“It’s the luck of the Irish. Don’t do it, yee lads.”
I clasped my eyes closed and cried out, “I’m not dreaming. There are rules. You can’t invade my head now.”
The Immortal laughed gaily. “I don’t have to be lucky to be Irish. I’m the Immortal. I’m you, Davy. You’ve got the luck of a lass.”
“Go away!”
“Now, now,” it tsked me. “Ye caun’t go tound screaming tah yaself. Peeple tink ya crazy, that’s wat tey tink.”
I glanced at Gregory. He thought I was crazy.
“You can’t do this to him. You will not take away this man’s last purpose.”
I turned away and tried to whisper into my hand, “He’s a vampire.”
“The soul isn’t kept in a neat locked box. The soul is imbedded into the body. The body remains and part of the soul still remains. He has a purpose. You will not tempt him and you will not remove that last purpose for his being.”
Gregory had stilled.
I whispered back to the Immortal, “His purpose is to kill. That’s what vampires do.”
He growled deep in his throat. Then the Immortal lashed at me, “You are ignorant. That is unforgivable! His purpose is hope. He has hope in Roane, at what he believes Roane will achieve. You will take that away.”
Huh?
“His daughter and enemy are his weaknesses. You will not take his hope by exploiting his weakness. You are not that type of person.”
“I’m not a person.”
“You are wrong. You are the last person I need.”
Talk about hearing my own doom. I sighed and said instead to Gregory, “Can you just take me home?”
His big beefy hand jerked at my question. “Did you mean what you said? Is it really just Raitscliff back there?”
I jerked a shoulder up. “I lied. I wouldn’t know that anyway.” I wondered if he bought my lie and I, for once, had no idea what he wondered in return. A moment later he relaxed beside me. Then I heard the slight crunch of gravel beneath the tires and the wind against the window.
Absentmindedly, I noted, “The wind’s picked up.”
Gregory turned his thick neck. “I’ve known a few Immortals. It took them years, some lifetimes, before they could do what you’ve done in two days.”
Something told me he hadn’t bought my lie. I didn’t reply back. What could I say?
‘You’re the last human I need.’ The words haunted me and a fresh shiver crawled down my spine. I felt it all the way through my body and to my gut. Something didn’t bode well for me… but I’d have to figure it out later. A war was about to break out and I knew that I needed to do something about it. I had to stop it, but I had no idea how to do that. Pre-Immortal age, I would’ve sought out Blue… .and then the light bulb turned on. Blue was awake. Blue was not in a coma. And I could talk to Blue—but not in the physical sense.
“Stupid!” I should’ve thought of that before.
Gregory didn’t spare me a look. It was a good feeling. We had become acclimated to each other.
I closed my eyes, hunkered down, and sought out Blue. It only took a second before I found myself in her head. She was not so blue, though. She was furious and seeing red wherever she looked. Her arms were jerking in rhythm, scraping away at something, and her teeth were gritted. Then I remembered that Blue wasn’t a vampire. I couldn’t communicate with her.
‘They can’t know about Davy. I can’t tell them.’
I sucked in a panicked breath.
‘Jacith sent me for a reason. I can’t let them know Davy’s the one.’ Blue continued, ‘I told them Lucas’ position. He can handle them. Everything is not lost. They still think the other girl is the Immortal. Everything is still safe. They cannot be divided.’
How did Blue know? What did Blue know? What did she mean when she said we couldn’t be divided? We already were.
Before I pulled completely out of Blue, I heard a different voice from inside of her. It was deep, ominous, and I almost felt the immortality from it. ‘He will need her at the end otherwise all will be lost.’
The deep voice sent shivers down my spine and something took root inside of me. I needed to be there, at whatever it was. I needed to be beside Roane. With that thought, the decision took over my body. I looked down and watched as my body turned into a glowing beacon. I was faintly aware of Gregory’s jerk in reaction.
The Immortal was taking over.
I swallowed tightly as I didn’t know if I wanted it or if I was just along for the ride. Either way, I closed my eyes tightly, and knew the next second would decide my fate.
CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR
Something burst inside of me and I felt my body shoot into the air. Gregory twisted around me like I was in the eye of a tornado. He quickly faded from view. Then I was in the air and everything started to circle around me. Looking down, I saw the Raitscliff Family beneath my feet. I could barely make out the symbol of the lion until they suddenly started to circle so fast it was a constant blur. It was like a colorful wall and I gasped when a lion burst out of the blurred wall. It lifted its head and let loose with a deafening roar. It closed its massive mouth and then hung its head before it vanished.
For the first time in my sanity, I reached out for the Immortal. “Please stop this. I mean it! I can’t—I just want this to stop. Please stop.”
And for the first time, the Immortal didn’t answer.
I closed my eyes and felt my body slam to the ground. My legs were unsteady, but I looked up to see the surrealness around me. Kates and Lucan stood in front of me. I squeaked in panic, but when they didn’t react, I relaxed slightly.
Lucan was in the front, perfectly straight and with confidence in his shoulders. His black eyes were intense as he looked at something in the distance. He thirsted for what he thought was next to come. His jaw was clenched tight. I watched, horrified, as his nostrils slowly flared. It was like he smelled blood in the air. Then I saw patches of his skin break out to form a puzzle. He was the puzzle, but the pieces were off. It was like something had been put together wrong.
Kates stood with her head half bent towards the ground and a hand outstretched to touch the back of his. An air of intimacy swirled around them. But while he stood with no regrets, I saw a shadow in Kates. Her hair had slipped down her cheek and lifted in the air. It moved slowly, so slowly. I realized that time still moved forward, but crawled at a snail’s pace. Not me.
‘There are rules, universal laws of nature stuff and… The Immortals are able to bend those rules.’
I was bending time—no. The Immortal was bending time or… I was. It didn’t matter who was doing it because it was happening. Then I saw Kates bite the corner of her lip. If I’d been any other person, I wouldn’t have caught that gesture. She was having second thoughts—something else flooded inside of me. There was still something in her that knew her path was wrong. Hope flared in me.
Then something else exploded inside of me and I was hurtled through the same tornado of time as before. When I stopped again, I saw Shelly huddled in a far corner. She was pale and tears were frozen in midair on her cheek. Wren grasped her shoulder tightly. The two looked in complete contrast with Shelly’s yellow sweater and Wren’s hooker outfit. Then something prickled the back of my neck and I turned around.
Roane stared directly at me. His eyelid twitched and I almost screamed when he hurled himself at me. When Roane’s hand touched my arm, I was thrown out of my time-tornado thing. It felt like we both tumbled out of invisible glue and fell roughly against the opposite wall.
Wren and Shelly both jumped, but Roane pressed against me. “What the hell are you doing here?”
I couldn’t really tell him that it was a deep and foreboding voice inside of Blue’s head that sent me to him. In fact, I couldn’t even explain how I’d gotten to him, but I had.
“Are we in your restaurant? Weren’t you just outside of your place?” There were three tables set up in a corner. Diamond-encrusted glasses sat on top of them. I recognized those glasses. They were from the Alexander Restaurant.
“I’m every girl’s best friend,” I said faintly, echoing the Immortal’s words.
Roane frowned fiercely, but pressed closer. He shifted and blocked me from Shelly and Wren. I wasn’t even sure if Shelly knew I was there. It had all happened so fast, but I figured that Wren could smell me.
“I sent you with Gregory.” He was enraged. A shiver passed through me—it was one of those sorts that I always got around him. What was it about this guy?—vampire. My legs forgot they had bones in them whenever he was in the vicinity.