“Victor was too busy running his empire in Tastia, and you felt neglected. You hated the fact that he had to pencil you in.”
“Yes, Victor was extremely busy, but he always made time for me.”
“I’m not saying he didn’t. I just saying that now, here, you have 100 percent of his time.”
“I won’t deny that, and maybe it does make me a little selfish, but I love having him around all of the time.”
“Is that why you want him to stay here?”
“Maybe, but it also has a lot to do with Alexander and Ethano. Victor and Della have some kind of secret they refuse to share with me. Victor will not come clean about it and does nothing but change the subject when I ask him about it. Whatever happened, it’s bad enough to enrage Ethano. Della is on the run, and Victor was almost killed over it. It’s obvious that Ethano wants revenge, and I don’t think he’ll stop until he gets it. I’m sure that’s why he wants our son. I’m terrified that if we go back, now or eighteen years from now, Victor’s past will come back to haunt us all.”
“Why do you want to stay here?” Liz asked.
“I just don’t think I can live without my Smartphone.”
We both burst into laughter, but my smile faded as I heard cries just around the bend.
I nudged Liz. “C’mon. Let’s make sure everything is okay.”
Around the corner, we saw four kids huddled around a German shepherd. Their cries and shouts tore at my heart.
“Call 911!” a little girl said. “Mommy, please!”
The young mother wiped her eyes. “Baby, Max is gone. He’s in Doggie Heaven now.”
“I’m so sorry for your loss,” I said.
“He’s my best friend,” the little girl with long, curly hair said. “I can’t live without Max!”
Tears welled up in my eyes, as it jolted me back to the moment when I’d said the same thing, when I thought I’d lost my Victor. I knew it was completely different, but the pain we both felt was evident.
I grabbed Liz’s arm, but she wouldn’t budge. Her eyes were fixed on the poor dog lying in the snow as the kids hugged him. As soon as my sister knelt down, I knew what she was about to do. She placed her hands on the dog and closed her eyes.
“Liz,” I said, “we’re not supposed to do this.”
“I can handle a dog by myself. Remember back in Dornia, when I healed the horse?”
“What’s she doing?” a little boy asked.
“She’s praying,” the mom said.
Energy swirled around her hands as she touched the dog. The kids watched intently as the mom called for them. The German shepherd suddenly sat up, and the kids squealed in joy.
Tears streamed from the little girl’s eyes, and a smile lit up her face. “Max! He’s all better! Thank you, lady! You have magic prayers!”
“What the...?” the mom asked. “How’d you do that?”
Liz walked up to her and the kids, all of them stunned. “The dog quit breathing. Luckily, a veterinarian stopped on the trail and gave Max CPR, reviving him.” She then wiped her hands on her shorts after a job well done and turned to me. “There. They’re all compelled. I think my work is done here.”
The little kids hugged the dog as he barked.
I threw an arm around my wonderful sister. “That was beautiful. You’re such a softie.”
She smiled. “Well, I hate to see kids cry, that’s all.”
“You love being Immortal, don’t you?”
“You can read me like a book, Sarah, which is exactly why I’m a danger in this world. I just can’t seem to keep secrets like I should, and one of these days, I’m afraid my inability to hide who I really am is gonna get me in real trouble.”
Chapter 12
Victor had left for work two hours ago for rehearsal when a co-worker picked him up to practice their fight scenes, even though Victor didn’t really need the extra practice.
I didn’t start until nine a.m., so I decided to stop at the grocery store and pick up some lunch for us. I was dressed in a black pantsuit and black shoes, with my hair in a long, neat French braid. I reached for my car keys, and our lunch flew out of my hand when a hand wrapped around my mouth.
“Do as I say, and I won’t kill you,” a male voice said.
I closed my eyes and focused on my powers, but it was of no use; I only hit a brick wall. My heart pounded in my chest as a cold blade was held up to my throat and I realized my powers were being blocked. “Wh-what do you want?” I asked, my voice barely a whisper.
“Your cooperation.” The man then wrapped a blindfold around my eyes and jerked me forward. “Walk to the van!” he demanded, binding my arms behind my back.
I heard the click of handcuffs and other voices. A door slid open, and I was shoved inside. I tried once again to break free from the handcuffs, but my powers were paralyzed. I could see nothing through the blindfold either. “Where are you taking me?”
“Shut up,” the man said. “One more word, and I’ll gag you. It’s your choice.”
Ignoring him, I begged, “Please let me go. I’m pregnant.”
“Really? As if it isn’t obvious.”
“Just let me go. Please! I’m no threat to you.”
“I warned her to shut up,” the man said.
“Well, gag her then!” another man yelled.
Somebody yanked my head back and stuffed a cloth inside my mouth. I felt a pinch in my arm, and panic welled up inside me.
“Calm down, lady. It’s just a shot,” the man said. “It ain’t gonna hurt you.”
I was terrified, my mind spinning in a million different directions. What the heck do these guys want? Who are they? How dare they shoot me up with something when they know I’m pregnant?
In the next second, I heard the noise of the man rummaging through my purse. “There’s nothing in here but some damn prenatal vitamins.”
I was worried for a minute, but then I remembered that Dr. Meyers had been careful to put another doctor’s name on the label so the Immortals wouldn’t be able to trace the pills back to her; helping me could have cost her everything, including her life. Even though they were labeled as vitamins, they were something entirely different, my life support. I had to have my medication and was glad I had them stashed in my purse. I only hoped they’d allow me to take them when we reached our destination. My heart thundered as a thought came to mind: What if they’re taking me somewhere to execute me?
We traveled in complete silence. The worst part was not knowing what they were going to do to me, and there wasn’t anything I could do to escape. I’d fight to the end, but for the time being, I just had to try to appease them so they didn’t do anything crazy to harm me or my baby.
“Call Ed and tell ‘im we’ve got what he wants,” one man ordered the other.
The sound of a cell phone flipping open was followed by Ed saying, “We got her.” After a pause, he continued, “All right. We’ll just put ‘er in there with the other one.”
Wait...the other one? Who’s that? Victor? Charles? Liz? Who else could they have sneaked up on this early in the morning? I focused and tried to summon a vision, but nothing came to mind. Dang it! Of course the stupid power won’t work when I need it most. Images only came to me when they felt like it. I needed to know that they weren’t going to kill me. I needed to fight. I struggled in my bindings, to no avail. My one relief that they apparently weren’t going to kill me right away.
The van came to a stop, and I got ready to run. I took a deep breath, trying to relieve the anger that was quickly swelling up inside me like a volcano, ready to erupt. Being separated from Victor and my loved ones wasn’t an option. As I stepped out, I heard a plane taking off, letting me know I was either at or near an airport.
“Get her in the helicopter,” the man said.
I wasn’t about to cooperate, so I kicked my kidnapper’s shin as hard as I could. When he screamed in agony, I bolted, but I didn’t get very far before I felt arms wrap around me again.
“You’re gonna pay for that, you bloated bitch!” the man roared.
My heart hammered in my chest as I struggled to breathe, and I wondered if my panicked breaths would be my last.
“Leave her alone, you idiot. We need her alive.”
“Fine,” Ed said, yanking his hand away.
I tumbled to the concrete, sucking in air and moaning as searing waves of pain rippled across my back.
Somebody threw me over his sweaty, broad back and set me inside the helicopter; I was sure it had to be an Immortal, because he lifted me up like I weighed nothing, and I knew better than that since I looked like I’d swallowed a watermelon whole. My chest throbbed with each breath as I heard the chopper lift into the air and worried again about where they were taking me. I was forced to endure the extremely loud flight, and I felt a soft, annoying tickle as the vibrations shot up through my body.
When we finally landed, I was taken out of the whirlybird and marched into a building. We rode up an elevator, then walked down a long, labyrinth-like hallway that twisted and turned for what seemed like forever. I was gagged, blindfolded, and handcuffed like some kind of dangerous criminal. When my captors finally removed the blindfold, I blinked, trying to let my eyes adjust to the glaring light. When my vision finally focused again, I found myself in a large white room with no windows.
“This is the control room, where we monitor everything,” explained a random soldier.
It was obviously some kind of secret military operation, I realized, as I scanned the humongous room. Bright light flooded the large space, but as I glanced up at the ceiling, I saw no florescent fixtures and not even one light bulb. I had to wonder if I was somehow witnessing the future of electricity. The walls and ceiling glistened like millions of crushed diamonds. Beyond two high pillars stretched the command center, bustling with personnel, blinking panels, consoles, maps, and charts. In the middle, a contingent of people watched a giant screen on the far left wall, as big as a highway billboard. It changed images continually, displaying positions of different cities.
As soon as someone pointed toward me, the murmur died, and heads started to turn.
Turning to my right, I noticed a tall man wearing a white lab, and he smiled hesitantly. The soldiers standing behind me, dressed in dark, military-style uniforms, didn’t seem quite as welcoming. One spoke in a deep accent, saying something I couldn’t understand, and the others nodded, a frown forming between their brows. After taking several breaths to calm my racing heart, I fixed my gaze on the man with the green eyes and black hair, apparently some kind of doctor or scientist.
He signaled one of the soldiers over. “Take her with the other woman,” he said. “She’ll need food and water. She must be kept healthy...and alive. Understand?”
“Yes, Dr. Larson.”
My shirt was glued to my back, and nervous butterfly wings fluttered in my stomach. As I shot the man a questioning look, he turned away, and that terrified me, because it indicated that he was definitely hiding something. Again, I wondered what they had planned for me, and I shuddered when I thought about all the options.
We walked through the maze of corridors and down a few flights of stairs. Finally we entered a room where I was greeted by medical personnel in white scrubs. They used handheld detectors and scanned me.
“She’s clear.”
“Should we put her through the decontamination process?” a man asked.
“No. Her readings are excellent.”
“I need my vitamins from my purse,” I begged. “I can’t afford to miss a dose.”
“Nope. No pills,” the man said sternly, shaking his head.
“But I’m pregnant. I have to take them!”
Ignoring my wishes, they walked me to a metal door with a small window. A guard snapped my handcuffs open and shoved me forward, and I fell to my knees. I’d been thrown into a large, white, padded room, like a mental institution. My breath became ragged, and my hands balled into white-knuckled fists as I stared ahead. Then, my eyes widened at the familiar figure sitting in the corner of the room. “Della!” my voice cried out. “Is that really you?”
She squeezed her eyes shut, then opened them. “I think so. I’m on so many drugs in here that I’m not sure what’s real anymore. You’re Sarah, aren’t you?”
I gripped her hands. “Yes, it’s me. We’ve been looking everywhere for you.”
She leaned in close and eyed me straight on. “When they told me they’d captured another Immortal, I’d been hoping it was Victor,” she said, her voice weak.
I rolled my eyes. While I was glad to finally know where she was, I did not want to be locked up with her, of all people. In fact, the only worse cellmate I could imagine would have been Ethano himself, especially when she made comments like that about my husband.
She ran a hand through her messy hair. “I’ve been a prisoner here for months.”
I raised my eyebrows. “What have they been doing to you, besides drugging you?”
With trembling hands, she pushed her sweat-dampened hair out of her eyes. Her voice shook as she answered, “Everything, Sarah. I’ve been...they’ve kept me alive for their horrible experiments, as if I am some kind of a laboratory rat, a scientists’ plaything.”
I gasped, and the room suddenly felt smaller, the air thicker and hotter. A heavy sensation pushed down on my lungs, making it even more difficult to breathe. “No! We can’t be here for that. I’m carrying a baby, for goodness sake.”
“Victor’s, I presume?”
I only nodded.
She focused a cold gaze on me. “Well, these madmen do not care. There will be no mercy here—not for me, not for you, and not for that baby of yours. I hate to be the one to tell you, and you most certainly don’t deserve it, but I’m afraid the horror will start the minute you wake up tomorrow.”
I lashed out by pounding on the wall with my hands. My voice rose an octave or two, and my eyes darted left and right. I was supposed to protect the precious life growing inside of me, but I’d managed to get both of us—Alexander as well as myself—imprisoned in a Frankenstein lab. A rush of emotions flooded through me, and I didn’t know what to say or do.
Like some ominous shadow of my grim future, Della looked absolutely horrible, nothing at all like the glamorous woman I’d met at that bar one night. She seemed thinner and paler than she was before, almost emaciated, and it was impossible not to notice the dark circles under her eyes. Even her brown eyes themselves had lost their sparkle and looked dead and empty, as if her very spirit had been trampled to death.
I took a deep breath, summoning Victor’s picture. He would be my strength, my rock, even if he was not physically there. He was part of me, part of Alexander, and I knew he would be with his wife and child at all times, if only in spirit.
“Did they give you a shot in your arm?” Della asked, breaking me from my thoughts.
“Yes. I thought it was to sedate me, but I don’t feel sleepy.”
“No, that shot is to disable your powers for thirty days. Even though they can paralyze our powers, they have others working for them who aren’t Immortal.”
My mouth pressed into a hard, flat line. “Ah. So they want their minions to be safe at all costs.”
“Exactly.”
My gaze narrowed. “And how do you know this?”
“The guy told me as he injected me. He said we’re beyond dangerous and need to be immobilized.” A frown knitted between her brows. “He was right, too, because I would have torn him limb from limb if I could have.”
As the words came slowly out of my mouth, I could only stare in disbelief. “I-I can’t believe I’ve been injected with more poison. I told them I’m pregnant, so—”
“They don’t care, Sarah, but don’t worry. If your baby is anywhere near as hardheaded and stubborn as his father, I’m sure he’s fine.”
I touched my stomach. “I hope so.”
“This world has means for disabling Immortals, as well as good caus
e for it, since our kind and humans do not always mix well. If we could get our hands on some of those vials and figure out how to manufacture them, Victor could defeat Ethano and his army and get his kingdom back.”
I honestly didn’t want to think about leaving my world again. I didn’t want to go back to Tastia. I’d had a five-month glimpse of the perfect life I’d dreamt about for years: the loving husband, the home we’d decorated together, the nursery we’d created, a bouncing baby boy on the way, a loyal dog, and living just a street away from Liz and Charles, close enough to visit my parents whenever I wanted. I didn’t want to leave all of that behind. I’d initially wanted to leave Victor and go back through the portal with Frank, Beth, and the others because I knew I didn’t really belong in his world, but I loved him so much that I was willing to give it all up and try to live in his realm. I’d tolerated it for a year, and it hadn’t been so bad, but after returning to California, getting a real taste of home and the life I had always known, I simply couldn’t bear the thought of leaving again.
I turned to look at Della and wondered what had happened to her since she’d gone missing. “Have you been here all this time, Della?” I asked.
She rolled her eyes. “As if you care.”
I looked into her eyes. “I do. Like I said, we’ve all been looking for you.”
“I’ve been captured in battle before, but never have I been tortured and prodded and treated the way these evil beings have treated me. I have even been slapped around a little and threatened, as if these underlings have the right to treat royalty that way!”
“They don’t recognize your status here.”
“Of course. Here, I’m nothing but a test subject.”
“Why did you stay here, in California? Why didn’t you just go back to your husband?”
“My husband?” She laughed. “First of all, darling, we’re separated. I didn’t mention it before because I was sure you’d think it was a ploy to win back your Victor’s heart. Also, like you, Ethano wants my head. I’d rather hide out here, in this hellish, confusing world, than go back to mine and face my fatal fate at his hands. In spite of the monsters holding me prisoner here, I’ve become very fond of the luxuries this time and place have to offer. Who would ever want to go back through that miserable portal?”
Eternal Faith - Book 4 (The Ruby Ring Saga) Page 12