Arielle Immortal Awakening (11 page)

“What do you mean?”

“I tried to call her, but she had left her mobile at home. I could have prevented it, but I couldn’t reach her,” she said, and started to cry.

“Oh Eva, I’m so sorry to hear that,” Arielle said, “but it’s not your fault, and it sounds like you mum will be fine.”

“Oh, Arielle, you’re right,” Eva said with a sigh, and she stopped sobbing. “I’ve been blaming myself. The doctor said Mummy will be in the hospital for the next two weeks, but when she goes home she’ll be perfectly fine. I feel so bad that she has to go through all this.”

“Stay strong, Eva,” Arielle said. “I know that she’s in the right place to become healthy again. Is there anything you want me to do?”

“No, not really,” Eva said, sniffing and blowing her nose discreetly. “I was just lonely and I needed to talk to you. Thank you so much for being there.”

“Eva, you know you can call me any time,” Arielle said. “I love you, and I’ll be praying for your mum.”

“I love you too, Arielle. I’ll see you soon.”

After Arielle had taken a shower she went down to take a walk in the garden to try to clear her mind before dinner. It was a warm, clear night, and the sky was full of bright stars. Arielle loved looking up at the constellations, it gave her such a sense of wonder at the size of the universe. The sight of the sky full of stars created a magical sensation for her because she knew that what she was seeing was an original experience of her very own, nothing like what any other person might be seeing, even if they were looking at the same sky. A light breeze blew across her face, making her smile.

Well
, she thought to herself.
Tomorrow is going to be the fourth day I’ll see Sebastian, and I can’t wait.
She was wondering where he lived and if he lived alone. What type of work did he do? Did he have family or friends he spent time with? What did he enjoy doing with his free time? All these questions flooded her mind and she had no answers for any of them. She realized that after all the hours they had spent talking, she actually knew very little about him. She knew that he was someone who awakened feelings in her she never ever knew she had. He was her Darcy! This thought filled her body with exhilaration. She hugged herself in excitement and shivered. When she lay in bed that night, she closed her eyes and thought about the next day, smiling.

In the morning, the closer she got to the beach, the more eager she felt. She parked her car in the place she had the previous days, but Sebastian wasn’t waiting for her this time. At first she tried to tell herself that maybe she was just a little bit early, and that surely he would be there soon. But as ten minutes turned to twenty and then thirty, she had to admit that it didn’t look as if he was going to come today.

She was so disappointed! She took her beach towel and walked over toward the cove where they had been the day before and sat down. By now it was midday and he was still not there. She started to get worried and by the afternoon she was totally consumed with dreadful thoughts. Maybe Sebastian
did
have a serious girlfriend. Maybe he was
not
interested in her at all. Maybe the last three days had just been a short, beautiful, but foolish dream. Tears filled her eyes and her heart felt an empty ache, a physical churning, as if it would break. How could she have been such a fool? To think that he would feel the same way she had in the three short days that they had known each other? How could someone like him fall for someone like her?

She sat there, unable to move, and tried to reason with herself. She reminded herself that she really didn’t know him at all. Finally, she decided it was time to get up and make her way home. As she began to move, she felt the weight of sadness overwhelming her.

“Hello there!” a familiar voice said. All the bad thoughts that had been flooding her head disappeared the moment she heard his voice. She spun around and it took all the strength she had to keep from running to him and throwing her arms around his beautiful body.

She smiled a wide smile that made it completely clear that his presence was the only thing she had been waiting for this whole day.

“I’m so sorry for being late,” he said. “Something came up and I couldn’t get away.” He sighed as his gaze fixed on her. “Did you miss me?” he whispered.

“
Yes!”
she wanted to scream at the top of her lungs, but she just nodded.

He walked right up to her with that amazing smile, wrapped his arm around her waist, and pulled her close. The hot sensation that rippled through Sebastian stirred him painfully and he pulled her even closer. Arielle stopped breathing. He tried desperately to suppress his eager desire, but that was difficult; he was utterly captivated by her very existence.

“I couldn’t wait to see you again,” he murmured eagerly.

He placed his finger under her chin and lifted her face toward his, his eyes piercing straight through her eyes, and there it was again. She could feel her heart hammering, pulverizing her chest, so loudly that she was sure he could hear it.

Before she could move, his lips brushed against the side of her face, down her neck and across her collarbone, leaving a hot sensation in its path. Her head fell back, her eyes closed, and as he stopped at the hollow of her throat she stopped breathing and she heard him moan softly. His hand pulled her head toward him and his lips moved against hers with a desire that was more powerful than anything she had ever known. She returned his kiss with the same passion, and she felt completely and utterly happy.

“I know that the time I have spent with you is very short and not enough to come to any conclusions,” he was now saying. “However, I’m pretty sure that I’ve been looking for you all my life.” He lowered his voice and stared into her eyes without dazzling her, and she was thankful for that. She still couldn’t help thinking that he was a figment of her imagination. He couldn’t possibly be real.
Could he?
He certainly didn’t look real. Nobody she had ever seen before was even half as handsome as he was.

Please don’t go away
, she thought to herself, her pulse still pounding her veins.

“I’m not going anywhere, Arielle,” he murmured.

She pressed her lips together, feeling extremely stressed and embarrassed. She didn’t realize that she had said those words out loud again. He was watching her carefully. “What’s wrong?” he asked.

“Nothing,” she said in a very low voice, barely audible.

How could she ever make this work? The following week they were leaving for Brighton, and in three weeks school would start. But she knew she had to see him again.

“Sebastian,” she said. “My parents are having an
adieu
party this Sunday for all their friends, and I would like to invite you to be my date…if that’s something you would like to do.” His arms were pulling her tighter against his body. He bent down and covered her lips softly one more time and accepted her invitation without moving his lips away from hers.

It was late at night when he finally walked her to her car. He opened the door for her but he didn’t let her get in. Instead he leaned against the car and pulled her close. She was happy to fall into his arms again, and his kiss made her weak and she stopped breathing. He kissed her deeply, and her mind lost all connection to reality.
I should really have more restraint
, she thought, and chuckled thinking about it, but it was too late. He already knew she couldn’t stand being away from him.

She didn’t want to let go of him, and she didn’t want the magical moment to end, but she also knew that if she didn’t get home sometime soon her father would come looking for her.

“Arielle,” she heard him saying, “I have to take care of some personal business, and I’ll not be here for the next two days. But I’ll be back in time for your party.”

Her face fell, her lips pressed together, and a cold feeling came over her. She didn’t like the idea of not seeing him for two whole days. It seemed that the whole purpose of her being here now was so that she could be close to him. What would she ever do while he was gone?

This is crazy
, she thought. She had only known him for four days! Why should his absence be so upsetting to her? He noticed the change in her and whispered, “I’ll be back before you know it.”

His lips brushed softly against her ear and she shivered. He moved his lips slowly, softly, and when he reached her lips the kiss turned hot and fervent. Her knees buckled, and if not for his tight embrace she would have dropped to the ground. He chuckled as he steadied her within his embrace. He seemed reluctant to let her go, but eventually he did.

“Please think of me, and try to miss me.”

Try to miss him?
What a silly statement, she thought. She missed him already and he wasn’t even gone yet.

She drove away with a heavy heart. She wasn’t happy about not being able to see him for the next two days, but he was coming back! And he was coming to their party! These thoughts made her smile with a sense of contentment deeper and more perfect than any she had ever known.

When she got home she found her parents sitting at the dinner table, engaged in a pleasant conversation. As she entered the room they both looked up and smiled.

“Hi, pumpkin,” her father said happily.

“Hi, Daddy,” Arielle replied, walking over to him and planting a kiss on his forehead.

“Did you have a nice time?” he asked.

“Yes, thank you, Daddy, it was great!”

Her mother straightened in her chair and asked, “Are you going to eat dinner with us?”

“No thank you, Mummy, I’m not very hungry.” She walked around the table and gave her mother a hug.

“Good night!” she said softly, smiling at both of them. She felt an urge to run upstairs but she calmly walked to the fridge, picked up a cold bottle of water and climbed the stairs slowly.

After she had taken a shower and gotten ready for bed she realized that she had been unable to wipe the smile of blissfulness off her face. Heat coursed through her veins as she remembered his lips moving against hers with hunger and passion. She walked across the room, took her journal out of the dresser, and climbed into bed. She held the pen in her hand and closed her eyes, wanting to bring back into her mind every vivid moment, to feel his embrace and feel the warmth of his lips on hers. She took a deep breath and sighed. Warmth enveloped her as the pen started to glide across the empty page.

August 2,

I must admit that I never expected tonight to reveal emotions that have become so palpable in the last three days. I can hardly comprehend the excitement and the sensation that Sebastian has unleashed in my life. I’m very sure that I have found the man that fits the imprint in my mind. He’s perfect, he’s beautiful, and unbelievably sexy. I’ve found my Darcy, and I’m falling in love. I can still sense his sensuous lips on mine and I can feel the warmth of his embrace.

I was afraid that I might never experience such a feeling, but when he comes near me, my whole body quivers with excitement. I never had emotions that could rock me to my very core. His touch makes my heart pound in my chest, and his emerald eyes make me breathless. I feel a million butterflies invade my stomach when he talks to me. I’m so happy to be alive and I can’t imagine even one moment of my life without him. I know he is “the one”, I can feel it in my bones. I want to be with him every moment of the day, and I feel empty and miserable every time we separate. My heart will never be the same again. I want to share my life with him with a need that tears at me. I have leaped into this amazing feeling with both feet and now I must find out what lies beyond.

Arielle put down the pen and closed her journal. She slipped it under her pillow and lay down. Sebastian’s touch had roused a seductive desire in her that was so profound she nearly shuddered. Then sleep claimed her in the midst of her wild thoughts.

Chapter 10

A
s Sebastian stood and watched Arielle drive away, loneliness consumed him. He didn’t move at all until her car was completely out of sight. His head was spinning, and he was totally overwhelmed with excitement.

Her body was so magnificent, and he could still taste her sensuous lips. He didn’t want to tell her that he had been watching her lying on that beach for two months before he finally found the strength to approach her. He didn’t want to tell her that he was completely mesmerized by her very existence.

Just the thought of holding her in his arms filled him with a feeling of complete exhilaration. His body burned with anticipation just looking into her eyes. Obsession.

He chuckled at the thought of the confusion that had spread across her beautiful face when he had released on her all of his dazzling power. Arielle was a completely open book in his eyes. He could read every thought she had, and he was elated to find out that she wanted him. In fact, she was crazy about him, and his body ached for her.

For centuries he had walked this earth looking for the girl of his dreams. He had waited for so long that he was starting to believe that it would never happen for him, and now it had. She was the girl he wanted to be with for eternity. He felt a warm feeling taking him over as he turned and walked to his car.

It was getting dark now and the streets were empty. The weather was damp and he could feel a light mist. He pressed on the gas pedal and before long the lights of the town disappeared in his rearview mirror. As he pulled into the garage he knew that this was going to be a long night.

He had an early flight for London the next morning, but that was not his biggest concern at this point. In his mind he was trying to resolve a couple of important issues that he was facing. He knew he had to tell Arielle who he was—and what he was.

This seemed to be an impossible task. What if she didn’t accept the truth and just walked away?

The other issue was Annabel. She was his major nightmare for as far back as he could remember. He had married her in 1577, but it was an arranged marriage and it was a disaster from the start. The annulment was final in 1579, but Annabel had never accepted the separation. She was furious about Sebastian’s rejection of her and had vowed revenge.

She never interfered in the short, unimportant affairs he had been involved in through the years—and there had been quite a few of those. There were a couple of women that he had dated centuries ago for longer periods of time—Savanna for three years and Julia for almost five years—but to Sebastian they were just affairs, nothing more. To Savanna and Julia, it was more serious - they had been in love with Sebastian. When he moved on, they were both bitter and in the mood for revenge.

As the years passed, the importance of getting Annabel completely out of his life was never on the top of his list. But the picture had changed a couple of months ago, when he had noticed Arielle lying on the beach.

At first he thought she was just another beautiful girl, but every day he found himself being drawn to the same spot on the beach, only to watch her from a distance. A strange awareness began to take over his whole existence, and he was completely unfamiliar with this new sensation. She was like a magnet that kept pulling him toward her, and he had no power to resist. He spent nights lying awake, trying to understand what was happening to him. He remembered the day she hadn’t shown up and the sharp pain that swept through his bones when he thought she might not return again. He was completely confused by this, not being able to accept the simple fact that he was anxious because he didn’t know where she was, and he had an unbelievably strong urge to see her.

On the second day that she didn’t show up the stress became so intense that he could hardly function. Nothing seemed important other than the fact that he needed her in order to breathe. If he had a heart it would be breaking, and that is when he realized that he was in love. He loved this girl, and at the time he didn’t even know her name. This is what he had been missing all his life on this miserable planet! He had been going from one girl to another looking for something, but never found it. He knew he had to meet Arielle, and he was determined to use every gift he possessed to make her love him.

It took all the strength he had in him to walk up to her and introduce himself. Her voice caressed his soul. Her eyes were like two sparkling sapphires, her limbs long and graceful. Her face was like alabaster and her lips were sensuous, stirring feelings in him like no other woman had ever done before. He knew he was looking at the girl that was going to be his partner for eternity. He was looking at his future, all he had ever lived for!

Her eyes had captivated him from the very first moment he saw her. He had the undeniable sensation that he had gazed into those amazing sapphire eyes before. He had lain awake for three nights following their actual meeting on the beach, trying to recall and explain the shocked feeling that burned through his body whenever their eyes met. Her deep blue eyes seemed to be etched in his mind from somewhere far in the past, but he could neither recall the time nor shake away the sensation. There was nothing in this world that could change that feeling. But how could that be possible when he had never met her before? By the fourth day he had set that feeling aside because he couldn’t find an answer and it was driving him crazy.

One thing was very sure. From this moment on, the issue he had with Annabel was now at the top of his list. He never understood how Annabel always knew which girls he was dating and whether the relationships were serious or not. If she found out that he was truly in love, he knew she would try to hurt Arielle, and he couldn’t allow that.

The trip to London was both for business, and for attending the annual ball at his adopted parents’ home, the Dillon estate. He also wanted to talk with Olivia Dillon, the woman who had been his mentor and his mother through his immortal life. She would be the one he would turn to for the advice he needed to make sure Arielle was safe.

Arielle’s image filled his thoughts as extreme excitement and warmth took over his body and made him smile with complete bliss. He had fallen in love with her unconditionally, and he didn’t want to live without her. What a wonderful, overwhelming emotion of delight! He wanted to marry this girl and embrace her for all eternity.

During the flight to London he thought back over the two miserable years he had spent with Annabel, and how he had become what he was.

When Sebastian was growing up, everyone was aware of the existence of immortals. However, they were not aware that many young people had become immortals for the sole purpose of living an endless existence. It was said that immortals could bestow immortality on mortals who were at the edge of death. Immortals could walk into water without getting wet and enter fire without being burned.

For centuries the authorities went after immortals. They were considered evil, even demonic, and the punishment was cruel. It was known that they were incredibly strong and fast, so when they were captured they were locked into cells and starved. Then they were beheaded in the middle of the town square in front of all the townspeople so they could witness what became of immortals. Sebastian winced at the thought.

Annabel was the daughter of Sebastian’s father’s best friend, and she was someone Sebastian had disliked from a very young age. He was twenty-two years old when he married Annabel, and he had hated every moment of his life with her from that day on.

It was an arranged marriage, and both Sebastian and his real parents were completely unaware that Annabel was one of the young people that had joined the immortal world. He was in utter and complete shock to find this out on their wedding day. He had never loved her, had never wanted the marriage, and had never consummated it. He learned to hate Annabel during the time they spent together with a deep-rooted hate. He knew she could destroy him, that his mortal existence was no match for her immortal powers. Two years after the marriage he filed for an annulment, and when it came through Annabel was furious.

She looked at him with fire in her eyes. “I can kill you,” she hissed at him, “but I would rather make the rest of your miserable, mortal life dismal. I will destroy any relationship you try to have in the future. I will never let another woman be part of your life. I will watch you die alone and miserable.” Oh how he hated her!

In 1580 a global pandemic of severe influenza occurred, and Sebastian lost his whole family—both of his real parents and both of his brothers. That was the most horrible time in his life, and he suffered the worst pain he had ever suffered. This loss shattered his spirit and broke his heart. He loved his family so much, and now he was completely alone. Totally inexperienced, he was left with all the responsibility for the family business; he had no idea what to do with the huge family wealth and various liabilities. But he had to pull himself together and make things happen, and he rose to the occasion.

Now Sebastian’s mind went back to the time when his life had changed so unexpectedly and so drastically. The day of his twenty-seventh birthday he was out with his friends celebrating. A fight broke out and he was in the middle of it. He was hit hard in the back of his head. He remembered the incredible pain he felt and the blood that covered his face. He remembered moving in and out of consciousness. Finally he passed out.

When he came to, he was alone in his room and in his bed. He had no idea who had brought him there, how he had gotten there, or when, but he had been unconscious for nearly three days. At first he thought that maybe the whole thing was just a dream, but the state of his clothing told him otherwise. There was blood on his shirt, his pants, his hands and face, so he knew that the fight he remembered had been real. But he couldn’t feel any pain, and he was shocked to find out that he was perfectly fine; there were no cuts on his head, his face, or any other part of his body. He remembered thinking that he must have lost his mind. He checked himself again, and found that there was nothing wrong with him at all. Yet he clearly remembered being hit repeatedly, remembered the pain he had felt on the back of his head, and the blood that had blinded him just before he passed out.

He just couldn’t understand what had happened to him at all.

He got out of bed, and while he was cleaning up he noticed a beautiful silver ring on his right hand with some strange designs on it. He had never seen this ring before, and when he tried to take it off he was unable to do so. The ring was tightly placed on his finger and it would not budge. This was extremely peculiar, and as he kept looking at the ring, he felt a sudden, strong jolt. His mind traveled back to the day Annabel had told him about her immortality. She wore a ring almost like this one, and she had told him that it had something to do with providing protection for her from the sun. He felt a growing anxiety and fear. What had happened to him? What was going on? He resolved to find some of his friends and try to solve this puzzle, or at least get some answers as to what had happened.

Several of the friends he had been with that night showed the signs of having been in a bad fight, and they were all totally shocked to see that Sebastian had not a single bruise or cut. They clearly remembered him being in the middle of the fight and on the floor bleeding. But they couldn’t remember seeing him leave the place, and they couldn’t understand how he could have gotten up and left in the condition he had been in. They had all thought he might even be dead, so they were astonished to see him now, totally unscathed.

Not getting any answers from them, Sebastian gave up trying to figure what had happened, and just moved on with his life—until he gradually realized that something was very strange and that there was now something very different about him. He started to notice many things that he hadn’t seen in any other human being except Annabel. For example, he never got sick anymore, and every time he hurt himself he healed within minutes without any assistance from a doctor or any medicine. He could read the mind of every person he crossed paths with, he was extremely strong, and he could move with incredible speed. He also noticed that he never had any dreams at night, he couldn’t cry, and he couldn’t feel his heartbeat anymore.

He was sure that immortality was the explanation for the changes in his life, but how and why had this happened to him? There was only one person he knew of who might have done it, and her only motive would have been to punish him for centuries to come instead of for a short and limited mortal life.

Sebastian shivered again, remembering the fear and loneliness that had consumed his life for years following the discovery of his immortality, and the way his hatred for Annabel had grown stronger with every single day that passed.