Heart of Ashes

The Immortals

Evelyn shoved the broken door and it fell over. She stepped inside and waited while Caine hung his hat and coat up on the hat stand in the entry hall.

"It's exactly as I left it," Mercedes said, then glanced at the broken door, "almost. Caine what did you do?"

"I woke up this morning and decided I hated the door," he said dryly, "we were attacked last night. Speaking of, I don't suppose..."

"Bodies?" she guessed.

Caine nodded, "Yes."

"I can."

Evelyn had had everything explained to her during the walk home and she wasn't as angry as she had been. She was actually rather thrilled at the concept of being an immortal. Her grandparents - neither of which, in their usual forms, looked a day over thirty - had explained that if she let them help her reach her full potential, she could become the Living Death they were talking about. She could become a cure for death. Her power would be unmatched, even by them, and she'd be immortal. A true immortal like them.

"Can I watch?" she blurted, "Y'know, to learn how you do it?"

Her grandmother smiled, "Of course you can, you can do it yourself if you like. If you can."

Caine led the way to the four bodies lined up by the back door and Mercedes put her hand to the chest of one of the men. She closed her eyes and when she took her hand away, a glowing orb hovered just above her palm. She held her other hand out to Caine.

"My bag, please?" she said.

Caine, who was still holding Mercedes' satchel, opened it and reached inside. He pulled a chain with a pendant that looked like a little glass bauble out and she took it. She held the pendant above the orb. Slowly, the bauble began to fill with the glowing light of the orb in her palm while the orb got smaller and smaller, until all the light was in the bauble and her palm was empty.

Evelyn was amazed, "How did you do that?"

Mercedes smiled at the pendant in her hand, "This pendant is a soul trapper, it's used to capture and store souls or essence."

"Why did you absorb his soul?" Evelyn asked.

Mecedes was staring at the glowing blue pendant, "Immortal souls tend to linger," she said, "and it makes it easier to do this."

She balled her left hand into a fist then unclenched it while waving her hand over the corpse. The body disintegrated. Evelyn's eyes widened.

"He's disappeared!" she exclaimed.

Mercedes shook her head, "Not quite, I've scattered his particles. You could say he's having a hard time holding it together."

"How did you do that?" Evelyn asked.

Mercedes shrugged, "I willed it."

"But... but, that's... easy."

"No, child," she said, "it's easy for me. A lesser core could never handle it. My core's power stretches far beyond that of a normal sorcerer."

Evelyn frowned, "What does that mean?"

"My core, that's where my magic comes from," Mercedes explained, "and when I use magic, it's simply my brain telling my core to do its thing."

"Oh, could I... I mean, do you think I could do what you just did?"

Both Evelyn's grandparents nodded, "Certainly."

Then Caine added, "With practice."

Evelyn looked at the three remaining bodies, "Can I give it a go?"

Canine smiled, "Absolutely."

Mercedes held up a finger, "Uh, I must extract their souls first."

He motioned towards them, "Of course."

Mercedes extracted the souls the same way she'd done the first and put them each into their separate soul traps. Then, it was Evelyn's turn to try her family trade.

"Grasp the particles as if they were attached to strings," Mercedes instructed.

"How?"

She could hear the smile in Caine's voice, "Visualise it."

She did. She clenched her fist around the millions of little strings she imagined were attached to the slayer's body.

"Now scatter them," Mercedes told her.

She waved her hand the way she'd seen Mercedes do it but nothing happened. She tried again and a few more times after that.

Caine gripped her shoulders, "Focus, send the message to your core."

Evelyn glared at him, "I don't even know where the hell my core is."

"Your brain does."

Evelyn took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She imagined the strings, took another breath, clenched her fist, another breath, and then, she willed it. She wanted it. She pictured doing it. She told herself that's what she wanted to do. It was difficult and she could feel a pressure welling up inside her. Her arm started shaking and there was heat coming from inside her. The fingertips concealed within her clenched fist buzzed. She splayed her fingers and wiped her hand through the empty space over the man's body. She opened her eyes and the body disappeared.

"I did it," she said in a barely audible voice, then realisation hit and she was filled with excitement, "I did it!"

She turned to face Caine and Mercedes. Both of them looked astonished, "I did it," she beamed with excitement.

Caine blinked twice, "So you did. That was... that was..."

"Unbelievable," Mercedes finished for him, "it took me years to master the manipulation of matter. Years for my core to be able to withstand that. You learned it in a matter of minutes."

Evelyn smiled, "What does that mean?"

Caine's smile slowly returned, "It means that you are far more powerful than we initially believed. You are a true immortal."

Evelyn grinned, "So I'm more powerful than you?"

"Perhaps."

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IMPORTANT MESSAGE
(Please read...please)

Well, here it is. A new chapter. I am so terribly sorry it took so long. I am sad to say that I have been very busy lately. I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Evie's shaping up to be quite something isn't she?

Anyway, that aside, as you can see I've included some "art". A drawing of the Maragi crest, as promised, and sketches of Caine and Alastair because the giant raven looked rather lonely on the page. I am not the best artist but hopefully that gives you an idea of what the crest and Caine and Alastair look like.

Also, I'm thinking of entering Heart of Ashes in the Wattys 2016, what do guys think? Please let me know in the comments. Again thank you for your support, I really appreciate it.

Yours Faithfully,
Raine Chandler