My head tilted back as I took in the wooden gates before us. Yes, it was definitely blood that stained the wood that bleak color, my nose pricked at the scent of it, my stomach rumbled but I ignored it as I focused on Abby, Aiden, Jenna, Molly and Bret standing near Bishop and Lloyd by the gates.
"We're coming with you," Aiden said before I could protest. Molly remained unmoving beside him, her hand entwined within his as she stared at Cade and I. "We all know it's just as safe in there as it is out here and we'd rather be with you."
I knew exactly how he felt. Cade stepped back beside me as Jessica nodded for us to follow her. Lloyd stayed in the back, the rifle pressed against his chest as we moved through the gates and into the cleared area of the forest that had been created to house the encampment. I didn't know much about acreage, but the cleared area seemed to be as large and in the same shape as a baseball field as it spread out around us. I wasn't sure if the trees had been used to create the rickety shacks that sat around the outer edges of the fencing but they had at least been cleared to make room for the small houses. The forest floor had been tromped down enough that it was now hard packed dirt beneath our feet.
"Is this what it looked like when you took over?" Bishop inquired as more people and aliens appeared around us and Timothy slipped away to join a small woman. The crowd whispered amongst themselves as they gazed curiously at us. The mention of Cade's name amongst them did little to ease the turmoil twisting through my stomach.
How did they all know who he was?
Torchlight flickered over them, highlighting their raggedy clothes and dirty features but none of them appeared frightened or any more bruised and disheveled than any of us were. A child with her brown hair in pigtails tentatively waved at us. Jenna waved back until someone grabbed hold of the little girl and pulled her away. Jenna's hand hovered for a second before it fell back to her side.
"We've removed the execution building, the chains and body parts since we've arrived, but for the most part this is what it looked like," Rosemary answered.
They were leading us toward a building that was larger and sturdier than the other buildings surrounding us. I moved closer to Abby and Aiden as Cade stepped in front of us. Rosemary hurried forward and threw the door open, she disappeared inside and a second later light spilled from within the shelter. I exchanged a look with Aiden, but followed Cade up the three steps to the doorway.
The floor was nothing more than plywood with a single table set up in the middle of it. There were a few rolls of documents sitting in the corner of the room and a full size bed with an old gray comforter next to the rolls. I tore my eyes away from the bed as Rosemary hung a lantern above the table. She pulled the gloves from her dainty hands and dropped them on the bed.
Shadows played over the delicate planes of her face as she approached the table. I'd become accustomed to what the aliens looked like and their attitudes toward us, but there was something different about Rosemary that I just couldn't place. She had crow black hair and eyes the color of obsidian but there was a warmth about her that wasn't present in the others, not even in Cade.
Her gaze focused on me before shifting toward Cade. "Yes a very interesting turn of events," she murmured.
Cade took a step closer to me, his chest pressed against my shoulder as a shadow fell across the doorway. I turned as another man stepped through the door. He was tall with shaggy brown hair and blue eyes that crinkled at the corners when he smiled at Rosemary. I looked to Cade but his attention was focused on the man as he hurried across the room and took hold of Rosemary's hand.
"Did you think you were the only one?" Rosemary's question was little more than a whisper as she met Cade's unflinching stare. "Did you think it was an accident, a stroke of fate, or perhaps a curse that had befallen only you?"
"I never thought it was a curse," Cade replied. "I suspected there may be others but to actually find them, to see them..." his voice trailed off as he studied Rosemary and the man before turning his attention toward Jessica. "I never expected this."
Rosemary nodded as she placed her hands on the rickety card table before her. "None of us did."
"What is it?" I asked.
Rosemary smiled at me. "It's love."
I glanced at Cade before focusing on her again. "I know that, but why? What is it that is so different about me, or him," I said with a nod to the man beside her. "That makes you feel something for us?"
Rosemary frowned thoughtfully as she glanced at the man beside her. "I knew the second I saw Greg that there was something different about him, something... more." Cade remained immobile but Jessica was nodding enthusiastically. "It's not something you could understand as a human. It wasn't until this past year that I began to understand it more, and only because I've finally had a chance to discuss it with others that it has happened to."
I glanced at Cade as she stopped speaking. He remained rigid at my side, his hands fisted as a muscle in his jaw twitched. His eyes slid to me briefly before he focused on Rosemary again. "And what is it that you've begun to understand?" he inquired.
"There's something about certain humans that entangles us. There's something about them that we react to, and it is only one of them for each of us." Cade grabbed hold of my arm and pulled me back a step as Rosemary stepped around the table. She held her hands up and didn't come any closer as color began to seep through Cade's face.
"We don't see auras as people commonly think of them but I see something around Greg that is almost similar to an aura," Rosemary continued. "I believe it is the soul of the one that we belong with, the one that can change us that we are able to see. Their souls are stronger, more vibrant and powerful than other human souls and the people that possess those souls call to us. I cannot see yours," her gaze focused on me before sliding over the others. "Or theirs, but I see something around Greg. Jessica tells me it is the same with Leo and the others have reported the same thing to me. I assume it was no different with you, am I right?"
Cade's fingers slid over my arm as he pulled me back another step so that I was pressed firmly against his solid chest. "Something like that," he stated.
"Your souls are stronger, or at least they are to us," Rosemary said. "And they draw us in, but its more than that, we can feed off of them and it actually nourishes us and it satisfies us without draining them completely. It also seems to somehow change us physically."
"That's why you look so different," I guessed. "You're softer than Cade and Jessica, almost more... human?"
"Yes, perhaps that is the best way to put it, you make us more human. Your souls bring out a side of us we never even knew existed, a human side, a side capable of love, a side that our kind would destroy us for possessing."
"If you truly feel the same way about Greg as I feel about her than you should realize that moving any closer is risking your life," Cade grated when she took another step toward us.
"There's no need for that," Greg said coldly.
Cade didn't bother to respond to him as he remained focused on Rosemary. "How long have you been together?" I asked quietly, hoping to break the tension in the room.
"I met Greg five years ago. Thankfully I was in a position where I was able to choose the husband I wanted to marry as long as we didn't have children. I was of little importance amongst the ones of us placed here, other than to be a spy," Rosemary continued.
Despite my best intentions I felt my gaze slide toward Jessica. Her gaze was focused on Rosemary as Jessica nodded along with her words. Of what importance were she and Cade that they had been chosen to marry each other? I wondered as I looked toward Cade. It was something I would have to remember to ask him about later.
"When I met him, I knew. It was like being hit with a lightning bolt, I was flooded with a wash of emotions that I'd never experienced before. All I wanted was to get closer to him, to know him, and to be near him. To be away was a physical ache and I tried to stay away in the beginning as I was convinced I was going to hurt him, but it was impo
ssible to do so. Eventually I couldn't take it anymore and gave in. We've been together ever since."
I noted the ruddy color in his cheeks and his solid build as I focused on Greg. "You appear healthy," I stated.
He nodded. "I am."
"They're stronger, the humans that effect us, much stronger than any of the others, but it's more than that. When we feed on their souls there is an exchange between us. We don't only take from them but we also give them pieces of our souls so that they're never depleted. I didn't even think I had a soul until I met Greg. I realized afterward it was just hidden and deadened without him, but he alerted me to its existence by awakening it within me. Our humans are able to stay strong because we also supply them. It's how some of the ones without type O blood were able to survive The Freezing; they were cloaked from it by having pieces of us inside of them."
I remained motionless, my arms by my sides as her words ran through my mind. It wasn't Cade's blood within me, or at least not only Cade's blood that made me seek out a piece of his soul when he was within me, but something that he was inherently giving to me to begin with. My relief was so profound that I felt tears burn my eyes and it took all I had to hold them back.
"You said some of them?" I asked. "How did the others survive?"
Cade shot me a look but I ignored him as I took a step forward. Jessica's face fell as she shook her head. "None of us knew that the soul thing would work for sure and very few of us knew of each other's existence before The Freezing. Some tried a more radical approach to keep their loved ones alive."
I was as still as stone as I awaited her explanation of what this more radical approach was. "What was that?" Molly inquired when Jessica didn't continue.
"They tried to exchange their blood with their Soul, which is what we call the people that we are drawn to." I felt like I was on the edge of a tightrope as I bit back the questions that threatened to spill from my mouth and forced myself to remain as calm as possible. "You have to understand they were desperate to try and keep them alive, it was a risky thing to do, but they saw it as their only option. Their last chance to save the only person they had ever loved."
"What happened to them?" Bishop inquired.
"Most died, our blood isn't typically at home in the human body," Rosemary said. "We have almost fifty of our kind here that have lost the ones they loved. They're surviving, but they're broken, lost without their Soul. They still have no interest in returning to our kind though, or at least the ones we've met don't plan to return."
My hand found Cade's. I couldn't imagine how he would have reacted if I had died. He would have hated himself.
My curiosity got the best of me and I wasn't able to keep silent. "And the ones that survived getting the blood?"
Rosemary shrugged. "Some felt no changes from it, but others claim to have better vision and hearing. Those that claim they have enhanced abilities have also found that their desire for blood has increased, or at least their craving for red meat. There have been no other ill effects reported though."
Unable to keep their faces impassive, I felt my friend's and family's eyes finally flicker to me. I could feel Cade's eyes on me, urging me to remain unspoken, but there were so many questions running through my mind. "There are absolutely no side effects from the exchanging of the souls?" I asked.
Rosemary frowned as she glanced at Cade. "No. Do you not feed from her?"
For a second I didn't think Cade was going to answer but he finally spoke. "Not until very recently."
"You've just met?"
Cade shook his head. "We've known each other for twelve years."
Rosemary stuttered over a few words and even Jessica's mouth dropped. "I don't understand, for all of us it was an instantaneous connection. We had to get as close to the people as we could as fast as we could," Rosemary finally got out.
"Perhaps because he was so young when they met," Jessica suggested. "He didn't realize it until he was old enough for The Calling to occur."
"I knew it instantly," Cade told her. "I knew what she was to me, I saw her in a way I'd never seen anyone before."
"And you were able to resist for twelve years?" Jessica blurted in disbelief.
"I had to make sure she stayed safe."
"That's amazing, but you are a part of The Ancient Line and perhaps that is why you were able to resist," Rosemary pondered.
"I'm of The Ancient Line and I wasn't able to resist for more than a month," Jessica admitted.
"So if you've only just recently fed..." Rosemary's voice trailed off as her gaze landed on me and realization dawned in her eyes. "You're not a type O, you survived the blood exchange." I tried not to fiddle with the sleeves of my sweater. "And you're one of the enhanced ones, that's why the questions."
I could feel my friend's and family's gazes burning into me. Most of all though, I could feel Cade's gaze burning into me like a laser beam, as they all realized that I hadn't revealed everything about the effects of his blood within me. I should have told Cade before this but then I never could have expected to run into this group and it was too late at this point. They knew, and now so did he, and this group may have some answers for me.
"Yes," I whispered.
Cade's jaw clenched, a muscle twitched in his cheek, I could actually hear his teeth grinding together. "You'll be fine," Rosemary assured me. "The others are all fine and have reported no recent developments."
Bishop seemed to regain some of his composure as he tore his attention away from Cade, who looked like he was contemplating throttling me. "What is The Ancient Line?" Bishop inquired as he stepped forward.
"The Ancient Line consists of Isis, Osiris, Agrona, Forseti, Kali, Raijin, Malsumus, and Sedna." The names Rosemary listed off tickled at the edges of my mind but I couldn't quite place why they sounded so familiar. "They are the most powerful of us and there are only four of us that are directly descended from them."
"Your ancient line named themselves after Gods and Goddesses from different ancient human religions?" Bishop's voice cracked a little.
Rosemary shook her head and moved back to the other side of the table. "No, your ancient religions named themselves after our Ancients."
Bishop's mouth dropped. "But some of those religions are thousands of years apart and completely different."
Rosemary nodded. "The Ancients are immortal."
I felt as if someone had punched me in the gut as I took a step back and my eyes flew to Cade. His hand pressed more firmly into my back to keep me close to him. "You're immortal?" I blurted.
He shook his head. "No, only The Ancients are immortal. I am only a progeny of theirs."
"Of two of them," Rosemary expounded. "Something that only happens once every one hundred years."
My head spun as I tried to process everything that they were saying. I thought I could have months to try and sort through it all but it would still be impossible to do so. I had to sit. I almost sat on the floor but the second the urge hit me I decided I'd prefer to stand.
"You have one freaky ass history that is completely messed up!" Bret said as he ran a hand through his hair and began to pace. "How is it even possible that eight of you somehow managed to become immortal?"
"The Fountain of Youth." There were a thousand things running through my mind, but that most certainly had not been one of them as Rosemary's words stopped Bret dead in his tracks.
"Oh of course it was," Bret responded sardonically. "What else would it have been? I mean that just makes complete and utter sense. Where did they find it, under Atlantis?"
Though I was just as overwhelmed and baffled as he was, I had to bite back a smile at his words. His sarcasm was apparently lost on Rosemary though. "No, they found it on our home planet, Tintagel."
Bret shook his head. "So The Fountain of Youth was on your planet?"
"All legends start somewhere," Bishop muttered.
"Yes they do," Rosemary agreed. "The Ancients discovered The Fountain and kept its location to themselves.
It's rumored that when our planet dried up they found a way to keep it with them. They've been our leaders for over seven thousand years.
"Our kind, the Tintagelians, have been coming to this planet for about that same amount of time. They helped to advance the human species and helped to ensure their survival, and our food supply. Many of your legends and Gods emerged from The Ancients as over time humans noticed that The Ancients didn't age and that they seemed to possess powers. Though the stories of those powers were heavily exaggerated, other than immortality, their abilities are no different than ours. They can't control thunder or the oceans, or bring down lightening from the sky. Though, they did bring themselves down from the sky. They do drink blood, they do eat souls, they are stronger and faster than us even, and they haven't aged a day in seven thousand years."
"I knew we didn't build the pyramids," Bret muttered. "And I guess that explains Stonehenge."
"No Stonehenge was all you guys," Rosemary waved her finger as she answered him. "And believe me none of us have any idea what they were thinking, or doing, at that time."
Bishop rubbed a hand over his face as he lifted it to look at us. "No wonder you know our languages and can fit in so well. The languages on this planet are probably based off of yours. I mean even the name of your kind, Tintagelians, shortened would be elians or aliens."
"Your languages are based off of ours," Rosemary confirmed.
"I feel as if everything we've ever known has been a lie," Abby whispered.
"In a way it has been," Bishop agreed as he finally gave into the urge I'd been resisting and slumped onto the bed. "It really has."
"They destroyed your planet that long ago?" I asked.
"No, that is a more recent development, but they've always been a hungry species that has sought to curb that hunger in many ways. Cultivating species as a food supply became almost a game for them."
I'd already heard something like this from Cade so it wasn't as distressing to me as it was to some of the others, but even still my blood ran cold and I had to swallow in order to wet my very parched throat. "Yeah I mean between destroying lives and a rousing game of rummy I would definitely go for the ruining of lives on that one," Lloyd muttered.