Eternal Flame - Book 6 (The Ruby Ring Saga)

by Chrissy Peebles

  “Do you have it?”

  “No! But I’m determined to find it before you do!”

  “So then why are you hunting for the key?”

  “Because I found the key first,” Jackson lied. “The box is next on my to-do list.”

  I wasn’t sure they were buying his lie.

  Another immortal glared at Jackson, his blue eyes flashing in the darkness. “As for you, you wretch, we’ll slice that treacherous head right off your shoulders, a fair trade for sedition.”

  Before we could even respond, they started to shoot. Instinctively, I held my hands up and caught every single one of their artillery shells.

  “Telekinesis!” one shouted.

  I then hurled the barrage of bullets back at my enemy, peppering them with wounds and causing several of them to hit the floor. “I hope it stings like hell!” I said limping past them. I turned to Jackson. “I’m okay,” I said. “Just help them,” I said, pointing at those who had come with us.

  “Watch out!” Jackson shouted.

  An Egyptian with a sword lunged at me out of nowhere.

  “Get away from her, you spawn of Hell!” he shouted. In slow motion, Jackson covered me in a protective bubble, a force field of some sort.

  The blade clanged, and the swordsman hit the energy field and cried out in pain, dropping his ancient weapon.

  I spun to face Jackson. “Thank you.”

  He smiled, his baby-blue eyes sparkling. Jackson was a handsome man, and I could see why Beth was attracted to him, but I wasn’t sure if she knew how dangerous, stubborn, or cocky he really was.

  I studied the Egyptian man. “He’s human,” I said to the others. “No brute force.”

  “Let him go,” Jackson demanded. “He’s rogue. If he was with them, he would know better than to try to kill Sarah. They need her alive.”

  I was caught off guard when Jackson scooped me up. “I can walk,” I said.

  “You’re a target, and you’ll slow us down until you heal.”

  I sighed. “Fine. Just get me out of here.”

  Then, just like that, we sped off in a blur, leaving the catacombs behind.

  Chapter 26

  We flew back to the States, and Jackson escorted me inside.

  Victor took one look at me, still a bit disheveled, and was not pleased.” You could have gotten her killed!” he screamed, easily throwing Jackson against the wall. “How dare you steal my wife away and send her to face a guardian unprotected?”

  “Victor!” I said. “We’re past all that. I’m fine, and Jackson has what he needs.”

  “What? Past it? Have you forgotten that he forced you to go, under threat of killing your parents, all while our child is missing?”

  “And have you forgotten that I’m only alive because of him?” I asked, gently touching his shoulder. “Let him go. We’ve talked it out.”

  Finally, he backed up and let Jackson loose.

  Jackson dusted himself off and hurried out the door.

  “His men could easily have stopped that, you know,” I said.

  “Not so easily, Sarah.”

  “Jackson only allowed you to push him around because he didn’t want to upset me by hurting you or having you restrained. You need to cut him some slack, Victor.”

  “Must you defend your captor, Sarah?”

  “If memory serves me correctly, you kidnapped me the second you met me.”

  “It is not fair to hold the past against me.”

  “Exactly,” I said.

  He grumbled and looked away.

  “I’m sorry,” I said, melting into his arms. “I know Jackson’s ways are a little gruff sometimes, but I think he means well. He just wants to stop the blue-ringed immortals from feasting on humans, and I’ll feel better leaving this world knowing that we did everything we could to keep humans safe.”

  ***

  Days later, the phone rang. “Who is it?” I asked Victor.

  “I just got a phone call from Dr. Meyers. She wants to meet with us, alone.”

  “Why? What’s wrong? Did my blood tests come back okay?”

  “She wouldn’t tell me anything over the phone.”

  “When do we have to meet her?”

  “Now. Come.” He gripped my hand and pulled me out of the house.

  I was a nervous wreck. The last time she’d been so urgent about anything, she had to tell me the awful news of my fate, that I was dying and that there was no cure. I shuddered, reliving that horrible prognosis.

  At her private office, we hopped out and rushed in to meet her, bypassing the receptionist.

  “Sit,” she said as soon as we walked in.

  “What’s up, Doc?” I asked.

  “How are you?” she asked.

  “We are not well,” Victor confessed. “We need our son back.”

  “He’s right,” I said. “I feel just...crushed. I’ve never been so hurt and lonely.”

  Dr. Meyers hugged us. “I’m sorry. I truly am.”

  “What’s going on?” I asked. “Why did you need to meet with us? I’m not sure we can take any more bad news.”

  “I’m sorry, but that is all I have to give you,” she responded.

  “What? Did you find something wrong in the tests?”

  “No. Your test results are fine.”

  I breathed a sigh of relief. “Then what is it? “

  “It’s something else entirely. It’s...Jackson. I’m afraid he isn’t who we thought he was.”

  “What? What do you mean?”

  “Sarah, he has fooled us all, and worse, I think he took Alexander.”

  “The fiend!” Victor said, deeply disturbed and slamming his fist down on the doctor’s desk.

  “But why?” I asked, my voice wavering. “I suffered through a ceremony to tell him where the box and key were. I even helped him retrieve the items.”

  She sighed. “Jackson plans to take over this world, and if he does, I fear he will be far worse than your nemesis, Ethano. I think he wants your son to rid the world of the demons that have been unleashed. He’ll wait until Alexander’s old enough. And that’s when he’ll start his new world.”

  “Is that why he doesn’t want us to leave through the portal?” Victor asked. “He wanted our child to be at his disposal!”

  “When he realized how serious you are about leaving, he knew he had no other choice but to take Alexander.”

  I bit my lip hard. “That asshole! I trusted him. He totally led me to believe he’s on our side, and he seemed so sincere about helping us find Alexander.”

  “He fooled me as well.”

  My heart raced. “How do I get Alexander back?”

  “We’ll come up with a plan.”

  “Well, in the meantime, all deals are off. I’m not going to open any box for him. I owe him nothing.”

  “That is not true, my love. We do owe him something, and I will be sure he gets his due, as soon as our son is safely back in our hands,” Victor ominously announced.

  “Whatever happens, we can’t allow Jackson to open that box. It won’t heal the sick, heal their hunger, and strip the immortals of their powers as he told you. Rather, it will unleash creatures so lethal that mankind won’t stand a chance. He’s out to wipe out mankind and the blue-ringed immortals, then restart the world on his own terms.”

  Victor and I looked at each other in complete disbelief.

  My stomach lurched at the thought of being the actual person to open that box and start an apocalypse. He was only nice to me to lure me into his trap so he could get me to trust him, so I’d do his dirty work and open the box that would end all mankind as we know it. I stood but my knees wobbled. Victor caught me as I fell into his arms. I was overcome by shock and disbelief. I couldn’t believe what I almost did. It was horrendous. How could I have ever lived with myself?

  “We should’ve read the fine print before we made any deal in blood,” I said.

  Victor sighed. “We didn’t know. We were both not thinking cl
early. All I could think about was making you better.”

  “He dangled a cure and we jumped on it,” I said.

  “I sensed there was more. But I couldn’t bear to live without you. I was willing to make a deal with the devil himself to save your life.”

  We should’ve went over everything in greater detail. However, had we done that, I’d be dead because I would’ve never made the deal with him. “Jackson never told me much and was vague.”

  “I had a few conversations with him in private. He said all you needed to do was act as a map and help retrieve an ancient key and box, then open up the box at a big event because immortal powers were needed to give the box enough power to do what it needed to do.” He looked away in thought. “I believe in honoring deals we’ve made, and I’m a man of my honor, but this is something I won’t stand for. It goes against everything we believe in.”

  “I’d never hurt the people I love in this world. If we had Alexander, we’d leave tonight.”

  He gripped my hand. “We couldn’t leave with this madman running around.”

  I sighed deeply. “You’re right. I just can’t believe I helped him.”

  “He is a snake,” Victor said. “You are not to blame for having a trusting heart and wanting to help your world.”

  “We need to know where Alexander is,” I said, looking at the doctor.

  Her eyes widened. “Sarah, what you need to do is run. You must get as far away from here as possible, so Jackson cannot force you to open that box.”

  “No! He forced me to leave before, flew me off to Egypt without my consent, but I won’t leave this world without my son,” I insisted.

  She gently tapped my hand. “I will find your son and bring him to you. Just tell me how to get through the portal.”

  “No,” Victor said. “We do not step foot through it without Alexander in our arms.”

  “Jackson is conniving and ruthless, Victor. If you remain here, he will find a way to force Sarah to ignite an apocalypse on this world. He has the Key of Life and the Box of Shadain in his possession! But he can’t open the box without her. If she leaves, it will foil his plans and protect those living here. Don’t you see? She needs to be gone in order to save the human race.”

  Victor shot her a pleading look. “Then help us find Alexander. The faster we find him, the faster we will leave forever.”

  Sighing, the doctor turned to me. “Try to tap into your visions.”

  “I can’t. They come when they want to, on their own timeline. It’s a power I can’t seem to control.”

  “Jackson cannot control his either.”

  I looked at her. “We’ve got to stop him.”

  “Yes, Sarah, we do. He is like a cancer. He will take out some of the bad leaders, but that is not worth the lives of all humanity.”

  We talked for a few more minutes, then left.

  On the way back home, I was too numb to say anything. The news had left me dumbfounded.

  “Jackson will not hurt the baby,” Victor said. “He needs him alive.”

  “I know, but how can he possibly raise our boy?” I asked. “He probably hired a nanny. I hope she’s taking good care of him.”

  “I’m sure our son is fine.”

  “He will not be truly fine until he is with his real parents. We have to find out where Jackson lives. We have to...” I trailed off, sobbing heavily and unable to even think clearly.

  Victor hugged me and assured me again that we would find our son. “I know where Jackson lives. He stays in the next town, so he can keep an eye on us.”

  “How do you know that?”

  “Sarah, I have carefully studied every immortal, on the quest to find our boy. I know where all of them live, and I am aware of their habits, good and bad. I put nothing past any of them.”

  “Good, then let’s pay Jackson’s house a little visit. I know he’s out of town, so this will be the perfect chance to go scavenge for clues.”

  “Very well. Then turn left on the next road.”

  Chapter 27

  The farm was isolated, and we were greeted by Jackson’s men. I hurried out of the car, and they stepped back, a bit leery.

  “What’s going on?” one demanded. “Why are you here?”

  “We need to find Jackson,” I said. “We have important information.”

  He got on his walkie-talkie. “It’s just Victor and Sarah, looking for Jackson.”

  “Roger that,” the voice crackled.

  He turned back to us. “I’m afraid he’s not here. He’s outta town right now.”

  And with that, I threw my arms out and perfectly performed the sleeper move I’d learned from Victor.

  All the men crashed to the ground, like babies on Benadryl.

  Victor looked at me and smiled. “You singlehandedly took out six men. That is no way for a lady to act.”

  “Who says I’m such a lady?” I asked, smirking at him. “Besides, one should never underestimate the power of a mad mama bear.”

  “I am so glad you have your powers back,” he said.

  I gripped his hand. “C’mon, Highness. It’s time to do a little breaking and entering.”

  While Victor took care of the remaining men, I broke into Jackson’s house. I flipped on the lights to a run-down place. The paint was a horrible, dingy color and was peeling off the walls. I didn’t feel any immortal energy in the house, so I didn’t feel threatened. I did a complete sweep of the main part of the dilapidated dwelling, but I didn’t see anything.

  “Any clues, luv?” Victor asked, walking through the front door.

  “Nothing. Let’s go check the basement.”

  I switched on the light and walked down the creaky stairs. “Phew! It stinks down here!” I said, trying to breathe shallowly as I could.

  “A fitting stench for one of Jackson’s ilk,” Victor said, seething.

  My gaze shot around at a pile of laundry, a washer, a dryer, and piles of boxes.

  “Over here,” Victor said, pointing to a locked door.

  I walked over and easily broke the lock like it was paper. “It looks like some sort of study,” I said, looking around. I turned on the solitary light bulb hanging from a chain in the middle of the room.

  Victor and I started to leaf through ancient books and scrolls that were piled everywhere.

  “I can’t read these,” I said.

  “Prophecies,” he said, flipping through the pages, his eyes wide.

  “What?”

  “These speak of our son.”

  “In this world?”

  “It seems the boy is divided between two worlds and will reside in them both.”

  “How can that be? We’re taking Alexander back to Tastia for good?”

  “Perhaps it means we will have to return here, or possibly that he will return as an adult, even centuries from now. It is very vague, and I am not sure what it means.”

  I swallowed hard, not at all liking that Jackson had been studying my son and his potential future. I pulled our his diaries and started turning the pages.

  “He wants to start a new world, one of alleged peace and harmony. To accomplish this, he will kill everyone but his chosen clan. He needs Alexander’s powers to protect his clan and rid the world of the creatures he will summon to undertake this so-called cleansing.”

  “So these creatures will be roaming the Earth for years?”

  “Yes, until Alexander is old enough to slay them all.”

  “This is crazy!”

  “He is just as deluded as Ethano.”

  A chill shot through my body. “I can’t believe we helped him!”

  “He left us little choice in the matter. You would have died. Without Jackson, we would’ve never gotten the eternal bloom.”

  “Do you think White Coyote is working for him?” I asked.

  “More than likely. Perhaps he owed Jackson a favor. Jackson seems to enjoy holding others in debt.”

  I sighed. “Dr. Meyers is on the right track. I so didn
’t want to believe her, but this is proof.”

  “I’m going to check the desk upstairs,” I said. I trudged back up the stairs and started rummaging through the drawers.

  Victor tore the place apart, looking for clues. “Sarah!” he frantically called.

  I ran into the kitchen and saw him holding an empty baby formula can, fresh from the trash. Instantly, my hands began to tremble. “Oh my gosh!”

  “He does have Alexander,” he breathed out. “I’m going to kill him!”

  “We can’t scare him off,” I said. “If you attack him, we’ll never learn where our son is. We have to put our anger aside and outthink him.”

  “He’s a madman, and he has our son,” Victor said.

  “I know, but I’m not sure what to do. Maybe we should just steal his precious box and offer up some kind of exchange for our son.”

  “I can make him talk, force him to tell us where Alexander is,” Victor said, “but I cannot interrogate him with you around.”

  “Victor, listen to yourself. You sound like you’re in the mafia. Next thing I know, you’ll be threatening to make him swim with the fishes.”

  “I would prefer to feed him to sharks,” Victor said, his lips pressing into grim lines. “We must make him talk. We cannot pretend we know nothing, now that all of his sordid plans have been revealed to us. And I promise it will all be a big bluff. I won’t kill him. We must confront Jackson.”

  “You’re right. We can’t pretend like we don’t know anything. He’ll see right through us,” I said, sighing. “Besides, his men will rat us out. He’ll know we’ve been snooping when they inform Jackson that we sentenced them to naptime. I guess we should just take the bull by the horns.”

  “When he gets back, he will demand to know why we broke into his hideout.”

  “I think we should invite him here to talk, and that’s when we’ll strike.”

  Chapter 28

  Liz and I sat on the back porch, and I told her everything.

  She was mortified. “Jackson is a kidnapper? Are you sure?” she asked.

  “I’m sure. We went to his house, and all the evidence is there.”

  “He seemed so passionate about saving humans.”

  “All an act. He wants to save this world but not the people in it.”