There’s a creaking noise, and the pipes in the roughed-in bathroom area start to shake, small droplets of water leaking out from between where the pipes connect to each other.
“That’s not good,” I whisper and take a step backward.
“No, it’s not.” Cass turns, and his eyes widen two seconds before I realize Miss Piggy is behind me. Before I can move, she latches on. She lets out a savage scream when she realizes she can’t feed off me. You’d think she would have learned that lesson yesterday.
I yank myself away, and Cass shouts for me to duck. I fall flat and roll just as the shotgun blasts above me. Another unearthly scream bounces around the basement. I look up to see Cass shoot again, but it has no effect on the ghost. She advances with a determination I’ve only ever seen once. When Jonas came after me.
I’m on my feet and pull out my little pocketknife. I spring the blade and slash at her. She turns from Cass to snarl at me. There is nothing but murder in her eyes. She’s going to do what she can to make sure I never get up again.
This time when her hands grip me, she’s not trying to feed. Instead, her cold seeps inside me, and her hands wrap around my heart and start to squeeze. I may be soul-proof, but I’m not infallible.
It infuriates me, and the reaper that lives inside me comes out, wrapping my own power around her, and we tangle together, neither willing to give an inch. Cass is shouting, and I hear more footsteps pound down the stairs, undoubtedly drawn by the shotgun blasts.
But I can’t focus on any of that, only on the ghost trying to stop my heart.
Cass puts the shotgun right against her temple and fires. Rock salt goes everywhere, and she lets loose long enough for me to get away, but she’s still bound to me because I have my tentacles into her.
“Let her go, Emma.” Nathaniel is right behind me. “You can’t force her to cross over, and you can’t throw her into The Between. You told me that yourself. We need to regroup and figure out another way.”
I have a better idea.
She can’t get away as long as I have hold of her. I take out the last picture I haven’t shown her, the portrait of her son. I hold it up to her, and she has nowhere to go, nowhere to hide. She’s forced to look at it.
Once she does, some of the fight goes out of her, and she stops struggling so hard. “Do you see, Matilde? It’s your son. I can help you see him again.”
The wave of shame that rolls off her is so intense, I almost lose my grasp on her. Why is she ashamed?
“Matilde?”
She looks at me, and some of the white leaves her face, the black streaks melting away until it resembles a human face.
“What happened that night?”
“It was my fault.”
“What was your fault?” I ask, switching to an internal dialogue only she and I can hear.
“The fire.” A tear rolls out of her eye and down her cheek. “My son died because of me.”
“Matilde, you were injured. You couldn’t save him.”
“I tried to go to him, but I stumbled, and the candle rolled off the table. The curtains caught fire, and it spread so fast.”
“Honey, the fire didn’t kill him. It was the man who went up the stairs. The fire only hid the true cause of your deaths. He was gone before the fire ever touched him.”
A low sob escapes her, and she reaches for the drawing. I let her have it. I’m shocked she has enough energy left to hold it. I would have thought the fight she put up would have drained her.
The longer she looks at the sketch, the more the real her emerges, until a young Hispanic woman is standing there, holding the photo to her chest and crying.
“Matilde, you can’t keep punishing others and stealing the lives of children because your son is gone.”
“They deserve it,” she says. “They came for us, not caring that my little one was innocent.”
“Mrs. Harcourt did, but not all the innocents you attacked. You can’t keep doing that. It’s time for you to go, to be with your son.”
All the anger that started to fill up her expression falters. “See my Henry again?”
“Yes,” I tell her solemnly. “Do you want to see him?”
She nods. “How?”
I look to the opposite wall and focus on every happy thought I have, and within a few seconds, a door opens, the light so bright it hurts the eyes. “All you have to do is go into that light. Henry will be waiting for you.”
“I…” She squints, and a look of wonder comes over her face. “Mama?”
“Is your mother waiting for you?” I know it’s a reaper in the form of a loved one, but I won’t burst her bubble.
“Yes, she’s calling to me. She says Henry misses me.”
“Then go to her, Matilde. Go into the light and be with your family.” I let go of her, so there’s nothing tethering her to this place. “It’s okay, Matilde, go.”
“The things I’ve done because of my pain…” She trails off, and her expression becomes fearful. “How will I be judged?”
“God forgives, Matilde, but we answer for all the things we do in this life. I can’t say it’ll be all roses, but I do know there is nothing but love in that light, and your family is there. That’s what you need to focus on, how much you love them and how it’ll feel to hold your son again.”
There is still guilt and shame within her, but her resistance fades, and a sad smile tilts her lips. “I will go and be judged for all the pain I caused here, but then I will see my son, and whatever atonement I must make will be worth it to hold my Henry again.”
“Then, go.” I sweep my hand toward the light. “Go and be at peace.”
“Thank you for helping me, even when I tried to hurt you.”
“This is what I do. It’s my job to help you.”
She nods and turns toward the light. She takes a hesitant step and then another until she’s running toward her mother and the hope of seeing her son once more.
The light fades, and warmth floods the room, a clear indicator that our ghost has crossed over.
“Shiiii—”
I put a finger against Cass’s lips. “No cussing.”
“She doesn’t cuss,” Doc tells them. “Be respectful of that around her.”
They’re all staring at me with a myriad of emotions. This is why I don’t tell people what I can do, let alone allow them to see me do it. I’m a freak. I know it, but I’d hoped to never have anyone look at me like that again.
I turn and go up the stairs, intent on getting away from all of it, and run smack into a hard chest. Looking up, puppy dog brown eyes are staring down at me, a smile tilting his lips.
“Dan!” I fling my arms around him and hug him so tight, I think I might have cut off his circulation. “What are you doing here?”
“I heard you might have been in need of a blessed blade, but you seem to have handled it all on your own.”
He lifts me up, and I wrap my legs around him and hold on while he backs up out of the kitchen and carries me into the living room, sitting on the couch and holding onto me as tightly as I am him.
“I know you said you wanted to do this on your own, to be you without me, but what if I can’t be me without you? Ever think of that?”
I bury my head between his neck and shoulder, breathing in the unique scent that is all Dan. He never wears aftershave. His scent is clean and tinged slightly with the soap he uses, and I love it. I’ve missed it, missed him so much.
Doc clears his throat, and I hear Dan greet him, but I keep my head buried. I’m not ready to face everyone yet and how they look at me.
“We’ll be outside,” Doc says. “Take your time. No one’s going anywhere.”
“Thanks.” Dan’s hands tighten around me, and I listen as they all file outside and the front door closes. “You okay, Squirt?”
“No,” I whisper, “but I’m better now that you’re here. I missed you.”
He tilts my head up so he can see me. “I missed you too.” Then he leans dow
n and kisses me, a kiss so soft and sweet it melts every bone in my body.
“I thought you were working.” I lean back once he lets my lips have some relief.
“I am, but when Caleb told me what was going on, and you told him not to come, I couldn’t sit there and do nothing. You needed me. It was that simple, so I came.”
“I’m glad you ignored me.” He respects my boundaries, but when it comes to my safety, I don’t think there’s anything he won’t do to protect me. Even ignore me when I tell him to stay away.
“Me too.” He kisses my temple and hugs me to him. “As soon as Mom’s trial is over, I’m going to put in my resumé with the police department down here. Being away from you, especially when I know you’re in danger, it’s too hard, Mattie.”
“Emma.”
He snorts, and I laugh. He will never call me Emma.
“You’re Mattie to me, and you always will be.”
“Can I ask you something?”
“Sure, baby, ask away.”
Oh-Em-Gee! He called me baby. It slipped off his tongue as naturally as breathing. My chest swells.
“What you told Nathaniel earlier on the phone, about me being your girlfriend…”
“Yeah?”
“Were you just saying that so he’d know I have someone besides Zeke looking out for me, or…”
“Or did I mean it?” He finishes the question for me.
I nod, keeping my head against his chest where I can feel how rapidly his heart is beating. That’s a good sign, right?
“When I met you, I knew you were special. I felt this tug I’d never felt around anyone, and at first, I tried to tell myself it was just because you had no one and you were like a little sister to me. I tried to keep you firmly in the sister zone. I tried, and I managed it for a long time.” He lets out a heavy sigh before continuing. “Then I got to know Meg. I loved her, and her passing hurt, but it made me realize something.”
“What?” I ask softly.
“That I’d rather lose anyone as long as it wasn’t you. The thought of losing you cripples me, Mattie Louise Hathaway.”
“So, you haven’t met anyone while we’ve been apart?”
“Oh, I’ve met plenty of girls, even thought about asking out a few.”
I freeze. Officer Dan went out with another girl? I’m gonna murder him.
“But when I walked up to one to try, I couldn’t do it. They weren’t you. You’re it for me, Squirt. I can wait for you as long as you need me to, but you’re mine, and I’m gonna marry you one day.”
Tears flood my eyes, and I let them fall. After everything that happened today, after all the stares and the looks from the Willow crew, hearing Dan say this is just too much.
“Hey, now, what’s with the waterworks?” The alarm in his voice is comical, but I only cry harder.
“I’m sorry, I just…”
“Shh, baby. It’s okay. I didn’t mean to make you cry.”
I’m not sure how long we sit there before my tears stop and I’m able to talk again. He still didn’t answer my question, though. “Does that mean you weren’t just calling me your girlfriend to protect me from my brother?”
He laughs low, and it sends shivers racing up and down my spine. “You’re mine, Squirt. No one else is ever laying their lips on you again.”
“No more thinking about asking other girls out either.” The words come out dark and harsh, my jealousy rearing its ugly head.
“Hey, look at me.”
When I do, he blinks. “Your eyes are black.”
“I…I can’t control it. It’s part of me.”
“Hey. Don’t look at me like that.”
“Like what?”
“Like you expect me to be disgusted and walk away. I know you’re part demon. I know that part comes to life when you feel threatened or someone you love is threatened. It woke up when you thought I was dead. You used that part of yourself to protect me.”
“I wasn’t going to let you die.”
He gives me another of those half smiles that make a girl melt. “Remember what I told you about you and me?”
“That you’re in for the long haul?”
“Half-demon and all.” He kisses the tip of my nose. “There isn’t a part of you I don’t love. There’s nothing you will ever do or say to chase me away. Make me mad as hell, sure, but I won’t ever walk away from you. You’re mine, and I keep what’s mine.”
“You’ve gotten very possessive since I last saw you.” He’s more intense too, more…everything.
“I just know what I want, and that happens to be you. I know you wanted me to stay away so you could prove to yourself you can be strong without me. I’m not going to interfere with that, but I want to be here for you, for when you do need me.”
“I proved all that to myself today. I was able to solve my own mess without any help from you. I am a strong woman, but that doesn’t mean I can’t make room for you. I want you here, Dan. I know it’s selfish because your entire family is in Charlotte, but I can’t live there.”
“I know, baby. Too many bad memories, but I can’t be there without you either. You’re stuck with me as soon as the trial’s over.”
“It starts next month?”
He nods, and some of the happiness leaves his eyes.
“I’ll be there.”
“Promise?”
“Promise, Officer Dan.”
“Come on, Squirt. Let’s go outside before Mary decides to barge in. I think she’s at her limit.”
I laugh just thinking about her. She probably is ready to burst through the doors. I scramble off Dan’s lap, and he stands and pulls me to him, keeping an arm around me as we go outside into the night.
Dan steers us right toward Nathaniel, who’s leaning against his car. Dan sticks his hand out, and Nathaniel shakes it automatically. “I’m Dan.”
“Yes, I gathered that.” Nathaniel has a rueful smile plastered on. “It’s nice to meet you.”
“You’ll be seeing a lot more of me, so if you think you’re going to do anything to hurt my girl, you are sadly mistaken.” The sword flares on his back, and Nathaniel’s eyes widen.
“You carry one of the swords?”
“The Sword of Truth,” Dan confirms. “Don’t ever make me use it on you.”
“I won’t. My intent is not to hurt her.” He shifts his gaze to me. “Can I speak with you for a moment? Alone?”
I nod, and Dan grudgingly lets me go. “Go talk to Doc and introduce yourself to Mary’s crush, Wade.”
Dan makes a face. “Yeah, I already met him.”
“I don’t like him either,” Nathaniel says, his gaze behind me. “He’s too whiney.”
“Then go meet the Willows. They helped out tonight.”
“Sure, but I’m just right over there.” Dan shoots Nathaniel one last warning glare and wanders off in the others’ direction.
“He’s territorial.”
“Yeah.”
“I’m glad you have someone like him in your life. You need people around you that you can trust. You are special, Emma. There’s going to be people who crave what you have, people who will do almost anything to get it. Especially your blood.”
“About that…I know you saw what happened with the picture. No one knows I can do that except Dan, my dad, and Silas. No one else. It needs to stay that way.”
“I’m not going to tell anyone. It would be signing your death warrant if I did. That’s not a demonic trait, though. Demons can’t give life.”
“No, it’s not,” I agree and let it drop. I’m not telling him my real mother was a goddess.
“I lied to you.”
“I know.”
“You knew?”
This time it’s my turn to grin. “You can’t lie to a liar, and I’m an expert liar.”
He chuckles. “I never thought about it like that.”
“I just don’t know what you were lying about.”
“I came here to steal your gifts. As soo
n as my grandfather did some digging, I craved your power. My goal was to get you alone and drain your blood and consume your power.”
“You had your chance that first night when I passed out.”
“I couldn’t do it. I thought about it. Really, I did, but every time I started to kill you, something stopped me. I found myself wanting to protect you. The more time I spent with you, the more that feeling grew. You’re my sister, and I don’t know if the need to protect you sprang up from our familial tie, or if you’re just that special, but I’m not going to hurt you, Emma. I won’t let anyone else hurt you either.”
I can taste the truth of his words on my tongue, but I still don’t trust him. Maybe I need time to get to know him, but there is something off. The same kind of weird feeling I get around Doc.
Maybe it’s still the foster kid in me who is afraid to let people in.
But I do know one thing.
He is my brother, and I am going to try.
“Okay.”
“Just okay?” He quirks a brow at me.
“Just okay. I’m up for getting to know my long-lost brother.”
“I’m glad you’re willing to give me a chance.”
“I saw you a long time ago in a vision of Georgina. She was in a field, and you were four or five, running around, and I was just a baby on a blanket. You know what’s weird?”
“What?”
“Georgina called you Jacob.”
His eyes widened. “My grandfather said she always called me Jacob while she was pregnant, but my father filled out the birth certificate. I was always Jacob to her, though. She even called me that when she was home over the summer.”
Huh.
“I think your crew is getting anxious.” Nathaniel nods to where they’re all pacing and casting looks our way. “Best we get over there.”
I walk back over to everyone, feeling a little better about Nathaniel but determined not to let my unease keep me from getting to know him. I was serious when I told Zeke I’d rather have Nathaniel close where I can watch him than keep him at arm’s length and miss something that could get me killed later.
“Can I say it?” Eric is the first person to speak when we reach them.
Destiny: A Fantasy Collection Page 85
