Eternal Fire (35 page)

“
Sarah, honey, is that your voice?” my mom called from the porch.

My pulse quickened, and I hid behind Victor. “Distract her while I get upstairs to take a shower and get rid of this shirt.”

“
I’ve got you covered,” Liz said.

Chapter 23

After dinner, I wanted to spend some alone time with Victor. I was eager to take him to one of my favorite places, Winterfest. Victor strolled outside wearing his sexy leather jacket over a white shirt with a pair of faded blue jeans. He had more sex appeal than any guy I’d ever dated. He shot me a soft, sexy half-smile, and I wrapped my arm around him, staring at his rugged, masculine features.

After the nighttime parade, Victor held my hand, and we strolled the streets, admiring the joys of the season. Snow dusted the pine branches and swirled around the street lamps.
Walking through the outdoor wonderland, past lit reindeer, angels, nativity scenes, and Santa sculptures, w
e joined hundreds of people who all crowded around sidewalks to stare up at the Christmas tree in all its holiday splendor. There were 1
0,000 multicolored lights on miles of wire, wrapped around the towering Norway spruce that was crowned by a Swarovski crystal star. I smiled as the lights flickered and the crowd cheered in delight.

“
It’s glorious,” Victor said.

“
I know. It always takes my breath away,” I said putting my hands in my black wool coat. “This is going to be a fairytale Christmas.” I had the love of my life by my side, my sister, my parents, and I was pregnant with a bouncing baby boy. At that moment, there couldn’t have been anything finer on my Christmas list.

Victor
nodded, and I could tell how amazed and stunned he was by all the twinkling, colorful lights. He was equally amazed by cell phones, appliances, cars, and guns. My world was so very different from his. I wondered if he wanted to escape or embrace our high-tech world. Victor was undergoing tremendous changes in his life, taking on a new cultural identity. I didn’t know if the cultural barriers could ever be conquered entirely. I didn’t know if he could appreciate both his heritage and his new way of life.

“
I’ve never missed the tree lighting…well, except for last year, when I was in your world.” I stared at the marvelous sight. “My parents brought me here every year, and we loved ice-skating and drink hot chocolate.” I smiled at the memory.

“
Hot chocolate? Let’s have some. I’d love to try it,” Victor said.

“
I’d love that.”

Christmas carolers began to sing “Silent Night.”

“
Hear that?”

“
The singing?”

I gripped his hand. “That’s my favorite Christmas song! I used to go caroling with my friends. A special song like that is the heartbeat of Christmas.”

“
It’s a wonderful tradition,” Victor said. “I cannot wait for this Christmas Eve you told me about, especially since I get to spend it with you.”

“
You know what Liz used to do to me?”

His black hair swirled in the gust of wind. “I can only imagine.” He smiled.

“
She used to tell me that reindeer were on the roof, and I totally believed her when she’d squeeze my shoulder and screamed that she’d just seen a hoof. I would sneak outside at one a.m. and look for Santa’s reindeer on Christmas Eve.”

He chuckled and pulled me close as I snuggled into his embrace. After the tree lighting, we were rewarded with a spectacular fireworks show. Snowflakes fell onto Victor’s face, and I watched them linger on his eyelashes before melting. Leaning down, he kissed me in a soft, tender kiss. Tingles shot up my spine at his delicate caress. From his hug to his kiss to his touch, I loved everything about him.

“
I’ll love you always and forever,” he said, but then Victor suddenly broke off our embrace and glanced around.

“
What is it?”

“
I sense an Immortal presence,” he said. “Do you feel it?”

“
No,” I said. “It’s probably because you’re much older.”

“
We do not feel one another’s presence where I come from. This is…odd.” He continued to glance around, alert for signs of danger. “If I had, I would have known you were human and not the Immortal Princess Gloria.”

“
Then how do you know the presence is Immortal?” I asked.

He gripped my hand. “It feels strong—stronger than anything I’ve ever felt. Something just feels…amiss.”

“
Let’s go,” I said, clutching his hand, hoping some hot chocolate would calm him down.

As I made a quick glance over my shoulder,
a few men walked briskly toward us in long black coats. They all had the same light blue eyes, and when I studied their fingers, I saw the same blue ring as the one worn by the man I’d encountered in the mini-mart.

“
Those must be the Immortals!” I said. “Let’s talk to them.” I was dying to know more about them, and I was sure having them as alliances would work in our favor.

“
We’ll let them know we’re peaceful and mean them no harm,” Victor said.

I looped my arm in Victor
’s. “My thoughts exactly.”

As they approached, my heart raced.
I gasped as one of the men pulled out a gun and pointed it directly at us. “They’re armed,” I said. “Why would they pull out a gun in public like that?”

When Victor lifted his arm, his eyes grew wide.
“Sarah, my powers are gone.”

I concentrated and didn’t feel the familiar electricity racing up my arm. “Mine too!”

We
dived on the ground as bullets rang out, and we hurriedly army-crawled behind a ticket booth, scrambling for cover. Victor grabbed his chest; he’d been hit. I knew then that trying to talk to the Immortals was not an option.

Shudders ran through my whole body. “Are you okay?”

He nodded
.

I continued, “I’m going to take a wild guess here and say they’re not very friendly.”

“
We are at a huge disadvantage,” he said, peeking out. “We have no weapons nor powers.”

He was completely out of his element.
He knew how to conquer his enemies in Tastia, but things were different now. There were no rules, and we had no idea what we were facing or what we were up against.

“
Victor, I know you don’t like to run, but we have no idea who these people are or what they want with us, and we have no way to fight them right now.”

“
I’d fight anyway, but I wish to keep you and our child safe.”

I touched his face. “Let’s not deal with these guys right now.”

Gripping my hand, Victor dragged me through the crowd of people.
We twisted and turned around all of the Christmas displays and decorations. Dodging through the Christmas carolers, I was sure we’d gotten a good head start. I pulled the car keys out of my pocket and spotted the car. I let out a tiny sigh of relief, the tension releasing in my shoulders. Glancing around, I didn’t see anyone, but a flash of light burst through my head.

Time slowed down, and I was thrown into a completely different scene. I was sure I was inside one of my visions. I was in the back seat of the car of the two men who were chasing us. The driver was a lanky man with short brown hair, in his mid-thirties. The other man had reddish-brown hair. Glancing out the windshield, I could see my car in front of them on the lonely stretch of road. The man in the passenger seat held a notepad in his hand and had written down the license plate numbers. Suddenly, the scene played out, almost as if someone had turned off the pause button.

The driver turned to the passenger. “Run the plates. Get an address. We’ll send a team over to that location.”

I stared up at the night sky as Victor’s voice jolted me back to reality. “Sarah, are you okay? What’s wrong?”

“
I had a vision!” I shouted, running to the back of the car.

“
What are you doing?”

“
Stopping my vision from coming true.” I ripped off the license plate just as a bullet whizzed over my head. I peered around in the darkness but didn’t see anyone in the deserted parking lot. More shots fired in rapid succession, and I bolted to the driver side and slipped inside.

V
ictor buckled his seatbelt, then grabbed the license plate from me. When he cocked a brow, I explained as I started the car and put it in drive.

“
In my vision, they ran these plates and got our address. I can’t have my supernatural world spilling into my parents’ lives. They’ve been through enough. I just can’t have these guys showing up at my parents’ house and hurting them.”

I sped away as the tires squealed
and accelerated onto the main road. The speedometer shot up to sixty, but I drove faster and faster. A cold chill ran through me when I felt the car skidding around the turns. Speeding rapidly in pursuit, a white Sedan was gaining on us.

“
Who do you think they are?” I shouted.

“
Immortals,” he said, moaning loudly as he pulled out the bullet from the left side of his chest.

I tightened my sweaty grip on the wheel.
“I’m so sorry, babe. Are you okay?”

“
I’m fine,” he said, applying pressure. “I’m already healing.”

“
That makes me feel better.” I gripped the steering wheel. “How do they drain us of our powers?”

“
I don’t know, but we must find out.”

I wiped the beads of sweat from my brow.
“Liz said I lost my powers in the store because my powers were unstable.”

“
It had nothing to do with you. Somehow, that man was able to paralyze your powers, to block them.”

“
I don’t think they drain them, because the second the guy left, I had my powers right back.”

“
Then they somehow know how to block them.”

“
I don’t think it’s planned. The guy in the store didn’t know what was going on. He seemed as confused as I was. I don’t think he was consciously controlling them.”

“
Their energy is more powerful than ours, and it somehow blindsides ours.”

I sped even faster as glass shattered with a
boom
. I pulled the steering wheel hard to the right as we rounded a corner, and we veered off the pavement, only to sideswipe a telephone pole.

“
They’re firing!” I said, my fingers gripping the vibrating steering wheel. The car suddenly jolted as the sedan slammed into our back bumper. I gasped and jerked back. It was a wonder I didn’t have a wicked case of whiplash.

“
Sarah, can you increase the speed of this vehicle?” Victor asked.

“
I’m trying!” I said, but the speedometer was already at ninety, and it wasn’t exactly a NASCAR vehicle.

Chapter 2
4

I clutched the steering wheel and glanced in my rearview mirror, only to discover that a long line of cars was following me. I shuddered.
What do they want? Why are they shooting at us? Who are they?
The sound of bullets hitting the car made me gasp. I put the pedal flat to the floor, not knowing how long I could keep up the reckless pace. The car rattled and the tires slipped as I accidently hit a rut. I gritted my teeth, fighting to keep control of the automobile as we swerved left, then right.

“
Did you feel that?” Victor asked. “I feel my powers surging through me.”