The Seventh Immortal (Hearts of Amaranth #1)

  Chapter Six

  The elevator ride down to the lobby of One Metropolitan Square felt like the longest thirty seconds of Kait's life. She kept waiting for someone to stop her. It would be fairly trivial for Christa to halt the elevator car, forcing her back into the same awful choice between swearing allegiance to the Fractal CEO and watching Paul die.

  To Christa's credit, she did no such thing. She stayed true to the principles she claimed to espouse, and allowed Kait to create her own solution to this dilemma.

  With a lurch, the elevator car came to a stop on the first floor. The door slid open, and Kait found herself confronted with at least a dozen armed men. They wore makeshift body armor around their street clothes. No uniforms, no badges, nothing... They were Obshina gang members, the foot soldiers of the organized crime family that dared stand up to Mayor Levin's iron-fisted regime.

  Their presence in the lobby of the office building would have seemed odd to Kait if she didn't already know that Obshina was in bed with Fractal Capital. The Obshina were just another arm of the Gospels, and Kait was about to find herself face to face with their leader.

  “What the hell are you doing down here?” A voice barked. Kait looked to her side to see the man who addressed her. He was tall—at least a few inches over six feet—with skin the color of smooth dark chocolate. Unlike the Obshina footsoldiers, he didn't wear any armor. Instead, his muscular body was wrapped in a tight gray t-shirt and jeans. Kait could see every sharp edge of his form, and couldn't help but feel intrigued. But she knew who he was.

  He was the only person in the foyer without a bulletproof vest. He was the Gospel Thomas Kemp. “I'm going outside. I don't care what your leader says, I'm going to save Paul on my own...without your help.”

  Thomas laughed. “Christa Xander is not my leader,” he said. “We merely have a common enemy. He is your enemy, too, and it would be advisable for you to make friends with us, at least for the time being.”

  “Maybe I will, maybe I won't,” Kait replied. “But I don't like how anyone is treating me right now.”

  “If you go outside, the cops will fire on you. Paul will be caught in the crossfire. The only thing keeping him alive right now is that Police Chief L'Enfant thinks that he may lure you out.”

  “And you think the best way to keep him alive is to prostrate myself before you, accept your protection, and let you go get him.”

  Thomas shook his head. “I don't want you to prostrate yourself before anyone,” he said. “We have not been properly introduced... My name is Thomas Kemp. I am the boss of the St. Louis Obshina.”

  “And you're a Gospel,” Kait replied. “What do you preach?”

  “Liberty,” Thomas said.

  Kait laughed. “Just like Christa, you're a hypocrite. You claim to be the Gospel of Liberty, but you use the vox dei to command all these people to do your bidding. I know you want to help, but I have to admit... At least the mayor's side is internally consistent.”

  Thomas bristled at her words. “You have no idea what you are talking about,” he grunted. “I don't use the vox dei.”

  “You... You don't?” Kait had some trouble believing this. She had managed to use the mysterious power of the Gospels without even trying. Paul was compelled to help her even when she was unconscious. Spencer followed her orders to keep her money safe even though he thought she was dead.

  “It would go against everything I believe in,” Thomas said.

  “You can just...turn it off? How?”

  Thomas gritted his teeth. He seemed annoyed by Kait's questions. “It takes practice,” he replied. “It is easy to project your desires onto others. It is difficult to stop. But it is possible.”

  For just a moment, Kait felt a certain respect for one of the Gospels. Thomas seemed like a decent person. That was a lot more than she could say for Christa or Mayor Levin.

  “Then you must think all of this is horrible,” Kait said. “Christa is forcing me to join her. Isn't that... Don't you want to help me?”

  Thomas shook his head. “I can't help you,” he replied. “You can only help yourself. If I were to go and rescue your friend on my own, you'll never learn the responsibility that comes with your power.”

  “Yes I will!” Kait objected. “I will totally learn. I've already learned.”

  “No you haven't,” Thomas replied. “You are trying to use the vox dei on me right now.” He narrowed his eyes and glared at Kait. “It doesn't work on other Gospels.”

  Kait stopped short. She felt a slight, tingling sensation near the center of her forehead—something she didn't fully understand yet—and she knew that he was right. Unconsciously, she was attempting to manipulate him. She was using her power to push him towards helping her.

  “I'm sorry...”

  Thomas looked her up and down. She felt like his eyes were tracing every inch of her body. It sent a shiver up her spine. Even now, she couldn't deny that he was an attractive man.

  “What do you believe in, Miss Selias?”

  “I don't know,” Kait replied. “That's the problem. I haven't had time... I've been awake less than twenty-four hours. Everything is so much right now.”

  “Our senses are stronger than theirs,” Thomas replied. “I remember when it happened. The lights became brighter. The scents became stronger. The sensations...”

  Kait understood what he meant. She could still vividly recall the intensity of the colors when the drugs wore off, and still felt the vibrations of Silvi's motorcycle between her legs. Her senses threatened to overwhelm her in every moment. “It's not so bad, is it?” Kait asked.

  “I never said it was,” Thomas replied. “But do not be caught up in such things. We are here for a reason, and our condition is as much of a punishment as it is a reward. I didn't even understand the extent of it until almost three years later, when I was pushed into the ocean and woke up three weeks later on the shore of a land I'd never even visited.”

  “You didn't know you were immortal until three years after it happened?” Kait asked. “How did you figure out when it occurred? Christa gave me an exact date and time. How--”

  Thomas began to walk towards the doors leading out onto the street. Squinting, Kait, could see Paul standing on the steps. He was staring up at the building, as if he was considering coming inside. Kait knew that would be bad. Like Thomas said, he was only being kept alive as bait.

  “The man out there—not your friend, but the police chief—was shot in the head on the night it happened. He suffered a terrible injury that, if he was already a Gospel, would have healed within minutes. If he did not become a Gospel within a short time after sustaining the injury, he would have surely died. We were all in the city of Kurgan on that night. Once we all met each other, it was easy to piece together.”

  “You think I was there, too?”

  “It only makes sense. But... Who knows? Maybe whatever happened that night happened elsewhere as well.”

  This was almost too much for Kait. She thought back to the message scrawled on the inside of her passport. Weren't the Gospels supposed to answer her questions? It seemed like they were just as confused as her. They been alive for hundreds of years, and they still didn't know what they were.

  “So, what kind of injury was it?” Kait asked. “What happened to Grant L'Enfante?”

  “He was shot in the face,” Thomas said bluntly. “When we became... When we were transformed into Gospels, our bodies were preserved. If injured, they will be reformed just how they were on that night. For him, that means he will always have that bullet in his head. Right behind his left eye.”

  Kait remembered the video feed from outside the building. She'd seen his ghostly eye, and now shuddered knowing the reason for the deformity. “So, that's what I'm dealing with?”

  Thomas chuckled. “If you go out there, they will shoot. They will kill him and incapacitate you. We can't d
ie, but we sure as shit can be knocked out for a few minutes.”

  “So what's my other option? Give in to Christa? Pledge my allegiance to Fractal and--”

  “Stop using the vox dei. Stop calling to him and hope that he walks away and never thinks of you again.”

  Kait glanced through the glass. It was dark enough on the outside that he wouldn't be able to see her from the steps, but she could watch him. “How? How do I do it?”

  “You want him to go away, don't you?”

  “I...” Paul was now circling around the side of the building, trying to find another way in. The front doors were locked, on order from Christa. He looked so lost. “I'll never see him again. If I let go of him now--”

  “Then you've already killed him,” Thomas snorted. “If you cannot control your selfishness, you will never control the vox dei.”

  As if on cue, Paul found a door that wasn't locked. Kait's heart started to race. The police outside began to move to that side of the building. At least for the moment, they didn't have a reason to shoot him.

  Grant would find a reason. He would use the vox dei to convince the police under his command that Paul had a weapon, or that he was a threat, or just that the world needed him dead. It didn't matter what suggestion Grant would use. The police would follow it, just as surely as Paul had followed Kait downtown.

  There was only one thing that Grant wasn't counting on. He wasn't the only one with the vox dei.

  Kait rushed to the door to meet Paul before he could come inside. Thomas reached out to stop her, but he was too slow. She ran across the foyer of the building and pulled the door open. Then she grabbed Paul and spun him around. She tried to position him behind her, so that she was the once facing the who were moving into position.

  “We're unarmed!” Kait shouted as loud as she could. She could feel the strange tingling sensation between her eyes and she knew she was using the vox dei. The police would hear her words and they would believe her. Throwing her hands above her head, she tried to surrender. “We don't want to hurt anyone! We just want to go home.”

  A few of the police officers near the edge of the street lowered their weapons. It was working. Surely, Thomas would not approve of this strategy. He had no left her much choice. She didn't want to push Paul away. Paul was the closest thing she had in this world to a friend, even if she barely knew him.

  “What are you doing?” Paul muttered. “Is this about the Mayor? I thought you said you killed him, but he was on a news broadcast just a few minutes ago.”

  Kait turned and narrowed her eyes. “What am I doing?” she said. “What are you doing here? Did you follow me?”

  “You just left me at the restaurant. I had to see where you were going.”

  I had to see. Kait wanted to be sick. She'd compelled Paul to come after her. Just because she wanted to see him, just because she liked him...

  Kait grabbed his arm. “You're in danger,” she said. “I don't have time to explain, but it should be really fucking obvious if you just open your eyes.”

  “The police?”

  “They aren't here to protect you. They're after me.”

  Paul's eyes went wide. It was like he never thought to consider that the cops were a danger to him. He'd walked through their blockade without a fear in the world. “They... They're after you?”

  “I told you: I shot the mayor.”

  “You said that you killed the mayor.”

  “I also said that I didn't have time to explain.”

  Behind Kait, the police officers readied their weapons again. They were confused. They only had a vague idea of why they surrounded One Metropolitan Square, and Kait's use of the vox dei left them ill-at-ease.

  “Stop right there!” a voice shouted. “Don't move or we'll shoot.”

  Kait spun around and faced them. “You don't want to shoot,” she hissed. Her voice cut through the night and buried itself deep in the minds of the police officers surrounding the building. It was the first time she'd ever intentionally used the vox dei to command someone, and she was shocked by the result.

  Almost in unison, all of the cops lowered their weapons. It was like they were hypnotized. Kait had them completely under her control. All she had to do was speak.

  Turning her attention back to Paul, she tried to reign in her seductive power. She didn't want to control him in the same way. He was her friend. He deserved better than that. Still, she needed him to leave so that she could handle this without risking his life.

  “Go!” Kait hissed. “Get out of here, while you still have a chance.”

  Paul gulped. Sweat was beading up around his forehead. Kait couldn't tell whether she'd used the vox dei on him, or if he was merely frightened by the situation. Either way, he wanted to leave One Metropolitan Square. Unfortunately, it was not so simple.

  A trembling voice came from the darkness beyond the police cars. Several of the streetlights across the street were burnt out, allowing the police chief to hide under the cover of night He stepped forward, onto the road, and smiled at Kait.

  Grant L'Enfant might have been a handsome man, if not for his monstrous eye. The left side of his face was permanently swollen, like a healing injury. His eye was pure white, save for a few crimson blood vessels running along the surface.

  As he spoke, Kait could feel his presence in her head. He was attempting to control her. Just like she'd accidentally done to Thomas, he tried to manipulate her with the vox dei. And just like with Thomas, it didn't work. It just made Kait angrier.

  “Let us go!” Kait shouted. “I'm not going to decide anything tonight.”

  Grant continued to approach the building, staring at Kait with his hollow eye. “You are so confused,” he replied. “Stand down. Come with me. And I will teach you how the world works.”

  Paul snapped out of his daze. He stepped towards Grant, glaring at him. “She doesn't have to go with you if she doesn't want to!”

  A smile spread across Grant's face. He turned to look at Paul, but never addressed him. His attention was not divided. He still focused entirely on Kait, barely observing the man with a hint of disdain. “You really have this one trained, don't you?”

  Kait felt sick to her stomach. The only reason Paul was trying to stand up for her was the vox dei. He was going to get himself killed, just like Spencer, because she couldn't control her power. Unlike the other Gospels, she didn't know how to focus it and use it to lead people towards a cause. She just strong-armed them into helping her, even when she didn't know what she wanted.

  “No!” Kait said. She glanced at Paul. “You have to leave.”

  “That's right,” Grant hissed. He continued to grin at them both. “Give in. Use your power. Use it to save his life. You realize that's what you have to do, right? Drive him away.”

  “What's he talking about?'

  Kait bit her lip. How could she begin to explain this? Grant wanted her to actively use the vox dei to send Paul away. She could do it. She could overwhelm his free will entirely, in the same way she'd forced some of the police officers to momentarily stand down.

  Why? Why did he want that? If Paul ran away, Grant would lose all of his leverage. Shooting Kait wouldn't accomplish much of anything, as they were both well aware. Maybe he could knock her unconscious with enough bullets to the head, but he seemed to be playing at something else.

  “Teach him,” Grant said. “School him in the truth. Show him what you are. Then he will know the truth.”

  “I don't want to hurt him,” Kait replied.

  “You already have. He is confused. Confusion is distress. You've made him afraid. Fear is agony. He wants you. Desire is pain.”

  Paul tried to interject. “Would both of you stop talking like I'm not here?”

  “You are lucky, my fragile friend. Life is suffering,” Grant replied. He brought his left hand up to his face. H
is fingers traced the edge of his ghostly eye. “Every day. Every hour. Every minute. The rest of the world has it so easy. For them, it will eventually end. For us... We will always suffer.”

  Paul's eyes went wide. “Us?” he gasped. “You... You're immortal, too?”

  Grant nodded. “It took you long enough to figure it out. Unfortunately, that means that we have to kill you now. You will not be the one learning my lesson today. It will be Miss Selias. She will learn that the affection she feels for you is just a prelude to agony.”

  Dread fell over Kait as she realized that Grant was telling the truth. This was why Mayor Levin really killed Spencer. It wasn't to punish Kait. It wasn't to send a message. It was because he knew. No one in St. Louis knew that many of the city's major institutions—the government, the police, the church, the gangs, the business sector—were controlled by the Gospels.

  If the truth came out, not even the vox dei would be able to save the immortal rulers of the city. Everyone would want a piece of them. They would be captured. They would be separated. They would be experimented on, until the even greater powers of the world figured out the secret to their immortality. And that was a secret that had already lasted two hundred years.

  Maybe Christa was curious about open warfare against the Gospels, but the rest of them were not. They would do anything to prevent being found out. Now that Paul knew, he was a dead man. And he was beginning to realize that, paralyzed just a few feet behind her.

  Kait wanted to tell him to be calm, but she was afraid that he would listen to her. She desperately didn't want to use the vox dei on him anymore and, until she could control it, she thought it would be better to avoid giving him any instructions.

  Her eyes scanned the street. The police still had their weapons trained on her and Paul. There had to be another way out of this. She needed them to focus on her. She could handle herself. As long as he had a chance to run, everything would be fine.

  She had to do something to draw their attention. She had to scare them enough to make them forget about Paul. Then she had to hope that he would know to run.

  “That's it, isn't it?” Kait asked stepping closer to Grant. “That's your Gospel? That's what you teach? Pain. Suffering. Misery.”

  The skin under Grant's eye twitched, but he never stopped smiling. “It is what I know.”

  “Sounds like a shitty gospel to me,” Kait snarled. Before Grant could react, she lowered her shoulder and slammed her body into his chest. She felt him double over as the breath was knocked from his lungs. Grabbing the fabric of his shirt, she pulled the police chief to the ground.

  Rolling over on her back, Kait noticed that he plan had worked. Suddenly, every police officer on the street was focused on her. They all had their guns trained on her and Grant as they fought. None of them would dare pull the trigger. They didn't know that Grant was immortal.

  “Go!” Kait shouted at Paul. “Get out of the city. Don't come back!” She didn't care about using the vox dei anymore. She just wanted to save his life.

  Grant wrapped his long fingers around Kait's neck and began to choke her. He was bigger than her, but his frame was thin and wiry. If she tried, she could overpower him. It wasn't like he could really stop her from breathing.

  Kicking her legs against the ground, Kait pushed Grant off of her. She twisted her torso around, freeing her arm, and elbowed him in the ribs. He tried to stand up and get away from her, but Kait was too fast. She grabbed his wrist and pulled him back. Yanking his hand behind his back, she wrapped her wright arm around his neck. Even though he was several inches taller than her, she managed to wrestle him down to a crouching position so that she could use him as a human shield.

  As Kait tightened her arm, she realized that his neck was more fragile than she expected, and that she was stronger than she thought. It wouldn't take much to snap his spine. That wouldn't kill him, but perhaps it would put him out of commission for long enough to get Paul to safety.

  Then she had a better idea.

  “No one move!” Kait shouted to the police officers. “Or I kill him. Let Paul go. Then you can take me wherever you want.”

  The cops immediately started to lower their weapon. The situation, combined with the power of the vox dei, was enough to fully overpower them. They were compelled to give in to her demands and, for just a moment, it looked like Kait had won. Paul would have the time he needed to leave. Then she could deal with whatever came next.

  “You think you are so smart,” Grant rasped. “But you still have so much to learn. This will be a mess to clean up, but I will make sure that you know the pain of loss.”

  “Shut up!” Kait tried to close his throat with her arm to keep him from speaking, but it was not enough.

  “Just shoot the boy!” Grant yelled at the police. “Forget about me. Kill him!”

  Grant had been using the vox dei on the St. Louis PD for over seven years. They expected it. They knew how to follow him, and his orders took precedence over everything else—even the power Kait tried to exert over them moments before, and even the threat to Grant's own life.

  Like programmed automatons, the officers stationed on the street raised their weapons. In unison, they aimed at Paul.

  Kait didn't know what to do. Killing Grant now wouldn't accomplish anything. She threw him to the ground and ran towards Paul. What did she think she was going to do? Shield him from the bullets? Even if she could reach him in time, protecting him was impossible.

  The first gunshot rang out. Kait spun towards the police, throwing her arm out. “No!” she shouted, as if she thought her vox dei could win out and save Paul at the last moment.

  But what could a voice, no matter how powerful, do against a bullet?