The Immortal

Jasper

It had been over one hundred and four years since I had decided to leave my home in Rome, Italy in fear of what the people would do if they found out what I am. Having to need a new name for everywhere I go I decided Lucius Verus would be a good name for an orphan boy who would soon be adopted. Having to not use my birth name was hard at first and having had an unusual name like Jasper Amrell tended to draw unwanted attention especially when you are running from your past and your family.

As I'm walking down the main highway that's taking me back to the place I called home, for the first half of my childhood, I realize that it's finally safe for me. With my parents on the run or dead, the Roman citizens believe that the streets are finally safe since the demons are gone.

My parents had raised me during the time when our kind was worshipped and ruled the world. Both of my parents were alive before the fall of Babylon and it was around that time that they started to wonder what it would be like to start a family.

With thoughts and memories running around throughout my mind I fail to realize that I've walked straight past the gates of the city and into Rome. Remembering my way around, I find myself waiting on the steps to the palace. Knowing I looked rather disheveled from my long walk, I gladly take what is offered to me as a soldier leads me to my room.

As I stand looking out at the quiet city, I see a shadow shoot across an empty square. Jumping from my window and landing silently on my feet, I slowly move towards the figure that has paused in front of a well. Just as I begin to reach for the hidden figure it turns around to face me and I take a sudden step back. Two beautiful bright golden flecked blue eyes glowing in the darkness of the night from under the hood of the cloak. In one swift move they throw back the hood revealing a girl with dirty blonde hair that has a golden sheen under the moonlight. In all of my years I've never even come close to seeing one who could come close to her beauty. As her hair tumbled out from under the hood in curling waves, it was as if they were tempting me to reach out and brush a few of the behind her ear. I wish I could just reach out and pull her to me, yet as I look closer at this beautiful creature I begin to feel an aurora of innocence flowing off of her in light, warm gentle waves. Knowing my darkness would taint her beauty I take a step back and look her over again much slower to take in all if her. Confusion clouds my mind as to who she might be, the confusion must be evident on my face as she takes in a defensive stance the almost silent sound of metal can be heard. We stay like this for what feels like forever before I begin to feel the warmth of the sun on the back of my neck and in a small moment, she vanishes leaving no sign of her disturbance.

Without knowing who or what she is I begin my search throughout the library scouring every book for even the slightest clue as to if she will ever return again. Hours pass unnoticed until I hear the slight crackling of a fireplace and soft footsteps sliding across the stone floor. A soft hum fills the once almost silent air and I turn from my place to see her leaning over on the mantel looking down at the fire.

"Beautiful isn't it?", she whispers softly her voice like silk and honey with a slight draw.

"Beauty is only in the eyes of those who perceive it as beauty and not monstrous.", Is all I can reply without sounding like a fool.

"Tell me", she whips around to face me, her hair flowing about her."Immortal, why did you return to this city where you could be killed..."

All I can do is gape at her in shock that she had found out what I was. Before I came here I had stayed on an island that no one knows about except me. Standing, I take in my appearance through one of the nearest mirrors. My eyes. How could I have been so stupid. Every night of the full moon my eyes turned dark gold, far from their normal stormy grey colour. Out of nowhere laughter fills the room and I look over at her now rolling on the floor trying to contain the uncontrollable, contagious laughter. Before I can stop myself, a smile spreads across my cheeks and I let out a soft chuckle before it slowly grows into rumbles of thunder like laughter. After we both finally calmed down, I kneel down next to her and help her up holding her hand in both of mine not wanting to end the moment.

"I returned... To find someone... Someone I knew since I was a child... She told me she would wait for me... Yet she was human and I didn't come soon enough." For that is all I am willing to share from my dark past.

"So... My name is Artemis... Yeah I know it's the name of a Greek goddess...", she mumbles the last bit while taking a step closer to me.

"Jasper...", is all I can get out while moving back.

"Jasper... Hmmm that's a really unique name. No wonder you are always changing your name to fit the time you are in. Im guessing its a nomad name?", she mutters while beginning to move about the room searching the shelves for something.

All I can do is watch her, speechless, as she moves around with the gracefulness of a Russian dancer. Finally after several moments she finds what she is looking for and she plops herself down on the floor next ti the fireplace. Uncertain weather I should sit next to her or resume to my now vacant chair, I decide to stick with leaning on the mantel of the fireplace looking down at her. For several hours we stayed like this, neither of us moving very much. As dawn began to approach, I realized our time for the night has ended and we both look at each other unsure of how to say goodbye until night comes again.

"Will I get to see you again tonight, Artemis?", The question escapes my lips before I can stop it.

"Where would you like to meet me this time... In your bed I presume?", she smirks softly and sets her book down.

"Unlike most men who would love to get a beautiful girl such as you into our beds, I would like to get to know you first.", I smile proud of my wise answer or so I thought it had been wise.

"So you do want me in your bed eventually.", Artemis states more than questions.

"Now you know that's not what I meant...", I try to back up the conversation and keep it from breaking out into an argument.

She lets out a slew of curses in Persian before pulling her hood up over her head and marching up to me. Without another word she does something completely unexpected. She pulls me down closer to her face by my top before pressing her lips against mine hard. Shocked at her actions, I'm unable to respond for several moments before my body takes over pulling her close to my body. Kissing her back with everything I have, I run one hand through her hair fisting it in my hand while pressing her lower body closer to mine. We continue like this till she pushes away needing air. I let out a soft chuckle as I remember she is still a fragile human who needs air to live.

Taking a step back I give her space to gather her wits and her breath. I watch her gather herself before walking over to the nearest window and jumping off of the ledge. Her hair flowing behind her with a golden glow as the sun begins to rise, shining gentle rays on her. I watch her leave and hope she will come back and see me soon.

For months we talk until the sunrises about different things and creatures that exist in our world unnoticed. Vampires, Werewolves, and the Immortal creatures all fascinated her without end as she asked more than a hundred questions a night about what we eat, how we hunt, and how we hide. I did my best to explain and show her what I know from past experience and run ins with them. One question she would always come back to before she left was, if vampires and werewolves have mates do immortals do to? All I could do was shrug my shoulders and then she would leave in a flurry of hair and dawn's light. Whenever she wasn't keeping me occupied, I was helping my adoptive brother rule Rome. Everything seemed to prosper beneath our rule

A few years later a scream ripped through the peaceful the dark night before I felt something warm drip down and hit my neck. Startled and alert, I jump out of bed and look around my room then up at my ceiling to find a body dangling midair. I watched it swing and twist for several moments trying to figure out how they got up there and even in my room. After lighting several candles and placing them around the room, I look up at the now illuminated body. Suddenly I can't breathe falling to my knees gasping for air, body shaking I writhe on the floor. Trying to get even the smallest breathe of air in as black starts to blur into my vision. The last thing I can remember before I blacked out is someone running in screaming and her body falling to the ground in a bloody mess.

I wake up several hours later with a roaring headache and my stomach in knots hoping that what I had seen was only a nightmare. That is until I looked around and realized I was in the wrong part of the palace and my clothes were covered in bloody splotches. Leaning over the edge of the bed my stomach upheaves everything that I had eaten the day before. Even after I had vomited everything up, my stomach continued to dry heave leaving my throat torn up and burning. Someone must have heard my sounds of distress because several minutes later a doctor comes running in with several people at his heel carrying things. It takes him several minutes to calm me down and get some water down my parched throat before I feel my stomach begin to roll again. Taking deep breaths, I try to stay as calm as possible so that I can figure out what happened to my precious love. Artemis. My precious love. Thoughts race through my mind as to what happened and what I could have done to stop it from happening. I was going to ask her to be mine. Forever and Always. We always talked about forever and now she would never get to experience it because someone killed her. The only person I have ever loved in my 261 years of living. Someone had to take her from me and that means they know about me. I need to leave. I need to leave now. Because if I don't leave soon then they will come for me and her coming to warn me will have been in vain. Slowly getting to my feet, I run to my room and change while grabbing several extra changes of clothes. Throwing them all into a bag, I race out of the room after writing a goodbye suicide note for my brother explaining that the dead woman was my lover and I was going to join her with the gods. Little did I know that it would be over two hundred years before I would see her doppelgänger waiting for me outside a bar in what would soon be London, England.

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Welcome to my new book...

THIS IS NOT A VAMPIRE BOOK BICHES THIS IS SOMETHING COMPLETELY YET IT WILL HAVE VAMPIRES IN IT DIFFERENT SO BUCKLE UP AND HOLD ON TIGHT