97. Invitation
Juliet, Seven Months Pregnant
Ahasuerus
“Did everything go well with the campaign?”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“Send the Riphaths home safe? Any casualties.” Kubra shook his head.
I had dispensed with the formalities. Kubra and I were sitting down on some couches in my office. Since Qadir went to Earth, I had many things brought over to make our lives easier. We didn’t have fertile soil like Earth. No trees.
But what we didn’t have in natural beauty, we had in minerals and precious stones. All the elements needed to advance in technology. Almost every continent was rich in mining and liquids that helped us create the teleporters. Medical advanced technology… The list went on and on.
My hand ran over the leather. It was soft… Cows had their uses.
The door to my study opened. Marcus came closer. He was taken aback when he saw Kubra. Neither of them knew why they were there.
Kubra got up and bowed in front of my grandson. The ones face as stoic as the others. No emotion was shown. Marcus ignored him… like he should.
Marcus bowed as well, but he went to the floor. I felt he bended too easily. Did it even mean anything? I released Marcus. He sat next to Kubra across from me.
“Juliet is coming to En-gannim… Kubra, will you send out the invitation.”
Rising to his feet, he exited the study face towards us.
Marcus didn’t seem to have any feelings about it. “How have you been finding Nahrima? We haven’t spoken in a while….”
“It’s stunning. Even if the seas are poisonous, it still makes the stark contrast to the white sands spectacular. It’s so large that I have not been everywhere. A large enterprise all by itself.”
“Unlike Earth, En-gannim does not have that much diversity. Have you seen all the different areas?” He nodded. “Have you been studying?”
“Yes, Sir.”
“It’s been months… You haven’t asked to see Juliet or if you could go visit. How is Louis fairing… running the compound?”
“He is doing well. Our relations with the Earth are steadily being secured.”
He avoided talking about Juliet in front of me. Thwarted my questions about her. Without the watcher technology, it was hard to get a handle on the boy. With the patience he had shown, you would not even know where his head was at. Marcus had shown himself diligent, and only good reports had come in from all over En-gannim. He never sat still, and I had even let it go if he wanted to talk to his grandmother.
“That’s good.”
Marcus was busy on a plate in his hands, and I was ready to discuss whatever he would bring to my attention.
***
Juliet
For the last three months, Louis had worked from home. He was desperately trying to make it up to me. He saw Rodrigo regularly to govern his new ability and ease up the turning. Our relationship had become work. He was right. It was just the two of us. It wasn’t like our relationship was fun. We couldn’t leave whenever we wanted. He was needed daily somewhere. Strangely, I was okay with my life being a little boring… Louis didn’t touch me, and Carl had moved into Marcus’s room to have a second person there at night. He wasn’t taking any chances.
Being able to sit with Louis the whole day was enough… There was holding… A lot of massages and foot rubs. Whatever I was craving was brought to me in bed, where I parked watching TV.
Charlene had started with her studies. She was off the compound for a while. We had not seen Kubra for months… Miné, a year old, had stayed with my Mom and me. That day, Charlene had come home for a break, but she was mostly in her room studying.
It was interesting to see how humans and the world embraced the vampires. The few psycho’s that always believed in aliens were mostly on TV. Weirdly, some people were vigilant and had noticed. The sudden boom in technology in the fifties didn’t just happen. When Chris’s mother landed, it changed the game to a whole other level. The Riphaths were so desperate to keep him safe that the search was on with the watcher, the vamps, and the werewolves. With what they traded, we still didn’t know.
***
I was on the bed, and Louis was reading.
“Knock, knock.” Jesse came in and called Louis over. They went outside to talk. He called me using his fingers. I followed them to the office where a few of Louis’s men had made themselves at home. I had a comfy chair in the office and plopped down. I felt fat and tired.
Kubra was ushered to sit across from Louis at the desk. Well, Marcus’s desk. Everybody magically disappeared, and Jessy closed the door.
“How is he?”
Kubra didn’t want to talk. He ignored me and got down to the point.
“Ahasuerus is issuing an invitation for Juliet… For a meeting.”
It was quiet in the room. My first thought was that I wanted to see Marcus, whether he was okay and where his head was at. I thought about Michael and whether he was in one of their prisons. My mind jumped to the baby. I didn’t want to go anywhere near Ahasuerus while pregnant. There was no way I was losing another child. Louis did all the talking. Held up a hand before Kubra could even try to change our minds, and he left again.
Kubra closed the door on his way out.
“Kubra knew about Michael in the beginning when his father was still here. But because he left to be with Charlene… We all missed that window. Marcus is fine and doing well, traveling… studying, and spending time with his grandmother.”
“Is Kubra still on our side?”
Louis nodded. He pushed his chin in the air. I stood up and walked towards the glass door… Our gazes traveled over the yard. The house was U-shaped, with a view out over the mountains.
Even though on our left were all the family rooms, Charlene’s guest room was on the other side of the yard. Kubra didn’t leave immediately and went in without knocking. My eyes darted to Louis and back again… Kubra closed the door and stayed for fifteen minutes.
“Juliet, I didn’t want to blab, but something happened.”
“You got to be kidding me, Louis… This is the most interesting thing that has happened, and you didn’t say?”
When Kubra finally emerged, he was not himself. He made the mistake of running his thumb over his lips. Even if Louis was two hundred years old… He knew how to indulge me with a giggle and flashing eyebrows.
“I wonder… did he try or….” Charlene walked out to the doorway and stared after him. Her eyes were longing and desperate as her head rested on the door frame, watching him leave.
I was so happy and laughed, “She got herself a vamp… a werewolf just down the road… a human… What a triangle… Don’t you think… our goal should be to embark on a quest for breaking down all the barriers for interspecies relationships.”
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“I think you’re naïve.” His eyes shot to mine. “I didn’t mean that.”
“Then what?” All the enjoyment gone.
“Maybe just getting along first?” He pulled me closer. “My tone is so harsh with you. I’m sorry… How are you going to deal with me?”
“Together? Or am I being naïve again.” He tickled me and made me pay for being sarcastic.
“Wait! Wait! He will get away.” I ripped open the door, running out of the room.
“I saw that Kubra! Charlene! Come back here, both of you.”
Kubra turned around and smiled at Charlene. She was going to have to do all the explaining.
***
Charlene
Kubra opened the door to my room. He didn’t knock even though it had been months.
“Are we not going to talk about what happened?” He blurted out and was so blunt and angry. The time we had together… had never revealed that part of him. I gave him the benefit of the doubt.
“Close the door, Kubra.” He did what I said. “Are you going to tell me if you hate Marcus? Because that is almost the only thing standing in the way of… us… talking about it. No one knows where we stand with you. Or how you feel… Do you have feelings?”
A strangled expression flickered over his eyes. But, like always, he steeled himself. “There! Right there… What was that?”
He fidgeted with his phone, rubbing his fingers together in his one hand.
“Sit down.” He listened again and took a seat on the couch. I sat in front of him on my knees. His eyes were solemn. “Just say it…”
“I’m not angry… I’m relieved. I have talked to Marcus. We’re fine.”
“Do you feel guilty?” He nodded. I perched myself up on my knees so that my face was flush with his. I had months to think about him telling me he was in love with me. My hand reached for his cheeks, desperate to comfort him. “No one here is going to think less of you.”
“You don’t think that’s wrong. Not being filial or even caring about my own father. You are human. Do you think less of me?”
“I think Juliet almost got raped and would have died... And your father thought it the only way to break her… If you weren’t against that… You would be less of a man... to me anyway.”
Whatever was going on between us had jumped a level. He leaned in and kissed me. Hurriedly, he put his phone down so both his hands could be free. I enjoyed the fact that he was there for me. All he wanted was to kiss me... Talk to me… My arms wrapped around his neck. He didn’t even know it, but I would have kissed him the first time I saw him without a shirt. I am easy… It was tough for me not to just dive in… When he came into the room when I was naked… I deepened the kiss, thinking about it. I pressed into him. It was hot and heavy… He pulled me up and sat back so that our chests were flush. “I can’t stop thinking of that night. It’s driving me crazy. Seeing you like that…” He said while kissing me.
“Why are you avoiding me… us? Can’t you come and move in here?” His eyes shot open.
“No, I can’t…”
“Why?”
“Because if I do, we have to get married… All I want to do is keep taking steps forward with you… Do you even care about me? You had months to think about it.”
I didn’t know what to say. I wanted to get to know him… I wasn’t like Juliet in that regard. I couldn’t commit on a whim. Say this is it and actually mean it.
“What are you waiting for, Charlene?”
“World peace.” He smiled. And just like Marcus, when Kubra smiled, you wanted to take out a camera and take a picture… So that you knew it actually happened. He might be more relaxed… But he was just as serious.
“I’m human… I’m nineteen… There is Miné… You don’t really know me. I’m moving Kubra. I went back to college.”
He stood up with me in his arms. His eyes searched my face.
“You didn’t come around for months….” Kubra scared me… Dating another creature scared me… If he was serious about how he felt… I had my first someone who wouldn’t let go with the first sign of opposition. That would stay without any conditions. He also had months to think about it. He got to know me through watching Marcus, but it’s not the same. I needed him to be sure.
“What is that?” He gestured to my face.
“I’m not going to tell you.”
He kissed me again hard and ran his hands around my waist and up my back. His lips were desperate. Not trying to convince himself of anything. Kubra wanted me. He dropped me on the couch and hovered over me before he pushed off the armrests. “That’s not the only reason I’m here, and if you don’t want to get married. I’ll move in tomorrow. So that when you are here… we can get to know each other?” He was asking.
I nodded. Still dazed by the kiss he had given me. He left me there and walked out. “Hey!” I whispered, getting up to stand at the door. “Is that it?” He chuckled.
***
Kubra
I had been waiting for Ahasuerus to call me in before I went home. To test Marcus and me together in the same room. He was really too old and predictable. I also needed an excuse to get back to Charlene. There was no way I was going to put her in danger.
I rubbed my thumb over my throbbing lips. They were red… felt swollen… I knew, and I didn’t care. For the first time, I knew what Marcus felt like. The only difference was I didn’t have a father anymore. No one to keep happy. Best of both worlds.
Whenever Marcus made a decision, he was thinking about Juliet. I glanced back at Charlene’s room. She actually depended on me… Keeping my word… Staring after me as I walked away.
I had never had someone look at me like she did. Juliet yelled at us. All I wanted was to come back… Even if it was Juliet’s family, I badly wanted to be a part of it… All of it. Show them where my loyalty lies. I wanted Charlene. I turned and smirked at my girlfriend... My heart was actually beating faster. I was excited… It was a new feeling… She was there in the compound. She wasn’t wearing coverings. She was human, and she had a werewolf baby. What the hell was I doing? I had lost all control.
***
Ahasuerus
Kubra came back into the door, bowing. I called him over, but he didn’t. He didn’t stand up straight either…. My lip curved up at the one side, agitated already… My tongue was playing at the corner of my mouth… Marcus was watching me closely.
“And?”
“She said she would love to accept… If she can come without… a veil.”
That made Marcus smile. I didn’t know what made me angrier. Him being so obsessed with something. Or her… being so obstinate about something so small.
“I accept.” Marcus’s eyebrows raised. “When?”
He was quiet, still bowing… Already trying to appease my anger.
“Just tell me.”
“She said… She would like an expensive dinner… Four.. months.. from.. today.”
That upset me. Juliet was growing up quickly. Learned that patience was better than reactions. My fist pounded on the couch that gave me so much pleasure a moment ago. She is too clever and knows just what to do and when to do it. Her moves are better than any clan adversary.
“Do you think she can be persuaded to come earlier?”
Kubra was still bowing. My anger kindled in my breast. I stood up, wanting to make my way down to Earth… Sort out that chit, but Kubra sputtered.
“Your majesty, she’s pregnant….” Marcus jumped to his feet. My head snapped around to Kubra.
“She said that she would rather never come out of hiding than let any of her children… near your majesty… Even if it was Marcus’s child.”
My gaze drifted to Marcus. He was as shocked as me. I couldn’t tell if he and the chit had copulated. His breathing was uneven. His fists were clenched at his side. We were both working it out quickly. It had to have happened in France near the end… It wasn’t Jabin’s man, and it couldn’t be Chris. He already had his baby.
“Is it yours? Is it my great-grandson? Or is it Louis?”
“Well, grandfather heard what she said. It doesn’t really matter. Neither of us will ever see that child.” Marcus sat down in defeat.
“I could force her here. If that is what you want.”
“How will we find her. She will disappear? Losing one child was all she could handle.”
“I have my ways, Marcus. Remember, she still needs to go through her test.”
He jumped back up to his feet. Gave me a look, tilting his head… Black eyes burned through me. And every time I thought Marcus had maybe moved on, he played his hand with such a tell. She brought out the worst in the man.
I raised my hands and decided to be as patient as they were being. “I won’t touch her for the next four months. You have become so good at acting that you might as well be the father. I would never do that. But Qadir would… Your father should not know. Hide it well… Kubra. I want you there daily, making sure everything is fine. Make sure no one visits Qadir in prison.”
He bowed, stating that there was, luckily, nothing else. “Yes, Your Majesty. I’m moving in tomorrow.” He turned to Marcus and did the same. Marcus breathed out the breath he was holding and relaxed his fists, dropping his manifestation. He didn’t like walking around manifested. I really did not want to fight to the death for a position. I was hoping that Marcus would step up. I didn’t want to give it to some other clan. The choices I was supposed to make will have to wait. Qadir was yet to get out of that cell. What was he waiting for?