Chapter Four - Emily

Jonah must find Emily. But he is not the only one looking for her.

14 Lincoln Drive came into view as he rounded the bend. The house had a plain wire fence and a small yard, a simple driveway and an old electric gate. He glanced into his mirrors, before turning the VW into driveway. From the car he could see the front yard. It was neatly cut, and tidy. The front of the house was lined by an open verandah furnished with old metal table and chairs, nothing fancy. Jonah climbed out of the car, closed the door and crossed his arms on the roof of the vehicle. He watched the stillness for a moment then, pulled his cellular phone from his pocket and dialled Gail’s number. He listened to the ringtone until she answered.

“Hi Gail.” He spoke quickly.

“Who is this?” She sounded different, scared. 

“Gail, It’s Jonah.” He tried to be tender, but his delivery was less than convincing.

“He is dead! Who are you? What kind of a sick joke is this?” She hissed into the phone.

“Gail, I promise you, I am very much alive. Take a look out the window and see for yourself.” He glanced up toward the window, and smiled as he saw the curtains split and a face appear between them. He raised a hand to wave, and the face quickly vanished. “Can I come in? We need to talk.”

She said nothing, and hung up. As expected, she was still very shaken. It’s not every day your sister blows up your workplace and kills the man you flirt with. The gate began to slide open and Jonah headed for it. When there was enough space he slipped through and the gate closed again behind him. He crossed the yard and walked up the steps to the verandah. 

The door opened. Gail gasped and stepped back as she saw Jonah standing before of her. Her expression was one of fear, and shock, and a quiet relief. She had been crying. Under all of these emotions was the keen sense of confusion. Jonah smiled at her as she looked at him. After a moment she calmed and stepped aside to allow him inside.  As he stepped past her, Gail reached out and grabbed his arm. He stopped and turned to her. Her eyes were moist as she looked up into his eyes, and she smiled. 

“I had to be sure,” her eyes flicked to the ground and back up to his, “that you are really here, and I’m not losing my mind.” A tear tipped over the lid of her eye and ran down her cheek as she turned away to conceal it.

Jonah reached up, turned her face back to himself and gently wiped the tear from her cheek. As he did she laid her hand over his and smiled. They stood like that a moment, lost in time. Then suddenly there was a smash of glass that broke the silence. Jonah wheeled around to see Emily standing over the smashed remains of a dinner plate on the floor. She was staring at him, eyes wide with shock and fear. That’s when he noticed that sensation in his chest again.

“My holy f...” she started, and lost her words as fear gripped her. Gail ran over to her and held her tight, and reassuring her that everything was alright. Jonah though it best to step outside and wait on the bench. Inside he could hear a muffled conversation. He did not try to listen in and focused rather on the children playing in the yard across the road, remembering his own childhood, a long, long time ago. After some time, Gail joined him on the verandah carrying a tray of Orange juice and three glasses.

“I am sorry about that. We are both very scared and horribly confused, Jonah.” Gail said as she handed him a glass. Just then, Emily appeared from inside the house and sat down beside her sister. “Of everything running through my mind at this point, the one thing I just can’t get a hold on, is how are you alive. We saw you die.” Gail’s voice trembled as she spoke.

Jonah sat back in his chair, and heaved a sigh. He looked into the eyes of the women who sat opposite him, totally unaware of the peril they were now in. He ran his fingers through his hair as he considered how best to approach this situation. 

“Emily, please do not be afraid of me.” He smiled. In truth he was a little afraid of her, but evidently not as afraid as she was of him. “I need to know exactly what happened the other morning at the Diner. My memory is a little hazy at best. So, I need you to help me fill in the blanks.”

“What am I?” Emily demanded. She sat upright in her seat and looked straight into Jonah’s eyes. Her fear was still very much there, yet it was thinly masked in anger. 

“I am sorry Emily, but I do not have all the answers that you need right now, but if you help me fill in the blanks so that I can understand what happened, then we can find the answers together.” This did little to satiate the girl.

“Emily, please. Just answer the question honey.” Gail said gently, trying to urge her to comply.

“How does he get to live, when Mom and Dad...” she cut off and sniffed as she wiped away a tear. 

Jonah cast an enquiring glance toward Gail, who shook her head lightly. He understood that she would speak with him later about her parents. They sat in silence a while longer, until Jonah poured himself another glass of Orange juice. Emily had been staring at the children across the road playing with their father in the yard. They had a makeshift goal set up at one end of the yard, with the father standing in as goal keeper, whilst the children took turns to shoot at goals with one of those cheap, black and white, plastic soccer balls. Each time the ball passed into the goals the children would screech and run around the yard waving their hands in the air. Jonah saw the corner of Emily’s mouth turn up for a moment in an echo of a smile. She watched a little longer, then turned to Jonah.

“Okay.” She said suddenly. “Where do we start?” 

Jonah sat up in his chair and smiled at her. Finally she had come to the party it seemed. “Thank you Emily.” He waited a moment, considering his next words carefully. “Walk me through what happened at the diner from when you arrived.”

“When I got there, I saw you and there was a feeling in my chest like my heart was heating up.” She said, glancing at Gail as she spoke.

“Have you felt this before?” Jonah asked, as he adjusted his cushion.

“Only when I was very small, it’s unclear now. But, I remember the feeling.” She took a sip of her juice and waited for Jonah to continue.

“What happened after that?” 

“I could feel that you were like me.” She looked down at her glass, “so I asked you what you were.” She looked up again. “You denied any knowledge of what I was talking about and I freaked out. I thought that you would think I had lost my mind, and I panicked. I have this curse where people around me get hurt when I panic.” She turned away again to wipe a tear, then continued. “Something happens and I kinda explode, and if you’re close enough you die. Like you did.” The fearful expression suddenly returned to her face. “You were dead! There was blood everywhere!” Gail reached out and held her as she sobbed.

Jonah, sat for a moment and considered her story. It matched what little he remembered. “Emily. I do not have all the answers. But, I promise I will help you find them.” He contemplated his next words cautiously, then continued. “What I can tell you is that I am not like other men.”  

“How exactly. Besides the fact that you seem to come back from the dead.” Emily pushed.

“Okay. I have been around a very long time. A very, very long time.”

“How long?”

“Not certain exactly. Around two and a half thousand years. Give or take.”

Both Gail and Emily gasped this time, exchanging disbelieving glances. 

“You asked.” Jonah smiled. But the shock did not fade. Apparently it was easier to believe that he had returned from the dead than to believe that he was really old.

“Are you even human?” the question came from Gail this time.

“Yes, and no.” Jonah watched them lean in closer as he prepared to reveal his nature to them. “I am V’lanyar.” He took a sip of his juice then continued. “We have been around a long time.” 

“How long?” Emily asked. She was beginning to settle now.

“Around the beginning. The details of that era are a bit fuzzy since we lost all our ancient history records in a flood. 

She stopped crying and stared at him. “What?”

“It’s a little tricky to explain. But, we are descendents of what your biblical literature calls the Nephilum.” Jonah sat back in his seat to take a sip of his juice before continuing. “At one point in time we were the dominant species on the planet, while the infant race of man squabbled over animal skins. We build vast kingdoms in lands that humans would never see. We thrived. But then, like all times of prosperity, our time came to an abrupt end, and we faded away into the night.”

“Where do I fit into all of this?” Emily’s eyes were fixed on his as she spoke.

“Quite honestly Emily, I have no clue.” He sighed. “But I know someone who I hope can help us.”

“Can you at least tell me why I am like I am?” Her eyes betrayed a deep desperation.

“Emily, as far as I can tell, you are like me. But at the same time different. You and I can not die. Though we are not indestructible, while others around us will grow old and wilt away, you and I will simply live on.”

 “Are you saying that you and Emily are Immortals?” Gail spoke for the first time since they had begun the conversation.

“Yes.” Jonah replied. “In a way.”

Gail gave a small laugh of disbelief and shook her head. “Is this the part where you stab yourself in the heart and tell us what clan you’re from?” She quipped bitterly.

Jonah chuckled at the Hollywood reference and shook his head. “Funny, but no. That would just be stupid.” He looked back at Emily. “As I said, we are Immortal because our bodies simply continue to live, but our souls will age and mature as they normally would.”

Emily cried out suddenly and jerked back in her seat. Her glass crashed to the ground and shattered. Gail reached out to catch her before she toppled of the chair.

Jonah felt it too, like a stab from a hot, jagged blade into his heart. “Gail, get Emily inside now, and hide! We will have to continue this discussion later.” 

As the girls scurried inside, Jonah moved to the steps and watched as a silver SUV drew to a halt beside the curb. The door opened and a tall hulking figure climbed out. He stood a moment with his back to Jonah, and watched the children playing in the yard. His long white hair was tied up neatly at the back of his head. He wore a long, red leather trench coat that hung down to his ankles. As he turned, Jonah saw his face, and stepped back involuntarily. It was Herryn. Herryn had been his commander millennia before and a legend amongst his own people. In his time Herryn was feared both by the enemies of their clan and by those who knew him best. For the longest time, Jonah had believed him lost with the others. Jonah studied him as he walked, searching for any sign of a weapon. In his experience, Herryn never went anywhere unarmed. He lived for the taste of war. Jonah stepped down onto the grass as Herryn approached. The man locked eyes on Jonah and hesitated for the briefest moment. He had not expected to see him. It was as though he had be surprised by Jonah’s presence and quickly recovered. He quickened his step. As he did so Jonah’s heart sank, he could see the unmistakeable bulge of a sword beneath Herryn’s coat. He himself had come unarmed. Jonah stepped back involuntarily, his heel found the bottom step and he fell backward on to the verandah. Herryn charged at him paying no heed to the electric gate that stood between him and his quarry. The gate tore from its frame and clattered on the driveway as he struck it. Jonah regained his footing, moved back to the grass and positioned himself to tackle Herryn before he had a chance to draw his sword. For most part he succeeded. He managed to land an elbow in the long man’s chest slowing him down a little, but Herryn was too powerful. The force of the impact threw Jonah to the floor. Herryn stopped moving and turned to tower over his former brother in arms. 

“You still have not learned.” His town was that of a condescending bully. He reached down and took hold of Jonah by the collar and pulled him up until their eyes met, and Jonah’s feet were a foot off the ground. 

“Now there is a face that I have not seen in a millennium!” Jonah quipped, as he hung from the man’s steel grip. “You haven’t changed much.”

“But you have.” He gave Jonah a broad toothy grin. “You have grown weak. This pitiful human life you insist on living has made you soft.” He shook his head in mock pity. “But that is no concern of mine.”

Herryn flung Jonah across the yard. He landed with a painful thud on the concrete verandah and smashed through the front door. While the wooden doorway shattered and gave no resistance, the door frame stood firm and Jonahs shin cracked against it. 

“I see you’re still holding a grudge.” Jonah remarked as he drew himself up onto his feet. His left shin was shattered and he winced at the pain. He watched as the big man stepped up onto the verandah and approached the door. Herryn was more right that he knew. Jonah had indeed become unbelievably weak. He sighed a long sigh and tried to focus on his leg. His mind was split between the approaching danger and the broken limb. Jonah felt the warm sensation in his leg and a flood of relief that he was still able to heal himself. He looked up to see Herryn standing in the doorway.

“Where have you been all these years?” Jonah tried to distract Herryn, and buy time.

“You know very well of that hell you condemned me too, Jenwah. Do not play coy with me.” Herryn’s eyes surveyed the room briefly, then he turned back to Jonah. “I have not come here to play games with you Jenwah, I have come for the girl. Turn away now and I will overlook your sins.” Herryn stepped toward Jonah and the floor boards creaked under his weight. 

“I’m afraid that is not an option.” Jonah stepped toward Herryn. Jonah had only one card left to play. Herryn’s pride was unmatched. Any challenge toward him would be met, regardless how small and insignificant the challenger.

“You dare challenge me?” Herryn balked in disbelief. “I have no time for petty games boy. Get out of my way.” 

Jonah was stunned. Herryn had sidestepped a direct challenge. What was it about Emily that had him so driven to achieve his goal that he had set his pride aside. 

“I will not.” Sweat dribbled down his forehead. Jonah knew beyond a doubt that he had no chance against Herryn. It was a foregone conclusion that Herryn would kill him, and take Emily. There really was nothing he could do to stop him. He could only fight and hope to get lucky.

Herryn stared at Jonah in disgust. Then reached into his coat and drew his sword. Jonah felt a chill of fear as he watched the long curve of the blade.