Shadow's Dangers (30 page)

“I want to know, Garreth. Obviously, you are far from having told me your whole story. Why? And why did Travis say that all these people were afraid of me because I could kill them?”

“It had to happen sooner or later,” he sighed and I felt that this reflection was more intended for him than me. “I’ll tell you Lila, but not now.”

“And why not now?” I exclaimed angrily. I was tired of not understanding these events. “Tonight, I have almost died. What happened tonight could surely have been avoided if I had known what Travis was capable of? Tell me the real reason for all this. It never had anything to do with the fact that I know about your existence, huh? You are capable of much more things than what you told me, aren't you?

He sighed heavily.

“Wait until we are at your place, please. Once there, I will reveal everything to you.”

Although my desire to find the truth was intense, I gave him the time he wanted and finally nodded reluctantly.

“Just know that if you would like to end our relationship...or even never see me again after discovering the truth, I'll accept it. Well, partly at least, because I would still be responsible for your protection. However, I will make sure to do that without you having to endure my presence.”

I was shocked, I didn't expect to hear such an announcement. It cost him to say that, I felt it in his voice. I remembered Leighton and what she told me about how Garreth feared his world would make me go away from him. How could he even think I wanted this? While I was currently angry with him because he had hidden things from me that could have prevented what happened in the meadow, I didn't want him out of my life. I had to correct things now.

“Stop the car,” I exclaimed firmly.

“What?”

“Stop the damn car, Garreth!”

He did so before considering me with curiosity and apprehension, probably thinking I would rush out of the car. Although his world scared me more than it intrigued me, right now, that wasn't  what would make me run away. I took off the seat belt which prevented me from moving as I wanted. I approached him. My hand automatically reached for his face. His hand found mine and squeezed it slightly. It proved to me that I guessed right. He feared I would flee. That wasn't even conceivable to me. I liked the goddamn pleasure he took to embarrass me, the passionate kisses he could give me, the habit he had to stroke my hair when I felt bad, the way he plunged his eyes into mine to communicate to me what he felt for me. I wanted to be with him, despite the obstacles that would come our way.

“Yes, I’m afraid of what you’ll tell me. Yes, I'm mad at you for not having told me everything and that I had to discover these new things about your world as well. But you have to understand that whatever you say to me or whatever happens to us, what you fear, won't happen. I won't go away. Ever.”

I gulped hard. I couldn't imagine a future in which I found myself alone again. After Tess’s death, I had lost everything. I will never turn my back on the people with whom I had found happiness again. I had an urgent need to tell him now what I felt for him. He had always been clear about his feelings while I struggled to deal with them but now it was no longer the case.

“I’d rather have told you in other circumstances but I know it's necessary that I tell you now. I love you, Garreth. No matter what awaits me or even what lies ahead for us, I’ll stay by your side.”

He pushed me gently to fix his gaze on mine. His eyes radiated tenderness and joy but the fear was still there, casting a shadow over our feelings. When he tells me everything, he would realize the futility of his anxieties.

Our lips met and we exchanged a kiss full of meaning. The passion was there, burning, growing, quickly engulfing any reason in us, pushing us to want more, always more of each other. We parted before reaching the point of no return.

“Let's go to your home,” he decreed, resolute, while restarting the car. “I’ll tell you everything as soon as we’re there.”

He added in a whisper that I heard anyway: “And come what may...”

I was silent. There was nothing to say to clear his apprehensions. Only my reaction after I'd know everything could prove to him that he had nothing to fear.

The car pulled into my deserted driveway, a few minutes later.
God thank you, Annabelle is not here...
I wanted to avoid anything that could interrupt Garreth's confidences and no doubt Anna would have made every effort to make him go just to irritate me. I opened my door. Garreth was already standing by my side, outstretched hand in my direction. I found the gesture symbolic. We would face what would happen together. I smiled slightly, grabbed his hand and he helped me out of the car before he closed the door. My eyes went to my house while we were heading toward it. My heart began to stir in my chest when I fully realized I was finally going to find out why they actively looked for me and what
Enimae
really were
.

We entered my home and went upstairs. When facing my bedroom, I opened the door with my free hand and held my breath, when at the same moment, Garreth let go of my hand. For a second, I thought he was going to turn around without saying a word and disappear, never to return. It wasn't it. Instead, he walked in and stood in front of one of my windows.

“You coming?” he asked, a hint of impatience piercing through his voice.

I entered. I sat on the bed, my eyes fixed on him, waiting for him to begin. He eventually stopped staring at the view to lay his eyes on me. He looked suddenly upset.

“Do you have antiseptic in your bathroom?”

I stared at him strangely before understanding the reason behind his request. I nodded. He fetched the necessary care for my wounds and returned to me. He knelt in front of me, put the materials on my bed and began to examine my face, my hands and arms to see what had to be cleaned. With each new wound he discovered, his expression became more furious. He was probably imagining ways to torture his brother, which I hoped would never happen, for the sake of both of our consciences. After a few minutes, it turned out that all the damage was concentrated on my hands and face, including a nasty injury at the top of my head, at the edge of my scalp, which required a band-aid. The result of my headbutt to Travis, probably.

“You hold nothing back when you have to defend yourself,” he said, ensuring that the band-aid was well placed and I thought I detected a note of pride in his tone.

When his eyes met mine, I had the confirmation.

“I didn't know I had chosen a little warrior,” he added with a smile.

“You're telling me. It’s not me who knows how to handle a sword...”

“A
Samdrae.
That's the name for the weapon of a protector or warrior in my world.”

I smiled slightly.

“Like I was saying, it’s not me who knows how to handle a
Samdrae,
but you. All I’d been able to do is to knock him with my own head and I almost passed out because of that. If I had been a warrior as you say, I would have at least had the idea to punch him at strategic locations such as his Adam’s apple or his crotch.”

He smiled, amused.

“You know, you're rather informed about strategic places for someone who doesn't fight.”

“Just sheer logic,” I replied, rolling my eyes, a tad amused, too.

The silence fell between us. The interlude was over, the harsh reality came back with a vengeance. We both knew that sooner or later we would have to talk about what really mattered.

“I don't know where to start,” he admitted after a moment.

I decided to help him.

“Well, you could begin by telling me what an
Enimae
really is.

He turned away, as if unable to deal with my reaction when he replied. He took a deep breath before starting.

“You saw what Travis was able to do today. Actually, that’s what we are all capable of doing.”

“What do you mean exactly? From the moment he...changed reality?”

“No, that’s his gift, as I explained you the other day. I’m talking about the fact that he took on my appearance. In our language,
Enimazekrdae,
also known as
Enimae,
means something like “changing being.” I think we can just call it polymorph. That is what we are. We change shape at will and can adopt a human form, animal, or even an appearance coming straight out of our imagination. For instance, you saw Leighton with my uncle in town, one day. That was actually me who you saw. Our aunt and uncle don't exist. Since our arrival here, Leighton, Travis and I took it in turns to take on their appearance in order to avoid suspicion about our family.”

Garreth turned to look at me. In a corner of my mind, I told myself that I had to respond with something because he was torturing himself by wondering if it was too much for me and if I was going to run away. Only I wasn't able to utter a single word. They were not human. Furthermore, Garreth told me that he and his congeners were able to take on any shape. It could be that of a relative or even an animal or something else that didn't exist in my world, or in his! How was I supposed to react to that? I was hallucinating, incredulous and frightened.

Suddenly, something he had said made its way up to my brain, which led me to ask him in a hurried voice: “Wait...you said, ‘adopt a human form,’ as if you didn't have that form from the start. But you do, right? You just wanted to say that you could adopt any human appearance, right?”

He clenched his jaw and I knew his explanation wasn't going to please me. My heart raced and fear and anxiety caused my stomach to contract painfully.

“We’re not human, Deliah. We come from elsewhere. We are beings made of energy and an undefined substance, which allows us to change whenever we want. However, I was born with a human form, as it has entered into our habits and customs to come into the world with a human form because we were born on Earth.”

I felt like my world went upside down. It wasn't possible. I might have misheard. However, sealing my eyes to his, I knew it wasn't an auditory hallucination. He really said that. It was true.

“Lord...You announce it like that, without delicacy and you make it sound as if you were aliens or something!”

He gave me a joyless smile.

“That’s not it. It’s more complicated than that. We come from somewhere else but it is not another planet. Maybe another dimension. I don't really know and I never really wondered about that because I have always lived on Earth. Our...I guess you'd call it a god, even if it's not the way we considered it, sent the First Five
Enimae
here, a long time ago, somewhere around the beginning of humanity. We don't know why but several theories have been advanced. One of them revealed that as life had never ended there, there was no danger and therefore, life hadn't any interest. Other theories indicate that
Vergashae
was slowly disintegrating because of our immortality and our increasing numbers. The energy provided by this place for us to live becoming too high, so we had to find another place for us to live and to allow
Vergashae
to survive
.
That's why we came to Earth.”

“Okay...” I whispered, not knowing what else to say.

In fact, I was not “okay.” It was quite the opposite. My mind was a mess of rambling thoughts. I ran my hands over my face. I really felt like I was in
The Twilight Zone
. Moreover, it could very well exist. After all things I've heard, it was perhaps the place from where Garreth came. I shook my head, wanting to chase these delusional thoughts and tried to absorb all this information.

Afterward, something struck me in his confidence.

“You said you were immortal there. But here? You aren't?” I suddenly asked. “Leighton said you were...”

I didn't manage to say what I had in mind, fearing a response that would further add to my confusion. I had already heard too much for my liking and I didn't know how I would handle what I had learned.

“Older than how we looked?” he easily guessed and I nodded weakly. “Effectively. Even though I don't know exactly how old I am, because years and time are not things that matter to us. I think I must have a little more than half a century. Technically, we are also immortal here. We can live a very long time but most of us die before reaching two centuries of life because of the fight against the rebels of our race, the very same people who seek you.”

My mind focused on the wrong part of his speech instead of worrying about what he said about the war they were fighting. “Technically immortal.” “Half a century.” That’s all I could remember. Garreth had lived for more than fifty years. He should have looked as old as my father physically if he had been alive. Instead, he looked like a man just entering into adulthood. It was...disturbing. More than disturbing, actually. Once Hayden had joked that I had a thing for older men, because I thought the actors of thirty or forty years were more interesting. She didn't know back then how right she was apparently.

“It’s too much, isn't? I knew that.”

“No. Well, yes...I’m just lost. You’re somehow immortal, you’re much older than me, you come from elsewhere and your kind didn't come to the world with...the appearance of a human. After all that Leighton and you had told me a few weeks before, I thought what you were going to tell me today wouldn't be difficult to assimilate. But it is. Extremely.”

Stupidly, I started thinking about
Lois Lane
and
Superman.
Even if he had a human appearance, he was an alien. Clearly, this detail had never been a problem for
Lois
. So why wasn't it so simple for me? Ah yes, because we were not in on TV show, but in the real world where such things shouldn't normally exist, dammit!

“I told you I had around half a century but in the point of view of my people, it’s as if I was a teenager, hence the fact that I physically had this age, even when I wasn't watching over you. And I was born here, Deliah and as I have said, I came into the world with a human appearance. Not this one, okay but still a human appearance. Admittedly, my soul was born on
Vergashae
a long time ago and reincarnates since--”