The Immortals

Chapter Four

Alex Knight

What an amazing day to spend chasing my best friend and ending up in a museum with Ambrosia, my another best friend. Now, you don't call Ambrosia as Amber, or Amy or Rosie. In fact, no nicknames at all. If you accidentally call her by one, she will scratch your daylight birthmark and throw you into the sunlight. Trust me, it sucks.

Right now, she was looking for the museum's curator. Finally, after grabbing three wrong people, we had finally found him. Ambrosia held both his shoulders, and poured magic into her words. "Open the door to the special vault."

The curator looked confused. "Why...?"

"Because we're gonna get back something that rightfully belongs to us." she said.

"To me, specifically." I pointed out.

"Shut up. You couldn't have gotten it without my help. It's pretty much mine." she rolled her eyes. "So, are you gonna help us steal your museum's best artifact?"

"Sure." The curator said.

We reached the door marked 'forbidden access - staff only'.

"I lost my platinum card today, but my thumbprint should work." The curator said. Then he tapped a couple of buttons on the vault's touchscreen lock, frowning. "Someone's already logged in."

I shot a look at Ambrosia. What if he made it here before us?

The door opened just as we heard a boom.

Ambrosia bade the man to leave. Inside the vault, several glassed counters were arranged in several rows, holding age-old rings, figurines, and scriptures. Joseph stood in the middle of the isle, his fangs out, his chain whip slithering in his hand.

Of course, he had reached before us.

And someone else.

With his back facing us, Joseph glowered over a tiny figure slouched on the wall. Her dark hair covered most of her face, and her body was turned to the wall in a weird manner. Her grey hoodie was splotched with dark red.

"Finally, you made it." Joseph said to us over his shoulder.

"Where's the cup?" I asked.

"The stupid mortal has it."

"Ain't gonna get it." The stupid mortal— I mean the girl— said. Her face showed she was definitely terrified, but her voice had every ounce of confidence and defiance.

"This is my last warning." Joseph said, stepping towards her. "Give me the cup and I'll let you go alive."

"I got here first. I got it first. It's mine. Finders, keepers." She stuck her tongue out at Joseph. Whoa, she was one ferocious, stupid tiger.

"Why do you want to cup anyway?" Ambrosia said.

"She's one of those lunatic teenagers chasing around stuff they tragically find curious." Joseph snarled. "Let me guess, you came here with two people, didn't you? A brunette and a blond boy, wasn't it?"

Oh no. He was doing his dreadful thing  again...

The girl's eyes widened. 

"They are sitting in a bar, oh I see. Club Vertex?" Joseph said. "Isn't that the club behind this place?"

"How-how do you know that?"

"I do. Now that you know what's at stake," Joseph drew closer to her.  "Hand me the cup, girl."

She looked around, helpless. Her wantonness began to fade. Her eyes landed on me. I shook my head, motioning her to toss the cup to me.

"Don't listen to him." I said. "Sweetie, give the cup to me. He's the bad guy."

"Hand the cup to me, not these people behind." Joseph hissed.

"That's enough, Joseph." Ambrosia said.

The girl slowly rose up. The cup was now visible in her arms.

"I'm gonna give the cup to.." She glanced between us and him.

"Nobody!" 

She pounced on the other side, just as Joseph's whip hit the place where she was standing microseconds ago. That's an incredible speed for a mortal, especially a wounded one.

I took the chance to grab Joseph and judo flip him. The chain flew out of his grasp, but he managed to tackle me on the floor.

"Stop it, Joe!" I said, as he elbowed my neck. "You can't use the cup. It won't bring her back!"

"I've had enough of your bullshit for a century and a half!" He grabbed my neck and flung me away. I slammed through several glass cases and artifacts before hitting the wall.

"Now I'm not gonna take it anymore." Joseph said, before leaping after the girl, who I couldn't see because of the mess of tables and broken glass. Judging by the direction in which Joseph had leaped, she was already on her way out of the door. 

And then came a terrible scream of pain. 

I got up. My bones were already healing, but several glasses pieces were wedged all over my body.

The hallway was filled with mortals screaming and running in panic. The girl was sprawled on the floor, writhing, her neck bleeding. The cup lied beside her. 

I turned to my left. Ambrosia stood against the wall with her palms wrapped around Joseph's neck, and Joseph... 

He had a stake just an inch away from her chest and... his whip encircled around her waist...

"Do not make me do this, Ambrosia." He said.

 She signaled me: what the hell are you doing? Go get the cup you idiot!

I looked at Ambrosia whose death was seconds away, the cup which was way too much important, and the bleeding girl who was gonna die too if I didn't save her.

 So I decided to approach Joseph.

"No!" Ambrosia yelled as she realized what I was about to do.

Just as Joseph was about to turn, I dug my fangs into his neck, and he instantly sunk to the ground, with the stake toppling on the floor and the whip slipping from his hands.

My best friend of one hundred and seventy years, thus incapacitated and probably never gonna wake up again.

"Alex." Ambrosia cried. "What have you done?"

"We'll fix him." I said. "The cup—"

I turned around. The cup and girl were gone, leaving pools of blood on the floor trailing all the way down the hallway.