Page 1 of Crimson Everlasting
CHAPTER ONE
“Have you ever heard of a group of people called the everlastings?" Master Alexander Stone asked his second-in-command, Cullen Volakis, as they sat together on the terrace, having coffee. The afternoon was relaxed, and the weather was warm and pleasant with a soft breeze that was refreshing and calming.
“Centuries ago, there was talk of people somewhere in Europe who called themselves Aeonian, but they were known as the Everlastings. I never met any, only heard about them, and they were discussed as myth, so I can't say if they were real or imaginary.” Cullen answered and then added. “It was said that they lived forever, were immortal, but also simply human."
“Do you believe they are only a myth?” Alexander questioned further.
"So many things exist in this world and beyond, so who am I to say what’s real and what’s not?" Cullen drank his coffee and relaxed, leaning back in his chair. "Why do you enquire, if I may ask?”
“The Seer mentioned the word everlastings in conjunction with some crisis. I thought I’d heard the wordbefore and thought it described a people, but I couldn’t recall.” Alexander wondered how any of it affected them, but the Seer only mentioned that which would concern them. So that was about as clear as mud.
“Has Lucian or any of our mystics mentioned anything of concern regarding the statement by the Seer?” Cullen asked.
"I haven't asked, but I will. It would help if our Seer, Chris, weren't so damned vague." He voiced his irritation but tempered it with a sigh. "I appreciate his sensitivity and his ability to warn, but I wish it wasn't always wrapped in a riddle."
"It's the nature of seers that they speak with shadows and mists, so their responses tend to be confusing. But with that said, Chris's warnings have always been valid. . . in the end. . . when we figure them out." He looked over at Alexander and smiled briefly. Cullen wasn't one for mirth or smiles, so Alexander laughed loud and thunderously, always enjoying it whenever Cullen had a lapse and showed humanity.
"We'll figure this out." He said, finally. "We always do."
“Do you know what you’re doing?” Osin demanded and grabbed for Emrys’ arm to prevent him from leaving. Emrys stopped and looked back at Osin with eyes filled with desperation and misery.
"There is nothing left for me here, Osin. My life needs to start again, and it needs to start again somewhere else. I need to live in the world.” He finished with a hard resolve and pulled his arm away.
“Stay with us, Emrys.” Osin was a kind man and a good friend, but it was time for Emrys to move on.
"Goodbye, Osin." He said this and then left. That was over a hundred years ago, and it was the best decision he’d ever made because living in constant fear was no way to live.
“Tobias wants us to check out the property to the east," Trent informed the two soldiers with him, Anders and Shane. Trent was part of the Coven Security force and worked directly under Commander Tobias Yates.
The property in question was a section bordering the Crimson property that Master Stone was interested in purchasing. The Coven was expanding, and he was looking at a housing development in that area, plus it bothered him that those acres, positioned so close to Coven lands, belonged to someone else.
“The Master has had his eye on that property for quite some time, and the previous owner has recently passed. There are people working on the acquisition, and they want a walkthrough of the property.” Trent explained the job as they headed out to their vehicles.
“Who’s the owner?" Shane asked offhandedly.
“Mr. John Murphy inherited it from his uncle, named Emrys Tarquin. The property has been in that family's possession for over a hundred years." Trent responded.
“But they never built on it.” Shane again added an observation.
“Never did anything with it, according to our records. The original purchaser bought it and let it sit, as did each person who inherited the property.”
“Wild and free.” Anders joined.
“Perhaps.”
Emrys completed the paperwork transferring the property outside Crimson, Virginia, into his possession. It had always been his, but people got suspicious if you owned property for more than an average lifespan and still looked twenty-five. This was the second time he'd passed the property to himself, and so far it had gone well both times.
He hadn't developed the two hundred acres, choosing to leave it as is. The land was special in that it had remained veritably untouched since the days of the English explorers. It was so beautiful, so Emrys had delayed doing or building anything, and then came the day he found a gorgeous spring nestled in the trees.
It was an idyllic scene that needed to be honored with the perfect build, not just anything. He would make his home there someday, and the home would be perfect. That day had come, and he had the design and he had the desire to step away from the fast life and live quietly for a while.
His life had been spent primarily in New York as a realtor and financier under the name of John Murphy, and prior to that, he'd lived off the grid in Missoula, Montana, under the same name of Emrys Tarquin. Emrys had moved around and tried to look as if he were aging, but it was a sad and sometimes difficult way to live. Losing people and leaving people was the hardest part, but life among the living was precious, and he would not give it up.
He was leaving New York pretty soon and would fake his death, leaving all his worldly goods to a supposed relative. He would have to handle it carefully since his colleagues in New York were not easily fooled. It was becoming clear to him that it was time to relocate. His age and competency were beginning to be called into question.
Everything was going as planned, and his rumored illness had been spread far and wide, painting it serious and perhaps terminal. Emrys washed the gray out of his hair and removed the prosthetics that made him appear older. It was time to head out and begin his new life in Crimson Virginia. His assistant, Nolan Thomas, would make all arrangements and follow through with his exit from New York.
Nolan was a first-rate assistant just like his father before him. He knew Emrys' true story, and he understood his life. He was a good friend, and Emrys depended upon him in so many ways. Living the life of an immortal within society was complicated, but Nolan, like his father before him, made it work and made it look easy.
