The Eternal

by Bianca Hunter

  “I have a message for Father,” Nero drawled, full of contempt. Lorenzo had lost control of his son a century ago. The entire immortal world had lost control of Nero years ago; he was afraid of only three people, Viktor, Aurelius, and Markus.

  I rolled my eyes and let out an audible sigh to illustrate my frustration. “You could have sent a note,” I replied through gritted teeth. “You have forced me witness the attack of some street girl for nothing.” I grew increasingly annoyed by the noise of the woman who was fighting like an alley cat.

  “It’s unlike you to help those in need, little Astara.” Nero smirked. “Speaking of, how is your little witch?” he said through an evil smile I knew all too well.

  “If this is about Aurelius wanting her back, tell him he can come and get her,” I hissed. “As soon as he’s willing to go through Viktor and me.” I smiled, knowing that Aurelius might dare to cross many but never Viktor or Markus; his insanity and bravado had not yet reached the limit.

  “Do not mention his name around me,” Nero hissed upon hearing Viktor’s name.

  I took a deep breath, and the woman screamed once again.

  “Excuse me,” I said, gazing into Nero’s eyes.

  In an instant, I was standing in the middle of the group of drunk, swaying men, who were passing the girl around in a circle from one to the other.

  “Hello, boys,” I drawled, entering their man-made enclosure.

  “Come to join the—”

  Before the man standing in front of me could finish his sentence, I reached forward and snapped his neck easily. It took precisely twelve heartbeats for me to kill the rest. I moved too quickly for any of them to follow, and when the woman was surrounded by collapsed corpses, I moved back to where Nero was standing as my heartbeat struck thirteen.

  “Much better,” I said, removing my gloves, which had the men’s dirt and sweat stuck to them like an infested glue. I dropped them on the floor and left my umbrella there also; nothing from the cobblestone ground should be touched again.

  Nero looked bored and sighed. “Tell Father, Aurelius says the plan has moved forward. You and he know what to do,” Nero drawled before turning his back on me.

  “Nero,” I called. “Forward? This was not meant to happen for another hundred years.” Panic and anxiety reached my chest now. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed the woman stumbling away from the bodies and breaking out in a pathetic run.

  “By ten years, by a hundred, what does it matter?” Nero said from the shadows of the house, not bothering to turn back to me. “Go back to your husband, Astara. He will notice you have left him.” He walked deeper into the house, leaving me in the alley of corpses. I would have to make a calculated move to protect Greyhaven, to protect Viktor and Blake, but most of all, to protect Serena.

  -

  My eyes flew open and were met with Blake’s intense blue eyes looking directly at me. We were still in the private jet. I remembered boarding, taking off, and then showering and changing into one of the staff’s spare black dresses with pumps one size too big for my feet. My shoulders slumped, and I took a deep, steadying breath. I had fallen asleep.

  “Is everything okay?” he asked. He was sitting across from me in a massive beige leather seat.

  “I had another dream,” I said, my voice shaking.

  “Tell me,” he said, sitting forward a bit. I inhaled his smell and felt the familiar safe feeling. Don’t, Evelyn.

  “Astara, she met Nero somewhere in London, near some docks? They were talking about something to do with Aurelius and his plans. Astara was worried about Greyhaven; she wanted to protect it from something.” I tried to make sense of the dream as I told Blake.

  “This is calculated,” Blake said, shaking his head. “You’re dreaming a series of memories Serena or Astara has selected for you to see.”

  “Why would she do that?” I frowned and thought back to the detail of the dream.

  “Do you think she wants me to go there, to the docks in London?” I asked, leaning forward in the chair.

  “The chances of Nero being there after almost five hundred years are astronomical,” Blake replied.

  “In a dream I had a few nights ago, Astara came to me and said that she was the only one who could save you and me,” I said, finally telling him the truth.

  “And she told you not to tell me.” Blake half grinned.

  “Tristan.”

  “Tristan is an extremely apt politician,” Blake replied, meeting my eyes.

  “If that’s code for big, fat liar, then yes, he is.” I shook my head.

  Before Blake could reply, a phone started ringing. Blake picked up his iPhone and swiped to accept a Face Time request with Ravenna.

  “Blake,” her voice echoed. “You must return immediately. She’s killed three people in the past hour and left a note on the manor door saying that she will continue with one every hour for as long as Evelyn is not in Greyhaven.”

  I clasped my hands over my mouth as my stomach dropped.

  I didn’t have to wait long to see the rage on Blake’s face develop. “We’re on our way,” he replied through gritted teeth. Blake launched out of the chair and walked toward the cockpit. “Turn the plane around. Get us back to Greyhaven.”

  He walked toward me and sat back down. “I’m going to drop you off at the airport and have Ravenna to come get you,” he said, his voice a bit more level now.

  “You’re not coming back?” I asked as the skin on my back turned to ice.

  “No, I’m going to Romania to pay an old friend a visit.”

  “You’re going to Aurelius?” I asked, my eyes widening.

  “Aurelius surrounds himself with witches. He has an entire gaggle of them, and I find myself in need of a particularly powerful sorceress right about now,” Blake replied and leaned back in the chair.

  “You’re going to try to defeat Serena with one of her own kind?”

  “I’m going to destroy Serena with one of her own kind. When I’m done with her, she’ll be wishing she had lived that natural mortal life she’s been avoiding.”

  “How many hours till we get back to Greyhaven?” I asked, my stomach lurching.

  “Three.”

  “Three more people are going to die before I get back,” I said, my voice constricted with the sick feeling that travelled from my stomach to my mouth.

  “Serena is paranoid, obsessed with my mother, and hungers for revenge constantly. Evelyn, many more than just six will die by the time this is done.”

  “If this thing with the other witch doesn’t work, should we maybe try to find Nero? Just in case?”

  “Tristan is already looking for him. They found an address for Nero in Lorenzo’s shack—it was dated 1945, but it’s the closest thing we have to a lead now.”

  “So, what am I going to do while you and Tristan are trying to save everyone, just sit around and wait?” I asked, feeling deflated by the fact that I couldn’t leave Greyhaven to help.

  “If I were to venture a guess, I would say you’re going to be a bit better at that than entering an immortal nest to try to find a witch or negotiate with Dark Soldiers to help you track down a man they haven’t been able to find for centuries.”

  “Just because I’m a girl—”

  “No, because you’re a weak mortal in a world of immortals. If Ravenna didn’t have to look after you, she’d be coming with me. This has nothing to do with the fact that you’re a girl. Some of my most powerful friends and foes have been women, and it’s not lost on me that we are currently being defeated by one.”

  We fell into silence, and I looked at him. His icy-blue eyes pierced mine, and my heart fluttered as my eyes darted around.

  Say something, Evelyn.

  “When we were in the forest earlier, you mentioned that I shouldn’t go anywhere near Aurelius because I’m r
elated to Mirena. What does that mean?”

  “Your grandparents were one of the immortals to open the chest,” Blake replied simply. “In 1700 BC in Crete, they found the chest in a cave. Mirena opened it in the middle of a city, wanting to show one of her friends. Your grandfather, Mirena, and someone named Asterion, who is now known as Dorian Gray.”

  “Wait, as in, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Dorian Gray?” I gaped.

  “The very one,” Blake replied as we hit some turbulence.

  I looked out of the window. It was completely dark.

  “Why don’t you get some rest while you can?”

  “I can’t sleep knowing that every hour I’m away from Greyhaven someone is losing their life,” I replied, biting my lip.

  Just as Blake started to respond, the phone rang again.

  “Ravenna?”

  “Right, so I found a little Scottish witch who has been able to cast a protection spell over every person in Greyhaven,” she said. “But she’s more the Wizard of Oz than Glenda, so it’s not going to last long.”

  “Is she willing to stay for the next three days?” Blake asked.

  “Well, willing would imply she had a choice in the matter in the first place.”

  “You kidnapped a witch?”

  “I mean, kidnapped is a strong word. I just threatened her family and the rest of her town—it’s not my fault that entrancing doesn’t work on witches—they’re so difficult,” she muttered. “So, to answer your question, yes, she is willing to stay for another three days.”

  “Wonderful. There is nothing that I love more than creating new witchy enemies in our bid to destroy one.”

  “Sometimes you have to work with a demon to defeat the devil,” Ravenna chimed. “Now, quit complaining. Out of the two of us, I’ve been more useful in the past few hours than you have.”

  “You need to be at the airport in precisely an hour. I think the pilot gleaned from my tone the importance of arriving back from where we came.”

  “Yes, I’m sure he did. I’ll be there in an hour. Evelyn, don’t leave the plane until you see me,” Ravenna said, turning her attention to me.

  “I won’t,” I spoke clearly.

  “Ravenna, see if you can get the witch to cast a cloaking spell around Tristan,” Blake said, “and just in case we need it, a bilocation spell.”

  “Blake? I can’t hear you—you’re breaking—”

  Blake turned to me as he set the phone down. “When you reach Ravenna, ask her about—”

  “A cloaking and bilocation spell,” I finished, allowing myself to relax against the chair now that I knew everyone was safe. Blake observed me for a moment.

  “How long has it been since you had something to eat?” Blake asked, his tone level again.

  “I—I actually can’t remember,” I replied.

  Blake pressed a button on his chair, and a moment later, a woman in a blue uniform arrived at our chairs. “Could you please bring Evelyn something to eat,” Blake asked, not looking at her but concentrating on his phone now.

  The blond woman turned her attention to me. “We have a selection of sandwiches, juices, and protein bars.” She smiled.

  “Anything will be fine,” I mumbled. “I don’t really mind.”

  “I’ll be back in a minute.” She nodded.

  “Is she mortal?” I asked when the woman was out of earshot.

  “She is,” Blake replied, not looking up from his phone.

  “I didn’t think there would be many mortals around,” I whispered.

  “Well, Serena did kill all my immortal staff, so we’ve had to compromise,” Blake said, lifting his brow and meeting my horrified gaze.

  “Right.” I grimaced as the woman returned with a tray. A cheese sandwich, orange juice, and a protein bar. Ugh.

  “Thank you.” I smiled, and she nodded and walked away. “Are you not eating anything?” I asked Blake. My tone was so forced, so constricted. Just keep the conversation light. Keep talking about nothing in particular. Don’t ask him anything about himself. Do not get to know him. Do not feel anything for him.

  “I only eat about three times a year, and I’m not using up one of those meals with a cheese sandwich,” he replied, fighting a grin.

  I sighed and lifted the sandwich to my mouth. “You’ve got really good hearing, right?” I asked as I lowered the bread triangle.

  “I do.”

  “So, when I chew, you’re really, really going to hear it?”

  “No, because the engine of the plane is the loudest thing here. Your chewing is the least of my auditory concerns right now.”

  “How does that not drive you crazy? Hearing everything all the time?”

  “At first it does, everything from raindrops falling onto the ground, the splash they create, the constant humming of insects, people’s heartbeats and breathing, you just get used to it after a while,” he replied softly.

  I placed the sandwich back on the plate and sat back in the chair.

  “Has any immortal ever been able to die of old age, I mean, stay mortal and die of old age?” I asked.

  “I’ve never come across one. Most immortals are too scared of dying in an old body, or of disease or famine,” he said, raising a brow at my abandoned sandwich.

  “If you die of a disease or starvation—”

  “You look like your corpse for the rest of your life,” Blake replied simply.

  “It just gets better and better,” I muttered. “So why is everyone in Greyhaven so beautiful?”

  “Because we all died young,” Blake replied.

  “When did you die?” I asked, my voice thin. Was it rude to ask an immortal when they died?

  “I was twenty-three,” Blake replied, finally putting his phone down next to him.

  “Does it hurt?”

  “Dying or coming back?”

  “Both.” I shrugged.

  “I was stabbed in the heart, so I don’t remember much, I remember feeling cold and then everything went black. When I awoke, everything was warm again, hot even.” Blake was murdered?

  “Mr. Greyson,” a voice echoed over the intercom. “We’re going to begin our descent now.”

  “Seat belt, little mortal,” Blake said, pointing at the seat belt that I hadn’t fastened once.

  “It’s not like I can die.” I shrugged.

  “Yes, but I imagine there are better ways to go than being sucked into the atmosphere and plummeting down to earth for twenty-thousand feet.”

  I nodded. “Yes, there are most likely more peaceful ways to go.” I fastened my seat belt as I spoke.

  The landing was uneventful, and as the plane came to a complete stop, I noticed Ravenna’s Land Rover now parked next to Blake’s.

  “Don’t forget—”

  “Cloaking and bilocation,” I replied before he could finish his sentence. He walked me to the steps of the plane.

  “I’ll be back by tomorrow afternoon,” he said, taking off his black coat and wrapping it around my shoulders. The heat of the coat seeped into my skin, and I inhaled cherries and pine needles.

  I nodded and took a deep breath. “Thank you,” I said softly as I started walking down the steps. As soon as my feet hit the tarmac, Ravenna was at my side. I pulled my arms through Blake’s coat sleeves as the cold wind hit my body.

  “Well, that was the fastest trip ever. Let’s get you into Greyhaven,” she said, linking her arm with mine. As we walked away, I turned back to see Blake one more time, but the door of the jet was already closed.

  “How were the alone moments with Blake?” she chimed as we arrived at the car.

  I opened the passenger door as she opened hers. “Oh shoot, I almost forgot,” I cried as we closed our doors. “Blake asked if the witch could cast a cloaking spell and a bilocation spell?”

  Rave
nna started the engine. “Yeah, I don’t think our little Harriet’s talents are going to stretch that far—actually, why on earth is Blake still going to Roanoke without you?” Ravenna asked as the car moved forward toward the airport exit.

  “He’s not going to Roanoke, he’s going to Romania to get one of Aurelius’s witche—Ravenna!”

  Ravenna had slammed on the brakes so hard that I launched forward into the dashboard. Without glancing at me, she opened her door and ran toward the jet that was already turning around slowly. She positioned herself right in front of it and crossed her arms over her chest.

  I craned my neck as the steps of the plane lowered, and a blur left the jet and met with Ravenna. Blake and Ravenna seemed to argue for a moment, but then she threw her hands in the air and stomped away from him. Blake turned back into the blur and entered the jet.

  “Well, that is bloody fantastic,” Ravenna spat as she got back into the car and slammed her door.

  “I take it Blake going to Aurelius is not a good idea?” I asked softly as Ravenna sped to the exit and onto the main road.

  “Aurelius doesn’t lend out his witches, love. Blake is going to have to literally steal one of them. The last witch that went missing in Aurelius’s coven?” she said, turning to me, “was Serena, and Aurelius spent the better part of a hundred years threatening our entire coven to get her back. If he realizes that Blake took what is his, well, let’s just say Serena is going to seem like a room full of kittens compared to his wrath.”

  “Well, I wouldn’t say kittens,” Serena’s voice sounded from the back seat.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  The tires screeched on the road as the car came to a halt, and I launched forward to the dashboard once again.

  “Serena,” Ravenna spat, turning to face the red-headed witch sitting in the back seat, her arms crossed over her chest casually.

  “Hello, Evelyn, welcome back,” she spoke while looking out to her right.

  “What the hell are you doing here, Serena?” Ravenna hissed, her tone laced with anger.