The Sacrificial Love of an Immortal

by Kurtis Eckstein

  “So, what’s up?” I finally prompted.

  She sighed heavily again. “I had a meeting with my direct supervisor today,” she finally admitted.

  “Oh?” I said in surprise. “Everything okay?”

  She nodded, seeming a little somber. “Yeah, I mean, everything is fine with me. It’s just that they…” She took another deep breath. “They wanted me to talk to you,” she finally explained.

  My eyes widened as what she was saying clicked. “Oh.”

  She looked at me urgently, her amethyst gaze apologetic. “Please don’t be mad at me. If you don’t want to talk about it, that’s fine. They won’t be happy, but I’m on your side more so than theirs. At the end of the day, if it comes down to it, I’ll stand with you.”

  I held up my hands, leaning back in my chair a little. My tone was gentle. “Hey, calm down. I’m not angry. Just surprised is all.”

  When I had torn up the contract that the S-FBI gave me, I had sort of been lumping them all together, though I knew that the Central Department of Superheroes was an entirely separate organization. And while the S-FBI had sent Jamison and Carnegie to make contact with me, now the CDS was sending their own liaison.

  Except they were cheating by sending someone I knew.

  I definitely wasn’t mad at Lexi though for being their liaison. I mean, how in the hell could I ever be angry at her for proclaiming her loyalty to me just now?

  I knew I definitely shouldn’t be so thrilled about it, but still…

  Anger was the furthest thing from my mind in this moment.

  “So…” I prompted when she didn’t respond.

  She hesitated, evaluating my expression, before slowly beginning to unbutton her red leather jacket. I instantly saw in my second-sight that she had another contract hidden in a pocket inside her coat, but watching her slowly open her jacket while staring at me was way too erotic.

  Like, it felt as if she was a stripper getting ready to show me the goods underneath her outfit.

  Damn it Lexi, just open your jacket already and stop teasing me!

  She finally grabbed the folded pages, and set them on the table. “They told me their initial offer was a ten million salary,” she whispered.

  I cringed, concerned that would offend her since I was fairly certain she made less.

  She quickly continued. “After evaluating your power, they’ve more than doubled it to twenty-two.”

  “The hell?” I said in shock. “Why?” I knew their power-detecting chick had pissed her pants when she evaluated me, but damn. Was her recommendation that strong?

  Lexi sighed. “Because they really want you,” she explained. “Plus, it’s not like they can’t afford it.” She scoffed. “After all, they aren’t paying Blaze nearly forty anymore.”

  My expression darkened. “I do not want his money.”

  She blanched slightly. “That’s not what I meant. It doesn’t work like that anyway. I’m sure they’ve long since diverted those assets towards other uses. It’s not like they’ve left that money sitting around, waiting to give it to someone else.”

  I shook my head in disbelief. “How can they even afford to give a single person so much?” I wondered, not really expecting her to have an answer.

  She responded anyway. “Well, they’ve slowly downsized the military almost every year for several centuries now, instead diverting that money towards superheroes. Which works out better for everyone anyway. Regular soldiers don’t have to go to war and get paid shitty salaries to risk their lives. And the superheroes who handle all that work get paid significantly more in exchange.” She scoffed again. “Better to pay one person a shit ton of money to handle a problem, instead of paying a shit ton of people almost nothing to deal with it.”

  I couldn’t argue with that. But still. “I’m not really interested in their money.”

  “I know,” she agreed.

  “You do?” I asked in surprised.

  She shrugged. “I mean, yeah. You obviously already turned down ten million like it was nothing, not to mention how you treat me.”

  “How I treat you?” I repeated.

  She held up her hands, as if she was illustrating something. “Like, you treat me like a normal person. You don’t care that I’m rich or famous. And I love that about you. I feel like a normal woman when I’m around you.”

  “Oh, well that’s good.”

  She nodded once, falling silent as she dropped her hands, folding them in her lap underneath the table.

  Now we were just holding each other’s gaze, the house completely silent around us.

  “I guess I’ll read the contract, and think about it,” I offered. “I’m just not thrilled about being away from home for extended periods of time.”

  “It’s not so bad,” she replied. “And for the first year, I would be guaranteed to be with you on any mission you were assigned.”

  “Wait, what?”

  “It’s sort of like a mentorship program,” she explained. “They assign new superheroes a mentor to coach them as needed, even if they are exceptionally powerful. Too many newbies would die otherwise, since a lot of them are reckless, being used to thinking they are the strongest person around, not realizing they might be facing off against someone whose just as powerful, or even more so.”

  “And it’s a guarantee you’d be my mentor?” I clarified.

  She nodded. “If that’s okay. I sort of took the liberty and told them you might be more willing if I helped get you accustomed to how things worked.”

  I took a deep breath and looked away. “Well, that’s not really the issue. I’m concerned about something happening while I’m gone. There’s still the shadow organization to worry about.”

  “They could probably help with that too.”

  I looked at her in shock. Shit, was she serious?

  Why hadn’t I considered that myself?

  She quickly continued. “I haven’t said anything,” she reassured me. “But if you’re really worried about it, then you could probably ask them to look into it.” She scoffed yet again. “I mean, at this point, you could probably demand almost anything, and they would give it to you.”

  My thoughts immediately shifted to Freya’s unique sovereignty, being uncertain if that was something I would even want. My gaze then focused on Lexi again, examining her impassive expression.

  “That doesn’t make you upset, does it?”

  Her eyes widened. “What? No, of course not. I’m happy with my salary. I wouldn’t even know what to do with twenty-two million a year. I barely spend a twentieth of my income as it is. They’ve tried to give me a significant raise twice now, and I’ve rejected it both times.” She made a face. “Although, I did consider it the second time, since I had that huge mortgage hanging over my head, but part of me didn’t want to pay off the mortgage.”

  “Why is that?” I wondered.

  She sighed. “Because…” She hesitated, looking at me through her eyelashes with her head angled downward. “Because if I paid off the mortgage then there would just be the house with mine and Blaze’s names on it. After he made me add him to all my bank accounts, that debt ended up being the only thing he didn’t have his name on. So it became like the last thread of freedom that I was trying to hold onto.” She grimaced again. “I know that’s really stupid, but–”

  “Not at all,” I cut her off. “It’s not stupid.”

  “Thanks,” she whispered, seeming uncertain.

  “Seriously,” I tried reassuring her.

  She gave me a weak smile, both of us falling silent again for a few minutes.

  Finally, she sighed heavily, only to stretch her arms out towards me on the table and rest her forehead against it, almost like she was prostrating herself. Her leather jacket crinkled slightly with the movement. “Ugh, I give up. I don’t want to go back to work.”

  “Then don’t,” I suggested, a little amused by the abrupt change of subject, and her more casual demeanor.

  She sighed a
gain, twisting her head slightly to stare at her arm. “I honestly like my job though. Or at least I did.” Her voice became more strained. “Sam, I died. And I would have stayed dead if it weren’t for Heidi.”

  “I know,” I whispered. I didn’t really know what else to say, but I wanted her to feel safe again. “But you were just in the wrong place at the wrong time, right? I mean, it’s not like someone was targeting you.”

  She was silent.

  “Or am I wrong?” I asked.

  She sucked in a ragged breath, slowly sitting back up, refusing to meet my gaze. “No…” She paused. “I mean, of course it feels like that, but no. I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

  I wasn’t sure how to interpret her expression, but she seemed sincere enough. “Then it’s unlikely to happen again. It would be like getting struck by lightning twice.”

  She nodded slowly, her eyes tight. “I still wouldn’t mind having you around for the next year,” she whispered.

  My eyes widened as I realized that this entire discussion was about a lot more than me joining the Central Department of Superheroes, and how it might benefit me. On the contrary, she wanted to keep doing her job, but also wanted to feel safe doing it – especially after nearly dying. If anything, her suggesting to the CDS that she should be my mentor for my first year on the job was more for her own sake, rather than mine.

  Although, it was obvious she wasn’t trying to be selfish, since she had led the conversation by saying she was on my side and didn’t want to pressure me.

  She would accept my ‘no’ – that much was clear.

  But she also wasn’t trying to hide the fact that she would like for me to say yes. So I could keep her safe.

  “Did they give you a deadline?” I wondered.

  She looked at me in surprise. “Well, no, not really.”

  “Are there any consequences for you, if I say no?”

  She shook her head. “There shouldn’t be. I think they’re smart enough to understand that if I can’t convince you, then none of their people can.” She winced, lowering her voice. “Not that I’m trying to convince you.”

  I nodded. “Well, like I said, I’ll take a look at the contract.” My thoughts then shifted back to her comment about having them help with the shadow organization.

  Right now, we didn’t have any leads to go on, so if we could get the government’s help in investigating them, then we might be able to rid our lives of that threat entirely.

  However, what if becoming a superhero meant I ended up with another target on my head? Another threat to deal with? I supposed one of my conditions would be to avoid the spotlight either way, so maybe I could evade that happening too. But still, by pursuing this career, I was opening my life up to a lot of unknowns.

  Plus, there was the whole sovereignty thing to consider. Could I get them to offer me that? And what would be the benefits of it?

  I continued after a moment. “And I guess I’ll see what Freya thinks about your suggestion to get them to help us with the shadow organization. If we can get rid of them, then it might make all our lives a lot less stressful.”

  Lexi gave me another weak smile. “Sure,” she agreed. “Oh, and speaking of her. I have something for her to sign too.”

  “You do?” I asked in shock.

  “Yeah…” She hesitated as she pulled out the last few pages of the packet on the table, which wasn’t connected to the rest. “They aren’t thrilled about me being around her, considering they know now that she can read minds, and I know a lot of government secrets. But when they demanded I avoid her, and I refused, they ended up coming up with this solution.”

  “Which is?”

  “Just a nondisclosure agreement. Apparently, they already have one on file for her, so this one is more like a ceremonial signing to remind her of that.”

  My brow furrowed as I considered what she was saying. Honestly, this conversation she was mentioning sounded like a much more heated, larger event than she was making it out to be. But obviously she had handled it just fine on her own.

  Deciding not to ask more, I leaned back in my chair, now that we were in agreement on those points. “Okay,” I replied. “I’ll let her know about it. Anything else you want to talk about?” I wondered.

  She cocked her head to the side. “Like what?”

  I shrugged. “Anything at all. You could tell me about your day. You know, other than this part.”

  Lexi held my gaze for a few long seconds, seeming surprised, before smiling.

  “Okay,” she whispered.

  She then proceeded to share with me how it had been the last few days at work, with them throwing a ‘Welcome back’ party for her on the first day. Most of the superheroes she saw regularly, simply because of geographical proximity like any other job, knew she had been critically injured, so everyone was shocked she was back so soon – and without any scars either.

  A lot of them had inquired about how she recovered so quickly, but when her boss overheard it, the woman made it clear that such information was highly classified on a need-to-know basis.

  However, the higher-ups were definitely aware of how it happened, using their legal authority to investigate the situation after Lexi’s full recovery, which meant that they tried to get Lexi to recruit her sister too.

  Similar to the demands involving Freya, Lexi blatantly told them ‘no’ at the office when they brought up Heidi. And she wouldn’t budge on the issue, knowing that Heidi would refuse anyway and didn’t need anyone trying to pressure her into doing something she didn’t want to do.

  While talking, Lexi also gave me insight into how her job worked, with a lot of her days usually involving a ton of reading, trying to keep up with all the intelligence reports being supplied by the CIA, so that she was up-to-date on everything happening both locally and abroad.

  Unlike the average person, she was well versed on what was truly going on in the world, with all the information she was privy to being top-secret. Hence, their concern about Freya, even if she had already signed a lifetime nondisclosure agreement previously.

  While on the job, Lexi could be called away at a moment’s notice to deal with an emergency, although most missions were planned out ahead of time, with emergency situations usually being handled by local superheroes.

  Given the role she often played in missions, which included doing last minute reconnaissance just before an attack, as well as disabling their enemy’s electronics, she rarely was called in unexpectedly.

  Technically, she could be called in at any time of the night too, but it almost never happened.

  I got so involved in listening to her talk – the time slipping away so quickly – that, before I knew it, Freya and Lily were pulling into the driveway.

  The movement caught my attention, prompting me to focus my second-sight in that direction. Both of them were staring at Lexi’s Ferrari with hesitant expressions, causing me to wonder if Freya’s comment about them being fine with me inviting her inside had a time limit.

  However, much to my surprise, only Lily got out of the vehicle, her cheeks flaring up seemingly in embarrassment as she made her way to the door.

  I just remained where I was as she walked in, not wanting it to seem like I was trying to hide anything by abruptly standing.

  “Hey sweetie,” I welcomed her. “How was hanging out with Freya?”

  “It was great,” she squeaked, her cheeks becoming even more red as she glanced at Lexi briefly. “Umm, so we got something for you, so make sure you don’t look so we can surprise you.”

  Telling me not to look was like begging me to do it. I automatically glanced at Freya still in her car before I managed to stop myself from searching for any bags they might have with them.

  “Sam,” she whined when I didn’t respond right away.

  “I’m not looking, I promise,” I reassured her.

  Lexi spoke up then. “Well, I need to get going anyway, so…” She stood up.

  Lily ga
ve her an apologetic look. “Oh, Lexi, I wasn’t trying to get you to leave. It’s just that it’s really difficult to surprise him.”

  She nodded. “Yeah, because he can see through stuff, right?”

  Lily’s eyes widened in surprise, appearing shocked that Lexi knew that. “R-Right,” she agreed. She then looked at me with an uncertain expression, before giving Lexi her attention again. “Sorry, I didn’t realize you knew that.”

  Lexi glanced at me as well, seeming embarrassed herself now, afraid she’d said something she shouldn’t have and gotten me in trouble with the Missus in the process. “Oh, well, I just found out recently,” she lied. “The S-FBI shared a little bit about what he can do beyond regeneration, but it made a lot of sense considering he makes comments sometimes that would suggest as much.”

  Shit, was she actually serious? Or was she making up a complete lie on the spot? Because if the S-FBI had shared that information with her, then I’d like to see it myself.

  I mean, I had gone practically all my life without realizing I could interact with the world with my astral form, and while I doubted there was anything else I could do, it would still be nice to confirm my full repertoire of skills.

  I was also curious to know how they would classify my abilities, since technically even my incapacity to sleep could be counted as a superpower on its own.

  Granted, even if that last part was true, she was still lying to Lily now by saying she found out recently, considering she had figured it out when trying to give me an expensive watch at the end of last August. Which made me wonder if she lied more frequently than I assumed.

  After all, her entire life had been a lie for a little over three years. So, I shouldn’t be too surprised if lying had just become second nature to her in order to avoid conflict.

  Or in order to avoid people worrying unnecessarily, as was the case with Blaze, since no one could do anything about it.