Chapter Thirteen – Hidden Stripes

Chapter Thirteen – Hidden Stripes

Fingers ran through my long hair. I couldn't see who it was, but I could feel them. I tried to open my eyes, but I could only see darkness. I realized now it was already night. I turned around and saw Saeron in his human form. Now I knew it had to be really late.

I smiled at him as he gazed at me lovingly with those beautiful glowing blue eyes. It was then that I remember what I had done. I had lifted the curse and Saeron was free to do as he pleased without the burden of the beast locked inside him. Now it was locked inside of me. Would it curse me now?

“How long have I been out?” I questioned. I still felt a little exhausted from the past events.

“Just today. You were sleeping so soundly I thought you might never wake up.” He said with a smile. He brought his hand up to meet mine. As he caressed me gently I closed my eyes, taking in the warmth of his hand. His hand felt so good touching me softly on my chin that I almost didn't notice his hand bringing my face closer to his. I opened my eyes, then closed them right away, awaiting my kiss. His hand left my chin, but came back to me a second later, this time touching my neck gently. I immediately fell under his trance, my cheeks burning with arousal and my eyes still shut. I waited mindlessly for his next move welcoming every part of him. His hand began moving from my neck to my shoulders where my jacket hung loosely, waiting to be taken off. I felt my body go almost limp and my face burn even more as his hands reached for my waist and pulled me closer. My body pressed against his and the heat was ungodly hot. I fell into his chest, trying my hardest not to make a sound as he pulled me on top of him. I blushed even more as his legs came between mine and my body now tingled with arousal. I could barely look at him as his piercing blue eyes gazed up at me with passion. I could hear my heart pounding a hundred miles a second. I wasn't sure what would happen next. My body nearly gave out on me as his hand reached for my chin and pulled me closer into his face. I nearly collapsed, melting right on the spot, as his warm, soft lips crushed into mine. They moved perfectly with his, and we soon had our hands entangled in each others hair. It felt so good, our bodies so close together, our lips kissing each other. It felt so right, like there was no one else in this world right for me, but him.

We stopped kissing to get a breath of air and I instantly wanted more. I just couldn't take breathing the plain air. I wanted his breath. I wanted his lips. I wanted him.

“Why did you stop?” I asked through gasps of air.

“You need to breathe Dante,” Saeron said with a smile. His speech was surprisingly uninterrupted by gasps for air. “Don't you remember.”

“Why aren't you out of breath?” I had finally caught my breath and was staring back at him, eagerly awaiting more.

“I guess being a tiger half the time keeps me in pretty good shape.” He said with a pleasant smile that made me grow even more eager. I waited to see if he'd try anything else, but as soon as our gazes broke from one another he gently lay me next to him and wrapped his arm around my waist. I could feel his hot breath on my neck as he kissed the nape of it and rested his head beside mine. He nudged his nose against my head a few times, kissed my neck again, and then laid back down leaving me still burning with desire. Why did he torture me like this? Didn't he want me?

If I hadn't of been so tired I would have asked him why he hadn't done more, but I was fighting fatigue and figured I could always have him later. After all, the curse was lifted and we could live in peace.

Morning came sooner than I would have anticipated and I soon found my love transformed back into his tiger form. The curse may have been removed, but his tiger form was far from overcome. Was that just the way it was suppose to be? Or could this be cured also?

“What?” His voice came out gruff as it had always been while in his tiger form. “The curse has been lifted, but I can't help transforming back into a tiger. Its just the nature of our people. I just wish I could control when I transformed.” He sighed through his teeth.

I stoked his fur and gave him a hug, happy that I could now touch him without him getting upset at me.

“I'm sorry about the way I was, you know, before I sent you away. You know I didn't mean to upset you right?” His blue eyes showed true sincerity. “And I never meant to hurt you. I never wanted you away from me, but I had no choice, even if I did want to be near you. That's why I secretly visited you while you slept.”

“That...that wasn't a dream?” I was stunned. Had he really been there while I slept and I'd missed it? “Why didn't you wake me up?! You don't know how much I missed you. How much I wanted to go back.”

“I know, I'm sorry. But I didn't want you to come back to me. And I knew if you saw me you'd follow me back, so I came as late as I could. I just couldn't stop myself. I had to know you were okay, that you were safely back home. I probably would have come every- no, I know I would have come every night to see you. I missed you so much.” He nuzzled his face into my chest and neck. Had he of been in his human form it would have probably been the equivalent to a hug. “I'm just glad your back and I don't have to worry about your safety anymore.”

“I couldn't just leave you here by yourself.” I began. “When I found out everything about you I had to come to your rescue, especially knowing that you were Taj.”

“You know I'm Taj now? I wasn't expecting you to ever guess, its been so many years and I've changed a lot since then. Who told you all this?”

“The Temple Keeper.” I answered. Saeron's face suddenly became dark and his eyes hard.

“What else did he tell you?” Saeron's voice sounded hard and cold.

“He told me he adopted you for the soul purpose of sacrificing the innocent and that he placed a curse on you so that you'd have no choice but to attack innocent people. He also told me why he was killing certain people.” Saeron waited patiently for me to continue. “He says no one, not even you knows that he's been killing magical beings known as Silvani.”

“Silvani? What the- What are they?”

“Beings that know the ways of the earth. Apparently every one who was sent to be sacrificed was a Silvani. And that means I'm one too.” I paused to see his expression. It was surprisingly blank. “That's how I saved you.”

“Through these Silvani powers? So your a magical being? Are you not human than?”

“I don't know. The way he explained it it looks as though the Silvani has infused itself within me and has pretty much joined itself with me. In a way I am human, but instinctively I am a Silvani. I just wish I knew how exactly these powers worked.”

“They could be dangerous. I can see why he would have wanted to exterminate them, but it's still wrong. Their still people and I wont have any part of it. The curse is gone and I'm done with all of this. I'm ready to go back home.”

“What will you do about The Temple Keeper?”

“If I have to I'll hide from him. I'll make sure I'm only visible when I'm a human.”

“But that'll mean only at night.” I reminded him.

“It'll be worth it, as long as I get to be with you.” He nudged me with his nose again.

“When will we leave?”

“Tonight, just before I transform into a human.”

It was beginning to get late and I was starting to get anxious as I sat by the pond. The sky was already starting to glow brightly with stars and the moon shown full in the sky. I knew it wouldn't be till midnight that the moon could work it's magic on Saeron.

I watched him walk calmly toward me, his eyes just as anxious as mine, but his composure far better than mine was. I was just aching to go back home.

“You ready?” I asked excitedly.

“As ready as I'll ever be.”

We were halfway to the village when his tiger form began to glow a blueish white color. I did a double take before realizing he was beginning to transform. I watched as paws became hands, fur became hair, and his whole body morphed into the perfect godly figure I couldn't help, but swoon over. He ran his hands through his dark hair and smiled at me.

“Come one, you can gawk at me later.” He laughed through his teeth. He pulled me to his side and we walked together in the jungle, hip to hip.

We were only a few minutes away when I could smell smoke and immediately a fire came to mind. I raced forward, past Saeron, not even thinking to check if he was keeping up behind me. And as I got closer I began to see a bright glowing in the distance. I hurried further, knowing I was less than a minute away from the town, my legs carrying me as fast as they could.

I reached the jungles end and my eyes widened with horror. The once peaceful town was now surrounded in flames. Everything I had grown up with was being engulfed in front of my eyes.

“Dante! Get away!” I heard Saeron's voice as he scooped me up into his arms, taking me as far away from the flames as possible. “We have to get away from here or the flames will engulf us too.”

I couldn't say anything as he carried me away from the town. I was speechless with shock. How could this have happened?

Saeron suddenly stopped in his tracks and when I looked up my words returned. Before us, three robed people stood, blocking our path. Saeron sat me down. I could tell he was preparing for whatever battle we may have to fight.

“Move!” He yelled in anger.

“Easy there.” One of the guys called from the robe. “We aren't going to hurt you.”

“What happened here?”

“The old man, that Temple Keeper went mad.” Another one spoke. “The people all fled. Their okay, but the town was set ablaze because of his madness.”

“How do I know your telling the truth?! Who are you?” Saeron commanded.

Each of three took off their hoods, but I still couldn't see who they were. The fire burning brightly in their background did little to brighten their faces.

“It's you!” Saeron gasped. Apparently being part tiger allowed him to see better in the dark than I could. “I want answers now. Why did you leave when I tried to ask you about our people in the forest?”

“Saeron,” My voice came out soft and meek. I was afraid he may not hear me. “When did you meet these people?”

“This one,” Saeron pointed to the one on the far right. “Was the one that almost attacked you. I would have killed him, but he transformed and all I could think was to ask more questions. But he fled and I couldn't find him. I had no idea there were more like me out there.”

“Yeah sorry bout that. And sorry I tried to attack you girly. I wasn't meaning any harm by it. I didn't want to eat you. I just couldn't resist following a lonely, helpless girl into the forest. It was just for fun ya know?”

I gulped as I pictured myself getting attacked by this guy in his tiger form. To think I would have been killed if Saeron hadn't saved me.

“We need to get out of here fast!” The other voice, clearly another male, commanded. “You two come with us. The fire will most certainly spread vapidly in a matter of minutes! There'll be no escaping it.”

We hurried as fast as we could, despite not knowing who exactly these robed people were. All we knew was that they were like Saeron and that they wanted to help us get to safety.

“Where are we going?!” I asked them, hoping they'd hear me.

“Back to our kingdom.” One of them replied. This one was female.

“We have a kingdom?” Saeron asked, surprised at this newfound fact.

“Yes, it resides withing the Bermuda Triangle.”

“Wait! That's forbidden area. Nothing can get through there alive. It's too dangerous.”

“We have our ways to get there.”

“How? Boats are sunk and any form of technology like planes and ships crash in the magnetic fields.”

“We have our ways, just follow us and you'll get out of this alive.”

“What could you possibly have that could get us to your kingdom.”

“You ever heard of dragons girly?” One of the male ones asked.

“A dragon? You mean like a Kamodo dragon? Yeah, I was attacked by one once. Why?”

“No, I don't mean that kind of dragon. I mean a flying dragon.”

“Everyone knows those don't exist.”

“You'll see.”

We made it to the edge of the jungle and onto a cliff. Immediately my eyes took in the massive beasts we would be using as transportation. The beasts these people called dragons.

“Okay, so their not really dragons, but their kind of an evolved form of the pterodactyl. Their perfect for carrying people and tigers across the Bermuda Triangle.”

I watched as the moon began to fade and the sun began to rise. Suddenly Saeron's form began to shift and he became furry once again.

“Alright, this is how were going to do this.” The other male spoke. “Since we only have three dragons and five of us, including one of us as a tiger, were going to have to pair up and have the tiger ride alone. You two will ride together and I will ride with her.” He gestured to me. I looked at Saeron for approve to go with him, but he seemed to realize we had no choice either way. So I hopped on with the male stranger and each dragon took off in flight. At first it was a little scary, my body could barely balance on the beast as it went through the turbulence in the air, but later I began to get a hand of it. I was more worried about Saeron who had to dig his claws into the dragons saddle to stay on.

“Their's paw grips ya know.” The males on the other dragon yelled to Saeron. Saeron uncomfortably adjusted himself so that he could ride without having to claw at the saddle any more. I felt bad for him. How come he couldn't control his transformation like these...erm...”tiger people” could? Was it something they learned to do with time?

I suddenly realized, for the first time, the warm arm wrapped around my waist as it tightened to make sure I didn't fall off. I wanted to look back at who I was sitting with. I wanted to see all their faces, but their hoods were back over their heads and I was too afraid to turn around and look at who he was.

The sun was shining brightly in the sky. Not at all the way I had pictured the Bermuda Triangle to look like. Down below I caught sight of an island resting within the vast sea.

“There it is.” The male holding onto me said proudly. “Our kingdom and your new home.”