Soul Bound

by Luxie Ryder

Nathan spoke to the one who seemed to be in charge. “Elias, I will have your head for this.”

  To my surprise, Elias only chuckled in response. “That is, of course, up to you. As heir apparent, my destiny is in your hands, Nathaniel.” He turned and gave me an appraising glance. “However, I suspect it’s more likely that you will be thanking me for intervening.”

  His words sent Nathan into a rage. A roar so loud and vicious erupted from him that, for the first time in my life, I was scared of him. The glass shook in the windows and the walls seemed to expand with the burst of energy that erupted from him, as if his fury had the power to turn bricks and mortar to rubble.

  “Nathan! What’s happening? Who are these people?”

  Elias stepped towards me, his menacing form blocking out the light. “His name is Nathaniel. He will be ruler of our people, and you will not address him in such formal terms.” As terrified as I was already, I didn’t miss the subtle threat in his words.

  “Get away from her, Elias!” Nathan struggled to break free. “She knows nothing of this and I will not have her told.”

  “Told what?”

  Nathan stopped struggling with his captors, his anger held in check as he tried to reassure me. “It’s nothing more than ancient myths and folklore, Jess…and the rules of prehistoric societies that have no place in the modern world.” The second part of his sentence was said with renewed venom and flung at Elias. I got the feeling that it was the latest volley in a long running argument between them.

  Elias turned to me again, ignoring Nathan’s barbed remarks. “He is worried for you, my dear. He thinks I will hurt you. But even I, old and foolish as I am”, he cast a mocking glance at Nathan, “knows that causing you any pain would be a costly mistake on my part.”

  “But Elias, once the prophecy is fulfilled and I am your ruler, who is to stop me taking vengeance on you regardless?” Nathan smiled and his cold, dead eyed stare chilled my blood. I didn’t have the supernatural gifts of perception that Nathan had, but even I knew that he intended to kill Elias.

  The elder took a step towards me and Nathan shouted, panic in his voice. “No! Give me more time. Let me talk to her - ask her. Maybe Jess will agree.”

  Elias shook his head. “Too much time has passed already. The Warlocks rise against us and we are without a leader.”

  “Nathan?” I asked, far more terrified by his reaction than I was by the kind but resolute energy emanating from Elias. “What is he talking about?”

  Elias spoke before Nathan could. “It is his destiny to lead but he cannot do it without a mate. I orchestrated the events in Seattle in the hope it would force his hand, and he would intervene and save you.”

  “Stop, Elias.” The spirit had drained out of Nathan. He sagged against his captors. “I beg you, let me be the one to tell her.”

  “Tell me what?” They were getting on my last nerve. As scared as I was, the suspense was worse. “Am I going to die?” I asked Nathan straight out.

  He ignored me, turning again to Elias. “Is there nothing I have, nothing I can offer you that will make you stay your hand?”

  “It is your destiny Nathaniel. The survival of our people depends on you and this mortal.”

  Nathan spoke to Elias. “Then please get it over with and say no more.” His gaze found mine. “I’ve let you down and I’m sorry.”

  Elias took a step closer and I backed up, deciding the time to ask more questions they probably wouldn’t answer was over. I tried for taking the upper hand and dominating the situation, the way they taught us back at the academy. I had nothing to lose. “Think before you make a move, Elias. If you touch me, you’ll spend the rest of your life in prison.”

  “Don’t be scared, Jess.” Nathan’s softly spoken words dragged my attention back to him. “Do you trust me?”

  I cast a glance at the shrouded figure looming over me. “In principle? Yes.”

  “Then listen to me when I tell you not to fight whatever happens. Just go with it. And remember, I love you.”

  The change in his demeanor confused me. His face radiated only love, not fear or anger. Nothing but love for me. Nathan smiled at me, and I remember trying to tell him I loved him too.

  The next thing I knew, a hand closed over my mouth and everything went black.

  ****

  I woke up in a different room. Lying still, I listened for sounds that would give me some clue as to where I was or what had happened. The silence offered me no explanations and I lifted my head to look around, steeling myself for whatever horror I might find. To my surprise, there was nothing to fear. Where was Nathan?

  “Here.”

  I screamed, stupidly frightened by the sudden voice behind me. I turned to find Nathan sitting in a chair on the balcony, half obscured by the gauzy panels of muslin suspended from the top of picture window.

  He looked as if he’d just got out of bed, his feet and chest bare and a pair of black cotton pajamas clinging to his hips. But one look at his face told me he hadn’t slept much, if at all, and he seemed to have visibly aged since I last saw him. “What happened?”

  He ignored my question, coming to sit at my side and stare into my eyes as if looking for something. “How do you feel? Do you remember anything?”

  I stretched, rolled my shoulders, tensed my legs and wiggled my toes. “I feel fine. And no, I don’t remember a thing. Hence my asking you what happened.”

  Nathan sagged with relief. “Elias kept his word then.”

  “So nothing happened?”

  He wouldn’t meet my gaze. “That would be over simplifying things.”

  I stared at his bowed head. What could possibly be so bad that he wouldn’t tell me? I was unharmed and, besides waking up in a strange place, everything seemed to be exactly as it was before.

  “Everything has changed, Jess. Nothing you know will ever be as it was.”

  “Get out of my head!” I shouted, angry that he knew everything, even my private thoughts, and I still knew nothing. “Give me some straight answers, damn it. This enigmatic crap is getting on my nerves.”

  I scrambled to the edge of the bed and swung my legs to the floor, almost tripping on the robe I was wearing. The long white caftan style gown wasn’t mine. I held it out from my body and looked at Nathan for an explanation.

  “I didn’t want you to sleep in your clothes and wake up too hot.”

  I got to my feet but sat back down instantly when the room began to spin. I closed my eyes and clutched my stomach. “Ugh, I feel sick.”

  “You’re starving, that’s why.”

  Nathan leapt up and disappeared through a doorway, returning with a trolley laden with fruit, water and coffee. Angry, disorientated and worried as I was, I couldn’t resist the lure of the coffee. When Nathan handed me the cup, I grabbed it from him took a fortifying sip.

  He offered me some fruit and I accepted it, but only to remove the tools he was using to distract me. “Enough! You need to start talking.”

  He started to pace, running his hands through his hair, stopping to look at me every few seconds as if struggling for the right words. I asked him what could be so bad that he couldn’t even begin to tell me about it.

  “It’s hard to compress four thousand years of history into a sound bite, Jess.”

  “How about I ask the questions and you just give me some straight answers, ok?”

  He nodded, squaring his shoulders and turning to face me, as if confronting a firing squad. “That’s probably best.” Fear clutched at my stomach. I wasn’t going to like what was coming. His demeanor made that clear.

  “What did Elias do to me after I blacked out?”

  “You were reborn.”

  “Reborn? What does that mean?”

  “He killed you.”

  “I’m dead?” Even as I said the words, I knew they weren’t true. The pain twisting my stomach in knots and the way the breath stilled in my lungs told me otherwise.

  “Do you feel dead?” I shook my head. Nath
an’s smile was meant to reassure me but I didn’t see how anyone could find the situation amusing. He apologized when he saw the tears in my eyes and rushed to explain further. “Your mortal life had to end so you could be resurrected.”

  “So Elias killed me then brought me back to life?” I laughed through my tears, near hysterical from trying to make sense of the insane words coming out of first Nathan’s mouth, then mine.

  “Well, technically, I did the resurrecting.” Nathan’s eyes darkened in anger. “I wouldn’t let him touch you again.”

  “What did he do to me?”

  “Nothing physical. He stopped your heart with a simple incantation…” Nathan’s voice trailed away.

  “Simple?” I felt lightheaded. “But why? This isn’t making sense.”

  Nathan sat beside me on the bed. “I am High Priest of the Magi, the latest in a noble line, descendants of an ancient religion. We are immortal guardians, sworn to defend mankind against evil.” He cast me a sideways glance. “Should I go on?”

  I only realized my mouth had been hanging open when Nathan put a finger underneath my chin and pushed it closed. “What does this have to do with me?”

  “You and I are soul bonded. A High Priest must choose a mate, although the female is always a mortal. Once I fell in love with you, it was your destiny to be with me, although I did my best to protect you by staying away. How ironic that it was you who came to me.” He cast his eyes downward, his gaze locking on to the motion of his thumb brushing over the back of my hand. “I guess Elias was right. Even I can’t fight fate.”

  I snatched my hand back. “How long have you known…about your connection to me, I mean?”

  “I didn’t know anything until the day I left Seattle. My parents were killed that night, savagely cut down by a Warlock, one of our sworn enemies. I came home from school to find Elias waiting for me.”

  “Oh God, Nathan! I’m so sorry.” I gave him back my hand, ashamed that I hadn’t spared a thought for what he might have gone through.

  “My father had ruled for centuries and, if he had his way, I would not have been told about the duties I would one day inherit until I reached maturity on my thirtieth birthday. But when he died, my training began immediately, overseen by Elias.”

  “But if you are the one with the supernatural ability, why did Elias need me?”

  “My father’s death was a timely reminder that our kind must procreate, Jess. Only the son of a High Priest can rule the Magi and Elias sees it as imperative that I produce an heir soon.”

  “And I couldn’t do that without being reborn?”

  Nathan shrugged. “Probably, but there are other, more important reasons that a ruler needs a mate. In the long and distant past, many of our kind abused their power out of loneliness, driven half mad by loving, losing and burying one wife after another.” His grip on my hand tightened and his brow creased. “I understand a little of that now. Staying away from you has been the hardest thing I’ve ever done and the thought of spending eternity without you tortured me.

  “But I refused when Elias told me it was time to claim you. I had no choice in whether I accepted the responsibilities that were thrust upon me and I thought I could protect you from facing the same end as my mother.”

  “How could they die? I thought the Magi were immortal?”

  “There are ways our kind can die but not by any natural means. It takes a very special type of magic - a dark art that only few have in their power. Warlocks and Magi are natural enemies, both of us gifted with supernatural abilities and engaged in a battle that has already lasted for many millennia and will no doubt continue for many more - until one of us is wiped out.”

  I felt like a pawn, moved around at will and without a second thought, in a cosmic game of chess. “So I’ve been living all this time with a death sentence hanging over my head? Don’t you think I had the right to know?”

  “Nobody told me that my feelings for you were significant until I reached maturity and finished my training a couple of years ago. And I was still a kid when I lived in Seattle. How could I tell you what I did not know myself?”

  “You knew where I was. Surely, finding me and telling me what was happening was easier than saving me from a hail of bullets and leaving me to explain to my colleagues how I was still alive.” I warmed to my topic, getting to my feet and almost stumbling over the horrible garment I was wearing when it wrapped around my ankles. I bunched the material in my fists and shook it at Nathan. “Is this better? Robbing me of the chance to decide for myself if I want to be offered up as some kind of sacrificial lamb?”

  Nathan surged towards me, grabbing my shoulders so I had no choice but to face him. “I only wanted to spare you from sharing my burden. I couldn’t know that one day Elias would take matters into his own hands and force me to save you.”

  I pushed him away, ignoring the flash of pain in his eyes at my rejection. “That’s just it, Nathan. You still influenced my destiny, regardless of your motives. You did just as much harm by not telling me.”

  “There was a time, a couple of years ago, when I would have tried. But when I looked for you, I found you with someone else, someone who seemed to make you happy. I vowed then that I would let you live a normal life.”

  “Normal? Can my life ever be normal again? Can I go back to my job, my friends…my family?”

  “You can, for a while. Eventually, others will see you are not aging and will start asking questions. You will outlive everyone you know and love.”

  He delivered the words in a flat monotone as if trying to soften their meaning, but they still shook me to the core. I’d been given the gift of eternal life, a gift I hadn’t asked for and didn’t want. “And what happens if I choose to go back to that life and don’t want any more to do with you?”

  Nathan turned away, leaving me staring at his profile, and the muscle ticking in his jaw. “Then I will respect your decision and you will be left in peace.”

  I didn’t know what to say, or even what to think. I could do nothing to put things back as they were before and, in his defense, neither could he. The silence hung between us for long minutes until he turned to me again and the defeat in his tone tore at my heart.

  “Is that it then? You are leaving me?”

  I couldn’t give him an answer. The desire to stay with him was primal and powerful but it didn’t diminish the enormity of the injustice that had been done to me in his name. His gaze locked onto mine and the agony in his eyes told me he’d read my mind and knew what I was about to say. Tears blurred my vision but I scrubbed them away, pain replaced by anger at the certain knowledge that even my thoughts were no longer my own.

  Chapter Four

  I knew I was fighting a losing battle to stay away from Nathan about a week after I got back to Seattle. The sense that I was hurting him deeply by my actions settled in my chest one night and I just couldn’t shift it. I tried to muster up the anger that had been protecting me from the pain of losing him, but suddenly it just wasn’t there anymore.

  Five minutes on the Vegas hotel’s web site reassured me that he was dealing with our separation well enough to perform his act. Social media sites contained recent images from people who had been his shows in the last few days. I could see he was ok, in human terms, but it didn’t make me feel any better. Nathan was a Magi and I had no idea if his outward appearance would tell me what I needed to know.

  One picture in particular caught my attention and I couldn’t stop staring at it. The camera had captured his essence in a way that made me ache to reach out and touch him. He had stared down the lens at the moment the picture was taken and the feeling that he was looking right at me left me breathless. I slammed the lid down on my laptop and backed away from it like I thought it might lunge at me. Then I laughed for the first time in a week, convinced that the cheese had finally slipped off my cracker and I’d gone totally insane.

  I crawled into bed even though I wasn’t tired but it seemed the only sensible thing
to do in the middle of the night. The sound of a distant siren caught my attention and a surge of adrenaline raced through me as the cop in me reacted to the alarm. For the first time in many weeks, I missed my job and I knew I was ready to go back. I rearranged my pillows and snuggled down in the bed, determined to get a little sleep so my head would be clear when I called the captain in the morning.

  But even as I closed my eyes, I knew there would be no escape from thoughts of Nathan because I would only dream of him again, the way I had every night. At first, I thought he caused the dreams but when some of them became nightmares about Warlocks killing him, I knew he would never try to scare me in such a way.

  My mind latched on to the topic of Warlocks and even as it brought back the terrifying images from my nightmares, something hit me like a ton of bricks. If Nathan could die, then so could I. He’d said that Magi weren’t easy to kill but it wasn’t impossible…which meant that in terms of fate and destiny, I would still die when I was meant to.

  I rolled onto my back and gave up trying to sleep for the time being. It felt a bit weird to be so perversely pleased by thoughts of my own death but I was, and not because I wanted to die any time soon. I’d been angry at Nathan for saving me but if Elias hadn’t put me in harm’s way, he wouldn’t have been forced to intervene. And if that made him guilty of interfering with fate, then I was just as guilty. As a cop, I’d stopped many situations escalating into violence and bloodshed and I’d saved people from getting hurt.

  I groaned and buried my head under the pillow, shame crawling over my skin. Nathan hadn’t done anything wrong.

  Jess?

  I surged upright, knocking the pillow onto the bed stand and sending a glass of water crashing to the floor. I hadn’t heard his voice in days. He had tried to get me to open my mind to him just after I left Vegas. Each time he’d tried to connect with me, my brain screamed leave me alone - over and over - making it impossible for him to get through. It didn’t take him long to realize I wanted to be left alone. I didn’t want to speak to him until I was ready and treating me like a computer terminal that he could ping any time he felt like it wasn’t going to make that happen any quicker.