Deliverance (8 page)

Chapter 10

A
s Samantha emerged from the shower, it struck her that she suddenly felt revitalized. There was no more fatigue dragging at her until she just wanted to sleep and never move again. She didn’t even feel depressed anymore. In fact, she was near to bursting with energy.

Toweling off and changing into clean clothes as quickly as she could, she went into the main room of their suite where Liam sat, reading a book.

“Liam.” She sat next to him on the couch. “I feel wonderful! I’m not tired in the least right now.”

Liam’s shoulders suddenly dropped an inch and he smiled softly. “So that must mean my mother’s all right. She must have escaped somehow.”

Since they had no idea what really happened, Samantha didn’t comment. Instead, she studied how much more relaxed the boy looked. He’d been acting so much like his usual Zen self that she hadn’t realized that the poor child had been stressing over Leisha. It was easy for her to forget that he was just a boy, not even three years old yet. Samantha realized she had been so focused on how terrible she felt that she had not been a good sister to Liam. He’d needed her and she had failed him.

“Samantha,” Liam interrupted her thoughts. “I’m fine. And you had plenty to keep you occupied. Don’t feel bad.” He reached out and squeezed her hand. “In my situation, age is very relative, so don’t think of me as being so fragile.”

Shaking her head, she closed her fingers over his. “Whether that’s the case or not, there is so much resting on your small shoulders. I’m sorry I’ve been so self-involved that I didn’t see it.”

Nik walked into the room. They were renting a suite at a nice hotel chain for the day so the vampire wouldn’t get burned. He’d been holed up in the closet of the bedroom facing away from the sun, which must have been close to setting since he was now out and about. “You look like you feel well,” he remarked to Samantha.

“I do.” She smiled. “Actually, I feel great. So that must mean that Leisha’s escaped, right?”

“I would assume so,” he answered cautiously.

Walking over to her laptop, Samantha pulled up the ballet website that she and Leisha had designed years ago. She right-clicked on the ballet shoes icon at the very bottom of the page. After entering a password and going through a security questionnaire, Samantha was able to access the secure chat room that Leisha had programmed.

There were no messages waiting in it, so Samantha typed one to the vampire, then logged out and closed the computer. Staring at the wall, she started to chew on one of her fingernails. “She’ll respond soon,” Samantha said to no one in particular. “I’m sure she will.”

“I think it might be best if we stay here for another night,” Nik suggested. “If we hear from Leisha tomorrow, or even the day after, then we’ll know where we could meet her.”

“Sounds good to me,” Samantha said. “I’d love to see some of this country.”

Liam frowned. “You know, we’ve been moving nonstop for so long that I can’t remember where we are.”

Samantha chuckled because she could relate. “We’re in Rome right now.”

“That’s right.” His eyes lit up and he grabbed her hand. “Can we see some of the old sights, from Roman times? I would love to go to at least one or two.”

“We’re not on vacation here,” Nik warned. “We can’t go to tourist spots. It would be too dangerous.”

“What if we go while they’re closed?” Samantha offered.

Shaking his head, Nik looked out the window at the descending sun. “That idea is worse than wearing disguises while going with a tourist group.”

“It wouldn’t be so bad if we had really good disguises.” Samantha sat up straight. “What if I dressed as a man and we pretended to be a gay couple with our adopted son? No one would suspect a thing!”

Nik chuckled until his hazel eyes wandered over her figure. “No one would believe you’re a man for a second.”

Blushing, she looked away.

Clearing his throat, Liam said, “Well, we still need to eat dinner. So how about we just go to a restaurant for now and argue over everything else later?”

They went to a nearby restaurant and Samantha enjoyed pizza with eggplant, zucchini, and tomato for toppings. It was refreshing to eat what she wanted instead of red meat and other iron-rich foods.

When they returned, Liam checked the laptop. “There’s a message from her!” His emerald eyes sparkled in excitement. “She says that she’s with Tafari and Rinwa. They have a safe house, but they’ll have to meet us in northern England because it’s too difficult to find with just directions.”

Samantha sighed. It was good to know her friend was well and in good company. Turning to Nik, she asked, “How soon can we get to England?”

The vampire already had his phone out to check their options. “There’s a commercial flight that leaves at eight-thirty tomorrow night. That’s the soonest one after sunset. We’ll arrive in Liverpool close to one in the morning.”

The trio bided their time until then. Samantha decided to take Liam out while they waited for darkness to settle in the next day.

“I still think this is a bad idea,” Nik said as they got ready to leave for the afternoon.

“We’ll be fine.” She wrapped a scarf over her head and around her neck. “Liam will let me know if there’s any trouble and I’ll be sure to steer us in safe spots with a lot of people.”

Nik helped Liam with his cap and sunglasses before walking with them to the door. “If you’re not back by sunset, I’m coming for you.”

“Don’t worry. I promise to be back by six, okay?” She closed the door on his unhappy expression.

Once on the street, they headed toward the Colosseum. It was chilly and crisp, but the sun shined on them, taking out any bite from the cold. Samantha grabbed a map from a touristy little newsstand and figured the walk wouldn’t take them more than thirty minutes from their hotel.

“I see it!” Liam exclaimed when they were a few blocks away. “It’s so big! Do you think we could get a tour through the underground? I’ve read so much about it, and it’s even more impressive than I imagined.”

Samantha laughed. She’d never seen the boy so animated before and gave him a side hug. “I’ll see if we can get a tour.” Using her limited Italian, she discovered that they could access the underground easily through a flight of stairs, but tours to see the catacombs that day were already booked.

Liam grimaced in disappointment. “Well, at least we can still walk around and see almost everything.”

Ruffling his hair, she smiled down at him. “You’re incredible. I can’t believe how mature you can be at times.”

He shrugged as they followed the crowds of people around the large structure. “There’s only so much time on this earth. Why dwell over something that we can’t change? May as well enjoy what we can.”

Samantha’s brows rose toward her hair. “Are you sure you’re only three?”

Scanning everything he could, Liam responded without looking at her. “I believe I already said something to you about age being relative.” He smirked at her. “Are you sure you’re really twenty? You repeat questions like a three-year-old.”

Samantha snorted a laugh and covered her mouth as they giggled together.

The moment ended and they continued to walk and look at as many of the sights as they could. Samantha was impressed with how big the Colosseum was. The architecture was breathtaking and the smell of old stone made her feel like she was transported back in time. After exploring the underground as thoroughly as they could, they came up the stairs and wandered around above ground. When Samantha’s feet started to ache, they decided to sit on the steps where plenty of other tourists were resting. Samantha bought a couple of blood oranges from a nearby vendor and peeled one for Liam before working on the other for herself. The boy bit into the juicy slice while he seemed to regard her for several seconds before speaking. “Do you remember that story I started telling you when I brought your breakfast? The woman named Iliana?”

She had to strain to hear him over the noise of all the other people around them. “Yes, of course.”

“Would you like to hear more?”

She nodded as she ate a slice of her orange. The juice burst over her tongue.

“This woman married the god before she knew what he really was. They left her village and traveled for some time. After a while, she discovered he was quite the womanizer. Then she noticed more and more about his personality and became frightened for her own safety.”

“You mean he hit her?”

Liam shrugged. “I don’t know. But once he found out she was pregnant, he meant to kill her and the unborn child.”

Samantha’s mouth popped open. “Why would he want to kill his own child?”

“Because the baby would be half god. The god who fathered it broke laws against both of our worlds. He was a force against the nature in this world. But he knew that a child of his in this world was something even he could not condone.”

“So he killed his wife and baby?”

“No, the woman escaped and birthed her child. But he spent all of his time tracking her down.”

Samantha mulled over the information he’d given. “But if you’re not supposed to cross worlds, how did Ptah get through? And how were you born here at all?”

“My situation is a little different from Ptah’s.”

She ate the last slice of her orange and wished she’d bought more, but was too interested in what Liam was telling her to interrupt him. “How so?”

“First, my journey was sanctioned by the guardians.”

Samantha held up a hand. “Wait. Why would they do that? I thought you said that there are set rules and they enforce them or something like that.”

“Yes, it’s true. But my coming here is supposed to help with that.”

Samantha dropped her arm. “How so?”

Sighing, the boy rolled his eyes. “We’ll get to that in a minute. One thing at a time.” He sat forward. “So, while the guardians helped me come into this world, they were still bound by the laws of nature. We had to wait for Ptah to die so his demon spirit would no longer reside in this world.”

“So you’re saying that there can only be one spirit from your dimension here at a time?”

“No. If someone from my dimension does not possess a physical body, there can be more than one. But to be from my dimension and have a physical body is different. It requires a certain magic and there can only be room for one of those in this world.”

“So Leisha killed Ptah. Then everyone became human for a while. Was that you or the guardians?”

“Yes.”

Samantha pursed her lips to the side. “But if you could make everyone human again, why couldn’t they just stay that way?”

“Because our magic doesn’t last long in this world. It was just enough time for Leisha to conceive me.”

“So are you one of the guardians?”

Liam smiled softly. “After this, I will be.” He glanced away as if embarrassed. “To be honest, I was one of the lowest demons from my dimension. They asked for a volunteer to come here and make things right. I knew it was the only way I could move up in the world—my world—so I did it.”

Touching his shoulder, Samantha whispered, “I don’t care if you’re from another dimension, or different bloodline; you’re my brother and I hope you never feel like you’re beneath others ever again.”

The boy blinked several times before looking back at her. “Thank you.” He put his hand over hers. “And now, if everything works according to theory, I will be a guardian. It’s a very prestigious position, Samantha. I’ll be happy there.”

“What do you mean, if everything works? You’re here. So what now?”

“Do you remember me telling you that I’ll need to ask you a favor soon?”

Samantha studied his serious expression and noticed his body was held stiff. “Yes. And I told you that I’d do anything for you.”

His shoulders rose a fraction toward his neck. “It’s not easy. Nothing I can do will prepare you, but you’re the key to making this work, to healing both of our worlds.”

Goosebumps broke out over her arms. “What do I need to do?”

Liam blew out a breath and hesitated before answering. “Soon, I’m going to ask you to kill for me.”

Blood drained from her face. Samantha didn’t know what to say. It was clear enough that Liam was very serious.
Could I actually do that? Murder someone for a greater cause? Isn’t that how the immortals justify all their actions?

“You will never be like them, Samantha. It’s your integrity and pure heart that makes you the key to doing this.”

Her lips were dry and Samantha had to work up courage to ask the question. “Who am I supposed to kill?”

Shaking his head, Liam touched her hand. “You’re not ready for that yet. But please think on my words. I need you to believe me when I say it’s the only way.”

Samantha’s breath trembled as she continued to stare at him. She loved Liam, even when she had that scary vision of him killing, she fell in love with him as he grew. And she knew that he wasn’t malicious and would never ask something of her that wasn’t important. “I promise I won’t be able to think of anything but this conversation for a while.”

He gave a half smile, then pointed to her phone, which was resting on the cement between them. It was almost six. “We’ll have to continue this at another time.”