by H G Lynch
Reid kissed her forehead, then her damp cheek, then finally her lips again. Then he looked at her, so much love in his eyes it made her heart ache. “Because I won’t leave you. I will never leave you, and nothing could make me. Nothing,” he breathed with utter conviction.
Ember felt her mouth twist, and more tears spilled down her cheeks helplessly. She buried her head in his chest, and he held her while she whimpered.
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. For everything. For-for earlier. I didn’t mean to—” Her voice broke even though she was only whispering, and Reid hugged her more firmly, his strong arms encasing her, protecting her.
“I know. I know. It wasn’t your fault. I don’t blame you. I don’t. It’s okay,” he murmured in her ear.
She shook her head against his chest. “It’s not okay. I-I hurt you,” her voice wavered and she bit her lip.
“I’m okay. You didn’t mean to. I’m fine now. You need to stop worrying about me, Emz. It takes a lot to keep me down. Even getting staked couldn’t do it, remember? Nothing will keep me out of action when you’re in danger.”
“But what if—”
“No more ‘what ifs’. It won’t happen. I’m going to stay right by your side and keep you safe, okay? Okay?” His fingers touched the back of her neck, stroking the sensitive skin so she shivered involuntarily. She couldn’t help it. He knew her weak spots. She nodded, but she didn’t really mean it. He didn’t know about the nightmare, he couldn’t understand her worry. He didn’t have the same gnawing, awful feeling in his gut.
For a moment, she considered telling him about the dream, but then she bit back the words. She wasn’t sure she could stand to describe it right now, not when she still felt like she might shatter into a thousand tiny pieces at the drop of a hat. It had been tough enough telling Sherry about it before, and she hadn’t felt nearly so fragile then.
Instead, she sniffled and looked up at him, and said something else. “Reid?”
“Hmm?”
“I want the cursed mirror gone.”
He laughed, and a delicate smile touched her mouth before she settled back against his chest, listening to his deep, even breathing.
***
They sat like that for a long time, and eventually, Ember drifted off to sleep in Reid’s arms. He held her gently, afraid to shift even slightly in case he woke her. He felt her sides moving steadily in time with her breathing, listened to the easy beat of her little heart, breathed in her lovely grapefruit-and-sandalwood scent. Lightly, he stroked out the tangles in her soft hair, wondering at how fragile she suddenly seemed. She’d always seemed fragile when she was sleeping, but now, it was doubly so since he’d seen how fragile she could be when she was awake. Oh, he’d had no idea how much of a front she was putting up for the rest of them lately, until now. He’d had no clue just how close to the edge she was, how much everything was getting to her. But now he understood. His precious demon was breaking apart, and all he could do was hold her like this and hope it was enough to keep her together.
A sharp noise suddenly cut through the quiet of the room, and he looked around for the source of the sound, aiming to shut it up before it woke Ember. But it was too late. She was already shifting against him, squirming unhappily at being woken.
“Mh, stupid phone,” she muttered, sighing as she crawled out of his arms. She yawned as she pulled open the top drawer of the nightstand. The noise got louder, and she reached in to take out her mobile. Reid watched her press a button on the keypad and she held it to her ear, “Hello?” she said slowly, her eyes still closed as she slumped back against the headboard, facing him.
Someone spoke on the other end of the line and Ember’s eyes flew open. “Oh!”
Reid tensed, expecting maybe the professor was on the other end, making threats.
“Hi Grandma.” Ember smiled a little.
Reid blew out a sigh of relief, relaxing. Jeez. They needed to get this whole mess over with so he could stop jumping at shadows.
“No…No. I am at a friends’. I can’t tell you who…No, she’ll come and…But…Yes, Grandma.” Ember was apparently fighting a losing battle with her Grandmother, whatever they were talking about.
Abruptly, her blue eyes fixed on him, and she frowned. Was she talking about him?
“Please don’t tell Mum. No, she doesn’t understand…She thinks he’s a bad influence…No, of course he isn’t!…Um…Yeah. I’m sure.” Ember was nodding, though clearly her Grandma couldn’t see it through the phone.
Reid scowled at her, perplexed. She was definitely talking about him. If he listened closely, he was sure he could hear the other end of the conversation.
“Well, as long as you’re sure you love him, it disnae matter what yer mither says. I’ll have a wee chat with her as soon as I’m done spickin’ to you, sweetie. Don’t you worry. Yer mother’s forgotten fit it’s like to be a teenager, but I hivnae,” the elderly woman on the other end of the line said in a thick accent.
Ember smiled. “Thank you, Gra’ma. But I don’t think she’ll listen—”
“She’ll listen tae her mither, you be sure o’ it, Deary. You just look aifter yersel’ and be sure that boy treats you weil. Is he wei you jist noo?”
Ember met Reid’s eyes and swallowed.
Reid shook his head violently. No, no, no. He couldn’t talk to the woman, he’d say something stupid. He could barely understand some of the words she used.
Yet, Ember smiled devilishly. “Yeah, he’s here,” she said into the phone.
Reid groaned, shot her a glower.
She stuck her tongue out at him.
“Good. Lemme spick tae him,” the old woman on the other end said, an edge of steel in her voice.
Reid gulped nervously as Ember held the phone out to him. He shook his head. “Nuh-uh. I can’t— Ember, come on,” he whispered desperately.
“Yuh-huh. You can and you will. She won’t bite. At least, not through the phone.” She giggled, not bothering to keep her voice low.
Reid winced. “But—”
Ember hit the loudspeaker button, and said loudly, “He’s here Gra’ma. You’re on speaker.”
Reid hissed, “Damn it, Ember, you’re determined to have everyone in your family hate me, aren’t you?”
She shook her head. “No. Gra’ma won’t hate you, ‘cause she knows I love you. She’s not like my mother.”
“And if I say something wrong? You know I will. I’m no good at this stuff!”
“I’ll keep you right, don’t worry. Come on, don’t be such a baby.”
“You’re so evil sometimes. Do you know that? It’s—”
He never got to say what it was, because a shrill voice blared out of the loudspeaker on the phone suddenly, cutting him off, “There’s nae eese in fechtin’, you twa, so pack it in. Yi sound like a puckle o’ bairns in need o’ a skelpit arse.”
Reid looked blankly at Ember, completely at a loss. “I have no idea what she just said,” he muttered.
Ember laughed, grinning. “She said there’s no point in fighting so we should stop acting like a couple of kids who need smacked,” she translated, giggling.
Reid arched a brow, not amused by her obvious amusement. “Ah. I see,” he said expressionlessly. Which Ember apparently found hilarious, because she crumbled into a fit of laughter. Reid just looked at her without comprehension. “What’s so funny?” he asked. He felt distinctly like he was missing something here.
It was the voice on the phone that answered him, “You, Laddie. You’re funny. Now, tell me somethin’ Reid. Do you love my Grandbaby? You’d better nae lie to me either, boy, ‘cause I’ll ken it if yi dei,” Grandma warned through the crackly speaker.
Reid looked to Ember for approval. She was still giggling, her hand over her mouth, tears slipping down her face. Apparently, he’d set her off. He must’ve said something really hysterical; He just couldn’t work to what that was. So, with a sigh, he spoke to the phone lying on the duvet between him and Ember,
“Yes. I love her,” he said gently, hoping he sounded truthful. It was, after all, the honest truth.
“Right then. I’m glad tae hear it. But now, you’ll hiv tae prove it tae her mither. She winae believe yi so easily. So, listen up, Reid, and I’ll tell you fit tae dei.”
He leaned closer to the phone, curious to hear what the kindly old woman would have to suggest. “I’ll do anything. I’m listening,” he said.
Ember had finally stopped giggling, and was watching him with wide, probing blue eyes. Clearly, she was curious, too.
“Ging tae her hoose, an’ you spick tae Carol. Don’t you let her push you about, dinae let her get a word in edgewise if yi can help it. You tell her exactly how yi feel aboot our Ember, and dinae leave until yer sure she understands it. Got it? The only thing that woman will understand is the God’s honest truth coming fae your lips, boy. Make her believe every word, an’ I swear, she’ll stop actin’ like a spialt coo.”
With wide eyes, Reid glanced at Ember, who looked back and shrugged. Helpful, he thought sarcastically.
“Did yi hear me boy? You go’n dei ‘at jist noo,” the phone commanded.
Reid swallowed and nodded obediently, despite the fact that not five minutes ago he’d been mentally mocking Ember for doing the same thing. “I-I’ll do it. Are you sure she’ll—”
“Am always sure. Don’t you doubt me, Laddie. Now, Ember?”
“Yes, Gra’ma?” Ember said timidly.
“Take care of yerself, sweetie, a’right? I’m going to phone yer mither noo, and by the time yer lad gets to that hoose, she’ll be sure tae listen tae him. A’right?”
“Alright, Gra’ma. Thank you. I love you.”
It was clear Ember meant every word. She adored her Grandmother, and Reid had to wonder if he would’ve been nearly so close to his grandparents if he’d known them. Probably not.
“Love you too, Darlin’. Gi’bye.” Grandma L hung up and the other end of the line buzzed.
Ember pressed a button on the phone and it stopped buzzing. She shoved it back in its drawer and looked at Reid, sighed. She leaned her head back against the wall and groaned, her eyes slipping shut.
“I think I’m going to go back to sleep now,” she murmured, but she mostly seemed to be talking to herself.
Reid moved off the bed and reached for his hoodie.
“Hey, where’re you going?” Ember sounded like she thought he was abandoning her, and when he turned to look at her, her expression said as much. It was ridiculous that it made his heart twist, even though he knew she was putting it on.
“To see your mother,” he said, as if it were blatantly obvious —which it should’ve been.
Ember gaped, then shook her head, laughing incredulously. “You’re kidding right? You took Gra’ma seriously? And you’re just going to go right this minute?”
Reid was confused at her disbelief. And a little offended. He’d said he’d do anything to get her mother’s approval, and if this was the way to get it, so be it. He wouldn’t argue with the advice of a Grandmother. They had a nasty habit of always being right, as he’d learned from his friends, who all knew their biological grandparents.
“No, yes and yes. Ember, I told your Grandmother I would do it, so I will. I’ll do anything to have your mother approve of us without having to compel her. And you know, if this doesn’t work, I will have to compel her. Your compulsion didn’t hold, but mine will. I don’t want to do that unless I really have to,” he explained, watching Ember’s expression growing increasingly stunned.
Her mouth fell open and she stared at him like she didn’t recognise him. He waited for her to say something else, leaning against the door patiently. He looked at her evenly, letting her see he wasn’t joking.
Slowly, she seemed to realise he wasn’t pulling her leg, and she sat back, closing her mouth. She just gazed at him for a minute, then slid off the bed and came over to him. She looked up at him with those perfect blue eyes, and smiled very tenderly. “You’re incredible, you know that?” she whispered.
He smiled back and nodded. “I know. I have to be to keep up with you.”
Ember stood up on her tiptoes and put her mouth to his in a brief, sweet kiss, sending little shocks all the way to his toes. Too soon, she lowered herself back down and smirked up at him. “Be careful. My mother will use deadly force on you now, no matter what Gra’ma says,” she warned.
“I’m hard to kill, remember? I think I’ll be fine.” He rolled his eyes, but she caught his sleeve as he turned to leave.
When he looked back at her, her face was full of concern and seriousness. “I mean it, Reid. Be careful,” she said quietly, and he knew she wasn’t just talking about her mother.
He nodded. “I will be. I love you.” He placed a kiss on her forehead.
“I love you, too,” she whispered, looking after him worriedly as he left.
***
His stomach was in knots as he rode his borrowed motorcycle — Ember’s parents had taken back the car when they’d kidnapped her two nights ago — along the darkening, damp road at around eighty miles per hour. The excessive speed on the wet road was a little reckless, but it felt like a long time since he’d done anything that was both fun and thoughtless at the same time.
He wasn’t sure precisely why he was so intent on doing this, set on a nigh-impossible mission, for what? Approval from her mother? Respect for their relationship? That had never mattered to him before. Hell, he’d spent most of his life thriving on the disapproval of adults, especially the parents of the girls he diddled. Respect only mattered between Covenant Brothers. Outside them, it was just a word. Oh, and beyond Ember, too, of course. He hated to think what she’d do to him if he disrespected her seriously. Like say, if he called her ‘his bitch’…
He shuddered just thinking of the consequences. Not that he’d ever do that to her anyway. He was an ass by his own admission, but he wasn’t one of those guys who thought of his girlfriend as his personal slave or a trophy.
A sudden pain in his left thigh jerked him abruptly from his thoughts, and he glanced down at his leg in surprise. There was a knife sticking out of his leg, the blade buried in to the neatly-carved, wooden hilt. And it burned. The split skin spewed up blood from under the hilt, and he frowned at the stain it was making on his jeans.
The deafening blare of a car horn made him look him from his mysterious, bleeding injury. His eyes widened and he yanked the bike to the left to narrowly avoid hitting a silver BMW coming the other way. Shit, that was too close for comfort, he thought, blowing out an unsteady breath.
Realising that driving while trying to figure out where the knife in his leg had come from was a bad idea, he pulled into the side of the road and killed the engine. The bike went quiet, and he frowned down at the hilt protruding from his flesh.
The wood was pale and rough, possibly silver birch, and sketchy runes were etched into the hilt. He’d seen runes before, knew what the Norse and Greek ones all were, but these were more elaborate. Some mix of Enochian and Celtic. All he could be sure of was they these runes were not friendly.
The wound was really on fire now, so he wrapped his fingers around the hilt and, biting his lip, yanked the knife out. He stifled a groan at the sharp pain, and lifted the blade to examine it. It was etched with the same runes that were on the handle, and the metal was slick and red with his blood. Lovely, he thought sarcastically.
He looked down at the gash in his thigh and frowned. “What the f…” The wound wasn’t healing. And this blade was only metal. He ought to have nothing but a fading scar on his skin, but the slice was wide and deep and still bleeding. He didn’t like that one bit. It was bad news.
But he didn’t really get the chance to ponder the weirdness or significance of it, because something whistled past his head at an alarming speed, missing him by mere inches. He flinched back and whipped his head around to try to see what the hell it was. But the missile had vanished.
Staring in the direction from
which the shot had come, somewhere in the thicket of pines by the side of the road, he couldn’t see jack-squat. All that was there were some dead plants and a thin sprinkling of dirty snow that had slipped past the canopy of pine branches. It was so dark out now that the shadows blended with the general darkness, helping conceal whatever was in there — Not that he wouldn’t be able to see something if it —
Another bolt whizzed past him, but this time, he’d seen it coming. It had come shooting out of the darkness from behind one of the trees. He grabbed it from the air as it sailed past the handlebars of the bike. It was an arrow. An actual, goddamned, hand-carved arrow complete with a metal tip coated in, what smelled like, wood sap. His hand flared with sizzling pain and he hissed, dropping the arrow. He turned his hand over and saw a thick, red welt on his palm and across his fingers where the arrow had touched his skin.
With growing confusion, and irritation, he looked down at the arrow lying innocently in the snow, and saw the same type of runes carved into the wood of the stem, only these runes weren’t just unfriendly, they screamed of lethality. And that had Reid immediately on high alert, balancing on a fence, unable to decide whether or not to go into the trees and hunt out whoever was shooting specialised, vampire-killing arrows at him, or get his ass out of there before got he skewered and became a vamp-kebab.
The next bolt from the darkness whipped past his throat, bare centimetres from his jugular, and was closely followed by two more, one of which just missed his spine, and the other of which went high over his head.
“Okay, getting out of here,” he muttered, starting the engine and revving the bike. Then he remembered the knife and hastily swiped it up from the snow, where he’d dropped it next the arrow.
As he turned the bike back onto the road, he threw the knife into the trees, watched it flip end over end, glinting in the darkness, and heard a muffled cry as it struck someone. He smirked, and squeezed the accelerator. The bike shot forward, leaving his would-be assassins behind.
It wasn’t until he pulled up at the curb outside Ember’s parents’ house that he realised the trouble with having a bloodstain on his jeans to go and talk some sense into her mother. The wound had almost finished healing, though it was decidedly taking a lot longer than it should’ve been. There was just a nasty, pink line where the gash had been. Damn it.
