Embers

by Karen Ann Hopkins

  I closed my eyes for a moment and breathed deeply. I didn’t want it to come down to a showdown with her. The most important thing was to get her away from the lake before nightfall when the hunters came. That was the only thing that mattered and I had to focus on that task. My relationship with her would have to wait.

  Somehow, I had to remain sane.

  When I opened my eyes, relief flooded me. The silver truck was still parked in the lot. Ember had not left with the human male.

  The scent of hot dogs grilling over the fire wafted up the hillside and thankfully, the pleasant smells distracted me. Momentarily, I was taken back to a lifetime ago, when I had sat around a campfire with my friends enjoying food and company. I was another person then, not who I am now.

  I let the memory slip from my mind and I continued to watch the humans gather wood, piling it high. They were such slow things, taking forever to do what I could accomplish in mere seconds.

  How ironic that the fire Watcher hadn’t set the wood ablaze herself. She couldn’t share her secret with the humans. She would be taken away and studied like a lab rat, the fear that my own kind had of the modern day humans. We’d hidden away in the shadows watching for many decades as the human’s hunger for scientific knowledge grew. Nothing was sacred to them when it came to making a new discovery. They would trample anyone in their path to advance. Of course, these were still young ones and they didn’t have such thoughts on their minds. But that would change as they aged, at least for some of them.

  Groups of them were spreading out, enjoying the early fall evening. Some played games in the grassy field and a couple near a truck were entwined in a passionate kiss. In their youthful exuberance, they were harmless and even endearing in a way.

  The pieces were falling perfectly into place. The hunters would be pleased when they arrived. The evil blackness that had been a part of my world for over a hundred years was very close to spreading outward, ensnaring the innocents. And there was nothing I could do to stop it. Some of those kids were going to die tonight. The only thing that kept me from feeling the pain of guilt was my need to protect Ember.

  When my eyes settled on her again, she was standing close to the fire. The sparks were springing from the flames, wanting to touch the Watcher, to join with her. Just like me. I had something in common with the fire—we both wanted Ember.

  The football player stood beside her and my eyes narrowed.

  The sun dipped down below the dark tree line and in its absence, the sky suddenly changed to the pale gray of dusk.

  It was time to act.

  I went down the hill as if I was a wisp of smoke. None of the humans saw or heard me. I was able to steal silently up behind her until I was close enough to feel her heat and smell her scent.

  “May I speak with you, Ember?”

  She whirled around and stared at me with her mouth slightly agape. Her scent suddenly changed. There was fear there and I was glad for it. I would have an easier time accomplishing my task if she wasn’t belligerent with confidence.

  I looked at the human male with sympathy. It might be him that Kimberly’s or Renna’s sharp eyes pinpointed on. He may not see the sun rising above the mountain on the morrow.

  I decided to show him mercy. Using my power I held him in my gaze for an instant. He was in the trance, unable to speak or move.

  I turned back to Ember, who was still emitting the scent of fear. She was unusually cool. Where were the waves of heat that I had come to love? I was beginning to worry when she finally spoke.

  “What do you want?” Her voice quivered and she swallowed hard.

  “I want you to come with me. We have something important to talk about,” I said the words slowly and deliberately. “Your friend is in a trance and won’t even know that you’ve gone. You can make this easy or difficult. It’s up to you.”

  I quickly scanned the edge of the forest, growing ever more impatient. The others would be arriving soon and I’d been very generous with the situation. Didn’t she understand what it had taken for me to stay within myself and not become enthralled by the blood lust? No, she had no idea. She was a mere babe as far as the supernatural world was concerned. But enough was enough.

  “Preston will wonder where I’ve gone. He’ll tell the others and they’ll come looking for me,” she said with wide eyes.

  I looked at the human called Preston and using my mind, I instructed him to let Ember go with me and to feel at peace with it. Not to follow us. I glanced back at Ember. “When I wake him, you will tell him you are going with me for a walk. He’ll be fine with it, but he must hear you say it if he is going to act the part for your other human friends.”

  She nodded and I snapped his mind awake.

  “Ember, what’s going on?” The human’s words were slurred.

  Ember took a deep breath and said, “I’m going for a walk with Sawyer. It’s okay. Please don’t follow us and tell the others everything is fine.”

  She played her part well. For good measure, I sent the message for him to get into his truck, which might just save his life. The other humans would think he was off being intimate with Ember and they wouldn’t go looking for them. Briefly, I wondered if Ember was beginning to realize that I had worthy powers of my own. I got the feeling that she’d be a hard girl to impress.

  She solemnly watched the human walk to his truck and then turned to me, asking, “He won’t try to drive will he?”

  “No.” I grabbed her wrist then, pressing my other hand into her back. I propelled her to her own truck, inviting the cool, damp air rising from the lake to wrap around us. None of the humans would see us cloaked in this way, and neither would the other Demons.

  When we reached the truck, I shoved her in the passenger side. Her temperature felt the same as a normal human. Taking her chin in my hand, I searched her eyes to detect any illness. They were clear blue, wide with fright, but otherwise healthy looking.

  “Where are your keys,” I whispered near her ear.

  She motioned to the pocket of her jeans. When I had the keys, I quickly moved to the driver’s seat and started the truck. I backed out slowly. I didn’t want any complications now. So far, things were going smoothly.

  When we were several miles up the road, I started to breathe easier. I risked a glance at Ember. She was staring straight ahead, uncharacteristically quiet and subdued. I noticed for the first time that her skin was ashen white. I reached over, turning on the truck’s heater. I opened the vents, blowing the warm air in her direction. On impulse, I lifted my finger to her cheek and she flinched away.

  Maybe she already loves the human male and I had lost her before she was ever mine.

  The vision of Ember with the human stayed with me for another couple of miles, a seed planted, growing rapidly into a hurricane within me. When I saw a narrow pull off beside a dense part of woods, I skidded off the road, hit the brakes, and parked the truck. Reaching under her arms I gently tugged her out the driver’s side door.

  Our relationship had to be resolved. I began pulling her into the forest, which finally woke her from her daze. She struggled with me, some of the heat coming back to her skin. I reveled in the feel of it. It was hot summer sand in my hands.

  I didn’t have time to waste. In an easy motion, I picked her up and ran under the canopy of leaves. She was small and light, an easy treasure to carry through the trees.

  “Put me down! What are you doing? I’m not afraid of you! Put me down!”

  I ignored her rant, even though it went on until I reached a small clearing where the trees were older and the ground below them was free of underbrush.

  By my reckoning, a perfect place for resolution.

  Her body had heated up to the degree I was used to, but instead of being uncomfortable, it was wonderful. I pressed her hot softness into my chest to feel more of her, continuing to hold her captive in my arms.

  Her struggling tapered off until there was a change in her posture. She slumped in my arms, surrenderi
ng herself to me. The feeling was exquisite. I lightly brushed my face against hers, inhaling her scent deeply. The fear smell was gone. It was replaced by the scent of sun touched wild flowers that I’d never forget. My lips traced over her hair, her temple and down to her neck. I moved slowly, savoring each second, wanting to draw it out as long as possible.

  I might not be able to use the power on her, but I had other weapons, and her body was receptive to them. This girl belonged with me, heart and soul. She was mine.

  Now I only had to convince her of it. I’d waited a hundred and fifty years for her, and my patience was fast disappearing. We could leave together, go someplace far away and everything would be all right. I just had to get her to trust me.

  A sigh escaped her lips and the sound began to chip away my self-control. I brought my mouth to hers and softly blew. Her lips parted and she kissed me back, grasping my hair with her hands and pulling me closer. My tongue moved unrelenting in her mouth, tasting her, exploring her. She responded hungrily, joining hers with mine and doing quite a bit of exploring of her own.

  She offered no resistance, she couldn’t. She wanted me. That knowledge made me arch into her. Her breasts pressed into my chest and the heat of her felt so dammed good. I wanted her more than anything I had ever experienced—even the hunger for souls. But I tried to rein myself in, quell my passion.

  The problem was that she was being driven by her own desires as strongly as I was, making it nearly impossible to stop. Rolling my tongue over her skin, I marveled that I had no interest in her soul. My desires were far more primitive. And I was losing my mind to them.

  “Ember…my beautiful, Ember,” I whispered into her ear.

  I was elated when she mumbled my name and I brought my mouth back to hers. The sweet taste of her, the softness of her skin and her body pressing against mine were all combining to unleash a series of throbbing sparks deep within me.

  The chuckle from the trees shattered the moment and I snapped my head up. I set Ember to the ground in a swift movement, shoving her behind me. I held her there with one arm. She struggled for a split second, but I didn’t let go.

  “Well, well, Sawyer, now I know what’s been keeping you sated.”

  Kimberly stepped out of the shadows of the trees with pure hatred etched onto her usually beautiful face, contorting it into something hideous. Donnelly was with her and he held a look of amused shock at what they’d stumbled upon.

  “Go away, Kimberly, this is none of your concern,” I said in a harsh tone, quickly trying to gather my thoughts.

  “I won’t make it that easy for you,” she hissed. “I don’t know what I ever saw in you. You’re some kind of animal out here in the woods mating with a human!”

  “Sawyer, how the hell are you managing that anyway? Don’t you want to rip her soul out? It’s not natural, you know?” Donnelly spoke with pure astonishment.

  Ember stiffened and her heat diminished at his words. As she burrowed into my back, realization dawned on me that she couldn’t use her powers when she was fearful. She wouldn’t be much help to us now. She wasn’t ready to fight yet—she was too young and inexperienced and had much to learn still. I needed to get her away from here, and I’d have to do it on my own.

  Kimberly was still staring at me with cold, black eyes. They were unblinking and dead.

  An idea came to me.

  “Don’t you have someplace to go, someplace more enjoyable than this?” I said in the steadiest voice I could manage. “Let me have my fun with this little human in privacy. And to answer your question Donnelly, that’s the whole point.”

  I waited for what I’d said to sink into their predatory minds. It was nearly impossible for them to believe that I was able to be here, loving this human, without killing her. But they should know that some of our kind took extreme physical pleasure from killing a human in the process of having sex with them. I just hoped they fell for it.

  Kimberly hesitated and looked at Donnelly who shrugged at her. Then he grinned at me.

  “Go ahead, have a good time with her. We do have somewhere to be.” Donnelly touched Kimberly’s shoulder and whipped around, disappearing into the shadows.

  Kimberly narrowed her eyes and spat, “I’m not going to let this go. You just wait until tomorrow.” And then she was gone.

  I twisted, picking Ember back up and cradling her in my arms. She gripped my chest, hiding her face in my jacket as I carried her out of the woods.

  For now, Ember was safe. But what would the light of tomorrow bring for the other humans?

  I reckoned it wouldn’t be pretty.

  2 Thessalonians 1:7

  And to you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels.

  Ember ~ Thirty-Four

  I squeezed my eyes shut, wishing that in a second that I’d wake up from the terrible dream. But that wasn’t going to happen. This nightmare was real.

  Sawyer’s muscles were strong and firm around me and his quick shallow breaths puffed into my ear. He was also afraid and that scared me even more.

  The Demon woman’s face had been distorted in malevolence and the giant brute who was scowling beside her turned my blood into ice. My inner heat had vanished. It had disappeared at the same time my gaze had met the glistening black eyes staring at me hungrily.

  They were not like Sawyer—they were pure evil and their faces showed it.

  Their bodies had given off a pale, slick sheen that separated them from humanity. At first glance, the female’s features would have been considered attractive, but when she’d snarled, her skin had tightened over her bones making her look alien. The significance of the tattoo of a hand with long fingernails that stretched from the male’s bare chest to wrap around his thick neck was lost on me. But it was unsettling, to say the least.

  There was no negotiating with the likes of them, no begging for mercy. They enjoyed killing. Up until now, my fantasy about magical beings had been that they were all the same as Ila, Sawyer and Ivan. The stories she’d told me were just fairy tales. The atrocious acts she depicted had not resonated with me. Now, I knew firsthand what monsters were lurking in the shadows.

  It took less than a minute to reach the truck as fast as we were moving. The trees blurred by when I risked opening my eyes. Still, it seemed as if it was an eternity before Sawyer set me in the passenger seat and latched the seat belt around me. That little gesture put a smile on my lips for a brief second. That Sawyer was protecting me from a car wreck, after we’d just faced those creatures was pure irony.

  Before he pulled away, his face stopped within inches of mine. In a hushed voice filled with urgency, he said, “Are you okay?” He touched my cheek with his thumb and lightly caressed it.

  All I could manage was a nod. I gazed into his eyes. The desire I’d seen earlier was gone, replaced with a frown of worry.

  I didn’t want him to break the contact, but he did. He drove too fast for the mountain road. Under normal circumstances, I would have felt unsafe. But in this case, I wanted him to drive even faster.

  “I’m sorry, Ember, I had no idea that they’d find us, talk about coincidence,” his voice trailed off. He glanced at me, holding out his hand, palm up. I stared at it as the doubt crept in. I knew if I took it, I’d be sending him a message that we were together.

  I couldn’t help but wonder if Sawyer’s beautiful face was just an illusion—maybe underneath it all, he was the same as the others.

  Confusion scratched at my insides. Tears moistened my eyes. I turned away to look out the window.

  He snatched his hand back as if I’d bitten it and gripped the steering wheel. The rest of the drive up the mountain was silent.

  *

  The closer we got to the valley, the stronger I felt. I finally had enough energy to wipe the tears from my face with the back of my hand. It occurred to me after we had passed the compound some ways back that Sawyer didn’t have his Hummer. Had he planned to hike home?
Did it even matter? I finally gathered the courage to speak to him.

  “We can stop here. I’ll drive myself the rest of the way. That way you won’t have as much ground to cover on foot,” I told him as we approached the twin Sycamores.

  “I don’t think so,” was all he said. His lips were a thin line in the lights from the dashboard.

  He drove right up to the cabin. It was the middle of the night and the air was cool and the grass in the yard was already covered with heavy dew. Angus was lying on the front porch. When he saw my truck, he covered the distance of the pathway in a few seconds. I opened the passenger door, willing him to come to me. I used my mind, begging him to be quiet. The last thing I needed was Ila waking up. I’d deal with her in the morning.

  Angus obeyed. He ran around the truck and threw his hand sized paws onto my lap. His course hair rubbing my face as he licked me made me feel better instantly. He was my little bit of slobbering reality in a mixed up world.

  Sawyer frowned, shaking his head when our eyes met briefly.

  I didn’t want to part this way, with him angry, and with so many questions ringing in my head.

  “Have you made a decision about my offer yet?” I whispered.

  He glared at me. “Are you kidding me? You won’t even hold my hand, but you want to give me your soul? ”

  His nastiness startled me. “It’s your loss.” I jumped out of the vehicle, slamming the door shut.

  I walked around the truck aware that Sawyer remained planted in the driver’s seat. I was beginning to wonder when he was getting out of my truck, when in one sudden movement he was out and holding me in a tight grip. He was strong. Wiggling free wasn’t an option.

  All at once, Angus went into hysterics and jumped up, clamping his jaws around one of Sawyer’s forearms. I heard the sickening sound of the dog’s teeth crunching down and I instantly smelled blood.

  Sawyer didn’t even flinch. He just said in a low voice, “Please get your dog off my arm.”