Timeless (Immortal Love Series)

by Amy Richie

  He pressed his lips gently against the skin below my ear. “Don’t go anywhere,” he murmured softly. I didn’t answer, I couldn’t even breath.

  Nadia waited patiently for me to catch my breath after Dominick left. I only heard her laugh once, which I was grateful for.

  “Let’s go to Cookie’s for ice cream,” I suggested when I could talk again.

  “I don’t know if Claudia will let us.”

  “But you said the VC will be out tomorrow.”

  “That is true and we’ll be stuck inside all day. We can go ask.” I nodded, eager to disobey Dominick’s orders.

  Chapter Thirty–Three

  It took a while to talk Claudia into letting us go for ice cream. “But Claudia,” Nadia pleaded, “Eva really wants an ice cream.”

  “Tomorrow the VC will be out and we won’t be able to go then,” I added. “Please.” I tried to jut my lip out like Nadia but was sure that I just looked ridiculous.

  “Oh, alright. I’ll go with you.”

  “Yippee,” Nadia squealed.

  In the end, only Nadia and I walked down to Cookie’s. Kiera called to talk to Claudia so she shooed us along with strict orders to hurry. We held hands and giggled as we walked along the narrow street.

  “It’s so nice having you here Eva; I’ve always wanted a little sister.”

  “You know, I was thinking the same thing about you,” I laughed until my sides hurt. I had never been able to be like this with anyone before.

  “I may look young but I am much older than you are.” She clamped her hand over her mouth. “I better not say that too loud. Someone might call the VC.”

  “Have you ever been stopped by the VC?”

  “No way. If I had, I wouldn’t be alive now.”

  “They would kill you? How would they know you weren’t human?”

  “If the VC stop you that means they already have suspicions and they’ll bleed you on the spot.”

  “What does that mean? Bleed you?”

  “They take some of your blood, just a tiny amount, and use their detectors to see if you have any vampire blood in your system.”

  “And if you do?”

  “They will take you to one of their colonies.”

  “Like Stoko?”

  “I don’t know what Stoko is, but the colonies are basically just prisons, but worse.”

  Any further questions I had were cut short when we got to Cookie’s. “We’ll have two small chocolate cones please.”

  We took our treats and began walking back to Claudia’s. I wanted to stay there and eat them as we had before, but Nadia insisted that we go straight back.

  “Aren’t you afraid of him at all?” she asked with wide eyes.

  “Who? Dominick?” She nodded. “No.”

  “Well I heard that he…” She abruptly stopped talking. I looked at her expectantly. The expression on her face made my breath catch and my ice cream fall to the ground. Her eyes were wide and her face was ghostly white.

  “Nadia, what’s wrong?”

  “The VC,” she whispered.

  “The police? What about them?” The VC were coming tomorrow but I couldn’t see… “They’re here aren’t they?”

  “A few blocks that way.” She threw her ice cream and grabbed my hand. “We have to hurry.”

  The house wasn’t yet in sight when the two men rounded the corner and almost ran into us. One man was almost a foot taller than his partner. They both wore dark blue uniforms and white helmet type head coverings. “Whoa, you ladies are in a hurry,” one of them smiled.

  “We’re…we’re late,” Nadia stammered. She tried to duck past the men but the taller one moved to block our path.

  “Well, this should only take a minute.” Shorty held up a small metal box. “I’ll need to see your right index finger.”

  “We can’t. We’re late, we have to go.” Her smile was painfully fake.

  “I’m sure that…your mother will understand. The VCCEA is here to keep our streets free of filthy half-breeds.”

  He already knew what we were, I realized with a sinking heart. Our only option was to fight. We couldn’t be taken to their colony. There were only two of them, we could easily defeat them. I tightened my jaw.

  The taller man, who hadn’t said a word yet, pushed a black button on his vest. Within moments half a dozen men in similar attire surrounded us. “Your finger?” he held the box to Nadia.

  “You already know what you’ll find,” I hissed.

  Two men came from behind us and took my arms and two came to get Nadia. My ground-in instincts from Neleh took over. I brought my knee up hard into one of the men’s groin and swung my leg around to get the other across the head. Both men sank to their knees.

  “Run, Eva, run,” I heard Nadia scream. I wasn’t leaving her.

  I felt one of her captor’s elbows crack and the other went down after a kick to his knee. A white van pulled up to offer more back-up for the VC. “Come on, we have to go,” I grabbed Nadia by the wrist and we ran.

  We didn’t get far though. We never stood a chance of escaping, there were too many of them. Their clubs rained down on us over and over again until they decided we were subdued enough.

  “Your finger,” the short man demanded, out of breath.

  There was blood everywhere, why did he need our fingers? Nadia held hers out obediently and I followed suit. She turned her bruised and battered face to look at me. “Eva, I’m so sorry,” she muttered. A white cloth went over her face then and her eyes closed. I didn’t fight them when they put the cloth over my face.

  ***

  I woke up with a gasp. I remembered everything, which meant they hadn’t given me cleaner. My relief was short lived. I was in a small room, barely the size of my cell in Lexon. There was nothing in the room though, only a hole in one corner covered with a board and a small barred window — which allowed just enough light for me to see that Nadia was not there.

  I jumped up in an instant. There might not have been much light, but it was enough for me to see well. There was no one else around. The door was a strange contraption of long metal bars. Where was I? And where was Nadia?

  I went to the strange door first, to see how strong it was. Maybe I could get out that way. I grabbed the bars and immediately a loud voice boomed, “Step away from the door.”

  I flinched back. Who was that? I touched the bar with one hand. “Step away from the door.” They were motion censored. I pulled with all my might, but the bars didn’t budge. Lights and sirens came on to accompany the voice though.

  Then, I heard a new sound, footsteps; and a voice. “Go get the other girl, it’s her turn.”

  My turn for what? I didn’t know, but I doubted if it was anything good. I searched the small, dirty square room for something I could use as a weapon. The only thing in the room was that small board covering what I guessed was my bathroom. I darted to the corner and ripped a chunk of the board off. This would have to do. I shoved the jagged piece of wood into the waistband of my jeans just seconds before a door opened somewhere close by.

  Every part of my body was on high alert. “Where’s Nadia?” I called into the darkness beyond the bars.

  Lights came on, momentarily blinding me. I covered my eyes with my arm until I could see again. Two men stood just outside the bars, weapons in hand. They were young men and I could almost smell their fear. “We need you to come with us,” one man spoke bravely.

  “Where is Nadia?”

  “You can either come willingly or you come unconscious. Your choice. I calculated quickly. I had to stay alert. Better to be meek and follow — for now.

  “Can you please just tell me where my sister is?” I asked in the most pathetic voice I could muster up. I tried to manage a few tears out but I couldn’t. The door opened.

  I whimpered like a child when one of the men roughly pulled me from the box room. I still needed to figure out where Nadia was. I hung my head, trying to appear distraught, and pushed my senses outwa
rd.

  I heard crying, but it was too far away to know if it was Nadia or even where it was coming from. I heard many people breathing but I couldn’t tell who they were.

  “These girls don’t look too scary,” one of the men whispered.

  “Not enough to warrant those kinds of wounds.”

  “They had to have beaten them pretty bad.”

  “Captain said this one got a few good kicks in.”

  The two men cast knowing glances at each other. “I don’t buy it. The other one’s probably going to die. Then what is she going to do?”

  “They don’t even look like half-breeds. Did he even check?”

  “He said he bled them.”

  “We haven’t had a half-breed that looked normal in years.”

  “They could just be vampets.”

  “Probably ran from their owners and scared half to death.”

  “Captain is slipping.”

  My head reeled along with the walls. Nadia was dying; I had to get to her. “Where is she?” my voice shook.

  The two men sighed, but didn’t give me any information. Ten feet ahead of us, a door opened. An eerie blue light illuminated the square doorway.

  Once inside the room I realized my mistake at once. There were at least a dozen men in blue uniforms standing around the room. I should have escaped when I had a better chance with just the two men.

  A long, high table was set up in the middle of the room. Large metallic knives rested on a stand near the bed. The smell of fresh blood was heavy in the air. This could not be good. My heart thudded loudly.

  “I told you to tie her hands,” the short man from the alley snapped.

  “She came willingly,” my guards defended themselves.

  “Do you think she’s going to get up on this bed willingly?”

  My mouth went suddenly dry with fear. What were they going to do to me?

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  The two men took hold of my arms and pulled me to the metal bed. I drug my feet along the floor but it barely even slowed them down. I was undecided if I should fight yet or not; I wasn’t sure what they were going to do.

  It was the smile on the tall guard’s face that made everything else fade away. Everything in the room went in slow motion. One of the guards lifted me off the ground and pushed me up on the table. Two men forced me to lie back while a third man began locking restraints on my arms and legs.

  The short guard that I recognized came close to my side with a circular shaped blade. At the push of a button it whirred to life. “Make sure you hold her down,” he called.

  My chest heaved painfully. “What are you doing?”

  “You’re not going to use your dark magic again,” he thundered.

  “Dark magic?”

  I screamed out in shock when the circular blade bit into the tender skin of my wrist. On instinct alone, I jerked my legs and arms out of their restraints.

  “Hold her!”

  I flipped off the table and took out the jagged piece of wood. With a single motion I thrust it into one guard’s neck. The next man received a hole in his chest. I didn’t take the time to think things completely through, I just bolted through the first door I found. My footsteps pounded loudly along the empty hallway.

  The next door I came to was locked but I didn’t let that slow me down. I slammed into it, forcing it to open. I found myself out in the cool night air. I ran towards the parking lot, knowing that would take me to a road that I could follow.

  I was surprised to find that we were still in the city. I could only hope that the others were looking for us. I jumped over a low wall and kept running. I heard the sounds of the men coming after me. Adrenalin coursed hotly through my veins.

  I was paying so much attention to what was chasing me that I ran into a solid man blocking my path. I let out a strangled cry and brought up my hand that was still holding the wood. The man was too tall though and my crude weapon went into his shoulder. I turned to run, but he stopped me.

  He used one large hand to cover my mouth and the other to encircle my waist and hold me to him. I kicked his shins as hard as I could but the man pulled me along roughly.

  “Put her down,” I recognized Dominick’s voice immediately and went limp with relief. Dominick wouldn’t let them take me.

  As soon as my feet hit the ground, I ran immediately to Dominick. He pulled me roughly to his side, crushing me in the process. I didn’t flinch away from his touch like I normally would have.

  “You sure have a spitfire on your hands Dom,” I recognized Achilles’ voice. “You didn’t have to stab me young Eva, I was only trying to help.”

  I turned in amazement. Dominick’s large, bald brother pulled the wood from his shoulder as if it were a splinter. “S…s…sorry Achilles,” I stuttered while clutching to Dominick, “I…I didn’t …didn’t know…”

  “You didn’t hurt him,” Dominick reassured me. “Are you hurt Eva?” He pried me far enough away from him to look me over for wounds. His hands paused at my wrist — the worst of my injuries — but his hands stopped to caress my face.

  “I will help you brother,” Achilles offered, “we can easily kill them all.”

  “I can help too.” My chin quivered.

  “Let’s get her back to David.” Dominick wrapped his arm around my waist and guided me through the shadows and back to the house.

  By the time we made it back, I had regained control of myself. David and Elizabeth both fell over me, making sure I was ok and expressing their relief over seeing me. Claudia and Marcus stood back. When I met Claudia’s eyes, I shook my head. Nadia was not with me. Marcus came to embrace her from behind. When she covered her mouth with her hand, my heart clenched. I should not have left her.

  “Where’s Nadia?” David asked, always a step behind everyone else.

  “I left her there,” I admitted.

  “No one here expected you to save her,” Elizabeth glared at Claudia, “you did what you had to do, no one blames you.”

  “I panicked David.” I shook my head. “I was such a coward.”

  “What did they do to you?” He held my wrist up.

  “I think they were going to cut my hand off.”

  “They would have,” Claudia spoke in a flat voice, “the VC think that the half-breeds can do magic and if they cut their hands off it will stop their magic.”

  “He did say he would stop me from doing my dark magic.” My eyes were huge.

  “How did they…” Claudia started to ask, but choked on the words.

  “They strapped me to a metal table.” Everyone fell silent.

  “Come over here, you need to be bandaged.” Claudia had a large array of bandages sprawled on the table.

  “Hurry Claudia, if we go now, we can get to Nadia before…”

  “They will move her to the colony within the hour.”

  “You aren’t going anywhere,” Dominick spoke harshly.

  “I have to, she could be hurting.”

  “There is nothing you can do.”

  “Of course there is. I could…”

  “Eva, you did what you had to,” Claudia spoke gently.

  “I shouldn’t have left her,” I berated myself.

  “This is not your fault, “Dominick touched my arm but didn’t look at me, “You were less than a mile from the house when the VC attacked you. Had I been here, it would not have happened.” He glared at Claudia who lowered her eyes. My mouth fell open. Was he trying to blame Claudia? This was not her fault.

  “Do you have a first aid kit?” David asked, ignoring the tension in Dominick.

  “Just these bandages,” she gestured to the table.

  “Some of these wounds will need to be sewn.”

  “Why am I not healing anymore?”

  “It’s hard to say. That might not be a dominant element in the guard’s blood. They probably don’t get hurt often.”

  “But I healed before. It hasn’t been that long.”

  David shrugged
as he focused on getting the needle threaded that Claudia had produced. “I only have regular thread,” she apologized.

  “That will work.”

  David concentrated on my wounds while Marcus and Claudia whispered in the corner. “We are going out,” Elizabeth announced suddenly.

  “Where are you going?”

  “Out. We’ll be back within the hour.” Achilles followed closely on Elizabeth’s heel, a position I was sure he was used too.

  I didn’t flinch as David closed the wounds on my wrist. Dominick, on the other hand, did. “Be careful,” he snapped.

  “Maybe you should go stand outside,” I retorted. His eyes narrowed, but he didn’t budge.

  David wrapped my wrist in a bandage and sewed up several more places on my face and arms before declaring me well enough. Dominick shuffled to my side to make sure I wouldn’t fall.

  “I’m fine.”

  “Ok.”

  “That means go away,” I explained when he remained at my side.

  My attention was momentarily diverted from my unwanted shadow by Marcus, who was heading for the door. He caught my eye. “I am going to see if I can find her. I’ll be back soon,” he said before I could ask.

  “I’m coming too.”

  “No,” a trio of voices contradicted me.

  “I can help. I know where she is.”

  “I know where they have her; I just want to see if they have moved her yet.”

  “To the colony?”

  “Yes.”

  “I can help though,” I insisted. But he refused to let me go with him.

  “Just stay with Claudia, I’ll be back soon.”

  As soon as the door closed behind him, I turned on Claudia. “You’re just going to let him go alone?” I accused angrily. “What if he runs into trouble? What if he needs help getting her out? What if…”

  “Eva,” Claudia wrapped her tiny arms around me, “it’s not your fault.” I was surprised by how much comfort she offered me.

  “What if he needs help?” I croaked.

  “Marcus is a warrior,” David responded. “He can and will do whatever is necessary.”

  “He doesn’t need anyone’s help,” Claudia added softly. “There are only a couple dozen humans. If he can get Nadia out safely, he will.”