Awakened

by Inger Iversen

  I stared at the screen, still mesmerized by the beauty of the view.

  “It’s the sunrise over the Sahara desert. I lived there once in a small village, but you didn’t come here to learn about me.” His smile stretched his tanned face, and his eyes widened.

  “No, I didn’t,” I answered, with my chin up and my brave face on.

  “Good. What is that you are here for?” He smiled. “I know there are things you think you know, but now that you are here, I can answer your questions truthfully.”

  I raised a brow but remembered why I was here. “Yes, that is part of the reason I am here.” This seemed to intrigue him, and he gestured for me to continue. “But first, I want to ask you for a favor.”

  He sat back in surprise, placing a hand to his head. “Dear girl, what could you possibly want from me?”

  His creepy Cheshire smile made me wonder if he knew what I was going to ask, if he’d been waiting for me to come to him with my request. “You know this actually works out perfectly. You need something from me, and I need something from you.”

  “What? What do you want from me?” I asked.

  “First, what is it you want from me? I must say, I am intrigued to find out what an Arc could possibly need from me, other than protection from Laurent?”

  I raised an eyebrow. Hadn’t he got the memo? “Laurent is dead.”

  “Humph, is he?”

  “Um, yes, he is.” I trusted Jace and Kale and the others.

  We stared at each other for a moment.

  “What makes you think that he isn’t?” I finally asked.

  Aleixandre smirked and shook his head. His demeanor changed as he spoke his next words. “If you want eternal life, you will have to give me something in return—and I don’t mean some trinket or wordy promise.” He glanced at the necklace that dangled from my neck—the one Kale had given Hélène centuries ago.

  Though Aleixandre had just said that he didn’t want it, I still felt the need to protect it.

  “What is it you want? No guessing on my end; just tell me.” I hated needing anything from anyone. I always worried that they would hold it over my head or throw it in my face when it suited them.

  “Well?” My patience was running thin, and I wanted to get back home to Kale with some good news.

  “Your life—or a part of it.”

  I hadn’t thought the stakes would be so high. I’d known that I would have to bargain, and I’d thought I’d be bargaining with my soothsaying abilities. I had the ability to see the past. I'd been told that I could see the future, too, if taught to. I hadn’t learned to do it yet, but I’d still use it as a bargaining chip. He didn’t have to hold me captive to get me to soothsay for him.

  Instead, he was demanding my freedom.

  Aleixandre smiled, then winked. He sat back in his large leather chair, the very same chair from where he instructed two henchmen to have my parents killed.

  I was making a deal with the devil, and it was the only option I had. Being an Arc was useless at this point. I didn’t know how to see the future, and the past was evading me as well.

  “Interesting cocktail of emotions,” Aleixandre purred.

  “What?” The sound of his voice made my stomach quiver.

  “Fear and anger—an interesting yet dangerous cocktail of emotions for someone in your position.”

  “And what position is that?”

  He laughed again, placing his hands on his desk and leaning forward. “The position that places you on your knees at my feet, if I so choose to command you there. The one where you realize that no matter what power you wield, I am—and will always be—stronger and in control. Time, Ella. I want time.”

  I gulped and worked harder to calm my breathing. My heart, on the other hand, was beyond my control—it hammered against my chest, sending stomach-wrenching vibrations throughout my body. This was a bad idea—yeah, bad—but my only choice.

  I still was a bit confused about how this would play out. Would it end up in my favor or not?

  “My life and time? I am asking to live forever, and you want my life—I don’t get it.” I shook my head and moved away from his desk.

  I got it, all right, and I was pissed—no, not pissed, petrified. I had given away control on several occasions, and the sting of it didn’t get any better.

  Deacon and Jace stood outside the door waiting for me, Jace believed that my plan was ridiculous and dangerous, but he followed me to ensure my safety. Deacon hoped it would work for two reasons: Kale would kill him if it didn’t, and he wanted the same thing I did for Kale—for him to be happy.

  “I said ‘or a part of it’—years of it, actually. I gave fifty of mine to Laurent, in exchange for the first Arc.” Aleixandre’s lip curled in distaste, and his voice went cold. “How many are you willing to give, to be with that parasite?”

  The Council had seen the worst side of the Chorý race, but I had seen the good side, thanks to Kale and Deacon.

  “Kale, his name is Kale. But honestly, Aleixandre, you can’t think that I am going to give you fifty years of my life,” I said in amazement. My face was hot and I needed to stand, to move, but I sat in my chair and silently prayed for some miracle.

  “And you honestly don’t think that I will give you eternal life for nothing—or do you? You can’t be that dense. Did you think that I would just grant you immortality out of the goodness of my heart?” Aleixandre laughed and propped his feet up on his desk, placing his hands behind his head as he peered at me.

  No. I hadn’t expected to get what I wanted for free, but I didn’t think that I wouldn’t be able to leave without promising to accept Aleixandre’s brand of servitude. “No—well, I knew you would ask for something. I just thought we could come to some sort of agreement where I would tell you parts of the future when you needed it.”

  Aleixandre shook his head. “Kale wouldn’t allow that—and before you say that you are your own person and make your own choices, tell me…” He leaned forward and held my gaze. “Does he know you’ve come to me with this request?”

  My face heated, but I didn’t answer him.

  “Of course not, because he wouldn’t have allowed you to come. He despises us, after all. Even if I did accept your offer—even if you, in good faith, promised me access to your services—over time he would convince you to stop granting my request for your second sight.”

  Aleixandre wouldn’t accept my offer, no matter what I said to him.

  I had nothing else to give. I’d have to consider his offer.

  He smiled. “You know what I want.”

  My mind raced for other options. Hadn’t we accomplished his goal of ending Laurent, and wasn’t that the reason he looked for me for so long? Maybe he’d accept that he owed me a debt. “But Laurent’s dead, like you wanted. I know that Kale, Jace, and Deacon accomplished that, but they did it for me, so—”

  “So you think one immortal and two Chorý could kill Laurent?” His words held me immobile for a moment.

  I looked at him with surprise. Kale had told me what happened, saying that he didn’t want me to think of him as a murderer, but he would hold that title if it meant keeping me safe. “Do you really think he is still alive? I mean I understand immortality, but a beheading—”

  “Did you see it?” he interrupted.

  “No.”

  “No?” He sounded amused by my answer.

  “I said no.” I took another breath and messaged the headache that was building in my temples. This man had some serious issues.

  “Well, then. It didn’t happen, unless you would like to show it to me.” His voice lowered, and he sat up straight.

  “That isn’t something I want to see. I mean, I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night if I saw that.” I had seen Hélène suffer a similar fate, and I couldn’t bring myself to see something like that again—even if it was Laurent—and mostly because I didn’t want to see Kale as a killer. I’d seen enough death for a lifetime, and I was only nineteen.
/>
  “No matter.” Aleixandre waved a hand. “Hmm… Then you need to figure out what else you will give me in return.” He again sat back, this time crossing his arms over his expansive chest.

  “We could bring in the Council members that were with Kale when he was killed. Ask them if Laurent is dead. You trust them.” I didn’t get excited with this solution, because I was starting to think that Aleixandre wasn’t going to accept anything I had to offer.

  He already knew what he wanted, and he didn’t want to negotiate. “You know, that reminds me. In order to find Laurent, your boy Kale had help from my Council members. My jet and my money was used to hunt and find Laurent. You could say that I did it myself, since everything that got Kale to that island belonged to me, so proof of Laurent’s death is off the table as payment.”

  My headache roared, and I placed a hand over my stomach hoping it would settle before I got sick. “I have nothing else.” Nothing I had would compare to what he really wanted.

  “Well, wouldn’t you know, that is one thing that I won’t accept,” he said sarcastically. “Ella, I have had enough. There is only one thing you can offer me. Years of your eternal life, after the deed is done.” I searched—and I mean searched—my brain for an alternative.

  “Kale has money,” I countered. “I have money.”

  “I have money, too. We can all join the ‘I have money club’ in the next lifetime. What I want is you and your time.”

  “How long?” I asked, defeated. There was nothing else I could do but agree, but there was no way I could give fifty years to him—that was just too long. But I had to be immortal.

  Kale had sacrificed for me, and I could do the same for him.

  “Give me a number, and I will let you know if I accept.” His eyes shone with triumph.

  I didn’t want to stay here for another second, let alone years. “A year.”

  “Little girl—” His expression and his voice changed into something more than anger and annoyance.

  “Three years?” I squeaked.

  “Multiply that by ten, and you have a deal.”

  My eyes widened, and my mouth went dry. “Thirty years?!” I yelled. “You must be out of your mind.”

  “Yes, I have been told that quite a bit recently, but do we have a deal?” he asked again.

  “No! What could you need from me for that long? I was told that you created the Council to protect me—and whether you believe it or not, Laurent is dead—so what do you need me for?”

  “Then leave and watch your parasite wither and die or drain you dry. It is said that the cure for la Luxure is immortal blood. I wonder what eternal love and blood would do for him. That is why you are here, isn’t it—to save him from certain death?”

  “Kale! His name is—”

  “Kale, I know. His grandfather was a farmer of some sort, and that is where he received his name—absurd, if you ask me.”

  “No one asked you,” I barked, feeling the need to defend Kale’s parents’ choice.

  “I don’t care what his name is, or what you two share. You will give me thirty years of your eternal life for what you want.” Aleixandre stood up and stalked closer to me.

  “Fifteen,” I countered again. I balked at my own words. Fifteen was still a long time, almost as long as I’d been alive.

  “Twenty, and we have a deal. Ella, I will go no lower than this. The next words out of your mouth had better be a yes or a no, or you will see what Angel saw when he tried my patience.”

  Angel? I searched my brain and remembered his horribly scarred face. Was Aleixandre, the man who had created the Council to protect me, threatening to hurt me?

  I closed my eyes to keep the tears at bay. “And when would this time start?” I saw no other way out of this.

  Aleixandre invaded my personal space, stealing from me the last bit of my comfort that remained. “From the second you take you first breath as an immortal, you will belong to me and me alone. You will send away your incompetent bodyguards and reside here with me until your debt to me is paid in full.”

  I sighed in defeat, and as I reached out to shake his hand, I wondered if the choice I was making to leave Kale and everyone else behind was the right one.

  Chapter 36

  Kale

  The feeling of loss was familiar, an ache that built gradually until all that was left was the hole that could only be filled with the one thing that you had lost. It was nothing I hadn’t experienced before. I’d lost Hélène and now Ella, and in each experience, I’d learned of my inability to protect the people I loved, and my inability to express that love in words when the time came.

  I’d never told Hélène; I had just assumed she knew. I thought my actions and my touch would say what I never did. I’d made the same mistake again, and I couldn’t help but wonder if I was an idiot, not worth love from such an exceptional soul.

  “She left for the Council three days ago with Deacon and Jace, and no one thought to tell me until you lost contact with them?” I growled. I knew that anger could rouse the beast and I was doing well controlling him, but at that moment, I wanted nothing more than to rip off Ana’s head and toss it back to her.

  “Open these doors,” I commanded, more calmly. Ana looked to Mia and then back to me. Though she was fast, I was faster.

  I lined my voice with soft and soothing tones as I used Enthrallment to make the human do as I commanded. “Open the cell doors, Mia,” I whispered, just as Ana leapt into action to remove Mia from the room.

  My plan only failed due to Ana’s Chorý strength as she grabbed Mia by her waist and arm and strong-armed her into the hallway. Mia’s growl was the last thing I heard before the door shut, and I was left in that cell to wonder how I could save Ella once again. It was becoming an annoying habit, but one I would repeat for eternity, if necessary.

  Ana came back through the door, surprising me, though I wasn’t surprised to see that she was without Mia. “Listen to me very carefully, Kale.” Her lightly accented voice was a whisper. “You and I both need to save someone. You need to save Ella, and I need to save Darke—”

  “Darke is dead.” Harsh, but she would do well to remember the facts.

  “Trust me. He is not; I would have seen it. I thought I saw his death in a dream but…” Ana’s eyes took on a glazed look…

  She was an intriguing girl, but I didn’t have time for that. “Ana,” I said pulling her from her daydream. “What are you asking of me?”

  Ana looked at me, her face expressionless, but her voice sent a chill of ice down my back. “I have no problem leaving you here in this cell.” She moved closer and smiled. “I know pain and suffering as well as you do, and I also know that Darke is not dead, just as I know Ella is breathing as we speak.”

  “Ana,” I tried again. She was grating my nerves. The beast had yet to grumble, and I prided myself with the thin shred of control I still held. “What. Is. It. You. Want?”

  “I want you to kill Servitto.”

  Insane, she was insane. “You want me to kill a high Council member? Darke’s brother—you want him dead, why?”

  I was wasting time that I could be using to find Ella, but I couldn’t stop from asking. What she was asking—it could result in a bigger war on Chorý than what was waged now.

  I knew of the Chorý Blood Hunts of the Council, of course, but I couldn’t blame them for that. I’d seen firsthand the destruction the tainted blood of the Chorý could cause, and I didn’t wish it to spread. “Why do you want him dead?”

  “Do we have a deal?” She reached through the bars and held her small pale had to mine.

  I thought to grab her and force the key from her, but I was no fool. Ana had been created long before me. “Do you know the war that would be created if I seek out and kill a high Council member—one of the eldest and most trusted, at that?”

  The one that was rumored to be Aleixandre’s successor if Aleixandre were ever killed. I didn’t add that, but I didn’t need to; I was sure that A
na wouldn’t care.

  “Do you know what plans Aleixandre has for your precious Arc, now that he has her?” she answered coolly still holding my gaze.

  “You ask a lot of me.” I ignored her baiting statement.

  “All I ask of you is to take a life when you already have taken thousands. I ask nothing you haven’t done before.”

  That was the truth, but she asked too much. “You ask me to take a life without reason!”

  “And what were your reasons before? Hunger? Anger? Pain? I feel them all now as we speak. Kale, do we have a deal?” Her eyes glittered with an emotion I had once drowned in: hatred.

  When given the choice of Ella’s safety or avoiding a war, it was obvious which I would choose. After all, she hadn’t said how soon I’d have to kill Servitto. I could wait for him to conveniently die by some other means. “Yes, we have a deal. Now open the door!”

  Epilogue

  Hereford, Vermont

  The abandoned Morrison Communications Building

  The change had suited him well. The muscles under his shirt seemed even more defined than when I first met him, his skin was creamy and pale, and his eyes had darkened to an almost black.

  It would do well for a girl to never look into the once-blue eyes. She would fall hard and fast for this creature, and it would be the end of her. He had yet to learn to control his hunger, and he only had me, little orphan Ana, to teach him. Though I had more important things to worry about, I was left here to babysit this man-child.

  Though he was my progeny, his weak state annoyed me to no end. All new Chorý had to learn to overcome the hunger, else they’d be pushed into la Luxure, prematurely ending their lives as Chorý and pushing them into lives as true rogue vampires.

  The life of a Chorý wasn’t as bad as I’d always claimed it was. While under Laurent’s rule, I had been beaten, tortured, and enslaved; and I’d blamed it all on my blood, my Chorý blood. That was nonsense, and I could see it now.

  The blame should have been placed on Ella, the elusive Arc. I could see the future, but I wasn’t the Arc. I wasn’t his Ella, and he’d shown me his disapproval in my lack of abilities every day of my life with him. I’d grown to hate the mention of the word Arc, which seemed to elicit anger from Laurent, directed at me, and why? Because I wasn’t a true Arc, and my abilities weren’t always correct?