The Immortal Design Read online

  “You’re right I won’t be telling anyone what I think I saw happen. I have had enough of hospital food and I’m ready to get the hell out of here. By the way, I get out tomorrow. Doc says I gotta use crutches for about a week until the stitches come out.”

  Pete’s mom entered the room carrying a tray covered in an assortment of snacks. She laid it on Pete’s lap. “Snacks! Mom you’re the greatest.” Pete began to tear open a bag of chips and a snickers candy bar.

  “John would you like anything to eat?” Pete’s mom asked.

  “Oh no thank you, I’m going to go ahead and go. I need to stop down to urgent care and have my head looked at.”

  “What on earth are talking about John?” she asked as she walked over and gently took my head in her hands and started examining it.

  “Kelly went psycho on him after school today.” Pete told her. Pete’s mom, gave a disapproving look and shook her head. “Pete from now on you stay away from that girl. First her nonsense at the bonfire lands you in the hospital and now she’s attacked your best friend. Do you need any more proof that the girl is unstable?” Pete hung his head and sighed. I no longer wanted to be in the room. I excused myself in the middle of Pete’s mom going on and on about Pete needing to make better choices when it came to his love life. That was definitely not a conversation I wanted to be a part of.

  The urgent care center was on the main level of the hospital and since I was eighteen now I didn’t need my parents to be called to come and take care of me. I signed in at the front desk and was about to take a seat when I noticed Willa in the hall. I was just about to walk over to tell her about what had happened with Kelly when I heard shouting. Willa was having a heated discussion in a foreign language with the guy from the elevator that I had seen the day before. He had his hand tightly wrapped around her upper arm and was attempting to drag her out of the hospital. I stormed over to them and was about to put the jerk in his place when Willa, pushed the guy off of her and slapped him across the face. The guy looked completely stunned by her reaction.

  “I am staying and that is final, do you understand me Ce Rau?” She spat the last two words at him like acid. He flinched at whatever she had just said. He brushed himself off and walked away, before he left he looked over at the two of us and smiled a dark and disturbing wicked smile.

  “There are ways to make you see things my way Mina.”

  I looked at Willa in confusion. Who was he talking to? Who the hell is Mina? And just who the hell was this guy to her? When Willa looked back at me I saw the storm fading from her eyes. “Are you ok” I asked. Willa stepped back from me, apparently she wasn’t ready to talk.

  “I am fine Johnathan Stokes. Why are you here and why is your head bleeding?” It was a demand and not a question.

  “Who was that guy Willa?”

  “You did not answer my question, why are you bleeding?” She was beginning to get that stormy look in her eyes again.

  “Kelly attacked me after school. She hit me over the head with her book bag. I think it had rocks in it or something like that.” The storm had just went nuclear. The hatred in her eyes practically glowed.

  “I’m fine. Pete’s mom thought I should come down here and make sure I didn’t need stitched up or something. Now, are you going to tell me who that guy was you were just yelling at?”

  “Just someone from my past. He is of no concern of yours or mine for that matter.” Her accent was thick with her emotions.

  “Is that an ex-boyfriend or something? Did he come all the way here to stalk you?” I was feeling very defensive and protective of her at this point. Willa turned her back to me.

  “No. He is my brother Mihial.”

  8.

  “That guy is your brother? Why is he so pissed?” Willa slowly relaxed her shoulders and turned to face me. For the first time that I had laid eyes on her she looked sad. Willa was usually so full of life and laughed easily, but now she looked as if all life had been sucked right out of her. My heart ached for her. I wrapped my arms around her and hugged her tight. I could feel the tension leave her fully as she relaxed into my arms. My heart raced, she felt perfect here in my arms as she melted into my embrace. I breathed her in deeply and the mixture of scents that came from her were overwhelming my senses “Mm, you smell so good.” Willa chuckled as she released me from our embrace. A smile returned to those perfect lips. “It is wild jasmine and my hair conditioner, but thank you for the compliment.” I was slightly embarrassed. I hadn’t meant to say that out loud. I just couldn’t help myself when I was with her. She had me saying things I meant to keep private. I was starting to think I was coming off as desperate.

  “John Stokes. Is there a John Stokes here?” The nurse was calling my name. I had been caught up in the whirlwind of Willa and her brother fighting and forgot I was next to be seen by the urgent care doctor for my head wound. Willa pulled away from my embrace “You are being called John. You should go and see to that injury.”

  I looked over to the nurse and acknowledged that she had been calling my name. “I got to go, you can tell me about your brother tonight ok?” I told her. She smiled at me and I released her fully and walked over to the nurse. I waved goodbye to Willa before I was escorted back to the patient exam room. I turned one last time to look at Willa before the door had closed behind me, and she had vanished.

  I wasn’t sure what her and her brother were arguing about but from the sound of it, it wasn’t anything good. The nurse checked my head and took some notes for the doctor before she left me alone in the room. I made myself a mental note to learn what language Willa and her brother were speaking so I could take a crash course online to learn her native language.

  The doctor came in and looked at the cut on the back of my head, he quickly began to wash it out with some saline solution before he numbed the area. I ended up getting four stitches to close the wound. The doctor said I was lucky to have only received a superficial cut and that I could have been knocked out cold and ended up with a serious head injury. It didn’t stop him from getting a chuckle at my expense when I had informed him of how I had gotten the injury in the first place. “Women” he laughed. “Do you need anything for the pain?”

  “No I can just take some Tylenol when I get home thanks.”

  “Ok, I’ll have the nurse discharge you, I want you back in one week to remove the stitches, for now though, no sports and no more hits to the head. The next time, you could end up with a concussion. I certainly don’t want your father breathing down my neck for that. Please be careful John and for the love of God pay attention to your surroundings from now.” The doctor left the room and sent the nurse in with my discharge papers. As I left the hospital I looked to see if Willa was still around. Her hearse wasn’t in the parking lot so I assumed she had finished her business and had left for home.

  I got into my battered Audi and headed for home as well. I wasn’t sure how I would explain this to my father. He would definitely call Kelly’s parents and they would probably tell him about me talking to Willa, which would set him off even more because I had disobeyed a directed order from him. Well, what my dad don’t know won’t hurt him. The chances he wouldn’t see the damage were slim but I was going to pray that he didn’t and I could just play it off that I hit a dear or something on my home.

  I pulled into my drive way to find my father outside giving the gardeners instructions for our well-manicured lawn. Great, here it comes. He turned to see me pull in. He waved to me as I parked the car. Of course he was all smiles at first; that is until he began to walk over to the car to greet me. “What the hell happened to the car John?” He was fuming. His face had already turned three different shades of red by the time I had managed to get out the driver’s side and grab my bag from the back seat.

  “Were you in a wreck? Or was this some sort of vandalism? Either way someone is going to pay for this!”

  “No dad nothing like that. I hit a dear on the way home. I took the scenic route and the thing j
ust jumped out in front of me. I didn’t hardly have time to stop. I’m sorry. If you want I’ll get a job and pay to have it fixed myself.” The explanation was plausible. My father was too busy examining the damage to the car to notice that I had been injured, not that I had actually expected him to notice me in the first place. “Did you hear what I said dad? I’ll pay to fix it ok?”

  My father finally looked up at me. He seemed surprised to see me still standing there. “What? Oh. Oh yes, well no there’s no need for that. We have insurance to pay for the damage. I’ll call my guy and they can come pick it up and have it worked on. Until then you can use the jeep.”

  My father kept checking the damage and paid no further attention to me, so I took that as me being dismissed. I went up to my room and placed my things on the bed. It was getting late and I still hadn’t went out for my daily run. My head was pounding still so I decided against the run and instead laid down to rest.

  I soon realized that I was a lot more tired than I had thought. I closed my eyes briefly and before I knew what happened I was dreaming of Willa.

  The dream started out great. We were on our first date and I had taken her to the lookout. The stars were shining brightly in the dark sky and the moon looked as though it had tripled in size. Her hair glistened in the light of the full moon. Her snow white skin glowed and her beautiful rose pink lips beckoned for one simple touch of mine.

  Slowly the dream began to change. We walked along the densely wooded path to get a better view of the valley below. A branch snapped somewhere off in the distance. It was of no concern to me as I was only interested in watching the beautiful girl who had captured my heart so easily. She turned to me smiling and beckoned me to follow her further along the path.

  A low growl came from in front of my beauty, she stopped where she stood, frozen solid as if she had become a beautiful marble statue. I wanted to keep walking hand in hand with her as the moon shone through the low branches of the mountain forest. She held me firmly in place, she turned slowly and placed a slender finger to her lips in a sign for me to be silent.

  Another growl approached us. I could hear the animal now, it was much closer to us then I had liked. I pulled at her to come away from the approaching danger. She shook her head slightly, she was not going to leave. I heard heavy padded foot falls approaching just ahead of Willa. It was definitely time to run, and yet she refused to budge. I attempted to shout to her that we needed to leave right now, that danger was approaching.

  The giant black wolf appeared from the low mist that covered the nettled floor of the forest. The beast stood half of my height. Its eyes glowed as brightly as the moon, a blue eyed wolf stood before us. Willa held her hand out for it. The frightening creature walked right to her and began to lick her palm. She released my hand and knelt before it. She laughed as the beast licked her face and she spoke to it in a loving way. The thing seemed to understand her foreign tongue.

  Together as one they nodded and turned to me. Willa stood and released her hold on the wolf’s mane “Yes Ce Rau, It must be done, I agree I should have never come here and yes he must be destroyed. Had I known that he was one of The Order, I would have not allowed this to continue any further.” She walked slowly backwards not taking her eyes from mine and then she commanded the unimaginable happen “Kill him Ce Rau”. I woke up screaming just as the massive jaws of the wolf had clamped around my throat.

  Not in my lifetime had I ever experienced a dream that seemed so real. I could literally feel the hot breath from the wolf breathing down my neck. I had to keep reminding myself that it was only a dream and it wasn’t real. Over and over again I told myself it had only been a very bad dream.

  I looked over to the clock that sat on the bed side table, it was already seven. I was going to be late. I rushed into my private bathroom and showered. I decided I wanted to be as casual ass possible around Willa so I opted for a relaxed pair of jeans and a t-shirt. I was having a hard time shaking the after effects of the nightmare as I got ready for our first official date. I grabbed my jacket and made my way down the stairs to the garage. I noticed that my dad’s “guys” had come and picked up my Audi already so I took the jeep keys from the key hook and took off to pick up Willa.

  9.

  The night air was warm since it was still technically summer. Even this high up in mountains the weather was always warm in the summer months. I drove through the winding streets to the Eckles house to pick up Willa for our first date. This would be the first chance I had since we met to be completely alone with her. I looked forward to getting to know her better. I wanted to get to know everything about her. I wanted to know her likes her dislikes, what her home country was like and I especially wanted to know more about her brother and why he was angry with her for being here.

  I parked the jeep next to the curb and went up to the door to knock, but before I could knock on the door it had opened. Willa stood before me wearing dark jeans knee high leather boots and a peasant style white blouse that showed the top of her shoulders. Her hair was tied back in a loose bun with stray strands curling around her ears. My God she was beautiful. She smiled brightly and I could feel my heart start to race once again. Her perfect white skin shone brightly as the moon’s rays of light reflected upon her skin. I caught myself holding my breath. It was like I was living in a dream.

  “Hello John. I am glad to see that you made it on time. I worried that maybe you would not want to come after all the fuss earlier today.”

  “Fuss? What fuss?” I asked. I had momentarily forgotten all about crazy Kelly and Willa’s older brother.

  “Oh you mean the Kelly thing? And let’s not forget your brother. He seemed like a real treat. Not to worry, neither one of them can scare me away from spending time with the most beautiful girl in Castle Rock” I spoke with confidence, but her brother did seem to be a little on the intimidating side. Regardless of that, I still wasn’t about to let either one of them ruin our evening. “Where would you like to go? Are you hungry at all? We can go grab a bite to eat or something, or we can drive around and I could show you the sites? I’ll leave it up to you. You are my guest for the evening and I plan on being the perfect host, so let’s call it ladies choice.”

  Willa giggled softly and tucked a stray hair behind her ear. “I would love to see this lookout, I hear the other teen kids speak of so often.”

  Oh boy, I wasn’t planning on that. The lookout was Castle Rock’s equivalent to make out central. I really didn’t want to take her there and have her think that I was like the rest of the guys in our school. Willa picked up on my hesitation at her suggestion “Is there something wrong with the lookout? I have heard it is a beautiful place to star gaze. I love to watch the stars at night and gaze upon the full moon as well as pick out the constellations.”

  “Oh, um no. It’s fine. But I will warn you that some kids go up there to do other things that don’t involve looking at the stars. I don’t want you to think I am one of those guys.” Willa looked at me as if I had gone insane.

  “Johnathan do you not think that we have the same concept where I am from? We do. I assure you I do not think you are one of those guys, and although those places do draw attention for lovers it is usually because of the beauty of the night. It is how you would say romantic, to be kissed passionately by one’s love under a full moon with all the heavens looking down upon you and witnessing your hearts desires.”

  “I guess I never thought of it like that before. I did say it was ladies choice, so off we go to the lookout. There is a great view of the mountains from the point overlooking the valley, and tonight it would look spectacular seeing as it is a full moon.” I turned the ignition and set off for the lookout with Willa, the most beautiful girl in the entire world sitting next to me. This night couldn’t be any more perfect than it already was.

  The drive up the mountain didn’t take long. I found a great spot to park and so far there were no other people here. I silently thanked God for that. I didn’t need nose
y bodies watching me and Willa as we sat on the blanket I had brought and gazed up at the stars. I wasn’t very familiar with the constellations so Willa pointed them out to me as she found them with ease.

  “Is that the little dipper or the big one, because I can never remember which one is which?” I asked as I pointed to a small cluster of stars that to me looked like they were in a row. Willa laughed out loud at my question.

  “No silly that is Orion’s belt. Many ancient people built temples to honor those three stars. They believed they were most holy and thought if they built their own temples to mirror those above, that they too would be redeemed in the afterlife. Now if you look just over there, you can see the Dragon, or Draco.”

  “Where? I don’t see anything but a bunch twinkling stars.” I laughed. I seriously couldn’t see the shapes that Willa saw in the night sky, but it was interesting to hear her tell their stories.

  “You see, what looks like a box, and then sort of an S shape ending right there? That is The Dragon. It is supposedly the protector of lost treasures or High Temples.” Willa turned to face me as she finished her story. Our faces were barely two inches apart. I could see the different shades of blue shimmering in her eyes as the bright moonlight reflected off of her stormy irises. I could see myself getting lost in those eyes for an eternity and never caring for one second that I had been lost to the world as long as I was alive in her eyes.

  “What are you thinking Johnathan?” she whispered.

  “That I am with the most beautiful girl I have ever met, and I really don’t want this night to end because I really want to know more about the girl who is five seconds away from stealing my heart forever.”