Immortali

Chapter 39: Shock

Raina leaned against the maple tree. Her yard was crawling with police officers, their blue and white tape covering her home. All she could do was stare at nothing in particular, not really seeing what she was looking at.

Instead, her mind was on a constant loop, replaying what she'd seen in her house over and over again. After Taylor, she remembered fumbling around, only to find more devastation.

The carpet in the lounge room was stained with blood. Thick, sticky, red blood. And there, his head missing from his body, and a pile of entrails laying on the ground next to it, was her father's torso. Ugly claw marks raked across his chest.

When she looked up, she could see her mother's head pinned to the ceiling with a nail. The head stared at her with blank eyes, it's mouth wide open in a silent scream. Blood dripped from the severed head, running down the length of the wall until it pooled in a puddle of crimson on the white carpet.

There was blood everywhere else in the room. Blood in places where blood should not be. It was splashed across the wall and the ceiling. Raina remembered how her hand had lightly brushed the black couch and had come away with a sticky red residue.

In the bathroom, she found bits and pieces of her mother's body. An arm, a finger with a wedding ring, a foot. Most of it lay in the bath tub. Someone had the courtesy to put the plug in, so the blood had filled the tub as it had drained, the body parts now floating around in it.

It was also in the bathroom where she'd found James' body. His was mostly intact, but, like Taylor's, had scratch marks on it. Unlike the other scratch marks on her parent's bodies, these were not made by sharp talons, but human nails. Both James and Taylor's hands were covered in blood, as though...

...as though they'd scratched themselves to death.

The smell was there too. A metallic smell that, even outside, she couldn't shake. It was everywhere, and she didn't know how to get rid of it.

It clogged her mind, making her thoughts slow. Anytime they drifted away from the images of death, the smell brought them right back.

She could clearly recall her screaming, the pounding of her fists against the ground. She'd screamed so much that, even with her regenerative abilities, her throat still felt raw, and her voice had become raspy. She'd screamed and screamed to the point where she could scream no more. The rage and grief that had flooded her mind, her heart, and even her soul, had refused to leave her. Even now, she could feel it, though numbed by shock and pain, it was still there in the darkest parts of herself, just waiting to be unleashed.

And now... now she stood by the maple tree, watching as police officers and detectives examined her house. They'd asked her a range of questions. 'Why weren't you at home at the same time as your siblings?' 'Do you know of anyone who held a grudge against your family? Who's capable of doing something like this?' 'Have you noticed anything strange over the past few days? Maybe the feeling as though you're being watched?'

She'd lied in response to almost all of them. She didn't even care that she was, or that it probably looked suspicious. One thing that was true: she hadn't killed her family, and she didn't care that these officers probably had her down as their most likely suspect. She could change their thoughts with a mere flicker of her own. Why did their opinions matter?

Perhaps that was the most unnerving change in her: she had a sudden disregard for others around her. They no longer mattered to her. They were just background noise.

Especially humans. They had no clue what was going on around them. They were mindless flies buzzing around her head. Annoying, but not threatening, because they could easily be swayed and swatted away.

She'd never seen them like that before. She'd always imagined humans to be just like her, because in her mind, she'd always been human. It was only now, in this moment, that she'd truly become Immortali within her own head.

And now that she was Immortali, they were human, and they were helpless. They would never understand what had happened here. They would never know that this was not the work of a mere serial killer. This was the work of a psychotic, homicidal Immortal, who'd been alive before the human race had even crept into existence.

A firm hand on her shoulder roused Raina from her thoughts. Shock coursed through her body, and before she could even stop herself, she'd wheeled around, her fists already in an attack position. Startled yellow eyes bored into her own, and Raina took a few deep breaths before lowering her raised arms.

It was Arriana. It was just Arriana.

For a moment, the two immortals stood in silence, while police officers still spoke among themselves, searching the yard for clues.

"They won't find what they're looking for," Arriana spoke while still looking at the ground.

Raina, also, stared at the ground. "How do you know?"

Her voice was barely a whisper, but, somehow Arriana still heard it.

"Because, I know what did this. I... I'm surprised they moved so fast, but..."

"But what?" Raina asked, more firmly this time, still unable to look at her mentor.

Arriana sighed. "But, there is nothing else that could have done this to your family and the security team."

Raina's interest piqued ever so slightly. It was cold, kind of interest. There was nothing warm or kind about it, nor did she wish it was warm. She only wanted cold, hard fact.

"What happened to the security team?"

"They were torn apart. Literally. Thankfully, four out of five of them were immortal, so they managed to piece themselves back together... with some assistance. The fifth one however, was an elf. Not so lucky."

"And what, exactly, did this to them?" Raina asked.

She could see in her peripheral vision that Arriana's head had turned to look at her, but Raina did not meet her gaze.

Instead, she listened. And she didn't even feel shocked when her mentor said, "Drear."