Immortal Healer: Immortal Stonekeeper Prequel (2025) Chapter 2: Chapter 2: An Old Friend

Read chapter 2 of Immortal Healer: Immortal Stonekeeper Prequel (2025) by Mercynarie on NovelPedia.

Twenty-eight years after the Great War ended, Duncan Ward found himself naked on top of a woman in a marshy hotel bed. He could feel her hot breath on his chest as he kept his hands on both sides of her head, pressing her wrists down. Her cheeks were pink with pleasure, her mouth slightly open in a silent groan. Duncan continued thrusting, watching her panting get heavier by the second. It wouldn’t take much longer now. With a collective long moan, both of them gripped each other in a tight, rough embrace, releasing the fruits of their climaxes simultaneously. And then they let go, with the woman only releasing her grip a few seconds after he did. “Masterfully done, as always. Happy birthday, Duncan,” the woman sighed in a sultry voice, flipping her dark hair from her face and resting her hand over her head. “Fortune doth favour the maiden betrothed to you.” “Come now, Lucy.” Duncan leaned against the maple bed frame. “Do not tell me that is your way of asking for my hand.” Lucy Carpenter clung to her ethereal beauty even at her age, looking not a day above thirty. Despite the vigorous activity earlier, her fashionable bombshell hairstyle remained perfectly in place. She mock-gasped, placing a hand on her chest. “Why, I never! How unseemly is it for a fair maiden to ask a man for his hand?” “A ‘fair maiden’ with teeth such as thine?” Duncan smirked, gesturing to the two fangs spilling over the woman’s bottom lip. Lucy widened her night-black eyes for a brief moment before her fangs slowly retracted into her gums. Duncan slid out of bed and reached for his trousers, which were folded neatly on a nearby velvet chair. His shirt, on the other hand, was strewn somewhere else in the room, so he didn’t bother looking for it. Duncan spent the next few minutes looking out of the hotel window. Crowds of people lined Oxford Street. Some were waving flags, while others were holding signs. Confetti littered the floor while glimmering chrome cars strolled languidly. Uniformed bands blared a happy, familiar tune, marching down the road beside the vehicles. There were a few wrong notes here and there, but people weren’t exactly paying attention. They were too busy celebrating the victory of the Second World War. “What are you thinking about?” Lucy walked up to Duncan from behind, now dressed in a simple camisole. “England has begun demobilisation,” Duncan commented. “The Second Great War is all but fully won.” “Do you regret staying away from it?” “Art thou not a vampire of nine hundred years, Lucy?” he said. “You, above all, should know that immortals such as we have no place in this fleeting world. Life is impermanent for mortals like them—” He pointed at the dancing crowd below. “—But it’s pretty damn permanent for us. Our choices bear a burdensome weight, and I have chosen amiss for centuries. Nay, I’ve had my fill. No more succour. No more intervention.” “Is that how you truly feel?” Lucy frowned, placing her hand on his shoulder. “The world has much yet to give, though shadows may fall at times. I know your love for mankind endures; why deny thyself?” “Thousands of souls have I saved as a healer these four hundred years,” Duncan replied with increasing bitterness in his voice. “I might save a million more, yet none of it shall avail if mankind be bent on self-destruction. I know you still have faith in the world, but I have it no longer. I prithee, Lucy, honour my resolve.” “And what of your vow to Yuri?” The man looked away. “She has long since departed, and my vow unto her is more than fulfilled,” he said after a brief pause. “Siege of Rhodes— fifteen-twenty-two, Anglo-Spanish War— fifteen-eighty-five, Ireland war— fifteen-ninety-three, English Civil War— sixteen-forty-two, French Revolution— seventeen-ninety-two, The Suriname Skirmishes— eighteen-three, American Civil War— eighteen-sixty-one, The First World War— nineteen-fourteen. I think I have helped plenty.” “It’s not about how many wars you’ve volunteered for, and you know that.