Forever Here

by Harold Wall

  "Everything's fine," Emerald assured Carter quietly.

  "Another human?" Sky exclaimed sauntering forward, but not before giving Storm a look.

  Emerald turned to face Sky. "Nice to meet you, I'm the Vigilante." she said in a warning tone.

  Sky took an involuntary step back, his jaw tightening.

  "I mean no harm." Sky said in a quiet voice. "I was looking for a place to stay, I came across here, they invited me in and then threw me into this place." he explained.

  "And how do I know you're not lying, Mr. Armani Shoes." Emerald asked slowly. "Why would someone like you be looking for a place to stay?"

  Sky pursed his lips. "I ran away." he muttered.

  "Aren't you a little old to be running away?" Storm asked for Emerald.

  Sky's eyes narrowed and he looked away, crossing his arms over his chest indignantly. "Too much responsibility. I didn't like it. I never had any time to myself. It was so

  frustrating." He shrugged. "So I ran off. I don't see what the big deal is."

  "The big deal is: you're being totally irresponsible." Carter said pushing past Emerald.

  Emerald was about to object, but Storm touched her arm to stop her. She looked at him, but he had a knowing smile. Confused, Emerald turned back to Carter and Sky.

  "I was not being irresponsible!" Sky objected his chest puffing out.

  "Uh, yeah, you were. And immature. You need to grow up. You're, what, nineteen? You're an adult now, so act like one!"

  Sky deflated but he was glaring at Carter. Emerald tensed ready to tackle him if he moved an inch toward Carter, but then the anger died from his fire blue spinel colored eyes and

  a smile formed on his lips.

  "No one's ever talked to me like that before." he stated a little shocked, but underneath almost giddy. It was baffling to Emerald and Storm. Why was he giddy about being told off,

  especially by a mere mortal in a shapeshifters eyes. "I kind of like it."

  Carter jerked back the sparks in her eyes extinguishing, not expecting that either. Her eyebrows knitted together. "Who are you?" she asked.

  "I'm the cousin of Galen Drache." Sky said. "Though, I'm not so sure that means much to you." he added seeing the confused look on Carter's face.

  Emerald came forward again looking at him disbelievingly. "Why haven't I ever heard of you? If your claim of being the cousin of the Galen Drache—the heir of the First House of

  Drache, the most powerful shapeshifter family in the Night World—is really true." she asked.

  Sky rolled his eyes. "I know what the First House of Drache is, thank you very much."

  "Well?" Emerald prodded still not believing a single word out of his mouth.

  "My family likes to keep out of the limelight. I have lived a very sheltered life. But I still have my duties to perform with my family being related to the First House of Drache and

  all." Sky explained looking at Emerald distastefully.

  "Don't you go giving me that look," Emerald snapped.

  "I still don't think that's an excuse to run away." Carter interrupted before a fight could break out between Sky and Emerald. "I'm Carter, by the way." she said smiling and holding

  out her hand.

  Sky took it and kissed the top of her hand, like they did in those old movies. Something passed between them and Sky smiled, straightening up, but not letting go of Carter's hand.

  Carter blushed and bit her lip, the embers in her eyes blazing. Behind Emerald, Storm snickered.

  Her head whipped around and she glared at him through narrowed eyes. He knew something she was totally missing. She looked back at Carter and Sky who were still staring at

  each other, looking totally mesmerized.

  "Oh, no!" Emerald exclaimed, realizing what was going on and feeling embarrassed and stupid because she probably looked like that when she met Storm. Emerald got between the

  two, breaking the connection. "You guys can't be soulmates!"

  Carter looked over at Emerald with dreamy eyes. "Soulmates?" she repeated blinking slowly.

  Sky chuckled. "Looks like you're stuck with me!"

  Emerald's eyes narrowed and she turned toward him, poking him in the chest. "I don't like you." she told him flat out. "You're arrogant and entitled and bigheaded." With every word

  she poked Sky in the chest. "You hurt Carter in any way, shape, or form and you'll regret it. So you'd better watchit, buster."

  Sky's hands were held up in surrender. "She's my soulmate. How could I ever hurt her?"

  Emerald turned away and looked at Storm.

  "Relationships aren't perfect." she stated quietly, still looking at Storm. Then she dropped her head and looked down at the floor. "Even for soulmates." The tone of her voice struck

  a cord with Sky.

  "Okay," he said. Emerald's head snapped up, meeting his gaze. "I promise I won't hurt her."

  "You'd better not." Emerald muttered. She quickly composed herself. "We need to get out of here." Emerald repeated looking at Storm.

  "Emerald I don't want to risk it," Storm replied saying what he was going to say earlier before Sky had been thrown in. "How do you know they're not listening right now? I think we

  should talk about it later, or—"

  "No," Emerald cut him off, walking up to him. "I need to end this soon, or he'll get what he wants. I'm sure of it. Even if he did have the room bugged, it wouldn't matter. There's

  not going to be a later, because he'd always be able to hear what we're talking about." she reasoned. "He couldn't be listening…."

  "How can you be so sure?" Storm questioned.

  "You need to just trust me on this." Emerald lowered her voice, hating that they were becoming the complications of a soulmate relationship showcase for Sky.

  "I'm only thinking about our safety." he responded gently.

  "So am I. And I believe that we'd be safer getting out of here than being kept prisoner. Sooner or later Jonathan is going to get tired of playing these games and he's going to kill

  you guys before getting what he wants from me." Emerald tried to explain.

  "Emerald—" Storm tried.

  "Where's the Reaper?" she asked suddenly. "Because I need him right now."

  Storm looked away. "He died when Tasha did." he murmured.

  "No, he didn't," Emerald disagreed. "He was a part of you and always will be. You're just going to have to accept that."

  Storm cringed. "But did you see the look on her face when she killed that vampire? It was horrible. It made me sick that I ever associated myself with that kind of life."

  "Storm, you need to be with me on this or it's not going to work." Emerald told him. Storm glared down at Emerald and Emerald glared evenly back. "If you're not going to help me,

  then don't get in my way." she finally decided, walking past him, to begin her pacing again. For some reason it'd always helped her think before.

  But as she turned she came face to face with Storm.

  "You want him," Storm said grabbing the base of Emerald's neck and pushing her against the wall. It wasn't rough, but it wasn't light either. "You got him."

  Emerald smiled and reached up to put her hand over the one holding her neck. "Good." she said, pleased, before jerking her hand back hearing the small pop! Storm let her neck go

  and she walked passed him as he hissed, "Dammit, you dislocated my thumb."

  There was another small pop as Storm put his thumb back into place.

  "You grabbed my neck. I didn't like it." Emerald put it simply.

  "Well you asked for the Reaper. Here he is." Storm exclaimed.

  Emerald turned to face him. "I didn't know he was such a jerk."

  "You guys have such a weird relationship." Sky commented making Storm and Emerald both turn to look at him. "I thought you were soulmates, but—"

  "We are," Storm and Emerald stopped him simultaneously. "Now," Emerald continued looking back at Storm. "Are you going to help me?"

  The
door opened loudly and five Night Worlders stepped in. Three were shapeshifters, the other two were werewolves. Just as Emerald had suspected.

  It was almost like Jonathan wanted them to escape.

  He wouldn't… would he? This wasn't some sort of big psychological plan of his? Was he smarter than Emerald gave him credit for?

  Probably. Still, it didn't make sense that he'd keep them locked up for days on end just to play some psychological game with them. And why them? Why Storm? Carter? Sky,

  especially. Why not just her?

  Emerald broke off her thoughts and pushed them back for a moment. As of now she needed to worry about getting out of here.

  One of the shapeshifters, Evan, stepped forward with three tin trays balanced on top of each other in one hand. He threw two of the trays down on the floor at Sky and Carter's

  feet.

  Emerald stood.

  "Nice." she commented glancing over at the mess on the floor.

  Evan shrugged. "I'm feeling generous today."

  Emerald pursed her lips and tried not to smile. "And, what, not strong enough to handle the four of us by yourself?" she mocked looking at the four behind him.

  "Emerald, what are you doing?" Storm hissed. She hadn't exactly told them this part of the plan. She ignored him.

  Evan's eyes blazed. "What are you saying?" he growled.

  Emerald finally let herself smile. "I think you know exactly what I mean. Why all the guards? Afraid you'll get your butt kicked?"

  "Emerald, I think you should stop now." Sky whispered quickly.

  The hand resting at Evan's side fisted. "It's a little too late for that now." he said through clenched teeth, looking momentarily at Sky. His eyes strayed back to Emerald. "You have

  no idea what I'm capable of." he growled darkly.

  "So what's with all the backup?" Emerald continued still ignoring Sky and Storm's warnings. "I mean, it's not like you couldn't take us on. All you have to do is threaten one of us

  and all of us will back down. Don't you know? It's, like, bad guy oneohone. Take one hostage and the others will abide if you threaten them right."

  Evan's fist twitched and Emerald braced herself, forcing her body to not respond when his fist came at her.

  Incoming, Emerald thought as Evan's fist flew out, hitting her clear across the cheek. Emerald hit the ground for dramatic effect. She heard Storm jump up.

  "I'm fine," she quickly assured him before he could do something stupid. She brushed some hair out of her face just as Evan dropped her tray of food face down, so that the food

  went spilling all over the floor. She glared up at him.

  "Enjoy," he said smirking before turning and exiting with the four others.

  As soon as the door closed Emerald stood and went to sit over on one of the cots nearest to her. The bait was set; hopefully Evan's ego had been bruised enough that he'd say

  something to Jonathan.

  Storm came to sit next to her.

  "That was really stupid." he told her.

  She smiled at him. "I know. But I had to—"

  Storm sighed heavily and rolled his eyes. "You do too much. We're all grown adults here, we can take ourselves, you know."

  "I know." Emerald repeated quietly thinking back to what Carter had told her.

  "You could've at least told us about that." Carter chimed in, apparently remembering that as well and cutting Emerald some slack.

  "You wouldn't have let me go through with it."

  "Of course not," the three of them said in sync.

  There was a moment of silence as Emerald sulked at the edge of the cot she was sitting on before Carter walked up to her, holding her halfeaten tray of food out for Emerald.

  "Oh, no, thank you. You need to eat more than I do." Emerald told her quietly.

  Carter sighed. "I'm not offering it to you." she said setting the tray down in Emerald's lap. "No give backs." She went to sit down, next to Sky again.

  Emerald sighed and looked down at the food. It had a disconcerting gray color, like they'd gotten it from the school cafeteria. How Carter or Sky had managed to eat any of that

  was beyond Emerald.

  "She's right. You should eat." Storm coaxed softly, resting a hand on her knee.

  "How are you holding up?" Emerald asked looking at him.

  "Nothing I can't handle." he responded stiffly. "And before you say anything, I'm going to refuse your offer." Emerald opened her mouth but Storm continued. "I'm just a little

  uncomfortable right now. I can manage."

  "Yeah, but how long will that last?"

  Storm shook his head a small smile on his perfect lips. "You should eat something, at least." he murmured standing up and kissing her temple before going to sit down on his own

  cot.

  Emerald sighed again and looked down disgustedly at the tray full of grayish slop.

  "Well, look who's back," Emerald exclaimed standing up and smiling at Evan. Her eyes briefly flickering behind him, making sure no one was guarding the door.

  "Nice bruise," he shot back.

  "So, tell me something," she said. "What do you shift into, because I've been dying to know?"

  Evan glared at Emerald for a moment before he dropped the trays in his hand, and drew back his other, winding up to throw a punch. Before he could, however, Emerald's own

  hand lashed out wrapping around Evan's neck. Evan's knees buckled and his punch missed completely, before he grasped at Emerald's wrist because of the painful discomfort she

  was putting on him.

  "The hold I have you in right now is called a lateral vascular hold." Emerald told him, as he slowly sunk to the ground, trying to get oxygen to his lungs. "The uncomfortable feeling

  you have is due to the fact that my forefinger and thumb restricting your airways and cutting off the oxygen to your brain." Emerald continued tightening her grip. Evan's hand

  pulled weakly at her wrist. "You should pass out right… about… now."

  Evan's eyes rolled back into his head and his hands went slack. He became deadweight, so Emerald let go of his neck. He hit the floor with a thump.

  "Let's go, before he wakes up." she instructed searching him for any sort of a weapon. All she found was a small hunting knife, no wood. But it'd have to do. She stepped over Evan

  and started toward the door.

  No one followed.

  She turned. "What are you guys waiting for?" she questioned. "We need to go before they realize something's wrong."

  Sky, keeping his eyes on Emerald, turned his head slightly toward Storm. "Dude, your girlfriend scares me."

  "You'll have worse things to worry about if you don't get a move on!" Emerald hissed.

  It wasn't that hard at first, Carter thought. They met a few of Jonathan's workers, if you will, and she or Storm beat them up pretty easily. They had weapons on them, but only

  silver, no wood, just like Evan. Figures.

  Though, this house was some kind of mansion. It was huge, and it felt like they were just wandering aimlessly.

  Up one staircase that led them out of the basement, then down one hallways, through another hallway, left turn down another hallway. A shortcut through what looked like a living

  room, right turn down yet another hallway. It was like some kind of maze house.

  But they came across the kitchen of the house and Emerald absolutely ripped the dining table apart, giving Carter a short, jagged makeshift stake. It felt odd in her hand. She had

  never held a weapon before and she really wasn't the violent type.

  Unfortunately for Carter, today was her unlucky day. They were coming around a corner when she was grabbed by someone. Her mouth was instantly covered and whoever had

  grabbed her was strong. She struggled, but they were meager and weak compared to this person's hold on her.

  Quickly thinking, Carter shoved the small stake into her pocket, ignoring how it easily ripped through the thin fabric and scratched her th
igh, as long as it was hidden from sight….

  She was dragged into another one of the many rooms. It was a bedroom with a large king sized bed, flat screen, two bedside tables, a fireplace underneath the flat screen. The

  room had a skylight that took up half of the ceilings space.

  Her assailant let go and she spun around ready to scream but all the words caught in her throat when she met gorgeous zircon blue eyes.

  "What do you want from me?" she asked, tears welling up in her eyes. Strangely, though, she no longer had any residual love for him like she did before Sky came along.

  "I didn't want to ever break up with you, Carter," Anthony told her, looking sincere. He took a step toward her but she stepped back, looking at him cautiously. "I really didn't. I

  swear."

  Carter didn't believe him one bit. What had happened to that cruel, vampire Anthony that had mocked her about their relationship not only a day ago?

  "You don't believe me." Anthony stated in a whisper.

  "Of course I don't!" Carter screamed. "You used me! You don't love me! You never loved me. Let me go!" She did something rash then, she ran at him, trying to push past him and maybe get out, but Anthony was faster and stronger.

  He grabbed her around the waist as she screamed and shouted and cried and struggled. She finally stopped to catch her breath.

  "What do you want from me?" she sobbed wrenching out of Anthony's slackened grip and turning to face him again.

  Anthony didn't say a word, instead he started toward her until he'd backed her up into the wall. He put his hands on either side of the wall, barricading her in.

  "I do, you have to believe me," Anthony whispered. "I did love you. I do love you, Carter. You're sweet and kind and innocent. And I'm sure you'll enjoy being together again.

  Remember those times? We laughed at the freshmen girls trying to get dates. We watched cheesy romance movies." He leaned in close. Carter froze. "Our first kiss." His lips

  brushed hers, but chills didn't run down her spine, her heart didn't start racing, she didn't feel lightheaded.

  All love for Anthony was completely gone.

  She needed a way to distract him, though. She needed to get out and find Sky and Emerald and Storm.

  "You're right," she lied, tears streaming down her face. "II… do still love you." she whispered. "Kiss me." So, he did. And she kissed him back, but as Anthony was occupied she