by Weil, J. L.
Emma changed everything.
Knocking the bow aimed her way Travis had two of them disarmed before they realized he was there. This was going to turn into a blasted disaster if he didn’t figure something out quick. Even with his superior skills, five hunters was a truckload for one Divisa. Add Emma into the equation and he wasn’t at top form.
As much as it pained him, Travis knew he had to get the hell out of there, for Emma’s safety.
He raced back through the forest sweeping a stunned Emma off her feet. Tucking her into his arms, he ran. Arrows pelted the air behind them, he did his best avoid the tiny spears and keep her from getting lashed by branches. He didn’t stop the grueling pace until they reached his house.
“You’re bleeding,” Emma exclaimed when he set her down. Her heart had yet to stop jumping out of her chest.
“It’s nothing,” he waved off. “The wounds will heal within the hour. Let me look at you.”
“I’m fine,” she insisted, lines of concern still ceasing her face. Windblown strands of her strawberry blonde hair framed her larger than normal emerald eyes.
It was some time before Travis deemed it safe to take her home. She was positive she would be grounded for life when she walked in. This was the first time she had missed curfew, and there was going to be consequences for sure. Her hand shook as it turned the knob. She was almost more scared to face her parents than she had been earlier today faced with the hunters.
He was sitting in the recliner with just a small light illuminating from the side table. She could tell by the hard set of lines on his face that whatever he had to say wasn’t good.
“Dad?” she asked. “I’m sorry. I–”
“Have a seat Emma. We need to talk.” He had that disapproving tone that had her slumping.
She swallowed hard as her mind ran through a thousand scenarios. Folding her hands in her lap, she waited on the verge of doom for him to say something. She didn’t have to wait long.
He leaned forward in the chair. “You are no longer to see that boy.”
Just like that her world crumbled to pieces around her. The earth stopped spinning. “Dad I can explain–” She tried to rush out the words only to be cut off sternly.
“There is nothing you can say. This isn’t open for discussion. You are to stay away from him. Period.”
What BS. How can he do this to her? Tears blurred her eyes as she refused to believe that he was doing this to her. Taking away the one person she wanted most in the world.
“I don’t understand.”
“All you need to know is that I am looking out for you. He is not the kind of guy you should be associating with.”
She shook her head in denial. “I can’t,” she sobbed.
“You don’t have a choice young lady.” His eyes hard as steel.
Maybe, but right now she had to get the hell out of there. She couldn’t listen to another word. Fumbling the keys in her hand, she stood up.
“Emma!” he thundered, but she was already out the door.
Jamming the key into the ignition, the car ripped to life as she squealed the tires backing down her driveway. She wasn’t giving her father the chance to stop her.
With shaking fingers, she dialed Travis number. The phone had slipped from her fingers more than once. He answered on the first ring, and her voice hitched on raw emotion. There was a burning in her throat and a gigantic hole in heart that could only be filled by him.
“Travis,” she said his name in sadness.
“Emma. What’s wrong?”
She could always count on Travis understanding her, whereas her dad didn’t bother to listen. Travis had a way of knowing what she needed, and the sound of his voice was like her personal salvation. “My dad and I had a fight. I need to see you. I can’t be there tonight.”
In the back of her mind she knew that Travis’s was the first place her parents would look, but she didn’t care.
He could hear her struggling with her emotions. The sound of her voice so dejected was like an open knife wound on the heart. “Of course. Do you want me come get you?”
They both knew he could be there in seconds. “No, I’m already on my way.” She could tell he wanted to keep her talking on the phone, but she needed a few minutes to collect herself. This was new territory for her, disobeying her parents. “Thanks. I’ll see you in a few?”
Against his better judgment he hung up the phone with those three letter words on the tip of his tongue. He couldn’t say why but he had the overwhelming urge to lay out his heart. The timing just didn’t seem right, not with her crying tears of sorrow and hurt. What she needed now was comfort.
Later.
There would be time later to tell her how much he cared.
It was darker than usually as she coasted her car down the country road. The well of tears blurred her vision. She swiped away each eye with the palm of her hand, sniffling away the hurt. The darkness around her was like a cloak. So when a car stalled horizontally across the road came upon her in a blink, Emma slammed her breaks like a mad women to avoid a collision.
Their piercing screech vibrated her eardrums, and her frightened heart dropped to the floor. Before she had the chance to register what was going on her driver side door was ripped open. A man’s hand wrapped around her mouth, suffocating her screams for help. He was unrecognizable, disguised in a mask, and tore her from the car.
She didn’t have the strength to fight off her attacker. He was just too brawny and burly. A voice from behind her cleared his throat over the roaring blood pounding in her head. He called out her name, and she panicked. There was more than one of them, and they knew who she was. Gazillion horrific images tumbled through her mind.
Trying to focus on the man walking toward her, she struggled to get loose. Arms of iron wrapped around her body, securing her tight. The pain brought tears to her eyes.
“Emma! Stop!” the voice coming at her commanded. And like an obedient child she stilled her efforts.
That voice. That voice was unmistakable.
“Dad?”
Then Emma’s world went black.
Chapter 19
He was pacing like a caged animal, wearing a neat little path in the rug. Lexi’s eyes were going bonkers watching him.
“Travis!” she hollered. “Sit down before you make me go cross-eyed. Permanently.”
He glowered at his sister.
“Look I know you are worried, but I am sure she will call as soon as she is able. There is not point tearing the floor off this place in the meantime,” Lexi scolded, thinking maybe he needed a stern hand.
He didn’t agree. Every bone in his body was screaming that something was wrong.
Dreadfully wrong.
He heard it in her voice when she had called. Tears stung her words, and she was clearly upset. Maybe she had gotten in a car crash on the way here. She had been in a hurry when they last spoke an hour ago, but it didn’t take an hour to get to his house. Not even close.
He was done waiting. He had waited long enough.
Whipping the front door open, a blast of cold air hit him. There was an ominous vibe in the raven night. He didn’t like it. Not one freaking bit. Right now he was berating himself hardcore.
He should have gone to her immediately, insisted he’d pick her up. Then maybe he wouldn’t be going bat-shit crazy with worry. Not bothering with a car, he took off on foot into the massive woods that separated his house with Emma’s. When he came out in her backyard, lights illuminated from the house.
Travis prayed that every fear, every heart-pumping anxiety, and every trickle of unease was for nothing. That she was inside that house safe and sound and with an exceptional explanation for shaving ten years off his life.
The decision was made before he could talk to himself out of what was sure to be a disaster of epic magnitudes. Though, for Emma’s safety and his peace of mind he would walk the ends of the earth, through the fiery pits of hell, and climb the mountain of doom.
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Walking up to the Deen’s front door, he knocked just enough to be heard but not wake the whole house. It wasn’t his intention to disturb anyone, just to verify that Emma was alive and okay. A part of him expected to see Emma’s serene face behind the door. Unfortunately he took a gamble that didn’t pay off.
Actually it backfired in epic portions. Boy did it ever.
Mr. Deen stood in the doorway with his hands folded over his chest looking upset, angry, and stressed. His slightly graying hair was frazzled, and his eyes hard as glass. “I figured she would be with you,” he said in a tone laced with distaste.
A million thoughts ran through Travis’s head, and then the world around him ceased to exist. She wasn’t here. “She isn’t,” he finally replied. “She isn’t with me.”
He looked confused. “You aren’t here to drop her off?”
“No. I came to see if she was here. She called me over an hour ago, and I haven’t heard from her since.”
Mr. Deen leaned back against the door clearly upset and in shock. “I told her she wasn’t to see you anymore.”
Travis sucked in a sharp breath. So that was why she was so upset.
“She was distraught and stormed out of the house. The last words we had weren’t pleasant. And now…now she is gone.” He put his hands over his face in an attempt of disbelief. Turning toward him, Travis watched as his eyes went for sadness to hatred. “Stay away from us. Stay away from Emma. I don’t want you anywhere near our house. You hear me? Emma is better off without you in her life, and when I find her, I intend to keep her as far from you as possible.”
Then the door was promptly slammed in his outraged face. He couldn’t believe it. Well he could, but it didn’t lessen the blow of hurt any less. It wasn’t like this was the first time he had been shit on.
He had to fight the internal instinct to tear down the walls of the house, to pull this place apart brick by brick. The only reason he left it standing was the fact that deep down he knew she wasn’t inside. He had known the moment he stepped foot on her property, regardless of the sliver of hope he clung to. Clung to still.
The animal roar of frustration exploded into the night as he tore from house in a blinding run. He ran nowhere particular, just away. Away from the memories, away from the crushing hurt, and the suffocating fear of never finding her.
Where the hell did he start?
~*~
Travis went nuclear. He hadn’t heard from Emma in a week, and his entire body vibrated.
Find her.
Protect her.
Kill them.
His demon was wild, restless, and out-of-control. It stirred inside like a raging beast, beating against him. Dying to break free, to unleash the built up of hurt, helplessness, and blunt anger. Anger at himself. At the world. And mostly at the curse that dictated so much of his life.
Without it would Emma still be here? He couldn’t help but think that being who he was had everything to do with her sudden disappearance. Travis would easily trade his life for hers.
He knew how much his sister and cousin worried about him since that night. They thought of him as a ticking bomb just waiting to blow, and in a way he was. There was so much bottled up, eventually it was going to need a release. He feared whoever was around when that cap popped.
Life was numb. Dead. Useless without his Emma. A search party had been gathered to scope the area, still no sign of her. But that didn’t deteriorate him from doing his own investigation. Turned out, his trail was just as cold as theirs.
He wasn’t giving up. Not by a long shot. As horrible as things were…he had a feeling the worst had yet to come.
Angel and Chase’s story continues in…
HUNTING ANGEL
Coming Spring 2013
If you haven’t read the beginning of Angel and Chase’s story check out:
SAVING ANGEL
Available now
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