Immortalis - Book 1 (The Keeper's Immortals) (10 page)

“Oh I was. I never thought you made this choice on your own.” He said with a chuckle.

“You come back and make sure that your life is safe and then you’ll just leave again. With that in mind, I don’t see a reason for you to stay here. I’m sure you would know if The Keepers are alive or not.” Ashwin roared, jumping from the chair.   

“Stop being such a child Ashwin.” Jaryn yelled, thinking that her actions were ironic since she was older than she was.

“Both of you stop it. He’s here not just for himself but for you all as well.” I said, blurting out was more like it. From Jaryn I got a look of shame because he knew that I was right but from Ashwin I got a rude come back followed by a cold shoulder.

“Why are your lips flapping? You have nothing to do with this mortal.” Blake said as he strutted down the stairs that led into the sitting room, a whiskey on the rock in his hand. Trying not to show that the words hurt me I stiffened my upper lip so that I wouldn’t release any tears before turning to him.

“I’m just trying to help.” I said in a weaker tone than normal. That wasn’t as strong sounding as I had wanted it to be. Being around Blake made me feel helpless at times and I hated it. I hated him for making me feel this way and I didn’t know why he had that effect on me.

“Well you’re not…you shouldn’t even be here.” He said harshly. Those words harsher than the ones before really made me fight the tears back. Ashwin walked next to Blake, her arms crossed showing that she was siding with him.

“He’s right Reid. This is a family matter so unless she had Hollings blood running through her veins then she needs to leave.” She stated firmly.

“Are you both mad? If it wasn’t for her then I wouldn’t be here.” Reid said. I let go of Jaryn’s hand and grabbed Reid by the shoulder. I didn’t want them fighting anymore and I was starting to bottle my feelings up and when I did that I was known to explode if it got to full. I just wanted to attempt to defuse the situation before it got worse for everyone involved.

“They’re right. You all go and take care of things and I’ll stay here…if that’s okay with them and once you all know that you’re all safe then we can go home. I would leave now but there isn’t time.” I said as I started to walk off towards the hall, not wanting to look anyone in the eyes.

“Nora, don’t…” Reid started only to stop when I placed my hand on his chest, signally for him not to bother.

“I’m gonna go upstairs. Is that alright with you Blake?” I asked snidely, my words only adding fuel to the already burning fire that had formed between us.

“Oh please feel free just to take over our whole house why don’t you?” He barked back. His eyes changed colors from the flames causing him to look rather demonic. 

“I will and I think I’ll start in your room.” I said before storming out.

“You stay the hell out of my room!” I heard him yell but I didn’t care. I hurried up there stairs and headed straight to his room, not being scared of him at that moment. There were moments were his look alone would make my breath stop but not this time. My anger had gotten the better of me - so much for bottling it up. I was known for being level headed most of the time and then there were the other times where I blew up.

“Jaryn, stop her.” Blake said to him younger brother. Jaryn stood there, trying not to laugh.

“I’m not doin’ anything. You don’t want her in your room than you can stop her yourself.” He said finally bursting into a laugh. Blake was becoming flustered not only with Nora but also with everyone else. He ran up the stairs while everyone else remained where they were, finding Blake’s games childish. He stopped at his bedroom door when he didn’t hear anything on the other side. Finally he opened the large, heavy wooden door finding someone in his bed that wasn’t supposed to be there.

I looked over and smiled.

“Get the hell out of my bed.” He yelled. I sat up, bracing myself on my hands and stared him down. I saw him look at me before answering, staring at me. For a second he softened only to harden himself back up, closing himself off from the mortal world.

“Or what?” I asked.

“Or I’ll get your out myself and you don’t want that to happen.” I only laughed at his words which only angered him more.

“I’m not afraid of you.” I replied through my chuckles.

“Well you should be.” He said through gritted teeth. I jumped up from the position I was on the bed and was now face to face, I was close enough to him to smell the musk coming off of his body. He smelt good. I watched as he licked his lips as if he was hungry. He was making me hungry to but I wasn’t sure for what – it was as if he could put a spell on me and I forgot about Reid whenever he was close.

“You’re both acting like children at moment.” Sebastian yelled at us from the doorway. We both turned to him, neither of us saying a word.

“My apologizes.” I said as I got down from the bed with Blake’s help.

“Blake if what you said is true then we have to leave now so that we can get to The Keepers as soon as possible. The plane is ready and Nora you will come with us but you will stay on the plane. I don’t feel safe with you being here alone, not because of you but because of the current situation.’ I nodded. ‘I’ll meet you both down stairs in a moment. I’ll allow you some time to calm yourselves.”

“I’m sorry…again. You just know how to push my buttons so well that I hate you for it.” I explained. He smiled kindly. It was almost as if Blake was two separate people in one body at times.

“I guess you know how to push mine as well. I’m sorry for bein’ such a prick.”

“No you’re not.” I said with a chuckle. He licked his lips and smiled wickedly.

“You’re right, I enjoy it thoroughly.” He said with a cocky tone. For a moment there was an awkward silence between the two of us then slowly he moved towards me, his lips near mine until I stopped him, putting my hands on his firm chest. “Blake?”

My words had stopped him but I wasn’t sure that I wanted him to stop. Being so close to him, touching him, it was making my heart flutter – it felt like it was beating a mile a minute, hard enough to burst through my chest. It scared me because I had never felt like this with anyone else. Not Adam, not Reid and that made me feel horrible. He looked at me for a moment. I then I watched his eyes moved towards my hand that was still firmly planted on his chest. He was strong, well built. I was almost afraid that he was going to get onto me for touching him – a mortal touching an immortal seemed like it was forbidden in his world, or at least to him, but he didn’t. If anything he looked bashful, like a child but he still had that hunger growing inside of him. I didn’t understand where this was coming from, from either of us. He tolerated me, hating the fact that I was a mortal and I was known to go back and forth with him.

“Umm…come on, let’s go and see if we can stop our deaths.” He said as he took my hand. His hand was rougher than I thought it would be. He always put off that he never worked a day in his life; at least not in this lifetime.

Blake would continue to surprise me.  

Eight

By the time we were to the landing strip the plane was already running and ready to go. The six of us piled into the jet, buckled up and once again I braced myself before it took off. On my left sat Reid who didn’t seem to notice, but on my right was Jaryn who remembered. He gently took my hand within his and held it tightly. I opened my eyes and gave him a smile; silently thanking him.

“What’s that about?” Reid asked Ashwin.

“Nora apparently has a fear of flying, I helped her calm down in the way over here.” She explained to him and the next thing I knew I felt my other hand be grabbed, upon turning around I saw my hand within Reid’s. I felt the plane take off but it didn’t matter because I had my mind on something else. I didn’t know if I was on cloud nine because Reid had my hand on because I felt Blake watching me again. After we were in the air we were able to move around, which was a good thing because I needed to use the restroom only to check to see how red I was from embarrassment. I didn’t want Reid to see me in such a way; no girl wants to look stupid in front of a guy that she likes. Problem was I wasn’t sure if I was red because of Reid or his brother? Pushing the thoughts out of my head I splashed cool water on my warm face and ran my fingers through my hair and I thought that I was ready to face everyone again but when I stepped out of the small room I was stopped by Blake.

“Are you alright?” he asked.

“Yeah why?” I asked him, puzzled to why he was asking and why did he care.

“You ran off to the lavatory so fast…I was just checkin’ on you.” He admitted almost bashfully. I couldn’t help but to feel something at that moment, like maybe he finally didn’t think that I was so bad even though I was a mere mortal but I was probably wrong. I looked up and into his eyes, getting lost in them but inside I was telling myself not to. I quickly looked down to my hands, acting as if I was still drying them.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Thank you for checking on me Blake.”

“Anytime. Would you like drink? Help calm ya a bit.” He asked me and I agreed just as Reid popped up beside his younger brother’s side, startling me slightly. For some reason I was felt guilty of something although I didn’t think that there was any reason for those feelings. Blake looked at his brother snidely, almost as if he was growling internally at him. “Don’t do that, I hate that and you’re still on my shit list so if you would kindly move out of my way.” 

“Oh am I…well I will as soon as you stop flirting with my date.” Reid stated firmly. Blake smiled wickedly then popped his bottom lip out while he shrugged his shoulders slightly.

“You don’t control me Reid, you never have and you don’t control her either but I’ll stop as soon as she does.’ He turned to face me; giving me a wink then turned back to face Reid. ‘But until then I’m going to make us a drink. You seem like a whiskey lass, yeah?”

For some reason I was torn on what to do at that moment - stay with Reid or walk away with Blake showing Reid that I couldn’t be controlled. I wasn’t a puppet nor was a silly mortal who would walk into one of Blake’s tricks so rather than answer his question or remain with Reid I walked past them both and returned to my chair. Reid looked up at Blake, seemingly threatening towards him without actually using any words then left for the back of the plane where he was to close the door on Sebastian so that they could talk in private. Ashwin was oblivious to what was happening but Jaryn wasn’t. He had watched everything that had happened and noticed my reaction when I had plopped down in the tan covered seat. He looked over at me, one eyebrow raised with question. I turned to him. “What?” I snapped.

“Someone sounds wee but guilty of something.” He said with a snickering smile.

“What are you talking about?”              

“I saw what I saw and I know you saw it to. You’re a smart lass.” He said. I didn’t understand what he was talking about – did I? “Blake fancy’s ya.”  

“You’ve got to kidding right? He doesn’t like me. He hates me…sometimes.’ I thought about it but I just pushed the thought out of my mind. ‘Besides I’m just a stupid mortal remember. It was just one of his stupid, cruel jokes.” I said as I curled up in the chair not wanting to think about what Jaryn was talking about or what I was feeling at the moment. I looked up as I saw Blake walk back from the bar with two drinks in hand. One he sat on the table next to me and the other he kept for himself.

“In case you want it.” He said before turning around and sitting in the seat across from myself. Jaryn slyly looked over to me but I only stuck my tongue out at him then closed my eyes. Jaryn smiled then sat back and pulled his face into a magazine. I opened my eyes once more and saw him engulfed in a car magazine then looked towards Blake who was looking straight at me. Suddenly he bent his neck, silently asking for me to go into another part of the plane so that we could talk without Jaryn’s judgmental eyes. Noticing Jaryn also has his headphones on I stood up and walked towards the restroom and Blake soon followed. We walked to a small room that served as a kitchen on the plane. While Ashwin was in the back, most likely resting, while Reid and Sebastian were still in the office.

“What is it?” I asked in whisper as I leant against the mini fridge.

“Why did you do that? Why have you done all of it?” Blake asked me.

“Done all of what?” I asked, wondering what he was talking about because I was honestly clueless.

“You know what. I wasn’t lying when I told Reid that you were flirting with me to.” He told me as he moved closer to me. I felt my heart start to beat faster than.

“I…I wasn’t, I was just being nice.” I explained. I felt like I couldn’t breathe while he inched closer to my face.

“You don’t feel anything between us? When we were in my room alone or even now?” His body moved even closer to mine and I felt my heart begin to pound harder than before. He was close enough to feel his breath on my hair, my skin. I didn’t understand what was wrong with me? Why was I feeling this way about Blake - someone who despised me so much just because I was mortal, I was alive. What were the feelings I was having about Blake? Were they more than they should be?

“You’re my friend Blake, that’s it.’ I paused for some reason. ‘That’s all and sometimes that’s even hard.” He looked down at me and placed his hand on my chin pulling my face up so that I could face him. His eyes were dark blue, like the Atlantic that I saw from outside the bedroom window that afternoon. I licked my dry lips as I looked deep into his eyes - it was like he had a spell over me.