The Seventh Immortal (Hearts of Amaranth #1) (4 page)

Maybe this all was happening for a reason.
Maybe everything came together the way it did for this very moment.
“Okay,” she said. “What kind of church is it?”

Spencer's eyes lit up. As soon as he started
talking about the Ecumenical Church of the Riverfront, it was like
he'd already forgotten about the crushing guilt and pain that had
overwhelmed him on a few minutes before.

The Ecumenical Church was
established almost a decade ago in the heart of downtown St. Louis,
but in the intervening years it had spread through the adjacent
counties. It was the fastest growing religion in the area,
attracting men and women of all faiths, and its
modern, liberal philosophy combined with high level of
community involvement had been especially popular among those whose
faith had lapsed. Spencer himself had been a nonbeliever before his
first sermon at the church.

“
I guess they're open all
hours?” Kait asked, motioning towards the windows. It was dark
outside. She hadn't checked the clock, but it couldn't have been
earlier than 7:00 PM.

Spencer nodded. “The downtown Cathedral will
still be open,” he said. “Let's hurry.”

All of this felt rather ridiculous to Kait,
but she felt bad about what happened between them so she tried not
to let it show. They returned to Spencer's car and drove to the
Cathedral, which was only a couple miles west. It was actually near
the hospital where Kait had been sedated earlier in the day. She
recognized the building as they approached.

The Ecumenical Church Cathedral was a large,
modernist building that seemed to eschew the cloistered, ornate
designs of Catholicism for practical open spaces. If not for a the
elegant facade—a sloping series of steepled towers topped with a
golden cross—Kait might have never guessed that the large,
ivory-colored building was a church. It looked more like a small
amphitheater.

Kait and Spencer entered through the foyer
and passed into the nave, which they found empty except for a young
woman sitting at the pews near the front. She had pale blonde hair
and wore a simple white dress. Scattered on the bench around her
were several stacks of paperwork. She seemed absorbed in the
documents until Spencer approached her.

“
Pastor Eve?” he said
softly. “I am so glad you are here. I need to talk.”

The woman looked up at
Spencer. She had light blue eyes that seemed to soothe him as soon
as they met his own. “Mr. Smith!” she said. “I am as surprised to
see you as you are to see me. What brings you here at this time of
night?” She didn't sound angry, or even the slightest bit annoyed
that he'd
interrupted
her work. Merely curious. “Shouldn't you be at home with
Gina?”

Gina... That was his wife's name. Kait
didn't need to know that.

“
It's just like I said,”
Spencer replied. “I need to talk to someone. I knew that you are
often here. I know that this is not the standard time, and that you
are busy, but if you could spare a few moments for a confession
that would be even better.”

Eve stood up with a gentle smile. She looked
past Spencer and fixed her eyes on Kait. In that instant, something
about her mood changed. Her gaze narrowed ever so slightly, and she
pursed her lips. Did she know what Spencer wanted to confess
already?

“
Who is this?” Eve
asked.

“
Kait Selias,” Kait quickly
answered. She didn't want Spencer to introduce her. It felt weird.
“I'm just here because...” Her voice trailed off. She still didn't
quite know how to finish that statement. The best she could do
would be to admit that she was following up on the mysterious
scrawled writing in her passport. That would be almost as
embarrassing
as what
Spencer was about to tell her.

“
I'm
Evangeline
Weisz, but most people
call me Pastor Eve.” The blonde woman extended her hand. Kait took
it and they shook. Eve's hands were smooth, but her grip was
surprisingly firm. As she pulled away, Kait noticed that her
fingers were trembling. She was trying to hide it, but Eve was
nervous about something.

Spencer didn't notice any of this. “Pastor
Eve is the founder of the Ecumenical Church,” he said hastily. “But
even though she has many other pastors to tend to the congregation,
she still makes herself available every weeknight.”

“
I do what I can for my
flock,” Eve replied.

Kait stared at her. The woman barely looked
a day over thirty. If she founded the Church ten years ago... “That
is very impressive for someone so young,” Kait said.

Eve chuckled. “Thank you,” she replied. “But
I'm older than I look.” She turned her attention to Spencer. “Come
back to my office and we can discuss whatever you wish to discuss
in private. Kait can have a look around the church if she likes. I
assume it's her first time here?”

“
I was curious,” Kait said
bluntly. She didn't like the way Eve was treating her. Something
seemed wrong, but she couldn't put her finger on it.

Spencer and Eve headed for the back of the
church, into a door that, presumably, led to Eve's office. As soon
as they were gone, Kait started to examine the nave of the church.
She was all alone, and there was no one around to tell her what she
couldn't do. The first thing she did was take a look at the
paperwork lying on the pews. She hoped they were the church's
finances, or something else juicy that would hold her interest
until they got back. Unfortunately, it was just homework submitted
by kids from the church's Sunday school.

Kait didn't have much interest in a bunch of
essays on the Book of Mark, so she approached the pulpit. There was
a heavy, leather-bound book sitting open on a tall podium. She knew
it was a Bible, but she was still curious. After all, that's where
she would find the Gospels.

As she paged through the
Bible, it fell open to a highlighted portion. Proverbs
18:20-21:
A man's belly shall be
satisfied with the fruit of his mouth; and with the increase of his
lips shall he be filled. Death and life are in the power of the
tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit
thereof.

There was something written next to the
passage, but it was not in English. Kait squinted to look at it.
The writing was different from what she was used to seeing, but she
immediately knew what it was: it was the Cyrillic alphabet. This
was written in Russian, and the more Kait thought about it, the
more she realized that she could read it.

Why could she read Russian as well as
English?

Suddenly, Kait was thrown from her thoughts
by the sound of a car. It was coming from just outside the church.
It wouldn't have worried her if it wasn't so close. Someone was out
in the parking lot.

Almost as soon as she
noticed it, the car engine went quiet. Kait stepped down from the
pulpit and began to walk down through the nav
e. She heard footsteps from the
foyer. And then the doors flew open.

Kait stood between the central rows of pews
and stared at the man who entered the church. It was the first face
she'd seen in this world, and the one she feared the most: Mayor
Daniel Levin.

“
I knew you'd pop back up eventually,” he said, casually
walking towards Kait. “I didn't expect it would be this soon, but I
am thankful for happy accidents.”

Surveying the room, Kait backed away from
the mayor. He was alone, but he clearly had a plan for how to
subdue her. She thought about those brief moments she could recall
in the hospital, just as she began to awake and he put her back
under. It was so terrifying to know that she was under his control,
and now that she was free... She never wanted to feel that way
again.

“
I'm not going to let you take me,” Kait shouted, hopefully
loud enough that Spencer and Eve could hear. She needed witnesses.
“I won't be some science experiment.”

“
Science experiment?” Mayor Levin repeated. “You really have
no idea what you are talking about. I am truly sorry for what I did
to you, but you have to understand that your sudden appearance put
us all ill-at-ease. Perhaps we can come to some other sort of
understanding and--”

Suddenly, Levin's speech was cut off by a
loud shout from behind Kait. “You betrayed me!” Spencer shouted. He
and Eve had just emerged from her office. Shaking with rage, he
turned on Eve. “You told him that we were here. You told him about
Kait! It had to be you!”

Eve took a deep breath. “I did what I had to
do, Spencer. It is for the best. Kait is a threat to everything
that Daniel and I have built in this city. You know we've made it
better, don't you?”

Spencer shook his head. “You and the mayor? You were
working
together
?”

“
Of course we were, Spencer,” Eve said. She tried to keep
her voice calm, but it wavered as her fear was too much for her.
She desperately wanted to defuse the situation. “Nothing we have
built would be possible without the assistance of the city
government.”

“
No,” Spencer said. “It all makes sense now.”

Mayor Levin sighed. He didn't even glance at
Spencer and Eve. His gaze remained on Kait, his hazel eyes steady
and uncompromising. “You have made things very difficult, Miss
Selias,” he said. “You have put us all at risk, and you have left
me with no choice about what I must now do.”

The wiry man reached into his gray jacket
and pulled out a black pistol. As soon as Kait saw the weapon, she
reflexively grabbed for her hip. There was nothing there. Somehow,
deep inside her, there was an instinct that her memory loss hadn't
repressed. She expected to be armed. Kait didn't have time to
consider this, though, as the mayor lifted his gun.

At first, Kait thought he was going to shoot
her. She didn't know whether to be afraid or not. It would hurt,
just like the fall from the hospital window rattled her frame, but
it wasn't anything she couldn't overcome.

Mayor Levin didn't aim the weapon at her. He
pointed it at Spencer.

“
No!” Eve shouted, but she was too late. Mayor Levin pulled
the trigger.

Bang!

Spencer fell to his knees, than collapsed
onto his face. Kait didn't look at him long enough to see the
blood. She didn't need to look. She knew he was dead. Just like
that, he was gone.

It was like being woken from a dream. In the brief hours of
Kait's existence, she had failed to understand the depth of
existence itself. She'd done nothing but let her curiosity, her
fear, and her lust lead her along wherever it might take her. What
did it matter? She was
indestructible.
Nothing could kill her, even when she
wanted it to.

Other people were not so strong. It was not a hardy
thing,
life.
It was fragile. It was breakable, smashed to pieces with
something as simple as a single bullet. Spencer was gone. One
second, he was a breathing, moving, individual. The next, he was
gone. Death was real.

“
Why did you do that?” Eve sobbed, dropping to her knees to
cradle Spencer's body in her arms. “We could have found another
way. We could have figured something out.”

“
No, we couldn't,” Mayor Levin replied. “You know we can't
take any risks.” He looked at Kait. “This is what happens, Miss
Selias. This is what happens when you don't understand what is
going to around you. Come with me and--”

Anger overwhelmed Kait. She didn't want to
hear another word. Maybe Mayor Levin had answers for her. Maybe he
could explain what she was, but she didn't want to hear it from
him. She didn’t want her existence to be defined by someone so
horrible, so uncaring, so indulgent in the fragility of life.

Kait rushed at Mayor Levin. He aimed his gun
at her this time, firing two more times. The bullets struck Kait in
her chest, but they didn't even knock her off her feet. They burned
through her flesh, like sharp pin pricks against her skin, but they
couldn't stop her. She was too strong.

Once she was close enough, Kait dived at the
mayor. She tackled him, forcing him to the ground. Punching him in
the throat, she stopped him from speaking. Then she grabbed the gun
from his hands. Without even thinking, she turned it on him. She
placed it against his forehead.

“
You really do not understand,” he choked out before Kait
could pull the trigger.

BANG!

Mayor Levin's glasses shattered with the
force of the bullet striking his skull. His eyes rolled back into
his head. He went limp.

Kait panicked. She dropped the gun, only now
realizing what she had done. She'd killed him. She'd killed the
mayor of St. Louis.

Chapter Four

Kait ran as fast and as hard as her legs
would let her. She didn't know where she was going. She didn't
care. She just had to get away from the church.

The last few minutes were a blur to her. In
one moment, she was watching Spencer's lifeless body fall to the
ground. In the next, she was avenging him by taking a life of her
own. She couldn't even fathom the anger that had come over her and
forced her to kill the mayor. The fury had taken control before she
could even comprehend it, and she had given in without a second
thought.

After running for a minute, Kait felt a
discomfort in her side. She pressed her hand to her skin and felt
two, small pieces of metal emerge from her ribs. Her body had
pushed out the bullets that the mayor shot into her. Kait threw
them away and pressed her fingers against the flesh from which they
had emerged. It wasn't even broken.