A Chance for Charity (The Immortal Ones) (26 page)

“
No,” the girl screamed and
moved forward. When she reached the edge she found one bear, its
claws dug into the ice, barely hanging on. “Help me,” she cried
over her shoulder.

Cozmo and Marcus surged forward. They each
tried to take hold of the bear’s enormous paws.

“
Change back,” the young
woman urged.

The bear shook its head and let go of the
ice. It slipped away, down to the jagged bottom of the iced over
falls.

“
I told them no good would
come of this,” she choked out the words through her
sobs.

With the threat of further danger
eliminated, James and I concentrated on Link. James pulled a dagger
from his boot and sliced into his wrist. I pushed Link’s shirt up,
exposing the gunshot wound. James held his arm over the bloody
hole, but only a few drops of blood would exit his flesh.

“
Catherine, we need your
help,” James called out.

She was at our side immediately, cutting
into her own flesh. But as with James, only a small amount of blood
could escape her body before it healed itself.

“
It’s not enough, Charity,”
James whispered.

“
No,” I screamed in
anguish. “Give me the knife,” I held my hand out to
Catherine.

She placed the hunting knife in my open
palm. I held it to my arm, and without hesitation, I sliced through
the layers of my flesh, making a deep wound. The blood began to
ooze out, in a steady stream.

“
Don’t heal yet,” I
commanded my body aloud, “let the blood flow,” I
whispered.

And it flowed.

I directed the steady dribble of red liquid
to fall into the wound. The edges of his skin grew closer together
and smoothed over. I rolled Link onto his side, located the exit
wound, and repeated my actions. When the gunshot was taken care of
I attended to the gash on his arm. That too, instantly healed. But
Link remained pale and unmoving.

“
What’s wrong, James?” I
worried.

“
You’ve only healed the
flesh. The bullet caused too much internal damage,” James hugged
onto my shoulders, consoling me.

I shook him off. “I’ve got to get my blood
inside him,” I gasped at the realization.

I put the knife to my other wrist, making
another deep cut. When the blood started to flow, I placed my wrist
near Link’s lips, letting the warm healing liquid fall into his
open mouth.

“
Drink my love,” I
whispered into his ear. With his head resting in my lap, I pushed
my wrist tight up against his mouth. “Live,” I mouthed the word.
“Live, live, live,” I quietly chanted.

Link’s hands came up and he clutched onto my
arm. His lips began to move against my wrist and I heard him gulp
as he swallowed a mouthful of my blood. I fell into a trance as he
continued to drink from my veins. His grasp grew firmer and his
mouth moved faster. He continued to draw more blood out of my body
and into his own. He was growing stronger.

“
Enough, Charity,”
Catherine’s voice broke through.

She reached out and pulled Link’s hands away
from my arm, and my arm away from his lips.

“
How is this possible?”
James asked, gazing at my wrist as it continued to ooze
blood.

“
Heal,” I murmured to my
body. The blood flow stopped and the cut smoothed over. “I don’t
know,” I admitted.

“
Amazing,” Catherine
exhaled.

Link sat up, his eyes sparkled with an alien
inner glow. Something had changed within. But I didn’t care, he was
alive. I grabbed onto him, hugging him close. He wrapped his arms
around me, crushing me to his chest. His strength was amazing.

He pulled back, to look into my eyes. “You
saved me,” he smiled my brilliant smile.

“
I’ve got powers,” I
shrugged.

“
Awesome powers,” he
whispered into my ear.

I looked up at James and Catherine. They
stood, holding each other in a loving embrace, and smiled down at
the two of us. Marcus and Eve stood a few feet away, in a similar
pose. Cozmo remained by the edge of the falls. He had draped his
coat over the shoulders of the young strawberry blonde. He stayed
by her side, consoling her in the loss of her brothers.

Link and I stood up together.

I clung to him fiercely. “You’re alive,” I
whispered.

“
I’m alive,” he
echoed.

The eight of us began our trek back to the
vehicles. The female Shape-Shifter had changed back into her fox
form and trotted along, next to Cozmo. There seemed to be a
powerful bond that had instantaneously formed between the two
creatures. Eve remained in the back, sending a small blast of
energy every few feet behind us, to cover our tracks in the
snow.

The fox whimpered when we neared the base of
the falls. Four crumpled bodies, two bears and two men, lay broken
in the ice and snow.

Cozmo knelt down to soothe the small animal.
“It’ll be okay,” he said, stroking her fur.

We drudged on.

“
This’ll go a lot faster if
you let us carry you. Then we can run,” Eve offered.

“
But there are only three
of you fast beings, and four of us slow ones,” I pointed
out.

“
Charity, this may sound
strange, but you have no idea how strong I feel. I don’t know why
or how, but I know I can do this. I can carry you,” Link
declared.

“
There’s no way... I just
healed you, minutes ago. You’re mortal and they’re Witches.
‘Incredibly swift and agile,’ any of this ringing a bell with you?”
I tried to talk some reason into him.

“
How about we Witches carry
the Immortals, and you and the fox run?” Eve suggested.

“
I accept that compromise,”
Link smiled.

“
No, he can’t” I
protested.

“
Let the man run, Charity,”
Eve cut me off.

“
Fine,” I grumbled in
defeat. “If you get too tired, please call out for
help.”

“
I promise,” Link kissed my
nose.

Cozmo swooped up Catherine and Marcus
grabbed James. I hopped into Eve’s arms and we were off. The female
Shape-Shifter changed from a fox to an eagle and hovered over
Cozmo. Link kept a steady pace in front of Eve and me. We were the
slowest two, pausing every so often so Eve could send another blast
of energy behind us.

After she sent out the next shock wave and
we turned back around, I noticed that Link was gone. “Where did he
go?” I cried.

“
Look below us,” Marcus
laughed.

There was a dark blur of energy, zig-zagging
down the mountain. It seemed to be gaining momentum as it
descended, a bullet train speeding through the snow. It was
Lincoln.

Eve gave a brassy whistle.

“
How?” I asked
aloud.

“
Goodness!” Catherine
exclaimed.

James, Marcus, and Cozmo simply laughed -
and we sped down to catch up with him.

chapter sixteen

DARKNESS AND LIGHT

The three or so minutes that it took to
reach the vehicles, and catch up to Link, seemed to drag on like
the slow motion scenes in an action flick. Each and every swift
step of Eve’s was an agonizingly slow trot.

“
How?” was still
all
I could manage to
say, when Eve set me down in front of Link.

“
Apparently I’ve got
powers,” Link answered. “You should have let me carry you,” he
smiled.

“
I’m in total shock here,”
I gasped. “I have no idea how I was able to command my body, to
keep my blood flowing so I could heal you. And now instantly, you
are faster than the Witches,” I shook my head in
disbelief.

“
Hey now,” Oz balked.
“That’s not a fair assessment. I was carrying Catherine and I
wasn’t aware we would be graded on this assignment.”

“
Okay,” Link smirked.
“Let’s make it a true race. You and me... From here to my apartment
at the other end of town.”

“
I want in on this action,”
Marcus rubbed his hands together in anticipation.

“
Okay boys,” Eve laughed.
“On the count of three,” she declared. They immediately crouched
down, ready to launch themselves forward, ready to race. “Ready...
ONE, TWO, THREE,” she screamed.

The three men shot off in a flash. An eagle
followed along, high in the sky.

“
Hurry,” I cried. “Jump
in!” I motioned to Eve.

“
Block the sound of the
engines Eve. I know it’s still dark out, but I don’t want the early
risers wondering what’s going on outside. We can’t afford to draw
any attention our way,” James called out.

As soon as she was in, I jammed my foot on
the accelerator. James and Catherine followed close behind. Up
ahead, I could barely make out the three forms, silhouettes against
the glow of the street lights. What was going on here? Where did
this increased strength and speed come from? It was definitely not
a trait of mine.

A minute later, I slowed the SUV at the
entrance to Link’s apartment. Link, Cozmo, and Marcus stood,
laughing and slapping each other on the back.

“
It was a fair win,” I
heard Link protested, as I rolled down the window.

“
I don’t know,” Marcus
laughed. “Maybe he got a one second head start brother,” he teased
Oz and punched him on the shoulder.

“
Okay, okay, I accept
defeat – this time. But I demand a rematch,” Oz smiled.

“
Anytime,” was Link’s smug
reply.

“
You won!” I stated,
incredulously.

“
But of course,” Link
smiled. “Wait here. I still need to get Grandma’s ornaments,” he
said and was gone in the blink of an eye.

Mere moments later, he was back. I shook my
head and closed my eyes, stunned to already see him leaning in the
open window, with a small brown box in hand. “Let’s go,” he
said.

“
We’re off,” James called
out as he and Catherine headed home.

Eve vacated the front seat, so she could sit
between Marcus and Cozmo in the back. Link hopped in the front,
next to me. The fox reappeared, and jumped in to curl herself up on
Cozmo’s lap. He immediately started stroking her soft red fur.

“
What’s her name?” I asked
Oz.

Oz looked at me through the rear view
mirror. “This is Lizabelle. She’s all alone now, so she’ll be
staying with us.”

“
I think that is an
excellent idea,” I replied. “No one should be alone, especially at
Christmas.”

“
She has me now,” Oz
murmured.

“
She’s a lucky girl,” I
said.

After I turned left, heading out of town and
toward home, I reached across the console to grasp Link’s hand. I
needed to feel the warmth of his skin. It was still a shock to me
that we had both made it through the whole terrible nightmare
alive. And, the new inhuman velocity was mind boggling. I squeezed
tightly. A smile spread wide across my face when he reached over to
stroke my cheek with his other hand.

My eyes misted and a tear slipped out. “I
almost lost you,” I whispered.

“
But you didn’t,” he
whispered back, and brushed the tear from my cheek. “You saved
me.”

“
Cheer up, weepy girl,”
Marcus squeezed my shoulders from behind. “I have a present for
you,” he said as he placed something on the console.

Link picked it up. “It’s your phone.”

“
You did see it,” I gasped.
“I heard your voice in my head telling me you saw the phone,
telling me you were on the way! I thought I was imagining
it.”

“
I got worried when you
didn’t text back, like you were supposed to...”

“
I heard that too,” I cut
him off. “How could I hear your voice, so perfectly clear in my
head?”

“
Marcus, you’ve got a new
one,” Eve clapped her hands with glee. “I told you that another one
would be coming soon.”

“
A new one what?” Link
asked.

“
You think it could be?”
Marcus wondered aloud.

“
Try it out, brother,”
Cozmo urged.

The inside of the vehicle was completely
silent, except for the sound of the tires rolling through the fresh
snow. “Did anybody hear anything?” Marcus asked after a moment.

“
Oh,” Link nodded his head,
“you think he’s got a new power. Sorry man... I got
nothin’.”

“
Me either,” Cozmo chimed
in.

“
Try concentrating on just
one person,” Eve suggested.

Another silent moment passed by.

“
That’s just mean,” Oz
blurted out, “There’s no way he’s still a mortal
anyway.”

“
What did you say?” I asked
Marcus.

“
Cozmo lost a race to a
mere mortal!” Marcus laughed.

“
You lost too!” Cozmo
pointed out.

“
Aah, this is true. But it
doesn’t bother me. It bothers you,” Marcus reached across Eve to
give his brother a playful shove.

“
Do me now,” Eve clapped
her hands again. She was clearly excited for Marcus.

Eve closed her eyes and waited for her
personal message to come through. It must’ve been a good one, I
thought as I glanced at her in the rear view mirror and watched a
glowing smile appear. She placed her hands on either side of
Marcus’s face and kissed him with passion.