~~~
CHAPTER
THREE
Livia paced across the porch of the little beach cottage. She’d flown half way around the world on the spur of the moment to come here and now she lacked the courage to knock on the door.
My father would die of shame if he could see me now. Afraid of a mortal.
But Livia was determined to find the answers. She was desperate for some clue that would give her direction. If this woman somehow knew of her past, she needed find out. Without another moment’s hesitation, Livia raised her fist and knocked on the acid green door.
“Livia, I’ve been expecting you,” Lily Carmichael said as she opened the door.
For the first time in all of her two hundred years, Livia was at a complete loss for words. This insignificant mortal woman couldn’t possibly have known she was coming.
Maybe this isn’t a wild goose chase after all. She gave Lily a nod and stepped into the warmth of her shabby chic home along the Rona Bay. It felt like a real home. Friendly and inviting. Nothing at all like the home Livia grew up in.
“Did my mother call you?” Livia asked. That was the only plausible explanation.
“No, but I’ve been expecting you to show up for a while now. Come in, we have much to discuss.” Lily guided her to the back of the old house to a small study filled to bursting with books on archeology and anthropology. “I imagine you’re quite confused,” Lily said as she went about making tea at the small bar in the corner of the office. “Have a seat.”
“I don’t understand.” Livia sank into the old leather armchair opposite the ancient oak desk. “How did you know I would be here?” Livia let her normal harsh and demanding tone return to her voice. Livia lived a hard life and was no stranger to dangerous situations with other Immortals. If this were some kind of trap, she would come out on top. Of that she was certain.
“Relax. I imagine your mother told you where to find me, yes?” Lily placed a steaming hot cup of Earl Grey in front of her as she took her seat behind the desk. “
“You couldn’t possibly know my mother.” Porcia was so rarely allowed to venture outside of the mansion she shared with Livia’s father, there was simply no way Lily was old enough to have ever met her.
“No, I’ve never met the woman who raised you. But I’ve known other members of your biological family. They were good people.”
“Biological family?” Livia shook her head, taking an absent sip of her tea. “That’s not possible.” Natural born Immortals were rare. She was adopted just like most of her kind was. Then why do I remember another life? Another family? Isn’t that why I’m here? The memories were vague and she was never truly certain if they were memories or dreams of a life she only wished she had. But the memories were getting stronger and she could no longer overlook them.
“I never knew your biological parents,” Lily said. “But you are a natural born, Livia. You have an aunt who was there the day you were taken from your family. You were barely four years old and it was more than two hundred years ago. Of course you wouldn’t remember.”
“How is it that a mortal woman knows of the Immortal world?” Livia raised her brown in suspicion.
“I knew an Immortal woman many years ago. She helped me through a tough time and in the process, I discovered her secret. Since then, her family has remained close to me and mine. She was your aunt.”
“If what you say is true, then where is she?”
“I haven’t seen nor heard from her in twenty years,” Lily said as she stood and crossed to the mirror on the wall. She moved it aside to reveal a safe in the wall. A moment later, she produced a velvet lined jewelry box. “This belonged to your aunt, Sophia—although I believe she was once known as the poet, Sappho. I was told you would seek me out some day and she always wanted you to have this.”
The woman was lying. And doing a good job of it because most of what she said seemed to hold a grain of truth. Which begged the question, how much could she trust Lily Carmichael if she was only getting half-truths? Livia opened the box to find an heirloom necklace. The teardrop pendant was made of pewter with stones as black as night. She’d seen it before—or one like it. The woman she saw in her memories wore such a necklace.
“Why did my mother send me to you?” Livia snapped the box closed, her heart thudding in her chest.
“I believe your mother, Porcia, was once close with your natural grandmother. I imagine your grandmother knew you would need answers some day so she told your mother where I could be found,” Lily said, as if she were talking about a matter as simple as the weather.
“What does it all mean? The memories of the woman who wore this necklace?”
“It’s not a complicated thing, dear. They are your family. Your blood. They lost you in an incredible tradgedy. They mourned for you—probably still do—wherever they are now.”
“What am I supposed to do with that?”
“Well … you can be thankful that you had a loving family who missed you when you were taken from them. You can let it stay in the past and move forward with the family you’ve always known. Or you can find them and get difinitive answers to the question of your past. Find out once and for all what happened the night Marcus Servius took you from your home. And why.”
“You think he took me from my natural family for some nefarious reason?”
“You work for your father, don’t you?” Lily asked.
“Yes.”
“Then ask yourself if maybe you were the first of many?”
If there was one thing Marcus liked, it was to recruit the best and brightest young Immortals to his cause. He wasn’t above using force to collect someone he wanted. Was Lily right? Was Livia his first? And if she was, did she owe him anything?
~~~
CHAPTER
FOUR
Livia shut the acid green door behind her, taking an absent step across the porch. If anything, this trip had only confused her even more.
Or confirmed my deepest fears.
Anger swelled inside her. She came here for answers and was leaving with even more questions. Hate for her father ignited her anger. If he’d taken her from a loving family, what kind of life had he robbed her of? Who would she be if she’d never known Marcus Servius?
As Livia walked down the narrow street to her rental car, she stopped and turned to see a car quickly retreating. The girl inside was Immortal. Young and powerful, just on the cusp of her Awakening. She would likely be one of the strongest of her generation. Exactly the kind of Immortal it was Livia’s job to collect. Her father would want this girl.
On any other day, Livia would have gone after her, but there was something about her—something she’d seen in the brief moment their eyes met. The girl was trouble.
Will you become the woman your father has created, or will your roots be strong enough to set you on the right path? It is up to you, but you must make a decision soon. The errant thought felt just like her forgotten memories.
“Perhaps another time,” she muttered as she slipped into the driver’s seat and headed back to the airport.
~~~
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Keep reading for Emerge: The Captive (Book 3)
A moment of distraction has cost him his freedom but
Quinnton Loukas has a dangerous secret
Held as a captive of the Immortal organization, known as Soma, if his secret is discovered it will be used against him. From the moment of his Awakening, Quinn has struggled with an add
iction to his power. The rigid self-control that has kept his addiction at bay is now in the hands of another. If Livia discovers what he is capable of, she will drive him to become the monster he fears is lurking deep inside his soul. His only hope is to escape before she has that chance. But there are others at Soma. Those he’s grown to care for and refuses to leave behind.
Thousands of miles away in India, Sasha blames herself for the capture of the boy she’s loved nearly all her life. As she and her family work to find a way to bring Quinn home, Sasha is caught up on a journey of her own that will take her far from everything she ever thought she wanted. Drafted by the Senate into a brutal training program, Sasha begins to discover who she truly is and how little control she has over her own destiny.
Sasha and Quinn have always shared a special bond, but with their lives moving in opposite directions can they ever go back to the way they were?
Or is there something much more complicated about the future of their relationship?
EMERGE
The Captive
Immortals of Indriell Book 3
Melissa A. Craven
Midnight Hour Studio
Atlanta
EMERGE: The Captive
Copyright © August 28, 2017
By: Melissa A. Craven
Midnight Hour Studio INC
Atlanta, Georgia
All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
For more information contact: [email protected] or visit the author’s website at Melissaacraven.com
Cover design by: Zoe Shtorm
Edited by: Chase Night of Story Taming
and Robin Schroffel
Interior design by: [email protected]
ASIN: B072M5373Y eBook
ISBN 978-1975788933 Paperback
First edition for print April 1, 2015
First Edition for Print by Midnight Hour Studio: August 28, 2017
Printed in the United States of America
DEDICATION
For my sister, Angela. My biggest fan—well, except for mom, she’s kind of stalkery.
Thanks for your unwavering support and for being my sounding-board
when my characters aren’t behaving.
“We have drunk Soma and become immortal; we have attained the light, the Gods discovered. Now what may foeman’s malice do to harm us? What, O Immortal, mortal man’s deception?”
—Rigveda 8.48.3
CHAPTER
ONE
Sasha: The Springtime Ball
Cleveland, Ohio
“You think Allie’s face will freeze like that?” Sasha cheered with the crowd for their reluctant queen of the Springtime Ball.
“Is she pissed or excited? I can’t tell which,” Quinn said as he wrapped his arms around Sasha’s waist.
“I’m going with sixty-percent pissed and forty-percent confused.” Sasha leaned back against him, enjoying his closeness. For however long it lasts this time. They could never seem to get on the same page in their rocky relationship, but she couldn’t imagine spending this night with anyone else. Even nearly a year after they ended their relationship … again.
“Our Allie is really not the prom queen sort, is she?” Quinn laughed.
“There’s something about those two together, though,” Sasha said as her brother and her best friend stepped onto the dance floor.
“You think they’ll ever figure it out?”
“They’ll get there.” Sasha smiled.
“Will we?” Quinn’s breath was warm against her ear and his clean, masculine scent of birch and tea tree sent her pulse racing the way it always did when he was close.
“Of course we will.” Sasha turned in his arms, the rush of all her old feelings coming back. Not that they’d ever really left. There was a time when she was convinced she would spend her life with her first love. Sometimes she still believed Quinn was her Complement and that the source of all their trouble was that they were just too young. Maybe they would be ready for it one day. She could wait.
“Dance with me?” Quinn asked, taking her hand in his.
They moved to the dance floor to join the crowd circling Allie and Aidan.
“Sometimes I wonder why we’re so good together when we’re not together,” Quinn said, wrapping his arm around her waist.
“And so terrible for each other when we are together?” She added.
“We’re ridiculous.” Quinn twirled her around and dipped her until the tips of her hair brushed the floor. His smile was brighter than she’d seen it in a long time.
“We should see a shrink.” She laughed, determined to enjoy the evening and not let their past drama spoil anything. “What made you ask me to the dance?” It was a risk. They’d both known going into this night that it would stir up a past probably best left buried.
“I made you a promise.”
“That was ages ago, Quinn. I was just thirteen.” She stared into his dark blue eyes, unable to believe he actually remembered a silly old promise from when they were kids.
“And seven feet tall with giant clown feet.” His laughter rumbled in his chest as he held her a little too closely. “So worried no one would ever ask you to the junior ball because you were head and shoulders above the rest of us.”
“Quinn Loukas, you take that back. I do not have big feet!”
“You grew into your height, Sasha. But you still have clown feet.”
“You know I’m armed, right?” She scowled at him.
“Ah, you know you’re gorgeous. Always have been.”
“I’m glad you kept your promise … and glad you finally got as tall as me.”
“Walk with me?” He pulled her toward the gardens, away from the glittering dance floor. “I could do with a little quiet and some fresh air.”
Sasha followed him through the double doors and into the chilly spring evening, wondering if her heart could handle it if they tried to go down that road again and failed.
“What are we doing, Sash?” Quinn sighed as they strolled along the winding pathway, avoiding the other couples seeking a quiet moment away from the revelry inside.
“Enjoying the ball. Let’s not make it more complicated than that.” Her heart wanted to gallop right over the cliff with him the way they always did, but her head cautioned her to take it slow. They’d hurt each other too many times to make the same mistakes again.
“The last thing I ever want is to hurt you. We suck at relationships, but ‘just friends’ … it’s not enough. I miss you, Sasha.”
“I miss you too. But I … won’t go through that again—not until we’re both ready to do it right. Let’s enjoy tonight and not make any promises we can’t keep.”
They were always so drawn to each other like moths to a flame, but at the same time, they clashed like opposites. The constant battle of their relationship was exhausting. They were better as friends, but he was right, it wasn’t enough.
“If tonight is all we have, then let’s make it worth it.” Quinn pulled her into the shadows, and the warmth of his cloaking gift enveloped them. In an instant they were wrapped up in their own little world, oblivious of anyone or anything going on around them.
When his lips found hers, it was like everything clicked into place and Sasha’s world made sense again—in the way it only did when they were together like this. But this was never their problem. This was the one thing they were good at.
His hands slid down to her waist, his touch so familiar and, as it so often was with him, a little bit dangerous. Something powerful and angry fu
eled his power … and his passion. With the vine-covered brick wall at her back, and the wall of Quinn’s chest pressing against her, Sasha rushed headlong into all those old feelings. The concerns, the hesitations, all the reasons they shouldn’t be doing this—she’d think about all those things tomorrow. But for this one night, she just wanted to focus on the boy she’d loved all her life. Consequences be damned.
“Sasha,” Quinn whispered, his lips trailing down her throat. “I love you. That has never changed and it’s the one thing you can always count on from me.”
“I know. And I love you too. That’s always been the easy part for us,” she said, letting her hands wander over his shoulders.
“Sasha! Quinn?” Aidan burst into the garden. “We’ve got company.” He whirled around, searching for them. “Where are you?”
“Here.” Quinn gave Sasha one last kiss and stepped away, letting the illusion of their invisibility fall away.
“What kind of company?” Sasha asked, smoothing her hands over her dress, glancing around for mortal ears.
“Coalition.” Aidan took off toward the edge of the gardens and through the gate leading into the alley. Quinn fell in right beside him as Sasha followed.
“I swear to God, you hurt my sister again and we’re done,” Aidan said.
Quinn nodded. He would take the threat seriously. It was just the kind of guy he was.
“How about you let me handle my own love life?” Sasha said. “We’ve got bigger things to worry about right now. What are we up against?”
Immortals of Indriell- The Collection Page 86