51. King Whatshisface

Michael

“It’s a perk,” I said. All eyes shot to me when I spoke. But I was addressing Juliet. Our gazes locked. F- I was so happy to see her in person. Her eyes pierced me like daggers. The screws were turning. Her jaw was flexed, which was never a good sign. Maybe because I lied to her…

“They let us live as long as our dependents are alive on earth. So this guy over here has been Louis’s Watcher for….”

“Two hundred years? And you have been mine for…?” She waited for my answer.

“Since you were born.”

That was the first time I could talk to her as myself. It had been years since the last time… When I had no choice. We have met before…

“You were there with Qadir on full moon…It was you that helped… But you let it go so far….”

Tears pooled in her eyes. Why was she upset?

“We are only to intervene when it’s life or death. Before that… unfortunately, we have to just… watch….”

She scoffed at me. It wasn’t a good feeling. It was not how I wanted our reunion to go. She was scratching her face from irritation and looked at Marcus. Then at Louis and her father, and scoffed at all of us. She picked up the paper and flung it back at Raas.

“What is the point of being surrounded by men.” She looked Raas straight in the eye. “But none of you can do anything. Then there is a whole world ruled by men, and they wonder what’s wrong with me…?”

Raas was livid. He was pointing his finger at her.

She smirked. “A planetary trait it seems…. Be careful! One day someone is going to bite it off.”

Juliet was really referring to Marcus pointing at her when he was angry. But when she glanced at Marcus… He was infuriated… His eyes fixated on Raas. Marcus didn’t like the fact that anybody else did it. He was done with letting anyone hurt her. He got up, slamming the table even harder.

“Get lost! Now! And come back quickly with the king’s answer.” It was more order. Raas jumped. His head snapped up. Teeth gritted in a thin line. It took him only a moment to think about saying anything else.

Bowing his head, he remembered who was standing in front of him.

Juliet was correct. None of us could give her the freedom she desired by being at the top of the food chain… Not even Marcus.

Raas left the room via the teleporter.

Juliet got up walking over to the glass windows. The view over Paris with the Eifel Tower in the distance was beautiful. She put her hand on her stomach and then leaned onto the glass with her other arm, bracing as a pain assailed her. Louis was in no condition to help her. He didn’t even move, knowing my intentions towards her. I was next to her in an instant, putting my arm around her shoulders, supporting her elbow.

“You have to take it easy,” I whispered. “Stress can cause a miscarriage… and you have to stop drinking…!” She didn’t even flinch away from me. Juliet grabbed onto my arms, putting her head on my chest, groaning. It felt so good having her in my arms. When I turned to lead her to a chair… There were three pairs of eyes on me. Glaring.

“It’s my job.” I was lying. I would do anything to have her.

“Marcus… My pain killers just wore off.” She sat down, falling onto his shoulder. I’ve never felt like this.”

I got water for her.

For the next few days. Here at the embassy, the watchers were allowed to be normal towards the complaints. I commanded Jack and Kubra into action. Jack came towards Louis, taking his vitals with a small device we all carried in our pockets.

Kubra had jumped into getting a prenatal kit and placed it on the table. Opening it, I looked at Marcus. He was still staring at me, frowning.

“You have to start reading and using that brain of yours. Now is not the time for anything else. Keep her safe first….”

Our eyes met for the briefest of seconds. He glanced quickly at the stack. Got up and divided it between the few of us there.

“My attack… already started at the house?” Juliet said softly, pulling on my shirt as I handed her the plastic cup. “Drinking and stress are not what’s going to make my body reject this baby.”

She was dry heaving and wanted to wretch. The water might not have been a good idea. I gave her a dustbin lined with a plastic bag. She ran for the corner of the room, hiding. I followed her, leaning over to see what we were dealing with… It was just blood coming out.

“Yeah! No! This isn’t working for me. We have to get you food… The last time you ate was almost two weeks ago. Puking out your guts isn’t going to make you feel any better.” I picked her up in my arms. Her head fell on my chest, and I carried her out into the elevator. I glanced back… No one was looking at us… I sighed in relief that they trusted me already. Stress always brought up these fits of her… I wish for a second that Chris was there. That she didn’t keep him out of the loop.

We took the elevator all the way down into the basement. While we were alone, I pushed a vile into her neck. Praying for the first time in years.

The elevator went down two more floors… deeper underground. The doors opened into a small room. Silver-lined walls and ceilings. A menacing fan blowing air into the quiet space. “Whirring… Whirring… Whirring…” Its shadow flickering on the floor.

Holding Juliet was a feeling I had missed. But not like that. It was my fault for not finding her in time.

I greeted the guard. He opened the doors for me. Following me, he frantically helped us through all the barriers to come. He pushed up a wheelchair in front of a glass window. I lowered her in. She didn’t want to let go, groaning.

“It’s okay, Juliet….” I whispered.

I put the light on, and a freakishly weird being hit the glass sucking on it. Jumping down and running on four tentacles at least a meter and a half from the ground. Its teeth were white and almost lining its whole mouth in a circle.

I nodded to the guy helping. I had no idea what his name was, and I couldn’t speak french. Rambling, he pushed a red button on a panel at the door and fogged the room. You could hear the “thud.”

I pushed her into the room. Just the smell made her manifest. She jumped out of the chair biting into one of the tentacles and sucking.

Relieved, I sat down in the wheelchair. Watching…

About ten minutes later, she fell on her back like she did at the farm, smiling and laughing.

When she sat up, her eyes grew larger. Actually taking in the creature next to her. She jumped up and away from it. “What the… hell did I just do? What is that?”

A chuckle escaped me. She tilted her head at the sound. Her black eyes narrowed into slits.

“That is a very rare delicacy… But it’s paid for, so don’t worry.”

Juliet lifted her hands in front of her face. There was a slimy substance sticking her fingers together. She didn’t hesitate and pushed her fingers into her mouth one by one. Licking them clean.

“Yuck.” I cringed. I had seen it before, but her doing it was gross.

She offered me some, and I laughed out loud. I would love to lick off her fingers but not covered in that. I shook myself, my thoughts taking a wrong turn. Once it had landed me in trouble…

“What do you mean paid for…? By whom?”

“Seems like blood is blood no matter the species. You at least know that much, don’t you.” I quipped.

Red trickled down the side of her chin. She wanted to wipe her mouth off with her sleeve.

“No… Just wait...” But she did it anyway. Challenging me… Cleaning her teeth. Glaring at me.

I sighed, lifting up my hands.

“You think we can get Louis down here? He would feel so much better.”

“Sure.” Feeling stupid that I didn’t think to bring him too in the first place. Or that Jack didn’t say anything. We weren’t really in the habit of actually participating in their lives.

I knocked on the glass. The French kid came around the corner. He manifested when he smelled that thing. Juliet didn’t like it and hissed at him like a serval cat.

I spoke to the boy. He could luckily understand me and hurried upstairs.

A few moments later, Louis was there doing exactly the same thing. Just with a little more vigor and tearing. I shudder at the “chomp” and “crunch” sounds that echoed through the room.

Juliet sat against the wall, watching me. Seeing her from the corner of my eye… I kept my eyes down at the ground as she stared at me.

I was sure she remembered me. But she said nothing. I cleared my throat. She didn’t stop. I could feel her on me. I got up and walked out. She made me uncomfortable. There was no budge in her.

That whole place was bugged. She was a clever girl. I think she left it on purpose. I pretended to go and fetch them both something to wash it down with.

She got up, taking the water from me.

“Thanks… Michael.”

I snickered nervously. Louis eventually got past the euphoria. That creature they just sucked on had an effect on vampires.

“Juliet, baby, you sure you wouldn’t want to go be my slave for one of these every day on that… mother planet.”

She wasn’t really impressed… “He says it’s expensive, so I don’t think you will be able to afford it.”

I had mental images of their mother planet. They flashed through me and the nightmares I sometimes had of just seeing it once. Louis glanced over at me, and our eyes met. He jumped up and gathered her into his arms, holding her tightly.

“Let’s go help them with those papers instead. I take it back. Let’s not leave earth… Ever.”

“What did you see?” She asked.

He shook his head. “I told you… I won’t scare you. When you need to go, I will prepare you properly… But until then you can do whatever you want. I won’t say.”

He points with two fingers for us to move out, taking her hand. She looked back at me as I averted my gaze. “Go get Chris. I want him… He needs to know what’s going on and that we’re fine.” I nodded. Glad that she asked. With Chris there, the situation would just be more… Diplomatic.

***

Juliet

Could my life be more complicated? All three of us took the elevator upstairs again. Louis wanted to take my hand to leave on the top floor, but I told him to give Michael and me a minute. He regarded us, keeping his hand on the door.

He stood awhile… reading us. I smiled. It still didn’t bother me… having him in my head.

Michael was humming, staring at the ground. Trying not to think about anything, I supposed… Keeping his thoughts in check…

I only had to think about it… I told him I loved him. That we can’t talk there. He stepped back and let the doors close. I pressed the button for the floor we had just come from. We took the elevator down again.

“Will phones work?”

“No…”

“Those papers are a smokescreen. Their tech is so advanced that they need to hand us a mountain of documents… I don’t buy it. Don’t I get a lawyer?” He laughed and wiped his nose with his thumb and index finger as I watched him in the mirror in front of me.

Michael was still studying his boots, scuffing at the floor. “Keep going… I’m sure you will get it.”

“Nowhere we can talk?”

“No…”

“Can we go back and forth home?”

“No! Colder.” He’s getting frustrated. I rubbed my sweaty hands together and wiped them on my jeans. The guy in the mirror was twice the size of Chris. Almost as big as Jerry was manifested, maybe not so tall. Covered in tattoos. He didn’t have that many when I first saw him.

Dressed in a white t-shirt that complimented his dark tanned skin. You knew he was tanned because his face was brown. The tattoos stood out because of it. As if he was outside all day on a construction site.

Caucasian male with dirty blond hair. Shoulder-length tied messy in a male pony at the base of his neck. A thick silver earing in the one ear. Thin silver nose ring… His neck was so wide I wouldn’t be able to wrap my hands around it… I sighed.

Thinking about Michael for a minute and the fact that he saw me being born. He had been there from the beginning of my life. My thoughts darted to uncles Sam’s farm where we met…

“I need my uncle….”

“Yes! Good girl.”

I spun around. “Don’t do that.”

His mouth arched unhappily. “You do need your uncle! Would you like Marcus to invite him to come?” I nodded.

“You have to say it. For the record.”

The doors opened at the top. Louis was waiting for us. Louis is beautiful. He was dressed in a grey t-shirt, dark blue jeans, and a navy blue jacket. Leather straps around his wrists and a ring on one of his fingers. His hair was getting long. He still gelled it backward… it suited him.

Images of us in the bed… flashed through my mind. The way he rocked my world that night in between the sheets. I yearned to be back at the house… I felt tired. I just wanted to stare out at the mountains.

“Soon, okay!” He assured me. Pulling me out of the elevator. Why do you think they are doing this? I asked him as he put his arm around my shoulder. I can’t be the first?

“They’re scared. They want us to go back… Or they don’t… We have to figure it out.”

I walked quickly over to Marcus’s chair and told him what I wanted him to do.

He got up and asked. Michael promptly showed Kubra and Jack what to do. They stepped into the corner where I came from and disappeared. Teleporting was suddenly a thing. Marcus, Louis, and I watched them as they disappeared.

Michael walked over to the corner. Eyes cast down. He was avoiding me. I snorted. That got me a smile. “I’ll go get Chris.”

***

Chris

We had just parked the car back at the house when another car pulled up behind us. It was Cindy.

Strangely, from making the decision to never leave Juliet again, my life had family, friends, and purpose. We hugged, and I was happy to see her. Charlene and Carl also came to hug her.

We couldn’t find Juliet or Marcus going into the house. His room was a mess. Wet clothes and towels everywhere. The bathroom reeked of blood and vomit.

“She had another spell,” Cindy said softly.

There was another knock at the door. We all glanced at each other worried.

It was two men I had never seen before. One dressed in a white t-shirt and white jeans. Brown shoes and the matching belt. The other also but in a three-piece suit also white. The clothes were weird. They both stuck out their hands towards me. I greeted them one by one.

“Who are you?”

“I’m Michael… this is Warden.”

“What do you want?”

He rubbed his hands over his hair. Michael’s eyes nervously cast down to the floor. Cindy came around the door.

“Michael! Warden… Where is Juliet? Why are you not with her. Is she okay?”

He’s Juliet’s watcher. I groaned inwardly. OH NO! ‘This guy.’

What the hell?! If it isn’t stylish Louis or Mysterious Marcus, it’s plain old Chris. I realized that the other guy must be my watcher… Warden smiled at me as I tried to process everything.

“She’s fine, but she had a spell… Louis woke up. So they are at the meeting.”

Michael’s seen-it-all eyes met mine. “She needs you... asked for you.”

All jealousy dissipated. His manner was genuine. My mind was trying to wrap around… how much he knew about all of us. But Juliet came first, and she was sick.

I turned away from the door back into the house. Glad and excited that she wanted me. Asked for me to come. I had no right to be there… But if she gave consent… Marcus was okay with it, and Louis gave permission. I wasn’t naïve about where I was on the food chain.

I greeted Cindy, glad the kids had someone to look after them. I hurried back to the door, shoes in hand, and pulled them on my feet, grabbing my jersey.

I seemed so tiny next to Michael. Forgetting that I could turn into a beast and kill him in an instant. But they had the tech to subdue me… One little shot and I was useless… Unless I just ate him… I smirked.

We were scrutinizing each other. We walked down the road for a bit. Michael held a device in his hand and told me to stand in front of him and just wait.

It took only a few seconds of being where you started… To be where you wanted to go... No deforming… To regenerate again somewhere else.

It suited me just fine. Used to teleporting, I was glad the technical side of it wasn’t much different.

I came out the other end with my back to the room. But Juliet was hugging me around my waist before I could even turn around.

I sighed, Michael forgotten.

I pulled her close to me. We hugged like we always did. Her arms around my neck. We were in each other hair… nestling. She slid her cheek over mine and found my lips. The taste and smell made me manifest with her in my arms.

“What the hell did you eat? What is that?”

She laughed, glancing over her shoulder at the room. I noticed the table surrounded by men.

I turned back to human.

Marcus peeked up quickly but kept reading… whatever he was reading.

Louis and Liam came over. I shook Liams’s hand first. Louis pulled me in for a hug. I let him. The last time we saw each other was when I put her in his arms.

“Thank You for coming.” He whispered. I slapped his back as we embraced. He was as close to me as a brother. Even more…

I took Juliet’s face in my hands... “Are you okay? He said you had a spell.”

Guiltily she averted my gaze and cast her eyes down to the ground.

“You lied to me. You wanted me out of the house so I wouldn’t see.”

Tears pooled in her eyes as they met mine. I pulled her to me. “You’re scared… What’s going on?”

But I kept manifesting going back and forth, unable to control myself. Juliet giggling. Michael walked past us. “I can take him downstairs. We have one, especially for him.”

Juliet scrutinized Michael. Processing that information. She bobbed her head. “So, he paid for dinner.”

Michael ignored her and glimpsed at me. Why was he so awkward around her? But I wasn’t going to help him…

“What do you mean? I paid for dinner.”

Michael walked off towards the elevator. Ignoring both of us. “Follow me. You’re never going to be able to control yourself if you don’t eat.”

I picked her up and carried her. “I’m not going alone.” The floor shook. My head was almost touching the roof. Everybody protested and grumbled at the papers moving on the table. The loud noises.

Juliet told me to put her down. “I’m going to read. Take Marcus with you, will you? If we’re all full, we will think better. Marcus needs to be at his best for this.”

***

Marcus told me everything he could and that we were waiting for Samuel.

We got through the documents quickly and started comparing notes with all of us reading. Juliet kept pacing the length of the room, stretching her legs after sitting for hours.

I wondered how long it would take Samuel to get there. Will he even come? Was he even at home? She bit the cuticles on her thumb nervously. Everyone was debating and throwing ideas around. It was all conjecture.

Michael was sitting in the corner. His elbows on his knees, head hanging down. It was late. The moon was high in the sky, and it had already been a long day.

Getting up, I walked over to her. She was driving us all crazy. I held her in front of me so that she faced me. I kissed her. She closed her eyes, leaning into me.

“Sleep time. You have to think of the baby.” She agreed.

I sat down on the ground with her in my lap. Her head rested on my chest. I stroked her hair. She didn’t struggle and quickly fell asleep. She never fought me. Juliet would complain or even argue when someone else told her to do something. But when I asked… She quickly gave in. I had noticed. Everybody else had seen it too.

I didn’t know how I felt about it. If something happened to me…

The others followed. Michael seemed relieved and leaned his head back onto the wall and closed his eyes. Warden to. Louis rested his arms on the table.

Marcus kept reading. Liam joined him.

For a second, I took it all in. We were all in one room… I was okay with it. We all were.