Fitzray was right, right all along. This werewolf will kill me right here. By the time Fitzray gets back, I will be a pool of blood at his feet.
He strode toward me, his dog-like teeth exposed as he started to transform into a wolf. I turned and ran as fast as I could, the monster close behind. I stopped once I saw Fitzray.
His back was against the high side of the stone bridge. The gray wolf’s claws extended deep into his neck. Blood dripped from the deep gashes.
Paralyzed, I helplessly watched as the wolf’s teeth came close to his face and snapped his jaws viciously.
“No!” I screamed. Minx slipped from my hands onto the Bridge.
The gray wolf turned his head and leapt toward me, leaving Fitzray.
“Go! Go Chenille, run!” Fitzray said hoarsely. His hands clutched his bleeding neck as he fell to his knees.
I hesitated and bent down to pick up Minx, but the wolf snapped at my hand and I quickly withdrew it, stumbling back. I fell against the cold stone unable to move. The gray wolf walked close to Minx and carefully carried him away in his mouth, joining the other wolf.
“No, no Minx, they have Minx!” I whispered in desperation, my throat dry and sore.
Without my consent, my eyes closed, shielding me from the horror that now walked away with my precious dragon.
A high fever woke me hours later, my eyes stung, my lips burning. My eyes opened slowly. Tears flooded over my lids. I was on a small bed with clean, crisp white sheets. The smell of over-sanitation filled my nose at once, but I disregarded it. Fitzray sat on the corner of the bed with his head in his hands. A pale scar on his neck was the only evidence that I did not dream the incident on the Bridge.
“How are you doing?”
“I…I don’t know. I feel really hot.” I felt around the bed, suddenly panicked. “Where is Minx? Where’s Minx!”
“Minx was taken away by the wolves. I tried to stop them, but I couldn’t.”
“No, no! This is my fault! Oh, my poor Minx is out there in the cold world with those wolves!”
“It’s my fault. I shouldn’t have taken you over the Bridge. I knew something would go wrong.”
“We have to go find him,” I said, sitting up.
“You will have to wait,” Fitzray said, pressing lightly on my shoulders. “The doctors are still trying to figure out why you passed out and why you spiked such a high fever.”
We waited for what seemed like hours in silence until finally, a striking vampire, dressed in a long white lab coat entered the room.
“Ah, Chenille East, I ran a few tests and I think we’ve got our answer.” He nodded toward Fitzray. “Have you kissed her within the past few days?”
His face deepened to a glow and he cleared his throat with a nod.
“That explains it then. A vampire possesses a poison, I’m sure you are well aware, and you must have had an allergic reaction to it. It’s fairly common with young vampires.”
“And my fever and symptoms, will they go away?”
“They will subside soon.”
“Does that mean I will always be allergic to his poison?”
“No, you will soon be immune to his poison and no longer get that allergy, but that doesn’t mean you are immune to all of the vampire poisons. Each vampire has a different poison and causes a different allergy, that in which may range from burning of the lips to slurred speech to paralysis and in the rarest of cases, death.”
“Death?” I got a chill at the very thought of such a strong poison.
“It is mainly caused from a very, very strong vampire feeding off a mortal.”
I sank back into the warm sheets and noted the doctor’s bright blue eyes and caramel brown hair.
“Ah, I didn’t recognize you in this light, Caspian.” Fitzray laughed. He turned to me with a smile. “This is Caspian, a fellow clan member and partner in crime.”
“Right, sorry, I didn’t introduce myself.”
“Nice to meet you.”
“Caspian is the City’s finest doctor.”
“Is that so?”
“I suppose it is,” the doctor replied humbly.
“Could you tell me where to go for help to find my lost dragon?”
Caspian stuck one hand in his coat pocket and shifted his weight over to his left foot. “Well, since you’re already here, at the City of Lights, you could go to the reservoir and look for Taj’. He should be able to direct you from there.”
“Taj’?”
“Yes, I know Taj’. He’ll help us,” Fitzray assured me.
There was a sudden cry from a distant room in the hospital and Caspian flew toward the door.
“I’d love to chat, but as you can see I am needed elsewhere. Good luck, you are free to go, and feel better.” He smiled quickly and left.
“Come on, let’s go!” I sat up quickly and peeled the white sheets off my burning body.
“Take it easy, we’ll find Minx, don’t you worry. Just try to rest a bit.”
“I don’t care! I have to find Minx!”
He sighed and helped me to my feet. Reluctantly he offered me a hand, which quickly transpired to a full arm around my waist due to my inability to stand up straight.
“Let’s go, this is the last day of the eclipse,” I urged, more to push myself forward.
The crisp warm sheets lingered behind me, called out to my tired bones. If I returned to rest it would only be another minute – another minute I could not afford to lose.
Outside, it was cold and a harsh wind chilled my skin to my bones. If not for my urgency to move on I would have stopped to admire the glorious city. Unfortunately, I did not have the time.
“The City of Lights,” Fitzray said with a gesture to the skyscrapers that crowded around us.
Large old lampposts lined the streets, making the buildings around us visible as though it were day, despite the heavy overcast and shadows cast from the two moons.
I had been in this city only once or twice since the walking distance from the house was too far and Zaire never offered protection to me from the strong werewolves and vampires that lurked.
“I know where we must go.”
After a while of walking, my pace slowed almost to a stop and we sat on an old wood bench to rest. Each time I struggled to go on, but the vision of Minx and his loud cries were still fresh in my mind and Fitzray’s words helped sustain me.
“We are almost there, you are doing great.” He would continue to say. More than once he had offered to carry me or to stop, but I knew it would only slow us down.
“The reservoir, there it is,” Fitzray said at last and led me to its edge.
A mermaid sat on a large stone in the middle of it and turned to us skeptically.
“Hello. What brings you here?” She inquired, her peremptory gaze falling on Fitzray.
“I’ve come for Taj’.”
“Humph,” she tossed her head, her blond hair cascading down her shoulders like a soft gold wave. “You’ve come to see that old lizard? Oh, please.”
“I must speak to him.”
She sighed in frustration and crossed her arms before she dove into the water impatiently.
Huge waves rolled over onto the land before us and splashed at our feet. A massive column of water shot up to the sky, revealing a licorice black snake with silver spikes down its back.
“Fitzray my good friend,” the snake exclaimed, bending his head down to our eye level.
“Hello Taj’,” Fitzray greeted with a large, flawless smile.
Taj’s huge eye moved slightly to look at me.
“You’re a beauty.” His thunderous voice made the ground quiver.
“This is Chenille.”
“What an elegant creature you are.”
“Oh, thank you.”
“What brings the two of you here?”
“My…my dragon was kidnapped by a couple of werewolves and I need help to find him.”
The snake lifted his head, as big as an elephant, a
nd flicked out his tongue. “Savages!” The snake said, spraying out a streak of water. “Not to fear, for I know someone who can help.”
“Who, a fortuneteller or a sorcerer?”
“No, no dear, they don’t exist!” The snake shook his head. “Princess Pearl.”
“Princess, how can a princess help?”
“Do not underestimate her. She has a way with her powers.”
He looked at Fitzray with his large bronze eyes.
“Do not look into her eyes. She can hypnotize any man. She can control his actions,” he warned.
“Where can I find her?”
“Go onward through the City to the border of the woods and you will find a path that will take you to a river. Follow it until you see the Frozen Waterfalls and you shall find her there.”
“Thank you very much Taj’.”
“Good luck to you both. And if she gives you trouble, tell her that Taj’ sent you.”
Taj’ took a joyous leap back into the water, disappearing under its glassy surface.
“Come on Fitz, let’s get going.” I pulled on his hand and walked with him through the busy streets.
“You know,” he said slowing down, “they say if you go to the very top of this building, you can see the moons so clearly that you can even count the craters on their surface.” He stopped to look up at the tall building.
“But we don’t have time. We need to find Princess Pearl.”
“We will find her, I promise.” He looked at the building again. “Come, why don’t we go and see?”
“But Minx, my poor Minx,” I said pulling him away from the building.
He tightened his grip on my arm. “You’re right. We should go and get him.”
If you made it out of the woods in one piece, a worn dirt path cut through the dense greenery heading north. The path, tediously long, exhausting, and occasionally covered in overgrowth, presented us to a pond. It was here where the Frozen Waterfalls existed as a natural monument. The water that seemed frozen in time hid a rock wall. The raging torrents and white, misty froth that licked the edge of the pond ceased to move, captured in space and time as though it was a simple scenic picture.
Fitzray’s eyes studied the ground while he stood beside me. We stood before the Princess who sat in the center of the pond. She was surrounded by three vampires all who sat by her on her rock, their eyes glassy and irresponsive. Pearls covered her neck and wrists and even a tiara with silver pearls rested on her head. Her delicate pixie-like nose turned up while she rested an icy stare on us. She was dangerously beautiful.
She was not a vampire, as I expected, but a mermaid. Her blonde hair hung down into the water, her turquoise eyes refusing to move from us.
“What do you want? Can’t you see I’m busy,” she snapped.
Mermaids were selfish, haughty creatures who thought that those who walked on land should pity them. Mermaids, classified by their degree of conceit, made stumbling upon a good-natured mermaid unlikely. In fact, the majority of the species frowned upon it.
“So you are the famous Princess Pearl? It’s a pleasure,” I said quietly.
Her lips remained neutral, though she eyed me suddenly, causing me to shrink back behind Fitzray.
“Who sent you here?”
“Taj’, he sent us.”
“Is she telling the truth?” She chimed, near mocking, in Fitzray’s direction.
His head jerked to the side to avoid her glance. “Yes, Taj’ sent us because he said you could help, not criticize. Tell us where our dragon is.”
“My, my, isn’t someone a little demanding?” Her pale pink lips turned up slightly. “But, since you seem so insisting, what’s in it for me?”
“What do you want?”
“Nothing you can get me,” she said in defeat, “my powers are not as strong as they used to be. And that means Taj’ will never fall under my spell.”
“Taj’ is a good friend of mine,” Fitzray said. “I’ll put in a few good words about you to him so that way you won’t even need a spell.” His mouth twitched as though he suppressed a laugh.
“You would really do that for me?”
She touched the many pearls that hung from her neck and then her eyes became tearful. “You’re probably lying,” she accused with a scowl.
“Oh no, once I tell Taj’ all about you and how truly wonderful you are, he will reconsider.”
This time Fitzray could not suppress a chuckle from escaping his throat. The Princess eyed him suspiciously, probably suspecting that he was mad.
“You’re making mockery of me!”
Still amused, Fitzray turned to me. “Come on, she’s not going to help us.”
“But what about my dragon?”
“If she doesn’t trust my word now, then I don’t think she’ll trust us at all.”
“No wait, don’t leave. I will help you.” Desperation filled every word she forcefully uttered.
“Yeah, you help us first. Help us find our dragon.”
She frowned, looking into the water. “It doesn’t look well for your dragon.”
“How do we know if you’re telling the truth?”
“Your dragon’s name is Minx, right?”
“Yes, that is his name.”
“And how do I know Taj’ really sent you? How can I be sure that you even know Taj’?”
“Taj’ is my old friend. I’ve known him for years,” Fitzray said.
“Oh really?” She inquired, leaning forward on her rock. “Then you probably know how old he is.”
“He’s been around since the Bridge was built. I can’t give you an approximate number.”
“Then tell me how you met.”
Fitzray’s gaze rolled down to meet the water’s icy surface. For a moment, he stared blankly, perhaps stalling time to conjure up his thoughts. He was wasting precious time.
“I was a sailor once. I sailed the seas of Catastrophe for many years with my friend Caspian.” His mouth turned up with recollection. “That was in another life. Anyway, one night a vicious storm crossed our path. Caspian and I, along with our crew, stopped at nothing to fight the wind, though we were hardly successful, as you could imagine. Our crew rebelled against us. One thing led to another and they threw me overboard. Caspian jumped in after me. Even though we were both good swimmers, we did not last very long in the raging waves. I accepted the fact that I would probably meet my death, but somehow Taj’ found us. He saved Caspian and I, brought us to shore, and we’ve been friends ever since.”
“Your story seems truthful but…it seems you don’t have an Eternal Mate. And if that’s so, then how did you have a past life?”
“Well, you’re right about me not having an Eternal Mate, but reincarnation was possible thanks to Caspian. Caspian was a healer then and still is. He always has some herbs with him, herbs that induce reincarnation and herbs that prevent it. He uses them sparingly since he only has a limited amount. He gave me a rare herb after Taj’ pulled us to shore. It somehow enabled me to have another chance at life.”
“I’ve never heard of such a thing in my life. Aren’t vampires immortal anyway?”
“Yes, when they have an Eternal Mate.”
The mermaid shook her head in defeat. “Whatever. All I know is that your dragon is being kept in the tallest building in the City.”
“Thank you,” I groaned with relief.
She shrugged and turned back to the vampires surrounding her. One of them in particular looked familiar to me.
“Calvin?”
Pearl turned to the vampire I was staring at. “Oh, is he yours? You can have him. He is of no service to me.” She said, shoving him toward me.
He looked dazed as a cloud drifted over his orange eyes. “That mermaid promised me that she would help me…and now here you are,” he droned, still in a trance. Calvin studied me and wrapped me in a warm hug. “And you’re ok. I thought something happened, I thought you were lost. I thought that green-eyed murderer took you from me.”
>
“No Calvin, I’m ok.”
“Minx is being kept in the highest building in the City of Lights, where the moons can be seen perfectly. Too bad the eclipse is ending,” Fitzray cut in, snapping my attention back to more important matters.
“There will be other eclipses.”
With little interest in the eclipse, I focused on the matter at hand. We had lost more than enough time.
“I am getting hungry, how about you guys?”
As hungry as I was, I could not stop now, so without a word I proceeded on toward the City.
“You go on Calvin. We’ll meet up with you later.”
He shrugged and made his way toward the City, heading in the direction of the nearest restaurant. Instead, Fitzray and I made our way closer to the tallest building in the City where Minx was.
“So tell me, how does marriage between vampires work? And what was that Eternal Mate stuff you were talking about?”
“Eternal Mate stuff,” he exhaled, probably stalling to gather his thoughts. “The vampire that turned you is referred to you as your Eternal Mate. If you had a relationship with someone else there would be a fight and the winner would be your mate for all eternity.”
“So the guy that turned me into a vampire is out there?”
My spine quivered as an uncontrollable shudder wracked my bones.
“Yep, he’s probably looking for you right now as we speak.”
I shivered again and bit my lip. “And what if he wins?”
“You mean, if your Eternal Mate wins? He would be your mate for all eternity. He would basically control you and unfortunately you wouldn’t have a say.”
He shook his head and I figured he was brushing away his thoughts as I was. “We’re here.” He made a motion toward the building.
The building was deserted and quiet, odd for such a popular tourist attraction.
“How will we find Minx?”
“We are not leaving until we find him, so don’t worry.”
We searched the quiet, abandoned building with no signs of the werewolves that were responsible for my dragon’s kidnapping.
“Pearl said he would be at the top,” I recalled, pointing to the stairs.
We walked up the stairs since the elevator was not working, to our inconvenience, and found him before we arrived at the very top of the countless stairs.
Opulent (The Opalescent Collection Book 1) Page 4