Timeless (Immortal Love Series)

by Amy Richie

  After an infinite amount of time that was too short he broke the kiss off, but his hands still eagerly stroked my face and my hair and my neck. He kissed me again and again until I was dizzy from the effect. I would have surely fallen off the saddle if Nickolas hadn’t been holding onto me so tight.

  “Oh Eva,” he whispered roughly in my hair, “who are you?”

  I understood the hidden meaning beyond the words but there was nothing I could say. I didn’t know who I was. But I was absolutely positive at that point I would have told him if I knew. I just buried my face deeper into his chest and held onto him tighter, as if my life depended on it.

  Chapter Twenty

  The water felt good to my parched throat. I scooped it up eagerly and let it wash away the worries I had. The dreams I had been having were just a result of an overactive imagination. That had to be it. There was no other explanation. I wanted to laugh out loud with relief.

  “Are you finished yet?” Nickolas called, ruining my happy moment.

  “No.”

  I could almost hear his shoulders slumping in aggravation. I bit back a smile and scooped up another handful of water.

  “Eva, we have to go.”

  “I’m sure your lady Neleh can wait just a few minutes,” I called over my shoulder. With a sigh if disappointment I got up and turned towards him.

  His expression made me freeze where I was standing. He was still sitting on the horse, but his body was tense. His face was alert and his eyes were wide. He was searching for something.

  “What’s wrong?” I called weakly. He held up his hand to silence me and I obeyed at once.

  “Don’t move,” he half growled. Even if he had told me to run, I probably wouldn’t have been able too. In a movement so fast it defied the law of nature, he was beside me. He crouched low in front of me. With a sickening feeling in my stomach, I recognized the defensive position.

  “Should we run?” I whispered.

  “Too late.”

  I made a low whimpering sound in my throat. Too late? What was out there? Fear paralyzed me. I watched in horror as three large wolves stepped into the clearing.

  The wolves were unlike anything I had ever seen outside of my nightmares. Their coats were in varying shades of grey and black. They were huge. They were the height of a normal wolf but their frames were bulky and low to the ground. I could see the muscles rippling across their backs and chests. I shuddered.

  The large black wolf took two steps closer to us and growled deeply. I was both stunned and horrified in equal parts when I heard Nickolas growl back at the monster.

  I counted my heartbeats as I watched the wolf. I only got to three before the wolf’s muscles tensed in its legs. I reacted on impulse rather than conscious thought. I couldn’t let the wolf hurt Nickolas. I sprang to life.

  In less than half a second I placed myself between Nickolas and the wolf. Nickolas, taken completely by surprise, was knocked off his feet. The wolf’s steps faltered for a moment but then it lunged.

  Its teeth were three inches long, razor sharp and coming straight for us. I shot my hands out in front of me and from some forgotten part of my memory a shield formed around us. My confidence grew when the wolf yelped and fell to the ground. It stayed down, its breathing labored. The other two came to investigate but didn’t lunge. They paced back and forth where the shield ended.

  My memories came back at an assaulting speed then, sending me to my knees. I clutched my stomach and gasped for air. The wolves watched warily, not sure if it was safe to attack.

  “No,” I choked, frightened of all the images swirling in my head.

  David.

  The time machine.

  The testing

  The comet

  The warriors

  My cell

  Fighting

  Blood

  Pain

  David’s betrayal

  Dominick Letrell

  The Angel

  Neleh

  Kill Dominick Letrell

  My eyes opened wide and I got to my feet. I felt my waist for my knife but of course it wasn’t there. I turned to look down at Nickolas, who was staring at me open-mouthed. For a second I was ashamed at what he must have seen in my eyes. That I was a murderer. But I didn’t have much time for that train of thought, my shield made me weak, I would have to store those thoughts away for later.

  I bent down and took Nickolas’s knife from his belt. I turned back to the wolves and confidently pulled my shield back. One of the wolves attacked at once but in a movement just like David showed me I brought the knife up into his throat. The wolf jumped back in shock and when its brother came to its rescue I kicked him hard enough to break his jaw. With sure movements I took his giant head in my hands and twisted hard. The wolf convulsed twice and then changed to the form of a man. I quickly finished the other two wolves and they turned to men. It took me less than two minutes to kill the three werewolves.

  Nickolas still hadn’t gotten up from the ground, although he was sitting up. I couldn’t tell if he was shocked or disgusted by me.

  “Who are you?” he asked.

  “I am Eva. I was created for one purpose,” I recited in a flat voice.

  “What purpose?”

  “To kill Dominick Letrell.”

  He looked shocked for a moment and flinched back. “Why?”

  I regarded him curiously. He had asked why, not who. He knew him. “You know Dominick Letrell.”

  He didn’t say anything but his eyes betrayed him. “Why?” he asked again.

  “Use caution Eva,” I heard David’s voice in my head. Nickolas had known Dominick Letrell in a time when he was not well known. Were they friends? My mind quickly discarded the thought. Dominick Letrell is a friend to no one. “It is my purpose,” I said simply.

  “Who created you?” He stood up.

  I took a step back, clutching the knife instinctively. He inhaled sharply. Shame and indecision came over my senses. “Trust no one,” David’s voice warned. This was Nickolas. I loved him and he loved me. I opened my hand that held the knife and heard the clank of the metal against the rocks.

  I was in his arms in less than a heartbeat. I don’t know which of us moved first, but it didn’t matter. None of it mattered. He was kissing my hair, my eyes, my cheeks, and finally my lips. I didn’t cry, but I did cling to him as tight as he clung to me.

  What did this mean? My memory coming back. I had broken the rules. I wasn’t even supposed to talk to anyone else, unless it was absolutely necessary. I closed my eyes in defeat. I couldn’t change anything now. Things had changed. I loved Nickolas. What would happen now?

  “Will you tell me?” he asked quietly. We were sitting on the rocks by the stream. He was holding my hand and I was tracing the lines on his fingers.

  I grimaced at his request. “What do you want to know?”

  “Who created you?”

  I regarded him warily from the corner of my eye. “Next.”

  “You won’t tell me who created you?”

  “It won’t make a difference. You won’t know them.”

  “How do you know?” he challenged.

  I sighed and shook my head. “Next.”

  “What year are you from?”

  “Nope, I can’t tell you that either.”

  “Why not?” he asked impatiently.

  “Nickolas, I am not even supposed to talk to anyone.”

  “I think it’s a little late for that.”

  I dramatically clamped my lips together.

  “So let me get this straight,” he let go of my hand to run his own hand through his hair, “you’re from the future. You were sent back to the past to carry out a mission, but the mission was compromised. You can’t tell me who created you nor can you tell me what year you are from. All you can say is that your sole purpose is to kill Dominick Letrell.”

  I winced at his words. I had already told him too much. “Yep, sounds about right.”

  “So what will yo
u do now?”

  His question played havoc with my senses. Hadn’t I just been asking myself that same question? I shrugged. “I don’t know,” I admitted, “I suppose I’ll have to find Dominick, finish my mission, and then return to my own time.”

  “How will you get back?”

  “I am fairly sure I could find the ship again.”

  “And you’ll just return to your own time?”

  I understood what he was asking. Would I leave him?

  “And how do you plan on finding him?” Nickolas asked without waiting for an answer. He probably didn’t like what he saw in my face or what he saw in my thoughts.

  “I don’t know.” I was still stuck on the last question.

  “What if I could show you where he is?”

  “You know where he is?” I asked eagerly.

  “If I do, if I took you to him, would you give me some information?”

  The smile slowly left my face. “What information?”

  “Well, don’t you think it might be worth a little bit? Some answers?”

  I was already shaking my head before he could finish. “It’s against the rules.”

  “Wouldn’t it be safe to say, you’ve already broken the rules?”

  He was right; of course he knew he was right. I steeled my raging emotions. It was David’s fault I was in this situation anyways. He had betrayed the mission. Now it was up to me to put things right again. And Nickolas was the key to that.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  “Ok,” I finally gave in, “you already know too much anyway.” I sighed and rubbed my hands briskly on my skirt. I really wished I had pants. Maybe Nickolas would give me some. How did women defend themselves? “A little more information won’t hurt anything.”

  “Good.” He relaxed against the stone rocks. “I just want to know three things.” He held up three fingers. “Tell me these three things and I’ll take you to Dominick Letrell.”

  I nodded once. “Ok,” I’ll tell you those three things,” I waved my hand to indicate his still raised fingers. “But,” I wagged one finger at him, “I can’t tell you who, so don’t ask.” I said it more firmly than I intended.

  “I know; that’s not one of them.” He inhaled deeply, and let his breath back out. I want to know why, when, and how,” he ticked off his three fingers.

  “You already know why.” He was shaking his head but I kept going before he could protest. “When?” I bit my bottom lip, trying to make a decision. “I come from the year,” he leaned forward in anticipation, “the year twenty-one fifty-two.”

  “2152?” he repeated.

  “Yeah.” I hoped I wouldn’t come to regret telling him. “And how? What do you mean how?”

  “I mean how did they make you? Are you…human?” He seemed awkward with the question. Either embarrassed for asking or afraid of the answer.

  I was a little taken aback by the question. Irritated. “Yes, of course I am human.” My eyes were narrowed.

  “You’re clearly not entirely human.”

  “Clearly?” I raised my eyebrow. “Why clearly?”

  “You just killed three adult werewolves with your bare hands.”

  “I had a knife”

  “Come on, you said three things.”

  “Ok,” I said, still giving him an irritated glare. “David trained me to kill a werewolf. He thought I might run into a few. It was just a precaution.”

  “David?”

  Shoot! “I had a lot of training from a lot of different people.”

  “They trained you to kill a vampire? Did you know that Dominick Letrell was a vampire?”

  I breathed heavily at him. Was he trying to insult me? “I know everything about Dominick Letrell,” I said in a slightly cocky tone.

  “Really?” He wasn’t impressed. “Everything?” He actually didn’t believe me at all.

  “So how do you know him?” My voice rose in anger.

  He regarded me calmly and then took my hand in his. “Tell me how.”

  I sighed deeply and set my jaw. I took my hand out of his before I started talking again. “I was born completely human, to a young girl who cared more about heroine than she did for her baby daughter. She put me in a dumpster and then left me to die. I was told that Neleh knew I was the right girl because I didn’t cry in the dumpster. I accepted my fate even at just a few days old.”

  “So, David and Neleh were looking for someone to come back and kill Dominick while he was weak.” It wasn’t a question. How did he know Neleh was involved? Had I slipped again?

  I kept going with the story. “So I was taken back to the lab and given a cell.”

  “A cell?” he interrupted again. “Like jail?”

  “There are no jails in 2152,” I informed him. “After the comet, crimes among humans are dealt with swiftly. Death or the islands. No jail.” When he looked like he was going to ask further questions, I went on with my life story. “I was raised on stories about the Letrell brothers. I was injected with different variations of vampire blood since I was four. Never enough to change me, just enough to make me more than human. But still human,” I added sharply.

  He grinned. “And they trained you?”

  “Intensively.” I would refuse to give him those details if he asked. I wouldn’t relive that time.

  “Ok, so that’s the first two. You haven’t answered the why.”

  “Yes, I have. To kill…”

  “I know,” he cut me off, “but why do they want you to kill him? What did he do?”

  “What did he do?” I asked incredulously. But then I remembered what year I was in. He wasn’t bad yet. “Dominick Letrell is a friend to no one. He is evil and despised among his kind. He is known only for violence.” My voice was icy.

  “No,” he said shaking his head. “This is something you’ve been told your whole life but what if it isn’t true?”

  “Not true?” I glared at him.

  “Have you ever met him?”

  “No, he doesn’t know I exist.”

  “Then how do you know?” His voice grew soft.

  The things he said disturbed me. Not because I believed them, but because he believed them. “Dominick Letrell will be evil,” I said firmly.

  “But he’s not now?” He was curious.

  “He doesn’t become known among vampires until the early 1300’s,” I admitted reluctantly.

  “Why is that?”

  “No one knows.”

  “What made him turn bad?” he wondered out loud.

  “He was always bad,” I quickly corrected him. “It’s just unclear why he decided to come out of hiding.”

  “You said ‘brothers’ before. Were you sent here to kill them all?” he asked after a while.

  “The Letrell brothers are Damien and Dominick Letrell.” I was calm now, comfortable sitting with Nickolas. “Damien is protected by Kiera.”

  “Kiera?” It wasn’t a question really, just confusion.

  I laid my head in his lap, letting him think through all I had told him. The werewolves and the Colony were forgotten. He absently stroked my hair.

  I was almost sleeping before he spoke again. “I wonder what would happen if you just went to talk to Dominick,” he said.

  I was wary at once. I didn’t want to talk to him. “To say what?” I asked without lifting my head.

  “Well what if you go to him and explain what he will become. If he decides not to be evil, couldn’t that work?”

  “Are you afraid for me to kill him?” I asked.

  “You can’t kill him. He would kill you.”

  I laughed sadly and raised my head. “Dominick Letrell cannot hurt me,” I chided.

  “What makes you so sure?” he whispered.

  “I’ve been trained my whole life. I know all of his weaknesses.”

  A strange pained look flashed in Nickolas’s eyes. He leaned forward and kissed me softly.

  “If you want me to, I could try.”

  “But?” He intercepted my
thoughts.

  “If I change the past, and Dominick Letrell does turn good,” I swallowed past the doubt, “well then there would be no reason to create me, and even less reason to send me back here. I would probably die in the dumpster.”

  A look of sudden understanding dawned across his face. “And we would never meet,” he finished my thought. There was nothing I could say. “And what if you kill him? It’s the same thing.”

  Tears sprang to my eyes. I refused to blink. “David was unsure of the consequences of changing the past,” I said quietly so my voice wouldn’t break.

  “That’s unacceptable,” he said flatly.

  I leaned my face into his chest. The truth hung around us heavily like a blanket. At least neither of us would remember I tried to comfort myself. Probably.

  “Tell me about today.” He pushed me upright.

  “I haven’t lived through today yet,” I reminded him.

  “No, I mean, what did they tell you about this time? I need more details about right now. What’s supposed to happen? With Dominick?”

  “Well, um,” I pursed my lips. “There were werewolves in the Colony. Neleh called all vampires in the area to come defend their land, to find and kill all the wolves. Dominick answered the call but he was too late. By the time he got to the Colony, the wolves were all dead. Neleh tried to thank him, but he was distant and angry — even then.”

  Nickolas laughed a short, dry laugh. “Then what happened?” he probed.

  “No one really knows where he went after that. He disappeared for more than fifty years, but then he came back with an evilness that was overwhelming. He hated humans. Entire towns disappeared at his hands. History books wrote it as unsolved mysteries and unexplained occurrences. Mass murders and epidemics followed in his wake.”

  “I can hardly believe it.” And he did appear undecided.

  “So now you see why I was sent to kill him.”

  “Why didn’t you just kill him in your own time? Did you want to come back and save all those people that he will eventually kill?”