Immortalis - Book 1 (The Keeper's Immortals) (6 page)

Four

I woke up feeling oddly peaceful considering I was being held against my will by people I didn’t know. The only thing on my mind was Reid and wondering if he was safe or not. Just as I sat up in the bed I heard a knock at the bedroom door. I told whoever it was to come in and through the doors walked Jaryn, bright eyed and bushy tailed for being so early in the morning.

“Are you hungry?” He asked me as he took my hand, helping me down off the bed that was entirely too high off the ground.

“You’re actually going to feed me?” I asked snidely but with a joking tone.

“Of course we are. You actually have to eat.” He smiled.

“You don’t have to?” I asked. He laughed at my words.

“We don’t have to no, since we don’t die but we wouldn’t look to hot. Besides food taste to good, we just don’t have to worry about carbs like you do.” He said with a wink.

“So what’s on the menu?”

“The basics; eggs, bacon, biscuits and a bit of fruit I believe.”

“That sounds amazing, I’m so hungry.” I said as I patted my stomach, hearing it growl. Apparently Jaryn did as well because he handed me a brush and told me to pretty myself up before we went down. He was defiantly knew how a girls mind worked. I took it from him as I shot him a smile. For the first time since meeting, Jayrn didn’t seem like a horrible person. Although I didn’t know the reasoning behind their attack I’m sure that there was some kind of justification to it, they had just done it in a bad way.

Once I looked slightly less monstrous we walked down the long hallway, down the flight of stairs and entered the grand kitchen where the night before I sat in panic, fearing for my life. Now I was a bit more calm, sitting around the island with Jaryn on one side while across from me sat Ashwin and serving us was Sebastian.; Blake wasn’t anywhere in sight and that didn’t bother me at all but I knew that it would be short lived.

Just as a put a bite of eggs into my mouth my calm atmosphere was interrupted by Blake trotting down the back stairs and jumped in the empty seat next to me. I suddenly felt sick to my stomach and placed my fork to the side of my plate, trying but failing to smile. “Honestly don’t let him get to you. He thrives on the pain of others.” Jaryn explained. Blake smirked at his brother while he smiled at me. I didn’t trust him as far as I could throw him but since he could kill me without thought I held back my urge to mouth off towards him.

“Go on say it little one, I know you want to say something.” Blake stated as he continued to look at me.

“I don’t have anything to say.” I said kindly with an undertone of bitterness. I picked my fork back up and began to eat again.

“Honestly Blake don’t you have anything better to do than to torment the poor girl?” Ashwin asked, tossing her food around on her plate. Blake didn’t make a rude comment in return he just went on with shoveling the food into his mouth. As I finished up my plate I walked over to the sink, rinsed my plate then sat it down. When I sat back at the island I could feel Ashwin’s eyes burning into my skull as I looked out the window. Turning around I found her staring blankly at me but before I could say anything to her she jumped from her seat and walked from the room. I asked if I could be excused and Sebastian agreed, telling me that I could wonder freely but I was to know that if I was the run there would be consequences. I agreed to his terms as well and hurried out the room searching for Ashwin but she seemed to have disappeared in that short moment. Frustrated I plopped to the sofa that was overlooking the green fields. I had to admit that it was gorgeous but I probably would enjoy it more if I wasn’t being held against my will.

My thoughts, that were deeper than they should be, were disturbed by Jaryn who have suddenly sprung up next to me. Damn him and his speed. “Don’t do that.” I said with a smile and a laugh.

“Sorry, I forgot that you’re not used to it.”

“It’s alright. I’m not used to any of this. Over the past two days I’ve gone from this heartbroken girl to liking someone I barely know and now I’m being held prisoner in a totally different country.” I explained.

“I’m sorry, I really am. We’re all sorry that you had to be put in the middle of it but we knew that Reid cares about you so taking you would get him back to us.” Jaryn said.

“Why don’t you just let him be?” I asked.

“Right after we got changed we made a pack that no matter what, we would stick together because we were all that we had. Mum and da were gone and none of us had families outside of us so we thought it was best.” He said.

“None of you had ever been married?” I asked.

“Some of us, yes. Sebastian was married to young woman but he preferred the company of man rather than her. Blake was always to ill-tempered to match with anyone as you can tell, no one wanted him but he was paired with a very pretty lass whom I adored. Reid was married off to a girl he didn’t love and Ashwin was married to a nobleman that had been eyeing since she was young. I was the only one who never married before we were changed, I consider myself lucky. I don’t have those memories to tie me down.” Jaryn said with a hint of a smile knowing that he was lying to himself.

“So what happened to them all?” I wondered.

“Sebastian’s lover, Thomas, was accused by Sebastian of killing his wife so that they could be together. Just because he wasn’t attracted to her didn’t mean that he didn’t love her. Sebastian’s heart was broken in many ways after that. Blake’s wife was never happy with him. He would rather be at the pub and in the company of others rather than her. She died of the fever and he didn’t mind one bit, I did on the other hand.’ Jaryn sat for a moment, thinking about the ghost that had passed. I touched his hand lightly to comfort him. He smiled and let out a small laugh. ‘Perhaps I have a demon in my past after all. Uh Reid’s wife didn’t love him either and she ran off with the man that had her heart; Edward. Ashwin was the only happy one out of them all. She was married to the man she always loved, David. He was a nobleman that was ten years older than she was but that never stopped her from catching his eye. He died in battle just before she gave birth to their child.”

“She’s had a baby.” I said with delight in my voice.

“Aye but we were told that it died shortly after birth. Ashwin came home, grief stricken and not to long after that was when we were all changed.” I sat there for a moment - soaking in all the information I was given about their past and understood a little more of why they were doing what they were doing. All they wanted was to be together as a family because that was all that they had left. I looked at Jaryn and into his sad eyes.

“Thank you Jaryn.” I said as I placed my hand onto his.

“For what?” he asked with a puzzled look on his face.

“For helping me understand you all more.”

“Anytime, you really like Reid don’t ya?” he asked me.

“I do, whether it’s just as friends or something more I don’t know but he helped me when I thought I couldn’t be.’ Jaryn asked if I would explain further. ‘My boyfriend at the time broke up with out of the blue and without explanation. Reid approached me and after we talked for hours he walked me home and said he wanted to try something, he kissed me. That single kiss made me forget all about my ex and for the first time in months I was actually able to think about moving on with my life. Before I could thank him he just disappeared, like that.” I snapped.

“Yeah he’s good at that.” Jaryn said with a roll of his eyes.

“Finally found him the next day and we went out that night, and well you know what happened because you were there.” I laughed. He looked down as if he was ashamed of what they had done the night before.

“Sorry for that to.” He laughed. It was the first time I had actually smiled and meant it since I had been taken the night before and he noticed, telling me that it was nice to see a real smile across my face. “There are gardens all around here, go exploring. Who knows when Reid will get here, and you might never get back to Ireland eh?” he said. He was right, who knew where Reid was let alone if he was on his way. For all we knew he could still be passed out in the woods so I took Jaryn’s advice and strolled out the French doors that let outside to snoop about. Before I knew it I was turned around in a maze of hedges, rose bushes and stone benches. It was the most glorious place that I had ever seen but I’ve never been more lost in all my life. It was times like this that I missed my cell phone, smart phones were sometimes to smart but in this case I would make an exception. Wondering around for what seemed like hours I finally stopped when I found something I had been searching for all morning; Ashwin.

She was standing alone, feeling the soft peddles of a rose, looking as if she was deep in thought. Rather than bother her I turned to leave the area when she lifted her head slowly and asked me to stop. I did; dead in my tracks. “I’m sorry. I didn’t me to disturb you.” I said right off the bat. She seemed to be one of the kinder of the siblings but I didn’t know her manors.

“You didn’t, you’re fine but you’re also lost, yeah?” she asked as she turned to face me. She was without a doubt the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen. Inside I was screaming with a jealous rage that I couldn’t be at gorgeous as she was. She looked like a living doll with her porcelain like skin, deep red hair and piercing green eyes. She looked the most like someone might think of a stereotypical Irishmen while all of her brothers had brown hair, though they all had similar striking features.

“Yeah, I don’t know where I got turned around at.”

“Walk with me, I’ll show you the way.” She said as she started walking with a smile. I wanted to ask her about what happened at breakfast but I was slightly fearful of doing so because I didn’t want to upset her. I didn’t seem her going off on me in a rage but I didn’t want to upset her if there was a chance of that. The silence between us was overwhelming and she must have realized that. “Whatever it is that you want to ask, please do so. I can feel you’re emotions and it’s making me crazy not knowing what you would like to know.” She finally said.

“At breakfast this morning, you were starring me down and then left in hurry. I didn’t know if I had done something wrong or not?” I asked her. Ashwin stopped, turned to me and looked deeply into my eyes. She finally smiled sweetly.

“You just…you just look like someone I knew once. It didn’t hit me until that moment but it kind threw me for loop.” She said, explaining her actions.

“Oh…’ I wasn’t sure on what to say after that. ‘Someone you were close to?”

“In a way, we were close from a far. I doubt it makes any sense to you but…”

“No it does, more than you might think. I’m sorry that I made you feel w

hat you did.” I said. Ashwin only smiled at me with small nod. We continued to walk out of the hedge maze and the sight of the house was amazing even though it wasn’t my home. Ashwin looked down at me and looked sad as I did; it was like she was feeling everything that I was at that moment.

“I know it’s not home but you’ll be leaving soon, I promise.” She said as she touched my shoulder gently. I smiled but only out of thanks for her kind words. I did miss home, my family, Trish and even Charlie. All I wanted was my own bed and my own life back but that wasn’t going to happen anytime soon. I never thought I would miss home, school and the people in my life as much as I did. Trish’s annoying mannerisms, Charlie’s nagging questions about his feelings for Trish, even her brother’s attitude towards her. Sean never hated me but he never said that he loved me either. He always acted like I was just someone who was living in his house. We never had brother/sister moments and if I was to express my true feelings about Sean I was hurt that I never had the relationship with Sean that all the Hollings seemed to have with each other so I could understand why everyone was so upset about Reid’s leaving.

Five

Reid finally took his seat on the plane, his leg bouncing worse than ever. He was honestly worried about what his siblings would do to Nora. He understood that they all wanted his return but this wasn’t the way to do such a thing. Reid had already endangered all their lives; including Nora’s by telling her what they really were but now they had taken her thus putting her life in even more danger. Every one of the Hollings’ children had made at least one enemy over the years. When you had lived as long as they had then it was bound to happen; whether their enemies were mortal or immortal they were always around.

Then there was the fact that it The Keepers themselves were to find out that they had exposed themselves to a mortal then they would all pay including Nora. The Keepers were the only ones who could take an immortal’s life but anyone could take Nora’s; she was the easy one.

“Sir?” Reid heard but it seemed distant. “Sir?”

“Huh, oh yes I’m sorry.” He finally said as he snapped out of his trace.

“Do you need something?” The sturdiest asked. Reid was confused looking but realized that he had accidentally hit the call button.

“Yes, after takeoff can I get a scotch on the rocks please?” He asked. She said that she would have that out for him as soon as they were in the air then walked away. Maybe alcohol would calm himself or so he could hope. There were still a few minutes before liftoff so he pulled out his phone again and dialed Blake’s number again but this time only got his voicemail. Only becoming more frustrated he flipped his cell phone shut with more force than he needed to and attempted to rest his eyes as the captain’s voice came over the intercom, explaining their flight in details. Reid didn’t care. He just wanted to get to Ireland as fast as he could.