Eternity The Beginning (3 page)

amazement as the man flew backwards into one of the stalls thirty foot away.

The crowd immediately gathered around the fallen man.

He reached out behind him for Ineru’s hand. He could smell the blood tainting the air and could hear the man’s heartbeat slowing to a stop.

“We must go,” he whispered and started backing away with Ineru.

She kept behind him the whole time. When the people turned to face them, he felt her arm wrap around his and she clung to him. Her breathing was fast and he could sense the panic in her.

He tightened his grip on her hand.

“What did you do?” The daughter of the boat builder stepped forwards, her face a mask of disbelief.

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He swallowed hard but didn’t say anything. It wasn’t that he couldn’t think of anything to say in order to defend himself; he just felt as though he didn’t have to.

Why should he apologise to these people for what he had done?

He shook his head, trying to rid it of such thoughts.

These were the people he had grown up with. They had raised him as much as his mother had and had

supported him when she had been murdered.

Now he had killed one of them.

And the violence inside of him wanted more.

Backing away, he gave her a look of regret and then turned around. He ran swiftly with Ineru, keeping a firm hold on her hand and not letting her lag behind. When they reached the temple on the outskirts of the small settlement, he stopped and released her. He pressed his hands into the wall and hung his head.

What had he done?

A single punch had sent the man flying across the

square. How was that possible?

He’d killed him with two strikes of his fists.

He pushed away from the wall and stared at his hands.

Was this another ability?

“Ineru,” he said and looked over his shoulder at her before turning to face her. “Come to me.”

She did as instructed. He noticed that her hand was constantly rubbing her stomach and it brought his own 19

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hunger back out again. He had to find them both

something to eat soon. Even when he was newly awoken after dying he hadn’t felt as hungry as he did now. Since tasting Ineru’s blood, the intensity of his craving had become unbearable. He wondered if it would always be like this.

He pushed it back down inside of him and grabbed hold of Ineru. Wrapping his arms around her, he lifted her up.

Her eyes widened and she pressed her hand against his shoulders, giving him a look that said she thought he’d gone insane.

She was as light as a feather. He’d picked her up in the past and had struggled after a minute or so. Now he was holding her and it felt as though he could carry her for days.

When she pushed harder against him, he set her back down.

“We seem to be strong,” he said.

A frown marred her fine brows. “Strong?”

He looked at the wound on his arm and saw it was

almost fully healed. “Not only that but this curse seems to bless us with the ability to heal at speeds almost a hundred times faster than humanly possible.”

Her slim hands appeared in view and she ran her fingers lightly over the shallow marks on his wrist—marks that she had added to when she’d bitten him.

“How is this possible?” she said and looked straight into his eyes.

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Even in the dim light of the nearby torches on the temple walls, he could see every fleck of colour in her dark eyes. He could see them as clearly as if it had been day.

“Our senses seem to have heightened. I can smell things that are far away and those that had otherwise gone unnoticed before. Scents of the night are as clear as your perfume and when we were back in the square I could smell the blood and the food.”

He stared back in the direction of the marketplace and tried to shake the memory of how it had felt to be able to sense everything so clearly. It was replaced by the image of the boat builder’s daughter. He was right when he had decided that this land was no longer safe for them. There was no way they could continue like nothing had happened. People would start to notice that

something was different. They didn’t belong here any more. This place was no longer their home.

His eyes roamed to the distant desert and the sandstone peaks that rose from the flat plain. The moon highlighted them, casting a silvery line over the backbones of their silhouettes to show him where they were. It was like looking at a ghost of the landscape he had once had the pleasure of seeing bathed in the warm light of day.

He would never see it like that again.

“I wonder how else we are changed,” Ineru said and his attention returned to her.

“I do not know,” he said and placed his arm around her shoulders when she rubbed her stomach again, “but I am certain we shall find out in time. Right now, we must find you something to eat.”

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He frowned when her eyes shifted to his neck. There was no way he would let someone do that to him again, not even his sister. Besides, he didn’t think that his blood would be of much use to her now. She needed fresh

blood, not his dead blood. He wondered if his would sustain her in any way. Would it abate her hunger until she found something fresh to drink?

His stomach turned at the image that flitted across his eyes when he blinked. The sight of her killing someone wasn’t something he’d ever thought he’d see. She had always been good-natured and never once had she

shown any malicious tendencies. To see her kill someone would shatter his memory of her and he wanted to keep it for as long as possible.

He would kill for her.

“Come, Ineru, we should keep moving. We must reach somewhere safe to rest before the day comes.” He held his hand up to silence her when she went to speak. He could see in her eyes what she was about to say. “We cannot go home. We are no longer safe there. You saw the people in the square and their reaction to me. We are vulnerable during the day. If they come for me, I will not be able to defend myself or you. The daylight

seemed to make me drowsy and weak, and the sunlight burnt me.”

“Where will we go?”

“We shall journey north up the river. I think we will be safe enough if we always find shelter long before the day breaks and we stay close to civilisation so we do not go hungry. It will be a long journey, but we must make it.

We cannot stay in his land.” He held his hand out to her 22

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but she didn’t make a move to take it. Looking into her eyes, he could see the horror in them over what he’d said.

“You mean we must leave Egypt?” She gave him a look that made him feel as though he was breaking her heart by suggesting such a thing. “But where would we go?”

“I have heard of a great sea that some have crossed.

Maybe the sun will not shine so brightly there.” He shook his hand, trying to get her to notice it and take hold of it. When she gave it a black look and drew her hands up to her chest, he sighed. “I know this is hard, sister, but the sun presents too much of a danger to us and I fear we will not always be able to find shelter in this arid land.”

“Maybe things will be better in the north and we will not have to leave our land after all,” she said with an air of hope in her voice. “Maybe we shall find the man you seek.”

“Let us hope so.” He smiled at her when she uncurled and held her hand out to him.

Taking hold of it, he started back towards the river with her. There were likely to be men working on the boats there or heading out to do some night fishing. If luck were with him, he would be able to find them some

transport and get something for Ineru to eat at the same time.

There had been reports of deaths in the north similar to those in their area. Traders from numerous cities had told tales of spates of brutal murders and people

disappearing. There was a chance that if they remained close to the river and the cities along its banks, they 23

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would find another like them that may be able to answer his questions.

He slowed his pace as they neared the riverbank. His eyes scanned along the boats and he frowned when they all appeared to be empty. There were vases of goods standing near one of the boats. Surely someone had to be onboard. No sensible man would leave goods

unprotected during the night.

Withdrawing into the shadows when a light appeared, he kept a tight hold on Ineru’s hand. He led her around as he watched a man appeared, his face visible by the flickering torchlight. It cast a warm glow about the man, illuminating the sand and the vases. The man shoved the end of the torch into the sand so it stood without assistance, and then began hauling the vases onto the boat.

Releasing Ineru’s hand, he turned her around so she was facing away from the boat. He signalled for her to remain where she was and keep silent. She nodded and tried to look over her shoulder, but he caught her cheek and stopped her. He frowned, his eyes hardening to show her that he was being serious. She couldn’t look, no matter how curious she became. He didn’t want her seeing her brother kill. It was bad enough that he’d killed her. He didn’t want to know what she thought of him now, but he hoped she didn’t love him any less. If she saw him kill, she could lose that love for him.

Slinking through the shadows, he used his newly

discovered senses to check the area around them. The only heartbeat that came to him was the man’s. He

circled closer, keeping to the darkness and using the torchlight to his advantage. It would blind the man, 24

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making it harder for him to see into the shadows around him, even with the bright moon.

The man hummed a tune as he came back out and his

eyes widened when he realised it was the boat builder.

He shook away the desire to leave that rose into his mind. He had to kill him, for the sake of his sister. It was a long journey ahead and she needed to feed. So did he.

They were leaving anyway, turning their backs on their home before it turned its back on them, so what

difference would it make. One more death on his

conscious was nothing. He knew that in the years to come, he would have thousands to deal with. He had to kill in order to survive. Instinct told him that with each twist of his stomach. It called for blood like it had once called for food—desperate and impossible to ignore.

When the boat builder had placed the last of the vases onto the boat, he stepped out of the shadows.

The man turned around, barely seconds from picking up the torch. He smiled at him and went to open his mouth to speak.

The words came out as a garbled cry as he grabbed the man by the throat, choking him and lifting him off the floor. He tightened his grip, swallowing down the guilt that squirmed inside of him, and telling himself that it had to be this way. Either the man died, or he and his sister did. He couldn’t let her die again, and he certainly wasn’t willing to see what torment awaited him in the afterlife.

Bringing the man to him, he sunk his fangs deep into his neck, sucking the blood from him as greedily as he had 25

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Ineru’s. He drank as much as he needed in order to kill the man and then released him.

“Ineru,” he said.

She turned to face him just as he was wiping his hand across his mouth. Her eyes were wide as she walked towards him, staring at the dead man.

Her eyes met his.

He nodded and held the man out to her by his throat.

He couldn’t take his eyes off her as she changed in front of him. Her canines sharpened into points, the lower set extending slightly too. Her eyes shone in the firelight, reflecting like a mirror. Is this what he looked like when he changed?

When she took the body from him, he turned away, not wanting to watch her feeding. He ran his fingers down the length of his canines and frowned. Besides the change in teeth and eyes, it seemed that he still looked human. Ineru didn’t look like the monster she was.

Maybe this was how whatever they had become survived so well. The man who had killed him, turned him into this monster, had seemed normal at first glance too.

“Brother?” Ineru’s quiet voice stole into his thoughts.

He turned to see she was standing close to him. A thin red line streaked down to her chin. He sighed and wiped the blood away with his thumb, and then gave her a smile when she looked awkward and cleaned her mouth.

Checking their surroundings again with his senses, he went back to the body and picked it up. He had to do 26

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something with it. He couldn’t just leave it here in the open.

Dragging it towards the riverbank, he slung it as far as he could into the water. The crocodiles would take care of it.

He stared across the river, watching the moon playing on the water and the trees on the opposite bank.

“You are leaving?” A familiar female voice called out to him.

He spun on the spot to face her, his eyes darting about to find Ineru. She was gone, but he could smell her nearby. She had probably run into the darkness when she’d felt someone approaching.

His attention returned to the boat builder’s daughter.

“The man in the square is dead. You have killed him, but I think somehow you knew that, and that is why you are here.” Her voice was gentle, soothing.

She stepped closer to him and he backed away. At this distance, he couldn’t smell her blood clearly, but if she came any nearer, he would be able to and he didn’t know whether he’d be able to control himself.

The hunger was returning.

“You are scared?” she said, her head tilting to one side and her expression soft in the firelight.

She was beautiful, her dark eyes showing so much

concern and her dark hair tumbling down over her