Arielle Immortal Passion (The Immortal Rapture Series Book 3)

by Lilian Roberts

  “Eva come and take a look at this!”

  Eva walked past Arielle and disappeared around the corner. Arielle’s heart skipped a beat as she moved quickly to catch up with her friend. Eva was a few feet ahead, standing on the top of a small, curved staircase that was leading further downward toward another door. She started to descend slowly and Arielle followed.

  “This isn’t easy to find, and it looks very mysterious,” Eva said excitedly.

  Arielle stayed close to her, feeling happy that she wasn’t alone. “Now what do we do?” Arielle whispered.

  “We go down and check it out,” Eva said confidently.

  Eva led the way and Arielle followed, a bit apprehensive, but taking courage from Eva, who seemed sure of what she was doing. When they reached the small door, Eva put her hand on the knob and was surprised to find that it wasn’t locked. Cautiously, she pushed the door open, peered inside, her eyes slitting against the darkness of the room. But the room was so dark they couldn’t see very much. Arielle brushed her hair out of her eyes and moved closer to Eva, hearing a scraping noise coming from the top of the stairs. Arielle’s head jerked back, gazing through the dim light, but there was no one there.

  “Did you hear that?” she whispered.

  “No, I didn’t hear anything,” Eva replied.

  “Maybe I’m getting a little freaked out and I’m hearing things. However, I’m sure that there was a noise coming from the top of the stairs, or maybe inside the room. I’m too scared to think straight.”

  “Come on, it’ll be okay,” Eva assured her.

  “Eva, try to see if you have any visions about this. I want to make sure there is no danger in going in.”

  “I haven’t felt anything worrisome. I think we’ll be all right.”

  Arielle took a deep breath, moved ahead of Eva, and swung the door wide open. They peered in one more time, holding their breath. They could see four or five more steps leading down into the room. They descended carefully, blinking as they tried to identify items in the room in the faint light that was coming from the hallway above. The smell of damp stone and musty air was overwhelming. Arielle was startled when she felt Eva tripping over her and lost her balance. They slipped on the last two steps and both plummeted down, landing on the hard floor.

  “What in bloody hell happened?” Arielle cried.

  “I think someone pushed me.”

  “Come on, Eva, don’t scare me. There’s nobody here, you must have tripped over your own feet.”

  “Arielle, I’m telling you. Someone pushed me. I’m not crazy!”

  “Oh, I think I hurt myself again, the same leg and the same arm. I don’t think I’ll ever heal,” Arielle moaned.

  “My legs are killing me, I hope I didn’t break anything,” Eva said.

  They sat in the dark, totally disoriented, trying to figure out what happened. “Maybe I imagined it,” Eva said doubtfully. “But I really don’t think so.”

  Arielle tried to get her bearings. She was reaching out for Eva’s hand when they heard a loud, heavy clang as the door slammed shut. Sheer terror took over as they fought the urge to scream. They held each other, both trembling beyond control. The next thing they heard was the sound of a key turning in the lock from the outside.

  That drove a cold chill right through their bones. They held each other tighter as a suffocating feeling draped over them. They finally helped each other stand up, and tried to move in the direction of the door, groping for the light switch. They were in complete darkness, terrified and confused, not knowing what to do next.

  “Who would lock the door?” Eva whispered. Their eyes began to adjust to the darkness as they moved towards the steps and climbed up to reach the door. Arielle seized the knob and pushed against it as hard as she could, but it wouldn’t budge.

  “Well, at least you didn’t break your legs,” Arielle said, and they both laughed softly, searching for some kind of humor in their dreadful situation.

  They pounded on the door frantically, hoping that someone would hear them, but there was only silence until the sound of wicked laughter and a woman’s voice shrieking, “You’ll never have Sebastian, you are going to die, you helpless humans!”

  Eva’s eyes widened as fear surged through her veins. “Who is that?” Eva whispered, reaching out for Arielle’s hand.

  “I am sure it’s Annabel,” Arielle murmured, feeling the blood freeze in her veins. “I told you about her; she has vowed to kill me. She wants Sebastian.” They staggered back away from the door, trying but failing to find the light switch. They stumbled around in the dark, feeling around blindly to understand where they were and what was in the room. Finally, they both moved forward again and pushed on the door with all their strength, but it was shut tightly and they couldn’t move it. They hammered on the door with their fists and screamed at the top of their lungs hoping someone would hear them. But there was no one who could help them.

  “It will be hours before anyone even starts to look for us,” Arielle said, shaking her head in dismay. The air in the room was stale, and Arielle was afraid that it might not be very long before they would begin to run out of fresh air. Her voice sounded hollow as she told Eva not to worry. “We’ll find a way out,” she said, but she had no idea how that would happen. She ran her hands on both sides of the door again and she finally hit a light switch.

  They both let out a happy sound but quickly realized that having the light in the room didn’t change their predicament at all. They slid down to the floor, exhausted from pounding on the door. Arielle covered her face with her hands, afraid to look around anymore, afraid of what they might discover. Eva was sobbing, giving in to the idea that they would not be found. Arielle leaned against the door and let out a deep sigh of despair. Tears filled her eyes as she realized how helpless they were.

  “I’m sorry, Eva,” she said. “I should’ve listened to Sebastian. We should have stayed with the others.”

  “Don’t say that, Arielle. It was my choice to do this. But it was a bad choice,” she added, a nervous giggle escaping her for a moment. She became instantly serious again. “I don’t mind telling you that I’m scared to death.”

  Arielle gathered what little strength she had left, and lifting herself up, she turned around and pounded on the door one more time. “Please, someone, help us!” she called out, tears rolling down her face. She heard the clear sound of laughter outside the door and a cold chill ran down her spine again.

  Arielle was sure that Annabel had lured them here into this dreadful room, and that she wanted them to die there. The memory of her cruel face flashed in front of her eyes and she felt sheer horror at the memory.

  “Annabel!” she called. “Please don’t do this!” The sound of retreating footsteps and the laughter that was becoming faintly audible told Arielle that she was going away, leaving them there, hoping they would die in that room.

  “She must be a very sick person,” Eva said. “Do you really think she will leave us here to die?”

  “I think she is pretty awful. And I know she really hates me.”

  “Was she the one that hurt you in the garden the other day?”

  “Yes, she tried, but didn’t succeed. Oh God, I’m so sorry, Eva! This is all my fault.” She covered her face again and started to cry. Eva put her arms around Arielle and they held each other tight as their awareness of the horrible situation they were in deepened.

  Despite all she knew about Annabel, Arielle found it hard to believe that someone truly wanted her dead. She realized she had never known real fear until that moment. “She has locked us in this room and left us to die,” she said grimly.

  “She’s hoping that nobody will be able to find us in time,” Eva whimpered. Arielle was sweating uncontrollably and she could feel her hair standing on end. How could anyone find them in this part of the house? What if no one found them before they ran out of air to breathe and they really did both die?

  Annabel wanted me out of the way, and she wait
ed for the perfect moment to do just that, Arielle thought. How could I have been so stupid as to fall into her trap?

  She thought of her parents and friends and the most beautiful man on this earth, the one she would never see or hold again. Tears rolled down her face as despair completely took her over. Eva was sobbing quietly next to her. All they could do was hold on to each other.

  After a while, they both got up one more time and tried again to push against the door with all their strength but nothing happened. They looked around the room again. They saw some old boxes and a few antiques. The room was small, no bigger than eight by eight feet. There was no exit, there were no windows, and they were pretty sure the room had no ventilation at all.

  “I can’t believe that there are people like her on this earth,” Eva said glumly. “I’m so cold,” she added, shivering. “And I think I hurt myself when we fell.” Her breath came out hollow and frail. Arielle reached over and held her friend close as they tried to keep themselves warm.

  They had no idea how long they had been sitting on the cold floor leaning against the door, but it was at least a couple of hours. The air was thick and heavy. It was getting hard to breathe. Arielle could hear Eva’s breathing accelerate and the whimpering noise she made as she swallowed hard and inhaled, trying to get fresh air into her lungs. The stony silence in the room sent chills up the back of Arielle’s neck and down her spine. Things like this don’t happen to real people, she thought. This is something that only happens in fiction. Who would ever believe that a crazy immortal would lock us in here and leave us to die? She knew she had to think, and she had to think quickly.

  “Eva… Eva…”

  “What?” Eva whispered, her voice faint and weak.

  “Isn’t there any way you can try to engage Sebastian’s mind with your powers? Warn him that we are in danger?”

  “I can try, but I don’t know if it’ll work.”

  “Well, trying anything will be better than doing nothing. Please try.”

  Eva held Arielle’s hands tightly, pressed her eyes closed, and asked Arielle to close her eyes and concentrate on Sebastian. Arielle did as Eva suggested, and it wasn’t hard to clear her mind of everything but Sebastian’s existence. As she closed her eyes and pictured him, she heard Eva’s voice, soft and weak, beginning to chant.

  “This simple wish is mine to cast; please guide him to us and make this spell last; I call upon thee to give me your might; protect all that surrounds us by the dragon’s light.”

  She repeated the spell three times and when she was done she stopped for a short minute. Then, she began chanting again in a strange tongue.

  “Anima mea, turbata et valde sed tu domine, usqueguo.”

  She repeated these words over and over. Finally, she dropped her arms to her side, and with tears in her eyes she said, “This is the best I can do. This spell is supposed to bring the person we’ve asked for to us. He will find the way. We must just have faith in that.”

  “I have faith, Eva. I just hope he finds us in time.”

  Time passed as they listened to every single sound, every single noise they could hear, even the tiniest hint that help might be on the way. But there was nothing.

  The air was getting thicker. Arielle began slipping in and out of consciousness. She could hear Eva’s heavy breathing beside her. Eva had started coughing, but the sound of it seemed a mile away from Arielle’s mind. She couldn’t believe that their lives were going to end this way, in this horrible, cold room. Sebastian’s beautiful face appeared in her mind and she smiled, thinking how lucky she had been to find true love even if it was to be for just a short time.

  “Eva,” she whispered. “Eva!” She could see that Eva’s chest was barely moving. Arielle was freezing, and she discovered she couldn’t cry anymore. There were no more tears to shed, her eyes were completely dry. She was sure that the fear and the cold had frozen every part of her body. She wanted to scream again, she wanted to hear Eva’s voice, but she had no more strength for anything anymore. Eva was completely silent.

  She tried to breathe, but she couldn’t draw air into her lungs. She was suffocating and coldness was seizing her body one limb at a time, slowly and painfully. She started to fall into the final darkness when she thought she heard voices. They seemed to be coming from far away and getting louder and louder, but she couldn’t move and she was sure that she must be dead.

  “Arielle! Eva! Arielle! Eva!” she could hear Sebastian’s musical voice and could see his beautiful face, but they were just images, nothing real. Death is upon me, she thought, and she let herself give in to the last breath as she held Eva closer to her body.

  Chapter 9

  WHEN SHE OPENED HER EYES, bright lights blurred her vision, sending cold panic down her spine. She blinked in a shocked reaction and quickly shut her eyes again. A sick feeling flooded her thoughts. Where was she? Was she dead?

  Her breathing was shallow as cold fear coursed through her body and settled in her throat, making it hard to breathe. The silence was deafening and she felt tired… so very tired. She tried hard to push her thoughts through the muddled confusion that was consuming her whole body and soul.

  The silence was broken as she became aware of the steady beep of a monitor, and the lows and highs as the beeps registered on the monitor screen. How could that be possible? She couldn’t hear that before? What in the world was happening to her?

  She forced her eyes open and gasped.

  Blinking back the tears that were stinging her eyes, her gaze darted around the room, absorbing the white, sterile walls. Her breathing stopped when her eyes landed on Sebastian’s face, and she gasped out loud, sure that he was an illusion.

  She closed her eyes again and let a deep sigh escape. “Sebastian,” she murmured. “Oh, God, where is Eva?” She felt a conciliatory hand on hers and she quivered.

  “Eva,” she said softly. She heard a soft voice telling her that she needed to stay quiet, that Eva was fine.

  She kept her eyes closed for a long while. The next time she opened them, she took a deep breath and let out a soft sigh. She turned her head and got lost in the green oasis of Sebastian’s eyes.

  “You’re real!” she exclaimed and their eyes locked.

  “Yes, baby, I’m real,” he said, and standing up he straightened to his full length. Leaning over her, he softly brushed his mouth over hers. She closed her eyes and absorbed his warm breath against her lips.

  “Sebastian, where am I? What happened?”

  Sebastian hovered over her for a short moment, and then he sat back in the chair next to her bed.

  “You’re in the hospital, baby,”

  “What happened? How did I get here?” she asked again, in a voice barely audible. She could feel the warmth of his hand and struggled to keep her eyes open.

  “Sebastian,” she whispered again.

  “Try and sleep, baby,” he said. “I’ll be right here.” She drifted off to sleep, and when she came to, he was still sitting there holding her hand.

  “What happened?” she whispered, opening her eyes all the way this time, fully and suddenly awake.

  “Arielle, you scared me to death.”

  “Am I sick? Why am I here?”

  “You’ll be fine. We’ll be going home in a couple of days.” She felt a chill come over her, but she was not sure why. She only knew that she needed him to hold her.

  “Hold me, please!” she pleaded.

  Gathering her in his arms, he held her close. “Oh God, Arielle, I thought I had lost you.” His loving eyes were caressing her and his lips lightly touched hers. She closed her eyes again and stayed in his arms, trying to remember what had happened. Eva’s face flashed in front of her.

  “Sebastian, where’s Eva? The last thing I remember she wasn’t moving…”

  “Eva is fine,” he soothed. “She’ll be going home the same time you do. Both of you needed some help, but you’re going to be okay.”

  “But what happened? Where did yo
u find us?”

  “You were trapped in a room below the house. We found you just in time.” Arielle pressed her eyes tightly shut, trying to think as her frustration grew and muddled visions slammed into her brain. It took a few minutes, but then, quite abruptly, she recalled what had happened, and she started to tremble. She opened her mouth to speak but fear crammed the words, and nothing came out. She felt a sharp pang deep in her gut and panic raced through her. A wave of emotions coursed through her mind, and she stopped breathing. She must have looked as terrified as she felt, because Sebastian was looking back at her with a worried look.

  “What is it, baby?”

  She was quiet for a very long moment and then she muttered, practically under her breath, “Sebastian, we were lured into that room. Eva was shoved in the back, she fell on top of me and we tumbled to the floor. Then, the door slammed shut behind us. Then someone turned the key and locked us inside.”

  “But the door wasn’t locked when we found you.”

  “What?” she asked incredulously.

  “The door wasn’t locked,” he repeated.

  “But… what?” she said again as her voice hitched another notch.

  “I said that the door wasn’t locked,” he said again.

  “That’s impossible. Eva and I tried to push the door open for a very long time. We could hear her laughing outside the door. She told me that I wasn’t going to have you, that I was going to die.”

  “What are you saying, Arielle?”

  “I’m saying that Annabel locked us in that room and left us to die. Eva was there, she’ll tell you. Annabel was hoping you wouldn’t find us in time. I’m wondering why Eva couldn’t see this coming. She saw the other attacks coming. Maybe it’s something about the house. I just can’t understand it.”

  Sebastian was quiet, frustration clear on his face. Arielle watched him rise to his feet. He started to pace back and forth as he pinched the tip of his nose. She closed her eyes and tried to wipe Annabel from her thoughts.

  “How are you doing, Arielle?” Troy entered the room.