Bound

by Jennifer Dean

  “Does it normally take long?”

  The question felt oddly selfish but I thought the slight change of subject would help distract us both, maybe.

  “Depends,” Henry said.

  I never saw him move, but his voice came from behind me. I turned my neck to the left but kept my eyes on a beautiful abstract painting that hung from the wall

  “On what?” I said.

  “It won’t matter.”

  My eyes squinted in confusion.

  “What won’t?” At his silence, my eyes finally shifted away from the painting. “Henry?”

  The eeriness lingered with his continued silence. I forced my body to twist with the lead of my neck where I found his bright gaze closer than I expected. Though he was a few feet away, it was still too close. Move, I heard my instincts tell me. But they were instincts I also felt compelled to deny.

  “Henry?” I said with an unstable voice.

  I was calling to him from behind the uninviting glare. Despite the lingering hope of reaching the man I had come to know, I couldn’t ignore the shiver that sent a trail of goosebumps down my legs. Even if I begged for it to be untrue, I knew that he was gone. I was left with someone who held no mercy or tolerance of my existence.

  Saliva began forming in my mouth faster than I could swallow it. My mistake was unintentionally feeding him with subtle symptoms of my fear. The twitch of my fingers, the small gulp from my throat, and the sudden shifts from my eyes were only to his pleasure. I was merely a fly caught in a spider web. The only thing left to do was decide whether to uselessly struggle or accept my defeat.

  Suddenly, I found my legs moving forward even without giving them the command to run. I had made my subconscious choice to struggle. But my pace barely brought me to the door before my mind drowned in darkness.

  25. Betrayal

  I woke, letting my senses become aware of my reality. I was overcome with grogginess. My face was against cold, smooth cement. I could hear my pulse throbbing in my ear like a driller trying to escape my skull.

  As I opened my eyes, I found myself in a lit damp room with dark walls and the faintest smell of rusted metal. It almost reminded me of an old abandoned boiler room. It was a place that could contain my screams, where no one could hear me. I couldn’t think of somewhere in Washington that would fit this place, and I had a pretty good notion that my captor knew that. In fact, he counted on that. I felt a shiver as I remembered that Sean could be reading each of my thoughts. It was daunting to feel fear for two people. If I could I would try to compose myself so that he wouldn’t have to know how much fear I carried at the thought of my death.

  Using my right elbow and left hand, I sat up and noticed the dark, shadowed figure in the corner. I froze, forgetting my former promise as Henry stepped into the dim light.

  “Ah, welcome back, Emma,” he said.

  Even with the charming, sweet, honeyed voice, I said nothing. His head tilted with disapproving eyes at my silence.

  “Ah well, that’s not proper manners, Emma,” Henry said.

  A sudden pain instantly coursed through my veins, pushing me back to hug the cement. My screams bounced off the walls as my back arched and my entire body convulsed.

  After what felt like minutes, the pain subsided. My heart was beating at a hummingbird’s pace, an immortal pace. But unlike them it wasn’t meant to. I was left with a shortness of breath as I fought for oxygen, fought for survival. My eyes flickered up to find Henry’s blue ones glowing with a beautiful alien brightness.

  “Now let’s try again. Hello, Emma, nice to see you again,” he said.

  To avoid the physical pain, I managed a low tone with some effort.

  “Hello, Henry,” I said.

  I didn’t have the same enthusiasm he seemed to convey in his features. I pushed myself back up to a sitting position. A smile formed on his lips, revealing perfect teeth. I could feel a light soreness in my muscles.

  “Much better. As I am sure you can tell, my gift has its advantages. I hope you don’t mind me having to render you unconscious.” He narrowed his eyes. “I assure you it was quite necessary. I couldn’t risk Sean hearing those thoughts of yours too soon.”

  “He’ll figure it out,” I said.

  “Yes, but seeing as you don’t know where we are, neither will he.” He lifted his brow, amused. “At least not in time to do anything.”

  His head was tilted low and forward, his grin matching the sardonic humor in his voice. But I knew Henry was only confirming what I already knew. I decided to speak while I had the chance, even if I knew the consequence.

  “Why are you doing this? You fight for the new order.”

  There was an incredulous tone in my question as well as in my thoughts. But that was a mistake, I found, when a new pain shot through my body once more, leaving me screaming in agony. The intensity was worse the second time. My hands were forced into fists while I closed my eyes, hearing the echo of my screams. I could feel the locket around my neck with each violent thrash. Even above my shirt it felt heavy upon my chest at each uncontrolled drop.

  “Please do not interrupt me, Emma,” Henry said.

  I could feel the wear on my body after the second shock ended. Henry only smiled as I sat up with more effort, leaning back against the wall behind me for support. He watched me as if I were a caged animal as he paced across the floor with a graceful glide.

  “My love was taken away from me and I wanted a reason why. Why now after centuries together?” Henry shook his head at the rhetorical question before his eyes focused down on me. “Then I saw you covered in her blood. Your mortal face was so vulnerable, and suddenly it was clear.”

  I hadn’t noticed until now that he had stopped pacing. All I could see was the way his eyes pierced me like lasers that intended to cut. My chest rose and fell with the rapidness of my short breaths. It felt as if the fear had become a boa constrictor, wrapping around my lungs and cutting off the oxygen. Suddenly, his eyes left me and he began to pace again.

  “After five hundred years, it’s taken this to show me my true immortal path.”

  His eyes shifted back to mine with his eyebrows arched. His shoulders lightly shrugged as if to say, who knew?

  “It’s up to me to make sure your kind is never with an immortal. To make sure humans know their place,” he said.

  I knew it was stupid, but I couldn’t help voicing my opinion in this winless fight. I wouldn’t be me if didn’t. I wasn’t going to go out as a coward. I also wasn’t going to go out without trying to bring back an ally and friend of the Alexanders.

  “You know Katherine wouldn’t want you to become like this. Think of Charlie and Jane. And what about Marius?” I said.

  My breath was finally even again thanks to his speech giving me time to recover.

  “You do not know what she wants, human! You can’t ask her because they killed her! But we should have let them kill you!”

  His words screamed with the livid pain in his voice. I didn’t have the time to contemplate anything before a new agony rushed in my body in several waves, gaining extremity with each thrash. I tried to stop myself from screaming, turning it into loud moans.

  Suddenly my breath was short and heavy, the throbbing had stopped. But it was merely a few seconds tease before I was thrown back into the pain. Each muscle felt as if it were desperately trying to tear away from my skin. I half-shrieked, almost clawing the cement before my fists clenched so tightly that my fingernails had begun to draw blood.

  When the pain finally stopped, I lay flat and unmoving from exhaustion. I could see, as well as feel, the blood flowing in my palms. My entire body was left weak and throbbing like a fierce jackhammer from the inside. Henry came to squat near my left side, grinning with excitement at his examination. I deserved this treatment in his eyes.

  “Don’t worry, I’ll kill you eventually. It’s how your kind will learn,” he said. He crooked his lips, remembering it was rare that I even knew of immortals. He found hum
or in his words. “Well, it’s how our kind will learn.”

  His voice was so low and steady that it came across more terrifying than his yelling. It was hard to fight just how tired my body was. Each muscle was barely able to function with my control. I closed my eyes with little relief.

  “You know, Emma, I’m actually doing Liam a favor here,” he said.

  At the mention of Liam’s name, my eyes flashed open to see Henry had leaned closer to my view.

  “I’ll be sure he writes you a thank you card,” I said.

  From the moment he stood, more pain shot through me like a lightning bolt, leaving my throat drained. I thrashed and moaned for any peace that would lift me up and set me down into Liam’s arms.

  The fire grew directly underneath my skin. I was causing my lip to bleed from biting down to prevent my screams. I could feel the clammy moisture begin to swarm my skin with heat as my heart beat unevenly fast beneath my chest. Any moment it felt as if it might burst from its own exhaustion.

  The only way I kept my sanity was keeping Liam with me in my thoughts. I went through all the memories of our time together, all the vividly beautiful memories of his face. Maybe it was my mind’s way of letting my life with him flash before me in the moment before death. I heard that was what was supposed to happen. And even though I found myself closer to death, his face gave me comfort and less fear.

  I thought about the familiar lines from Shakespeare. Our course had taken me into this inevitable end, much as Juliet had led Romeo to his. Of course, if I had listened to Sean I would be in my bedroom possibly reading that very play. Nevertheless, I would not even consider the alternative without Liam. Whether or not this course led me to my death did not matter. Imagining life without Liam was imagining life without breathing. It wasn’t possible.

  I was glad I did not listen because I do not regret one minute of being with Liam. The time with him had been like a heaven I never knew existed. It only seemed right that I accept dying if it meant that I could keep the time I spent with him. I knew from the beginning that Liam and I had an expiration date. It was now time to wake from this blissful dream that I had called life. I was ready for death.

  “Just kill me already,” I said.

  Even though I longed to touch and kiss Liam one last time, I welcomed death because it would be peaceful, it would be easy. Henry began laughing just before I screamed in a new wave of agony. The images of my time with Liam played on a loop, as if controlled by a film projector. The pain stopped.

  “Ready are we?” he said.

  I hated the charade and wished he would simply act soon. My thoughts went to Sean. I hoped he would be okay with my death. I was comforted by the thought that he had Grace now in his life. Her presence would make this easier. Wetness in my tear ducts began to leak out involuntarily though I wished to push them back inside. I was losing control. Death was gaining on me.

  My mind shifted to every unforgettable memory with my best friend, my hero, and my big brother. I hoped wherever I was going let me keep a piece of Sean.

  With my head now unable to move, I shifted my eyes to find Henry’s alluring bright blue, something I wished I could avoid. I would hate to have his eyes be my last sight on this earth. I would hate to give him the satisfaction of watching the final minutes of my life.

  As I attempted to close my eyes, my exhale was cut off by pain coursing through every nerve, jolting me with shocks. I couldn’t control the dry screams any more than I could the limp muscles that felt as if acid was melting them off. I knew death was only seconds away, but the torture continued with his whisper.

  “You know, as much as I’m ready to watch the little light leave your eyes, I can’t resist the temptation to try the blood that runs through your veins.”

  I had no control over my heavy breathing. I could only lie limp as Henry’s swift motion lifted my torso upward. Suddenly I felt the sting of his teeth piercing my skin. I screamed, each breath growing weaker. My eyes began to droop as a new ferocious sound echoed through the room.

  At his released hold, my head fell back toward the cement. I had no control over my arms even though I begged for their support. My eyes were barely open as I squinted in expectation of the hard fall. But when I found myself horizontal, it was on a soft, cushioned landing.

  “Emma, can you hear me?” a voice said.

  My hearing had already grown dimmer at the sounds around me, but that was one voice I would always know.

  “Liam?”

  I heard silence that pierced me.

  “Emma? I’m here.”

  There he was. I could hear him because he was close to my ear. His voice was strained, far from his normally calm softness, but still heavenly to hear, like a distressed angel’s. I tried to focus and keep my eyes open, as he lifted his face inches from mine. He held me in a worried and anxious gaze. The green in his eyes was magnified with the wetness he tried to keep back. What a beautiful sight to see as my last. I was happy to go now.

  “I’m sorry,” I said.

  I was eager to smooth his furrowed brow with my touch. It brought me more pain to see him in this state than the actual physical drain on my body. I was sorry that I could go so peacefully while he was forced to watch this. It wasn’t fair.

  “There is nothing to be sorry for, love. This is my fault.”

  The wetness in my eye felt heavy. No, I thought.

  “I love you,” I said faintly.

  I felt the warmth of his hand on the left side of my face as he pulled his face forward. His lips met mine, and with my very last strength I clung to him for a few seconds.

  “I loved you long before I met you, and I will love you long after you are gone,” Liam said.

  I felt the small grin on my lips as my eyes began to close involuntarily. It was the last of what my senses would let me feel. My body began to succumb to a heavy sleep I found hard to resist.

  26. Death's Point of View

  Like the dropping of a theater curtain, my eyes shut with finality before my mind drifted into a new black abyss. Death was here. Death was lonely. Though it seemed useless, I couldn’t help calling for him.

  Liam?

  I prayed, hoping that was the right thing to do, for any sign, any glimpse, even the slightest warmth. And just when my hope began to fade, faint voices grew louder in my mind. I felt like a blind mouse in a cage. Then just as the voices became audible, the darkness finally lifted. Everything was as vivid as a dream. I found myself lying on the floor, unmoving, Mary kneeling beside me. Liam was on my other side, merely inches from my own face. Though I had hoped for one more glimpse of him, I realized this seemed crueler. What kind of heaven showed me my own death?

  But my attention was soon caught by the action in the corner. Lillian, William, and Sean had trapped Henry. They stood in a triangle, allowing him no escape. Just their mere bright glances seemed to convey the plan of their coordinated attack.

  I was curious as to why Henry refused to use his own power until I focused on Lillian. It seemed there was something else about her gift that I hadn’t realized. She was projecting the invisible shield out toward Sean and William. It didn’t render them invisible but still protected the three of them from Henry’s torture. But that part of her gift took every ounce of her concentration. She was dependent on Sean and William as much as they were on her. Henry knew that.

  He made a sudden angered leap toward Lillian, breaking her focus but missing her throat. I had expected William’s protective leap but watched as Sean anticipated Henry’s thought and jumped, knocking him onto the floor.

  Lillian disappeared from view before Henry’s grimace shifted back up to Sean. I hoped to catch a glimmer of light or sliver of movement, but saw nothing to suggest where she once stood.

  “Henry, we’re giving you a chance because you are our friend. Please.” William said.

  Henry’s gaze stilled as he stood back to his full height in front of Sean. He finally tilted his head before his eyes shifted back to
William, contemplating his words. Sean quickly glanced back toward where my body lay before focusing again on Henry.

  I couldn’t look away from Henry, because looking into his bright blue gaze I found the same someone that had taken him over in the mansion. It was no longer the same Henry who had introduced us to his family, no longer the Henry that played the immortal games so lightheartedly with the Alexanders. That Henry was gone.

  “Don’t you see what a burden she is to you?” he said. His chin followed his narrowed gaze to Sean. “Especially you.”

  It took only a second for Sean’s thoughts to be distracted and for Henry to take advantage. He pushed past Sean with one quick leap toward William. But if Henry made any mistake, it was in underestimating my brother. Sean’s reflexes had moved, knocking Henry sideways into the wall and pinning him with a vehement force. William was quick to pivot to hold Henry’s other side before he glanced up toward an empty space with a nod. It didn’t take me long to figure out that space was occupied by Lillian.

  Henry shook his head to regain his focus, forcing William down to the ground with the seizing pain I remembered so well. Just as I wished for Sean to move, Henry’s body was forced back into the wall with an invisible hold. But it wasn’t Lillian who held him, it was Liam. I turned back to see he had left Mary and me to join the others. If Henry was going out with a fight, he was going to have to take down all of them, including Liam.

  Of course, the loud snap brought me back to Henry, where I also found Lillian reappearing directly in front of his newly limp body. She had broken his neck and now swiftly threw her body in the air like an aerobatic gymnast, landing across the room in a perfect ten. Her determination told me that time was of the essence here.