This Is Where I Want To Be

218. The Future Seems Bleak

Juliet

Louis hit the bed, ordering me to leave him there. Inside, I strained to keep it together, moaning and whimpering. I couldn’t… take it anymore. I grabbed my underwear, struggling to get my feet into each hole, looking up to see if he would wake up. I was scared of him. I was actually afraid he would wake up. I pulled my bra on and my shirt in a hurried way; my pants, socks, and shoes followed. I rushed for the point Jessy had set into the teleporter, and he sent me back to the camp in the valley. Our tarp was empty. All I wanted to do was curl up in Chris’s arms. I felt guilty for leaving at all. He had come to me, talked to me, and made an effort. I sniffled, wiping my nose with two fingers. “He’ll probably be back,” Caleb said, his eyes still closed. My tears turned into sharp sobs.

Caleb sat up, “What happened? Are you hurt?” I shook my head, walking away. There was no way I could tell Caleb what happened. Louis would not be out for three days; the drugs didn’t even affect me as much as they used to. I needed—now—more than ever, to pull myself together and finish this.

When I got back, Caleb had breakfast ready, “Guess you found him.”

“Yes.”

“Will you share?”

“No… Caleb, we have to go.” I didn’t even want to eat. The last thing I wanted was to force myself to eat. My excitement for the trip had all but disappeared. I should never have gone looking for him. I didn’t know why I listened to the guys. Louis is making a choice I can not condone—in any way. It’s why I haven’t gone in all this time, and if the shoe was on the other foot, he would’ve drugged me, tied me up, and forced me. If this experiment didn’t work out and I had to come back, the only thing left would be to send Michael in… I struggled to take the next bite of whatever we were eating… If Louis was stronger than I was, maybe I would need to send in all of them. Caleb appeared in front of me out of thin air. I had to look up. He handed me a beast and I sank my teeth into the thing.

Caleb and I walked at an excruciating pace. He could not teleport us because the next league was winding tight little paths over sandy dunes covered in foliage as high as we were—through beautiful flowered forests and gardens. In other places, we needed to scale rocks and waterfall faces up and down. The scenery would’ve been lovely if I had any inclination to take it in.

On the third day, Caleb took my hand in his and clasped it. The gesture was as sweet as Chris was for kissing me just because he could. Caleb and I needed this trip as much as any of my other relationships, and focusing on him let my anger subside. Caleb was growing up, and he had Chris’s ability to put himself in other’s shoes.

“Are you going to tell me what you’re planning? Or where we’re going?”

“Romero’s dark city has rooms. One of the rooms lets you go back in time.”

“No way!” he bounced in place.

His excitement lifted my spirits a little, “It’s not permanent. You can check things out, and if you like a certain outcome better than another… you go into another room, although for that one, you need the tattoo or the stone.”

“We don’t know where the stone is… It could be in one of those vault chests of Ahasuerus.”

“Do you know how long it would take us to figure out what every single one does?”

“I can do it.”

“Your summer job.”

Caleb squeezed my hand, “So I can go back, too? Anyone can?”

I laughed, wondering what he would get up to if he did, “If you started in the village with me, yes. You can go and sleep with that girl you wanted to.”

Caleb blushed, and I had to hold back… No, I couldn’t. I giggled, “You are so much like me. I at least had a boyfriend when all my… needs kicked in.”

“You did? Who?”

My mouth pouted to the side. I would save Jerry in every lifetime I lived. “A werewolf.” Caleb burst out laughing—loudly. I joined him.

The last day went by quickly, and by nightfall, we stood looking up at the tiny entrance we needed to get to and then go into. I glanced at Caleb. He noticed and looked at me and shook his head. I didn’t have the energy to figure it out. We made camp and got a good night’s rest because the next day was going to change my life forever.

Early in the morning, my ass was on fire again. I was getting sick of it. Who did he think he was. If it was him. Couldn’t they just send me messages or talk to me! After the previous night with Louis, I doubted this was him; he had not dragged me out of bed in months… One of the others was doing it. So, who had the power to hurt me so much? Michael! I guessed if he could push two people off me, he could manage to control me better than the rest. I didn’t want to ask Chris to come—again. This time, I focused all my energy on Michael, not to keep him quiet but to nudge and call; the pain stopped immediately.

“Bamf.” I chuckled, “You are too powerful. We should put a leash on you.”

Michael scooped me up and pulled my legs out from under me. He spun me around and around and, as he did, finally noticed the surroundings. His gaze landed on the mountain, and his eyes slowly traveled up the at least twenty-story cliff we were supposed to scale. He spotted the little ledge and tiny sliver in the wall with no issues, and it was still dark. He was amazing. “You found him.” I didn’t want to meet Michael’s eye, too scared he would see what happened. “I can smell him; where is he?” I rested my head on his furry shoulder and reached up to play with his ear.

“You guys were right. He’s covered. Guessed, I left it too long.”

“No! You don’t blame yourself anymore if he doesn’t talk to you. How were you supposed to know he didn’t run away about his past.” My hand trailed up and scratched at his horns. “I’ve been spending a lot of time with Carl. Jack and the guys also talked about the time they’d spent with Louis. Carl took me and Chris out for being so angry and told us he wasn’t doing well. I had some time to think about it… When you were pregnant with Caleb and going insane. You had Chris to coddle you through… Louis didn’t have anyone… If I had to take it—” I shook my head. “I wouldn’t… only if I had to, it would’ve been me hurting you… I’m sorry... I gave it to him in the first place. If I knew… I would’ve found another way… I have to let this go… I’m not so angry anymore.”

“It’s okay, Michael, we were all fumbling our way through… I think he might come back while I’m gone. Maybe today or tomorrow… Be careful and keep vials on hand. A lot of them.”

“I will.”

“How is Charlene doing?”

“We traveled very far, and when we got there, she decided to take a few days off… Today is the day… Are you sure you don’t want to be there?”

“I’m sure. Thank you for going in my place... I would’ve loved to make the trip with you. Please be ready to protect her.”

“I will.”

“Michael, seeing that you’re here, could you do me a favor.”

“Of course,” I pointed to the little ledge, “You need to get up there… I can do that; no problem.”

I made him put me down and woke Caleb up. The three of us cleared the camp, and one by one, Michael picked us up and had us up there in ten seconds. “Thank You. I don’t know how, but I will.”

Michael snagged my chin in a quick, patronizing manner. I glared at him; the gesture was something he had never done before. I also hated it and growled, letting him know, “Just looking for some attention.”

“Oh… Ohhh, the pulling me out of bed… was a request sent.”

“Something like that. Figured if Louis was allowed to do it, I might as well give it a try.”

“Yours hurt more than the others.” Michael reached out and stoked his thumb over my cheek. I pressed my lips into his palm, “Try and govern your powers over me.”

“I will… Juliet, you’ll have to tell me to leave if you’re ready to go, or else we will stand here the whole day.”

“Why are you not asking what I’m doing?”

He didn’t answer me and pulled me in for a kiss. What was it with them where making out was suddenly a thing? I didn’t mind. It was refreshing and a change from our usual carnal relationships. Michael lingered, and I was the one who had to pull away, “If you wanted me to know, I would.”

“Yes, I—”

“Don’t. It’s okay. I know you will tell me eventually.”

“Thank You. And I will. Let me just get through today.”

“Call me… Anytime.”

I laughed lightly. It was kinda like I could pick up the phone.

Michael disappeared, and I turned to Caleb, who was waiting inside the entrance for me, “Who was that guy?”

“I have no idea? It seems being in his werewolf form most of the time really did change him.”

“Like your dream? Do you think he could shed his other manifestations?”

“Maybe not entirely, but to a degree, work on one more than the others.”

“Sounds plausible… I like this Michael more… He is suddenly good for you.”

“Yeah, I feel guilty about saying he doesn’t love me the way I need. Michael is turning out to be the stable one,” we both laughed.

“You ready?”

“Let’s do this,” I dug into my backpack, and we pulled headlights on and ventured into the dark.

***

Michael

It was so easy for me to travel back thousands of miles to the palace, to my room, and be in bed the next second. I had woken up after a dream and thought about Juliet. It wasn’t like I was deliberately manipulating her to follow my commands; my body did it by itself in a half-dream state; I craved, and my heart would be set on her. Seeing Charlene so deliriously happy with her three men and three kids without any worries or conflict made me sit back and compare. Charlene didn’t care so much about hurting anyone else like Juliet. No, she was already different on Earth; happy on her own, self-reliant, and even more so now, with her ittoqure attributes. The men were older, communicated, and gave her everything she needed and wanted on a silver platter. She had the best of both worlds. Chris and I were so young compared to Kubra and Romero… and Juliet had two very Ahmed vampires to contend with.

I closed my eyes and slept for another few hours. Our meeting was early in the morning. The servants woke you up by hoisting the tented drapes around the bed to the ceiling. Two women would come in with food and clean clothes and begin to fill the bath. Like Juliet, I could get used to this, ruling a kingdom and having servants at your beck and call. If we really wanted to, we could find a planet and create our own freaking civilization. Mirach had a very structured mating system, and you waited your whole life for a fated mate, as Charlene called it. Starting over on our own world would take thousands of years to figure out what that planet’s rules were, if it produced a stone, and how it could be utilized.

The two women were moving back and forth and, when they were done, came towards the bed. One picked up the tray and my empty plate and left the room; the other stood over me and waited. I stared up at her, knowing she couldn’t speak English. Only royalty and very educated and wealthy people on Mirach knew the language. All of them could speak several languages. She reached for the hem of her blouse. I was on my knees, and her wrists were in my hand in a millisecond. I clasped her tightly, shaking her slightly. The next moment, I had to look up. A wolf towered over me. Because she had dark skin, I figured she was dheka. I teleported right to Charlene, honing in on her presence like I did earlier with Juliet. If I focused, I could sense Charlene’s ‘group’ as well. I knew where Ira was at all the times; Chris and Caleb because they were the next in succession. Sammy, Naji, and even Minè. “What do you want? A little inappropriate. Juliet will kill me.”

I scanned the room, sniffed the air, manifested into all my creatures, and checked every crevice. I looked out the window and out the door into the hallway; Kubra peeked out of his room, and when I looked left, I saw Romero in his shadow manifestation with his sword drawn. “One of the maids is a werewolf.” Romero stayed as is and drifted at a ghostly pace toward my room and came out again. “How could one of you not sleep with her?”

“Hey! I’m here,” Carl said.

“Hmm, time you consider the fact that you can do jack s— to help her.”

“We fell asleep talking about it.”

“Good. It’s time, Carl. Come family meeting.”

“No, if they are close by, they will hear everything.”

“Maybe listening to you guys last night was the catalyst.”

“Why do I have a feeling today is not going to go the way we think it is,” Charlene said.

Carl had stood up and wanted to get past me, “Question is, what was she doing in your room? And what did she want?”

“Trying to seduce me.”

“What?” Kubra also came closer.

“Romero… How many werewolves are there?”

“About ten billion,” he said very nonchalantly. Carl and I shared a look of utter astonishment and bewilderment. Charlene stepped into the hall, and we all stared at Romero, “What?”

“You didn’t think that was vital information to share?” Kubra chimed in.

“No. Why does it matter?”

“Because we all thought maybe there was like one million or at the most three.”

Romero laughed, “No! Brylee wanted to save her race, not fan it to life.”

“That’s a good one,” Charlene said and laughed at the same time.

“Thank you. I’m learning all about fires and how you guys speak.”

“Can we stay on topic? How many are females?”

“It is approximately one female to four males.”

“So many women?” Charlene reached for her back pockets and pressed her hands into them. Juliet asked me to protect her.

“Mirach is a large planet, five times the size of Earth. Why did you think she was looking so hard?”

“We didn’t know.”

“I can’t fight all of them if they challenge me.”

Rodrigo laughed, “You will not have to. It is why I am your number two.”

“Are we finally going to know what the second spot is for?” Charlene drolled.

“Oh, oh… that’s why all the vampires bent the knee for Louis.”

“Yes, well done, Carl. Do not fret, Charlene. I am here, and even if there are one or two strong enough to fight the branding… You can take on… one or two?

“Yeah, I—” Charlene glanced at Kubra, asking for an opinion. He nodded.

“If you struggle, we will fight with you,” Romero jumped out of the way of the slap he knew would come. “You have to practice.”

“So Ahasuerus?” Carl asked.

“No… Louis would never have made him bend the knee by the power of persuasion.”

“Nice,” Charlene said at Romero’s use of our vernacular.

He was happy at the praise, “Like I said, maybe one or two. Let us get dressed,” Romero pulled a bell, and moments later, secret doors opened from the wall.

“Primitive security weak spots. No wonder they could sneak in,” Carl complained.

An hour later, we traveled in more balls for another few hours. I was first to arrive and be greeted by several wolves clad in full kit armor. One unhooked the nets, making the ball jut into the dark. The others held open the doors, and one ushered me through. Once the doors were closed, they turned to me and, in a low rumble, growled out a greeting. I manifested to mark my territory. The four took two steps back when I towered over them. These lackeys were not soldiers, “I need armor,” they nodded, and one scurried away.

By the time Kubra’s ball arrived the wolf had come back with a stack of clothing they wore while manifested. Kubra also got out in his vampiric face and dressed in the stiff black En-gannim outfit. The wolves bowed to him. My chest vibrated involuntarily. Charlene might have been right; this was not going to be as easy as we thought. We did not take into consideration how things were four years ago. Jade and Fahan had more problems than any of us anticipated.

The third time the doors opened, Romero stepped through them. Once they were closed, all four wolves took a knee for the man. He bobbed his head without a care in the world. How was he so composed? I was freaking out, but then I always did when we faced any unknown situation. “Is everything ready?”

“Yes, Your Excellency. We decided on a representative.”

“Good.”

The wolves opened up the doors and hurried to catch Charlene, landing in a net. They also wanted to be ready to open the ball for her. Three were on one bent knee; the last one went down on both his knees and held out his hand to her. “Can’t you just whisk me out?”

He reached for her armpits, picked her up, and gently brought her to her feet in front of him. The mahogany-colored wolf looked down into her hazel-green eyes. Charlene looked f—ing amazing. The wolf was mesmerized. She smiled brightly up at him, “Thank You. I am very lazy.”

He nodded in a jerky, totally swept off his feet kind of way. “I’d like to get out of this wind.” He jumped up, and the three surrounded her, blocking the surroundings as best they could. The chosen one guarded her in front. The four fumbled and fell over their feet as they faffed around her, followed so closely, and led her to the last barrier. I cleared my throat, “I will escort her the rest of the way.”

“Yes, of course,” they bowed and let me pass. The wolves followed the hierarchy to a T. There were no questions under the men about who was first in the harem.

Kubra and Romero would wait for Miné, who wanted to travel in her own ball, and then Fahan and Jade.

***

Isla

Ian’s other wife was called Nafilak. She was a short woman, blond, with harsh features. The two had been married for two hundred years and had four children. She did not talk to me. The two girls did not speak to me, and the two sons were fighting on Earth with their father. Ian had pulled his two daughters out of their camp and, together with all the men in the war who had done the same, hid us away on an island on En-gannim. It was small, isolated, and, at that moment, cruelly overpopulated. We’ve heard nothing from Ian since the day we fled after our ceremony. I was increasing and most days fighting for my life and for food. We were millions of women and children trying to survive. It was a depleted mining island no one wanted. The vamps who lived and worked there had bred some beasts, and the few left; we couldn’t kill and had to wait till their offspring matured, or we would never survive. We still needed blood, and the provisions Ian had thought would be enough to sustain us between feedings dwindled fast. The kids needed regular food, and those who craved meat had to wait in line. It had taken them weeks to decide to listen to me. We couldn’t make a list; I was the only woman there who could read or write. Organize on any scale. Make logical decisions or even ration resources. Most of them never had to teach their children anything but to listen to the men in their lives.

The island had little water, no teleporter station, and no communication hub. Chris had destroyed any means to travel to a place where they had no time to patrol and thought taking away the source was enough; he was right—we were stuck.

I didn’t even know if Soren or my parents were still alive. It would be interesting to see what happened to a vampire when they turned cannibal and if drinking our own blood would kill us. Once Rana and I were told to evacuate, she left for Soren’s island, and we were escorted there. I kept waiting for a man to appear. My whole life, I’ve been waiting for a man. I did decide to marry Ian. I asked Soren to help me, and when he did, I chose Ian over Juliet. At that moment, I didn’t know if it was the right choice. The men would leave us and not give us a second thought if they had to choose. I was pregnant and would at last have the fulfillment of purpose; however, if my baby didn’t have blood for the first two years of its life, he or she would die, and there was absolutely nothing I could do about it.

***

Soren

Fahan and Jade had decided to leave us stranded in Europe, aligning with Juliet, and it had fueled us to put everything into taking over the region. We killed all the humans we encountered and were moving at a brisk pace East and West, split into a fanned-out wave of vampires working our way south to Italy and would meet there before we moved to the Middle East. Our numbers were not what it used to be. The infected vamp were in our ranks, and we still outnumbered the humans wherever we ended up in a battle. Our only hope was Jacklin, and I didn’t trust her to choose to help us. She had been on Earth for so long; if she needed to choose between the En-gannim way and her own way, she could stay in America and live out her life.

Ian had finally told me where Isla was. We needed to get them to Earth as soon as possible, or she would also die, and then everything, every last f—ing thing would have meant—nothing. He was restless and had hoped we would be on Palmyra by then… I had to think of something… figure out a way out of the mess Ian had created. I still believed he should’ve taken over Nahrima when Juliet and Marcus were in those tunnels. It was also why I wasn’t with the troops marching but digging through rubble, looking for a way down into the basement of our French embassy. There had to be an emergency staircase somewhere. Although Paris was a wasteland, the building was so distinct it was easy to find its remains in all the chaos.

***

Lyla

The tunnels were so dark I freaked out every time I had to go down there to get food and water. Every noise had me jumping. Every shadow was a creature waiting to lunge out and eat me. I was waiting for mountain lions to roam into the compound and sniff me out, stalk me, and kill me regardless. It was nerve-racking to know I was all alone in the entire compound, yet after talking to Juliet and Caleb, I decided to stay; leaving would mean weeks of walking, and I would probably die before I got anywhere people were gathering.

My hands were filled with bags as if I had gone shopping when I heard the car pull through the gate. I dropped my groceries and ran down the lane. Jacklin stepped out looking ragged and worn to the bone. “Water,” she croaked. I ran back to the house to get a bottle. By the time I turned around, she was behind me. Very unladylike, she drained the bottle, spilling most of the contents over her chin. “I hate Texas! I hate this place! It’s so freaking hot.”

“Yeah, this place is getting to me. Could you at least eat? Are there any people down there?” Jacklin made her way to a lounge off the entry of Qadir’s house. She dropped down onto the couch. “Will you now tell me what you went to find?”

She reached into her bag and pulled out a device. It was glass, yet not a teleporter plate or a communicator, and it was cemented into a large frame of metal. Jacklin took out more components and slowly assembled them on the table, “My husband hid all these parts in different locations.”

“Yeah, it’s been months of you driving around, and I’ve been sitting here waiting for you.”

“Maybe we should have used the plate to get somewhere, but after we got split from Ian and Soren, all their coordinates went with them… Where could we have gone anyway?”

“You’re right,” I also took a seat, “So what is it?”

“This device is a button.” I frowned because the last time I pressed a button, all hell broke loose. “It is a fail-safe, in case of an emergency… Ahasuerus told me if someone took over and s— hit the fan. It is a way of destroying the primary power device of all sources for teleportation out there.”

“You want to cut off everyone’s ability to teleport? Forever?”

She nodded, “Look, Ian and Soren will take over on Earth. You might only have 70 years left to live… but I have six hundred years left. I hated En-gannim and was even punished when I did submit and figured out the system to get into The Tower… If Juliet comes back… she can’t fix everything overnight. It’s going to take Earth hundreds of years to get back from this.”

“If Ian can’t leave, who do you think they will sleep with? If you stay, how will you survive?”

“Ian is either taking over, or he will die. They will never let him live… No one knows I’m a vampire. If I’m the only one on this side of Earth… I think I’ll manage… I’ll only kill people who are dying.”

“And this was all Ahasuerus left you?”

“He left me one plate connected to back channels to run... If I ever needed to hide. There is an island on En-gannim… I couldn’t go there after the war broke out... Here, I would’ve given it to Soren to use that stone around Ian’s neck.”

“What does it do?”

“It’s a water and life stone.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Endless water supply… and if you don’t pick it up—”

“Flooding a planet?!”

“Soren would’ve been able to flood every planet and kill all of them.”

“What is the point? They would evacuate like last time.”

“How would anyone be able to come back from that. They need what only En-gannim has to build the teleporters with… And if they killed Fahan and Jade like they planned in the last attack, they would’ve been on Palmyra by now and have come back for us.”

“They planned to kill the dragons? No wonder Soren was so cocky! The chadari would’ve been waiting on Palmyra?”

Jacklin shook her head, “If anyone with a branding gets killed, the entire species gets wiped.”

I stood and sat right back down; this was world domination on a whole other level. Nevin had warned me about the cosmic balance. “Maybe it is better to cut it off… Let all the planets recalibrate, and the fittest will survive.”

“That’s what I’m thinking. At least we will know where everyone is and that we’re safe. It will take Ian and Soren hundreds of years to cross oceans and figure out how things work here.”

“We are basically safe in America—”

“If we press this button.”

“Let’s take five minutes.”

“Yeah, I need to wash and… have you found clothes yet?”

“No, all the houses here are empty. Those I checked anyway,” Gigi came running into the house through the lounge doors and bolted around the coffee table, stopped at Jacklin’s feet, sniffed, and sped away.

“What in the world?”

“Don’t ask.”