by Dawn Gray
“When I was mortal, I was seeing this girl in secret.” He whispered after an odd moment of silence and he crossed his arms over his chest. “Her father didn't like the fact that we were involved, and I didn't realize the real reason until it was too late. He didn't want me near her because he knew she was going to die.
“Klamara came for her, the red clouds just suddenly rolled in and I became protective. I wasn't going to let him take her, so I got in the way, and put myself between him and her when he let out that bolt of whatever it is that shoots out of his hand. It hit me full force and rendered me unconscious. When I woke up, I was like this and she was dead.” He looked down at his hands, then clenched then into fists. “My hair and eyes had become the color of blood, where they used to be dark like my brother's. I've tried numerous times to stop him, even the last time you were here.”
“I remembered it the other day.” I replied and sighed, “But, it ended with me blacking out.”
“Maybe, it's better that way.” Creolas said, softly.
The two of us looked up at the wooden walkway as we heard footsteps approaching. Julian stopped just at the top of the dunes and looked down at us. Creolas turned and stepped closer to me.
“You're best bet, O'Neal, would be just to go home and hide with your son. Being with them is dangerous.” He whispered, looking deep into my eyes, staring at me with glowing red ones of his own that I was suddenly, unafraid of.
“It seems being here with any of you is dangerous.” I replied and watched him smile, then turn and walk away, down the beach. I watched his red hair disappear around the corner and slowly, I turned back to Julian. “I'm not speaking to you, so, you might as well go back to the house.”
“Did he hurt you?” He asked, coming closer to me, and then he stopped at the end of the walk.
“Nothing Creolas does now can hurt me as much as you have.” I told him as I turned back towards the water.
“I know that I won't be able to apologize enough for what I've done, but I had my reasons and I didn't really have a say in it.”
“Oh, please, don't give me that.” I sighed, rubbed my head and turned to look at him. “Go away.”
“Would you, please, just listen to me, Caitlyn?” He asked and I started to walk by him.
“And, what would that get me? More lies, more secrets?” I questioned. “I'm done talking now, Julian. Tomorrow night is the full moon. If Klamara is coming for me, then so be it, if not, I'll be leaving and not coming back.”
“You can't leave.” He said, grabbing my arm. I snatched it away from him and looked him straight in the eyes.
“Just try and stop me.” I replied and walked away.
I sat on the bed in my room thinking about all that had happened to me and all that I had found out about my son. Nothing made much sense to me right then and I wasn't sure it would ever make sense again.
Julian had hurt me, but the more I thought about things, the more I realized that what he had done had, in fact, insured my son's safety from Klamara's revenge. If Damien was indeed Julian's son, then the fact that he was also part of the Kingdom would protect him. All of the children, whether their mothers know or not, are part vampire. According to the prophecy, one made long before even Larado was born, back in the beginning, the princes were to be of “no mortal man's blood”, which meant that they were indeed vampires and protected by forces that no one understood.
I looked up at the ceiling and listened to the footfalls above my head. My eyes slowly closed as I worked up the nerve to move from the spot on the bed where I sat. There was something I decided needed to be said, not that I had made time to think about it, and I knew just who I needed to say it too.
15
I made my way upstairs and stopped just in front of the door to Julian's room. I thought about knocking but decided against it and opened the door slowly. When I looked in, standing in the doorway, I saw Julian sitting at the desk in the corner of the room. He looked over at me, made a sour face and looked back at his paperwork.
“I thought you were leaving.” He said, softly.
“I have something to say.” I replied and walked in the room. Julian turned in his seat and looked at me.
“Come in, make yourself at home.” He said in a sarcastic tone. I raised my eyebrows at him and stood, leaning against the footboard of his canopy bed. “So, let's hear it.”
“I'm never going to forget what happened, Julian, or what you did to me.” I said, softly. He rolled his eyes.
“I've heard this before, several times, I think.” He replied. “So, unless there's something else.”
“There is.” I stuck my hands in my pants pockets. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes for a short moment, then looked at him and shrugged. “I was wrong.” I heard him breathe in quickly and he closed his eyes. “I...I understand why you did what you did. I know that you had knowledge of the prophecy and that you felt you were protecting me, also I think there was a higher power involved because of...our...son, and his involvement in the Kingdom prophecy.”
“You wouldn't let me explain that part.” He whispered and looked up at me.
“I know, and, like I said, I was wrong.” I stood and walked over to the window, just to his left, glancing out the window. “I realized that no matter what you did in the past and no matter what happen in the future, I need you right now.” I turned and looked at him only to find out that he had stood and was coming closer to me. “It also made me realize just how deep my feelings for you were.”
“So, what your saying is?” He asked, as a smile played across his lips.
“I love you, Julian. I can't deny that, last night was obvious of that point, but I also don't know what to do about it.” I sighed. He leaned down and touched my cheek with his. “Tomorrow night could be the end of everything and we still don't know about our spirit.”
“Don't worry about it; these things seemed to work themselves out in time.” I looked up into his eyes and smiled. “What is it?”
“Not to ruin the moment, but, when I was talking to Creolas, I got a strange insight into his anger, and all the things that he's done.”
“All he's done is hurt you, and you don't need any kind of insight to see that.” He replied and looked out the window.
“Klamara made him like he is.” I whispered. “He was trying to save some girl and was harmed in the process.”
“And, you believed him.” I looked up at him, quickly, and crossed my arms. Julian raised his hands as an invisible barrier against the fire in my stare. “Sorry, I've never been able to trust Creolas, especially with you, so it's hard for me to believe anything he says, but, if you think he's telling the truth, then maybe we can use this hatred he has towards the world in our favor.”
“I may trust what he says, but he's still too dangerous to be played around with.” I sighed and looked at my hands. “His powers are...his powers are too strong to mess with.”
“Okay, off the subject of Creolas and on to another mood breaker.” Julian sighed as he backed up against the desk. “Have you remembered anything else from the last time you were here?”
“Not yet.” I sighed and walked over to sit on the bed. Julian moved closer to me, stepping away from the desk. I watched him stand over me, then lean down, trapping me between the bed and his body. “What are you planning, Julian?”
“Nothing.” He smiled.
“Yeah, right, I can see a scheme brewing in those green eyes of yours right now.” I laughed, moving backwards on the bed. Julian came up to lie between my legs, pressing his body against mine, as he placed his arms on either side of my head. “Now, out with it.”
“Oh, it's just a small mood enhancer.” He replied as his lips touched mine. I smiled against his lips and put my hand on his hips. My eyes closed and I gave into the fire that seemed to burn, quite heatedly, every time Julian touched me, but that's when I felt it. Something touched my shoulders, but I knew that the only one in the room with me was Julian. I moved away f
rom his lips as the touch became a grasp. “What is it?”
“Something's got me.” I whispered as fear replaced the fire and suddenly I was being thrown across the room.
I hit the door with full force and it knocked the wind out of me, but as I looked down, I realized that I hadn't hit the floor yet. I looked over at Julian, then down at my dangling feet.
“Get me down!” I said; my voice shaking as I kicked my feet against the door and as I looked up what I saw wasn't Julian's room, but a black and silver vortex that opened up right in front of me. I screamed as it became as wide as the room, floor to ceiling, and struggled against the invisible person that held me. “Julian!”
“What's going on?” He yelled, over the deafening noise that the vortex was letting off. I couldn't see him, because he was either to my side or behind the vortex, either way, I don't believe he really saw anything.
The hold on me released, but instead of being dropped to the floor, I was thrown into the whirling darkness of the vortex in front of me.
When I opened my eyes, I looked drowsily at the side view picture of a lush green field with a thin group of trees in the background. Slowly, I sat upright and looked around me. I wasn't anywhere that I recognized, and that bothered me. If I wasn't in Connecticut anymore, then where was I? This question was answered, rather quickly, when a young looking man walked, slowly, out of the woods, looking down at me as he approached with caution.
I stood to meet him, as he looked at me strangely. His eyes were full of wisdom, even though his face looked quite young, and his light brown hair was pulled back in a ribbon, holding it away from his face. My eyes widened as I noticed how familiar the features of this face looked, when he finally stopped a few feet from me.
“And, you are?” He asked, folding his hands behind his back.
“Caitlyn.” I replied, slipping my hands in the pockets of my jeans. “And, you would be?”
“Larado.” He answered, and that's when I realized where I had seen his face before, some features of it I saw every day when I looked in the mirror. “You're not dead, are you?”
“Not that I know of. Should I be?” I questioned. Larado nodded.
“Usually, when your here, your dead.” He shrugged, and then stepped closer, looking at me with squinted eyes. “Wait a minute, I know you.”
“I don't think so.” I replied, crossing my arms, waving him off as I looked around. “You died a long time before I was born.”
“Yes, that's true, but still, you look familiar.” He answered. “I must have seen you from somewhere.”
“A prophecy, maybe?” I asked. “You know, on a full moon night, in one hundred years, blah, blah, blah.”
“Yes, of course. You're her.” He smiled and reached out to touch my hair. I stepped back away from him and shook my head. “Julian must have found you then.”
“Yes, he did, and things haven't quite turned out the way you might think.” I replied.
“You're son? You do have a son, don't you?” He asked, nodding at his own question.
“Yes, I have a son.”
“A prince of the Kingdom, correct.”
“Look, if you know all of this, why are you asking?” I asked, getting annoyed.
“How many of them have come true?” Larado looked at me, with a bit of concern on his face.
“How many of what?” I questioned.
“The prophecies, how many have come true?”
“As far as I know, in the last two years, this will be the third, if I can ever find out how to get out of here!” I said shaking my head. “Do you know how?”
“I don't even know how you got here.” He shrugged.
“Great, what good are you?” I sighed and watched his face take on a sour look. “Sorry. I was sucked in through a vortex that just happened to appear in Julian's bedroom.”
“A vortex?” He said, softly, and then looked up at me. “Come with me, I think there's some things we need to discuss.”
“First, I'd like to know one thing.”
“Sure.”
“Am I ever going to get home? Did Klamara bring me here?”
“That's two things, and, no, Klamara didn't bring you here. You're here for a different reason.” He replied and gestured to the woods. “Come with me and we'll get this thing figured out.”
I walked with him through the woods, and no matter how many times I tried to speak; the words just wouldn't come out, not until we reached our destination. I stopped and looked at the area surrounding the tunnel that we were about to enter.
“This is it.” I whispered. Larado looked at me, quickly, and then looked back at the tunnel.
“This is what?” He asked.
“The cave, this entrance, its looks like the same one that Klamara died in.” I replied. Larado smiled, and then clapped his hands.
“You are amazing.” He said and looked at me as if I had just been a masterpiece he had finished.
“Excuse me?” I replied.
“When I dreamed about you, when I told Julian of the prophecy, I never thought you would be this powerful.”
“I'm not powerful; I'm a weakling that has let one man conceive a son with me, and not know it, has another man who insists on protecting me because Julian is, according to him, an imbecile and one other that thinks I'm his personal drinking fountain. Oh, yeah, really powerful.” I said, rolling my eyes.
“I think you'll find that you're more powerful than you think.” He smiled and the two of us entered the cave. As we reached the end of the tunnel, it didn't surprise me that we stepped into the same room that Klamara had walked into when confronting the witch. “Do you recognize this place?”
“Yes, this was where the whole thing started.” I whispered and looked at him, then around at the empty room. “So, why are we here, again?”
“There are things you must see.” He smiled. I looked at him, questioning exactly what I was supposed to be seeing. “Ah, you don't really know where you are, do you.”
“If I did, I wouldn't be following you to find out how to get home.” I sighed, and then shook my head. “I'm sorry. Larado, but this is all a bit difficult for me to handle right now. My whole reality just got sucked down the drain when a hole opened up and pulled me through.”
“First off, let me explain something to you.” He smiled, taking my hand. “You haven't really left the bedroom.”
“Excuse me?” I asked, not believing what I was being told.
“This is your inner mind, a sort of astral plane within a person's own mind. The vortex was a way of getting you to come into yourself to see this important information.”
“What important information, and who is it about?” I questioned.
“Why don't we go inside, I can answer a lot more of your questions there?” He smiled. There was something about his smile this time that made me a little uneasy, but what choice did I have. If this was my mind, it wasn't letting me out; no matter how much I tried, until I knew whatever it was that I was brought here to find out.
I looked to that sky, as the clouds and the night started to roll in, then I looked at the cave as the entrance slowly began to glow, as if a light had just started to come on.
“One more question before we get started.” I said and turned to look at him. He nodded, grinning. “The day that Klamara came for you, what went on? How come you weren't taken then?”
“For the same reason you weren't taken the day he came for you three years ago, it wasn't time.” He replied; the grin he wore never seemed to leave his face. “You had other things to do before you faced him again. Most of the time, the people he takes know what they are, or who they are, but I don't think he left you because of your lack of knowledge, something else drove him away, or someone.”
“Great, one more mystery I have to figure out.” I sighed. “Okay, let's get on with this.”
“I'm glad you're so open to this.” He said, and walked over to the cloth covered doorway in the far corner of the room. “I want
you to remember something; this is the past, no one that you are about to meet will know you, and please play along as we go.
“Why are you showing me this?” I asked him. “Why can I talk to you as if you know I come from the future, if this is the past?”
“Just call me a spiritual guide.” He laughed. “You and I are connected by blood, which means that what I've done in the past also becomes your past.”
“You're not dead, are you?” I asked him. Larado just smiled and shrugged, and then turned to look at the curtain in front of him.
I watched as several people walked into the room and made themselves comfortable around the room. I stood there, in the middle of a group of very unique individuals, but I didn't realize that there were two others that were about to make an entrance.
I looked over as the curtain draw back once more and a young man walked out. He was an exact replica of Klamara, and he smiled at me, but his eyes seemed to be a bit different, not in color, for they were exactly like his father's, but in an emotional way. He looked me over with a disapproving look then looked over at Larado.
“What stray have you brought home this time, Larado?” He asked.
“Be nice, Auron, she's a guest, not a stray.” Larado said, as the smile faded from his lips.
“What clan does she belong too?” He asked, putting a foot up on one of the stairs, and then he leaned on his thigh with his lower arms.
“She doesn't belong to any clan.” Larado replied.
“Then, she's a stray.” He said and looked over me as I stood there. “Though, I have to admit, you do find the prettiest looking strays I've ever seen, can I have her?”
“Why you little puke.” I snapped, and then watched Larado straighten and look at me with disapproval. I crossed my arms and stepped down, as I eyed him with disgust.
“Ooh, she's feisty, isn't she?” He walked over to me and grabbed a handful of my hair, then pulled my head back, exposing my neck. He didn't scare me, as I stood there, staring up at him. “She's defiant, too. Just look how she stares.” Auron's teeth became sharp as he snarled at me. “Eyes to the floor, wench.”