The Sons of Adam: The sequel of The Immortal Collection (A Saga of the Ancient Family Book 2) (9 page)

"And what has he turned him into? What exactly has happened?"

Nagorno moved forward with difficulty, tapped Gunnarr on the arm with his walking stick getting him to move away from my side.

I could note his heavy breathing, he was no longer the silent snake I had once known, now he was just a decrepit old dandy.

He stared at me, that part of him hadn't changed: the strength, the fury of those dark eyes that had hurt me so much. I hated him with all my being, remembering that those eyes, that cold face, were possibly the last thing that my mother saw when she was alive.

Then a moan escaped from his throat, as if the effort of standing up was too much for him. Gunnarr rushed over to bring him a huge armchair, picking it up with his right hand, as if it was a feather and solicitously placing it behind him.

"Sit down, uncle. Too many emotions for today. You should go and rest."

"No, we've already come a long way, Gunnarr. First we should explain the situation to Adriana."

"She's furious right now, she won't see reason," he said.

I glared at him and he glared back, but despite my fear, despite the intimate conviction that he would be my executioner in the event that the fragile negotiations were to break down, I measured my strength against his, although the eyes that were piercing mine were exactly the same as Iago's, and my brain was finding it hard to accept such a dissonant situation.

Nagorno sat down heavily and coughed, as if that moment of intimate rage between us had bothered him. I remembered his egomania, his need to be the center of attention under all circumstances, that part of him hadn't changed. His essence remained intact.

"To start with, I didn't want to bother you," he confessed, with a serious look on his face. "I swore that I wouldn't go anywhere near you while you were still alive. I swore that I would get even with my brother once your life cycle had come to an end. A few decades is not long to wait, I'm a patient man, I can distract myself with other things for a few years."

"Great, here's a man who can't even remain faithful to his own promises," I pointed out to him.

Gunnarr let out a low whistle, something similar to admiration.

"You said she was feisty but that was a bit of an understatement," he said, chuckling.

"I told you, she's one of those one people who won't give up. It's going to be difficult to reach an agreement that satisfies both parties."

"Stop talking like this was one of your businesses, Nagorno. It's my life we're talking about here. At least tell me what part of the planet we are on, where you have brought me, how long I was unconscious for..."

"I'll do my part if you do yours, Adriana. And now, let me continue. I was telling you that to begin with I forced myself to stay away from both of you. But then came the first heart attack. They were able to save me, but I thought I was going to die. I thought I was going to die..." he said, self-absorbed, looking at some faraway point in the library filled with hundred year old books.

"After that nothing was ever the same. Everything I did wore me out and left me exhausted. I was exhausted after taking pleasure with women, tired after horse riding, after playing golf... like an old man.  Like a goddamn old man. My heart has aged significantly this year, I feel old and tired inside, despite the fact that I still look like an eternal thirty year old. But I'm not senile, my brain thinks just as quickly as before, I'm not forgetful, I don't have any signs of decline. It's just this heart, it finds it hard to pump my blood..." and with that he was quiet, lost in the spirals of some memory.

"So he came to me," interrupted Gunnarr. "He came to me, and to start with I didn't believe him. But soon after I saw him have his second heart attack, he's still getting over it, as you can see. It was my idea to use you, if you have to hate someone, hate me. I don't care."

I already do
, I thought.
I barely know you and I hate you.

I looked at both of them, I refused to be a playthings of circumstances, someone to be deprived of freedom, someone to move around at will, someone to intimidate to get information from.

I am more than that
, I thought,
I don't care how many more years you have lived than I have
.
I don't care what you've been through, how you make your enemies. I am more than that.

And right then I decided to stop looking at myself as someone inferior to them. So I pushed away Gunnarr's hand, which was still holding me by the shoulder, stood up with some difficulty and looked both of them in the eye as I recited what would likely mean my death sentence.

"Take me back to my cell. I'm not going to talk, not today, not ever. You've got the wrong person."

"So we'll move to Plan B," said Gunnarr. "If you don't give us any clues as to what my father injected Uncle Nagorno with, our doctors won't be able to save his life. I'll have to send my father some proof I am alive so that he will begin the research as soon as possible."

"No," interrupted Nagorno. "You're just looking for bloody revenge on your father, and I made it clear that it's not about that, god dammit."

"You're wrong. What I want is for you to live, I don't want you to die in my arms in a couple of weeks, but my father may doubt that we are serious, believe me, it's the only way to stop this messing around and get him to start working on it now."

"And what do you suggest?"

"Like I said: some proof she is alive. The same as we've always done, the old-fashioned way. An ear, something that won't compromise the life of this young lady.

My stomach gave me from inside. Painful.

"No, not an ear. If Adriana survives the ordeal and we give her back to my brother, he will never forgive me for returning her mutilated in that way."

"He won't even notice, she'll survive it, I'll cauterize the wound. And she's got long hair, she can cover it up all her life," said Gunnarr, pulling on my lobe. "Pass me that letter opener."

"I said no Gunnarr! Not an ear.”

Sweat started running down my back and soaking my shirt.

He's going to mutilate me
, I managed to think, but terror paralyzed me and the rope kept my hands tied behind my back.

He's going to mutilate me.

"Throw me the fucking letter opener!" roared Gunnarr, throwing me to the ground and pushing Nagorno away from the desk. "What the hell has happened to you over these last years? You've all gone soft, you're like longevos made out of butter."

And then Nagorno, making an effort to stand up straight, put his hand on the giant's arm, like a snake winding itself around a bear, each aware of his powers.

"Leave it," he managed to whisper.

Because he didn't need to say anything else. He was Nagorno, and Gunnarr bowed to his order.

"Take her back to her cell, I don't want to see her. Her presence here has drained me."

Gunnarr's gaze darkened and I barely had time to see the gesture that Nagorno made with his chin. He put the sack back on my head and dragged me down the stairs, back to my cell. Once there he threw me on the bed. Then, to my surprise, he untied my hands and I took off the sack that was preventing me from seeing.

Gunnarr was locking the door to the cell from the inside. He put the key in his camouflage pants and we were left alone in that locked room.

"Are you going to mutilate me now that we're alone?"

"You have to understand,
stedmor
. I had to know how far my uncle was willing to go."

"But what if he hadn't have stopped you?”

He looked at me with eloquence.

"You ask too many questions, my uncle warned me about your curiosity. Tell me, is that why you share your life with a longevo, Adriana Alameda, because of your eagerness to know everything? You and my father make a very odd couple. The reserved man and the curious archeologist.”

Wow
, I thought, frustrated,
he's got us figured out
.

There was a glint of mischief in his eyes, like when a child manages to work out an adult's riddle.

He then went over to the wall that my bed was pushed up against and put his hand on the rock.

"Too damp," he whispered to himself.

"What are you doing?" I asked, not understanding.

He didn't answer.

He bent down next to the bed and started looking for something under the springs. He took out a small plastic box. I cautiously walked over and saw that it was one of those devices for absorbing humidity that people put in storage spaces.

"It's soaking, I'll bring you another one tomorrow," he muttered, after examining the sponge inside.

"You kidnap me, pretend that you want to cut my ear off and now you're worried about the humidity in my cell?"

"I'm concerned about your bones. I don't want you getting sick, and seeing as your pigheadedness is going to make this go on for quite some time, I would prefer for you to enjoy the best conditions that Uncle Nagorno will allow me to provide you with."

I was trying to get it all to sink in, but there was too much to process.

"You left me the bottle of oxygen, didn't you? And these sheets and the down comforter.”

He didn't nod, but I knew that the answer was yes.

He simply stood up, with the box in one hand, and walked to the door in silence.

But before shutting it he chewed on his nail, thinking, as if he weren't sure whether or not to ask me a question.

"Hey, I haven't been able to stop thinking about this since I took it, along with your purse and cell phone. How did you get this? It once belonged to me."

He showed me the bronze
berserker
plaque that Iago had given me on our last night.

"Your father gave it to me the last day we were together, I'm not sure whether it was the day before yesterday or even before. He told me about the circumstances surrounding your birth, your childhood... those precious family memories that you longevos like so much," I added.

"And he gave you this..." he muttered, without lifting his gaze from the metal plaque. "It's curious that he kept it. This plaque in particular."

"Yes, he didn't have time to tell me anymore that night and his story ended when you reappear at your
berserker
farm."

"Skoll, I hadn't thought about him in a long time," he said, staring at the flagstone floor.

"I'm one of those people who listens," I dared to say. "And I'm afraid that the night is going to be very long here in your dungeon."

He frowned for a moment, and took his time to come to a decision.

"Ok,
stedmor
. I have to go and put my uncle to bed, wait up for me."

13

Berserker

ADRIANA

I sat on the bed, waiting for Gunnarr to arrive. I wrapped myself in the quilt and tried not to lean against the wall so as not to lose my body heat. I waited and waited, until sleep overpowered me and I gave in.

I think that I dreamed, a smell that I recognized, familiar eyes.

No, I was awake. Gunnarr was watching me, sitting next to me on the bed. My head cleared in a second and I jumped up, uncomfortable with the situation. Having that giant next to me, defenseless, hidden away in God knows what dark corner of the planet made me feel very vulnerable.

"Calm down, are you worried that I'll hurt you?"

I didn't answer, but I instinctively moved away from his body.

"Does my presence in this cell scare you?" he asked, looking at my face. "Oh God! Do you really think that I would rape you? Don't worry, woman, I'm celibate."

"Celibate?"

"Well, pretty celibate."

"
Pretty
celibate," I repeated in disbelief.

"Yes, pretty celibate. I've only broken my celibacy on three occasions over the last 1,200 years. Three women who deserved it, one for good, and two for bad. But that's it, so don't be scared, I won't hurt you in that way. I'm indifferent to many pleasures. So don't worry, your fortress will remain impregnable while I am your captor."

"You won't hurt me in that way, you said it. But you will be my executioner when the time comes, that's the plan, right?"

"Tell me, why do you think that?"

"Nagorno isn't in any shape to do it, and if he dies, you'll take revenge on your father, whatever it is he did to you."

"Didn't he ever tell you?"

"No, and he won't either. If Iago has decided not to tell me, there's no way to change his mind. And that's that. He's like that, so secretive," I sighed. It was painful to think about him and until then I had been blocking any thoughts of Iago out. "With a safe for a brain”.

"Well, I'm going to be an open book,
stedmor
. You say you're one of those people who like to ask questions? Well go ahead, I'm not going to hide anything. You wanted to know what happened with the
berserker
. Well, I'll tell you. It won't be pretty, but I'll tell you. I have robbed you of your freedom, so the least I can do is to keep your brain occupied. On the house."