69. Tricked

Charlene

“Who is going to be your next husband, Charlene?”

I choked on my drink, messing some on my chin.

“Is it going to be Francesco, or should I introduce you to Sita’s cousins. Maybe if you have two werewolf husbands, you could definitely go back with Ben.”

I was still coughing while Juliet rambled on.

“I’m human. We only do monogamy… Look at your parents, Juliet. They are so happy. How you ended up like this. Only you would know.”

“Oh, please. So sleeping with a different guy every weekend. That I met at a bar. Year after year is okay. But I can’t sleep with the same three once in a while.”

I shrugged. She got me there. There really wasn’t any law to morality. Not in this world anyway… We were sitting on the patio outside, spring settling in. It was already late.

“But it isn’t about the sex only. What about the love aspect.” I asked.

Juliet watched me through narrowed eyes. “Chars, you’ve never had a serious boyfriend. Not one… You’ve never even been in love… Every time you spoke about Ben… It’s been about him and how he feels. You have not once said you liked him… Let alone love him… At this point… Me loving three guys is better than you… waiting for…”

Juliet had hit the mark. All Ben and I were doing was seeing where we were going. I also didn’t believe in one soulmate for everyone. I didn’t even know what I was waiting for…

It was going well. I enjoyed his company. He was great with Miné and me. Ben and I had even gone away for a week. Used Louis Yacht for some alone time. We haven’t been apart for a day or even an hour. Except for full moons. And I still couldn’t think about uttering any kind of words of affection or love. Neither had Ben.

There was another full moon the following day. Ben and the guys had already left. It was so quiet on the patio. Liam, Louis, and Carl were watching football inside with both babies.

“Cheers to graduating early, you guys.” Cindy came over, and we clinked glasses. “I’m really proud of you two. Doing what you guys have done this year is impressive.

We smiled. I yawned, and Juliet soon followed me. Putting her hand in front of her mouth. “Why don’t we call it a night. I’m wiped.” Juliet suggested.

“Yeah, me too.” I stood and we moved into the house. Juliet locked the door behind us. I went and stood in front of Carl to take Miné from him. He fleetingly met my eyes.

“Just wait two minutes. The game is almost over.” I glanced at the tv. They always said a few minutes more. Half an hour later, overtime kept going.

Since we had come to France. Carl had really embraced European culture. Learning languages, watching what Louis watched. So they would have more common ground.

“You literally have to hand her over to me. You don’t even have to look away from the screen.” He shoed me away with his hand.

I ignored his shoeing. Bent down to take her. His flat hand came up and covered my face, stopping me. I paused mid-air lifting up from his hand. He and Juliet laughed at me. He winked at her and kept watching TV.

“Carl… Give me my freaking kid.” He shook his head. He was playing with me. “Aaa man, I’m so tired. I just want to go to bed.” Carl’s head jerked towards me. He got up. Still not giving me my baby. It always worked with him… I just had to complain. And he did all he could to help me.

“Okay guys… we’re out. See you all tomorrow.” Carl said.

“Where are you going?” I asked.

“You said you’re tired. So we’re going home.” I cocked an eyebrow. His lips pressed together, realizing what he had said.

He tried to correct himself. “I mean… I’m going home with… you.” He put his hand over his face… I snickered. “I mean… I’m going to sleep at your house because Ben isn’t here.” His voice raised slightly. “Chris and Marcus aren’t here.”

“You don’t have to do that. I can take care of myself.”

“I know you can, but I want t….” He bit his lip. Our eyes locked.

I eyed him. My BS. meter ticking in the red zone.

“Oh, for heaven’s sake… Not that I want to take care of you.” His teeth clenched. That he didn’t mean… The whole room was so quiet. You could hear a pin fall… on the carpet. “I mean, I want to… F- it.” Carl left the room with Miné.

Standing at the door, I stared after him walking down the road… I frowned a little bit… There was a tugging in my chest. Truth revealed. A warmth spread over me. A squishy feeling of being liked by a guy. That first confession, and you didn’t even know.

“Did he just cross a line? His reaction was peculiar… Or am I making too much of it?”

The room was still so quiet. The fact that no one said anything confirmed what had happened. That I was the only one that didn’t know and how stupid I was. Carl was with me all the time. He was with me before Ben even came… I just thought it was because Juliet had so many people to help her… Juliet had asked who my second husband would be… Was she trying to tell me something? Fishing?

I slowly walked out the door. Louis and Juliet started giggling.

“At freaking last!” Louis said.

“Argh, frak!” I whispered to myself.

Down the stairs I went, hands in my back pockets. Walking towards the house that Carl helped Louis finish. I just thought he was lonely…

He had never had a girlfriend. “Shoot!” I was the reason… Had he liked me since we met? I opened the front door. The lights were all off. It was deadly quiet.

“Hey, Carl! Common man, I know you stuffed up. But I didn’t peg you for a coward.” He didn’t say anything. I put on the lights. “Mrs. Rheed!” Juliet was going to kill me for saying that. But it was a reflex.

Sita was at my house. Holding a gun. Pointing it straight at Carl’s head. A man was sitting on the couches facing away from the door. A chill ran down my spine. There was only one creature that could make you afraid without doing anything.

Yeah no! That was not what was going to happen to me that night. My hand moved. I slapped the wall again. The lights went off. The room was pitch black. I fell to the floor immediately. Hoping that’s what Carl would do. I heard a scuffle and a shot fired. The bullet hit the wall right above my head. I cursed inwardly. We had practiced being shot at. But outside, the initial bang wasn’t so loud. In the house, it caught me off guard. I was immobilized.

Carl would take her and run. Baby first… parents second. I closed my eyes. We had even had that conversation. He was referring to him and me. Not what Ben and I would do… Juliet would hear the shots. They would come and help.

I knew the house and slowly moved to where Sita was standing. Crawling, I heard movement. But no one knew where anyone else was. Unless she manifested. The lights would be on soon. I moved as fast as I could. The night sky was bright. I couldn’t go out the front door again.

***

Chris

We moved unhindered through the building. It was making our expedition much easier than I had anticipated. I thought we needed to come over a full moon because we would have to bust into the place.

The elevator went down into the mountain. It stopped at the bottom floor. We made our way inside. The chief scientist showed us around and everything they were working on. When he was done, he hadn’t really shown us anything. Having studied the plans, we knew there had to be more floors. So we didn’t leave until we found the secret passages. He was protesting, but he didn’t really have a choice.

Another elevator went even further down into the ground. It stopped eventually. It was dark as we walked into the space. The lights automatically went on as we moved. It was a massive open floor with several glass cubicles. In each, there was a person… Or thing that seemed to me like what Louis and Juliet had described. That first time she had saved the werewolf cub. Each one was rabid. Violent.

Some were foaming at the mouth. Red glowing eyes. Others flesh was rotting like Juliet so feared would happen to her. But not one looked like either of them. No leather skin on any of them. Or white eyes. But one… Did have on a mask. The control cover that Juliet had told me about. I thought I was going crazy. Seeing what Rodrigo was actually working on. Things that could happen to us. Or humans. That experiment led to infected vampires who lived forever and couldn’t go out into the sun. The werewolf toxin created unpredictability. What Qadir wanted with his experiments all of a sudden. I could only imagine.

We walked down the corridor. There was only one light on in a room to the back. The walls were covered with bottles with body parts drowned in an orange liquid. The adjourning glass cubicle was filled with cages. A lot of exotic animals in each. Last but not least was the freezer door in the back of the room and the table in the middle.

My skin crawled at the cruelty of it all. That Juliet was once on that table. That he was the cause of her suffering. When Rodrigo came out of a door and saw Marcus, he was visibly startled. His fear-drenched face stared at us in disbelief. The silence went on for a few moments.

“We’re here about Juliet,” I said to get the conversation going. Kubra went to sit on the table, hands clasped in his lap.

Rodrigo’s shoulders lowered. The hair on my arm stood up straight… Why was Rodrigo so afraid of Marcus. But I was probably naive to think that Marcus at one stage wasn’t a little more like his father than he would want to admit. And the fear crept in that Louis knew something that he wasn’t sharing with us… Things about Marcus.

At the fighting cages, there was such animosity between Qadir and his son… But when Marcus was told what to do… He obeyed without complaint.

“Poor little Juliet… How is she? Why is she not here for the cure?” Rodrigo asked.

“She won’t come back.” He bobbed his head. Busy buffing a glass flask with a paper towel. “We were hoping you could just give it to us.”

He scoffed and chuckled as if he thought we were dumb. “Who are you anyway? Last time there was a French guy with her.” Rodrigo asked.

I held out a hand to him… “Chris… Nice to meet you.”

He shook it. “Interesting. The company that little girl keeps.”

I still didn’t know what to call Juliet in my life… They were right. I had not made anything official with her. I loved her. I would never leave her. But our whole situation didn’t really have a title. “She gave birth to my baby.”

Rodrigo stood back. Lifted his torso and peered down at me. So you’re the Riphath… Would love to see that. Take a blood sample… You know the earth is the only place that has infected vampires… So it’s not like we can see alien species. All there is for us is service.” He glanced up at Marcus. He was standing still close to the exit. Maybe the problem went the other way… Did Rodrigo torture Marcus?

“I’ll oblige if you like… I don’t care what I have to do. Just give me what I need to save Juliet” I went to sit on the steel table next to Kubra.

Rodrigo scoffed and chuckled again. I wished he would just get to the point. He moved towards me and took my blood. “Without what I gave her. She never would have gotten pregnant in the first place. She was not supposed to be able to produce viable offspring from another species.”

I was taken aback.

“There are no other vampires that have ever carried a Riphath baby… There is a price to pay for that.” My heart started beating faster when he spoke about a price to pay. She was paying, not me.

“You told Louis there was a cure.”

“There is… But it’s here. It’s intensive and of long duration. It’s not a little red pill, and all her problems go away. And if she does get it .. she will never be able to carry your child again… If I were her, I would just let the formula take its course.”

“How can you say that? Juliet ate a person and was controlled by a human. She is turning into that.” I pointed to one the cubicles around us.

He shook his head. Rodrigo walked to the side and tapped on the glass. It was the only female not doing anything. She was just standing there with that thing over her mouth. Her skin wasn’t putrifying. There were no foaming or red werewolf eyes.

I frowned. “What do you mean? Juliet got that stuff before we slept together.”

He smirked. “Mm,” shaking his head slowly.

“What I gave her was Lucky number 5.” Scared to know what would have happened, I turned to where he was pointing. The woman in that cubicle was half-werewolf, half-monster. Rushing into the glass, challenging her opponent next door.

I manifested and grabbed Rodrigo around the throat. “How do I kill an infected vampire.” He gripped my arm and easily bent my hand off his neck. Displaying all the strength he had.

“Nothing as easy… Fire. Or rip off my head.” He glanced up at Marcus.

Bachelor number two was still waiting at the door, standing with his hands at his side. The look on his face was unreadable. I rolled my eyes. Marcus was this badass until he wasn’t. How were we supposed to know who would pitch up for the day?

I tossed him down. He was taking in all of me. “The mouth plate and control is for whoever holds the magic button. The eating of people is a Riphath trait, no? Werewolves do it every day… Juliet has spunk she won’t be put off by eating someone.”

“But she’s still changing into something else. Other than a vampire. Her skin is like….”

“Leathery snakeskin… Yes. I know. I designed it like that. So that it doesn’t putrify like lucky number 3 over there. He gestures to another woman. If you could still call her a woman. “The skin… I am working on it.”

“So what you’re saying is she will change, but she will… what? I don’t understand what’s going on.”

“Look, she will still be Juliet… but different… permanently… But she can always come back and go through the reversal process. It takes only a year or so.”

“She won’t be able to transform back and forth?” I asked.

He shook his head slowly from side to side. “Not without the button. Right now, she has only spells… Why haven’t you brought her back?” I glanced over to Marcus. “Oh yeah, this place doesn’t conjure fond memories for some of us. I didn’t think Juliet would fit in here.”

Kubra’s eyes were nailed to the floor. Swinging his legs slowly back and forth, next to me.

“What is this magic button your talking about?”

“Mindcontrol tech to manage her when she’s like that. She will have so much strength and speed and… maybe other abilities… Can’t just let her loose, you know.”

“Why are you working on all this… if you have a sure way of creating a secret army.”

He scoffed and chuckled again.

“No, the men in this place want to control… not give women more. And this secret potion… is just for women. It was just to see if I could make a species interbreed… But it meant that I needed to change so many things in the chromosomes so that the pregnancies would be viable. And that was not my goal. I had other plans before my recapture. And of course, hybrids like a mule can’t have babies… Vampires hate other races… The werewolves want nothing to do with anybody else. So the only thing I had left to work with was…The idea of you. And making them believe it was possible.”

“I can’t tell you everything, but one thing I will say is.” He came closer and whispered into my ear. “Qadir doesn’t know she will live. He thinks she will turn into a monster.”

For just a moment… sometimes… everything was too much for me to wrap my mind around. Little Juliet in her school dress will turn into what? I should have been happy. That all she did was disappear back then. Was eighteen and liked me.

“Look… I don’t know all the rules that would apply… This is the first and only time this has ever happened. You three species are inadvertently half-human divided by location… meaning environment… Your habitats were never supposed to intermingle… But being in human form made you sexual all the time with a cycle every month, but on your planets… it might not work like that… Then, of course, the Sexual attraction factor….” He flashed his eyes at me…

“Wait, you’re telling me that my x wife didn’t sleep with me because we are not the same species.”

He bobbed his head and shrugged. “Werewolves are a funny species.”

I laughed lightly. “How could they have been so stupid to think that… Everybody thought I… was Juliet? That you gave that stuff to me?” Wow, mind blown. I snorted.

“The word about my research quickly went around. In the end, there was just too much speculation… The legend of the hybrid was there for the kids on the planet… So that they didn’t know what was going on. They just didn’t know who went through the process. They still don’t… I was off compound when you were born.”

“But why does everyone think Juliet could carry my baby.”

“They think it’s a fluke because of my interference. They just didn’t know she had a good Samaritan… that cared enough. And changed her treatment.”

“The werewolves on earth know that Palmyra had cut off all ties with them. Every now and again, more criminals are dropped off. But that’s the punishment… Exile… So they wanted a cure for their declining numbers. They became desperate. They actually still think that you are the link to interspecies pregnancy.”

“But Charlene had a baby.”

“Fifty-fifty… Humans are kind of neutral ground… but… The vamps in exile were a little smarter than the wolves. They evolved quickly and because of Qadir. The way they control their woman. Their way of living. The compound is now so strong… He will be taking over the earth… is a matter of … Well, I just need one more cub… maybe then?”

My hands rubbed over my face and through my hair. Frak! I needed to get out of there. We came all this way… At least we knew she wasn’t dying or going to be locked up in a glass cubicle.

“Wait, what about Juliet and me?”

A few emotions ran over his features. He sat down on the counter behind him, hands perching himself by his sides. He regarded me. “I honestly don’t know. Maybe love can really go up against even mother nature.”

***

Carl

I couldn’t believe it. The truth was out. Charlene knew I liked her. Didn’t I tell Louis she would never know… Never say never, I guess. And there I was… going to find out what she thought about the idea. My heart was pounding. Gripping onto Miné. I kissed her little head on my shoulder. The house was dark. When we left earlier, it was still afternoon. We had a good day…

I heard a noise before I felt the cold steel of the gun against my head. The person pushed me into the room and made me stand still, gripping onto my upper arm. I didn’t know what to do. I had a baby on my shoulders. Charlene was behind me and would walk through the door any minute…

Charlene was brave and quick. I was proud of her. She killed the lights. I pushed the gun forward towards Charlene. It was the only way but away from the baby was all I cared about. I fell to the floor and moved into the hall, crawling into Charlene’s room and closing the door. I made for the window and got the hell out of there. Baby first, or Charlene might have killed me herself. The most important people in the house were the two kids.

***

Juliet

“What was that?!” I got up off Louis’s lap. We stood at the front door, looking down towards Charlene’s house.

“Do you think she shot him for liking her?” Louis flicked me on my forehead.

“Carl wouldn’t be practicing shooting at this time of night. Maybe a gas leak.” Louis said.

The sudden white of a figure in the woods was no longer something new. But when Michael walked out towards us. My stomach flipped. Louis and I stood gaping at him. But he didn’t stop. Michael didn’t even glance up at me. He went into a run right past us.

Louis turned to me. “I don’t think he wants to marry you anymore. He’s dumping you.” I laughed. Louis’s sense of humor was coming back. Since Chris and I had made up. I was better. Everyone seemed better. I nudged him in the ribs. We both followed Michael into the house.

My mom and dad were bewildered coming towards us.

“I don’t think he likes you anymore, Julie.” My dad whispered. I snickered.

Louis gestured to my dad and towards the hallway. Michael had gone through the house. But our smiles soon fell when he had Caleb in his arms, holding him like he was the most precious thing on earth. Michael walked past us into the woods and disappeared. The four of us followed him outside.

“Juliet… I know you trust the guy. But he just stole our baby...” Then we saw Carl running into the woods with Miné… Louis grabbed my hand desperately and pulled me back in behind him. Goose flesh covered my legs. A chill ran up my spine.