Page 14 of Secret Origins
“What?” My confusion made him chuckle again, the sound relaxing my stiff shoulders.
“I think about dying all the time,” he clarified, the clinking of glasses following his words through the speaker of the phone.
I’d watched him enough before I decided to trust him to know that he was pouring himself a glass of scotch, two fingers deep, no ice. It might sound stalkerish but if you lived my life, you’d be careful who you let in as well. Know your enemies, but know your friends better. It was the latter that would stab you in the back when least expected it.
“You are as old as some of these rocks, General.” Trying for a lighter tone, I snickered when he grumbled unhappily. “Wouldn’t it be freeing if you could just close your eyes and not deal with life and everything it throws at you ever again?”
“I’ll have you know that I am in my prime.” He huffed jokingly before the sound of his voice shifted to a more serious tone. “You’d think I would be tired of it by now, but I’m not ready to wave the white flag yet.” That last part was murmured as if he was lost in thought.
“Why?”
“I beg your pardon?” I almost laughed at his startled question.
“For a human, you are old enough. Why aren’t you ready? What makes you keep going when even your body is letting you down at every turn.” I could hear his throat working while he took a sip of his drink.
“It might be a human thing,” he said, his tone thoughtful. “Life is so short, and before you know it, it slips right through your fingers, leaving so many things you wanted to do behind. If I am honest with you, I’ve been thinking a lot about what life would be like if I was like you. If I was turned immortal.”
“Real life is not a fiction, General. You don’t get turned into something like me with a bite. We are born, not made. You know this.”
“I might be as old as rocks, but I still understand simple things like that,” he said dryly, pulling my lips up in a smile. “The truth is, being immortal is every human’s dream. Even when they don’t admit to it.”
“The grass is always greener on the other side,” I mumbled into the phone, turning my attention back to the coal in my hand.
“Have you ever thought about dying?” For the second time, he caught me off guard.
“About myself? Not really, no.” I rubbed the back of my hand that was clutching the coal over my forehead. “But so many die and end up under the ground, their names eventually forgotten with time. Did you know that the cemeteries are like gardens?” My eyes stretched over the outlines of the hills. “They are full of fertile soil where each and every one of those dead are planted like a seed. A seed that never sprouts. I wonder if maybe the gravediggers dig the holes so deep to prevent that from happening.”
“Why are you thinking about this now?” The General was a very observant man. I forgot that about him.
“There are things more powerful than me out there, General. I can’t always find a way to avoid them, and there comes a time when you have to face what’s coming for you.”
“Very true,” he hummed under his breath. “If I know anything about you, I know that you will go swinging if it ever comes to that. I haven’t known you to ever tilt your throat in surrender.” I could hear him swallow through the phone for a long moment, as if the conversation made him toss the drink back until he drained the glass. “You are not a woman to go meekly to her death.”
“I’m not a woman, General. I am a female, not human.”
“I know, Myst.” I might’ve imagined it, but there was tenderness in his words that formed a lump in my throat. “The question is, do you? Because if you know what I do about yourself … instead of contemplating dying, you should be contemplating killing whoever or whatever comes after you.”
“So bloodthirsty for a human.” The heat in my words was missing, but I did make him snort.
“I’ll have more questions tomorrow night.” All humor gone, he was back to business. I loved that about the General.
“I would expect nothing less. I might not give you an answer, but you can always ask.”
“Goodnight, Myst.” For some reason I didn’t end the call straight away. “Do me a favor, would you?”
“And what’s that, human?” Calling him human made him laugh.
“Between now and tomorrow night, if anything comes after you”—y fingers tightened around the phone, almost crushing it—“rip the motherfuckers apart.”
“I’ll try.” I couldn’t hear my voice from the hammering of my heart buzzing in my ears.
“You better be at the arranged place tomorrow night; you know I hate waiting.” He cut off the call.
My fingers tightened over the coal, the hard rock digging into the skin of my palm. The magic from it zinged through my arm, making it tingle all the way to my shoulder. All the scents intensified around me and the darkness of the garden brightened as if coming alive in front of my eyes. Cracking my neck, I rolled my shoulders and stuffed the phone back in my pocket.
“Sir, yes Sir.” Giggling, I answered to the night, although the General couldn’t hear me.
I could definitely keep myself alive for less than twenty-four hours, right?
