‘Oh, Garrot, no! Please, no!’
Everly? No, I don't want her to watch this. I wish I could communicate with the guys, tell them to take her away. That she shouldn't have to see someone she knows die like this. Something wet plops onto my arm, the cold of it soothing until it dries, and I’m left wanting to lift my hand to wipe her tears away. My Everly, so soft and sweet. A badass when she needed to be, but full of love and kindness the rest of the time.
There’s so much I want to show her. Having lived for one hundred years, we've pretty much seen everything, been everywhere. But with her, everything could be brand new again. Seeing it through her eyes, everything would look completely different. But now, that won't be possible. At least not for me. All the battles I've fought and won, and I've never come close to being bitten. Just as we find the woman fated to bind our souls for eternity, I’m going to be ripped away from the three people I love most in this world.
The soft silk leaves my arm and the agony returns tenfold. My back arches off the hard surface I’m lying on. I can't stop the scream that tears itself free from my throat. I feel the liquid lava rolling through my innards, reducing organs in its path to nothing but burnt cinders. The last thing to be burnt away will be my skin. Cool water slips past my dry, cracked lips, soothing my parched throat.
I try to focus on those that I love. Karl is three years older than Leyland and me. He’s always been the one we look to for anything and everything. He's always had a temper, but he never once directed his anger at us. The man with a plan, always. He taught himself how to fight when he turned twelve, honing his craft until Le and I turned thirteen. Then he taught us all he knew. By that time, my dad was a shell of the man we once knew. My mother left me on his doorstep as an infant. Leyland’s dad was gone too. We only had each other. When we started to learn how to defend ourselves and our town, dad picked up the pieces of himself.
Karl never knew his parents. He was abandoned when he was born, in a remote village in Scotland. As if Alan knew what was coming, which was impossible because he was only a human, Alan gathered the three of us together, and we took the perilous journey to Scarborough. That same day, our village burned to the ground. Everyone we knew was killed by Poseidon's Selkie army. Leyland had the good fortune to know who his mother was. Venus, the Goddess of Love. She’d contacted him a few times over the years, but only through cupid’s arrow. She’s never once visited him. No one knew anything about my parents. Not a single relative came forward to claim me, so Alan took care of me and Leyland too. Karl moved out when he was sixteen, only to come back at nineteen when Alan met his second wife, May.
Le and I got our own places when we turned twenty. We saw each other every single day anyway, of course. We soon learnt if we spent more than five years away from Alan, he would age like a normal mortal. So, we would come back to live with him every four years to stop the process. We all moved to Whitby for a ten-year period. Since we weren’t ageing, we didn't want the locals to become suspicious. The ageing process stopped when Le and I turned twenty-five, and Karl had been twenty-eight.
We kept to ourselves, mostly. Both Karl and I never slept with the same girl twice. That makes us sound like male slags, but in all honesty, it was beyond our control. We had needs as men, so we sated them with the willing. But we’d never shared our lives or our hearts with those women. The fact of the matter was they were not our fated. Sure, I thought once or twice I was in love with a woman or two over the past eighty years. But it never came even close to what I feel for Everly. Commitment was a dirty word in my mind back then.
Everly, my sweet angel. When I think of her, I see two little red-haired children with green and blue eyes. Laughing and running around a big field, the sun shining down on their hair making them appear as two flaming children, wildflowers and grass fill the space around them. I can tell by their height differences that they are a few years apart. The children are ours. Everly’s, Leyland’s, and mine. My family. Everly sits cross legged in the grass, watching the children play, a soft silver light around her. Karl, with a brown light around his feet, stands in front of a big BBQ, a beer in his hand. Leyland is picking wildflowers for our girl, a faint pink light coming from his chest.
I’m standing on the porch of a large cottage-type house, its walls are white and made of wood. I'm fixing a sign to the wall near the door that reads, ‘Love lives here’. Our home. The sense of peace in my heart is something I've never known before. Ever stands and scoops the smallest child in her arms, a little girl. When they run my way, I can see Everly is heavily pregnant, her body beautifully round with child. Karl’s child my mind provides. I want nothing more than the picture I see in my mind to become reality. My heart squeezes tight in my chest.
The future in my fantasy will never be a reality now. I cry out, not from the pain this time. I scream from the injustice of it all as the acid in my body melts the beautiful picture in my heart. As if her name in my mind had called her to me, I feel her soft hand on my arm again. The pain eases back enough for me to fill my lungs with air.
“We’re going to help you, Garrot. I can save you. Just let me in, please let me in,” her sweet voice calls to me from the darkness in my mind.
Chapter Fourteen
KARL
As the light dies down, I see that Everly is still in Leyland's arms. He's on his knees with his eyes closed, a peaceful look on his face. I have no idea what the fuck just happened. but all the Selkies are ashes in the wind, and both of them are ok.
“Le, we have to get to Garrot before... we have to move, now.” He practically jumps to his feet and we take off running, hoping it's not too late to say our goodbyes.
As we arrive back at the house, we’re all horrified by Garrot's screams reaching our ears through the walls. He must be in absolute agony. I've seen my brother cut open, bones broken, head smashed in. Never once did I ever hear him call out, let alone scream.
Everly’s sobs break my heart in two. It's almost more than I can bear. Tears roll down my cheeks as I look at my brother’s writhing body on the dining table. His clothes are soaked with sweat, his lips are dry and cracked.
Jesus, Garrot. I walk into the kitchen and get a new sponge from under the sink, then pour a glass of water. When I get back in the room, Everly is stroking Garrot’s arm. His face is contorted in agony. Her fingers trail up and down his thick forearm. Ripping a bit of the sponge off to dip it into the water, I touch Everly on the shoulder.
“Put this to his lips and let the water drip onto them. All we can do is try and make him a little more comfortable. Painkillers don't work on immortals.” I don't care about secrets at this moment.
“Immortals, huh. If he can't be killed then... how is he dying?” Her voice sounds broken. I try to catch her eyes, but she won't even look me in the face.
“Selkie poison is a killer of all life, except that of the Gods,” I say absently, my eyes on my brother’s face.
“Please help, just kill me,” Garrot forces between his clenched teeth. Fuck me, tears are streaming down my face again. There’s no way any of us have the willpower to kill Garrot, mercy killing or not. We can't do it.
“Where are you? Where is my son?” Garrot’s dad’s voice booms through the house. I meet him in the hallway, guiding him to the all-white dining room. I expect him to break down, scream, shout... something. What I don’t expect is for him say,
“Everly, move away.” My head swings to him so fast I get dizzy. His voice held no malice. No, he sounded... hopeful? “Le, did you take this woman as your consort?” Alan asks calmly.
“Yes, she’s my fated consort but what...” Le replies.
“Brilliant. Everly, I believe you’re my son’s mate. The boys, they’re connected in more ways than just growing up together. Their mothers were best friends. Leyland and Garrot’s mothers fell pregnant on the same day, ironically giving birth on the same day too. I don't know if you know this, but all three boys have the same birthday, except Karl is three years
older. October twenty-fifth. Fate did that, she had a hand in all of this. She chose these three for...” he runs a hand through his grey peppered hair, exhaustion making his eyelids droop. “It was foretold that three warrior brothers would meet their Queen on land, near the sea she herself was born in. I don't have time for the whole story right now, but I need you to reach into Garrot’s heart and pull the poison out with your mind.”
Holy fuck! I did not expect that.
Everly
I can't help it, I burst out laughing. Take the poison out with your mind. Bloody hell, this guy is crackers. While I'm at it, I'll just float myself to France for croissants and coffee. Yeah, I'll get right on that! My face must say what I'm thinking because he continues.
“It sounds crazy, I know, but it's possible. He must let you into his heart. You have to truly want to save him. Love can save him, if you're willing to try. There’s a lot more to this story, Everly Davis, but we don't have time right now to tell you.” Alan sounds absolutely serious. Garrot cries out again. Every time he does, it sounds more agonized than the last.
“Tell me what to do, Sir, and I'll do it,” I tell him, beg him. Without premise he grabs me, one hand on each side of my face. I'm zapped back in time.
An all too familiar view enters my mind’s eye. The same cliff, sea, and shadows as always. Only this time, a woman stands before me. Her flame-red locks cascading, in a net, down the front of her chest. She has a crab and shellfish adorning the top of her head. My gasp almost breaks the connection, making the image waver. The woman looks me right in the eyes and speaks in a rushed, low voice I recognize.
“Alan, you must keep the boys safe. My daughter will come for them, she will need them to help her fight her father. They are her consorts. She will connect to them through their heartbeats and it will bind the four of them together for eternity. But Garrot will not make it.” She pauses and looks around like she’s expecting an attack any minute, urgency lacing her voice. Tears land on my hand and when I look down they are a man's hands, not my own. Am I Alan?
“Tell me , Amphitrite, all of it, but make haste,” Alan’s voice croaks.
“She must enter his mind, but she must be pure of heart. If she does not love your son truly, then he will die.” The crab on her hair moves and starts to clap its claws together. “I must go, dear Alandio. Delphine approaches, Oceanus calls me. This day, in a decade, my blood will mix with your blood, and the world shall be saved in time. Your son may survive, but at a great cost to my offspring.” She plants a soft, chaste kiss to my lips, Alan’s lips, then walks to the edge of the cliff, the one that I've grown to know so well. She turns and very quietly says, “You are not as you seem, my child. You will rule the seas. Kill your father, before he kills you!” Then she jumps off the cliff into the abyss below.
Alan lets go of my face. As soon as he does, I'm back in the room with my guys and Alan. I look to Leyland. His face is wet with tears, and he engulfs me in his strong arms.
“Is it possible, sweet Everly?” he asks, hope lacing his voice. Karl moves to stand behind me and embraces us, holding us both in his long arms. I feel... the earth under my feet, the water in the pipes running through the walls. I feel lonely people and joyous hearts; it all comes rushing into me like a train on the loose. I can hardly breathe. We stay like that for long moments until I hear a cry of agony. At that sound, my eyes snap open. I look up into Leyland’s glowing pink eyes. Turning in their arms, I see Karl’s eyes are glowing with a brown light.
We stand side by side over Garrot’s body. Leyland takes my left hand; Karl takes my right. Alan is on the other side of the table with a sharp looking knife in his hands.
“We’re going to help you, Garrot. I can save you. Just let me in, please let me in!” I say as Alan slices off his shirt. We lean over Garrot. As we do, light pours from our hands, soaking into his skin. We each gasp and moan. It's intense and sharp. My pussy clenches and the guys adjust themselves with their free hands. It's almost orgasmic, the feeling the light brings with it. We stand there for what feels like hours, pouring our love for this man into his chest. The whole time I think back over the past few weeks.
The way he smiled at me the day we first met, like a man dying of thirst and I was the cold glass of water that would save his life. How hard he fought his feelings for me, giving me the time I needed to adjust to being with them both. All the while showing me in small ways how much he cared: the extra touches, the compliments. How, when he looks at me, it feels like I'm the only woman in the whole world. I think about how his soul calls to mine, how it tells me this man would keep me safe for the rest of my life, how I could trust him.
I tried to convince myself I didn't love him, that I couldn't. Not in such a short space of time. But now that I’ve opened my heart, I can see I’m in love with Garrot, just as much as I’m in love with Leyland. Their lights are inside my heart. I actually see them. Garrot’s is an electric blue, while Leyland’s is a soft pink. They both have a piece of my soul. They're mine and I'm theirs. For eternity. I also see I have love for Karl too. It’s smaller than the other two lights inside me, but it’s there. Karl’s is a soft, earthy brown. There’s a mass of swirling light. The guy's colours are mixed in with a sparkly silver one. Is that me? It’s beautiful. I try to grab hold of it all in my mind’s eye, imagining it travelling down my arm and through my hands into Garrot’s chest. Please, let this work. I can't lose him. I love him.
Everyone in the room is crying, my own sobs echoing off the walls. Please come back to us, Garrot. I love you. A drop of blood falls off my finger to land in the wound on his chest. The whole house shakes as blue light fills the room. His eyes suddenly flash open. We all gasp in shock as he bolts upright and kisses me so hard our teeth knock together.
Chapter Fifteen
GARROT
The darkness I've been trapped in explodes with searing lights; brown, pink, and a swirling silver. It's so beautiful. I feel it wrap around my heart. It's warm and comforting.
Home. The pain begins to dissipate. My organs repair. I feel myself relaxing. My muscles unbunching. My mind starts to clear.
Home. Love. I feel hands on me, hear sobs filling the room. I smell Everly. Is this what dying feels like? If so, I wish it had come sooner because it feels like ecstasy flowing through my body. I actually feel my dick getting hard. Shit, I'm about to die with a boner! Ah well, at least they will know I died happy. My body shakes as pure power flows through my veins.
Yes! I see their faces in my mind’s eye. Shit, they’re all crying and laughing at the same time. Oh wait, those are not in my mind. My eyes are actually open. I’m seeing the three people who I love more than anything in this world. I'm alive! I bolt upright, grab my girl, and plant a passionate kiss on her lips, harder than I intended. I taste her sweet blood on my tongue.
“Everly,” I say pulling back from her lips. I swing my legs over the side of the table and turn my eyes to Leyland, his face wet with tears, and grab the back of his head to pull him in for a swift kiss. Next, I kiss Karl.
“Thank you all, so much. How did you...? I thought I was a goner.” With a half laugh, half sob, I pull them all close to me with the intention of never letting them go, ever again. Behind me, I hear my dad clear his throat.
“Dad, come here, old guy.” He walks around the table, his face wet with tears too. I let go of Everly, Leyland, and Karl, then grab him and kiss his cheek. Fuck me, everyone I love is here. They saved me. I narrowly escaped the final death. I couldn't be more thankful to the four heroes surrounding me.
AFTER MAKING US ALL brews and making sure I really am all right, Dad tells me he has to get back. When he got the call, he was in the middle of plastering Everly’s ceiling. After I told him she moved into the old house on Sands Lane, he wanted to help. He said he knew her mother and already had a key to the place.
“I just grabbed the keys to the Jeep and ran out the door. Shit, I didn’t even lock it. I need to get back there and lock up. I’ll see
the four of you tomorrow sometime. Everly, I promise I’ll tell you everything I know tomorrow, to all of you,” he says from the doorway.
A laugh bursts from me. More like he felt what was in the air between the four of us and decided to leave us to it. The sexual tension was more than I’d ever experienced in my long life; you could cut it with a knife. Karl healed Everly’s wounds while Dad made us brews. I have no idea how she survived a Selkie bite, but I'm fucking thankful she did. Not just because she saved me, but also because this world would’ve been poorer without her.
The loss of her beautiful inner light and her kind, loving soul would’ve made life a living hell for my brothers and I. The only explanation we could come up with, was the selkie that had bitten her was a female. They don't carry poison in their saliva. Only the males do. The strange thing is, we’ve never seen a female warrior before. But then, who knows in this fucked up world we live in; the one we have selfishly dragged this amazing woman into?
“I'm going to take a shower, I stink like old socks,” I say to the three of them on a laugh. They’re all sitting on the floor together, Everly holding both their hands and talking in a soft voice. Everly locks eyes with me. Does she...? I dip my chin. If she’s asking to join me, I’m saying fuck yes.
“Help yourself to stuff in there, mate. I'll put some clothes on the bed in the guest room for you. Ever, I don't have anything that’ll fit you, but I'll find something with a drawstring around the waistband. Le, you want to help with getting some food together?” Karl asks as if he’s addressing his squadron. He gives Leyland a pointed look and they both smile knowingly.
I take Everly’s hand in mine as we climb the white stairs in silence. We walk into the bathroom and close the door.
“Ever...”
The Everly Davis chronicles Page 10
