“It did not work. The wolf died with the man’s blood inside her and vanished into the night. But years later, the man suffered a powerful pain and, in an attempt to soothe his aching, he wandered into the woods where his pain began to subside. There, he found his wolf, alive and well, and his pain disappeared at her nearness.
“But soon after their reunion, the wolf grew ill and her eyes began to glow. The immortal man could not heal her and she died once again in his hands. This death and resurrection happened three times and the people of Avalon thought the wolf was magic.
“But in the wolf’s third life, the immortal man became sick, just like the wolf had so many times before, both of them with glowing eyes. What the man had failed to realize was that he and his pet were sharing a lifeforce—a source of life that is meant for only one soul.
As powerful as the immortal’s lifeforce was, it could not sustain both souls. You, my dear,” Mr. Brooks looked at Scarlet, “are borrowing a lifeforce. That is how you are able to die and come back to life. And, from the glowing eyes of this young man,” he nodded at Tristan, “I’m assuming the immortal lifeforce that revives you belongs to him.”
Scarlet’s breathing grew rapid. She and Tristan were sharing a lifeforce? That didn’t sound good.
“So now you’re both getting sick?” Nate cursed and shoved his hands in his hair.
Mr. Brooks looked at Scarlet somberly. “How many lives have you had?”
She blinked.
“This is her seventh,” Tristan answered.
“Oh, my.” Mr. Brooks rubbed his mouth nervously. “And both of you have glowing eyes?”
“Yes. But Tristan’s eyes have never glowed before.” Scarlet stepped forward. “It’s usually only my eyes that glow. What does…what does this mean?”
“It means you’re in transition.” Mr. Brooks tapped his fingers on his cane. “The lifeforce is perfectly balanced right now.”
“Is that good?” Gabriel asked.
Mr. Brooks shifted his jaw. “A perfectly balanced lifeforce doesn’t last long. It will soon shift to only the girl.”
Scarlet was stunned. “But that doesn’t make any sense. If Tristan’s eyes have never glowed before, then we’ve never been in transition before. Why now?” Her voice rose. “What could have made our lifeforce connection balanced?”
Mr. Brooks pressed his lips together. “As far as I know, there are only two ways a lifeforce is shared. Through blood. And through touch.”
Nate ran a hand through his hair and looked at Scarlet. “Has more of Tristan’s blood entered your body in the last few months? Did you cut yourself? Did you slip and fall on a syringe filled with Tristan’s blood? Did you play Vampire Scarlet and bite him?”
“Ooh,” Heather whispered. “Vampire Scarlet sounds hot.”
Scarlet glared at Heather before looking back to Nate. “No,” she shook her head. “I haven’t been anywhere near Tristan’s blood.”
Nate looked Tristan. “What about when she was dying and bleeding all over you? Did you have any of your own blood on your hands, or your face, or your lips?” Nate asked pointedly.
Way to be subtle, Nate. That’snot awkward at all.
Tristan shook his head, his jaw flexing. “No.”
“Well, then,” Mr. Brooks leaned on his cane, “the lifeforce must have been shared through touch.”
Everyone turned their eyes and stared at Tristan and Scarlet.
Well, this is embarrassing.
Tristan looked at the table. Scarlet bit the inside of her cheek.
Heather whispered, “Awk-ward.”
Gabriel pinched his lips together and his eyes darkened. “Damn it, Tristan. You just couldn’t keep your hands off of her, could you?”
Tristan met Gabriel’s eyes with a cold stare.
Nate shook his head. “The transition may have started in Scarlet’s last life, but Tristan’s glowing eyes didn’t start until this life. Which means….”
Scarlet’s cheeks were on fire.
Heather sucked in a slow breath and looked at Scarlet. “Did you touch Tristan in this life?”
Everyone stared at Scarlet.
She shifted. She cleared her throat. “I may…have…laid on top of Tristan…for a few hours the other night.”
Gabriel cursed.
Tristan turned his eyes to the floor and rubbed the back of his neck.
Heather tucked in a devilish smile.
And Nate looked exhausted. “Are you kidding me? After I specifically told you not to touch him?”
“Tristan was dying!” Scarlet said. “I couldn’t just let the pain kill him. I had to touch him.”
Heather nodded her head with big eyes. “Sure you did.”
Mr. Brooks defended Scarlet.“During transition, the lifeforce carriers can transfer life back and forth between each other through touch. It’s possible he was dying and Scarlet’s touch saved his life.” He paused and looked at Scarlet. “You’re lucky you survived. The transfer could have easily killed you.”
Nate shook his head in disappointment as he eyed Scarlet. “You shouldn’t have touched Tristan.” He gave Tristan a cold look. “And you should know better.”
Tristan opened his mouth to protest, but Gabriel cut him off.
“I’m going to kill you.” Gabriel pointed at Tristan.
“For what?” Tristan raised a brow at his twin. “It’s not like I asked Scarlet to come lay on top of me. I woke up and she was just…there.”
Ohmygoodness.
Scarlet wanted to melt into the floor.
Gabriel cocked his head to the side. “Is that what happened in her last life too? You just accidentally touched Scarlet enough to set the lifeforce transition into motion? God! How much touching did you do?”
Heather bit her nails.
Scarlet looked around for a hole in the floor. Or a something to hide behind. Could this get any more embarrassing?
Tristan narrowed his eyes. “What do you want, like a scale of one to ten?”
Yep. More embarrassing. Scarlet dropped her face into her hands.
Gabriel’s jaw tightened as he scowled at Tristan. “You son of a—“
“Okay!” Nate swung a hand down in-between Tristan and Gabriel. “What happened in the past—any past—doesn’t really matter anymore. What matters, is fixing our current situation so we can get things back to normal.” He added, “And by ‘normal’, I mean cursed and all screwed up.” He looked at Mr. Brooks. “How did the immortal guy and his wolf fix their condition? What did they have to do to make the lifeforce unbalanced again so the immortal man could get better?”
Mr. Brooks paused. “The man didn’t get better. He and the wolf were two souls sharing one immortal life. Only one of them could survive.”
“What do you mean?” Scarlet’s chest tightened. She knew what he meant, she just didn’t believe it.
Mr. Brooks looked pained. “The man died.”
Scarlet’s heart stopped beating. She actually felt it stop.
She raced her eyes to Tristan hoping to see him scoff and shake his head in denial. But Tristan was looking at the table, stress oozing from his soul.
Disbelief clouded Nate’s face. “So if we don’t find the fountain soon and undo Tristan and Scarlet’s connection….”