The Blood Talisman (19 page)

His choices would prove to be
difficult.

Chapter 22

Ram and John stood solemnly at the
foot of Amalia’s bed. A doctor checked her vitals and a nurse
injected fluids into her IV. They both left the room after
monitoring her for a few moments, leaving John and Ram alone with
her. John’s war-weary face had the bruises from Ram’s attack on him
earlier. He rubbed two fingers over his un-bruised eye, wiping the
days of not sleeping out. Ram stood with his arms crossed, staring
at Amalia as she slept in her coma.

“
Once Sol has the talisman,
we will all be immortal and I will fulfill my promise to make you
immortal and set your family free,” Ram told John.

“
If that’s your way of
apologizing for throwing me across the room, then I accept. I can
be patient. We need to find Hyperion before Sol does. We need to be
sure that he is on our side. If not, we need to be sure Selene is.
The one who has the most power will win the war,” John
said.

“
Is that your plan?” Selene
stood in the doorway, eyes furious and teeth gritted
tightly.

They both turned and looked at her then
back to Amalia.

“Yes. That is part of our plan,” Ram
said.

He nudged John in the side and smiled
at him. John smiled back, reluctantly.

Selene walked into the room and stood
in front of both of them. She meant to make herself seem more
intimidating but her goal went unreached as she looked up at them
both. They might as well have been giants to her.

“I would never let you or
any vampire think he has power over me. While yes, I am torn
between doing the right thing and helping the one I love, I will
always do what is right. Keep
that
in mind while you are making your plans,” she
said.

“This isn’t about doing what’s right
period or what’s right for Alex,” Ram retorted. “This is about who
gains the most power first. Your brother isn’t going to give up
because his father banished him to the desert. For all we know, he
could be making plans to retrieve the talisman as we speak. Calling
out your father with the death of one of his children was difficult
enough. There’s only two of you left, so if I were you, I’d watch
my back and surround myself with as many dangerous creatures as I
could.”

She hesitated a moment, not knowing
how to respond. Unfortunately, she knew Ram was right. He knew he
was right too. He smiled a pretentious smile at her. She wanted to
slap him in the face but that wouldn’t have done either of them any
good. She needed his resources, not only to find her father but
also for protection.

“Have you ever thought that even
immortals can be killed? There are supernatural rules to this world
and you know nothing of them. Knowledge is power, and I swear on my
father’s unfortunate future grave that you will meet death and it
will be by the hands of those that you have forsaken.” She poked a
finger into his chest with every point.

“Wow, you know how to use the big
words, huh?” he mocked.

“I want to know what you’ve been giving
Alex as food.”

“None of that concerns you. You need to
be concentrating on how we are going to find your father.” He
leaned in and her forehead became level with his chin. “If Sol gets
to him and the talisman first, he won’t hesitate to end you and
your little boyfriend. Get it?”

“Yeah, I got it, asshole.” She stormed
off.

John and Ram laughed as she
left.

“Go prepare the other vamps. Tell the
wolves they have the next few weeks off. I want the best doctor we
have left to watch over Amalia while we’re gone.”

“Yes sir.” John turned and left the
room empty with just Ram and Amalia.

Ram walked over to the side of her bed
and sat down beside her. He watched her chest as she breathed. Her
pink lips looked like two soft feather cushion, longing to be
kissed. He gave them what they longed for. Her breath from her nose
smelled like heaven. The warmth from her skin quickly filled him up
with joy inside. He admired her attitude and strength. The new vamp
she had become was more of a vixen than Ember could have ever
been.

A door banged open behind him and it
was Alex being helped into the room by Selene.

“Get your face off my wife!” Alex
growled.

Ram sat silent and turned back to her
face. He grasped her hand as Alex promptly plopped down on the
other side of her bed. Selene stepped away but remained close to
Alex’s side.

“You don’t have a right to touch her,”
Alex said.

“We’ve become quite close in the past
few days. She has helped me and I her through some pretty terrible
things. So yes… I do deserve to sit her beside her and touch her
for comfort,” Ram explained.

Selene interrupted their argument and
said, “When will she be waking up?”

“It should be any moment. It’s been
about thirty minutes since they injected her with…” Ram’s voice
trailed off.

Amalia slowly opened her eyes, blinking
tiredly. She stared at the ceiling, trying to focus. She grasped
both Ram’s and Alex’s hands. Selene reached over and patted Alex’s
shoulder to comfort him. He reached up with his other hand and
rubbed the top of hers.

Amalia opened her mouth for air and
speech.

“Shhhh… take it easy,” Ram
said.

Alex and Selene glanced over at him
like he had lost his mind. He actually seemed to care. It was
unnerving. They didn’t want Amalia to be taken in by his kindness,
given his deceiving nature.

Amalia made a few gurgling noises and
raised her head up to look at them. They all had genuine concern on
their faces and it was somewhat of a comfort that so many people
cared. She lay her head back down and looked at Alex. He leaned in
closer to hear what she was trying to mouth and say.

“Don’t give up on us,” she whispered to
him.

“Never,” he said in
response.

At this answer, Selene removed her hand
from Alex’s shoulder and stood back from the bed a
little.

Amalia turned and looked at Ram. She
squeezed his hand and motioned for him to lean closer to
her.

“Thank you for kindness.” she
mumbled.

“You showed me kindness in my weakest
moments. It’s only fair for me to return the favor,” Ram
said.

“You kissed me?” she asked.

He nodded yes, with confidence. She
blinked her eyes at him, then smiled at him and he smiled back.
Alex felt left out but he didn’t want to upset her by saying
anything stupid. But he couldn’t stay quiet for long.

“I’m so sorry,” Alex said, interrupting
their silent love session.

She looked over at him angrily. The
fire in her eyes was no longer a loving one. It was a burning fire
of abhorrence. Even in her helpless position, she still made him
feel small.

“We are going to help you. You will not
die from this. We are going to find the Immortal and we will be
immortal. Selene here has to kill her father to do it but she’s
willing to make the sacrifice,” Ram said, making Selene’s decision
concrete.

Amalia looked at Selene and, for the
first time, Selene felt like her friend was forgiving her. Selene
walked closer to the bed, standing at the footboard.

“You owe me,” Amalia said. “Don’t let
me down.”

“I won’t. I promise,” Selene
whispered.

Alex and Ram were staring at her. Ram
had a ‘yes, finally’ look about him and Alex had a sorrowful
expression. They all turned their focus back to Amalia as she began
to cough. Blood spewed from her mouth and dripped down her chin.
Alex ducked to avoid the splatter but Ram stayed still, not being
bothered by the blood at all.

Ram reached over to the nightstand
beside her and picked up a needle with a milky clear fluid inside.
He injected her IV with it slowly.

“This will put you back under until we
can obtain the talisman. Then you will live forever,” Ram explained
to her.

She rubbed his leg as a gesture of
thanks and turned her vision back over to Alex. He stared at her
lovingly with tears in his eyes as she closed her. He would be the
last face she’d see this time.

“Amalia? Amalia?” Alex said.

“She’s under. The medicine works
quickly,” Ram explained.

Alex released her hand and walked away,
out of the room, by himself. Selene hesitated for a moment and then
followed behind him. He stood across the hall with both hands above
his head, against the wall. He was softly banging his head against
it. He looked almost like a crazy person to her, but she knew it
was all emotional.

She walked over and grabbed one of his
belt loops with her finger and softly pulled him away from the
wall. He obliged and stepped back a few steps. She lifted her arms
up over his shoulders and he rubbed her arms tenderly.

He kept his head down, facing the
floor. His longer than normal hair clouded his forehead with tufts
of darkness. He looked much different from the boy that she knew
long ago. He’d always worn his hair in a buzz cut and now it hung
perfectly framing his face.

He released his hold on her arms and
she lowered her own arms back to her side. He turned and faced her.
There were no tears in his eyes; only the regret on his face
remained. They embraced and he hung his head on top of her
shoulder.

“C’mon. We have to be positive and
strong or Ram will run all over us. He thinks he’s in charge, which
is what he needs to think. There are rules that have to be
considered. The talisman is very powerful. He has no idea what he
is really asking for,” Selene whispered into Alex’s ear.

He leaned back from their hug and
looked into her face, searching for answers to all the new
questions that had suddenly arisen from her statement.

“I will tell you everything you need to
know soon. This just isn’t the time or place,” Selene
said.

“There’s nothing more to tell. Let’s
gather ourselves up for our journey, shall we?” Ram said from
behind them.

They both turned and looked at him. He
walked away and Selene followed behind him, reluctantly. Alex
paused for a moment and stared into the doorway where Amalia lay.
She looked peaceful again as she silently breathed in and out
amidst the annoying beeps of the blood pressure machine.

She looked far from the woman he had
married. Ram had cleaned her up after she’d vomited blood earlier,
but there was just something about her that had changed. More than
being a vampire and more than hating the hurt that he had caused
her. It was something more. He couldn’t understand how she could
change so much from the kind and loving woman that he had fallen in
love with. She was still kind, but not so much to him anymore, and
he could sense a deep change within her that could not be revealed
to him.

Chapter 23

It had been two silent car rides and
three long flights to end up with no blood talisman. The hunt for
the Immortal had ended as quickly as it began. They had searched in
Egypt, Japan, and even the Sudan where Sol allegedly was, but
Hyperion could not be found. They were running out of time. The
doctors reported that Amalia was doing fine, but they would have to
eventually bring her out of the coma to seal her fate of death or
life. It was not up to them as to whether she lived or died. Ram
had them murdered by some of the cronies he left behind. He got her
new physicians and they agreed to comply with leaving her under as
long as possible.

Alex had been not only silent but
distant as well. He had made no effort to touch Selene romantically
in any way. It bothered her to no end but she felt helpless to
change it. His indecisive emotions had stopped and he seemed to
feel nothing. She could never find the words to make him feel
anything about the situation. He just seemed numb to her. She began
to wonder if he even had a wolf within him anymore. Ram had been
giving him soy meat, which wasn’t meat at all, and it had
temporarily staved off the wolf, which was good for his anger but
bad for his heart.

Ram sucked down anybody he came across
as he got hungry. The other vampires he brought along followed
suit. So many humans had died that Selene had lost count. Not one
was injured by Alex. He stayed on the soy meat diet to comply with
Ram’s wishes. Alex seemed to be defeated and Selene didn’t know how
to stop him from feeling that way. Becoming a pawn in Ram’s game
was unbecoming of him and she wouldn’t watch him be that
anymore.

“When we land, we need to talk,” she
said quietly to Alex as he peered out the plane’s small
window.

“About what?” he asked, as he stretched
his arms out before him.

“About this obedience to Ram. It
doesn’t have to be this way. Do you not see what he has turned you
into?”

“I have no choice. The talisman will
cure Amalia, and you have to get it before your brother does or we
will all suffer. That much power going to someone who would kill
his own sister can’t be good for anyone.”