Love Immortal

by Linnea Hall

  When she felt the electricity from his touch, the pain left and her hope swelled. “Are you really here? Or am I just imagining your voice again?” She winced in pain as she formed the words.

  “Shhhh. I’m here. You’re going to be safe.” He started to speak more quickly as he explained everything that had happened, how what she had heard was really him and how her information had helped the S.W.A.T. team. He tenderly moved his hands over her wrists, afraid to touch them. He quickly scanned the room for something he could use to cut the bindings from her wrists and ankles. Except for the chair in the corner, the book sitting next to it, and the chair to which Jewell was secured, the room was empty. He looked at the cuffs, trying to determine if there was a release mechanism. “How do they take these off?”

  “They cut them.” He gave her a curt nod of acknowledgment and stood, moving toward the door. “Don’t…” He turned and saw tears streaming down her face. “Don’t leave me again.”

  Again. Her words tore at his heart. He moved back to her side and placed his hand gently on her shoulder, hoping that he wouldn’t hurt her.

  Collin sat on the floor next to her resting his hand on the edge of the chair where he could touch the ends of her fingers. While they sat, listening to the muffled sounds of the battle raging outside their room, they heard a loud crash against the door. It came again before Jewell heard the familiar sound of the key in the lock. She glanced at Collin, terror in her eyes. The door burst open, and two men dressed in jeans and t-shirts burst in, each carrying a sword.

  *

  Edgar pushed the man out of the way. “Idiot” he thought. He was never going to break through this door by slamming his shoulder against it; that only worked in the movies. Both men carried a sword in his right hand. If Collin Sykes was in this room, they would deal with him. Edgar didn’t have his gun anymore. He had used all of his ammunition in the fight that was raging in the warehouse. He fumbled with the key before he felt it slide home. He moved into the room, Daniel close behind. Daniel had a gun, but Edgar wasn’t certain how much ammunition he had. Daniel’s strength was hand to hand combat, but a gun would take the infidel down long enough for them to do their job with the sword.

  As Edgar moved into the room, he heard a gun discharge next to his ear. He looked at Daniel and called him an idiot. Daniel was the same age as Edgar, but he definitely lacked the common sense that comes with age. Then Edgar saw the hole in the wall across the room. Daniel had missed.

  The infidel had moved between them and the hostage. “Well now isn’t that sweet,” Edgar crooned. “Trying to protect your girlfriend. Why bother? By killing you, we spare you an eternity of pain. If we kill her first well,” he shrugged impassively, “she would have died long before you anyway. Either way, God’s will is fulfilled.”

  “You don’t know anything about God’s will,” Collin replied, watching both swords carefully. When one of the men moved around the chair, Collin noticed that he had a brace on one leg. As he watched for vulnerabilities, he hadn’t realized right away that the man he faced was the same man that had been stalking Jewell at the hospital. Keeping one eye on the man with the gun, he watched the man with the brace limp to circle around behind Jewell’s chair. Collin carefully repositioned his body as the swordsmen moved, trying to stay between them and Jewell, but still avoid getting killed. Both men were well trained and Collin was tiring quickly. He had caught a couple of hours of sleep while he waited in the bushes the night before, but he hadn’t slept much over the last three days.

  As Collin moved backwards, he saw the man with the gun take aim at his chest. Collin dodged, but the bullet still caught him in the side. It would have hit him in the heart had he not moved. The fact that he was nearly immortal gave Collin little consolation. Collin stumbled backward with the force of the bullet, tripping over the corner of Jewell’s chair and falling on his back. The man with the gun aimed again pulling the trigger, but the only sound was the click of the hammer hitting the firing pin. Collin let out a rush of breath he hadn’t realized he was holding and rolled to his knees. The man threw his gun to the ground and advanced on Collin with his sword. Collin was able to get one foot planted, and as the man expertly swung his sword in a cutting blow aimed at Collin’s neck, Collin launched himself under the sword knocking him to the floor.

  Edgar watched as Daniel swung his sword in an attempt to decapitate the infidel. The speed with which the infidel was able to move to avoid the blow while advancing his own attack was astonishing. Edgar marveled at the grace with which the infidel was able to move. Despite Daniel’s size, which was at least as much as the infidel plus half, and Daniel’s experience in the MMA, the infidel was still able to knock Daniel from his feet. As Daniel fell to his back, Edgar moved in for his own attack. With Daniel underneath the infidel, it was nearly impossible to use a cutting swing, but if he was careful and pulled his thrust, he would be able to injure the infidel allowing Daniel to recover. Although, Daniel shouldn’t have any difficulty handling the young man atop him, they still had to work together as a team. The other knights were battling with the S.W.A.T. team in the warehouse leaving dispatching the infidel to Edgar and Daniel.

  Edgar moved in and tried to catch the infidel in the leg with his sword, but missed as Daniel threw the infidel to the side. As Daniel stood, he looked quickly to the floor. He had lost his sword when he fell, a rookie mistake. When he didn’t immediately see it where he had fallen, he looked to the side where he saw the infidel, holding the sword pointed at his throat. Daniel quickly moved backward throwing a head kick. With nimble dexterity, the infidel dropped his stance, thrusting the sword into Daniel’s thigh. As Daniel pulled his kick, the sword sliced a long deep gash in Daniel’s leg. Daniel had been careful to maintain a sharp blade, now he wished he hadn’t been so diligent. Daniel moved to the side, allowing Edgar to assume the advance, as he attempted to staunch the quickening flow of blood. He pulled off his belt and wrapped it around his leg creating a tourniquet.

  As Edgar quickly moved in to take up the offense against the infidel, he tried to take quick glances at Daniel who had crawled into the corner. Daniel had slowed the flow of blood, but still looked extremely pale. Despite his expert sword skills, Edgar was having difficulty penetrating the infidel’s defenses. It was clear that the infidel had training in swordsmanship, though Edgar was able to note several faults in his form. Attempting to use these faults against his assailant, Edgar lunged, and retreated expertly, forcing the infidel to remain on the defensive.

  Collin realized quickly that he was outmatched. The large man, the one with the gun, had been a lucky thrust. Collin had thrown the sword up to protect himself and was lucky to hit a vulnerable area. The other man though, the one with the limp, was an expert swordsman and Collin found himself unable to find an opening to take up the offensive. As he parried his enemy’s expert thrusts, he found that he was quickly losing strength. Blood soaked his shirt where he had been shot in the shoulder. The blood from the injury was starting to dry and he could feel the sticky blood fusing his shirt to his arm. His left side had also been injured when he was shot a second time by the man now dying in the corner.

  With each movement, Collin felt a shooting pain in his side that caught his breath. As Collin became more fatigued, he began to stumble, allowing the limping man to catch him with glancing cuts to the arms and legs. Though not deep, they added to the pain. Finally, the man was able to breach Collin’s defense and slice a deep gash across his right upper arm. Collin stumbled and fell against the wall, dropping the sword when the pain of bearing its weight became excruciating. As he fell to the floor, his head hit with enough force to cause his vision to swim. He fought against the encroaching darkness.

  As the man watched Collin fall, rather than advance on him as Collin expected, he walked over to Jewell. Collin struggled, dizzy, and finally pushed himself into a sitting position. As he stared uncomprehending, the man knelt and picked up the discarded blindfold, placing it carefully over J
ewell’s eyes. “You shouldn’t have to see this,” he whispered as he carefully secured the scarf in place, checking his work to ensure that she was unable to see.

  Jewell screamed through her tears, her words incoherent except for Collin’s name which she interjected over and over again. Collin watched as the man moved across the room to where his partner lay. The man with the cut on his leg was either dead, or unconscious, Collin was unsure and he couldn’t tell from the limping man’s reaction. The man with the limp gently laid the injured man on the floor, checking the wound and the tourniquet that had stemmed the flow of blood. He carefully folded the man’s arms over his chest, touched him on the cheek lightly, and got up.

  Daniel was not dead, yet. Edgar knew that Daniel needed medical attention soon. Daniel’s heart rate had increased exponentially. He was pale, and cold to the touch, but still breathing. Edgar turned his attention to the incapacitated man on the other side of the room. Almost regretfully, he moved slowly across the room knowing what he must do. All infidels must be executed for their sins. He watched as the infidel tried without success to grab the sword. With the man in a sitting position with the wall behind him, it would be difficult to make a clean cut. He moved closer and used his foot to push the man over onto his side. The infidel struggled to remain upright, but in the end, his injuries prevented him from maintaining his balance. He fell over, his head hitting the ground with a thud.

  The infidel lay on the ground, staring up at Edgar insolently. Edgar’s concentration was so intense that he barely heard the sobbing girl behind him. As he tried to determine the best way to sever the infidel’s head cleanly and in one stroke, the infidel defiantly held his head back to give Edgar a clean cut. Edgar raised the sword over his head and stood like that, staring down at the body below him. He had never killed a man before. Remorsefully, he lowered the sword and took a step back wiping sweat from his forehead with his sleeve. He swallowed hard against the bile that was trying to rise in his throat at the thought of what he was about to do. Gathering his resolve, he stepped forward and raised his sword.

  *

  Collin lay on the floor, his eyes closed and his neck bared to the sword’s killing blow. He thought of Jewell, and in his head, told her over and over again how much he loved her. He could feel her pain through his own. He felt her tears tickling her cheeks as he waited. When the expected cut didn’t come, he opened his eyes and looked at the man who no longer had his sword raised. He looked tired, and a little sick. The green pallor of his skin made him look less like a killer, and more like someone who belonged in bed. Suddenly, the man lifted his head and looked Collin in the eye. There was no remorse, only resolve. As he took two steps forward, he raised the sword over his head again. Just as the man shifted his weight, preparing for the killing blow, Collin heard a loud blast and saw a blinding flash of light. Then he heard only silence. He couldn’t see or hear anything. He found it interesting, the effect of decapitation, and wondered how long he would be able to continue his thoughts before he died. He briefly wondered if his body was still moving. He tried to move his left arm and felt a searing pain through his side. He wondered that he could still feel his body, but he had heard of phantom limbs, maybe he had a phantom body.

  Slowly, as his hearing and sight returned, he saw two men in body armor wrestling with the limping man. Another man in body armor was carefully cutting Jewell’s restraints. In the corner, another man wearing a dark blue pair of pants and light blue shirt was inserting an IV into the man on the ground. A woman, dressed like the man in dark blue pants and a light blue shirt, was carefully examining Jewell’s injuries. Before he could take it all in, including the fact that he was not yet dead, he passed out.

  *

  As Jewell struggled against her restraints, screaming Collin’s name, his muddled European accent cut through her distress with the only words she wanted to hear. “I love you,” over and over again. She tried to think the thoughts back to him, letting his love wash away the hate she felt. As she listened to his words and let them calm her and take away the pain of her injuries, she heard a loud blast, and through the blindfold, she could see a bright light. She couldn’t hear anything, but within seconds, her blindfold was removed and she saw a man in full body armor with gentle eyes carefully examining the restraints, looking for the areas where he could insert the cutters to release her.

  As she realized that these people were here to help her, she glanced quickly around the room, seeking out Collin. She couldn’t hear him in her thoughts anymore, and the possibility that he was dead frightened her more than the possibility of her own death ever had. Finally, she saw him against the wall, his eyes wandering blankly around the room, looking, but not really seeing anything that was going on. In front of him, two more men in black body armor were putting E Z Cuffs on the man with the leg brace.

  The next several hours went by in a blur. Collin was carried out on a stretcher while another stretcher was brought in for Jewell. As they carefully lifted her out of the chair and gently laid her on the stretcher, she marveled at how good it felt to lay down and stretch out despite the pain it caused. Regardless of her pain, and the people hovering around her, cleaning her injuries, checking her vital signs and inserting IVs, she felt herself slipping toward sleep. She struggled to keep her eyes open, to see if she could catch a glimpse of Collin, but she only saw the multitude of police cars, S.W.A.T. vehicles, and a single ambulance. Apparently, she had been the last victim taken from the scene. As the ambulance started up and pulled away from the warehouse, the gentle hum of the engine, and the rocking of the ambulance as it moved down the road lulled her into a deep sleep. Of course, the morphine may have had something to do with that too.

  Chapter 51

  Jewell licked her dry lips as she started to wake from her drug induced sleep. Above her she could see the soft glow of hospital lights reflecting off of yellow walls. There was a vase with flowers on the table next to her bed along with a cup filled with water and a pitcher. She started to reach for it, but as she did, a moan escaped her lips as she worked her bruised muscles. She heard a noise, and saw someone stirring in the corner. As she watched, the shadowy shape got up and moved toward the bed. Her eyes were out of focus, and it took several minutes to recognize who was standing vigil in her room.

  Ashley smiled down at Jewell. “How are you feeling?”

  “Like I just did a triple shift in the ER.” Jewell laughed lightly invoking a cough from her damaged body.

  “Shhhh.” Ashley sat carefully on the bed and brushed Jewell gently across her forehead. “Your dad is downstairs getting us some food. I offered to go, but he’s been here since they brought you in, and I think he wanted to stretch his legs. He should be back in a minute. I came in this morning.”

  “How long have I been out?” Jewell felt disoriented and dizzy from the medicine. The fact that she was in a hospital bed in a room she faintly recognized helped a bit, but she had lost all sense of time since she had been abducted.

  Ashley laughed. “You’ve been sleeping for almost twenty-two hours lazy bones!”

  “What day is it?”

  “Sunday.” There was a hint of strain in her voice. Jewell had been abducted on Thursday morning. Only three days, she marveled. It had seemed so much longer than that.

  “Collin?”

  “He’ll be fine,” Ashley assured her. “He’s in intensive care…again. He’s unconscious, but it’s not a coma. He’s only in there for another couple of hours. They just wanted to make sure that his injuries weren’t life threatening. If that boy continues to get himself into messes like this, it’s a good thing he’s dating a nurse. He’s going to need you! I mean really, what sort of guy gets hacked up by a sword? Don’t most people around here just use guns? What was up with those people anyway?”

  “Well, they didn’t tell me a whole lot,” Jewell sighed. “For the most part, they said that they kidnapped me to get to Collin because he drank from the Holy Grail and was immortal or someth
ing.” Jewell shrugged but the idea brought up some interesting, unanswered questions. Why was Dr. Babineaux so interested in Collin? How did Collin survive that first night in the ER? Why did he move around so much? Why was his uncle so unhappy with their relationship? All these questions were pieces to a puzzle with a picture that didn’t make any sense. Immortality was impossible. The science just wouldn’t allow it to work. Of course, there were examples of immortality in nature. There was a jellyfish that was immortal, hydras, bacteria, some plants. Was it possible that science had tapped into that capability? And if they had, was Collin a part of an experiment? Did Collin know? Jewell’s mind was spinning, partially from the morphine and partially from her thoughts, when her father came in.

  “Oh!” Tommy McKean walked into the room and set a couple of sandwiches and drinks down next to the flowers. “It lives,” he said in his best imitation of Dr. Frankenstein as he leaned over to kiss her forehead, one of the only places that showed no evidence of her recent ordeal.

  “Nice flowers.” Jewell said, seeing her father looking at them smugly.

  “You like those? I bought ‘em.” He smiled and pointed toward the window. “But I sure didn’t buy all of those.” Jewell carefully turned her head to look in the direction her father was pointing. Any movement was painful, so she hadn’t really examined her surroundings. Beside the window were rows of flowers, piles of stuffed animals, and enough balloons to carry her away. She smiled. “I think every public servant in both Covington and Orleans Parrish bought you something, and that big one in the back is from your friends down in the ER.”

  As Jewell marveled at this outpouring of compassion, Dr. Babineaux walked in. “Well, look at that, she finally woke up.” He was dressed in a pair of khaki pants and a white Polo button down shirt. “How are you feeling?”