Immortal Destiny (The Immortal Prophecy Saga) Page 14

  “No.”

  “You tricked me into thinking it was her! And all because you want to free her?”

  “Yes.”

  To his credit, Tristan did look a little guilty at the deception. But Ally was unmoved. “I don’t believe you and I don’t appreciate being lied to. I also think there’s a lot more going on here than I know about, so start talking or I’m not helping you.”

  Anger flashed through Tristan’s eyes. He didn’t like the way modern women spoke to men, and a human woman at that. “You will help me unless you want to die.”

  Ally just smiled smartly because she had realised something. “You can't kill me, Tristan. For some reason you’re desperate to get Kat away from Vincent, but without me you won’t succeed. So no, you won’t kill me regardless of what I say or do…Now start talking or I’m walking!”

  Chapter Twenty-five

  This was not how Tristan had planned on things going. He did not want to discuss his reasons for taking Kathryn with Ally. But after watching her for so long, he really should’ve seen this coming, and he mentally slapped himself that he hadn’t.

  Tristan watched her sit down on the grass and get comfortable waiting for him to share his story. “First, I want to know why you want Kat?”

  He sat down opposite Ally and looked at her with sparkling brown eyes. “She’s my soulmate.”

  Ally snorted. “Yeah right. Try again.”

  He growled in response. “It’s true.”

  She gave him a hard stare. “Alright, so vampires can have soulmates…I find the very hard to believe but go on.”

  Tristan glowered at her, but started to explain. “We can, but most never notice because they’re too busy killing everything around them. Only the few vampires, like myself, would notice.”

  “What do you mean vampires like yourself?”

  Tristan looked off into the distance and picked a blade of grass. “I’m not a typical vampire, Ally. I used to be, I will admit that, but I haven’t killed a human in a long time. There aren’t many but a few of us have wanted more than just taking innocent lives. It’s hard still, but it gets easier as time goes by.”

  “How is it even possible? The only vampires I’ve seen haven’t been ready to embrace that kind of lifestyle.”

  “It’s very possible, but like I said not many vampires have the strength or willpower to be anything other than evil.”

  Ally was totally shocked by the new information that she barely knew what to do with it, how to even begin processing, or if she even believed it yet. “So you’re a good vampire and there aren’t many of you. How did it even come about?”

  “I’ve researched where I can and I’ve found that a few things make a difference. Vincent for example was a real piece of work when he was a human. You name any heinous act and I can almost guarantee you he’s done it. There wasn’t much humanity in him to begin with.”

  “So the more humanity in a vampire, the more chance they have of turning things around.”

  “Essentially, yes.”

  Ally began to wonder how many of the immortals actually knew this. The two species didn’t spend much time getting together for a cup of tea and a chat. “Does James know about this?”

  “That vampires don’t have to be evil? I doubt it.” Tristan grabbed a new blade to play with. “He doesn’t really associate with my kind, regardless of what I might say to him. Besides, I can’t blame him, I’d do the exact same thing in his shoes.”

  “How do you know that Kat is your soulmate?”

  Tristan smiled at her and his face lit up. “My heart started beating again.”

  “What!” Ally exclaimed. “But you’re dead. It’s not possible.”

  “I’m still dead in that sense. I’ll never grow old or die in the conventional ways but my heart started beating the second I laid eyes on her and it hasn’t stopped.” He grabbed her hand and put it against his heart. “Do you feel that?”

  Her eyes widened and her mouth fell open, as she stared in astonishment.

  “Incredible.”

  “I’d read about the soulmate phenomenon in an ancient tome hundreds of years ago, but never gave it much thought after that. As far as I knew it was just a myth. A vampire urban legend if you like. But when it happened…I knew exactly what it was.”

  Ally shook her head in amazement. She had not seen that coming and she couldn’t wait to tell James about all this. The immortals needed to know that there was hope for some of the vampires. Not all…but some. And James more than anyone would need to know this.

  “You can’t tell James. He’ll never let you help me, you know that.” His eyes implored her. “I need my soulmate and you’re the only one that can help me.”

  She was torn. Ally knew what it was like to have a soulmate and the thought of him being held by Vincent made her feel ill. She had seen what being without a soulmate had done to Adele. In short, Ally knew she had seen too much not to help him.

  “Kat will be aching for me as well until we are together. It’s not just me that’s hurting without her. Everything I feel, she feels. You know that. You’ve experienced it.”

  “I do know. I want to tell James and I think he could really help us out, but you’re right. He won’t let me help.” Ally felt heartsick and the thought of keeping this from him as well. They had argued this afternoon but that didn’t change a single thing about the way she felt about him. Nothing would ever change that. But she was keeping too many secrets from him.

  Tristan smiled gratefully. “In return, I’ll give you the information you need to defeat Vincent.”

  Ally looked puzzled.

  “The council elders. I have the second part of the parchment. It was originally with the prophecy but it was decided they should be separated in case the information ever fell into the wrong hands.”

  “What does it say?”

  “Their names…”

  Her eyes widened. “I hope you give that to me when all of this is over. But know this Tristan, I’m doing this for my friend. Not you.”

  “I know that, but you need this information. Trust me!”

  “We’re a long way from trust, buddy.”

  Tristan rolled his eyes. “Ally, you cannot win without them. All of them. If one dies, you will all die.”

  “That was never mentioned before,” she said.

  “It’s mentioned in my half.”

  Ally sighed. “Typical.”

  “I want to break her out tomorrow night.” He rose from the ground. “Meet me here at midnight. I’ll give you the parchment, then we’ll go.”

  Ally nodded in agreement.

  “Until then…” He gave a bow and had disappeared before she even had a chance to say goodbye.

  Ally couldn’t believe what she had found out. It all seemed too good to be true, but her instincts had been screaming at her to come tonight, which made her think it might actually be real.

  She stood up and left the clearing destined for the manor.

  *****

  Ally crept back into the house via the kitchen door again. She was careful not make a sound and felt a rush of relief as she closed it.

  A voice from the dark startled her. “Ally?”

  Her heart was beating out of her chest and her stomach had lodged itself in her throat.

  The figure stepped forward. “Ally, it’s Chase.”

  She almost crumpled with relief. Ally thought for a moment it was Tristan, or worse, James. “Thank god, I thought you were someone else.”

  “Sorry, forgot you can’t see in the dark.” He chuckled at his own joke and continued. “Where have you been?”

  “Um…in the stables.”

  “Sure,” Chase replied sarcastically. “Going into the stables wouldn’t create that look of guilt in your eyes. Try again, Ally.”

  “Fine,” she said with a huff. “I went out to meet a vampire. I thought it was going to be Kat, but turns out it wasn’t.”

  Chase looked at her with the same look that
James had given her many times, loosely translated it meant, are you insane? “I think you need to tell me what’s going on!”

  Chapter Twenty-six

  Ally was not happy that she had run into Chase. It was going to put a dent in her plans. “Can’t you just pretend you never saw me?” she asked hopefully.

  Chase smirked. “Not a chance, Ally. Now spill it.”

  Ally then proceeded to fill him in on everything that had been happening whilst he was in London. Chase listened quietly, his face betraying the emotions swirling within him as their worst fears had been confirmed—Kat was a vampire.

  She mentioned that Tristan had been the one to meet her in the meadow and found herself at a loss for words at his reaction.

  “Tristan!” Chase bellowed. “Are you kidding me? Tristan?!”

  Ally scrunched her eyebrows together. “Shush! You’ll wake up James. Yeah, I know he’s a vampire. He told me that much. What’s the big deal?”

  Chase glared at Ally. “You have no idea who that creep is, or the things that he is capable of.”

  “He can’t be that bad or I’d be dead,” she countered.

  “He needs you for something. That’s the only reason you’re still breathing. Tristan is serious bad news. You need to stay the hell away from him.”

  Ally rolled her eyes. “You sound just like James.”

  “Well, maybe if I was more like him none of us would be in this mess to begin with. He would never have been so careless with Kat.” He ran his hands over his face trying to wash away the guilt and the pain of the events from months before. The wound had been reopened at this new information from Ally.

  “No one’s perfect, Chase. We all makes mistakes, James included.”

  Chase shrugged.

  Ally watched him for a moment before making her decision. She needed his help and he needed a way to make amends for what happened to the girl he thought was his soulmate.

  “Tristan knows where she is and he wants my help to get her out. In return, he’s going to give us the names of the elder council members.” She watched his reaction for a moment then continued, “We need that information to defeat Vincent and I have to help set Kat free. I think you of all people can understand that.”

  He was torn. She was right that he did understand and he knew how much they needed that information, but was it worth the risk of siding with Tristan?

  “James will kill me if he finds out, you know that right?” Chase sighed.

  Ally smiled knowing that she now had an ally in Chase. “Yeah, but what he’s gonna do to me if he finds out is going to be a hundred times worse.”

  He laughed despite the situation. This girl was something. She had more guts and courage than most of the immortals he knew. “Alright, I’m in.”

  “Thank you, Chase. I’ll feel better having you by my side.” They shared a look, both thinking of the worst outcome and the ramifications if it came to pass. “I don’t want to deceive James. I hate the idea, but I know he won’t let me do it. He’d probably lock me in a tower somewhere.”

  “He would.”

  “The plan is to get Kat out tomorrow night and then Tristan will hand over the second parchment with all the names on it.”

  “Tomorrow night it is then.” There was a question forming in Chase’s eyes. “Why does Tristan want Kat so badly?”

  Ally hesitated not wanting to tell him, but she knew that she had to. “He’s Kat’s soulmate.”

  Chase stared at her without speaking.

  “Surprising, huh!”

  “It’s like saying a demon could fall in love and live happily ever after,” he said with obvious distaste.

  Ally laughed. “I see you’re point but it’s true. Their hearts start beating again when they meet the one.”

  “Impossible!” he exclaimed.

  “I felt it, Chase. He said that not many vampires even notice when it happens because they are so busy being evil, but the ones like him, they notice and they want it.”

  “What do you mean ones like him?”

  Ally told him what Tristan had said. Chase eyed her, unable to believe the fantastical information she was sharing. “I can’t believe we’ve never heard of this before.”

  “It’s not exactly a common occurrence, so I’m not surprised you haven’t heard of it until now.”

  “So Tristan is now a good guy and in love with his soulmate, Kat and wants to give us information to take out his once beloved leader, Vincent,” he said sarcastically.

  “In a nutshell. But what do you mean once beloved leader?”

  Chase smirked knowingly. “So he left out that part did he?” Ally nodded and motioned for him to continue. “Tristan was his second in command until Natalia came along . Tristan was turned by Vincent and the two caused chaos and destruction for a long time. Then Vincent saw Natalia and became obsessed. He wouldn’t rest until she was his, and you know the rest of that story…”

  “What happened to Tristan after that?”

  “He left the two and went off to god knows where. He hasn’t been seen or heard from in a long time. There were whispers among the immortals that he was in South America but that’s all we knew.”

  “And now he’s back?”

  “Yes. I wonder what brought him back in the first place.”

  “I don’t know,” Ally said with a shrug before continuing. “I didn’t want to tell you about him and Kat. I’m sorry.”

  Chase waved off her apology. “You don’t have anything to apologize for Ally. It just proves that I acted rashly and that she wasn’t the one. I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about things since it happened and I think I know who I was supposed to be with. It’s funny cause I’ve known her for years but she was just a child so I never saw her in that way before, but when I came back and she was all grown up…something changed.”

  Ally nodded knowingly. “Mackenzie.”

  Chase nodded. “That’s why I came back. I went away to deal with everything and I wanted to be sure before I said anything to her. I was terrified of making the same mistake and ruining Mackenzie’s life the way I’d ruined Kat’s. But now I’m sure, more than sure.”

  “She’s been worried about you, you know.”

  “Mackenzie?”

  “Yes. So why don’t we get some sleep and you can talk to her in the morning.”

  “Good idea. So you seriously snuck past James?” She could see that Chase was impressed. Obviously not much got past James. She couldn’t help but laugh. Chase’s boyish enthusiasm was something they needed around here to keep the mood up.

  “Yes, I snuck past James.”

  “Impressive,” he said. “But about Tristan…”

  “Yeah?”

  “I don’t believe a word of it.”

  “I didn’t either, but you can’t fake a heartbeat.”

  Ally laughed again and said goodnight before sneaking up the stairs to her room.

  She got into bed and thought about tomorrow night and all the possible outcomes. She knew that she might die doing this, but there was no choice. She owed Kat that much. They’d been practically sisters for years.

  As she was about to drift off to sleep she felt a warm, hard body crawl into her bed and the voice that made her heart beat a little faster. “It’s just me, Ally.” James said. “I know we had a fight, but I couldn’t stand being away from you any longer.”

  Ally rolled over and kissed him as if it was their last night together. After all, who knew what tomorrow might bring?

  Chapter Twenty-seven

  Ally woke up with a nervous anticipation running through her veins that had nothing to do with the gorgeous immortal sleeping beside her.

  It was the day of the rescue mission, and the day she told James the truth about who he was. She was going to wait until after but she knew that what she was doing tonight would be risky. If she didn’t make it back, he deserved to know the truth.

  She sat up in bed and glanced at James. He appeared to be sound asleep but she
made a conscious effort to not think about it just in case. The man still liked to sneak into her thoughts every now and then.

  “I don’t sneak,” said a sleepy voice from beside her.

  Ally jumped at the intrusion on her thoughts. “Oh, really? Then why did you just answer my thoughts?”

  He gave her a lazy smile and sat up as well. He ran his hands over her shoulders and pulled her down onto the bed with him. “I just woke up, little one. It’s a knee-jerk reaction I suppose.”

  She rolled over to look at him. “Maybe…”

  “I also heard Chase is back,” he said as he leaned in for a kiss.

  Ally felt the inferno begin to brew. “I knew that already,” she replied without thinking.

  James stiffened. “How’d you know that? He only arrived late last night.”

  Oh no…

  “I, um, went downstairs for a glass of water and bumped into him just as he was coming in. He scared the daylights outta me.”

  “Immortals have a habit of doing that to humans,” he said dryly. “You won’t have that problem when you are one. You’ll hear them coming, or at the very least sense someone nearby with a wide range.”

  “Something to look forward to if I survive death,” she said sarcastically.

  “Ha ha.” James leaned in again and kissed her neck.

  Ally turned her head to give him better access. This was a sensation she could feel forever and never get sick of.

  “That’s the point.” She could feel him smiling against her neck as he spoke.

  Despite yet another intrusion she couldn’t help but laugh at his cheekiness. That was a quality that she never would have guessed he possessed until recently. He’d always been so dark and mysterious, broody at times and sexy as hell, but not playful. In his defence though, she realised he had been under a lot of pressure to keep her safe and trying to fight his basic nature, to not act like a caveman and force the relationship. That had earned a lot of points in his favour and was half the reason she had succumbed to his advances and agreed to marry him. In all honesty, she never really stood a chance against him and fate, but out of love for her, he made sure she felt like the choice was hers.