Eternal Bloom - Book 5 (The Ruby Ring Saga) (8 page)

Beth grabbed a pen and notebook from her huge purse. “Tell us your story from the very beginning.”

The lines hardened on Erica’s face. “You’re not going to believe me.” 

“We’re very open-minded,” Beth said. “Trust us on this one.”

“How open-minded exactly?” Erica asked.

Liz pointed to Beth and I. “They’re both paranormal researchers. They investigate the unknown, from ghosts and angels to Bigfoot. You name it and they did it one time or another.”

Liz failed to mention Beth and I were now both retired. 

“I investigated many cases,” I said. “But I specialized in proving the existence of Bigfoot.”

Erica met my gaze. “Okay, that takes a special kind of nut. So if you believe in that, you’ll definitely believe my story.”

Liz went to retort when Beth tapped her hand. “Don’t worry, Liz. Sarah and I are professionals. We get that kind of gruff all the time. We’re used to dealing with it in our line of work.”

But we’re retired, I thought. I shook my head and let Beth continue her interview.

“Okay, I’ll trust you.” I nodded and Erica continued. “My brother got into a fight with a group of men that he called, The Immortals.”

I looked at Liz, and then Beth. This woman wasn’t a lunatic, she was the real deal. I was sure not many people had run-ins with Immortals and lived to talk about it. 

“Billy told me he discovered they had incredible powers and that they were these immortal beings. Of course I laughed at him. A few weeks went by and he never mentioned it again. Honestly, I even forgot all about it. Then, when I went to his house last week, on the day he was ruthlessly murdered, I saw something I’ll never forget.” Her voice trailed off.

“And what’s that,” Beth softly coaxed. 

“My brother had picked me up because my car had broken down. Those Immortals didn’t know I was there. I was upstairs using the bathroom. I heard the commotion. My gosh, I thought my brother owed money to a loan shark or something. So I kept quiet.” She took a deep breath as tears slipped down her face. “I saw a man in dark clothes with his hand placed on my brother’s chest. And all these blue sparks leapt from his chest as he screamed. So I hid upstairs in the closet.”

I gently hugged her. “I’m so sorry.”

She wept into my arms.

“My brother and I were recording a video for our mother in Florida. She hates Skype. She’s not into the computer or any kind of technology. When I left, my brother forgot to hit pause. The whole murder was caught on tape.”

Liz gasped. “You have them on film!”

“Yes,” she answered, wiping her eyes.

“Why haven’t you turned it into the police?” Liz asked.

“Because it could disappear. I’m playing it on national television first.”

Liz’s jaw dropped. “You’re going to expose this video footage?”

She reached for a tissue as she wept. “Yes, they’re going to pay for murdering my brother.”

“Can I see it?” I calmly asked. “I promise not to harm the footage.”

She retrieved her video camera and hit play. I watched the scene play out before me in the view screen. Nausea flooded over me as I watched the senseless murder. The Immortal muttered something but it went by so fast I didn’t catch it. “Rewind it,” I said. I hated to watch the horrible footage again, but I needed to know exactly what they said. I had almost picked it up the first time, but not quite. The woman replayed the video and I concentrated on the words. The Immortal clearly tells the other Immortal, “You’ve fed enough. It’s my turn.”

I looked at Beth, and then at Liz. My heartbeat spiked. “Did you hear what he said?”

“It was too fast,” Beth said.

“Not for me,” I said.

“I heard it,” Liz said. “What does it mean? Are they feeding off humans?”

“What did the man say?” the red-haired woman asked.

I told her and Beth what I heard and the woman looked away in complete disbelief.

Beth jotted down some notes and then frowned. “This particular group of Immortals seems to be feeding off the energy source of humans.”

The witness shrieked. “They were feeding off of him. That’s sick!”

“I wonder if they can feed without killing their victims,” Beth said.

Liz shot her a look. “I’m sure they have excellent hearing. Why didn’t they hear Erica when she crept away?”

“Because they were too busy killing my brother,” Erica said. “That’s why! They were too focused on feeding off of him.” She ran a hand through her hair. “You know what this means, it means vampires are real.”

“But they don’t drink blood,” Liz said.

“They’re Immortals who kill people for food,” she retorted. “I bet this is how the vampire legend got started. Maybe people got creative over the years and added in blood and fangs.”

I thought about what Beth told me. She had said lots of those people in those pods were from all over the United States. Some were from here, but others were from Texas and Michigan and other places. Those people might’ve not been there for test experiments like I suspected. They could’ve been brought in as
food
.  My stomach dropped. Do these Immortals in my home world kidnap people as a food source? The thought sickened me. Why hadn’t Dr. Meyers been more forthcoming? I couldn’t believe she could keep something like that from us. I had to tell Victor  about my findings the second I got home. He needed to know what we were up against. Could they feed on other Immortals? I didn’t have a clue. 

“You can’t go public with this video,” Liz said. “If you do, then they’ll kill you too.”

“But my brother needs justice,” Erica said. 

I touched her shoulder. “They’ll say your video is a hoax, then they’ll put their own special spin on it.”

“In the end, they’ll try their best to make you look like an idiot,” Liz said. “And then they’ll kill you.”

Erica shook her head. “You’re not talking me out of this.”

Liz stood. “I smell smoke.”

Erica glanced around. “I wasn’t cooking anything.”

When I darted into the kitchen, I gasped. Dozens of small flames flickered to life.

“Fire!” I shouted.

“The front door,” Liz screamed, pulling my arm. 

Beth tried to turn the knob but it wouldn’t budge. “Somebody’s locked us in here.”

“The window,” I said.

Beth, Liz, and I tried to open the windows but it was like they were nailed shut by an invisible hand. Erica came back with an axe and slammed it into the window. It didn’t even crack. The window had some kind of protective barrier to keep us from breaking through it. And that’s when I knew who was behind this little attack.

“It’s the Immortals,” Liz shouted through the smoke engulfing us. 

I could barely see in the hazy blue-gray smoke swirling around me in billows. Hungry flames leapt, and heat radiated from all around me. I could feel the intense, blinding heat on my face. “We have to get out of here!” I shouted over the crackling flames. My lungs burned, and it was hard to breathe. Pulling my dress up over my mouth and nose as a mask, I took quick, shallow gasps.

T
he fire spread quicker than I’d ever imagined. I’d only come to help Beth interview a witness and now I was fighting for my life. I sucked in my breath as rivulets of sweat started to run down my spine. Coughing violently, I tried to breathe.

“This way!” Liz shouted over the roar of the fire.

A shout pierced the air, and I spun around.

“You’re all dead!” a tall, well-built Immortal announced. He had at least a dozen others with him. How could Liz fight against a small army of Immortals? Erica, Beth, and I would be of no help.

I bit my lip hard, wondering if we could take so many on at once. Maybe we could distract or trick them somehow. Fire shot across the ceiling. Suddenly, bullets flew at us, and we ducked for cover behind an overturned table Liz had toppled over in milliseconds. “What the...? They’re shooting!” I said. The fire grew and everything was obscured by the leaping flames. I wasn’t sure how to get out of there alive. Letting out a long sigh, I squinted and swallowed hard as the flames flickered and smoke continued to swirl before me.

“We’ve gotta get out of here,” Beth said, coughing as smoke engulfed the room.

The bullets stopped and I wondered if they were out of ammo. When I peered over the table, I could see the Immortals fleeing the fire, only leaving a few to deal with us.

“Kill them!” a man shouted.

Liz stood and threw a couple of fire balls at them, followed by a few ice balls that knocked out at least three of them. I let out a tiny, silent breath. It was a small victory, but a good one nonetheless. Trying not to panic, I glanced around. All the exits were covered by Immortals waiting to kill us. My heart thundered. As I tried to scramble away, I was quickly surrounded by more dancing flames. I refused to believe that my life was going to end in a raging house fire. On the other hand, if I survived the day, it would be nothing short of a miracle.

“This way!” Liz shouted. “To the den!”

My body shivered as I bolted into the huge room. I slammed the door shut, locking it. 

“You have powers too,” Erica shouted hysterically at my sister.

“Don’t look so freaked,” Liz said. “These powers are going to save your sorry ass.”

“Sorry ass?” she said.

Liz rolled her eyes. “You threatened to expose the Immortals. How dumb is that?”

“How dumb is it to come over and interview a dead woman walking?” she asked.

My sister huffed. “You knew they were going to kill you, and yet, you didn’t care?”

“I just wanted justice, even if it meant my death afterward,” she said. “I just planned on doing the television show, and then dealing with the consequences when everything was said and done.”

“They have us cornered,” Beth said, voice trembling. “What are we going to do?”

“I’m thinking,” I said. Wisps of smoke floated above me. I coughed between jagged breaths and covered my nose and mouth with my stretched dress.

“I don’t want to die like this,” Beth whispered. “Back in Dornia, they were going to light me on fire, and now it’s happening again. This is my biggest nightmare.”

Liz pulled us way over to the left. “Let’s create a defense of some sort.”

We started making a barrier with a couch, a few love seats, and an overturned desk. I gasped as we crouched down to hide behind it. It wasn’t much, but it might help bullets from hitting Beth and Erica. Liz and I could take a hit from a bullet, but our human friends couldn’t.

Erica gasped between breaths. “Like I said, they’re surrounded the whole house. There’s no way we’re getting past them. We’re as good as dead!” Her voice came thin and raspy.

Those words stung me. I couldn’t even explain my situation to the Immortals. It was shoot on sight. They wanted all potential witnesses dead. I touched my stomach and whispered to my unborn son, “Mommy will get us out of this. Don’t you worry.”

I screamed as the walls started to catch fire. Liz’s terrified expression mirrored my own. I knew fire wouldn’t kill Liz or I, but it’d hurt like crazy and I didn’t want to put my unborn child through that agony. Not to mention, the Immortals would just behead me the second the flames stopped anyway. I didn’t want to watch Erica and my best friend, Beth, die before my very eyes. It was like being trapped in a nightmare you can’t escape. I wanted to have a vision, but no matter how hard I tried, one wouldn’t come.

“Don’t worry,” Liz said. “She touched the burning wall we were crouched up against and it turned into ice, keeping us from getting fried.

Beth ran to the window on the other side of the room and desperately tried to open it, but again, it wouldn’t budge. Covering her face with her sleeve, she kicked with all her might. By the third attempt, she threw her whole body into it. Bullets fired into the room and Beth dropped to the ground.

“I’m hit,” she screamed.

I drew a deep breath, the blood draining from my face. “Beth!” I ran over and scooped her up. She was completely covered in blood.

“You’re going to be okay,” I said. “Just hang on.”

My lips trembled; for a minute, I couldn’t breathe. The thought of losing Beth seemed too much to bear.

Just as I reached the center of the room, the door flew off its hinges and splintered as a fireball burst right through it and flew over my head. As I ducked, I could feel the intense heat flying over my face. The ball crashed into the back wall with a loud crash. The Immortal’s hands shot out showers of bright sparks followed by trains of white and yellow. I covered my head as hot particles rained down. More spinning balls flew toward us, changing in color from brilliant red to dazzling orange to lime green, like a fireworks show on the Fourth of July.

An electrical crackle filled the air, and thick, black smoke erupted as another fireball blazed across the room, leaving a trail of yellow sparks behind. The explosion sent me staggering forward, and I felt like someone had just kicked me in the back. I fell to the floor on my side. I shielded my face from the yellow flames and black smoke engulfing us, but my eyes continued to water, my lungs burning with the pressure building inside. The fumes made my nose and throat burn as heat singed my flesh. Searing pain in my back made me groan as Erica and Liz helped me up. We carried Beth back behind our pile of furniture.

I glanced into her eyes and she blinked. “I’m dying. Tell Christopher I love him.” Her eyes fluttered shut.

“No!” I yelled, rocking her. “Don’t you die on me.”

Tears streamed down my cheeks.  I turned to Liz, my mouth gaping.

“I can’t heal her by myself,” she said. “There’s no other Immortals here and you’re broken!”

“Try!” I begged.

Liz placed her palm on her chest and closed her eyes, but it was obvious she didn’t have enough power to save her life. Pressing a hand against my own chest, I tried to still my frantic breathing.

The stench of acrid fumes lingered, and the sound of Immortal voices echoed somewhere in the distance. My jaw dropped as more Immortals stretched across the hall, the scene playing out before my eyes as if in slow motion. Liz aimed and threw more fire balls again and again, watching them fall in all directions, but like a swarm of insects, more Immortals just kept coming.