Tiger's Blood

The door creaks open loudly and I can hear a person cry in pain outside. The door slams shut and I hear footsteps walking towards my cold body. “Noah…” Kira whimpers. My eyes struggle to open. She shakes my body and I sit up. “Kira is there something wrong?” I ask her. “Yes, these Bloods here are insane. That guy dressed in all black, he tortured me and tried to rape me. He said King Andrew wanted me tortured to get answers out of me,” she says quietly. “What?? I’ll kill him,” I say angrily. “No, I probably will kill him before you do,” she says and lightly chuckles. She then looks to the ground and starts to shake. I wrap my arms around her and hold her tightly.

“What did you do when he tried to touch you?” I ask curiously. “Well, he handcuffed me first then touched me. He asked me what Blood I was and I lied to him. After I lied, he whipped me with his belt he asked me more questions and I still wouldn’t answer him, so he touched me. I kicked him then I threatened him that I would kill him. Then he let me go and took me back here to the room then I…” she pauses. “Then you what?” I ask hoping she will continue. “I stabbed him with the key he used to handcuff me to the bed with ,” she says then grins. I couldn’t help but laugh when she says that. “Kira…” I say.

“Look I’m sorry Noah, and I know you are probably disappointed in me. I just sort of reacted. I was scared,” she says. “I know, you did well, but you are acting too strong,” I tell her. She looks at me confusingly. “You are acting like a Tiger,” I whisper. “Noah I am a Tiger, how do you expect me to act?” she asks. “I know and honestly I’m impressed on how you acted on a situation like that, but if you keep acting like this they are going to catch on that you are a Tiger,” I explain. She sighs loudly.

“I guess you’re right, again,” she giggles lightly. “Do me a favor and take off that brave mask of yours and let out all those feelings underneath. Show them you are just a Blood like everyone else. If they see your emotions, maybe they will let us go, or hopefully not kill us. It would help you if you at least try for me,” I kiss her cheek and hold her close to my body. “Oh fine. I’ll try and act wimpy just for you, but it won’t be any fun,” she says. I laugh and stroke her hair gently.

“I saw Ethan locked up in a jail cell, and he was bleeding really badly,” she says. I groan irritated and I stand up. “Kira, he is a Lion. We could be up in the world right now roaming, or doing whatever we want, but because of him, we are captured here. You were tortured and you almost got raped today, and we are probably going to die if it wasn’t for Ethan,” I say. Kira stands up and faces me. “He’s not like the other Lions, Noah, that’s why he’s locked up. Don’t you think he would’ve killed us by now if he was like the other Lions?” she asks me.

I sigh loudly. “I guess you’re right,” I say. She sits down and closes her eyes. “Somehow we need to break him out,” she says. I then sit down next to her and she rests her head on my neck. “Just imagine it Noah,” she says. “Imagine what?” I ask. “Once we get out of here, we could go off. We could have adventures together…” she pauses and runs her hands down my back. Her beautiful blinking eyes staring at me. Her mouth curved into a sweet, mysterious smile.

“We could do all sorts of things. We could free the Lion Bloods here, rescue Ethan, and kill some people if we have to,” she says. “Mmmmph,” I mumble. “We could hunt and have strong weapons. I could have Bloodshed in my hands killing everything in sight. Noah we could make this world right again like it once was years ago,” she stares at me excitedly.”

I would love that,” I tell her. “Then let’s do this Noah. We can save this world from crumbling in the girlish hands of Andrew,” she says then laughs. I nod and kiss her lips. “Yes, let’s do it,” I agree with her. She giggles and jumps up and down. “Yes! Thank you, thank you!” she says and kisses my cheeks quickly.

“Whoa,” I say out loud. She laughs. “Imagine it Noah,” She whispers in my ear. I smile and look her in the eyes. “Kira you are a great person with great intentions. I don’t think I would find another girl with your free spirit. I could just live with you forever,” I say. She blushes and hugs me tightly. “Let’s free Ethan first ok?” she says. We always need Ethan for some reason. Well not “we,” she needs Ethan. I nod and she smiles. She yawns loudly and we sit down and she rests her head on my chest. I swallow deeply and feel my body tingle. Kira makes me feel different in a good way, and I like it. I wrap my arms around her and she sleeps softly on me. I close my eyes and try to sleep.

I am woken up by moaning. I look down at Kira and she’s twitching and groaning in her sleep. That’s kind of cute. I giggle lightly and I stroke her hair. She then yelps loudly and she wakes up. She pants loudly and she crawls away from me and starts crying. “Kira?” I say. “Noah were you touching me in my sleep?” she asks. “All I did was stroke your hair,” I admit. “Oh… okay,” she says nervously. “Did you have a nightmare?” I ask. “I don’t want to talk about it,” she says. I try to hold her but she shakes when I touch her. Just then the door opens up.

“Get up you two!” a guard screams at us. Kira stands up first and I stand up next to her. “King Andrew demanded you two to be in the dining hall immediately,” The tall guard says. Kira and I follow the guard and we sit down in the same chairs as yesterday. King Andrew then walks in with a big smile on his face. “You two are going to have fun today!” he exclaims. I squint my eyes then Kira speaks out. “What are we doing?” Kira asks. “We’re going to play a little game,” he says. “I don’t like playing games,” Kira says. “Don’t worry, it’s a fun game,” Andrew says.

He takes Kira and I outdoors. We cross over a large, wooden bridge over a massive river that flows around the Kingdom. We walk up a dirt path that lead to the outside world. I turn around and see that the main entrance to the Lion’s Kingdom was a large cave. We stop and look at miles and miles of forest in front of us. The sky was perfect and there was a nice breeze that blew my hair in my face. I brush the hair out of my face and look towards Kira. I don’t get it, are they letting us go?

“Hey what is this?” Kira screams. “Calm down girl this will all be over soon,” a voice echoes in the sky. She scoots closer to me and we start walking forward together. I hear a soft rustling in the trees and I grab Kira’s hand. She looks over at me curiously. “I’m not taking any chances,” I tell her. We both stop when we see a mutant Lion slowly walking towards us. I stand in front of Kira and she holds my arm.

“Kira, I want you to run,” I say to her.

“No way! I’m not leaving you alone with a Lion!”

“And I’m not letting you fight with a Lion, Kira! Now run!” I say getting furious.

Kira then climbs up in the tree next to us and I mutate in front of the Lion. He growls at me and I step closer to him and growl back. All of a sudden a knife goes through his thick skull and he growls loudly in pain then falls in front of me. I turn my head and bark at Kira. “Noah look out!” she screams.

Then another Lion bites at my hind leg and Kira screams my name. I whimper and howl in pain. I fight the one Lion as I watch about six more Lions try and shake Kira out of the tree. I howl at her and she mutates. Kira no!! She lands on her paws and the Lions back away from her. One of them attacks her and she roars and fights back ferociously. She sinks her fangs into one of them then claws the others. The blood of the first Lion stains her white fur.

I watch Kira carefully as she kills two of them then she falls down to the ground loudly. A big blue dart struck her in the side. I look over and see the same dart in my side. I then suddenly feel very sleepy. The dart says, “Sleeping tranquilizer,” on it. I whimper once more and stare at Kira’s body. My head gets dizzy and the Lion drags me away. The last the thing I see is Kira’s body lying motionless on the ground. Darkness and pain shivers throughout my weak Wolf body.