Chapter II

It had only been a week since the day at the lake with Isaac but to me it felt like a century ago, that’s how it was with Immortals, when you live forever life tends to go slower than normal.

I stayed up later than usual reading every book that my father had on the Awakening, but they all seemed to say the same thing, ‘The decision is not yours to make’. I tried not to be paranoid about it often, knowing that it upset my family to see me in pain but I couldn’t help it, 81 days just didn’t seem that long to me, in 81 days my future could change for either bad or good, ‘The decision is not yours to make’.

Though the Awakening was not the only thing on my mind. My mind flashed back to two days ago, the Isaac and I had gone hunting.

I ran through the forest, searching for something, my eyes barely noticing the tress that sped past my view in one giant blur. Isaac was up ahead, I may have been stronger than Isaac but he was faster, which is how he managed to reach what we were chasing first. Isaac pounced on the large creature, tackling it to the ground, by the time he managed to pin it I had already arrived.

I placed my hand on top of the animals head, I closed my eyes, the world around me going silent, I felt small tug, followed by a large flow of energy that made its way up my arm into my heart, and the feeding had begun. There weren’t many difference between an Immortal and the myth of a vampire but if there was ever one this was it, Immortals don’t drink blood. Instead choosing to feed on the energy of other life forms, it is a way to feed without death. Not all Immortals see this as an option though, The Drainers got their name because of this. Drainers never once left their victims alive, deciding to drain every last drop of energy from their body.

The feeling of the energy flow slowing down snapped me out of my thoughts, I opened my eyes and removed my hand from the lion’s forehead, the creature lay motionless but it was breathing. “Help me move it”, Isaac nodded, but he looked tired, I remembered that he was the reason why we were hunting in the first place, his energy source was running low and what little he had was used into catching the animal, we lifted the sleeping lion over by the shade of the tall trees, “You should have gotten your share first”, I looked at him, guilt filling my features, he gave me a weak smile, “It’s fine, you were hungry too”, I stood up quickly but Isaac didn’t have the same amount of luck, his legs crumpled beneath him, as he fell to the ground. “Isaac”, I shouted, quickly kneeling beside him, he was too weak to move, I picked up his hand, it felt cold, I placed into my own forehead, Isaac seeing what I was doing began to protest but I shushed him, “Isaac, it’s fine, take it, you’d do the same for me”, he nodded slowly, defeated, he knew it was the only way.

I felt the familiar tug of the feeding starting but instead of feeling the large rush of energy flow into me I felt it flow out in one steady stream. My mind started to fail me, I could barely remember where I was, who I was, and everything felt cold. My mind escaped me and I drifted into another place.

Rain pelted the cold concrete floor, sitting on the steps of a city town apartment were two Immortals, one woman and one male, a young couple, I stared at them confused, I felt like I knew them, I shouted out to them but my voice failed me so I just stood there and watched, They both had slight tears streaming down their face the cause of that sadness being the young Immortal next to them, their daughter.

Loud feet hitting pavement snapped them and I awake, a strange man in a long rain coat walked up to them, Adrian, what was he doing here, I ran towards him but my legs were stuck, Adrian shook the strange males hand and gave a slight nod to the women to him, the woman let out another loud cry, the man, her husband consoled her hugging and whispering that they were doing the right thing, the Adrian just stood there watching the couple with a non-existent expression, like he had expected this, Adrian looked behind him before looking back at the couple with the words, ‘it's time’. The couple nodded, turning down to their daughter looking at her sleeping state, giving her a light kiss on the forehead for the last time they ever would, tears falling freely down their faces, one last loud cry was let out, before they turned down the dark street.

Adrian walked up to the young child with a slight wave, before picking her up in the basket she lay in and walking down the opposite direction as the young girls parents.

“Alex, Alex, Alex, wake up”, I opened my eyes, greeted by the concerned ones of my brothers, I smiled, simply saying, “I’m fine”, he nodded but didn’t look convinced, I understood how bad it must have looked from his point of view, seeing me lying there on the ground, but he never brought it up, just like I never mentioned my vision.

I had tried so hard to work out who the strangers in the vision were, but even though their faces brought me such familiarity I couldn’t remember ever seeing them before in my life. Adrian wasn’t back from his trip until tomorrow but I wasn’t sure I should tell him even when he does come back, although I knew nothing of the situation, it was obviously a big deal if Adrian had never mentioned it before, but one question that I was still dying to know was where was the young child now.