Immortal Beauty

by Thomas McDermott

  “I am too darling.” The word sounded very natural even though it was the first time he had ever used it with her.

  “Taylor. You’ve got to know something.” She was completely serious now. “I am not going to stay here in this house. There are just too many memories and I just want my simple little life back. I want to be Sasha again, not Helene, not Nyoirin or whoever else I might have been. I want to be who I am now and nothing more!” She was getting worked up now.

  “Do you understand where I’m coming from?” She wasn’t sure she wanted to hear his answer.

  “Yes Sasha, I know exactly where you are coming from. I would give anything to turn back the clock and just be Taylor Hamilton again, but I can’t do that. None of us can! We’re something else now. Something more.” There it was again. He was sounding more and more like Celine and this bothered her deeply. The waters were seductive indeed! She wondered if all of them were in the same danger of becoming power hungry and mad like the red haired beauty downstairs. Could this be one of the side effects of this eternal fountain?

  “I’m not. I’m just me.” She was all fact now. “ I am going back to the States and getting a job and I’m going to live a normal life with all it’s risks and all of it’s uncertainties. This time I am going to grow old and hopefully have children and free myself of this connection to the damned water.” She couldn’t stop now that she started. “It’s what I want more than anything else. I’ve just begun to realize it lately.” She looked at him intently. “A simple life is the most exciting thing I can imagine.” She smiled at him and hoped he would understand. “Do you get that?”

  “Honey, I do get it. I just don’t know if that is a reality for any of us now.” His eyes were lit with a strange light that bothered Sasha.

  “Taylor, if there is one thing I have learned in this, or any other lifetime is that I can do whatever I set my mind to. If I want a normal life then I am going to have one and I pity anyone who tries to get in my way.” She laughed at her own ego, but she knew it was true. “Nothing can stop me.”

  “Alright! Alright! I believe that. I mean, look at what you did tonight.” He reached out and pulled her close to him. “I will never be able to thank you for that.” He kissed her gently.

  “You could try.” Sasha laughed again as her hands ran over Taylor’s chest. For a time their talking ceased and was replaced by something more primitive and more intimate than words could ever be. As their bodies moved together on the satin sheets they were able to say more to each other without speaking at all. For the first time in her life, Sasha knew that she was loved for who she really was, whoever that might be, and the feeling was fantastic.

  Morning showed a cloudy Paris that threatened more rain. The air was cooler than it had been the last few days and a slight dampness filled the house. Virginie sent the other servants to see that there were fires burning in all of their rooms. That helped a great deal to make the house dry and comfortable. One by one the current occupants of the house rose and eventually gathered in the great room to be greeted by the smell of bacon and sausage and omelets frying in their pans. Hot coffee was poured in the delicate cups and they sat together at the large table by the windows. Claire was the last one to the table, coming in from the outside looking ethereal and distracted. She could not bring herself to sleep in the same house as Celine and preferred nature to man made structures. All this luxury made her uncomfortable. She sat down silently as helped herself to the dark, rich coffee and nothing else. Marcus sat at the head of the table and when the last of the servants had cleared he room he addressed them all.

  “Good morning everyone. I trust that you all slept well. “ He smiled benevolently at them, realizing that this moment was what he had been dreaming of and hoping for all of these years. He always wished that one day they could all be together like this with no secrets and nothing to fear. He had always believed that eternity need not be so dangerous. Looking at his friends who were really an odd little family of sorts, he knew that this moment was worth the wait. Seeing Taylor and Sasha together like this warmed his heart. “First, I just want to say that everyone did an exemplary job last night. I am really proud of each and every one of you.” He noticed the scattered and humble smiles among them. “I have to say I am most impressed with the capture of Celine.” At this the smiles vanished completely. Nobody wanted to hear her name. Claire put the dainty cup down and wiped her pink china doll lips with the cream colored napkin. She spoke quietly and calmly even though she was glaring at Marcus.

  “What are you planning to do with her Marcus? You can’t just keep her drugged forever.” She knew it had crossed everyone’s minds throughout the night.

  “Well, as hard as this is to hear I have to tell you I don’t know what we are going to do to her. If we allow her to awaken, she will kill us all without a moment’s hesitation. He coughed nervously. “I was hoping that together we could think of a way to deal with her.”

  “We have to kill her.” Sasha spoke while staring at her plate that was overflowing with fruit and little French pastries that cannot be duplicated anywhere else in the world. “We all know it Marcus. We also know that you still have feelings for her which means that you are compromised. You cannot let that interfere with what we all know we must do.” It was the warrior in Sasha that was speaking now. Her voice was strangely monotone and Sasha couldn’t believe she was discussing murder so calmly over breakfast.

  “She does have a point my friend.” This time it was Frankie, in a pink cotton oxford with the loudest of blue bowties Sasha had ever seen. He looked like an ad for expensive sporty cologne for rich men. “You can’t deny you still have feelings for the wicked witch which potentially makes you as dangerous to the rest of us as she is. You’re not thinking clearly. I know you Marcus. You are trying to find a way to set a place for Celine at this very table. Your little fantasy about our little family won’t really be complete until mother joins us.” He was more serious now than Sasha had ever seen him. “It’s a pretty fantasy Marcus, but it has no place in this reality.” He coughed and spoke a little more slowly and with a little more force. “Perhaps it is time for you to let us deal with Celine. You have done more than enough, but we are not your children, we never were.”

  “No. We must stick together no matter what we decide. But we will decide together. You realize if we kill her she will just come back in another incarnation.” Marcus shrugged his shoulders.

  “But she won’t be as strong as she is now. Will she?” Taylor spoke up for the first time between mouthfuls of the bountiful food.

  “No, she won’t be. I believe she is so powerful because she never has died. I also believe it is her anger that activates her ability to kill her victims. Whenever she loses her temper, people die. There has to be a way to control that temper, there just has to be.” Marcus sounded as if he were desperately trying to convince himself of these words.

  “You know if this was the fifties we could have just given her a simple little lobotomy without any problem.” Frankie once again was trying to lighten the heavy load they were all under. Sasha tried not to laugh because the idea was very funny to her. What was Celine like in the 1950’s? Did she hang out with Coco Chanel? Sasha was curious for the first time what it must be like to move through time in such a fashion. She spoke up.

  “ We’ve got to do something very soon before the world realizes the president of Celgen is missing after a break in at the lab in Orleans. The police could be here any moment for all we know.” She looked at Taylor who was still a little foggy from his recent ordeal. “What did you learn while you were out there? We haven’t heard what happened all that time you were missing.”

  Taylor slowly and calmly gave them all his account of Celine’s ranting and ravings about a new world and her obsession with gods and the monsters she was literally creating in her laboratory. He told them all how he killed the beast he encountered in the attic but he could not find the right words to describe the terror of meeting s
omething not quite human. Our minds are not prepared for such things. They all listened intently, not wishing to interrupt his account. Only once did Claire murmur something.

  “Yes, it was truly horrific being in the presence of these things.” Claire filled them in on her own encounter with the other two after Taylor told them everything he knew about the first one. “As far as I know they are the only ones now. They were still in the forest when we left them.” Claire paused and then whispered fearfully. “They might come looking for their mother.”

  “Would they truly risk an appearance in the heart of Paris? In the countryside they are safe from discovery. Do you think they’d actually expose their existence to the world?” Marcus brows were in a furrow as he held his chin in his right hand. The wheels in his mind were spinning out of control.

  “That’s just it!” Claire slammed her fork against the table in a rare display of emotion. “They wouldn’t even think like that. They are like little children. They are only a couple of days old but their bodies are fully grown, I hope, and their minds are like those of adolescents. She’s told them that they are gods! They have no reason to believe anything else.” Claire suddenly became self aware at how agitated she was and reeled it in immediately. “That’s the true horror of it. They are innocent children who also happen to be monsters.” She was being protective of them instinctively. Her gut told her that these two science experiments were pure hearted like all animals. They were what they were.

  “Even if they did come looking for their maker, how on earth would they find her?” Taylor spoke up after clearing his throat which still hurt him. He wanted more than ever now to drink the water again. Sasha was in shock at how they were all talking about gods and monsters as if they were discussing the neighbors. This truly was too much for her.

  “Well, here’s the thing.” Claire was suddenly solemn. “When I tried to control them with my mind like I do with other animals, I found out quickly that they could reach into my mind quite as easily. They threatened me. I’m afraid they may know where we are because I think they now know where I am.” She looked down as the realization just hit her. “They imprinted on me.” Now it made sense why she was so guarded about these two. Something completely animal had happened between them. It had happened ages ago with Magdalene and now it had happened with these chimeras. “Besides, Celine probably told them all about this house and what lies beneath it.” She stared at her empty coffee cup.

  “Can you keep them out of your mind Claire?” Marcus was all business again. Claire returned to her normal, impassive self and just shrugged her shoulders. At the moment she was trying to keep all of them out of her thoughts. They would be alarmed if they knew what she was thinking. She wanted to save the brother and sister creature and get them out of Paris and into the wild where they all belonged. It was the scene in her vision. It all made sense now. Marcus was staring at her intensely. “Let me know if you sense anything, especially if you sense they are near! In the meantime we have to come up with a plan. We have to get to those two things before the rest of the world discovers them.”

  “Would that be so bad?” This time it was Frankie who spoke. He pushed his plate away and looked at all of them with his never ending smile permanently glued to his face. “I mean, if the world found out what Celgen was up to maybe that would end this nightmare for good. Celine would be ruined and her company would be seized.” He rudely reached across Claire to grab a fat croissant and took a big bit before continuing. A few crumbs fell onto his designer suit and with a sweeping gesture he brushed them to the floor. “We cannot let her share this water with the world. It would change everything.”

  “That’s what she wants! Taylor said excitedly. “She wants to create some new world with people who live forever and creatures straight out of a mythology textbook. The question is….why?” He looked to Marcus who knew Celine better than any of them.

  “She wants to create the world she grew up believing in. She used to tell me her disappointment at discovering the pool of water underground. She was expecting grandeur and the splendor of the gods and instead she found an ugly little pool with water dripping from a cavern ceiling. When she drank the waters she realized that there were no gods and decided it was up to her to become what she had always believed in.” Marcus said all of this wistfully as if he were remembering a simpler time. For the first times since she had met him, Sasha was beginning to grasp just how old he really was and also for the first time, he looked defeated.

  “Instead of the gods making man, it is now men who are making the gods.” Claire whispered to the air.

  “I have to say something here.” Sasha said as loudly as she could which interrupted the chatter that had begun after Claire’s last statement. “I was willing to help get Taylor back and subdue Celine, but I’m done here. I don’t care what you do with her or her abominations. I’m leaving Paris. Maybe I shouldn’t be here plotting with all of you.” She rose from her seat. “I can’t thank you enough Marcus for saving me that night when I fainted on the street. I will remember that kindness for as long as I live. But I am going to live a normal life now. I am finished with all of this. I’m going back to being Sasha White.” She looked at them all and saw the shock that was beginning to register on their faces. Only Taylor’s face remained unchanged. “I should probably get back home and start packing.” She looked down at Taylor. She wasn’t going to ask him to come with her. That would have to be his decision even though she already knew she would be going back to the States alone. Without thinking she grabbed a crystal rocks glass and drank the water it contained. She felt stronger and more clear headed. She walked away from the table slowly without looking at them. It was too hard. Taylor stared at her. He understood how she felt but he could not leave the others while they were still in danger. He rose from the table and followed Sasha as she walked up the grand staircase. The very least he could do was say goodbye. Marcus sat there quietly watching the two of them leave. What right did he have to involve them in all of this? Sasha must be in shock. That was a lot of information for her to have to take in in just a few days. Marcus thought that maybe she needed some time. Claire was impressed. For so many years she had threatened Marcus with the same words but she had never been able to break away completely. He always sent her cases of the magic waters wherever she was living and she always came back whenever he called. They had both been alive for so very long that the thought of a normal life no longer occurred to them. Silence enveloped the group as Sasha and Taylor walked out of sight. They were all deep in their own thoughts of what a normal life might be like and how they had all turned their backs on such a thing a long time ago.

  PASSY 1667

  Claire moved about the garden silently. She and Marcus had lived there in peace since that horrible night when she had first appeared looking for something that had no name. She was raised in the south of France to a wealthy family in a small town. Her life had been completely normal until she turned sixteen. It was the heat of the summer that drove her in search of the lakes that lay behind her home in the fields that went on for miles. She made sure that no one saw her leave the house as she wanted privacy more than anything else in the world. Every since her parents announced her engagement to the Marquis de Voulon, she had not known a moment’s peace. She knew that eventually her parents would marry her off to someone suitable, but she wept violently that night when she learned of her husband to be. He was an old, fat man who lived two day’s journey away. He was wealthy beyond a doubt but he was such a lecherous old thing and she always had to skirt away from his wandering hands and ribald jokes ever since she was ten years old and it became apparent what a beauty she would become. Misery was in her future and she knew there was nothing she could do to prevent the marriage and never once thought of complaining as she was a good girl and possessed a quiet and timid nature from the moment she entered this world. Many families were dismayed when Claire’s parents made the announcement at her birthday party which was a lav
ish affair with musicians and dancing and more than enough food to feed the entire village. Claire tried to hide her disgust and sadness at her parents’ choice of husbands but put her best face forward and behaved beautifully all evening. That was two weeks ago, and ever since then there had been lessons and fittings and planning and all the many details that are involved when two families of such prestige decide to merge the lines through holy matrimony.

  Claire knew the land better than anyone. Whenever she could manage it, she would sneak away and spend the days outside with the trees and flowers and the animals of the countryside. Never once was she bothered by any dangerous animals that terrified most of the peasants. In fact, the animals seemed to like this quiet girl who would visit them often, and they would follow her faithfully as she wandered aimlessly through the fields and woods. Even the birds would flitter about her head as she walked, singing one of the hymns she knew so well from her religious schooling and from church. People remarked more than once that Claire was a special child with special gifts. Such talk was whispered in circles far from the ears of her powerful parents. They would frown at such talk. It was too close to heresy and they could not afford tales springing up that their only daughter was a witch. Their fears were unfounded as everyone who knew Claire said only the kindest things about this beautiful and obedient girl. She was loved by the servants who waited on her as well as the other girls in school and the priest who gave her communion. Claire was oblivious to all the gossip. She had no interest in the affairs of people and as she walked away into the immense meadows her thoughts were only of escape. She sang lightly to shade off the feeling of doom that felt so real to this young woman of sixteen years. Her light hair fairly glowed in the sunlight and the scent of lavender rose from her warmed skin. She walked to the first little lake she came upon and this one was her favorite. She called it “Claire’s Pond” to herself. It was a small little thing, maybe two acres at most and the water was the coolest green color and was always the perfect temperature. She undressed lazily and slowly stepped into the refreshing water. She swam for a while to calm her hectic thoughts. This was truly the only place she felt happy and free and the thought of leaving all of this behind was too sad to think about. No doubt she would have no time for such idle luxuries once she became the Marquise de Voulon. She swam until her arms ached and finally emerged from the cooling lake to stand in the sunlight. She noticed the black bird that always accompanied her on her travels through the sweeping landscape. She had named the bird Magdalene and the bird was her only true friend out here in the wild. The bird would fly ahead of her and land somewhere close by to watch the curious girl. Claire found that if she concentrated long enough, the bird would land on her arm or her shoulder. It seemed that the black bird could hear her very thoughts. She smiled at Magdalene and willed her to come closer. The bird obeyed with a large caw and Claire noticed the strange intelligence behind the dark and sparkling eyes. It landed on her pile of clothes and began to pull at one of the bright shiny buttons on her dress. Claire laughed at the bird and wondered if Magdalene would follow her on her new journey. She began to dress and was startled to see a man standing by the lake with the strangest expression on his face. She was horrified to be seen this way and hurried to get the rest of her clothing on. The man walked over to her staring silently. He did not speak. He did not smile. Claire became afraid and the moment her fear was palpable, Magdalene started screaming raucously as if she too sensed danger. The man still said nothing but he had the same lewd look on his face that Claire knew all too well from the Marquis when he came to visit. She knew what it meant and she hurried to get the last of her buttons fastened. She was blushing furiously and the more she blushed, the more the man smiled. Claire knew she was in danger and forgetting the rest of her belongings, she broke into a run. The man was too fast for her and grabbed her small frame in his large gruff hands. He smelled disgusting. Claire screamed as loudly as she could. It sounded strangely like the call of the black bird. She continued yelling as the man tried to force her to the ground. They both stopped in the struggle when they heard the overwhelming scream of a thousand birds and Claire looked up to see that the sky was darkening with the winged forms. They swiftly descended on the man and began pecking at him with a vengeance. He yelled and fell off of Claire and onto the ground as Claire stood up and began stepping backwards away from her attacker. She saw Magdalene in the swirl of madness fly right into the man’s face and the bird poked at his eyes with a large beak. The man was in a frenzy trying to fight off the birds he could no longer see. His screams filled the air and Claire saw that blood was gushing out of his eyes. In that moment she fainted.