Discern (20 page)

“Do souls differ?” I asked, still wondering when one of my questions might upset him.

“Oh, yes, very much so. There are beautiful ones and horribly evil ones.”

“How can you tell the difference?”

“I can read souls, by simply looking at someone, hearing their voice or even with a photograph.”

“Which souls do you prefer?” I almost choked.

“For consumption?”

“Yes.”

“Evil ones,” he said flatly.

“Is my soul evil?” I swallowed hard.

He chuckled lightly. “No, not even close. Your soul is the most beautiful one I’ve ever seen.” His eyes changed to amber as he explained.

“So you don’t want my soul?”

“Oh, yes, I do want it, but not to devour.”

“That’s good,” I said uneasily.

“Haley, I have no desire to hurt you,” he exhaled.

“I’m pretty sure of that.” I bit down on my lower lip. “But it’s a lot to take in.”

“I know, and you’re doing unbelievably well.”

“Do you have special abilities, other than just changing your appearance?”

“Yes, we have many.”

“Like?”

“I can travel at fast speeds—not running—just appearing in the place I choose, and I can move things telepathically, amongst many others.”

“Will I ever see any of them?”

“Yes, I’ll show you most of them, but for now, we’ll just talk about them. I don’t think you’re ready for that yet,” he smiled gently.

He was right, I wasn’t ready for all his supernatural abilities yet—just talking was fine.

The time had come to ask. “Are there more like you?”

“Yes, there are thirteen of us.”

At least the number was low and not in the millions. “Thirteen is a good number. It’s actually my lucky number—go figure,” I mentioned uneasily.

“Yes, just thirteen of us now.”

“Were there more?”

“There were, but they were all destroyed a very long time ago. Only twelve of us take on human forms. The thirteenth one is our creator, and he doesn’t mingle amongst us.”

“Who’s your creator?”

“We were created by an over zealous creature that craved companions. He wanted creatures similar to himself, so he created four in the beginning. Then those four reproduced, creating eight more. I was the result of the reproduction.”

“Who created humans?”

“The same creator that created us; he just didn’t give mortals the same abilities as the immortals.”

 
I sensed he was leaving a large part of the story out.

 
“Where are the others?”

“You saw one tonight. He was the guest speaker.”

“Alec Alexander?” I asked, remembering their similarities.

“Yes, he’s my brother.”

“Where are the rest of them?” I asked, hoping they were nowhere near
Boulder
.

“The twelve of us are spread throughout the world.”

“Where’s the creator?”

“Here and there,” he mumbled, leaving the question unanswered.

“Oh.”

He rose from the floor and cautiously took a seat on the bed, continuing to keep his distance.

“I’m so sorry, Haley. I knew this would be difficult, and I was so arrogant as to believe you’d never figure this out,” he said.

“I actually wouldn’t have, if it weren’t for those darn delusions.”

“Yes, they did hinder my ability to hide things.”

“How long have you been alive?”

“It’s been a long time.” His eyes looked away momentarily, as if he were lost in thought. “It makes teaching history a lot easier,” he grinned.

“So which Greek God were you?”

“I assumed you’d be more disgusted with my interference in history, rather than intrigued.”

“I find it fascinating.”

“It’s not, it’s actually quite sad,” he sighed. His finger slowly traced the design on the comforter, as he wouldn’t allow his eyes to meet mine.

“Why?”

“Our involvement is an atrocity; we tricked the mortals for our own enjoyment. We left mankind confused and forever searching for answers, believing in several different higher authorities, which only created more questions and more unjustified wars.”

My faith in mankind was slowly being restored, realizing we had been tricked. “Why did you do it?”

“We were bored. Time passes slowly when there’s no end in sight. We never planned for it to get so out of hand, but after awhile we began to believe we were actually gods. We were consumed with power and greed—but we soon learned the truth. We were nothing but puppets to a much higher authority.”

“The higher authority being the creator, right?”

“Yes.”

“So, which one were you?” I asked again, intrigued with his role in Ancient Greece.

“If you must know, I was Ares,” he said flatly, lowering his eyes.

My faced dropped. I was hoping for Apollo, the God of poetry, or someone other than Ares. “Oh,” I whispered. There was no other response I could muster.

“Are you scared?”

Our class discussion of Ares had just concluded last Monday. Ares was violent and desired death for those who crossed his path. “No, just remembering everything we learned in class. I was hoping you would’ve been one of the others.”

“Sorry to disappoint you,” he said, slowly dropping his head into his hands.

“The God of war and hate,” I murmured.

“I had much hate in my heart at the time. I had suffered a great loss and had no reason to spare my rage upon the mortal world. But I reassure you, I’ve calmed down over the years. I’ve learned to control the majority of my anger. I’m aware of my strength and know its’ danger.”

I painfully swallowed as I tried to grasp the seriousness of this situation. I searched his face looking for any sign of danger. All I could see was the pain and shame he carried from his past actions. My urge to run was slowly fading, even though his confessions seemed to be growing worse.

“I should be afraid, but I’m not.”

“Not too long ago you were trying to escape,” he half-smiled.

“This is a great deal to grasp, but I figure you wouldn’t be explaining all of this to me if you planned on hurting me.” My eyes met his, hoping my assumptions were correct.

“Haley, I would never hurt you.”

“So, your anger has calmed?”

“Yes, very much so,” he nodded.

“What about at the diner?”

“I apologize for that. My anger can usually be controlled, but your presence seems to bring out the demon in me,” he grinned nervously.

“That’s not good.”

“Your existence is worth every ounce of anger that I may feel,” he breathed.

“But if I make you angry, then…” I stopped.

“You don’t infuriate me, anyone that thinks of touching or hurting you does,” he clarified.

“But you can’t hurt everyone just to keep me safe.”

“Oh, yes I can and will. Your safety is everything to me.”

“Why?” I asked, baffled as to why he felt this way.

“I can’t explain it right now, but in time you’ll know the truth.”

“Will I?” I asked doubtingly.

“If you choose to stay, then yes.”

“Do I have a choice?”

“I’d never force you to stay, but be aware—I’d still harm anyone that tried to hurt you.”

“So, you’d follow me around for the rest of my life?”

“No, I don’t have to follow you. I can feel what you’re feeling.”

“So, that’s why you have been showing up everywhere I go,” I muttered.

“Only when I could feel you were upset.” He leaned in a little closer. “But I wasn’t stalking you, just making sure you were safe,” he said, leaning away.

“I see,” I said softly, pondering momentarily on his interest in my safety. “How can you feel my emotions?”

“Your soul calls out to me.”

“Is that good?”

“Oh, yes—very good,” he smiled.

“Why does it?”

“I’ll explain another day,” he said.

“Okay. Can I still ask you questions?” I asked nervously, wondering if our time had come to an end.

“Of course.”

“Can you create more immortals? Or were those stories just myths?”

“We once did create more immortals and some half-immortals, but those times are over. We’re forbidden to create anymore like us. So much damage was caused with our frivolous actions, that our creator made it clear that he would destroy us if we did,” he said sternly.

I shivered at the thought of this creator. “Why are the others scattered around the world?”

“We don’t always see eye to eye. Our tempers can flare, and it can be a disastrous situation. We visit each other from time to time, but never stay near one another for long periods of time.”

I remembered back to our conversation at the bookstore. “You did mention that before.”

“It can be challenging at times, but as long as we steer clear of one another, things usually go smoother.”

“What did you mean by you could take it all away?”

“I can erase memories. I can take certain parts of a mortal’s memory and delete it. Similar to a file in a computer,” he explained.

“Does it hurt?”

“No, but it can be tricky.”

“I’d be upset if you decided to do that,” I confessed uneasily.

“Maybe tonight, but tomorrow you might decide differently.”

“I doubt it.”

“This is a lot of information for you to take in, and the burden of keeping it a secret might weigh on you one day. I’d take it all away for you, if that’s what you desired.”

“Keeping secrets doesn’t bother me.”

“Just the other day, you were upset with your father’s secretive ways,” he teased.

“But this is different,” I contested. “It’s not hurting anyone.”

He cautiously turned and laid his body sideways on the bed. His eyes never left mine. “Can you promise me something?”

“Yes.”

“If it does become a burden, please tell me—I promise it won’t hurt,” he said softly.

“I can’t imagine this ever being a burden.”

His fingers lightly touched the back of my hand. “Any more questions?”

“Are they bothering you?”

“No, I’m just worried that I’ll answer one that does and you’ll want to leave,” he sighed.

“I’m not sure if I can anymore.”

“Don’t say that,” he breathed as his head tilted in my direction.

“Why not?”

“You’ll give me hope.”

Sparks
emitted from his hand as he lightly traced his finger along my hand.

 
“Is hope not good?”

“It’s very good, if you plan on staying,” he whispered.

“So, this isn’t the part where you tell me that you can’t resist my soul, and it’ll be difficult to be around me, but you’ll try your hardest?” I asked.

“No,” he said. “There are several reasons why I can’t resist your soul, but taking it isn’t one of them. “I’m not dangerous to you.”

“Just to everyone else,” I murmured.

“Just anyone that tries to hurt you,” he clarified.

“My own personal bodyguard.”

“I was hoping for more than that,” he confessed. “But before you say anything, you should go home and rest,” he insisted concerned.

His confession was exhilarating and frightening. “I don’t know if I can.”

“You don’t feel tired?”

“Yes, but not enough to fall asleep.”

“Nothing exciting will happen while you’re asleep,” he smiled.

“Do you sleep?”

“Yes, I do, but only for a short period of time.”

I glanced at the clock—it was almost three in the morning. Ryan was expecting me at the shelter tomorrow. It was hard to imagine continuing with the same, mundane life with this discovery of immortals walking amongst humanity, but I promised, and I never break promises.

My heart was instructing me to reach out and comfort this creature that sat before me, but my head was telling me to keep my distance. Although the fear was beginning to subside, I wasn’t able to let down my guard completely.

“I guess I should probably get home. I do have a long day tomorrow.”

“What’s on the agenda?” His question was so casual after all we had been through tonight.

“Volunteering at the women’s shelter tomorrow,” I moaned.

“You don’t sound very thrilled about it.” His smile was gentle.

“I just know I’ll get upset.”

“Upset, how?” He leaned in closer.

“At the men who put their hands on women and children,” I said disgusted.