THE IMMORTAL WHO COULDN'T GET INSURED
The insurance agent had been inside the Whitmore house for eleven minutes when Elias climbed out a third-floor window.
Priya: “Mr. Hart!”
Elias stepped onto the stone ledge.
Elias: “Yes?”
Priya: “Please come back inside.”
Elias: “I’m not finished.”
The woman stared at him.
Her name was Priya Shah. She worked for an insurance company that covered dangerous research trips.
Elias needed her company to insure his archaeological expedition to Iraq.
So far, they had said no.
Elias believed their answer was based on bad information.
He intended to prove it.
Elias: “You said I’m too dangerous to insure,” he called.
Priya: “I said the trip is too dangerous.”
Elias: “And you included me in the risk.”
Priya: “Because you are going on the trip.”
Elias: “That is exactly the mistake.”
Priya looked down at the lawn.
A thick blue stunt pad was being dragged under the window.
She looked back at Elias.
Priya: “What are you doing?”
Elias: “Showing you that my body can handle more damage than an average person.”
From the terrace below, Mason almost spit out his coffee.
Mason: “Maybe don’t say that to the insurance lady.”
Elias looked down at him.
Elias: “Nobody asked you.”
Mason lifted his cup.
Mason: “I know. That has never stopped me.”
Their grandfather, Arthur, sat beside him reading the newspaper.
He did not even look up.
Priya stared at the two men.
Priya: “Why is everyone acting like this is normal?”
Mason: “It isn’t normal,” Mason said.
Arthur turned a page.
Arthur: “It happens too often to be surprising.”
Elias frowned.
Elias: “This is the first time I have used a fall for an insurance appeal.”
Arthur finally looked up.
Arthur: “That is not the comforting sentence you think it is.”
Elias ignored him.
He looked back at Priya.
Elias: “Your company says I have an unacceptable chance of dying in Iraq.”
Priya: “Yes.”
Elias: “I disagree.”
Priya: “You are standing three floors above the ground.”
Elias: “To prove my point.”
Priya: “You are proving mine.”
Mason laughed.
Elias pointed at him.
Elias: “Stop helping her.”
Mason: “I’m not helping anybody. I’m having breakfast.”
Priya stepped closer to the window.
Priya: “Mr. Hart, if you jump, I will have to put this in my report.”
Elias: “Good.”
Priya: “No. Not good.”
Elias: “You will have direct evidence.”
Priya: “Yes. Evidence that you make terrible decisions.”
Elias paused.
Elias: “That is not the evidence I’m trying to provide.”
Priya: “I know.”
He looked down again.
The stunt pad was ready.
Thomas, the groundskeeper, moved away from it.
Elias frowned.
Elias: “I said I didn’t need the pad.”
Thomas looked up.
Thomas: “Your mother said you do.”
Elias: “My mother is not part of this meeting.”
Mason checked his phone.
Mason: “She will be in about nine minutes.”
Elias’s face changed.
Elias: “You called her?”
Mason: “I sent one picture.”
Elias: “Why?”
Mason: “Because I enjoy being alive.”
Elias took a breath.
He needed to finish this before Vivian arrived.
Elias: “I am going to jump now.”
Priya’s eyes widened.
Priya: “No, you are not.”
Elias: “Yes.”
Priya: “Mr. Hart—”
Elias stepped backward.
And fell.
Priya screamed.
Mason stood.
Arthur lowered his newspaper.
Elias dropped three floors and landed flat on the blue pad.
BOOM.
For a second, nobody moved.
Then the sprinkler under the pad turned on.
Water sprayed directly into Elias’s face.
He lay there.
Wet.
Silent.
Mason walked over.
Mason: “You alive?”
Elias: “Yes.”
Mason: “Anything broken?”
Elias: “No.”
Mason: “Good demonstration.”
Elias sat up.
Elias: “Exactly.”
Mason: “I was joking.”
Elias stood.
His shoulder hurt, but nothing serious.
Priya rushed down from the house.
Priya: “Are you okay?”
Elias: “I’m fine.”
She looked him over.
No blood.
No broken bones.
Nothing.
Elias spread his arms.
Elias: “You see?”
Priya pulled out her tablet.
Priya: “Yes.”
Elias smiled.
Finally.
She started typing.
His smile disappeared.
Elias: “What are you writing?”
Priya: “Applicant intentionally jumped from a third-story window during an insurance meeting.”
Elias: “That is not the important part.”
Priya: “It is to us.”
Elias: “I survived.”
Priya: “That does not make it better.”
Elias: “It proves my body is unusually durable.”
Priya: “It proves you voluntarily jump off buildings.”
Elias: “That is completely different.”
Priya: “No, Mr. Hart. For an insurance company, that is much worse.”
Mason turned away because he was laughing again.
Elias stared at Priya.
Elias: “So you are still denying me?”
Priya: “Yes.”
Elias: “Even after I demonstrated a lower injury risk?”
Priya: “You just demonstrated a higher decision-making risk.”
Elias went quiet.
That was irritatingly logical.
Before he could answer, a woman’s voice came from the terrace.
Vivian: “What did he do?”
Elias closed his eyes.
Vivian.
His mother crossed the lawn in a cream business suit.
She looked at Elias.
Then at the wet stunt pad.
Then at the third-floor window.
Finally, she looked at Priya.
Vivian: “I’m sorry.”
Elias opened his eyes.
Elias: “You are apologizing before hearing my side?”
Vivian: “I saw the window.”
Elias: “That does not explain the situation.”
Vivian: “It explains enough.”
Priya gave Vivian a tired smile.
Priya: “Mrs. Hart, your son was trying to prove that his expedition should be insured.”
Vivian looked at Elias.
Vivian: “How?”
Nobody spoke.
Her eyes slowly moved to the stunt pad.
Vivian: “No.”
Elias lifted a hand.
Elias: “It was controlled.”
Vivian: “No.”
Elias: “The pad was present.”
Vivian: “No.”
Elias: “I am completely uninjured.”
Vivian: “No.”
Mason walked over.
Mason: “He may have made things worse.”
Elias: “I did not.”
Priya looked at Vivian.
Priya: “He made things worse.”
Vivian nodded.
Vivian: “Of course he did.”
Elias felt personally betrayed.
Elias: “The problem is not me. The problem is the location.”
Priya nodded.
Priya: “Yes.”
Elias: “The archaeological site is inside an active military zone.”
Priya: “Yes.”
Elias: “No university will sponsor the trip.”
Priya: “Yes.”
Elias: “No insurance company will cover it.”
Priya: “Yes.”
Elias: “And the State Department refuses to approve access.”
Priya: “Yes.”
Elias looked at Vivian.
Elias: “Do you see how unreasonable this has become?”
Vivian stared at him.
Vivian: “No. I see four different organizations telling you the same thing.”
Elias: “They are all wrong.”
Vivian: “That is usually what people say when everyone else agrees.”
Mason made a small sound.
Elias turned.
Elias: “Do you have something to add?”
Mason: “No.”
Elias: “You laughed.”
Mason: “I remembered something funny.”
Elias: “It was me.”
Mason: “Yes.”
Vivian held out her hand.
Vivian: “Give me the letter.”
Elias did not move.
Elias: “What letter?”
Vivian: “The State Department letter.”
Mason looked interested.
Mason: “You got a letter?”
Elias: “It is not important.”
Vivian kept her hand out.
Elias sighed.
He took a folded letter from inside his jacket.
Vivian opened it.
She read the first page.
Then looked at him.
Vivian: “They wrote ’absolutely not’ in bold.”
Elias: “For clarity.”
Vivian: “They also wrote: ’Do not attempt independent entry into the restricted zone.’”
Mason slowly looked at Elias.
Mason: “Independent entry?”
Elias: “It was only an idea.”
Vivian kept reading.
Vivian: “’Do not hire private transportation, local guides, or attempt alternate border access.’”
Mason put down his coffee.
Mason: “What exactly were you planning?”
Elias: “Nothing illegal.”
Vivian looked up.
Vivian: “That was not the question.”
Elias said nothing.
Mason stared at him.
Mason: “You already found a driver, didn’t you?”
Elias: “He had excellent references.”
Mason covered his face.
Priya put her tablet away.
Priya: “I think I have everything I need.”
Elias looked at her.
Elias: “So Friday?”
Priya: “The denial will probably arrive sooner.”
Elias: “That is extremely inefficient.”
Priya: “For you.”
She left.
Elias watched her walk toward her car.
Another door closed.
The university had said no.
The archaeological foundation had said no.
The State Department had said no.
Now the insurance company had said no.
Again.
Arthur came down from the terrace.
Arthur: “So this is still about the tomb?”
Elias: “My tomb.”
Arthur: “Your alleged tomb.”
Elias: “My tomb.”
Arthur looked at him.
Arthur: “Elias, you are twenty-three years old.”
Elias: “Yes.”
Arthur: “You were born in Los Angeles.”
Elias: “Yes.”
Arthur: “You have never been buried in Iraq.”
Elias: “Not in this body.”
Arthur closed his eyes.
Mason whispered, “Here we go.”
Elias ignored him.
Elias: “My name was Valerius before I was Elias.”
Vivian crossed her arms.
Vivian: “Your name is Elias Daniel Hart.”
Elias: “That is my current legal name.”
Vivian: “That is your only name.”
Elias: “No.”
Vivian: “I gave birth to you.”
Elias: “To this body.”
Vivian’s eyes narrowed.
Elias immediately looked away.
Mason smiled.
Mason: “Good save.”
Elias: “I said nothing.”
Mason: “You stopped before saying something worse.”
That was true.
The family believed Elias’s stories about Valerius were part of his obsession with ancient history.
They did not know the truth.
Elias Hart really had once been Valerius Voss.
The first vampire.
And beneath the archaeological site in Iraq was the one thing he desperately needed.
His heartstone.
Without it, his old power would continue to fade.
The problem was simple.
He knew exactly where it was.
And every modern institution in the world seemed determined to stop him from reaching it.
Vivian’s voice softened.
Vivian: “You can’t get there.”
Elias did not answer.
Vivian: “You’ve tried for years.”
Elias: “I know.”
Vivian: “Maybe it’s time to stop trying the same way.”
That hurt more than the fall.
Because she was right.
He hated when she was right.
Elias reached into his pocket.
His fingers touched an old plane ticket to Baghdad.
Expired.
He had carried it for almost a year.
He looked at his family.
Elias: “I need a new plan.”
This time, nobody laughed.
Vivian nodded.
Vivian: “Good.”
Then she pointed toward the house.
Vivian: “Your new plan starts with breakfast.”
Elias: “I’m not hungry.”
Vivian: “You jumped off a house before nine in the morning.”
Elias: “The two things are unrelated.”
Vivian: “Eggs.”
Elias: “Mother—”
Vivian: “Two.”
Elias: “One.”
Vivian: “Two.”
Elias looked at Mason.
Elias: “Help me.”
Mason shook his head.
Mason: “I’m with her.”
Elias: “Coward.”
Twenty minutes later, Elias sat at the breakfast table with two eggs.
Mason sat across from him, scrolling through his phone.
Elias ignored him.
For almost thirty seconds.
Then a woman screamed from Mason’s phone.
Elias looked up.
Elias: “What are you watching?”
Mason: “TikTok.”
Elias: “What is TikTok?”
Mason slowly lowered his phone.
Mason: “You’re twenty-three.”
Elias: “That did not answer the question.”
Mason: “You don’t know TikTok?”
Elias: “I know the word.”
Mason: “That is somehow worse.”
Elias reached across the table.
Elias: “Show me.”
Mason handed him the phone.
A video played.
A golden retriever stole a whole chicken from a grocery store.
Twelve million views.
Elias frowned.
He swiped.
A woman organized her refrigerator.
Nine million.
Swipe.
A teenager rated bottled water.
Sixteen million.
Swipe.
A cat knocked a glass off a table.
Fifty-four million.
Elias stopped.
He watched the cat again.
Then once more.
Mason looked at him.
Mason: “You like the cat?”
Elias: “No.”
Mason: “You watched it three times.”
Elias: “I am trying to understand why fifty-four million people did.”
Mason: “That’s the internet.”
Elias: “That is not an explanation.”
Elias kept scrolling.
Then he stopped again.
A young man was talking about ancient vampire myths.
Behind him was a map of Mesopotamia.
Elias turned up the sound.
Ten seconds later:
Elias: “No.”
Mason looked over.
Mason: “What?”
Elias: “That is wrong.”
Mason: “What is?”
Elias: “All of it.”
The creator pointed to the map.
Elias’s face became colder.
Elias: “He put Neris in the wrong place.”
Mason: “Okay.”
Elias: “Four hundred miles wrong.”
Mason: “Don’t comment.”
Elias: “He just said Valerius was probably a ceremonial title.”
Mason: “Do not comment.”
Elias: “He said Valerius may never have existed.”
Mason reached for the phone.
Elias moved it away.
Elias: “How many people watched this?”
Mason: “Eighteen million.”
Elias looked at the number.
Elias: “Eighteen million people heard that?”
Mason: “Yes.”
Elias: “And four million follow him?”
Mason: “Apparently.”
Elias looked back at the screen.
For several seconds he said nothing.
Mason knew that silence.
Mason: “No.”
Elias looked up.
Elias: “I haven’t said anything.”
Mason: “You’re thinking.”
Elias: “I do that often.”
Mason: “Not with that face.”
Elias put the phone on the table.
Elias: “How difficult is it to make ten million people remember one name?”
Mason stopped smiling.
Mason: “What name?”
Elias looked back at the video.
At the incorrect map.
At eighteen million views.
Elias: “Valerius.”
Mason stared at him.
Then at the phone.
Then back at Elias.
Mason: “Oh, no.”
For the first time all morning, Elias smiled.
Elias: “Oh, yes.”
