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Chapter 36 - Out of Mind
Iwoke up with pain flowing over me. Pete looked down at me, his eyes set in a menacing glare over my body. Gashes covered my arms. I sat up confused and he held my shoulders.
“What are you doing?”
He did not seem to hear, just stared blankly and pressed his fangs to my throat. I jumped from the covers, landed roughly on the floor and felt his presence behind me. I rose to my feet, but he grabbed my shoulder and pressed me to the wall before I could escape. His breath settled over me in a dizzy scent. His scratches were worse, bleeding again. He drank something I could not identify, to ease his pain, I assumed. But in doing so, I could tell he wasn’t in his right mind. He did not even see me cowering at his feet, breathing heavy in fear. I looked over to the light in the bathroom, a beacon.
I slipped away again, rushing toward the light. There was water running, a coldness beneath my feet and I turned, finding him right behind me and ran from the bathroom. I kept running, felt the floor tremble beneath me and turned around. Pete was sprawled across the floor, blood mixed with water by his head that had hit the tile. I shook him, called out, but he would not wake. His mouth opened slightly though his eyes remained closed. I screamed into the halls for help, any help, and returned to his side, sunk to my knees.
“Please wake up…please.” I whispered, crouched over him at his bedside. My fingers traced the edge of the white bandage on his head when I finally had a chance to see him again.
“He hasn’t woken up yet?” A nurse asked me. She noted some things down on an old clipboard. “The doctor will be in to see you in a moment.”
I held onto the sheets that covered him and took a shaky breath. Even though he won’t be reincarnated, he may never be the same vampire again. He might not speak or think the same. Oh, why did this happen? What did you do? How am I supposed to get Fitzray back now? I thought.
“We called your parents. They should be here soon.” A voice said.
I turned around, only saw the glint of golden eyes and a lab coat and then turned back to Pete.
How is that possible? I never said anything about my parents. How could they have contacted them?
“There you are.” My father’s voice hit me like a bullet, making me turn to face him as if he had just shot me.
“We came as soon as we heard the news.” Timothy was standing beside him.
“What happened?”
“I am not entirely sure.”
“Will he be staying overnight?”
“I don’t know.”
“I’ll go find that nurse. She’ll find out for us.” Tim said and walked out of the room. I wanted to stop him. How could he leave me alone with my father and trust him for a mere second?
“You know,” my father began, “if he does stay overnight, you are welcome to come and visit for a couple of days.”
“I don’t think-,” I started.
“Oh why not? It’s your mother’s birthday today. I’m sure she’d be glad to see you after all that time away from home. It will be a big family party.”
“Yeah,” I mumbled, “like old times.”
“Oh what do you have to lose? Do you even have a place to stay tonight?”
“No.”
“Then you will come.” My father insisted.
Tim came back into the room and I looked up at him hopefully. Oh, I hope he can leave. If we could just get out of here, we’d have a chance.
“Well?”
“I couldn’t find the nurse.”
I looked back down. “He is free to go. He can go now.” I looked up. It was the doctor with the golden eyes. Just as I leapt to my feet, he turned out of the room into the hallway and out of sight.
“Well that’s good news. You can both come.”
“I’ll go get a wheelchair,” Tim said.
Once he returned, they both carried Pete from the bed and into the wheelchair to the car. I did not object. I could not just leave Pete with them and I could not carry him along with me. There was no way for me to escape, so I sat beside Pete. Tim sat in the front beside my father. I closed my eyes and listened as Tim changed the radio stations to find one that would tune in. The trees rolled by in a green blur for miles and miles road after road. At last, the car came to a slow as it turned onto a small cul-de-sac and stopped at the very end where dozens of cars filled the driveway.
“Come on inside Chenille.” Tim put out a hand to help me out of the car. As long as he was with me, at least I had some protection.
I stood, waited for them to get Pete out of the car and walked into the house. The party stopped once I entered, the volume of the music turned down and my werewolf family stared. I rushed behind Tim and my father up the large staircase to the small guest bedroom.
“Can you give me a moment with him?”
“Sure. We will be downstairs.”
Once they left I sat on the bed beside Pete.
“That doctor, I swear that was Lucian, I am sure of it. How else could my father find out so quickly? It must be Tetchra. She’s probably involved in this and she knows where we are. What do I do Pete? What do I do?”
He was quiet, did not even make the slightest movement at my words. I held his shoulders, shook him violently, but he did not flinch. I clung to his tattered shirt, shook him again – nothing.
In defeat, I stepped out of the room, closed the door behind me and walked down the stairs. Everyone looked at me, no music played.
“The Queen of Catastrophe!” My father said.
“So she isn’t a wolf, is she?” My Uncle asked boldly.
“No, not part of the pack,” my father said.
“And now look at the King.”
“The King? He’s the King? I thought Lucian was.”
“He was. He’s not anymore.”
“What happened?”
“I don’t know what happened.”
“What happened to Lucian, Chenille?” One of my family members yelled to me.
“Yes, what happened to Lucian?” My mother asked, shoving her way through the large family.
“Not you too mom,” I whispered. They all began to shout, demanding answers from me.
“I don’t know where Lucian is.”
“Why are you here?”
“I’m here to save my species.”
“Who is ruling Catastrophe then?”
“Lord of the Sea and his wife, for now while I’m gone.”
Everyone looked at each other, confused. “You mean the snake?”
“Yes.”
“He is the one that killed Zaire!”
“You let that traitor be a ruler? How could you do that to the pack?”
“I didn’t come here to argue with you.”
“Oh? Then why don’t you go and never return back to Earth?”
“What do you want from me?”
“We want you to leave. We like Earth as it is. The vampires are controlled by the mortals, and we aren’t bothered.”
“You selfish creatures. Your heads are filled with arrogance!”
“So is yours! Do you even know if the vampires enjoy it the way it is? I don’t see them rebelling.”
“They can’t rebel, that’s why they are under control.”
“Yeah, just about every one of them has a lock around their neck and the mortals have the keys around theirs. It is impossible for you to free them. That is the mortals’ choice,” Tim said.
“We will go to war then.”
“With your own kind?”
“I say if you don’t get off this planet in a week, the wolves will join the mortals in the war against you!” My Uncle raged.
There was a cheer of agreement.
“How could you do that to me?”
“You aren’t part of the pack,” my Aunt said bluntly.
“Get off our planet!”
“I am sorry Chenille,” my father said, “but you are no longer welcome here.”
The family let out a
growl as I backed up the stairs. They changed, one by one, into a wolf of a different color and snarled, chasing after me in a wild pack up the stairs. I ran into the guest room, a shadow slipping past me as I closed and locked the door. There was a beautiful wolf with dark brown eyes before me. Her fur was white, tipped with a silver shine.
“I am sorry this had to happen,” she said.
“Mom? Oh mom, how could that happen? Look at what they’ve done to you!”
“I am sorry they have done this.” She looked at her paws. “I didn’t want them to, but your father, he insisted. Still, I didn’t want to be a wolf, but it seems I didn’t have a choice, no more than you had.”
“When did this happen?”
“Long ago, sweetheart, when you left for Catastrophe.”
I took a step back. Claws raked against the door. Piece by piece they were breaking it apart. A wolf’s eye appeared through one of the holes in the door.
“What are you waiting for? Get her!” My father yelled through to my mother.
I stepped back cautiously once my mother took a step forward. “You have to get out of here. Just go out the window onto the roof. You will follow that down to the back of the house. You can jump from there.”
I turned to Pete. “I need to get him up.”
“He’s unconscious.”
“It’s too risky for me to drag him onto the roof.”
“He can’t stay here though. The pack will tear him up.”
“What do I do?”
“I know. Go ahead. I’ll keep him in the closet until the pack passes by, then I’ll take him to the front door. You can take him from there.”
“All right.”
“Go!”
I opened the window, balanced myself on the roof and walked, following the long stretch of shingles. I heard a slam of the door’s demise and walked faster. The wolves came fast, piling onto the roof and one by one came dashing to where I was. I jumped off the roof and hit the ground all at once, not even thinking. The wolves watched, indecisive whether to jump after me or not.
I ran to the front where my mother was. She held Pete by his shirt in her mouth.
“Run Chenille, they will be after you again.”
“I am sorry this had to happen.”
“Me too Chenille. Now go. Good luck.”
I held Pete by his arms and began to walk backwards, away from the house.
“Goodbye,” my mother called, “Good-,” her voice was cut short. I heard a cry, a howl, and turned.
My father was there, his claws digging into her.
“Mother!”
“Don’t worry about me Chenille. Go before the pack gets you!”
“You know what we do to traitors in this pack?” My father yelled.
I held onto Pete’s arms tighter and ran faster, dragging him with me. My father’s voice was the only thing I heard. “Your fate will be the same Chenille. You are a traitor to this pack!”
Chapter 37 - For and Against
Iran for hours, only to stop when the moon was high like a big white marble in the sky. That night I stayed awake, unable to sleep, only to stare at my Eternal Mate. His breathing was slow and I knew he might never wake. Now and again, I shook him, but each time there was the same dead response.
The sun was beginning to rise and I closed my eyes, tired from the sleepless night. There was a sound beside me, the slightest noise. I was surprised I had heard it at all.
“Pete?”
There was no response and I turned, shaking my head. The noise came again and I turned to face him. I pressed my ear to his chest, heard nothing but the sound of his breathing. I whispered his name again and waited until I felt the slightest tremor of vibration coming from his throat. I sat up and shook his shoulders knowing he could hear me.
“Pete, wake up! Wake up!”
His eyes refused to open.
“Pete please,” I begged.
“Chenille? Oh...what happened?” He asked in a low, drunken voice.
“You hit your head and we went to the hospital. I swear Lucian was there.”
“Is that so?” He opened his eyes and slowly sat up against the trunk of the tree behind him.
“And then my father came and he took us to his home and my family got out of hand!”
“What happened?”
“He killed my mother Pete! He killed her!” Tears began to form in my eyes, my throat closing.
“Who? Who killed her?”
“My father.”
“Oh, I wish I was awake. I wish I could’ve helped you.”
“There was nothing either of us could have done.”
He let out a sigh and touched his head where the white bandage was and began to unwrap it.
“They want us to get off of Earth. They threatened to go to war and to join the mortals against us.”
He threw the white bandage to the ground and held my face.
“If we must go to war, we will.”
“But why? Is that the only way we can get our captives back?”
“I am afraid so. It’s the only way we can get Tetchra.”
“And Fitzray.”
“Actually, I didn’t see Fitzray in the house. I heard he is missing.”
“Missing? How can that be? He could be anywhere with anyone!”
He shushed me, drawing me close. “We will find him and we will free the captives. We will go back to Catastrophe and build our army, finish our bridge and wait. When they attack, we will be ready.”
“What about the locks? How will we free the captives?”
“I don’t know yet, but there has to be a way.”
“What do we do now?”
“We rest for now. Later we will go home and prepare for war.”
Pete woke me hours later from my nap beneath a shady tree. A cool breeze coursed through my body.
“The wolves are coming. We have to leave.”
“How are we going to get across?”
“Trust me, we’ll get across.”
At the edge of the bridge the orange stone was so far away, it seemed. I looked down, regretting doing so. There was an edge of white; only a couple of stones remained from the Bridge of Secrecy. I placed my foot on one of the stones and looked over as far as I could manage. The stars hung in their place like tiny diamonds that made the new bridge glow. There were shapes in the distance flying to the other edge of the bridge where we needed to go. They were dragons, I could tell, carrying aboard figures.
“If only we could get across like them.” I looked over at Pete who was concentrating. He rubbed the back of his neck, irritated. He was whispering to himself, being so secretive, I could barely read his lips. He looked up from his concentration to me and smiled slyly.
“We will get across.” He put out his arm and waited for something. He looked straight ahead and let out a whistle as though he could see something I could not. Then, I did see something. A small dot of white became larger as it neared. It was his snowy owl Meleve and Mullein following close behind.
“That’s how we will get across.”
“Do you want me to get Minx?”
“No need to.”
The snowy owl landed on his outstretched arm, turned her head around to face me and blinked her amber eyes. Mullein landed behind Pete and stood at command for him. He climbed up onto the dragon, held onto his wing to pull himself up and put out a hand for me. I looked at the dragon that towered over me, and took a step back.
“You aren’t scared are you?”
“Of course not.” I took his hand and pulled myself onto the heavy built muscle.
The dragon ran forward and flapped his wings, glided over the gap effortlessly and landed harshly on the bridge.
“We’ll walk from here.”
“But why can’t we fly?”
“We can’t be spotted. It would be too risky.”
I could not believe all of the commotion that took place in the palace that night. Pete had left me at once so I could see Versai
lles while he tended to the demands placed over him. I could tell they were planning for war. Everyone was waiting for it to happen. I only saw Versailles for a moment to see how she was. It was too late to bother her with stories.
I returned to the palace that was surprisingly quiet as I entered. There were low voices coming from the dining hall, echoing down the dim-lit corridors. I followed the sound to the door, took a breath and opened it. The muttering stopped and everyone looked in my direction and stood up in respect.
“Come here Chenille. We were just going to start our feast,” Pete said.
I took a seat, disturbed by the uncomfortable silence. Everyone stopped talking of the plans for war and simply ate quietly as though nothing was going on. I looked up from my plate after several moments, losing my appetite suddenly. I could not bear the silence, the secret plans they were keeping from me, though I had every right to know.
“Is something wrong?”
“No, just not feeling so well,” I said and took a sip of water.
“Maybe it’d be best if you went up to bed,” another vampire recommended.
I rose from my seat delicately, curved my fingers over the back of it and calmly pushed it forward.
“Yes, get some rest. I will see you as soon as this important business is taken care of.”
I turned away, said nothing like Pete would have done to me and walked away. I ran to the bedroom angrily, hoping they had all heard my loud pounding on my way up the stairs. I slammed the door shut, pressed my back against it and sighed heavily. Just as I was walking to the closet there was a knock and the door opened when I said nothing.
“What’s with all the noise?”
I ignored him, simply walked to the bed and threw my jacket onto a nearby chair.
“If you think we are keeping the plans from you, you’re wrong.” I shook my head, disregarding his pointless words. “Let me make it up to you,” he whispered. He exhaled deeply, the smell of meats and spices wafting around him.
“I don’t want your poison,” I hissed.
“No?”
I shook my head again.
“Why not?”
“I feel too weak.”
“You will always be weak. Every time you perform a Ceremony, you become weak and it takes time to get strong. You have performed it two times. Each time it made you weaker than the last.”
Opulent (The Opalescent Collection Book 1) Page 20