Origins (A Black Novel, #1) (19 page)

“Will do,” I say with a mock salute in her direction before ambling out of the room. I’m glad that my dad and mom are finally going to get the opportunity to see and talk to one another after all these years. Who knows, maybe my dad will decide it’s time to pack up and move and the three of us can have our happily ever after? Sera seems like she’s got the whole Immortal thing under control and, if nothing else, Dad and I could just move to the island and live by ourselves and we’ll all still be able to see and visit each other. “Luc?” I ask as I walk into the living room. “We’re all done.”

“How’d it go?” He sits up and flashes a smile.

“Pretty good. My dad’s going to be here in the morning so he can spend time with my mom before we head back.”

“That sounds promising.”

“I hope so,” I reply wistfully. “And….there’s only half an hour left until your part of the deal’s over!” I exclaim triumphantly.

“Thank God,” he teases. “I was beginning to get sick of having to babysit you all the time!”

“Hey now! I’m the one that had to coddle you when you were crying about having to sleep on the floor!”

“I wasn’t crying about it and, by the way, you owe me a massage for that. My back still aches. So, I’ll be collecting on that in the near future,” he remarks with a wink. “And, I prefer nude massages.”

“I’ll get on that as soon as you find some way to reimburse me for having to deal with you for the past two weeks.” He flashes a sexy smile and wiggles his eyebrows at me. “That’s what I was offering….I get a massage, you get to see me naked. We both win.”

“Ha! No thanks, I’ll pass. I’d probably go blind from fright!” I say with a laugh.

“Why don’t you quit trying to insult my manhood and go for a walk with me? Do you think you can pretend to be charming for the next half an hour?” He stands up and arches an eyebrow quizzically at me.

“I don’t need to pretend, I am charming, and yes, I’ll go for a walk with you. I’ve been sitting down for the last two hours and my ass is numb, so maybe a walk will help get some circulation back in it.” He shakes his head and laughs as he follows me back out of the house. We set off in the direction of the ocean and decide to walk out onto Sera’s private boat dock. Once we reach the end, we sit down and take our shoes off, letting our legs dangle over the side of the dock with our feet skimming the top of the water. I lean backwards, supporting my weight with my arms and stare up at the moon. I am going to miss this, being this close to the ocean anytime I wanted. It’s so peaceful out here, surrounded by nothing but nature.

“So,” Luc says, bringing me back to the present, “what’s next?”

“Huh?”

“Well, you’re leaving and Vraiden’s staying. You’re going to be mortal, he’s not. What’s next?”

“Way to be a buzzkill, Luc.”

He raises his hands, defensive. “I’m just asking.”

“I don’t know. We haven’t really talked about it. He’s supposed to stop by in the morning,” I reply, suddenly feeling weighed down. I sit up straight and pull my knees to my chest, wrapping my arms around them.

“I’m sure everything will work out. Vraiden will make sure it does,” Luc responds.

“What’s next for you?” I ask, attempting to change the subject.

“Well, normally I travel a lot but seeing how things just got really complicated around here I think I might stick around for a bit and keep an eye on my little brother,” he replies with a wink.

I smile in response. “That sounds like a good idea.”

“Twenty-one, twenty, nineteen…”

“Um, Luc?” I ask. My brows bunch together in confusion as he keeps right on counting.

“Thirteen, twelve, eleven…”

“What are you doing? Seriously?”

He holds up a finger and smiles widely, “Four, three, two, one….Happy birthday!” he shouts, grinning from ear to ear.

I burst out laughing and throw my arms up in the air, “I’m free!

Finally!”

“Haha, very funny,” he remarks as he climbs to his feet and offers me a hand. “Think you can make it back all right?” Really? “Luc, the house is
right there
,” I state, pointing. “What am I going to do, get lost?”

“From what Vraiden says, you’re pretty good at that.”

“Vraiden told you about that?!”

“Calm down, he didn’t say anything bad. He thought it was cute,” Luc laughs.

“I’ll bet he did, the asshole.”

Luc suppresses a grin and holds open his arms. “Come here and give me a hug so I can go let him know you’re home safe.” I move closer and allow Luc to give me a small squeeze before stepping back.

“Now, get outta here. Take care of yourself kid.”

“I’m not a kid,” I reply stonily.

“You are to me,” he teases as he starts walking backward, waving like an idiot.

I shake my head and wave back as he slowly disappears into the tree line before turning and heading back towards the house. Halfway across the wide lawn, I hear a sound off to my left and stop, turning around to face the forest. I stand there and wait, thinking Luc was heading back this way but, as the minutes tick by, there’s no indication of movement or another sound, so I start walking again.

A few steps later the sound is back, this time closer, louder. It sounds as if there’s a large animal crashing through the trees.

Uneasily, I turn back around and narrow my eyes to try and pinpoint the source of the sound. I stand in place longer this time and cock my head to one side, listening intently, but all I can make out is the sound of the waves behind me.

I glance towards the house and calculate the distance. I’m a little over halfway there so I take off again, deciding to just try and make it there as quickly as possible. My feet hit the gravel of the driveway and I hesitate as the sound of rapidly moving footsteps booms behind me. My heart begins to beat rapidly in my chest and I take off at a run, suddenly afraid. Very afraid.

Fifteen feet from the front door I am suddenly swept off my feet and fall to the ground. Hard. As soon as my backside hits the rocks, I hear an eerie laugh and look around, frantic, but to no avail.

Whoever it was, they didn’t want to be seen. Wearily I climb back to my feet and dash towards the house. I don’t even make it three feet before I’m struck down again, this time even harder. The air whooshes out of me on impact and I lie stiffly, gasping for air as my vision begins to swim. A high pitched giggle cuts through the fog and I squint, barely able to make out a grey and black silhouette standing over me.

“Gotcha!” The voice sounds distant, far away. My attacker giggles again, definitely a girl, before drawing her leg back and letting loose, aiming at my head. My eyes close automatically and I throw my arms up to protect my skull but I’m too late. I hear a loud thwap and then everything goes black.

I
wake up disoriented and try to move but can’t. My eyes flash open at the sound of chains and I search for the source of them before realizing that I’m the one causing the noise. My arms are chained, over my head, to the wall behind me and my legs are stretched out before me, bound together at the ankles with rope. I attempt to wiggle into a standing position but my body refuses to cooperate. I try to pull at my restraints but my arms are heavy, numb with fatigue, and no matter how much I pull or strain nothing happens except the awful clank and chime of the chains. I look to my left, taking in my surroundings.

The room is longer than it is wide, with white walls and a rough dark grey carpeting. Along the far wall a solitary window sits, a dim light filtering in. The only furniture is a wooden dining chair that sits awkwardly off to one side. I turn my head to the right, shocked to find Sera similarly bound and chained to the wall several feet down, the only difference being that she is still unconscious; her head slumped awkwardly to one side. I open my mouth and call to her, panic setting in when I get no response. Is she dead? She’s Immortal- who could do that to her? I begin to shout her name, begging her to wake up, to open her eyes.

Fear soon overshadows all of my other emotions and I begin to holler for help. Shrill, frantic wails erupt from my mouth, “Help!

Somebody help! Vraiden! Luc! Help! Anyone!” After a minute my screams become nothing more than nonsense, just a guttural noise mixed with my sobs as tears stream freely down my face. I scream until my throat is raw and swollen and then I scream some more. I continue until my lungs feel like they’re going to bust, then I inhale deeply and start again. It’s only when I realize my voice has given out that I stop.

Silenced, my head falls to the side to rest wearily against one of my aching arms. It doesn’t take long for unconsciousness to once again lovingly wrap me in its embrace.

I awake some time later to the sound of a door closing and footsteps padding across the room towards me. Slowly, my eyes open to reveal- a girl? The girl is undeniably beautiful with a pale, porcelain complexion, long black hair falling past her waist, and silver-blue eyes, yet there is something unmistakably sinister about her. She’s dressed in a stained, free flowing white dress that falls to her knees and her bare feet are coated with debris from the forest, tiny pine needles and damp leaves sticking to her flesh.

She notices I’m awake and stops, cocking her head to one side.

“Finally give up with the screaming?” she asks wickedly, flashing me a predatory smile.

I stare back, silent, at the girl before me, not wanting to give her the satisfaction of an answer. In the blink of an eye the girl whips across the room and squats down, straddling my bound legs, to stare in my eyes.

“I don’t like being ignored, little girl,” she bares her teeth with a small growl, a malicious glint in her silvery eyes. “Do you have any idea who I am, what I’m capable of?”

All of a sudden, everything clicks into place- who she is, how she overpowered Sera, why she took me. “Eris,” I whisper, suddenly frightened.

“Oh, Lover Boy told you about me! Goody!” she claps her hands excitedly before leaning in as if we were two friends just chatting.

“What did he say? Did he say I was cute?”

My eyes narrow instinctively and I remain silent. “What did he say?!” she yells, her face contorted with anger.

I swallow loudly. “He said,” I state, my throat sore and scratchy,

“that you were bat shit crazy.”

Whap! My head whips to the side, face stinging as she slaps me open-handed on the cheek hard enough to cause my eyes to blur.

“Liar!” she screams, spitting rabidly. I turn my head back to face her and automatically cringe away from her vengeful expression. Rage burns in her eyes as a snarl curls her lips back wickedly. Upon seeing my reaction she throws her head back and laughs maliciously. “Oh, honey, you should be scared…..one way or another I’m going to make sure you suffer.”

She jumps up enraged and stalks across the room to stand in front of Sera. Bending over she grabs Sera by the hair and yanks her upward, causing her head to flop back unnaturally. My eyes widen in horror as Eris leans in and rips a chunk of flesh out of Sera’s neck with her teeth.

“No!” I scream. “Leave her alone!”

Eris throws her head back and cackles loudly while turning to face me. Blood drips from her lips to coat her chin and fall onto her already stained dress. She reaches a hand up to messily wipe her mouth off before licking her lips. “She’s Immortal, remember? She’ll heal- I just wanted a taste.”

I grit my teeth to keep from screaming at her again and take a deep breath before trying to talk to her, “What did you do to her? Why won’t she wake up?”

“While you and Luc were busy getting chatty down at the dock-shame on you by the way leading on both brothers like that- I snuck in the house and overpowered your dear old mom here. It wasn’t that hard either. One good whack on the head and she went down like a rag doll,” Eris sneers. “I put her in my car and then just waited until Luc left….”

“But why did you have to take Sera?” I ask, attempting to keep her talking. If she was talking she wasn’t attacking and maybe that would give Sera time to recover and wake up.

“She’s here for insurance,” Eris says, offering a wicked smile. “You’ll do what I say or I’ll kill her.”

“And what is it that you want me to do? Why don’t you just kill
me
instead?”

“First, I want to make you pay for taking Vraiden away from me, and second, I want you to tell him that you don’t want to see him anymore. That he'd be better off with me- and I want you to mean it. You have to convince him.”

“How am I supposed to do that? He’s not even here,” I offer as I glance around.

“He will be,” she replies with a wink.

“How do you know that?”

“Because I told him where he could find you, and, I told him what would happen to you if he didn’t show up.”

“And what’s that?”

She angles her head to the side and sneers at me, “Trust me, sweetie, you don’t want to know. It’s not going to be pretty.”

“Then why don’t you just kill me now?” I repeat. Out of the corner of my eye I notice that Sera is no longer bleeding profusely. Thank God. She’s finally healed. Now, if I could just give her enough time to wake up….

“What fun would that be? First, I’m going to torture you, and your mom.”

“What did I do to you?” I cry, outraged. “You don’t even know me!”

“I know you took Vraiden away from me. You changed him-he’s not the same as he was. He used to be more fun. He used to kill for the thrill of it and he’d laugh while he did it.

Vraiden and me, we belong together. Immortals are supposed to hunt, to kill and feed on humans. It’s our birthright, our gift. You took that away from him and I’m going to make you suffer for it.” Her eyes narrow and she paces across the room to me, a venomous gleam in her silver eyes.

She reaches down and wraps her fingers around my throat, squeezing as she yanks me to her height. I gasp, choking around her grip, my arms screaming with pain as they strain against their bonds. I struggle, making an effort to kick out at her but my legs are numb, unresponsive. I begin to pray for unconsciousness to overtake me as she squeezes even harder and my lungs wail for air.

Her hold loosens minimally, allowing me to inhale a shallow breath and she shakes me. “I can’t have you passing out on me before the real fun starts,” she clucks.