Indefinite Renewal Read online

  “Then that is how you know how to cartwheel, and where your newfound coordination has come from.”

  Nick turned to face him, vision blurring from the tears that had sprung up in his eyes. “I don’t understand—what’s happening to me?”

  “You have been Renewed,” Daniel explained softly. Then, seeing the incomprehension in the younger man’s face, he shifted back and made himself more comfortable.

  “All right, let me start again. As I told you, I am over a thousand years old. I am not sure why this is, only that it is. There are a handful of us, some twenty or so in all, spread across the globe. We have each gone by many different names, and our little society has also had its fair share, but lately we have called ourselves the Renewed. We are, for all practical purposes, immortal. That is, we can live forever under the right conditions.”

  Daniel rose and walked over to a small wet bar set by the door, unstopping a crystal decanter full of amber fluid.

  “Brandy?” Nick shook his head and watched as Daniel poured a fingerful into a squat, square glass, then re-stopped the bottle.

  “No one knows how we started,” Daniel stated, raising his glass and swirling the liquid before taking a sip. “Some think we are descended from Methuselah, the longest-lived man on record—according to the Bible he lived to be nine hundred and sixty-nine. Personally, I think we are descended directly from his father Enoch, the only one of the elders named who does not have a recorded death.” He wandered back over to the couch and perched on its arm, one leg swinging freely against it. “You can look it up—it’s part of Adam’s lineage, starting with him and ending with Noah. All the other entries say how old they were when they died, but for Enoch it simply states, ‘And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.’ Genesis, Book six, Chapter twenty-four.” He took another swallow of brandy. “But that is neither here nor there—the important thing is that people lived much longer in Biblical times, up to ten times longer than they do now. You’re a geneticist—you understand about untapped potential.”

  Nick nodded, tears forgotten as his mind struggled to assimilate this preposterous-sounding idea. “So you’re suggesting that mankind always had the ability to live to those ages, but it’s dormant within all of us?”

  “Exactly.” Daniel sipped again, and then rested the glass on his upraised knee. ‘Only, there are some of us who can unlock that potential again. I don’t know how it works, or why, but it is genetic; our children are far more likely to have the gift than anyone else.” He frowned. “Actually, come to think of it, I don’t know any of us who didn’t inherit it from a parent. So it must be completely hereditary—somewhere way back when there’s probably a common ancestor, but I’ll be damned if I know where.” He drained the last of the brandy and set the empty glass on the table, then reclaimed his seat in the chair across from Nick.

  “There’s a catch, of course. We have the ability to live forever, but not the means.”

  “What does that mean?” Nick had the feeling that Daniel was playing with him, leading him down a particular path. He considered spoiling the older man’s fun by walking out, but his curiosity held him in place.

  “Well, for some reason—maybe a change in diet, or something in the air, or the type of clothing we wear, or whatever—we don’t have enough energy to live beyond today’s average span of eighty or so years. And when one of us is Awakened, our metabolism changes —we use up that life-energy even faster than before, and consequently live for even shorter periods. So, in order to survive, we need to absorb more energy on a fairly regular basis.”

  Nick laughed. “What are you saying, that you plug yourself into an electrical outlet every night?”

  Daniel ignored the caustic tone and merely shook his head. “No, unfortunately that’s the wrong sort of energy. We need life energy, and the only way to get that is from other people. Like that young woman who helped you—the cheerleader.”

  Nick held his head in both hands to make it stop spinning, but it didn’t help; he was starting to fit the pieces together now, and he didn’t like the picture they were forming. “You’re saying that I absorbed her life into me somehow—that I killed her so I could survive? And that’s why I can do cartwheels now, because she could?”

  “Exactly.” Daniel seemed pleased at his conclusions. “You took her life-energy, thus Renewing and revitalizing yourself. She was in her late teens and probably had another sixty years in her, so you should live about thirty more years on her alone. And, since you took her essence into yourself, you now possess any knowledge and skills she had, such as her gymnastic ability.” A faint smile lit his face. “It’s better than osmosis—this really works.”

  “That’s not funny!”

  Daniel laughed. “All right, I’m sorry if I upset you. But you’re young—you’ll get used to it.” He fixed Nick with his gaze. “Believe me, the first few are always the worst, but after a while it doesn’t bother you as much. After all, you can live for centuries—think of the discoveries you could make, following a hypothesis farther and longer than any mortal has the time or patience for! You could save mankind from all sorts of catastrophes—why, if you wanted, you might even be able to unlock this ability in everyone, although I doubt you’d want to.” He frowned at the thought. “The idea of an entire world of people who could live forever but needed to absorb other people to do it—brrr.” He shuddered. “It sounds like a bad sci-fi movie to me. Still, if that’s your shtick, as they say, then go for it. There’s plenty of time to change your mind, or anything else you like.”

  Nick had risen to his feet and was pacing on the plush carpet.

  “I’m still not sure I buy all this. I mean, what if I’ve always had the ability to do gymnastics, or I learned it once and blocked it out for some reason, and the fall jarred it loose inside my head? That would certainly be more believable than thinking I’m some sort of energy vampire.”

  “Incubi.”

  “What?”

  “Incubi—that’s what they used to call us.” Daniel rose and stepped near him, hands clasped loosely behind his back. “The women were succubi—we were thought of as demons who came to people in the night, slept with them, and stole part of their lives away, leaving them weak for several days.” He grinned. “It was a lot of fun, actually—there were a lot of people, especially young maidens, who relished the idea of mysterious demon lovers, and they enjoyed the visits. True, they usually died young, but that just added to the tragic mystique.”

  Nick stared at him. “You’re telling me that you’re the basis for some ancient myth about demonic lovers?” Daniel shrugged modestly. “This is crazy! I still don’t buy it, any of it!”

  Daniel sighed. “All right, I’ll prove it to you, if I must.”

  Nick shrank back from him. “How, by draining me?” That stirred another memory, a dull ember from the previous evening, but Daniel shook his head and laughed, and the sound shattered Nick’s thoughts.

  “No, of course not. I’m not going to do anything to you. You are.” He raised a hand to forestall the questions that were already forming on Nick’s lips. “Wait. Now, as I said, you absorbed the energy of this girl, Amy. You can simply use that energy to live longer, of course, but there are other things you can do with it.” Daniel paced as he warmed to his subject, almost lecturing. “Our own energy, that which we are born with, is a part of us, and we can not use it or even measure it very well. Now, however, you are using energy you absorbed from outside yourself. Because of this, you can utilize it in a variety of ways, with a great deal more control.” He paused and turned to study his solitary audience. “Tell me, Nick, are you happy with your body?” A slight smile wandered across his lips. “I know that sounds like some fitness club commercial, but I’m serious. Do you like the way you look? Did you ever want to be bigger, more muscular?”

  Nick shrugged and glanced down at his lanky frame. “Sure, I wouldn’t mind—I always wanted to have a gymnast’s build—you know, lean but muscular.
” He straightened his glasses self-consciously. “But I never had the time to exercise, and I’m fine like this.”

  “Accepting your faults is all very laudable,” Daniel observed a bit condescendingly, “but you no longer have to settle for that.” He spread his arms to display his own muscular frame. “Do you think I worked out to look like this? Of course not. I built myself up the easy way, and so will you.” He smiled. “Don’t worry, there’s absolutely no danger involved. Now close your eyes.” Nick studied him suspiciously for a second, then sighed and did as he was told, consigning himself to darkness. “Good. Now feel the energy in yourself—think of it as heat, a sort of warm glow all around your body.” Nick concentrated, and after a second he grew aware of a faint tingle that made his hairs stand on end all over, as if he had gotten a light shock, but not unpleasant. Actually it was a comfortable feeling, like being wrapped in a large blanket, all warm and cozy. “All right,” Daniel’s voice called out, seeping slowly through the layers of warmth and circling lazily around Nick’s head like echoes in a cave, “now move that energy to your arms and torso, and to your legs as well—feel them growing warmer as the heat pools there.” Nick did as he was told and gradually those parts heated up until it felt as if he were sitting in a hot tub, his arms and torso and legs sweltering from the heat.

  “Do you feel it?” He nodded. “All right, now picture yourself the way you look now, particularly those areas. Try to be as detailed and accurate as possible, down to the muscle tone or lack thereof.” Nick frowned as he focused, and slowly he formed a picture of himself in his head. It took longer for the detail, but finally he had what he thought was as precise a self-image as he could manage.

  “All right, good.” Somehow Daniel knew that he had reached that point. “Now change that image until it looks the way you want it to, with the muscles you desire—and while you do that, feel the energy around your arms and legs and chest. That image is you, and you are about to change, to make yourself the way you want to be.”

  But even as he concentrated on his arms and legs Nick’s brain was ticking away, and his eyes popped open as the truth finally came home to him.

  “I killed Amy, didn’t I?”

  Daniel’s response was grave. “Yes, Nicholas, you did. But that’s over and done now.”

  “I killed her,” Nick repeated, “and now you want me to use her life energy—her essence, which I tore out of her—to give me big muscles?” His face twisted with revulsion and the heat faded from his skin, leaving him cold and shivering. “That’s disgusting!”

  The man beside him shrugged. “Why? She’s already dead—what difference does it make how you use her energy? It’s yours now, to do as you wish—take advantage of it!”

  “Never!” Nick felt his stomach heaving at the mere thought of turning sweet little Amy’s very being into an excuse for him to look good. And the fiend beside him had almost convinced him to do it! He glared at Daniel but the other man showed no sign of remorse, and the slight smile on his lips reminded Nick of what he had said just moments before: “I’m not going to do anything to you. You are.” He had been the one who had longed for a new physique without the hard work that went into it, and he was the one who had almost squandered the precious remnants of a wonderful person to accomplish that wish. Daniel had set the wheels in motion, but Nick had climbed into the car all on his own.

  “Stay away from me,” he spat at Daniel, gritting his teeth to keep from heaving, and stalked out of the room, letting the heavy door slam shut behind him.

  “Well, that went reasonably well.”

  “Yes, it did. He’ll do nicely, I think.”

  “Don’t get cocky—he’s not dumb, and he’s not a sheep, either.”

  “I’m well aware of that, thank you.”

  “Should we go after him?”

  “No, let him think for a few days. He’ll be back.”

  Chapter Eleven

  A knock on the door made Nick sit up—an unfamiliar man was standing there, hand still raised to wood. He didn’t look like a student—mid-thirties or so, short brown beard and mustache, neat brown hair, tinted glasses, wearing a gray suit with a deep blue tie—more like some executive. He was staring straight at Nick.

  “Can I help you?” Nick sat up and swept a hand through his hair, trying to regain his composure. It had been two days since his encounter with Daniel and he still hadn’t shaken his horror at what he’d become—or what he had almost done.

  “Nick Gordon?” The stranger studied him again, and then nodded in answer to his own question. “Yes, of course you are.” He stepped through the door and extended a manicured hand.

  “Jonathan Harcourt. Member of the Renewed.”

  Nick stood up at that, casting a quick glance around as he accepted the man’s handshake. There were a few people wandering by, but no one paid any attention; Hillary was out until the afternoon and a glance at the clock told him he had about twenty minutes before Gordo got back from his morning class.

  “What can I do for you, Mr. Harcourt?” He gestured the other man to Gordo’s seat, resumed his own. “And how did you find me?”

  “Oh, that was easy.” Mr. Harcourt leaned back in the chair, resting his crossed feet on the desk, one hand twisting the chain of a pocket watch that hung from his vest. “There are only a few Nicholas Gordons, even in Chicago, so I did a little checking. I tried the student directory here, figuring that would be about the right age. Then I did a web search on you, and discovered you were a biology instructor. It gave this office number as your work address.”

  Nick nodded. “So now you’ve found me, and introduced yourself—is that it, or did you come by for something else?” Harcourt was a little shorter than he, and the lines of his suit suggested a slightly fuller form, more fat than muscle. Nick thought he could probably take him if the guy got any strange ideas, but he’d rather find out what he wanted first.

  “Just to welcome you into our ranks, and to offer some friendly words of advice.” Harcourt brought his feet off the desk and swiveled to face Nick, eyes dark behind his glasses. “Be careful.”

  “Of what? Everything? Frozen ice cream? Window washers in the rain?”

  Harcourt didn’t smile. “You’re the new kid on the block, Nick—the untested rookie. As such, you could be very useful to any number of people, including Daniel himself. Don’t let him use you, or trick you into anything.”

  “Like what?” Nick leaned forward. “What are we talking about here? How would he use me?”

  “As a pawn in the game, of course.”

  “What game?”

  Harcourt’s mouth twisted into a faint sneer. “He didn’t even tell you? Gods!” He stood up and paced the narrow room. “We’re immortal, Nick—I’ve been alive almost two hundred years now, and I’m the youngest except for you. What do you think such people do to occupy their time? Catch up on their reading?”

  “I don’t know—this is all new to me.”

  Harcourt turned and lunged at him, sending Nick back against his desk, all thoughts of fighting back driven away by the speed of the man’s attack. Inches from him Harcourt pulled to a halt, hands reaching out to grip his shoulders, face bare inches from his own.

  “Power, boy! One-upmanship! That’s what it’s all about!” He released Nick so abruptly he fell backward, catching himself on his elbows against the cold metal of the desk before sinking back into his seat. “We are the only ones who can understand each other, and so we are the only ones worth impressing. Most of us spend our time trying to wring that respect out of the rest, trying to be the best at everything at once. Financial strategy, armed combat, yachting, racecar driving—you name it, we’ve competed at it. And usually we wind up in camps, with two or three real leaders vying for the loyalty of the rest. It’s all a big power-play, and it never ends.”

  Nick breathed deeply, trying to regain his composure for the second time in as many minutes. “And you? Where do you fit in all this?”

  “Oh, I win o
ccasionally,” Harcourt replied, studying his fingernails modestly. “I do better with the more business-oriented areas, but I have no illusions. I’m only a minor player.”

  “Then why are you here? To enlist me as some sort of ally?”

  His guest shrugged. “The thought had crossed my mind, but at the moment you have no real status, no ability, so your loyalty wouldn’t be worth much. No, I just came to make sure you weren’t blindly following anyone into a trap. You’re only a pawn at this point, but a completely unformed one—if one of the major players manages to grab you, you could be theirs for life, and eventually that will carry some weight. I wanted to warn you to keep your eyes open around the rest of us—everyone’s got an ulterior motive for everything they do.” Harcourt straightened his jacket, brushed his sleeves, and turned toward the door. “That was it. I’ll see you around, probably at the Club—I’m usually there, as are most of the others. Just be careful not to believe everything you’re told, and you should be okay.” He exited the office, turned the corner, and was gone.

  Nick watched him go. Everyone had an ulterior motive, Harcourt had said. That made sense, but then why had he come by? Certainly not just to offer some friendly advice. Most likely he was with one of the other factions he’d mentioned, and didn’t want Nick getting too close to Daniel.

  Not that they had to worry. He still had far too many unanswered questions, ones that Daniel had evaded or simply ignored, to completely trust the older man. For now Nick decided that he would just deal with classes and work, and wait and see what developed. Eventually, though, he would have to go back to the club and find the answers he needed. Then he’d decide where his loyalties lay, if with anyone, and what he was going to do with the rest of his life. Fortunately that could wait. Right now eternity seemed a long way away, and Nick swung his chair around to glance at the clock, far more interested in when Gordo and Hillary would get back and whether he could talk them into going out for Chinese tonight.