A Tiny Bit Mortal

by Lindsay Bassett

  I laughed and said “This is a conservative dress.”

  “The world has changed so much.” he said.

  Grabbing my dishes up from the kitchen island I placed them in the sink. I looked over to see Vidar examining the gas stove top. I turned one of the knobs, and after making a click, click, click sound the flame appeared under the burner.

  He ran his hand over the flame and then looked at me with a big grin. I smiled back, and turned the knob on the stove slowly, so the flame died down and then disappeared.

  “Welcome to the modern world.” I said.

  Vidar turned to me and placed his hands on my shoulders. He looked me in the eyes and said “Do you want to stay here? You would be safe. I would understand.”

  I had to acknowledge that a huge part of me wanted to stay. I wanted to kick my feet up next to the fire and read books. I wanted to curl up in my bed with George purring at my back, night after night.

  There was another part of me that was waking up, slowly, that knew I could never live that life. The night I left to trade myself in for my mom lit a fire inside me. There was no turning back. It wasn’t even a choice.

  I put my arms on Vidar’s shoulders, the same way he had his on mine. “When do we leave?” I whispered, leaning in to his ear.

  “Are you ready?” he asked.

  I nodded.

  “Tonight.” he whispered. “Let’s stay and visit into the evening, and then we go to bed. Meet me in front of the house at midnight.”

  I nodded again, and then we released each other, heading out into the hall and the living room. Looking around, I realized that my mom’s stuff was mixed in with my dad. One of her afghan blankets was hanging over my dad’s couch.

  “This is weird.” I said, looking around and seeing my mom sitting in a chair by the fireplace.

  “Emily!” she said, exuberantly. “How are you feeling?”

  “I’m fine, Mom.” I said, sitting down in the chair across from her. Vidar turned around and headed towards my dad’s office, leaving us alone.

  My mom looked calm, and happy. She was her cheery, normal self with her straight blond hair and freckled nose.

  “How did you end up here?” I asked.

  “Well.” she said, leaning towards me in her chair. “I thought I was being followed around by demons. Everywhere I went I saw blurry figures, and every once an awhile one that looked like your dad. I thought it was the devil himself, terrorizing me with the form of the only man I ever loved.”

  I leaned forward in my chair. I remembered my mom lecturing me about the first time I’d spotted my dad. The thing was, she shouldn’t have been able to see him, or any of them if they weren’t deliberately showing themselves. The only reason why I could see them was because of my immortal side.

  “Then,” she said, gesturing with her hands, “I started throwing crosses and holy water on them whenever I spotted one. After a few days of that, they all came into my house, held me down, and there was Nicholas standing in my living room. He hadn’t aged a day.”

  ‘Then what happened?” I said, still leaning forward in my chair.

  “They said that I wasn’t supposed to be seeing them.” she said. “They did some research and think that it was because my great grandfather on my mother’s side was an immortal.”

  My mind raced. So not only was my dad an immortal, I had a great, great grandfather that was immortal.

  “Have you ever met your great grandfather?” I asked.

  “No.” she said. “I know nothing about my great grandparents on my mothers side.”

  “Wow.” I said. “Just wow.”

  “All these years,” she said, “I thought I was crazy, seeing demons. There are a lot of them in Portland.”

  “You’re not crazy, Mom.” I said. “So are you and dad…”

  “He says I’m just as beautiful as the day we met.” she said, tilting her head and bouncing her hair with her hand. “Though it is a little weird to be with a man that seems so young. He’s still Nicholas though, through and through.”

  “You look happy, Mom.” I said.

  “I am happy.” she said.

  She looked past me with a big grin, and I heard the footsteps of my dad approaching.

  “Emily.” he said. “Can we speak, alone?”

  “Sure.” I said, loathing what I knew he would say. He would try to convince me to stay, I was sure. I followed him into his office and he closed the door behind him. I sat down in the chair on the other side of his desk and watched him sit down in his. I took a deep breath.

  “Vidar wants me to shelter you two, but I can’t do this for more than a few days.” he said. “I will have to seek the guidance of the elders on this matter.”

  “Have to?” I asked. “Did you have to seek their guidance about mom?”

  “They all agreed it was best for her to know, rather than go on thinking we were demons.” he said. “She has inherited the ability to see us.”

  Sighing, I placed my elbows on his desk and leaning my face on my hands.

  “Are you okay, Emily?” he asked.

  I looked into his eyes and said “Don’t you ever question any of it?”

  “Any of what?” he asked.

  “Other people are deciding what is best for you, for me, and for mom.” I said.

  “They aren’t just other people.” he said. “They have the wisdom of the ages. We also get to have a say in matters.”

  “Just words.” I said. “Ultimately they decide.”

  “Emily.” he said. “It has to be this way. There aren’t very many of us left. They keep us close and do everything they can to make sure we are all stay pure, and safe.”

  “There aren’t many of you left,” I said through my teeth, “because there are hundreds, maybe thousands locked away beneath the ground.”

  He stared at me, blankly.

  “No.” he said. “That’s not true.”

  I laughed and said “You didn’t know?”

  “The others are dead.” he said. “or have turned to the other side.”

  “They are immortals!” I shouted.

  “There are ways to end an immortal.” he said.

  “Dad.” I said. “Vidar is living proof that what I’m saying is true.”

  “It can’t be true.” he said, staring off into the distance.

  “I sat in a cell for a month, listening to their weeping and echoing cries.” I said. “Vidar says that it isn’t the only prison, that there are others.”

  He gasped and leaned forward in his chair. “You were in an underground prison for a month? But we thought..”

  “You thought right.” I said. “The majority of my time there was spent partying, drinking human blood, and seeking more power.”

  He looked sad and leaned back into his chair. He was silent after that, sitting in his chair like a statue. I waited for a bit and then left the room without saying a word.

  In the living room I found my mom and Vidar sitting by the fire, throwing their heads back and laughing like they’d just shared a good joke.

  I looked up at the wrought iron chandelier that hung from the ceiling in the center of the living room. I noticed that the lights were subtly flickering and became aware of the sounds of my heart beating. The flicker of the light was matching the beating of my heart.

  Something about my dad’s ignorance overwhelmed my emotions. I felt like a wildfire was raging through my body. I crossed my arms under my chest and looked over at the family portrait painting hanging on the wall.

  “Who am I?” I thought. I remembered Vidar saying that my kind had the heart of a hero. I didn’t feel like a hero. I just wanted a simple life, with love and safety.

  Looking over to the fire where my mom and Vidar sat together, I remembered sitting in those same chairs talking late into the evening with Peter. I could have had that simple life if only I had stayed.

  After I inhaled, I exhaled deeply and closed my eyes. I remembered looking out over the valley in H
ollywood from the pool, next to Tim. I watched us in slow motion, and the feelings washed over me like an ocean tide. That ocean was inside me and wasn’t going anywhere.

  “Emily.” said Vidar, breaking me from my vivid memory. I looked up and nodded to him, and walked towards the fire where he sat with my mom.

  Vidar got up and motioned to the chair he was sitting in. He pulled the footstool away from the chair and sat on it. I sat down in the chair, smiling and listening to their conversation.

  I wanted to be there with them, but I could only play along. In my mind I was with Tim, repeating the memories over and over in between the moments where I wondered how deep he was in now. I cringed when I thought of the way I’d gutted my dad out from my heart once and turned my back on him. I wondered if Tim had done that to me, and if I’d ever be able to see that same look in his eyes again.

  My mom and Vidar laughed again, and I smiled again. My dad joined our company, and settled into the chair with my mom, placing his arm around her. She looked over at him affectionately, and he returned the same look.

  We talked and laughed next to that fire until the night wore on. I told myself to be sleepy and then produced a yawn. My dad suggested we retire for the evening, and I slowly climbed the stairs to my room with my legs feeling heavy.

  Opening my door, George followed me in, padding along with his dainty little paws. Picking him up I held him close to my chest as I sat down on the bed. Setting George down on my lap, I put my hand up to my chest and brushed my fingers over the diamond that rested there.

  Remembered the echoing cries in Muriel’s prison, I wondered how many of them wept for the kind of love I felt for Tim. “Some things aren’t just worth fighting for.” I thought. “They must be fought for.”

  Getting up from the bed I found my pack from the trip from Idaho. I gutted out the dirty clothes and replaced them with a pair of black Mary Jane shoes, several pairs of undergarments, tights, skirts, and t-shirts. I grabbed the tiniest nesting doll from the top of the dresser and placed it in a side pocket.

  Walking across the hall, I brushed my teeth, making all the noises of getting ready for bed. I gathered up my toothbrush, mascara, lip gloss and combs. Listening to make sure the hall was empty, I then stepped across with an armload of my things.

  After filling my pack with my items from the bathroom, I tightened down all the straps on it. Sitting on the edge of the bed I watched the minutes pass by on the clock on my nightstand, staying as silent as a sleeping person.

  The clock read “11:59 PM.” I moved through the house as silent as a moth, fluttering with my pack on my back. I quietly stepped from the porch to the yard and then spotted Vidar’s figure standing under a tree.

  He nodded to me and I nodded back. We leaned forward, from the edge of the pathway in the yard, like racers at a starting line. Taking a deep breath, I darted out into the night with Vidar at my side.

  XX

  Freedom

  We arrived a few miles out from the Hall of Elders just as the sun began to rise. We sat on a piece of drift wood and faced the beach. I looked out at the calm water and the tiny waves that went whoosh out onto the sandy shore. It was a rare day in winter, frigid, but calm and clear.

  Light burst out of the tree line behind us, and the sky over the ocean lit up with a dusty blue smeared with a subtle violet. I looked from the sky to Vidar sitting next to me. He seemed as calm as the ocean. I envied him.

  My heart beat quickly, and nervously as I asked Vidar “So what is the plan?”

  He kept his gaze upon the ocean and said “We step into this Hall of Elders and we speak.”

  “What will we say?” I asked.

  “Whatever needs to be said.” he said.

  My long wavy hair flowed around me like a veil as I leaned forward to grab a smooth stick from the sand. Sitting back up I held it in my right hand, spinning it between my thumb and index finger. I had no idea what needed to be said. “Okay.” I said. “I will follow your lead.”

  Vidar nodded and looked at me. He grabbed a strand of my hair and wound it around his finger. With a smile he said “Ready?” I nodded and he let go of the strand of my hair.

  We walked up a winding dirt path up a hillside sprinkled with tufts of tall grass. We walked through a parking lot and then out to the highway, heading north. We looked the picture of dirty wanderers with our beat up clothes and large packs on our backs.

  “Emily.” said Vidar.

  “Hmm?” I said, while I tried to match my left and right foot hitting the ground at the same time as his.

  “If things get bad in there I want you to run.” he said.

  I threw my head back and started laughing. “Not a chance.” I said.

  We walked on in silence for a while, and then Vidar broke the silence with “Okay. If things get bad and I run, you run with me.”

  “Sounds like a plan.” I said, and then pointed to a driveway to the left. We hopped the gate at the end of the drive and then climbed a hill covered in ferns and moss covered trees. We went over the hill, around a blind corner, and the Victorian style manor house came into view.

  Without stopping, Vidar increased his pace and stepped in front of me to approach the double doors beneath the archway. He flung open both of the doors and stepped in. I walked in behind him, and we quickly entered the hall.

  The elders were all sitting in their chairs, but the nine chairs on the opposite side of the hall were the “children” sat were all empty. All eyes turned to us.

  From the front of the hall sat Selene, then the brown curly haired athlete, the woman with four arms, Mikella with her white feathery wings, the little Chinese woman, the blond, the bearded man, and the two Egyptians.

  The bearded man bolted up from his chair.

  “Brother?” he asked.

  “It is I, Vidar.” he said.

  Several of the men and women gasped.

  Selene sat up in her chair, looking furious and pointing at me. “Why is she in here?”

  Vidar stepped in front of me as if to shield me. Mikella darted out of her chair and stood behind me with a protective stance, her wings spread out behind her.

  “She is one of The Corrupt.” she said, venomously. “She is a traitor, and a breaker of hearts.”

  “Why are you in here?” said Vidar, to Selene.

  She put her hand to her chest and stared at Vidar with an insulted look. “Who are you?” she said to Vidar.

  “Be respectful.” said the brown curly haired athlete to Selene.

  “I am Vidar, son of Tyr.” said Vidar.

  Selene’s eyes grew wide, her mouth hung open, and then she quickly shut it. She leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms under her chest.

  “So you’ve come to claim your seat?” she asked Vidar. “I am the youngest here and there can only be nine.”

  “Don’t worry, woman.” said Vidar. “I don’t want your throne.”

  “Brother.” said the bearded man, gesturing to the chairs around him. “These are no thrones here. Look at the chairs we sit in.”

  “Do you all live here together?” asked Vidar. He already knew the answer to his question, and I had to hold back the urge to raise an eyebrow.

  “Yes, brother.” replied the bearded man. “Let us show you our hospitality. You look ragged from your journey.”

  “I would love to see how you live here.” said Vidar.

  Everyone seemed to settle down, aside from Selene. She stood up and said “What about the girl?”

  “What about her?” asked Vidar.

  “She is your prisoner, is she not?” said Selene.

  Vidar threw back his head and burst into laughter. “My prisoner?” he asked. “No, no, no. She is my liberator!”

  Vidar put his arm around me, and Mikella still stood behind us. “No harm comes to this woman, you hear?”

  He looked at each face, started from the left and received a nod. His eyes met with Selene’s, and she kept her chin up in defiance. She then swif
tly turned and walked out of the hall.

  “Don’t worry about her, brother.” said the bearded man. “She will just hang around another house she keeps a few miles from here and sulk. It’s happened before.”

  “Emily.” said Mikella from behind me.

  Whipping around I saw her smiling face. “I’ve missed you.” she said. “I was wondering when you’d come home to me.”

  I looked over at Vidar and he gave me a questioning look. I smiled and said “It’s okay Vidar. She has adopted me as her daughter.”

  “So many mothers.” said Vidar, with a laugh.

  Mikella looked confused for a moment and then said “Come with me. I will get you cleaned up.”

  Vidar looked concerned, and I said “I trust her, Vidar.” Vidar nodded, and I followed Mikella. She took me down beneath the house, and I shuddered as I remembered the last time I’d descended under a house.

  Setting my pack off to the side I took off my clothes. I approached one of the steamy rectangular tubs inset into the floor, and sunk into it. It smelled like pretty flowers, and I could feel the oils in the water moisturizing my skin.

  Mikella sat beside the tub and looked down at me. Her wings were extended behind her and slowly moving back and forth. She still looked like an angel.

  “I heard some terrible things said about you.” she said.

  “All of them are true.” I said.

  “You don’t even know what has been said.” she said.

  I inhaled deeply and then exhaled. “One of the first nights with The Corrupt, I cheated on Peter with some stranger while drunk at a party. I didn’t even remember it. I felt ashamed and decided that there was no turning back. I began drinking human blood and got a taste for power. I basically wanted to rule the world.”

  “Oh.” she said, in her sing-song voice. “All true then.”

  “Then,” I said, “I fell in love with one of them, and he fell in love with me. His name is Tim. We were going to run away together, but Muriel, my corrupt mother caught us and threw me in an underground prison cell.”

  “Your corrupt mother?” she asked.