Kindred Spirits

Laying It All Out

  I led the small convoy behind me to a small, seemingly abandoned castle in the English countryside. It consisted of Steve and the "Howling Commandos" as they had been dubbed, along with Peggy and a very grumpy Phillips.

  "Just what in the hell are we doing all the way out in the middle of nowhere?" I ignored Phillips as I unlocked the gate, hopping back onto my bike and leading them forward.

  I came to a stop in front of a slightly crumbling entryway, turning off my bike as I pulled my helmet off. I stood waiting for them to disembark, and Peggy moved to stand next to me in the meantime.

  "What is this place?"

  "This estate once belonged to a young lord, the surrounding town falling to his patronage after his father's death," I began walking up the steps as I spoke, loud enough to ensure that I could be heard by those in the back of the group. "He was a scoundrel, bedding any woman he deemed worthy enough of his time, until he met a woman that stood above the rest. She beat him in a fencing duel, to satisfy the honor of a scorned friend. He claimed that her beauty could topple empires, her wisdom great enough to stupefy modern philosophers."

  I pushed open the door, revealing a remarkably well kept entryway, every surface gleaming from a fresh polish, the furniture clean and unstained. "He eventually managed to win her heart, and with her at his side, the surrounding town prospered. In time, however, he began to notice that while he grew old and grey, she looked no different than the day they had met, her face unwrinkled, her hair perpetually golden."

  I led them to the sitting room, revealing Andy and the rest standing before the fireplace at the opposite side of the room. They pretended to examine the painting above the mantle, though they were likely lost in thought as they listened to me tell the story. "The same went for her 'family', never aging, able to count the wrinkles on all their faces on one hand. She finally revealed the truth as he laid dying, struck by tuberculosis. They would never age, never die, until it was deemed their time. Two of them had seen countless empires, countries, and civilizations rise and fall in what felt like the blink of an eye."

  I fell silent as Andy turned around and walked forward, finally revealing the uncanny resemblance to the woman posing in the portrait above the mantle. Her hair flowed down to her waist in soft ringlets in the portrait, but it was unmistakably her. Some of the men behind me gave soft exhales as they realized the truth of the story, me moving forward to stand next to Andy as she watched the men before her.

  "Robert is someone that I remember very fondly, one of the few spouses I've taken in the couple millennium I have walked this Earth."

  It was quiet for a few beats as everyone absorbed the enormity of the bomb that had just been dropped on them.

  "Bullshit."

  Some of them jumped as Phillips marched forward, pulling out his gun and holding it to Andy's head.

  "You expect me to believe that the five of you are some kind of immortal freaks without more concrete proof than a painting on the wall?"

  The four of us were calm as Phillips pulled the trigger, sending Andy falling back on to the floor. A collective sigh left us as everyone started freaking out, and we ignored them in favor of making sure that she was healing. Once we confirmed that she was, we moved her to a nearby chaise, careful to make sure that she didn't get any blood on it, she was a bitch about getting blood out of antique furniture.

  "Why are you guys not more upset about this?" Steve yelled as we moved over to a small bar, getting ourselves some drinks, including Andy as she was likely gonna have a bitch of a headache when she finally recovered.

  "Please, that's far from the first time that's happened," I scoffed as I downed my double shot of scotch straight up, barely grimacing before grabbing Andy's vodka and moving towards her. "If I recall correctly, the first time she got shot in the head was the early 1400's, some man was upset that she had corrupted his sister-"

  "His wife, actually," a rough voice got out before groaning in pain. They spun around to find Andy sitting up, holding her head in one hand and the other reaching for the drink I held.

  "Right, his wife, though Andy wasn't exactly the one corrupting anybody."

  "Yeah, I could hardly keep her away from me," we both gave a brief chuckle before she downed the vodka.

  "You've all been alive since the 1400's?" Steve was clearly confused, and it wasn't helped by Andy and I clearly barely containing our laughter at the question.

  "No, we all became immortal at different times, " Joe began to explain, bringing the attention to him as he gave a brief blurb of when each of us became immortal. "Booker here is the youngest, became immortal in 1812, barely even a century under his belt." He dodged the half hearted kick sent his way, "Nicky and I are roughly the same, we both became immortal trying to kill each other on opposite sides of the Crusades in 1099."

  "And look where we are now, amore," Nicky called softly, blowing a kiss his way. A few of the soldiers looked uncomfortable, though they didn't react in any other way. "And then there's those two hags, bringing down the group average if you ask me."

  I didn't even look away from the alcohol as I chucked a knife over my shoulder, turning around with a smile when he grunted in pain. I took a sip of my drink as they all turned to face me and Andy. "I was a general in the army of Sumer around 3300 BCE, leading a campaign against an invading nation. A small group of enemy soldiers ambushed me and one of them managed to get in a lucky shot. I woke up hours later, half buried in the desert. When I came upon my encampment, it was cleared out of everyone and everything, except for her." I nodded over in Andy's direction, her eyes fogged over in memory.

  "I was alone for a long time, a soldier from a long forgotten empire, lost to the sands of time. I first died sometime around 4700 BCE and was worshipped as a goddess in my time, but it lost it's novelty as I watched my family die off. I left when the first of my children began to die. I was a ghost without purpose, lost in a fog of grief and loneliness. Then I began to dream," she looked up at me as I placed a hand on her shoulder, "That's how we find each other, we dream of the first death, small memories of their lives, enough to find one another. The dreams stop when we finally meet."

  It was silent for a moment before Joe stepped forward. 

  "Hello, my name is Yusef al-Kaysani."

  "My name is Nicolo di Genova."

  "My name is Sebastien le Livre."

  "I am Ishtar of Sumer."

  We looked back at Andy as she debated internally before heaving a heavy sigh.

  "Andromache of Scythia."