An Eternity of Change

Chapter 30

May 19, 1970

Jaylyn walked away from the mess behind her, the begging voice of the last man was cut off sharply before she could get out of hearing range as Adam killed him. A moment later she felt his presence at her side, blood from his knives dripped on the cement drive beside him.

"The next target is only a few cities over, looks like we can stay in California a while longer." He wiped the blades clean and looked over at her.

She swallowed a bit, watching the artificial lights from the sidewalk reflect off the blades. "They didn't even know what they died for."

"It doesn't matter." Adam growled, pulling her after him a bit. "By morning you'll forget about them."

"I haven't forgotten anyone you killed these past few years." She spat, pulling back. "All the parents and children... How can you not care?"

"Their ancestors tortured us!" He was glaring at her now. "Why don't you care about that?"

"I do, but I would rather kill the men who did this rather than the innocent people who don't know about it."

He gave a loud sigh and put his hands on her shoulders. "Jay... you don't understand yet, your life has been so protected and short compared to mine. One day you'll get why I'm doing this, why you should help me do this. Don't keep fighting me on the subject... please... Stay with me and help me finish this, there's still one more family to kill that you can take out with me. Once they're gone we can go and find out more about our curse, perhaps even end it when we're ready to."

"I can't." Jaylyn winced as his grip tightened. "Adam, I'm no killer... not unless I'm going to be killed... self defense only..."

He felt her shiver as he leaned close to her ear. "I know there is a killer in you, I saw what you did to the last person to get on your back side back in Ohio. Even I couldn't tell if they had once been human."

She felt sick as he reminded her, there had been one order, one order to kill someone and she'd refused until they angered her and given her a reason. Even now she wished she'd just ignored the urge, but her time with Adam had a strong influence, she couldn't him get any more leverage over her actions. Jaylyn looked into his dark gaze, sadness washing through her, she missed the days when they had been almost carefree, excluding their training sessions of course. They would never get those back, no matter how hard he may try to eventually, what was happening now would always stand between them.

She pulled out of his grip. "You can solve this curse on your own, and get your revenge. I'm not going to continue watching this but I won't stop you either... I know I can't."

"Who says I'll just let you leave?" Adam pulled her back, sending a spike of fear through her for a moment. "You can't just abandon me after all we've been through, we are a team!"

"I thought I was a traitor." Jaylyn responded, reminding him of what he'd called her during World War II. "No one wants to be on the same team as a traitor... they could be stabbed in the back."

"If you walk away, if you even turn your back on me for a second, that will prove you're a traitor." Adam held her close to him once more, close enough to feel her pulse racing as her heart picked up its beating in her chest. "We can't stay in this spot any longer now come on, people will find this mess soon and I will not be caught now."

Jaylyn allowed him to walk her away from the crime scene for a few blocks before jerking free of his grip, sending a quick punch to his throat, and running. He followed her seconds after as she spun down a lightless alley and ducked down a narrower space. It slowed her, but at least it would be harder for Adam to catch her, he did have a broader figure than she did. Sure enough his steps behind her slowed and she darted back into a wider space before slipping into a small fast food place, a minute later she saw Adam walk by scanning the street with a frustrated look. She felt guilty as he finally gave up, his shoulders slumping slightly as he walked away, it almost made her follow after him. But she didn't, she just walked back out the side door before walking down the street. By sometime tomorrow she'd leave California far behind and her oldest friend with it.

A plan was already forming in her mind as she snuck into the small apartment's window before landing silently in the dark room. She could guess Adam was still finishing up his search for her and she grabbed some of her stuff as quickly as she could, including Adam's weapons. Without those he would have to waste his time getting new ones, she also took the papers that had the next targets' address on it, which would hopefully stall the other immortal long enough for him to give up on this insane hunt of his. After she was satisfied with what she'd done, she went back out the window and continued walking down the street. Adam might be furious at her now but he'd survive, he survived without her before they met, and Jaylyn doubted his temper would last too long. Perhaps someday they would meet again, until then she was off to the other side of the U.S. Texas sounded nice, it would be warm there, out in the country maybe she would find some peace after all the chaos she'd been introduced to... she could only hope that would be true.

A few minutes later...

Adam finally gave up the search until nearly twenty minutes after losing sight of Jaylyn, he didn't go home though, no, he stayed out and hoped to find her standing on the street or walking back to find him. The idea proved wrong, she had really left, after all those years together, she had abandoned him because she'd gotten a bit scared of getting justice. They had gone through death, wars, nightmares, torture, and even raise a child, and this was what he got, so much for her loyalty. He turned back towards his apartment before going inside, he noticed the missing things immediately and glared toward the still open window... she had taken his plans. How dare she? Those were the only way to get even and she didn't understand that! Why didn't she want those Germans to pay for killing all those innocent people and torturing the two of them? Didn't she understand what he felt knowing his son was dead? She had to; she lost everyone the night she became immortal.

He couldn't stay mad at her though, Jaylyn was still young, her years had taught her something and given a little more time she would come to her senses. With a sigh, Adam did have to admit he could've been a bit quicker with ending the lives of his victims... With that in mind he disposed of the bloody knife and, frowning slightly, got ready for bed. He decided to allow the others to live if only to help draw Jaylyn back to him. As immortals they needed to stick together, she would remember that soon enough and come back to him. Ripper would find her possibly and driver her back to him, and when she came back, no matter the reason, he would take her back. He would act like he wouldn't, but in the end he'd relent and allow her to join him... then everything would be normal again... everything would be perfect.