Emerge- The Betrayal

by Melissa A. Craven

  “Come on, pick up,” she murmured into her phone. She finally heard his voice. “Daniel? She’s in labor.”

  “I’m coming. Where are you?”

  “The cottage. I’m supposed to tell you not to try to get here. It’s too dangerous in this storm.”

  “I’m not missing the birth of my child. I’m on my way.” The line went dead before she could tell him to be careful. She had no idea how he intended to get across the lake, but she had bigger things to worry about.

  Allie raced around her house, doing as her mother said. She was ready with towels and blankets when they finally made it inside.

  “Let’s get her into some pajamas,” Allie said, holding up a clean pair of fleece pants and shirt.

  “Not conducive to delivering a baby, kiddo. You have a night gown anywhere?”

  “Right, sorry. I have some long t-shirts.” Allie grabbed a clean shirt, and together they helped Emma strip off her wet clothes. Livia helped her dry off, and Allie tugged the shirt over her head.

  “Now, we’re going to move her to the bedroom,” Lily instructed. “Allie, do you have any hand sanitizer?”

  “Uh. No, sorry.” She never needed it. Germs didn’t affect her or anyone who lived in this house.

  “How about alcohol? This is pretty much a frat house, right? You kids must have some booze here somewhere.”

  “Uh, yeah. I think Darius has a stash.”

  “Bring a basin with you.”

  Allie ran for the kitchen and returned with a bottle of vodka from the freezer and a plastic container.

  “Pour it over my hands,” Lily instructed, playing the part of the clueless mortal worried about germs that didn’t even matter. “Livia, get her on the bed. Keep her calm and her breath slow and deep.”

  Allie sat next to Emma on her bed, grabbing her hand. “You’re going to be okay, Emma.”

  “That’s right,” Lily said. “I’m just going to check you over and see how things are progressing.” Lily lifted the hem of Emma’s t-shirt.

  “Deep breath, Emma,” Allie said. “Inhale nice and slow. Exhale slow. Good.”

  “Okay, relax, little momma.” Lily moved to cover Emma with a blanket. “It’s going to be a while before this kid’s ready to be born.”

  “You’re sure?” Emma asked.

  “Positive. Allie, I’ll sit with Emma. Can you and Livia find some flashlights and candles? It’s going to get really dark in here soon.”

  “Anything else we need? Hot water? A knife?” Allie asked.

  “Bring some protein bars, some bottled water and a really sharp knife.”

  “Got it.” Allie was pretty sure pregnant women didn’t eat during labor, but Lily had to know Emma would need it to keep up her stamina, especially if this was going to be a long delivery.

  After scrambling around the dark house, gathering everything they could possibly need—including some things Lily sent them for that Allie didn’t think they’d ever need—the baby still wasn’t coming.

  “He’s a slow chap, isn’t he?” Allie sank into the armchair by the gas fireplace in the living room. She dunked her tea bag into the hot water she’d heated with her solar gift.

  “You know it’s a boy?” Livia asked in a soft tone.

  “Oh crap. I hope she didn’t hear me. I’ve been so careful the last few months not to let it slip.”

  “Boys are easier.” Livia took a long gulp from the vodka bottle.

  “I hope Daniel makes it in time,” Allie said.

  “The rate this kid is traveling he’ll be here in plenty of time.” The storm still raged all around the little cottage, rattling the windows and filling the house with flickers of lightening.

  A sudden shriek echoed in the silence between bouts of thunder, and Allie and Livia ran for the bedroom.

  “Is it time?” Allie asked.

  “Almost,” Lily said, examining Emma’s progress again. “Yep. It’s time to start pushing, Emma.”

  Emma looked exhausted already. A sheen of sweat glistened on her brow, and her eyes were bloodshot, a simmer of power pulsing with every labored breath.

  “You ready for this?” Allie brushed a damp cloth over her mentor’s brow.

  Emma nodded. “As ready as I’ll ever be.”

  “Allie, I want you to sit behind her and prop her up,” Lily instructed. “Hold her hands when she has a contraction and help her breathe through it until I say push.”

  “Got it.” Allie kicked off her shoes and climbed on the bed behind Emma. Sitting on her knees, Allie leaned Emma back against her, taking her hands and giving her a reassuring squeeze. “We’ve got this, Ems. You just squeeze as hard as you need to.”

  “Come on, Emma, I know you’re tired, but you can do this.” Allie winced as Emma screamed and dug her nails into her arms, pushing for all she was worth. She’d been at it for hours. Allie had seen more of her mentor than she’d ever wanted to. And she’d seen more gross things in the last few hours than she had in her entire life, and that included the time Gregg took Jin’s head off with a sword to teach her a lesson.

  “Why won’t she come out?” Emma sobbed. “What’s wrong with her?” Emma was convinced she was having a girl, but Allie knew she would be just as happy when she met her little son.

  “Nothing’s wrong,” Lily said calmly. She was often the only calm one in the room—and Livia was absolutely no help at all. She’d noped right out of the room at the first sign of blood. “It’s just taking her a little longer than most. She’ll come out when she’s ready.”

  Emma’s contractions were right on top of each other now, and Allie braced herself for another push. Emma gripped Allie’s forearms, as her hands were pretty well crushed after hours of Emma’s pushing to no avail. Lily pretended like she didn’t notice the odd way Allie’s hands and fingers swelled and bruised.

  A loud crash at the back door startled them.

  “Daniel?” Emma rasped. “Is he here?”

  “Emma?” Daniel’s footsteps pounded down the hallway just before he burst into the room. Soaking wet, his eyes wide and crazy, Allie was pretty sure he just took a really long swim to get here in time for the birth of his child. “I’m here.” Daniel scrambled to take Allie’s place behind his Complement. “We’ve got this, Emma.”

  “All right, Mom, now that Dad is here, let’s have a big push, now,” Lily coached.

  Emma gripped Daniel’s hands; letting out a string of what Allie was sure was a lot of French swear words.

  “That’s it. Good job, Emma,” Lily said. “The head’s out, and this baby has a full head of dark hair just like Mom.”

  Thunder boomed and lightening crashed as candlelight filled the room. Emma’s screams of pain and frustration nearly burst Allie’s eardrums. The blood. The darkness. The screams. Allie finally realized why her visions of Emma’s child coming into the world had been so violent and terrifying.

  “That’s it, keep pushing,” Lily said. “He’s almost out.”

  “He?” Emma gasped, clamping down on Daniel’s arms once more as she made a final push.

  “It’s a boy!” Lily cried. “And he’s beautiful.” Allie watched in awe as her mother swept the baby’s mouth clean, clipped the cord, and smacked him on the butt. He was so tiny, but he gave a healthy wail right along with his mom.

  “He’s so little,” Emma cried, reaching for him as Lily laid him on her chest.

  “Ten fingers, ten toes. He’s perfect.” Daniel beamed.

  “And he looks a bit like Graham, don’t you think?” Lily said.

  “He does,” Emma laughed, tears of joy running down her face. “He has his brother’s nose, thank God. I was afraid the baby would get Daniel’s nose.”

  “Hey, I have a perfectly fine nose,” Daniel laughed. “But I think this little one looks just like his beautiful mother.

  “Is it over?” Livia peeked her head in through the open door.

  “Come see him, Liv.” Allie couldn’t contain her huge smile. “He’s so beaut
iful.”

  “He’s all red and wrinkly,” Livia said, looking over Lily’s shoulder. “Is that normal?”

  “Perfectly normal,” Lily assured her. “Once the storm has cleared, we can get you two to the hospital if you want to, Emma, but it’s perfectly natural to have a baby at home and then follow up with your regular doctor in a few days and file for a birth certificate.”

  That was a load of c.r.a.p., if Allie had ever heard it. But Emma didn’t know any better, and Lily provided the perfect excuse not to go to the hospital. An Immortal mother and child would never need things like doctors and Darius would handle a forged birth certificate. Fake documents were his specialty.

  “Thank you, Lily.” Emma reached for her hand, cradling her son with her other. “I can never thank you enough for guiding me through this. We would have made a mess of it without you.”

  “I’m just glad I was here.” Lily stood to bathe the baby and wrap him in a warm, clean towel before she gave him back to his mother.

  “What are you going to name him?” Allie asked while her mother got Emma cleaned up.

  “We thought he’d be a girl, so we were going to name her Parker Alexis Loukas,” Daniel said, unable to take his eyes off his son.

  “But since he’s a beautiful boy, his name is Alex Parker Loukas,” Emma said.

  “After me?” Allie almost started bawling.

  “Of course, you’re my favorite student,” she whispered.

  “I’m your only student.” Allie sniffed.

  “Will you be Parker’s godmother?” Emma and Daniel smiled at her.

  “Me?” Allie was shocked at their level of trust. For Immortals, godparents took on a different role than the traditional mortal one. They were asking her to be their child’s mentor.

  Emma nodded. “There’s no one better for the job.

  “I’d be honored.”

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Allie

  Kelleys Island, August

  “Emma?” Darius shouted, his voice echoing across the empty common room in the underground. “We need you!”

  “Darius, I’m fine now.” Allie tried to shrug off his death grip around her shoulders.

  “You are not fine.” His voice sounded harsh in the dark. It was nice having someone care so much about her. Most of the time. But sometimes having a Darius was like having another mom and Allie had plenty of those.

  A sword flicked against Darius’s throat. “I will slice your carotid open right here if you yell one more time,” Emma’s voice was tinged with a little crazy.

  “We just got Parker to sleep,” Daniel said in a whisper. “If you wake him up, I will kill you with my bare hands, if my wife doesn’t get to you first.”

  “Not much sleeping happening with a newborn, huh?” Darius took a careful step back.

  “We’re too old for this.” Emma’s shoulders slumped, letting her sword down at her side. “He won’t sleep in his perfectly lovely crib at home. No, my son prefers the underground like some kind of goblin baby.”

  “I told you this could have waited for tomorrow,” Allie said. She knew something new was emerging and she needed her mentor, but the whole thing just reminded her of all the times when Aidan was the one insisting she seek out Emma’s help. And Allie spent a great deal of effort avoiding anything that made her think about Aidan. She missed him too much. And missing him made her angry.

  “What’s wrong?” Emma finally looked at Allie. “You need me, too?” She sounded like she wanted to cry.

  “Nope. I’m good.”

  “We’re already here. Tell her,” Darius insisted.

  Allie rolled her eyes. “I kind of freaked out in a public place.” She shrugged. “I saw a bunch of stuff that wasn’t actually there. And then I sorta went blind for about an hour. But I’m perfectly fine now.”

  “Get her in my office.” Emma pointed down the hall with her sword. “Daniel, coffee? Lots of it.”

  “I don’t think you can have coffee if you’re still nursing,” Allie said, and then wished she could swallow her tongue.

  “You want to fight with me, too, Red?”

  “Nope. Bring on the coffee.”

  “Could be why the kid doesn’t sleep,” Darius muttered. “Can caffeine pass from her to the baby? I mean she could be feeding him a steady diet of cappuccinos.”

  “I have no idea, but shut up and keep walking. Remember she has a sword.” Allie grabbed his hand and speed-walked toward Emma’s office.

  “Define freak out?” Emma flopped onto her sofa a moment later, setting the baby monitor on the coffee table. Parker made the cutest gurgling noises from his crib in the room at the back of her office.

  “Well, we were out at this school thing earlier tonight, and I saw a bunch of … stuff that no one else saw.”

  “Stuff?”

  “That’s all she’ll say,” Darius offered. “I’m still trying to figure out that part.”

  “Giant people-sized blobs of … stuff just moving around like everyone else. There was sound, too—lots of it—but I couldn’t make out words. It was scary, and I guess I screamed over the noise, thinking everyone could see and hear it. And now everyone at school thinks I’m even more weird.”

  “And the blindness?” Emma sighed, resting her hand against her temple.

  “I’ve been having trouble with blurry vision for months, but I just thought it was dry eyes from all the late night studying. I didn’t even think to mention it before. But the blurry part happened earlier today, worse than usual. And when I saw the … stuff, everything went blurry again and then nothing. For like an hour, I just couldn’t see anything. And now I’m fine.”

  “Scared the hell out of me,” Darius said. “So I brought her straight here.”

  “I’ve been waiting for something like this to happen to one of you,” Emma said. “Figures it’s Allie.”

  “I’m not sure how to take that.” Allie sat up straighter.

  “Everything happens to you, Allie.” Emma smiled. “It’s just a given.”

  “What does it mean?”

  “It sounds like a Syntrophos thing. We know you balance each other. You’re stronger and faster because of the bond, but in my studies, I’ve learned some Syntrophos can experience a sort of merging of abilities. I suspect it happens more so for younger pairs who are still evolving and more susceptible to the change.”

  “So, this is some sort of hybrid gift?” Allie asked.

  “I think you just had a vision, Allie. A simple vision like you’ve had thousands of times. But instead of it happening in your head where your mind’s eye can see it, it happened right in front of you, like a three-dimensional vision.”

  “How is that a Syntrophos thing?”

  “Oh. I get it,” Darius said. “It’s like what I see when I visit a crime scene.”

  “A reanimation?” Allie frowned.

  “For me it’s a replay of the crime. I can see it similar to the way mom tells a story and shows her animations, so you can see her stories. Kind of like that, but a little less cute when it’s murder, blood and violence. For me, the reanimations are fairly crude, so maybe that’s why you’re not seeing anything discernable yet.”

  “That’s a great analysis, Darius,” Daniel said, setting a tray of coffee cups on the table in front of his wife. “I’m not sure I would have made that connection to your gift so quickly.”

  “Okay, so my visions are getting a three-D makeover? Is that it?” Allie accepted the steaming mug from Emma, taking a sip of the rich, dark Greek coffee Daniel preferred.

  “We’ll have to wait and see.” Emma sipped from her mug. “And we’ll deal with it as it comes.”

  “But what about the blindness?” Darius asked.

  “Probably just a symptom of the change,” Daniel said.

  “It shouldn’t happen again,” Emma added.

  “I told you. Easy peasy,” Allie said. “Next time, I won’t shout, and eventually maybe those blob things will actually look like so
mething.”

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Allie

  The Dreamworld, September

  “I don’t like you going back to the dreamworld, Allie.” Darius stubbornly crossed his arms over his chest. “Not after last time.”

  “Last time was a fluke. You’re here to watch over me this time. It wasn’t the dreamworld’s fault someone decided to betray me.” Allie refused to say Greyson’s name out loud. It just hurt too much and reminded her how much she missed him. Since Greyson and Isebeau left for the remote areas of Northern Ontario along the Hudson Bay, Gregg had changed his approach to Allie and Darius’s Syntrophos training. They no longer had to spend forced time apart. Gregg decided that had ultimately done more harm than good, driving Allie to spend more time with Greyson.

  Now that they were together more often, their relationship felt more balanced and natural. Except when Darius threw a hissy fit about her safety.

  “At least wait until we can get to the Yard. I’d rather you do this somewhere safe.”

  “I am somewhere safe, dare. Our home is perfectly safe and Liam is just across the street with Kahlynn.”

  “Let me at least call Brigs to come over.”

  “No.” Allie’s voice was sharper than she intended.

  Darius’s eyebrows shot up. “Trouble in paradise?”

  “Paradise?” Allie snorted a laugh. “It was never that.”

  “Was?”

  “Brigs doesn’t know it yet, but my gift tells me he’s leaving soon. If I can ever get to the dreamworld to help win this war.”

  “Fine. Just please be careful,” Darius relented.

  “Yes, Mother.” Allie rolled her eyes, taking a seat on their living room floor.

  “Let’s get this over with so Brigs can leave. The sooner the better.”

  “I thought you didn’t hate him?” Allie frowned, placing her hands on her knees.

  “Then I’ve done my job well. That guy’s not good enough for you and he knows it.”

  “I swear if you had it your way, I’d be a freaking nun.” Allie muttered as she quickly found the calm state she needed to enter the dreamworld, hopefully one last time to win the war against Brecken.