Resurrected (26 page)

“I’m sorry, Brenna.”
Elijah's voice was no more than a whisper. “We are going to be
getting rid of her ashes and bones next. We can leave her there for
a while longer if you want to say good-bye.”

“No.” Brenna said her voice
raspy and weak. “I don’t ever want to see her like that. I’d rather
remember her as she was. As for right now, I want my weeping heart
to lie to me. I want to pretend that she is just off somewhere in
the world, exploring.” Tears now fell freely and her sobbing caused
the chains to rattle as her body trembled from weeping. All Elijah
wanted to do was put his arms around her, to try and console her.
However, he knew nothing would ease her pain. Above all else, he
had to free her before they continued. It affected him more than he
would have ever wanted to admit, to see Brenna beaten, bleeding and
unable to heal. He recognized the festering gaping bite wound on
her neck to be from Adam.

Turning, Elijah looked over
at Malachi who stood over his brother. Adam was weak but seethed
with anger. Elijah could feel the hatred ooze from Adam, his hatred
more so now for his brother than the rest of his ungrateful
children. Elijah walked over to them and knelt down on one knee
before Adam.

“Where are the keys?” He
asked. Adam looked up at him, a smug grin playing on his
lips.

“Where are they?” Elijah
demanded. However, unable to wait for him to answer, he reached out
and began searching Adam for the keys. Finding nothing in his
pockets, he was about to give up but as Elijah rose to his feet a
sparkle caught his eye. Reaching down, Elijah grabbed for the
silver chain that encircled Adam’s neck and with a firm quick pull,
the chain broke. In his hand he grasped tightly onto a set of
keys.

“Thank you.” Elijah said
sarcastically.

“You insolent child!” Adam
cried out. “After my dear brother here, I think I hate you the
most! You will die, you will all die!” He threatened. Elijah looked
at him stunned and unable to hold back, he began
laughing.

“Do you really think so?”
Elijah asked, mocking him. He stood there, looking down at Adam in
contempt, knowing that he had no response. Turning away from Adam
and Malachi he walked over to Brenna, began unlocking the shackles
and gently lowered her to the floor. She was terribly weak from
lack of blood and the infectious bite from Adam left her unable to
regenerate. She was slowly dying.

Elijah gave Malachi a quick
look, “Lock him up where Brenna was,” he directed. Malachi nodded
in agreement, swiftly picked up his brother and forced him to
stand. Elijah looked down at Brenna who was now in his arms. Her
grief over Deirdra and what she had done to Stone had weighed
heavily upon her.

In her grievous state,
Elijah caught her frenzied thoughts. She repeatedly told herself
how she believed she should die as well. Brenna was so guilt-ridden
over joining forces with Adam and then to have the situation turn
out as it had, it was torture. There was no punishment that any
vampire could inflict upon her that she could not do to herself
tenfold.

Gently Elijah wiped the
blood tears from Brenna’s cheeks. Without any hesitation he brought
his wrist to his lips and let his fangs tear his flesh. Offering
his bloodied wrist to Brenna, she turned her head away from it. She
would not accept his blood despite her thirst.

“Take it Brenna. Do not let
death take you from me too.” Elijah said desperately. Even though
he had spent most of his time with Deirdra, he had a love for
Brenna just as much. Elijah would not let any more leave him here
on this earth alone. He was beginning to feel his age and a panic
of being forsaken grew.

“Take it!” He said again,
his voice assertive, yet pleading. Brenna turned to look at him.
Her sad eyes met his then dropped to his bloodied wrist. After a
long moment she finally gave in to her thirst. Taking hold of his
wrist she let her lips wrap around the wound and began to
drink.

Before his eyes Brenna’s
wounds began to heal until no wounds or marks were visible. As the
pulling on his veins became more than Elijah could handle, he had
to stop Brenna from her feeding.

“That’s enough, Brenna.”
Elijah said his voice firm yet soft. Without hesitation, she
released her grasp. Looking up at him, her eyes expressed her
genuine gratitude. Breaking Elijah and Brenna from their moment,
Adam spoke.

“He came to me once, he can
come again and I will have vengeance against all of you!” Adam
spat, his resentment growing to the boiling point. Malachi knew
immediately what Adam meant.

“You are only a pawn to
him, Khalid. You are asinine to believe that your precious deity
Shezmu, the one you prayed endlessly to for your immortality, would
rescue you. He is laughing at you. He undoubtedly enjoys watching
those of us who have become infected with this immortal blood,
enjoys watching us as we torment ourselves. Without a doubt he
takes pleasure in watching our human nature decay to a level that
makes us fiends like him,” Malachi said, addressing his brother. He
now stood inches away from him and grasped firmly onto Adam’s chin,
pressing his fingers into his pale skin before
continuing.

“You my brother are weak
and stupid and I shall not pay for your mistakes any
longer.”

Rising to her feet with
some help from Elijah, both watched the tense interaction between
Adam and Malachi. Seeing Adam chained did not set Elijah at ease.
It was evident to him that a fair amount of Adam’s strength had
returned. He knew that being the First was allowing him to heal
rapidly without the need for either human or vampire blood. It was
clear to Elijah that they would have to take a great amount of his
blood at dawn so that by dusk he would not have enough strength to
break the chains.

Stewing in his anger, Adam
glared at his brother then at Elijah but completely ignored Brenna.
Feeling brave, Brenna walked away from Elijah’s side and over to
Adam.

“You poisoned my mind with
words of grandeur–I will grant you, yes, it was my naïveté and
stupidity that caused me to believe what you told me.” Brenna
paused for a moment then continued.

“I hate you for pulling me
away from my family, not only physically but emotionally as well.
You should have killed me Adam, for I will stop at nothing to see
you dead even if it kills me in the process!” Brenna said. Adam’s
cold stare locked with Brenna’s. He looked at her as if amused by
her fury and as if what she had said was a joke, he let out a peal
of ebullient laughter.

Feeling defeated, tired and
her soul worn to shreds, Brenna backed away from him. Walking over
to Elijah, she stood beside him. Looking up at him, blood tears
welled in her eyes.

“I have to leave this room.
I cannot stand to be near him any longer.” Brenna said her voice
small. Elijah nodded and she exited the dungeon-like room. Looking
over at Malachi, Elijah stayed silent for a moment before
speaking.

“He is regaining too much
of his strength, too much, too fast.” Elijah said.

“Yes, yes he is. You go to
your family. I will take care of him.” Malachi said his tone
matter-of-fact. Elijah at once felt uneasy and wondered what he had
planned. Malachi softened his features making himself appear placid
once he saw that his remark made Elijah uncomfortable. Taking a few
steps to stand only inches from Elijah, Malachi reached up with
both hands and cupped Elijah’s face lovingly,
paternal-like.

“Don’t worry. I shall not
get rid of him. We need him for the resurrection spell,” he said,
his violet eyes expressing his sincerity. “Don’t worry,” he said
once more.

Elijah nodded, finally
accepting his weak words of reassurance. Malachi then turned to
face his brother. Elijah took this as his cue and made his way
upstairs.

With Mylana still in the
kitchen, Brenna and Eme had joined her at the dining table. Silence
was all that greeted him. Eme directly locked her gaze with Elijah
and spoke to him telepathically.

“She has
endured too much. Her mind is filled only with thoughts of Deirdra
and her resurrection. What if we attempt this dark magick and it
does not work? Or worse, it does and Deirdra is not Deirdra, what
then? She will end it. She thinks of it now. She plans it,
calculates it so that at her weakest hour she will let the purity
of fire release her of this dark life
.”

He looked down at Mylana
who sat so still that even to his eyes she appeared like an
alabaster statue. Her fierce beauty made her appear more
frightening rather than serene. Her once sparkling eyes appeared to
have no life; only coldness exuded from her. Pulling his gaze from
Mylana, he looked to his immortal sister.

“I would
rather never see her again, than watch her exist like this. If she
wanted I would help her in her need for final
death.
” Eme looked up at him, startled and
somewhat frightened of his words. Elijah himself was surprised that
he had voiced his true thoughts. But he knew that if
he
had desired the same
demise, he would want someone of his clan to assist him with the
deed.

Bowing his head, Elijah
attempted to keep his grief in check. He would not give way to
weeping nor would he give way to being sucked into Mylana’s state
of mind. He could already feel it begin to poke and prod at his
very soul. Releasing a deep sigh, Elijah closed his eyes
momentarily. Rising to his feet he had a job to do and he walked
away feeling the weight of their anguish. Feeling sluggish, made
his way to retrieve Deirdra’s remains. Elijah was tired,
emotionally and physically. The sun was nearing the horizon and the
familiar pull of slumber was tugging on his body.

Walking through the
doorway, Elijah found Stone sitting on the couch, staring at the
bones and ash-like remains. Although he sat there motionless, blood
tears streamed down his white cheeks.

Standing in the doorway,
Elijah figured Stone had to have known he stood there. He looked at
this boyish man and now that he had time to absorb the vampire
Stone, his beauty stole his heart all over again. His beauty–how
his hair fell so gently around his face, the perfect symmetry of
his features, his large soulful brown eyes–was intensified by his
embrace. Like all those Elijah knew, himself included, they
appeared like angels. But in reality they are only brute creatures
in the guise of angels.

Clearing his throat, Elijah
wanted Stone to acknowledge that he stood there–and he did. Looking
up at Elijah, Stone quickly wiped his cheeks and rose to his
feet.

“You’re here to take her
remains, aren’t you?” Stone asked his emotions evident in his
voice.

“I am, yes.” Elijah said
and walked over to him. “It must be done before dawn.”

With an
authoritative
demeanour
, Elijah had Stone
retrieve a sheet so they could wrap Deirdra’s remains. He then
silently directed Eme to take Mylana to the living room. Elijah
didn’t want her to be there when they exited the house through the
kitchen.

Carrying the remains in the
bundled sheet, Stone followed behind Elijah as they exited the
house into the back yard. They dug at the deep snow until they hit
the frozen earth then began to dig up the grass and dirt to make a
hole three feet by three feet and six feet deep. Stone then gently
placed the bundle into the hole and covered it, replacing the dirt
then snow.

Once
inside, they made their way back to the kitchen, finding Malachi
with Mylana and Eme. Malachi’s flesh was rose-
coloured
from feeding on Adam’s blood.

“The sun is about to rise.
Is Adam weakened enough that he will not regain enough strength by
dusk to free himself?” Elijah asked, directing his question to
Malachi.

“His blood is quite
powerful. You all should feed from him. With what I took, he could
still possibly regain his strength enough to free
himself.”

Without any argument or
further discussion, they all just accepted this information and
made their way to Adam’s prison. In the basement once more, Stone
stood by Elijah and Brenna held onto Mylana’s hand for support.
Adam looked up at them as if they had intruded on his privacy. His
abhorrence for them twisted his features. It was evident to them
all that Malachi had indeed taken a fair amount.

Eme was the first to
approach Adam. Reaching out for his chin, she turned his head to
the left. Swiftly and fiercely she bit down onto his neck. Elijah
was the next to join her, clamping his lips around the flesh at the
inner crook of Adam’s arm. Mylana pressed closely beside Elijah and
drank from the wrist of the same arm, leaving the other limb for
Stone and Brenna. Brenna then Stone made their way towards Adam.
Brenna grasped firmly onto Adam’s arm and with much violence tore
at the flesh at the crook of his arm, wrapping her lips around the
wound. Although thirsty and lusting after Adam’s blood as the scent
of it became unbearable, Stone was the last one to taste his
blood.

To have Adam’s blood course
through Stone’s veins was like liquid fire, warming his body from
the inside out. He had never experienced anything like it and as he
drank, he found himself high on this blood. However, with this
unnatural delight came the horrifying visions of mass murder;
visions of a man, a vampire known to Elijah and Eme as the Blood
God.