The Life of Anna, Part 5: Emerged (40 page)

Wilhelm contemplated Sebastian’s words.
Elders coming together can be very powerful, as evidenced by the
multiple Elders ability to get Anna away from Devin. If the Elders
that were loyal to Devin gathered around him, he would be difficult
to defeat. If Devin was the only one left—

He needed to discuss this with Alex.
After Alex somehow convinced Anna to break up with her
boyfriend.

Alex waited in his bedroom for Sebastian
to return. Alex was going to become like an Elder. The thought
thrilled and frightened him at the same time. Would it hurt? It
never looked comfortable when he saw it at the Gatherings. How
would it feel? He’d never asked a new Elder. It had never occurred
to him.

Sebastian appeared a few minutes later
with...Irina? The Russian Elder-Mistress?

“What is she doing here?” Alex asked,
irritated. There would be only one reason an Elder-Mistress would
be here. He had no desire to fuck her. Irina was beautiful and
sensual, but cold. Like all the Elder-Mistresses. He wanted his
sweet, warm Anna.

“Alex, I can’t give you my essence
straight. You wouldn’t be able to handle it. Irina will be able
to...make it palatable.” Sebastian gave him a sympathetic smile. “I
know she's not Anna, but she is a Mistress we can trust.”

An hour later, Alex felt...different. And
guilty. Sebastian had fucked Irina and then Alex had ‘partaken’ of
both of their essences from Irina’s body. Then he’d fucked her
senseless. He wasn’t thinking straight. He just had to do it for
some reason. Lust had consumed him.

Sebastian had taken Irina back to Russia
and Alex sat on his bed, staring at his wedding ring. Is this what
it would be like when he became Elder? Becoming so consumed with
lust that he would fuck anyone? Is that what the Immortal essence
did? He couldn’t do that to Anna. It would kill her. Why, oh why
did he have to be his father’s son?

But he was. And she was an
Elder-Mistress. They would always have to share one another with
others. Maybe he could fake his own death after he took care of
Devin. Then he and Anna could—

“Ready?”

Alex jumped at the sound of Sebastian’s
voice. He turned and looked mournfully at his friend. “I can’t
believe I did that.”

“Did what?”

“Fucked Irina.”

Sebastian studied Alex for a few minutes.
“Alex, the first time is...difficult.” He chuckled. “We’re sexual
beings. It can be a bit intense the first time. Your body doesn’t
quite know what to do with it. But it will get more comfortable.”
He took a step towards Alex. “Once you and Anna are reunited,
you’ll need to do that with her.”

Alex gave him a horrified look. “I can’t
use her like that.”

“With the right relationship, it’s not
using. She will want to give of herself.”

Sebastian’s words triggered a memory from
long ago. Before they had married, they had made love and Anna had
tried. She’d tried to give him of herself. He didn’t know how he
knew, or even if she knew at that point, but he had told her not
to. That he didn’t need it. How had he known?

“She loves you, Alex. She will want to
give it to you.”

“Will you fuck her first?”

“It would be a good idea if I did every
once in a while. Maintaining it is much easier than re-doing it.
And it will give you the strength and power to fight
Devin.”

That perked Alex’s ears.
“Really?”

Sebastian nodded. “That is what he was
taking from Anna that made him so powerful. You will still be
limited until you become Elder, but you will be...more than
yourself.”

Alex thought for a moment and then
nodded. “Okay. But I won’t force her.”

“It’s much more potent if she does it
voluntarily. The two of you together....” Sebastian raised his
eyebrows. “She is a very powerful half-Immortal, though she doesn’t
know it. You will be able to do great things.”

“I don’t want to do great things. I just
want to be with her.”

Sebastian smiled. “That’s okay. For now.
You’ll change your mind eventually.”

Alex sighed. “So, how does this work?” he
asked, changing the subject. He was close to seeing Anna again and
he was becoming anxious.

Sebastian chuckled and came to stand
behind him. “She won’t see me. You can move as you normally would.”
He put his hands on Alex’s shoulders. “Close your eyes.”

Alex did so, and felt dizzy and squeezed
at the same time. He sensed the difference of his environment and
slowly opened his eyes. He was in a sunlit bedroom. The scene
outside the windows was one of a city. New York. He could see the
Hudson River from where he stood.

He turned and saw Anna lying on her bed,
sweetly sleeping. The indentation on her right ring finger made his
heart ache and he swallowed over the lump forming in his throat.
She looked different. She looked peaceful. He hadn’t seen her sleep
in years. When they were together, he had loved waking up before
her and watching her sleep. She’d been pregnant then. Oh, how his
heart ached for the memories.

He could stay here forever and watch her
sleep. He longed just to watch her, to see how she’d changed. She
was changed so much from the twenty-year-old girl he’d married. His
hands clenched into fists. Devin would pay for what he’d done. As
soon as he was able to, he would destroy that man, that animal. It
was an insult to humanity to call him a man.

But for now, he needed to concentrate on
the task at hand. “Anna,” he said softly. He reminded himself that
he needed to speak English and hoped she could understand
him.

Her eyes snapped opened and she stared at
the ceiling for a moment before turning her head in his direction.
Oh, his sweet Schatzi! She sat up and stared at him.

“Alex!” she exclaimed and then shook her
head. “No. You left...you were gone.”

He nodded. “I had to. But I’m here
again.”

She shook her head. “I’ve given you up.
I’ve moved on.”

His eyes unconsciously turned to her
empty ring finger and sorrow filled his heart. “Don’t give up on
me, Anna. Please. We’ll be together soon.”

“How can we be together? You’re dead.”
She shook her head again. “No, Alex. It’s time to stop dreaming of
you. I have a wonderful man in my life. He’s alive and he cares for
me.”

Her words were like a dull knife in his
heart. “Do you love him?” he asked softly, his voice cracking
slightly. “Does he love you like I love you?”

“I...I don’t know if I love him. I might.
It’s all so...different now. I’m different.” She looked up at him.
“I killed my guardian,” she whispered.

Alex walked over before he realized what
he was doing. How he wanted to hold her and tell her everything
would be all right. Instead, he knelt next to her bed. “Does he
love you as I love you?”

Tears filled her eyes. “He’s alive,” she
whispered.

“What if I were still alive, Anna? What
if I walked back into your life tomorrow? Would you take me back?”
His questions were desperate.

“But you’re not,” she whimpered.

“But if I was?”

She didn’t answer right away. She stared
out the window, her lower lip trembling. He could almost sense the
turmoil in her heart and it pained him to no end.

“Anna?”

She closed her eyes for a long moment and
then opened again. His heart leapt at the love in her eyes. “I
don’t know,” she answered honestly.

Alex searched her eyes. She hadn’t
rejected him outright. Her hesitation troubled him, but what else
could he do? Forced love was no love at all. Winning her back would
be more difficult than he’d imagined. “I will always love you,
Schatzi.” He reached out to touch her cheek and she disappeared
from his sight.

Alex realized he was back in his room and
he fell to his knees in grief. Would he be able to gain her love
back? Gain her trust back? Was she really reluctant to love him, or
was she afraid to? After all, he’d been gone for so long.

“Alex?” Sebastian brought him back to
reality.

“She doesn’t know if she’d take me back,”
he said in a cracked voice.

“She’s afraid.”

Alex nodded. “What do I need to do to get
ready?”

“Alex?”

Alex blinked, realized he’d become lost in
his thoughts. He looked at Anna and saw her, frowning at him with
her arms across her chest. “Anna, if I hadn’t come, and you and
Hugo had become even more involved...what would have happened when
I returned? What if I had given up on you? Devin would have found
you when he visited and you would be back with him now, instead of
here.” He inhaled slowly. “Yes, perhaps my motives weren’t totally
pure. Yes, I was jealous. But—”

“You manipulated me,” she said in a low
voice.

“I kept you from getting hurt.”

Her eyes narrowed. “What would have really
happened if I decided I didn’t want to be with you?”

Alex hesitated. She would be angry at the
truth. “Anna, please—” He stepped forward and she stepped back.

“What would have happened?”

“You wouldn’t have chosen him,” he said
softly after a long pause. He wouldn’t lie to her.

“What do you mean?” Her eyes narrowed
further.

“You may have tried for a while to be with
him, but ultimately, you would have been with me. We’re bonded,
Anna. Sebastian said that’s why you could never get over me, even
though you desperately wanted to. If I had truly been dead, the
ties would have been severed and you would have been free. But
because I was alive, the bonds remained active and eventually you
would have returned to me.”

She stared at him, anger and hurt in her
eyes. “You mean I never really had a choice?”

Alex grimaced. “I did whatever I could to let
you have that choice,
Schatzi
. But...no, you didn’t.”

She stared at him a moment longer and then
left the room without another word. He heard the apartment door
open and close and his shoulders slumped.

“Seth!”

Seth’s curious face appeared in the
doorway.

“Follow her. Make sure she’s okay, but don’t
be seen. I want her safe, but she needs some space.”

Seth nodded and disappeared.

Alex sat heavily on the bed, head in his
hands. Would it have been better had he lied to her? No. She needed
the truth. It was the only way she would be able to trust him. He
would tell her the truth, no matter how much it hurt.

Anna slowly walked to the park and sat down
under a tree. It was getting late and the sun was going down, so
she only went a little way in. She knew better than to wander
around the park at night. It wasn’t as peaceful as she’d like, but
it was about as peaceful as it got in the middle of the city. She
sat quietly, watching the people hurry by as she tried to sort her
mind out.

She leaned her head back against the uneven
bark and sighed. She never really had a choice to make? She would
have ended up back with Alex regardless? She didn’t know how she
felt about that.

Part of her—no, all of her knew that she
belonged with Alex. But once again she was reminded that she wasn’t
really free. She had Masters. She was a slave. She had a cruel
Master and a kind Master. At least she was with the kind Master
now.

Was it really so bad to be stuck with Alex?
He loved her, he was good to her, and he was the sexiest man she’d
ever seen. As a slave, she couldn’t ask for more.

That was it, wasn’t it? She didn’t like being
a slave. That was the bottom line. That was the crux of it. She
wanted to be free, even if she was married to Alex. Being married
didn’t take away freedom; being tied to he and Devin as their slave
was what took away her freedom.

Alex was working to free that part of her.
That’s why he did what he did. If it weren’t for him, she would
have had no happiness in her life. She would have belonged to Devin
and he would have consumed her.

She shouldn’t be resentful towards Alex. It
wasn’t Alex’s fault things were the way they were. It wasn’t really
anyone’s fault, save Devin. And Alex promised he would take care of
Devin. He was the only one that could.

Anna looked up past the trees in the park.
She could see Alex’s building from here and saw the lights on
inside his condo. Had he gone home?

She needed to apologize.

Anna stared at the building from across the
street. The building was intimidating, even though it wasn’t very
tall. The elaborately carved entrance was guarded by four two-story
banded columns. And a doorman.

Could she get in? Was this her home now?
Would Alex let her in? There was only one way to find out.

The light changed and she crossed the street,
and then paused at the bottom of the marble steps that led to the
large wrought iron and glass door. A man in a black suit and hat
stood there and watching her curiously.

“Can I help you?” he asked politely.

“I—” Anna paused.

“Sam, this is Anna, Mr. Kunze’s wife.” A
familiar voice said from behind and she turned to see Seth walking
up behind her.

“Seth? What are you doing here?”

“Making sure you’re safe.”

“Were you with me the whole time?”

Seth nodded. “Only to keep you safe, Anna,”
he said, putting his hand on her shoulder. “Alex knew you needed
space, and respected that. But after what happened when you ran
away from the hotel....”