The Relentless Warrior (5 page)

Olivia stood up next to me and her eyes narrowed in suspicion. “Jericho, what is she
talking about? Who’s Magic?”

At that moment Kiran burst through the door, a man on a mission- a man who had felt
his wife in extreme distress not moments before. His eyes darted around the room in
frantic scrutiny, trying aggressively to ferret out the culprit.

“I’m fine,” Eden waved him off casually, returning her confused stare to Olivia. “False
alarm.”

“What do you mean, ‘
false alarm
?’” Kiran demanded in that pompous British accent.

Eden’s gaze swung to her husband’s and she softened just a little for him. “I mean,
I thought something was wrong. But nothing’s wrong,” she shrugged but it quickly turned
into a cringe, “with me. Nothing’s wrong with me.”

“Avalon then?” Kiran demanded, his rigid intensity not softening even with Eden’s
assurances.

“Oh no, we haven’t-“ Eden cleared her throat and then in a quiet voice shared, “I’m
giving him the same privacy he gave us.” A fiery blush heated her cheeks and I wanted
to laugh at the awkward connection she shared with Avalon now that they were both
married. It amused me greatly- especially after years of finding it utterly obnoxious
how easily they communicated and how it always felt like they were sharing some ultra-secret,
private joke. Now the joke was, more or less, on them.

But the situation had grown too grim to find any humor in
anything
now.

“Eden, Love, you’re killing me!” Kiran growled. “Tell me what upset you.”

“I know what’s wrong with your sister,” Eden addressed Olivia, ignoring Kiran again.

“What?” Liv gasped, taking a subconscious step forward. “Is it curable? Will she be
alright? Is she going to live?”

“You did,” Eden whispered.

“I know, but,” Olivia shrugged, not understanding how the two were connected now.
“But she’s different than me. I’m a, a, a
survivor
. She’s so much more fragile….”

“Obviously,” Eden agreed.

“Just tell me what’s going on!” Olivia demanded at the same time Kiran shouted, “For
god’s sake, Love, just tell us!”

“She can feel Olivia’s Magic,” I shared in a gravelly voice thick with ominous innuendo.
“She thought she was feeling a baby-
one
baby, Kiran. But it wasn’t the babies at all.”

“It was her,” Eden finished, staring at Olivia again.

Silence crashed into the room, heavy and oppressive. We stared at Olivia as if waiting
for her powers to suddenly manifest in front of us. I half expected her body to start
blowing things up, the same way Eden’s had revealed when she’d tried to suppress it
too long.

Finally Kiran gasped, “What do you mean
Magic
?”

“She is full, brimming, explosive with Magic,” Eden answered in a trembling accusation.
“I can feel her fused blood. Terletov, whatever his intentions…. he succeeded. He
turned a human into an Immortal.”

I fell back onto the couch in astonishment, too shocked to do anything else. Kiran
shoved two rough hands through his hair, gripping at it by the roots, clearly as much
at a loss as I was.

While the three of us veteran Immortals took in Eden’s words with a solemn seriousness
that rocked us to our core, that shook our most basic beliefs and convictions, Olivia
might have had a minor mental breakdown. She dissolved into hysterical laughter, clutching
at her stomach and bending in half. Two lone tears escaped the prison of her closed
eyelids and she continued to laugh, shaking her head, slipping into stress-induced
madness.

It was the edge to her voice, the freaked-out strain that motivated me into action
again. I leapt to standing and pulled her into my arms again. She crushed her body
against mine, her laughter immediately gone, the tears falling freely again in sobbing
hiccups of fear.

“It’s going to be alright, Liv,” I promised, whispering against her matted blonde
hair.

“I felt different,” she shuddered out. “But I just thought…. I never imagined that
he could do that to me. I thought it would go away, that I would be fine. That if
I could make it, so could O.”

“She
will
make it,” More promises I didn’t know if I could keep.

“I want it out, Jericho,” she demanded. She lifted her tear soaked face from my chest
and met my eyes in resolute fortitude. I had seen this girl in a lot of different
places emotionally over the past few months, especially as we dealt with the issues
surrounding her sister. But never before had I seen her lose it like this, never before
had I experienced tears like this- or at all. She was walking a precipice between
sanity and the heavy burden of experiencing
too much
too fast.

Believe me. I had been there.

“Liv, I’m not sure-“

“I want it out of me, Jericho.” Her voice was scraped open with desperation, her eyes
filling with those unwanted tears again. I couldn’t let her cry anymore. I couldn’t
witness those tears. They were too much for me. “Get it out!” she demanded in a voice
so hoarse and rough she sounded possessed. “I’m not you, I don’t want to be you! I
just want to go home. I just want to go back to normal!” She was pleading with me,
clutching my t-shirt in her fists and consuming every manly, protective instinct in
my body and bending it to her will.

“You will,” I whispered, cupping her delicate face with two hands. “You’ll go back
to normal. We’ll get this out of you. You’re going to be okay,” I swore. I leaned
down and placed a chaste kiss on her forehead. “O will be fine, too. Don’t worry,
we’ve got this.”

She nodded at my words, accepting them as her reality. Damn it, I already felt the
painful cuts of what it felt like to disappoint her. This task, her demands, destroying
Terletov… all of it felt impossible, the farthest thing from my reach.

But I would do anything for her. I would try until I couldn’t try any longer. I
would
make this right for her.

“Do you have a plan?” She whispered in a hopeful tone.

“Not exactly,” I shrugged. When her face fell, I shot Eden a quick glance and admitted,
“But I do have the foremost expert on the transition from human to Immortal. So even
if you don’t want to stay this way, I
can
make your life easier for you almost immediately.”

“Who?” Liv demanded- probably thinking whoever it was had gone through something similar
to her situation.

“Our fearless leader,” I answered confidently, shooting Eden a grin.

“Wait,” Eden raised her hand immediately. “What makes you think I can help her? My
smoke doesn’t even work.”

Kiran and I let out simultaneous laughs and he swung around to face his wife, “Because,
my lovely Queen, as you like to remind us, you were raised human.”

Chapter Four

Olivia

“I feel like this is a waste of time,” I complained from the middle of an enormous
ballroom. “I should be with O.”

In his most patient voice, Jericho said, “The Witch is with her; and Syl is there
too. They will let us know if anything changes. You need a break anyway.” He used
his do-not-argue-with-me voice and crossed his arms. This was supposed to intimidate
me?

I didn’t take him seriously. I didn’t need a break. And I really didn’t need to be
here, in this room.

I needed to be with my sister.
 

“Jer, I do not want to learn how to use this…. thing inside me,” I whispered fiercely.
“I just want it
out
of me. There is no point in learning how to use it since I have no plans to keep it
around long term.”

I caught the other boy’s- king’s?- amused eyebrow lift from across the room. He mouthed
“Jer?” at Jericho like it was some kind of phenomenon that someone had given Jericho
a nickname. I rolled my eyes. I had a nickname for everyone in my life. It was like
my thing. Plus, it just seemed so tedious to use everyone’s full name. Ophelia had
been O since she was a baby and I was a toddler. That was a given since what two year
old was capable of spitting out O-phe-li-a? My younger brother also had a permanent
nickname. But that was my parent’s fault. Their obsession with Greek mythology had
culminated in Orion. O and I nicknamed him Rion (Just like Ryan) to give him some
chance at one day being able to lock in a girlfriend. Most days we just called him
“Ry” though. And it wasn’t like Jericho didn’t call me “Liv” all the time.

Jericho’s King was kind of a pompous douche.
 

Jericho at least ignored him and chose to focus his full attention on me, “Liv, you
have to exercise your Magic. It’s necessary to your health. If you let it fester and
build inside of you, then it will find a way to escape whether you want it to or not.
Eden had this problem constantly at the beginning. She was raised in the human world-
had no idea that she was Immortal. When she refused to explore her powers, she started
blowing things up, setting things on fire, destroying almost everything she touched.
I don’t want that to happen to you. I want you to feel better. I want you to be able
to manage the change that’s happening to you.”

“You don’t think I can manage it?” I demanded, meeting his fierce gaze. I could handle
this. I could handle anything.

Except losing O. I could never handle that.

Apparently Jericho felt braver than usual because he had no problems poking the beast.
Possibly, he
 
knew it was the easiest- if not sneakiest- way to get me to agree. But also possibly,
this was part of Jericho’s complex with winning. He shrugged nonchalantly and issued
the challenge, “We won’t know until you try.”

I narrowed my eyes and pressed my lips together in a haughty pout. He might hate losing,
but I hated backing down from a challenge more than anything in the world. “I know
what you’re doing. You can’t manipulate me, Jericho.”

His lips twitched when I said his full name, as if he were holding back a smile.
 

“I’m not trying to manipulate you; I’m trying to
help you
. Give it a shot; if it doesn’t work or if you hate it, we will stop. But
Olivia
, something tells me you would enjoy being able to destroy things with just a wave
of your hand. There is a small chance you might like your new Magic.” He leaned forward
so our faces were just a few inches apart and grinned wickedly at me.

“Fine,” I growled accepting the fact that, okay, I might like being able to blow things
up with a flick of my fingers. And being able to harness this alien power could potentially
put me on equal footing with the monsters that did this to me. I couldn’t rain down
revenge on them with the fury of a thousand suns without some kind of bodily upgrade.
My physical prowess went as far as finishing a half-marathon last spring. And while
I liked to think I dominated in the middle of the pack, eight minute miles didn’t
exactly mean I was conditioned to be Robocop.
 
 
“But I’m only doing this for O. I might be able to help her, if she ever wakes up….
I could help her transition.”

“Thatta girl,” Jericho beamed at me. He closed what little distance lay between us
and physically moved me in front of his Queen.

The Queen that had no regal grace or royal pretentiousness.

She was shockingly ordinary- almost unnervingly so; especially after being around
so many of these people that weren’t normal.

It was almost hard to remember that she
was
royal. She smiled too easily, laughed too loudly and seemed way too friendly. I caught
myself gaping at her several times, wondering what brand of Monarchy raised their
future royals with the same kind of barely-existent manners my siblings and I shared.
Her husband was well on his way to winning Pretentious Snob of the Year, but Eden
would never be mistaken for the ruler of a nation outside of her own people.

Jericho leaned in murmuring his words directly in my ear, “Not knowing what to do
with the energy inside you is something neither Kiran nor I can relate to. Magic is
as natural to us as breathing. But Eden knows what it’s like to struggle to use it,
to remember it’s available to her. She’ll be able to walk you through this and help
you. I promise.”

I sucked in a deep breath and nodded slowly. Truthfully, I was only doing this for
Ophelia. I had no interest in becoming familiar with whatever was setting my blood
on fire.

“Do you think learning how to use it will make it somehow more permanent?” I asked
in a strangled voice. The idea that something foreign and inhuman was mixing with
my blood started to sink in- like all the way in. Hysteria was rising to the surface
and I was about forty-five seconds from puking. “I mean, I don’t want to try to use
it if I can’t get rid of it later.”

“Do you truly not want the realm of Magic at your disposal?” The King/Kiran asked
incredulously.

“I truly do not want… to be like you.” I couldn’t even use the word “magic.” Too weird.
“I want to go back to normal.”

He stared at me like
I
was the alien and an arrogant smirk tilted his full lips. Could he be more conceited?
I stifled an eye roll.

“You’re disgusted by us?”

“Freaked out,” I clarified. “But more importantly, I’m human and I intend to stay
human. I didn’t ask for this. I didn’t enlist. I just want my sister to get better
and then I want to go back home. That’s it.”

“Incredible,” Kiran mused. He turned to his wife and raised his eyebrows, “Couldn’t
we just take her Magic? That would solve everything.”

Eden pursed her lips and Jericho’s grip on my shoulders tightened.

“We could try,” Eden replied.

“Not you, Love,” Kiran grabbed her wrist when she took a step towards me. “Not with
the pregnancy. I’ll do it. Or Jericho? If you’re up for it.”

Jericho stiffened behind me and replied with a short, “I’m up for it.” I spun back
around to face him, already trembling. I felt sick, terrified of the process in which
I would have to lose the Magic. It was hell going into my blood… I didn’t want to
think about what it would feel like to come out of my skin. “Are you sure you want
to get rid of the Magic?” Jericho asked levelly. “It’s not all bad, Liv. We’re not
all like the men that did this to you.”

I smiled shakily and nodded. “I’m not scared,” I deflected. “I just… it didn’t feel
so great going in. I’m nervous.”

Jericho’s brow furrowed and he stepped into me. “I don’t blame you for being nervous,
but I won’t hurt you, not like Terletov did. Actually, to take the Magic out is a
very simple process.”

“Oh, really?” I didn’t believe him, but I just wanted to get on with this.

“Really,” he promised. “Just don’t fight me and I’ll be able to absorb everything
in a matter of minutes.”

“Will it hurt you?” I whispered. Stupid question. Of course it would! For the first
time I wasn’t afraid of how I would feel. Thinking Jericho would have to go through
what I went through in those bright, scientific labs made my stomach churn. I wouldn’t
wish that on anyone, not even one of the nicer
Immortals
.

Jericho smiled at me- a little patronizingly. He lifted his strong hand and cupped
my jaw gently. “No, Liv. It won’t hurt. This is what we do. This is our weapon against
each other. You’ll feel the Magic leave your body, and I’ll feel the power added to
mine. But it won’t hurt since we’re not fighting. Alright?”

I jerked my chin out of his hand and glanced away. He thought he was helping. He was
not, in fact, helping.

He was kind of pissing me off.

“Sure, Jericho. It won’t hurt.” But, I knew that it would.

Jericho took a step back and his eyes did that narrowing-crinkling thing again. He
didn’t like that I pulled away from him. He expected me to trust him unconditionally.
Silly boy.

“Ready?” he asked.

I nodded and then braced myself for… for whatever was about to happen. I slid my feet
to shoulder-width apart, I shoved my hands deep into the tight pockets of my skinny
jeans. I cracked my neck by snapping it to the side quickly and then I waited.

Jericho’s palm reached out toward me, stiff and alive with energy. I could feel his
“Magic” pop and crackle in the air around me, slowly move around the room in a swirling
wheel of intent until I was the epicenter of his entire focus.

I had never felt another person’s energy field so strongly before. Sure, there were
moments when I could swear Jericho’s Magic was communicating with the live wire that
replaced my blood. But this was different. This was a palpable force that lit the
room on fire with intensity and lightning-like sparks.

My breath stuttered in my chest, a true feeling of panic ripping through me from toes
to hips, from the pits of my stomach to my tingling scalp. I closed my eyes and counted
to ten, hoping I could at least hold it together until something actually happened.

But I could feel him everywhere! I could feel him in every blood vessel, in my molecules
and atoms, in the bits and pieces of whatever made up those basic elements. His Magic
wrapped around me like a mummy’s gauze, closing in like the lid of a coffin, suffusing
me in blinding, suffocating confusions like being plunged to the ocean’s depths.

I could feel his Magic tightening in on me like murderous hands around a delicate
throat.

And then we collided. I kept my body as relaxed and vulnerable as I could but I couldn’t
stop the scream from tearing out of my chest as soon Jericho’s Magic attacked mine.

I felt the pull, the torturous yank as he struggled to rip the foreign entity out
of my skin. My blood boiled beneath the skin, my newly-acquired alien instincts screamed
at me to fight back and whatever inhuman species had been planted inside me dug down
roots and refused to let go.

The onslaught of riotous sensations went as fast as they came. One moment I was stiff,
shrieking and blind with pain and panic; the next I was in a crumpled heap on the
ballroom floor, swiping at unwanted tears and thanking God I hadn’t peed my pants.

Sure, Magic was uncomfortable.

But an out of control bladder was simply unforgivable.

I forced myself to face the room, pulling in confidence and composure from some place
outside of me, because I had neither of those things in any great supply. I blinked
away the remains of blurry tears and came face to face with Jericho.

Because he was also on the floor.

“Shit, Olivia,” he growled with a roughened voice. “I’m so sorry.”

“It’s fine,” I whispered. “But I told you so.”

A small smile twitched the corner of his mouth, “I’ll never doubt you again.”

“Jericho, are you alright?” Kiran asked from above.

“I’m fine,” Jericho mumbled in that voice that sounded like he’d been a smoker for
the last forty years.

“You don’t look fine,” Eden said. She walked over to us and squatted down next to
Jericho. Putting a comforting hand on his shoulder, she forced him to look at her.
“Seriously, are you alright?”

“Her Magic is immovable,” Jericho sighed, dodging Eden’s question. “That was the most
painful thing I’ve ever felt. There is no way to remove that from her body manually.”

“Manually?” I snorted, but nobody was listening to me.

“Did it hurt to connect? Or just when you tried to remove it?” Kiran loomed over us,
his arms crossed and his eyes tracking every one of his wife’s movements.

“Everything felt fine, felt… normal, until I tried to syphon her Magic. She seemed
just like any other Immortal. Her Magical current is strong and answers easily. But
the minute I tried to manipulate it, it lashed out against me. I don’t even think
she knew what was happening.”

Three sets of eyes swung towards me. I shrugged and shook my head.