The Immortal Scrolls (3 page)

Andy ignored Marco now and tuned in to Skye’s emotions. It wasn’t like reading minds, like some others of his kind had the ability to do, but it was still a helpful gift. He picked up on the same lusty feelings as Marco, but no irritation. She was actually nervous, relieved, worried, and excited all in one.
What a mess,
he thought.

“I look forward to translating the scrolls with you, Dr. Morgan,” said Andy, almost flirtatiously. He was starting to regain his composure. Inside he was ecstatic at the lucky card he had just been dealt. Another woman who looked exactly like her. Was this a coincidence or fate?

“Oh, please call me Skye,” she said pleasantly.

Andy turned to look at Marco, who was radiating with jealousy. He tried harder to block out Marco’s emotions.

“Let’s go have a look at those scrolls,” said Dr. Costa, leading Andy away.

“Are you going to stay, Marco?” Skye asked.

“I’d better let you work,” he said regretfully as he looked back at Andy.

“OK. I will walk you out,” she said, grabbing his hand.

Andy listened to Dr. Costa but was watching Skye leave with Marco hand in hand. It was his turn to be jealous now. He had to remember that this was not Araceli in order to keep himself from ripping Marco to shreds. He tried harder to focus on Dr. Costa, who was telling him about the scrolls. He knew everything about them already because he had written them. He also thought about how easy it would be to kill Dr. Costa and run off with the scrolls. But he had a sudden change of plans.

His brief thoughts of drinking Marco’s and Dr. Costa’s blood were making him thirsty. He would need to feed later tonight. His throat was starting to burn unpleasantly, but he tried to ignore it.

Skye was at the elevator with Marco now. “Do you want to get together tomorrow night?” he asked her.

“Sure. Why don’t you come over to my apartment? We could have dinner and watch a movie,” she suggested.

Marco smiled. “I like that idea,” he said and bent over to kiss her. “Good night, Skye.”

“See you tomorrow,” she said, smiling.

Marco got into the elevator and pushed a button. He winked at her as the doors shut. Skye smiled as she turned around and walked back to the lab. She saw Dr. Costa and Andy talking in Italian again. They were all polite to speak English in front of her because they thought her Italian wasn’t very good. She walked up behind them. Andy sensed her happiness and turned around. He smiled strangely at her. He couldn’t get over their resemblance. He wondered if she smelled the same. It was hard to tell right now because she smelled like Marco.

He realized he would be working closely with her on the scrolls, if he wanted to. His original plan was to gain access to the scrolls, steal them, and take them to his safe. He couldn’t bring himself to destroy them. After all, he wrote them, and they were his memories. But still, he had a secret to keep. Many cultures had myths of vampires, werewolves, demons, witches, and other paranormal figures. No one truly believed in their existence because there was no physical proof. So he doubted his scrolls would bring about any big revelation. Maybe scholars would chalk it up to clever storytelling by a bored but educated slave.

“Incredible, aren’t they?” Skye asked Andy.

“Yes. They are on parchment, not papyrus,” he said, looking closely at the scrolls. Of course he knew that already, but she looked impressed. “It is amazing they survived in such excellent condition,” he commented. He really was surprised. “Are you ready to start translating?”

“Yes,” she said excitedly. “They have been x-rayed and the images scanned into the computer. We were afraid to damage them by unrolling them. But the images are clear enough to decipher. I already figured out their order. Well, it wasn’t so hard because whoever wrote them numbered them.” And it helped she was fluent in Latin. But she couldn’t let anyone know that. It would expose her secret.

“Interesting,” Andy said. He had lived most of his life without technology, so all these techniques and gadgets of the last century still fascinated him.

“All right then. I will leave you to it,” said Dr. Costa, walking over to the lab door. “Don’t stay up too late now. I expect to see you bright and early tomorrow.”

“Good night, Dr. Costa,” Skye and Andy said in unison.

“Good night,” he said, and then he closed the door quietly behind him.

“You must be really dedicated to work all day at the ludus excavation and then come here at night,” said Andy as he wheeled a stool over to the large table.”

“Yes,” she agreed as she turned on the computer and waited for it to load.

“But you must not have much of a social life,” he said, smirking. He felt her get defensive.

“I have a social life,” she insisted as if trying to convince herself as well.

“How old are you?” he asked.

“Twenty-six,” she replied. “Why? How old are you?” She felt herself becoming defensive. Was he picking on her?

“Oh, you just seem so young to have a PhD,” he said.
She speaks like her too,
he thought.

“I pushed myself through college to finish as fast as possible,” she explained. He seemed satisfied.

“Is that intern your boyfriend?” Andy asked, trying to sound casual.

“Marco? No,” said Skye. She didn’t want to say yes because she wasn’t sure what they were. She also said no because she wanted to seem available to Andy. Skye was shocked by her own behavior. She felt herself start to get annoyed with his questions. Not because he was being nosy, but because she’d only started seeing Marco a few days ago. Their relationship was based on lust so far. She was a little ashamed of herself.

Andy looked at her intently. He was not happy that she was involved with someone. What could he do, though? He didn’t even know Skye. They had only just met. But she looked so much like Araceli that he already felt that she was destined to be his. He sensed her embarrassment, so he stopped asking about her personal life. He could tell she felt judged, and that was not his intention. He fished around in his bag for his digital voice recorder and put it on the table.

“Are you married, dating…?” she asked curiously, looking over at his handsome profile as she sat down on a stool next to him. She pulled out her notebook and pencil.

He got very serious. “I was involved with someone, but she died a very long time ago,” he replied. He looked over at her face. All he could see was Araceli. He was waiting for her to start laughing at him and tell him it was all a big joke, that she was Araceli and she had survived the blast and had been searching for him for centuries. It was a nice fantasy. But that is all it was: a fantasy.
This is going to be difficult
, he thought.

Skye felt sad for him. “I’m sorry,” she said softly.

He snapped out of it. “Well, like I said, it was a long time ago.”

She got the hint. Back to work. She opened the file for the first scroll. Andy pretended to study the lines for a few minutes, though he could have read it to her word for word from memory. But he had a show to put on. He pressed the record button and began to read aloud.

“I am Androcles. I was born in Rome in 50 AD. I was reborn in 79 AD. I am a soldier…, a slave, a gladiator…a vampire,” said Andy slowly.

“Reborn? A vampire? Seriously?” said Skye in disbelief. “Is this a joke?” She leaned over to read the screen. She read the lines and was stunned to see he’d translated correctly.

“But this was not always so,” he continued to read. “I joined the Roman legion when I was eighteen years old. I stayed in for ten years until I was severely wounded. After, I went back to Rome to recover. When I was mostly healed, I started working as a guard for the family of one of Emperor Vespasian’s cousins,” read Andy. He paused for a moment and pretended to read some more. He looked over at Skye, who was writing notes in her notebook. She felt him staring at her and looked up from her writing. His green eyes stayed fixed on hers, and he said, “That was when I met my beautiful Araceli.”

Andy looked so serious that Skye almost believed he was telling her, not translating for her. Andy looked back at the screen and continued with his translation. “I was assigned as her personal bodyguard. It was love at first sight. She revealed to me later it was the same for her.”

Andy paused again. Skye leaned over closer to Andy to read the screen again.
He smells really good,
she thought as she breathed deep. Whatever cologne he used was intoxicating.

“I loved her more than life itself,” Andy said softly. Skye turned her face to find his only a few inches away. He gazed into her eyes, and she felt herself become drowsy. “She was the most precious thing to me. She was the air I breathed.” Skye felt strange. As she listened, hypnotized, to his voice, she found herself transported in her mind to ancient Rome. She could envision every detail as if she were actually there. She let his voice take her farther and farther away.

.

Chapter Three

R
OME, 79
AD

M
arcus was a proud, powerful man, not to mention the cousin to Emperor Vespasian. He sat in a large chair at a table in the center of the room. There were guards all around the room and at the door as well. Androcles was in awe of the size and wealth of the estate. He stood before Marcus, waiting for his daughter to come. He had been assigned to guard her. Androcles knew he got this position because his general thought of him like a son and was concerned about how Androcles would be able to earn money after sustaining such a terrible injury in battle. And the general was good friends with Marcus. He imagined Marcus’s daughter was probably a spoiled, rich brat.

Androcles looked around at the statues that adorned the room. There was a bust of Marcus next to a woman Androcles knew to be Marcus’s wife. Then there were smaller busts of several children. Mixed among the family members were statues of the gods and goddesses. Androcles felt a stirring in his chest and tried unsuccessfully to hold back a cough. Marcus looked up at him sharply, his dark eyes narrowed, and then returned to reading over the documents on his table.

“I have a very willful child. I hope you are up to the challenge,” he muttered.

“Yes, dominus,” said Androcles.

Suddenly the large wooden doors burst open, and in glided a petite young woman of maybe twenty years old. She had striking blue eyes the color of the sky, fair skin, and wavy dark brown hair that had a hint of red in it. She walked delicately and gracefully across the floor. She wore a flowing short-sleeved stola in a deep green over a white tunic with gold braiding just above her gently curving hips. Her neck, ears, and arms were all adorned with gold jewelry. Androcles stared at the breathtaking young woman as she moved across the room. His heart was thumping in his chest. This was the girl he was going to guard? He could see why her father needed a guard for her. Men had to be itching at the chance to have her. Their eyes met briefly as she passed by. The way she looked at him made his stomach knot up. He watched her walk over to her father and bend down to kiss him on his graying head.

“Sorry I am late, Father,” she said in a confident voice. Her eyes darted back to Androcles’s briefly and then away again.

“No matter,” he said, not even looking up to greet his daughter. “Araceli, this is your new guard. Take him with you. You are dismissed.”

Araceli pouted like a little girl at her father’s cold attitude. She stood there for a moment, staring at her father. Her father grunted at whatever he was reading and scribbled his signature at the bottom. Then Araceli turned around and walked away. Androcles just stood there, staring at her.

“Follow me,” she said to him coolly. “If you haven’t guessed, you are supposed to follow me around all day and protect me.” She smiled at her own sarcasm. His lips twitched. She was a major brat, but a gorgeous one. Androcles followed her out of the room and down the corridor.

“What is your name, guard?” she asked brusquely as she looked over her shoulder at him. She was walking at a fast pace. His leg was still healing, and it hurt to keep up with her. He was trying not to limp.

“Androcles, domina,” he replied.

“What happened to your leg?” she asked.

He was embarrassed she could see him struggling. She must be wondering how much good he was going to be to her with a bad leg. “I was wounded not too long ago in battle. I am afraid it is not completely healed yet.”

“I’ll have my physician look at it,” said Araceli.

“Thank you, domina,” he said shyly but gratefully.

They turned down another corridor that was decorated more elaborately with statues, plants, and paintings, and Araceli slowed her pace. He realized they were in the family’s personal quarters.

“Well, I need you at your best or you won’t be any good to me,” she said truthfully. She stopped outside a door and then opened it. Then she turned to speak to him “Here is my room. My father is having a party tonight. I don’t really like parties, and I don’t want to go. This is why I am in a bad mood. But my father insists I make an appearance.”

She spoke quickly and with an honest bluntness. He was surprised at how much she talked to him. He had expected her to ignore him.

“You owe me no explanation for your moods, domina,” he said.

She smiled and stared at him for a long second and then turned into her chamber. He followed her in and saw her slaves already attending to her. She had disappeared behind sheer curtains near her bath and was undressing. He averted his eyes and stayed by the door. He heard the water as she moved. He stood there thinking about battle to keep his mind from wandering to the beautiful naked girl only a few feet away. He wasn’t sure how much time had passed when he heard her speak to him.

“I don’t need a guard, you know. I only have guards when I venture outside home,” she said bluntly. “Did my father ask you to spy on me?

He was surprised by her questions and turned to look at her. Her hair was pulled back and twisted softly over one shoulder. She had changed into a sleeveless, deep burgundy stola that draped over both shoulders. Her full breasts were accentuated by a rope of gold braiding. She had long gold earrings and wore several gold bracelets. “No, domina,” he said truthfully. He looked at her beautiful face and remembered her almost naked body. “But I think you do need a guard.”