Aris Rising: The Court of Vampires: AN INFINITY DIARIES NOVEL

by Morgan, Devin

  He could swear he felt his Immortal non-beating heart pulsate at her words. “You will never have to be without me.” He reached across the table taking her two hands in his. “Super powers and Immortal. What can I say?” His laugh was soft as he lifted her hands, touching his lips first to one then the other.

  Color rose in her cheeks as she met his gaze.

  “So Sarah, how is it in your heart? Am I making any progress?”

  She was honest as she spoke. “I have so many feelings I didn’t know existed before and they confuse and delight me at the same time.”

  “Just know that I love you and I pray there will come a time when there is no confusion, only delight. I am waiting for that day. Until then I will remain your friend and will keep you safe.”

  CHAPTER 40

  DeMarco hadn’t been in touch with her since he left the country. He told her he would wait for her to contact him and he had held to his word. She missed his company yet was glad she didn’t have to deal with the confusion he brought into her life. So strange that a human man confused her while one of the undead made her feel safe and secure. She stared at her laptop for several minutes before she began the email. It was time to tell him. She was sure of her heart. She had no idea where her love would lead her, but she knew it was for Aris and Aris alone.

  His reply to her was brief. “I knew when I last saw you this would be your final decision. My travels to America are finished. DeMarco.”

  Special moments she had spent with him filled her mind. She sat quietly re-reading the words he had written. Sighing deeply, she deleted the email and closed her laptop.

  CHAPTER 41

  The three girlfriends sat around Colleen’s coffee table sprawled on pillows on the floor. They just finished planning their yearly camping trip and were excited about their plans.

  “I’m so glad we’re including Maggie and Gabriela this year.” Bonnie reached for a cracker, placing a small sliver of cheese and an olive slice on it before she popped it in her mouth.

  “Me too. I don’t know why we didn’t ask Maggie before now. Do you think she’ll come?” Colleen stretched her arms over her head then stood to check on her baby.

  Sarah stacked the random sheets of paper and the camping magazines in neat piles on the table as she spoke. “I hope so but now that she’s met Sam, I’m not so sure. She’s absolutely besotted with him.”

  “Besotted? Where the hell did you get that word?” Colleen looked at her friend as if she had two heads.

  “Just from some reading I’ve been doing, that’s all?”

  “So when do you have time to read? You and Carlos seem to be joined at the hip. And I hope you are. Literally.” She waited for an answer but Sarah wasn’t talking. “Well, are you?”

  “Honestly C, you’re nosey beyond belief. I’m not sharing that info yet even with you two.”

  “Aha, silence is consent. You are. Finally. I was beginning to worry about you, hon.”

  “Nothing to worry about here, C.” She spoke slowly while her thoughts raced. Soft kisses, being held tenderly. Being wrapped in strong arms. She wanted him in her bed, but she knew it was impossible. And the more she was with him, the deeper and stronger her passion grew. Sometimes she thought she would burst with desire for him. It was then her thoughts always returned to the Catacombs and her mortal life. The decision was hers and hers alone. Love had not yet become a strong enough motivator, but who can call the future. Only the Keeper of the Infinity Diaries.

  #

  “Well, Sarah, what do you think?” The walls of the huge room and the tall ceiling of the loft were painted white. The floor was very light thick wooden slats polished to a fine shine. She felt she was standing in the middle of a cloud. Somehow, it was so fitting for him.

  “I think it’s wonderful, Aris. It’s enormous. What are you going to do with all the space?”

  “Enjoy it while the commissions to do paintings just keep rolling in.” He laughed. “It’s been difficult to live in such small rooms as I have been. Remember, for centuries I lived without even the encumbrance of a body.” He took her arm to guide her to a tall window overlooking the city. “This loft is the first true home I have had in your time.”

  A welcome warm rain shower kissed the city, washing away the dust and grime that accumulates in metropolitan life. Everything looked brand new. The Chicago skyline was filled with mirrored buildings and now they reflected the rolling clouds that surrounded them. Sarah felt as if she were floating high above the traffic and noise below.

  “I will paint here. I will re-create on canvas a life I knew long ago. It makes me so happy to share it with you, to give you a glimpse of your own distant past.”

  “It’s so strange. Since my regression work with Bonnie, I can see it. I mean you and I together at court. And Anne. And Queen Katherine. Is life so full of surprises for all humans?”

  “It can be if humans open their minds to possibility. After all, Sarah, all things in life are nothing more than possibilities turned into an agreed reality, aren’t they?”

  She turned to him, wrapping her arms around his broad shoulders and kissed him. His mouth was warm, thick, inviting. His lush lower lip was as smooth as silk as she kissed him deeply. His taste was of no earthly man; sweet fruit and flowers, the damp warmth of clean forest air in summer. Her legs grew weak as he lifted her and carried her to the only furniture in the tremendous room, an ornate carved rosewood sofa.

  He laid her back into the lush cushions. Her hair tumbled to her shoulders as he released the clip holding her curls in check. His gentle fingers traced her eyebrows, her jawline. Lifting her chin, once more his lips found hers. She gasped as the tip of his warm tongue touched the soft velvet mound of the inside of her lower lip. Shyly, it peeked in and out of her quivering mouth. Her body flushed with desire. She pulled him toward her, overwhelmed with her need to feel his weight on her. Her kiss grew demanding. She reached her hand to touch the straining hardness pressing the front of his trousers.

  Grasping her wrist gently, he caressed her face. “No, my love. This intimacy is one thing that is not possible in reality. Not so long as you remain mortal.” He kissed the tear that pooled just under her eye. “I desire you with a passion that has lasted hundreds of years, yet I am unable to fulfill my eternal craving. I have kept my lovemaking to gentle, casual caresses out of fear of harming you. We must go no further. I am able to resist my need, but I cannot suffer yours. My desire to fulfill your yearning and to be unable to causes me great sorrow.” He stood, taking her hands and bringing her to her feet. “A walk in the cooling rain is exactly what we need right now.”

  Once outside his building they progressed down the wet street holding hands, but she was the only one under the umbrella. He walked next to her, his black hair glistening in the misting rain.

  CHAPTER 42

  SARAH HAGAN, transcript, session 8

  “Where are you Elizabeth?”

  “I am nowhere and everywhere. I am disembodied and surrounded by the reality of the universe. I am more alive than I have ever been yet without material form. Where am I? I know not. What am I? I know not.”

  “What can you see?”

  “Space. Dimensions. I see all things that were and all things that will be yet they are without form. Only thought. And yet not thought as there is no mind to think. There is only what I am and I am all, everything and nothing.”

  “Elizabeth, is this death?”

  “Death? Life? In this place, they are both one and the same as there is neither and both simultaneously.”

  “Are you alone?”

  “Since there is no me, there is no sense of alone. Since I have no body, I am all things and all things are a part of what I am.”

  “Are you afraid?”

  “In this place where I am, there is no fear, no want, no hate, no desire. There is only an all-encompassing feeling of peace that passes all human understanding. I am peace itself. I am one-ness. I am all.

  Bonnie
watched her friend, waiting for her to continue. To breathe. As she stared at her, she found no rise in her chest. No inhalation. She jumped from her chair and grabbed Sarah’s shoulders. “Come back to me, Sarah. Come back to real time.” There was no response. “Sarah. Sarah.” She was shouting, shaking her. “Come back to me!”

  Suddenly, gasping, the hypnotized woman blinked. “Bonnie, Bonnie.” When she opened her eyes, they were glowing with an unearthly ecstasy that terrified her friend. “Bonnie.” The word was slurred as Sarah slumped back on the couch, unconscious.

  #

  The paramedics finished the paperwork then assured the two friends it was nothing more than a fainting spell. They left Bonnie’s office as the women sat facing one another, sipping what was left of the cold tea in their cups.

  “Good grief, Sarah. I thought I’d lost you.”

  “For a minute, I think you did. I’ve never felt such peace. I would have stayed in that place forever, wherever it was.”

  “I think we’ve done our last past life on you, my precious friend. I never want to go through that again.”

  Sarah just smiled as she thought, “I think we will all go through that once in our life, just once. At the end of it.”

  #

  Sarah hadn’t discussed her latest regression with anyone, not even Aris. It was something that was somehow sacred to her and she held it close, veiled.

  She was anxious to have some quiet time to ponder her session. Her hasty good night to Gabriela was hardly civilized yet Gaby wasn’t offended. She knew her human friend was in therapy and she understood that sometimes her sessions left her drained. She said her good night and went to the guest room to telephone Richard.

  Sarah nestled into the comfort of her familiar bed as she remembered the feeling of unsurpassed peace she felt floating that afternoon without a body or a mind. Where was she? Was that really what death felt like or was it simply what her mind thought death would be like? Once again, questions. Since Carlos then Aris entered her life, it had been full of mysterious, enigmatic, perplexing questions. And now this. Was it her subconscious telling her she was ready to let go? To move into everlasting life with the only man she had ever really loved? And with thoughts swirling, making her more dizzy than she had been that afternoon, she drifted off to sleep.

  #

  Even in sleep she recognized the room. It was Aris’ loft. It was nighttime and the room was empty, devoid of furniture. The only light was from floor sconces holding huge, flaming, brightly lit candles and a full moon pouring light onto the shiny wooden floor. There were no external buildings to mar the landscape. The world outside was dark, unfathomable. From somewhere, she knew not exactly where, soft courtly music played as if from a living orchestra yet there was no one in the room except her.

  She was nude beneath a soft white bathrobe. Suddenly as happens only in a dream, he was there. Tall, dark. Her beloved. He, too, was dressed in a long, white robe, his beautiful feet bare against the cool wood of the floor. He wore the hooded collar over his head as if he had just stepped from the shower, his hair still wet. He reached his arms to her. Making no sound, she moved toward him. He opened his arms to enfold her. He held her close. She could smell the sweet clean scent of him and it stirred her. He kissed her softly then stepped away, taking her in his arms to dance. The soft music led them into a gentle waltz. Her feet barely touched the floor as he whirled her around the huge room. The candles flickered as they danced past, stirring the air around them.

  Faster and faster they spun until she was out of breath. She wasn’t sure if it was from the dance or the desire that filled her to overflowing.

  When at last they stopped the waltz, he leaned down to kiss her. She reached to slide the hood from his head. Her bitter scream filled the room when she saw that, instead of the face of her beloved beneath the hood of the robe, there was the death’s head of a skeleton. Was this her future? Skulls and bones, death and horror. Even in her sleep, her subconscious fell back on her personal mantra. “I’ll think about it in the morning. It will all be different in the morning.” She spent the rest of the night in dreamless slumber and when she woke up, she had forgotten the nightmare.

  CHAPTER 43

  Aris and Sarah spent a quiet evening waiting for Gabriela to return from the airport with Richard. A hard rain had just ended and the distant thunder was just a rumble as he held her close. Sarah still hadn’t told him about her session or her vision. She knew if anyone would understand, it would be Aris. She just wasn’t quite ready to discuss it, to bring it from that secret place inside of her to the real world. Whatever that might be. At last she fully understood that she had no true idea what was real and what wasn’t.

  She thought that Aris was real. And she was real. Or was she? She was certain she was real only when she was in his presence. Human. Vampire. Immortal. What did it matter as long as she was with him.

  She heard a key turn in the lock signaling their two friends were home. They both stood to welcome them.

  #

  He shook his head in disbelief as he spoke to his friend. “I do not know, Richard. I am not certain the time has come for me to return to the Catacombs.” The rain began again and splashed against the concrete of the balcony as they sat in Sarah’s cozy living room.

  “Aris, if ever it was time, it is now. It has become obvious that the Spanish coven intends to lay siege to the Catacombs. Can you fathom a vampire war under the streets of modern London? Can you imagine something of that magnitude becoming public knowledge? It will end our seclusion, our very way of life. The only answer is to take the conflict to the mountains of Spain where there is no human life. If we wait, the world will be in chaos. Humanity will know of our existence. We will be hounded and tested and driven from the planet. Akira will never stand for such treatment and we will have a full scale world war between Immortals and humans. We cannot have such an occurrence. It must not happen.”

  “Why do you think my going to the Catacombs and speaking with Akira will change any of that? I am but one.”

  “You know of war. Your human life was as a warrior. Your early Immortal life was as a great warrior. You have the only experience of our kind with conflict and battle. Akira needs you, we all need you. Please Aris, consider what you are saying.”

  “My God Richard, we are a society without hate, without weapons. How can I change centuries of a peaceful people into an army? There is no hope of that.”

  Gabriela paced behind her seated mate. At last she spoke. “Aris, this is the time. Now. Sebastian says Akira will stand for you in front of the Council. They will forgive you. They will take you back into the coven. They are in great need of a general. You are our last hope. Do not turn your back on those who love you, those who need you.”

  Aris looked into the eyes of the woman seated beside him. “Sarah? What do you say?”

  Richard stood, speaking from frustration. “She has no idea what to say. She has no true concept of the magnitude of the situation.”

  “Richard,” Sarah spoke. “I may not be an Immortal. I may not feel what you feel, but I know anguish and sorrow. I see both in your faces. You have stood by me, protecting a human, stepping into a life that is foreign to you to make sure I’m safe. You have been the embodiment of kindness. How can I stand in the way of your survival now? What would that make me?” She turned toward Aris. “Go to London. Go to the Catacombs. Meet the Council. Aid your people. I will be here waiting when the decision is made.”

  Anguish rang in his voice when he spoke. “Sarah, you don’t know what you are asking. The last time I left you to go to the Catacombs I lost you for centuries. I fear that loss more than I fear extinction.”

  “It won’t happen again. We’re wiser. It’s a different time. No one can tear us apart. I’ll be here waiting for you to share whatever we have for as long as we can share it.”

  “Please, Aris, at least allow Sebastian to see you, to speak with you.” Richard spoke out.

  “Sebastian?
Here? In Chicago?”

  “Yes, he returned with me. He waits at the hotel for your answer.”

  The room was silent except for the sound of distant thunder and rain beating down on the patio.

  “Alright. I will see him.”

  “Shall we go now? He waits impatiently to see his brother once again.”

  “I will stay here with Sarah.” Gabriela rose from her seat to stand behind her roommate.

  “I want to go along.” Sarah reached for his hand.

  “No. You wait here. I may be there for many hours. You and Gabriela stay home. Have dinner. You must sleep. I will return at the end of the evening.”

  “No matter what time it is?”

  “No matter the time.” He kissed her gently. “Now rest.”

  The two Immortal men left her apartment and she had never felt smaller or more insignificant in her human world than she did in that moment.

  CHAPTER 44

  “I still don’t get it Sarah. What’s Carlos doing going to London?”

  “I told you, C, John Marshall is trying to set up a showing for him over there. He paints English history. John thinks the timing is great. The article just came out about him and there’s huge interest in his work right now. This could be an enormous break for him.” She ached to tell her best friend the truth about her secret life, but she knew she would never be able to do it. Colleen could never believe her.

  “Yeah?” Colleen peeled back the white paper on her hot dog as the two women sat on a park bench, the shade of a huge green maple tree sheltering them from the sun. “So, why aren’t you going with him?”

  Sarah asked herself that same question time and again. After his meeting with Sebastian, the decision was made. He must return. It seemed he was the only hope the Immortals had against an army; not one of them had his expertise in weaponry and hand-to-hand combat. The only way to kill a vampire was by a stake in the heart and the only way to extinguish them forever was with fire. A vampire war in the streets of London was unthinkable. It must be waged in the wilds. The Immortals had never known war. They had no weapons, no training. Every day his kind sat underground in seclusion and did nothing was a day closer to destruction.