Shattered Skies: Beginning's End (10 page)

Love scared me; you should never be so involved with someone that you do foolish things. Foolish, irrational things lead to early death. If you die without making a difference, than what was the point to begin with? Jaden and Jewel’s parents died the same way as my parents and yet
they were the complete opposite. They were young and underprivileged. Dr. Walker always made a point of telling the twins that their parents may not have had a lot, but they had love like no others. It was sad but all our parents were a perfect example of why you should listen to your head instead of following your heart. 

For the second time in a little over a week I felt like the walls were closing in on me. For the first time in my life I felt like I couldn’t be safe in our little bunker. I couldn’t deal with this anymore.  I needed to escape from the reality that surrounded me.

Once again, I found myself wandering the streets. I still wasn’t sure what had just happened. Maybe I had overreacted when I left Akia’s this morning. After all, he did save my life. I was even more upset about the blood sharing than Dr. Walker was which was odd. I thought for sure he would insist on transfusing me with some human blood, even though we both knew that wouldn’t counter balance what had been done. I probably would have let him do it just to make us both feel better.  The longer I walked the more and more upset I was about Darien’s reaction. I could not believe that the one person that stood with
me when I protested my role in the family with Dr. Walker now thought I was incompetent. I wasn’t incompetent though, I just happened to be at the way wrong place at the way wrong time. Everyone knew that risks came with this job. If sharing a little blood with the Regent was the worst thing that was going to happen to me, than I figure I got off easy.  

I was angry at myself and disappointed that I had charged out of Dr. Walker’s office the way that I had, but I had been upset and my heart literally hurt. It was still beating, but it felt like it had just been ripped in two. I knew that I said some hurtful things, but that is what I do when I am backed into a corner. It is another one of the things that makes me, me. Everyone around me usually understood and accepted that by ignoring me during one of my rants and raves but this time I wasn’t so sure. The worst part was the knowledge that Darien and I were both so stubborn that it would be a while until either of us admitted that we were sorry. How do you live without your best friend? Hell, how do you live without your only friend?

I had never been so happy to see my frumpy little four room apartment in my life. It wasn’t much at all, but it was the one place that I could truly go and be alone. It was the place where I could be myself and not some human that was fighting an endless b
attle to save the world. Darien and Ihad spent a lot of nights on the couch under a blanket watching stupid old movies that we managed to get our hands on. The Vampires had made a lot of human history disappear; what was the point of keeping it?  An educated human was a threat to them. By burning books and destroying movies, they could make people more and more animal-like. When you decide to enslave an entire race, you want to make sure that you do it right. I always wondered how much more was out there that I will never get to experience because the monsters destroyed it. 

Dr. Walker was a smart man, but he was a scientist by nature. He spent more time reading text books than he did the classics. I would do almost anything to have the chance to talk to somebody that could fill me in on all the things that had been destroyed. I could understand why it was important to get rid of all the weapons and the technology. The less the humans had, the better. If it was possible that they could get their hands on a bomb, or weapon of any sort, it was
also possible that they could do something to change their fate. The Vampires were smart enough to know that. I, however, thought that burning art, books, and films was just a part of the mental warfare they waged on us. Anything that the monsters could take away from the humans was a successful step in turning humans into a mindless herd.

Dr. Walker had managed to save a decent amount of films and literature throughout the years. He saved them to be used for educational purposes. He thought that we could learn a lot about the past way of life by watching the movies. Now and then, Darien would come across a copy of a movie or book that had been misplaced, and we would watch it or read it over and over again. It was our only peek into what was normal. The memory of us laughing and acting out the scenes suddenly made me very sad. I hadn’t realized that the last night that we spent being carefree could have actually been the last night we would ever spend together. That thought sickened
me so much that I pushed it out of my mind. 

What I needed was a nice hot bath and to crawl under the covers and forget that any of this happened. Maybe if I was lucky, I would wake up to my alarm clock and realize that it had all just been a bad dream. I could tell Darien about it and we would sit and make fun of me for hours. Yeah, that sounded like enough of a glimmer of hope to keep me sane long enough to fall asleep for a little while.

When I unlocked the door, the smell of roses overwhelmed me. The scent was so sweet that it was almost sickening. This was new, I couldn’t afford to keep fresh flowers, and even if I could with no water for over a week they would be dead. All around there were vases of every color rose that you could imagine. There were roses in colors that I would have never dreamt possible; they were all so vibrant that it almost hurt to look at them. The biggest bunch was placed right in the center of my little kitchenette two-seater. 

I had my gun out before I even realized I had reached for it, not that it would do any good if the monster was still there, but it made me feel better just feeling the weight of it in my hands. No one other than Darien had a key to the apartment and the roses were new. They had to be from today and since he had been at the base giving me a
hard time all day that ruled him out. Well, that and the fact that there had to be about a thousand dollars’ worth of flowers crammed into my little place and neither of us would ever see that much money at one time. 

I went from room to room, checking every hiding place that I could imagine. First, I looked behind the front door and then under the couch, which didn’t prove to be an easy thing to do when you were trying to aim a gun at an unknown target. If the monster was still there, he was more than likely getting a chuckle from how uncoordinated I looked stumbling all over myself, trying to remain in control. I checked in all the closets, behind the curtains, and under the bed. Everything checked out OK; there wasn’t a thing out of place. I was hoping that whoever had been in there really hadn’t been looking for information about me, even though I knew that was unlikely. If anyone had rifled through my things, I couldn’t tell, which meant that they were professional
s, which was even worse. I could deal with some common street thug looking for cash, but a professional was going to be a lot trickier.

Then all of a sudden I heard it. Someone was shuffling around in the living room trying to make it out the door unnoticed. I don’t know how I was able to hear such a soft sound, but right now I didn’t have the time to stand there and try to figure it out. I was more concerned with whether or not I was going to be able to kill the bastard before they could get away. I quickly threw myself out into the living room in a double handed shooting stance, gun pointed in front of me until I found my target. 

“Drop everything and put your hands on your head, or I will kill you where you stand!” The words that were coming out of my mouth sounded way steadier than I felt. As I was talking, I quickly swept the room with my eyes, moving the gun with me as I went. Much to my surprise the room was quiet and no one was there but my cat Storm, who angrily hissed at my threats and ran to hide. I would find her later and try to make up with her; right now I had to figure out the deal with the roses. 

I circled each vibrant vase trying to make sense of it and that is when I saw the black roses; they were dead center on the table, placed there so they would be noticed first, but leave it to me to overlook the obvious. The card was hidden in between all the beautiful black bulbs. On the front of the envelope was my name written in crimson red, calligraphy letters. I suspected where the roses came from even before I read the card, if it wasn’t Darien. I had no other men hooked to the point of such an elaborate show of affection, well I mean beside
s the one that was going to be the death of me and more than likely my family. 

Even though I knew it was Akia, my heart did this odd fluttery thing when I saw his signature at the bottom of the paper. I am sure it was just my nerves reacting to trying to shoo
t my cat; yeah that sounds good, we will stick with that one. When I finally read the rest of the note, I wasn’t sure whether to cry or find this monster Akia and kick his ass.

“Kitten: 1000 colored roses for 1000 sincere apologies. 50 black roses for the 50 pieces of my broken heart. Please call me.

Yours,

Akia

P.S. None of your things were taken or harmed. My people are always quite professional.”

For the second time in my entire life, I was speechless. This corny little attempt to earn himself forgiveness surely must have cost him a pretty penny. Then again, I guess money is no object when you are the ruler of the superior race. I was flattered and furious at the same time; two emotions that usually don’t mix. I am sure there are not many reasons in the
world that would make these two emotions mix; but then again have I ever been normal? 

I was a collection of questions. What the hell did he see between us that would make him go to all of this trouble? How did he get someone into my apartment? He truly had the power to do anything that he wanted, and
in my line of work, that was bad. What if next time he didn’t want to come into my apartment to leave flowers? What if next time he breaks in, he is looking for something else? What if no matter how careful I am, he manages to find something that tells him I am not one of them?

There were way too many “what ifs” in each of those scenarios. I had to do something, but would moving into another apartment really stop h
im from finding me? He was the King of the world for crying out loud. I am sure he could find me on a different continent if he truly wanted. There had to be something that could be done to make sure that this never happens again. Other than killing him, I had no idea what it might be. 

While Akia’s death w
asn’t on the agenda for today so far, something had to be done to try to convey to him that he is never to openly enter my apartment again. Why couldn’t some of the stories be true? How much easier would my life be if I could just stake him in the heart, burn him with a cross, or not invite him in? How many monsters would I be able to avoid with simple garlic? Yes, that would be great; a clove here and a clove there. Sure it wouldn’t smell all that great, but that would be a small inconvenience if I could keep all the bad guys at bay.

Without the benefit of extra time to think about it, I had to come up with something quick. The longer I just stood there dumbfounded, smelling the roses, the worse this mess would be
come. I thought maybe ignoring him would teach him a lesson, or even get my point across. You know, make him take the hint and maybe stay away from me. Then again, if I was ignoring him, that would mean no talking to him. I couldn’t stand not knowing why he went to all the trouble of doing this. Did he really think breaking into my apartment and filling it with flowers was going to win my heart? Of course, how many females would have given anything to have a guy that would do that for them? I am sure that if Akia was human and the monsters never came, he would be quite the romantic man. Too bad for the both of us that way of life was gone forever; raped and pillaged and burned on the way to creating his very existence. I guess the loss of normal life was a small price to pay when you are creating the perfectly indestructible being.

Since ignoring Akia wasn’t practical, because in all honesty it would drive me nuts, I knew I was going to call him. I had to make sure his people really didn’t know more than they should; yes that is a good reason. I was very careful never to leave anything that might give away my dirty little secret lying around. You never knew when a jealous girlfriend was going to bust in looking for their missing mate. Ok, that had never happened, because if it had I would be dead. I couldn’t fight off a scorned lover. What was that saying? Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. I am sure if a human female was scary enough to warrant that saying, a female monster would be a thousand times worse. Of course, I live by the motto better paranoid then dead. The note said that the people that left the flowers all around my apartment were very professional. Was that Akia’s way of saying that he knew something? Was he playing mind games with me now, amusing himself? I could almost picture him sitting in the shadows and laughing at me, watching me go crazy trying to figure out what he was going to do to me. When he gets bored of me, will he jum
p out and kill me, or does the King not like to get his hands dirty? I was sure I’m probably only merited one of his flunkies.

“Stop it Cat! Get a hold of yourself. You have lived through this life this long, so just make a plan and stick to it. You have been trained for this.” Saying things out loud made me feel a little crazy, but it made me feel a whole lot better as well. 

I would hate to have to take out the head monster, but better him then me right? Really, who did he think he was fooling? I am sure that there were women beating down his door just trying to get his attention. Was I supposed to believe that my presence had affected him that much in our short time together? He had to be up to something; this had to be a trick. I mean, getting attached to someone that fast just didn’t happen. Yet, if that wasn’t true, what was the nagging feeling in the pit of my stomach every time I had allowed myself to think about him even a little?