Answers
“What Duke? What’s wrong with it? I know you know, so please don’t even try to lie to me.” I sounded weary as I looked down at Duke tiredly, and he slowly sat back down on his chair.
“Wrong is not the right word,” he said, a slight accent slithering into his words. “Nothing is wrong with your blood. It’s just different.” Different. A word I have detested since I was young. I never wanted to be different; different was what ruined lives socially, and physically. But in a way, I always have been. And now, even as an Amatores, I’m different. Who would’ve thought that even though I’ve changed species, things would still be the same.
“Well then, why is my blood different?” I asked, a hysterical tone to my voice. “Why is it not like everyone else’s? Why am I not like anyone else?”
Duke’s eyes blazed bright red, and he shot up from the small wooden chair. “I don’t know!” he yelled loudly, raking his tan fingers through his dark hair. “I don’t know.” His eyes settled back down to their normal distant grey, and his words softened. “There was a prophecy. I was told that I was supposed to fulfill the prophecy, along with Her. They told me it would take at the very least, a millennia to find her.”
My eyes closed slowly, letting all of this sink in. “What was the prophecy Duke?” I could almost see him sitting over a large book, reading the prophecy over and over, trying to decipher its meaning.
“Time is hers to master,
Her blood to protect,
From both good and bad,
For it can change the world,
For better or worse,
Whoever gets to Her first.
The Second of Amatores,
His an eternal life of loss,
The pain as pure as gold,
Two to choose,
Only one is right,
The choice will rule them all.
If She chooses light,
The dark will wash away,
But their light will fill,
With eternal fight,
To keep the Red at bay.
If She chooses dark,
Both will be so free,
Floating among the others,
Bodies bathed in red,
As they murder with glee.”
Duke’s voice weaved and spun around me in a haunting melody, his words sending shivers down my back. When he finished the prophecy, his eyes opened slowly and he slumped down in his chair.
“Duke...who told you this?” I asked softly, feeling a chill where my heart was. I was scared to ask the other question, and I just didn’t want to know. I wasn’t ready for it yet.
“The Council. They are the ones who create all the laws for Amatores to abide by. I was ruled the Oldest by the Council, and therefore the King. Dracul had been the King, but had been found murdered centuries ago, and he was the First. Because I was the First that he’d made, I was then the Second. Dracul made many more after me, and those made even more. Dracul died with the secret on how he had come to be.
After many millennia’s passed, the prophecy was found. The Council sought to find me, the Second of all Amatores, and when they did find me I was read the prophecy a multitude of times. I was then sent out to find Her. At the same time though, I was trying to find and slay Kallisto. Then I found you.
It was the eve of your fourth birthday, and you were to have a party. You were running around with your young friends, laughing and playing. I had walked by the park that was hosting the celebration, and stopped to see the festivities for human birthdays had always amused me.
Suddenly you tripped, and your eyes went wide as you fell to the ground. A bright red spot gathered at your knee, and the smell was intoxicating. I had never smelled blood this pure; all blood was tainted no matter the age. I had to force myself to stay in place, as I watched your blood seep into the brown soil.
Faster your blood fell, and you started screaming. It was as if the earth was sucking up what you had held precious since birth, and you wanted it back. Your eyes blazed a crimson red, and you started digging into the soil with insane speed, your wound closing up immediately. There was a puddle of red in the soil, your blood, and you drank it up greedily. No one saw you but me, and that is when I knew. You Tammy, you are the girl in the prophecy.”
I closed my eyes, not wanting to listen anymore. I wasn’t Her. I couldn’t be. God I was just getting the hang of being an Amatores, and now this! I felt the exhaustion at having traveled through Time before hit me, and sank into my bed. I gladly let myself fall into the open arms of sleep, wanting nothing more than to wake up a human without cares once again.
---
I woke no longer in my bright bedroom, but imprisoned in a room lacking any light. I saw nothing but a dark huddle beside me, and heard nothing but soft and shallow breathing.
“Hello?” I whispered to the huddle, my voice shaking the man from what was probably sleep. His breathing quieted and he turned toward me, golden eyes glowing in the darkness.
“They will come for you soon, Queen. The Lucis, or Light, Council now knows that you have been notified of the prophecy, and they have many tests in store to tell if Duke was indeed correct about you. When they learn that he was correct, there will be a war. That is what I am here to notify you about. I fear if you are not prepared for the war, you will die a gruesome death.
Your species is the ruling species at this time, and once you have become Queen on the Council and Duke King on the Council, the Council will be complete. But the Ater, Dark, Council will not agree with you being on the Lucis Council. They will want to use the powers you possess for different deeds than the Lucis Council. There will come a time that you will have to choose between the Lucis and Ater Council. Just know when you are making the choice between the Lucis and Ater Council, that Light doesn’t always equate to good-”
I cut him off with a sharp laugh, biting my lip softly. “And Dark doesn’t always mean bad. Yeah I’ve heard that before. Very original. It definitely hasn’t been written in different books and told in different movies, no not at all,” I snorted, then looked away from his haunting golden eyes. “Who are you anyway?” I asked, wanting a change of topic.
“You will find out very soon,” he answered, his voice deep and rich. It was unfamiliar, and I wondered how he had gotten to me in my dreams. Before I could ask though, he spoke up again. “Wake my Queen, and ready yourself for what is to come.”
My eyes closed with their own will, the world around me melting slowly and my body relaxing against the cold floor.
---
I woke again, this time in my bed. Duke was no longer in the wooden chair beside me, and I heard my parents bustling around in the kitchen below. My arms stretched out, a yawn escaping from my mouth. I had slept fitfully, it was almost four in the afternoon and I was surprised that my parents had not woken me up. It was most likely because it was Sunday though, and they just wanted me to catch up on my sleep.
I rose from my bed and undressed, then slipped into my warm shower. The jets hit me, massaging my body at all sides. I really was glad to be home, able to use my own facilities instead of Dukes. I was really picky about my bathroom supplies, and I had missed being able to dress in my own clothes. The ones Duke had supplied me with were cute, but not mine.
Thinking of Duke made the memory of my dream hit me, and I fell onto the shower floor. I landed roughly on my ass, and gasped at the pain. Within seconds though, I felt nothing but a tingling as my Amatores powers worked their magic. The Lucis Council would be calling for me soon if the man in my dream was correct, and I assumed that he was. I would have to get prepared for the war that would be fought over me, and choose whether I wanted to be Queen on the Lucis or Ater Council.
Wow, I was only seventeen and I had to make choices that normal people made, although their choices were not as weird, at like the age of seventy. The only difference was that I wasn’t a part
of the people group anymore, and I sure as hell wasn’t normal either. My life had gone from only having to choose which shirt I was going to wear and whether Luke was really worth all the shit he put me through, to which Council I would reside as Queen on and how I could possibly stop this idiotic war from happening.
Another thing popped into my head, words that I hadn’t really focused on when the man had said them. He’d said my species was the ruling species. Did that mean that Amatores Sanguinis and humans were not the only species? It was a question of which I would definitely have to ask Duke later on. I assumed he would come here to tell me about the Council’s plans for me. At least I hoped he would.
A knock at my door shook me away from my thoughts, and I quickly turned off the shower. I grabbed the thick white robe beside the toilet, and slipped it on. There was another knock on the door, this one more persistent, and I rushed to open it. My parents were at the other side, a distant look to their faces.
“Hello Tammy,” my dad said, his voice a monotone. He blinked slowly, and I looked at him with confusion. What was wrong with my parents?
“We will both be away for the week, and so you have the house to yourself.” My mom’s voice also had that same monotone, and she grabbed my dad’s hand. “We are leaving now, goodbye and see you soon.”
I nodded, unsure how to respond to my parents’ odd behavior. No doubt it was because of an Amatores, maybe the Council? Or Duke. Duke probably compelled them, trying to get me by myself, because my parents never leave so soon after coming back.
My mom and dad left, their eyes still distant as the bright yellow cab carried them away to where ever their destination was. Within seconds of them leaving, Duke appeared out of the air with wide eyes, making it obvious that I was right. He was at fault for my parents’ behavior. “The Council has prepared to come here for a meeting in forty-five minutes. We have to get ready!” he exclaimed, running to clean my already spotless house.
I quickly got moving, dressing into more appropriate attire as I saw that Duke had on a tux. When the forty-five minutes were up, Duke and I were sitting calmly on my dirt brown suede living room couches, a pitcher of iced tea sitting on the glass coffee table.
One by one the Council members appeared, until all ten of them were seated in their own chairs that surrounded Duke and I. My jaw had dropped almost to the ground as each member arrived, because none of them were Amatores. There were two Shapeshifter’s, although what shape they shifted to I did not know, two golden winged Fey, two Duke had said they were called, two were another species that Duke had supplied me with their names, and two Witches.
The pumpkin colored skin, their ears and lips boxed shape, and their eyes a light aquamarine. They glowed slightly, their words slurred by a thin tongue and teeth as boxed as their ears. They were medium-sized, maybe 5”2, and both had thick hair on their head that matched their skin. The only obvious difference between the two that showed how one was a girl and one a boy, was the fact that the girl had long hair and the boys hair was short. They both wore dark brown rags for clothes, the guys just shorts and the girls a shirt and shorts.
The Expletus both had an inhuman beauty to them. Their features were sharp, their eyes a cold glassy color. Their skin was a perfect peach color, and when they talked you could almost see their words as they wrapped around you, putting you into their spell. The female wore a strapless long emerald dress that sparkled in the light, and the male wore a tux similar to Dukes. Not once did they smile at either of us, only stared without emotion.
“Tammy Maynard, today is the day that you are tested to see if you are indeed the one mentioned in the prophecy. Should you pass this test, you will become Queen of the Lucis Council. Do you accept?” the female Expletus asked, her voice as cold as her eyes.
Thoughts raced through my mind, tears threatening to seep out. I was only seventeen! It wasn’t fair that only a couple weeks ago I had a normal life, and now this! I should’ve at least been allowed time to say goodbye to my old life. I can’t handle the pressure this is putting on, I feel as if I’m going to explode! Don’t they get this? Don’t they understand? Why? Why can they not wait until I’m...I don’t know forty or something to take this test? That leaves me a hell of a lot of time to run away and never come back.
Duke. His name intruded in on my thoughts, a sharp pain in my chest. You’re doing this for him. If you ran away, you wouldn’t see him ever again. And I couldn’t be selfish enough to think he would come with me. That wasn’t fair for him. So, my only way around this mess I’ve been thrust into is to get these stupid tests over with. What’s the worst that could happen?
“Tammy Maynard, do you accept?” The woman’s voice sent a shiver down my spine, and I slowly breathed in air. If only I could have more time...more time to decide what I really wanted. But I didn’t have that time. All I had was this moment, and so the most I could do was push past the blocks that were holding me in place right now. Push past the fear I felt while looking in the Expletus’s eyes. Push past it all and step toward my fate.
I nodded once, not wanting to show my fear. “Yes, I accept.”