by S J Williams
Or like he was dreaming.
Effie fastened on that idea. That sounded likely. After all, she had been convinced she was dreaming when she first became aware of what she was seeing. And if Sebastian was dreaming, maybe there was some way of waking him up.
Effie’s hopes of getting out sank a little at that thought. She had no idea how to contact Sebastian, not from inside his mind, much less waking him up if he was indeed asleep.
More memories cycled past her. One was so bleak, she flinched inside herself. Then she made herself look, determined to see and to understand what Sebastian had been through without her.
This time, she was standing outside of Sebastian’s body. He was in a darkened room, alone. A single candle burned beside him on a simple wooden table, its light a meagre barrier against the looming shadows. Sebastian was playing with the flame, passing his hand around and above it, never quite touching it but seeming to get closer with each pass. The expression on his face was chilling. Not because of any emotion she saw there, but because of the absence of emotion. His face was entirely shut down, not changing even when his hand passed through the flame itself, coming away reddened for a moment before healing.
Effie couldn’t help but be reminded of the pain she felt every time she revisited the bonfire in her dreams.
Suicide, she thought. This is an immortal’s equivalent of contemplating suicide. For a moment, her mind spun through the possibilities of what damage Sebastian could do to himself with a candle. She banished those thoughts a moment later. He obviously hadn’t committed suicide.
No sooner had that reassurance crossed her mind than Sebastian picked up the candle, his grip firm on the holder. If she had been breathing, her breath would have stopped in that moment. He raised it above his head, letting its light illuminate more of the room, and she saw where he was sitting.
It was a small, wooden shed, barely ten foot square. The floor was covered in baled grasses and kindling, all gleaming oddly in the low light.
Her mind stuttered, appalled. He had built a bonfire around himself.
No, no, no. She wailed mentally, forgetting that this was a memory, forgetting that the present Sebastian was alive and well. All she could think about was stopping him from destroying himself.
She pictured herself running into the shed, snatching the candle from his hand and blowing it out. She wanted to shake him, beat his head against the table, anything to get him to snap out of it.
Moments later, the shed door burst open. A figure surrounded by a halo of light appeared at the threshold. The scene dissolved once more.
Shaken, shaking, Effie retreated back into herself. It would take a long time, she knew, before she would get over seeing Sebastian, candle held aloft, with that horrible, dead look in his eyes.
The episode had given her an idea, though.
She pictured herself as a person, standing like an island in the swirling memories. She took the most recent image she had of herself, dressed in a ballgown with diamonds round her throat. She projected that image into the maelstrom, willing Sebastian to pick up on the link to the present, to the present Effie. She imagined herself holding out her arms, calling Sebastian’s name.
Was that a response? A hitch in the memories?
If it was, it was too fleeting to wake him.
She tried again, putting all her being, all her need to get out, into her shout.
SEBASTIAN!
The memories stilled, stopped, then vanished as if they had never been.
Effie?
Sebastian’s voice came through, loud and clear. Effie had the strangest sensation of being in two places at once, like she was hearing him from inside and from outside. She realised she was hearing Sebastian both with her mind and with her ears, that he must have spoken both mentally and orally.
Help. She sent back, no idea whether her communication was between their minds or their ears. I’m stuck inside your head and I don’t know how to get out.
Shock reverberated around her, almost like a physical concussion, swiftly followed by awe and … Was that amusement?
This isn’t funny. She sent furiously. Help me get out.
She felt his amusement deepen. Effie sent back the sensation of tapping her foot.
Not that she minded that much. His laughter was a like a warm rain, soothing her and easing her anxiety after having witnessed his near suicide attempt.
He sent her a series of images, picturing two spheres of energy that were throwing out thick tendrils of light. They somehow carried the flavour of her and Sebastian. The spheres, whose tendrils were entangled, shrunk away from each other like sea anemones flinched from touch, leaving behind only a thin tendril to connect the two. Effie wasn’t sure it was necessary to have any connection at all but she did not like the idea of being entirely separate. Neither did Sebastian if she was reading his thoughts correctly. She imagined herself as one of the spheres and pulled herself away from the sphere-that-was-Sebastian.
It worked. She felt his consciousness receding, felt more and more of herself become a complete and separate whole. It was like coming home, or resurfacing out of water after a long, deep dive.
At the last moment, Sebastian reached out and snagged the edge of her mind, holding onto a thread of connection between them. Effie sent a little bit of herself back, strengthening that connection. Sebastian welcomed it and began to weave the tails of his and her consciousness together, turning it into an indelible rope that bound their minds. Effie pulled away slightly, pleased when she saw the rope stretch to accommodate the distance.
We will have to maintain this connection together. Sebastian warned her. Especially when we’re physically apart.
I’ll remember. She promised him.
Now that she was separate from Sebastian, she could feel her own body. She was lying on something soft. A bed, she realised. There was a large, warm body beside her. She opened her eyes.
“Hello.” Sebastian murmured, smiling down at her.
“Hello.” She croaked then swallowed with a grimace. Her throat was so dry.
Sebastian turned away from her, leaning over to a bedside table. He came back, holding a glass of clear water. Effie thought she had never seen anything so welcome.
Her hands were greedy when they reached out for the glass.
“Ah.” He warned. “Little sips, remember?”
She gave him an impatient look but took the glass carefully, sitting up with his help before taking a single mouthful and holding it on her tongue before swallowing. It was cool and sweet. She hummed with pleasure.
Sebastian laughed wryly beside her.
“You’re making me jealous of a glass of water.”
She quirked an eyebrow at him but didn’t answer, too focused on her next sip of water. After taking a couple more sips, she put the glass down on the table beside her. Looking around, she took in the room.
They were back in Lucien’s house, sunlight streaming in through the open window. She realised she had no idea what time or even what day it was.
She turned to him, a question in her eyes, but he seemed to have read her mind.
“You were asleep for getting on for thirty-six hours.” He told her.
She raised her eyebrows at him. “What happened?” She began to ask. Then she remembered the hotel room and Bartholomew. Her hands jumped to her throat.
All she found there was smooth skin.
“Shh.” Sebastian murmured, taking her hands in his. “He’s gone. He won’t ever be coming back to harm you again.”
“Gone? As in, dead, gone?” She asked, confused. It didn’t seem possible. Bartholomew had been such a permanent fixture in her life for so long.
“As in dead, burned and buried gone. Even he can’t come back from that.” Sebastian promised.
Effie slumped back against the headboard, slightly stunned by the news. Sebastian leaned back behind her, snaking a hand behind her shoulders so that he could pull her into his side.
“What
about the portraits?” She asked, still grappling with what she had learned.
Sebastian didn’t answer. She angled her head so she could see his face. His eyes held a grim cast.
“Uh oh.” She observed.
He cast her a wry smile.
“‘Uh oh’ is right. The world has exploded. There’s no putting the genie back into that particular bottle.”
Effie looked down, a frown deepening on her forehead.
“What will this mean for immortals?”
“In our immediate future? Well, for some of us, things are already happening. Oscar Mansfeld has been officially identified as the same Oscar who lived over five hundred years ago. The bodies of his parents and brother have been exhumed and analysed. He was required by court order to produce an authenticated DNA sample and a close match was found. More than that, they exhumed that body that was supposed to be him and found that it had no relationship whatsoever to his family. That, for the mortals, was that. The science didn’t lie. Oscar is living proof that immortals exist.”
“And for the rest of you?” Effie asked.
Sebastian stilled, then slanted her a look from the corner of his eye. “For the rest of us, Effie. You’re an immortal now, too.”
Effie blinked at him, then her hand went to her neck in a panic.
“He didn’t—”
“I turned you. When we found you, you had suffered severe blood loss and were in danger of going into cardiac arrest. I turned you then.”
Effie breathed out the air she hadn’t realised she’d been holding. She was an immortal. An inhuman being who, barring an accident, would live for thousands of years. She’d known, theoretically, that would happen, but it was still strange to think of herself in that way.
Then the rest of what Sebastian had said clicked.
“You turned me when I was dying?” She asked, twisting around to look at him fully. He met her eyes with a steady gaze. He nodded once. She grabbed his arm, her eyes wide.
“But that means I’m a rogue.”
“It means you’re alive.” Sebastian said, taking her hand between both of his.
“But what about you? Isn’t your life forfeit now?” She searched his face. How could he be so calm about this?
He gave her a wry smile.
“Technically, yes, but the council’s priorities have changed since you last checked in.”
“The council—” she began, then her eyes widened again. “Sonya! What happened to her?”
Sebastian’s expression darkened. “She escaped, taking the medallion and Bartholomew’s bag of tricks with her.”
“She’s got the elixir?” Effie paused, thinking. “Yes, I remember now. She wanted Bartholomew to give it to her when he had me under his control. Do you think she’s going to go ahead and use it to bribe the humans?”
Sebastian sighed and pulled her into his side, under his arm. “It’s impossible to say. She probably won’t do anything just yet, not with her power base in tatters and half the council out for her blood. But now she’s gone to ground, all she has to do is wait to see how the humans react to the existence of immortals. If they react badly, then the council might be more welcoming if she returns with the elixir.”
“Will her ego stand for being out of the limelight for so long?” Effie asked, raising an eyebrow. Sebastian smiled, but his face quickly sobered.
“She’ll need to find another potential immortal if she’s going to produce more of the elixir, but that will only slow her down, not stop her.”
Effie nodded. “In the meantime, we’re still renegades.” It felt like she had skipped out of the frying pan and landed in the fire. She felt a nudge against her mind. She nudged back.
“It seems your immortal abilities have not been slow in turning up.” Sebastian said as their connection trembled with laughter.
Her expression darkened when he reminded her of his dreams.
“Sebastian…” She began, not sure how to begin. “I saw a lot of your memories just now.”
“You saw my memories did you? Nothing embarrassing, I hope. Or perhaps,” he slid her a sly look, “that wouldn’t be a bad thing, if you liked what you saw.”
Effie couldn’t find it in herself to smile back. “I saw some pretty bleak moments. I’m sorry.”
Sebastian’s head snapped round to frown down at her.
“Why are you sorry? I wouldn’t hide anything from you.”
“I saw the shed. With the candle.” She told him guiltily.
“Ah.” He rested his head back against the headboard. “Yes. I would have spared you that.”
“Was that Henry who came to stop you?” She asked tentatively.
“Yes.” He said with a heavy sigh. “I owe him my life several times over.”
Effie was quiet. Several times? Had that just been one of several suicide attempts? Suddenly, immortality didn’t seem so permanent.
As if sensing the dark direction of her thoughts, Sebastian nudged her playfully.
I find this far more interesting. He sent, making her jump. She had forgotten about that new aspect of their relationship. I’m going to have fun teaching you the joys of mind sex.
Effie smiled as she was supposed to, but his offer had brought up another worry.
“Sebastian, my memories from my past life, they haven’t come back.”
He sighed again, pulling her into his lap.
“There is another benefit to a telepathic link, you know.” He said. “One you’ve already experienced even if you might not have enjoyed it.”
When she looked at him curiously, he sent her another series of images. It was like one of the dream sequences, only this one felt more intentional, his purpose underlying the sending.
It was a scene from the garden, the one she had found so familiar. He played out the memory for them both before drawing away again.
“Are all your memories like that?” She asked once they’d both resurfaced. “Like watching a film?”
“No, thank goodness.” He said with an amused snort. “My head is full enough as it is. No. That is just one of the memories I go over the most often. The details might be a bit fudged because of that.”
“No, I recognised it.” She began to reassure him, then stopped herself. “I recognised it.” She said again, awe in her voice. She sat up excitedly, causing him to groan slightly when some boney part of her connected with his groin. “I knew that garden, even before I knew whose memories I was seeing.”
Sebastian looked at her, his eyebrows raised in interest.
“I have to tell you, this shared dreaming wasn’t a feature of our relationship before we were separated.”
Effie couldn’t quite compute what he had just said, still too focused on what she might have remembered. She tried to grasp at the vague feeling of familiarity, but it escaped her again and again. At last, she slumped back against him, puffing out a frustrated huff.
“Nope. I still can’t remember.”
He cuddled her closer against him.
“It doesn’t really matter, you know. Not if I can share my memories with you. Who knows? Maybe, with a bit of time, yours will start to come back that way.”
She sent him a rueful look. “Maybe.”
“Besides,” he added, “neither of us is the same person we were back then. It can’t hurt us too much if we need to take the time to learn one another once more. Our relationship can only grow from it.”
Effie nodded, seeing the truth in that. “I wish I could remember what I said to you. I liked the way I made you feel.”
He rubbed her arm. “Since I couldn’t tell you what was in that conversation either, I’d say we’re just about equal there. But, for the record, I liked the way you made me feel too.”
She laughed at that. Then she sobered.
“What’s going to happen now?”
“For now, we make ourselves scarce. No one knows you’ve been turned yet so we have some time to disappear before they come for us.”
; “Where will we go?” Effie asked, feeling a little lost. If she’d had the time to think about it, this was not how she would have imagined her first few days as an immortal.
Sebastian hugged her a little closer. “We have allies who are no friends of the council, some who have hidden their existence for centuries. We’ll be fine.”
Effie raised her eyebrows at that. “The immortal world is much more complicated than I’d realised.”
Sebastian gave her a slow smile. “Welcome to your new life.”
The End
Thank you so much for reading The Silver Bird. I hope you enjoyed Effie’s and Sebastian’s journey as much as I enjoyed writing it.
Eager for more?
Find out how Effie and Sebastian met in…
A Meeting of Minds
When Effie meets a stranger on the road outside her family’s quiet farm north of the great city of Florence, she can’t believe her luck. No one has ever understood her love of reading like Sebastian. Except her father and he doesn’t count. When her parents start talking about taking her to Florence to find a husband, she thinks it’s fate. Just wait until they meet Sebastian… But all is not as it seems, least of all Sebastian. Just when Effie thinks he couldn’t be more perfect, Sebastian betrays his true self and all her dreams crumble into ashes.
Sebastian didn’t expect to meet someone like Effie. He came to Florence to hunt a vampire, not find the love of his long, long life. But now he’s met her, Sebastian never wants to let her go. Sebastian should know by now, life is never that simple. All it takes is one scheming vampire and Sebastian’s hopes of finding peace and joy in another could be dashed forever. Now Sebastian has the most important fight of his life on his hands and not all his abilities or experience as a soldier will help him win.
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Don’t miss the second book in the trilogy…