Immortal of My Dreams

by Alexis McNeil

  “Why so soon, Jillian? I think ye should stay for a while. Maybe, ye’d like ta take a swim after all. Ye ken, I ne’er could get that image o’ ye out o’ my head. Ye ken, the one when I followed ye here. Ye’re naked body glistened in the sun. I saw it all, Jillian. Tis aboot time I get something in return for all the help I’ve been ta ye.”

  I swallowed. “Merrick will be back any moment.”

  “No, he willna.” Grant appeared thoughtful for a moment and rubbed the blond stubble on his chin. “Ye might ha’ fun taking a swim with me…Lorna did.”

  I froze. “It was you,” I choked out. “But the peddler….”

  “The peddler happened to witness me in the woods with Hanna. I had to make it look like he killed both sluts, but Cameron wasn’t convinced with the bastard just having Hanna’s purse on him or finding the silk shirt in his possession that matched the piece we found in Lorna’s hand. Cameron wanted to question the filthy vagrant too. I had to kill the peddler before everyone found out it was me. I didna ken if they’d believe the old fool, but I wasna taking any chances.”

  “Why did you kill them? They never bothered anyone.”

  “Tell me Jilly, is it such a bad thing that there’s two less whores around? Lorna lay with every Immortal who came through here, anyone who’d turn her way. I did everyone a favor.” I yanked at my skirts trying to get out of his grip in earnest as he laughed, holding on effortlessly. “She didna even make a sound. She really believed we were going for a swim, imagine that. She had wrapped her legs around my waist as I held her down under the water.” Grant smiled a wicked smile. “She didna even ken what was happening.”

  I shook my head. “I won’t say anything, I promise—“

  “Ah, but Hanna,” Grant continued ignoring my plea as his other hand lightly began to stroke my calf, “she ne’er really trusted me from the start. She bedded me, but I kenned she’d rather be with one o’ the Immortals. She was a filthy whore, too. I brought her out here in the woods and broke her neck.” Grant laughed. “Ye should ha’ seen her face. She kenned I was going ta kill her. The fear, ‘tis all rather exhilarating if ye ask me.” He peered up at me as I continued to pull my skirts free. “Tell me, Jilly…are ye afraid?”

  I cried out as he turned, pouncing up on all fours reaching up for me. Quickly, I slashed out with my dagger. “Ugh!” he yelled as a disturbing smile crossed his mouth. “No harm, I like my lassies feisty.” He grabbed his wrist, covering the superficial scratch I had made. As soon as I was free of his grip, I ran as fast as I could, which wasn’t fast at all, into the dense woods trying to find the path leading back to the castle grounds. “I’ll catch up ta ye, Jilly!” Grant taunted from a few yards behind me. “Ye ken ye canna out run me with that fat whelp in ye’re belly!”

  I picked up my pace while I held my huge stomach with one hand and pushed branches and leaves out of my way with the other. Jagger bushes scratched my legs and pulled at the hem of my skirts as I ran deeper into the woods. There was no sign of the path or anything that looked familiar. If I could somehow loop back to the loch, I was sure I could find the path. I cried out in surprise when thrashing sounded right behind me.

  “I ken these woods like the back o’ me hand, Jilly,” Grant yelled from the other side of a huge wall of thick bushes. “There’s no escaping!” I heard his evil laugh grow louder. I darted toward a clearing up ahead and immediately tripped over an exposed root, falling to the ground on my hands and knees. My dagger went flying in front of me landing in a pile of heather a few feet away.

  “I told ye, ye’d ne’er make it,” Grant said coming up behind me. Pain seared through my head as he grabbed a fist full of my hair and roughly pulled me up. I stood up against him with my back pressed close to his naked chest, not by my choice. “’Tis a shame I’m going ta ha’ ta kill ye, Jilly. I was ready ta marry ye, that is until ye slept with that bastard and he filled ye’re belly with his child! I thought ye were different. I confessed my feelings for ye thinking ye’d care, then I became ye’re friend, the only way I could get close ta ye, but nothing changed the way ye felt aboot me. After I tried ta befriend Merrick, ‘twas like he kenned. He ne’er strayed too far away from ye when I was around. I had ta convince him I was no longer a threat…at least until I could get ye alone.”

  “He’ll kill you when he finds out,” I screamed as tears ran down my cheeks.

  Roughly, Grant pulled back the fist holding my hair. I reached up grabbing onto his hands. “He’ll ne’er ken…that is until I tell him how I plowed ye’re belly until my name spilled from ye’re bonnie mouth, ye’re last words, before I killed ye slowly. When I first met ye, I warned ye ta stay ta ye’re own kind. If only ye listened, I wouldna ha’ ta kill ye.” Thankfully, Gideon’s combat lesson came back to me. With as much strength as I could muster, I kicked back into Grant’s knee cap. He screamed out in pain, abruptly releasing my hair. “Ye’ll pay for that, Jilly! I’m finally going ta ha’ ye and there’s nothing ye can do aboot it!”

  I leapt toward the dagger, fumbling with it as I tried to grab onto it. I just gripped the hilt when Grant’s hand came overtop mine, squeezing my hand painfully. I cried out dropping the dagger, with him quickly retrieving it. Abruptly, he pointed the sharp blade at my neck. “Stand up, nice and slowly,” Grant said close to my face. We stood up together.

  I felt his heavy breathing against my cheek. Leaning in close to my ear, he darted his tongue out licking the side of my face and down my neck, stopping and biting the skin at my collar bone hard. I fought, knowing it would be my only way to escape, if there was a possibility. It couldn’t end like this, not when my life finally made sense.

  “Let her go, Grant.” I stopped fighting and Grant abruptly pulled away from my neck. I looked up spotting Merrick standing a few yards away in a stance ready to fight. A storm raged in his blue eyes as his jaw clenched shut. He appeared emotionless except for the muscle ticking furiously at the side of his jaw.

  “Weel, weel, weel,” Grant said running his hand cruelly up over my breast, “this will be more exciting then what I had planned.”

  “Let her go and ye can ha’ anything ye want,” Merrick said taking a small step forward.

  A hysterical laugh escaped Grant. “Ye see,” said Grant raising the dagger back up to my throat, “Jilly is what I want.” Grant let out another psychotic laugh. “Ye still ha’ no clue do ye?”

  “What are ye talking aboot,” Merrick said coldly taking another small step forward.

  “Ah, ah, ah,” Grant said as I screamed out when he pushed the tip of the dagger into my neck breaking the skin. “If ye come any closer, I’ll finish her off right now!” Merrick held up his hands and stopped moving.

  “So, why are ye doing this?” Merrick asked. “If I’m the one ye hate, then here I am. Do ye’re worst, but leave Jillian out o’ this.”

  “’Tis true, Merrick. I do hate ye and I’ve hated ye for o’er five long years. Waiting, always waiting ta get my revenge.”

  “I’ve only kenned ye for three,” Merrick said coldly.

  “Weel, I kenned ye since the day ye met me sweet Mary. Tell me, do ye even remember her?” Merrick shook his head. “I didna think ye would,” Grant spat. “Ye used her ta sate ye’re beastly immortal needs then moved on ta the next lass. I wanted ta marry her!” Grant roared. A moment passed of utter silence as Grant collected himself. Once again he was calm. “I visited the McDougals every day trying to come up with some excuse to see even a glimpse of Mary. She would sneak out late at night and meet me at the edge of the woods where I wooed her and ne’er asked for anything more, like a good mon is supposed to, but no, as soon as she saw ye that first day ye came ta visit Cameron, she turned her back on me. She began making excuses as ta why she couldna meet with me in the woods. Ye took her from me!”

  Merrick stared confused, looking like he tried to remember Mary. “I’m sorry Grant, but I dinna remember.”

  “I-loved-her!” Grant ground out through clenched teeth. I s
creamed out again as he dug the tip of the dagger a hair deeper into my neck. “Ye left her, only after ye filled her belly with ye’re babe. I had to kill her, help her leave this world and her sins behind. She told me that day when I took her life in the woods she was with child! Ye’re child!” I felt moisture on my cheek from Grant’s tears. “’Twas the hardest thing I ever had ta do…but ‘twas for the best,” he sobbed. “Ye took away the one woman I loved more than anything…and now, I’m taking the one woman ye love. She’ll die and ye’ll ken ‘twas all ye’re fault. Ye coulda stopped this if ye only stayed away!”

  “Grant I ne’er slept with Mary. She came ta my room one night, but I made her leave. She was too innocent. I didna feel right aboot having her. The last I saw, she retired to a chamber with one of the guards. Besides, I wasna able ta make a lass with child.”

  “No!” Grant roared, “I dinna believe ye, Mary wasna a whore!” A scream burst out of my mouth as Grant painfully jerked my head back, fully exposing my neck.

  “Grant,” Merrick said in a chillingly calm tone, “I’m warning ye, if ye kill Jillian, ye willna make it one step before I stick my blade through ye’re black heart.”

  “I’ll take my chances,” Grant sneered. “Ye’re mortal now, we’re even. I ha’ a good chance o’ winning a fight against ye!”

  “I’m asking one last time,” Merrick said through clenched teeth. “Hand-Jillian-over.”

  “As you wish,” Grant sneered. Instantly, time slowed, almost stopped. I slowly raised my eyes up to Merrick’s and found a look of shear terror cross his face just as a stabbing pain consumed my side and stomach. My mouth fell open as my breath abruptly vanished. I gasped for air…for life. Grant pushed me forward causing me to fall painfully to my knees as I grabbed my side. My hand came away covered in blood. I continued to gulp for air, when I looked up finding Merrick running straight for Grant. As he collided with Grant, a battle cry escaped Merrick.

  And a sob escaped me as I thought of the child that no longer lived inside me and for never being able to hold her, or for never being able to grow old with the one man I loved more than anything. As Merrick and Grant fought, my extremities began to grow cold and pain no longer occupied my every thought. I blinked as the clanking of the swordfight next to me grew farther away. Only a white haze filled my vision.

  This was it.

  * * * * *

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  Suddenly, a searing heat ripped through my body. I cried out as air rushed into my lungs leaving an excruciating burning in its wake. I sucked in a mammoth sized breath as my eyes burst open. I was still in the woods. The fighting that had seemed to vanish now became loud echoing through my head. My fingers sizzled with energy, while my heart beat hard and steady with a vibrant force. I darted up, sitting on my knees as my senses tingled with sensation. Quickly, I wrapped my hands around my stomach and received a hard answering kick in return. I let out a cry of happiness. Somehow my baby and I were alive.

  I wiped the dampness away from my side where the dagger had sunk into me finding only unmarred skin. My heart sank. Rowena was wrong. The baby must be a boy…an immortal boy. There was no other answer. I was completely healed along with my child. I heard a roar and scanned the area finding Merrick and Grant now wrestling with each other on the ground. Grant straddled Merrick holding a dagger inches from Merrick’s eye as Merrick held one hand on Grant’s neck and the other on the hand holding the dagger. I quickly searched the immediate area and spotted a large branch lying on the ground. I picked it up. Creeping up behind Grant, I saw Merrick’s eyes grow huge as he saw me, just before I slammed the branch down over the back of Grant’s head as hard as I could.

  Grant immediately turned limp and fell on top of Merrick. Merrick pushed him off to the side leaving him sprawled on the forest floor and jumped up scrambling over to me. He stopped before me, pausing as if he was afraid to touch me. Blood ran down his arm from a large gash on his shoulder, a split lip marred his mouth, and blood oozed over his eyebrow from a cut on his forehead. Slowly, he reached out with his hand and with one finger, slid it across the bloody tear in my dress.

  “The wound is gone,” he said quietly. He glanced up into my eyes and quickly pulled me to him in a tight embrace. “I thought I lost ye, lass. I didna ken what I was going ta do,” he said against my neck. He gazed up into my face as his knuckles caressed my cheek. “I now ken what love is, Jilly. When I thought ye were taken away from me—.” Merrick took a deep breath as tears filled his eyes. “I love ye so much. Ye’re my life, Jillian. Ye’re my everything.” He bent down softly kissing my lips. The kiss turned hard, but tender, almost as if we both needed the sensation, to know we were both alive. When he pulled away, we both gasped for air.

  “I’m glad you can finally experience for yourself how I felt about you from the moment I first met you,” I said running my hand over the dark stubble on his cheek.

  “I think I kenned that day at the loch when I first kissed ye. Once my lips touched ye’res…something in me changed. I tried ta fight the feelings off, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldna stay away from ye. I love ye.”

  I kissed Merrick once more. Abruptly after opening my eyes, my body tensed as I discovered Grant standing behind Merrick with the dagger posed to sink into Merrick’s back. “No!” I screamed. Merrick hastily pushed me away and twirled around grabbing Grant’s hand that held the dagger. They struggled until Merrick ducked from a punch and pushed Grant back hard. Grant stumbled backwards tripping over a root, falling onto a pile of dead branches.

  Suddenly, Grant gurgled as blood began to drip out of his mouth. Merrick stood before Grant breathing hard as I came up to his side only to discover the sharp bloodied point of a branch that had pierced through Grant’s chest. Grant’s eyes rolled back into his head. His chest no longer rose and fell with breaths of air. I sank to my knees as saliva rushed to my mouth. Merrick knelt down wrapping his arms around me. “Dinna look, lass. Take deep breaths. ‘Tis o’er now…for good.”

  * * * * *

  The following day sadness fell over the castle for the loss of Elise’s brother. We didn’t tell Elise the truth of what happened to Grant. Cameron thought it would be better not to. She thought we had come upon a wild boar in the woods, at least that’s the story we stuck to. Merrick didn’t leave my side once. After the solemn day passed, we laid in bed both holding one another, thinking about how close we came to losing each other and the babe.

  “I’ll go back ta the Guardians and beg them ta make our babe mortal after he’s born,” Merrick said quietly against the top of my head. “We’ll both go. Maybe after seeing the babe….” We both knew the Guardians wouldn’t hesitate to take our child.

  “It’s all right,” I said wiping tears from my cheeks. “We’ll still have twenty-five years with our son. Hopefully we’ll have more children,” I barely choked out turning my head into his chest as sobs racked my body.

  “Shh, lass. I’ll think o’ something.” Merrick pulled me closer to his side comforting me with the heat from his body. “Close ye’re eyes. Ye need ye’re rest.” After a while of lying in bed and trying to forget the horrifying image of Grant’s death, I finally began to doze off, focusing on Merrick’s even breaths.

  Sometime in the middle of the night, I woke up finding myself in warm wet blankets. At first, I thought Grant had come back from the dead and had sought revenge on us, killing us in our sleep, but the wetness was not blood, it was the amniotic fluid from my womb. Abruptly, a pain consumed my abdomen, making me hunch over and scream out.

  Merrick awoke instantly. “Lass, what’s wrong? What can I do?”

  I took shallow breaths as the pain began to recede. After a moment, I caught my breath and was able to speak. “My water broke. Our baby’s coming.” Merrick sat unmoving for a moment just staring at my huge round stomach. Once again, a pain ripped through me.

  “Get…Cameron!” I yelled in between breaths. Merrick jumped out of bed and ran out of the room faster
than I’ve ever seen him move. A few minutes passed and Merrick ran back into the room with Cameron calmly following.

  “Jilly, take deep breaths in through your nose and out through your mouth. I need to examine you and see how far you’re dilated.” Merrick sat down on the bed next to me and clasped my hand tightly in his. Cameron spread my legs, examined me, and immediately sat back up. “You’re half-way there. It may still be some time. I’m going to go send for the mid-wife in the village so she can help me. Keep breathing as I showed you, and Merrick, don’t move. Jillian needs you now more than ever.”

  * * * * *

  “Get him out!” I screamed, pushing with all my might. I had now been lying in bed for five hours since my water broke. Finally, I was dilated enough to deliver the baby. Merrick tightly squeezed my hand and pushed back the sweat dampened hair on my forehead with a wet cloth. Merrick only just began to appear pale when the baby’s head started to show.

  “Push, Jilly!” Cameron said. “He’s almost out.” I pushed on the count of three with all my might and felt the baby slide out of me, the tremendous weight lifted. The midwife, who assisted Cameron, grabbed cloths and cleaned up my child. “Jillian, Merrick, congratulations on a healthy baby girl!” Cameron handed over my baby as tears rolled down my face.

  I glanced up at Merrick’s confused expression. “Cameron, don’t you mean ‘boy’?” I asked feeling just as baffled.

  Cameron laughed. “Jilly, I know the difference between a boy and a girl.”

  “But, it can’t be. If it’s a girl that means…the Guardians must have made it immortal. They lied to us!”

  Merrick’s lips thinned. “I’ll get an answer from them if ‘tis the last thing I do!”