Romeo and Juliet: A Vampire and Werewolf Love Story (25 page)

Juliet turned her head slightly in my direction and said,
“Yes, I am.
”
Then Juliet said something really funny. She struggled out the words, “
You
’
re not going to beat me ov
er the head with a club are you?
”

“No, my love,” I laughed
and nodded my head at Apos. That was to give him the okay to go get the serum. Apos left the room and I looked down at Juliet. “We will not be doing that,”
I said as
I held my breath for a second
,
trying to figh
t through the tears. “It will be a se
rum. All you have to do is drink it.
”

“And you
will join me?”

I looked down and nodded.
“I promise, my love.”

Juliet looked me
in the eye and said, “Come closer
.”
As I did, our lips touched. Then we slowly kissed, whispering ‘I love you’s’ to each other.

“I love you, Romeo
.
”

“I love
.
..you...Juliet.
”

Then I slowly tilted
her head back and Apo
s handed me Mary’s Blessing.
I tilted Juliet
’
s h
e
ad just to the lef
t and I gave her all of the se
rum.

At first, nothing happened. Then, in about thirty seconds, h
er body strengthened up in one last flex and the
n her body
release
d and she went completely limp. I held her lifeless body lipan>

The
next three minutes were the longest of my life.
I placed Juliet in my lap and held her like a baby.
If she was to die and her body disappeared then I would be lost without her forever. But if her earthly body stayed here, then there w
as still a large chance. So, I held her tightly and prayed she wouldn’t leave me.

Seconds felt like minutes, and minutes felt like hours. I held Juliet
’
s body
,
praying that she would not leave this
E
arth. I looked up at the clock and a good five minutes had gone by and it was very clear to both Apos and me that she had gone to the
good place and her body was staying.

A
relief washed over my body as
I held Juliet tight
ly
in my arms.
I never wanted to let her go.
I held her with all I had
.
Apos looked
over
at me and I asked
him,
“What do you know?”

“About the families?”
he asked.

“Yes.”

“You don
’
t want to know
, Romeo.”

“What
’
s happening? I want to know.
”

“Trust me. You have enough on your plate already.”

I stared at Apos and said, “I may never see them again. You will tell me right now what is happening.”

Apos stared at me, took a deep breath and said,
“It
’
s
all going down tonight.
There is an all
-
out war happening. Every fighting member of both families is meeting in Time
s
S
quare at midnight. Not even
Prince
Escalus can
stop it.
”

“I doubt if he even wants to.”

“There are rumors that he is secretly pining for a
showdown because he is exhausted frs e

He wants to end this infighting of immortals.”

One way or another.

I held Juliet
tight
ly
and continued to rock back and forth in the rocking chair with her on my lap.
“
What time is it?
”

“11:28
,
” Apo said
.

“That is m
ore than enough time to get there before midnight.
Give me another vial with 200 milligrams of Mary’s Blessing in it.
”

“Are you sure, Romeo?”

I nodded my head at Apos.

Apos left the room to prepare me a vial of Mary’s Blessing.

To go.

Chapter Twenty-one

I kne
w what I was going to do. I just had no idea, how exactly it was going to go down.
I needed to take Juliet’s
body
down to Times Square
and show everyone exactly what they
’d
done.

Apos returned with the vial.

“Swear to me on your gods that this is Mary’s Blessing,” I said to Apos.

“By my gods, I swear to you, Romeo. That is Mary’s Blessing in the vial. Promise me that this is what you truly want to do.”

“It is. It is the only option I’ve got. Without Juliet, there is no breath left in me.”

“Good luck, Romeo.”

“Thank you, Apos, for all that you’ve done.”

Apos nodded his head and I turned and faced the door, carrying Juliet’s lifeless body in my arms. I stepped out on 67
^th
Street and
I flag
ged
down a tax
i outside the apartment. It wasn’t easy flagging one down with
a
lifeless woman draped over my
shoulder. I had no idea what the taxi driver

s must be thinking as they whizzed by without stopping.

Finally
,
one stopped. He pulled
up
next to me
in his cab and rolled down the window
. “Is she bleeding?”

Actua
lly, she was no longer bleeding since her neck and shoulder wound had hea
led itself
.

“She’s just real tired,”
I said. “She had a lot to drink.
Does that matter?”

“It sure as hell does,” the Middle Eastern cab driver snapped back at me. “
I
’
m not going to allow a passed
-
out
woman in my cab with a man who is not
her husband.”

I looked down at
Juliet
.
I knew in my heart I was
her husband as much as any man had ever been a husband to a
ny
woman
in the history of the world
.
I looked the taxi driver in the eye and said,
“Yes, I am her husba
nd. She is very ill. Please take us.
”
I handed him a hundred-dollar bill.

The taxi driver
took it quickly and
looked me in the eye
. He
said, “I believe you.”
I heard the auto-locks thunk and I opened the back door of the cab.

I placed Juliet gently in the cab
’s back seat
and I sat right beside her
,
holding her up.
“Take
me to Times Square, 44
^th
Street and Seventh
Avenue
.
”

I shut the door and the cab driver took off.
In the cab, I could feel a darkness come over my body
,
like a shadow of foreboding,
the closer
that
we got to our destination.

As we went down 8
^th
Avenue, I could see
I could see the Capulets marching up the street, yelling and making their way to 44
^th
Street. 44
^th
and Seventh Avenue is the heart of Times Square. They were a few minutes from that location.

“Drive faster,” I said to the taxi driver. “I want to see up ahead.”

The taxi driver stepped on the gas and weaved the cab in and out of traffic. In a couple of minutes, we were up near 51
^st
Street. “Slow down!” I yelled at the taxi driver.

I looked down toward 7
^th
Avenue and I could see my family marching up the street, with Benvolio leading the charge. My angered burned toward him, but my rage for him was eclipsed by my love for Juliet.

We need
ed
to get to where
the opposing groups would meet in the middle.
That looked to be right at 44
^th
and 7
^th
.
Exactly what I had originally thought. “Go back to 44
^th
Street and make a left. I want to go to Seventh Street.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, I’m sure. Just do it.”

The cab driver reluctantly made a couple of turns and got us flipped around so that we were heading back to 44
^th
Street. He turned left on Seventh and we headed to the front of the street. The taxi
driver drove
to the right into a
taxi
lane, right in front of 44nd S
t
reet and Seventh Avenue
.
At some point, many years back, a fourteen-story luxury hotel named “The Globe” was put in on that corner.

I stepped out in front of The Globe Hotel and to the left, I
could see a legion of Montagues
coming up the street in both
werewolf
and human forms. They
would
surely all be werewolves before they engage
d
in their epic fight.
To the left,
I could see the Capulets marching up at a brisk pace, screaming
at the top of their lungs.
For blood.