The Immortals

Chapter 10

    Vanessa woke up at exactly 7 am. She was somehow simultaneously the most confused she ever was in her life, as well as the most knowledgeable. Because somehow Vanessa knew everything. She had about 4,000 years of memories and knowledge swimming through her brain and she was getting a headache trying to sort through it all. It was overwhelming. Vanessa took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Suffering from years of anxiety gave her a few techniques to help relax and focus. It was the only way to keep her from going insane sometimes with all the thoughts running through her head.

     Vanessa tried sorting through the jumble mess of her brain attempting to find something to anchor her. She felt a presence trying to reach her. It was calming and also strong. It’s what she needed right now. Focusing only on the presence, Vanessa was able to lessen the bombardment of thoughts and information in her mind. She could still remember everything and her senses were overwhelmingly heightened, but now it was like a background noise and her main focus was the presence.

     Once she was a little more settled, Vanessa recognized who it was. Caleb. And was he standing right outside her front door? She didn’t know how she knew, but she was sure he was standing there waiting for her. Still a little unsure of what happened, and if she even wanted to speak with him, Vanessa started to get out of bed. She somehow felt that if she thought what she wanted to say to the man, he would hear her.

  *I know you’re creeping outside of my apartment. I also know you can get in any time you want. My roommates are still asleep. Come inside. I’m getting dressed and brushing my teeth before I come out to speak to you. I need a few minutes.*

     Vanessa heard nothing back and wasn’t sure if it did anything. Feeling like an i***t, she started to throw on a pair of leggings and a sweater. She wasn’t sure why she cared, but she felt like she should at least look presentable. Vanessa had a feeling that her whole world was about to change, she should at least look somewhat cute when it happened.

     After about 15 seconds she heard her front door open. So he must’ve heard her. Weird. Vanessa wasn’t sure if he just didn’t bother to respond back or if she just wasn’t able to hear it. Add it to the list of questions for him, she thought as she made her way into the bathroom. Vanessa didn’t bother glancing down the hallway to the man who was now sitting on her couch, waiting. He could wait 10 minutes till she was ready.

     Were the lights always so bright in this bathroom? Vanessa rubbed her hands over her face trying to ease the headache forming behind her eyes. Everything hurt. The cool tiles of the bathroom floor felt even colder, giving Vanessa goosebumps up her legs. Even the feel of the fabric of her clothes was bothering her, and this was one of her most comfortable outfits. What the hell was going on?

    Vanessa tried to focus on the task in front of her and brushed her teeth. Was it possible that even her teeth felt more sensitive? While she knew she had all the answers somewhere in her brain, they were all jumbled like a jigsaw puzzle that was probably missing a piece. She didn’t know how to sort it out either. But somehow, she knew that Caleb could help. Which just annoyed her. She had no idea how to feel about this mysterious stranger but at the same time she trusted him and knew she needed him. After about 10 minutes and when Vanessa was satisfied she looked remotely presentable, she took a deep breath and made her way to the living room.

    Caleb had made coffee. She smell hit her the second she walked out of the bathroom. It was much stronger smell than she was used to and the strength of it almost made her gag. She knew her roommates were still asleep. How they could sleep with the stench throughout the house was beyond her.

     “I hope you’ll forgive me but I took the liberty of making coffee and you some toast. You have sensory overload right now which is probably giving you a headache and causing nausea. You need some caffeine and something light to eat.”

     “The smell of the coffee is going to make me throw up. Can’t I just have a Coke?”

     Caleb frowned which caused his nose to wrinkle. Vanessa would’ve thought it was cute if she wasn’t so nauseous and inexplicably annoyed at him. “Really? You drink that stuff? I’ll never understand how that go so popular,” but he sighed, and opened her fridge up and pulled out a can of coke. She couldn’t help but smile as he grabbed a glass and poured the contents of the can into the glass, complete with ice.

    “The can would’ve been fine. Should I be concerned you are so comfortable with my place, you know where we keep our glasses?”

    Vanessa took the Coke and the toast and sat down at the kitchen table as Caleb dumped her cup of coffee down the drain. He shrugged, “I followed you for a while.”

     “And I should be ok with this? I know you know everything that recently happened. This whole thing is kind of freaking me out. And I know somewhere in my ridiculously overloaded brain I see a memory of you being assigned to watch me until I ‘awoke’,” Vanessa used air quotes, “Whatever the hell that means, and I also know you meant no harm to my roommates and I, but I can’t helped but to be freaked out. I mean you’re washing my damn dishes right now. This is the first time we are actually face to face having a conversation. I know nothing about you except these flashes that are just giving me a headache. Yet, you’re washing my dishes like you’re my best friend”

    Caleb stopped washing the dishes. He shut off the water and came and sat across from Vanessa at the table. “I apologize. I am not going about this right.  I’ll explain everything. Just please, eat. I know how sick you’re feeling right now. You will feel better with something in your stomach, I promise you.”

    Glaring at Caleb, Vanessa took a very deliberate bite of her toast. She didn’t know why she was feeling so disagreeable, but at the moment she couldn’t help it. “Did you feel like this too? When it happened to you? Or were you born ‘awoke?’” She used the air quotes again. The phrase kept floating through her mind though she didn’t quite understand it.

     “No I wasn’t born awoke, as you put it. I was born human, like you. And yes I do remember the feeling. It’s hazy because it has been a long time, but I remember enough.” Caleb hesitated, “But mostly, I am feeling how sick you are. How overwhelmed. Your head is hurting you so badly, it’s starting to give me a headache, which I have not had in over 100 years. I want to explain everything to you. And I will. But I need you to take care of yourself first. For both your sake and mine.”

    Vanessa just stared at him. There was so much to process in her already overloaded brain in that statement. She decided to start with the least complicated part, “Over 100 years?” Caleb didn’t look older than 27 or 28, though his eyes betrayed that he was much older.

    Caleb smiled slightly and pushed Vanessa’s plate closer to her. “Eat and I’ll answer your questions.” Giving him a dirty look, Vanessa began eating. And the truth was, she almost immediately started feeling better. She was still overwhelmed but the nausea and headache were dissipating.

    Caleb must have also felt it because he gave her a satisfied nod. “Good. Yes over 100 years. I’m 316 years old if you want to get specific, but I still got headaches a lot for the first 200 years or so. My abilities are more internal and mental related, so it took a toll on me until I learned to control it.”

    Vanessa just sat there, her mouth wide open, her toast to her lips as she was about to take a bite. “316? Seriously?”

    “Yes.”

  “So what? If I chose to do this I will live forever?”

     “Unless you are killed, then yes.”

     “Damn, ok.”

     “You don’t have any questions regarding the fact that I feel what you’re feeling?”

      “I do, but I don’t know where to begin. Is that normal for you, for,” she struggled through her mind to find the word, “the council?”                              

    “No. I don’t have this connection to anyone else. And as far as I know not even the elders can feel emotions as clearly as this.”

    “Weird. So it’s just me? How come I can’t feel yours?”

     “I don’t know. Maybe it is only one sided. Or maybe you can, but you haven’t learned how to filter all of the thoughts yet, so you aren’t distinguishing me from anything else.”

    Vanessa nodded while chewing on her nails, a nervous habit. “I’m feeling a little better. Can you please tell me what the hell is going on?”

    Caleb nodded again. “Yes, and then we will have to go somewhere quieter so I can teach you how to control your senses better so it’s not overwhelming. Your roommates will be up soon, and this is not something you want to do with vulnerable humans around.”

     “I’m going to pretend I understood that, just so you can explain to me already what the hell is happening.”

    Caleb sighed as he rubbed his hands through his hair. While Vanessa’s physical pain had subsided, he could still feel how overwhelmed and even scared she was. But she was handling it so well. He couldn’t help but feel proud. “Over 5,000 years ago a group of twelve people were formed called the council. Details are fuzzy on how they were selected or why those particular individuals, but each of these people had extraordinary abilities. Abilities that went way beyond what a human could do, and in those ancient times, it would immediately label you as a witch and someone who should be feared. And hated. Those with these kinds of abilities were usually hunted and then burned alive.” Vanessa shuddered, “however, these twelve not only survived but thrived.”

     “Again circumstances are unclear on exactly what happened. The only two Elders remaining do not speak much about those times and when we have our awakening, it does not show that.  But the twelve council members originally banned together as an alliance of sorts to protect themselves as well as others with abilities. However, over time, the members of the Council began protecting others without abilities as well.  They found not everyone was biased against them and felt it was their duty to protect the world with their abilities. No one knows exactly how the Council became Immortal, but the story goes that one day an older pauper was being wrongly persecuted for a crime he did not commit. He lay in the street bleeding while he was beaten and rocks thrown at him. Many people walked past him. However one of the Council members stopped to help him. He defended the old man and then brought him back to his home and nursed him back health. When the man was well again, he suddenly transformed from an old beggar to a handsome young man. It turns out the beggar was actually one of their ancient Gods and was testing his people. Only the Elder from the Council passed. The God rewarded the Elder with Immortality as well as the gift of Foresight as long as he swore to use these abilities for good only. The Elder swore and asked if these abilities could be passed on to the other eleven members. The God agreed. And from that time on, the Council became immortal and began to use its abilities to protect the world from super natural and human tragedies.

    However, as time passed, four of the Immortals, as they began calling themselves were getting frustrated with the organization. They believed too much time was spent meddling in human affairs and that we were losing our way. The believed that we were superior and instead of helping the humans while living in the shadows, that we should rule the humans. The Elders reminded those four what they vowed when they accepted the gifts but the four refused and broke off from the remaining eight.  For a while they each lived as two separate groups until the 4 were concerned that the others were still too powerful and decided to eliminate them one night. It was a slaughter. All but two of the original Immortals survived. Those two are Elder Helene and Elder Marcus. You met Helene in your vision.”

    Vanessa remained quiet listening to Caleb tell the story. As he did, the images of what occurred back then flashed across her mind like a movie. She was watching it play out as clearly as if she had been there. Vanessa realized this knowledge was already in her head, but she needed Caleb to tell the tale for it to sort itself out.

     “What happened to the four who betrayed them?” she asked quietly.

    “Three of their bodies were found among the m******e. One however, called Maxin, was never found. The Elders searched using their magic, their foresight and regular man power but thousands of years later, no one has still seen Maxin.”

     “You said there’s eight members now?”

    Caleb nodded. “Yes, Elder Marcus and Helene took hundreds of years but they eventually found their new group of Immortals to continue with their mission. They chose to keep it at eight to honor the eight who remained true and to tried erase all knowledge of those four from our collective memory. They only very recently restored the memories of the faces and names of the four who betrayed us.”

    “So were you apart of the new group of eight?”

    “No, not the original. Since all 8 members were formed about 2,000 years ago, only one member had died, prior to Brother Jacob. That happened in 1704. A demon attacked the Immortals and one of their members died. I was the replacement.  Since then there had been no other deaths until a month ago.”

    “This Brother Jacob? I’m his replacement?” Caleb nodded, his face solemn. He was careful not to betray his emotions, but he was quietly still mourning Jacob’s death. Jacob was his mentor when he was first chosen and they remained close over the years. He had taken his loss hard.

    “What happened?” Vanessa asked quietly. She could see the grief on Caleb’s face even though he was trying to hide it.

    “We don’t know. His body was found in the library, a hole in his chest where his heart used to be, but his heart was missing. The Elders believe he was researching something when he was murdered, but they can not figure out what it was.”

Vanessa’s own heart was pounding. This was too much. “I’m sorry,” was all she could reply.

    “It is nothing for you to be sorry about. But it is imperative the council does not remain missing members for long. After a member has died, the elders get a vision of the replacement. I don’t know how it works, they will not tell me. But shortly after receiving a vision with you they sent me here to watch you, protect you until you remembered.”

    “Why couldn’t you just tell me what was going on? And why was I picked?”

    “Honestly, I do not know why you’re picked. I questioned that when I was first assigned to you.”

    Vanessa pouted and he could see the hurt in her eyes. “I’m sorry Vanessa. I didn’t mean it that way. I believe you will be a strong and capable member. Your power is already magnificent and you can barely control it. It’s just typically we do not have many connections to the human world when we are selected. You have friends, family, career goals. You have a life. I did not see why you would want to give that up. Honestly, I still don’t.”

    “What do you mean give up? I’m a little confused what is being asked of me.”

    Caleb sighed. He could really use a whiskey. “If you chose to embrace your destiny and powers and become a member of the Immortals, you will have to give up everything of your human life. Your friends, family, your job, everything. Any memory they have of you will be gone. It will be like you never existed.”