One Immortal - Tia Louise Page 0,73

must be feeling, the shock and horror.

“I have to find him,” I say. “He did all this to save me. I have to go to him.”

“I don’t think that will be possible—”

“And why not?” I don’t mean to be indignant with her, but I need to see Derek now.

“Patrick says it’s too dangerous. Their ties were severed when the change happened to Derek. They have ways of checking up on him, but Patrick says we have to be cautious. He’s tracking him now.”

“I need them to find him, Elaine. If anyone knows what he’s going through, it’s me.”

She nods, holding my hands, her green eyes wide. “I know. I can feel the power of your love for him.”

I try to pull away, to hide my face. It’s too soon for love. How can we even know our feelings with all these terrors swirling around us?

“Yet you do,” she says softly, answering my question. She’s back inside my head. “You love him, and that’s why I’m going to help you.”

* * *

Derek

Realization burns through me like a brand. I’ve crossed the line. There’s no going back for me now. As Sloan’s control dies with him, the start of my new life races through my veins. The change is happening fast. The vampire blood overpowers my simple human flesh, and before the end of the night my humanity will be gone. I’ll be immortal.

I stand over the empty husk of Sloan’s body, and I know there’s no salvation for me now. I’ve lost everything. He won.

Star is sitting with her back against the wall. Her eyes are large, watching me. She saw everything, and either she’s too stunned to speak or she doesn’t know what to say.

Patrick has resumed human form, but he’s staying in a squat to hide his nakedness. He’ll shift again before they leave.

“I’ve stopped Stuart’s bleeding,” he says. “The healing process has begun, and he’ll be fine in a few hours.”

He looks up at me cautiously. I can tell by his tone he doesn’t know what to do. He doesn’t know where to begin or what to think.

I by contrast, don’t care to think. I don’t care to speak. I take a few staggering steps backwards, away from the grisly scene then I turn and start to run. The change has progressed to the point that I move too fast for human eyes.

I run up the levee until I cross over to the road, and I keep going. The vampire blood circulates in my muscles, pushing me so fast, the scenery dissolves into a swirl of muddy colors around me. Vaguely in the background I sense the puma tracking me. Patrick’s keeping up, but I’ll lose him.

My vision is also changing. Instead of blinding darkness, I see clearly in this foggy night. By morning, my vision will be so heightened the sun will hurt my eyes. I’ll have to use sunglasses or stay indoors during midday to avoid blindness. As I run, my old nature dies rapidly, passing out of my system on my sweat. I’m turning into something powerful, something supernatural.

Run! Shock pushes me on. I haven’t allowed myself to reflect on what happened and how it changes my entire life. Running is all I want to do, so I do it. I run hard. I feel like I could run all the way to Princeton, but instead I run along the Interstate until I’m at Lake Pontchartrain. Turning, I keep going down the long, lakefront road. It’s quiet and deserted.

A neighborhood is up ahead, but I don’t want to be around people. Turning back south, I keep going until at last I’m on a wide, deserted highway. Slowing to a walk, I look around as I follow the concrete way. It’s vaguely familiar and completely abandoned.

Trees and scrub bushes grow thick along the roadside. It takes me a little while to figure out where I am. The faded red and blue sign is my only clue. It’s not even a sign anymore. The words are gone, and only a bare white background remains.

Lettering underneath says “Closed for storm.” I’m in Jazzland, the notorious Six-Flags theme park wiped out by seven feet of water after Hurricane Katrina. It was never rebuilt.

For more than a decade it has stood here slowly moldering away. Tall, black-iron gates stand open, and I walk through them in the eerie silence. Vaguely, I recall stories about how this place is haunted. Will I meet another monster here? The thought disturbs me, and