Heir of the Immortals Resurrection

Chapter 3

Herald Gallio and Mary Walker moved down the street of a well-to-do London neighborhood. Mary cast her gaze around her, eyeing the thick concrete walls that separated the estates from the rest of the world.

Street lamps equally spaced and shining brightly along the sidewalk elongated their shadows.

"So, who are we going to see?"

Herald shifted the duffel bag that bounced against his side, "Jacqueline Falsworth, she took me in after I escaped the family I was with, gave me a home, and became the closest thing I had to a mother for quite a few years." He locked eyes with her, "How are you feeling?"

Hugging Herald's arm closer to her chest, Mary tapped her temple, "Everything's quiet, for the first time in a long time, there's no fighting for control, I haven't felt this whole in years."

Herald inclined his head as they stopped before a set of large iron gates. Stretching forth his left hand he released a pulse of telekinetic power and pushed them open.

The soles of their shoes scraped against the stone path that wound its way to the front door.

Mary stared at the large manor house before her, taking in the towers built onto the end of the Manor, she looked down at her jeans, and self-consciously smoothed down her T-shirt, "I kind of feel underdressed."

"You'll be fine, Jacqueline is the laid-back sort." His eyes snapped forward as a blur caught his attention, red orbs followed the trail of fire in its wake. Forcing Geokinesis through his feet, the ground rippled, tossing a figure into the air, blonde hair was highlighted by the sliver of moon that hung high in the sky.

Untangling herself from Harry, Mary took a step back and drew her sword, blue flames danced along its edges she trailed the figures to sense the earth.

Her body tensed as they landed in a crouch. The flames along her sword grew brighter, revealing the woman.

The woman kneeling before her was 5'4" tall with blonde hair tied back in a short knot at the back of her head. A white blouse flapped in the breeze, giving a slight glimpse of the curve of her breast with each movement. Beige pants showed off the curve of her hip and the toe of thigh-high brown boots dug into the earth.

Fingers poked through Brown fingerless gloves, gripping the ground as she leaned forward. "So, you've come again," her body began to vibrate, "this time, you won't leave here alive."

Her upper canines extended and her blue eyes turned red as she blurred forward.

Thanking whatever circumstance or deity that allowed him to develop a replication field, Herald replicated Jacqueline's speed and blurred backward, falling back into old training like he was slipping on a favorite glove. Spinning, he released his duffel back towards Mary as he dodged another punch.

"Hold this."

Catching the bag, Mary glared at him, her hair rising with telekinetic power, "I can help."

"I want her calmed down not dead."

Raising his hands, fire burst from his fingertips in streamers. Ducking a kick, he shifted his feet, traces of metal floated up from the ground in a stream, forming into simple iron shackles. Willing the fire streams forward, he hastily carved a set of hated runes onto the shackles.

Dismissing the flames, he rose to his feet, moving the shackles to float behind him with a bit of telekinesis. Stretching forth his right hand, red energy flared from it, taking the form of a short katana.

"Jacqueline, I'll give you one chance for old time's sake. Calm down and tell me what's going on, or I'll have to make you."

Jacqueline slowed ever so slightly at the sound of his voice, her body trembling, "You will pay for using that voice against me," claws burst from her fingers as she released a beastlike roar.

Leaning forward, Herald blurred to meet her charge.

With incredible grace, Jacqueline launched punches forward. Each one released a crack as it broke the sound barrier.

'She's serious, what could've happened to make her like this.' Beads of sweat ran down his face as he weaved through the punches. Allowing his katana to fade away, he reforged the psychic energy into a small dagger. With a quick underhand slash, blood flew into the air as a scratch appeared on her cheek.

At that same moment, her fist impacted his jaw, sending him twisting through the air.

At the blow, Herald felt the bones in his face cave. As he twisted through the air, his vision darkened for just a moment. He slammed into the ground, pressing down the grass as he rolled to a stop, a trail of blood revealing his path along the ground.

"Herald!"

"I'm fine," Harald gurgled as he mentally screamed. Blood dripped onto the ground as bones shifted back into place. Teeth fell out as new ones regenerated. With his hand pressed into the earth, he felt Jacqueline moving towards him ready to deliver another blow.

Forcing his will into the earth, three triangular slabs of hardened dirt burst up around him, forming into a pyramid. The pyramid shuddered as Jacqueline's fist impacted it, cracks splitting along its surface.

Willing his shackles to float around him, Herald flicked the blood on his psionic dagger onto the runes. They burned with familiar rainbow-colored energy as he sank into the earth just as his pyramid exploded.

Beneath the earth. Any movement created a ripple that could be felt through the soil. Using those ripples, Herald created a three-dimensional picture of the world in his mind. Going a bit deeper to make sure he wasn't felt by Jacqueline, he moved through the earth.

The dirt around him parted like water.

Slowly, he emerged from the ground, dirt falling from his clothes as he knelt on the grass.

Jacqueline started towards Mary.

Mary dropped back, blue flames dancing along the edge of her sword.

Despite her skill, Herald knew Mary wouldn't be able to defeat Jacqueline. She had too much experience and was trained by too many people. Grimacing, he flicked his finger forward.

Jacqueline Falsworth moved towards the Auburn-haired woman. In the blue flames dancing along the edge of her sword, she could see fear in the woman's Brown eyes. She inhaled through her nose, her breast straining against the fabric of her blouse, she could also smell it in the air.

Stopping a foot away from the woman, she cocked her head to the side, "You don't smell like a vampire. What are you a thrall?"

Mary's grip tightened on her sword as her sisters shifted in her mind. Working together, strength and knowledge filled her body. "Lady, I don't understand this talk about vampires, but you're the one with fangs, red eyes, and claws."

Jacqueline opened her mouth to respond but was cut off by something whistling through the air. Spinning her eyes widened as she caught sight of the shackles flying towards her. Shifting to the side, she grimaced as one snapped around her right wrist. The small impact through her timing off just enough for the second one to snap around her left ankle. Yellow-orange light flared from the symbols carved into them and her speed left her.

Herald strode towards the two women, throwing back the hood of his black trench coat.

Jacqueline's eyes widened.

"Do you mind telling me what's going on? As far as I know, we haven't had to deal with vampires since that whole mess with Dumbledore and Flora."

"Herald, what happened to you?"

One corner of his mouth curled in a smirk, "you're not the only one that got your youth back," he shook his head, "except I didn't want mine, and it wasn't without cost."

Flexing her wrist, the shackle exploded, "Sounds like you have a story to tell."

Herald's eyebrows rose as he watched her bend down and pull the shackle off her ankle, "So, those runes don't work on vampiric abilities, good to know."

Shaking her leg and rolling her wrist, she turned towards the Falsworth estate, "Well, come on inside and we can share stories." She glanced back at the two of them as Herald moved beside Mary, "Then you can introduce your friend."

Together the three of them moved towards the house. As they moved, Mary leaned over to Herald, "You said this woman was like a mother to you."

Herald drew back at the heat in her voice, "I did."

"You didn't mention she looked like that, she nodded at Jacqueline's back."

"I didn't think it was important."

Mary snorted, crossing her arms over her chest, "Of course you didn't"

in front of them, Jacqueline's lips curled into a smile, "Seems like Herald finally made a friend, or maybe something more if he plays his cards right."

–XX –

Jacqueline leaned back on her couch, her arms resting across the curves. "So," she began bouncing her crossed legs, "let me see if I've got this right. You traveled to the old ministry of magic building, where you sensed a distress call from before. Got into a fight with two other immortal mutants and ended up being sent to a parallel earth."

"On this parallel earth, you were trained by Yao the ancient one in magic…"

Herald cut in, "Yao really didn't teach me magic, he just helped me polished what I already knew."

Jacqueline raised an eyebrow, "Is that the part of the story you really want to focus on?"

Herald raised his shoulders, laying one arm across the back of the couch, his fingertips brushing the stiff shoulders of Mary, "Just want to make sure you got things right."

Reaching out with his mind, he brushed against Mary's, 'Relax, the fighting is over she's not going to hurt you.'

A single Brown eye shifted in his direction, and her shoulders relaxed minutely. Her knee shifted to press against his.

"After leaving Yao, your hunger for new abilities drove you to hunt some of your fellow mutants," her eyes hardened, "however, after replicating the powers and seeing what they had done with their lives, it made you rethink things, so you attacked the mutant rehabilitation center to give the mutants of earth 1610 a fighting chance at a better life."

"I'm not happy about giving in to the hunger, but by that point, six years had passed and my willpower had waned."

Jacqueline leaned forward, "I know something about hunger Herald, I fight it every day. I also know what it feels like to give in to temptation, to feel the rush of power, but we have to be better than our baser instincts."

Herald leaned forward, their eyes locked together, "You are right, but now who's focusing on the wrong part of the story?"

Jacqueline's lips curled.

"While rescuing the mutants from the rehabilitation center, you found that magic users from our world had infiltrated the earth of 1610 and were using it as a base. A battle ensued between this magic user, and you along with your allies. During the battle you killed the one that had been manipulating the seeds for the magical community and absorbed the blood of a fellow external, causing the celestial technology inside you to activate."

"You were pulled inside your mind where you found out a group of cosmic gods called Celestials had been manipulating your bloodline just to see what would happen. You then discovered another Celestial broke off a piece of his life force, which transformed into you. He planned to use you as a vessel so he could repair his true body. To that end he altered your evolutionary path, giving you DNA absorption.

"Fortunately, the woman you killed, Pomona Sprout, had her latest version of the seed with her so the celestial use that to create his new body along with the DNA of everyone you had replicated powers from. While creating his new body, he stripped you of all the previous powers you replicated and left you for dead.

"The next thing you remember is waking up in a grave in your fifteen-year-old body without any of your previously replicated powers, DNA absorption, or the hunger that you previously suffered from."

"However, you were able to recover telekinesis and telepathy thanks to Ms. Walker here," she nodded at Mary. "For the last year you have been staying with your grandmother Selene Gallio. During that time, you have discovered that while six years passed on earth 1610, only six months passed here."

"Then after leaving Selene to take Ms. Walker out on a date…"

"It wasn't a date."

"You took out a serial killer, while Ms. Walker fought him, you read his mind and found out about a slave ring in New York City. You know when the shipment is supposed to arrive, but don't have any way to get to America. Have I got everything covered?"

"For the most part yes. Now, why don't you tell me why you attacked me?"

"Kenneth and Dumbledore are alive, and Flora is dead."

Herald's world shifted, he fell back onto the couch, his eyes staring into space. He hadn't seen her in years, not since they tried and failed at a relationship, but she was still a friend, he still cared about her. "Flora's dead," he repeated in a hollow voice, "How?"

Jacqueline leaned forward, placing a hand on his knee, but he didn't move, "I don't know who did it, but I know she was killed by a vampire. I'm assuming either Dumbledore or Kenneth did it," she looked away at the mention of her son's name, "For what it's worth, I'm sorry."

Herald blinked, placing his hand over Jacqueline's, "I don't blame you. He looked into her eyes. "What I would like to know however is how both of them are still alive, we saw Kenneth burn to ash."

"Flora," he swallowed, "Flora encased Dumbledore in a tree."

Jacqueline shook her head, her blonde hair swaying, "I don't know, I would assume magic is involved."

"You sure are assuming a lot," his lips twitched, "you know what they say about assuming right?"

Jacqueline smacked him in the back of the head.

Herald raised his head, "You know what, I just remembered something…"

Jacqueline snorted.

"You never explained why you attacked us."

"Kenneth returned here wearing your face, Jim was injured, since then I've been a little jumpy about who I let in my home."

"Is he alright?"

"James took him to one of his labs, he's fixing him up."

Herald inclined his head turning to Mary, "You're awful quiet."

Mary drummed her fingers on the sheath of her sword, "Don't have much to say," she turned to Herald, "but I am learning quite a bit about your past."

Jacqueline cleared her throat, and Herald turned back to her, "I'll arrange things for you to get to America, but it'll take a day or two," she stared at Herald, "you're going to need new papers. So, what name do you want to use?"

Harald rubbed the back of his neck, his eyes flicking to the side. Jacqueline was his mother in every way that mattered, but he had a family name now, a legacy, he wanted to honor her, but couldn't take her name. Allowing his hand to drop from his neck, he turned back to her, "My grandmother gave me the name Herald Edward Gallio."

Jacqueline smiled, "I like it."

Releasing a breath, Herald stood to his feet. "Since it's going to take a few days to get everything set up, there are a few things I would like to accomplish. Do you mind if I use the library?"

Jacqueline flicked her fingers, "Of course not, no matter what, this will always be your home."

Moving around the table between them, Herald padded Jacqueline's shoulder as he passed the couch.

Jacqueline watched Harald leave the room before turning back to Mary.

Mary's stomach clenched under the woman's gaze.

"So," Jacqueline began slowly, "what are your intentions with Herald?"

–XX –

Climbing the stairs, Herald snorted as he heard Jacqueline's question. It was good to see that she could still have some fun despite what happened. Passing the door to his old room, he stopped before a set of double doors. Grabbing the curved handles, he pushed them open.

Stepping three feet into the room, he waited until the doors clicked shut behind him. Moving deeper into the room, he stopped before a table in between the large bookshelves that took up most of the space.

Tears streamed down his face and his shoulders shook as he fell to his knees. He wept for the loss of his first love, he wept for the fact he wasn't there, and he wept for what Jacqueline had gone through in his absence.

After his last tear fell, his hand curled into a fist, "I promise Flora, I will make all of this stop, I will punish the magical world, I will make a haven for our people, and I will never forget the first woman that made my heart flutter."