Forever

by Ashley L. Knight

  “Hey!” A deep voice rang out. “Hey!” It yelled again, forcing my attention away from my car. “Nice wheels!” The dude in the souped-up Cadillac nodded his head to the beat. I gave him a thumbs up and nodded back. When he broke into a metal grin, I tried not to let my surprise show.

  Finally the light flicked green, releasing me from my sound prison. It wasn’t a minute before I entered the freeway, down shifted and flew past the regular Toyota and Ford cars as if they were stationary. The Cobra Venom was built for speed; it’s RPM’s springing past the 5000 mark. On the horizon, the motorcycles were but small dots as they flew north to Melbourne.

  The built in radar detector didn’t move as the gauge jumped from 95 to 120 to 160 MPH. When the motorcycles finally came into view, I was able to make out who was riding with whom. Flynn rode the first with Gavran, Thayde the second. Thankfully, all three had been smart enough to wear helmets, but the moment I saw them, I was furious.

  If you don’t stop, I will make you. My voice shouted in my head and immediately, Thayde looked back at me. Flynn looked back, accelerating his bike.

  Go home, Morgan. It’s for your own good. Thayde thought, turning the handle on the bike and flying after Flynn.

  I looked down at my speedometer. 172 MPH. It was the fastest I had ever driven. They had to be going at least 200. My heart fluttered as I pushed my foot to the floor. Eyeing the radar again, it remained at ease. The car hummed along as it jumped the numbers.

  Back off, Morgan!

  I’m not leaving!

  Just listen to me for once.

  I’m going with you.

  You could be killed!

  Then so could you.

  I watched Thayde extend his arm to Flynn and motion him to stop. The bikes slowed quickly, pulling to the side of the road. I parked on the shoulder and watched Thayde push the kickstand down and remove his helmet. Flynn and Gavran remained on their bike.

  Thayde rested his helmet on the seat and turned to me. “What in God’s name are you doing?” He held his arms out as he shouted above the traffic.

  Throwing open my door, I sprinted around the front of my car and shouted back. “How could you just leave like that? Without telling me? You just left!”

  “There are some things I can’t tell you.”

  “Really? I thought we weren’t going to keep things from each other! I could read your mind you know!”

  “You won’t.”

  “Want a bet? If you’re going to start keeping things from me, I will.” I shouted and watched Thayde’s face settle into a granite stare before he stepped onto the freeway. One, two, three steps were completed before the bright red car hit him.

  He must have seen it coming from the corner of his eye because at the last second, he dropped to his left knee, hunched his shoulder down, ducked his head and took the impact of the car on his side. The car crumpled around him, lifted up into the air and smacked down on top of its roof on the other side.

  A ringing in my ears, the pull of utter dread on my heart, the slow of time as Flynn and Gavran dropped the bike and ran to Thayde’s side. The tilt of the world as the asphalt plowed into the side of my face.

  I wanted to pass out, but didn’t. Instead, I watched as someone ran up to me and pulled off their helmet. Oh goodie, it was Flynn, the last person in the world who would want to help me. He placed his fingers against my throat and closed his eyes. When he opened them, his lips drew back involuntarily and he bit them closed. Turning his head away, his chest moved as if he were shouting. Moments later, Thayde pushed himself up off the road and walked to me.

  Thayde had always said he ‘didn’t break’ and I never fully understood what he meant. Now I knew; literally nothing could shatter his bones.

  Kneeling, he took my shaking hand in his.

  I’m fine. Come on, sit up.

  “Is she gonna be okay?” Flynn asked, leaning his hands on his knees. His pale eyes stared doubtfully under their hoods.

  “Yes,” Thayde’s voice was resolute. Sliding his hand up my arm, he pulled me into a sitting position. “Take a deep breath.” He ordered and I obeyed. When I found my voice, it faltered.

  “I thought you were crushed,”

  Thayde breathed in deep, making what he said obvious it was the last time he was going to say it. “I don’t break.” Reaching to my cheek, he wiped blood away. “You need to heal yourself.” He motioned to the car. “The person driving that car needs to be healed and have their memory erased.” He pointed to the cars approaching. “We need to hurry. The quicker we do this, the fewer people will be involved.”

  He pulled me to my feet, making sure I was steady before handing me off to Flynn. Flynn uneasily held my hands.

  “You smell like iron.” I said, unable to stop myself.

  “You smell like seaweed,” he shot back, “you all do.”

  My head pounded like a jackhammer.

  “You better hurry up.” His voice rose in urgency as he motioned to the nearing traffic.

  Blenald.

  It was an instant rush and I was good as new. Flynn actually smiled. Releasing his hands, I ran to Thayde’s side and drew back in horror. The person upside down in the car was unconscious – their body barely clinging to life. A scan revealed severe abdominal trauma, a broken back, crushed legs and a massive brain bleed inside his crushed head.

  Thayde looked disgusted with himself, swallowing his words. “Please fix him as soon as possible.”

  Stepping back, I cupped the crumpled car in the view between my hands. Stretching my hands slowly at first, I felt the energy build until I threw my arms apart.

  “Fetil!” I cried, and the car rippled like water in a bowl, righting itself until a brand new car was parked on the freeway. The blood from the person in the front seat dripped from the door, spilling onto the black pavement like pomegranate juice. Erasing his memory of the crash and disintegrating the blood took mere milliseconds.

  Laying my hand on the concave forehead of the passenger, I merely thought the healing word and just as the cars on the freeway pulled to a stop, his eyelids blinked open. Thayde breathed a sigh of relief and leaned into the window.

  “Thank you for stopping,” he exclaimed, “but honestly, we are fine. We just ran out of gas and my wife brought us some.”

  The man looked around, confused. I took Thayde’s cue.

  “It was very kind of you to stop.”

  Flynn and Gavran began to direct traffic around the bright red car.

  “We’d better be on our way now.” Offering a friendly wave, Thayde nodded to the man. Oblivious as to what had occurred, he blankly pulled away.

  Staying clear of the oncoming traffic, our small group huddled around itself. I didn’t say a word as I stared each of the boys down. They could hardly meet my glare. When I looked at Thayde, he shook his head.

  “I can’t tell you, Morgan.”

  Flynn threw his hands into the air. “You might as well now, Thayde. She’s going to keep at it until she knows. All she has to do is read our minds and how long do you think it will take until she does that?”

  In an instant, Thayde had Flynn by the shoulder. “Don’t forget your place, Flynn.”

  Flynn bristled. “She’s the ruler of your species, not mine.”

  Shifting his feet, Gavran shook his head at his brother. “Let’s try and be respectful of each other.”

  My thoughts whirled. Mom’s voice from my first days as a mermaid made its way to the forefront of my mind. It all became obvious as I looked Flynn up and down, my voice monotone.

  “You’re a vampire,” I stated.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  FLYNN

  “Welcome to Pizza Hut! Can I take your order? Ya’ll want a personal pan pizza?”

  The cheeriness of the waitress was more than any of us could stand. Flynn gave her the death stare as Gavran rolled a paper napkin in between his fingers.

  “Water, please.” I ordered and her smile fell.

  “Ya’ll d
on’t want anything else?”

  “Not right now,” I paused, reading her nametag, “Tiffany.”

  She rolled her eyes and puffed her cheeks out as she turned to leave.

  “I’ll take a beer,” Gavran called and she turned on her heel facing him.

  “You got it?” The pen twiddled quickly in her hand.

  “No, but considering the fact that all we’re ordering is water, don’t you think you’re chances of getting a tip increase greatly if you just get me one?” Gavran looked exhausted.

  Tiffany thought about it for a second before leaving to get Gavran his beer. I turned my attention back to the group.

  “So here we are, in the great halls of Pizza Hut. Do you mind me asking why we are here and not some place private?”

  “No one comes here,” Flynn mumbled, as I scanned the empty restaurant. “It’s safe.”

  “Safe?”

  “You have no idea, do you?”

  “She will. All she has to do is access that part and she will know everything.” Thayde ran his hand along the surface of the maple colored table.

  “Are there many of you?” I asked, curious as to why Flynn hadn’t ‘come out’ sooner.

  Flynn smirked. “No. We’re not like merpeople.”

  “Why do you hate me?”

  His eyes dropped and he thumbed a nick in the table. “I don’t hate you. I just don’t like you.”

  “Why? I didn’t do anything to you.”

  He mulled his answer over before looking me in the eyes. “I think you’re too young to be the ruler of your species. You are quick to jump into situations. You don’t ask before you make a decision – just like you did with Gavran. I think you could do your species a lot of good, but you’re too rash to survive long enough to do much of anything. You have no patience.”

  His answer punched through to my heart. It wasn’t anything I hadn’t heard before. Thayde had been telling me the same thing the whole time we had been together. If he wasn’t the only person who could see it, it must be true.

  Tiffany returned with our water and Gavran’s beer. He downed nearly all of it before she had finished placing the drinks on the table. When we were alone again, I spoke.

  “You’re right,” I admitted, commanding their full attention. “I am too young, but I didn’t ask for this. I jump into my decisions because I am eager to help others and solve situations right away. Sometimes, the best answer is to leave the problem alone to take care of itself. I realize I have to learn to ask before I infringe on someone’s basic rights.”

  I paused, trying to phrase my words the best way I could. “I want what is best for everyone and what I want is not necessarily what everyone else wants. It’s hard for me to think that a person might be happy being paralyzed or blind because I couldn’t imagine being so. That’s my fault. I’m learning that as I go. But you – why do you care so much about any of this? You don’t have anything to do with our species.”

  “We are all connected.” Flynn took a sip of his water making me nearly choke on mine.

  “How can you drink water?”

  “Like you do,”

  “Don’t vampires drink human blood?” I asked and his grin made me shiver.

  “Of course, but it’s not Human blood vampires crave.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Thayde and Gavran shifted uncomfortably.

  “Vampires feed off a merperson once a year.”

  Shock blanketed every molecule in my body and it must have shown because he looked away, humiliation written across his face. Thayde put his arm around me and continued for Flynn.

  “Merpeople and vampires are sworn enemies. But Flynn is the exception and he’s Gavran’s friend.”

  I couldn’t tear my eyes from Flynn. “Why? Why do you kill merpeople?”

  “They have to feed upon magical blood to keep them alive; it’s the only thing that keeps them immortal.” Thayde’s grip around me tightened.

  Don’t hurt him. He’s here to help us.

  “How can he possibly help us?” I asked.

  “We’re going to halve each other.” Gavran answered in a dull voice.

  “What?” I almost stood. “Are you insane?” The thought of a new species – half vampire and half mermaid was beyond thinkable. It had never been done before.

  “We’re doing it tonight.” Gavran tried to drink what little was left in his beer glass.

  “Flynn?” The anger in my voice made him look at me. I expected retaliation, but to my surprise, there was sadness. “Why?”

  “We are hoping to try and stop it.” He picked at an imaginary thread on his sleeve. “If we can halve each other, it might be that we can halve the rest of us. If that’s the case, we might be able to live in harmony instead of killing merpeople.”

  “What do you mean halve the rest of you? You wouldn’t change! You’d be changing a merman!”

  Not a word was uttered.

  “Well?”

  Thayde rolled a straw around on the table. “It will change Flynn.”

  Flynn slumped back in his chair, looking, for the first time, defeated.

  “In what way?” I pushed.

  When Flynn didn’t answer, Thayde spoke, looking at his hands. The effect was somber – as if I were about to hear the worst news possible.

  “Flynn and Gavran have to bond their blood. It’s extremely dangerous and if it doesn’t kill one of them, it will alter them for the rest of their lives.”

  “Has this ever been done before?” I interrupted, knowing full well that it hadn’t.

  “Not to my knowledge,”

  “How do you know it will work?”

  “We don’t.”

  I just stared at him while he continued.

  “Each may receive the other’s powers, which can happen when you take a blood bond. Both will live a considerably long life – almost forever, but Gavran,” he paused, looking at his little brother. “Gavran will have to survive off human blood for the rest of his life.”

  “What?” The notion of it made me nauseous. “He’d be a vampire when he’s not in merman form?”

  The tilt of his head was the only confirmation I needed.

  “No.”

  “I have to support Gavran’s decision.” Thayde said, his voice a warning to back down. When I didn’t answer, he wearily rubbed his forehead. “It’s his decision, Morgan.”

  “Will it make Flynn a merman?”

  “No.” Thayde answered.

  “I don’t see how there’s any drawback for Flynn.” In disbelief, I threw up my hands. “Do you lose a leg or something?”

  Flynn’s upper lip quivered.

  “Morgan!” My husband’s voice reflected the stress we all felt. “He could die!”

  “We could all die,” I replied, inching forward in my seat. “How do you know you won’t turn merman if this has never been done before?”

  “Because we’re not predisposed to the gene like merpeople.” Flynn answered.

  “What if it could be done?”

  Flynn raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

  “I mean, if a vampire could be made a merperson, it would open up an entirely different realm to you wouldn’t it?” My thoughts whirled as ancient memories began to dredge themselves to the surface.

  “I suppose,” the doubt in Flynn’s voice was not comforting.

  “Gavran?” I shook my head, trying to gain some clarity. “Why do you want to do this?”

  Leaning on the table, he held his head in his hands. “I’ve never done anything with my life. I’m always the third wheel.”

  “That’s not true,” Thayde interrupted and Gavran waved him off.

  “My father always made me feel like I was nothing. If this works, I won’t be nothing. Maybe I’ll be able to help in some way. If I can turn into a mer-vamp, I might be able to defeat her.”

  The wheels in my head began to click. “You mean make her think you’re on her side and then kill her?”

 
; When he nodded, I began to laugh. “You can’t kill her.”

  “Why not?”

  “She’s too strong. Vampires aren’t any match for her.”

  It was Flynn’s turn to laugh and he did – loud and long. With my head already pounding, my stomach turned and it was all I could do to stop from slapping his perfect, smooth cheek. Unable to contain my irritation any longer, I focused on Flynn.

  “What’s your problem, Flynn?”

  “You have no idea of what we are capable.”

  Leaning forward, I narrowed my eyes. “Then tell me,” I spat.

  He mimicked my every move. “Read my mind,” he ordered, emphasizing each word.

  And so I did, as harsh and as violent as possible. He jerked back in his chair as I entered his mind, instantly breaking through his thoughts. The horror I encountered upon entering was devastating: Flynn had been forced into becoming a vampire.

  As a boy, Flynn lived with his loving family in the remote hills of Northern Ireland. On a freezing winter night in 1889, a tall, pale man was found wandering the hills and Flynn’s kind father brought him home, sharing their meal and warm fire with him. That night, the tall man pulled the thirteen year old boy from his bed and forced him to watch as others invaded their home, kidnapping his mother and father and slitting the throats of his three brothers and two sisters. In vain he struggled against the man who held him and though the stranger was thin as a reed, his grip was iron and Flynn was forced to watch the killers drink the blood of his siblings. During the ordeal, he was knocked unconscious.

  The frigid cold of the icy cave floor seeping into his chest and stomach brought him from the depths of his forced sleep. The taste of the stale bloody cloth shoved into his mouth forced him to wretch. His arms ached from being bound behind his back. As he began to struggle, he realized his feet were also bound. Pushing himself to his side, he craned his neck to search the area, and balked at the scene before him.

  A giant fire loomed in the belly of the cave. Six of the killers danced around it, their capes and hoods flying about making them look like oversized vultures. Hanging by the wall of the cave, Flynn’s mother pleaded for her son’s life.