Soul Bound (5 page)

Physically, Nathan was my addiction.  Emotionally, I wasn't
so sure.  I knew I loved him, but could I trust what my heart was telling
me after such a tumultuous and life altering few weeks?  I had no part in
what was happening, except in my decision to come to Vegas, and I couldn’t be
sure even that decision had truly been mine. 

Sliding out from under his arm, I walked around the room,
gathering my things, ready to tiptoe to the other room and get dressed. 
The giant suite probably had a bathroom somewhere but I couldn’t risk waking
him by stumbling around in the dark and getting lost in the cavernous
space.  I'd use the one in the lobby.  As I tiptoed around the bed,
clutching my clothes against my naked body, I heard him speak.

"Don't leave me, Jess."

I span around to face him, only to find he was still sound
asleep, his chest rising and falling in a steady rhythm, his handsome face
smooth and untroubled.  I reached for him, only managing to control myself
moments before my fingers caressed his cheek.  Turning, I fled into the
other room to get dressed, desperate to be somewhere, anywhere, I could be sure
that I was in control of what I was thinking and feeling.

The bellhop gave me a strange look when the elevator arrived at
Nathan's floor.  This wasn’t the first time I'd done the walk of shame but
it was the first time one so young and looked at me with so much disgust on his
face.  His body blocked the entrance to the elevator and I moved forward
in anticipation of him stepping to one side, but he didn't move. 

"You can't leave, Jessica."

Chapter Three

How did he know my name? 
I didn't remember Nathan
saying it in front of him.  Besides, he would have called me Jess. 
The hairs on my neck stood on end and I sensed danger.  Without knowing
the layout of the hotel, I couldn’t turn tail and run for the stairs and, as I
didn’t know what this kid was up to, I didn't want to run back to Nathan and
put him in harm's way too. 

 A calm acceptance settled over me.  I'd known there
would be a price to pay for Nathan's interference in my destiny. Had the
Ferryman come for me so soon?

The cop in me stared back at the young man, my gaze
unflinching.  "I suggest you do your job and take me down to the
lobby."

He grabbed my arm.  "You cannot leave.  Elias has
been waiting for you."

"Get your hands off me.  I'm an off duty cop, you
moron."  The guy laughed, unimpressed by my bluster.  He dragged
me back to Nathan's door, pushing it open with a sense of ownership that
instantly made me doubt he was a lowly hotel employee.

"Elias, if you have harmed a hair on her head, I will
destroy you and anyone who conspired with you against my wishes!"

The barely suppressed fury in Nathan's voice carried from the
bedroom across to me and the guy in the main living area.  The hand on my
arm shook and the grip loosened for a moment before tightening again, as if the
bellhop had temporarily lost his nerve.  He hesitated at the bedroom door,
looking at me uncertainly, as if expecting me to tell him he was doing the
right thing.

"Bring her in," a voice I didn't recognize said.

I surged forward, almost dragging my captor into the room behind
me.  Fear of the unknown was outweighed by the dread of what might be
happening to Nathan.  I cursed the captain for taking my gun when he'd suspended
me.

Four men in dark robes with hoods that hid their faces held
Nathan's naked form back when he leapt towards the guy holding me. 
"Get your filthy hands off her," he warned, his voice vibrating with
anger.  The boy released me immediately.

"You can go," said another man, dressed the same as the
others but standing off to one side, watching over the proceedings.  The
bellhop ran from the room after sending a pleading nervous glance at Nathan,
and raising his palms as if to beg forgiveness.

Nathan spoke to the one who seemed to be in charge. "Elias,
I will have your head for this."

To my surprise, Elias only chuckled in response.  "That
is, of course, up to you.  As heir apparent, my destiny is in your hands,
Nathaniel."  He turned and gave me an appraising glance. 
"However, I suspect it's more likely that you will be thanking me for
intervening."

His words sent Nathan into a rage.  A roar so loud and
vicious erupted from him that, for the first time in my life, I was scared of
him.  The glass shook in the windows and the walls seemed to expand with
the burst of energy that erupted from him, as if his fury had the power to turn
bricks and mortar to rubble.

"Nathan!  What's happening?  Who are these
people?"

Elias stepped towards me, his menacing form blocking out the
light.  "His name is Nathaniel.  He will be ruler of our people,
and you will not address him in such formal terms."  As terrified as
I was already, I didn't miss the subtle threat in his words.

"Get away from her, Elias!"  Nathan struggled to
break free.  "She knows nothing of this and I will not have her
told."

"Told what?"

Nathan stopped struggling with his captors, his anger held in
check as he tried to reassure me.  "It's nothing more than ancient
myths and folklore, Jess...and the rules of prehistoric societies that have no
place in the modern world."  The second part of his sentence was said
with renewed venom and flung at Elias.  I got the feeling that it was the
latest volley in a long running argument between them.

Elias turned to me again, ignoring Nathan's barbed remarks. 
"He is worried for you, my dear.  He thinks I will hurt you. 
But even I, old and foolish as I am", he cast a mocking glance at Nathan,
"knows that causing you any pain would be a costly mistake on my
part."

"But Elias, once the prophecy is fulfilled and I am your
ruler, who is to stop me taking vengeance on you regardless?"  Nathan
smiled and his cold, dead eyed stare chilled my blood.  I didn’t have the
supernatural gifts of perception that Nathan had, but even I knew that he
intended to kill Elias.

The elder took a step towards me and Nathan shouted, panic in his
voice.  "No!  Give me more time.  Let me talk to her - ask
her.  Maybe Jess will agree."

Elias shook his head.  "Too much time has passed
already.  The Warlocks rise against us and we are without a
leader." 

"Nathan?" I asked, far more terrified by his reaction
than I was by the kind but resolute energy emanating from Elias. 
"What is he talking about?"

Elias spoke before Nathan could.  "It is his destiny to
lead but he cannot do it without a mate.  I orchestrated the events in Seattle in the hope it would force his hand, and he would intervene and save you."

"Stop, Elias."  The spirit had drained out of
Nathan.  He sagged against his captors.  "I beg you, let me be
the one to tell her."

"Tell me what?"  They were getting on my last
nerve.  As scared as I was, the suspense was worse.  "Am I going
to die?"  I asked Nathan straight out.

He ignored me, turning again to Elias.  "Is there
nothing I have, nothing I can offer you that will make you stay your
hand?"

"It is your destiny Nathaniel.  The survival of our
people depends on you and this mortal."

Nathan spoke to Elias.  "Then please get it over with
and say no more."  His gaze found mine.  "I've let you down
and I'm sorry."

Elias took a step closer and I backed up, deciding the time to
ask more questions they probably wouldn’t answer was over.  I tried for
taking the upper hand and dominating the situation, the way they taught us back
at the academy.  I had nothing to lose.  "Think before you make
a move, Elias. If you touch me, you'll spend the rest of your life in
prison."

 "Don't be scared, Jess."  Nathan's softly
spoken words dragged my attention back to him.  "Do you trust
me?" 

I cast a glance at the shrouded figure looming over me. "In
principle?  Yes."

"Then listen to me when I tell you not to fight whatever
happens.  Just go with it.  And remember, I love you."

The change in his demeanor confused me.  His face radiated
only love, not fear or anger. Nothing but love for me.  Nathan smiled at
me, and I remember trying to tell him I loved him too.

The next thing I knew, a hand closed over my mouth and everything
went black.

****

I woke up in a different room.  Lying still, I listened for
sounds that would give me some clue as to where I was or what had
happened.  The silence offered me no explanations and I lifted my head to
look around, steeling myself for whatever horror I might find.  To my
surprise, there was nothing to fear. 
Where was Nathan?

"Here."

I screamed, stupidly frightened by the sudden voice behind
me.  I turned to find Nathan sitting in a chair on the balcony, half
obscured by the gauzy panels of muslin suspended from the top of picture
window.

He looked as if he'd just got out of bed, his feet and chest bare
and a pair of black cotton pajamas clinging to his hips.  But one look at
his face told me he hadn't slept much, if at all, and he seemed to have visibly
aged since I last saw him.  "What happened?"

He ignored my question, coming to sit at my side and stare into
my eyes as if looking for something.  "How do you feel?  Do you
remember anything?"

I stretched, rolled my shoulders, tensed my legs and wiggled my
toes.  "I feel fine.  And no, I don’t remember a thing. 
Hence my asking you what happened."

Nathan sagged with relief.  "Elias kept his word
then."

"So nothing happened?" 

He wouldn’t meet my gaze.  "That would be over
simplifying things."

I stared at his bowed head.  What could possibly be so bad
that he wouldn’t tell me?  I was unharmed and, besides waking up in a
strange place, everything seemed to be exactly as it was before.

"Everything has changed, Jess.  Nothing you know will
ever be as it was."

"Get out of my head!" I shouted, angry that he knew
everything, even my private thoughts, and I still knew nothing. 
"Give me some straight answers, damn it.  This enigmatic crap is
getting on my nerves."

I scrambled to the edge of the bed and swung my legs to the
floor, almost tripping on the robe I was wearing.  The long white caftan
style gown wasn't mine.  I held it out from my body and looked at Nathan
for an explanation.

"I didn't want you to sleep in your clothes and wake up too
hot."

I got to my feet but sat back down instantly when the room began
to spin.  I closed my eyes and clutched my stomach.  "Ugh, I
feel sick."

"You're starving, that's why."

Nathan leapt up and disappeared through a doorway, returning with
a trolley laden with fruit, water and coffee.  Angry, disorientated and
worried as I was, I couldn’t resist the lure of the coffee.  When Nathan
handed me the cup, I grabbed it from him took a fortifying sip.

He offered me some fruit and I accepted it, but only to remove
the tools he was using to distract me.  "Enough!  You need to
start talking."

He started to pace, running his hands through his hair, stopping
to look at me every few seconds as if struggling for the right
words.   I asked him what could be so bad that he couldn’t even begin
to tell me about it.

"It's hard to compress four thousand years of history into a
sound bite, Jess."

"How about I ask the questions and you just give me some
straight answers, ok?"

He nodded, squaring his shoulders and turning to face me, as if
confronting a firing squad.  "That's probably best."  
Fear clutched at my stomach.  I wasn’t going to like what was
coming.  His demeanor made that clear.

"What did Elias do to me after I blacked out?"

"You were reborn."

"
Reborn
? What does that mean?"

"He killed you."

"I'm
dead?"
Even as I said the words, I knew
they weren't true.  The pain twisting my stomach in knots and the way the
breath stilled in my lungs told me otherwise.

"Do you feel dead?"  I shook my head. 
Nathan's smile was meant to reassure me but I didn’t see how anyone could find
the situation amusing.  He apologized when he saw the tears in my eyes and
rushed to explain further. "Your mortal life had to end so you could be
resurrected."

"So Elias killed me then brought me back to
life?"  I laughed through my tears, near hysterical from trying to
make sense of the insane words coming out of first Nathan's mouth, then
mine. 

 "Well, technically, I did the
resurrecting."  Nathan's eyes darkened in anger.  "I
wouldn’t let him touch you again." 

"What did he do to me?"

"Nothing physical.  He stopped your heart with a simple
incantation...” Nathan's voice trailed away.

"Simple?"  I felt lightheaded. "But
why?  This isn't making sense."

Nathan sat beside me on the bed.  "I am High Priest of
the Magi, the latest in a noble line, descendants of an ancient religion. 
We are immortal guardians, sworn to defend mankind against evil."  He
cast me a sideways glance.  "Should I go on?"

I only realized my mouth had been hanging open when Nathan put a
finger underneath my chin and pushed it closed.  "What does this have
to do with me?"

"You and I are soul bonded.  A High Priest must choose
a mate, although the female is always a mortal.  Once I fell in love with
you, it was your destiny to be with me, although I did my best to protect you
by staying away.  How ironic that it was you who came to me." 
He cast his eyes downward, his gaze locking on to the motion of his thumb
brushing over the back of my hand.  "I guess Elias was right. 
Even I can't fight fate."

I snatched my hand back. "How long have you known...about your
connection to me, I mean?"

"I didn't know anything until the day I left Seattle.  My parents were killed that night, savagely cut down by a Warlock, one of
our sworn enemies.  I came home from school to find Elias waiting for
me."