Arise: Chapter 6: Black Widow

Chapter 6: Black Widow

 

(Kriss's POV)

"Here we are. Oh god, what the hell are they doing here? In red?" I struck up as we stepped out of the taxi. Just the four of us, one to talk to her, one to stake out the conversation, two to wait for the ambush.

 

"The queen is ready to see you. Please wait at the bottom of the stairs." The darker toned red of the two spoke, her eyes are dark as the night without the moon.

 

"Well that's promising. Jeez."

"Ayana, what's the worst that can happen?" Cody tried to reassure her, but we all knew the worst.

 

"We could be...ya know...murdered."

"Shut up. The queen is waiting." The brunette, Cynthia if I remember correctly, yelled, her voice cranky and frustrated.

 

"The queen requires full attention. She will not wait for four peasants like you." The other, a blond, Sara-Rose, cringes, scrunching up her face.

 

"God, how I don't miss being red all the time. It's so draining on the eyes." Oh, and he finally sat onto a name. Carl Winchester. I think it suits him.

 

 We were finally ready. Ayana was so scared she literally wrapped her arm around Carl's. It was cute though. But I couldn't do that with Cody. Even with feelings for him, he wasn't single nor was this even a good time for it.

 

"This better not be a waste of our queen's time. You don't want to upset your majesty." The blond was staring us down, The brunette cracked her fingers, before leading us down the staircase into blood red hell.

 

The red pierced your heart, causing a heart attack to be nearly certain. The hints of black helped, but the red was almost killer.

 

"Keep following the red till you reach a door. Enter, but only two can exit through the next door. Our queen will speak to you then."

We already knew I was to enter, with Carl sneaking past unnoticed. I was nervous, of course. The queen had called on me.

 

On me.

 



We were a synchronised pattern. One foot forward, another forward, repeat.

The door kept inching forward, a slow caterpillar on the horizon. Carl and I. We were ready.

 

In we go. Let's hope the queen isn't the 'off with your head' type.

Bye to the world above. Bye to the two people behind me. Behind us.

"Are you ready for this, Kriss?"

 

"As ready as I'll ever be."

 

"Are they going to be good?"

 

"Ayana, they'll be fine. Trust me."

"God, this place just keeps getting worse. A black cat and weaponry? Gosh." I laugh, staring into the cat's glossy yellow eyes.  

 

"Only you would still say gosh."

 

He just stares back.

To be honest, keeping weapons on the wall of your hallway seems rather peculiar.

 

Who is this queen?

Here we go. One door to go.

 

Let's find out who this queen is and what she wants.

The doors swing open, the room's red drowning out any signs of the empty walls, the floor sweeping in red and black, rugs scattered around, curtains draped where windows should.

 

Two gaps in the walls revealed more to the throne room.

 

There was a wall centred in the room. Perfect for Carl.

"What's happening in there? I can't hear a thing."

 

"That's the problem. I can hear nothing either, Cody."

 

"We'll just have to wait. Surely the room isn't soundproofed."

Carl took place, as I slowly walked towards her. It was like drifting down the aisle, except I was, in this case, walking towards, 'marrying', the queen, the one woman I have feared since I was captured once.

She lay sprawled across her 'throne'. I kept walking, nervous but surprisingly excited.

She lay emotionless, but you could see a hint of years of anger scarred across her face.

 

She was scarred with fury.

 

Scarred with animosity.

Her face cast a stare at me, as I slid towards her, her eyes fixated on mine.

 

Her eyes slid their teeth in like snakes, ripping into the skin, tearing at the seams, slipping the poison into your soul.

And there she was. The messenger. A blood-red replica of the girl from my dream, the dream that awoke me to the world, the dream that seemed to stream away like a rushing river. Her hair was red, the colour of light blood, from a cut, the blood before it stains.

"Maybe nothing's happened yet?"

 "They'll be fine. Hopefully."

I slump into the chair, hiding my eyes from the queen herself.

 

Who knows what her eyes can do to a person?

 

"My dear Kriss. My, how you've changed the last time I saw you. What happened to that baby face of yours? You're such a young woman now. How was university dear? I see you met some friends..." Her voice was raspy, yet clear, and cruel. The sound of hate, revenge, torture and hatred, fill her voice, a cruel taste in her mouth.

 

Why did she know this about me?

The guards follow in, taking a seat directly behind me. They look upon their queen in a hypnotised manner, moving their heads in sync.

"My dear Kriss? Where is your head tonight? Kylie, fetch the boy."

 

"What boy, my queen."

 

"Your brother."

 

She calls for Carl, and for a while, I think he's gone.

 

Then, he makes himself known.

 

And he stares me right in the back of the head.

 

Like I shot him down.

 

He walks past them, walking down the opposite path to mine. He stares anxiously towards the queen, sensing her power.

His sister, as I suppose the messenger must be, tries to keep her pose, but he catches her eye.

 

Loathing fills her blood red pupils, as she turns to face him.

"Brother, how dare you stop by unannounced. And after all you did for me once. You abandoned me. You left me in the ashes of my parents, under only but the queen's roof. And you tried to flee. Look where it got you." Her eyes burn into his skin, a burning sun tanning the scorched backs of the beach goers.

 

Before Carl can respond, the queen stretched out her limbs, leaning back against the sofa, her arms stretched out against the back of the sofa, like snakes on the branches of a tree.

 

"Oh, sibling rivalry is such a bore. I never had a sibling, did you my sweet Krissy?"

"I have one sister. Her name is Liana." I felt a sense of regret as soon as I'd said that. The more she knew, the easier I was to get. My face went emotionless.

 

Carl sat beside me, his face too, emotionless. He knew, in his heart, that what he did to his sister wasn't the best choice he made.

"My sweet Kriss...and Carl, was it? Aren't you two so sweet? My, Kylie, sit down, please. Over in the corner there, sweetie."

She moves away, partly angry she's forced to sit that far away, partly happy she can finally sit down.

 

"Oh my dears, I completely forgot about them. Sweetheart, join us if you will. Someone fetch Ayana and Cody, darlings." Her position now, sprawled along the sofa, beckoning them, her legs hanging over the edge of her throne.

There is a shuffle around the door, before the two enter the throne room, waltzing towards the last remaining sofa at the back of the room.

They sit among the blood-red, out of place, like Carl and I. They all stared down at the two of us, and the queen, like the main event of a performance.

 

"Dear, look at the time. I better get started, shall I? How about a story, darlings?"

All I can bear is a nod. I stare towards Carl. He stares blankly at the queen, anxious.

 

I need some answers too.

 

"I'll start at the middle, my teen years, where the action first began."

 

"I was once good, but things change." She smiles, before beginning the story before us.

 

 

 

 

 

(Talutah's POV)

This was me. Talutah. My father named me. In Native American, it means 'blood-red'. Fitting, in'it. I wore only black back then, the occasion grey slipping through. Black in a house full of blood red.

I was truly...good. I wasn't evil, I wasn't harming anyone, and I cared.

 

But things do change.

My father, Gazini, as his father had called him before, was a cruel man, an evil crime lord, who dealt in only the worst of crimes. He was sick-minded.

 

And he would beat for every thing I did wrong in his books.

I got angry. I threw out words I wish I never spoke again. But that's the way he make me feel.

He was a cruel man. The insults flew out of his mouth, like moths drawn to a flashlight.

 

"Shut up, you foolish little girl. That's the last time you go on the town."

He made threats, one day threatening my life, the other threatening something like my food.

 

"I swear, you'll be cut off tomorrow. Watch out, stupid."

He'd pin me to the wall, swearing under his breath, his arm ready to dive in for the kill.

 

So many days I thought I was gone.

 

That day was the last stand. I was sick of being his personal punching bag.

He would have to find another daughter to punish.

So, when I found the courage, and the strength, I ran.

 

 Only looking back once, to see his miserable face, still turned towards me, frowning, anger struck through his.

 Whenever I was scared, angry, or even the slightest bit sad, I turned my head towards Cora.

 

She was my best friend. And I loved her more than I ever loved someone.

 

We were friends for so long.

Her sense in fashion was brighter, lighter, purpled. She wore her hair in a way I loved. She continued to astound me. How she was friends with a girl like me still confuses me to this day.

 

She looked at me, the same girl I always was, a girl she seemed to trust.

And I looked at her how I saw her: An innocent, with no harm in her life.

Our conversation that day was rather strange, but it was the first step to ruining my father.

We hugged, a tradition we made. It seemed to remove the sadness from our hearts, but that day I'd had far too much pain to let it fade away in a simple hug.

"Cora, help. I need you to protect something of mine. My heart. I'm going back to see my father, and I can't take it there." After that day, trusting him to not rip my heart and crumble the ashes to the ground was not an option.

I did what I needed.

 

No matter how she felt about it.

To anyone, I could've seemed insane. But I wasn't with 'anyone'. I was only surrounded by the forest and Cora.

I transferred my heart to her the way vampires did safely. If I ripped it away, I could die.

 

And that's something I couldn't do just yet.

My body felt strange without the addition of my heart, the beating headquarters of my body.

 

It took a minute to process the feeling inside.

 

I felt empty.

 

I could see the uneasiness upon her face. I knew she couldn't bear letting me run into the darkness, but I knew she would let me go.

 

"It's time." Was the last thing I said as I walked away, sadness drifting across.

 

She thought that was the last time she'd see me.

 

She thought that this mission was the mission I'd die fulfilling.

Tears streaked down her face.

 

"Tally, I'll miss you."

I ran towards the depths of the forest, towards my father's home.

Once I neared his house, it was war.

 

He was going down.

 

No more King Gazini.

 

Long live Queen Talutah.

 

 

I had changed. This was the new me, for now.

 

I scared myself.

 

I scared him.

 

And I wouldn't take any of him alive.

 

"Hello, papa."

"Talutah, sweetie, you've changed."

"Oh father, cut this crap! You never cared about me. And the feeling is mutual, you know it. I'm just here to clean my taxes."

"What the hell do you mean, you silly child! You want to murder your own father, the man that fed you, the man that kept you from a life on the streets."

"I would've preferred a life on the streets to this. You only fed me when I needed it! You're a terrible excuse of a father! Why the hell did mother even love you?"

 

My mother had died years ago, when I was only young.

 

They had fought all through my childhood, until she seemed to just fade away without a clue.

I pushed him with all the strength I could.

 

If I didn't kill him, I'd scar him for life.

"Father, stay away from me. Never come crawling back to me. If you do, you'll pay. Take this as a warning. You'll only get one."

"Long live Queen Talutah. May the blood run red."

 

But this wasn't the only spark.

 

This only pointed the compass.

I walked out on him. I had survived.

 

I could live free.

 

And how time flew past me. Once, only a young teen, now a young adult, free from the chains of my father, free from a life of misery.

This was me. A young adult, moving up in life. Black stuck as my colour, but change would soon come.

 

"Cora! I've missed you so much."

 

"Cora! Thank you for guarding my heart once more!"

 

But she was already preoccupied.

 

She had my heart.

 

And she wasn't turning to hand it to me, oh no.

I guess you can say she didn't trust me anymore.

 

Who can blame her?

 

I was becoming more powerful than she ever was.

 

But she wasn't just observing it either.

 

I knew exactly what she wanted to do with it.

She held it firmly, smiling.

 

She too, was obsessed with power.

 

So I took control, and did the only thing that would ruin her chances of ever destroying the thing I loved most.

 

So, I tore her heart right from her chest.

 

I tore out one of her most important resources, like picking an apple from its tree.

I held it firmly, staring her deep in the eyes.

 

If she even considered leaping for it, it would be gone in less than she could think.

 

"Please, I wasn't going to-"

 

"Save it."

I sharpened my teeth.

 

I had become evil.

 

I was about to bite her heart.

 

My old friend.

 

What had I become?

 

Wicked.

 

 

She collapsed.

 

Falling.

 

It's the most sensation feeling.

 

Even though I lost a friend, she had gained an enemy.

 

 

I'd left her there.

 

But, coming to your world, I'd need a disguise.

 

Cora was perfect. 

 

 

I looked out, into the same forest I ran through, the same forest I connected with, the same forest I was tired of.

 

I needed my own kingdom.

 

This place had too many scars.

 

Long live, Queen Talutah of the Blood-Reds.

(Kriss's POV)

"I...I didn't realise you were...good once." Carl stutters out.

 

"Evil isn't born. It's made."

 

It was true.

 

No-one is born wicked. They have wickedness thrust upon them.

"Uh. Her past...is the reason she's this way."

 

"And, I've only seen the side of her that I grew up with. The wicked, ruthless side that scars the night." 

"My dears, you see, I was once the hero. But when times get rough, you do the most foolish things."

 

"Which leads me to this: Kriss dear, how would you feel about...becoming a blood-red, like us."

One of them.

 

The thought never crossed my mind.

 

But I couldn't abandon my friends.

 

And red wasn't my colour.

 

"I'm sorry, but I couldn't."