Juliet's Tryst

Chapter 14: The Council, Part 3

Juliet sat in a coffeeshop, working on an article. Since Dee's reappearance, she fell insanely behind on her writing quota. Her boss worried, sending a couple emails with strangely personal questions. Thinking back to the night before, Juliet guessed that almost fucking the client was mixing work and pleasure. Some things were bigger than puny things like work or pleasure. 

Her phone buzzed. Juliet dared not wake up the passed out Kyrion that morning. She looked exhausted when she slept, the opposite of the smooth wakeful alertness that was usual. It was off putting, and squashed any idea of a morning coffee together. It was two now. The princess was awake.

"Hello, sleepyhead," Juliet answered the phone. 

"WHERE ARE YOU?!" The sound was louder than Juliet thought the phone could even produce. A couple patrons at the coffeeshop took a worried look in her direction. The accent in her voice was more prominent, a clicking undertone coming through.

"What?" This was barely more than a squeak. Juliet's knees felt weak even though she was sitting. She was in trouble. But for what? "Shh, keep your voice down, I'm in public."

"That does not narrow down your location. Why didn't you wake me in the morning?"

"I had work to do, and you looked exhausted. I didn't want to bother you."

The sigh that followed was legendary, a mother disciplining a child who constantly misunderstands everything. 

"How am I supposed to protect you if you keep running away? Also, this work of yours..."

"Protect me? Run away? I just went down the street to do some work. And anyways, why would I need protection?"

"Because you are mine."

"Mine this, mine that, how about you mind your business!"

"Juliet," Dee warned. 

"I am my own person. I do not need to be looked after like some pet. We talked about this already." She was seconds from hanging up and letting Dee come to her. On second thought, an angry Kyrion princess who stood two heads over her was not the vibe for the establishment.

"The council has knowledge of you now. There are different allegiances, different motivations. I cannot be certain your safe unless you are near me." 

"I thought people respected the daeestra in your society? Isn't that some kind protection in itself?"

"It's complicated."

"Take your Facebook status answers and get something to eat. I'll meet you back at your house in a couple minutes," Juliet said, shoving her laptop back into her bag. She gave an apologetic look to her neighbor and dashed outside, straight into another Kyrion. 

"Oh, brother," she said, picking up the keys and pen she dropped. Tall, dark brown hair and the palest skin a game developer could dream of. His eyes were a peculiar shade of lavender. Juliet tried to push past him but he grabbed her by the backpack. Her feet dangled on the ground. She would have been scared if she wasn't so goddamn annoyed by the previous interaction. 

"Put. Me. The. Fuck. Down," Juliet yelled. This was not a school playground. This was her life.

"Relax, human. I come in peace," he said. He did not put her down. "However, I believe by your custom I am owed an apology." 

"That was voided when you took away my ability to touch the ground." Juliet looked back into the coffee shop. Everyone was staring. Her face flushed a deep shade of red. 

"I apologize for that. Now, you apologize for this."

"I'm sorry I ran into you," Juliet said as sincerely as she could manage in the circumstance. He placed her down, staring curiously at her flushed cheeks. 

"I did not restrict your airways, yet you are red like a tomato." He pronounced it like "tor-maye-tor", a pronunciation that offended her more than being picked up like a child. 

"What do you want?" 

"The Council has summoned you, you must come with me."

Dee would kill her for leaving in the morning. Juliet's eyes darted back and forth, wondering if it was worth it try to make a dash toward's Dee's building. The man chuckled and shook his head to the unspoken question. 

"It takes barely any force for me to restrain you. You are quite small for a human, and not well fed at that."

"I'm perfectly healthy. You're just overfed." Juliet earned a laugh she did not want. 

"I see why you are interesting now. We must go."  A car pulled up, and Juliet was all but thrown into the back. A bruise swelled on her hip. Her phone rang and the Kyrion deftly pulled it from her pocket and answered. "This is Riyuklanin. Kalry has summoned her to speak before the council, at once. You understand you are not to interfere." Silence. Then, "Yes. Her safety is assured. She will be back in a few Earth-hours time." 

He put Juliet's phone in his suit pocket. It was an ugly yet well tailored brown suit that did not match anything about him. 

"That is, if I can control myself. I might just have to take a bite out of you, little human."

A slug of disgust slid down her throat. What did they need her for that long anyways? A couple hours was a long time. 

"Give me my phone," Juliet held her hand out, and realized that was a mistake. The man gently took her hand in his, inspecting it. The creep factor increased steadily. The car happily sped through Olympia traffic. 

"No. I cannot have you reporting back the circumstances of our meeting quite yet," he said it like a self-satisfied fox. 

She snatched her hand back as soon as he allowed. It was a tense and silent ride out to the middle of nowhere. The car stopped in the middle of a cornfield. There was a person sized hole, carefully dug. Juliet's mind flashed to all the horror movies she watched. She was not consenting to being buried alive today. Her chest became a metronome, breathing in and out at an ever increasing tempo.

The Kyrion got out and motioned to the hole. It was now that instinct took hold of Juliet. She opened the door on her side and tumbled out, leaving everything behind. 

She ran like hell.

A/n: I have now learned to use the "conversations" function on my profile. Drop a follow if you would like to know when chapters are coming out beforehand :)