HEART OF THE CHOSEN (CASTE BOOK 1)

Chapter 16

Olivia stared at Eric with a startled and deeply hurt look, while Carmichael was still looking at her. Leaning back in the armchair, he had pulled his dreadlocks over his chest and had taken care to remove his coat. He wore a close-fitting T-shirt with the seams ripped at the biceps. His lively emerald eyes which contrasted singularly with his coppery skin were more radiant than ever. Just seeing her waddle in front of him, I saw that he was definitely to Olivia’s taste.

“You see!” she protested in front of Carmichael, “I came to have a little chat with my ex-best friend and here’s the result, my ex-boyfriend kicks me out!”

“Not at all!” replied Carmichael falsely outraged, “Eric, I find that your manners aren’t worthy of a gentleman.”

“Where is my brother?” he yelled.

Olivia turned her head, her eyes wide like marbles. Surprised for a moment by Eric’s reaction, she nevertheless quickly regained her sarcastic look.

“My dear Olivia, you shouldn’t blame him too much, you know. Everliegh has predispositions that are hard for men like us to ignore, doesn’t she, Mr Panchak?”

Eric stared at him with his incendiary eyes. A suffocating silence gripped the house. Olivia, upset, had tears in her eyes. Carmichael stood up.

“I didn’t come to start a fight but only to talk.”

“How did you get in?” I demanded.

“Come on, Everliegh, do you think a lock and an alarm system are enough to stop a determined man? Moreover, I had the chance to meet your friend who arrived a few minutes after me.”

“She’s an ex-friend, let her go!”

“No, but are you serious?” cried Olivia, outraged.

“Olivia, please. You don’t know who you’re dealing with?”

“But neither do you,” Carmichael retorted, “and I’m here to chat, so sit down, please.”

Was the world upside down! He broke into my house and was now inviting me to sit down. With Eric, we exchanged a meaningful look. Olivia was here, we couldn’t start a scandal. Moreover, Carmichael had all the answers to our questions and in particular about Thomas, so we abdicated without resistance.

“Where do you know Eve from?” Olivia said impatiently to a beaming Carmichael.

“We met not long ago, but I’ve been waiting for her all my life. She and I have some common characteristics, don’t we…, Everliegh?”

A fleeting blush immediately rose to my cheeks. Thank goodness Eric still had his eyes fixed on him, it spared me the shame.

“Common characteristics?” wondered Olivia.

“Yes, but a homo sapien such as you cannot understand, my dear.”

“A homo sapien?”

Olivia pondered the underlying insult in Carmichael’s words for a moment, but since she had no idea the seriousness of his words as much as we did, she giggled nervously. Carmichael stared at me with his jade eyes. I couldn’t detach myself from this invisible link that connected me to him, but Eric interrupted this visual exchange by raising a voice louder than ever.

“WHERE IS MY BROTHER?!” he repeated, mad with rage.

Carmichael tensed and slowly turned to Eric.

“Olivia, you should leave, I have some private business to settle with your friends.”

“But what’s going on, Eve?” she asked me in her total incomprehension of the events.

“Liv,” I pleaded with all my might, “I’ll call you tomorrow, please!”

She picked up her coat and left, slamming the door. I knew she was terribly hurt, but that was one less problem to deal with now.

“Finally alone!” commented Carmichael.

“My brother!” cried Eric.

“Thomas is in excellent spirits, I assure you.”

“Did you hurt him?” I asked.

“No, I don’t deny having used an effective ploy to convince him to follow us, but he’s fine, Everliegh, I assure you. Thomas is far from being in bad company.”

Eric sprang from his chair at a bewildering speed, and in less than a fraction of a second, materialised in front of Carmichael who was already gripping his arm. Eric reared up screaming. The loud, theatrical voice of Carmichael swept through the room.

“I won’t hurt your brother, don’t worry, that’s not what I came for. When are you going to understand that we don’t want war?”

He released Eric who collapsed while holding his bruised arm.

“I don’t usually travel in person. Only, I would like to convince you to come with me. You are caste, and as such, we form the same family.”

“A family doesn’t shoot at its fellows!” I replied, furious.

“Indeed, but we aren’t a common human family. We must earn our place among our own. Do you really think Gregory would have fired all those bullets if he didn’t think you could handle it?”

“I’ll be clear with you: I will never be part of your cursed Order! I will never be part of a group that uses murder to achieve its ends! You killed Cedric and maybe even our parents!”

Anger assaulted me so brutally that all the objects in the living room began to wobble. Neither Eric nor Carmichael were unsettled.

“I had nothing to do with this Cedric’s death, sorry, my dear. And as far as your parents are concerned, I discussed it with Thomas. If ours are closely or remotely involved in their death, I can assure you that I have never been informed.”

“You’re lying!” yelled Eric.

“Maybe, but you’ll have to take my word for it,” Carmichael replied. “I don’t deny the brutality of some of our methods, and I readily admit that the fate of the human race matters little to me. I am a caste, and given the limited number of our fellow human beings, I am taking the necessary steps to gather mine.”

“In search of power!” I protested, not fooled by his game and his art of playing with words.

He stopped to stare at me attentively. He smiled and rose from his chair. He approached Eric, with a quick gesture, he raised his hand and touched his head. Eric hadn’t seen it coming and immediately fell unconscious.

“Eric!” I cried, throwing myself at his feet.

“He’s fine, don’t worry,” Carmichael said in a low voice. “I wanted to talk to you alone, that’s all!”

The armchair on which he had been sitting a few seconds before projected violently in his direction. He stopped it with one hand and sat down on it, as quietly as if I had invited him to sit down. I remained speechless.

“Everliegh,” he said to me in a somewhat paternalistic tone, “you are capable of doing so much better!”

“I’ll certainly not destroy my house for the pleasure of seeing you suffer!”

Eric was breathing, so I sat back on the couch, trying a little to regain my composure. My only eagerness was that Carmichael’s visit is cut short as quickly as possible, because I was well aware that Sam would arrive, and I didn’t want him to be involved in this story in any way.

“For the train business, Sophie is taking care of it, you’ll have nothing to worry about.”

I widened my eyes. I expected anything but that.

“We help each other between caste, we’re not going to let ourselves be the target of vulgar humans.”

Obviously, the expected came back at a gallop.

“Carmichael,” I said as calmly as possible, “I don’t share your disgust for the human race, of which I was a part a week ago!”

“One, that’s completely normal. You don’t yet have enough perspective to understand the extent of your power, and yet it’s they who will make you see things differently. Your social relations with humans will deteriorate, besides, you already count your friends on the fingers of one hand, don’t you? And why, in your opinion? Because you’re one of us. You have nothing to do with those people, that’s a fact. Two, I would like you to agree to use familiar terms with me from now on.”

“In exchange for what?”

He laughed. Strangely, Carmichael didn’t intimidate me. Eric had cautioned me to be suspicious, and for good reason, we didn’t know the extent of his faculties which, moreover, seemed to be extremely powerful. Yet, and without being able to explain it, I had the strange feeling that I was intimate enough with him to allow myself to push him around a bit.

“So you negotiate,” he commented, a hint of mischief in his voice.

“Absolutely, give me back Thomas and I’ll be happy to talk to you.”

“You’re going to have to be honest with me first.”

“That’s okay if you promise to give him back to me.”

“That will depend on your answers, honey.”

“Okay, so go ahead, ask your questions!”

Why did the situation seem so surreal to me? I was going to start a conversation with him, the content of which I didn’t yet know, even though Eric was lying unconscious on the floor of my living room.

“How exactly do you feel about Thomas Panchak?” Carmichael asked me, cutting me short in my analysis of events.

“I... I love him, that’s all.”

“That’s all, in fact. And yet, you kiss his brother and you wouldn’t mind sleeping with him, would you?”

“No!”

“So you never felt the slightest attraction for his brother? Have you ever wanted him so badly that at the time you thought your heart would pierce your chest if you didn’t give in to temptation?”

“Uh..., it may have crossed my mind but he’s very attractive. He would please any woman, that’s normal, right?”

He gave an amused smile. Maybe he was asking me the questions that I myself refused to answer. And if so, I might find in this senseless discussion the answers I was looking for. What a strange situation.

“It’s normal if you’re a caste,” Carmichael continued, “all caste are sexually attracted to each other, but love is a whole different matter.”

“I don’t see why.”

“Why? Because wars have been declared for love, whole families have been decimated for love, and the epic story of a member of your lineage will teach you that you can go crazy for love. This isn’t to be taken lightly. In addition, you have, like me, certain dispositions to captivate the opposite sex.”

“This caste succubus thing, right?” I said in an annoyed tone.

“Succubus!” he wondered with delight, “that’s a nice word to call you, Everliegh, it’s exactly that.”

“I…”

No sooner had I started my sentence than Carmichael was beside me, his hand resting on the top of my thigh. The heat that emanated from his fingers caused a burst of tremours. I suppressed a gasp of amazement, without however having the necessary will to remove his hand. His face moved closer to mine and his mouth brushed my ear.

“Do you at least know what you’re doing to this man lying in front of you?” he muttered, pointing to Eric.

My gaze fell on his lifeless body. His face, with features softened by sleep, was so fascinating and handsome that I held back tears.

“No,” I whispered in response.

“This man wants you all the time,” Carmichael asserted without rejoicing, “it’s simple, you occupy all his thoughts. He’ll only be happy when you are his because he struggles with every moment he spends with you. Don’t be surprised if, one day, he doesn’t resist and especially don’t be surprised if you feel even more in your flesh the fervour of his desires, this emanates from your strong power of attraction.”

Frozen, I tried to assimilate Carmichael’s words which resonated in me like an infinite echo, while he placed his other hand in the small of my back. I had to take a deep breath to contain myself because I was definitely not myself anymore.

“Eric will never dare,” I said, half-convinced.

“Mmm…, I wouldn’t bet on that. I’ve already played this game with a few caste, and none have resisted.”

“Have you ever met someone… like me? With such a powerful gift?”

He didn’t answer right away. His warm breath caressed the back of my neck as my libido soared mountains. I didn’t know if I was going to have the strength to resist him for much longer, it was almost torture not to capitulate. I knew I had to put an end to this, if only for the sake of my own morals. I knew there was something degrading in the way I behaved, yet I was ready to give in any second.

“Before you, never, and that’s the whole point of the thing. I’ve always had it so easy for, in the end, so few results. Some caste are more attractive than others, that’s for sure, but there’s no comparison to your power.”

His fingers moved up my spine, not without failing to cause another gasp of surprise. “When I touch you, I experience fascinating sensations. It’s as if my soul was torn in two, it’s painful in intensity but so delectable at the same time. I met you mere hours ago and I couldn’t resist the urge to see you again.”

“I… I mustn’t,” I managed to articulate, trying to pull away.

Attempt aborted since Carmichael maintained his grip. I was now inches away from him. At no time did I look up. His eyes could have annihilated the little will I had left not to abandon myself to him.

“Isn’t it necessary, because you love him, or because your morality refuses you?” Carmichael whispered.

“B... both.”

He brought his body a little closer to mine as if it were still possible.

“Carmichael... Don’t tell him.”

“You have my word. Everliegh, you have nothing to be ashamed of. One day, you will come to terms with your attraction to me. It’s our destiny to unite with each other and I have so much to show you. Amazing things. Trust me!”

“So release Thomas!”

I finally managed to get away from him, but I didn’t know then that I was going to feel the pain of having a limb amputated. He must have had a similar feeling because his happy look faded at the same time.

“I can’t release him yet.”

“You’re ready to do anything to get what you want!” I protested as the furniture wobbled dangerously again.

“Yeah, so what’s wrong with that?”

“It’s bad? You can’t hold someone against their will just to get your way.”

“This is where our opinions differ, sweetie.”

I can’t explain it, but the fact that he calls me sweetie manages to soften me for a moment, the furniture thus regaining its immobility.

“Give me some news soon, that’s all I ask of you.”

“It’s understood,” he finally conceded.

The living room clock struck midnight. Time was suspended. Carmichael was ready to go, and yet a part of me was craving his presence. As if reading my thoughts, he grabbed my waist and kissed me for the second time that day.

“Happy birthday,” he whispered before disappearing.

I stood there, in the middle of the living room, in dead silence staring at the still unconscious Eric. I still had a burst of lucidity and looked around the room. Many shattered objects were strewn on the ground, nothing was in its place. Faced with this mess, I collapsed and cried for an hour before managing to get up. I finally began to clean the ransacked living room, which had the merit of occupying my mind. As I finished throwing away the last debris, Sam stormed back into the room. He widened his eyes in horror and threw himself on Eric’s lifeless body.

“But what happened here?!” he asked, his voice overwhelmed with concern.

I didn’t have the strength to answer him, so I continued to tidy up like an automaton. Sam stared at me, taken aback, but didn’t insist. He went to get a bowl of fresh water and swung it over Eric’s head. He reacts immediately.

“Where is he?!” cried Eric, who barely had regained his senses.

“He left.”

Eric stared at me, sensing that something was wrong. I didn’t dare meet his gaze and went to the kitchen area to put my broom there. In heavy silence, Sam and Eric watched me more intently.

“Can you explain to me what the f**k is going on!” said Sam who no longer concealed his anguish.

Eric ignored him and focused on me.

“What did he say about Thomas? Eve!”

I slowly looked up at him, but shame was already filling my rosy cheeks. I no longer had any desire to look back on that horrible evening.

“He promised we’ll hear from Thomas very soon,” I replied, listlessly.

“That’s all?”

“Yeah, he told me he couldn’t release him right now but not to worry. He gave his word.”

“In exchange for what?” asked Eric, who had the unfortunate habit of asking the right questions.

“You’re welcome,” I replied, looking down.

“What has he done to you?” yelled Eric.

“But f**k, will somebody explain to me what’s happening?” Sam yelled back.

Eric turned to him, this time fully aware of his presence.

“Thomas has been kidnapped.”

“Thomas? But who got hold of him?”

“A certain Carmichael,” Eric replied.

Sam’s face changed. He was pale and his frightened eyes sought the chair where he collapsed the next second. His silence spoke volumes and Eric wasn’t fooled.

“You know him!”

“Yes, I knew him a few years ago.”

Sam turned to me then, his face solemn. Terrible anguish gripped my stomach.

“He was your father’s friend.”