by E. L. Davis
“Sorry, I didn’t even realize.” How could she possibly put what she was feeling into words? ‘He’s not my friend, he’s my boyfriend’ didn’t seem quite right, but then again neither did: ‘He’s not my friend mom; he’s the guy who has fought for me for over three centuries.’
“My name is Demetri; it’s nice to meet you, Mrs. Weiss.”
“He’s my boyfriend,” Alexia blurted out, not wanting Demetri to feel hurt.
“Oh,” was all she could say. It wasn’t often that Alexia dated people, let alone brought them home to meet her mom. “That’s just great, Alexia, I’m happy for you. Can I talk to you alone in the kitchen, please?”
“I have something to say first.” She took a deep breath and looked right into her mom’s eyes, and it was like she was looking in the mirror. Their eyes were exactly the same color, but she couldn’t think about that. She had to concentrate. “Mom, I love you so much.” She took a deep breath. “But I haven’t come home yet, and you’re not expecting me to come back for a long time.”
“Of course, you’re not home yet.” It was heartbreaking to hear her mom talking like she was in a trance.
“You won’t call Dad; if you want to talk to me you will call my cell phone, right?”
“Yes of course, I hope you’re having fun with your dad, hunny.” Holding back tears, Alexia grabbed her mom and hugged her again.
“I am, Mom, I’m having a great time.” She pulled away from her mom and watched her sit back down in her chair, and act like Alexia and Demetri weren’t even there.
“Let’s get your stuff,” Demetri whispered, taking her suitcase from her. Alexia led the way to her bedroom, suddenly feeling very nervous about what kind of state she had left it in.
Luckily there was nothing embarrassing lying around. Her bed was made, and a stack of clean laundry was folded on top of her wrinkle-free blanket. Demetri walked around the room, looking at the various posters hanging from the pale pink walls, allowing Alexia to pile socks, underwear, numerous pairs of sweatpants, and shirts into her bag. As she began to ask him for help to zip up the overflowing suitcase, he accidentally knocked a framed photo of twelve-year-old Alexia and her mom standing in front of the giant bookcase in the living room, and the glass shattered.
“I’m so sorry,” he said, scrambling to clean up the glass.
“It’s no big deal,” she said, bending to help him with the broken shards. Then a glint caught her eye, and it wasn’t a piece of glass. She carefully lifted the picture from the smashed frame and looked closer. It wasn’t her imagination playing tricks on her; there was something shining in the photo. Taking a closer look, she realized it was the binding of a book on the shelf, and it almost seemed to pulse with life.
“Demetri, do you see that?” she thrust the picture under his nose.
“What do you mean?” He didn’t see it.
She bolted from the room, charging down the stairs two at a time, butterflies overwhelming her stomach. Her mom was still sitting in the same chair, her empty bowl on the small coffee table in front of her. Behind her was the bookshelf from the picture.
Closing her eyes, she imagined the photograph in her mind and what it had been doing, and her whole body began to pulse like the book in the picture. Her eyes flashed open just as Demetri reached the bottom of the stairs, “What the hell, Alexia, what is…” Then he froze and stared at the bookcase, and he could now see what he couldn’t in the picture.
A single book on the third shelf from the top seemed to illuminate and throb with life. From where they stood they couldn’t see the details on the spine, so Alexia moved closer, passing by her mom who was completely oblivious to them. She was close enough to touch it now, and energy was radiating off it and into her. Dizziness was taking over. She felt lightheaded and was about to puke, and then she screamed louder than she ever had before.
In an instant, Roman and Ellie flew through the front door, with Cheri holding them both by their shirts. Cheri looked fierce, her eyes almost pitch black. Ellie and Roman, on the other hand, didn’t seem like they even had the time to process the scream. Demetri stood behind Alexia, frozen, not sure if he should touch her.
“Alexia?” his voice quivered. She said nothing for a long minute, afraid if she opened her mouth she would puke.
“This is it.” She reached for the book and took it off the shelf.
“What do you mean?” Ellie asked, walking slowly towards her friend.
“The Sapheneia.”
∞
After they grabbed the Sapheneia and returned to the house, Demetri took Alexia to his room so she could hang her stuff in his closet. The last and only time she had been in his room was when she had walked in on him after his shower. What happened to her when she found the Sapheneia was driven from her mind as soon as he closed the door behind them. She wanted to celebrate the easy victory, and she wanted him to be happy and celebrate with her, so she tackled him onto his monstrous bed.
Except it wasn’t only his bed anymore, it was hers too. Just like it was no longer his room or his closet, it was their room and their closet. She loved the idea of them sharing the room together, and half of her thought she might never go back home. It seemed that since she had found the book it made everything seem more real, and it was like she realized none of this was a dream. Demetri really was her soul mate, they really were destined to be together, and after they celebrated they could read the prophecy together.
“I’m so happy,” Alexia said, giggling as she relaxed herself into the pillows. She pulled Demetri in to kiss her, but she could see worry in his eyes. “What’s wrong?”
“Why did you scream?” he blurted out. “It was so horrible. I didn’t know if you were in pain or what. I was so scared for you.”
“I screamed because…” she began, “because I… Well I don’t know why, to tell you the truth, but it doesn’t matter. We have the book, Demetri, and we didn’t even have to draw up a portal to find it!”
Unsatisfied with her answer, he pulled away from her. “No, Alexia, I want to know the truth. Don’t lie to me, please.”
Alexia sighed. She didn’t want to get into this right now. She was too happy to talk about the only downside to finding the book.
“It was just that so many voices filled up in my head at once, screaming was all I could do to tune them out.”
“What did they say to you?”
“I couldn’t make them out; there was too many.”
Demetri eyed her suspiciously, trying to tell if she was lying but he detected nothing. Finally, he smiled at her and pulled her close against his chest. “This will probably be our only chance to be alone, after this it will be all about that book and Amarantos.”
Alexia could tell he was putting on his ‘bad boy’ attitude now, which made her even more attracted to him. She held his gaze and then focused in on his eyes and told him to kiss her. Confidence welled up inside of her and adrenaline pulsed through her body, clouding her thoughts. Her heart was beating so fast, it was like she had just ran a marathon. He kissed her hard and passionately, putting in everything he had to show her how happy he was that soon this would all be over, and they could just be together forever.
After their passionate embrace, Alexia got up and moved around the bedroom, throwing socks, underwear, sweatpants, and tee shirts into the closet. She could hear Demetri moving around the room behind. She was about to ask him for help when she heard breaking glass behind her.
When she turned around to see what he had broken, she was shocked to not see Demetri, but another man who had cold, dead eyes but the body of somebody who was merely forty-five. Normally she would have screamed, or ran from the room to escape the stranger, but she didn’t, as there was something about him that intrigued her. They both stared at each other for a moment, waiting for the other to speak first.
When it was clear he would not speak first, she asked him, “Who are you?”
“My name is of no importance to you, Alexia.”<
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“What do you want?”
“You have possession of the Sapheneia. You did not hear the messages it contains, and I have come to give you those messages.”
“You mean the voices?”
“I don’t have much time, dear girl, and neither do you. I came to you to clarify what you may not have heard.” Alexia said nothing, so the man continued. “What you heard tonight were the voices of the writers of the book you now possess. They were trying to tell you to be careful, Alexia, as you have powers which nobody could ever dream of having. It is feared by many that you are wasting those powers when you should be focused on the task at hand.”
“I am focused, sir, and I know what I have to do.”
“I am afraid that is where you are wrong. You have no idea what lies ahead for you, Alexia Weiss.” As soon as the words left his mouth, he spread his arms out from his sides and began to burn away from her. Fire licked away at his clothing, melting the skin from his body. She could smell burning hair and it was making her sick, but she couldn’t look away.
She woke herself by retching repeatedly over the side of the bed, the image of the burning man still fresh in her mind. Over and over her stomach pushed out its contents until nothing remained. When she could finally breathe, she looked over to see if she had woken Demetri. Somehow, he was fast asleep beside her, his face was calm with sleep. Alexia slid out of bed, carefully avoiding what had been the contents of her stomach, to grab water and the dirty towel from her shower.
As she walked across the room, something caught her eye. Her still packed suitcase lay open at the foot of the bed. Sitting on top of all her clothes was the Sapheneia she had yet to touch since she retrieved it from her living room shelf. It was open, so very carefully she took it in her hands and looked at the title on the top of the old page. It read:
Prophecy #683
Born on the eighth month, on the eighth day, the warrior shall save us all from destruction by the power crazy man. He will lead us for many years, eventually being overthrown by the empathy toward the men who will chase her love for over three centuries. Only one will win her heart, when her true journey is about to begin. She will have strong bonds of friendship with mortals, who will eventually share her blood, creating a necessary bond for success. Her love for friends and her lover will make her stronger than anyone could ever dream. It will be because of her that the lesser will find love.
She will have unnatural power unlike any other of our kind, but abuse of that power could be her downfall. The high from overuse of such strong power will eventually tear her away from those she loves. Abuse of the power will set her down a path not desired by us. The warrior will be like no other Immortal, and she is our only hope against what is to come in thousands of years.
She read it three times over, taking in every single word. This was all she had, two short paragraphs that defined her life. ‘The high from overuse of such strong power could eventually tear her away from those she loves.’ How could it be possible? Was the prophecy referring to the adrenaline and confidence she felt when she used her second defense on other Immortals?
She thought back to when she used the first defense against the men in the woods with Cheri and Ellie, and she remembered that she didn’t have the same rush of confidence or adrenaline then. She could, however, recall feeling stronger than she ever had in her life, and faster too. When she was tracking the various hidden objects in the beach house, she had felt nothing at all besides being a little tired from concentrating so much.
Alexia rushed to Demetri and shook him awake, shoving the book under his nose before he even had time to realize who was waking him. His dark hair was sticking out at odd angles and his tired eyes fought the urge to close. “Alexia, I thought we were going to read this together in the morning.”
“I know we were, but I had this dream and this guy told me that the voices I heard when I approached the Sapheneia was a message from the writers. He said I must be careful with the powers I have access to and he said I have no idea what lies ahead for me. Then he burned in front of me, like, literally, he was on fire and I watched his skin melt off his face and when I woke up I threw up everywhere.
“I was going to clean it up, I swear, but then I saw that the book was laying open to this page on top of my suitcase. It’s the prophecy about me, Demetri, and it was just lying there open to the very page that we need. You have to read it and help me make sense of it.”
She finally stopped talking and took five deep breaths trying to calm herself down. Demetri, who still looked way too tired to read anything, put the book down at the end of the bed and motioned for her to climb back into the bed with him. When she didn’t move and stared at the book, he surprised her by lifting her by the waist onto the bed.
“Now,” he began, yawning, “I didn’t understand one thing you told me, so repeat everything you just told me, except much slower.”
She began again, telling him everything about the dream and how she had found the book. He read the prophecy several times over, taking in every word just like Alexia had. “Have you experienced something like this before, Alexia?”
Assuming he was referring to the ‘high’ part, she said, “Yeah, I think so, but only when I make another Immortal do something, and kind of when I get really angry on command. I have a huge adrenaline rush and feel so confident in myself. Do you think that’s what the prophecy is warning me about?”
“It’s possible, but I don’t see how that could lead to your downfall…”
She thought to herself for a moment, twirling a piece of hair around her finger as she often did when she was deep in thought. “Maybe I can get too overconfident and end up getting into a bad situation that I can’t get myself out of.”
“Don’t think for a second that you’re going to get hurt.” His voice was fierce, as it always was when talk of something bad happening to her came up. “I would never let something like that happen to you, Alexia.”
“You can’t protect me forever, Demetri. If something has to happen to me in order for us to stop Amar, then I will let it happen.”
“You don’t get it, do you?” His tone was cold and his eyes were turning darker. “Imagine waiting three hundred and fifty years to be with somebody and finally being able to call them yours. I fought so hard for you. I won’t lose you, Alexia, and I won’t ever live without you.”
It hurt her to see him like this, he looked cold and distant. She felt like he resented her for even thinking that she would sacrifice herself if it was necessary.
“I’m sorry,” he said after five minutes of silence. His eyes returned to their magnificent green and he looked up into her eyes that were spilling over tears. “I didn’t mean to sound so harsh, Alexia. I’m really sorry.” He caught her up in his arms and wiped away her tears. “I just love you so much and it kills me to think of my life without you.”
“I don’t want to fail at this,” Alexia said quietly, “and the prophecy clearly states that I can.”
“But you won’t, Alexia. You have Roman, Ellie, Cheri, and, of course, me to help you do this. Push what the prophecy warns about out of your head. The last thing you need right now is to be scared to use your powers. As long as we don’t use them for our own fun anymore,” he paused while she giggled, “then I think you should be fine.”
There was a banging on the bedroom door that made them both jump out of their skin. Demetri shot out of the bed at top speed and was at the door before Alexia could even pull the blanket back. There were no weapons in the room so, in case it was an attacker, Demetri used all his strength to hold the door shut while he demanded the person to identify themselves.
“It’s Roman, you idiot. Ahaz and Astropos are downstairs, so get out of bed.”
∞ CHAPTER NINETEEN ∞
Alexia was terrified about what Ahaz and Astropos were going to say to her. They had no idea about the powers she possessed and did not know the true reason Amar was after her. Now she would have to come clean
and tell them all about the prophecy and what she can do with her powers, and she would even have to tell them that the Sapheneia was sitting upstairs hidden under the bed.
No, she thought to herself. That part I won’t talk about. I need that book. I need to learn from it.
Ahaz and Astro were dressed in their usual all-black attire. Ahaz had his hair slicked back and, as usual, Astro’s was pulled into a high ponytail. To her relief, Ahaz did not look angry or like he was about to punish them for coming to Union Headquarters and assaulting several Union Members. Astro, on the other hand, looked furious and dangerous.
When the five of them had all accumulated in the living room, all looking tired and haggard, Ahaz started to speak. “Please enlighten me as to what you have been doing for the past week. I believed that Amar would have been taken care of by now, but he has not. Instead, I hear that you all have made a trip to visit the homeland and made quite a scene at Headquarters. Astropos has informed me of all details, including of how you, Alexia, had used the second defense on her. I want the full story; no lies and no shortcuts. We are on the same side. We both want Amar destroyed but I need your information, so I can help you.” He paused briefly and turned to Alexia. “So, would you like to begin?”
She told him everything that had happened since the last time she saw him, obviously leaving out specific Demetri details and, of course, leaving out that they had found the book already. Alexia didn’t like lying to Ahaz, since he was on the same side, striving for the same goal. But she knew if she told him that she possessed the book that he would take it from her.
Finally, when she had told him everything of importance, she sighed and looked up into his old, ageless eyes and said, “That’s about all I can tell you. Amaratos isn’t after me because he wants these two to be punished forever; it’s because I’m supposed to be the one to destroy him and let peace remain between all supernatural beings.”