chapter TWENTY SIX
I watched from a distance as my body rode that water upwards. It surged, rolled, and seemed to thunder as gravity was flipped upside down. I couldn’t take my eyes off of myself. Something totally alien took over my body. My normally frizzy brown curls were sleek as they lay against my shoulders. The curls perfectly framed my face and my lips seemed to form a small heart.
As we—me and myself—neared the top, I watched my eyelids lift and I froze in shock.
I had brown eyes, but these were silver. They seemed to see everything at once. Then they turned towards me and seemed to zap me. “Get back. Now!”
I felt myself sucked through the air and crashed into my body. I gasped, choked, and struggled against what was happening.
“Accept me. Accept yourself,” The Immortal me told myself. This voice was me. I wondered, belatedly, if I could have three different personas inside of me and still be sane. Maybe. I doubted it, though.
“Accept—now!” With that last command, I threw back my head, my arms jerked upwards, and I gasped as something flowed down my throat. It molded to my body. Then the world rushed at me with breakneck speed. I lifted high and over. The water fell away and I looked around the room.
Kates was frozen beside Lucan. Her blue eyes were wide, terrified, but what drew my eye wasn’t how she looked at me. It was the knowledge that burned bright. She’d known, but seeing it was a different matter. Still… that wasn’t the knowledge that I saw. She knew something else was going to happen, something that she didn’t want to admit to herself. I saw it so bright. It was like a candle that flickered behind her.
“You!” Lucan growled. His hair was pushed back, carelessly, but it molded to the sides of his face. His eyes gleamed cruelly and he sneered as if knowing he’d won.
I felt Roane jerk forward. He stepped to move between myself and his brother, but I stopped him. When I lifted a hand, the room rattled. “No.”
“Wha—” Kates gasped and jerked her head around.
“Holy fu—.” Even Wren was amazed as she took in the scene.
“Davy, stop,” Roane said, but it was too late.
I moved around and stepped in front of Lucan. As I looked down at him, I realized that I was floating in the air. Something prickled the back of my wrist and I looked around.
Every glass, every champagne flute, every crystal dish floated in the air. All those diamonds sparkled furiously. They were blinding, but I saw them through my silver eyes. They looked like air particles to me.
“What—you’re the Immortal. You!” Lucan took a step forward.
“Lucan!” Roane shouted a warning.
I spoke above Roane. “Yes. I am she. I am the Immortal.”
My voice was different. It wasn’t just mine, but all the Immortals before me. Something ancient poured through me. It was frightening, but I felt the power. “I am not what you want, Lucan. That is my only warning.”
“Davy, don’t do this,” Kates whispered this time. “Please. Please don’t do this.”
I merely looked at her. The candle started to burn brighter.
Lucan growled ferociously this time. He reached for my wrist, but two things happened in the blink of my eye. Kates stepped in front of him, her back to me. And Roane flung himself forward.
I stopped everything.
Time stood still, but Roane jerked me behind him. As I fell to the floor, I raised my head. “That’s right. You’re connected to me.”
“My blood is in you.” Roane turned and glared at his brother.
“He’s frozen. I stopped time.”
“So I see,” Roane breathed harshly. He raked a chilling glare over his brother again before he turned and regarded me.
I stood to meet him and tilted my chin for respect. “You don’t approve of what I’ve done.”
“This isn’t you, Davy. This is the Immortal. You’re not…” He gestured to my body. “This isn’t you. I want you back.”
I could’ve told him that this was the new me, but instead I stepped around him. I stared at Kates and breathed out in awe, “Look at her.”
The candle now shone brightly behind her. The blinding yellow flame encompassed her body. She was a mere black shadow in front of it.
“Do you see it?” I wanted him to see it.
Roane frowned, but looked. “It’s the slayer. She’s trying to save Lucan.”
She wasn’t. She wasn’t doing that at all. My hand rose of its own volition, but it dropped now, saddened. “You don’t see it.”
“She doesn’t want me to hurt him. She’s in love with him, what do you expect?”
“She’s not saving him. She thinks she’s saving me. It’s so bright around her. It’s her hope.” The candle burned even brighter now. It looked like it was going to explode. “She’s saving herself.”
“She’s not, Davy.” Roane was firm. “Kates is smart. She knows that I wouldn’t let him touch you. She’s making her move against me, not for you.”
He was wrong. Roane didn’t realize what had happened. He didn’t really understand who I was anymore. Everything he knew was limited. All the vampires thought wrong.
It didn’t matter, not right then, but I turned and gazed at my lover. He looked fierce with murder in his eyes. Every part of him screamed that he was an animal, but I remembered what he’d said before.
“There’s a soul inside of you.”
Roane frowned, jerked off balance for a moment.
I moved forward and lifted a palm to his chest. His muscles jerked in response from my touch, but he held still.
I continued, “You told me before that you don’t have a soul, but your body remembers what it did with the soul. That’s why you breathe sometimes. The soul is imbedded in every part of a person. You’re still a person. You still have a soul. And you honor it, even now when you want to kill your brother.”
‘He cannot divide them.’
I understood them now. I glanced over my shoulder at Lucan. “He’s not put together right. I saw that before, but I didn’t understand it. I knew you’d win today. I felt your strength. What you said was right. You have the strength of all the Hunters inside of you. You’d overpower your brother too easily, but that’s where it’d rip away your humanity. You’d become the animal that you loathe inside of you.”
Roane stiffened at my words. He started to pull away, but I clasped the back of his arm. I wouldn’t let him move and his eyes widened at my strength. “If you had killed your brother today, that would’ve destroyed you. He’s still a part of you. You love him and you’d be the end of him. It would’ve been the end of you as well. I can’t have that. I need you.”
His eyes clung to mine.
I touched his lips. They were perfect, cool to the touch, and I leaned forward to nip at them.
Roane grasped the back of my head and deepened the kiss. I felt his love with that kiss, but I pulled away. Haunted. “Do you love me or do you love who is inside of me?”
His eyes shuddered closed and he withdrew. “I loved her, yes.”
“That’s why you’re drawn to me.”
“That’s why you’re drawn to me too!” Roane whipped back to me. I was taken aback by the loathing in his eyes. “You don’t think I’ve thought of this? Something takes control of you when you’re around me. It’s not you, either, Davy. You might think you feel something for me, but you don’t. A part of Talia is inside of you. It’s always her reaching out for me, taking control of you.”
Oh god. I didn’t… I couldn’t understand… I started to slip inside of him, but he shoved me out. “I don’t want you to know the mess inside of me.”
I respected his wish. I couldn’t solve the problem between us, but I knew a problem that I could resolve for him. So I looked back at Lucan. “You can’t help your brother, but I can.”
“Wha—”
I rushed forward and stepped in front of Kates. My back was to Lucan. And then I unlocked time.
“No!” Roane shouted, but I snapped my fingers. Every glass, every diamond, every champagne flute exploded in the air. They all ducked from the exploding shards of glass.
I whispered to Lucan, “I want to give you what you want.”
He licked his fangs and grasped my arm. That was all he needed and he jerked me forward to clamp onto my skin. I tensed as my skin broke underneath his fangs, but I grasped his head. I willed him to drink all he needed.
“No!” Roane leapt across the room and pulled his brother from me. Lucan fell against a wall, bewildered and triumphant. Then his back arched dramatically. Only his head and toes touched the floor. He sucked in a ragged breath and pounded at his chest frantically. Desperate.
Roane stopped in front of me. He held me back with an arm around my waist and watched in confusion. “What?”
I watched Roane as he watched his brother. “He can be right again. I saved your brother… for you.”
“What did you do, Davy?” The words were wrung out from him. Roane stared as Lucan howled in pain and rolled on the ground.
My words were for his ears only. “I gave him life again. He can be right.”
Lucan continued to writhe on the floor, but Roane suppressed a shudder and abruptly turned so he couldn’t watch anymore. He pulled me tight against his chest and wrapped both his arms around me. He buried his head in the crook of my shoulder and I watched for him. One of my hands lifted to cradle the back of his head.
Everyone watched in the room. No one dared to speak. Then Lucan’s body lifted off the floor, his back arched, and a dark light ripped out of his mouth. It slammed to the ceiling and settled there. Waiting. I’d kept the crystals floating in the air and now I turned my wrist. Each little shattered particle of crystal all moved as one.
“Be gone,” I whispered.
Immediately the crystals surrounded the black light and an explosion occurred.
Roane jerked. Everyone gasped. Kates fell to the floor with a wrangled moan. Wren cursed softly, but savagely. After another moment of holding me, Roane lifted his head to turn towards his brother. Lucan was unconscious.
“He’s sleeping.”
“Davy… what did you do?”
“His soul is intact.”
Roane looked anguished. “He’s human?”
I nodded.
“How?”
I couldn’t tell him, not really. So I closed my eyes and when I opened them again, I let Roane see my true self. He saw the silver eyes. “I’m the Immortal.”
THE END
EPILOGUE
“Welcome to our last conversation.”
I sighed in irritation and turned, but stopped in surprise. I looked around. “We’re not in the dark anymore. And… I think I’m sleeping again.”
The Immortal me stood before me. “No, we’re not because this is the end.”
I tilted my head questionably. “What are you talking about? I thought we were immortal, together for eternity?”
Silver eyes flashed back at me. “Stop thinking about trivial things. You don’t need to distract yourself anymore.”
“It’s what I do.” I shrugged it off, but something prickled at me. It was in the Immortal’s voice—my voice. Then my eyes widened. It was my voice talking back to me. It wasn’t the annoying Immortal or the lecturing Immortal. It was me.
Finally.
“What… what have I done again?”
The Immortal me smiled, assured and strong. “I did choose you, Davy, but I didn’t go to you. When you reached inside of Talia, you pulled me out and inside of you. There’s a part of you, a part that is noble. Your strength is more than I’ve ever encountered in a being before. You pulled me into you.”
“That’d been my plan the whole time.” My attempt at self-sarcasm was pathetic.
The other me continued, “There’s a lot about being the Immortal that you don’t understand. It’s too much for you to know everything now, but things will be revealed as you go. You have a destiny and others will help you as you go. My part is done.”
“What part was that?”
“My job was to help you accept who you are, who we are together. You accepted the Immortal, but you don’t know the consequences. You will learn them as you go. I won’t be the voice for those lessons.”
I wasn’t sure how I felt about this. What would I get instead?
“You’ve changed, Davy. You’ve become something new. This world is yours for the taking and you can make it better. There is a reason why the Immortal was created. You’re not a fairytale. You’re real and you are a force to be reckoned with. Do not let anyone take that from you. Do not!” She gutted out the last words, forcibly and urgent.
I had so many questions… so many new revelations… so many… so many of everything. I wanted to know it all, but then she said, “Welcome to your destiny. It is the beginning.”
‘Welcome to our last conversation.’
Then I woke up with a gasp. I was disoriented at first, feeling something warm around me. Then I heard cars honking in the distance. Slowly, I sat up and looked around. I was on the roof with a blanket draped over me. When I sat up, I smiled at the couch cushions that I’d been laying on.
“I brought you up here. Kates needed to sleep and I wanted some privacy. You both must’ve fallen asleep as soon as you got back to the room.” Roane moved from the building’s edge.
His eyes were still the same coal black, but there was something searching in them. He seemed softer, but he wasn’t dressed as such. Black pants with a crisp black shirt that wasn’t tucked in. With his hardened jaw, he looked ruthless—and he was.
His hand fell to his side and something flashed in the moonlight. It was his necklace.
I stood and gestured, half-heartedly. “You took that before. It’s a leaf thing? What’s it mean?”
He lifted it and stared at it long and hard. He murmured, “It was my brother’s. I took it from him when I fought him. It was when Talia became the Immortal.”
Oh. So much of that statement didn’t sit comfortably with me. “I see…”
Roane took a deep breath and turned back to gaze over the city. The lights spread out for miles and as I moved beside him, the sight made me smile. Cars honked in the distance. People laughed. More lights flickered, but there was a stillness in the city.
I wasn’t sure if it was Benshire or if it was me.
“I need to meet with the Roane Elders and give them this necklace.”
“Why?” We’d just dealt with Lucan. I’d finally shown Roane that I was the Immortal. He was right when he said that Kates and I were tired. We both collapsed as soon as we got to the room. Everything had just happened…. I wasn’t ready for him to leave me. Not yet.
“I have to tell them what happened. My brother is gone. After you left, some of his men took him. I have to tell them that my brother is human again and then I’m going to ask for the job of finding him. The necklace will be used to hunt him, for whoever is given the assignment. He knows too much. He’s done too much. He’s too much of a threat and I have no doubt that he’ll try something new to become powerful again.”
Again…. Oh. I felt a sense of dread.
“Davy, things have happened that aren’t understood.”
Everything about that statement didn’t bode well with anyone. I knew that things went smoother when they were understood. “How long do you think it’ll take for you to find Lucan?”
How long was he going to be away?
“I don’t know. It might take a few hours or months. He’s human, but he still knows everything. He’ll be dangerous. Lucan liked being a vampire. He’ll want to become one again. I need to stop that from happening.”
I nodded jerkily.
“They’re not going to understand how you turned him human. That’s not known by anyone and my Family were the ones entrusted to protect the Immortal. This is… this will not sit well with the Elders.”
“Do you mean… am I in danger from them?”
From you?
“I don’t know. When word gets out what you can do, you’ll be feared by vampires. There aren’t many who’d like to be human again. And you’re Immortal. They can’t kill you, which is what their first reaction will be. My Elders might want that too, but I’ll argue on your behalf. I think they’ll realize the foolishness of that.”
I frowned as a different question formed in my head. “Roane, who is Jacith?”
His shoulders stiffened. “Where did you hear that name?”
“He was in Blue’s head. The Immortal mentioned something about him.”
Roane didn’t like hearing any of that. “He’s a very powerful witch, possibly the most powerful I’ve known.”
“What does he have to do with the Immortal thread?”
Roane didn’t answer right away, but eventually he did. “He created it.”
Oh—whoa. I blinked in shock, but remembered the Immortal’s words. Jacith thought he was powerful, but I was more. Somehow, I didn’t think this Jacith would enjoy learning that information.
“Did he create the prophecy? Or just the Immortal thread?”
Roane had looked back over the city, but he whipped around once more to me. He had an accusing look in those dark eyes. “What are you talking about? Jacith created the Immortal. You talk as if the prophecy and the thread are separate. They are not. I assure you. My Family has volumes of Immortal lore. We were entrusted to protect the thread.”
Except, they didn’t know all of it and they didn’t need to protect me. I knew about the separation from the Immortal. “You didn’t know that I could turn vampires human.”
Roane opened his mouth, but he couldn’t argue my point. He closed it again as a look of mysticism crossed over his face.
I never thought I’d see that. I loved it.
“I thought I knew everything there was to know about Immortals. I’m starting to wonder if I know just a little about Immortals. It’s unsettling.”
“You don’t understand, Roane. I… there’s a prophecy that I think you don’t know about. Someone created the prophecy and later someone else created the thread. I… I came to be before Jacith created the thread. I don’t know why that’s important, but it is. I know this because the Immortal told me. I told you before that we have conversations. She/it/me told me this… and someone else is going to guide me.”
Roane turned and touched my shoulder. He turned me towards him. “Davy… the Immortal thread was created by Jacith. I know this, but… you’re correct. He has never spoken about the ability for an Immortal to turn vampires into humans. If, in your conversations, you learn more then you must tell me. The Immortal is crucial to the vampire nation. We must know everything you know.”
Something else didn’t sit well with him. “What is it?”
Roane lifted up his head and gazed over the city’s lights before he answered. “I was with Talia for years. I watched her grow and she never once talked about a conversation with the Immortal. It’s so different. I… I don’t know what to make of it. She would have odd dreams sometimes, but that was it.”
I wasn’t sure what stung me more: Talia and Roane or the lack of conversations. I could’ve done without those conversations. “I’m the last, Roane. The Immortal told me. I’m the last to be the Immortal. I’m not a carrier for the thread. I am the Immortal.”
‘Do not let anyone take that from you.’
Roane was silent.
I continued, “It’s just the beginning, Roane. I know that your next step is finding your brother, but it’s just the beginning for me. There’s so much more. I can feel it. I know it.”
Roane looked at me gravely. He stared long and hard. He didn’t try to slip inside. I didn’t try to slip inside of him. We remained in our own bodies. No powers. No thought reading.
“Are you looking for my soul?”
Slowly, he shook his head and took my hand. His fingers slid against mine and locked in place. I closed my eyes and savored the feeling. Strength radiated off of him, perhaps for what was to come.
Then he whispered, “I’m looking for mine.”
Stay tuned for Davy Harwood in Transition…