The Immortal's Gamble

Chapter 34 Decisions

"No need to slam the door in my face. That wasn't nice. I even helped packed your bags." 

Alex entered the small cottage while rubbing his nose after Arden relinquished the hold he had on the door. Behind him, the whole gang entered. Bri and Penny with their matching wriggling eyebrows that I had to smack them while Rhys fist-bumped Arden. Sorean was the last to enter, his eyes moved a fraction down before they shot back up to look me in the eye, his face one of horror.

I frowned at his reaction and automatically moved to share a seat with Arden after the last of them had settled down on at the dining area. Dressed in just Arden's shirt and my shorts, I bundled up my hair, so Bri doesn't have to tease me.

"I can't believe we're in France. And we've got to go back already?" Bri whined, slumped over the back of the chair. In one sudden movement, she abruptly sat up straight and narrowed her eyes at Arden. "You're not going to make us sit in that cramped car to go back to Davenport aren't you? We're in France we can't possibly do that!" All eyes turned to Arden who merely raised an eyebrow.

"Well, that is up to Laura." He turned to me, the beginning of a smirk etched on his face.

I rolled my eyes and pointed to an empty space next to us, "open the damn portal already." 

Laughing, he did as commanded. Bri's sigh of relief at the familiar sound of the opening portal was shadowed by Alex's shout of surprised. The portal he opened did not look anything like what we remembered it to be.

"Laura, wait!" Arden called out, but I already had one foot in the portal.

Alex had opened the door to my house instead of theirs. Probably for the comfort of us girls. But the house was a shell of how we left it. The windows and doors were opened as the wind blew in, leaves lay scattered on the floor. I tried flipping the switch but only a faint buzzing was heard before it fizzled out. There was no light and no sound except for my own breathing. I had totally forgotten about the time differences, and here in Davenport, it was almost evening. I barely came home, but mum should have been around. The house seemed to have lost its soul. I rounded the corner to the kitchen, trying to make sense of how my home had become so desolate. At the same time, a figure stepped out of a portal.

Letting out a shriek, I stumbled back into the living room. Every pair of ears and eyes turned on me, and Penny was immediately sending brainwaves to the figure who let out a grunt at the sudden attack. The figure fell to one knee, but despite the pain, he managed to dispel it with a wave of his hand. Penny took a step back in surprise and moved into an aggressive stance, her knives were out, and I was pushed behind her.

"That was a good one, Penelope," Alastor commented as he stood up and dusted his cloak, a tinge of pride in his voice as he closed the portal behind him. Collectively, everyone in the room let out a breath.

"What are you doing here, Alastor?" Alex stepped forward, gently pushing Penny and me away.

"Shall we head on back to your place first. I'm sure you have questions regarding what has happened here. But I can assure you, I have questions of my own that need answering as well." Alastor deflected, his eyes pinning me in my spot.

"Whatever questions you have, I'm sure we need to go through together. Shall we?" Arden spoke up, his hand leading to the wall where another portal was opened.

Nodding, Alastor turned his back on us and walked into the portal as the rest of us followed suit. He settled down on the sofa with a sigh. As though he had aged a decade, he rubbed his face tiredly. The lines on his face made prominent due to his paler than usual complexion. 

 "I'm sorry that my words may have seemed harsher than usual. Lewis had left me in charge of your safety and I thought that with you guys on holiday things would go smoothly. Things haven't been good."

"It's been three days since your departure, but within this three days, the Grand Palace has been in chaos. We've managed to catch a demon that has been brought to Earth by Dale. It told us that Dale has sealed your mother's consciousness years ago and since then made use of her physical body as a vessel to allow demons to enter our realm." Alastor looked at me apologetically. I was numb to the news that he was presenting to us, but it felt as though there was more. 

"Laura, Dale is missing, along with Annie. We aren't able to track their whereabouts at the moment. But it is obvious that Dale has returned to hide with Allura. What we are having an issue with is that Annie is still human under a demon's possession and we can't locate her." 

"What do you mean you can't locate her? What about Dale or Anna? Can't we locate Anna since we know her?" Penny spoke up, questioning the elephant in the room; Anna. Everyone's head turned to face anything but the person opposite them. 

It felt as though a blanket of heaviness had fallen upon us. 

"I found this as well." Alastor took out an old book bound by a leathery skin, he flipped a couple of pages and stopped. 

'Your powers manifest because of your emotions, Cameron has never loved another as much as he did with your mother which was why you were conceived. Cameron was a creature of emotion and the number of gifts he has is one of the longest lists which was last updated in the 1400s. Any other information that we have is obsolete, so my question now is, have you been in contact with your father?" Alastor asked, his body tense with anticipation. I shook my head and he sagged in his chair. 

"What about the Limbo? If I could enter, maybe I could find him?"

Immediately I was met with a barrage of objections and a shouting match has begun. 

"Enough!" I shouted, creating a ripple of soundwave that knocked everyone back. "Guys, please. It could work, it's the only other option that we have left, we can't sit around doing nothing. If what Alastor said was true and my mother, the loving kind mother I've known is being sealed away by Dale I want to get her back. And if I can get my father along the way, I want that too." 

"It's possible." Alastor started slowly before Arden could protest he raise a finger. "It's possible but extremely dangerous, I could hypnotise you and send you into that realm while I guide you through, Alex could help me with listening to your thoughts as well. But it is extremely dangerous, there's a limit and once I lose you neither you nor I won't be able to connect." Alastor continued thoughtfully. 

"Let's do it then. I need to do this. We've been avoiding all this and taking pre-emptive actions. It's time we take an attacking stance instead of continuously defending." I decided and lay down on the sofa, making myself comfortable. Who knew how long I'll be out.

"Laura, please. Be careful." Arden whispered in my ear. His face a picture of worry. I smiled at him and nodded. 

"You give me strength. I'll be fine, I'll be back. I promise." I placed a hand on his face. Turning into my touch, he placed a kiss on my palm.