Bound

by Jennifer Dean

  With a blue marker I wrote immortals at the top center of the poster board. I had narrowed down different things into categories last night: ability, purpose, nourishment, appearance. The APNA, as I now referred to it.

  I lowered to my knees to begin writing abilities in the upper left corner. As I listed them off, I began to flash to that of my own memories: The way Liam’s speed had out ran the reverse of a car. The unnatural strength in the spin that shielded me outside the school. The ability to lift a teenage boy into the air with nothing but his mind, as if he were being held by wires.

  My eyes glazed over as my mind thought of the out-of-order highlight. Greater psychic powers. Telekinesis came from a control in his mind. Suddenly I threw the poster board to the side and grabbed the notebook where I had originally written the clues from the highlights. The random jump of my thoughts had inspired a new process.

  I wasn’t making a chart for APNA. I was going to cross out everything that I did understand. From there all that was left was to determine the purpose. I sighed before sitting back on my heels. How I wished I had Sean here to help me. But even if I allowed myself to say anything, I knew he had odd things to occupy him, especially with his new law firm internship in Greenville starting up this week. Oh well, I thought as I focused back down on the list. But when my finger stopped on the word evil, automatically my mind thought of the word hero.

  Like a light bulb had suddenly brightened over my head, I yelled, “Two kinds!”

  I looked around with embarrassment before I remembered that I was alone. That’s what he meant by free will. Not all immortals were the same, they could choose a side.

  I flipped the page of my notebook and began to write the words as if it were my own diary.

  “Once formerly human, immortal beings have been walking among humans for thousands of years with their supersonic speed, immense strength, and enhanced senses. They never need sleep, but can eat human food for sustenance. They are nearly indestructible except for the weakness of their heart. However, with their new paranormal power comes free will, and there are immortals who choose evil and become a part of their own kind of lifestyle. These immortals are the ones who acquire blood over human food sustenance, and why some immortals are supernatural warriors in a paranormal profession. They fight the evil to protect—”

  I stood, dropping my pen and shaking my hands out before I began to pace with frustration. I needed the middle piece and I just couldn’t word the last part right. They fight for what? Humans alone fought with each other for many reasons. And it was that word, evil. That word could be considered relative to immortals. What was truly evil in their world?

  Sure, several ideas swarmed me but I couldn’t do it anymore. My brain was beginning to tire. I needed more release. I needed to run again, clear my head in order to listen better to the thoughts. So, obeying my wish, I dressed in my breathable black cotton spandex pants and a green long-sleeved shirt before heading down the hall with my iPod in hand. I was glad my parents were home and I didn’t have to leave a note this time. Just seeing my outfit was a clear sign to my mother what I was about to do.

  “I’ll be back.”

  I was happier to find that I could pick up my pace faster this time. But while my last run had felt cautious, there was something now that justified the freedom of a ventured run. Maybe it was because knowing there were immortals out there in the world, made me feel like my need to stay close to home was irrelevant. Even my legs seemed to agree as they almost directed themselves around to the corner in order to broaden my run a few miles out and onto the road.

  By the time I made it back to my street, I was lightly jogging to a stop with heavy breathing that filtered mostly from my mouth. I slowed to a walk at the edge of my driveway, letting my heart rate slow as I checked my iPod and noticed that it was a little over an hour since I left.

  “Don’t you think that was a bit reckless?”

  I flinched a second before my neck shifted up and my body turned with fright to the voice behind me. It was Liam. He was leaning up against my Jetta near the curb with narrowed eyes of disapproval, along with a grin of amusement at the fact that I had treated my run with a what the hell attitude.

  “Well, you’re one to talk,” I said.

  “What do you mean?” he said. There was a false innocence in his tone.

  “Really? Still playing that game?”

  But as I watched his lips part I heard the front door open, which caused my neck to turn toward the sound before back to Liam. But all I was left with was my Jetta. He had vanished into the air.

  “Emma? What are you doing?”

  I turned my body to see my mom’s relieved grin.

  “Just got home, so I was stretching before I came in is all,” I said.

  I bent down to grab my ankles, actually feeling the good stretch as I did.

  “Oh, okay. Well, are you hungry?”

  Actually, food sounded great since I had been cooped up in my bedroom all day.

  “Yeah, I’ll be right in,” I said.

  She nodded before shutting the door and unknowingly letting me look around in every direction. But Liam was nowhere to be found. I sighed with frustration, or maybe it was disappointment. I had finally figured out what he was but he had disappeared before I could say. I had wasted my opportunity. I walked up the porch with dropped shoulders.

  After dinner and a good cleanse from the shower’s heat, all the muscles in my legs wanted to simply rest. I dressed in my pajamas and headed to bed earlier.

  Unfortunately, though my body was exhausted, my mind was restless. Liam leaning against my car this evening had begun to feel like a dream with its briefness. How dare he? I could feel the anger rise in my chest. How annoying it was for him to decide when to show up and when to lead me to this secret that I can’t even share. To look at me with those stupid green eyes.

  I sat up with my covers still over my legs as I caught sight of the poster board on the floor near my window. I had written only a few more points for my own clarity before I threw it out of annoyance and just gotten into bed. Now I could see the light of the moon shining a small beam onto the bottom right corner. It was just enough for me to make out the word sleep from my nourishment section. I knew the entry by heart, doesn’t need sleep for survival.

  He didn’t sleep, I thought. I rolled my eyes at what was nothing more than myself. I should have known that or at least caught on to that the night he saw me at Barnes and Noble and told me that he wouldn’t be sleeping. It was like hiding the truth in plain sight.

  Suddenly I threw off the covers with determination as I slipped on a pair of black cotton pants and a white long-sleeved blouse. I laced up the white pair of shoes that I found in the corner before grabbing my jacket off my desk chair. I wasn’t worried about my own sleep because there was no school tomorrow thanks to the Martin Luther King holiday. I was grateful for the luck of convenience.

  I knew that the distance between my room and my parents’ room had seemed like an advantage the day we moved in, but it wasn’t until this moment that I felt the surge of gratefulness for that. Instead of having to deal with noisy front door hinges and creaking floorboards, I headed for my bedroom window.

  I was cautious as I flipped open the double locks before lifting the resistant frame. I popped open the screen, letting it fall to the ground accidently. I shrugged, not feeling concern for it at the moment as I straddled the window with one leg over until I found some balance and climbed over.

  My adrenaline ignored the cold breeze on my exposed cheeks. Instinctively I folded my arms across my body as I began to walk toward the front of the house. I didn’t stop until I had reached my Jetta, which I stood behind in case I was being watched by any neighbors.

  My back straightened as I turned away from the house. My neck leaned slightly forward.

  “All right, I know you don’t sleep, so get out here,” I said.

  My voice was a whisper as a natural precaution. My eyes shifted l
eft to right, searching within the darkness.

  “I would have come with a polite request, you know.” I had to turn around to see Liam standing near the left rear taillight. These streets weren’t lit well, but the moon’s reflection centered on him like a spotlight as he stepped closer to me. “What can I do for you at this late or early hour?”

  It sounded as if he had no preference but that the wording was for my choosing. It was as if he wasn’t sure anymore. The time of darkness blended together. I guess when you don’t sleep that could happen.

  He was only but a few inches from me now. My body felt a shiver unrelated to the temperature. I exhaled in hopes of releasing some of the nerves occupying my stomach.

  “Well, you can start by answering some questions to the clues you left me. They were your clues, right?”

  I lifted my eyebrows in question. He was silent but following my eyes with an unrelenting study. Suddenly the brightness that already shimmered with light began to almost glow with more emerald beauty.

  “Not here,” he said.

  He held out his left hand with such chivalry. But I gulped as I remembered the last adventure when he had grabbed me with the tornado of dizziness. Of course, something about his inviting hand felt safe. Even with the built- up frustration, it was hard to deny him now. I couldn’t or I didn’t want to resist.

  As I moved forward I realized that I hadn’t even stepped back to think about just what a mess I had stumbled into, the fact that my life had taken a turn out of some fantasy world. I expected Stephen Spielberg or Ron Howard to yell “cut” at any moment. I began to question myself. Was it strange that the more I learned the less frightened I had become? Shouldn’t that be the opposite? Shouldn’t I run as far as I could? Was that just the shock or the fact that I was unable to keep myself from quenching my curiosity about Liam? And was I now, knowing how truly different he was, so willing to trust him? All my questions had the same answer. I don’t know.

  My body suddenly froze with the tingle of vertigo that traveled up my spine. I exhaled slowly before my right hand finally moved cautiously and confidently to rest in his hand. I was diving in headfirst whether I was ready or not.

  11. Exposed

  Once my hand was firmly inside of his own, he pulled me closer so our bodies touched. He moved at a slower pace—I was certain that was for my benefit—as he bent, swooping my knees forward and off the ground simultaneously with the security of his arm behind my back. I clung my body to his as if it were a wall, in order to calm my anxiety. It was like waiting for the roller coaster to take off, trying to guess exactly when the last still moment would be.

  “Close your eyes,” he said.

  It was a whisper of suggestion that I obeyed, luckily just in time, for not but a second later did I feel Liam launch forward into the night. I could feel a swipe of breeze on my exposed skin that melted within seconds. Mostly my body felt as if it were floating along with the air. I couldn’t feel the slightest touch from Liam, nor the motion of his running. Supersonic speed, I thought. Can’t say I’d complain with that trait.

  It was only when I felt my body in mid shift from horizontal to vertical again did I open my eyes. I watched as my feet touched the ground. My left hand was placed near Liam’s shoulder for support before I looked up to see his face. I was suddenly aware of how alone we were.

  I then turned, curious about where he had brought me.

  “I thought you might like it here,” he said.

  “Where is here?” I asked.

  “Let me show you.”

  I followed just a few steps behind, knowing his pace was still clearly for my benefit. Looking left to right I could see we were surrounded by trees but I could hear water, a subtle splash but still audible. The darkness was hard on my eyes but I could still notice that the trees had begun to close in on us. Just as I found myself ready to use my hand to move them aside, I found it unnecessary. They did it on their own, at least the ones in front of us did. They moved as if they had been commanded. But then I remembered who I was with.

  I looked up to see Liam’s focused gaze on them. He was moving them. He was moving them aside so that we could pass.

  I didn’t hesitate to walk through the created path. There my eyes found what I had been hearing. It was the Pamlico River, and we had our own private place to view it.

  I continued to walk forward to notice the water hiding within the darkness, a darkness that collided with the shining of the moon. There just directly in front of me was a perfect glow on the water. My cheeks rose as I moved to sit on a patch of leveled-out greenery. I watched Liam do the same a few feet away before I bent over with my arms folded. The cold began to penetrate my skin with an uncomfortable annoyance. I cupped my hands, blowing out carbon dioxide from my lungs for a brief moment of heat.

  I noted with my peripheral vision that Liam had suddenly vanished from where he had once sat. Not again, I thought. I began to turn my head with a sigh when I felt arms around me, arms full of warmth and security.

  “Here,” he said.

  He slid his hands down my arms until they were parallel with my own. They radiated warmth through them like personal heaters. I moaned with relief and a little embarrassment.

  “Does that help?”

  “Tremendously,” I said.

  He then bent his neck to lay his heated touch on my left cheek. The relief was so sensational that I closed my eyes. We had never been so close, and I completely forgot why he had brought me here. I was lost in the comfort of his skin on mine.

  “Ask away,” he said.

  My eyes opened with the remembrance.

  “Oh yes.”

  I could hear his light musical chuckle in my ear. The sound made blood flow in my thighs with an awakened knowledge of my hormones. I blinked heavily in order to gain the blood back to my brain. Soon I felt his neck move to my right side, warming the skin identically to the left.

  “Why the clues?”

  “I knew that it would be impossible to tell you so openly.”

  “Because it’s a secret?” I asked with my assumed theory.

  “Yes, but if I happen to lead you there without telling you, then . . . ”

  I nodded subtly.

  “Then you could talk to me about it because I would already know.”

  “Precisely.”

  “So, really you can’t tell me anything? I just have to start guessing?”

  “Mostly.”

  I rolled my eyes with the expected sigh as I began to decipher through clues.

  “Well, I know you don’t sleep. Why?”

  “It’s the way we were designed, for what we have to do. Our immortal body is always on the defense incase its need for a potential fight.”

  So that’s how we would do this. I would ask and he would answer with something that led to another question, like an episode of Lost.

  “A fight against your own kind?”

  “Yes. Our existence is a constant defense battle between others of our creation.”

  “What are you defending? I mean what would turn immortals”—I felt weird saying it aloud, like I was admitting every comic book hero was real—“against one another?”

  “You,” he said.

  My eyes widened as I looked to the river. I knew he could hear my gulp, being so close—although, then again, he could probably hear it even if he wasn’t. He was a supernatural being after all, one with enhanced senses.

  “Humans?”

  “Yes.” He said.

  I realized that I had gotten it wrong before with free will. It wasn’t immortals with the free will, it was mankind.

  “Why do they care about us?

  “Because there are some who have come to believe they were created to dominate with the power given to them.”

  “And these are the ones who will drink human blood?”

  “Yes.”

  “Why would they need to if they can eat what humans eat?” I asked.

  “It is not about need
, Emma. The blood is an acquired taste, a deserved right to them.” I felt the shiver in my bones. “But it’s immortals like me who were created to stop them. We are here to protect you.”

  “For how long?” I asked.

  “Indefinitely,” Liam said.

  “So, it’s like an eternal job.”

  He exhaled with amusement. “That’s one way to see it.”

  “I’m sure you don’t get paid vacation time either.”

  I bit my lower lip in order to resist the smile. I didn’t need to look to hear the smile in his exhale.

  “Why immortals? The name seems so vague for a being so unique.”

  He chuckled. “That is because we ourselves have spread the word into your society, to make it that way. No one is looking for a being by that defined name.”

  “You’re saying there was no such word to define, until your kind created it from your own name?”

  “No such reason for a word existed before our kind was created,” Liam said.

  If I thought too long on what he was saying it would make me dizzy.

  I turned my neck in order for my eyes to get a peek at the bright emerald color in his eyes.

  “I suppose those eyes didn’t exactly come from human birth like that?”

  “No,” he said. “Though the color of our human eyes remains, it becomes altered with light, once we are immortal. A glow that brightens more with our heightened emotions aswell.”

  I tightened my lips as my very human eyes shifted left to right with thought.

  “Okay, so let me see if I’ve got this right.” I inhaled as if I were an actor preparing to deliver a monologue in a play. Words had reformed themselves with the memory of my written lines. “All immortals were once human, but were then given the abilities of supersonic speed, immense strength, enhanced senses, and....” My neck turned in mid thought. “Wait, are all immortals telekinetic?”