Immortal Part 16

            “You said they’re important!”

            “Ahhhh!” Quintas agreed, “That is the beautiful thing about humans. They are given the blessing of choice. Do you know how many ‘important’ men passed up on their callings because the path was too difficult? Another soul will always rise to fulfill a position if it is passed upon or cannot be completed by one. That is the other beautiful thing about humans. Not one is more important than another. What can be completed by one, can be completed by another. Of course… for beings that have such limited time, it is inconvenient to have to wait… perhaps hundreds of years for the replacement to come along. But what Dr. Payton and Emryl Pemstein are destined to do… if it isn’t completed by them will someday be completed by somebody else. But as I say it could be hundreds and hundreds of years from now. For us… who are immortal time is of little consequence. For you…” and here he reached out and gently grabbed my chin, raising my head and forcing me to look at him. I shivered. “I don’t want them to die,” I whimpered.

            “Then let us begin,” Quintas said simply.

            Seemingly beyond my will I found myself standing. He offered me his arm and I took it without hesitation, like I was under a spell. Zhivvah and Tavian led us through the kitchen again and down the stairs and to the basement.

            The hundreds and hundreds of jars of dirt all looked the same to me. I didn’t even see any labels but almost immediately Zhivvah was handing several jars to Tavian.

            “How can you tell it’s the right one?” I asked.

            “By the smell,” Zhivvah told me easily.

            I won’t lie, I was more than just a little bit nervous as the three of them led me into another area and there was yet another set of stairs. We descended them to a darker, mustier area and now I found myself in a setting more fit for vampires. The place was lit only by a couple of flickering candles hanging from the wall and in the middle of the room was a row of coffins.

            “Why so many?” I asked curiously.

            Surprisingly Quintas answered, “After talking to Septimus, I thought this might be a possibility so I dug up some old coffins.”

            “Dug them up?” I croaked. I knew Tavian was strong, and I supposed this was a trait for all vampires. So imagining Quintas digging up some graves and emptying the coffins of their former occupants and with a coffin on each shoulder running through the streets, to bring them here, wasn’t difficult. “Used?”

            “Hmmm…” Quintas said cocking his head, “Does that bother you?”

            “Well, yeah!”

            He laughed, “Well, my darling, it may be something you just have to get over.” With those words he swept me up into his arms. I squealed in surprise but before I had time to process the fact that I was in the arms of one of the most beautiful perfect men I had ever had the privilege to see, I was placed into one of the coffins. Tavian had lifted the lid for me and was grinning from ear to ear. It irked me that he was enjoying this so much.

            I knew that the coffin was used because the silken lining reeked. It was so foul and disgusting I nearly wretched and I covered my mouth and nose with my hand. It was also stained in spots and I forced myself not to wonder what it was stained with. But after telling myself NOT to focus on that… of course that’s all I could focus on and the image of decomposing bodies flashed across my mind and I gagged a little bit.

            “I don’t think I can do this.”

            “This is the least of the things you’re going to be doing,” Quintas told me with slight mocking in his voice.

            That didn’t offer comfort to my soul either and I glowered unhappily at him. “Now what?”

            Tavian, I guess decided he wanted the honors of throwing a bunch of dirt on me. He did it with such relish too. Most of it he dumped on my head while he stood their grinning at me like the Cheshire cat. I wanted to smack that smile right off his face.

            “Now,” Quintas instructed. “You need to ingest one or two drops of the Tloq. And remember,” he said as he placed the empty jar at my feet. “Guard that bottle with your life.”

            I carefully untwisted the lid from the jar of Tloq. I don’t know what ingredients made up the concoction that I was supposed to drink but it smelled even more disgusting than the coffin itself. I coughed for a few minutes before I carefully poured just a couple of drops of the green liquid into the lid. Quintas had said too much would kill me and I didn’t want to take that chance. It was barely a couple of drops and Quintas nodded his approval at me. I stuck out my tongue to lap out the tiny amount of Tloq in the lid. It tasted as putrid as it smelled and it took a great amount of effort to not throw it up.

            Zhivvah took the jar from me and screwed the lid back on so that during my fit I wouldn’t spill any of the precious liquid. She waited until I was through and then handed the jar back to me.

            “Now, my dear child, courage take as you go to sleep.” Zhivvah said gingerly and she kissed her fingers and touched my forehead tenderly.

            “Sweet dreams,” Tavian taunted.

                        “Tavian,” Zhivvah scolded.

                        I felt my eyes growing heavy, even though I had just slept.  “It’s going to be alright, right?” I whispered drowsily.

            “I have great confidence that it will,” Zhivvah assured.

            I felt my head being lowered and I was too tired to protest. Whatever that Tloq stuff was, it worked awfully fast. I could hardly keep my eyes open. I heard some creaking and then everything went black. I barely had the awareness to wonder if it was because I had fallen asleep or because the coffin lid had been closed on me.