Forever - 02

by Lauren Burd

  “It’s in a suitcase in the trunk of my dad’s car.”

  She immediately took out her phone and started to make calls. A few seconds later, there was a knock on the door.

  “I’ll need the car keys.”

  I glanced at Samuel, who shrugged. He was still mad about the entire situation. I handed the keys to Lucina. She gave the keys to the two guards who had just entered the room. After giving them instructions, she returned to the sitting area. The two guards left. I assumed they were taking care of the gunman.

  “So about how long ago was Duncan shot?” Thanos asked.

  “It was a few hours ago,” I stuttered.

  “Has he healed at all?”

  “I can’t tell. The bleeding slowed down a lot, but it hasn’t really stopped.”

  “He’s going to need a doctor. Lucina, is there someone we can trust in the area?”

  “I can check, but I don’t think so.” She motioned toward the young woman in the foyer, and the two of them disappeared into one of the adjoining rooms. I figured the woman must be her personal assistant.

  “Do you know why he isn’t healing?” I asked.

  “It’s probably due to the blood loss.”

  “Is he going to…?” I couldn’t finish my question.

  “I don’t think so. Well, not anytime soon. That’s the reason he’s sleeping. His body is trying to conserve its energy to help him heal. He’ll need a transfusion and the bullets removed in order to finish healing properly.”

  Lucina returned, shaking her head. “No luck.”

  “What other options do we have?”

  “None you would approve of.”

  “What does that mean?” I asked.

  “You’re saying in the entire city there isn’t even one doctor we can take him to?” Samuel scoffed.

  “You know as well as any of us how hard it can be for us to get treatment,” Thanos defended.

  “What about my dad? He’s a neurosurgeon.”

  “You already know how dangerous the situation is. Are you sure you want him caught up in all of this?” Thanos asked.

  “No,” I answered honestly. I stared down at Duncan and thought about the consequences. “What choice do I really have?”

  “Not much,” Lucina mumbled.

  “Are you even going to tell us what’s going on, or do you just want us to trust you after everything you’ve done?” Samuel asked.

  Thanos looked at Lucina, who shrugged. He took a deep breath. “I’m not really sure where to begin. Things are never as simple as they appear in our world. I guess I should tell you about my relationship with Ethan. Ethan is the one who changed me about two thousand years ago.”

  Samuel and I exchanged confused looks.

  “Do you have any proof?” Samuel asked.

  Thanos chuckled. “It was two thousand years ago. I have only my word. I don’t know why he changed me. Maybe he was bored or wanted someone to talk to. Whatever his reasons, I got to spend the next fifteen hundred years learning exactly how depraved living for thousands of years can make someone. I might have very easily grown to be just like Ethan, but fate intervened.

  “I was out partying with some acquaintances at a pub on the lower side of London. I stumbled out into the street to relieve myself when a young man in his early teens ran into me. Being inebriated already, some of the contents of my bladder landed on my shoes. I quickly grabbed the boy and was about to give him a sound thrashing when a young woman caught my arm. Usually, I would’ve given her a good beating as well, but her eyes stopped me. In fifteen hundred years, I had never seen something so beautiful. They were the color of golden wheat fields and burned with a vitality I could hardly recall ever seeing before. She collected the young man from me and left before I could find out her name.

  “That was in the spring of sixteen sixty-five. I spent the next month searching for her. I finally found her trying to enter a plague house. She explained that her family was inside, and she refused to leave them. Since we’re immune to illnesses, I helped her inside. Her family lay on their deathbed, and from the smell of her, she wasn’t far behind them.

  “I waited until she passed out before taking her. I had no clue what I was going to do. I just knew I couldn’t leave her to die. Eventually, I ended up back at my flat, where I infected her. It took her nearly a month to regain consciousness, but it was already too late. Ethan had been informed of my little pet and decided to come for a visit. He took one look at her and informed me he was keeping her. I told him no. It wasn’t up for debate, apparently. He nearly killed me that day.

  “I stuck around for a little while and made sure Emma was doing well. She didn’t remember a lot about her past, and I didn’t think Ethan was big on her remembering.”

  “You expect me to believe this?” Samuel interrupted. “I’ve spent two hundred years with them and never once have I seen or heard Ethan doing anything like what you just described. He and Emma have been nothing but generous to me.”

  Thanos chuckled. “There has never been a time when you wondered if it was really a joke? Was that a congratulatory pat or was he searching for a place to stick the knife? If I fall asleep now, will I find that the house had been set on fire while I slept? How far would I have to run before he stopped chasing me?”

  Samuel appeared unnerved. “Ethan has never hurt me.”

  “What did you offer him in exchange for your safety?”

  “Nothing.”

  Thanos gave him a skeptical look.

  Samuel took a moment to think before responding. “He had access to most of my assets. But he handled a lot of my investments over the years.”

  “Did you keep a close eye on your money?”

  “As best as I could.” Samuel was beginning to get flustered.

  “What happened when you called him for help?”

  It took him a moment to regain his train of thought. “He promised to send someone to pick up Alina’s dad and take him to a safe house.”

  “And he felt a gunman, who shot Duncan shortly after he entered the condo, was the best choice to collect Dr. Taylor?”

  “Ethan would never hurt Alina’s father.” I couldn’t believe that Samuel was still defending Ethan after all the lies and treachery.

  “The evidence shows otherwise.” Thanos pointed at Duncan and me. Samuel appeared shaken.

  “What about you?” I asked. “Are your hands clean?”

  “Far from it,” Thanos answered, looking sad. “I’ve killed people, created Cast Outs, experimented on humans and Immortals, and that’s the short list.”

  “You admit that you’ve done horrible things. Why should we trust you?” Samuel asked, regaining some of his bravado.

  “Because I’ll give you the one thing Ethan never would.”

  “What’s that?”

  “If you feel I’m lying at any time, if there is a moment where you think I would harm any of you, Miss Taylor has permission to kill me.”

  Just in Time

  “What?” I asked incredulously.

  “If Dr. Williams is correct, then all you would need to do is bite me,” Thanos answered matter-of-factly.

  “How exactly do you plan on finding out if Dr. Williams is right?” Samuel asked.

  “There are ways, but I think it’s more important to get help for Duncan before we do anything else. Is Dr. Taylor still at the hospital?”

  “He was still in surgery when I left to make sure everything was okay with Duncan and Alina. He should be getting out soon.”

  “Order a car for myself and Miss Taylor, and if you would, please procure a facility for our use,” Thanos said to Lucina.

  “I’ll call and give you our location once I have everything set up.”

  Thanos offered me his hand. “Shall we go, Miss Taylor?”

  “What about Samuel and Duncan?”

  “Lucina will be sure to keep them both safe.” The expression on her face said otherwise.

  “If you think I’m letting you w
alk out of here alone with Alina, you’re insane,” Samuel threatened as he stepped between us. “I haven’t forgotten about what happened the last time she was left alone with you.”

  “Then by all means, accompany us.”

  “What about Duncan?” I asked.

  “I’ll see to it that he is kept safe,” Lucina answered.

  The disgruntled look from earlier had vanished. Apparently, it wasn’t Duncan she had the problem with. Still, I didn’t want to leave Duncan alone in such a vulnerable state. His breathing was stronger but he still hadn’t regained consciousness. “If he’s harmed in any way…”

  “He won’t be.”

  All I could do was hope they were true to their word. I wished Samuel would stay with Duncan just to make sure he was safe, but there was no way he would let me go alone with Thanos to the hospital. The three of us made our way downstairs, and after a very uncomfortable drive, we arrived at the hospital.

  “I think the two of you should wait out here,” I said as we pulled into a parking spot.

  “No.” Samuel seemed determined to come in with me.

  “This is going to be hard enough without someone there to listen to our conversation.”

  “I’m not letting you do this alone.”

  “I agree with Mr. Grant. I seriously doubt that the gentleman from earlier was the only person sent to retrieve your father. He was probably the backup plan.”

  My stomach jumped at the thought of someone else on the streets hunting my dad. “Why would you think that?”

  “Killing someone or taking someone from their home can be messy and attract far too much attention. Then, there’s the disposal of the body which, as you discovered, can be quite cumbersome. Simply killing someone on the street is much easier to cover up. A random act of violence in a city overrun with criminals. It was so much easier to deal with such issues before science became so prevalent.”

  I stared at Thanos. His blond hair and blue eyes seemed more suited to a choir boy than someone who had committed or knew about so many dark elements in the world. I truly hoped we could trust him, because if we couldn’t, we were all in trouble.

  “Let’s go,” Samuel said, pulling my arm.

  “Do you think Thanos is right?”

  “I hope not.”

  We made our way through the winding corridors of the hospital and up to my dad’s office. It was empty, and the lights were off.

  “Let’s try the operating rooms. Maybe he’s still in surgery,” I suggested.

  We quickly walked the hallways, trying not to draw attention to ourselves. Several people wandered around in various states of distress or relief. We made our way to the desk, and I was surprised to recognize the nurse sitting behind the counter.

  “Hello, Thomas.”

  “Is that you, Alina? Look at you, all grown up. When was the last time I saw you?”

  “Six months at least.”

  “I’m going to have to get onto your Dad. He didn’t tell us you were in town.”

  “Uh… he doesn’t exactly know I’m in town. It was supposed to be a surprise.”

  “Oh. Well, I won’t tell him you came by then.”

  “So, is he still here? They told me he was in surgery today, and it was supposed to be a long one.”

  “You just missed him. I think he left maybe five or ten minutes ago.”

  “Okay. Well, I guess I’ll try to catch him at home.”

  “You’re leaving already? You haven’t even introduced your friend.” Thomas eyed Samuel as if he were a dish to eat. Samuel squirmed under his gaze, and I hid a smile.

  “I’m sorry. This is Samuel, a friend of mine from school.”

  “It’s nice to meet you.” Samuel extended his hand, which Thomas gladly took.

  “Likewise. It seems you got yourself quite a prize there, Alina.”

  My cheeks burned slightly. “We better get going.”

  “Don’t be a stranger while you’re here.”

  “Bye,” I said, pushing Samuel toward the door.

  “Well, that was interesting,” Samuel commented as we ran out the door toward the parking garage.

  “That’s Thomas. No holding back. He moved out here shortly after my dad did. I think he had a bit of a crush on him. Los Angeles seems to suit him, though.”

  I remembered the first time I had met Thomas. He had just finished nursing school and was training as an assistant on the neurological unit. I was running through the hallway to my dad’s office and knocked over a big stack of papers. The charge nurse came around and was about to drag me off, but Thomas took the blame. The charge nurse laid into him. I’d never seen anyone besides my mom get that mad before. Since then, he had always been there to help me when I needed advice or help.

  “We just missed him,” I said as we reached Thanos’s car.

  “Get in.”

  I shook my head. “He takes the same way home on his bike every day. It’ll be faster if we go on foot. Leave a window cracked near my dad’s place. I’ll find you once we have him.”

  Thanos seemed worried but nodded.

  “Try to keep it to human speeds,” Samuel reminded me as we started to run. “There are cameras all over this place. The last thing we need is to get caught on film.”

  I had trouble not running as fast as I could. My stomach clenched in knots. Something told me Thanos was right, and someone was out there in the dark, watching and waiting for my dad.

  It didn’t take us long to get off the hospital property and down the side street my dad usually took home. The streets were still congested with cars and people vying for attention of some form. I didn’t bother studying the faces. Instead, I searched for my dad’s scent. It was mixed in the air with so many other smells, but it was clear he had been there only minutes before, and it got stronger with every step we took.

  I caught the smell of adrenaline and sweat mixed with my dad’s scent and took a detour to the right, between two buildings. Why would Dad go down some alley? Samuel and I slowed and walked cautiously from the bright lights and into one of the dark spaces that infested the city like a cancer.

  I listened intently to every noise. Whispers came from behind doors, and low murmurs of conversations drifted out from the surrounding buildings. I saw my dad standing next to a young man close to my age. My dad slipped something into his hand, and the man in turn gave him a small bag. Was my dad buying drugs?

  I couldn’t believe it. He’d preached to me every chance he got about not doing drugs, and there he was buying them. I wanted to say something, but the appearance of another figure stopped me. Neither my dad nor his young companion noticed the addition to their group. The shadowy figure began to raise his hand. Even in the darkness, I could clearly make out the shape of a gun.

  Samuel sprang past me and grabbed the guy before he could finish raising his weapon. I saw shock on my dad’s face as his head hit the wall. The boy standing in front of him appeared confused, unsure of where to stare first. Without really thinking it through, I joined the small group before they could realize what was happening or focus enough to get a good look at Samuel or the gunman.

  With a quick kick, I caught the young man in the abdomen, and the contents of his stomach ejected onto the ground. Moving closer, I brought my fist down on the side of his face and felt it give easily under my hand. I’d probably broken his jaw, but it had the desired effect. His eyes rolled up into their sockets, and he landed in the vomit he’d just spewed.

  A loud crack echoed through the alley, deafening me. Then a second crack shattered the quiet night. The gunman slumped to the ground next to the young drug dealer.

  “Are you okay?” I asked Samuel through the ringing in my ears.

  He nodded. “Your father,” he mouthed, or maybe said, but I still couldn’t hear.

  I looked around and saw my dad with his knees pulled up to his chest, trying his best to appear invisible. He was probably in shock and might have even gotten a concussion from being pushed into the
wall. We needed to get him out of there. The ringing in my ears was slowly fading, and I could hear the hurried whispers and rushing feet from inside the surrounding buildings.

  “I’ll grab his bike, and you get him. Make sure you don’t leave anything here that can link your father to this.” Samuel reached into the pocket of the unconscious kid and grabbed all of the money he found there, along with his ID and jewelry. He even took the drugs the kid had in a satchel hidden behind a nearby dumpster. It would appear like a drug deal or robbery gone bad. Just another random crime in the city.

  I made sure my dad’s bag was still secured to his back and hadn’t opened. Throwing his arm over my shoulder, I lifted him into my arms and ran down the alley. Once we neared the opening, I put my dad on his feet. We needed to appear inconspicuous, and a five-foot-four petite girl carrying a full-grown man like a child wouldn’t appear very normal. Luckily, the passersby appeared oblivious to the disturbance in the alley.

  Taking a deep breath, I caught Thanos’s scent wafting from down the street. Samuel followed me to the car. The driver opened the trunk and took the bike from Samuel, placing it inside the vehicle before opening the back door for us.

  “Did you run into some trouble?” Thanos asked as the three of us slid into the back seat.

  I glared at him, but before I could respond, my dad interrupted. “Alina?”

  “Yeah, Dad,” I said, thankful he was coming out of the shock.

  He smiled, but his skin was pasty white.

  “This should be of some assistance,” Thanos said, shoving an empty ice bucket at my dad. He took the bucket and immediately emptied his stomach into the pail.

  I’m Not Listening

  Several minutes passed before my dad was able to ask a coherent question. He was scared, worried, and most of all, protective.

  “What’s going on? What are you doing in L.A.?”

  “It’s a little hard to explain. What were you doing in the alley?” I asked.

  “The young man’s mother is one of my patients, but they can’t afford the medication she needs so I stop by once a week and give him her pills.”

  “So you weren’t buying drugs?” I had a hard time believing him after everything that had just happened.