Just then, we heard a cough and I nearly wept, but I couldn’t name from what emotion. Roane lifted his head and I felt the coldness where he had rested his cheek against mine. He turned towards the intruder. “What is it, Gregory?”
“The Family is here. They need to know about her.”
Her—me. I felt the reluctance in Roane and though he didn’t move I still felt a part of him tear away from me. I almost gasped from the pain. “They can’t know, Gregory. No one can know.” It was like he’d spoken about death, about his death.
“Raitscliff and Lucan both think the new Immortal is a different girl.”
“Do you know this girl?”
“Yes.”
“Then go and get her. They can’t hurt her if we have her.”
“You’ll bring war to this household,” Gregory warned.
I glanced towards the Viking vampire and was surprised to see the gravity in his eyes.
Roane wrapped his arms tighter around me. I closed my eyes as his cheek brushed against mine and felt his words against my shoulder. “Find the other girl. Bring her here.”
When Gregory left, I looked up. “What’ll happen to the other girl?”
Something broke inside of Roane at my question. A part of me realized that I was in there because I felt it break. I hadn’t purposely gone into him, but I was. He either didn’t care or didn’t know. “They’ll drain her. They’ll kill her thinking she can’t die. But even if she was the Immortal, I would still need to stop them.”
“Why?”
“No vampire can drink the Immortal’s blood. It can’t be allowed to happen.”
I lifted my head and searched his eyes with mine. ‘How?’
“I’ll fight them.”
I pulled away and out of him at the same time. Everything was too much. “This is all too overwhelming.”
“It’s going to get more overwhelming.”
“What do you mean?”
“You should sit down, Davy.”
That didn’t sound ominous at all. “Okay…” I sat slowly and took a breath. I knew I’d need to ready myself for whatever was coming my way.
He stepped back and leaned against the wall “In all my life, no Immortal has been known.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
“What do you mean? You knew the other girl. You said she was a good person.”
“I did know her, but I was the only one, Davy. I knew Talia when she was little and I protected her. That was my job. I wasn’t always a Hunter. I became one because… certain Elders questioned me…”
I straightened. “You’re not telling me everything.”
“No, I’m not. That’s not important at this time. You need to know about the Immortal and you need to understand the situation. You’re the new Immortal. I suspected before, but I wasn’t sure.”
“Why do the other vampires think it’s someone else? I was on that roof with Talia. They saw me.”
“But they didn’t see her touch you. There was no contact between you two.”
‘Yeah, but… I felt inside of her.’
Roane read my thoughts. “The Immortal thread goes from one human to the next. She didn’t touch you. They don’t know about the psychic contact between you. No one else knew about that possibility. It’s always been documented in the Immortal lore that one Immortal needs to physically touch the next Immortal. I knew that it didn’t need to happen that way, but no one else knew.”
“She touched someone else?”
Roane nodded. “Another girl left the building when Talia went inside. Talia held the door open for her and their arms brushed against each other.”
“But…” Too many questions. Not enough answers. “What did you mean when you said that no Immortal has been known?” “You said before that the Immortal was a fairytale and you’re somewhat right. There’s always been the belief that an Immortal existed, but no one knew for certain. There were theories, but Talia was hidden by my family. I was entrusted to protect her, but I failed.”
I felt how his words hurt him. This was his duty. It’s what I felt inside of him the first time we spoke. “You were supposed to protect her and hide her?”
Roane nodded, his jaw tight.
“What happened? How’d the other vampires find out?”
Something told me that Roane wasn’t going to share the details unless he absolutely had to. “I’d been sent on a different mission for one of the Elders so I wasn’t even there. But there was an argument and the wrong person overheard. Talia made a choice—she ran that night. She knew she needed to find another Immortal and hoped the Immortal would remain hidden. She did what she needed to do.”
“She chose me?” He still wasn’t telling me everything.
“The Immortal thread chose you, not Talia. You were supposed to work late that night. She knew you’d come upstairs and she knew you were empathic. She needed to let go of the thread without them seeing it. When you went inside of her, the thread came back with you.”
“We aren’t supposed to touch too deep in a person.” I wet my dry lips. They felt like they were bleeding. “If something went wrong, a part of us could stay inside. I never thought that a part of them could come inside of me. That’s not how it’s supposed to happen. There are rules, universal laws of nature stuff and…”
“The Immortals can bend those rules.”
That meant… “I can bend those rules.”
“You can’t think that way, not yet. You don’t know all of your powers and we don’t have time for you to get acquainted with them.” Roane surged forward. “That’s why I’m giving you this crash course. Gregory’s right. I am bringing war to this household, but I have to keep you hidden. No vampire can drink from you. If they did, they would have your powers. Any vampire would be unstoppable. I can’t let that happen.”
I’m back to my dislike for vampires. Evil creatures, the lot of them… well… the possible exception might be in front of me. “Let me guess… when that happens then the world might end?”
“Hardly. It just means that vampire has too much power. No creature should have that power.”
“Except a human.”
“Except someone with a soul. Yes.”
We’re back to that conversation. Souls, humanity, forgetting or not forgetting what it’s like to be human. It was all connected. I jerked my head up and down and hoped it resembled a nod. I wasn’t holding my breath. “What now?”
Roane paused for a second. It was one of those seconds where you felt your heart was going to explode. “You have to walk away from me and be normal.”
“What did you say?” My heart skipped a beat.
Roane stepped towards me, but stopped abruptly. It was like he wanted to come closer, but didn’t dare. I completely understood and found myself swaying towards him, but I forced myself to stay on the bed….
“I’m the Hunter here. They know that they can’t drink from a human, even if they think she’s the Immortal. I have to stop them. They won’t think twice when they see the girl here, but they’ll start to wonder if you’re here too. I know some of these vampires. Each of us has a Family and some Families are more powerful than others. Some extremely powerful Families are coming here and all of them want the Immortal. I can’t worry that they’ll discover who you are if you’re here. You need to go. You need to hide and you can do that by being normal. Don’t use your powers. They can’t sense your power.”
“What about… where’s your Family?”
“They’re coming.”