The Immortal 5 The Beginning: Rena's Story

Saving Adrian from the darkness

“We have only a few short hours before the sun arises again. Anton must know that too much pain can cause a vampire to turn from good to evil in a matter of time. And that pain for Adrian is the sun, as well as the loss of you, my dear. He fears that you will never forgive him for what we have done to you. You must tell him that you do not blame him any longer.”

She knew that he spoke the truth. She turned her head and closed her eyes. When she opened them she saw that someone had moved the blue prints. And that another map was under it. She moved away from Xander and went to the table. She picked up the other paper form the folder. It was a map of the streets leading away from her home. She followed the line that seemed to start from her house and moved in what seemed to be a south western line towards the bad part of town. To a house that she knew all too well. She turned to her companions.

“I know where they are. I can’t believe that I didn’t see this before. I know the house that Anton is keeping Adrian in. I have been there before. I wondered why this house seemed so familiar. I had a friend who lived there once. He was a special person. He was a drug addict, had been for years. He was about five hundred when his life had been taken. I didn’t know who had done it until now. It was Anton. I can take you to the house. I can get you there in about thirty minutes. If we hurry, that is.”

They had about six hours before dawn approached. If it meant saving the life of their friend, it was the best plan they had ever heard. Rena went get her jacket when a strong over powering urge went through her. It was a wave of sheer anger with the darkest of intents. They had very little time Rena was sure of that. As she walked back into the kitchen and looked at Xander, at that point she knew that Xander had felt it as well. Because they were both linked to Adrian. But she felt it the strongest.

“We have to go now. Or it may be too late to save him.”

She headed for the back door she paused and turned.

‘We have to move fast or we won’t make it. The darkness spreads through him as we speak. So if you can’t keep the pace don’t try and follow. I mean to get there before he is completely lost.”

With that said she opened the door and ran down the steps it only took Omri and Xander a few minutes to catch her drift before they too were out the door behind her. They ran through alleys just following as close as possible as she ran. She feared that they may get there a moment too late and that drove her to go faster, it made her push herself faster. To pick up her pace. She didn’t stop when she felt the pain ripping through her side. It was like someone was taking a knife and twisting it the pain was that bad. But still she never stopped. She took the turn and came up short. If Omri hadn’t seen her stop, they would have collided. But he stopped just short of running right into her. And Xander right in to him. Rena turned and saw that they had indeed kept up. As she put her finger up to her mouth to tell them to be quite. It was then that she pointed the same finger to the house they stood in front of. It was the house that held Adrian and possibly Anton as

well.

No one was moving in the house it seemed that everyone was a sleep but they knew that they were just waiting for her to show. She had to do something to get them out of the house so that they could get in. then she knew what she had to do. She thought about the lights flickering and the lights began to flicker. She could tell that they were getting freaked just by that, she could hear them yelling form room to room. So she picked it up a little she visualized the doors slamming. The doors began to slam open and closed. This really freaked them out. Then to make matters worse and to get them leave, she started making people fly across the room. They were hitting walls and crashing to the floor. Then all at once they came flooding out of the house like a damn that had broken. They were falling over themselves just to get out of that house before something bad had befallen them. Anton’s men never saw the three people standing across the street. Rena watched with an amused look upon her face. Omri snickered and tried to hide it behind his hand.

They watched as Anton’s men ran down the street not caring if they would suffer any consequences. When the last man ran down the street Rena moved to the house. nothing about it had changed save for the overall feeling she got when she walked into the house. There was no feeling of happiness that she had always experienced when her dear friend had been here when he had passed on. It was replaced with anger and hatred and it shook Rena to her core. It was so powerful that she had to stop to gather her bearings. She knew what she had to do. She took one last look over her shoulder at her friends.

“The room that he is being held in is this way. I want to have a look around before I face the darkness enveloping him. It will be the third door on the right. You can’t miss it. The smell will lead you to him. Do not untie him till I get there.”

They watched as she moved to the desk before they moved down the hall. What Rena found at the desk was not what she was expecting Anton to leave there. He must have had to leave in a hurry. Because he left a unfinished letter that was addressed to Xander. She didn’t want to read it. What she did find intriguing was the pictures of her with her family and friends in her house. The way they were sitting, how they moved. She was afraid that he was studying them all to try his best to defeat them and he was going to try and use Adrian to do his dirty work. Well, she was not going to allow that to happen.

She moved away from the desk to walk down the hallway. She stopped outside the door only to hear Adrian ranting and raving about how he was going to kill them for leaving him there to endure the pain and darkness that was surrounding him at that very moment.

“They did not do anything to you Adrian. Anton did this to you. We have come to save you from the Darkness.”

He stopped speaking only to turn his head to the side to try and get a good look at her. She could see that his eyes were almost completely filled with the darkness. He watched as she moved into the room, he admired the grace that she walked with. It hides the fact that she had a background in martial arts. She stopped only a few feet away from

him. His head followed to where it was back in front. She felt the anger vibrating throughout the room. It was the same as it had been in New Orleans. But this was a darker anger and it was fueled with such hatred.

“I could kill you, right now, if they let me go. You know I could.”

He taunted her ever so softly. She shook her head to show her disagreement.

“No, you cannot, because I wouldn’t let you. You see, if you could kill me, Adrian I would have never come here. We only want to save the real you. Not this animal that you are trying to become. So you see, you have two choices, one to continue to become that animal or two let us try to bring you back to the man we know you are. Which is it going to be, Adrian?”

She thought he was going to break his binds. He tried for a few minutes. And almost succeeded.

“You boys want to leave us for a minute. Omri can you untie his hands for me?” she saw the look that crossed his face when she looked up form Adrian’s face.

“I’ll be fine he can’t hurt me.” with that stated Adrian laughed softly.

They walked to the door. Omri moved behind Adrian and untie his hands. He wished to god, that she knew what she was doing. The last thing he saw before he closed the door was Adrian rising from his seat.

The door closed and Rena watched as Adrian rose form the chair he had been strapped to. The look in his eyes was unmistakable. He did indeed intend to kill her but she had a few tricks up her sleeves. She shrugged out of her jacket and tossed it over the chair he had just vacated. This was going to be one hell of a fight. One she wasn’t ready for but she knew she had to deal with here and now. She watched him begin to circle her like a predator circling. He was trying to find the best way to overpower her but she knew all his tricks.

“So this is how it’s going to be, huh, Adrian?”

He didn’t answer her. She knew that he was close to being lost to her forever. She moved to where her back never faced him at all. She knew that was what he wanted her to do. He moved toward her with his fangs bared. She knew what he was going to. She pushed him back with her mind. He hit the wall and stayed there for just a minute. When he looked up there was admiration in his eyes. But it passed within seconds of appearing. He was off the wall and on the attack once more. He came at her like a wild beast. He was blood thirsty, at least for her blood. He was faster then she remembered but she was stronger than she used to be. The room shook with each miss from both of them as one body either hit the floor or the wall. She didn’t want to hurt him, but she would if she had to. He lunged at her and she moved to the side and hit him with a vicious blow to the back of his skull, which sent him crashing to the floor behind her. He landed hard and she watched him as he just lay there.

“You can’t beat me, Adrian. I’ll just keep on coming back. You want to know something? I thought you were bigger than this. I thought that the great Adrian was above such things. But I guess you’re just like the rest of us. Hopeless with nowhere to go and no one who understands you. I thought you were different. Maybe I was wrong.”

He lifted his head from the floor and stared at her. Just stared at her for the longest

time she didn‘t like that. It was like he was trying to figure out something. Actually it was starting to freak her out. The look in his eyes so dark and empty, like a void replaced his soul.

“Yeah, maybe you were wrong and not just about that, I think maybe you were wrong about a lot of things. But the one thing you were wrong about the most is that you expected too much from me. I couldn’t be the man that you wanted. I will always be the guy who creeps around in the dark and feeds off of humans. I can’t stop being who I am. This is who I really am. You have to live with that.”

She stared at him, not knowing what to think. Because what he said didn’t make any sense to her. She couldn’t and didn’t want to fathom any of the words that just came out of his mouth. This was a fight that had been coming since the day that she found out that he was still alive.

“All right Adrian, just what in the name of the gods brought you to that conclusion? I think that maybe you do have a screw lose. And you know what; I am going to knock it back in place for you.”

He had the audacity to laugh at that, which only fueled the fire that was fast becoming the darkest rage that she had ever felt. And it felt so good. Better than the last time she ever felt anything close to this nectar. There was a subtle vibrating of the air in the room. That was to only indication of her rage. But Adrian seemed not to notice that, he too was spoiling for a fight. She watched as he rose from the floor. But his movement was like he was rising from the grave. It was quite eerie to see the grace that he exuded in that one movement. It was like watching a movie in slow motion.

“You think that you could handle this? You run every time things get hard Rena. I will destroy you.” she watched as he lunged towards her. With all her training Rena evaded his opening attack. It was like she never moved but in reality she had moved.

Adrian never knew that she could move that fast. It was like she barely moved at all it was an action that was every ounce of her training put into one single action. When he connected with the wall he then noticed that she was standing in front of the door. She had this self-satisfied grin on her face. Mocking him like she always did. That made him angrier then he was already.

“Why in the hell do you continue to mock me? Is it fun for you Rena?”

She shook her head.

“I have never mocked you Adrian. I, for the life of me, cannot think of any reason why you would think something like that.”

She was afraid of the way that he looked at her. It was like he was looking through her. The chill that went up her spine made her uneasy. This was not the man she knew or wanted to know. This man was like the man that she first met it was like a flash back into the past but this guy was the darker image of that man.

“So, you think that you never mocked me, that is a load of crap. And you know that Rena. Every look and every touch was a way for you to mock me. You never realized that you were mocking me but you did and that was the worst kind of torture.”

Rena was appalled. That he would even think like that. She was caught up in her thoughts that she didn’t see that he moved and was up on her wrapping his hands around

her neck. This was not supposed to be happening. He was not supposed to kill her. She tried to think, tried to push him off her with her mind but she could not think. The air was coming out of her lungs. She felt the burning as the air was not reaching them, to sustain her life. It felt as if her lungs were going to burst. Her eyes began to drift shut as she fought for air. She didn’t want to die twice in one month. She thought of Omri and how this would devastate him if she did die again. She felt a wave go across her brain it was like a feeling of a soft breeze caressing her skin. She barely noticed that the door flew open, shattering against the wall upon impact to reveal Omri and Xander. They moved forward and were in the process of pulling Adrian off of her. And he was giving them one hell of a fight. They managed to subdue him and got him back in the chair that he was sitting in when she first walked in, she fell to the floor on her hands and knees trying to catch her breath, her hand was on her throat. The air felt so good going back into her lungs it was like taking a drink of water after going days without it. When she was able to stand on her own without the wall holding her up. She moved closer to the chair which now held Adrian once again.

“I want you to know that I don’t hate you, anything that was ever told to you by my voice or whatever. All I have ever done is love the man you have always been. The man I married is the same man that is staring at me. But he never had such anger or hatred in his eyes or in his heart. And I have never done anything to make you hate me this much. So I am going to do what I have to do to make things right.”

She went down on her knees in front of Adrian. She placed her hands on his knees and pushed them to where she could fit in the cradle of his thighs. She looked up into the hate filled eyes of the man she once loved. The man she barely knew now. She knew that she had to do this to try and save him. She had not done this since the day she ran out of his life more than six hundred years ago. She pushed up to where her face was level with his. She leaned in and watched as his pupils dilated because the shadow her face had caused as she moved closer.

She hoped that this was the right thing to do because it was the only thing for her to do. She was grasping at straws. She tried to picture the darkness in his mind. It was hard but she knew that she had to do it. No matter the pain it caused Adrian. She needed to force it out but she didn’t think he would go for it if she told him what she was going to do.

“Guys, I think you might want to grab and hold him to where he stays in his seat.”

The sharpness and warmth was of his breathe against her lips was not what she expected. She couldn’t tell if the kiss worked because there was not any real change in his eyes there was just confusion. And it was clouding the irises instead of the anger.

“What in the hell possessed you to do that?”

Rena’s eyebrows drew together when the question came out of his mouth. She c****d her head to the side as she waited for him to continue.

“I mean what made you kiss me, when you know that I really hated you at that point in time? Seriously, Renalynn, why in the world did you do that? Even after you said all that crap about how you hated me and that you wished that you never met or married me. That I was the last thing in the world that you would ever want to have in your home

let alone life. The things that I heard you say were unbelievable, until I heard them over and over in the same way all the time I started to believe them. But the one thing that kept crossing my mind was the fact that I’d never in my entire lifetime would ever think you would say something like that.”

She didn’t know what to say except what she has been saying since she came in this room and heard what he had to say. She now knew what she had to say to him.

“Adrian, I never in my life would say things like that to someone, unless I was pissed off at them for something they did to me. But the thing is Adrian, I thought that a long time ago when you died in my heart. But I got over the fact that you hurt me and I moved on because I thought you were dead, I never once in my life regretted the fact that you and I ever met. There was a time in my life that I wished that you and I had always been together, but this happened for a reason. That’s what I believe. You and I were brought back together for some unknown reason, granted vampires are known for their deep sense of belonging to someone for their entire lifetime.

But you know what Adrian I was brought up I a different world then you were. Yes, you are older than me but I was brought up by nobody but myself after I lost my parents. I was never the same girl after that I had to learn to defend myself. And with no one there to take the hurt or the pain I felt away I had no reason to say that. So you see Adrian I never would say things like that because I know what it is like to be loved then just let go. It hurt like hell, but I did it for myself. I traveled the world to become the person I am today right here in front of you. I’m not asking that you forgive me, but I am asking you to look in your heart to see that I am telling you the truth. The next step is up to you. Are you going to allow yourself to be placed in a situation that you know is not good for you, but not to mention the other people who care for you?”

The look that passed between them was a look a fierce determination and stubborn indignation. Omri and Xander were ready in case Adrian decided that he was going to attack Rena again.

“Rena, the sun will rise shortly. We have a long run ahead of us. So if the two of you are finished?”

And Rena was afraid that he wouldn’t answer but he just shook his head. Rena got to her feet, looking into Adrian’s’ eyes she wasn’t sure if they got to him in time to save him from the darkness.

“Well, let’s roll if everyone is ready.”

Rena walked out the door and in to the hallway, as she approached the window she saw the first signs that the sun was about to rise.

“Xander, you and Adrian may have to take the underground route just to avoid the sunlight.”

She could see that it didn’t please Xander that he had to go underground and take the sewer route back to safety she knew that. But there was no alternative.

“If we must do that then I suggest that we get a move on it because the sun rises as we speak. And I for one do not appreciate the burns that come with the sight of sun. We shall see you tonight.”

Adrian preceded Xander out the door and Rena watched from the window that she

noticed the sunrise from. She watched as they climbed down the manhole. And as soon as the lid slid back into to place she breathed a sigh of relief that they made it in time to escape the sun’s harmful rays.

She didn’t move until Omri laid a hand on her shoulder. She turned her head and looked him in the eyes. She knew without a doubt that everything was going to be different now. Anton had made everything change and he would have to pay for this. His death was something that Rena now lived for. She wanted his death so bad that she could taste it. Anton’s time was all most over he would not see the New Year.