Mortal Desire (2 page)

‘Where am I taking you gentlemen?’ I asked in my business-like manner; no humour, no bling, all my t’s crossed and my i’s dotted. I noticed Mr. Camden amongst them.

‘Tenth floor Henry thank-you. You know you are lucky to have a job here. We are all very capable of pushing a stupid little button ourselves,’ he spat, distaste evident in his words.

Be careful what you say Mr. Camden. I have much knowledge about you and your numerous illicit rendezvous. I could easily take you down and expose your character ...
‘That may be so Mr. Camden, but I have been employed to serve you, and serve you I will do with thankful heart. This job puts food on my table, a roof over my head, and clothes to conceal my nakedness. Besides, I am ambitious, and will be working on the fourth floor within a year. Mark my words Mr. Camden,’ I added with a contrite voice.
I have found my first customer Mr. Bellini. He will be presented to you shortly, with kindness, and an ounce of revenge ...

I stared into Mr. Camden’s eyes and planted the seed of need. He would be back. He would beg me to help him.

The swoosh of the doors heralded the exit of the men, a few good ones amongst them.

The day continued slowly. It was because of the thirteen elevators, all in competition with each other. Our use was dependent on timing; which elevator was where at which time. Unfortunately, my elevator seemed to have poor timing. Oh, and the fact that I had lost my temper with a badly-mannered-stuck-up-good-for-nothing-who-dickey three months ago.

The short story of the occurrence had grown and twisted to such an extent that little of the truth was left in the anecdote of the happening on that day. Pity—the bite hurt much more than the bark!

The close of the business day crept upon me while I was lost in the social and unsocial graces of people. I headed to the staff quarters, changed into my blue jeans and white shirt, and removed my honey-brown contact lenses. My eye balls were free at last. I blinked several times before I closed my locker and made haste to the freedom of the concrete jungle.

‘Henry bud, come for a beer with the rest of us elevator dukes,’ Jack said. His voice was high with energy. He slapped me harder on the back than I expected him to.

I ran my hand through my hair and watched him in earnest while I made my decision. ‘Sure. Thanks Turner,’ I said and smiled at him. He was a good man.

We entered the bar and settled on our first and only round of drinks. We had strict rules about alcohol consumption, even out of work hours. As I savoured the third sip of my scotch, I froze when a warmth ran through my blood, dilating my veins and heightening my senses. It was not the alcohol that affected me. It was a human.

I turned my head to the right and caught the sight of flowing red hair. It was Miss Flynn, and she sat alone. She wore the same floral dress from this morning, except she wrapped an elegant shawl around her shoulders.

I excused myself from the table of elevator dukes and nonchalantly sat beside her. She smelled exquisite, like honeysuckle mixed with the freshness of innocence.

‘Excuse me,’ I said in a low voice while I reached across her to some peanuts on the bar.

She looked at me for a millisecond and smiled slightly out of politeness I assumed. Her mood was low.

‘Aren’t you the guy from the elevat—no. You have blue eyes. His were l-light brown or something I-I think,’ she stuttered, frowning and pointing a finger at me.

I looked into her green delicious eyes and shook my head slightly. It was better that she did not know who I was or what I did. I turned my head away from her and sipped my beverage slowly. I turned my face back to hers and held my drink up to her. I looked into her eyes once more. ‘Here’s to a better day tomorrow,’ I declared.

She gave me a shy smile and raised her glass and clinked it against mine. ‘Sarah,’ she said as she offered her hand to me.

‘Liam,’ I added, and took her hand in mine in greeting.

Her eyes widened and she took a short sharp breath the moment that our hands touched. I smiled crookedly at her, aware of the powerful force of energy that had just passed between us ... destiny.

Now it made perfect sense as to why I had been attracted to her. It was magnetism. Our paths were meant to cross. Could it be the red thread from the Chinese proverb that my mother had spoken of?

‘Liam, my child, you will meet the One. She was chosen for

you when your spirit was created. An invisible thread

connects those who are destined to meet, regardless of time,

place or circumstance.

The thread may stretch or tangle, but will never break. You

will know when you meet her. It will be as if your entire being

has been charged with a surge of energy.

Do not ignore the sign that you receive …’

Sarah would not know of our spiritual connection though. She is an innocent, and knows nothing. She knows not of the unseen spiritual dimensions that co-habit the Earthly sphere.

But, she has what I want—mortality. Not this Earth physical life of immortality frozen at the same age for centuries that I had been cursed with, not moving forward, not aging, unable to grow old and die a physical death to re-enter the spiritual world.

I lowered my head and placed another peanut into my mouth. I kept my eyes on the bar. She was itching to talk to me. I could feel it.

‘So Liam … where is your girlfriend tonight?’ she asked.

‘I am in between gigs at the moment,’ I answered, hoping that she would see my humour.

‘Gigs! You call your girlfriends gigs?’ She had venom in her voice.

Good. I like that about a woman. I turned to face her and simply nodded my head at her with a smirk on my face. ‘Only when they are not keepers,’ I added to quell her fire.

‘And have you found any keepers Liam?’ she asked sarcastically.

I raised my left hand at her and pointed to my bare fourth finger. ‘Does it look that way to you?’ I raised my eyebrows at her and maintained eye contact.

‘With an attitude like that you are not likely too, believe me,’ she spat, raising her left eyebrow at me with a look of disdain on her face.

‘Your temper seems to match your hair Sarah. I am glad to see that the old adage is true!’ I fired back at her while brushing my thumb over my bottom lip.

She stared at me then narrowed her eyes at me. She was angry, there was no doubt. She threw the remainder of her drink down her throat, slammed the glass down onto the bar, huffed at me, and left in a storm.

Well … that went well. Nice to meet you Sarah Flynn! Our paths
will meet again. I had made sure of that when our eyes connected.

I returned to the dukes at the table to the sound of their laughter. They patted my back as I became the butt of their jokes. Ah, an entertaining evening at least, even if it was I that was the entertainment!

The mist had descended by the time that I had left the bar. Street visibility was low, so much so that the light from the street posts strained to illuminate barely a metre around them.

I pulled the collar of my coat up to cover my neck and tilted my head forward to avoid eye contact with others walking in the mist of the night. I willed my feet to pick up the pace. I had to be in my apartment by midnight, lest the unthinkable happens, and my Protector seeks me out.

I ascended the steps of my apartment in record time. I never chose to ride the elevator at any time except for work. It was not my favourite place to be. It was so claustrophobic, inescapable, like this human body that I was trapped inside.

I alighted into the apartment and closed the front door with the faintest of clicks. I stilled when I heard the arrowed voice aimed at me with the precision of a crossbow.

‘Where have you been?’ The voice was low and dark with each word pronounced separately, threatening my mind.

I turned and smiled at Albert to soften his heart. ‘At the bar with my work colleagues Albert. My curfew is midnight, and I am well within the Earthly realms of this time thank-you. How was your day?’ I asked to distract my Protector. He took his job too seriously at times.

‘Uneventful, thank-you Liam. And that is the way that I like it as you know. I don’t like picking up the pieces after you. I managed to beat the cat in a staring competition today. I was victorious at last. Matisse was most disgusted, shook her leg and walked off. She is sulking in the reading chair as we speak.’ Albert’s voice was laced with humour.

‘Nicely done then. Did you see my meeting with Mr. Bellini today?’ I enquired.

‘Yes … it was an interesting ... discussion. Did you extract anything from his mind as you conversed with him?’ Albert raised an eyebrow at me.

‘No. His mind was clouded with alcohol, buzzing around killing off some brain cells. I did implant a thought into his mind though. So he may be forthcoming with information when I am summoned to his office next time.’

‘Very good Liam. Your mother taught you well. And with that topic, she visited me in a dream last night. I captured it for you to view when you are ready. I placed it in the blue energy mass.’ Albert stood and stretched his hands out. ‘And now I must retire for the evening. You know I need my beauty sleep lad,’ he said raising both eyebrows at me and chuckling to himself.

‘Aye, that is for sure. Maybe you should sleep for a century or two?’ I joked with my Protector who had been assigned to me from my embodiment four hundred years ago.

‘Aye—there’ll be no cheekiness from you about that. You know we don’t get to choose our body on the Earth. It’s pot luck—except my pot didn’t have any luck in it! Now make haste and prepare for the delta zone of ministering. Something tells me your body’s electrical circuit had a jolt today. You will need to mend the surge of power that is still residing in your veins. Good night Liam!’

I lowered my head and smirked at Albert’s remark. ‘Night Mr. Castoro—sogni d’oro,’ I called after him.

‘Sweet dreams to you too,’ he replied, waving his hand in the air as he disappeared up the stairs.

I ran my hands through my hair and looked towards the ceiling of the apartment and clenched my teeth. I let out a low growl in frustration.

How much longer would I have to remain immortal?

Wasn’t four hundred years enough?

I closed my eyes and allowed the memory of my last moments with my mother in the spiritual realm come to the forefront of my vision.

‘Liam, why must we send you to the Earth?’

‘Because I must learn some lessons mamma…’

‘Why can’t you learn them here in the celestial realm Liam?’

‘Because I am impulsive and keep repeating my mistakes

here. The Earth will provide everything that I need to obtain

spiritual eternal life..’

‘And what will happen if you do not learn courage,

temperance, wisdom, justice and patience?’

‘I will continue to live in the confines as a physical immortal

on the Earth, unable to become a human mortal to die, and

unable to enter the spiritual realm as an immortal spirit’.

‘Now go away from the Light Liam and enter the dim light

of the Earth. Albert has been assigned to watch over you.

Patience Liam, you must learn patience, and remember that

Love has no boundaries, anything is possible. Until we meet

again … remember my love for you my son ... I will be here

waiting for you ...’

I squeezed my eyes tighter as I recalled hovering over the human body that I would inhabit. He was in cardiac arrest. His spirit had already left the Earthly realm and had entered the spiritual dimension. His body was in peak physical condition, his dark brown hair was long, about shoulder length and the colour matched his moustache. I estimated that he was probably around thirty years of age. His nose was perfectly straight, lips well formed, his chin and jaw as if sculptured by Alessandro Algardi himself. He was a beautiful human specimen.

The good doctor was bent over him with an ear trumpet placed on his chest, and remained perfectly still while he listened for signs of life from the body before him. After a minute the doctor straightened up, shook his head and used three fingers and touched his forehead, chest, right shoulder and left, then kissed his three fingers and added “Amen” in a low tone.

When he turned to leave the room I entered the violent purple vortex stretching and twisting in energy and mass, increasing in velocity until I slammed into the physical solid matter called a human body.

At once I felt rigid and confined, trapped with no way of escape. My soul was enclosed in a heavy complexity of bones and muscle and tissue, filled with blood, water and gases. The impact of my arrival restarted the heart. The body took a gasp of air.

Without delay I occupied the heart and the brain of the human body, making them my own. It was my puppet, and would move at my will. I was the new master of this physical concoction of solid, liquid and gaseous matter. I could now achieve the states of learning needed to re-enter the dimension of spiritual eternity.

While I lay motionless in my human form, making connections to muscle fibres and learning to move the skeletal form, I felt a warm hand on my arm.