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I almost wished that Shelly had been a vampire. I could’ve talked to her, comforted her in that moment, but she wasn’t. She was just a human who didn’t have any special power, but it was a good thing that Shelly was a human. Life was simple for her.
I felt her heart slowing… thump… thump… she closed her eyes and fell. Her heart had stopped. Lucan let go, confused, and Shelly’s body really did fall to the ground.
“She’s dead,” he muttered, stricken. “But…”
Kates had been silent the entire time. She gasped now, “It’s not her. She’s not the Immortal, but—”
I could still hear from Shelly’s body, but I couldn’t see anything anymore. I didn’t want to stay inside of her and then I heard Kates again. “Lucan, what do we do?” Panic trembled just on the tip of her tongue, but I wondered where that had come from. Kates never panicked. I left Shelly and found Kates easily.
‘It can’t be, but I wonder… it can’t be,’ Kates thought. I caught an image of myself and knew my nolstage was connecting dots faster than I was comfortable with.
‘You can’t, there’s no way. You never could before…’
Kates knew I’d been on the roof with Talia. She’d known that Talia was the Immortal.
‘She’s the empath that was cozying up with the Hunter.’
Kates had been surprised when I’d shown up at the Shoilster with Roane… now it was starting to make sense.
‘She’s the Immortal.’ Kates cursed to herself.
I slipped out of Kates before I felt whatever she was feeling now. I shouldn’t have. I should’ve stayed inside of her because I knew my nolstage had power over Lucan—therefore over my livelihood, but I was a coward. I drew in another shuddering breath as I opened my own eyes and stared at the same door. I lifted a hand and tentatively touched the wood with my palm. It was so sturdy, but just on the other side… everything was barely hanging in the balance.
‘Your lover died.’
I pressed a knuckled fist against my mouth. Talia and Roane had been lovers. He had loved her. I remembered the stricken expression in Roane’s eyes as Lucan had said those words. It had been pure love, the kind that was meant for the rest of a lifetime. He had loved someone else like that… and me… I realized that there had been nothing between us.
My stomach turned over suddenly. I could’ve thrown up in that moment. I glanced downwards, distantly, as I looked at my stomach. Roane was drawn to the Immortal inside of me. A part of Talia was inside of me. He was drawn to her. He needed her—not me. I was just the body.
‘Davy,’ Roane called to me with his thoughts.
I jerked my head to the side. I didn’t want to talk to him, not at that moment, but it was irrational. I didn’t want to deal with what was really happening on the other side of that door. He had no obligation to me. We’d only… we’d only been together one time.
Just once.
That was it. Right? There had been no words of affection, no… no nothing. He had loved her. How was I supposed to compete with that? I couldn’t. The answer was so bleak to me, but still….
‘Davy!’ Roane was more urgent this time. ‘Davy, you need to get out of here. There’s a hallway that goes down. Follow it, keep going. You’ll pass the fountain below us. Keep going. You need to get out of here, away from Lucan. He knows it’s not Shelly. It’s only a matter of time before he figures it out. He’s already looking at the door. You have to hurry.’
It hurt to even hear his voice. ‘Kates knows. She figured it out.’
There was a pause. ‘Yeah. I can see that. You have to hurry, Davy. The tunnel will go all the way to the mansion. It should be safe by the time you get there. Find Gregory.’
I was supposed to run. My childhood best friend, my vampire—I didn’t know what to call Roane—and so many others were in the room behind me. Shelly was dead. I knew I wouldn’t die. I was the Immortal and I had a strong feeling the thread wasn’t going to jump to anyone else—if it did then I was dead anyway.
I was stuck.
Run, not run, hide, not hide. What could I do? I knew what I wanted to do. I always ran. I pressed sweating palms to my pants and tried to wipe them off. I turned, faltering, and stared at where Roane urged me to go. The tunnel was dark, but it didn’t seem ominous. The room behind me was too ominous, but the sound of the water calmed me slightly. It ran through the wall beside my ear. Before I knew what I was doing, my foot had stretched outwards and I found myself slowly passing through the darkness.
I kept going and the water grew louder.
The tunnel dipped forward. I felt gravity on my body and knew I was heading downwards.
I took a harsh breath and clasped my eyes tightly together. I needed to be honest with myself. I was escaping. It wasn’t because Roane told me to go. He loved someone else, someone that was inside of me now. That hurt—it seared deep down, almost too far for my empathic abilities to comprehend. Well, that’s not true. I could comprehend it, I just didn’t want to. I wanted to run from it. He was behind me. Kates was in that room. She had the knowledge to change my life forever. She knew I was the Immortal. I could be hunted if Lucan found out who I was.
I stopped in the tunnel and drew in a ragged breath.
I could go back, but to what? Why? Lucan wanted my powers. He couldn’t have them. I knew that no matter the odds, Roane would best his brother. What was I afraid of? I could run… there was no danger.
