Royal Blood (5 page)

“
You think that’s the best idea?”

“
Um, well, yeah
,
I guess you’re right, you don’t have to
—
”

“
Urgh, of course I will, Chris. You know it’s not that I don’t want to. It’s just that I don’t want to, ya know…
.
”

“
I know, no temptation. I just want you to hold me. Maybe then I won’t have any nightmares,” I said as I looked out the window.

“
Well when you say it like that,” he put his arms around my waist and pulled me close, “then I wouldn’t dare refuse.”

He gently kissed me on the lips and led me to my room. I fell asleep quickly to the sound of him humming. For even just a moment, everything was perfect.

Five

You know how sometimes when you dream, it can seem so real at the time that you almost don’t really know if you are awake or asleep? Well, I have dreams like that. Quite often, actually. More often than not I have them in a place that I am
at
on a regular basis—
home, work, Mom’s house…something like that. But these dreams were an exception, especially one particular night…
.

The scene was the same as the last time. I was back in the church sanctuary. The little girl was in front of me again.

“
Who are you?” I asked her.

“
I think the question is, who are
you
?” the girl asked in her own voice. This was the first time I’d ever actually heard her, heard
me
, speak.

“
I don’t know, that’s what I’m trying
to—”

“
Run!” she shouted. She pointed behind me, and I turned and saw a figure in a black cape running toward us, and it was coming fast.

“
Follow me!” she shrieked and grabbe
d my hand. She ran down a hall
I recognized and turned toward the wall with my father’s picture.

“
It’s a dead end!”

“
Trust me.”

I closed my eyes, and the next thing I knew, the air smelled and tasted differently.
Sounds that seemed out of place presented themselves.
I waited to slam into the wall, but it never happened. I slowly opened my eyes and gasped. We were no longer in the church. We were in a forest somewhere.

“
But how did we—”

“
No time! Run!” she shrieked.

I glanced behind me and the robe
d man
was still running after us. I pushed my legs as fast as they would go. Suddenly, the forest was whizzing past us. Impossibly fast. Yet, I could see everything, smell everything, and hear everything
, even the footsteps following
us.

It was almo
st like a dream
or like a slow-motion movie or something. The loudest sound was my rapid heartbeat in my ears. For a minute it was the only thing that I registered. Run, run, run, run. I was running perfectly in time with it. Even if I had no idea
why
I was running…
.

The strange part about it was that it
wasn’t
strange. It
wasn’t
unfamiliar. It felt like waking up, kind of disorienting but familiar. Like it had always been there, I’d just never realized it before.

“
Christina, you have to get us out of here!”

“
What? What do you mean? How?”

In a flash, the girl jumped back and over my head and tackled the advancing robe. I stopped to turn back to help her.

“
No, you must run! You must save us! GO!”

The robe fell off of the face of the man in the church, and his eyes turned almost white as he snarled at me. I had no idea where I was going, but I ran even faster now than before. There seemed to be no end when suddenly I stopped short.

Below me was the city, same as in the dreams. Empty. Dead.

I heard someone slowly approaching. I heard the heartbeat, the slow labored breathing. Then the girl stepped out of the woods. She was ble
eding from the side of her neck.
Blood was
dripping down her fingertips.

“
You must find the way, Princess,” her voice was strained.

“
The way where? Where do I need to go!?”

She looked into my eyes and barely smiled.

She raised her hand up and pointed with one finger over the edge. “Home.” Then she collapsed.

When I came to, I was in the opposite corner of my room crying and hyperventilating. Alex was in front of me, and I could see his mouth moving, but I couldn’t make out the words. I was crying too loudly.

“
What happened, Chris?” he half yelled.

“
Another dream. Another horrible dream. How do I save her? How?” I sobbed.

“
Save who? What happened?”

“
Me.”

He looked at me, confused. I put my head down and dropped his hands. I stood and looked him in the face.

“
This is the first nightmare in a few weeks.”

“
I have to go back.”

“
Back
where
?” he said, and then knowing flashed in his eyes.

“
To the church.”

His mouth twisted, and he folded his arms across his chest.

“
Why?”

“
Cause it’s the only way to make the nightmares stop. And it’s the only way to find out the truth.”

“
The truth about
what
?”

“
About my father. And about Sangre Real.”

“
What
?” he murmured. “What is that?”

“
I…. I don’t know. The name of the city, I think. I’ve never heard the name before, I don’t know how I…
.
”

The look on his face was pure pain.

“
I can’t let you go there.”

“
What do you mean you can’t
let
me—,”

He held his hand up to my face. “Not alone,” he said.

“
So come with me.”

A mix of emotions washed over his face as he stared into my eyes. Then it settled on defeat.

“
I doubt I have another option, but Chris,” he looked into my eyes, serious and sad, “are you one hundred percent sure you want to do this? No matter what you may find out, I mean?”

“
Alex,” I closed my eyes and reached around my neck and unclamped the necklace that I had worn for years. “My m
other gave me this when I was eleven
.” I held up a tiny gold baby ring that once held its place on my infant fingers.

“
She said that my father had given it to me before he left her. I’ve worn it around my neck every day since then. It’s kinda been a reminder to me of a part of myself, and my life, that I have never known. I always swore I would find out someday.” I slowly put the ring in his palm and closed his fingers around it.

“
I want you to have it. I was born to love you, Alexander, if nothing else, and you have erased all of the emptiness and void in my life from my father leaving. The rest doesn’t matter anymore. But I do still want to know. Why he left me. Why he never came back. I
need
to know.” I looked up at him and smiled. “So you ask me if I can handle this, if I want it. As long as you stay with me, I can
handle anything.”

It was early afternoon when we arrived at the church. It looked the exact same as the last time. He took my hand when I stepped out of the car
,
looked at me
,
and smiled encouragingly.

“
Here we go,” he said.

I gnawed on my lip as I contemplated one last time if I was certain I wanted to go. I mean, I knew I wanted to, but I was scared. A million different things could happen.

“
You okay, Chris?”

I thought about that for a minute. Was I? I couldn’t show too much fear or he would never let me go in.

“
Yeah, let’s go.”

I squeezed his hand and took the first
step forward.

Yet again, the church seemed empty. I led him to the hall where my father’s picture hung, though when we reached the hall, the picture wasn’t there. Well, it was….but it wasn’t my father any longer. This man had dark hair, black almost, that matched his black sinister eyes. It didn’t match the pale and perfect smooth texture of his skin. This other man was beautiful though.

“
Is this it?” he asked.

I moved closer to the picture. “No.”

“
Well, um, where is it?”

“
No, this is the hallway, but this isn’t my father. The picture is…different.”

“
So what now, Chris? There is no one here. Let’s just go home.”

“
It’s through there,” I pointed to the picture.

“
Through the wall?” Okay. It sounded
stupid.

I reached forward and Alex grabbed my other hand and pulled me back.

“
Alex, trust me.”

I reached my hand to the picture. I moved my hands over the wall. I didn’t know what I was searching for, but I knew it was there.

On the rear of the frame, my fingers caught on a notch that seemed out of place. I looked closer. It was a button, not a notch. I pushed it and stepped back. The whole wall shifted to the right and a darkened hallway beckoned us. A musty smell whooshed past us. I looked at Alex.

“
I have to go.”

“
I know,” he said. He stepped in front of me into the unknown. It wasn’t what I expected to see. Where the dream had shown me a forest, this was a damp and dark tunnel. Only a faint glimmer of light signaled us up
ahead. Alex looked back at me and then walked toward the light. On the other side, the forest of my dream broke through. It was different though now, daytime, and I wasn’t so afraid.

Just like the dream, I could see, hear, and smell everything. I could hear a thrumming of beats far off and could hear and smell a small stream of water trickling somewhere close by. I sensed all of the animals around us as we walked.

“
Are you afraid?” he asked.

“
No,” I smiled.

He nodded and continued walking. We walked for what felt like miles and finally saw a clearing up ahead.

“
Race ya,” he teased.

I pursed my lips, pretending to think about it. “Go!” I yelled and took off.

“
Cheater,” he whispered in my ear and
darted in front of me.

I pushed my legs harder and caught up to him easily. I had never run so fast before. As I reached the opening, I skidded to a stop, Alex a few feet back. He walked to my side and took my hand. I met his eyes and then looked back to the city.

“
Sangre Real,” I stated.

“
Royal Blood,” Alex said.

“
Have you ever had one of those moments when you were absolutely terrified and completely comfortable at the same time?” I asked him.