by H G Lynch
“Um, one thing before you go,” Julie said quietly.
Ember nodded. “Anything.”
“Well, um…” Julie hesitated, chewing her lip, and her eyes darted to the book on the coffee table. “Could you show me? Your…fire thing? Please. I’m just really curious.” She looked embarrassed to have asked, but Ember just grinned.
“Sure. Glad to.” She let her mental net gather up some of the heat in the room, drew it in and felt her fingers prickle with warmth, and snapped her fingers. A little yellow flame, about the same size as the ones on the red candles, sprang to life on the end of her finger. She sucked in some more heat, wanting to show Julie something really awesome. The flame grew into a ribbon of flowing gold and orange. Just by thinking, Ember made the mind-limb shape the flame into a flaming robin, suitable for the time of year.
Julie gasped, her hazel eyes wide.
The bird chirped and took off, fluttering around the room before coming back to land on Ember’s hand.
“Touch it. Go on. It won’t hurt you, I swear,” Ember encouraged, and Julie, nervously, lifted a hand. Very tentatively, she touched the little bird, and a look of amazement crossed her features when it didn’t burn her.
“Wow. That is the coolest thing I’ve ever seen,” she breathed, and Sherry and Ember both laughed.
Just before they left, standing at the front door, Julie made them promise to write to her, and keep her up to date on everything. She swore she’d help them whenever they needed it, and Ember suddenly had an idea. “Hey, Jules, do you know anything about a mirror that reflects…like, someone’s inner demons, so to speak. Like, it would show a vampire as a vampire, or, possibly, a werewolf as a werewolf, even when they’re in human form?” she asked, not really expecting any help on that one. So far, they’d just hit a lot of walls with the mirror. It made her want to literally hit a wall with the mirror.
Julie appeared to be thinking, then she said thoughtfully. “I don’t know about a specific mirror, but it sounds like a charmed object. I’ve read about a few things like that. They’re charmed or cursed by a…well, I suppose a witch…and a charmed mirror fits the bill. Mirrors are especially prone to things like that, they’re featured heavily in all superstitions and they’re pretty common in mythologies, like the Japanese, Yata no Kagami.” Julie shrugged.
Ember grinned and hugged the girl.
“Thank you so much! I promise we’ll let you know what happens with everything. We’ll come and see you again before we go back to Acorn Hills,” she vowed, and Julie laughed.
“Good. I want see you levitate a vase or something next time,” she beamed.
They said goodbye, and Ember and Sherry paused at the road. The boys had left the car. Ember wondered if they’d run back to Ellon. She decided that was probable.
Sherry got into the driver’s seat since she was the only one who’d had any experience behind the wheel—she didn’t have an official license yet, but Ember was confident in her friend’s driving abilities, and was sure she could compel any police officer if they got pulled over. Just another perk of being supernatural, she thought with a smirk, We can get away with breaking the law.
***
“Sherry, can you hand me the poppy seeds and ground ginger?” Ember asked, wrist-deep in a bowl of powdered turmeric, star anise and violets. She was sitting cross-legged on the living room floor, while Sherry measured out the right amounts of various ingredients for the warding potion.
Sherry handed over the cupful of poppy seeds and ground ginger, and Ember tipped it into the mix, continuing to use her hands as the mixing spoon.
“Where did I put the rose water…Oh, there it is,” Sherry murmured to herself, reaching for the little plastic bottle sitting by Ember’s foot. Hiro padded into the room in fox form, sniffed the contents of the bowl, and sneezed. The girls laughed as he shook his head and walked away, muttering in little growls and yips. Ember preferred the Kitsune in his fox form. At least then she didn’t have to listen to his dry remarks and abrasive comments.
Just then, the front door slammed, and the boys came wandering in, soaked and covered in snow. Oh. Ember hadn’t realised it had started snowing again. She wondered where they’d been; they hadn’t been home when the girls had gotten in, though it should’ve taken the vampires no time at all to run back. Reid’s hair was darkened and dribbles of melted snow ran down his face, and his jeans were wet up to the knees. He brushed snow off his shoulders and back. What was he doing, rolling in the stuff? Ember thought, shaking her head. Ricky’s usually carefully tousled hair was not-so-carefully tousled, and snow clung to his boots as he pulled them off.
“Oh, look, the return of the Jedi,” Sherry muttered under her breath, but Ember heard.
Which the meant boys probably did too. Not that it mattered. Ember didn’t want to talk to her boyfriend right now, and Sherry was in the same boat. They continued what they were doing as if the boys didn’t exist. Hiro made a quiet noise like a chuckle, obviously sensing the tension.
Ember shot the fox a dark look. “Keep your nose out of it, foxie, or I’ll shave your fur off,” she threatened in a low voice.
Hiro stuck his tail up and started defiantly toward Reid and Ricky, where they were whispering to each other in the hallway. Ember caught his tail as he walked past, and dragged him back. The fox let out an indignant yelp.
“Oh, no, you don’t. I’m warning you, fox-boy, if you want to keep your tail, you will stay out of it,” she hissed, one hand still in the bowl of mixed herbs. A lock of hair fell into her face and she tried to flip it back. It just fell into her eyes again. She growled in frustration.
Hiro made a low squeaking sound, then the tail in Ember’s grasp was gone.
She groaned. “Fucking fox!” she spat, tucking the loose lock of hair behind her ear.
Hiro reappeared three feet away, just out of reach, and appeared to be examining his tails…wait a second…Ember blinked, sure she was imagining things. Nope. Tails. Plural. The little red fox had three tails, only the one in the middle was tipped with white, and the two on either side were tipped with black. Seeing her look of astonishment, Hiro chuckled in that fox-way, and prowled off toward the hall. When he reached the doorway though, instead of going to torment Ember by talking to the boys, he shot her a very deliberate glance, and padded off down the hall in the other direction. Ember let out a relieved breath.
“You know, he might be less annoying as a fox, but he’s still pretty annoying,” Sherry commented, pouring out a measure of holy water —don’t ask where they got it — into a ceramic mug.
Ember nodded. “You got that right. If I wasn’t absolutely against animal abuse with every fibre of my being, I’d kick his furry ass to Tuesday.”
At that, Sherry laughed, nearly spilling the holy water onto the carpet. Ember grinned. But their banter didn’t last more than thirty seconds, because Reid stepped into the room, his expression unreadable.
“Ember,” he said, quietly.
She looked up at him, already glowering, her hands still in the bowl. “Yes?” she said curtly.
Reid frowned for a moment, then jerked his head toward the end of the hall, motioning for her to come with him. Feeling like a child being summoned to the head teacher’s office, she insolently stayed where she was, glaring at him.
He sighed in exasperation. “Please, Ember.” His features softened a little, his mouth turned down at the corners.
Grrr! She hated it when he did that! Stupid, stupid angelic asshole! Huffing, Ember wiped her hands on her jeans and got to her feet. She hesitated and shot a look at Sherry. Sherry glanced at Ricky, who was waiting near Reid, bouncing from foot to foot in agitation.
She sighed, too. “Go on. I’ll try to finish this,” she said, but there was a glint in her green eyes that Ember knew meant Ricky was going to get an earful. Guys. They were such a pain in the ass sometimes.
Ember stalked to and past Reid, walking ahead of him down the hall. She turned into the room they were
staying in and stopped by the bed, whirled, and crossed her arms stubbornly over her chest. Reid closed the door behind him and leaned against it, his head down so she couldn’t see his face. She saw his chest rise as he sucked in a deep breath, then he sighed, and looked up at her. His expression was a mix of anger, hurt and worry.
“Sit. Please,” he said softly, nodding to the bed.
Ember tilted her head a little, and very deliberately leaned back against the wardrobe. Something like bleak amusement filled his features.
“You’re not going to make this easy on me, are you?” he muttered, shaking his damp hair out of his eyes.
Ember snorted. “I don’t think you deserve this to be easy,” she said sharply. Yeah, she hadn’t actually been that mad when he’d walked through the front door, but now, the irritation was rekindling. Again, her hand tingled with the urge to hit him.
“Look, I…I get that you trust your friends, I really do, but right now…This is not the time to be showing off your loyalty. We need to be cautious—” he said, his voice a little too gentle. He’d been getting lessons from Ricky on how to be soothing, obviously. It wasn’t working.
“Pfft! Cautious? That’s hilarious coming from you,” she snapped back, and saw his eyes darken, whether with hurt or anger, she wasn’t sure. She kind of hoped it was both.
He continued as if she hadn’t said anything. “Ember, anyone could be working with The Society, anyone could be trying to kill you, which seems to be something you don’t understand. This is serious. You’ve seen the kind of weapons they have. Wooden daggers. A knife that somehow stops vampiric healing—”
Ember shuddered at that, thinking of her awful nightmare, then hoped he didn’t see it. Of course, he did. He misunderstood, and pressed his advantage. “See? I know you’re scared. All the more reason why we should—”
“Reid, shut up,” she hissed abruptly. A dark, hot snake of fury was uncoiling in her chest, seeping poisonously through her. She clenched her fists tightly, gritted her teeth, and forced herself not to throw a punch.
Reid didn’t listen. “I’m not going to shut up just because you don’t want to have this conversation. Ember, do you have any idea what could’ve happened today if you’d been wrong about Julie? What if she’d tried to kill you? Would you have been able to stop her? Or would you have let her stab you?”
“Reid, shut up. She wouldn’t do that. Ever. And anyway, The Society members won’t spill my blood, remember? They want to kidnap me, bring me to their lair, and then kill me.” She tasted metal on her tongue, realised her fangs had slid out and nicked her lip.
“Ember, I swear to God, you are— You’re being ridiculous! You know I’m right, but you’re going to keep arguing with me just because you are the most stubborn person I’ve ever met! And I’m not just talking about telling Julie. I mean, running off with Sherry this morning, as if teaching her to levitate sticks is more important than finding a way to save your life!” Reid was yelling now, furious. His eyes glinted with that vampire shine, dangerous as fire reflecting off a blade.
Ember snarled. “I knew it! I knew you wanted to bitch at me about that! Well, you took your damn sssweet time!” she hissed, just dying to smack that look off his face.
“I was going to let it slide, but then you insisted on doing something else recklessly stupid! Are you trying to get kidnapped!” Reid growled back, getting up in her face, his fangs out now, too.
That did it. She snapped.
She shoved him back as hard as she possibly could, her palms sizzling. He only stumbled back a couple of steps, but there were two singed hand prints on his t-shirt, and he let out a hiss of pain. Temporarily amused by the handprints —she hadn’t expected that to happen — she didn’t think to move before Reid leaped at her. He shoved her roughly back against the wardrobe, jarring her shoulder, and glowered lividly down at her with metallic blue eyes, baring his fangs. His fangs were long and sharp and looked every bit as lethal as they were. Somehow, his lips looked soft in comparison. The metal shine of his eyes complimented the gold shimmer of his hair, falling carelessly across his forehead.
Unsure what to do, and feeling just the tiniest bit scared of him, she simply stared at him, waiting for him to do something. When he realised she wasn’t fighting back, his grip on her arms loosened, and some of the ferocious light went out of his eyes. He didn’t retract his fangs, though, and neither did she.
“I should burn your hands off,” she stated in a shaky voice, refusing to drop her glare.
“And I should lock you in a cage,” he retorted.
“Love to see you try,” she taunted, carefully curling her fingers into his shirt.
“Oh, yeah?” he smirked slowly, a deadly light sparking in his eyes.
And then he was kissing her, roughly, almost desperately. She knotted her fingers more tightly in his shirt, pulling him closer. Then, somehow, they were on the bed, and his hands were under her top, gripping her sides with bruising force. Very lightly, she nicked his lip with one fang, and he gasped against her mouth. She smirked, moved to tangle her hands in his silky hair.
She didn’t even hear the door open, but suddenly, a shrieking, familiar voice pierced her eardrums. “Ember, you get away from that boy right this second!”
Oh, holy shit, you have got to be kidding me! Ember thought, pushing Reid away reluctantly.
“Mum, what the hell—” she started, angry and surprised and confused.
Carol Jennings stood in the doorway, more furious than Ember had ever seen her, her face flushed purple and her mouth set in a hard line.
“I said. Get. Away. From him,” Carol spat.
Sighing, Ember slid off the bed, and her mother grabbed her arm, pulling her to the door. “Mum, what the hell is going on? Stop it! Stop and tell me what’s going on here!” Ember yanked her arm from her mother’s grasp with a little more force than she’d intended.
“I remember!” her mother shrieked with a sudden violence that made Ember flinch. “I remember everything! I don’t know why I forgot, but I remember that this-this boy is dangerous, and I will not let you stay with him another minute!”
Oh. Shit. This was bad. Yeah, understatement of the century, her mind taunted her. She told it to shut the hell up. “Mum,” she said carefully, “What are you talking about?”
Her mother shot her a venomous glare. “Don’t try to play me for a fool again, Ember, don’t you dare!” The woman turned her glare on Reid, who looked almost as stunned as Ember felt. “What did you do to Owen? You-You…I know it was you! I know you did something to him, and I’m going to call the police, and then I’m going to make sure you never get near my daughter again!”
Crap, crap, crap! Ember knew she had to do something, right now. She thought on her feet, fast.
“Mum, he didn’t do anything to Owen. Don’t you—don’t you remember? Owen ran away! I went to look for him — I was gone for two days — but I never found him!” she lied quickly, hoping like all hell her mother would believe her.
Carol hesitated, looking suddenly doubtful. She shook her head slowly, distraught, and then seemed to regain some of her steel. “Ember, we’re leaving. This boy is still bad news, and I won’t have you anywhere near him. I’ll call Sherry’s mother and have her come get Sherry, too. This boy is dangerous to you both!” Carol started trying to drag Ember away again, and this time Ember didn’t snatch her arm back, but she didn’t budge either.
“Mum, stop it! Reid isn’t dangerous to anyone!” — Not technically true. He just wasn’t dangerous to her or Sherry — “Mum, I love him, for God’s sake! Why can’t you accept that? Hell, don’t accept that, but stop trying to take me away from him! I love him, and he loves me!” Ember felt her eyes burn with tears.
Her mother, seeing that her current plan wasn’t working, changed tactics. She whirled on Ember with pleading, dark green eyes. “Ember, he’s not right for you! I’m not sure he’s right for any girl! You could do so much better, Sweetie! You deserve better!�
� Carol said earnestly, breathlessly.
Ember felt her eyes sting more. “Mum, that is such bullshit and you know it! If I could do better, I don’t want it! I want Reid and—”
“No, she’s right,” Reid said abruptly.
Ember whirled in shock. “What!” she shrieked, incredulous.
Reid met her gaze evenly with solemn blue eyes. “Your mother’s right. You deserve so much better. I know I’m not good enough for you.” He dropped his gaze.
Ember noticed his fists were clenched. When he raised his eyes again, she was surprised to see they were dry, if tragically sad. But there was something else, too…Some message she wasn’t understanding.
“Are you…I mean…are we breaking up here? Because of what she said?” She felt tears roll down her cheeks, something icy knotting a stranglehold around her heart.
Reid’s mouth twisted for a second, and he looked away.
Ember opened her mouth to say something, anything to backtrack this conversation, but then she caught a glimpse of his face in the mirror, and then she understood the message in his eyes. “Please, Reid, don’t do this. Not now, not over what she said. It isn’t true. I love you—” Her voice cracked, and she felt her face crumple.
Then her mother was taking her away, and there was nothing she could do. She passed Sherry and Ricky as they hovered outside the living room. She heard Sherry gasp, saw her broken, confused expression. Ricky’s eyes were pained, and he squeezed Sherry’s hand before going down the hallway, presumably to check on Reid.
Ember didn’t pay much attention to her parents’ whispered conversation in the car on the way home. She stared out the window at the dark fields, rolling away to black patches of trees in the distance. The stars in the onyx sky glittered sadly like handfuls of teardrops scattered across the velvet night.
Chapter Twelve
Curled on the windowsill in her pyjamas, in what used to be her room, she hugged her knees. The familiar garden spread out below, the wide expanse of grass blanket by fine, white snow, framed by an icy, paved walkway. The old garage, with its corrugated roof, where she’d spent many a summer night watching the stars, loomed up from the street, dark and lonely. It had been a long time since she’d been here like this, and somehow, it didn’t quite feel like home. Home was wherever Reid was, in his arms.