by H G Lynch
She froze, and spun, dropping the faery lights she was holding. Her heart jumped into her ribs, realised it couldn’t get out through her chest, and settled for beating madly instead. She threw a glance at Sherry, who looked as shocked as Ember felt. Then they were both running down the hall and crashing into the living room.
Hiro was right. Reid was sitting up, still bloody and with a hole in his chest —that seemed to be a little smaller than before — but clearly awake. He was staring at her with wide blue eyes and a faint smile.
“Jeez, you’d think they’d just heard Waterstones was having a massive sale,” he commented to nobody in particular.
Ember caught her breath and felt tears sting her eyes, rushed forward to collapse at the side of the sofa. She clasped his hand tightly in hers. “Oh, God, you’re awake. Oh, my God. Do you know how terrified I was? You stupid, reckless — Oh, God, I was so worried! I can’t believe you actually got staked! I’m so sorry, so, so sorry! It was all my fault! I could’ve stopped it, but I froze up and…and…” She broke down, losing the battle with her tears.
She sensed Ricky and Sherry leaving the room, and tried to get herself together. She couldn’t. She’d been so terrified, but she hadn’t really felt it until she’d seen Reid looking at her, alive and awake.
“Shh, shh. Ember, it wasn’t your fault. You couldn’t have done anything. God, I’m okay. See, I’m fine. Just a scratch really—” he cut off when she squeezed his hand savagely.
“Don’t you dare try to make this okay. That—” she pointed to the ping-pong ball sized hole in his chest —it had originally been tennis-ball sized. It really was healing — “is not just a scratch! God, you could’ve died!” She was only really starting to grasp that fact now.
Reid made a thoughtful noise. “Huh. Ricky said the exact same thing.” He shook his head. “Honestly Emz, I’ll be fine. Look, it’s already healing. Won’t even leave a scar. Come here.”
She shifted closer and he took his hand from hers to grasp her chin gently, looking her in the eyes.
“I’m fine. Okay? I’m sorry I worried you. I love you, so much. I’d die to keep you safe, do you understand me? I mean it. No, don’t try to argue—” he added that because that’s exactly what she’d been about to do, and he could just read it on her face. “I really would die for you, Emz. So this,” he gestured at the wound in his chest, “really is nothing compared to what it could’ve been. I’ll live. But if you’d been the one to get staked, you wouldn’t have lived. And I wouldn’t have wanted to either, not without you.” His azure eyes were so honest and earnest and just so blue that she knew he meant it, and hearing him say it did funny things to her heart. She wasn’t sure whether it was pain or not, but her heart was doing something achy in her chest. She knew she was still crying, but she didn’t care.
She leaned forward and kissed him, very gently, on the mouth, careful not to touch his chest for fear of hurting him. When she sat back, he looked at her with a mixture of sadness and longing. It was downright pathetic, and downright heart-breaking. “Don’t look at me like that,” she murmured, looking down at her hands.
“Why not?” he asked softly.
With wet eyes, she met his eyes through locks of her hair. “You’ll make me fall apart. It hurts me when you look so sad,” she said, so quietly and tenderly that her voice was hardly a whisper.
He heard anyway, and moved, just a little, to wrap an arm around her shoulders. She leaned closer and sighed, wiping tears off her face.
“It makes me sad to see you so worried. You’re much more beautiful when you smile,” he murmured, placing a kiss on the top of her head.
She reached up to touch the necklace at her throat, drawing Reid’s eyes there. He drew in a sharp breath, and his eyes went wide and very dark. Frowning in confusion, she was about to ask him what was wrong when she remembered the bandage wrapped around her upper torso. From the angle he was at, Reid could probably see it beyond the collar of her loose, button-up shirt. He pushed her back gently, and peeled down the collar of her shirt with two fingers to show a tiny strip of white bandage.
Before she could protest, he flicked open the top two buttons, and peeled back the shirt further, his face becoming increasingly pained as he saw the extent of the bandage.
Ember swallowed and looked at him. “I’m fine. It’s not that bad really. It’s…just a scratch.” She tried to smile, tried to put some lightness into her echo of what he’d said before, but it didn’t really work. He looked like he was in agony, and it had nothing to do with the healing wound in his chest. Sucking in a shuddering breath, he met her gaze. There was something in his eyes that made her want hug him and comfort him. She opened her mouth to tell him again that she was alright, but he muttered something she didn’t catch, then yelled toward the door.
“Ricky! Get your ass through here!”
Ember held the top of her shirt closed with one hand, gripping Reid’s hand with the other. “Reid, really, I’m fine. It’s nothing. It’ll be all healed by tomorrow at the very latest. You should worry about yourself.” But he wasn’t listening.
Ricky came into the room and paused just inside the doorway, taking in the scene. Reid’s angry expression, Ember clutching her shirt closed over the white bandage. He made a face and looked like he might bolt out the door again.
“Don’t even think about running, Kee. You told me she was fine!” Reid hissed.
“Reid, I am fine, I swear! The slash is probably mostly healed…” Oops. She hadn’t meant to say that.
He turned his attention back to her, horrified. “Slash? As in, a deep, ragged cut?”
“No. Well, yes, but it’s—”
Reid whipped his head back to glare at Ricky, who was anxiously twisting his fingers together. “She got cut! I don’t call that ‘fine’, Ricky! I call that hurt! She doesn’t heal like we do!”
That was only half true. She healed faster than a human, way faster. But still, it took her a day to heal from what would’ve taken Reid or Ricky a half hour to heal from.
Ricky met Ember’s eyes across the room, and she frowned. He visibly took a breath and walked over to the sofa —not too close though, she noted. Just out of Reid’s reach. At least it would prevent Reid from strangling him.
“It wasn’t that bad,” Ricky said weakly.
Even Ember could hear the lie in his voice. Honestly, she didn’t think it was that bad, but apparently Ricky did. And if she could hear the lie, Reid could too.
“Don’t lie to me again, Ricky, or I swear to God, I’ll get off this sofa and wring your neck,” Reid snapped.
Ember was gripping his hand so hard it should’ve broken bones. Maybe it did. But Reid didn’t seem to notice. He just kept glowering at Ricky.
“Okay, okay. I didn’t tell you because I knew you’d react like this! You need to relax. If you get your blood pressure up, it could start the bleeding again!” Ricky said, very smartly, even if he was clearly afraid that Reid would do exactly what he threatened, wound or no wound.
“I don’t care!” Reid gritted his teeth, then let out a slow breath, looked down at Ember. His expression became tender. “Does it hurt?” he asked softly.
She shook her head. “Not really. Ricky did a really good job of fixing it…Oh,” she turned to look at Ricky over her shoulder, “I don’t think I thanked you for that, Ricky. Thank you. God knows I couldn’t have cleaned it up myself.”
Ricky was blushing, whether at her compliment, or because he’d seen her topless, she couldn’t be sure, and he ran an agitated hand through his hair. “No problem. Really,” he said meekly.
Reid let out a sigh, a sound somewhere between exasperation, amusement and irritation. “Of course. I get staked and my best friend gets to see my girlfriend shirtless. It’s one of those days, isn’t it?”
It was clear from his tone that he’d calmed down, though Ember was sure he honestly wasn’t thrilled that Ricky had seen her shirtless, even if it was so he could bandage her up. She felt
her cheeks getting hot, and bit her lip. Now that she thought about it, she was really pretty embarrassed. It was kind of awkward really.
Reid apparently noticed her blushing, and chuckled, a sure sign he was over his temporary temper tantrum. “Oh, relax. Ricky’s practically a certified doctor. He’s not allowed to make judgements or enjoy seeing girls topless while he’s fixing them up. Right Kee?”
Ricky was bright red, and looking extremely uncomfortable now. Ember whacked Reid’s arm, scandalised and massively embarrassed —which was clearly his intention.
“You’re enjoying this! Shut up!” Her face was flaming, and Ricky looked very much like he wanted to bury his head under a mound of cushions. Reid was such an ass sometimes…Scratch that. Most of the time. Ninety eight percent of the time.
“I am not! Oh, wait, you mean, making you two hugely uncomfortable? Then, yeah, I am.” Reid grinned, and Ember forced herself not to punch him in the gut.
“If you weren’t so badly injured, I’d hit you so hard right now.” She glowered at him.
He just sat there with an amused smile on his face.
Ricky sighed, came over to hand Reid a glass of red liquid that was almost empty. Ember frowned. It wasn’t human blood. She shot Ricky a surprised glance, and he met her eyes for just a second, a silent warning in them not to do anything stupid. She made a face at him. Since when do I do stupid things? Judging by Ricky’s expression, he knew what she was thinking, and really wanted to either laugh or scold her. Probably both.
“Finish this, then shut up. You’ll heal faster with your mouth shut.” Ricky folded his arms over his chest as Reid shot him a half-hearted glare.
“I know I’m not brilliant at the doctoring thing, Kee, but I highly doubt keeping my mouth shut will help me heal faster,” Reid said mildly, downed the last of the blood in the glass, and handed it back to Ricky.
“It will. If I have to punch you for being an asshole, you’ll heal slower.” Ricky turned and walked away, leaving Ember trying not to laugh, covering her mouth with one hand as she sat by the sofa.
Reid rolled his eyes, then fixed them on Ember with a mischievous look. “Since you laughed, you have to be my nurse now,” he smirked.
She shook her head. “I’m not wearing a uniform,” she said bluntly, knowing exactly what he was thinking.
He pursed his lips unhappily. “How did you know I—”
“I know how your mind works. Anyway, I’m technically a patient, too.” She scowled down at the thick white bandage wrapped around her chest, did up the two buttons Reid had undone, and got to her feet.
“Ember, I’m—”
“If you say, you’re sorry I got slashed, I will gag you with a bandage. Got it? It wasn’t your fault.” She only realised then how hypocritical she sounded. She’d been blaming herself for Reid getting staked, and yet she wouldn’t let him take the blame for her getting slashed. Honestly, it all was her fault, but she still sounded hypocritical.
Reid seemed to pick up on her thoughts, and smiled wanly. “You can’t have it both ways, Firefly. Either it’s your fault I got staked, or your fault you got slashed. Not both. And we both know there wasn’t anything you could’ve done, there wasn’t time for you to do anything when he pulled the stake out. You seem to forget you’re only half-vamp, Emz. You’re not as fast as I am. I should’ve seen it coming and moved. I got careless because he was threatening you, and I thought…” Reid sighed, lay back on the cushions as if the whole conversation had exhausted him. Maybe it had.
“Fine. It was my fault I got slashed. But that doesn’t mean I don’t still feel guilty that you got staked.” She reached down to take his hand gently. “I don’t know what I would’ve done if that stake had gone in on the other side,” she whispered, feeling her mouth tremble.
Reid squeezed her hand. “It’s okay. Don’t worry about it. I’m fine now. Just promise me you’ll try not to get stabbed again?” Despite his light tone, there was a solemnness in his eyes.
She nodded. “I promise.” She dropped his hand, and started toward the door. She paused in the doorway and looked back at him, all covered in blood still, eyes closed though she knew he wasn’t asleep again. She couldn’t just leave him like that.
***
In the back garden, Sherry and Hiro were setting things up. Ricky had been banned from seeing what they were doing, so he was lingering in the hallway.
So far, she and Hiro were doing okay, but neither of them was tall enough to get some of the streamers and faery lights up where they wanted them. Even standing on top of the fence, balancing precariously, Hiro couldn’t reach the overhanging tree branches. Sherry had asked why he couldn’t just pop up there with that weird Kitsune way he had of travelling, and he’d muttered that he was a fox, not a bird.
Sherry shivered in her thick hoodie, rubbing her gloved hands together, but it was still icy cold. The snow glinted beautifully in the faery lights they had strung along the top of the fence and across the garage roof. White and yellow paper chains hung from the eaves of the house, and decorated the little birdfeeder. If they could just get the lights and streamers into the tree branches, it’d be perfect.
Sherry shuddered again. Then an idea struck her. She looked at the light paper streamers, and up at the tree branches. Could she? She could try.
Carefully, Sherry picked up the long white streamers, and carried them to the fence, gazing up at the bare tree boughs high above. Taking a deep breath of the frigid air, she pulled into herself and waited. It was only a minute or so before she felt the magic, invisible layer around her mind and managed to grasp onto it. It was easier now than before, because she’d been practicing on her own. She hadn’t told anyone she’d been practicing, because she wanted to surprise Ember the next time they had a ‘tutoring session’.
Letting the magic layer pour out through her skull, she thought very hard about shaping it into two separate arms. It was tough. Extremely so. The only shape she’d had the magic layer take on so far was a single hand. But slowly, the invisible magic formed two arms, and she could feel them almost like her own arms.
Cautiously, she made the magic arms pick up the streamers, and bit her lip anxiously as they lifted the strings of paper up and up. She was waiting for that sharp pain to shoot through the back of her head, the one that meant she was pushing the magic layer too far, too fast. The pain didn’t come though, and she watched the streamers settle into the tree branches as if the wind had blown them up there.
She grinned at her success, wondering what Ember would say if she were watching. Really, it was a pity she wasn’t, but Sherry couldn’t blame her for wanting to take care of Reid. She knew Ember would come out and help with the final preparations soon.
“Jesus. That was really damn smart. I never would’ve thought of that,” Hiro said, suddenly standing next to her and looking up into the trees.
Sherry gasped and jumped away, putting one hand to her heart. “Jeez, don’t sneak up on people like that,” she muttered.
Hiro just grinned, his white teeth flashing in the dim yellow light from the faery lights.
“Sorry,” he didn’t look sorry at all, “but I thought you were just getting started with this magic mind-limb thing? That was some pretty fancy footwork though.” He shot her a look that could’ve been impressed…or it could’ve just been mocking. Mostly everything Hiro said was sardonic in some way or another. He was lucky he made a cute fox, or she had the feeling someone —probably Reid — would’ve hung him from a tree by his tail.
“I might have done a little practice. But don’t tell Ember. I want to surprise her,” Sherry beamed up at the streamers, proud of her achievement.
With those weird, cat-like eyes, Hiro gave her a thoughtful look, then said, “I won’t tell. If you answer one thing for me.”
Ugh. He was such a weasel. Sherry gave him a dark look and planted her hands on her hips. “Fine. What?” She really hoped it wasn’t anything too personal. Hiro seemed to like personal details.
“How long have you and Ember been friends?” he asked.
Oh. That was…an oddly normal question to ask. Huh.
“Um…thirteen years. Thirteen and a half now, actually. Why?”
Hiro shrugged, looking away. “Just curious.” He turned his back and walked away, shoving his hands into his pockets.
There was something in the slump of his shoulders that made Sherry think he was sad. She shook the thought away and turned her attention to the mass of little white faery lights sitting on the snow-cleared patio table. Those were definitely going to be heavier than the paper streamers, but she thought she should be able to get them up into the branches. Hopefully.
***
Meanwhile, Ember was sitting next to the sofa again with a red-stained cloth in her hand, and a basin of soapy water next to her on the floor. Reid was really too tired to keep up a conversation, so he simply sat quietly while she cleaned him up. Every so often, he flinched if she tried to clean too near to the wound, or he’d shudder if she brushed her fingers over his skin just right. It was kind of fun making him shudder like that. She knew just how to push all his buttons, and it at least distracted him from the pain for a little while. Already, she’d cleaned off most of the caked-on blood, but there was just so much of it. It was dried almost black in some places.
She ran the damp cloth over his chest, the poor white cloth turning pink as the blood came away in streaks, leaving behind pale, smooth skin that glistened with the water. Sometimes, she wondered if Reid was really…well, real. If she sat down and actually thought about the turn her life had taken in the last five months, she started to get a bit worried that maybe it was all a dream. Or maybe the plane had crashed on the way to Acorn Hills, and she was in a coma in a hospital somewhere. And all of this was just her mind’s back-up plan.