Immortal Destiny (The Immortal Prophecy Saga) (2 page)

Chapter Two

“Kat?” Ally choked out as she stared intently at the auburn-haired beauty before her. “What are you doing here?”

She pulled the covers back on her bed and made a move to jump out and run over to her friend, but something stopped her. An unnatural air had filled the room and her senses began to scream at her. She stayed where she was and took another look at Kat. Blue eyes and dark red lips suddenly stood out in contrast to her deathly white skin. The rays of the moonlight made her skin appear almost translucent.

Oh no
…

“Kat,” she started, but hesitated to finish the question. “Are you a vampire? Did they turn you?”

Her only reply was silence that was getting thicker with tension by the moment. Retreating further into her bed, she considered calling for James but she knew that would only end with Kat
really
being dead.

She tried to think, tried to reason, but nothing came to her. Her mind was too foggy from the shock of seeing her here, but she didn’t miss the way Kat’s eyes followed her every move, stalking her. A shiver of unease ran throughout her and the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end.

“Why are you here?” She asked as she bit her lip. “What do you want from me?”

Kat’s eyes turned a bright crimson red and she raised her arm slowly and pointed one long black fingernail at her.

“
No!
” Ally screamed.

The fate James and Adele had warned her of had come to pass…

Kat wanted her dead.

The new vampire before her smiled wickedly and whispered, “Wake up, Ally.”

Confused, she looked up at Kathryn. Again, she heard the whisper telling her to wake up, but this time the voice was different, familiar but definitely not Kathryn.

“Wake up, Ally.”

Ally felt herself falling and then her whole body jumped, immediately waking up her up. Her eyes scanned the room but they saw nothing. She was alone in the darkness.

“What are the immortals trying to tell me now?” she muttered. She put her head in her hands and let the tears fall from her eyes.

*****

James lay in bed, trying to sleep but not having much luck. He rolled over, trying to find the illusive comfortable spot that had been thwarting him all night. He let out a sigh and gave up on sleeping.

He got out of bed, put on his jeans and grabbed a jumper from the wardrobe. Deciding some fresh air might help, he walked over to the balcony door and stepped outside.

There are too many things interrupting my sleep lately
.

Leaves rustling in the distance caught his attention. He looked closely and saw someone running away. Their unnaturally fast pace suggested it was an immortal or a vampire.

“
Ally,
” James whispered intently, then ran back inside and up the stairs to Ally’s room.

He softly rapped on the door, and to his immense relief she called out, “Come in, James.”

He opened the door, walked in and sat down on the bed with her, taking her hands in his own. “How did you know it was me?”

She let out a pent up breath. “Intuition.”

“Why are you awake?” he asked. “Is everything alright, little one?”

She turned on her bedside lamp and looked up at him. The soul-destroying grief was obvious in her green eyes.

“What happened?” He grabbed her and pulled her into his arms. He could see something was wrong and wondered if it had anything to do with the person running away.

After a while, he slowly pulled back and brushed her hair out of her eyes. “Sweetheart, tell me what’s wrong.”

“Kat…”

“Kat’s death wasn’t your fault, little one,” he said as he took her hand in his again. “You can’t feel guilty for what happened. Natalia and Vincent are responsible for that.”

“No, you don’t understand!” Ally practically shouted. “She was here, or at least in my dream she was here. You were right, James. She’s a vampire…”

James’ face turned to stone and his body tensed. “So you think it was a prophetic dream, not just a nightmare?”

She glared at him. “I’ve had enough to tell the difference by now.”

James nodded knowingly. “Tell me what happened in the dream.”

Ally’s expression was a mask of confusion as she took a deep breath and relayed the dream.

When she had finished, James wrapped her up in his arms and laid her down in the bed. She curled into his warm, strong comforting body, and held on so tight, like he was her anchor. All the while, James just held her, whispering comforting words and playing with her hair. There was nothing he could do to take the pain away but if this helped his beloved, then this was what he would do.

She lay there for what seemed like forever before her breathing slowed and he knew that she was sleeping. James looked up to the heavens praying the dream Alessandra had was just a dream and not a premonition. He felt the dread gnaw away at him as he tried to block out his instincts on the situation, but it didn’t do much good.

Earlier that day, he’d received a phone call from Chase informing him Vincent had made his way to Scotland and was on the hunt for Ally. And now this, too! He didn’t even want to contemplate what kind of danger she would be in if Kathryn and Vincent were hunting her at the same time…or worse still, hunting her together.

Looking at his soulmate again, he let out a soft sigh. “I’ve waited over three hundred years for you,” he whispered. “I
can’t
and
won’t
lose you now, little one. I wouldn’t survive without you.”

She stirred a little. “You won’t,” she breathed.

He smiled and planted a kiss on her forehead, then pulled her closer to him and tried to get some sleep. He had a feeling he should get it while he could.

Chapter Three

Ally’s eyes fluttered open after a long night of tossing and turning. The warmth and heat from James hard body surrounded her and she revelled in the sensation. She shivered with delight as his scent tickled her nostrils and she breathed in deeply. He always smelt like rain and earth. It was unique and it was him.

Slowly, so she didn’t wake him, Ally pulled away from his embrace and moved back a bit to get a better look at the man lying beside her. Her appreciating eyes took in his dark brown hair that was slightly messed from sleeping, his devastatingly handsome face, and then lower down to his perfectly sculpted chest.

Resting her eyes there a moment, her hand began to reach out and touch the smooth planes of his shoulders, and brush her hands lightly over his stomach and down to the thick cream blanket that lay draped across his hips, but she pulled it back.

The desire began to pool low in her stomach and her skin became increasingly warm as she stared at him.

I never get to just look at him. He always knows when I am…it’s such an unfair advantage. Damn immortal senses
.

A deep sultry voice interrupted her reverie. “See anything you like?”

Startled, Ally blushed and cast her eyes upwards to find him looking at her with his trademark half-smile that dazzled her senseless. Twin sparkling emeralds held her captive as James reached over and pulled her closer to him. Her breath caught in her lungs as the heat tickled at her skin. He leaned in and her eyelids closed.

His demanding lips captured hers in a kiss that sent her spiralling. The flames of desire licked at her skin, as he put his arm around her and pulled her even closer to him. In one swift movement, he had her underneath him. She opened her eyes and stared up at him, lost in the haze of passion. He moved in for another kiss and she was swept away.

In the fog, she felt like something was picking at her brain. The sensation slowly rose above the more pleasant ones. The irritation was bubbling and she could no longer deny it.

“James, stop it,” she murmured between breathless kisses.

He pulled up slightly, putting a small space between their bodies. His eyes which had been alight with fire were now brimming with hurt and acceptance. Ally saw the emotions swimming in his eyes.
Why on earth did he stop? And why does he look so devastated?

“You asked me to stop, Ally,” he said, obviously listening in on her thoughts.

Ally groaned and pulled herself out from under him. “I wanted you to stop with the mind thing, not stop kissing me.”

James sat up and raised an eyebrow at her. “I wasn’t doing ‘the mind thing’ until just then, and only because I didn’t know why you wanted me to stop.”

“You can just
ask
me, you know, like
regular
people do.”

“Well we aren’t exactly regular people, are we?” James gave her a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “One or both of us are confused. What ‘mind thing’ are you talking about?”

Her face scrunched up mildly in thought. “It felt like someone was trying to send me something, just like you did the night of the masquerade ball.”

“My memories?”

“Yeah, it felt the same as that.” It only took a minute for her to realise it hadn’t been him. Her eyes widened and her mouth fell open. “Wait…Are you telling me you didn’t do that just then?”

Anxiety flashed across his face. “No that wasn’t me, little one.”

Ally’s voice rose. “Well then who was it?”

“I don’t know, but I have an idea.”

“Who?” She demanded.

James fiddled with the blanket and appeared to be deciding whether or not to share his theories. “
James…
”

“You’re not going to like my answer, sweetheart.” He held eye contact for a moment before telling her. “Vincent.”

Ally gasped. “He can do that? I thought that was an immortal thing?”

“Remember what I told you? Once the immortal blood is running through their veins, they become stronger than they naturally are. They are able to do things that immortals can do.”

“So they can read minds then?”

“Not exactly,” he said, slightly scrunching his face. “It appears they aren’t able to read our minds, but that doesn’t mean they’ll stop trying. Damian has a theory that some of them may be able to communicate amongst themselves, but for some reason they can’t get into our heads.”

“So what was he trying to do then?” Ally asked and put her hand on her hip.

“Like I said, they won’t stop trying to gain access.”

She nodded and sighed, as the fear climbed up her spine at the thought of Vincent trying to access her mind as well as wanting her dead. Ally hadn’t seen him since that night over a month ago, when he’d been about to kill her, but it was still fresh in her mind. She saw the evil gleam in his eye, heard the rasping voice and remembered the way he moved with such speed and unnatural grace. She barely suppressed a shudder at the memories.

She contemplated in silence for a second before she spoke again. “Tell me exactly how the vampires are different from us again.”

James face hardened. “They’re evil.”

“Well that was a short summary,” Ally said and rolled her eyes. “I was hoping for something a bit more detailed than that.”

James gave her a half smile. “The vampires only have one goal in life and that is to feed on humans. Their secondary purpose is to eradicate the immortals and more specifically you.”

Ally grimaced and he continued. “They haven’t been able to replicate our abilities to create fireballs and we are hoping it will stay that way, but something in our blood reacted with them and gave them an ability that we don’t have…”

“Which is?” Ally asked and gestured with her hands.

“They can shape shift into fog, clouds or mist.”

A light flickered in Ally’s eyes. “Right, the night they invaded your village, they came in as a fog.”

“Right,” James nodded. “We haven’t been able to figure why as yet.”

“But even without the fireballs and mind reading, they’re as formidable as our kind now…”

“Unfortunately yes…”

“Hmmm,” Ally said. “There’s just one thing I don’t understand.”

“What is that, little one?”

“How could he try to access my mind from such a distance?”

James shifted uncomfortably.

“What aren’t you telling me?” she demanded.

“Why don’t you get dressed and meet me in the kitchen. We can talk about it over breakfast,” James suggested. He knew the truth would send her into a tailspin and was biding his time.

She sighed. “James, you’re stalling.”

“Over breakfast.” He looked at her with that smile again.

Before she knew what was happening she found herself nodding in agreement. “Fine, but you can’t win every argument just by looking at me like that.”

“How about winning every argument like this then?” He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her.

“No fair,” she said with a grimace when he pulled away. “It’s an unfair advantage.”

James laughed and jumped out of bed. “Maybe you could try it on me sometime,” he said as he opened the door and looked back to where Ally sat on the bed. He gave her one last look then walked out and closed the door behind him.

Ally let out a breath and tried to compose herself…that man had far too much power over her senses. She was practically witless when he was around. But perhaps he was onto something when he suggested that she try it on him sometime. She stored the thought in her memory for the next time she needed to sway his decision.

Getting out of bed, she grabbed her jeans, royal blue long sleeve V-neck knitted top and a thin black indoor jacket that reached her knees. She took a quick shower in the luxurious bathroom she shared with Adele, and dried off in front the crackling fire back in her room. Once she was dressed, Ally went back into the bathroom to quickly brush her long brunette locks and put on her makeup. She went for her signature look, smokey grey eyeshadow and a natural pink lip gloss. The last thing to do was grab the locket she wore every day which contained a picture of her mum and dad, her heart padlock bracelet, and the plain silver bangle.

Now ready to go downstairs, she grabbed the door handle to leave and go meet James in the kitchen, but she felt an almost physical pull to turn and look at the chair in the corner of her room, opposite her bed. Unnerved, she slowly pivoted around and what caught her eye, stole the breath from her lungs.