by Stefania Gil
She gazed into his eyes and couldn’t help but to smile.
“Don’t tell me vampires and werewolves exist and you're one of them because it's going to be impossible not to laugh.”
He was serious.
She knew she shouldn’t have made a joke considering he spoke with utter seriousness but she couldn’t help it. His words seemed like they were going to reveal some mythical personage from literature.
“Nothing can kill me, Natalia.”
“Are you telling me we didn’t take you to the hospital because you can’t die?” —He nodded his head.
“Tonight's dart had enough venom to kill a horse, Natalia, I could feel it running through my entire body, and yet here I am.
She remembered Isabel telling her to trust her that it would be difficult to understand but they would explain it.
A cold chill ran through her body. Was Juan Carlos like him? Where did they come from? Were there more?
God, she had so many questions, she didn’t know which one to ask first.
Her hands began to shake as Francisco stood up and took off his T-shirt.
Natalia's eyes widened in surprise. They could not be seen clearly, but his entire back, torso, and part of Francisco's arms were covered with thin white stripes, some longer than others. The shoulder which he received the dart was inflamed and looked as if he had a wasp sting.
Natalia could not help but put a hand to her mouth.
Poor man. How could he have so many scars?
“I was captured during the Inquisition with Juan Carlos. They accused us of heresy and locked me up in a damn filthy prison where I lived things that I do not wish on anyone. Each and every one of these scars I carry on my body is part of every torture I suffered. One was worse than the other.” He paused for air. Natalia thought he was going to collapse again in his memories and admitted to herself she was on the verge of fainting from the impact of such a confession. “I killed them and fled. Since then they've been chasing me and that's why I think you're a mystery, Natalia. That is why I don’t talk to my employees or allow them to see me. And for that same reason I don’t leave the villa unless it is by car and accompanied by someone else.”
It was too much for her and her legs. She had to sit down and did so blindly. Fortunately, behind her was an armchair, which received her with affection.
“I did not expect to have to talk about this,” he snorted mockingly. “In fact, I never thought about telling anyone due to my time in Spain being over. I must disappear for a while soon. The problem is you came into my life one day and since then, I have not been able to get you out of my mind. I was not planning to come to the party. I knew it was a risk but I couldn’t stay home with the agony of knowing you were upset with me because I was not totally honest with you. In the end, it looks like you had to find out about my condition anyway.”
Natalia was speechless. That confession was not what she expected and she did not know what to do with it.
“Could you have left knowing I feel something for you?”
He regarded her with a glint in his eyes approaching her instantly.
“I thought I could be strong and leave early, but I decided to bet on this wonderful feeling settling in my chest. From the first day I saw you at Manuel's house, you woke up my curiosity and now...”
She gazed at him and knew what he wanted to tell her because she felt just as overwhelmed by the desire that surrounded them as he did.
Francisco came to her and brushed her lips subtly with his. He gave her a shy kiss asking her mouth for permission to explore deeper. A shiver rushed throughout Natalia’s body at the seductive contact and she surrendered. She parted her lips to let him explore the inside of her mouth as she explored his. It was a slow, gently kiss. Innocent but magical.
A kiss showed them they were with the one person who would complement them for the rest of their lives. However, to be happy, they would have to resolve several issues.
***
Francisco was calmer now Natalia knew the whole truth. He trusted her and thanked her for trusting him even though he tried to kill her that very night.
While he had her in his arms, kissing her, he was trying to organize his thoughts to tell her everything he did had a reason.
The music and people’s voices from the party that Isabel and his brother were giving were still heard above. He still could not believe his brother was there. He had found him.
What a strenuous night! It was not what he imagined when he left the villa.
Not at all.
He planned a pleasant night, making Natalia laugh considering he wanted to make her happy. Above all, he wanted to apologize to her for being an idiot to refuse her invitation and for asking her to leave the estate without further ado.
He remembered his arrival at the Alcalá Orange Grove. He touched his wounded shoulder as he remembered the moment when he was punctured. Scout warned him and he thought he was admonishing him for something about Natalia.
Scout.
“Where's Scout?” She was startled by his reaction. “I’m sorry.”
“Easy, he’s fine. Juan Carlos sent for him. He was hidden among the trees. Now he is resting in the estate’s stables.”
“I'm thirsty.” Natalia immediately got to her feet and reached into the office refrigerator for a bottle of water.
“I'd offer you something else but we can’t go up to the kitchen. The truth is after tonight I think I'm going to need a bottle of vodka, minimum.”
He smiled. He understood. It was not easy for her to find out what she had just discovered.
“Then Juan Carlos and Isabel—”
“Yes, they are a couple and they are to be married soon.”
“How did they meet?” Francisco looked at her curiously.
“They'll have to tell you themselves, because I've been evaded twice before. Before I thought they didn’t like to talk about their private affairs and that's why I did not insist. Now that I find out Juan Carlos is like you. I would not only love to know how they met, but how Isabel discovered the truth about Juan Carlos.”
Francisco nodded, he wanted to know too.
“Were you born like this?”
That was the question that led Francisco to tell Natalia everything. He didn’t hide anything from her. He took care not to give her the details about the tortures due to it not being pleasant for him to remember nor did he want Natalia to imagine such terrible things. He did not want her to have unpleasant thoughts.
Nor did he tell her how he enjoyed killing the inquisitor and the guards. He could not do it. He could not forgive himself even though he did it to save himself.
“Have you had to kill more?”
“It's a matter of survival, Natalia. The society pursues me at any expense to get the formula for the immortality potion my mother gave us. Do you understand the danger this entails? Wicked people with so much power? I can’t do it and if they get me, they'll lock me up and torture me and I, I... I can’t...”
Francisco voice broke, trying to justify himself.
“I do not blame you.” She interlaced their fingers. Francisco couldn’t miss the fear in her eyes. She was afraid. She didn’t know what to do after hearing such a confession. He understood it would be normal for her to back away and reject him.
He hoped she would never see him again.
However, it didn’t mean he wasn’t afraid of her decision. He did not know what it felt like to be in love with someone but he could tell it was something like what he felt at the moment.
“I'm not going anywhere,” she said, seeming to read his mind. “I do not know if this is going to work or not or where we are going. But... I want to try.”
He was filled with joy mixed with fear. Fear that something might happen to her to make her retreat.
“They cannot see us together, that would make you an easy target.”
“You fight too, Francisco.”
“These people are different, Natalia. They do
n’t play fair and are strong. I do not want you to get hurt in any way.” He walked over to her and kissed her. “I couldn’t stand it.”
“Let's take some time away from here. We'll come back in a few weeks.”
Her idea was not far-fetched, though he knew it was only a temporary fix. If they were to run maybe they could confuse the hell out of the secret society. It would also be good for them to be somewhere else for several weeks so they could get to know each other well. To understand what's going on between them. Besides, he loved that she was willing to go away with him.
“Isabel and I were planning to travel to the United States later this month to buy Christmas decorations. We could leave earlier, only you and me.”
Francisco was overwhelmed with joy. Natalia smiled at him and he wanted to devour her with kisses.
“I love your idea.”
“Have you ever been there?”
Francisco snorted between amusement and nostalgia.
“I have almost no place left in the world to travel.” He kissed her again. “However, going with you will be like I've never experienced before whereas I'm sure with you by my side everything will be different.”
***
Francisco was not sure how he managed to fall asleep. His back and arm hurt where he was punctured with the poison dart. He remembered the moment and suddenly there was the image at a distance a black object flying above him.
It watched him.
“You damned bastards use the best technology.”
“Did you say something?” Natalia lay on top of him. She was more asleep than awake. Francisco kissed the top of her head and although his back was in pain, he decided he didn’t want to shatter the enchantment of Natalia sleeping on top of him.
He gave her another kiss and hugged her tighter.
Natalia settled down and even sighed with satisfaction.
He thought again about the image of the flying object. A drone. It couldn’t be anything else.
He had to hire someone for good surveillance technology advice considering it was clear that advantage was not expected.
Why didn’t they try to take him yet? Why only tonight?
Francisco reached the conclusion, although these bastards used the best technology to capture him, he was almost certain they had not known him until recently. It was too much of a coincidence seeing the only time he dared to leave the estate alone by horse, they attack him.
They watched him from the air for who knew how long and that night they had the perfect opportunity.
Natalia moved again.
He would have to improve his surrounding quickly making as sure as possible if he was going to stay with Natalia. He couldn’t let anything happen to her.
“Good morning.” She kissed his chest, still bare after showing her his scars. He was grateful she had not asked him anything other than what he'd told her about his torture. Even when he showed her the scars dominating his body, she didn’t view them with horror.
His body was completely covered by them.
He remembered how nice it was to tell someone who he was and why he ran away from people. Among all the bad things that happened the night before, he was happy not only to have Natalia by his side but also because he realized how much he needed contact with another human being.
How much he needed a word of encouragement. An intimate moment with another person. It was so magical when they kissed he almost still didn’t believe it.
He was still afraid Natalia would analyze the situation and the danger she was in better and decide to stay away from him. He would accept it. He would have no choice other than dealing with the sadness that was sure to come. He shuddered at the imagine.
“I'm starving,” he told her.
“Me too, I think we can go up to the kitchen. The door is open.”
“I know. I didn’t want to wake you up.”
“I'll go first.”
While waiting for her on the couch, he put his shirt back on.
“Your brother is here, come,” Natalia said, peeking out the door. Francisco climbed the stairs and crossed the laundry room connecting to the kitchen. A spacious, modern, light-filled room that smelled wonderful.
Juan Carlos embraced him without warning and he consented without protest.
“Come; let us fill ourselves with coffee just as I did after my guardian angel allowed me to stay in this house.”
Francisco smirked at his brother's comment.
“By 'guardian angel' you mean Isabel, right?” Natalia was dying of curiosity.
“No,” Juan Carlos said cheerfully, giving each of them a cup of coffee. “I mean Carlota. She freed me from my prison. I was hidden in the bowels of this estate.”
“Tell me everything, please.”
Juan Carlos didn’t spare any details. He told them everything as it happened.
“You can imagine the shock I had after seeing a man, with a bullet in his head, moving again. It was like being in a zombie movie or something like that,” Isabel said, joining them halfway through the story.
She glanced at him with all her love. Francisco was happy his brother had found someone so good. It seemed after so much suffering they finally began to find positive things in their long life.
“The truth is I do not regret anything my sister did. Of course, I called her crazy a thousand times for opening the sarcophagus alone and releasing an immortal man. It seemed to have come out of one of Carlota's stories. But—Isabel gazed at him smiling again—if it were not for her, for her eternal curiosity, I wouldn’t know how it feels to truly be loved.”
Francisco glanced at Natalia sweetly.
Was that what he felt? She caught his eye and smiled back.
How does she feel?
“Do you remember what Mother mentioned when she gave us the potion?”
“Every one of her words, brother.”
“Then I just have to tell you it was all true. I found true love with Isabel and I was able to rediscover my life as it was more than four hundred years ago.”
Francisco thought he was joking.
“I'm serious.”
“You can die?”
“At any moment,” said Juan Carlos happily. “I am not afraid of death and less now, since I know true happiness. Without a doubt, I hope I live long enough to enjoy it, but yes, Francisco, I can die and we owe thanks to them.”
“The ones in the secret society?”
Juan Carlos nodded as he began to narrate the events of the day he was kidnapped and shot in the abdomen.
“They know everything about us, and when they saw he was dying, they thought they had the wrong man. I still don’t understand everything still. I only know they left me on the side of the road, called the emergency department informing them of my exact location and told them to call Isabel,” He watched her with joy. “They asked me about you and that's how I found out you were 'free' in some way.”
Francisco was amazed.
“Since we were captured centuries ago, as soon as they began to torture me, I realized my life wouldn’t end with any form of torture. From that moment they wanted to know how I got this condition. There was a time when the torture was almost unbearable.” Francisco looked away. He noticed Natalia frown and hug her in unmistakable sign of imagining how horrible the torment might have been for him. “That time, I broke. I could not take it anymore. I told them about the potion mother prepared for us and that I knew the recipe.”
“They let you go, then?”
Francisco shook his head.
“I killed them all and escaped.” He took a deep breath deciding to change the conversation. “We’ll talk about it later. I’ve already explained it to Natalia and the truth is I don’t feel like remembering that hell again in less than 24 hours.”
“That’s fine by me,” Juan Carlos said. “Let’s eat breakfast.”
***
Days passed at an astonishing speed. It had been almost a week since Francisco had been attacked by the se
cret society. He remained at the Alcalá Orange Grove estate. Due to his imprisonment, his mood began to sour. It would have been worse if it had not been for Natalia and his brother with whom he spent most of his time talking.
He was very concerned about Natalia's safety and what he now considered the rest of his family. However, Juan Carlos recommended he give Natalia some space to process things. Natalia agreed to always go accompanied by Isabel or someone from the estate to any activity. With this compromise, the immortal was a little calmer.
However, he was on constant alert and watching the airspace over the property to see if he could visualize any flying surveillance to somehow knock it down.
Damn society wouldn’t leave him alone.
His brother was in the kitchen preparing lunch for when the women arrived.
He never imagined Juan Carlos would be such a good chef. He cooked wonderfully and seemed to feel at home in the kitchen.
He smiled fondly. He liked the change from his monotonous life since Natalia appeared. It seemed like a whirlwind came and shook him up, showing him the many wonderful things missing out of his eternal life. The woman was a charm.
He couldn’t, nor wanted to, push her out of his thoughts.
In those few days they managed to talk a lot about their past and everything they had lived through during their 400 years. He told them in detail of his time spent fleeing Europe, how he managed to travel to America and everything he had achieved there, where he spent most of his long life. It was so big and there were so many people, it helped him to remain unnoticed. He helped in all the wars the country participated in. He told them about his businesses earning him his fortune he possessed today and even talked about some famous people he knew both historical and the jet set.
Natalia listened to him with such attention it encouraged him to continue telling her more things about those centuries. Francisco’s experience was so enjoyable; he managed to remember the good things that happened to him. He had not thought about them in forever, insisting on punishing himself for the bad things he had done. He took inventory of his past and had to admit he had a lot of positive memories he refused to acknowledge.
