Tiger's Blood

I couldn’t sleep at all; I keep walking around in a circle with my head thumping loudly. I’m just so angry that I could kill someone right now. Not only do I have to fight for myself against Andrew, but I have to protect Noah’s life as well and Ethan’s life. If Ethan’s still alive. I suddenly feel an arm grab my leg and I fall down on my knees. I look over to my leg and shake it off. “Noah let go!!!” I yell. He releases my leg but then tackles me, wraps his arms around my waist playfully and holds me in place. I squirm in his arms. I try to scream, but he covers my mouth with his hand. I bite and lick his hand trying to free myself, but he just sits there motionless.

“Bite all you want sweetie; I’m not letting you go,” he says. I wiggle around a little bit and he chuckles at me. I then give up and sit there, defeated. I mumble angrily and he kisses my head gently. “Kira, listen to me. I’m frustrated too, but if we want to get out of here alive then we will have to cooperate with the King. I know you don’t like him, but we have to cooperate,” he says. You’re wrong, I hate King Asshole. I want to stab my sword through his heart and watch his life bleed out in front of me. I groan loudly, then I look up into his brown eyes and nod in agreement. His hand still covers my mouth. “Now I’m going to take my hand off and let you go. Will you behave?” he asks me. I nod again and he smiles. “Good,” He says then slowly moves his hand from my mouth.

I sit there slowly breathing in and out. “Good girl, now let’s get some sleep, okay?” he says and runs his fingers through my curly hair. I kiss his cheek and he kisses my lips softly. “How about a few more minutes, hmm? I’m not feeling sleepy yet,” I say and he chuckles. “I’m fine with that,” he says then climbs on top of me. We kiss passionately and I moan softly. He moves my hair back and he pecks my neck with kisses. A strange feeling moves around in my stomach and I squirm around. What was that? That felt weird.

We continue kissing when the strange feeling turns in my stomach again. Listen to your body Kira, something doesn’t feel right. “You ok?” he asks. “Yeah I just don’t know if I am ready for all of this yet. I don’t want to rush into a relationship when we are prisoners. King Asshole is probably waiting to find out what Blood I am before killing us. I don’t think doing this is good for a time like this. Let’s wait until we escape from here,” I tell him. He got up and moves off of me. “That’s ok I won’t rush you. Just tell me when you are ready,” he says and kisses my lips once more before I cuddle into his warm body and start to dream.

The scents of grass and roses fill my nostrils. I blink my eyes and look out into the open field. In the middle of the tall grass stands Ethan waving for me to come over. I run to him wearing shorts and a blue t-shirt. He plays with my brown curly hair and starts tickling me all over. “Hehehe Ethan stop!” I yell. He then continues to tickle me. We run around and chase each other through the open fields, into a dark forest, and finally stop at a crystal clear lake where both Ethan and I begin to swim. After playing in the water for a little while, we set up a campfire and relax.

I look up into his handsome grey eyes and smile. He smiles back and we come together in a long kiss. My vision gets blurry and I feel my body shake a little. “Kira wake up!” Noah’s voice echoes in my dream. I blink my eyes rapidly and wake up from my dream. “C’mon little Tiger, the King requires us to be in his throne room right now. I think he is serving us breakfast,” Noah explains. I stretch my arms above my head and Noah helps me stand up. “I’d rather go back into my dream land,” I yawn. “I know me too, but let’s get this over with,” he says. “Alright, and don’t call me little Tiger so loudly. I don’t know if Andrew has cameras watching us,” I say. “Okay,” he replies.

We are escorted into this enormous room with a large table and sit down in comfortable leather seats. We sit there for about five minutes when a tall man walks in the room dressed in all black with spiky hair. “The King will be with you shortly,” he says in a deep, boring voice looking at us angrily. I glance over at Noah and his eyes are closed. I tap him on the hand and he opens his eyes. He sighs then winks at me. I suddenly feel a little bit disgusted at him, but I’m not sure why. I mean he’s been very helpful with me on this trip. Maybe I’m getting tired of him. Or maybe it was because of last night. I’m not sure what feeling that was but it didn’t feel good when we were kissing. Loud footsteps echo in the room and disrupt my thoughts. The King sits down in the largest chair in the room and stares at the both of us.

It stays silent for a minute when I speak out. “What are you looking at you beast?” I snap. He looks at me with no reaction and blinks his eyes. “A sharp witted girl who’s going to get a limb chopped off next time she makes a smart remark,” he says. That doesn’t matter. I could still kill you with one arm or one leg. It would be harder to mutate though. I clench my fist and bite my tongue, trying not to say anything else. “Now that that’s settled, how about some breakfast?” he says. I say nothing and he snaps his fingers. About ten or twelve people come out and place food on the table.

Eggs, ham, bread, bacon. Almost every breakfast food I can think of is being placed in front of me. Milk, potatoes, and many other kinds of delicious food. My stomach growls at me ready to eat, but my minds disagrees. This has to be some sort of trick. I bet all of this food is poisonous. “Eat up you two,” King Andrew says. Noah smiles widely and digs in and eats like a slob. You tell me to be respectful towards a King yesterday, then eat like a caveman who hasn’t seen food in a year the next day in front of him? Come on, Noah.

I stare at the steaming sausages in front of me. My mouth waters and my stomach growls. I want to eat, but something inside of me tells me not to. It just doesn’t make any sense on what he’s trying to do. I mean does he think we are going to respect him if he gives us food? Is he trying to fatten us up then kill us? Noah and I came in here, killed four of his guards, and then he threw us in a cold room. Now, the next morning he is serving us breakfast?

“Why aren’t you eating sweetheart?” he says staring at me across the table. “I’m not hungry,” I tell him. I’m fucking starving; I haven’t eaten in three days! He looks me in the eye then slowly took a bite of some ham and sausage. “So tell me, how did you two get down here?” Andrew asks. He looks towards Noah, but his mouth is full, so I have to do all of the talking. “Well, I fell into a hole behind a dark bush, which I realized it was fake, and I was curious on what was down here,” I tell him. He smirks at me. Noah gulps down his food. “And I followed her because I have to protect her,” Noah groans out. I stomp on his foot under the table. “Ow!” He screams. He looks at me questionably and I give him an angry look.

“Protect her? Now why is that?” he asks. “No big reason. He is just bound to protect me as he would protect a loved one. Just his typical Wolf Blood instincts,” I answer. “Hmm, are you some sort of special Blood sweetheart?” He asks me. “No, I haven’t discovered my Blood yet, sir. I am still very young,” I lied. I’m more powerful than all your Lions combined. “Hmm, alright,” he says. I sit up in my chair. “So sweetheart, is there anything you desire? Anything you want in this world?” he asks me. Yes, I would love to put my sword through your neck.

I open my mouth getting ready to say something when it hit me. He’s not just being nice to us; instead, he’s trying to get us on his side by bribing us with food and goods. I need to look for a way to escape here. “Actually there is sir,” I say and smile at him. “And what might that be?” he asks. “I would love to see more of this…mysterious hidden kingdom of yours. Might I have a tour?” I tell him politely. He looks at me for a minute. “An odd request, why do you want to see the Kingdom?” he asks. “I’m just very curious and this is the first Kingdom I’ve been in and I just want to see it,” I say. “Very well,” he says then snaps his fingers. The same man in black comes out and grabs my arm.

“My name is Jett, and I’m the King’s son,” he says. I smile at him. “It’s nice to meet you Jett,” I say and hold out my hand. Perfect. Now I know who to kill next after Andrew. He shakes it firmly and we stare at each other for a minute. Huh, he looks a little like Ethan. Weird. “Over here is where the majority of the Lions live,” he says and points to a large opening where Lions were fluently walking in and out. I nod and we keep on walking. “In there is where our head weapons maker is working currently,” he says and I see a man hitting a sword with a hammer. Maybe I could ask him to make me a new sword since King Asshole took mine. “Cool,” I say watching the sword closely.

We walk past some jail cells and I stop. “Who are they?” I ask. “Ugh, just filthy prisoners. Nothing to worry about. Let’s keep walking,” he says and growls. The third cell is dripping with blood. A man crawls up to the entrance and looks at me curiously. He coughs up a little blood then he smiles. “Kira…” he whispers. I give him a puzzling look when I realize who it is. Ethan? What is he doing in a jail cell? And why is he bleeding so much? “Come on let’s keep moving,” Jett says then grabs my arm tightly and pulls me away. “Wait, Prince Jett! I want to see the prisoners,” I say. “No you can’t; there’s a strict policy about talking to the prisoners. They are dangerous and stupid. Why would you even want to talk to them in the first place?” He says. I want to talk to Ethan. He shouldn’t be a prisoner.

We keep on walking when Jett opens a door and I follow him inside. The room was pitch black until he turns on the lights. There is a large bed in the room with a window and a large box next to the bed. “What’s your name again?” he asks me. “Kira…” I say slowly. “Kira,” he repeats. “That’s a beautiful name. Why don’t you hop on the bed and get comfortable,” he says. What? Get on the bed? Remember what Noah said Kira, just cooperate with them. I walk over to the bed and sit on it. “What is this room?” I ask. “Oh umm it’s just a guest room,” he says. He takes something out of the box then walks over to me. He hides the item behind his back and he smiles at me and holds my face in his hand then slides his hand down to my neck. I slowly back away.

“You are a really pretty girl you know that?” he compliments. “Ummmm thanks?” I say nervously. He then climbs on the bed and pushes me down. He handcuffs my left arm to the bed and he gets really close to me. What the fuck is he doing? He touches my stomach and moves his hand down my body. He takes my jeans off and I attempt to kick him. “What are you…” I say. He places his finger on my mouth. “Shhh, no talking Kira,” he just laughs. “So… my father wants me get some answers from you. I thought the best way to get answers is to torture you, so let’s start. What Blood are you?” he asks. “Nothing that you or your father need to know,” I snap at him.

He takes off his black belt then hits me on my thighs twice leaving bright red marks. “Wrong answer,” he says as I flinch. That hurt alot. Doesn’t matter what Noah says, I’m not cooperating with this bullshit. “What are you planning on doing in the Kingdom?” he asks. “N-nothing,” I lie. He climbs on top of me and grabs my neck with his hand. He squeezes lightly and I choke a little. “You know I can sense when you are lying Kira. If you lie to me again, I won’t be so easy on you,” he whispers. I suddenly kick him between his legs and I try to un-handcuff myself. He winces in pain for a minute.

“Oh no, you’re not getting away from me that easily,” he growls and nips at my neck. I take my right arm and grab his throat. “No, you fucking listen to me. I don’t know what you and your demented dad are trying to do to manipulate me, but attempting to rape and torture me will do nothing but make me even more aggressive,” I scream in his face. I squeeze my hand harder around his neck. My fingernails become claws and I quickly change back before he realizes. I want to mutate in self defense, but I can’t right now. I growl lightly and he tries to escape me. Try not to growl around them. They might suspect I’m a Tiger.

“Now when I let go, you are going to get the key to the handcuffs, let me go and take me back to my room. Unless you want me to squeeze your neck until your eyes pop out of your head,” I offer as I squeeze harder on his neck. He shakes his head. I let him go and he heaves and coughs loudly. He crawls over to the box and took out the key. He hands it to me, and I freed myself. I pull my jeans back on and Jett stands up and waddles over to the door. I hold the metal key in my hand and he opens the door for me. He controls his breathing and he grabs my arm and pulls me close to him. “Don’t say a word about this to anyone or I’ll come after you and finish up,” he growls angrily in my ear. “Oh, I would never embarrass a Prince like that,” I say sarcastically and he walks me back to the dinner room.

“Oh there you two are! How was your tour?” King Andrew says. “It was interesting, I love your Kingdom. Very unusual, but delightful,” I say with a smile. Jett looks to the ground nervously. “Son is everything alright?” Andrew asks in a rather gloomy tone and glares at him. “Yeah,” he grumbles. I look around and notice that Noah is gone. “Where’s Noah?” I ask. “He went back to the room. He wasn’t feeling well,” Andrew says. “Can I go back to my room as well?” I ask politely.

“Of course. Jett would you mind taking her back?” he asks. Jett grumbles and he walks me back to my room. We stop and I look up at him. “Thank you for the tour,” I say and smile. He nods. I look around us to make sure that we were alone. “Oh wait, one more thing,” I say. He raises an eyebrow. “You can have your key back,” I say and stab it into his leg. He shrieks and blood races down his leg. “You little bitch,” he cries out. “Have a nice day Jett,” I smile and walk back into my room.