Mortal Desire (8 page)

The red thread ...

In the end it was a whole hour before Mrs. Rossetti returned Sarah to me. I knew where she was the whole time that we were apart though. My eyes found hers every few minutes, devouring the sight of her; her energy, her aura, her presence.

But … she was the forbidden fruit ...

My eyes were closed when she sat next to me on the garden seat thirty-eight floors above ground level. But I knew that she was there because the red thread was tight, pulling me closer to her.

‘What do you see Henry?’ she asked in a soft mellow voice.

I breathed out like a human, and kept my eyes closed.

‘I see the wings of angels wrapped around dying people as they breathe their last breath. I see the candy store selling healthy candies. One statement is true, the other is not,’ I said, and opened my eyes and smiled at her.

She stared at me in disbelief and then punched me in the arm. ‘Liar liar pants on fire!’ she whispered as a slight smile played on her lips.

‘The night is escaping Sarah. It is time to go. You know what happened to Cinderella,’ I whispered into her ear. I wanted to smell the strands of her red hair, and breathe in the scent of her pure warm blood that circulated throughout her body mixed with life giving oxygen. Mortals smelled divine compared to the immortal, and she did not disappoint.

Mrs. Rossetti walked us to the elevator. ‘Thank-you my dears, especially you Henry. If I had a grandson, I would want him to be exactly like you.’

She held her hand over her heart and looked directly into my being. I wondered what she could see there. Could she tell that I was different to the mere mortals who dwelt in her world?

I blinked and smiled with shyness. No-one could ever identify my immortality unless they too were immortal. And then it was as plain as day.

I hugged her hand with mine and then turned and entered the elevator with Sarah. Despite the dog funeral it had been a pleasant evening, but one that must come to an end like every day on this planet. Time is indeed precious, counted by the human interpretation of passing moments, of breaths that you breathe, of eyelids blinked, of years walked upon the Earth, which were numbered.

Moods are a funny thing, and emotions. They swung to opposite sides of the spectrum so quickly, sometimes so unpredictably, catching you unawares.

But you were in control of your emotions right? Or did your emotions react to people and circumstances around you. It was such a complex mix of feelings that humans had to deal with.

I pressed the button to ferry the elevator down to the ground floor. I rested the back of my head on the wall of the elevator and closed my eyes.

Sarah stood opposite me in the rectangular prism of a pod. I could detect her nearness. The moment she stepped closer I would know it. Right now she was as still as death, nervous about being with me in the elevator alone. I don’t know why she was nervous. I would never hurt her in any way, or make a move on her for that matter.

‘Henry is not your real name is it?’ she finally said.

‘Why do you say that?’ I asked and opened my eyes to look at her.

‘Your acid wash jeans, shoes, shirt, your sandalwood aftershave. Your eye colour is not what I see now is it? It is what you present to the people in this building daily isn’t it?’

I breathed in deeply and shook my head.

The acid wash jeans that Albert told me to wear ...

‘No Sarah—all of the elevator guys wear the same honey- brown contact lenses. It is part of our uniform. They are most irritating to wear. I detest them!’

‘So ... you are Liam?’ she said slowly.

I nodded at her.

She stared straight ahead then leaned against the wall and went as pale as a ghost, sliding down until she was sitting on the floor of the elevator. I pushed the stop button of the elevator and folded my arms.

‘Ask away. I’m up for twenty questions,’ I said in a quiet voice.

She remained silent, and I waited patiently.

‘Do all of the elevator operators have an aka name?’

‘No, just me.’

‘Why do you have the name Henry here?’

‘When I first started here I was given the wrong name badge, and it just stuck. It is sort of a running joke I guess.’

‘Why do you all have to wear honey-brown eye lenses?’

‘I can’t answer that one due to my contract.’

‘I have met you twice as Liam.’

‘That is not a question, it’s a statement.’

She looked down at her fingers that were knotted together. ‘Why didn’t you tell me that you were Henry from the elevator the first time that I questioned you about it at the bar?’

‘You were the one that decided that I was a different person, not me.’

‘But you had blue eyes and you told me your name was Liam.’

‘I was telling you the truth.’

‘Do you have a photographic memory?’

‘Yes.’

‘Do all of the elevator operators here have a photographic memory?’

‘Yes’

‘Why?’

‘For security reasons.’

‘But aren’t there security cameras everywhere?’

‘Yes.’

‘Then why must you have photographic memories?’

‘Because photographic evidence can be altered.’

‘But memories can be persuaded into something different as well can they not?’

‘If you can be hypnotized …’

‘What do you know about Elliot and me?’

‘I have a great deal of knowledge about Mr. McEwan that I am not able to tell you for confidentiality reasons, and I only know what I have observed of you with your mannerisms, choices, body language, plus a little bit more because of the time that we shared at the dog funeral tonight.’ I had been forgetting to do the breathing thing. I hoped that she didn’t notice.

She smiled at me and then put her hands over her face. ‘What can you tell me about me?’

‘Are you sure that you want to hear that?’

‘Yes—go ahead.’

‘That’s not a question.’

‘Liam aka Henry, what do you know about Sarah Flynn?’

‘Sarah Flynn has red hair, green eyes, a beautiful smile. She is tall and slender. Men notice her. She can be nervous at times shown by the way that she knots her fingers together, like you are doing now. She is pleasant to all her talk to her, but you can see her summing people up, like you are doing to me now. And that is the end of the Sarah Flynn reading for today.’

‘How old are you?’

‘Twenty-eight.’

‘Do you wish to work as an Elevator Operator for the course of your natural working life?’

‘No.’

‘Elaborate.’

‘That is not a question.’

She rolled her eyes at me. ‘If you could choose to do a different job, what would it be?’

‘I would like to be a seeker, a healer.’

‘Which one, a seeker or a healer?’

‘Both.’

‘How can a person do that?’

‘By study, observation.’ I was lying. I had a gift that I was forbidden to use.

‘Are you studying?’

‘Bing! Your twenty questions are up. Shall we continue our journey to the ground floor so that you can emerge enlightened about me?’ I said as I stood.

‘Only if you remove your eye lenses so that I can see your blue eyes Liam,’ she said to me standing, moving closer and placing her hand on my arm.

I breathed deeply as she touched me. ‘I can’t do that Sarah. Not here. Not now.’ I pushed the ground floor button and the elevator descended. The doors opened without a sound, and I waited for Sarah to step out of the elevator first.

‘If you wait five minutes I can go and remove my eye lenses and meet you at the revolving doors ... if you like.’

She turned to face me, and nodded. ‘I like. I will wait. Do I call you Henry, or Liam?’

‘For you, I will answer to either. But if I answer to neither, know that it is for a reason.’

She took a deep breath and smiled a little. I brushed my hand over hers as I left to remove the lenses from my eyes.

*~*~*~*~*

She stood to the left of the revolving doors reading her cell phone, twirling her hair around her finger while she waited for me. I wanted to do that. The blackness of her fitted dress emphasized the deep red orange colouring of her hair, and her eye catching figure.

As I walked towards her, she glanced up at me—twice, and smiled.

‘Let’s get you home Miss Sarah, before the predators are let out to play,’ I said, pulling my black three quarter length coat on.

She folded my collar over and looked deeply into my blue eyes and then my lips. I smiled crookedly at her.

‘Ah—there are the eyes that I love, Liam,’ she said, almost like a melody. I bowed my head and looked to the floor and closed my eyes feeling self-conscious.

We cannot be together, we cannot ...

She slipped on her coat and we left the building. I pulled the collar of my coat up to cover my neck, to cover my scent, and then tucked my hands into my pockets.

Sarah linked her arm through mine and we fell into the same walking rhythm to the taxi rank. If I was mortal, I am sure that my heart would have beat as one with hers as well.

‘How is your head?’ I asked her when we sat in the back of the cab together, chemical attraction bouncing between our close bodies.

She touched the back of her head where she had hit it against the brick wall the previous night. ‘Funny, I haven’t even thought about it since I met you tonight. Selena must have fixed it!’ Sarah said, and then looked at me with a huge grin on her face, and touched my hand with hers.

For a moment in time her eyes froze in mine, although it felt like an eternity. She had unknowingly pulled some of my amnis from me, for I felt it leave my hand. Immediately I worked hard to pull it back to me.

The red thread was stronger than I thought ...

The cab stopped at exactly the precise moment that was necessary to break the magic between us. With a silent sigh of relief I slid out of the cab and went around to open Sarah’s door for her, like a gentleman should.

She stepped out and stood directly in front of me with her eyes settling on my lips. Her unspoken question of a kiss painted a perfect picture in my mind.

No was the answer.

I wished it could be a yes, but both of my cards dealt to me said no.

I closed the cab door and walked beside her into the building, making sure that my hands were tucked into my pockets so that she couldn’t entwine her fingers with mine. How would I control my amnis then?

We entered the elevator and I leaned on the hand rail while Sarah stood near the buttons.

She looked at me and smiled. ‘Which floor would you like to go to tonight sir?’ she said in a low voice, her face serious.

‘Number sixteen please, Miss.’

She nodded her head at me and pushed the button to light up number sixteen, and stood back as pleased as punch.

Without warning, I leaned forward and pushed every number on the elevator buttons.

‘What are you doing Liam?’ she said in horror. Her eyes pierced mine.

‘I am teaching you something that may save your life Sarah.’

‘And what could that possibly be Liam? Who are you? My body guard or something?’ Her voice was full of bitterness.

I ran my hand through my hair as I felt compelled to tell her my knowledge. ‘You have to know that if you ever get into an elevator with someone that you feel highly uncomfortable with, or you feel threatened by, they are less likely to attack you if you have every floor pressed. There is less time for them to hurt you, and you have a possible escape on every floor. I ... I ... just want you to be safe.’

She looked at her knotted hands and then up at me. The elevator rose and stopped at four levels before she finally spoke to me again. Her face was full of anguish and pain when she looked up into my eyes.

‘Hold me please Liam ... just hold me.’

I remained where I was, leaning against the hand rail of the elevator with my hands behind my back. I had avoided direct human contact like this for the last four hundred years for a reason. I had only allowed myself to make physical contact through my hands, and briefly at that. If I held her in my arms, she would be enveloped by the blue energy that supported my being.

It was a blue energy that connected me to our Higher Power, and it was highly addictive to mortal humans. She would be transported to a level of consciousness that showed her things beyond the physical world, both good and bad. She would either be repelled by me, or unwilling to part with me. This could only end badly unless, I focused inwards and tried to pull the blue energy to the core of my being, leaving as little energy force around me as I could.

And, after all, I wanted to be a seeker, a healer. She was seeking me and I could heal her.

I took a small step towards her and held out my hand to hers to pull her towards me. She looked into my eyes. There, I saw her deep sadness and pain.