The Immortal Defenses Series - Destined

Chapter Sixteen

The inside of the cabin was dark and wet. Snow had melted all around it and seeped in through the old wood. It stank of rotten wood and moldy food. The front door had been left ajar and a man was standing facing the only mirror in the cabin. He was gripping the sink, ready to rip it right from the wall and send it flying across the small room. It wasn't anger that pulsed through him, but rather it was sadness and heartache. There was a small moth-eaten sofa in the middle of the room where another man sat. Slightly shorter than the other but just as mysterious, neither sadness nor anger pulsed through this man. Instead, she sensed happiness and overwhelming joy radiating off him.

"I know how to find it," the man facing the mirror said.

"Tell me," the second man said, starting to send out pulses of excitement now.

"She will lead you to it. The prophecy was right; her defenses are like nothing you have ever seen."

"How do you know this?"

"She used them on me," said the man as he turned from the mirror. "She made me tell her what was special about her."

"What a pity. I was so hoping she wouldn't learn too much too soon. You can't see her again, as she must not know she can trace the book, not until I have one of them."

"I swear I won't see her again."

"Hector, you know I can't take your word for it. Now I have to kill you."

"You can trust me," Hector said in desperation. "You don't have to do this." The man got up from the couch and walked casually over to Hector, who was still standing by the sink. "Please, don't. I can help you."

"Oh, trust me, you have helped me enough." With a quick slicing motion, Hector's throat was cut, and the man poured a small vile of liquid into his wound before it healed. "Goodbye, Hector. Your daughter will be of great use to me." Hector lay on the ground gagging and twitching. He was being burned from the inside out; soon he would be nothing but a pile of bones and blood.

Right before his eyes went blank, he mouthed one last thing to his murderer. "She'll kill you, Amar."

Alexia woke up by getting shaken by Demetri, and then she realized she had been screaming. His face was pale and tired; clearly, she had woken him up with her screams. He was looking at her with such fear in his eyes that it made Alexia even more terrified. She grabbed a hold of him and started bawling her eyes out into his shoulder.

There were no words to describe what she had just seen; there would be no way to explain to him how she knew it had not been a dream. She had just watched her father die at the hands of Amar. Ellie, Cheri, and Roman appeared in the doorway, all looking very tired. Apparently, she had woken up the whole house. When Ellie saw that Alexia was crying, she rushed to her side immediately.

"Alexia, what's wrong? Demetri, what did you do to her?" Ellie accused.

"I didn't do anything! She started thrashing in her sleep and screaming at the top of her lungs!"

Alexia tried to calm herself down, as she was making a scene and making everyone worried.

"Alexia," Demetri urged, "stop crying and just talk to me. Please tell me what's wrong!"

Everyone was crowded on the bed now. Usually it would have made Alexia feel smothered but now it made her feel safe. It helped her calm down enough to mutter the words. "Amar killed Hector."

"Alexia, how do you know that?" Cheri questioned, looking scared.

Taking a deep breath she replied, "I watched it happen as if it was a dream, but I know it wasn't a dream. It was way too real to be a dream." Nobody dared telling her that it was probably a dream. "Hector told Amar that I would be able to find the book, the Sapheneia. He said because of the defenses I have I would be able to trace it. He lied when he told me I would be able to trace anybody I wanted. Truthfully, I can trace anything I want."