An Eternity of Change

Chapter 16

August 9, 1890

Jaylyn coughed once more as she staggered back from Jack's attack. He didn't let up however and soon she was flat on her back with a knife blade against her throat. Adam walked over from where he'd been watching with a frown on her face and shoved Jack aside before staring down at her.

"Jaylyn, you're getting slower and weaker in your attacks." He said as he looked down at her.

"I'm trying..." She replied tiredly, trying and failing to get up as another coughing fit wracked her body.

Adam backed away slightly as he saw blood, he'd had the plague before to know the symptoms and recently there had been a small outbreak in the area. How Jaylyn had managed to get it he couldn't figure out, though one satisfied look at Jack suggested the annoying immortal did something. He glared at the man before leaning down towards Jaylyn as she closed her eyes, he should've noticed this sooner.

"I'll see you by the river." Adam told her before slipping his daggering into her heart; she opened her eyes one last time to send him a grateful look before disappearing.

Adam brushed past Jack, making sure to knock the now irritated man to the side, before walking to the river a quarter mile behind the house. He handed her new clothes to put on once he got there before waiting as she put them on and got out of the water. The frustrated look in her eyes showed she wasn't about to forget about Jack's foul play.

"Come on, let's get you dried off." He sighed before starting the walk back.

Jaylyn quickly followed, her clothes clinging to her thin form as she hurried after him. Jack was waiting outside with an amused expression when they got back and much to Adam's surprise, Jaylyn lunged forward with a hateful glare. He quickly grabbed her and pulled her back as she struggled for a moment before going limp in his grasp, Jack still stood there with the same stupid look on his face.

"Let her attack me." Jack urged. "I want to finish the fight."

Adam guided Jaylyn past the other immortal and felt her relax in his tight grip. "If I let you go, will you promise not to start a fight?"

Jaylyn nodded calmly after taking a deep breath. "Yeah."

"Good." He let her go and kept walking, motioning for her to follow when she just stood there.

"What?" She asked as she caught up to him.

He looked over her for a moment. "So you refuse to kill people on my orders but you were willing to murder Jack? You refused to even kill me in a fight... I can't figure that out about you."

"He dumped rats on me in my sleep and I got sick a few days later, I doubt that is a coincidence. People who do that to me will die." She growled, anger flashing in her gaze. "... At least if they're immortal, any normal person, I would just give them a brush with death."

"Interesting." Adam took her through the front door.

"Why do you ask?"

"You hate killing." He replied before grabbing a towel out of the closet and handing it to her. "Hurry and change into something dry when you're done."

"What's the rush?" She rubbed her hair as she walked towards her room to change.

"Jack won't be able to find us if we move fast enough." Adam leaned against the wall and watched Sladen practicing his killing strokes by himself. "Though, he is a more reliable killer."

"Who I hate." She shouted back through the door.

"Yes, I noticed, you two are like siblings the way you fight." He replied. Jack had only been with them a year but that had been enough to make the younger immortals hate each other. At least it wasn't as bad as when he'd just been following them, Jaylyn's paranoia had made him uneasy a few times until he'd actually noticed the killer following them.

"So where are we going this time?" Jaylyn asked as she came back out.

"It's a surprise." Adam replied with a rare, yet small, grin. "Sladen is still outback, if we're quiet we can get far enough away before he gets suspicious."

"Great." She nodded and went silent as they left, quietly following him towards town a few miles away, behind them Jack could still be heard wielding his knife.

As much as Adam enjoyed the knowledge of having two other immortals to be with, he did like the companionship of Jaylyn more than that of Ripper... or perhaps he was just growing soft after the years of traveling with the less violent immortal. Either way he was more content with his immortality now than he had been for a while. The feeling was alien. He glanced at Jaylyn as she silently walked at his side; she had changed since they'd met. Now she could fight and was almost willing to kill... as long as it was for a good reason. Just a few more years and she could kill anyone that got in their way.