Read Online The Seventh Immortal (Hearts of Amaranth #1) by J.M. Parry - Free Book Online Page B

with the vox dei . And just like with Thomas, it
didn't work. It just made Kait angrier.
    “ Let us go!” Kait shouted. “I'm not going to decide anything
tonight.”
    Grant continued to approach the building,
staring at Kait with his hollow eye. “You are so confused,” he
replied. “Stand down. Come with me. And I will teach you how the
world works.”
    Paul snapped out of his daze. He stepped
towards Grant, glaring at him. “She doesn't have to go with you if
she doesn't want to!”
    A smile spread across Grant's face. He
turned to look at Paul, but never addressed him. His attention was
not divided. He still focused entirely on Kait, barely observing
the man with a hint of disdain. “You really have this one trained,
don't you?”
    Kait felt sick to her stomach. The only reason Paul was
trying to stand up for her was the vox dei . He was going to get himself killed, just
like Spencer, because she couldn't control her power. Unlike the
other Gospels, she didn't know how to focus it and use it to lead
people towards a cause. She just strong-armed them into helping
her, even when she didn't know what she wanted.
    “ No!” Kait said. She glanced at Paul. “You have to
leave.”
    “ That's right,” Grant hissed. He continued to grin at them
both. “Give in. Use your power. Use it to save his life. You
realize that's what you have to do, right? Drive him
away.”
    “ What's he talking about?'
    Kait bit her lip. How could she begin to explain this?
Grant wanted her to actively use the vox dei to send Paul away. She could do it. She
could overwhelm his free will entirely, in the same way she'd
forced some of the police officers to momentarily stand
down.
    Why? Why did he want that? If Paul ran away,
Grant would lose all of his leverage. Shooting Kait wouldn't
accomplish much of anything, as they were both well aware. Maybe he
could knock her unconscious with enough bullets to the head, but he
seemed to be playing at something else.
    “ Teach him,” Grant said. “School him in the truth. Show him
what you are. Then he will know the truth.”
    “ I don't want to hurt him,” Kait replied.
    “ You already have. He is confused. Confusion is distress.
You've made him afraid. Fear is agony. He wants you. Desire is
pain.”
    Paul tried to interject. “Would both of you
stop talking like I'm not here?”
    “ You are lucky, my fragile friend. Life is suffering,” Grant
replied. He brought his left hand up to his face. His fingers
traced the edge of his ghostly eye. “Every day. Every hour. Every
minute. The rest of the world has it so easy. For them, it will
eventually end. For us... We will always suffer.”
    Paul's eyes went wide. “Us?” he gasped.
“You... You're immortal, too?”
    Grant nodded. “It took you long enough to
figure it out. Unfortunately, that means that we have to kill you
now. You will not be the one learning my lesson today. It will be
Miss Selias. She will learn that the affection she feels for you is
just a prelude to agony.”
    Dread fell over Kait as she realized that Grant was telling
the truth. This was why Mayor Levin really killed Spencer. It
wasn't to punish Kait. It wasn't to send a message. It was because
he knew . No one in St. Louis knew that many of the city's major
institutions—the government, the police, the church, the gangs, the
business sector—were controlled by the Gospels.
    If the truth came out, not even the vox dei would be able to save the
immortal rulers of the city. Everyone would want a piece of them.
They would be captured. They would be separated. They would be
experimented on, until the even greater powers of the world figured
out the secret to their immortality. And that was a secret that had
already lasted two hundred years.
    Maybe Christa was curious about open warfare
against the Gospels, but the rest of them were not. They would do
anything to prevent being found out. Now that Paul knew, he was a
dead man. And he was beginning to realize that,