Opulent (The Opalescent Collection Book 1) (13 page)
Read Opulent (The Opalescent Collection Book 1) Online
Authors: Isabelle Gallo
I
n celebration, Lucian took me to the City the following day. He showed me around the City, pointing out monuments and statues that basked in spotlights. Construction was fast here, on Catastrophe. What took years to build on Earth only took a couple of months to build here. Amour was recently constructed, now a famous restaurant in the City.
“Where Amour stands today is where the tallest building in the City once stood. If you went there during an eclipse you could have-,”
“Counted the craters on the moon’s surface.”
“Yes, that’s right.” He said while holding the restaurant door open for me.
Inside, a dining experience found here, in the City of Lights, was unlike any other. The restaurant was
T-shaped with small tables in the front, near the entrance, and larger, longer tables toward the back, closer to the kitchen. The whole west wing was devoted to kitchen space. There were massive columns and marvelous original paintings on the walls from some of the best-known artists on Catastrophe. A waiter attended every table.
The guests consisted of upper class, dressed richly in long gowns and fitted suits. Many women wore necklaces beaded with the shed scales of their dragons. A pianist sat at a grand piano playing soft, atmospheric music.
“How may I assist you tonight?” A waiter asked.
“A table for two.”
“Yes, right this way.”
He showed us to a table in the far back of the room, large with potpourri scattered over its top.
“This is a bit large for the two of us. A smaller table will do fine.”
“Yes sir.”
We followed him to another table, which was smaller but just as equally dressed up.
“Here you are.” The waiter said as he pulled out my chair.
“Thank you.”
“Here are the menus for tonight.”
“That will be all.”
The waiter nodded and walked off toward the kitchen. I sat quietly to look over the menu at the selection of meals. I did not see anything that suited my appetite, hardly hungry anyway, and stood up.
“Where are you going?” Lucian’s eyes flashed up from his menu.
“I have to powder my nose.” I bit my tongue. That was something a mortal would say.
“Don’t be long.”
“I won’t.”
Before I made it to the other side of the restaurant, a familiar voice struck me - no,
two
familiar voices. There stood my father and Prusaious. They were both dressed to blend in with the rich atmosphere. Quietly, I hid behind a column, the closest thing to hide behind.
“You said she would be here. Where is she?”
“I…I don’t know…she’s nearby, I just know she’s here. I can smell her.”
“Find her,” my father growled impatiently.
I peered out from behind my hiding spot to see if they were still there. To my relief, they were gone. Hesitant to turn back to get Lucian, I noticed the bathroom was closer and I made my way toward it. Before I could reach my new hiding place, someone grabbed me from behind and my mouth was covered.
My kidnapper dragged me into the kitchen. The chefs were too busy to notice as I passed them. How they did not notice a couple of kidnappers nonchalantly dragging a squealing girl was just astonishing. I wished they were not so oblivious to the world around them and turn around for a moment. I wished they would glance up from cooking their meat or tossing their salad, but they appeared to be in a world of their own. Such a world better have giant pieces of food and gingerbread men running around in lakes of milk and honey. Such a world should better have been more pleasing than such a scene behind them, within their reach.
I stopped moving. A large dragon stood before me and took me from the rough hands of my kidnapper once we were outside. The dragon held me to its body, one of its talons pressed against my mouth so whenever I tried to scream, the dragon’s claws pinched my face. I found I could not move at all, despite my attempt to fight the dragon. The dragon flew at extreme speeds, through the City to the Bridge and onward to Earth.
It was dark and I could see nothing once the dragon finally landed. The dragon held me while my kidnappers bound my hands in chains behind my back. They covered my mouth again.
My kidnappers forced me into a room. My eyes pained me, adjusting to the intense light, as one of the chains freed my right hand. The other chain wrapped around a thick column so I could not escape. I was in the dining room of my parent’s house. My family members glared at me, all except Tim. He was chained to the column beside me.
“You just disappeared the other night, without even saying goodbye,” my father chimed.
“Why? Why do you still hate our species? I want to put an end to this war-,”
“It isn’t about the species!”
“Then why do you want me to be a wolf so much? You know that I have the most power of my species…and for you to turn me into a wolf, wouldn’t that cause me to be the most powerful and lead you and your wolves-,” I began.
“Quiet! I will hear none of that!”
“Why? Because I’m right!”
“Enough! I will find a way to turn you into a wolf.”
“Don’t waste your time.”
“Why not?”
“I have performed the Blood Ceremony already. My transformation is complete and you can’t change me now.”
“Who did you perform the Blood Ceremony with? Fitzray or Pete?”
“Fitzray is long gone and Pete hasn’t come for me yet. You should know that.”
“Then who did you complete the Ceremony with? Some poor vampire off the street?”
“No. Lucian.”
“You are joking…a vampire from the street would be far better than
him
. He is a reject to both species…no wait, all
three
- the vampires, mortals,
and
wolves. He’s hardly superior at all.”
“Yes, he is. He is your king now.”
“There are no kings on Earth that rule us,” my father said.
He walked over to me and brushed my hair away from my neck where the two bite marks still showed, pink and sore. He stumbled back with a growl while Tim let out a sigh of relief.
“And
you
,” he hissed turning his head in Tim’s direction. “You are a traitor! How dare you try to help her and go against my wishes! I gave you one simple task-,”
“You think turning my own cousin into a wolf by force is
simple
?”
My father snarled. “Throw him over the Bridge.”
“No one is throwing anyone over the Bridge!” Prusaious yelled.
“Yeah, if anyone should be thrown over the Bridge it should be
you
.” I cried, pointing with my free hand.
“
Me?
”
“Yeah, you are the traitor! You were working for my father the whole time, weren’t you!”
“I wasn’t always a traitor. Not until you took Lucian from me!”
“
Me
, take Lucian from
you
? I didn’t even know Lucian! He fell for me! He wanted to
help
me!”
She crossed her arms. “Liar!”
“
Liar
?” I growled and took a step toward her, but found the chains still bound me to the column.
“Take her to the dungeon! Lock her up with Tim!”
My father ripped the chains from the columns and led us down into the depths of the cold basement. He tossed us both carelessly into a small cellar and pulled over a metal bar door, locking it. He handed the key to Prusaious.
“Tonight we destroy the Bridge and you will be present to see it fall.” My father said.
“Why would you do that?”
“So your species will suffer.”
“Because of something
I
did? Your species will suffer just the same. You leave the vampires as they are. This is a family issue, not a reason to continue our war.”
“I call the shots here. My species will not suffer.”
“Your species won’t survive long.”
“They will survive long enough for yours to be extinct.”
“And then what will you do with me?”
“I don’t know. I haven’t really thought of that.”
They left at once, without another word. Tim and I remained alone, in the darkness.
“Don’t worry, I’ll get us out of here,” he whispered.
“They can’t destroy the Bridge, Tim. Catastrophe will be in ruins if they do.”
“Then you will have to stop Prusaious…and your own father.”
* * * * *
Lucian paced through the restaurant. He scanned the faces of those around him. He shot over to the kitchen and asked every waiter in sight if he had seen the Queen of Catastrophe. He ran off to the bathroom and touched the elbow of a woman who passed him.
“Could you tell me if the Queen is in there?”
“Of course dear,” the elder woman replied.
She nodded and walked into the bathroom only to return several minutes later.
“Is she there?”
“No,” the woman said sadly, “but you should check outside. Maybe she wanted some fresh air.”
After looking again with no hope, he slumped on the edge of the huge fountain that flowed with colored bubbles at the front of the building. He yelled to his guards and they informed him that they had a bigger problem. They claimed explosives covered the Bridge.
* * * * *
A few wolves took me from the dungeon to the Bridge, just as my father promised. The wolves stood in front of me. A distant voice called out a command.
“Go, blow up the Bridge,” my father yelled.
Someone lit the fuse that now twisted, snaking its way toward the Bridge and the explosives. My eyes followed it, fearing for my kind, watching the little yellow-orange light burn when suddenly it disappeared. There was not a rumble or a thunderous crash of an explosion that I anticipated. Instead, I saw Prusaious standing where the light had disappeared. A wisp of smoke floated into the air where her boot was, firmly suffocating the small flame.
“What are you doing?” My father roared and marched up to Prusaious angrily.
“Chenille was right. It’s not worth killing our own species to try to kill off another.”
“What do you suggest we do then?”
“We simply keep Chenille under lock and key.”
“What good would that do?”
“With Chenille gone, Lucian won’t know what to do.”
“I suppose.”
“So, he will probably go insane with the thought of what could have happened. And with no rulers, the vampires will fall. They will fall and chaos will rain over them. We could easily beat them in a battle.”
“And then what?” I cried.
“And then Catastrophe will be ours. Now, clean the Bridge up and disburse. Make sure Chenille is locked up and leave the rest to me.”
“No,” Taj’ said quietly. “I don’t believe that is so.”
“Then why would she just…disappear like that? Do you think someone kidnapped her?”
“Queen Pearl,” Lucian said with a bow.
“No, I am still Princess Pearl,” she corrected. “My mother will always be a queen, yet her time was up long ago. She now makes up the waves in the oceans and Earth’s sky blue. They call her Mother Nature. She was one of the wisest most beautiful mermaids and had extraordinary powers. She fell in love with my father who was an old phoenix. He became the Father of Time. They both loved Earth so much, but there was no Bridge of Secrecy at that time so they vowed that the day they died they would move to Earth together and become a part of it.”
“Is that really true?”
“True as it will ever be.”
The little snake babies let out giddy squeaks and slipped from her arms into the shallow water beside their father. Lucian shook his head and closed his eyes.
“I don’t know what to do.”
He bid farewell to them and went home to his palace. He paced the floor, his eyes resting on the navy cutlass sword that Fitzray had given him several years ago. It hung on the wall above the mantle, showing off its beautiful gold hilt and silver blade. He lifted it from the wall and laid it flat across his hands to examine it. Jasper walked into the room, his head low so he would not hit his head on the ceiling.
“What are you doing Sire?”
“I’m just looking at the sword Fitzray gave me a few years ago.” He turned the sword over in his hands thoughtfully.
“Sire…you…you wouldn’t.”
“How will I go on Jasper, if Chenille does not return?” He said coldly, his fingers running over the slender blade.
“But Master-,”
“I will be your Master no longer Jasper. You would be free from my rule.”
“No Sire, I won’t let you.”
“Leave Jasper.”
“I will not.”
“Leave!”
The dragon backed up, forced to obey Lucian’s command and left the room.
Lucian held the heavy sword in his hands and positioned it right before his chest, testing himself, if he could really seize his last breath.
“Lucian! Let me in!”
He dropped the sword and ran for the door with every bit of hope surfacing upon hearing the familiar voice. Once the door was open, Prusaious trotted inside and threw her arms around his neck. Startled, he stepped back and frowned at the girl who stood before him.
“I don’t suppose you have any news regarding Chenille, do you?”
“Oh, I do!”
“What? Tell me!”
“I…don’t think I should.”
“Tell me!”
“Well you see I have been told that she has…
died
.”
“No…no.”
“But it will be all right…you will move on…
won’t you
?”
He stepped back with Prusaious walking in front of him when his heel hit the sword. Prusaious jumped back at the loud metallic ring and noticed the sword near his feet. She looked at it suspiciously and then at Lucian.
“What…you tried to kill yourself? How could you…all because of Chenille?”
“I didn’t try…but I will. I will now if what you say is true,” he said through his teeth.
“You only felt sorry for her because Fitzray died and he was your cousin!”
“No, I didn’t! I vowed to help her because if I didn’t do what I did, if I didn’t perform the Ceremony with her…Pete would still be ruling and…who knows what would have happened to her.”
“So you felt sorry for her.”
“I was protecting her.”
“And what about
me
?”
“What
about
you?”
“Did you ever take
my
feelings into consideration?”
“You helped me the way a sister would have. I didn’t look at you as anything more.”
Her hands tightened to fists at her sides.
“You will regret that.”
“You should move on.”
“Time is running out for Chenille.”
“What? Where is she? Where is my Eternal Mate? She
is
alive isn’t she? You…
you
are the one responsible for this!”
She smiled wickedly and touched his face, waiting until his eyes closed and he fell to the floor at her feet. She laughed quietly and took a step back to admire her work.
He stood once she raised her arm and came to her with simple hand gestures like a trained dog. He was her puppet now, loyally obeying all she asked him to do.
The guards, as well as Chenille’s friends, became aware of this and devised a plan as soon as they saw Lucian. Calvin walked into the living room while Prusaious was in stitches. She watched Lucian as he balanced plates of food on his head and arms for her.
Calvin stood in front of the fireplace and looked at her. At once, she stopped laughing and all of the plates fell and shattered upon meeting the floor. She carelessly pushed Lucian from the couch once he took a seat beside her and patted it lightly for Calvin to sit instead.
“Sit here,” she said quietly. “Have we met before?”
“We have, actually.” Calvin sat beside her, expressionless.
“So what is your name again?”
“Eh, Calvin…listen, can I have my friend back?”
She looked over at Lucian and shrugged her shoulders.
“I guess, I mean-,” she froze just as he put an icy hand to her face. “I mean…of course you can have him back.”
Lucian dropped into the pile of broken glass.
“That’s more like it.” He whispered and stood up to help Lucian.
“Now, can you tell us where Chenille is?” Calvin whispered.
“I couldn’t possibly-,”
“
Please
?” Calvin hissed and neared her ear.
“On Earth.”
“Where on Earth?” He pressed, his charm getting through to her.
“She’s in the basement of her parent’s house.” She replied quickly, obedient.
“You have been a great help,” he said with a friendly smile.
“You have to hurry though.”
“Why?”
“She is terribly malnourished.”
“The baby will die for good if she hasn’t eaten anything,” Lucian said, now fully alert. He shook his head in distress.
Calvin grabbed his shoulder and whispered harshly in his ear. “You get a couple of dragons ready and meet the others outside. Chenille doesn’t have much time.” He turned to Prusaious. “How much time do you think she has left?”
“I don’t know.”
“What about Prusaious?” Lucian whispered back.
“I’ll take care of her. You have to save Chenille before it’s too late.”
Lucian ran out the door to where Amelia and Pearl waited for him on the backs of large dragons. Lucian mounted Jasper and Minx stood beside him.
“Let’s go!”
Once they lifted off, they heard distant rumbles as if a volcano was erupting, but thought nothing of the loud noise.
“It is good to have you back, Sire.”
“It’s good to be back.”
“It’s going to be a long flight,” Amelia said.
“Yes, but we don’t have much time. We have to make these dragons fly as fast as they can.”
“Where is Taj’?”
“He will meet up with us on the other side of the Bridge. He’ll direct us to where Chenille is being kept.”
The dragons pumped their wings as hard as they could. To get there in time, they needed to fly faster. The tired dragons kept their pace, if not faster, until they reached their maximum speed. Instead of their small, fast strokes they once used to reach their minimum speed, they flew with long, powerful strokes. Once Earth was in clear view, they spiraled down. They flew straight down and once the land was near, swooped up to prevent collision. On land, they broke from their run, skidding to a stop.
Taj’ moved in front of Lucian once he slid off Jasper and looked for some way to get into the basement.
“Over here!” he called.
Lucian walked over to him. The barred window created a perfect portal into the basement.
“How do we get inside?”
Taj’ wrapped his tail around the bars in front of the window, bending them effortlessly. He then smashed his tail through the glass and looked down at Lucian.
“I will lower you down with my tail. Once you find Chenille, hand her up to me.” He curled his tail around Lucian’s waist and lowered him down into the basement quickly.
“Over here,” a voice called. Lucian found the voice belonged to a blond haired boy. He mentioned that his name was Timothy. “I’m Chenille’s cousin.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll get you out of here.”
To his surprise the door was not only unlocked, it was broken. But Tim was weak, cut up, and bleeding.
“What happened? Did you do this?”
“Yes. I thought there would be a way out of here. She has…little…time. She hasn’t…had blood in…in days. If the baby dies, she might die too.”
“Taj’ I need you to take someone for me.”
“Chenille?”
“No, Timothy, her cousin. Take him to Minx and tell him to fly to Catastrophe as fast as he can to the hospital.”
“Ok, where is he?”
“Go up to the window, you will be safe with Taj’.” He told Tim. “Taj’ hurry, take Chenille now!” He held me up for the snake and his tail curled around my body. “Don’t worry about me! Take Chenille to Jasper and tell him to fly! Tell him I told him to fly as fast as he can!”
“Lucian said to fly as fast as you can Jasper! Chenille’s life depends on it!” I heard Taj’ say as he handed me off to the dragon.
Jasper pressed me to his body with one of his talons and ran at full speed with the other three. He began to flap his wings, each flap steady, and soon rapid strokes hit the air. With one final beat, he lifted up onto his back feet and pushed into the sky, continuing the short strokes.
He held me with two talons pressing me to his soft chest. I could almost hear the strain of his muscles and the hot blood pumping in the veins of his wings. The strokes became longer and soon we passed Minx. The Bridge came into view, but Catastrophe looked like a faded dot from how high we were.
All was well until a huge ball of light came out of nowhere and passed in front of us before our eyes. Jasper roared, but continued to push on. The huge bursts of fire continued to drop like a meteor shower and Jasper banked to avoid collision. He struggled to maintain his fast speed since he had to slow down whenever he saw the blinding light rush toward him.
He roared suddenly and a force pushed us along fast. Catastrophe seemed to be coming toward us within seconds. Jasper still cried out frantically. A giant ball of light had crashed into him and pushed us toward Catastrophe.
He flapped his singed wings once successfully breaking away from the hot meteor and proceeded down toward the planet. He flew through the City of Lights and once he found the hospital, he landed near the building. Being as large as he was, he could not fit through the hospital doors and smashed his head through one of the windows instead.
“Caspian! I need Caspian!”
The nurses gave out frightened cries and ran off at the sight of Jasper.
“No, wait, I need Caspian!”
Two nurses ran forward, dragging Caspian and presented him to Jasper as if to sacrifice him to the dragon.
“The dragon wants
you
,” one of the nurses said to the doctor.
He looked up at Jasper confused. “You have the wrong hospital…you see, I am not a veterinarian. Your wings look badly burned but-,”
