MoonLife (12 page)

“You think that’s stands for the tree of life?” Wendy whispered to me.

“That would be my guess
,
too. It’s amazing
,”
I replied

Bram smiled at us and opened the doors. If I thought the doors were phenomenal, the inside was spectacular. It was a tremendously large space, almost like a large round theater. The doors opened to the back of the room and there were seats all around us leading down to a large stage area. Each row stepped down one so it was essentially in a bowl with the round stage in the middle. The colors were deep jewel and rich gold
tone
s. It was the most beautiful place I had ever been in, and it felt
supernatural
, ethereal. I felt like my senses were renewed just walking
in
. Like I was a battery, and the power in the room recharged me. I didn’t understand how anyone ever wanted to leave.

“This is amazing.” Said Wendy

“Can you feel it Wendy? The power surging through here?” I asked her as I put my hand out and could feel the energy circling around us.

She looked at me weird
ly
and Bram smiled. “You have to be a
M
agical to feel it. It’s all about the lay lines. The room is designed to pick up the energy and use it in the room. This is one of the most powerful spots in the world.” Bram said as he escorted through the doors and down towards the front of the stage.

Waiting for us a few aisles before the stage was a
n
uncommonly regal looking man. He looked older
than other Manduragos I had met, yet appearance of age in Magicals was never relevant. He was tall, with dark hair and dark eyes. I would guess he was originally of Spanish decent, but I assumed that was a rather long time ago. He put off a presence like none I had felt yet. He was royalty, this I knew
,
but of what kind I wasn’t sure yet.

He bent his head to me, reaching down
,
he took my hand. Watching me with his eyes, he brought it to his lips and kissed the back of it. “It is a magnificent honor to meet you, the Kali Princess. I am Nicon, King of the Manduragos. I thought we should meet before I give you away tonight at the binding.”

King Nicon, the infamous man who was going to fe
e
d on me in front of everyone before passing me on to Sebastian. I took another look at him and looked deeper into his eyes. I tried to get a feeling from him that would let me know how he felt about our wedding. Surprisingly, he opened his mind to me and let me in. I could feel that he was worried about security for the wedding but was exceedingly happy for me and Sebastian. I knew then that he was not a threat to us, and I had nothing to worry about him taking my blood. I felt a flood of relief knowing he was one less thing we had to worry about.

“Thank you
,
King Nicon
,
for meeting me here today. I am glad we are able to get together also before the wedding. Sebastian and I appreciate you letting us have the ceremony here on such short notice.”

“It is my people’s pleasure. We have known of this union for some time but are proud to have it finalized here in our compound. We are very proud of Sebastian for being your chosen one. He will make an excellent mate for you
,
Princess.”

“Thank you
,
King. I am particularly fond of him as well.”

“If you should need anything
,
Princess
,
while you are here, please feel free to contact me or my staff. We are here to make sure your every need is met.” He looked at me, his eyes going red.

“I have been remarkably well cared for so far, but I do appreciate your offer. If I need anything I will let you know.” I said, wondering if that was really him hitting on me with those red eyes on the day of my wedding?

“Please do
,
Princess.” He said lifting my hand to kiss it again. “I must be going, but I will see you again tonight. I am looking forward to passing you on to Sebastian.” He said as his eyes went a
n
even
darker red. He kissed my hand one last time and released it. Smiling at me, he then turned and walked away.

I looked to Wendy, and she looked at me and nodded. Giving me that “he was
kinda
creepy” look. Although I knew he was happy about the binding, I could sense that in his thoughts. I couldn’t help but feel as if he was looking a little too forward to taking my blood tonight. A cold shiver went up my spine, making me tremble as it did. I just need to get through this one night I thought to myself, one night.

We continued our walk down the aisles toward center stage where we saw that Keket had arrived to meet us. “Thank you for coming. It is an honor to have you here in our presence before the ceremony.” She said as the dozen or so Manduragos on the decorating committee all bowed to me in unison.

“Please, you don’t have to be so formal with me.” I said gesturing to resume what they were doing. I could tell the decorating for the ceremony had been going on for some time. Everything was being draped with deep red and gold tapestries. A large platform was being constructed in the middle of the stage out
of
what looked like gold. There was gold everywhere.  Definitely the decorating committee likes gold! Maybe it was a Mandurago thing because even that bed in my dream last night was
g
old.

“Since the ceremony was planned so quickly
,
we have been getting ready day and night for it. The ceremonial tapestries had to be flown in from the Village
, a merchant there had been holding them for just this occasion
. We are almost done with the ceremonial stage, but we still need to finish all the flourishes.” She motioned to the large red roses lying on the table. “Sebastian has asked that all the roses be mixed with stargazer lilies. It should be beautiful.”

“Oh Keket
,
it’s beautiful. What a perfect place for the ceremony, huh Sadie?” Wendy said, eyeing the flowers all around the room. She was drawn to the flowers. “Do you have someone creating the flower arrangements yet?”

“Not yet
,
but I was hoping you might want to? I have heard you are a professional floral designer
.”
asked Keket with a shy smile.

“Oh I would love to, but I’m not sure I have time. We have to get ready for the ceremony soon.” Wendy looked over at me. I could tell she wanted to
,
but also knew she had other things we had to do. 

“Go for
it,
Wendy. I would love to have your flower arrangements at the
b
inding ceremony. We don’t have to get ready until late tonight.” I said
,
smiling at her.

Wendy was giddy like a little girl. “Fantastic. Take me to where the flowers are, and I need to find out what kind of arrangements you want. Oh
,
what about bouquets for her to carry, have you thought about that? Oh
,
there is so much to do.” And with that Wendy was off. Ludwik decided to stay and follow her to make sure she was safe. That left just me and my Billy Idol look
-
alike, Bram
,
to hang out with the rest of the day.

We thanked Keket for showing us around and headed out. I already missed Wendy
,
but was immensely glad to have her helping with the decorations. Bram radioed ahead that Wendy was staying at the Sanctum and to send another guard. He also requested another be sent to watch over Wendy. I had to get shoes, so we headed back to the concourse to do a little more shopping. I grabbed Bram’s arm and we walked on. I didn’t like him walking behind me, like a
Secret S
ervice agent, so I decided he would be my new best friend for the afternoon. With his spiky hair and rock star looks he must be kind
of
good at picking out shoes, right?

We window shopped a bit and then found just the right store. It had what I would call a
steampunk
vibe. I knew the dress I was wearing would be red so I need
ed
some black
,
fun shoes to go with it. I was looking for something Victorian
chic
. The store had everything, from 6
-
inch high velvet shoes to thigh
-
high boots with gears on them. I could certainly do some damage here on my credit card.

“What do you think
,
Bram? Wedding attire shoes?” I asked holding up a pair of spike shoes that would make Lady Ga
g
a scream.

“Well
,
if you plan on being carried and not walk.” Bram said looking through the row of shoes.

Then I saw them, the perfect pair. They were black velvet pumps with an inner lining of red satin. The heels were at least four inches high with a wicked pointed toe, and a little vintage flare off the top of the heel that gave them a lovely old Victorian feel. To finish them off they had this fantastic velvet ribbon that tied in the front. They were perfect! I motioned to the store clerk that I would like to try them on. He bowed to me and congratulated me on my soon
-
to
-
be marriage and then showed me to a chair.

“How does everyone recognize me
,
Bram? Did they put out a flier or something?”

“There is news of the wedding throughout the world. You are very important, the next Kali Princess
, the soon to be Queen of all the Magicals. Every kingdom will bow to you and you will bring the Magical races back together as one. 
The only one who doesn’t seem to realize that …is you.” He looked down at me in a strange way.

“What do you mean by that? I know who I am, I just don’t think all this hype is necessary.”

“Sadie, you are
going to be the leader of all the Magicals in the entire world!
Wars have been fought over Kali Princesses; clans have ended because of
your bloodline
. You have no idea of your powers.
When
your
soon-to-be
Mandurago powers mix with your Royal
b
lood powers, no one will be able to stop you. The world will finally have a
q
ueen worthy of ruling it all. You are a legend in the making
,
Sadie.”

“Oh Bram, I am a long way off of all that. I can’t even walk through a store alone
,
let alone rule a dynasty.”

“Yes
,
I agree, you are still young yet
,
but in time Sadie you will be amazing.” He smiled and kissed my hand.

“Bram, Sebastian wouldn’t like that.” I said pulling my hand away from him.

“Yes, well
,
Sebastian isn’t here. Speaking of that, we should be going.”

“Going? We have to wait for the shoes.”

“Don’t  worry
.
T
hey will be sent to your room. Now come with me.”

I gave Bram a puzzled look, and he took me shoeless by the arm to the back of the store. I had a
n
unusually bad feeling that maybe Bram wasn’t all he was cracked up to be. There in the back of the store a door open
ed
to the stock room and Talia walked out.

“Nice to see you again, Kali Princess. Bring her this way.”

“Bram you don’t have to do this. Whatever the reason you are we can fix it. You are a Mandurago, you can’t go against your people.

“I am half Mandurago and half Dracco. The Mandurago killed my mother when I was very young, and I was brought up with my father in the Dracco clan. I have no allegiance to the Manduragos and neither should you. You are destined to be a Dracco, you’re mother gave that birth right to you. With you as our
q
ueen we can rebuild the Draccos and rule the Magicals. You are so much more than to be bound to just a Mandurago. We are regal, you will see.”

I took off my mental metal ski cap and started to send Sebastian a message.

Sebastian, Bram has kidnapped me and taken
m
e to Talia, we are at the shoe….
but before I could get the whole message out Bram placed some horrible smelling rag over my face. The room blurred and I was out.

Chapter
Eleven

I woke up alone in a large
,
lavishly furnished room. The sun was still up, and streaming in through the curtains. I could hear bits and pieces of conversation from people talking outside the room. I looked around and tried to get my bearings. Noticing that I was all alone, I quietly got off the bed and went to the window. I recognized the area, we were still at the compound but remarkably high up. They must have me in the tower much higher than where my room was. So they weren’t able to get me out of the building. Why would they be keeping me here still, I wondered to myself? I then took my mental metal ski cap off and tried to send a message to Sebastian.