Eternal Love Book Four: Russian Love

Chapter Six: Memories of Heat

Katya woke up on the day of her eighteenth birthday to Ankanah licking her face. “Stop you crazy cat, I'm trying to sleep.” She mumbles.

But Ankanah now fully grown and weighing about a hundred and ten pounds wouldn't stop. Finally, after an annoyed sound, Katya got up. She stretched took a hot shower and then dressed. She was about to leave her room when Ankh stopped her.

He gently nudged her so she could sit on the bed. “What is it you big softy?”

Katya asks smiling. Ankh put his head under her hand and Katya gasped as a flow of power hit her body. Katya was blown back by the surge of power and she fell into a deep sleep, a sleep of nothing but her memories both good, bad, and painful.

She felt every death as if she were experiencing it again, the last death more brutal than all the others. When she finally awoke, Katya sat up, her face streaming with tears, she wasn't sad. No Katya was furious.

She got up and went into the kitchen where Anatoly, Gio and Natalya were all eating breakfast. Katya sat down; her eyebrows furrowed into a frown. Anatoly looked at her.

“What's wrong Katya is everything okay?” He asks her gently.

She looks at him her eyes burning with rage, “That's not my name. And you and I both know it. Drop the act.” She says in a deathly whisper.

Natalya looks at her then Anatoly and just as she is about to speak Anatoly answers Katya. “What do you think you name is?”

“My name, my real name, is Bastet. Your name is Radames. This is not the first time we have done this. This is not the first time I have gotten my memories back on my birthday.” Bastet/Katya says quietly.

Anatoly nods, “What do you remember about your death? I found you when it was too late. I never should have left you.”

Bastet shakes her head, “You're friend that you loved so much decided he was going to shoot me, rape me and then shoot me again. I remember it all. Just as I remember all the other times.”

Anatoly got upset, he didn't know that she had been raped. “I'm so sorry Bastet, I wish,” he began to say until she cut him off.

“I don't want to hear your pathetic excuses; you've made two people immortal now and never even gave me a choice. How many times do I have to die before you give me a choice?” Bastet says her voice filled with anger.

“You're right I should've given you a choice the first time you came back. I was wrong but I had my reasons. To become immortal, you must sacrifice an innocent person to the gods. If the God's don't feel your sacrifice is good enough, they will kill you. I didn't want you to have to sacrifice someone just so I could selfishly spend eternity with you. But that's a choice you will have to make for yourself now.” Radames tells her.

Bastet sighs and shuts her eyes for a few moments, her memories were still slightly disorienting and she had to keep her cool. After a few moments she opened her eyes again.

“I will make that decision at some point but for now I accept your apology. I need some time alone right now.” Bastet stood up and walked out the front door. As much as Radames wanted to follow her he didn't he would wait until she was ready.

Bastet walked through the cold, it was snowing lightly and she felt herself heading somewhere she hadn't been in years. She walked back to her old home, the neighborhood had fallen apart over the years and no longer had people living there. Bastet let out a sigh as she looked at the remains of her old home.

What would it be like to not have to suffer with this kind of loss anymore, to not die just to be reborn and to lost it all again? How many times could she handle doing this before it completely broke her? She looked around the rubble trying to just piece her lives together. She should be happy right now. She got another chance to be with her true love...

But she couldn't help her feelings, all this sorrow and heartbreak she had to endure, it was all because of him. This time it needed to be different, she would choose and whatever happened would be on her.

The decision should have always been hers, and now it finally was. She looked at the rubble one last time and then walked back home. After going inside, she went into her room without a word to anyone. The pain inside her was a lot to bear, but she would bear it, just as she always had...