Wesley looked away.
“W hen I healed you, we were not intimate. I wasn’t as familiar with your energy as I am now. So, when I use my energy to heal someone other than myself, it clashes with their own and it’s terribly painful. Healing myself is easy, healing others is very difficult. I’ve . . . killed people trying. You were screaming in pain, and crying. I didn’t want you to remember that so I asked Justin to take the memory away from you.”
“He can do that?” She found this profoundly disturbing.
“He has some abilities with mind and memory control. This is also how we just got through security on Capri with no questions asked. From a distance he made them think we had the proper clearance so they didn’t question us.”
“Yes, I did think that was a little too easy.” Ava looked at the floor.
“Ava, I’m sorry we did that to you, believe me, our intentions were good.” His voice conveyed his sincerity.
“What else have you all done to me?” Ava asked, suddenly feeling anxious.
“Nothing, I swear. . .”
“What about the blood transfusion that seemed to cure the virus that almost killed me? What did that do to me that I feel this anxious all the time?” She could feel the energy firing up inside her from the anxiety she was feeling now.
“It is Justin’s energy that you are experiencing. His blood is human, it just carries his energy and you are not used to it. You will be a little bit stronger for a while, and have more energy, but you should return to your normal self in a few months when his blood cells die off and you replace them with your own.”
“So that’s it. That’s everything?”
“Ava, there are a few more things that you should know.”
“I’m sure. . .” Ava’s voice trailed off. This was a lot of information to take in.
“Ava, I’m not as young as I appear to you,” he said hesitantly, clearly not enjoying bringing up this part of the conversation.
“How old are you?”
“When I became human I assumed I would live out the rest of my human life and die like humans do, but I quickly learned this was not to be. I . . . haven’t aged since that day. I have now been like this for 316 years.”
“Three hundred and sixteen years?” Ava looked at the man sitting next to her, a man who appeared to be somewhere around thirty two years old.
“Yes.”
“You’re . . . immortal?” Ava wasn’t sure how much more she could take today.
“Not exactly. I don’t know how long I can live like this, but I do know that I am the oldest Asterion that has become human. However, if we are injured, and our energy is depleted, we can be killed.”
“Then what happens to your essence?”
“I’m not sure. In the few cases I have seen an Asterion die, it is very much like a human death, although, I sensed that the essence sort of floated away, dissipated. I don’t think it would be the same as going back to the way it was before becoming human. It definitely felt different.”
Ava looked at the floor; tears started sliding down her cheeks. She wasn’t sure what to expect from this conversation. Her home had been blown up, she had left her job, and now the most important person in her life was not what she had believed him to be. She felt as though her fragile world had shattered around her within the last seventy two hours.
“I know this isn’t easy for you to hear. It’s a lot. Ava, please, all I ask is that you give me a chance. . .”
“A chance for what Wesley?” Ava interrupted. She tried not to sound angry, it came out sounding more upset. “How can we possibly be together now? I . . . cannot be what you are! You are going to be forever young while I grow old and die. What would our relationship be like when I’m sixty and you’re still
Learning to Kill: Stories