Balancer's Soul (19 page)

Jillian began the ancient story that Sarah
had been told as a child many centuries ago. “In a time long
forgotten, there were and still are three ancient and powerful
immortal races. The Keepers were the very first and they are better
known today as dragons. They are the keepers of knowledge and
ultimate power. The third race came to be aptly named Changers and
they have the ability to manipulate their physical bodies into
anything they need or want. The second race of immortals are we
Balancers, Connor.” Jillian pointed to herself and Sarah to
emphasize a point.

“Balancer’s have the ability to control the
elements of nature to do as we see fit. We are called Balancers
because everything needs some kind of balance within our world, but
especially with us.” Jillian answered Connor’s questioning
expression. “Think of it this way; if you’re cold, you look for a
place to get warm right? It’s your body’s way of regulating itself,
trying to find its ideal balance.” Connor nodded, understanding the
balance she simplified, but knew it was much more complex and
subtle. “Well, some of us are capable of taking the energy from our
surroundings and envelope ourselves in the heat to keep from
freezing to death.”

“I’m beginning to understand. Go
on.”
“He
wants to
know more? Why does he look so calm? Can he take our words so
easily as truth?”

“No more about that for now. I need to
continue the story.” Taking a needed breath Jillian went on by
saying “All Balancers are always born female and are immortal
themselves...”

Connor cut in quickly. “But! What about you
Jack? Aren’t you a Balancer? Aren’t you immortal?”

“Indeed I am, but let Jillian finish
son before you irritate her anymore.” Speaking ominously was one of
Jack’s strengths, but he smiled at the justice of interrupting
Jillian. That is something she excels at, but gets frustrated when
she is the one interrupted. Sarah could tell it was payback from
Jack to Jillian, for the
surprise
he received.

Squeezing her hand into his, Connor
understood to let Jillian finish because she is of the impatient
personality. She is almost like Connor’s little sister. Sometimes
it’s best to let them get what they need to say out of their
system.

“Yes, Connor, all Balancers are
only
born female. As such, we are
imbalanced. Our powers are severely limited… as you’ve already
noticed how the headaches manifest when she tries using her
abilities. Those are the physical ramifications and signs of an
imbalanced female. Our powers need to be balanced and since we are
all female there is only one way to find that perfect balance. We
need to find a male mate, to find an equilibrium within ourselves!
It is the only way to reach our true potential.

“Our mates must be smart, strong and be in
love with us for the right reasons. We don’t do one night stands.
When we find our mate, they too become immortal and they also gain
abilities of their own. Once mated, a female’s abilities become
stronger and the painful cost of using our skills become
nonexistent. As mates, we bring a harmonious balance to each other;
woman to man and man to woman. We are but two parts of a whole, as
it has always been. We are unable to read our mate’s mind, but we
can always sense their moods and where they are at at any given
time. We can find them just like a personal tracking beacon or a
GPS, but with better accuracy.” She answered Connor’s unasked
question by adding “We are bound together forever, throughout time.
Being immortal there is also a price, Balancer females cannot birth
large families, otherwise we’d overrun humanity in several decades.
Usually a mated pair have no more than two or three daughters. To
this date my knowledge tells of a mated pair having a total of six
children, but that is the greatest number a Balancer mother has
ever been bestowed. Those are the limitations we females are faced
with. We are born with very few eggs, so to have a big family is
impossible.” Jillian glanced sadly at Jack and Connor immediately
noticed the exchange.

“What happened?” His voice turned quiet and
somber.

Jack spoke softly for his mate who became too
choked up to speak at the moment. “Sarah is our third and final
daughter. Jillian no longer has any eggs on her ovaries, so we can
no longer conceive. Sarah has only one other living sister. Her
name is Amber.” Steadying himself wasn’t easy because this story
always pained them. “Our first daughter, Pearl, and her mate were
killed in an avalanche about three hundred and fifty years ago, as
they slept in their home. They lived in the mountains together. At
that time Jillian, Amber and I lived an hour away, but by the time
we came over a week later we saw the aftermath. We found them and
buried them together, but it is never easy to see your child die,
no matter how long we live.” He looked at Jillian, revealing little
more than a painful setting in his eyes at recalling this story.
“If only they were awake, they could have stopped the avalanche or
gotten away.”

“I’m sorry for your loss.” Sarah squeezed
Connor’s hand as an appreciative gesture for the sincerity in his
voice.

Jack continued saying “Thank you,
Connor. Just know that as Balancers, thought we are technically
immortal we are not invincible by any means. We are still very much
human. We can die the same as you; like from poison, stabbing,
blood loss, suffocation, drowning and so on.” Looking at Connor
seriously, he took his arm from around Jillian’s back and leaned
forward. “Know this. There is one
Big
rule to being a Balancer that cannot be taken
lightly.”

Connor let go of Sarah’s hand and he too
leaned forward and set his predatory gaze on her father. Mother and
daughter shared a quick glance at each other and hoped a fight
wouldn’t erupt between their men. Breaking the tension, Connor
asked evenly “What is it I must understand?”

“If either the man
or
woman dies, their partner dies as well. No
matter where they are, if one dies the other will follow
immediately. Our lives are irrevocably chained to each other. It is
simply another part of the balance. There is no other option for
us, once mated.” He spoke in an intimidating way.

“You mean if you were killed, Jillian would
die as a result?” Connor sounded appalled at hearing this, but his
expression remained neutral.

“Yes.” Jillian said quietly while pulling
Jack back in the seat.

Connor leaned back on the sofa, laid
his head on the headrest and sighed. “It gives a whole new
meaning
till death do you
part
.”

“Where do you think that saying originated
from?” Jack said sarcastically.

Connor then changed the whole mood of the
room. He turned his head to see Sarah watching his every move and
expression. He asked her innocently “How does one become a male
Balancer?” He finished by wearing her favorite smile and as a
result she forgot how to blink.

Sarah’s heart went from stammering to
beating furiously and she felt her face flame red hot.
“He just had to ask that now…”
Tearing her eyes away from his innocent question, Sarah
looked at her mother to plead for help. Jillian was honestly trying
her very best not to smile and it was obviously not working. She
sincerely enjoyed her child’s discomfort a little too much.
“Connor, why did you ask this in front of my parents?”

She looked down in embarrassment, and then
Sarah heard Jillian’s embarrassing remark. “Look how self-conscious
and innocent she is, Jack. She is over three hundred years old and
still so bashful. Look…her face is sooo red! Oh look it’s getting
even redder now.” Jillian then started laughing and couldn’t stop
herself. What became more mortifying, Jack had chuckled as
well.

Looking up to see Connor’s reaction, Sarah
stopped halfway at his shoulder and hoped he wasn’t smiling. She
sucked in a silent breath and eventually bridged the gap to meet
his expression. Seeing his face, she noticed that he sat completely
still and was waiting patiently for an answer. He wasn’t paying any
attention to her mother and the perverted remarks.

Still blushing wildly, Sarah summoned
up her courage to tell him the honest truth, without being
descriptively blunt. “Connor, to become a male Balancer there is a
simple ceremony that we must do…
together
.”

“Together? I thought we were already
together?” Connor asked and still looked confused. Jillian starts
another fit of robust laughter and began stamping her feet on the
wooden floor while clutching her sides.

In a shy and quiet voice Sarah had to spell
it out for him “Connor, the ceremony can only be done when our
bodies are joined as one… We must…mate.” She barely managed to
squeak the last word aloud and forced herself to look down at his
hand resting at his side.

After Jillian quieted down from her last
laughing fit, Sarah looked up to see that Connor’s head leaned back
on the headrest again and his eyes were closed. Moments later he
leaned his head forward and opened his eyes to look at Sarah.
“Thank you so much for letting me in on your secret, Princess…”

Jack interrupted what he was about to say and
asked “Connor, now that you know about us being Balancers, will you
take Sarah as your mate?”

Very slowly and clearly he met Jack’s stare
directly and said “No.”

Instantly heartbroken, Sarah leaned
away from him and stared at her quivering hands.
“I thought so. I knew it, I’m a freak and he
doesn’t want me… He couldn’t be with someone like me…”

Jillian turned deathly quiet, but Jack was
anything but. The atmosphere turned malevolently warm and Sarah
could almost feel her father’s rage as he slowly said “What did you
say?”

In the same voice he reiterated “I said, No,
Jack.” He continued saying in a calm voice “Before you try and kill
me, let me explain my reasoning.” He took a slow and deep breath,
in a calm voice he ordered “Sarah, please look at me.”

“I can’t, I’m sorry,
but I just can’t. It’s too hard…”
Her
eyes start to water, making her vision become blurry and she shook
her head because she couldn’t bring herself to look into his eyes
again.

Sarah soon felt a gentle hand under her chin
and Connor tilted her head to look up at him. His face held a calm
yet painful mask. “Sarah, now that I know you’re secret, I know
that I want to be with you forever, but…” He took a deep breath and
sighed it all out slowly. “It is time that I showed you my secret
as well so that you will understand my position.”

It became her turn to be speechless while
trying to keep her tears from spilling over.

Connor stood silently.

As he began towering over Sarah, she looked
up into Connor’s face and saw a mask that transformed into one
unreadable and passionless. It was honestly the scariest expression
he’s ever shown. She’d take his violent look over this one anytime.
He slowly walked a few steps away from them and turned his back to
Sarah. Taking a few slow breaths made his massive shoulders rise
and fall, Connor steadied himself by saying “Ok.”

Grabbing both sides of his shirt at his
waist, he slowly pulled off his shirt. When it slid completely off,
Sarah got her first good look at the true physique of his body that
had always been covered and concealed.

Connor’s back was even more massive than she
could have ever imagined. Muscle layered every inch of his
massively wide back similarly to that of a heavyweight boxer, but
fat seemed nonexistent on his frame. It seemed as if the face of
some deadly creature stared directly at the Branderson family from
how the muscles bulged even when relaxed. The bulges seemed more
eerie as the light coming in through the window casted ridges to
the knots like mountains. His shoulder blades held muscles so
defined that it looked like menacing eyes while his lower back
muscles showed the facial features. This was not the muscles of an
ordinary person. These muscles were that of a god in living flesh.
His physique showed how much he’s trained and even bodybuilders
would have an impossible time achieving such a complex musculature
that nature envisioned. His muscles started where Sarah could see,
from his belt line, all the way up to the base of his skull.
Connor’s arms were even more fit than she ever thought to be
possible in a man of nineteen years of age. If she didn’t see this
for herself, she’d reason that his physique was fake or
cosmetically altered. The muscles he was layered in were enormous
and would put even the Greek Gods to shame.

Then he started to slowly turn around.

Turning very slowly, Jillian and Jack saw
whatever this secret before she could. All of the malice in the
room, that had been emanating from her father disappeared, in an
instant. Jack’s restrained anger was replaced by wide eyes and a
barely open jaw. As her mother saw it, her hand shot to her mouth
saying “Oh my...” and Jillian rarely gets shocked. Sarah felt even
more afraid than she had all day. worrying about how he would react
to hearing about Balancers became nothing compared to the worry she
felt after hearing her mother’s reaction.

Connor kept turning slowly towards Sarah.

When Sarah finally saw Connor’s bare chest,
it took her breath away.

Connor’s torso was so well muscled that it
could have only been achieved by a lot of unorthodox hard work and
physical labor. Touching his muscles through fabric was one thing,
but seeing them in the bare flesh, without a covering became an
altogether different experience. Knotted and perfectly symmetrical
muscles filled his mid and lower abdominals. Everything about him
seemed to have been created out of a dream of the ideal man. His
front side was even more remarkable than his chiseled arms and
back. Large pectoral muscles flexed on their own as he finally
stopped turning. His hairless, sculpted chest proved that he had a
great lung capacity, but what laid on his chest made Sarah’s heart
stop.