CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
My heart thumped as I watched Clarice on her majestic white stallion. Clarice watching was one of my favourite things to do. It was a lazy Sunday and I had just arrived to accompany Clarice to a ball to find her mounted to her steed, her Angelic blonde blown behind her as she almost flew through the feild. I was convinced the Gods had an Angel in mind when they created Clarice.
"Sir Shane, I find you tresspassing on my land once again." Clarice said in a teasing tone and I hurried over to help her off the stallion, my hands holding her waist securely as I brought her down to me.
"My apologies, Miss Clarice, your beauty draws me and I am too weak to resist." I grinned down at her, threading a locke of her silken blonde hair through my fingers and playing with it.
"I'm sure I can be generous enough to forgive you." Clarice smiled up at me. "If you kiss me." She conditioned and I kept grinning as I happily obliged, slanting my lips across hers.
"Would you like me to accompany you to the ball this eve?" I offered challantly with a slight bow.
"It would be my pleasure." Clarice curtsied and I offered her my arm and held her steeds reins. "If you came to escort me, though, you are not propperly attired." We started back to the house by way of the stables.
"I simply await your approval before dressing." I conceded, pressing a soft kiss to the back of her hand.
"I have you well trained." Clarice teased and all I could do was smile bashfully.
"I know a lot of tricks too." Clarice stopped a couple of steps up the grand staircase and I leaned against the banister to kiss her. "I can do this thing with my tongue..." I grinned wickedly, making Clarice blush scarlet.
"You are simply scandalous, Sir Shane." Clarice bit her soft pink bottom lip and I ached to kiss her again, but I knew she would be possitively distraught if she missed a ball.
"Perhaps I could show you the extent of my scandal after the ball, Miss Clarice?" I offered, reaching over to twirl her hair through my fingers. Her golden blonde hair that shined like a halo in the sun.
"For that we must first attend the ball." Clarice slowly pulled away and I watched her ascend the stairs, shooting me one last look before she disapeared from sight.
Eternity
Sunday, February 27th
"I see your boyfriend's back in town." Lilly muttered after Shane had disapeared into the bathroom to shower.
"Yeah." I sat back on my bed. "If-if you got to know him you'd really like him."
"Doubt it." Lilly scoffed, rolling her eyes.
"Shane is a good guy, Lilly." I insisted. "I'm sorry, Lil, I never meant to hurt you or alienate you." I sighed a little sadly, feeling guilty.
"Yeah, well, you did." Lilly snapped.
"I really am trying to protect you, Lil." I told her, but I knew it wouldn't appease her. "I'll tell you about when I can, when it's safe."
"Don't bother waiting, it's not going to be safe for anyone until next Christmas." Shane re-appeared wearing only a towel, his wet hair dripping down and over his bare chest. I blushed and forced myself to look away. "They want you and everyone around you to get to me, so not telling her is only keeping her in the dark at this point."
"Oh, so it's your fault my best friend is always looking over her shoulder?" Lilly glared at him and I frowned when he came and sat on my bed, looking down so the water dripped into his eyes.
"Yes." He admitted softly. "Because of a mistake I made a long time ago so I could make it home to my wife."
"You're married?" Lilly shrieked and Shane startled. Shane looked up at me and we stared at each other for a few seconds before I sighed in resignation.
"I was married... Five thousand years ago." Shane said and that shut Lilly up. "I was born five thousand and twenty-two years ago in ancient Roman times of Gladiators, I was a slave sold to a Ludas run by one of the Batiatus brothers and trained to be a Gladiator." I could see the memories playing in his eyes and I couldn't help but remember my dream memories as well. "At the Ludas I met one of Domina's hand-maids, her name was Milenia. After I would battle in the arena every time Milenia would come to me and help me heal, nursing me back to health and she would beg me not to fight again. But, I was fighting to gain coin for our freedom, I would see us both free and happy together." I don't think he even realised the way he reverted back to talking like they did five thousand years ago. "I eventually did gain our freedom and we got married, then I found out that I had family out of Capua who were in danger and I went to go aid them. I found my family, but they were in no danger, it was a trap. On my way back to Milenia in Capua I was seperated from my family and I was alone in the desert." I knew what happened next, Lilly seemed very enthralled in his story, hanging on to every word. "I found a spring with a silvery substance in it. I'd been days without food or water, I'd been bitten by a snake earlier and I knew it's poison would kill me quickly without a healer. The substance was foriegn and it very well could have killed me, but I was desperate to return to Milenia so I drank from it. I drank it, I bathed in it, I stayed by it through the night and when I woke I was healed. When I'd been so close to death the night before I was completely healed when I woke up. I'd found the Elixir of life." Shane gulped, now came the bad part.
"One of the Batiatus brothers had set the trap to lure Shane away and kidnap Milenia." I held Shane's hand tightly in mine, I could remember on my own what happened next. "Shane was the best fighter in the arena and the other brother wanted him for his Ludas so he kidnapped Milenia and threatened her if Shane didn't fight for him. So he faught." I could remember the dreams where Milenia would sit in the cell and Shane's limp, unconscious, torn body would be thrown on the hard ground. She would cradle him and pray to the Gods that he would be okay. "But Batiatus wasn't satisfied enough when he kept winning so he-" I choked, how could I describe a dreamt memory of a past life being kidnaped, almost raped and then murdered.
"He took her away from me and brought me to watch him rape her." Shane's voice was rough and he was glaring at the floor. I wouldn't let him harm her for anything so I fought, I fought to free her and I killed everyone who came in my way. But, it wasn't enough; Milenia was killed by a sword through the heart and I was left alone. I was alone in the world. I tried to die. So many times." His hand tightened around mine. "Nothing I tried worked, every time I would die I'd just come back. I couldn't die. I was immortal." Shane gulped and I slipped my hand out of his, instead moving into his lap and cuddling him.
"Nice story." Lilly scoffed after a minute and I looked up at her. I understood that it was impossible to believe. Shane gently pushed off of him and he went over to the bag he'd brought, pulling out that damned pocket knife. He flipped open a blade and walked to stand directly in front of Lilly.
"Cut me." He ordered gruffly, standing right in front of her, towering over her. "You. cut me, right here, right now. If I don't heal you'll know I was lying my fucking ass off."
"Look, I don't know what kind of psycho you are-" Lilly started to step away, but Shane grabbed her hand and forced the pocket knife in it before bringing it to his arm. I had to turn away when I saw the blod, instead I looked at the floor and I winced when I saw the blood dripping down onto the carpet. Lilly let out horrified sounds and tried to pull away, but Shane wouldn't let her, forcing her to stay and watch, and probably feel his sliced arm. How many times had he done that? How often did he cut open his own arm.
"That's me. That's my blood. That's my bone." Shane growled and I could hear Lilly still trying to get away. I gasped when the towel pulled away from his hips and I looked up to see him wiping away the blood before he dropped the towel to the floor, leaving his skin perfectly smooth and untouched. And his body butt naked.
"Oh, my God!" Lilly shrieked, grabbing his arm with her bloody hands, feeling all over it. I knew the feeling of disbelief well. "Oh, my God." I couldn't help the flush of jealousy that coursed through and I picked up my pillow and through it at him.
"Hey." Shane whined, turning to me when the fluffy object hit him and I glared.
"Must you strip in front of my best friend?" I demanded and he flushed and hurriedly bent to pick up the pillow, covering his limp manhood. Meanwhile at the mention of stripping Lilly snapped back and flushed as well, turning away from his nake body, but I knew her, she secretly liked it. Not that I blamed her, but I still didn't like it, it still made jealousy bubble inside me and made me angry at the thought.
"Uh... I'm going to get dressed." Shane quickly fled and I rolled my eyes as he disapeared again.
"Miley, what the Hell was all that?" Lilly asked, her eyes wide and she looked a little pale. "Immortal, healing, five thousand years old?" She demanded and I looked down.
"That spring was the Elixir of Life." I informed and she gaped. "I'm still trying to understand it, to wrap my head around it. Part of me still thinks this is a dream and I'm going to wake up any second." I revealed, I got up and went to grab the photo album.
"What does any of it have to do with you?"
"Because-" I sighed and closed my eyes for a second. "-because Milenia... Milenia is me." I was met with shocked silence. "Milenia, Athena, Clarice, Alighsha, Elizabeth, me. We're all re-incarnations of the same Soul. And Shane is my Soul mate. He's been alive and in torture for five thousand years; first he lost Milenia, then he thought he got a second chance when he met Athena a thousand years later, but she died too. Then Clarice drowned, I don't know how Alieghsha and Elizabeth died yet, but every time that Soul is reincarnated she dies before she'd twenty... Before I'm twenty." I opened the photo album and started showing her the pictures. "According to Shane it's a man and it's always a friend or someone who means well that leads to my death. Add that with the people who want to kill Shane for the Elixir of Life and want to hurt me to get to him... That's why I kept trying to tell you how unsafe it is."
"Why doesn't he just leave if he's so dangerous to be around?"
"He tried, but he had to come to me to break the cycle. He figures if he dies then the cycle breaks and I live past twenty, but it can only be done when I'm between nineteen and twenty." If I didn't survive it was a depressing thought that Shane would have had less than a year and he spent it looking for a way out. "I was only trying to keep you out of this, Lilly, I don't know why those people want to hurt him so badly, but anyone connected with me is in danger and I didn't want anything to happen to you."
"Miley, we're best friends... We're more than that, we're sisters, you have to know that if anything is wrong I'm going to be right there with you; the good, the bad, and the dangerous." Lilly said softly and I smiled weakly.
"You two talked things out?" Shane asked when he came back and I smiled at him in his jeans, the white shirt and his leather jacket. He looked like a classical bad boy. It was so sexy.
"Just the start." I shrugged and he grinned. "Where are you going?" I felt a thrill of panic as he pulled his socks and shoes on.
"Surprise." He came over and slinked his arms around my waist and nuzzled into my neck. "I'll be back before you know it, Miles."
"Promise you'll come back?" I pouted and he grinned.
"Promise." He agreed, kissing my cheek lightly. "You've still got the key, remember." He tugged on the chain I'd taken to wearing around my neck, no way was I going to let it out of my sight because it was the only thing stopping him from getting the dagger out of the box and killing himself. "A couple of hours at most."
"I don't trust him, Miley." Lilly said as soon as he was out the door.
"I understand." I sighed, with everything that had happened it was easy not to trust Shane, everyone else didn't have the memories of him from the last five thousand years in their head. "But, will you try and at least get to know him? For me?"
"Fine." Lilly rolled her eyes. "But, only because you seem so into him and I want to make sure he doesn't hurt you like Jesse and Jake." Not even the mention of Jesse and Jake could made the wounds sting anymore.
"Shane hasn't hurt me in five thousand years, he's not gonna start now." I fingered the necklace he gave me; one of the meanings was Eternity.
"How do you know that? What if he's a psycho that kills you everytime?" Lilly worried and I smiled, this was the Lilly I knew.
"I have their memories." I whispered, playing with my fingers. "Remember the day I went to visit Dad?" It felt like so long ago I was wondering who the stranger in the pictures was. Lilly nodded her ascent. "The night before, was the first night I dreamt of Shane, as a gladiator." I bit my lip, he looked so sexy, standing in the middle of the arena, each hand holding a sword, arms wide with victory. But, at the same time he was injured, in pain, bleeding from a giant cut in his back. "It was a memory, and I kept having them. All through Milenia's relationship with him until another gladiator killed her and Shane was trying to save her." I felt the phantom sword in my stomach again, tearing at my organs. "Then Athena... I can see Clarice now. I have dreams about them; living, loving, then dying." I shuddered, it sounded so morbid... It was so morbid.
Okay. I finished this chapter, but don't get your hopes up too high for a sudden reburst. I'll try, I really will try to finish this, but it may not happen for a while... Sigh... I had such high hopes for this story; it was going to be a whole series... :(
1) What was your favourite part of the chapter?
2) Should I actually continue this or just try and start on something else? (I have this thing for centaurs right now, and I even made a good poster for a centaur story.)
3) What has been your favourite part of the story so far?
4) Was there or is there any particular past life of Mileys you liked best or are looking forward to?
5) Do you completely hate me for this being on hiatus for so long?
Please review? And try and answer the questions for me?
Smiler For Joe!