Copula Chronicles: The Complete Collection: Origin, Descend, Ascend, Legacy

by Venessa Kimball

  Sebastian releases her chin and pulls the canteen from her lips. She seems oblivious to the water being snatched from her, still centering her gaze on me. Nate looks from her to me and asks, “Why is she staring at Jesca like that?”

  Ezra adds, “She is delirious. She doesn’t know any of us.”

  I’m focused intently on the discussion between Ezra and Nate until I hear the woman depart a name, “Anna.”

  She has my full attention and my eyes connect with hers immediately. I move in to demand an answer as to why she has called my mother’s name. “Why did you say her name?”

  Daniel questions, “What?”

  Ira furrows his brow. “She said nothing, Jesca.”

  Frustrated by their denial, I raise my voice, “She said my mother’s name, Anna! I heard her!”

  Ezra places his hand on my shoulder and speaks softly. “Jesca, she didn’t say anything.”

  I bellow, “Then she thought it!”

  I look up from the woman to Nate and Xander. “Please tell me you heard it.”

  Xander shakes his head. “I didn’t, Jes.”

  I glance at Nate and he shakes his head, denying it as well. I look at the woman again. She is still studying me.

  I know what I heard. I heard my mother’s name come from her. I ask her again, “Why did you say her name? Do you know my mother?”

  Ezra murmurs, “Jes, she is listless. No one knows how long she has been out here. She doesn’t know any of us.”

  Sebastian turns his head from her and glances back at Ezra and me, his face as white as a ghost. “I know who she is.”

  He knows her?

  Sebastian’s voice trembles, “This is my sister, Anna’s mother, and your grandmother; Elisabeth.”

  CHAPTER 25: SAVING YOU

  Jesca

  Elisabeth Onoch Gershon. The sister who grew up suffering from crippling headaches with no relief, the woman who married Gabriel Gershon and gave birth to my mother. The mother who gave birth to a daughter with more intense afflictions than her own. The mother who sought her only brother to help her daughter when there was nowhere else to turn to. The mother who left her daughter, my mother, with him to raise.

  I watch Sebastian as he takes hold of her hands and tells Nate and Xander to release her. They both let go and move away from her. As Sebastian pulls her along gently, she scuffles toward me, oblivious to everything else around her but me.

  She rasps dryly, “Anna, I’m sorry.”

  I bark curtly, “I’m not Anna.”

  She doesn’t seem to hear me and repeats herself, “Anna, I’m sorry.”

  I close my eyes, wanting to shut out the sound of my mother’s name coming from this woman and murmur, “You left her.”

  Sebastian chides me mildly, “Enough, Jesca.”

  I ignore him, the resentment bubbling up within me as I see my mother as a child being left by her mother in my head. “You just walked away and never looked back.”

  Ezra hisses in a low tone, “Not now, Jes.”

  I open my eyes and glance at Ezra. He is shaking his head, begging me to let this go.

  The woman says her name again with more force behind it, “Anna.”

  I close the space between my grandmother and me and roar, “I’m not Anna! Anna is gone!” My holler breaks off into a yelp when I repeat myself, “Anna is dead!”

  Elisabeth blinks her eyes rapidly and furrows her brow, just as Sebastian pulls her away from me.

  I start to advance on her again when Nate steps in front of me, takes hold of my arm and holds me back from moving in on her. His touch should anger me; instead, it electrifies me just as it did in the compound last night. I try to ignore the obvious sensation it has stirred in me and attempt to pull my arms out of his grasp. Nate tightens his grip and another spike of fever courses through me from his touch.

  Nate hisses at me, “You need to let it lie, Jes.”

  His ignorant comment makes me forget his touch for the moment and I respond sharply, “Let it lie? She abandoned my mother and disappeared, Nate!”

  Nate looks over his shoulder as he hurriedly leads me toward the truck, “You don’t know the whole story.”

  When we get to the front of the truck, shielded from Sebastian, Elisabeth, and the others, I snap at him, “I know enough! If she had not left my mother, if she stuck around, raised her daughter, her life might have been different!”

  Nate keeps his grip on my arms firm and moves in on me. I back up, the center of my back making contact with the hood of the truck.

  He thunders, “Yes, it could have been different, but not the way you wish it could be!”

  I yell back, “What way is that, Nate! She could have had Sebastian help her with my mother! That woman could have chosen to stay and raise her daughter! Her choice might have changed my mother’s entire life!”

  Nate narrows his eyes as he tries to read into my words. “You mean your mother’s death, don’t you?”

  My throat tightens around my words with emotion as I push them from me. “Yes! It could have changed everything! Her life, my father’s life, my life! It would all have been different!”

  Nate grip on my arms softens and he shakes his head. “I don’t believe that! Your mother would have made the same choices she did with or without your grandmother. She would have chosen to seek her legacy, meet your father, fall in love and have you.”

  Choices.

  Of course, this conversation would come to the one thing that has divided Nate, Xander, and me. My tone admonishes what he is getting at. “Choices.”

  Nate nods. “Yes, choices.”

  I squint my eyes, tilt my head and ask bitingly, “Are you talking about my mother or me now?”

  Nate closes his eyes tightly and groans, “Ahhh! Jesca, I’m not talk—”

  I knew he would turn this around on me. I interrupt him, “You don’t know why I chose what I did, Nate! I couldn’t watch you and Xander fight anymore! It was putting you at risk because of me! I don’t want that for either of you! That on top of my emotions for you both was pitting you against each other! My not choosing was meant to save you both from—from me!”

  Nate crinkles his eyes and scoffs, “Save us from you?”

  The misting precipitation around us becomes a soft rainfall again. Visibly stunned, Nate lets go of my arms, takes a step back, and wipes his dampened face with one rough, angry swipe.

  His voice waivers when he speaks again, “What if it isn’t your choice, Jesca? What if Xander or I are meant to choose what will happen.”

  Both confused and concerned by his statement I ask, “What are you talking about? What would you need to choose?”

  Nate rests his hands on his hips, lowers his head and shakes his head. With his head still hung low, he looks up at me through the dark, damp hair that has fallen over his turquoise eyes. My anger is quelled suddenly as memories of those comforting, yet passionate eyes creep into my mind. Nate moves closer to me again. His fingers run tenderly along my folded arms, sending a heated current from the tips of my fingers to the top of my shoulders. It would be easy to just let the desire take over, but he hasn’t answered me. I need to know what he meant by him and Xander needing to make a choice. Does it have something to do with what they have been keeping from me?

  Needing to know fuels my senses and I ask, “What choice, Nate? Please tell me.”

  “We need to leave.” Xander’s forceful voice cleaves the thick air between us, startling us and forcing our bodies apart. His examining eyes take in the remnants of what might have happened between Nate and me before he interrupted us.

  “We are taking her with us,” is all he says as he turns and walks back to the rear of the truck.

  Nate and I both look at each other for a moment, then he runs both of his hands through his damp hair. Without another word, he
lowers his eyes and strides back to the rear of the truck. Taking the thickened air with him, I’m able to take a deep breath for the first time since our heated discussion began. I lean back against the front of the truck and tilt my head back, letting the cold raindrops strike my face.

  Suddenly, I feel a foreign weight within me, forcing me to tilt to the side without my control. Panicked, I open my eyes and everything spins slightly.

  “Jescaaaaaaa.” The long, drawn-out buzz of my name rings familiar.

  Beyond the veil. The way he said my name. It’s Michael’s voice.

  I quickly focus on a small rock on the ground to try to gain my equilibrium.

  Once the ground slows its tailspin, I look around me.

  Where is he?

  Unexpectedly and with swift force, I’m hit with a gut-wrenching spasm that coils into a heightened nausea. I reach for the side of the truck, grab a hold of the side mirror for support and pinch my eyes closed in an attempt to push the retching feeling down. The intensity of the revulsion is significant and unfortunately memorable.

  Michael is the only one that has made my affliction this excruciating.

  The Dwellers didn’t make a dent in the one that has hit me now. I feel the wave subside in an infinitesimal degree. Hearing Briggs’s voice directing the others, I open my eyes and try to walk toward his voice. “Put her in the front by the wall by the bags, it is safer just in case she gets jarred,” he commands.

  To my dread, my attempt to get to the others is a short shuffle of one of my limbs. What is happening to me? Why can’t I lift my legs?

  I try moving the other leg. Again, it drags the dirt beneath my foot. The receded retching takes rise again abruptly. I close my eyes and lean against the side of the truck.

  I hear Siobhan shrill, “Jesca!”

  I look up at her with half-mast eyes as she runs toward me with Nate, Xander, and the others scrambling behind. With them coming to help me, my body resolves to collapse to the ground and I’m left sitting there, immoveable, waiting for their rescue. Somehow, Nate gets to me first. I try to tell him that I can’t walk, I can’t get up but my lips won’t work.

  He calls out brokenly, “Xander! Ira!”

  Ezra is by his side now, staring at me, terrified. “What happened?”

  Nate wraps his arms around my waist and starts to pull me up. I’m able to give in to the momentum of his pull and help a little, but not much. Nate’s lips are close to my ear as he drapes my flailing arms over his shoulders and pulls me up to stand, his ragged and collapsing breath murmuring, “No, no, no, no.”

  I hear Ira and the other Rephaim’s distinct thunderous approach just as tendrils of energy begin to pinprick and stretch along my arms and legs. The tingling sensation in my feet unlock the weight that had paralyzed them and I’m able to feel myself standing on my own again. The same for my hands and arms, I can move them willingly again. I pull back from Nate and look up at him, face streaked with the mix of fallen rain and tears. Ira and the other Rephaim are hovering along with Ezra and Xander on either side of me. Ezra cups a hand under my elbow for added support as I drop my arms from Nate’s shoulders.

  Keeping my eyes trained on Nate, I rub my lips together, feeling for them before I test there workability. I need to let him know I’m fine. “I—I’m okay.”

  Openly, Nate breathes in deep through his nose then sighs noisily. Swiftly he wipes his eyes roughly with his arm sleeve again. His eyes dart from me, to Xander, then Ira.

  Ezra tightens his hand under my elbow as he denies my appraisal, “No. You. Are. Not. Okay! Xander, take a hold of her arm. We need to get her to the truck!”

  As Xander takes hold of my arm, I see him drag his fear-filled eyes from Nate to me. Nate and the others back away to let us pass as Ezra and Xander shepherd me to the rear of the truck.

  CHAPTER 26: DISCOVERED

  Nate

  Jesca’s hands leave my shoulders as I try to regain control of myself. Ira is at my side and Xander is standing next to her.

  Xander sends me his thoughts as he takes hold of Jes, “It had her, Nate.”

  As he peels his eyes from me to help Jes to the back of the truck, I look at Ira. He simply nods, understanding what had just occurred; proof that his presence kept this hybrid Dweller from overtaking Jesca completely.

  All of the guardians begin to filter to the back of the truck when Briggs mumbles angrily, “We aren’t going to make it by dark.” He pulls the truck door open and turns toward the Rephaim and me before getting in. “What the hell was that, huh?” Glaring at us, he climbs into the truck and slams the door shut before bringing the engine to a roar.

  A voice calls over the engine, “If he wanted an answer he would have waited for it. He already knows.” The gravity of Sam’s voice seizes my attention as I turn around.

  Sam’s arms are crossed and Corinna is standing at his side. “It’s him, isn’t it, Nate?” he asks.

  Corinna suddenly looks down, pats Sam on the back and walks back to the rear of the truck. I consider following her as she walks away, worried that she is going to tell the others, but Sam moves in on me. “She won’t say anything,” he says.

  “Why wouldn’t she?” I ask.

  “She has seen someone saved from him before.”

  I know right away that Sam is talking about Michael’s control over him all of those years, then him breaking free from it.

  “It isn’t just Michael. His soul merged with a Dweller. Xander saw it happen. The only thing that will keep it from attacking us is the Rephaim.”

  I look up at Ira and the other Rephaim. “They are the only thing that saved Jesca just now. I couldn’t reach her; give her my life force, until Ira and the others came.”

  Sam’s eyes dart from Ira to the others curiously, and then come to rest back on me. “I’ve been watching you and Xander. I know that it hasn’t just latched on to you. It has hopped from you to Xander and now it has attempted to take Jesca. Who is to say it won’t attempt to take any of us to fulfill its mission to kill?”

  I feel the enormity of the situation vivify as terror washes over me from Sam’s cautionary words. Ira attempts to conceal his natural thunderous tone. “We won’t let that happen.”

  Sam tilts his head up toward Ira. “You aren’t immortal. What if they find a way to kill you?”

  Lathan’s throaty growl puts Sam on guard and he takes a step back from Ira and his clan before he looks in my direction again. “She doesn’t know yet, but Jesca is close to discovering what is going on here. So is Ezra. I won’t keep my mouth shut if they discover it.”

  Ignoring what I know is true; I look from Ira to the other Rephaim. “Daniel said we are on the outskirts of Dalton, Georgia. The mounds aren’t far off now. We just need to stay focused on keeping each other alive and get to the mounds with Jesca.”

  Briggs rolls down the window and yells, “If you don’t get your butts in the truck I’m leaving you behind!”

  Sam turns away from us and heads to the back of the truck first. I fall in behind him, trying without much success to block images of our sole protection being massacred by the Dwellers before we get to the mounds.

  CHAPTER 27: ANOMALY

  Jesca

  “Get her water and something to eat,” Ezra bosses as both he and Xander begin lifting me into the truck.

  Feeling stronger, I say sharply, “I’ve got it.”

  Xander releases me, but Ezra doesn’t listen; he can’t help himself I suppose. His hand rests lightly on the middle of my back as I get my footing on the floor of the truck and pull up from the handle along the side. Sebastian is rummaging through a bag, removing food and water, passing it through the chain of guardians. I peer out the fogged windows to see what Nate is doing out there. He should have been right behind us.

  I look around me, taking inventory of the guardians. Shiva is
sniffing around Elisabeth as she sits slumped between Ms. Olivia and Sebastian. Olivia is pulling her unruly hair from her face while Sebastian tries to give her more water. Seeing her face and eyes better now, I notice they are brighter than they were when we first saw her. She is not wheezing as heavily as she was earlier either.

  I look down the bench. Elicia has Tessa between her and Nick, her arm draped over Tessa’s shoulder, holding her close. Nick’s arm is clutching the safety bar behind Elicia. As soon as Tessa sees me, she unlatches her safety belt and rushes across the aisle. Still a little wobbly, she almost knocks me over as she wraps her arms around my neck, squeezing me tightly. Her words are barely audible as she nuzzles against me. “Don’t leave me.”

  I wrap my arms around her and place my lips on her head, pronouncing every syllable of my words. “I won’t leave you, Tessa.”

  I look over at Siobhan and Jake eyeing me. Siobhan was the first to see me in that immovable state. She asks with deep concern, “What happened, Jes?”

  Numb limbs, Michael’s voice, wondering if he was close by, speechless.

  Too many things happened all at once. Telling her any one of them would set off a charge of questions among the guardians that I’m not sure I have answers for yet.

  Jake asks, “Was it the Dwellers?”

  Luke questions, “Did you feel them close by?”

  I look sideways at Xander, remembering his, Nate’s, and Ira’s small exchange before him and Ezra escorted me to the truck. This has something to do with the way they have been acting, all the secrets and sideways glances.

  Answering Siobhan first, I say, “Not sure yet.”

  I follow with the answer to Jake and Luke’s questions as I discreetly watch Xander’s reaction to what I say. “I don’t think it was the Dwellers. It was something different. Something familiar.”

  Xander’s disposition changes suddenly. He turns his head to look straight out the window opposite of him, no longer seeking Nate. His jaw works from side to side, flexing the muscles around them. He doesn’t look at me when he asks, “Something familiar?”