There was no one else immortal like me.
Well, other than Freya of course. All her vampiric abilities relied on blood-drinking to work, but she was the closest there existed to someone being like me…with the added benefit of being really strong and having heightened senses.
When I didn’t say anything, she continued. “But I think your father really loved her,” she whispered. “And you too.”
I shrugged. “Maybe. I guess it doesn’t matter now though.”
She sighed heavily again. “Well, it might matter after you hear the next part.”
“There’s more?” I asked in disbelief.
She nodded, taking another sip of her coffee. “Sam, we’ve got a lot to cover. This is just the beginning of it.”
I sat back in my seat as I considered that. “You must really like me to put so much effort into all of this.”
Unexpectedly, her expression became vulnerable and she looked away.
“I’m not saying it’s a bad thing,” I clarified.
Freya took a moment to collect herself and then nodded silently, reaching out to flip to the next page. Her eyes were reserved now, with just a hint of fear.
I quickly grabbed her hand in mine to get her attention. She froze instantly, like she was paralyzed by my touch. “Freya,” I whispered, gently rubbing my thumb over hers. “What’s wrong?”
She held my gaze for a moment before looking away again. Her voice was barely above a whisper as she spoke. “I do my best to control myself, but I have a horrible tendency to be impulsive…and…” She took a deep breath and then held it.
“Freya, you can tell me. What are you afraid of?”
She finally let her breath out with a long sigh. “A lot of things,” she whispered. “Rejection mostly. Afraid you’ll hate me, or find me repulsive.”
I smirked. “Freya, I’ve seen you at your scariest and yet I can still safely say that you and ‘repulsive’ are two planes of existence that don’t touch. And hate you? You kidnapped me, and did some pretty shady things while you were at it, yet I didn’t even hold a grudge for a full minute.”
“Which is hard for me to understand,” she admitted. “Even after seeing your memories. Most people aren’t like that.”
I nodded in agreement. “I’m not most people though. I’ve lived so long that I just stopped worrying about most things. It’s really difficult to offend me, and honesty you’ve never even come close despite everything.”
She tightened her grip on my hand underneath hers, but was quiet as she considered that. “As I said, I have the tendency to be impulsive – it’s why I kidnapped you even though I risked ruining everything I had built.” She paused. “That, and…” She bit her bottom lip. “I also have the tendency to become a little…obsessive.”
“Oh,” I sat up straighter. “Okay.”
“Okay?” She asked in disbelief, looking at me again.
I shrugged. “I mean, can you elaborate on that? Is your obsessive nature fickle? Do you switch from one obsession to the next? And how exactly does it relate to me?” I cleared my throat. “I mean, I assume it must be related to me, since you seem…well, like you’re afraid you’re going to scare me off.”
She nodded hesitantly. “I am afraid,” she said quietly. “Because it’s not fickle. When I become obsessed about something…or someone…” She took a deep breath. “It doesn’t just go away. Like…ever.”
“Oh,” I paused as I considered that. “I guess that’s good for me then.”
She blinked at me a few times. “Are you serious?”
“I mean, I guess it means you won’t cheat on me, right?”
She leaned forward and pressed her forehead into her free hand, with her elbow on the table. She looked like she was going to pass out.
Now I was confused. “Did I say something wrong?”
She just shook her head. “First, I can’t do that anyway, remember? And second…” She sighed, before seeming to give up on an elaborate explanation. “Yes, basically that means I won’t cheat on you…even if I could.” Her gaze intensified then. “It’s sort of like being infatuated, except it never goes away. Like imprinting for a duckling.”
I grinned at her, hoping to lighten her mood. “So who’s the duckling here, me or you?”
She shook her head in disbelief again. “I’m a hundred and thirty-eight years older than you Sam. What do you think?”
My grin widened. “Yeah, but you’re the one imprinting, not me.”
A smile finally touched her lips. “So you want to be the dominate one, is that it?”
I let go of her hand and held both of mine up defensively. “Hey, I never said that. I’ll gladly be the duckling. Or cub, or whatever.”
Her grin matched mine for a few seconds, before her amusement faded and she looked back down at the folders.
I sighed heavily. “Is this stuff really so important?”
“You don’t think it is?” She asked in surprise.
“I mean, it’s all in the past. Like, two-hundred years ago. I do my best to focus on the present, avoiding the past entirely and only loosely considering the future.”
She nodded in agreement. “I can understand that, especially considering the horrors your past holds…” She paused when I made a face. “Sorry again,” she whispered, referring to her forced mind-reading with her third eye.
I grabbed her hand again. “Difficult to offend me, remember? Besides, you made it up to me afterwards.”
“If you say so,” she replied, sounding doubtful.
“What else is there?” I asked seriously, trying to move the primary conversation along.
She brought her free hand up to lay it on mine holding hers. She then stared at our folded hands while she considered my question. “I guess I’ll just summarize then, and you can decide if you want to know the details.”
I nodded in agreement.
“There’s a large life insurance policy in Amira’s name with you, Sampson Archer, as the contingency beneficiary. Just another piece of evidence I dug up to support that you were once Samad. I’m not sure why they never contacted you about it, but it’s still valid even after all this time. Granted, if your infant mind suddenly found itself in an adult body, then maybe you weren’t mentally capable of accepting it back then.”
I shrugged. “After almost two-hundred years of inflation, I can’t imagine it’s worth much now.”
She shook her head. “Yeah, no. Sam you’re going to want to try to cash in on it, because it’s still worth a lot even in today’s money.”
“Oh,” I blinked in surprise.
She continued. “There are also a lot of other small details I wanted to discuss about your life, but I think I should just skip that for now and get to the reason why this is so urgent.” She took a deep breath. “The villain who was responsible for killing your mother, as well as trying to kill her child Samad…has connections to the villain who killed your daughter, and by extension your wife.”
I sucked in a sharp breath. “But those two incidents are separated by…” I tried to do the mental math, but Freya had already done it.
“Sixty-six years to be exact. Your body was twenty-six when Amira and Samad died, and your wife and daughter died when you were ninety-two.”
“How are they connected exactly? And what do you think it means?”
She tightened her grip on my hands. “The same shadow company paid them both a large sum of money just before the attack.”
“Shadow company?”
She nodded. “It’s a shadow because it’s a dead end. There’s no evidence to suggest who owns it, but I did discover that it might – and this is a big might – be located in the middle east.”
I felt the blood rush out of my face, my mind working frantically. “So it’s possible…” I took a deep breath, feeling my head start to spin. “That Amira’s family hired someone to kill her…and then hired someone to kill her lover and his new family years later?”
She nodded sl
owly. “Or the Arab prince who she was once engaged to.”
18: A Betrayal Worth Killing For
I felt my blood boil as I considered that the Arab prince who my mother had denied might have stolen her life, as well as the life of my wife and daughter. The sharp memory of my daughter burning alive in my arms made me exceptionally pissed, especially now that I knew it might have been an attack intentionally directed towards them.
“But it’s more than that,” Freya continued, after I had a few seconds to process my anger. “The guy who stuck you in a statue? It took a long time for me to narrow down the villains who it might have been, but it helped that I had your memory to work with. I finally recognized him, and it turns out that the same shadow company paid him off too.”
She let me consider that for a few minutes. However, after a while I finally realize that she wasn’t waiting on me. She was hesitating now, afraid to continue.
“What else?” I finally asked.
She shook her head. “You’re really not going to like it,” she whispered.
“Just tell me Freya.”
She sighed. “These are all incidents that happened over a century ago…but I’ve found evidence that they’re still active. I don’t know why, but I think whoever is responsible for this is still after you – still silently stalking you from the shadows.” She paused. “Well, really stalking you from their grave since I doubt the original person is still alive. I think they realize they can’t kill you, so instead they’re just trying to make your life a living hell.” Her face abruptly grew concerned. “Which means Lily might be in danger from them.”
I stood up so fast I didn’t even realize I had done it. It was like one second I was sitting, and the next I wasn’t. The fastest I’d ever moved.
It was only half a second later that I realized my body had a delayed response – that I was standing while my body was still sitting. I gasped in surprise as my second-sight merged with my eyes again, having been briefly separated.
Freya misunderstood the reaction, having seen me stand up quickly, but at normal speed. “It’s not that urgent,” she reassured me. “I definitely needed to tell you immediately, but I don’t think Lily is in any danger right this minute.”
I shook my head, trying to collect my scattered thoughts. “Freya, I just had an out-of-body experience.”
“I know you’re worried,” she agreed. “I’ll help you protect her of course, but I think she’s safe for now. If anything, they might wait until you’ve had a kid with her before they attack. That seems to be a pattern at least.”
I looked down at her, my gaze intense. “No.” I paused. “I mean, yes, thank you. But, no. Freya, I just had an out-of-body experience, literally.”
She stared at me for a few seconds, before her eyes widened in shock. “Like, you actually left your body?”
I nodded. “I stood. My body didn’t keep up.”
She leaned away slightly, and looked me up and down like she was reevaluating me all over again. “Well,” she finally said, “I guess that confirms a lot of what I suspected. We should probably investigate the implications of that ability, but not right now. I’ve still got a few important things to tell you. I haven’t even told you the most urgent part yet.”
“Oh,” I quickly sat back down, staying in my body this time. “I’m sorry. Just the idea that Lily was in danger…”
She nodded in understanding. “I get it. She’s been my best friend for fourteen – almost fifteen – years now. I don’t want anything bad to happen to her either. But that’s the thing. You need to know who you can trust, and who you can’t. And right now, you’ve got people in your life who you shouldn’t be trusting.”
“Who?” I wondered seriously. “Other than you and Lily, the only people I’m around are my coworkers.”
“Exactly.” She agreed. “I took the time to dig into each of their lives, and I discovered that someone has been getting yearly deposits from the same shadow company. The very first payment happened right before you were involved in an avalanche.”
I gasped, not ready to hear what she was about to say.
“One of your coworkers is getting paid to keep tabs on you – you know him as Nick…Nick Parker.”
Holy shit.
HOLY SHIT!
That son of a bitch! Like hell was I getting his bistin out the resonator again!
My expression darkened, my tone cold. “Exactly how strong are you Freya?” I asked seriously.
Her crimson eyes widened in surprise by my sudden hostility. She’d never seen me angry before – not really angry. Not pissed. Not homicidal.
At least now she knew I wasn’t lying when I said it took a lot to offend me. Logically, I understood that Nick might not know what he was involved in, but in that moment the memory of my daughter’s death was colliding with the knowledge that my supposed friend was involved with it.
“W-Well,” she stuttered, leaning away in shock, “it depends on how recently I’ve eaten, but I don’t think I’m as strong as him. He’s a top tier super in the super-strength category. Honestly, I’m not even sure why he doesn’t get a job as a superhero. Sure, he’s not much to look at, but with strength like that…” She trailed off.
My hand was clamped tight into a fist on the table. I spoke between my clenched teeth. “Well, I’m sure he’s not fireproof. Damn that bastard.”
Freya abruptly leaned forward and grabbed my fist in her hands. “Sam,” she whispered, “you have every right to be angry, but he’s not the real enemy. I need you to stay calm if we’re ever going to get to the people truly responsible for this.” My fist didn’t loosen as my rage surged inside of me.
She continued. Hesitant. “Sam…I love you…”
Her tone. The way she said it.
I looked up at her immediately, feeling my anger come back within my control. Her expression was pained. But why? Was she upset that I was upset? No, it was more than that. I leaned forward, readjusting my chair so I could get closer, and pulled her into my arms. “What’s wrong?” I whispered into her ear.
She just shook her head against my shoulder, wrapping her arms tightly against me.
“I’m sorry,” I said, gently reaching up to caress the back of her head. “I didn’t mean to scare you.” Though, I wasn’t sure why she would be. I was nowhere near as strong as her. “I’m okay now,” I promised. “I’ll do what you need. The memory of my family still haunts me, but I know there’s nothing I can do to bring them back. You and Lily are my family now.”
She pulled away and looked up at me then, a tear just barely on the edge of slipping out of her eye. She wiped it away before it could.
“What’s wrong?” I repeated.
She took a deep breath. “It’s not you. I’ve just…” she bit her bottom lip. “My father was a very angry man – consumed with it for as long as I knew him. It didn’t help that he was a mind-reader. It only fueled the fire.”
“Angry, as in he neglected you? Or angry, as in…he hit you?” I tried to clarify.
She looked down at our intertwined knees. “A little of both,” she admitted. “He died almost three-hundred and fifty years ago, when I was seven years old, but sometimes the worst memories stick with us.” She paused, glancing up at me apologetically, her volume disappearing. “Well, I guess you understand that.”
I nodded. “How did he die?” I wondered absentmindedly.
Her expression darkened.
“Oh.” I hesitated. “Do you feel guilty about it?”
She shook her head. “Not at all.” But then her eyes grew sad. “Although I lost my family afterwards. Even though I was trying to protect my little brother and sister, they were all horrified by what they’d seen me do. I mean…” She paused. “I literally turned into a monster…”
I laughed unexpectedly, and then clamped my hand over my mouth, my eyes wide. “I am so sorry. That was not funny. I don’t know why I did that.” She looked at me confused, but didn’t seem upset. I continued, tryi
ng to explain myself. “I guess, I just found it a little amusing imagining a little girl version of you transforming like you do…though I know that’s super distasteful.” I paused. “That, and I think it’s amusing that in a world of supers, we’re both a couple of monsters of legend. Unlike most.”
She smiled then, seeing how I could be amused. Her tone was unexpectedly cheerful. “The vampire and the lich. I guess we’re perfect for each other, aren’t we?” However, after a moment, her eyes grew sad again.
I clasped her hands in mine over our knees and changed the subject. “So, what do you need me to do?”
She straightened and nodded. “Right now, my only lead is your coworker Nick. Obviously, someone had to contact him to set this arrangement up. So we need to figure out who that contact is.”
“Do you want me to confront him?” I asked hesitantly. “Because I don’t think he’s going to flat out tell us.”
She nodded in agreement. “No, I plan on being more discrete than that.” She reached up and tapped her forehead in the exact spot where I knew her third eye was hidden inside her skull.
I gawked at her. “How?” I asked in disbelief, knowing she couldn’t just activate it whenever. She had to drink someone’s blood or else it functioned just like a normal eye.
“Easy,” she said cheerfully. “You’re going to invite him over to hang out and slip something in his drink. Once he’s out, I’ll…” she quickly lowered her voice, glancing around. “Drink your blood and search his mind.” She spoke louder again. “He’ll never know it happened, thinking he just passed out from the alcohol.”
I stared at her in disbelief. “Wow,” I began, before grinning at her. “You’re a little terrifying.”
Her eyes widened in shock, before she focused on my curved lips and then smiled too. Her tone was still cheerful. “You have no idea,” she laughed, although there was a slight edge to it.
“But I’m okay with that,” I clarified.
“Which part?” She wondered. “My eccentric and devious nature? Or the plan?”
“Both.” I said simply. And I meant it.
The Daily Struggles of an Immortal Page 12
