sat down on our pile of blankets, listening to the occasional screams of pain and panting erupting from the bathroom. To my relief, Lara emerged an hour or so later. She sat down beside me and asked grumpily, “So where have you been?”
“I just went out for a walk,” I said. “I woke up early and didn’t want to wake you up.” I looked at the wrapped-up bed sheets behind her. “Is that blood?”
“Yes, I didn’t wake up quickly enough. I suppose it’s for the best that you weren’t here to see me like this.” Tears formed in her eyes.
“Did you take those pills for your tricnoses?” I asked, trying to be helpful.
She curled up, leaning forward and holding her stomach in pain. “Don’t tell me what to do. I think I can decide for myself if I want to drug myself or not,” she snapped.
“I wasn’t telling you what to do. I just wanted to know if you did.”
“Just sit here and shut up, okay, Lance?” she said bluntly, while leaning her head against my shoulder.
I stroked her hair gently as we sat there for a while. Her pains were becoming worse, and claws would sometimes emerge from her hand and then retreat as she calmed herself down. “Listen, I’m sorry about what I just said,” she told me. “Luna had come by this morning and inspected them. She told me that the pills were to aggravate me, so that when I became pregnant, I would kill you.” Lara took in a deep breath as a moment of clarity seemed to hit her.
“Why would Dasha want me dead?” I asked, shocked by the news.
“With you out of the picture, she probably figured that I would think it was my fault and would give her the baby, once it was born, for testing. Then they could discover more about mixed breeds between humans and pure-bloods,” Lara explained, taking another deep breath.
“So Luna said the pregnancy pills were fine?” I asked.
Lara nodded, shivering violently as a spasm overtook her. I was starting to get a bit nervous, as her symptoms began to get worse and worse. She leaned forward and let out a shrill scream. Her backbone protruded from her back, stretching her skin, which was darkening as black fur sprouted along her back and face. “Oh God, oh God, no!” she yelled in a panic, thrashing around on the floor.
I leaned over her, trying to calm her down a bit. She tried to take off the new clothes she’d bought the day before, but she wasn’t quick enough. They ripped as her muscular body protruded, and she viciously swung one of her clawed paws at me. Once fangs began to replace her teeth, I knew she had lost control, so I gently set her down on the ground.
I then hopped over the bunker and dashed behind the metal closet door, locking myself in, like she had instructed me to do in case this ever happened. There was a moment where all I could hear was Lara groaning. She then let out a bloodcurdling scream of pain, and all hell broke loose.
I heard her growl as the transformation completed, followed by the sounds of her stumbling around the room, smashing through everything in her path. The sounds of wood splintering and glass shattering filled the air. I tried to cover my ears, but I could still hear it, along with her enraged fiend cries.
The fiend scar of Lara suddenly started to sear against my chest, causing me to yelp in pain. It burned a bright red, illuminating the inside of the closet, and blood began to leak through it, along with steam rising from the scar. As if responding to my cry of pain, I heard Lara howl and then bam! The steel door dented as Lara hurled her body at it, leaving an impression of a claw mark.
She repeated this process a few more times to no avail. The snarling continued, and I could hear her ripping through more stuff in our room. This behavior lasted for at least fifteen minutes, as blood continued to occasionally leak through my scar—it was throbbing painfully, becoming more and more unbearable.
I remembered Lara telling me that her fiend side would never hurt me, and the main job of a female fiend was to protect its male companion. So against my better judgment, I unlocked the door, just as I heard Lara preparing for another attack on it. She instantly stopped rampaging through all the furniture and glanced over at me.
We both stood still, staring each other down for what seemed like a year, although in reality, it probably was only about five seconds. She took a couple steps forward, but I stood my ground, scared stiff, shaking a little as I held out my hand to pet her. She purred, and I scratched the back of her ears.
Without warning, she pounced on me, sending us both to the ground. She licked the blood from my throbbing scar, which immediately relieved the pain and turned the scar from red back to its normal faded black. Her bloodshot eyes stared down at me for a second and then suddenly, her gigantic feet faltered underneath her, and she clumsily fell over on top of me. Her body shrank back to her normal human size, and an unconscious naked Lara was draped across me.
Silence enveloped the room for a split second before she began to
moan, regaining consciousness. She looked around, seeming confused for a moment, and then said, “I’m sorry I lost control again. I didn’t hurt you, did I?”
“No, I’m fine. Your wild fiend side was actually fairly nice to me this time. I think it’s starting to get a crush on me,” I joked with her.
She laughed but then stopped. “Aw, shit. I ripped my new clothes already.”
“Yeah, you lost control so fast, there wasn’t enough time for me to save them,” I told her.
“Man … do you know how expensive it is to try to keep good-looking clothes as a female fiend?” she asked with a disappointed laugh. “Oh well, clothes can be replaced. I can’t replace you, though,” she told me lovingly, with a kiss. “Give me your shorts and T-shirt so I have something to wear. You can wear your pants and hoodie.”
“All right.”
“We can buy new clothes and stuff once were Monatello,” she said. She got dressed and then reached into the pocket of my shorts. “I swear, you’re such a guy, Lance,” she scolded playfully. “You buy new clothes and not even a day later, you already got it filled with junk.”
“Shit!” I exclaimed to myself, whirling around as she reached into the pocket and pulled out gum wrappers from the dance—and the sparkling red engagement ring.
She looked at it for a moment in shock, glancing from it to me. I wanted to say something, but my voice seemed to have abandoned me. At that moment, I would have given anything to just shrink into a microscopic speck and float away.
Lara tried to say something, but it appeared that she was suffering from the same loss of speech as I was. She finally broke the tense silence between us by saying, “Um … I don’t think I was supposed to see this yet.”
I stared at the floor and kicked some debris away nervously. I took a step forward and took the ring from her. I got down on one knee, and she covered her mouth to stop herself from crying out in excitement. “Um … I was thinking maybe you could be my wife,” I said timidly, offering the ring back up to her.
She nodded happily as tears trickled down her beautiful face. I stood as she took the ring and wiped away another tear. “I was thinking maybe you could be my husband,” she replied softly in a happy, quivering voice. She tried on the ring and opened up her arms to hug me. She winced as we made out on the floor.
“Are you still having your tricnoses?” I asked after we finished another kiss.
She giggled at my concerned face, whipping her hair away from her eyes to stare up at me. “Watch out, Lance. I’m going to get you!” she joked, baring her fangs, which returned to normal as she kissed me again and held me tightly to her chest. “Don’t worry; nothing could ruin this,” she whispered in my ear.
I relaxed a bit, and she patted my back, glancing at her hand and then holding it out in front of us. “It’s so beautiful. No one’s ever gotten me something like this before,” she told me affectionately. She gently slid her hand across my cheek. “Thank you so much,” she whispered as tears streamed down her face.
We packed our bags that night, after she had said good-bye to Luna and announced that I had proposed to her. A couple hours later, she signed us both out of the base, and I got on top of her as she transformed and took off into the air. It was an amazingly quiet night as we flew along the treetops.
I carried Lara’s ring in my pocket—it would have just busted if she’d kept it on while in her fiend form. We arrived at Monatello City around one in the morning. I realized that it was a pretty big city as Lara flew around the fenced-in area and landed gently at the foot of the main gate, where two guards were hanging out.
She transformed to her human form, and I handed her clothes, shielding her from the guards. “I’m missing something, I think.” She giggled affectionately, holding out her hand.
I smiled, slipping the ring onto her finger and happily giving her a kiss. Her attention then focused to the guards. She strolled over to them, showing them our approved paperwork. One went inside a booth to check something. When he came out a few minutes later, he nodded us through and handed Lara an envelope. The town was nearly abandoned; streetlights flickered as we walked down the deserted sidewalks to our assigned house.
“This place just opened up a few hours ago. It may be a while before others begin arriving,” Lara reassured me.
We came to a stop a moment later, looking at the number on the side of a mailbox and then down at our joining instructions. “Number 365. This is it,” I told her, glancing down the pathway that led to our house.
Lara nodded and took two sets of keys out of an envelope. She handed one to me and opened the door with the other. We entered the small house, glancing around as Lara turned on a light. It was a pretty nice little house; it kind of resembled a hotel room.
There was a bed and bedside tables on each side of the bed with lamps on them and alarm clocks. There was also a small six-by-four-foot jail cell in the corner of the room, along with a swinging door that led to the kitchen. By the bedside, there was a round table with four chairs around it, similar to what you would typically see in a hotel room.
There was also a bathroom with a shower and bathtub in it. “If you snore, that’s where you’re sleeping,” I told Lara playfully.
“We’ll see about that, smart-ass,” she shot back, giving me a light punch on my shoulder.
We set down our bags on the floor beside the door, as the novelty of our new place wore off. “I’m going to take a shower,” Lara said. “I’m all sweaty from flying with some fat ass on my back for three hours.”
“Hey, don’t talk about your mother that way!” I joked.
Lara smirked, flipping me the middle finger. I laughed, flopping onto the bed like a little kid as she went into the bathroom. I let out a sigh, relaxing a little, allowing the mattress to absorb me. I opened a plastic bag on the nightstand that contained a whole bunch of advertisements, magazines, and brochures in it, describing the goals of the community, along with rules to follow while staying in Monatello. There was a list of events for the month, along with a diagram of Monatello City, which showed the locations of restaurants, public washrooms, fields, and entertainment areas, such as the movie theater and bowling alleys. I picked up another brochure, stumbling over the wording of it a little bit. The water in the bathroom stopped running, followed by the sounds of Lara bustling around inside for a few moments.
“Would you mind reading this?” I asked, a bit embarrassed, as she emerged from the bathroom with a towel, drying off her hair.
“Sure,” she replied with a warm smile.
That was another thing that I loved about Lara—she knew that I was illiterate, but she never once threw it in my face and always was willing to help me out.
“Welcome to Monatello City,” she read. “Thank you for taking the first step toward peace by volunteering to be a resident of our newly developed city. It is our hope that we will be able to integrate our two populations successfully, so that that we can one day live together in peace. The idea was first developed by General Yazika, commander of the Northern Brigade, in charge of all operations in and around the region of the Harush Forest.” She paused, glancing over at my smirk. “What’s so funny?” she asked.
“I find it ironic that the man who has waged war on me and my people for the past four years is the same man who came up with the bright idea of a peace offering,” I told her with a laugh.
She lay down on the bed beside me. “That is pretty funny,” she agreed. Then she turned her attention back to the magazine and continued reading. “During your stay here in Monatello City, our staff of highly qualified soldiers will protect you. They have been handpicked to carry out the task of maintaining peace and discipline within the cities limits. Please do not be alarmed by their presence, as they pose no threat to you. Thank you once again on behalf of everyone involved in the creation of this city, for making the smoot
h transition from war to peace possible and for building a future world that our next generation can enjoy.” She handed the brochure back to me and said excitedly, “This sounds like it will be an awesome place for us to start our family!”
I nodded, pretending to be interested in another brochure in order to avoid the conversation. She must have noticed my reluctance because she immediately changed the subject—that was rare for Lara; usually she picked at things forever until they developed into an argument. We talked about all the cool activities we would be able to do over the next month, and eventually she fell asleep, snuggled right up against my chest, purring contentedly.
I was rudely awakened the next morning by Lara nudging my ribs impatiently. “What?” I asked, expecting her to want to talk about something urgent.
“I’m hungry,” she said innocently.
“Ungh … go to hell,” I grunted sleepily, hitting her with my pillow. I placed the pillow over my eyes, trying to fall back to sleep.
“Come on! I want to go eat breakfast with my man,” she whined affectionately.
“Too bad. Life’s full of disappointments. Get used to it,” I shot back sleepily.
“I’ll let you say hello to two of my friends when we get back,” she bargained with me, a sly grin spreading across her face.
I peeked from under the pillow and saw that she had taken off her shirt. “Urgggh … it’s a close call but still no. I see them all the time anyway.”
She gasped with mock hurt. “No sex for you tonight!” She gave me a gentle slap as she got up.
I retreated under my pillow, but my victory didn’t last long. Lara returned to my bedside for round two—by dousing me with water. “God damn it, Lara!” I shouted as she scampered back to the kitchen with her empty glass. I sighed, chucking my soaked pillow at the door and grumpily putting on my pants and shirt from the day before.
“Aw, now Lance is mad because the mean old Lara made him get up at eleven in the morning,” she mocked me in a babyish tone as she came back and sat on the edge of the bed. Her eyes flicked light green, and my shoes suddenly came to life, running across the floor and jumping onto my feet, tying themselves as if they had a mind of their own.
The Unexpected War Page 11