Embers

by Karen Ann Hopkins

  I sniffed and wiped away the moistness from the corners of my eyes. When I gathered the courage to glance back at Sawyer, he was lost in thought, his fingers cupping his jaw. His face was unreadable, void of anything.

  “That’s too bad, about your folks and all. Do you enjoy living with your aunt? Is she good to you?”

  “Ila—I mean Aunt Ila is wonderful. She’s been very kind to me and she even let me bring my horse and dog.”

  “You have a horse?”

  “Her name is Cricket. She’s a black Thoroughbred. Back in Ohio, I used to trail ride and show her sometimes.” I was right at home talking about my horse.

  “I had a horse. It was a long time ago, but I’ll never forget her. She was my best friend at the time,” he said.

  The information shocked me. Sawyer was not fitting into my preconceived notion of what a Demon would be like. How could I dislike a guy—or Demon—who had loved a horse? Again, the memory of the sad eyes from my dream tickled in. I started to wonder if maybe I’d dreamed about this Demon, because he needed my help in some way, instead of the other way around.

  I turned to ask him about his horse—big mistake. His eyes smoldered, his breathing was shallow and his face flushed. He leaned in towards me. The clouds were thick and dark above us. The kinetic energy in the air surrounding the falls seemed to multiply, then settle over where we sat. The sparks were tangible, pulsating. I could have stroked the air between us. My body warmed deliciously and for the first time in my life I felt truly alive. I was definitely feeling the pull, but I didn’t think it was a Demon trick. I wanted to be closer to him, really wanted it. I breathed in, catching his scent, swaying into him.

  Closing my eyes, I waited for the brush of his lips on mine.

  Ivan reappeared in front of us at that very ill-timed moment, breaking the spell. I sprang back to where I’d been sitting. Guiltily, I stared at the moss on the rock.

  “See anything interesting?” Sawyer asked Ivan harshly. I guess he was as affected as I was.

  “No, it is quiet in the woods today, just a couple of does waiting for us to leave so they can come in for a drink.”

  I pulled myself together, focusing on the direction Ivan was pointing at. For the first time, even with my eyes wide open, I was able to cloud my sight and feel the location of the deer. Ivan was right. They did appear to be waiting.

  “The deer have reminded me of the time,” I surged straight up, feeling instantly dizzy. Sawyer was by my side in a blink of an eye, his hands on my arms to steady me. The touch was electric, flipping my stomach. His thumbs pressing into my flesh sent a tingling outward that enflamed my entire body. If I didn’t get away from him, I’d likely explode into a fireball.

  I jerked from Sawyer’s hold, and smartly, he didn’t try to hold on. I’m sure he’d felt the heat, the way he rubbed his fingers together, purposely. He stared at me with penetrating eyes and a twitch at the corner of his lips.

  “I really need to get back to my aunt’s, but thanks for bringing me here. This place is awesome,” I said with feigned cheerfulness as I carefully stepped over the rocks. I could feel Sawyer’s presence close behind me. I knew that if I fell, he’d catch me.

  Ivan crossed the rocks effortlessly ahead of us. Soon we were on our way back down the path with the sound of the falls growing fainter behind us.

  An idea was developing in my mind while we hiked to the vehicles. Ila had told me to trust my instincts, and I was trying, too. My instincts were telling me that Ivan and Sawyer could be my friends, although, Sawyer was in a different kind of friend category. I needed Ila’s help, and I hoped she wouldn’t be upset at what I was about to do.

  “Hey, do you guys want to come over to my Aunt’s cabin for dinner tonight?” I asked in a light voice.

  Then it started to rain.

  Hebrews 1:7

  And of the angels He says: “Who makes His angels spirits And His ministers a flame of fire.”

  Sawyer ~ Twenty- Two

  Did Ember just ask me to her house for dinner?

  This was out of my realm of experience. I glanced at Ivan. Seeing the longing on his face, I knew immediately what he wanted to do. Before I could say anything the rain began to fall, feather soft at first, then gaining momentum to a hard downpour in seconds.

  “Come on!” I signaled them to run.

  The rain pelted us as we sped over the trail toward the vehicles. The attack from the sky wasn’t a big deal for me or Ivan, but I worried about Ember. I looked back over my shoulder and saw that she was keeping up well for a human girl. Her hair was soaking wet and plastered to her face. She was focused on the ground beneath her as she agilely dodged roots and branches.

  I was no stranger to women, my kind at least, but I’d never experienced what I was feeling right now. My body had a mind of its own when I was around Ember and when she wasn’t in sight, she occupied my thoughts constantly.

  Was this what bonding was like? I’d seen others become obsessed to the point where they wouldn’t even feed. Most of the time the bonding was reciprocal, and once they were joined, they’d stay together for the rest of their lives. They were soul mates, and together they were fulfilled. Sometimes only one Demon felt the attraction, and if he or she were rejected, they’d usually go mad. That situation typically had a tragic ending—Shakespearian all the way.

  Ember was breathing hard behind me. I slowed for her, not worried about what might be ahead of us. Ivan was in the lead and I was sure that he was scouting for any danger.

  Even in the pouring rain, I could feel the heat coming from her. That warmth wasn’t normal. It emitted from her body as if she were indeed on fire. I wondered if she even felt the cold, wet rain.

  I could run much faster if I didn’t have to set a pace with her. What I really wanted to do was pick her up and carry her. She would be so light and that heat pressed against my chest would be very pleasurable. But I doubted she’d go along with my idea without pitching a fit. The last thing I needed was to upset her again. Before it had been a game, but now I actually wanted her to like me.

  What a crazy thought. Why would this beautiful human girl like me?

  She did though. The sparks between the two of us on the rocks were not one sided. If the pup hadn’t interrupted us, I’m positive that I would already be well acquainted with the inside of her mouth.

  The vehicles came into sight. Ember must have seen them too. She made the effort to sprint the short distance, pulling alongside me. We reached the Hummer first. I maneuvered to the passenger side, shoving her in.

  She exclaimed, “What?” as the door shut behind her. Ivan jumped in the back seat as I sprang to the driver’s side.

  Our heavy breathing quickly fogged up the windows. The damp air in the vehicle crackled with energy. I reached behind my seat, grabbing my leather jacket and tossing it to Ember.

  “Put this on or you might get sick,” I said.

  She wasn’t putting it on though. She was glaring at me.

  I realized at that moment that if I wanted her to put the jacket on, I’d have to convince her in a nice way. It had been well over a century since I tried to coax someone to do what I wanted. I sighed, thinking about the way to go about it.

  “Of course you don’t have to put the jacket on. I was just trying to be helpful.” I adjusted my voice to sound as amiable as possible.

  Surprising me, she slid the jacket on. It was way too big for her, covering her knees and making her hands invisible. But it would do in a pinch. I revved the engine, and cranked the heat up.

  “Hey, where are we going?” she asked in a startled voice.

  So, she wasn’t as sure of herself as she led on.

  “Nowhere, for the moment, I’m just trying to warm you up.”

  “I’m fine, really,” she said between clenched teeth.

  Couldn’t help it, I laughed. “Yeah, you look fine.” I regretted saying it, seeing her brows scrunch tighter together.

  Hurriedly, I said, “Ivan wh
at do you think about going to Ember’s for dinner tonight?” I already knew his answer, but I had to keep up the pretense.

  “I would like that.” Short and sweet, that’s why I liked the kid. No unnecessary conversation.

  “Are you sure your aunt will be all right having company for dinner on such short notice?” I inquired while I shook the wetness from my hair.

  “Aunt Ila loves to have company. I’m sure she’ll be fine with it,” she quickly answered. But she was lying. She didn’t know what her aunt’s reaction would be.

  “All right, lead the way. We’ll follow you.”

  She started to take the jacket off and I said, “Just keep it on until you get home.” I thought about her fiery scent being absorbed into my jacket. I had to admit, it was a benefit that I found pleasing.

  “I’ll see you guys up there,” Ember said. She jumped out of the Hummer and ran to her own truck. I watched her get in and back onto the road.

  “What do you think the others are going to think if we go back to the compound late?” Ivan worried.

  “Most of them won’t even notice. They’ve been too wrapped up in their plans for the hunt. Besides, Garrett knows that I always go off in the woods before a new shipment of humans arrive. He’s aware that the feeding bothers me. He’ll just assume I took you with me this time.” I paused, “It won’t be a problem.”

  “I wonder what kind of food will be served. I have never eaten at a true human’s home before.” He took a breath and continued, saying about the most sentences I’d heard him string together since he came to the compound. “In Russia, I lived with my grandparents. They were Growlers also, but they were old and had picked the human form to remain in. My parents had chosen to stay in wolf form. I would run with their pack often.”

  Up to this point I hadn’t really thought much about the dynamics of being a Growler. It seemed pretty unnatural to me, but now that Ivan was willing to talk about his family, it made me curious.

  “If you don’t mind me asking, were you born a wolf or a human?”

  Ivan replied eagerly. “I was born a wolf and I lived in that form until I was seven years old when the first change happened. My parents were with me when it occurred and they took their human forms for the event. They explained to me that since I’d changed into the human, I would be trapped in that body until I reached the age of thirteen, when my body began to grow into an adult. Then I would be able to change when I wanted between the two forms. During those childhood human days, my parents sent me to live with my grandparents in the village to learn the human ways.”

  “That must have been kind of rough, going from being a wolf to a human all sudden like.” What an understatement.

  “Yes, it was difficult, but my grandparents were kind and they taught me how to speak and do all the human things. There was even an English man living in the village who was an eagle shape shifter. He taught me how to speak this language,” Ivan said the last sentence with obvious bitterness. I took my eyes off the rutted gravel road that now had small streams coursing over it to glance at Ivan. His face was red and his eyes squinted in anger.

  Carefully I asked, “How did you end up here?”

  He spoke with indignation. “The eagle captured me and sold me to Mister Garrett. He told me that it was my duty to serve, because that was the original purpose of my race; that if I fought the inevitability of it, he would kill my grandparents.”

  It all fell into place. Garrett’s European friend must have been the eagle. It was pretty rotten to sell off one of your own kind for profit. Surely, Ivan had some serious desire for revenge in his heart. I know I would if I were in his shoes.

  We rode silently the rest of the way until we turned in between two Sycamore trees. The woods opened up into a small, picturesque valley. The large raindrops lessoned the further into the hollow we went, until the drizzle finally stopped completely. The rain storm had left behind a fine wet mist that draped the fields in secrecy.

  Ivan spoke again, “It is beautiful, is it not? I visit here in wolf form from time to time. Initially, the goats attracted me, but I knew the old woman needed their milk, so I left them alone.”

  In all the years I’d lived on the mountain, I’d never ventured here. Yet Ivan was right, it was pretty. Come to think about it, it was strange that I hadn’t found this place in my wanderings in the woods. It was almost as if the place was protected from discovery until a person was invited as we’d been. But that still didn’t explain how the wolf found the place.

  I recalled then one of Garrett’s lessons about how Watchers used to detour their enemies from finding their territories. He said that they had some kind of magic where they could alter the lay of the land to keep intruders from finding their domain. The invader would be guided by the trees, the rocks and nature itself to move away, without them ever knowing that sometimes a huge stretch of land existed nearby.

  Garrett had commented on how useful that kind of magic would be for us, but that we could never control the Watchers. He’d said that their powers were too great to harness. He went on to say that they’d fared even worse than us during the human’s frenzy to destroy anything supernatural. And that they’d also spent much of their history fighting one another, which drove them to extinction.

  I recalled Garrett telling Kimberly after she’d posed the question of whether there were any Watchers left, that he didn’t think so and that that was a very good thing.

  The reason I’d never came upon this little valley must be explainable in some other way. I wasn’t going to worry about something as trivial as the landscape, when I had other, more important things to think about.

  The mist lifted a fraction and I spotted Ember’s horse grazing in the pasture. She was an exquisite mare, full of bloom and vigor, her coat glistening black from the rain.

  The entire scene was so tranquil. There were chickens scratching the ground and the rabbits skittering about. A bit odd perhaps was the large, snowy-white lop eared rabbit nibbling the clover at the edge of the yard, but peaceful and inviting overall.

  Parking the Hummer, I suddenly tensed when it occurred to me how green and vibrant the valley was compared to the rest of the mountain. At the compound, the little bit of grass had dried up weeks ago and the trees were even beginning to drop their water deprived leaves.

  The view of the cabin was incredible. Flowers were amassed in every color and variety along a path leading up to the aged, log structure. If you didn’t already know it was mid-September, you would think that it was springtime. What could be the old woman’s secret to growing her plants—did she have access to a super fertilizer?

  Or was it something else.

  Ember met us at the bottom of the path, tossing me the jacket in a hurry to get rid of it. When I tried to hold her crystal blue gaze with mine, she quickly glanced away. Her hair was still damp, but she wasn’t shivering any longer and her color looked healthy. The glorious heat was radiating from her as strongly as before. I was fairly certain the rain hadn’t damaged her and was bothered with myself for breathing out in relief at the realization.

  I dropped the jacket back into the Hummer, perplexed and irritated at the same time. When I turned around, the meanest looking and largest dog I had ever seen was speeding towards us. As if it were a monster-seeking missile, the dog aimed straight for me. Its lips pulled back showing enormous teeth for a canine. The dog screeched to a halt a foot from me. The instant its forward momentum stopped, it began barking.

  “Angus! Stop it!” Ember yelled. She lunged at Angus, wrapping her arms protectively around him. She was worried about the dog? The beast quieted beneath her hands and murmurings, but it kept its almond eyes locked on me.

  This was Ember’s pet? She sat on the ground, pulling the dog into her lap. She rubbed his sides vigorously, kissing his nose several times. Now I was jealous of the furry monster. How I’d like to change places with it.

  An old woman walked up to the touching scene on the ground. She glanced a
t Ivan first and then settled her gaze on me. There was a moment of awkward tension as Ember jumped back up and introduced us.

  “Ila…Aunt Ila—I’ve brought friends home for dinner. This is Ivan and Sawyer. Sawyer changed my flat tire. I wanted to thank him with your good cooking.” She spoke the words so quickly that it was all jumbled and hardly coherent at all.

  Aunt Ila frowned at Ember before she turned a wide smile on us. The smile didn’t reach her eyes though. I was immediately on guard. The same as Ember, there was something strange about the woman. And, unlike Ember, a dangerous sheen sparkled off of her.

  Aunt Ila might look like a nice old granny at first glance, but I wasn’t fooled.

  “Welcome, both of you. Thank you so much for helping my dear Ember with her

  tire. Of course, I’d love to have you stay for dinner.”

  Ivan smiled. He seemed unaware of the strangeness about the woman. For being part animal, he didn’t have very good senses.

  The dog began growling again. It was a deep, guttural sound. The beast was formidable, but it would never last a minute with either me or Ivan. In a swift movement Ivan was on the ground with the dog, laying his body low and not looking at the dog’s face. It was obviously some wolf thing. It seemed to be working when the dog stretched out hesitantly and began sniffing Ivan. This went on for several seconds until the dog started licking Ivan’s face. Ivan let the dog do it, intermittently rubbing his own face against the dog.

  I sighed in partial amusement. Ivan had just made a new friend.

  When I chuckled, the dog’s head snapped back at me and it began barking all over again.

  “No, Angus, that’s not a nice way to treat a guest,” Ember said in a soothing voice. Exactly the way I’d like to hear her speak to me, actually.

  “You could make an effort young man to befriend the dog. You can’t expect him to do all the work,” Aunt Ila spoke with chagrin.

  “If you all think I’m rolling around on the ground with him the way Ivan here is willing to do, it ain’t happening,” I informed them.