The Immortal Bond (The Immortal Mark Book 3)

by Amy Sparling

  Theo’s tongue slides across his lips before he replies. “I’ll meet you in the game room.”

  “Cool, cool. I missed you, man! Henry and Russell take the fun out of everything, ya know? I’m glad you’re back. I’ve been bored as hell without any work assignments from Alexo.”

  The mention of our former clan leader makes us all look up. I’m just hearing him from the phone, but he sure sounds genuine to me. He can’t possibly know that Alexo is gone.

  “Yeah,” Theo says with a fake chuckle. “See you in a minute.”

  “Well…that sounded good.” I say, but it sounds like a question. “He seemed normal?”

  “Kyle can be such a baby when I don’t want to hang out with him,” Riley says with a laugh. “We hung out a little while you guys were gone, but I’ve been busy so I keep blowing him off. I think Henry gets sick of him too, because Henry is more of the quiet silent type, ya know? Kyle just has so much energy all the time.”

  “Why have you been busy?” I ask, once again being reminded of exactly how much we need to catch up on from the last few days.

  “Dude…” Riley holds up her hands. “I’ve been translating the book. But that can wait—I still need the deets on what the hell you two have been doing, besides killing people. I mean, seriously! What the hell?”

  Theo leans down and kisses me on the temple. “Get her all caught up, and I’ll go talk to Kyle.”

  “Bye,” I say, unable to hide my smile.

  Riley gives us a big eye roll, but as soon as the door closes behind Theo, she’s back to business. “Start from the beginning.”

  The door swings back open, startling me. Theo runs a hand through his hair and I notice a vein on his forehead. “We can talk later. You’re coming with me.”

  “What? Why?”

  Theo glances behind him and then steps inside, closing the door again. “I can’t leave you alone, not right now. I can’t let you leave my sight. I’ve seen movies, okay? The bad guy always kidnaps the girl when the good guy’s not looking.”

  He sounds a little crazy, but I can tell he’s serious. His hand slides down my arm. “I’m not leaving you. Come with me to meet Kyle.”

  “Wait—Alexo is dead.” Riley holds out her hands at her sides. “Who is the bad guy in this situation?”

  I turn to Theo, giving him a serious look. “I can’t leave her now. She needs to know everything, especially if that bitch might show up any second and we have to run. I’m not going anywhere without Riley.”

  “That bitch?” Riley says. “What bitch?” She’s standing all rigid now, clearly aware that something is seriously wrong. This is how I expected her to act the first time I called her after breaking out of Lady Em’s castle.

  “You’re right,” Theo says, exhaling. He sits on the armrest of a nearby chair. “Kyle can wait. Riley, you might want to sit down for this.”

  ***

  It takes an entire hour to explain everything to Riley. From the balcony, to Lady Em, to me being Theo’s new lifeblood. The prison that was actually a nice room, and how we broke out and met two members of Embrook along the way home. Theo explains who Damien is to him, and that he’s currently here in Austin, staying at a nearby hotel until we figure out what to do with Lady Em.

  We all decide that at some point soon, we should tell the guys about Lady Em and how Dover clan will want their stones back when they discover that they’ve been stolen. Theo wants to be the one to do it himself, still keeping us girls in the dark as if we don’t know about it. Riley agrees.

  I think we should all come forward. Riley and I are a part of this now. Our lives are keeping these guys alive, so I think we should get a say in how we end this war, how we find a way to claim our lives back.

  “I really don’t think Kyle knows anything about this,” she says after a long stretch of silence. “He’s just so genuine and kind, you know? He looks up to Alexo.”

  I look at my hands. “You should have seen how sad he was when Alexo ordered Jayla to be killed.”

  “Poor Kyle. He’s too nice for a life like that.”

  “He’s terrified of doing wrong by the clan,” Theo says. “Kyle was only made an immortal a few years ago. Before that, he was some ivy league college student with severe asthma. Immortality cured him of his allergies and breathing issues and now he lives a happy life. He’s told me before that he’ll do whatever it takes to stay on Alexo’s good side.”

  “If we tell him the truth, do you think he’d help us?” I ask.

  Theo makes a noncommittal shrug. “I hope so.”

  “Wait…” Riley holds up a finger. “Alexo is dead. Where’s his body?”

  I can’t believe that never crossed my mind. A sudden image of a mangled dead body on the ground below the library’s balcony makes me shiver. Shouldn’t it be smelling by now? Surely the gardener would have seen it and reported it to the authorities. Oh shit.

  Theo wraps an arm around me. “Alexo was old enough that his body would have decayed to the age it would have been if he died instead of turning immortal.”

  “What does that mean?” Riley asks.

  “Dust to dust,” Theo says, making his hands explode out like a firework. “Alexo is a pile of ashes by now.”

  I don’t know why, but the idea of not having a body makes me feel like less of a killer. Alexo was ancient and he deserved to die. His body was mostly dead anyway, only being kept alive at the expense of my own flesh and blood.

  Chapter 13

  I’m really going to miss my own personal shower when Theo and I finally leave the mansion. We haven’t exactly spoken about it, but since we’re secretly planning to take down Lady Em, it’s obvious we won’t get to stay in the mansion since it’s for the Rosewater clan. And that’s a real shame because my shower is the most magical shower in the world. I know it’s nothing but drywall and tile and plumbing and glass, but I can’t imagine a contractor ever being good enough to replicate something like this in another house.

  I lean my head back and let the hot water rinse out my shampoo. When I’m in this oversized bathroom, my feet warm on the tile floor, the shower scented with lavender, I can forget all about my worries.

  Like how once Lady Em is taken care of, Theo will return to Embrook. I don’t want to join another clan, especially as a lifeblood. And that’s a completely different worry that plagues me every second of every day.

  I am a lifeblood.

  Still.

  I grit my teeth as I stare at the bracelet on my wrist. The water splashes over it, oblivious to its power. I hated it before, and I hate it even more now, knowing that neither Theo nor I can remain alive if I’m not wearing it.

  With a sigh, I turn the water hotter and lean into it, letting it wash away my every thought. For now, I’m safe in here. Showering is the one time each day that I can completely let go of everything that’s sitting on my shoulders. I even sing a little, that’s how restful and stress free I feel in this room.

  By the time I reach up with a wrinkled hand and turn off the water, all of those problems settle back onto my shoulders, and that knot in my chest tightens. There is no escaping my uncertain future. It hangs over me like a cloud.

  I step out of the shower and reach for my towel from a nearby rack.

  “Damn,” Theo says.

  I jump, clutching my towel to my chest. I spin around and see him there, sitting on the stool I use to put on my makeup, a magazine in his hand.

  “What the hell are you doing?” I say, my chest heaving from how badly he scared me.

  “Just keeping an eye on you.”

  I roll my eyes and wrap the towel around myself, reaching for another one for my hair. “You are getting really extreme,” I say, flicking drops of water on him as I walk to my closet.

  We’ve been back at the mansion for a week now, and Theo still refuses to leave my side. He and Damien have hired private investigators to keep an eye on Lady Em, and Damien called in a few immortals from Embrook to beef up security on the
mansion. They’re stationed outside, around the property lines and at the two places where underground tunnels lead to secret rooms in the mansion. The Rosewater guys have no idea, of course, and it’s been a constant debate between me and Theo on if we should tell them or not.

  Now that Lady Em’s identity has been revealed, Theo has pulled out all the stops. Seems like everyone has something to do now except for me and Riley. Actually no—Riley has been translating the book. I keep asking to help her but she has a system now, and it’s quicker if she does it herself. She’ll probably be pretty fluent in Greek by the time she’s done.

  “What happened to sitting outside the door while I showered?” I say, frowning at Theo as I get dressed. I pull on a pair of black yoga pants and a tank top with a sports bra. Theo closes his magazine and looks up at me. “I didn’t sleep at all last night. Kept having these nightmares of you being taken away right from under my nose.”

  “Well, you could have told me that your neurosis has gotten worse,” I say, tossing my hair towel at him. “I wouldn’t have sang in the stupid shower if I knew you were in here.”

  Theo’s smile softens. “It was really cute.”

  “Shut up, no it wasn’t.”

  “You’re a cute shower singer.”

  I turn away so he doesn’t see me blush, and then I tousle my hair, deciding if I have the energy to blow dry it or not.

  “You’ve been so annoyingly protective,” I say as I towel dry my hair, deciding that yes, I’m too lazy to blow dry it. “I’m good at taking care of myself, you know. I grew up on the streets practically.”

  He stands and moves behind me, his hands resting on my hips while he stares at me in the reflection of the mirror. “I love you, Cara. That means I worry.”

  There’s a crease in his forehead, a line of worry that’s been there several days. Ever since—

  “Wait,” I say, spinning around to look at him face to face. “Are you being so protective because you love me, or because I’m your lifeblood?”

  His eyes widen in surprise. “Cara…” He reaches for me but I step backward.

  “You left me alone before. You’d leave me for days and not think twice about it. Then suddenly I’m your lifeblood and now you can’t risk letting me get so much as a papercut. Because, God forbid, if I get killed, then you die, too.”

  The surprise on his face is replaced with hurt, and immediately I feel like an asshole for what I said.

  A muscle flexes in his jaw. “If that’s how you feel,” he says, turning to leave.

  But I can’t let him go, not like this.

  “Theo,” I say, the word sounding like an apology in my stressed out voice. I reach for his arm. “Theo, don’t go. I’m sorry.”

  It takes him a second to turn back to me. In that split fraction of time, I worry he’ll keep walking and this will be our first fight. It claws my insides apart, until, finally, he turns back to face me.

  “I wouldn’t want to live without you.”

  I crush myself against him, wrapping him in the biggest hug my arms can make. “How are we going to get out of this?” I ask, my lips pressed against his chest.

  His hands slide up and down my back, comforting me. “Think positive, love. It’ll work out.”

  “Does thinking positive ever actually work?” I ask, gazing up at him.

  He grins. “Well, it doesn’t hurt.”

  Chapter 14

  Theo and I are the only people in the kitchen right now, because most people eat dinner before eight-thirty at night. We’d accidently got caught up in bed and missed dinner with everyone else. I don’t regret a thing, but I am starving. Lately I’ve been so stressed I forget to eat, and I’m not the kind of person who can just skip meals without getting grouchy.

  Two seconds after the chef sets our plates down for dinner, Damien walks up, Malina trailing behind him, her brows pulled together in anger.

  “Sir, I tried keeping him in the foyer,” she says. “He pushed past me.”

  “It’s okay,” Theo assures her with a smile. “He’s a friend. Thank you.”

  She gives an annoyed look at our new visitor and then turns to leave. I stare longingly at my food: homemade lasagna and garlic bread. When Damien arrives, it usually means we have to leave, or have some long ass meeting. I really, really wanted to eat.

  I stab my fork into my food anyway, not bothering to say hello to our new guest. Damien looks extra hipster today, in dark wash skinny jeans with the cuffs rolled up at the bottom. His shoes are fake vegan leather and extra shiny, his shirt still plaid. The man loves plaid.

  The chef has already disappeared behind the door, and Malina is gone, but Theo looks around anyway before saying, “Must be something big for you to barge in here. What’s going on?”

  Damien grabs a piece of my garlic bread and I scowl at him. “I got a pretty solid report from our investigators. Shall we go somewhere more private?”

  “Hell no,” I say, pulling my plate closer to me. “I’m hungry,” I add innocently when the guys look at me like I’ve lost my mind.

  Theo chuckles. “We can talk here. The guys are all out at the pool anyway.”

  It’s another one of those nights where beautiful women come over to hang out and drink our free wine and catered appetizers. Damien pulls out a barstool and sits next to us.

  “Lady Em works alone. Lives alone. Keeps to herself. They think that castle is her primary residence, though she has a few aliases and owns several properties.”

  “Where?” Theo asks.

  He taps the wooden bar we’re sitting on. “Here.”

  “I thought this was a rental?” I ask, my mouth full of food.

  “It was built in 1999 by an oil tycoon named Jonathan Frances,” he says. “When he died of mercury poisoning, he left the property and everything he owned to his half-his-age wife, Meredith Frances. I’m guessing the clan thinks it’s rented because the name on the deed isn’t Alexo’s.”

  I shudder a little, knowing that this mansion I love so much belongs to that bitch. But in a way, it’s a little funny to be living off her fortune. Take that, Lady Em.

  Then I remember something that makes my heart skip a beat. The ornate tile work at the front door of the house. Right in the middle of the marble floor is a mosaic; it’s the first thing you see when you walk inside.

  A castle for my love. Established 1999.

  A knot forms in my throat. She was immortal long before that. Lady Em made a man fall in love with her and give her everything, then she killed him. I wonder how many times she’s done this, how many hearts she’s broken all because the man she used to love broke her heart by choosing his wife over her.

  When I look up, I realize I’ve missed out on the rest of Theo and Damien’s conversation. I pretend that I’ve been listening all along as I catch onto the tail of their conversation.

  “She has a lot of newspapers delivered to her,” Damien is saying. “She spends hours in that castle pouring over newspapers and the internet, researching something. My investigators could only look through her windows with scopes, they couldn’t get close enough to see details. But she’s making a plan. She’ll disappear for days at a time…probably trying to kill off other immortals, is my guess.”

  “If she wants more stones, why not kill off the Rosewater guys?” I ask with a shrug. “I mean, they’re right here and she knows how to get to them.”

  “They’re her clan,” Theo says, and Damien nods. “She’s making her own clan, one of which is all men and she’s the only woman.”

  “She wants to be in control, is my guess,” Damien says. “The other two clans are controlled by men. She’s never been a fan of that, even back in the day when Theo first met her. She wanted power. Control. That’s why Lord Timothy liked her so much, apparently.”

  “I don’t want their dirty sex life details,” I say, curling my lip in disgust.

  My food is now cold, but I dig into it anyway, the emptiness in my stomach overpowering the quality of the
food. Plus, since our chef made it, it’s still pretty good. Damien steals another piece of garlic bread, but this time I ignore it.

  “We need to be notified the next time she leaves,” Theo says, pressing his fingers to the table while he thinks. He’s completely ignored his chicken parm and I want to heat it up and eat it for him. I guess I’m the only hungry one here.

  “When she leaves, we’ll go and see what we can find in her little castle home.”

  Damien nods. “The investigators didn’t see a single person come or go this week except for her. When she’s gone, it’ll be empty.”

  Theo’s eyes sparkle. “We’ll take every fucking stone she has.”

  “And then we’ll have the full support and backing of the Dover clan. They’ll handle it from there.”

  “Wait…” I say as an idea springs into my mind. “If Dover clan wants their stolen stones back so badly, do you think we could bargain for them?”

  “I don’t like where this is going,” Damien tells Theo, and it kind of pisses me off because his voice has that get your girl in line tone to it.

  I clear my throat. “If anyone can save me and Riley from these bracelets, it’ll be the oldest clan in existence. We should offer them the stones in exchange for our freedom from being lifebloods.”

  Damien snorts. “Dover doesn’t bargain. And they sure as hell don’t care about lifebloods.”

  “It doesn’t matter, if they care about their stupid stones, they’ll do what it takes,” I say.

  Damien’s jaw tightens. “And cause a war with Embrook in the process? I don’t think so.”

  “I don’t know,” Theo says, flashing me a smile. “I think it’s worth a shot.”

  Chapter 15

  On Friday afternoon, Riley walks into my room looking like someone who just pulled a twenty four hour shift at the world’s busiest restaurant. Her hair is in a disheveled ponytail, and she’s still wearing the shorts and shirt she had on yesterday.