Immortalis - Book 1 (The Keeper's Immortals)

by Marisa DeMaris

  “That’s the problem you never back down when you should. What you should have done was inform the rest of us.” Reid snapped.

  “That wouldn’t have helped the situation Reid. She needed to do this alone. One person who she knew would give her the space she needed is completely different than a whole heard of us going!” Blake roared back.

  “Oh for Christ sake will you both stop it!’ Ashwin yelled at them both who stopped to look at her. She then walked towards me, stopped and placed her hands on her hips. ‘And you, can’t you see what you’re doing to them? Stop stringing along me brothers and just leave.” She looked almost sick when she was done almost as if she regretted telling me something.

  “Ashwin!” Jaryn snapped, shocked by his only sisters words.

  Her words hurt. I didn’t know if the pain was from her yelling at me, telling me to stop fooling around with her brother’s emotions or that she told me to leave. Not knowing how to handle it I just blew up. “Do you think that I want to be here Ashwin? Do you think that I wanted any of this? Do you think that I asked for it?’ I let out a sarcastic chuckle. ‘I was normal, an everyday girl until I met Reid and then everything changed, but I guess that would have happened in the end since I’m the “Chosen One”! I’m the one who gets to determine the fate of countless immortals. Either they die or you do and right now my choice isn’t that hard because why would I want to be around people who are angry at me, won’t listen to me or blame me for things that I don’t see wrong.’ I made sure to look straight at Reid with that last one. ‘All I want to do is to go back when I had it easy, before everything got more complex than I already thought it was. So my heart was breaking, I would have gotten over it with time but now everything is messed up and I have more on my plate this time because I have not only your lives in my hands but I have my friends lives. Because of me their lives could be in danger.” I finished, breathing heavily. I suddenly felt Trish’s arms around me. She was in protective mode, all three of them were as Adam and Charlie stood beside me like guards.

  “We’re going home and were taking Nora with us!” Trish firmly stated,

  “You can’t do that Trish, she has to stay with us. It’s where she’s safest at.” Sebastian said in an attempt to reason with her.

  “She’s safe with you? You’ve got to be kidding me right? There is some crazy lady after her because of you, she’s under a huge amount of pressure because of you and she needs rest. She looks like she hasn’t slept or eaten anything in days. We’re going to do what is best for Nora and that’s going home.’ Adam took me from Trish and we all started walking towards the door but Trish turned back to bravely face the Hollings one more time. ‘You all might be immortal but our friendship is timeless, we’ve gone through a lot together and this is just one more thing and even you won’t stop it.”

  All five members of the Hollings clan looked shocked. They didn’t know how to take being talked to in such a way by a mortal that wasn’t related to. They still weren’t thrilled on being talked to by Nora with a harsh tone but at least she was blood. Trish was stronger than anyone thought, Nora knew though. Her strength peeked its head every once and a while but normally she didn’t want it to so she avoided situations where it might any controversy. Reid and Ashwin both were still furious, Blake was angry at Reid, Jaryn simply wanted to talk to Nora and Sebastian gave a hint of a smile. He knew Nora and he knew that no matter what she did would be the best thing in her eyes and that everything would work out.

  We stopped in a small sitting room just off the lobby. There wasn’t anywhere we could go from there but they knew that I needed out of the room and for that I thanked them. We sat there without talking which was nice. While resting my head on Adam’s shoulder I dosed off until I heard a light knock at the door. Peeking in was Jaryn. “Hello, eh could I talk to ya?’ He asked me. I told him that he was welcomed even though he didn’t feel like it at the moment with the others giving him a go-to-hell look. From his back pocket he pulled out two room keys. ‘We got you all rooms for the night if you would like to stay, of course if you don’t then we’ll have the plane take you home at once.” He explained.

  “Hell yes we want to go home!” Charlie voiced. I looked up at him then back at Jaryn and gave him a weak but honest smile. I didn’t want to have to burst their bubble but I couldn’t leave, not because I had something that I had to do.

  “Thank you Jaryn and I’m not leaving guys.’ I said as I stood up from the chair. ‘I know that I can’t. No matter where I am in the world I would know that I have something that I have to do. My destiny has been set for me long ago, even before I was glimmer in my mother’s eye, who ever she was.” Jaryn smiled as he embraced me warmly. He then asked if he could talk to me alone for a moment. As the others cleared out of the small room and headed up the elevators with their room keys in hands that were graciously provided by Jaryn we both sat down on the uncomfortable sofa together.

  “I’m sorry for bein’ angry with you before. I wasn’t mad at you for leaving without tellin’ us or because I think that you’re messing with me brothers.” He advised me. I gave him a questioning smile.

  “Then why were you upset for?”

  “Because you didn’t take me with you. I mean out of everyone, beside Blake, you know I would do anything for ya.” He explained and it was something that I did know. Jaryn was the first one other than Reid to be kind to me from the Hollings. He was like a brother, the kind of brother I had always wanted. I took a hold of his hand, giving it a squeeze.

  “I’m sorry, you’re right. Forgive me?” I asked.

  “Of course…but only if you tell me the truth. Right here and now, what is really going on with you and Blake? I don’t care, I won’t tell you what to do or who to be with but I just don’t want any secrets between us anymore.” He advised me and I let out of a deep sigh knowing that I had to do it whether I wanted to or not. He wouldn’t let me leave without an answer. All the Hollings were stubborn, only some were more stubborn then others.

  “When you all had taken me the first time Blake and I had formed some kind of hateful friendship. We would go at each other with cruel words, taking jabs at each other but when we were alone we could talk about anything and hold intelligent conversations like I’ve never had with anyone before. Music, religion, history…everything and through it all we still made each other laugh. Believe it or not even over the span of centuries Blake and I have a lot in common.’ Jaryn didn’t doubt my words. If anything he stated that he understood that something like that could happen. ‘When we were in Medina the first time I had left the hotel to get air, I needed to clear my head and he refused to let me go alone so we ended up taking me to the cliffs and showing me the waves. That night he told me that he had seen me in a vision ages ago, that I was going to be someone very important to the immortal world but he didn’t know that it had anything to do with the Twilight and he kept having visions of me throughout my life and he said he fell in love with me from the visions but what he didn’t see in the visions was Reid meeting me first. Jaryn I don’t know how to explain it. He, Blake…he just gets under my skin and drives me crazy like no one else ever has.”

  “And Reid?” he asked me bluntly.

  “I care about Reid but we parted as friends last time. I thought he was the greatest guy until…” My words drifted off not wanting to say it.

  “Until you met Blake, yeah?” I nodded in agreement. He pulled me into a hug then released me with a smile on his face. “Look like I said, I’m not gonna tell ya what to do but I just want you to be happy. In the end that’s what everyone wants for you.” His words warmed by heart and made me truly smile for the first time in a while. Before he left I had to ask him one question while we were alone so just as he stood I grabbed his hand, pulling him to the sofa again.

  “I have to ask you a question now and I want nothing but the truth, please Jaryn.’ He nodded knowing that he would be honest with me since I had been with him and waited for the questio
n. ‘Blake is bad, his dislike for mortals and his debauchery in the past while he and Reid were on their own but I’ve been told by so many that Reid was forced the self control by The Keepers because he was at one time the worse of the two, is that right?” Jaryn looked down almost as if he was afraid to tell me the truth no matter what it was. “Jaryn! I told you the truth now you tell me.”

  “It’s true, Reid was the worse and he can still show the darkness that’s in him a bit, just under the surface but the self control kicks in and it stops it. Don’t let that effect your decision on who to be with. Reid is a good man and great brother but you have to follow your heart. Blake is all the same as Reid in being a man. I’ve always seen the way Blake looks as you. I’ve never seen him look at anyone else that way.” Jaryn’s statement gave me hope in what I was doing and it was also a good feeling to clear my conscience with someone other than Trish, with a Hollings. Together we made our way up to our rooms, holding each other hands along the way. Just as the doors to the elevator opened we were stopped by Ashwin who was still kicking and screaming from earlier.

  “You can’t just stop with two of my brothers you have to go for another?” she barked as me.

  “Ashwin will ya just shut your damn mouth and please go to bed.” Jaryn yelled back. He tried to get me to continue to my room but I wasn’t budging. It was my turn to talk again. Over all I have bit my tongue but I was to my breaking point.

  “First of all you don’t know everything that goes on in my life nor do you know everything that happens in your brother’s lives either. Before you go off on a person how about you walk a mile in their shoes! For someone who helped give me life you don’t act like you care much for me, at this point I wish your baby had died while inside of you because then I wouldn’t be here either.” I said before I turned and walked to the room that I had been in with Blake before him, wishing that he was still in there waiting for me on the other side. When I walked in I wasn’t surprised that he wasn’t there. I had a feeling he was with the other men of the Hollings family, talking about what had happened. I turned, flustered, to find that Jaryn had stopped at the doorway, lent again the door frame with his hands shoved in his pockets.

  “Look I’m sorry for what I sai…” I stopped talking when he threw up his hands.

  “I understand why you said it. I can’t say that I wouldn’t do the same if I were in your shoes. Ashwin has always had a problem sticking her nose in where it doesn’t belong and saying things that are hurtful but you’re pretty good at those jabs as well. It runs in the family.” He said as he cocked his eyebrow. He walked to me, kissed me on the forehead and demanded that I rest and he would run and get me some food. In the blink of an eye he was gone and back sooner them I thought he would be with a styrofoam box of food and a drink. Willingly I took it while he left to go back with his family so that they could discuss what had happened and what was going to take place. Once the food was ingested I rested my head on the soft pillow. I must have fallen asleep because when I woke up sitting beside me was Blake. He was scanning through the channels. “Hey” I said causing him to turn around with a smile on his face as he flicked the television off.

  “Hey, you look much better.” He was beaming which warmed my heart and making it where I couldn’t help but to smile as well.

  “I am. Thank you. Jaryn fed me and I finally got sleep.” I explained to him. I then asked him what was going to happen next although I didn’t want to. At the moment everything was calm, peaceful. He told me that we were gonna stay put for a while to allow me some time to really rest and no matter what anyone thought he was going to stay with me.

  “Reid and I had words but he still doesn’t believe me. I don’t think that any of them do.” He told me.

  “Jaryn does, or he at least doesn’t care as long as I’m happy.” I told him. He asked when Jaryn and I talked about our relationship status. I explained that he wanted the truth and nothing but so I told him everything. Understanding why I informed his youngest sibling about us, Blake took me into his arms and held me. At that moment I didn’t care about what anyone else thought either, I was just happy to be in the arms of the person that I wanted to give my heart to. Did he have a dark past? Yes, but who didn’t right?

  “Can I ask you a question?’ He pulled me away from his body and nodded, waiting for me to continue. ‘I know that you completely despise mortals.”

  “Present company excluded of course.” I smiled at his words but he was actually making it harder for me to ask the question that I was dying to ask him. I nibbled on my lip, attempting to gain the courage to ask the question I had needed to ask him.

  “I know that one of the main reasons why you don’t like mortals is because you don’t want to get close only to have them be taken away by death?’ he looked a little leery of what I was saying but he didn’t interrupt. I knew I was right and although he had never fully admitted it his silence proved my theory. ‘I was…well I was…”

  “Spit it out!” He demanded.

  “Would you hate it, hate me if I when it happened I choose not to be…not to be like you?” I finally said. The word had difficulties coming out but once they were it was like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders. I couldn’t stand to continue being this close to Blake if he didn’t want to be. Taking my face in his hands he looked at me but didn’t say anything which made my nerves stand up on end. He looked sad, like a little boy who was lost - forever looking for his home. I knew that he had wanted to me to changed so that I could be like him, immortal but I didn’t want that and even though he knew that we still had fought about this topic already. I was hoping that his mind had changed now.

  “You know me well, too well and it’s because of that I love you so much but even if you were to choose to remain mortal I couldn’t hate you, never and I would hold you in my arms until the day that you die. After that day I would forever hold the memories of you in my heart or…” his voice trailed off as if he was fearful of telling me what he wanted to.

  “Or what? What are you thinking?” I asked him.

  “I was thinking that if that was to be how it ends then I would end myself. We have the katana, as long as we keep even the smallest part of the blade then I could end my own life and we could be together again.” He said knowing that I wouldn’t want to hear such words, even if they were tragically romantic. I smiled as I wrapped my arms around his torso. I told him that no matter what happened I didn’t want him to do that, he could move on and allow himself to get close to another but he only fought my words, telling me that there wasn’t anyone else that he wanted to be with.

  We ended with that, knowing that we wouldn’t be able to see eye to eye on such a topic. Our personal utopia was interrupted by a knock on the door. Sebastian was on the other side and needing to talk to Blake, who only left because he knew that it was something of importance. “He needs to talk about something, I don’t know what but I’ll be back. Stay here.” He told me before I left, demanding I rest. Although I did remain in the more than comfortable bed I pulled out the small and very ancient book that was given to me by Ozlem. Gently I opened the cover of the book, the title page ‘Truths of the Ancient Worlds’. Looking over the table of contents I began to wonder if all of what was written on the pages was really the truth. Everything that I have ever wondered about was there; Stonehenge, Atlantis, all the unknown creatures of the world. Everything.

  I was in awe of the letters than formed words that formed sentences that made stories that told of every fairytale that humans had ever been told. It was an amazing thing to behold and what made it even more interesting is that no one knew who or how it was printed but everything within the book was the true history of things unknown. Although interesting it also made me wonder if I should take every word to heart? Before I could get lost in the sea of words I first had to read about the Twilight first and foremost. The story was simple, to the point but held many answers that I had been seeking.

  The Twilight – The I
mmortal Fight

  When the world was born there were three kinds who wanted control of the land. The Ambrosia Immortal; based in Greece, The Keepers Immortals; based in Spain and mortals; humans.

  The humans over ruled the lands since there were more of their kind, making it their own and looked to the God for wisdoms, leaving The Keepers an unspoken myth that if wanted to be found would have to be searched for. Rather than hiding, immortals walked among the mortals, changing those that they deemed fit to be as they were.

  Since the beginning the ones changed by The Gods and those by The Keepers were at each other throats, out for blood of the others to be the only immortals in the land. The Ambrosia’s wanted everything while The Keepers and their kind only wanted to share the land with the mortal and live among them as they had been doing for so long.

  One day, at an unknown time or place the one who could end the long war between the two would be born. The Chosen One could be either a male or female, but will be a mortal above all else. When The Chosen One reached a certain age then their journey to The Twilight would begin. During this time they would be given a way to kill the immortals and whichever side they stood in battle with was the side that would be victorious.

  Nothing can be foretold of this event in history because it is shrouded with mystery.

  I looked over the words almost as if I was studying them. The problem was that it didn’t tell me anything that I didn’t already know and it didn’t help ease my mind about it. I turned the page to see if there was anything more but wasn’t, leaving me feeling more frustrated than I already was. Just as I slammed the book shut a small corner of a page stuck out. Not wanting anything bad to happen to such a delicate book I gently opened it back up so that I could fix it only to find that it was a longer page; it had been folded under to fit. I opened it up further so that I could read the words that had been printed on it.