Memoirs of an Immortal (The Immortal Series) (38 page)

“Does it beat for me?” He asked softly, I began to leisurely play with his hair.

“Only for you.” I breathed.

“I only got angry before because of the reckless things you are planning. I’m worried. I can’t lose you” He finally wanted to talk about our fight.

“You won’t lose me, but this is who I am. I promise nothing will ever happen to me. I will always be with you.” I continued to play with his hair, which was soft to the touch. His little waves made curls for me to play with.

“Fine, I will trust you, but I will hold you to your word.” He held me tighter and we both fell asleep.

Our Dinner

I was startled from a dream I was having about my father. He was alone fighting the sadness that consumed him. I held my pounding heart, heavy with the very real feeling that he might still be out there alone and heartbroken. Hephaistos’ hands caressed my face trying to calm me down.

“Are you alright?” Hearing his voice I finally came to my senses. “I can hear you heart beat, did you have a nightmare?” He was worried.

“It’s fine, it was just a dream.” I reached for his hand and held it tight against my cheek. “What time is it?” I asked.

“Almost noon, why?” he said. I let out a heavy sigh. “Are you going to leave?” He asked. Disappointment was written all over his face.

“Hmm.” I nodded, enjoying the heat from his hand. “I invited the Mesopotamian over for dinner.”

I was wrapped around the bed sheets, still relishing the delicious aches I felt from last night, when I noticed that Hephaistos was already half dressed.

“Why are you dressed?” I stretched out my hand to feel his bare chest tracing his marking.

“I was working.” He nudged his head to his work table on the other side of the room. “Why did you invite them?” He looked annoyed.

I pulled his face to look at me. “It’s not often I meet more of my kind. We share experiences and I get a lot of advice from them. They deal with more Diavolis than us. They even have dealt with Diavolis that I had never seen before. It’s important to me and to my sisters. Please try to understand.” I said softly. He gave me a look that he wouldn’t push the topic any further, but I knew he was still not pleased with the notion.

“Are you not coming?” I asked him. I wanted him there to be with me, to be by my side as my other half. I needed him to feel comfortable in my world.

“Do you want me to?” He hesitated. “It’s not as though I’m sociable.” He smirked.

“I want you to feel free to do what you want. If you want to come, then you come. If you want to stay here, then you stay. Did you not tell me we are family?” I used his words to rein in logic to him. “You are my other half, never forget that.” I caressed his face with my hand holding him close, breathing in his scent.

He closed his eyes and held my hand, when he reopened them. His brilliant green color was taken over by a dark desire. I knew what he wanted.

“No!” I cried “as much as I want to, I can’t.”

I waited for a bit, hoping he might do something to change my mind. I took a deep breath. “I…I need to go help prepare the dinner.” I move away from him, knowing I would lose myself to his beautiful eyes.

I began searching for my clothes. “Did you see my dress?” I asked him, while still covered in his sheets.

He slowly slid off the bed and headed towards a small chair, that had something draped over it. He took it in his hand.

“Here.” He offered. I reached for it and held it up. It was a dress I never seen before, a beautiful coral colour radiated in my hands as I held it.

“What’s this?” I asked.

“I have your dress here, but I made one that I thought would look prettier on you.” He seemed embarrassed and coughed as he spoke.

It’s not often the god of weapons would let anyone see his ability to be creative. I smiled at how thoughtful he was.

“Turn around!” I commanded, my voice sounding overly excited.

“Why?” He asked somewhat annoyed.

I rolled my eyes “Please?”

He groaned and grumbled as he turned away from me. I quickly wore the dress. It felt wonderful against my skin.

“Okay” I sang. He turned and grinned, his eyes drinking me in. He licked his lips, making it even harder for me to want to leave. It was a perfect fit. I loved it. The sleeves where loose and the hem was short. It made me feel special. He made me feel special. There was only one other time I felt like that.

“Did you make that dress for me when we were at Themis home?” I remembered how beautiful that dress made me feel and how I thought it was a gift from her. He eyed me carefully. “Yes I did.”

He turned away and headed to his work table. I laughed out loud and ran towards him. I half jumped on his back and kissed his neck.

“Thank you.” I breathed, nudging my head into his neck.

“Don’t you need to go?” He tried to shrug me off.

“What? Did I upset you?” I pouted. He didn’t respond. “Or are you embarrassed?” I lowered myself down and turned my head to peek at him.

He looked at me and gave me a chaste kiss. “I will see you later.” He then went back to work.

“Okay” I giggled. I walked over to the mirror and stopped. “You really aren’t going to see me off?” I pouted.

He circled around, leaned against his table and waved at me.

“Bye.” he said, but not really meaning it. I winked and walked through the mirror.

As I got back from my night with Hephaistos, I could hear both of our nymphs readying the courtyard for our dinner guests. I flew down the stairs still elated from my night with my lover.

‘So, you finally returned!’
Eva thought as she looked up at me eating her apple.

I entered the kitchen and leaned against the table that she was sitting at.

I grinned and thumbed towards the courtyard. “I see you guys were busy.” I ignored her previous comment.

“Not really, the girls took care of most it.” She ginned a wicked smile.

“So… how was it?” I knew what she was asking, but I still couldn’t believe her. She never mentioned anything about Bellerophon.

‘
Oh come on, don’t be like that. He’s a god. It has to be different. Can he do anything spectacular, come on tell me?’
Her voice in my head imploring me was something I never wanted to hear. I gave a quick back hand to her head, as I nodded disapprovingly at her. I was walking away when I suddenly stopped.

“Oh by the way, Eva? It was simply delicious.” I smiled from ear to ear thinking of my night. Hearing Eva laugh made me laugh to myself, as I headed out to the courtyard to help the girls.

Night came and our guests arrived. Dinner was mouth watering since Zoe had decided to cook. She used to often cook with our mother. Zoe has always had a knack for making food taste delectable.

As the wine flowed, so did our stories. The Mesopotamian had stories that I could never imagine happening. Their battles with the Diavolis have been happening for ages.

“So is it true? Are you betrothed to Hephaistos?” Asked Enki, he smiled waiting for me to answer. Normally in the past, I would have avoided the question, but not anymore.

“Why is it you asked every time I see you? Yes, yes I am!” As I finished my declaration Hephaistos’ hands moved onto my shoulders. I lifted my chin to see him towering over me, I smiled, happy to see his face.

“Finally! You said it. I’ve been waiting.” Enki threw his hands up in the air. I offered Hephaistos wine, but he declined. In a calm tone he said he needed to go back and just wanted to see me. He stood for a while and just as he came he left. I felt the need to follow, but I couldn’t.

“So have you seen any differences in the Diavolis lately?” I asked.

“Differences? How?” Asked Alulim. He was a tall, broad shouldered man. His black wavy hair was long past his shoulders, while his beard was kept clean and regal, his voice was soft but dominate. There was no question in my mind why he was the first ruler of Sumer.

“Well for us, we have seen an increase on Diavolis activity.” answered Eirene.

“And even the way they fight has been altered.” added Eva. The four men stared at each other, their eyes darting back and forth.

“We know you know something, plus I could sense your apprehension, just tell us.” said Agape. “Don’t forget, I could hear your thoughts.” I pointed to my temple.

“We have noticed more strategic planning on their part, like someone is teaching them how to fight in unison. As though they are testing us to see what are abilities are.” Gilgamesh reached for his wine. He was nervous, but why?

“What do your gods think?” questioned Lugalbanda. He looked much like Alulim only a younger version.

“Our gods say nothing. They want us to simply fight whenever they appear, but we’ve decided to take the matter in our own hands. We have to attack first, if we don’t something tells me we’ll lose everything to them.” I said defiantly.

I really didn’t care much for the gods’ perspective on this matter. If they didn’t care about the Diavolis then they wouldn’t care what measures we took.

“Our gods care and care very much, that’s why they’re here. They came to speak to Zeus, but have found that he’s not a worried as we are.” Enki was upset.

“Have you come up with anything? A plan of attack?”Alulim added.

“We have been collecting intelligence and have gotten some support for the Protogenos, but in a specific way no, no, we haven’t.” I shook my head.

The night ended with both sides on the same page. We understood that a switch happened and for what reason we still didn’t know.

I left the party and headed upstairs to my room. I closed the door and without a second thought I stepped into the mirror.

There I saw a Hephaistos lying on his bed with his chest bare. The fire was dying down and his skin glowed so beautifully against the mute light. I slowly crossed the room taking off my dress and ever so lightly slid myself into the sheets. I reached for his body and nudged my way into his embrace. He moved. His soft, warm body shifted to my direction. He laid his head onto my chest and wrapped his arms around me. I began to slowly caress his hair, untying the little leather wrap that held his pony tail, his hair was soft and wavy and smelled so divine. He groaned at my touch and stirred in my arms.
‘My love’
His mind let out a thought. I smiled at how comforting it was. We finally fell into a peaceful sleep.

I could see the beautiful fields of Laconia, the hills were covered with spring flowers, but these horrendous growls had distracted me. I walked over to the hill and saw Diavolis lined up as an army, they were disciplined and fearless. Hundreds of them stood tall waiting. Their manner was completely different then the way they were before. I could see a man ruling over them, but his face was not clear, he roared and yelled, he then threw his sword into the air. I was stirring in my sleep, when I could feel Hephaistos soothing me. I jolted up trying to catch my breath. I felt Hephaistos’ hands on me. I searched for his face, but it wasn’t him looking back at me, I screamed and finally woke up.

I could hear Eirene voice, this was not my dream this was her vision.

“What is it?” Hephaistos’ eyes were full of worry and concern.

I reached for his face, his most beautiful face.

“I have to go” I said weak from my dream.

“Why?” He asked holding onto my hand as I was getting up.

“Eirene, she had a vision, its’ time.” I could sense a dark time coming, something was going to change. I felt like crying, but instead I swallowed the hard lump in my throat. Before I reached the mirror, I stopped and turned to see him still in bed looking so lost. I ran to his arms letting him hold me.

“What’s wrong?” He said in a panicked voice.

I shook not saying anything. How could I tell him about this fear I was feeling? I felt anxiety creeping in, but I pushed aside. I finally peeled myself off of him without looking back and walked through the mirror.

I could hear the franticness of my sisters’ thoughts. I suited up wearing my silver embroidered armor. We were all ready. There was no need for explanations. We knew this was a fight not like any other. A quite calm came over us as we stood there waiting, Akhilles and Herakles had finally joined us.

I took out the map of Laconia. “Here, this is where we’ll land. From Eirene vision we should be far, but at least we could see what’s going on before we head out to attack.” The mood was moot as I explained what we were going to do.

As we were about to leave, I could feel someone was here. I looked up and saw Hephaistos at the doorway. His eyes had a sad expression. I walked over to him.

‘We’re going to leave now, okay?’
Eva thought. I nodded.

Slowly the portal opened behind me and my family started to walk through.

“What is it?” I asked sadly to him.

He reached for me and his lips found mine. His kiss was desperate, his lips were hard. His tongue was beckoning me to stay. He finally released me, his forehead leaning against mine, both of us breathing heavily.

“Be careful.” He breathed with his eyes still closed, his voice low and anguished.

“Here.” He took my hand and placed a ring on my finger, the ring was made of white gold.

It had the most beautiful floral engravings on it. I smiled and kissed him again. How can this man make me love him more?

“I’ll be back soon.” I whispered. He reluctantly let me go, but I offered him a quiet smile, reassuring him as I walked through the portal to my awaiting family.