Immortal Beauty

by Thomas McDermott

  Celine walked calmly down the path. She gathered her strength and her energy. She was going to destroy them all in one enormous burst of energy. As she walked by the irisis growing along the edge of the path they began to wilt and fade as if they were being consumed by some invisible fire. Celine stopped when she saw Marcus standing in front of her, handsome as always. His arms were crossed and there was the slightest look of amusement in his eyes. Celine smiled suddenly and laughed.

  “I underestimated you Marcus. That was my mistake. Your mistake was coming back here. I am going to enjoy watching you die.” She stared at him intently looking for any sign of emotion. If there was but one drop of love for her running in his veins then she would surely win.

  “My only mistake dear was letting you out of that cave so many years ago. You win Celine. You can have all the water you want for the rest of forever just like your myths but you are going back to your prison. You can have the water, but you cannot have this world.” He walked closer to her as if he were in no danger whatsoever. That’s when she saw Frankie step out from behind the statue of Venus rising out of the waters.

  “Hello Celine!” He smiled and waved at her and he was dressed all in black like a rebel. They all were. This was too cute. They believed they were some sort of superheros. Frankie’s flippancy annoyed her and she focused all of her energy on this smug little man who thought he could interfere with her plans. She remembered the last time she killed him in this way. It had been so messy. At least they were outside this time. She saw him begin to struggle for his breath. She was so intent on her purpose that she did not hear the thunder overhead. She smelled ozone and knew that the lightning would be coming next. Taylor was going to blast her from above. She ran back to the house. He couldn’t get her if she was inside. Frankie recovered his breath quickly and watched as Celine tried to outrun the lightning. She ran up the hill and was almost at the terrace when she saw Sasha. It was a shock but she knew somehow it would be her. She had to deal with the immediate threat first. She had to get out of the storm. Sasha smiled at Celine and reached her hand out to the ballustrade and for a moment Celine thought that Sasha had switched sides and was offering her a hand. Then she saw the shimmer of metal as Sasha picked up the first of the legendary swords of the immortals. With amazing speed she threw it at Celine. It spun with a whirring sound and landed with a sickening thud in Celine’s stomach. A dark red stain appeared on the steel gray silk, so dark that it appeared black. One by one Sasha threw the eight swords at her as if she were some knife thrower in a circus. One by one the small swords found their mark. Celine was grunting and groaning and slowing down considerably. She was hurt but by no means out of the fight.

  “Is that all you got Sasha?” She yelled at the American girl and felt the blood dripping down the front of her chest. She started to pull the first of the swords out when she heard Sasha say.

  “Not even close.” Celine looked at Sasha who suddenly yelled. “Now!”

  Without any warning the lightning came. It found the metal of the swords and Celine was blasted backwards to the ground. The white heat destroyed evertying else around her and Cleine was conscious only of being bathed in light and pain. She looked up an dsaw Sasha standing above her. She smiled at her enemy with a look of admiration. The mysterious storm disappeared and the park was quiet again.

  “You see? You can’t kill me. I am the true immortal.” She reached up with her hand which was stinging with a thousand neeedles of pain and removed the first sword. She was pulling out the second one when she noticed Sasha fanning herself with a lovely oriental fan.

  “We are more alike than you know Sasha. For a moment there on the terrace I thought you had joined my side and we could truly be sisters. You have no idea what could have been yours.” She pulled out a third knife and felt her strength beginning to return. Taylor was walking towards them now and Celine glanced in his direction and knew that the lightning had only made her stronger. She was filled with the raw energy of the gods of nature. Nothing could stop her now. She stared at the man Sash loved and he began to choke and gasp and then without warning he fell to the ground. “Say goodbye to your boyfriend…again.” Celine laughed at Sasha who held the fan up to her face to hide her expression.

  “That’s it Celine! I have had just about enough of you messing with my love life.”

  “Sasha no!” Marcus was screaming as he ran to them. Sasha ignored him and raised the fan above her head. Celine successfully pulled most of the swords out of her healing body now. Taylor was slumped on the ground and no longer breathing. His body began to vibrate obscenely and Sasha knew she only had a couple of seconds. She jumped on Celine to hold her body down and raising the fan high above her head she whispered: “Time to die. It’s a bitch. You’ll love it.” The fan came down with all the force Sasha could muster nad chopped through Celines prettey white neck. Sasha pushed her body weight down and than cut through veins and cartilage and came to a halt when it hit Celine’s neck bone. Blood was flying everywhere an Sasaha was covered in it. She looked at Celine’s face and saw the horror register in the green eyes that would never see another sunrise. She let the fan rest, stuck in the bone and reached for the broadsword in her boot. With the finesse of a good butcher, she started hacking away at the rest of the bone for she would not be satisfied until Celine’s head was no longer attached to her body. She had come back to life too many times. She yanked at Celine’s gorgeous hair and pulled the head free of the body. At that very moment Sasha felt something rush inside of her. It hit her in the center of her body and she felt the baby move violently as if it had been shaken. With revulsion she knew immediately what had occurred and she couldn’t move. The soul of Celine had jumped into her unborn baby! Sasha’s hand still held the head of the real monster and could not release her grip. She couldn’t command her body to do anything with this new darkness engulfing her mind. She heard a cry arise from the night and felt herself being knocked to the ground. Osiris had pounced on her and was clawing away at her furiously before she even knew what had happened.

  “You killed my mother!” He slashed her face and neck. Frankie came running up to them wildly swinging the whip chains in both hands high above his head. Instead of pointed steel there were round spiked balls at the end of each one. Gathering as much momentum as he could he threw the chains at Osiris’ head and they caught the beast around the neck which knocked him off of Sasha. Taylor and Marcus ran up to Sasha as they heard Osiris howling in pain. They couldn’t believe all the blood. It was truly a war. Taylor picked up Sasha and without a word ran up the stairs to the terrace and into the house with an unconscious Sasha in his arms. Once Sasha had saved his life and now it was time to save hers. He knew what he had to do and headed toward the door with all the bizarre carvings on it.

  Forgotten for the moment Osiris recovered from the painful blows the whip chains had delivered to his head. He reached for the broadswoard Sasha had dropped in a pool of his mother’s blood. His mother was dead and his sister was no longer on his side. He was alone in the world and he knew that he would always be a monster to them all. He drew the sword up high and in a swift movement plunged it into his heart. He twisted the handle around and around trying to cause fatal damage. He did not want to heal this time. He heard Isis.

  “Osiris! What have you done?” She ran up to him and tried to remove the sword.

  “It’s too late sister. It is done.” He smiled at her sweetly and licked a salty tear off of her cheek. “There is no room for us in this ugly world.”

  “You can’t leave me alone! You can’t go! Osiris!” She pleaded upon dead ears. He no longer smiled nor did he move. He was gone. Claire moved in silently and wrapped the sobbing child in her arms. Frankie watched them unaware of his own tears falling unseen down his own face. Out of nowhere Magdalene descended from the sky and landed on Claire’s shoulder. It was finished.

  ETERNALLY PRESENT

  Sasha stirred in her bed. The sun was full in the sky and the
windows were open to a beautiful day. She was sore but did not feel too bad. Taylor was seated at her side and he looked really tired but cute at the same time in the way a little boy can be who just woke up from a nap.

  “Sasha, please don’t be mad. I didn’t know.” He started to cry a little.

  “Taylor, everything is fine. I feel fine. I was going to tell you about the baby when it was all over. There wasn’t time before.” She smiled reassuringly at him and her smile froze in place as her hands absentmindedly ran over her stomach. She was way more pregnant now. She looked at Taylor.

  “Sasha, you were dying and I couldn’t let that happen. Marcus knew the waters would heal you and so did I.” His voice was trembling.

  “Taylor, what did you do?” Sasha no longer smiled but her hands kept running in circles around this baby; around Celine.

  “I went to the source.” This told Sasha nothing and after an eternity he finally said. “I threw you in the pool of Locium.” He stared at the floor and didn’t see that Sasha could not help but laugh at him throwing her in the sacred pool as if they were at some high school party.

  “Taylor. Thank you for throwing me in the pool. You saved me and you saved our baby. And you made her grow a little faster. What are you gonna do?” She smiled and took in a deep breath. And as she breathed out, she released the pasts. All of them. The only thing she had left now was the love she felt for Taylor and their unborn child. She ran her fingers through his dark hair and pulled him onto the bed with her where they lay side by side as she continued the soothing stroking of his wavy locks.

  “You’re not mad?” He sounded more and more sleepy. Everything was perfect. They were a family now and they were home expecting their first child.

  “Mad? Darling, we’re alive and we’re healthy and we’re going to raise our wonderful baby in this fabulous house with people who will love her fiercely and forever. It sounds like Marcus’ long awaited dream has finally found it’s way into our world. The nightmare is over and we can all wake up.” She hoped she sounded convincing. It was hard to deceive Taylor. She believed there was no reason to throw a fly into the ointment on their first day of freedom from the evil Celine. They were all free now and safe, for the moment. Sashsa was absolutely sure that Celine’s spirit had jumped into her baby at the exact moment of physical death. Maybe it was Celine’s final revenge, or maybe it was just the way it happened. Nyoirin would have told her that it was her karmic responsibility to nurture the one she had murdered so coldly. Revenge always has a price. She must now give birth to the life she had taken. The world existed by rules of this balance whether we acknowledge them or not. Sasha was optimistic though and thought that maybe it would be alright. She would raise her little girl with love and fill her head with dreams and be the kind of mother to her that her own had been. She would keep her little secret from Taylor and from everyone else for now. This was between her and Celine. It was her destiny now to nurture all that was once good in her. She smiled and was in a state of near grace trying to grasp just how strange and perfect and puzzling this life could be. At least she was part of this conundrum. She was alive and surrounded by love in the heart of the city she loved more than any other in the whole world. In that moment she was truly happy. It had all been worth it for this one blissful, eternal moment. She could hear the sounds of her friends outside as she began to drift off to sleep.

  “Are you sure you want to do this?” Marcus asked Claire in the beautiful sunlight. They were seated around the table after breakfast and were enjoying yet another gorgeous day in Paris. Isis sat next to Claire and was feeding Magdalene little pieces of the croissant. There were changes in her as well. As her growth accelerated she looked more and more human. Her ears were still a little too pointy and she was runway model tall, but the eyes still had a little strange glow that were hard to explain. It would be hard to tell once she fully matured if she would have any animal traits left at all.

  “Marcus, I am not going to have this conversation again. Of course I am sure.” Claire was smiling at him. Gone were the days of her self imposed rigidity. From now on she was going to be part of their lives and the icy exterior they had all known for so long seemed to thaw, if just a little.

  “I wasn’t talking to you, I was talking to Frankie.” Marcus patted Frankie on the shoulder who coughed nervously. “I honestly don’t think you will be able to survive a place where there are no clubs and no shopping.” Marcus was teasing his friend. “You are going to miss the beautiful people. I know you!”

  “Hey, if I can survive the crazy stuff that has gone on in this house, I can survive anything. Besides, I want to see what fascinates Claire so. He smiled at them all and was still glowing from the victory of the battle. They all were. Marcus was going to miss them, but he kenw they would be back. This was home now, for all of them. No matter where their new adventures took them, this would be home. He definitely expected everyone to be there for Christmas. There were a few newspapers on the table and they all had photos of Celine on them. Taylor’s article had done it’s work and even now government teams were storming the lab in Orleans and soon the scientific community as well as the world would know a little of the horror Celine had been dabbling in. Celgen was now under investigation by several agencies and an international debate had begun on just how far science was allowed to go before big business starts creating their own special brand of monsters behind closed doors. Of course the biggest mystery of all was the beautiful Celine D’Aumont herself. She had gone missing the day before the article hit the internet. The police believed she was tipped off and fled the country before she could be apprehended. They were confident she would be found. She wasn’t the first big shot to run away when the law came knocking at her door. Having money does not mean you can just ignore international laws and France would love nothing more than to make an example of her. As everyone began to research this woman it became even more of a mystery. She seemed to have no past. There was no birth certificate and no record at all of her existence. Every search for her origin led to a woman from the time of the French Revolution with the same name and the same creamy skin and wild red hair. They must be related but there was no proof of that either. There was speculation that rich people like Celine D’Aumont could have things like that disappear overnight and get buried forever somewhere. At any rate, Paris was all abuzz with the gossip and speculation about the beautiful woman who was creating illegal monstrosities in a laboratory all in the name of beauty. Frankie had been right after all and he laughed out loud when he read the headline on the copy of Le Monde. BEAUTY AND THE BEAST. They had all laughed except Isis who had no interest in the matter. As each day passed she was becoming more and more the way Claire used to be, silent and withdrawn, always longing for the moment when everyone would just stop all this insane talking. She longed for the place Claire and Frankie told her all about. The place they were going to leave for in any moment. Virginie came out to the terrace to announce that the driver was ready for them. Isis wanted to cover her face in public, but Claire convinced her not to and showed her in the mirror each day that she was indeed the beautiful young woman she thought she would never be. She no longer looked monstrous, but exotic. She wore light colored sunglasses at all times to hide the strange yellow light that came from her pupils and found that she loved them and had fifty pair at least by now. Marcus spoiled her as if she were his own daughter. They all kissed and hugged noisily and clumsily for none of them wanted to admit that after the adventure they had just had, it truly was hard to say goodbye; even if just for a little while. Marcus walked with them up the long and beautiful stairs that had been a silent witness all these years before he said a final goodbye at the front door. He kissed Isis on both cheeks and held her hands in his.

  “Isis. This is always your home. You will always have a room waiting for you. Remember, just because you’re different doesn’t mean that you don’t belong. We are all different in this house and we all belong here.” He looked at her lo
vingly. “This is your family. I wish you were my own daughter.” He had broken through her silence.

  “Thank you Marcus. That means a lot to me. I will miss you.” She walked out the door without looking back. For the first time she was facing the world in the light of day without hiding from anyone or anything. She noticed a few people stare at her and had yet to realize they were drawn to her strange beauty. She stared right back at them and saw the smiles that greeted her honest stare and she found these people just as interesting and unusual as they found her. Claire was right. It wasn’t bad at all. Actually, it was good. She got into the car as the driver greeted her pleasantly.

  “Merci.” She said gently and got in.

  “Last chance Frankie. I know how much you hate mother nature!” Claire had her arm wrapped in his and they looked like a charming couple dressed so simply and elegantly. He was in black and Claire had on a silver mini dress with a tiny black sweater and she looked like an old movie star. Her hair done in waves from another life.

  “No way! I want to see what you find so interesting out there in the prairie.” They got into the car and slid into the comfortable leather that surrounded them.

  “Alright. But if you start bitching about every little thing I am going to feed you to the wolves myself.” She and Isis laughed at the idea.

  “There are wolves?” He lurched back into his seat as the car jumped into the ceaseless traffic and carried them to the airport where Marcus’ jet was waiting to take them to Brazil.

  On the terrace, Marcus sat at the table enjoying the sunlight and the silence. He had decided that now was the time to go to Greece. He coud use a vacation and he had purchased one of those white villas on the cliffs surrounded by impossible blue. He was taking Virginie with him. God knows she deserved a huge raise and a paid vacation after all she had been through. She gladly accepted his offer and in her eyes he saw something more than just loyalty and friendship. All of these years he had been to busy fighting Celine to notice. Now that she was dead he could finally breath. He knew that she would return someday but as somebody new and not nearly as powerful. He would deal with that when the time came. They would all deal with it together as a family with no more secrets. That dream died so long ago, but in it’s place a reality more vivid than any dream had taken its place. The house was full again and everyone was safe. He smiled to himself and sat back in his chair to read once more the articles written about the mysterious and infamous Celine D’Aumont.