Echoes in Eternity (The Pella Series Book 1) (38 page)

CHAPTER X
I

BREWING STORMS

Alexander Aurelius Pella

Keeping an eye
on Elissa has always presented multi-faceted challenges because she’s always been stubborn, a fighter to the end, willful, unyielding, insubordinate, non-submissive and unconquerable except by me, which is all the more reason to love her because this is her warrior side. That side of her excites me because only a few can dare to conquer her, but also gives me the greatest fear. She has been contemplating leaving me for quite a few different reasons all day. Even if there was no imminent danger to her life, how could I let her go without a good fight? How could I forego my soul, my heart? The One for whom I have been seeking and have waited centuries for.

As Elissa enters the en suite bathroom, I look behind her, torn between following her and fulfilling my duties in her protection. Of course the latter wins. I have already lost precious time to inspect and meet the
Psyche
. Tonight is gravely important. The most powerful of our kind are going to show up for more than the aircrafts. I exit our suite after quickly pulling my shorts on and close the door behind me slowly. Anthony is waiting outside.

“
Psyche?
” I ask.

“They’re waiting… I have not granted permission for them to enter. Not until they agree to all our terms.” I nod.

“I’ll be in Doc’s suite to get ready,” I say, and Anthony suddenly has a quizzical look on his face wondering why I’m not getting dressed in my own suite, but deciding it’s none of his business, his look changes back to reticent, and nods.

“Yes, sir,” he responds to my distancing back.

Henry opens the door before I hold my hand up to knock sensing my approach, and with a flourished swoop of his hand, he lets me in. Our awareness of each other, mine, Henry’s and Anthony’s are handy in dangerous situations, fights and wars, but an inconvenience when you want some privacy.

“Am I allowed to ask what I owe
to this unexpected visit, sir? Clearly something happened,” he says in his old Southern accent, arching an eyebrow, nodding at my shirtless state.

“I shared one memory with Elissa,” I say as if in a confessional, walking in my confident stride further into the room, I feel anything but.

“Told her? Showed her? What? What have you done, sir?” Henry asks incredulous; his voice anxious, worried even, his face changing to a serious one. He follows me to the living room of his suite. I abruptly turn around and face him. Inhaling deeply, my lips are pursed into a tight line, and I close my eyes momentarily and my thumb and index finger rubbing the bridge of my nose to drive away an approaching headache. I finally let the full impact of what I had done earlier sink in. A shudder goes through me. I shove my hair back with my left hand, and fix my gaze on Henry’s scrutinizing hazel eyes.

“I
shared
a memory Doc; not shown her a vision. We were
in
the fabric of time. I established a blood bond and connected both our eagles.” Henry’s jaw drops open. A speechless Doc is not a common sight. He always has an opinion, and is always articulate in expressing in what he means to say in more than a dozen languages.

“You did what?” Henry shouts. “And she’s still here? Alexandros,
Non potesfacereillud!
”

“I know what I can’t do, Henry! The memory did not include her…” I say but then correct myself. “Well, only a glimpse of her in a vision Marcus
had shown me.” I say and start pacing the room like a tiger on a hunt, focused and agitated.

“No matter… That was precarious even for you!” he says accusingly.

“What would you suggest I have done, Henry? She was going to run!” I hiss; my gaze dark and furious. “Finding out you’re an entirely different being, a Nephilim for that matter is not the easiest news to digest.
You
didn’t have to go through it,” I jab a critical finger into his chest. “Marcus put you under his wings, and that’s all you’ve known to be since you were born! But I know what a trauma it is to find out after you’ve accepted yourself as something else – because everyone else told you that you’re human or a demigod. I was on my fucking
deathbed
when Marcus broke the news to me for Elysium’s sake! And Elissa has been conditioned at her home that she was crazy for regaining her memories by her surrogate and that fucking Darkling who acted like a shrink reinforced that idea!

She forced herself not to believe in her own
conscious, because that bitch,” I say jabbing my finger in the western direction, “forced Elissa to believe that she was abnormal for regaining her memories through her dreams and nightmares, and I am angry that Gabriel did not shut Sarah up! I would have expected more from him after the
life-for-life
exchange Marcus had done to save his daughter! It forced my hand to share a memory much earlier than I would have wanted to attempt with her because her denial was all over her face! She simply refused to believe me…” I finally feel the overwhelming weight of my anxiety.

“I know but, you must remember that Gabriel is a
Watcher
. He’s governed by completely different laws. He simply cannot break them,” Henry reminds me. “He kept her alive, and she has led a normal life for a Nephilim who is chased by a hoard of
Fallen
and their minions… I’d like to remind you of the number of attempts on her life just within the last two days, Alex! Don’t you think that Gabriel has done much better than we did?” he asks, his arms folded.

“The credit of her life isn’t due to Gabriel, Henry! It’s due to Marcus who kept pure wards up until she reaches the age to battle for her immortality which incidentally is the age she is completely visible to the
Fallen
. But during our blood tie, in that brief moment when the eagles came alive today, I was able to feel the reason why she doesn’t remember us,” I say in awe. I could feel the memory seeds Nieto planted, calling out to me. But she has darkened that corner of her mind, suppressing the visions and creating a visible mental block and stopping any memory from sprouting. “She has conditioned herself to purposefully block anything that’s remotely different than the world she was told to be normal in. All her dreams, visions, memories, subtle signs, her wakeful experiences… they all become abject experiences that she’s categorized to delete from her mind. She even suppressed the wakeful dream she had in the Pella Towers garage, Henry!” I hiss frustrated. That’s my wife in the next room, and I can’t tell her anything about us!

“The seeds of her memory are trying
to burst through her, and yet she’s the one who is refusing them to come alive!” I utter with rage boiling over. Then my voice lowers several notches. “But after today, this might slowly change. She remembered my name from her dreams…” I murmur. For the first time Henry looks hopeful. I pace a few steps in the room while his gaze follows my steps silently. I come to the desk where Henry put his laptop on; it’s closed, sitting on the desk non-threateningly. I lean against the desk and both my hands start tapping the surface of the wood desk like the four horsemen of the apocalypse.

“But she only remembers me as her bodyguard. Nothing else. Just a fucking soldier who protected her all through her existence!! Yet, she remembered the fucking Duke! She remembered that bastard having feelings for her…” I hiss with acrimony, maybe with bitter jealousy. “
But not me!
I’m the one who loves her!”

“But you said she remembered you,” Doc reminds me. I stand up abruptly from the desk looming over Henry.

“Not the way we were… Just as her protector, a vague memory when she was calling out to me at the
Four Winds
, the night she died... when she left me, left us…” I whisper, the pain is rekindled fresh again. “But she doesn’t remember me as her husband, her lover and the father of her children. I felt like the bad news bearer to the woman I love; it was excruciating! And when she did remember something, it was the fucking Duke Courcillion. She remembered him having feelings for her… but not me! It ripped my heart out. That asshole could never love her like I do, never did! His mother attempted to kill Elissa while he stood there!
Stood there
like a frozen statute while she shoved her into the River Seine!” I shout.

“Alexander! You cannot allow your love
to over cloud your judgment and shift your focus from her protection! Her life is more valuable than the love you had or still have. If she falls into the hands of the
Fallen
, your love or any feelings,” he says with distaste, “that the Duke had will be insignificant and will fall into oblivion with chaos and the world
will
fall as we know it! You know that it’s not a matter whether the balance of the universe
would
shift; it definitely
will
shift. I don’t mean just the fucking world and all the humans in it - God’s favorite children,” he said with neither love nor hatred, “who inadvertently had caused our predecessors to be eradicated from the face of the earth!”

“Do you think I give a fuck about those who once lived, even if they’re our own kind? Which one of them aside from the chosen few helped?” I hiss bitterly. “I have existed a long time, Doc. I have seen most of the first generations and Marcus has shown me what I have missed about our own kind. Blood ran knee deep in the streets courtesy of the first generation Nephilim. Because of their destruction, fifteen generations were condemned to death! It’s not entirely the humans’ fault! Our own kind was eager to please their fathers and ready to hand Elissa
over like a sacrificial lamb! Do you have the slightest idea about the magnitude of my agony when your ties have been severed with the only woman you ever loved? My heart and soul were ripped out of me piece by piece, slowly, agonizingly! I would have wanted to keep all the horrors away from her as if they never happened, but she has a destiny that’s been chasing her all of her existence. I don’t have the power to change what happened; but we can change what can be. The future is not written. I’ll be damned if I let her go this time or allow her to be taken prey by the
Fallen
. Not you, not the damned
Fallen nor
their minions will stop me! She is mine, and mine alone!”

“I don’t claim to comprehend or simply know exactly what you felt, but I have seen you in soul wrenching agony, Alex,” he murmurs compassionately. “She was born into my hands and has been like a daughter to me. Her single loss tore a hole that had not healed even today though she is only one room away. In a slightly similar way, I share your pain, because my God-child has no idea who I am,” says Doc his eyes softening. “However, I don’t understand why you are so uptight right now. What else happened today? If you talked to her about who she is, she knows that Marcus is her real father, one of the highest ranking
Watchers
.” I nod.

“She does now, but she loathed him at first. She gave me no choice making it pertinent to share the memory!”