Part 25

Harper, Aaron, Brooke, Jeremy and Spencer walked into the restaurant where they were meeting Diana Reid.

They all agreed that they would tell her about the world of the Immortals together, each of them backing the others up. They had also agreed that they would extract a promise from her to not tell her husband, because they didn't trust him and they had reason not to. The wedding planning was in the middle stages as the planning had been going on for around three months or so. They had even started planning their separate honeymoons to two separate destinations. Spencer had never been to any of the cities on the moon, but wanted to go, so that's where the three of them were going. Spencer felt he would find the culture fascinating, even though the humans that had created the technology that made living on the moon a possibility, had done so more then 800 years ago. The moon colonists had to live under great domes and dig underground for their environment, but still they had created great communities in more than half a dozen large cities. No Immortals lived on the moon because the environment was to controlled and somebody would be bound to notice if a person didn't start age at a normal rate, so that eventually there would be questions about why that person look the same as they had 50 years ago. That didn't mean they didn't visit for short amounts of time and Aaron, Spencer and Harper were planning to go for a couple of months, even though Spencer had a business of his own. Still, he had a second-in-command that he trusted to take over while he was gone.

Brooke and Jeremy on the other hand were staying on planet Earth and planning to head to Italy, through they wouldn't be staying in one city more then a week or so, before moving to another.

"Ready for this?" Aaron asked Spencer quietly. The two of them had become quite close, much closer than before and that was because they shared many similar interest including liking basketball, though they supported different teams. Still, the two of them were like brothers, even though Aaron had been born many centuries ago. The fact that both were intelligent men and Aaron at least had been prepared to get along with his second mate whether male or female also helped. Still, Aaron genuinely respected Spencer and how he had stood up to his father, even if it had been subtly and also respected the fact that Spencer simply loved to learn and to bury himself in reading.

Of course, the same went for Spencer, as he greatly respected the older man, though he had expected jealousy at the very least when he had started hanging out with Harper so much without Aaron being present, but the older man's reaction had never come to pass like Spencer had predicted. Once Harper and Aaron had explained how jealousy was never a factor when a Immortal had more then one mate had Spencer beginning to understand exactly why Aaron hadn't reacted like he had expected him to. Spencer naturally, found the world of Immortals fascinating.

"As I'll ever be," Spencer answered just as quietly. "You likely can expect the same type of reaction I would've had if not for some outside force smothering my emotions, smoothing them down, so I didn't overreact like Jeremy did at first."

"This is why we requested a private room, one with excellent soundproofing," Harper said. "This is a five-star place so they're going to have soundproofing as a matter of course on any of the private rooms. I wouldn't want to risk one of those privacy shields on the tables for something this delicate. Besides, people would be able to see Diana's reaction and wonder what the problem was.

Aaron walked forward and gave his name to the maître d' and told them they were expecting Diana Reid in just a few minutes.

"Yes, sir, your private room has been prepared," the maître d' responded politely. "We will escort Mrs. Reid back just as soon as she arrives."

"Thank you," Aaron answered and passed the maître d' a hundred dollars, which the other man slipped into his pocket without a word.

The maître d' had one of the waiters escort them to the private room they had reserved, took their drink orders before departing after leaving each of them a menu.

"How do you want to handle this Spencer?" Harper asked her mate.

"We need to be very delicate and careful," Spencer said. "I'm not exactly sure how mom's going to react to being told about Immortals, so as I said before we entered the restaurant she'll probably react like I would have originally if not for extenuating circumstances."

"She will keep it a secret once she believes us, as she knows how dad would react if he found out," Jeremy put in. "I love my dad, but I wouldn't trust him with the secret of this magnitude, not unless the situation was totally desperate and maybe not even then."

"Mom, on the other hand, is totally the opposite from dad. I've told her things in the past that I know she never told dad or anyone and she will never betray my trust by doing so or Jeremy's either," Spencer said.

"Alright then, we'll just elude to the subject as Diana is a very intelligent lady," Brooke said.

None of the others had a chance to say anymore as the waiter brought their drink orders and also Diana.

"Hey mom," Spencer said smiling brightly always happy to see the woman who had supported him against a father who seemed hellbent on shaping Spencer into what he wanted him to be. That he hadn't succeeded thanks partially to a mother who loved her children, didn't lessen the impact of William Reid's total disdain and resentment for what he wanted of his son that he didn't get, but it did help heal some of those emotional wounds at least partially.

"Hey sweetie," Diana smiled kissing Spencer on the top of his head and then doing the same to her other son Jeremy.

"So what's this about that we have to have a private room?" Diana inquired. "All of you must have some important news if we can just eat out at a regular table."

"Well, I see where Spencer and Jeremy both get their intelligence and perceptive natures from," Brooke said smiling warmly, as she had really learned to love Diana Reid.

"Flattery will get you nowhere," Diana said, but in a joking tone.

"Let's wait until we order our food," Aaron suggested.

Everyone chatted casually until the waiter came back and took everyone's orders and once the waiter had left again, Spencer who had agreed to be the spokesman started to tell his mother about the world he and Jeremy had fallen into.

"Don't think that we don't know how hard this is to believe," Jeremy said. "If you know how I reacted when Brooke tried to tell me herself you'd box my ears."

Diana actually smiled at that, though she could see that her son was being totally serious.

She would get the story on that but later.

"So if your story is true why are you telling me as it seems an incredibly good idea to keep it a secret."

"Because both Jeremy and Spencer believe you can be trusted and it helps that all of us really like you," Aaron explained.

"All of us believe that you can be trusted with this information," Harper said.

"And if you're wrong about that?" Diana asked logically.

"Then we move elsewhere and nobody will bother to search for us or believe your story. All of us are adults here, so it wouldn't be considered kidnapping unless their were signs of foul play if you decided to go to the cops," Brooke pointed out logically.

Diana nodded at this and knew now that none of them would bother to harm her, just because she had information on the existence of Immortals, which was a great relief to her that she had not misjudged her sons future wives or her future son-in-law.

"The cops would just think that you were likely delusional and maybe that you were on some kind of drugs and even if it was proved otherwise your reputation would've taken a serious hit," Aaron said.

"Neither Jeremy or I want to move away from Las Vegas or at least we don't want to move away without letting you know where we are, since we both love you very much," Spencer told his mother. "I had a hard time believing that story myself, as I'm a lot like you and the story they told me was rather fantastic, but they proved it to me so that I couldn't do anything but believe. I still find it rather unreal, but a lot of that has faded over the last several months."

"So how do you plan on proving it to me?" Diana asked with a raised eyebrow. Her sons relaxed demeanors calmed her down as they just looked as happy as they had ever since they had met Harper and Brooke respectively.

"The same way they did for me and for Jeremy," Spencer said.

"I'll do the honors this time," Brooke said calmly showing Diana her empty palm so she could see that there was no trickery and then took the knife off her plate and slashing the palm of her hand, not deeply, but enough for blood to start dripping. Jeremy gave her a handkerchief out of his pocket and Brooke took it calmly so that blood wouldn't get on the sleeve of her shirt or on the table. Diana watched avidly as Brooke held the cloth up over her palm and when she took it away the wound had disappeared though there was still streaks of blood."

"Of course, we can go for a more dramatic example, but we need more privacy for that," Harper suggested with a little twitch of her lips to let everyone know she was joking, though her tone was perfectly serious.

"And what would be more dramatic then Brooke slicing her palm as calmly as she would drink a cup of tea?" Diana asked looking shocked. She had been sure it was a hoax until Brooke had calmly sliced her palm and her son had handed her his handkerchief without a word or a look of concern, which only meant that both her sons had seen this before.

"Oh, we could take you to our house and you could shoot one of us with a real live bullet and so long as you didn't hit anything major, we would heal up in no time at all," Harper said.

"We might be mostly Immortal, but we can still die if someone were to hit an artery or something and we bled out before it could heal," Aaron explained. "Really, it's a kind of limited Immortality."

That actually made Diana feel better to know that these Immortal beings before her could still die it was just difficult to kill one.

"We can also lose our heads and if that happened yes, we would die," Brooke suggested smiling.

"Brooke!" Harper warned her sister in a scolding tone. "There's no need to say something like that as Diana is having enough trouble accepting the fact that your hand healed in just a few seconds. We don't need to give her a heart attack as she's an old lady."

"I'm fine thank you for your concern," Diana said finally getting over her shock and amazement. "My doctor told me I was in perfect health at my last appointment."

"Still, it was unnecessary to say something like that," Harper said glaring at her sister who shrugged.

"So I'm assuming you're telling me this because there is a way to turn someone Immortal, because otherwise it wouldn't make sense for Immortals like yourself to have a mate who was not," Diana said.

"No it wouldn't," Aaron agreed smiling. "The process isn't all that complicated really, but there's two different ways to do it."

"Why not just one?" Diana asked.

"Because the first method involves sex," Brooke said bluntly, "and with Harper and I being female we don't have the right equipment."

Diana didn't take more than a few seconds to work that out as she often read centuries old literature that often had extremely sexual scenes in it.

"So you're telling me you turn a female mortal through sex," Diana said.

"Well, our seed carries our DNA, our lifeforce within it, so while it takes awhile to do it that way it's the way that all male Immortals turn their mates," Aaron shrugged. "However, since Brooke and Harper are female the method for Spencer and Jeremy is going to be a little different."

"Well, the only option I see is blood, as blood also carries our DNA and is one of the major things that gives us life for without it we would die," Diana said.

"Exactly," Harper said smiling. "It doesn't really take much blood to turn someone Immortal because our blood is ancient and powerful and will overtake normal human cells within hours. Of course, our blood looks normal enough on causal examination, even under a microscope, but if you truly studied it you would begin to see differences."

"So is it normal for an Immortal to have more than one mate?" asked Diana

"You know, Jeremy asked me the same thing several months back, and I told him know that only happens once every few centuries," Brooke answered. "Our father was one of the lucky ones that had more than one mate, but then Ilithyia, the goddess we know created us likes Immortals who are intelligent, understanding and go out of their way to help those that need it without expecting to be thanked for it or rewarded."

"We were once human so just like any humans we have our bad eggs to and Ilithyia always punishes those that go to against her strictures," Harper said.

"Ilithyia is another name for Eileithyia a minor goddess and part of the Greek pantheon. Also known as Eleuthia or Elysia in Laconia, Messene, and Eleuthō in literature and is the Greek goddess of childbirth and midwifery."

"Well, I can see there are some advantages to being an ancient literature professor," Jeremy smiled.

"Yes, it's not information many people know anymore," Diana admitted looking rather melancholy. "I've never really believed that these gods and goddesses existed, though it was so long ago that they supposedly did that it's possible, I suppose."

"I know how much trouble it is to accept that at least some of these supreme beings are still around," Aaron said. "But they supposedly survive on worship and most Immortals do indeed worship Ilithyia at least, because she's the one that created the Immortal race."

"So what's the story behind the creation of the Immortals?" Diana asked.

Everyone took turns telling the story and Diana listened nodding. "There were many diseases back then that could and did knock out whole villages as technology, particularly medical technology wasn't as advanced as it is now. No, there was minimum technology back then and hardly any medicines to cure diseases that are so easily cured today. There was hardly any technology at all really, except things like plows. I could definitely see Ilithyia wanting to save her people from dropping like flies until there was no one left as she was according to literature more compassionate than some of the other gods and goddess who could be arrogant in the extreme, though they had moments of compassion to. Yes, I can see it like that, as Ilithyia was the goddess of childbirth and midwifery, which is likely what made her more compassionate then some of the others supposedly were."

"We certainly believe her to be compassionate, though she can also be very fierce when an Immortal breaks one of her few strictures," Harper said.

"So what was taken away from Immortals in order for your race to prosper?" Diana asked. "Something had to be taken away, as there has to be a balance in all things. Just letting Immortals exist without taking something away from them would upset that balance."

"Well, you really are as intelligent as your sons claim you are," Aaron said smiling. "I doubt if I had been told the same story you have I would've been able to think of that right away, as I likely still would've been in complete shock and denial for quite awhile afterwards."

"Everybody is different," Diana shrugged. "I'm sure I'll have a reaction later once I've had time to think all this through, something I'll do when Will's at work so I'll be over it by the time he gets home. I doubt he would notice in any case, as he is usually oblivious to that kind of thing, which is why he never saw how much he was hurting Spencer by his continuing attempts to get him to follow the course of action he wanted instead of just letting him be himself, but you never know. Perhaps, if he had, he would've stopped before Spencer at least resented him."

"Yes, something had to be done to compensate for Immortals gaining Immortality," Harper agreed. "Ilithyia made it so that Immortal females had trouble having children. Our kind can only have a child every 70 or 75 years and we only have one at a time normally."

"They're are exceptions such as in the case of Harper and her sister Brooke," Aaron said. "Sometimes, Ilithyia can be very pleased with a particular Immortal and so grants them the ability to have children more often or allows him to have twins instead of a singleton."

"So you're saying that you can only have children every seven decades," Diana said trying not to look disappointed.

"I'm afraid so, though we have talked a little about IVF, but we haven't looked into that too closely yet, as it would have to be done by an Immortal doctor," Brooke said. "It's one reason why the Immortal community is still a small one, because we would soon outnumber mortals if we could have children as frequently as they did. Not all Immortals are responsible, just like all mortals are not responsible and wouldn't limit the number of children they had, so it's just as well really. I might want 4 or 5 children at one time, but I can also understand why Ilithyia had to arrange things the way she did."

"Which shows great maturity," Diana said approvingly.

"Well, I am hundreds of years old so I should be mature," Brooke said with a smile on her face.

Harper snorted at that, but was polite enough to say nothing.

"We plan on doing that sometime in the next year or two just so your husband can't complain that we are not giving him any grandchildren."

"He wouldn't dare, not after the lecture I gave him after the dinner where you announced your engagements and his reaction was lackluster to say the least," Diana said. "Still, I would like grandchildren if possible, even if they're adopted ones."

"We'll look into it, mom," Jeremy who had been mostly silent said. "I would love children to and not in seven decades."

"We just have to make sure it's not against one of Ilithyia's stricture, because what a god giveth they can taketh away," Harper said.

"Well, hopefully, I'll have grandchildren in a few years and I'll never let Will know that it was done through IVF or about Immortals at all as he wouldn't react well as we all know," Diana said. "I doubt he would react well, even if you gave him a demonstration like you gave me."

"Definitely not," Spencer snorted, his disdain for his father clear in his tone and expression and Diana couldn't find it in her heart to censure him for it either considering what Will had put his oldest son through over the years. In fact, she felt Spencer's reaction was rather mild considering.

"Thank you for that," Harper said. "We really appreciate that you're willing to keep such a secret from your husband."

"Will would never accept Immortals were real and probably think all of you belong in the loony bin," Diana said smiling causing everyone to chuckle.

"Well, it is a rather loony tale," Aaron said smiling. "It might be true, but that doesn't make it any less fantastical, especially in today's society."

"So why haven't you turned my sons Immortal sister is a relatively harmless way to do it?" Diana asked.

"Because we want to check with a doctor we know before we do so as we've never done it by syringe before," Brooke explained. "Or at least not that we know of."

"It's always been drank out of a cup of some kind and yes, I know how gross that is," Harper said. "That's the only way that my father or Aunt Emily have ever seen it being done, which doesn't necessarily mean that it hasn't been done with a syringe at least once and probably more than once."

"There's really no way to keep in connect with other Immortals unless you know them personally and know their link number," Aaron said.

"Still, you must have some way to identify yourselves when you do run into each other," Diana said.

"Sure we do," Brooke said showing Diana the lapel pin she was wearing as well as the necklace, the ones with the backwards slightly crooked Z with a line through the middle. "This is a symbol for Immortals and Harper and I both received them from our family on our 30th birthdays, as that is the day an Immortal stops aging completely, at least physically."

"We do continue mature mentally and emotionally, just not physically," Harper said,

"Which explains why you look about the age of my sons," Diana said.

"Which is good if you ask me, because a lot of people judge on appearances, so at least we all look of similar age, so there will be no comments about how he's too old for her or she's too young for him," Spencer said.

"Or what's that old geezer doing with that young woman," Brooke suggested with twinkling eyes.

Everyone snorted at that one, because they knew some people would and could make such comments.

"I sincerely hope that your idea for IVF does work, because as I said I would like grandchildren, but if it doesn't...," Diana said. "I'll handle Will if that happens."

"I think we need to concentrate on getting the wedding out of the way before we think about having children. Technically, I'm only about five years from being able to have children naturally because it's been about 65 years since Aaron and I had one."

"She always has twins and that means that Ilithyia favors her, because it wouldn't happen otherwise, even though twins run in her family," Brooke said.

"So do you think you'll have twins whenever you do get pregnant even if that's the artificial means?" Diana asked looking wistful.

"I don't really know, though it would be nice," Brooke said. "I certainly hope I do, as I've always thought that Immortals only having one child every hundred years is for the birds. I mean if you live close by with other Immortals then at least your child would have playmates, but mostly Immortals don't live close to each other, at least not that we're aware of."

"Some Immortals are just like regular people and only want one child at a time, which is just fine, but Brooke and I have always loved children as we're like our father in that way," Harper said.

"Our father in particular adores children and since he has three mates well he could have at least three at a time, but our mother always had twins which just goes to show that our family has Ilithyia's favor."

"If we do end up using the IVF process twins are more likely than just a singleton, but that's several years down the road at least,"Aaron said.

"You know all I ever wanted was for my children to marry and have families of their own so as long as Spencer and Jeremy are happy then I'll keep your secrets," Diana promised. "You're certainly not harming anyone just because you're a little different from ordinary people."

"That's one way to put it," Aaron laughed with a pleased smile.

"Thanks mom," Jeremy said as he kissed her cheek.

"Yeah, thanks, mom," Spencer echoed his brother.

"Considering I've been wanting you to get married for fifteen years I can't really complain that you have finally found someone to love, now can I?" Diana said with a twinkle in her blue eyes.

"You could, as dad certainly would if you hadn't lectured him," Spencer said smiling. "Thank you for that, by the way, as I feared he would try to interfere with my marriage too Harper simply because he doesn't approve of multiple marriages."

"Trust me, he won't dare do anything, as he and I would at least be having a conversation and he wouldn't like what I had to say," Diana snorted, though she did understand her son's fears, considering that Will had been trying to interfere in Spencer's life ever since he was a small child. Just because Will finally understood that he had driven a wedge between all his children and himself because of his attitude towards Spencer didn't make what his oldest son suffered any better. "I threatened to divorce him and told him I would've done so years ago if I didn't want my children to have their father and also there were financial concerns, since Will does bring in a lot more than I do with my teaching. Since all my children are grown up now though, that's no longer an issue."

"That's the last thing that dad would want," Jeremy explained to everyone. "Image to him is important and he wouldn't want anything to disrupt the image that he has the perfect family."

"Image is one thing, but it's what's underneath that image that matters," Harper said. "Still, I do understand that image to a lot of people is important, even if I don't particularly agree."

All of them continued to chat for sometime after their plates had been taken away and they enjoyed dessert and coffee and Diana learned quite a bit about the world of Immortals and how they had to be careful not to draw attention to themselves.

Diana knew instinctively that she would be learning about Immortals for years to come and that two of her children would soon join the Immortal community.

~~~Immortal Soulmates~~~