Immortal Prophecy (The Immortal Prophecy Saga) (18 page)

“Ally,” he murmured.

“I wasn’t planning on that happening,” she said, coming back to her senses.

“Neither was I, but I’m glad it did.” His voice was husky from passion.

“I need to go.” She was starting to panic about what had just passed between them. “Sophie and Gran will be wondering what happened to me.”

“Go, do what you need to. I will be here when you need me Ally,” he said with sincerity.

Ally turned back the way she came to find Sophie and Adele. What happened was about to send her over the edge.

As she was walking back into the lounge room to join Sophie and Adele, she felt a fluttering at the edge of her mind and heard James whisper softly
“I will think of that moment for a long time to come.”

Ally couldn’t help the big smile that swept across her face.

She entered the lounge at that same moment, where Sophie and Adele were having tea out on the balcony. Adele and Sophie shared a look that suggested they knew what had just transpired. Ally was mortified but glad that neither mentioned their suspicions.

“Ally, come over and join us sweetheart,” Adele motioned her over with a wave of her hand. “The view from here is incredible.”

She headed out to the balcony and then stopped dead in her tracks. As she looked up she was thinking that incredible didn’t even come close to what the view was like out there. She had never seen anything so gorgeous in her life.

The white snow-capped mountains stretched as far as the eye could see. The trees were so tall they appeared to kiss the grey sky above. It was a mix of white and green and with the dark backdrop of the storm approaching, it looked so beautiful she could feel all the tension melting away. The world seemed to disappear for a moment. She wished she could have sat there and stared for eternity.

“It’s something else,” Sophie said in awe as well. “I thought I would stop appreciating its beauty but I haven’t. Every day I come out here and soak it all up.”

“It’s the immortal land. Their power is still in the earth. That is why it is so captivating and entrancing. They may have left, but their imprint never did,” Adele said.

“I can feel it,” Ally replied without thinking.

“It’s magical isn’t it.”

Sophie decided it was a good time for her to excuse herself and give them some privacy to talk. “I had best go check my cookies,” she said with a smile towards Ally leaving them to talk.

Ally was fixated on the vast wild lands before her. She could feel it calling to her soul. This was her place in the world. She had come home. Ally knew it with everything that she was, but she wanted to keep that to herself for the moment. It was a secret that she and this inspiring place kept.

“I had forgotten what it was like here,” Adele said. “There is no place like it. The peace and calm I feel here…”Adele trailed off.

“It is very special Gran.”

She looked at her granddaughter. “I know there’s lot to take in Ally. Just give yourself time to adjust. I know that the mountains are calling to you. I can feel them rejoicing that you have come here.”

Ally wondered how she knew that. No point in keeping it a secret now. “I can feel them calling me but I don’t know what they want?”

“You will restore the peace and harmony in this land and it will be filled with the immortals again. They are calling to you because they know you are the chosen one.”

“The chosen one, Gran? Does it have to be so cliché,” Ally chuckled.

“Fair point, but having said that, it is true. You are the chosen one, the prophecy girl. Whatever you want to call it, this is your destiny.”

“I know.” Ally paused, “But why me?”

“Ah, well, that is something we will never know I suppose, but Ally you have all the talents at your disposal to do this. It will be hard, but you will succeed.”

“How can you be so sure?” Ally asked.

“Faith.”

“Faith? That’s what you’re going on?” Ally wished that she had her confidence.

“Alessandra,” she placed her hand on her granddaughter’s and looked into her eyes. “Without faith, there is no hope, and without hope there is no chance of victory.” She looked to the mountains. “There is a saying that from the greatest tragedy comes the greatest triumph. You have suffered a great tragedy sweetie, make your parents proud and turn it into your biggest triumph.”

Ally gazed off into the distance. What her Gran had said was true, but she needed some time to let things sink in.

“I’m going to see if Sophie needs any help with those cookies,” Adele said. “Just sit here and listen to the land before you. Some of our greatest immortals walked this land. Their imprints are still here, and perhaps they will be an inspiration to you.”

Alessandra glanced at her Gran and gave her what she hoped was a sincere looking smile. Her mind was being pulled in so many directions, she felt her head might explode, but the mountains seemed to calm her. She decided to move to the rattan day bed and look out at the view. Maybe some wise ancestor would speak to her. Crazier things than that have happened today, she thought.

When she lay down she was happy to find that it was as soft and comfortable as it had appeared. The tension seemed to flow out of her and her eye lids felt so heavy. Maybe a sleep will do me good, she thought.

She pulled the warm feather doona at the end of the day bed over her. It was so snug and comfortable. It also happened to be the very same shade of purple from her bedroom back home. Perhaps James had done that, or it might have been just a coincidence. Her mind began to wander as she closed her eyes and fell into a deep sleep filled with dreams.

Chapter Fourteen

“
C
OME QUICKLY, WE ARE UNDER ATTACK,”
an unknown immortal yelled to his warriors that were assembled in front of him. “The vampires have descended upon us. We must defeat them. Follow me.”

He was obviously the leader of the group.

“Hurrah!” they all cried and surged forward behind the leader. One hundred immortal warriors had answered the call for help that the leader had sent out.

Late at night as the moon was sitting high in the sky, the vampire army had taken the form of a light grey fog and had descended upon the land of the immortals and began their slaughter.

“Damian, come quickly. We cannot defeat them. Something has happened to make them our equal in strength. There are too many.”
James communicated to his brother Damian with urgency and confusion.

“What has happened brother? It is not possible that they are as strong as us.”

“I don’t know but it’s true…our only chance of survival is with an army of immortal men but even then I don’t know if we can defeat them…they have already taken half the village.”

“We are coming from the south and will be there in five minutes. Do what you can little brother.”

What has happened? Damian wondered.

Five minutes later they emerged into the chaos. The scene before him sent a chill through his very soul. Blood was spilled everywhere. The lifeless corpses of men, women and children were scattered on the ground. The earth was crying out in pain, he could feel it.

I must warn her to take cover where she is, he thought. I couldn’t bear it if she was destroyed.

He sent her the news the way of their kind. “
Our village is under attack from the vampires. You must stay where you are. Take cover and let no one find you. I could not bear it if I lost you my love.”

His unknown love replied,
“I will my love, please come back to me when you can.”

“I promise you that I will come back,”
Damian promised then broke the connection. She curled into a ball beside the fire that he had built for his love in their house before leaving.

It lay within the mountains and was well concealed from the world. She would be safe but she couldn’t shake the feeling her warrior would not come back to her as promised.

Back in the midst of the chaos, Damian screamed to his men, “Attack.”

His heart was breaking at the loss he felt. He would make the vampires would pay for this.

Damian steered his trusty steed into the throng and he began beheading as many vampires as he could. They could burn the corpses later. This would be enough to stop them for the time being.

There were so many of them and James was right, they were stronger than usual. It wasn’t making sense, something had happened.

The Immortals had taken it for granted that they could keep the vampires under control and had grown complacent. Now the evil ones had turned it against them.

He surged forward when he caught sight of his brother in the middle of a vampire circle. He was surrounded with no way out. Damian blocked out the screams of terror from the immortals, the sound of metal against metal and the laughter of pure evil and victory from the vampires. James was the only person in his focus.

He held his sword high in the air as he galloped forward and took out one of the vampires to make a hole in the circle, then threw his other sword towards James at a speed that the vampires couldn’t even see. In less than a second James had caught the sword and sliced a vampire’s head off. Together they fought off every vampire. They had always made a great team on and off the battlefield.

The air was filled with the smell of evil and death. It hurt his nose to breath, he needed fresh clean air but he had to help his men.

Damian took in the sight before him again. His men had killed all but a few remaining vampires, but as with any battle, a few good men of his own had been lost, but they died with honour.

Damian had been blessed with an analytical mind that made him a brilliant leader. He could make battle plans in a second and revise them just as quickly. His natural charm and charisma also inspired his men.

“What the hell happened tonight? Why are they as strong as us and how did they get past?” he asked James who was still mounted on his magnificent black Arabian stallion.

“It’s our blood,” James said in the confusion. “They drank the blood of an immortal and by pure accident discovered that it made them our equal.”

“How do you know?”

“They are vampires,” he said with a look of sarcasm. “They had to boast about what had happened.”

“Idiots…At least they took the hard work out of guessing.”

“Our village has been destroyed. Women, children and men have been lost tonight,” James said with vehemence. “And for what? Nothing! We were so complacent in thinking that we were unbeatable. Those evil creatures just sauntered on in and killed half the village.”

“I know this little brother,” he said as he laid a hand on his shoulder. “Our people will never be the same again. We must learn from this and take precautions to ensure this never happens again.”

James laughed a humourless laugh. “It should never have happened in the first place.”

“How did they get in without being detected?” Damian asked.

“It appeared as if a light fog was settling over the village. It was just pure dumb luck that I was on the balcony when it happened. The next thing I saw was the fog transformed into an army of vampires.”

Damian scratched his chin in thought, “It appears there is a lot we don’t know about the vampires.”

“Obviously…”

“Tomorrow we will start on a plan to rid the world of their evil stench, as we should have done in the first place, but tonight we must see to the needs of every immortal left and begin to put this place back together,” Damian said.

“It will be a long time before our kind is at peace again.”

“I know,” Damian sighed.

Seated on their stallions, James and Damian looked over the carnage before them. They both felt defeated and heartbroken over what had happened tonight.

James turned to his big brother. “Where do we begin?”

“Let’s see to the wounded,” Damian said. “I will order my men to start torching the vampire corpses and digging graves for all of our fallen immortals.”

“Perhaps we will have need for the prophecy girl after all,” James said reflectively. “I never really understood what the prophecy was about, until tonight.”

“Before tonight we wouldn’t have needed her. Now I only pray that we can find her when she is born,” Damian said without conviction. They both knew it would be like finding a needle in a haystack but he knew that if the prophecy had been written, somehow they would find her.

“We should have taken it more seriously and put in place measures against this kind of thing happening,” James said angrily.

“Hindsight little brother, hindsight.”

With heavy hearts they started to see to their respective tasks.

Alessandra awoke from her sleep, and stretched out like a cat, on the warm comfortable day bed. The rain was belting against the cover surrounding the balcony and she could hear thunder in the distance. The sky was an ominous dark grey with flashing lightning bolts that lit up the sky. She couldn’t help but be in awe of the power of the storm. Mother Nature was a force to be reckoned with. Despite the severity of the storm it somehow relaxed her. She pulled the doona back up to her shoulders and watched the display overhead. It wasn’t long before she drifted back into another sleep, full of more dreams.