The Eternal Series Box 1: An Eternal Universe Box Set

by Candy Crum

  I heard them talking about what was going to happen once they got to me. I could only make out a couple of words as everything kept blending together. I started looking out the window to see where they were. I needed to know how much time I had left before they got here.

  Relief flooded me as I saw the Seymour exit coming into view. They weren’t far. They would be getting off at the exit soon, and they would be here in no time at all. I forced myself to wake up, and I did just in time to see Jacques put one hand out in front of him and an explosion of Vampiric energy come from him, effectively throwing four Vampires away from him and to the other side of the room.

  “What the hell?” Amanda asked.

  “Kailah, do you think you can walk?” Jacques asked.

  “What are you doing?” Byron asked. “This is our time! We have to do this now.”

  “I made a mistake and bought into everything you morons said. I jeopardized the life of an amazing young woman and for nothing. I’m getting her out of here if it kills me,” Jacques said.

  “You really are powerful,” I heard Jeff say. “Casi told me there have only been three telekinetic Vampires born in the last millennia and Khia killed two of them. The rest of them died long before.”

  “That’s because all generations of Vampires alive now are far too distant from the Queen. Most born are only shells of what we were once meant to be. Every Vampire born had a gift, but because of the centuries of siring to unwilling and weak humans, Vampires have dwindled in power. I was lucky to be sired by a very old aristocrat who was not many generations from the Queen’s pure blood. He, too, carried the power of telekinesis. However, as you so poignantly stated, he was killed by Khia.”

  I looked over to Death, still lingering in the back—waiting. Something occurred to me. He took a lot of pride in collecting the rotting souls of the immortal, especially those like Jeff. He told me once earlier that day that I couldn’t be allowed to die. So that left me with questions… Was he here for me? Or was he here for them?

  Chapter Six

  The chills returned to me as I began sensing the Vampires again. Before, my spiritual energy had been dwindled even more from the Vampire blood and from being drained. I could sense them in the same way that I sensed my sister: merely a life force. But now, it was returning to me in waves. I watched as the spirits lingering in the room gathered around Death. Next to me, since I was the one meant to command them, Death was the next to go to for instruction. They felt needed, but had no idea what to do and where to go.

  They gathered around him, and I watched as his eye slits narrowed. He pointed to me. They all looked toward me, waiting for me to respond to their wish to help. Something snapped inside me, and I suddenly felt a darkness wash over me. It was an anger that I hadn’t felt before. It was deep, and it felt as though it was embedding itself into my soul.

  Jacques wasn’t going to be able to stand against all eight of them, regardless of his telekinetic power. If they attacked, he would fight back and Amanda could get caught in the crosshairs. There was no guarantee what I saw in the vision was present or future. If it was future, I would have to wait even longer before they got there. I had to help Jacques get Amanda out of there.

  I allowed the energy from the spirits to surround me. The incredibly powerful Vampire blood inside me seemed to burn now as my Immortal powers returned to fight it off. I figured now that my powers had returned, I would die, but I needed to fight until then. I decided to see if they were right. I decided to see if I could use both conflicting energies swirling inside me to my advantage as I found the strength to stand. Amanda tried to stop me, but I easily pulled away from her.

  “Kailah,” Jacques said. He was a little stunned to see me standing so easily.

  “I’m fine. I want my sister the fuck out of here. Death is here to claim a soul, and I plan to give him several.” My voice was low and dark as I felt the Vampiric energy trying to surface.

  “She’s turning,” one of the younger Vamps said.

  “No, she’s still human,” Byron said. “I can smell it, but not for long. If she has the power to stand at this point, then she’s worth the effort.”

  I heard something that sounded like a tiny drum. It was thrumming so quickly that it almost startled me. I followed the sound and looked down to find that it was the sound of my sister’s heart. I could hear her breathing increasing and could feel her fear with the same dark Vampiric energy inside me that was heightening my senses. Rage filled me, and I grabbed her arm as I pulled her to her feet and stepped in front of her.

  “Kailah, what are you doing?” she asked frantically.

  “When I tell you to run, you do so. Do you understand?”

  “Ha! You think she can get away? We’ll have her drained and gutted by the time she gets to the door!” Jeff said with a cruel laugh.

  I had a cruel smile of my own. “I’m through playing,” I said.

  “Good, so am I,” he replied.

  “Kailah, do you know what you’re doing?” Jacques asked.

  I nodded, and then I initiated.

  “Spirits! Come to me!” I demanded.

  The room grew colder as the wind whipped through. They wasted no time surrounding me. They disappeared as they did so, no longer trying to gain my attention. I felt their energy surrounding me, and for once, I was able to touch it. It seemed that the Vampiric energy battling for control inside me was the push that I needed for the moment.

  “Jason!” Jeff shouted to one of the younger ones. “Get the girl!”

  “Spirits! Barricade my sister!” An explosion of energy come forth with the command as a thick barrier covered my sister. “Run, Amanda!”

  She did as I asked. She took off toward the door, and the one that I suspected was Jason, went after her. The moment that he touched the barrier, it singed his flesh and ignited the toxic blood beneath as it purified him, rendering him nothing more than an ashen pile of waste on the floor. I saw something lingering from his body, and I realized that it was the slimy black residue of a soul that was left behind.

  I smiled as I realized that I’d given Death another one for his cloak. Amanda was gone now, and I was grateful. Now, I could focus on getting Jacques and myself out of the house. Every one of them left was a Rogue. That meant they were all excessively sensitive to fire.

  “You should probably stand back,” I told Jacques.

  “Why?” he asked.

  “Just trust me.”

  “Byron,” Jeff said. “Take her. When you do, bite the shit out of her. That bitch will be mine.”

  “Fire spirits!” I called out. The immediate area grew warm, and I knew they were with me. “Teach me to use your power.”

  Byron smiled and came straight at me. I felt my right arm flinch, and I went with it. I held my ground and thrust my hand in front of me. A large fireball, at least a foot in diameter, formed around my hand before launching itself at him. His three-hundred-year-old reflexes instantly kicked in, and he dodged it easily. I used the surrounding elements that I could feel and created another barrier as he came at me again.

  But Byron was too old and too strong.

  He bounced off the barrier with only minimal damage. A gust of wind pushed him back without my command, and I watched as my grandfather’s spirit quickly flashed before my eyes before disappearing again. He was still with me. The barrier quivered and dissipated before a loud growl sounded from my right.

  Jacques quickly darted around me and slammed into another Vampire. He pinned him down with his foot as another charged him. Jacques easily grabbed the second one by the throat, twisted him around so that his back was flat against his chest, and tore his throat out with his teeth before severing the rest of his head and launching him across the room. A deep red aura surrounded him as his Vampiric energy flared. It was beautiful to me. The dark energy inside of me drew even more power from watching him.

  I felt a shift in the earth as it warned me of Byron’s quick approach. Quicker reflexes had s
et in as I managed to dodge his attack manually rather than by spiritual power.

  “How the fuck did you move that fast?” he asked. “You haven’t even begun to finish the change yet. That’s impossible.”

  Blood spattered the walls and floor as I saw Jacques effectively taking on the other Vampires alone. All I had to concentrate on was this one. I no longer cared to mess with the elements. I wanted Byron dead. Once my power started to dwindle, if it did, I knew that I’d be screwed because he was far too old and far too powerful for me to fight on my own. I decided that I needed the spirits’ energy instead. I needed to purify him. If my barrier could do it, so could I.

  “Spirits!” I called again.

  I’d never seen the other Immortals channel like that, but for some reason, it was working for me. I felt their power in my veins, and I could feel the tension as they tried to penetrate through to my core, but met with the dark resistance of the Vampiric blood. I stepped forward and Byron made his move, but stalled. Good. It was going to be his last mistake. I felt the spiritual energy radiating from my hands, and I started to lift my hands, but immediately retracted as a sharp pain shot through my chest.

  I looked down to see a long blade thrust through my back and protruding a foot from my chest. There was no doubt that it had gone straight through my heart. I felt Jeff’s energy behind me, and I looked up in time to see Byron come for me. He dodged the blade sticking out of my chest and quickly bit into my throat. Jeff did the same from behind me, and I felt the pain that Jacques had told me about.

  I understood then why he wanted the experience to come from him instead of them. It felt like dry ice was being injected into my veins. My body became cold, and I could no longer focus. I suddenly found myself in only the arms of Jeff as Byron left. I heard something, and I imagined that it was him and Jacques fighting.

  The blade was ripped from my chest, and I forgot all about the other two. All that existed was Jeff and me. The air exploded from my lungs as Jeff threw me hard to the floor, and I landed on my side. He quickly flipped me over and tore my shirt open. My voice finally found itself as he bit hard into my right breast, and I screamed as he bit into my left. I couldn’t move.

  It felt as though I was paralyzed, the pain was absolutely terrible. My heart was racing, even with the hole in it. It must have been fruitlessly trying to heal. My soul quivered as it tried to fight off the change. It was quickly losing. I had a massive amount of powerful Vampire blood inside me, and now I had an insane amount of venom in my blood.

  I had been bitten a total of six times now that Jeff finally finished with my wrists. One of those was by an incredibly powerful Rogue. My life force was fading, and I felt the room grow cold again with the anger of the spirits being abandoned by my death. Weakness overcame me, and I could barely hold my eyes open any longer.

  “You should never have crossed me, Jeff,” I heard the familiar voice of Khia roll through the room, and it was the last thing that I heard before I passed out.

  Chapter Seven

  When I opened my eyes, I was standing at the back of the room. Everything I saw had a foggy, charcoal-blue hue to it. I felt something at my left side, and I looked over—and then up—to find Death standing at my side. I quickly looked across the room and saw that my body was spread out across the couch. I was breathing, but it was shallow. My soul—me, I realized—had given up and jumped ship on the body that was suffering and changing.

  “That was it, wasn’t it?” I asked.

  Death nodded. “Yes. It was.”

  Shocked, I looked back into his face. “You actually spoke,” I said. It took almost no effort for him to speak.

  He nodded.

  “Ah, it’s because I’m dead now, isn’t it?”

  “Yes. I have a difficult time speaking to those who are alive. You only saw me because of what you were.”

  He used the word were. I mused for a moment over the finality of that word.

  “So, I couldn’t help but notice that I haven’t been made a trophy in your cloak, yet. I figured that I would have been already, since you seem to like me or something.”

  Something in his chest rattled, and I recognized the terrifying noise was similar sounding to a laugh. Had I still been connected to my body, a chill would have shivered me.

  I looked into the room, and I saw Khia. She raised a barrier over my barely breathing body to protect me. She lifted her hands as she faced the remaining three Vampires—including Jeff—on the right side of the room. That blue hue, symbolizing the use of strong spiritual power, glowed around her hands.

  The three of them screamed as they were purified where they stood. The embers began in their chest and quickly spread through their toxic bodies, leaving piles of ash on the floor. I wished that I’d been the one to destroy Jeff, but seeing it made me just as happy.

  She turned to Jacques, who was standing on the other side of the room. Though she was ready to kill him, too, he didn’t say anything to stand up for himself, and he didn’t raise a hand to stop her. He looked down at my body and grief crossed his face as he then looked Khia in the eye from the short, ten-foot distance between them.

  I couldn’t let him die for something that he felt guilty for. Yes, he was very much a part of this, but he was also kind and had tried to save my life and the life of my sister in the end. He wasn’t at all the same Vampire that walked in the room earlier. I quickly wondered what my own element was now that I was only a spirit, or if I would even have one because I was reliant on other spirits in life.

  I decided to go with water since I had a connection to it in life.

  As soon as Khia raised her hands, I darted in front of Jacques and started forming an ice barrier. I knew it wouldn’t save him from being purified, but I knew it would get her attention.

  “Kailah?” Khia asked.

  Immortals typically cannot tell who their spirits are that aide them unless the spirits make themselves known. They are merely pawns, as sad as it is to say that. It’s one reason why I hated being what I am. I don’t like not knowing those who help me.

  “You protect this Vampire?” she asked.

  It wasn’t harsh. It actually sounded a little like amazement that I would, but pride that I could. I tried to say yes, but she didn’t respond.

  “Hmm. You aren’t yet strong enough in spirit form to communicate.”

  I felt the wind at my side, and I used it. I couldn’t believe it; the elements still spoke to me. But not one, they all did. I felt right now what I imagined Khia felt: complete and total control over the elements. I used the wind and pushed her back a few steps, and she smiled.

  “Water control and air control. I imagine you’re capable of using all of them. I’ll not harm him, Kailah. Though I can sense his blood in the veins of your dying body, it’s obvious that something else forced him to do so. Otherwise, you would not protect him so.”

  I dropped the ice barrier around Jacques, and the water fell to the floor.

  “She’s… still here?” he asked.

  “Yes,” Khia said. She didn’t enjoy talking to him, but she did so for my benefit, or I assumed it was for my benefit.

  “Why is she protecting me?” he asked.

  Khia didn’t have time to answer. Rain water flooded through the open window and hovered in the air in ribbons. The ground beneath began to tremble as things started coming off the walls, and the foundation of the house cracked in several places from the pressure. The closed door leading into the room was engulfed in flames and instantly disintegrated as Sayen stepped through, wind surrounding her.

  I’d never seen her use more than a little power, and seeing her come through that door was the most incredible thing I’d ever seen. Her eyes weren’t just blue; they glowed with an unnatural blue light as she stepped in. She was a blaze of fury, and she had her sights set on Khia.

  “Sayen,” Khia said softly. “This was never my doing. These Rogues chose this path on their own. The only thing that I tried to do was separat
e Kailah from you long enough to speak to her. I went to great lengths to do so. I initiated the help of some rather unsavory characters, true, but I never wanted her harmed.”

  “You only wanted her to do your own bidding, just as these vile creatures wanted her to do theirs. You are no different from them.”

  Aeric darted into the room, around Sayen, and jumped over the couch. He quickly sat next to my body. He didn’t sit there long as things started unfolding before him. I imagined the scent of Jacques’s blood finally caught him, and he realized that one of the ones who had done that to me was still alive and inside the room. Aeric quickly moved from the spot that he was in, and I used one of Sayen’s hovering ribbons of water. I whipped it around his waist and froze it as I stopped him from approaching any further.

  “Khia!” Aeric called as he broke free from the ice.

  “It isn’t Khia, Aeric,” Sayen said.

  He stopped where he stood. “You? Why are you protecting him?”

  “It’s Kailah. I can feel her. In spirit form, she’s gained power of all of the elements. She’s the one protecting him.”

  “Why do you think I haven’t killed him yet?” Khia asked. “It was her request.”

  Amanda ran into the room, and I realized that she’d only made it outside, and possibly part of the way down the road, before they showed up. She ran over to Jacques’s side.

  “If Kailah is protecting him, it’s because he was the one who saved us. She did a lot of it, but he helped. He’s the one who tried to turn her, but that was only because Jeff was planning to kill me.”

  Aeric relaxed, but it was obvious that he still wanted to rip Jacques’ head off. Death moved closer, and I turned to see him crossing the room to Sayen. She was still in battle mode, wielding all four elements at her side, but he still made himself seen.