Immortal Destiny (The Immortal Prophecy Saga) (10 page)

“I’m even more impressed than I was then. You’re doing so well, little one.”

“Their minds are so twisted and sick. I felt repulsed and dirty as soon as I made contact and all I wanted to do was get out, but I knew I couldn’t.”

His body tensed against hers, and she knew it was for the wrong reasons. “James, please don’t blame yourself anymore tonight. We survived, that’s all that matters.”

“I suppose so, but I’ll never forgive myself.”

She twisted in his arms and reached up to touch his cheek. “There is nothing to forgive, sweetheart.”

He leaned into her hand and murmured, “I like that.”

“Me touching your cheek?”

“Yes, I do like that, but I meant you calling me sweetheart. It’s the first time you’ve called me something other than James.”

“I’ll have to do it more often then.”

He smiled and nodded. “Yes, please.”

Ally leaned into his shoulder again and exhaled a sigh of relief and gratitude. With each day, she was falling more in love with him and knew that he would protect her with his life, when he could. He may not be human, but he would still make mistakes. But the intent was all that mattered to Ally, not the outcome.

“Can I apologise one more time?”

“If you must,” she said, trying to make a joke and lighten the mood.

“I’m not going to apologise with words this time.”

Ally’s eyebrows furrowed together. “Well, how are you planning on apologising then?”

“Like this,” he said and started to fall to his knees…

Half an hour later, they emerged from the shower, both feeling incredibly happy and sated despite the earlier events. They got dressed and went out into the lounge room to wait for Chase and Caleb to arrive.

James went and made them both a coffee and they snuggled up on the couch together drinking them.

“I think you should apologise like that more often,” Ally said with a wink.

James laughed. “If you like…but I know a lot of different ways to apologise if you get tired of that particular one.”

“Something tells me I’ll never get sick of that, but I’ll keep it in mind.” She paused before continuing, “How do you know so much anyway? I thought you were virginal.”

“That doesn’t mean I haven’t read up on it,” he answered with a wicked look in his eyes.

Ally laughed. “You keep surprising me…I like that.”

A knock on the door interrupted the pair and Ally got up to answer the door. She let Chase and Caleb in the room, and directed them to the couch opposite James.

“Are you alright, Ally?” Chase asked.

“Much better now,” she replied, a touch of pink colouring her cheeks.

Chase gave her a funny look then smirked at James.

James cleared his throat. “So you’re Caleb.”

Caleb extended his hand. “I am.”

James shook his hand and motioned for him to sit down. “This is Ally.”

They both said hi and James continued to control the conversation. “We didn’t get to see you in action, but judging by the pile of dead vampires that I know Chase didn’t kill, you’re everything he said you were.”

“Thanks James,” Chase said sarcastically.

James ignored him and carried on. “So you’re obviously an immortal and Chase said you bear the mark of the elders?”

“I believe I do yes.”

“Can we see it?” James asked.

“Of course.” Caleb lifted his sleeve up and showed them the mark on his upper arm.

James studied the birthmark before saying, “It’s the mark of the elders. There is no mistaking it.”

“It’s the same as mine!” Ally said in surprise.

“Almost identical,” James said. “But yours doesn’t have the line under the crescent moon.”

“Oh yeah…why not?”

“Because you are the leader,” James explained. “The elders symbol is the crescent moon with a line underneath it because they are under the prophecy girl.”

“That’s very literal,” she said, then turned her attention to Caleb. “What do you actually know about all this?”

“Well, everyone knew about the prophecy, and my mother told me when I was young that I was one of the elders because of my birthmark. We didn’t know what I would be, but she encouraged me to work out what my talent was and to hone it to a fine point because that was what I’d be needed for.

“When I got older I discovered my talent was fighting, that I was a warrior, so I went off in search of vampires to become the warrior that I am today. She also told me that one day the prophecy girl would come looking for me and that when that time came, I was to follow her without question, that I would want to because that is my destiny…and she was right.”

“It would appear so,” James said.

“I don’t know for certain that I am the warrior you are looking for, but my birthmark and my talents lead me to believe that I am. And when I met Chase and he said that you were looking for someone like me, I just knew that it was right.”

He stood up and moved in front of Ally, his sword still at his side, and bent on one knee in front of her. “I pledge my life to you, and the council.”

Ally was taken by surprise, but she knew that this was right and that he was right. She nodded her head and smiled at him. He rose and went back to sit on the couch again.

James and Chase looked at each other with bemused expressions before James started to speak again. “You need to come back to Scotland with us. You can stay at Carlisle Manor and we will begin the training and the forming of the elder council.”

“When are you leaving?” Caleb asked.

“I think we should get back there as soon as we can,” he said looking at Ally. “Is tomorrow morning too soon?”

Caleb shook his head. “No, I can be ready to go by then.”

“Good,” James said. “Meet us in the lobby at 9 am and we’ll set off from there.”

“Will you come with us too?” Ally asked Chase.

“Not just yet,” he answered. “I still need to sort some things out.”

Ally nodded her understanding.

Caleb stood up to leave. “I’d better go get my things in order if we are leaving tomorrow.”

James stood up too and shook his hand, showing him to the door.

“Bye, Caleb,” Ally called out.

He nodded and walked out the door.

As James made his way back to the couch, Chase looked at them both. “What happened tonight?”

Ally grimaced internally. She’d just gotten James’ mind off that. “James was trying to protect me and got into a scuffle, but we are both fine. That’s all that matters.”

She noticed James’ body had gone rigid again.

Thanks, Chase.

“Sorry lass! I didn’t realise it was a tense subject.”

“Oh my god, not you too! Get out of my head, Chase.”

“Sorry.”

She felt him withdraw and knew that he was out.
Bloody immortals and their mind reading.

“I feel left out,” James said in an offhand sort of way.

Ally smiled. “You don’t miss a thing do you?”

“Nope.”

Ally rolled her eyes. “If we’re leaving in the morning, I’d better get some sleep.”

Chase stood up and gave her a hug. “It was nice to see you again, lass.”

“You too, Chase.”

They broke apart, and Ally couldn’t help but laugh at the look on James’ face.

“What?” he asked her.

“You look like you’re about to explode.”

“I get jealous easy,” he said sulkily.

Chase and Ally burst out laughing, which earned them a glare.

“Goodnight, Chase.”

“Good night.”

Ally went into the bedroom and closed the door behind her. She walked over to the wardrobe and dragged out her most comfortable sleeping shirt and went to put it on, but she stopped and decided that maybe a night in the penthouse called for something a little more appealing. She dug around in her suitcase and found a powder blue mesh singlet and matching underwear. “Perfect,” she said.

She did a quick tidy up, packing everything except what she would need in the morning. Exhausted, she put on her lingerie and crawled into bed, waiting for James. She could hear them talking and hoped that he was convincing Chase to come home. Her eyes started drooping and eventually she succumbed to sleep, knowing that James would wake her up when he came in anyway.

“What on earth were you and Ally doing in Italy?” Chase asked after he took a sip of the whiskey James had given him.

“There was a situation back home…” James began, and then explained the whole story.

“I can see why you got her out of there!” Chase exclaimed. “So what are Damian and Adele doing about it?”

“A counter-compulsion I think. I need to ring them and find out what’s going on and to make sure that we can go home tomorrow after all.”

“Nothing has happened since you’ve been in London?”

“No, but we’ve only been here for a day,” he said, taking a drink. “If whoever it is found us on that island, then they can probably find us anywhere.”

Chase nodded solemnly. “Any idea who is behind it?”

“I have my theories,” James leaned forward. “Ally thinks it’s Kathryn because of the flower, but I don’t know. My instincts are telling me that it’s someone trying to make us think it’s her.”

“But Ally doesn’t believe that for a second?”

“No,” he said. “You know her well enough by now to know that once an idea is in her head, it takes a nuclear explosion to change it.”

Chase chuckled quietly. “That’s her, alright.”

“So far she is scared out of her mind about it, but I’m just dreading the moment she decides that Kat needs help or something. That’s when all hell really will break loose.”

“You’re right there.”

“I just have to keep a close eye on her I suppose.”

“It’s never ill-intentioned though, her impulsiveness and wanting to help those she loves, but it will get her in a lot of trouble if she goes after this one.”

“Don’t I know it.” James ran his hand through his hair and groaned. “I’ve got to ring Damian and find out what’s happening back there.”

He pulled out his phone and dialled Damian’s number.

“James,” Damian answered.

“Is it safe to come home yet?”

“We’ve done a counter-compulsion on the person who did it. So you’re fine to come home now.”

“Who was it?”

“It was Logan,” Damian said, his voice full of sadness. “The compulsion was so deeply hidden that we almost missed it, but it was him.”

“Poor Logan. Does he know what happened?”

“No. We made sure that no one knew.” Damian said. “Their loyalty to you is so strong, it would have been devastating to them.”

“They’re good people,” James agreed “The vampire who did this knows what they are doing..”

“There’s no way Kathryn could have pulled this off. She’s too young in the ways of the vampire. The one that did this is strong, James.”

“That’s what I was afraid of.”

“We’ll work out what to do when you get back.”

“Yeah, ok. We’re bringing back a young immortal, Caleb. He is the warrior elder we’ve been searching for. Chase found him.”

“That’s wonderful news, James. We look forward to meeting him, and of course, seeing you and Ally.”

“I know she can’t wait to see you both.”

“Until tomorrow then.”

“Bye,” James said ending the phone call.

“They sorted it out then?” Chase asked.

“Yes,” James said and relayed the conversation in full.

“Poor Logan,” Chase said.

They sat in quiet contemplation for a while before Chase spoke again. “I wanted to thank you for how you handled things with Kat and Mackenzie. I still don’t know what is going on, but you were good to me, when I probably didn’t deserve it. So thank you.”

“You’re a good man, Chase,” James said. “You just needed to grow up a bit. And I was good to you because I could see that it was bothering you. If you hadn’t been bothered…well it would have been different.”

“You’re right,” Chase admitted. “I did need to grow up. And that’s what I’ve been trying to do. After Kat and then Mackenzie I was so confused and I just didn’t know what end was up. I knew I needed to just get away, think, and then kill some vampires to feel like I was avenging her in some way, I guess…”

“I can see the difference in you already.”

The haunted look had entered his eyes again as he spoke about that day, and James didn’t envy the man at all. It was an awful situation for anyone to be in.

“I’ll come home soon…I just need to be certain about things before I do.”

“Mackenzie things?” James prodded.

“Yes, mostly. I was impulsive and reckless, and look where that ended up. So I’m trying to be over-cautious now.”

“A noble thought, Chase. Just don’t lose sight of who you are, while you’re out here sorting yourself out. Like I said, you’re a good man, you just needed to mature.”

Chase nodded gratefully and stood up. “Time for this immortal to go to bed, but I’ll be in the lobby tomorrow morning to see you all off.”

“Good night, Chase.”

They shook hands and Chase left the room. James watched him walk out the door, then stood up and went into the bedroom. He spied Ally in her lingerie and his heart skipped a beat.

He jumped into bed with his siren, and lost himself in her arms for the next few hours…

Chapter Thirteen

James grabbed their luggage and followed Ally out the door.

“I’m almost sad to be going home,” she said as she pushed the button for the elevator.

“Me too, little one,” he said and kissed her on the forehead. “In spite of the danger, it’s been the best few days of my life.”

The ping sounded and the elevator door opened, Ally started to step inside but a flash of red made her stop mid step. “Oh my god, James. It’s another flower!”

“I was waiting for something like that to happen,” he said with a groan. He took her hand and led her into the elevator. “Come on…Let’s get out of here.” He picked up the flower and threw it out into the hallway and hit the down button.

“How does she know where we are?”

“I don’t think Kat is behind this,” he said firmly, expecting her to argue.

“Why not? No one else but her would know the significance of that flower.”