Chapter 28: EPILOGUE

“Welcome to our last conversation.”

I sighed in irritation and turned, but stopped in surprise. I looked around. “We’re not in the dark anymore. And… I think I’m sleeping again.”

The Immortal me stood before me. “No, we’re not because this is the end.”

I tilted my head questionably. “What are you talking about? I thought we were immortal, together for eternity?”

Silver eyes flashed back at me. “Stop thinking about trivial things. You don’t need to distract yourself anymore.”

“It’s what I do.” I shrugged it off, but something prickled at me. It was in the Immortal’s voice—my voice. Then my eyes widened. It was ~my~ voice talking back to me. It wasn’t the annoying Immortal or the lecturing Immortal. It was me.

Finally.

“What… what have I done again?”

The Immortal me smiled, assured and strong. “I did choose you, Davy, but I didn’t go to you. When you reached inside of Talia, you pulled me out and inside of you. There’s a part of you, a part that is noble. Your strength is more than I’ve ever encountered in a being before. You pulled me into you.”

“That’d been my plan the whole time.” My attempt at self-sarcasm was pathetic.

The other me continued, “There’s a lot about being the Immortal that you don’t understand. It’s too much for you to know everything now, but things will be revealed as you go. You have a destiny and others will help you as you go. My part is done.”

“What part was that?”

“My job was to help you accept who you are, who we are together. You accepted the Immortal, but you don’t know the consequences. You will learn them as you go. I won’t be the voice for those lessons.”

I wasn’t sure how I felt about this. What would I get instead?

“You’ve changed, Davy. You’ve become something new. This world is yours for the taking and you can make it better. There is a reason why the Immortal was created. You’re not a fairytale. You’re real and you are a force to be reckoned with. Do not let anyone take that from you. Do not!” She gutted out the last words, forcibly and urgent.

I had so many questions… so many new revelations… so many… so many of everything. I wanted to know it all, but then she said, “Welcome to your destiny. It is the beginning.”

~‘Welcome to our last conversation.’~

Then I woke up with a gasp. I was disoriented at first, feeling something warm around me. Then I heard cars honking in the distance. Slowly, I sat up and looked around. I was on the roof with a blanket draped over me. When I sat up, I smiled at the couch cushions that I’d been laying on.

“I brought you up here. Kates needed to sleep and I wanted some privacy. You both must’ve fallen asleep as soon as you got back to the room.” Roane moved from the building’s edge.

His eyes were still the same coal black, but there was something searching in them. He seemed softer, but he was dressed as such. Black pants with a crisp black shirt that wasn’t tucked in. With his hardened jaw, he looked like ruthless—and he was.

His hand fell to his side and something flashed in the moonlight. It was his necklace.

I stood and gestured, half-heartedly. “You took that before. It’s a leaf thing? What’s it mean?”

He lifted it and stared at it long and hard. He murmured, “It was my brother’s. I took it from him when I fought him. It was when Talia became the Immortal.”

Oh. So much of that statement didn’t sit comfortably with me. “I see…”

Roane took a deep breath and turned back to gaze over the city. The lights spread out for miles and as I moved beside him, the sight made me smile. Cars honked in the distance. People laughed. More lights flickered, but there was a stillness in the city.

I wasn’t sure if it was Benshire or if it was me.

“I need to meet with the Roane Elders and give them this necklace.”

“Why?” We’d just dealt with Lucan. I’d finally shown Roane that I was the Immortal. He was right when he said that Kates and I were tired. We both collapsed as soon as we got to the room. Everything had ~just~ happened…. I wasn’t ready for him to leave me. Not yet.

“I have to tell them what happened. My brother is gone. After you left, some of his men took him. I have to tell them that my brother is human again and then I’m going to ask for the job of finding him. The necklace will be used to hunt him, for whoever is given the assignment.”

Again…. Oh. I felt a sense of dread.

“Davy, things have happened that aren’t understood.”

Everything about that statement didn’t bode well with anyone. I knew that things went smoother when they were understood. “How long do you think it’ll take for you to find Lucan?”

How long was he going to be away?

“I don’t know. It might take a few hours or months. He’s human, but he still knows everything. He’ll be dangerous. Lucan ~liked~ being a vampire. He’ll want to become one again. I need to stop that from happening.”

I nodded jerkily.

“They’re not going to understand how you turned him human. That’s not known by anyone and my Family were the ones entrusted to protect the Immortal. This is… this will not sit well with the Elders.”

“Do you mean… am I in danger from them?”

From you?

“I don’t know. When word gets out what you can do, you’ll be feared by vampires. There aren’t many who’d like to be human again. And you’re Immortal. They can’t kill you, which is what their first reaction will be. My Elders might want that too, but I’ll argue on your behalf. I think they’ll realize the foolishness of that.”

I frowned as a different question formed in my head. “Roane, who is Jacith?”

His shoulders stiffened. “Where did you hear that name?”

“He was in Blue’s head. The Immortal mentioned something about him.”

Roane didn’t like hearing any of that. “He’s a ~very~ powerful witch, possibly the most powerful I’ve known.”

“What does he have to do with the Immortal thread?”

Roane didn’t answer right away, but eventually he did. “He created it.”

Oh—whoa. I blinked in shock, but remembered the Immortal’s words. Jacith thought he was powerful, but I was more. Somehow, I didn’t think this Jacith would enjoy learning that information.

“Did he create the prophecy? Or just the Immortal thread?”

Roane had looked back over the city, but he whipped around once more to me. He had an accusing look in those dark eyes. “What are you talking about? Jacith created the Immortal. You talk as if the prophecy and the thread are separate. They are not. I assure you. My Family has volumes of Immortal lore. We were entrusted to protect the thread.”

Except, they didn’t know all of it and they didn’t need to protect me. I knew about the separation from the Immortal. “You didn’t know that I can turn vampires human.”

Roane opened his mouth, but he couldn’t argue my point. He closed it again as a look of mysticism crossed over his face.

I never thought I’d see that. I loved it.

“I thought I knew everything there was to know about Immortals. I’m starting to wonder if I know just a ~little~ about Immortals. It’s unsettling.”

“You don’t understand, Roane. I… there’s a prophecy that I think you don’t know about. Someone created the prophecy and later someone else created the thread. I… I came to be before Jacith created the thread. I don’t know why that’s important, but it is. I know this because the Immortal told me. I told you before that we have conversations. She/it/me told me this… and someone else is going to guide me.”

Roane turned and touched my shoulder. He turned me towards him. “Davy… the Immortal thread was created by Jacith. I know this, but… you’re correct. He has never spoken about the ability for an Immortal to turn vampires into humans. If, in your conversations, you learn more then you must tell me. The Immortal is crucial to the vampire nation. We ~must~ know everything you know.”

Something else didn’t sit well with him. “What is it?”

Roane lifted up his head and gazed over the city’s lights before he answered. “I was with Talia for years. I watched her grow and she never once talked about a conversation with the Immortal. It’s so different. I… I don’t know what to make of it. She would have odd dreams sometimes, but that was it.”

I wasn’t sure what stung me more: Talia and Roane or the lack of conversations. I could’ve done without those conversations. “I’m the last, Roane. The Immortal told me. I’m the last to be the Immortal. I’m not a carrier for the thread. I ~am~ the Immortal.”

~‘Do not let anyone take that from you.’~

Roane was silent.

I continued, “It’s just the beginning, Roane. I know that your next step is finding your brother, but it’s just the beginning for me. There’s so much more. I can feel it. I know it.”

Roane looked at me gravely. He stared long and hard. He didn’t try to slip inside. I didn’t try to slip inside of him. We remained in our own bodies. No powers. No thought reading.

“Are you looking for my soul?”

Slowly, he shook his head and took my hand. His fingers slid against mine and locked in place. I closed my eyes and savored the feeling. Strength radiated off of him, perhaps for what was to come.

Then he whispered, “I’m looking for mine.”

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