Charlene
Romero and I had been stealing glances at each other that whole morning. First, we picked up our stuff. Saddled the creatures we were riding. Drank some water. Every so often, either he or I would look at the other. Romero helped me up onto my beast. It was a high vault. I could have teleported up… But where would the fun be in that? He held my gaze. His hand rested on my calf, caressingly thumbing my muscles. Even through the material, I felt every movement.
The previous evening… I had told him that I was in love with him. And I had meant it. At that moment, it felt so right. I could see the hurt in his eyes… That he thought I was there just for information… It had never happened to me before. Falling in love… Just because. Not thinking about it. Or wondering if I thought this could go anywhere… Or having a relationship first and then… The love would follow. Romero had pulled a rug out from under me. For the first time… I was the one wondering if he felt the same. The attraction was there… But whether he was in love with me… was another thing.
"Do we have to go on this journey?" I asked.
Romero's lip quirked… "After last night… We don't have a choice."
I rolled my eyes. "Whatever that means."
It probably meant that I needed to keep it in my pants. I was turning into Juliet. Not only sleeping around but falling in love as I went along. I would do anything to be next to her at that moment… To tell her all about Romero.
Juliet had been in her Vampire creature feelings all during high school. How she ever did it without doing anything to Chris was beyond me. I was going to have to apologize. If all it took was becoming another freaking creature to let go of every human issue I had conjured up in my mind… I was glad about it.
I lifted my hand into the air, watching to see if I would disappear… I had forgotten that I would travel if I wanted something bad enough. Kubra crossed my mind. When I thought about him, I wanted to cry. Not because I didn't want him anymore but because it would hurt him… Romero would hurt him. I bit my lip… I was getting too homesick.
"What's wrong? Are you sad again?"
I looked up. Romero was on his creature, steering it into the darkest forest I had ever seen… And Juliet and I watched a lot of horror movies during our school years… Nothing ever good came out of a dark forest.
"I miss home, that's all… Scared I would travel and won't be able to come back."
Romero pulled back on his reigns till he was next to me. "Kiss me again. Maybe that would keep your mind with me." He leaned in and tilted his head. I pressed my lips onto his. It lingered for a moment until I moved my mouth on his. He pulled away.
"You're going to drive me wild before we ever get to where we're going," I said softly. "I had never had a guy play so hard to get."
"So it worked?" He smiled.
It did work. Being isolated with him had made the difference. That was why I was so in love with Kubra. He had shown me how he felt from the start. We were alone for weeks… I groaned inwardly, hearing myself. What would I even feel like… When I saw Carl… Oh, Crap! I definitely shouldn't be thinking about him.
Romero kicked his beast forward into the darkness. There was only one path in… That was another sign that whatever was in there… Would know undoubtedly where we would be. A little stupid if you asked me. Not even the morning light of their star penetrated the canopy of leaves that stretched above us. It felt wrong to call it the sun… Every system so far has had its own star… "What is your star called?"
"Sirrah."
"That is a beautiful name… Could we not come up with a better name than the Sol."
"Sol?" Romero asked and thought about it.
I wondered where their Beatrice was on a planet inhabited all over… Without any transport? Why were their elders not close to the ruler of the planet.
"How would we know how long we walked?"
"The forest is a two-day journey… With the beasts a day… If we make it out… We will see Sirrah set on the horizon."
"If?"
"Every… area we are going through has different obstacles… The first was the desert and to survive out there. Second, is the creatures of the forest."
Oh, I knew it. If it wasn't going to be a rapist… I would be mauled to death. Eaten alive.
"That night when I first came to… It seemed that you didn't take women by force on the planet… But the raiders."
"You implied that I would take you by force… I would never… Even consider it… The raiders live outside the confines of society… They use their power to fight and plunder, not… Inner strength."
"But… You did touch me?" My voice pitched playfully.
The corner of Romero's mouth lifted, but he didn't give me what I wanted. And stopped talking altogether.
We were walking for such a long time that my thoughts wandered, thinking about Juliet and what happened. What was going on, and if Miné was okay? I hoped that Carl would be with her. Kubra would be awake… And wondering why I wasn't coming home… What must he be thinking?
Romero didn't say much. He seemed too old for chit-chat. Wouldn't be bothered to make conversation… All the dating rules of the Earth were kinda funny when I thought about them. The apps… Going to a bar. Dinner. A guy made a move… Drunk or not… It really was awfully shallow. Being with a guy for years… And then being able to just walk away if you didn't feel it anymore… On Romero's planet, they mated for life… How did that even work… On En-gannin… The women weren't allowed to leave… Zoreah… was one big orgy…
Urgh, I was bored… The walking never ended. The scenery never changed. It was the same trees over and over. Different sizes. Trunks grew as big as I had ever seen a tree could get. The darkness and smells put me in a constant state of fear. Only one way to get instant guts. I practiced my manifestation.
Romero noticed immediately. "Stop that… Be still!"
"I'm bored," I complained.
"You won't be bored if you attract every living thing in here with the smells you give off…."
"Do I stink?"
"Yes. Especially as the one creature that can't talk."
"Dogs do tend to stink when they don't get washed." I smiled. Romero had made a mistake. I could speak on their planet. He was still keeping so much from me.
I heard a chuckle. "What kind of creatures are in here?" I asked nervously, forgetting about his lying and focusing on not dying.
"That thing you saw in prison… Hordes of them."
I sat up straighter. "What? You're taking me into a dark place full of that!" My eyes darted in all directions.
He laughed, looking back at me… "Your funning with me…." He nodded.
Something jumped out from the side and dove Romero off his mount. It didn't even stagger. Landed squarely, and they disappeared into the woods… I wanted to pursue them. Keep teleporting after the noise. I thought about it but looked down at the two beasts. I had to tie our mounts to a tree. My heart was racing, listening for sounds. My hands were shaking, trying to manage the two creatures and get a trunk that would hold them, listening for anything that might jump at me. It was deadly quiet. No birdlife or insects… No plants to rustle in the undergrowth. Just dark brown ground everywhere. Neither of us had heard the thing stalk up to us.
After being stabbed, I knew I wasn't invincible. Had a lot of training to do, and what would I be able to do if there really were hordes in there… I slowly walked in the direction it jumped into, venturing through the line of trees. If I thought it was dark and scary on the path, I had no idea until I was deep in the maze and could hardly see further than the next tree. Getting lost was going to be a problem. No footprints to follow. I had to manifest, regardless of my smell. I wouldn't be able to do it as a human. All fours were my best option, hoping that my Werewolf instincts would kick in.
As I turned, I immediately heard the scurrying. It was so faint. They had covered a lot of distance. My body kicked into motion and carried me into the dreaded abyss of hell that awaited me. I stopped when I couldn't hear anything anymore. My head darted in every direction. There was no wind to find a scent… The aura around me was foggy and stuffy from generations of no fresh air. All I could hear was my paws squishing through the sand. What would I do if I couldn't find Romero? All alone in that place… How would I get out? I couldn't just leave him and hope I would end up at his parent's side and be able to come back. I was losing my mind.
***
Romero
My head kept hitting trunks. I had manifested and tried to use my power on the creature, but nothing worked. Some beasts on our planet were immune. It was built downhill. Tiny legs in the back and longer ones in the front. A thin snout and a mouth full of teeth. No eyes… It didn't need eyes in the dark. It carried me with little effort. I grabbed onto its neck to keep myself close to its body.
I worried for Charlene. We would be separated. She would be all alone. Whatever was carrying me was taking me somewhere. I tried to grab my sword. I couldn't lift it all the way out of its sheath. My one arm was in the beast's mouth with my body, teeth digging into my skin, puncturing my flesh further with every adjustment of his snout. I focused on myself and my inner healing. It was all too much for my new emotional freedom.
It stopped running and dropped me on the ground, panting for air. I would get no other chance. I pulled out my sword, fighting the creature, yelling into the air as we fought. It might have attracted the creature's friends… Or something even more dangerous, but I had to try. I believed Charlene would be able to hear me calling out to her.
Nothing happened. No Charlene as a dog or a Riphath. I was deliberately avoiding using alien species' real names… If she knew that I understood what was going on… She might have left. I needed time… With her… From the moment I saw in her human form… I knew she was my mate. That was why I had touched her. Hearing her tell me she had feelings for me… I drove my sword right through the beast as we fought, killing it. The body gushed out a substance into the air as I pulled my sword from its corps. It was the way of our world. Every being had energy, and that one's essence would travel when it died. It had been searching for its pack, maybe even a hole into an underground tunnel.
I started running in the opposite direction, back to where I thought I had come from. The trees did not allow me to run in a straight line. The beast itself had been lost, and it lived there. How would Charlene and I find each other? How would I find the path? Would she be waiting there, or did she also come into the trees? We should have eaten something. I should have hunted for her. She could at least have torn something to shreds as one of her forms. If we were stuck in there for days… We would not survive. It had already been so many without food… Just water.
I felt my waist. My eyes traveled up to the canopy. I had the container with me. I had not tied it to the saddle. Charlene had nothing to drink. I ran faster… Even if I was off course… I had to be going in the right direction.
It was not long before I was out of breath. The air so deep into the trees was too dense and almost toxic. I stopped to take a breath, lifting my shirt. My wounds were painful but not so deep that I had to stop and heal for hours or to close them off. My eyes kept searching. I could hear nothing.
Charlene and I had ridden in silence… I wanted to talk to her, but I had to keep concentrating on listening for any beasts… As soon as I relaxed, it pounced. I had made another mistake. I wondered how my mother and father ever did that trek. Miriam's mate didn't make it. I sighed. That was why all she had to wear was black. I didn't want to wear black for the rest of my life.
I sat half fell on the ground, exhausted, leaning back against a trunk. There would be no hiding in a tree. They had no branches low enough for me to climb up into. I didn't really know what to do. My life had been simple and easy… From there on out, it would be full of trouble. There was a tightness around my chest. For the first time, well, the second time… I feared losing someone or dying myself... I was actually living. I could see the appeal of letting go of the control.
I sat for a while, healing myself… Until I could get up and wander further. Time passed as I walked. Even if it was dark all around me… It became even more black as the day progressed. It had to be well into the evening. Charlene and I had missed each other… We would not be sleeping together that night.
***
Charlene
Romero was nowhere. I was lost. I had circled and circled the same area, marking the trunks as I walked. If I had thought that Sirrah hadn't penetrated the forest that morning, the darkness of the night had proven me wrong. It had been a whole day… I teleported into the highest branch off the ground that I could manage. It was all I could do. My eyes were droopy, my body weary. I needed to sleep. I rested back and was only going to close my eyes for a second. Romero had controlled me the previous night. At that moment, I would have welcomed the peace he would've offered. A few times, my head fell to the side. It startled me awake every time, thinking that I had heard Romero calling.
The last time I closed my eyes, I traveled. Not to Romero's side… But into a warm bed. I thought I was dreaming. A warm arm draped over me and pulled me into an embrace. It was a man. The smell was familiar. Too tired to open my eyes, lips touched mine. Two arms pulled me even closer and held me tight, lifting me so I was on top of his naked chest. Hands were sliding up and down my back as we kissed. I was kissing, too. My pent-up lust needed an outlet. Aching breathlessly, I forced my eyes open. It was too dark to see, but my mind was more awake. "Kubra?" My voice was husky.
"You're back." His breath was hot on my lips, and his fingers dug into my back. Kubra's voice startled me… I shook myself and sat up. Instantly, I thought of Romero… I couldn't be back. I didn't want to be. He needed me… As I moved in the dark, the moldy smell overwhelmed me. My hand ran along the branch. It was definitely a tree. I gasped and sobbed and stood there for a moment, only to teleport down to the ground. Luckily, in my Riphath form, the scenery didn't matter. The pitch-black surroundings didn't matter. I turned into a Werewolf and pushed myself to keep walking. I couldn't fall asleep again. Too afraid that I would stay on En-gannim.
I paused… I was being stupid… I turned back into a Riphath and sat down. I focused all my thoughts on Romero. If Michael had a pull on all the leaders of planets… Maybe I could force myself to his side. Or just by what I wanted most. Nothing worked. It dawned on me that I needed to be a Vampire… Focus on killing him and challenging him. Some time passed, but I did travel. Romero was on the ground, bleeding. I could smell the blood even if I couldn't see his wounds.
I softly tapped his cheek. "Romero…" I whispered.
"What took you so long?"
"I'm sorry…." I picked him up and teleported him to a branch. Held him in my arms. I forced myself not to sleep.
***
It had been the most harrowing night I had to go through in all my life. When there was a sliver of white in the foggy hue that hung in the air, I knew it had to be morning. Romero had slept the whole night. I shook him in my arms. "Wake up."
"Charlene?" He croaked out.
"Will you be okay? Or do you want me to take you back to your home? Or even my home?"
His eyes sprung open. "No! We can not go back… You can not take me there…."
I nodded… I wouldn't force him or make a decision for him.
"Teleport us down."
I did, helping him stand. "If we can call those beasts… They would be able to get us out of here." He suggested. He put his hands around his mouth to call out.
"It won't work… I tied them up."
"You what?" He spat.
"I didn't think… I thought it would be better if they didn't follow me into this maze…."
"How… What possessed you to leave them?" His hands rubbed over his face.
I didn't like his tone. I was exhausted. Had traveled into Kubra's arms and felt guilty above it all… I manifested and tried to focus on the path and the beasts. It worked. They were still there… Not eaten. I went back, picked up Romero, planted him down on his feet, returned to my human form, and watched him for a moment. "You're being really mean. And making me sad." I fell to the ground… hands in the dirt, and passed out.