I shook my head.
“Didn’t it ever occur to you that it might actually have something to do with you?”
“No. Why should it? I’m just an ordinary girl,” I cried.
He laughed. “You’re so naïve. You’re not ordinary in any way. You’re extraordinary in every way. Don’t you get it? It was because of you. They moved around so much because you were the threat. There are a lot of people that want you dead. People who’ve sought you out from the minute you were born. You’ve been hunted nearly all your life. Your parents could never keep you in the same place for too long in case you were found. It had nothing to do with Daddy’s job. It was all because of you.”
I shook my head, denying the words.
“No, it’s not true. You’re twisting everything. They love me, and if that was the case they would have told me.”
“They’re scared of you, Rose. Your sister despises you. You’ve brought her nothing but misery because you’ve ruined her life. She didn’t have a normal, loving family home like ordinary folk. You took precedent above everything else, you stole her childhood and she hates you for it.”
“No, you’re wrong.”
“Am I? How many times has she called you? How many times has she written that she misses her little sister?” he leaned his head down onto the chair back.
“Why are you doing this?” I choked. Tears stung at my eyes, my chin was quivering as I looked back at him.
“Because you need to know the truth from someone who wants what’s best for you.”
“You think this is best for me? Trying to turn my family against me?”
“Your parents lied to you. This whole thing was a set up, a conspiracy arranged by your family, with Daisy’s help, to get you here. And all of your friends, including Mira and Morgan were told to keep the truth from you. They all know about your abilities, Rose. What you can do. What you’re going to become.”
“Become?”
“You haven’t worked it out yet?” Aiden laughed.
Morgan strained at his gag and tried to yell something incomprehensible.
Aiden continued. “You were born prematurely by four weeks, roughly. Which would make your proper sixteenth birthday on the 23rd of August, which is ten days from now. In ten days you’re going to become Halíka Dacomé, the first Primord Elemental with the longest bloodline in the world, the oldest bloodline in our human history. She was the first ‘Homo Sapien’, the Matriarchal Eve. That makes you very special.”
“You’re insane!” I shook my head uncomprehending. “What are you going on about?”
“Shall I start from the beginning?”
I huffed. “Do the short version.”
“Okay, the short version,” he leaned forward on his elbows, closer to me. “Halíka Dacomé was brought up to be a warrior, and she led the fiercest and largest armies of the planet. She was feared, revered and no one could match her in battle. Her father was the leading Primord Elemental or ‘King’ as we would call him. They were called Primord Elementals because the royal bloodlines had abilities, whereas ordinary folk, plain and normal Primords didn’t.
Anyway, his rule was threatened and then lost to a younger usurper who claimed the throne. So Halíka Dacomé conspired with three other royals, each from the neighbouring lands, to take back the throne for her father. One of those conspirators was Nerído Xipilé, her lover. Theirs was a forbidden, heart-wrenching, bone-aching to-die-for, love. But unbeknown to Halíka Dacomé, her father had only given up his kingship because he had promised her hand in marriage to the new king in exchange for his own freedom. Halíka Dacomés own father betrayed her for his own selfish means. He would give up the crown but the bloodline would carry on through her.
On hearing this marriage arrangement, Halíka Dacomé married Nerído Xipilé in secret before the new king, the usurper, had a chance to claim her hand. Afterwards, the two and their royal friends, Sanatu Batavé, and Avíra Maloké conspired for days on how to depose the new king and claim back the throne for Halíka Dacomés father, even though he’d treated her despicably.
Halíka Dacomé and her trusted allies were within one day of attacking with armies so large and so staggering that the usurper would have been toppled in a second.
But on the night before the attack Halíka Dacomé was followed home to her secret hiding place by one of the new kings spy’s. He overheard their plans and reported it back to the new king. Once the plans for war against him were uncovered, the king scuttled it in the nick of time and tortured her father.
As their punishment for the threatened coup, all four royals were cast into prison until a suitable place was found for their exile. Royals can’t be executed like common folk, so for a year and a day they waited, all alone, all separated, until the news came through.
A place had been discovered and it was ideal for their incarceration.
Earth, 200,000 years ago was a very different place. It was mostly forest or ice, but on the barren plains the environment was harsh and almost devoid of humans at that time.
All four Primord Elementals were sent to Earth with a mission, their penance. They must advance the civilisation of humankind; prepare it for the time when the rest of the Primords would need it. The four planets were overcrowded and short of space and people lived longer, up to two hundred years of age. Soon the time would come when they would need to expand, and move to another planet. But the new planet needed to be ready for them.
After the four Primord Elementals landed on Earth they scattered, for their own safety. The continents of our world were much the same then as they are now. One went to the Americas, one went to the Orient, one went to the Southern Hemisphere, and last one went to the Northern Hemisphere.”
Aiden paused, and I stared at him in disbelief.
“This is a very interesting story, does it have a point?” I squeezed my sarcasm through my teeth.
“I’ll continue. The Primord Elementals didn’t meet again for some time. Many years past, hundreds, thousands even.
Halíka Dacomé still felt her love for Nerído Xipilé, like a pulling of her ropes. Even when the most basic instinct, to keep the bloodline alive, meant she had to breed with the hominids that she deemed to be subhuman to her.
When she was thirty she began feel her powers wane. The affects of our Earth, our oxygen and environment on her own body was making her age quicker. While she was young it was almost impossible for her to die. She grew older, and she knew her life was ending. But before that day came, she saw her own abilities develop in her first granddaughter. It was the origination of the mitochondrial path, in other words, her gift travelled down the female line but it always skipped a generation.
To keep the granddaughter safe from harm, she removed her from the nomadic tribe they lived with, and began teaching her everything she could about their power. Halíka Dacomé held on to life for as long as she could and at sixteen the granddaughter gained the full power. Soon after that Halíka Dacomé perished. But, thanks to the blood Halíka Dacomé was reborn again in her granddaughter. The granddaughter found that she could speak to her grandmother as if she was standing by her side. Then, when the time came and the granddaughter became a grandmother, the same thing happened. Each time the power grew, and each time it was stronger. Halíka Dacomé was the First of the human race as we know it.”
“So let me get this straight. You’re saying that Daisy is Halíka Dacomé and I’m going to become Halíka Dacomé too.” I spluttered a laugh. “You’re seriously deranged.”
Aiden stared at me closely then stood, shoving the chair away.
“Rose, I want you to show you something,” he drew up his sleeve and I froze. A long spurt of fire, thick yellow and red flames came from his fingers. The flames hit the ground, scorching the floor before he dragged it back into his body.
I choked at the spontaneous fire. I knew there was something about him, his essence, and his lack of body vibration had never been normal.
I think I
understood now. We were the same.
“Inside me, I’m Nerído Xipilé, and I have known it since I was a child,” he sat again and leaned forward but with his head facing the floor. “I’ve been alone with this secret, with these abilities all my life. I’ve had no one to share it with, and no one to understand my fears and doubts. My grandfather trained me with what I needed to know, but he was never a loving man.”
“Have you a bracelet?” I said softly, slowly understanding Aiden for who he was. Aiden lifted his left sleeve exposing a saltire cross in silver, the cross similar to the flag emblem of Scotland. He twisted his arm over so I could see his wrist, the two pronged bar stuck in his skin as mine did.
“This is the mark of my race, the Xipilé bloodline, as yours is the mark of the Dacomé bloodline.”
“Why didn’t you tell me this before?”
He sighed. “I wanted to but they wouldn’t let me. Daisy and the others kept saying you weren’t ready. But I knew you were,” he smiled genuinely.
“I am ready. Somehow I’ve always known about this. It all makes sense now. Thank you,” I smiled. “Can you let me go now?”
He laughed. “Sure.” He knelt and undid my feet, and then behind me he undid the ties on my hands. I glanced quickly to Morgan, his face full of tears. Having to watch what he just had must have been so painful for him. My deception must have been so much to bear.
Aiden walked in front and helped me to my feet. I stood, checking my wrists and quickly healed the welts on my ankles from the ties. I felt strong again.
“Rose, if I upset you I’m sorry,” Aiden offered.
With one bound I swiped the back of my hand across his face so hard that he staggered, and then fell to the floor. I kicked his stomach and punched his nose where he lay.
With one foot pressing on his chest, I kept him down; my hard stare surprised him more than the punch.
“Thank you for the story, Aiden. It was most enlightening. But there’s one thing you forgot. I am not Halíka Dacomé, my name is Rose Frost, and you and I will never be the same.”
He tried to push my foot away but I shoved it down harder on his chest.
“Stay down while I speak. If I am the First, then you are not. That means I’m older, I’m stronger and I will always be better than you. One thing you didn’t realise? I am loved. Even if my family deceived me, they did it out of love. And even if my friends betrayed me, well they like me too. All I see in you is a little boy who couldn’t control his temper. So don’t ever think we’re the same. You had it all, a stable home life and a loving family and you lost it. It doesn’t mean that you take it out on other people, or on other children. You followed all of Ben Deverill’s instructions even though you did more harm than good. Why? Because you’re scared of him? You should have done better than that. You’re a Royal Primord. Do you know what? I feel sorry for you.”
He spat blood from his mouth before he could speak. “Rose, you don’t understand. I expect nothing from you, so think what you want of me. It doesn’t change anything, but you must know. He has Daisy, and he’s going to kill her.”
I stepped harder on his chest, and he yelled in pain.
“Where is she?” I yelled.
“You won’t be able to get near her without my help. I’ve been waiting for you all my life so that we can fight him. I couldn’t do it on my own, you must believe me.
“Where is Daisy?”
“I want to save her as much as you do.”
“Really? So where did this newly found empathy spring from?”
“Henry Cole. It was me that freed him.”
That caught me off guard.
“Get up,” I hissed through my teeth and lifted my foot from his chest.
Aiden pushed himself up gingerly, but his face was a bloody mess. I felt ashamed, but my anger was bigger, like an angry fire burning away inside.
He stood up but his shoulders bowed over and he grimaced as his arm went to his chest.
“Aiden, I didn’t hit you that hard.”
He breathed uneasily. “It’s not what you did. It’s what he did to me.”
“What did he do?” I said slowly.
“Help me lift my top off and I’ll show you. Maybe then you’ll believe me that I’m on your side,” his eyebrows puckered with his pain.
“Okay. Sit,” I ordered, and dragged the chair for him to rest. He leaned forward resting his elbows on his knees. His lightweight black sweater was glistening on the surface, and I smoothed a hand over the soft fabric along a small part of his back. When I looked again my hand was red, and this was blood.
“Oh my god, Aiden. What’s he done?” I spluttered as I lifted the bottom hem of his sweater gently up his back and over his head. I dropped it to the floor and he leaned back against the chair.
I sank back into my seat in anguish as I looked at the bloody mess that had been Aiden’s torso. I recalled the night of the fire when my glance had remained on his skin, and his chest, admiring his body.
Now the ribbons of skin were excruciating to look at. There were hundreds of gashes and deep wounds, all about twelve centimetres long but no more then a few centimetres between each welt. I had never been so appalled in my life.
I sucked in air through my teeth. “This is what he did because you let Henry go?”
“Yes. This is his way of telling me that he won’t forgive or trust me again.”
“Did he do it himself?”
He nodded “He used a whip with wire points on each end. He only stopped when there was no more skin to harm.”
“Why didn’t you come to me?” I cried in anguish. “You know what I can do. I could have healed you.”
His hands went to his face, hiding painful tears.
“I went to your house, but the security wouldn’t let me in. They said that neither you nor Daisy was at home. I found out from Lucie, who told my grandfather, that you had plans for the tunnels. I knew I had to get to you before you reached him so I waited. As soon as I sensed your gift, I pulled at it hoping you would come. I was afraid you’d run away from me.”
“I felt you tug, but I was too tired by then.”
“I know.”
As Aiden sat his pain was obvious. How he had masked it before I could only put down to an adrenaline rush, his body would naturally have numbed any discomfort.
“Why do certain people want me dead? What have I ever done to them?”
He spoke slowly. “Once you and Daisy are gone, the Dacomé line will be ended. Then I will be next. Once we’re dead he will store our blood and try to return home. You see, since our ancestors left, the planets where we originally came from are in turmoil. We are the first and last of our own people. He needs the three crystals to capture our blood and at the moment he can’t find them, but once he does, he’ll be gone. But he plans something else before he leaves.”
“Such as?”
“A Rapture.”
“A what?”
“Like from the Bible. When the end of days comes, those who are devout will just disappear up to the kingdom of heaven.”
“But we’re not talking of a Bible Rapture, are we?”
“No, he’s going to kill everyone on this planet, and reduce the human race to dust. There will be no one to stop him. You are the only one that can.”
I leaned back, trying to take in the words. Ben Deverill wanted to bring on Armageddon and wipe out the entire human race. The thought was too much to bear. This was bigger than me, bigger than anything I had ever heard. Everyone I had ever known would be killed. Billions of innocent lives would be ended, on the whim of a mad man, a genocide maniac.
“But why would he want to do that?”
Aiden chuckled. “This is the crazy bit. He wants to bring the Primords here. Our world would be nicely prepared for them.”
“He’s planning to bring ‘aliens’ here?”
“Yes.”
I gawped at the insanity of the notion.
“Then we have to stop him ge
tting those crystals,” I admitted.
He nodded in affirmation. “Yes, we do.”
A shiver caught me unaware as I thought. The surrounding air was suddenly colder than before. Things had to be thought of in perspective right now. I couldn’t think too far ahead. I had to focus on here and now. Our priorities were finding Daisy and recovering the crystals.
As Ben Deverill hadn’t found the crystals we still had a chance. Although the ‘we’ part seemed to be moving boundaries. Now ‘we’ was Aiden and I, whereas before it would have been Morgan and our friends.
My head was spinning from the intake of all this new information and I shook my head to gain some clarity.
“Aiden, where’s Graham Portway?” I said with sternness.
“He’s with Daisy, I think. I tried to move him from the holding cell and get him out but I was caught, as you can see.”
“This is all my fault. I should never have come to Warminster. Ever since I’ve been here things have just gone bad,” I whispered as I hung my head.
“No, Rose. I needed you here. We all do. You’re the only hope we have left. He’s killed hundreds of people already, and paid off more to keep quiet about it. He needs to be stopped.”
Morgan yelled behind his gag, and I knew he wasn’t enjoying what he saw. Morgan had no place in any of this anymore. If Ben Deverill had Daisy captive, only Aiden and I could find her.
“What about the other missing people? Are they still alive?”
“Not any more. The rest are gone, dead.”
I cursed out loud.
“Aiden, there’s one thing I can do for you now, but I have to get him back,” I nodded to Morgan.
“What?”
“Stand up.”
As Aiden stood, I threw one last punch and it made him unconscious instantly. I wasn’t proud of it, I probably shouldn’t have done it, but I needed to get Morgan away.
Aiden fell down on his side, his legs jerked up after his fall.
“Spencer!” I yelled.
Running steps echoed through the tunnel as Spencer approached. He ran to Aiden’s side, but didn’t touch his friend.
“What have you done?” Spencer charged at me, vengeance was rife across his face
Elemental: The First Page 27