Destined_The Immortal Defenses Series

by E. L. Davis

  “Tell me what you remember. How long have you been Immortal for?”

  He sighed. “Three hundred and fifty years. I was only seventeen and barely lived my life.”

  “How did it happen?”

  “An accident.”

  “Tell me,” she insisted.

  He slammed the frying pan with bacon cooking on it down on the burner. He kept his head down for a moment or two and she knew that he was trying to hide his eyes. “Let’s just wait for your friends, okay? I especially don’t want to answer that question twice.” They sat in silence for a while, listening to the sound of food cooking. After ten minutes of complete silence, Demetri entered the kitchen with Ellie and Cheri, freshly showered, behind him.

  “Yum, I smell bacon!” Ellie was sniffing the air with a smile on her face. She pulled out one of the stools beside Alexia and sat down. “You know this house is, like, gigantic, right? I swear I could easily get lost in here.”

  “It’s no big deal,” Demetri shrugged. “Nothing compared to where I use to live.”

  “Are you bragging?” Cheri questioned

  “No,” Demetri said as Roman said, “Yes,” at the same time.

  “How about we eat something, so we can ask a few questions?” Alexia urged. “I know I still have like a billion things I want to know.”

  Roman placed a huge pan of bacon and an even bigger pan of eggs on the island, which was acting as a table, and told everyone to dig in.

  The food was delicious. Alexia hadn’t even realized how hungry she had been. They all ate in silence, except for the occasional “Pass the salt, please” or “Do you have ketchup?” When everyone had finally finished eating, Ellie hopped up to help Roman clear the table.

  “I say we move this party into the living room; it’s much more comfortable there.” Demetri got up and stretched his arms, as he did his shirt lifted revealing his rock-hard abs. Alexia stared, frozen on the spot again, even though she wanted to look away so badly since there were so many people in the room with them. Finally, his stretch ended, and Alexia snapped out of it. Demetri laughed at her and shook his head as he walked out of the kitchen. She wanted to chase after him, tackle him and pin him to the floor, but she didn’t. Only after Cheri left the kitchen with Ellie did Alexia turn to leave as well.

  “Alexia, wait.” Roman had just finished loading the stainless-steel dishwasher. She turned to face him. “I know this is all crazy, but I just wanted to thank you for not taking off in the middle of the night. I also wanted to apologize for how I was acting earlier; it’s hard for me to talk about what happened.”

  “I understand. I can’t imagine what it feels like to die and live to tell the tale.”

  Roman laughed and not just to be polite, it was a genuine laugh. “That sounds ridiculous.” He smiled at her and they both left the kitchen together.

  Demetri, Ellie, and Cheri were all sitting in the living room, waiting for the last two of the group to arrive. There were two huge windows with long, dark red curtains covering them up, which Roman dragged open before sitting down. The room, which had been slightly dark, filled with sunlight. Alexia could now see just how beautiful the living room was. There were several pieces of art hanging from the walls that she had not noticed before. Now that the room was lit, it looked even bigger, almost too big. It made her feel slightly exposed and, since they were supposed to be in danger, it made her nervous.

  “Alright, so what’s on your minds? What do you want to know?” Alexia’s friends turned to face her, obviously indicating to her that she would be the one asking the questions.

  “Okay, first, where have I seen Ahaz before? When I met him last night, a million images flashed in my mind, and he was in all of them.” Alexia wasn’t directing her question to anyone in particular, so it took a moment for Roman to speak up.

  “You know him from your first life.”

  Her first life? Alexia didn’t understand. “Umm, okay, but I don’t know where I have seen him, though. Definitely not at school. Was he a friend of my mom’s or…”

  Demetri cut her off. “You didn’t see him in this life, Alexia. You met him when you were first born, over three hundred and fifty years ago.”

  Alexia was stupefied. “You guys were born three hundred and fifty years ago, not me.”

  “Alexia,” Demetri said quietly, “this is going to shock you pretty bad, but you have to know. You’re Immortal too.”

  She tried not to laugh but couldn’t help it. “Very funny. I know I haven’t been alive for that long.”

  “You are Immortal,” Demetri insisted. “You are just different from us. Well, you were, but you’re not anymore. Now we’re the same. When you died all that time ago…”

  Roman butted in. “Something went wrong, and you were sent into reincarnation. You never live to be over twenty-one. You die and then are born to a new family. Until last night, anyways. Now you’re Immortal; no more dying. This is who you’re going to be, what you’re going to look like until the end of the world.”

  Demetri was looking at Roman in total shock. Then his face changed, and he turned to Alexia. “It’s true, Alexia, you’re one of us.”

  “Wait, so you mean she is never going to age? She is going to be seventeen forever?” Ellie looked like she wanted to cry. “Great, now we’re never going to Greece.”

  Cheri elbowed her hard in the ribs. “You realize how selfish you sound right?”

  “You guys can still take your trip in August,” Roman assured them. “A year won’t make a difference.”

  Alexia couldn’t believe that she was Immortal. She didn’t feel Immortal, and she didn’t have the three defenses that Roman and Demetri had. Before she could even make her point, Demetri stopped her.

  “I know what you’re thinking: you don’t have the three defenses, so you can’t be Immortal. Well, as of last night, you do have them. When you died all those years ago and began to be reincarnated, your defenses were frozen. But now, because you are Immortal, you can learn how to use them.”

  She still didn’t believe it. Why was she suddenly Immortal? What had happened to change who she was? “What happened to make me become Immortal? Does this have something to do with why I’m in danger?”

  “It has everything to do with why you’re in danger.”

  She thought for a moment to herself and decided she didn’t believe it. “I want to go home now.” She rose from her chair and started walking toward the staircase, but before she could set a foot on the first stair, Demetri was standing in front of her. “How did you do that? Get out of my way, Demetri, this is stupid, and I don’t believe any of it!”

  “I’m fast; it’s something I got very good at when I became Immortal. Sit back down and listen to us.”

  “No.” She turned to face her friends who hadn’t moved from their seats. “You guys don’t believe what they are saying, do you? It makes no sense at all, this is just a…”

  Demetri spun her around to face him and held a photograph in her face. It was a picture of them both, even though she had never taken a picture with him before. She took it from his hands to look at it better. “Turn it over,” Demetri suggested. There was a date on the back.

  “1954,” she said out loud. She flipped it back over and looked at the clothes they were wearing, and then she knew it was true. Not ever in her life would she wear something like this. “This can’t be true!”

  “Are you going to sit back down now, or do I have to throw you over my shoulder and make you sit?”

  She looked at him for a moment, then back at the picture then back at him. He hadn’t changed at all. She wanted to burst into tears, she wanted to run and never stop until she was far away from here. There were so many eyes watching her and it was making her feel sick. She would never make it to a bathroom in time, so she ran to the kitchen and let it all go into the sink.

  “Alexia!” Her friends ran into the kitchen after her, and Ellie grabbed her hair and held it out of harm’s way. “Cheri, get her
a glass of water! Alexia, are you okay?”

  She shook her head and vomited some more. “It’s… it’s hard to breathe.”

  Demetri and Roman were standing in the doorway watching, feeling very guilty.

  “I can’t find a glass!” Cheri said frantically. “Ellie, is she okay? Roman, where are your glasses? Why does this kitchen have to be so damn big?” She was screaming now, and Demetri was in front of her in an instant, grabbing her arms before she smashed them into the counter.

  “Roman, look at her eyes,” Demetri said. By the time Roman got to Cheri’s side, they were fading from black to her usual light brown.

  “What’s wrong with my eyes?” Cheri asked fearfully.

  Alexia could hear the fear in her voice and lifted her head from the sink to look at her. “Demetri, let her go. What’s wrong with you?”

  “I have to show you something.” Still holding on to Cheri as tight as he could, Demetri pulled her over to where Alexia stood, who was barely able to hold herself up. Then he hit Cheri, hard.

  Ellie screamed and Alexia’s whole body was instantly pumping full of adrenaline. They both tackled Demetri down to the ground and started beating him. Cheri broke free from his grasp and turned to get in on the hitting, scratching, and punching that was going on. Roman, who was watching the whole thing in shock, finally snapped out of it and pulled the girls from his brother one by one. It wasn’t an easy thing to do, but once they were all off of him, three sets of pitch black eyes glared in anger at Demetri. Slowly the color came back to their eyes and their minds cleared. Demetri looked from his brother to his three attackers, who looked back absolutely stunned at what they had just done.

  ∞ CHAPTER NINE ∞

  After the incident in the kitchen, Roman tried to contact Ahaz and Astropos to get some answers. They would be able to explain why Cheri and Ellie acted the way they did. Before he had left the night before, Ahaz had said nothing to Demetri or Roman about Alexia’s friends also being Immortal. All he had told them was that Alexia was now Immortal and that she would be able to use the defenses.

  The house was silent; nobody moved, nobody spoke, and the girls stayed in the bedroom with the door shut. There was a sense of fear in everyone; nobody knew how to handle what just happened. Demetri had cuts and bruises on his arms but other than that was unharmed.

  “If Roman hadn’t pulled you off me, you would have killed me,” he had told them after they had calmed down enough to listen.

  “How, you’re Immortal?” Ellie had questioned

  “Just like anything else, there are loopholes.” Nobody had asked for an explanation. At that point, nobody wanted to know anything besides why Ellie and Cheri were showing signs of being Immortal. Roman had promised that once he got a hold of Ahaz he would let them know everything he said. After about an hour, there was a knock on the bedroom door. Ellie opened it to find Roman standing there with a piece of paper in his hand.

  “Ahaz just sent this. He still can’t come until tomorrow. Until then, we have to keep you girls happy and calm.”

  “He wants us to wait until tomorrow? We just found out we might all be Immortal, and he can’t come until tomorrow?” Ellie didn’t want to get angry, so she took a deep breath and sat back down on the bed.

  Roman was just about to close the door when Alexia spoke. “I want to go outside.” They all looked at her as if she had gone mental.

  “It’s not safe, you can’t.” As if to end the conversation, Roman closed the door, but Alexia wasn’t giving in. She ran to the door and ripped it open.

  “I said I want to go outside.” Roman was halfway down the staircase, but he faced her and sighed.

  “Alexia, please.” He started his way back up the stairs and took her hands in his. She waited for the intense burning sensation to creep across her body, but nothing happened. “Just stay inside. It’s not safe for you to be out of this house.”

  “I’ll be fine. I want some air.” Cheri and Ellie were standing in the doorway of their room, and Demetri was watching from the bottom of the stairs.

  “No, Alexia.”

  “Yes.” She tried to push past him, but he stopped her. “Let me go.” She looked into his eyes and hoped that he would see that she was getting mad.

  “Calm down and try not to get angry, okay?”

  “If you don’t want me to get upset, then step out of my way and let me go outside.” She didn’t like acting so bratty, but she knew when Ahaz arrived there would be no swaying him. This would be her chance, and she knew that Roman would let her if she threatened to get mad. His eyes were getting slightly dark, but Alexia’s were getting darker faster.

  “Let her go, Roman,” Demetri advised, “she could kick your ass in a second.” Alexia smiled and motioned for her friends to follow her downstairs. Demetri held out her jacket but pulled it away when she reached for it. “Ten minutes.” She felt like she was being treated like a child, but she was apparently in danger, so she nodded and took her coat. “Come on, Roman,” Demetri said, “we have to watch them.”

  “I feel like a little kid,” Ellie said as she pulled on her coat. “We don’t need to be watched.”

  “Yes you do.” Demetri had his leather jacket on and Roman was pulling a thick sweater over his head. “Seriously ten minutes and then you come back inside, and no fighting or threatening to get mad.” He was directing this to Alexia, but she wasn’t listening, as she was already bounding out the front door.

  It was a beautiful day out, as there was no wind and the sun was shining bright. Most of the snow had melted off the lawn, leaving small piles of snow here and there. Trees lined the property on either side, and the house seemed to be built in the center of a small forest. Being outdoors made Alexia feel exposed again, but the feeling of the sun on her skin kept her calm.

  Cheri smiled and bounded across the lawn to a pile of snow. She made a small snowball and chucked it right at Ellie. It hit her shoulder hard, but she barely wavered from the impact.

  “Hey!” Ellie ran out to the snow pile closest to her and made her own snowball and chucked it back at Cheri. Right before it was about to hit her in the face, Cheri ducked and laughed.

  “Ha ha, missed me!” They were both hurrying to make a pile of snowballs and Alexia couldn’t help but to join in. She knew Demetri and Roman would probably think it was extremely immature of them, but she wanted to enjoy her brief time outdoors. Alexia made a huge snowball and sent it flying over to where Demetri and Roman stood on the front step. It hit Roman square in the face. He laughed and ran to tackle Alexia into the snow pile behind her.

  Before she knew it, she was lying in the snow and Roman was on top of her with a snowball in his hand ready to strike. His eyes were shining blue and Alexia was hit with déjà vu hard. He looked happy and she felt happy. With a burst of adrenaline, she flipped him off her and she was now on top of him, with his snowball in her hand.

  “Any last words?” she joked. He was smiling so big it almost hurt her eyes to look at his gleaming teeth.

  “Don’t shoot, don’t shoot!” He joked and then she dropped the snowball in his face and rubbed it all over. She got up and darted across the lawn to join Ellie and Cheri who were laughing at Alexia’s victory. They both high fived her, and Cheri handed her a snowball. Roman stood up and shook the snow from his sweater, his face beet red from the cold snow.

  “You’re all going to get it.” In an instant, there were five snowballs in his hand and he was pelting them at the girls. They screamed and laughed as they tried to dodge them, but two hit Alexia’s back and one hit Ellie in the back of the head. Once Roman was out of snowballs, he laughed at the girls all huddling together trying not to get hit again. The whole time, Demetri stood stationary on the doorstep watching the fun. He wanted to join but he also wanted to make sure nobody was watching.

  When Alexia lifted her head, she saw somebody standing in the trees at the edge of the property. “Hey!” she yelled.

  The person began to run at them.
By the time Roman turned around to see what she was yelling at, Demetri had already bolted from the step and was chasing after the stranger. The person’s gaze was fixed on Alexia and didn’t even see Demetri coming from the right side as he tackled him. Roman ran to Alexia and her friends and yelled at them to run. They all ran to the house and Roman slammed the door behind him, locking it.

  “Demetri’s still out there. Unlock the door!” Alexia reached to unlock it but Roman blocked her.

  “Close those curtains now!” he instructed, still blocking the door. “Alexia, he knows what he’s doing. We must keep you safe. We have to keep it locked.”

  Ellie and Cheri rushed to the windows and pulled the heavy blinds shut. It made it dark in the room, since there were no lights on.

  “Roman, you have to help him!” Alexia pleaded.

  “He will be fine, Alexia!” he shouted back at her. She wanted to cry. It had been her idea to go outside and now Demetri was fighting someone because of her. If something happened to him, she would never forgive herself. Suddenly there was a banging on the door. Cheri and Ellie screamed and grabbed on to each other, Alexia jumped back from the door, and Roman put his eye to the peephole.

  “It’s Demetri.” Roman unlocked the door and opened it for his brother.

  Demetri entered the house with a body slung over his shoulder. Blood was dripping from the person’s nose, leaving a trail from the door to the kitchen where Demetri slammed the body onto the stainless-steel island. The man’s face was covered in blood. Everyone followed Demetri into the kitchen, watching him tie the stranger down with rope and cords. He pulled out the drawer closest to the man’s hands and cuffs popped out. Roman began to help him now, doing the same with his feet. The girls watched in horror.

  “Who is this?” Alexia asked.

  “He was sent to take you away from this house, Alexia,” Roman replied. Neither of the boys would look at her as they continued to secure the man to the table. “This is why I didn’t want you outside.” Roman shook his head with frustration, and took a deep breath, trying not to get angry. “You should go to your room, all of you.”