The Ninth Door

Chapter 14 -Trapped

Emmerich

One moment I was trying to wake Sienna from a nightmare, and the next, I was back in the dungeon.

It was stuffy. Even though I ran hot, the place still felt cold. The damp, cracked flooring made of rough stone and dirt added to the discomfort. The maggots still wiggled near my feet, but they no longer crawled over my skin when they realized they didn’t have rotting or diseased flesh to feed on. They’d likely go to the next cell, where a man groaned and sighed about his poor luck and the wounds inflicted by my brother’s men on him. I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the maggots were already there, feeding, even though their host would less likely have anything to eat.

Meals were rationed once daily. It wasn’t enough for grown men, and was barely anything to someone like me. My leopard rebelled against being placed in the confines of the cell. It pushed out on its own accord, angry and wild. Fara was nowhere in sight. Therefore, I could only guess that this shift was purely animalistic. It wasn’t witch’s magi that was making it possible, but something deeper. After all, Luther would rather see me turn in front of an audience.

Then, there it was – a shadow of a man standing in the corner where a small ray of light pushed through the dust motes, barely seen in the darkness of this terrible place. I had only seen this man once before, but I knew his form quite well.

Eric Wester.

“What have you done to me, bastard?” I yelled, but nothing came out of my mouth other than a growl.

He smiled. It was cruel and cold. Then, he laughed. His voice seemed to come from the grave, and I couldn’t help but pad backward. The leopard form was graceful and fast, but what would it be within this cage.

“I can set you free,” he said.

“Where am I right now? Here or am I also there with Sienna Kelley?”

“You are both here and there, prince,” the grinning specter replied. “You can free yourself right now. I’ll give you the magical key and you can bound out of that cell to tear at your brother’s flesh.”

It was a tempting offer. A growl escaped my throat, and it almost sounded like a groan to me. To the human ear, I was just a restless leopard in a cage – one that they would be too frightened to let out.

“What about Sienna Kelley?” my mind asked.

“Is she your problem, Emmerich Kaiser?” Eric asked in a reasonable tone. He was right. Sienna was part of a different world. She was safe with her uncle and cousins. Opening the doors could be dangerous to me, or even to her. Some skeletons should remain in the closet.

“She asked for my help.”

“Tell me. What good does it do to be friends with someone from a different world, Emmerich, when your kingdom is falling and your brother is getting away with everything?”

“She needs me and I promised to help her.”

“The same way you promised Lady Mary?”

“If you don’t want me there in the Junction? Why were you there with her? Why are you haunting the hallways of her home?”

“Home?” Eric laughed. It started low. Then, it escalated into something more maniacal. Insulting. “Neither of you has a home left. You are two parallel lines in this universe. You should never be in her world. You are a storybook character for a little girl. Now, she knows who she is. Sienna Kelley.”

“No, she doesn’t know who she is yet, but she’s on the brink of turning. I saw her starting to turn and that was the last thing I remember.”

“Last thing you remember? Then, how do you know you haven’t devoured her yet? You were leaning over her, a hungry predator who hasn’t had its fill. You had been eating human food without filling the gaping hole within you.”

Flashes of disjointed memory came over me – of hearing her whimper in her sleep. I was already about to settle for the night after a shower. She was already asleep when I went back to the bedroom. I tucked her in, but she was restless. My intention was pure. I just wanted to wake her up, but for some reason, my leopard rose to the surface. Every time I turned, the walls between my world and hers thinned and I came tumbling back to mine.

Growls. Her frightened face. My body turning. Her pale lips. My humanity drowning. Sienna turning.

These little flashes connected to form a picture. Eric might be right. What if I had killed her before she turned? If she had turned, though, it might mean opening what? The third door before the second? Or did it mean two doors opened simultaneously.

Curiousity killed the cat, but I was a willing victim. Sienna needed me. The strong emotion made the leopard waver, but I couldn’t afford to shift back into my human form. It was easier for my reverie to travel back to the Junction in my leopard form.

“You are here and you are there. The energy that you use to be in both places is killing you, Emmerich.”

Again, that reasonable voice. Calm and collected. Eric didn’t sound like the barbarian everyone said he was, but he couldn’t be trusted, either. But who could I trust? I didn’t know many leopards like myself.

“How much time do I have?” I growled.

“Not a lot of time, Emmerich. You might be dead before you can come back to save Lady Mary. Do you really want the coward Luther to reign? He sent you to die. He sent you to kill me, and guess what happened? Oh, you did. But in exchange, what have you become?”

Eric looked at me with his red eyes. They turned golden for a moment, flashing deadly in the dark dungeon. The man in the other cell started whimpering and pointing at Eric. He could see the specter, the man who was taunting me with my priorities.

“What happens if you open the door now? Do I get back to Sienna Kelley?” I growled in my mind, the connection between the two of us potent.

“Of course, not. You can’t have two worlds without consequences,” Eric replied with that voice – one from the grave.

Damn it all to hell.

**

The stench was gone. It was replaced by the smell of lavender and vanilla. Growling filled my ears, as I took in the warmer temperature. It was still cool, but not damp like the dungeon.

I was back at the Junction, in the comfortable room fit for a modern princess. Except there was no princess, and I was no prince, either. I was hurtling back into my human form, while a leopard snarled at me.

She was smaller, but no less deadly. I shrunk back into my human form. It was less painful this time because it usually was when there was my own intent to shift. I rolled on the floor, naked and vulnerable. My heat still protected my body from the chill. Why were the windows wide open?

My heart stuttered at the way the leopard was rooting its foot, and that could only mean one thing. My mouth opened in a silent scream as I saw its body flew into the air to leap at me.

“Sienna Kelley, wake up!” I yelled, no longer caring if anyone else could hear us. It was a matter of life and death – damn it, mine.

As my life flashed before my eyes, I also reveled at the beautiful cat seemingly suspended in air. My mouth gaped at the grace and beauty of seeing my impending death.

Then, she started turning. In a few quick movements, the fur turned into smooth, creamy skin. Soon, the eyes were green and frightened, instead of feral yellow. I forgot about my own nudity, and raised my arms to catch her. We hit the floor.

“Emmerich,” she breathed, pushing her weight off mine. I was on my back, with a naked woman right on top of me. Because it had been a long time, my c**k stirred.

“Sienna, you turned,” I stated the obvious, which I hoped would distract me from my body’s reaction to the beautiful woman I clasped tightly with my arms. Her silky blond hair was unbound, tickling my face and her eyes were the same color of the surrounding forests. Her breasts -

There was a loud pounding at the door.

“Oh God,” Sienna exclaimed, suddenly blushing. She had just realized our predicament as her consciousness returned seemingly slowly. “W-we’re naked.”

“Are you two okay? What’s going on there, Emmerich? Is my cousin okay?”

“Joy,” Sienna and I said together.

“I’m going to use a key now if you don’t come to the door quickly.”

“s**t. She’s overprotective.”

Sienna rose from me and I saw the rest of her body, the full hips and firm buttocks over long, slim legs. I groaned, and rose. I was still hard. It might be a leopard thing.

“Bad thoughts, Emmerich,” I muttered to myself, as Sienna pulled at her robe from the bed.

Before we could cover ourselves up, the door swung open just as Sienna was tying her robe. Joy was serious about getting a key. Quick reflexes had Sienna running to my side, covering my body with hers. I almost laughed at Joy’s bulging eyes.

“Oh, I’m so sorry. I thought you – “

“We get rough sometimes,” Sienna answered. I could feel her tense body. She was embarrassed, and it was natural whatever this might be.

“Oh, f**k. Please don’t tell me right now. I’d die.” Joy groaned, as she was about to close the door. “Sorry, Emmerich. Later, Annie. Text me.”

“Call me Sienna.”

“Oh, right. Okay, we’re back at it. Later, Sienna.”

The door closed.

“That was a close call,” Sienna breathed.

“Yes, she could have opened the door to you eating my flesh,” I said. My heart was pounding in my chest. Fear and desire still warred inside of me, but it wouldn’t be fair to this damsel to have a protector who wished to do sinful things to her.

“I turned, Emmerich! Does that mean I’ve opened two doors at the same time?”

I frowned, moving her body away from mine. It was time to get dressed. I wouldn’t want to continue this conversation naked in front of Sienna Kelley. I was so close to not returning to her world. Eric reminded me that I didn’t belong here, and that we needed to work fast. If she was right and two doors had opened simultaneously, only six remained.

“Not a lot of time, Emmerich. You might be dead before you can come back to save Lady Mary.”

Dressed in my night clothes, I was ready to mull over the night’s events. I felt the truth in Eric’s words, even though only a fool should believe the enemy. But who was the enemy here? Was Erc right about my brother sending me to my death? What if everything they said about the leopard shifter was wrong? What if Eric Wester’s capture of Terra Pardus was not as brutal as everyone said it was? After all, I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes. He was there, yes, but when he and his men fought and ran, they were only defending their lives. Weren’t they?

“We’ll explore tomorrow, find the doors that had been opened by your shift. But wait, do you feel like you’re closer to being Sienna Kelley – accepting your duality?”

“Of course, I am Sienna Kelley,” she declared with the confidence that I hadn’t heard from her before. “I’m also closer to find out who my father was, and I believe he’s still alive.”

“How did you -?”

“I dreamed of him. He was here when I was a child. I knew it was him because why would my mother be whispering in the dark with some man?”

“He could be a lover, but not necessarily your father,” I said, not wanting to disappoint her, but also not wanting her to be led astray.

“Then why would the vision cut to the Christmas tree and a package from my father? He used to give my gifts on my birthdays and special occasions. Here in the Junction.”

I had an uneasy feeling that finding her father wasn’t a good idea at all.