Tiger's Blood

“Wake up,” A deep, threatening voice echoes around in my head. Blurry faces hang over my body. What happened to me? Where am I? A yellow light shines brightly in my face and my eyes stay shut. My body shakes in pain. “Sit up now sweetheart, we have something to discuss,” an angry voice screams at me. I open my eyes while my mind wanders about what happened. “Where am I?” I ask the tall blurry figure next to me.

“You’re in the infirmary, where else did you think you were??” The angry voice yells. That voice sounds familiar. I look up to him. “Who are you?” I ask softly. “What are you blind, girl??” he screams. “Um King Andrew sir, she may have some loss of her memory from the past day. The sleeping tranquilizer can do that,” A friendly, female voice says to the man. The blurry faces become clearer. Oh it’s King Asshole. What a nice surprise for him to visit me.

“Oh it’s you,” I say to the King disappointed. He frowns at me. Don’t worry, I’m not happy to see you either. I sit up and glance over at the beaten up figure next to me with bruises and cuts all over his body. I study him for a moment and notice that he’s not moving at all. “Noah?” I say and grab his arm. Oh thank god, he has a pulse. “No, please wake up…” I whisper to him.

“Sweetie he’s not dead don’t worry, he’s just unconscious. The sleeping tranquilizer has a lot of negative affects. You just woke up after sleeping for a day. He will wake up in a few hours. We will take good care of him, I promise,” the sweet nurse says. Her voice slightly reminds me of my mother. “Please do take care of him and tell me when he wakes up,” I say. “Of course, miss,” she replies. Great. Ethan is wounded in jail; Noah is unconscious; and now King Asshole knows my Blood. He should have just killed me already instead of putting me to sleep for a day.

“C’mon sweetheart, we are going on a little walk,” King Andrew says sternly. This can’t be good. I kiss my fingers and gently place it on Noah’s cheek. “Get well soon,” I say.

The King grabs my arm and he drags me out of the room. The nurse protests against him for taking me out of the room, but he threatened to kill her if she spoke out against him again. He takes me towards the small town where the Lions live. It has massive buildings and huts everywhere. However, instead of grass and trees, there is dirt and dust. Small markets and stores are scattered in the streets. Most people here don’t look so friendly. The kids bully one another and the women cry louder than the screeching babies. Men curse and spit everywhere. I feel uncomfortable being here. No wonder Ethan hated living here; this place is horrible. I would have run away too if I lived in this disgusting place. I look in the center of this poor area and see a tall post with a rope dangling from it.

“Watch this, girl,” the King says then points at the post. I watch closely at the podium as a scruffy, old man who is handcuffed gets escorted up to the post by two guards. Another man walks up and puts a dusty old bag over his head. The second man then places the rope around the older man’s neck. The man then pulls a switch on the side of the post. A platform underneath the handcuffed man flips down and the older man started choking and gagging loudly.

“What are you doing to him?!?” I scream. The King pulls my arms behind my back and I watch as the man chokes loudly and his body twitches violently for a few minutes. Lion’s gather around to watch the hanging. His body then went stiff and a tear slid down my face. “Wh-Why did you do that?” I stutter.

“Some people do stuff, say stuff, and even think about stuff that I don’t like or agree with. When I catch them talking about it, or if someone tells me, this is their punishment. This is what happens to over-thinkers like you,” he tells me. “So you brought me here to kill me is that right? You were waiting for me to wake up from my sleep for a day just to bring me out here and kill me.” I say. The King looks down at me with a stern face. “No,” he says.

He captures random Bloods, tortures people, kills people for speaking out against him, and his son is a demented pervert who likes to torture people as well. What else do I not know about this great man? The men move the dead body away and I swallow deeply. The King pats my back and guides me over to the small market.

“So, you have been lying to me this whole time,” Andrew starts. Define lying. More like, I am trying to stay alive so I will not tell a King who hates Tiger Bloods that I am one and that I will cause disruption in Bitotem, but yes, lying is one way of putting it. I look at the somewhat fresh oranges and mangos in the market and say nothing. He groans in frustration.

“I had to lie; otherwise, you would have killed me.”

“Sweetheart, I wouldn’t hurt or kill you. You’re…special,” he laughs. I can hear the lying in his voice. Oh yes I am so very special for being a giant kitty cat that could destroy the whole world. Why don’t you put me behind bars and have kids pet me for a couple gold coins if I am so special?

“I’m your enemy, and you want me dead.”

“I wasn’t your enemy until you came here. People pick their friends, boyfriends, lovers, wives, husbands, even enemies. So in all honesty, you made me your enemy, sweetheart,” he says looking me in the eye.

You were my enemy the minute you started killing and kidnapping innocent Bloods and killing all the Tiger Bloods left in Bitotem. I stay silent. Andrew takes a fresh mango from the market and hands it to me. He tosses the merchant a gold coin and he nods respectfully. “I’m not hungry,” I lie. Oh come on, Kira, he can’t poison a mango he just bought, just eat it.

“Eat, you’re going to starve. Look at you, you’re already skinny enough,” he says pointing at my small stomach.

“I’d rather starve than eat any food from you,” I snap.

“Sweetheart, I don’t like your attitude. I want you to be more respectful towards me,” he says.

“How am I going to be more respectful if you keep destroying my life? You killed my Blood, tricked Noah and I into escaping, which led me to reveal who I am and then you put both of us in sleeping comas!” I yell.

He scrunches up his face and says nothing. I took a bite out of the juicy mango and my mouth tingles with delight. I lick the juices from my lips and take another bite. I wipe my mouth with my sleeve and look up to him.

“My dad would have killed you if he saw you holding me captive,” I say.

He then looks down at me and gives me a curvy smile.

“Tell me about your family.”

“My mom died when she gave birth to my sister. My mom was an Owl Blood and my dad was a Bear. My sister passed away a few years ago and my dad disappeared around the same time my sister died. I assume he’s dead as well; there is nothing really interesting in my family,”

“Your dad…disappeared?” he asks.

“Yeah, he left and never came back. He left me a note, but it’s in my backpack and that’s somewhere on the surface,” I say.

“I’ll send one of my Lion’s to find your backpack and we will take a look at that note,” The King says. I look at him and nod. “Wait, I’m sorry; I just remembered that the note is missing too. My memory is still slowly piecing things together,” I say. “Oh well that’s too bad,” he says in a negative tone. That’s right, it was stolen. Ethan took it when he left Noah and I in the middle of the night.

“So, Miss White Tiger Blood huh?” he chuckles. What is with people and thinking a White Tiger Blood is so different than a normal Tiger? I say nothing and breathe in slowly. He then stops walking for a moment and looks me in the eyes. “You are a beautiful White Tiger, and a great fighter as well,” he says. I roll my eyes. Flattering me won’t make me hate you less King Asshole.

“I do have a question for you King Andrew if you don’t mind me asking,” I say. “Not at all, what is your question?” he asks. “Many years ago, you set fire to the Tigers territory over on West Bitotem and left every Blood who lived there dead. Why did you do it?” I look up into his eyes and he smiles back at me. “There was a Tiger Blood I knew ever since I could remember. We were close friends until we both discovered our Bloods. After that, we slowly grew apart from each other. On my wedding day, we shared a drink together. Months after the wedding, my wife Lynn gave birth to my son, Jett. The Tiger Blood and I never talked until one day when someone told me very interesting news. The Tiger Blood betrayed me and we started to fight, Blood on Blood. After we fought, I set fire to the Tiger’s camp and left on the next boat here with the rest of my Lion Bloods. My wife unfortunately died in the fire.” he says.

I take a deep breath in. “So, it was only one Tiger Blood that betrayed you and so your next big thought was to destroy the whole Ambush of Tigers?” I ask. “Yes sweetheart, I destroyed the whole Ambush of Tigers so that I wouldn’t have to deal with anymore of their aggressive, backstabbing ways. They are all the same stupid unpredicting Blood. If I didn’t kill them all then I would have been betrayed even more,” he protests. “Then why am I still alive exactly?” I question him. “Because I can do whatever I want as King and what I want is for you to live a little longer to prove to my Kingdom that Tigers are nothing but divisive and threatening Bloods who will betray you,” he snarls. I’m so flattered that he wants me alive to prove a point. “Can I go back to the infirmary? I want to see how Noah’s doing,” I ask.

“Yes you can, but don’t think that I won’t kill you. I will when I grow tired of you eventually or if you make me angry somehow,” He chuckles then brought me back to the infirmary. That’s not hard to make you angry. All I have to do is speak my mind and you will be instantly against me because I’m a Tiger. I bet that’s what that other Tiger Blood did. I bet they said something about Andrew and he somehow found it offensive and responded instantly with violence. Typical Lions. On my way back, I walk past the prisoners and Ethan winks at me. I force myself to smile, despite all my pain, and I keep walking.

I enter the infirmary and notice that Noah is gone from his bed. The blonde nurse walks in a minute later and I glare over at her. “Excuse me ma’am, where did Noah go?” I ask her. “He woke up about an hour ago, and he went back to his room to rest. He asked if you were alright when he woke up, and I told him you are doing well. You should be resting as well,” she says sweetly. “Thank you,” I say and head back down to the room with my head thumping loud with every step I take.