by L. L. Wright
"Melody Clark
Age: 45 (Deceased)
DOB: 12/05/1975
Location: Deceased
Lineage: Human
Parents: Stephan and Carol Wilson
Last blood sample on file was dated 06/15/2006. Sample contains no irregularities and no signs of supernatural tampering.
**Given the circumstances surrounding the death of Melody Clark and the immediate assumption of her identity by a former Faction member our team believes this was a demonic murder** "
The next photo in the file was a man. His smile was small, but his face was warm and kind. Emmie ran her finger absentmindedly over his curly brown hair and large brown eyes. She turned the picture over and found the same notes as on the last two. He was two years older than Melody, the real Melody, my mother, Emmie blinked back the tears and sniffled. The footnote at the bottom held the same information as the one prior. His death was noted as suspicious, and his identity seemed to have been taken, but this time by a demon. Emmie's mind flashed back to the man she heard Hailey arguing with in the kitchen the night she ran away. "Malcolm was just leaving,” she had announced, glaring at the man with intense irritation. They murdered my parents and stole their identities. But why? Just so that they could use me as a test subject? Why me?
Emmie placed the picture of her father aside and looked back down at the folder in her lap. She heard a small sound escape her, and felt her mouth drop open as her eyes met the next picture in the stack. Oh. My. God. Emmie thought as she stared at the two sets of identical green eyes in the photograph. She recognized the toddler on the left, wild auburn hair that curled in every direction and an ornery smile complete with small square baby teeth. Throughout her childhood Emmie had seen several of her baby and toddler pictures hung up on the walls and framed along the mantel, never giving it much thought. What mother doesn't decorate with baby pictures? But the toddler on the right-hand side of the picture was a stranger. They looked to be the same size, and their smiles and eyes were a mirror image, but the hair was different. The other little girl had straight hair. Not auburn like her mother, but a chestnut brown like her father. Emmie turned the photo over and read the notes on the back.
"Clark twins
DOB: 08/16/2005
Picture: 06/01/2006 (10 months)
**Hartford hospital medical records indicate that Melody Clark delivered twin daughters on 08/16/2005. Emmeline Marie Clark and Hope Jennifer Clark. No health complications listed for mother or babies. The last record found by The Faction for 'Hope Jennifer Clark' was dated 07/31/2006 when she was seen by their pediatrician for an ear infection. It is unknown at this time if she was part of the same experiment as Emmeline, and if so, if she survived.**"
Emmie felt the tears begin to fall and noticed the ragged breaths passing over her lips as she ran her fingers over the only picture she had ever seen of a sister she hadn't known she had. Not just a sister. A twin, she told herself. She added the baby picture to the pile and flipped through the file looking for more information about her parents and Hope. The rest of the file followed her own childhood and the movements of the woman who had been one of their own for thousands of years before being taken and corrupted by the demons she had once fought against. The Faction had Emmie's medical records and school transcripts. They made notes around the edges of the printed documents and highlighted things of interest. Unusually high iron levels that human doctors had passed off as a genetic abnormality, The Faction had flagged as an early sign of demonic mutation. The note cited half a dozen previous studies performed on demon blood where high concentrations of malachite were found, all six samples had extremely high iron levels. A fact that meant nothing to a demon, but could potentially lead to organ failure in human test subjects. Emmie also noticed notes in the margins of report cards and transcripts questioning whether her above average grades throughout elementary and middle school could be another side effect of the supernatural blood. "Further studies needed," she read out loud. Are they planning to study me? I don't even have half of my supernatural blood anymore, what good would it do? She wondered as she clipped all of the documents and photographs back into the folder. She paused, staring at the nearly identical babies one last time, I wonder if we would still look this similar today. Emmie took the folder into the bathroom and tucked it into the bottom of the closet, laying a pair of folded black leggings over top of it. Then she grabbed her phone and key card and headed down to the lobby where she asked the security guard at the door, the one she saw Collin speaking to earlier how she could get a ride out of the city.
"Well, The Faction keeps a handful of cars available. You just have to sign one out," the man said. He cleared his throat and smiled, looking up at the camera in the corner of the room. Then he turned his head away from it and whispered, "But you look like a girl on a mission, and those cars are wired with GPS. If I were you I'd call an uber." He winked before turning back to his normal stance, in full view of the camera.
Emmie smiled. "What's your name?"
"Will."
"Thanks a lot, Will," she said as she nodded her head and walked out the doors onto the busy sidewalk.
An hour later Emmie paid her driver and climbed out of the car. She stood on the sidewalk, and her toes practically touched the walkway of thirteen Spruce street. The street was dark, except for the dim street lamps scattered along the block and a few front porch lights. Was it always this dark, Emmie wondered. She looked up and down the empty street. Her eyes scanned the windows of the house again. Everything was dark and quiet, at least it looks that way.
She placed a hand on her ribcage. Over the sigil that gave her the same magic that the angels of The Faction had.
“Let’s just hope it’s one of those things that kicks in with adrenaline,” Emmie whispered to herself.
She thought back to her time in the city of angels, before she had received the angelic brand. Chamille had explained that the sigil would come at a price. As do all things of great value and power. With her hand on the code of The Faction Emmie had sworn to uphold the laws of the angels and to leave behind her human life. For angels, The Faction was all that there was, and even though the blood in her body wasn’t pure, if she wanted to embrace her angelic nature she had to devote herself to The Faction too. She had to leave everything else behind. It was an easy decision. It shouldn't have been, but it was. Hailey isn't really my mother. She’s a monster. She destroyed my life. Aside from her, Lisa is all I've ever had. But I've seen how dangerous this world can be, and how quickly it can pull you under and consume you. I don't want her to get caught up in this, so I have to let her go. Emmie took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She had told Chamille that Lisa was like a sister to her. “No matter what I say to her, she’s not going to just give up on me,” she said.
"The elders have rare magic we use to clean up supernatural messes. It wipes all traces of magic from the human mind. Usually, it’s used in cases where angels accidentally expose their powers during a hunt, but I can bend the rules a hair if it'll solidify your place with The Faction," Chamille said.
Her mind returned to the envelope Chamille gave her before sending her through a portal, back to Faction towers. The same envelope that had led her back to the familiar walkway of thirteen Spruce street. The envelope contained a folder, and inside the folder was everything the elders had been able to dig up about Emmie's past. All the secrets that Emmie was dying to uncover, collated in chronological order. Condensed into one neat and tidy stack.
Emmie took the first step onto the walkway slowly. Cautiously. She didn't feel or smell any magic, but she also hadn't learned how to detect those things yet, so she wasn't sure that counted for much. She hesitated when she reached the porch, wondering for the millionth time whether the dark house and quiet neighborhood were part of a demonic trap. She climbed the steps and stopped at the door, sliding her key into the lock as quietly as possible. Then she turned the doorknob and pushed the door in, taking a small step back at the
same time, just in case, she told herself. Emmie waited and nothing happened. She listened and heard nothing. She leaned toward the open door and breathed in the air, really smelling it for the first time. It’s familiar, but different. A scent I've smelled for years but never noticed, she realized, taking another deep breath. The air was a mix of sweetness and rough spice. Kind of like a really intense and overpowering cinnamon. It's ok at first, but then it gets hard to stomach. Is that the angel and demon mingled in the air? It has to be.
Emmie stepped into the house and closed the door behind her. She looked around the foyer and peeked into the kitchen and living room. Everything looked exactly the way she remembered it. The picture of normalcy, she thought as she looked around the house that days ago held nothing but warm and comforting memories of her childhood. Now it felt menacing. Full of deceit and dark secrets. Secrets that she hoped were tucked away within its walls. She climbed the stairs and stopped in front of her bedroom. The first floor looked untouched, but Emmie could see that her room was not. The door was open, and even in the dark she could see that the room was in shambles. She reached for the switch by the door and gasped when the overhead light came on. Her hand flew to cover her gaping mouth as she stepped into the room and looked around. The clothes from her closet, and everything from inside her dresser was strewn across the floor. The comforter from her bed was draped over the mirror and the bins from underneath the bed were dumped on top of it. Emmie exhaled sharply and scooped up a pile of feathers from the desk. Her brow creased in confusion, and she turned, scanning the room until she found her bed pillows, or what was left of them hanging from the back of a chair. She ran her fingers through her hair. Why would she do this, what was the point?
Emmie let the feathers fall to the floor as she crossed the room and grabbed a framed photo from her nightstand. The glass on the frame was cracked, but the picture inside looked untouched. She heard the landing at the top of the stairs creak and felt a familiar chill wash over her skin. Emmie shivered and her mind returned to the first time she could recall the odd sensation, like a chill in the air where no breeze could be found, and then the last time. She saw two faces flash before her eyes, two faces, sharing one set of deep green eyes, she thought as her mind connected dots she hadn't even realized were lining up in front of her.
"How did you know I'd be here?" Emmie asked, running her fingers along the frame in her hand. She didn't even need to turn around. The chill on her skin and the scent in the air told her everything she needed to know. Things her senses had picked up on before. Only before she hadn't known what they meant, passing the feelings off as social discomfort, or heightened awareness.
"I hoped you would come back," Jenny said, slowly stepping into the room.
Emmie turned on her heels and tossed the framed photograph onto her bed. She crossed her arms at her chest and took a deep breath. A steady breath, too calm, too steady, she realized. Her brow creased and her hand moved slightly to rest over the brand she suspected was responsible for her sudden confidence.
"Why?"
"Now that everything is out in the open, I was hoping we could talk."
"What exactly do you want? Is this some kind of trap? Did you know I'd come back and now you're going to hand me over to the demons? Get some weird brownie points? Or are you looking for an emotional family reunion? Because honestly, I think I'll take the former," Emmie spat. Woah, where did that come from, she thought. The words and tone sounded foreign and unusually harsh as she replayed them in her mind.
She watched as Jenny's eyes lowered to the ground and she suddenly looked deflated and exhausted all at once. Emmie couldn't help but feel a pang of guilt as she moved to sit on the edge of her bed. She ran a nervous hand through her hair. Is she really that much different than I am? Lost, alone, confused? She didn't choose this, neither of us did. It couldn't hurt to hear her out, Emmie reasoned with herself.
"How long have you known?" she asked, looking at Jenny. Jenny looked up, meeting Emmie's glance.
"About you? Forever," Jenny said, leaning her back against the narrow space between the dresser and the doorway. "Not the truth though," she explained, shaking her head. "Growing up, my,” she cleared her throat. “Malcolm, told me about you, but he said we were different. He said you were being raised by angels and someday you would be the one hunting me." Jenny sighed and looked down at her feet again. "When I was little I would lay in bed wondering what you looked like and what you were doing. I'd try to think of ways that I could make you like me so that we could be friends someday, like real sisters." She paused for a moment, picking at the edges of her fingernails before continuing. "When we moved here I was supposed to keep an eye on you. I was so scared you would sense my demon blood, but when I met you I could tell that we were the same. That you had mixed blood too. I've been around enough demons to tell us all apart. Human, demon, hybrid, angel, and whatever we are."
"Why didn't you say anything to me?"
Jenny shrugged. "I was afraid. I thought about it every day. But what if you already knew about me and you hated me in spite of our connection? What if you told the angels about me? I didn't know what to think or what to do. I had Malcolm in my ear constantly telling me that you weren’t one of us, and it was clear from the beginning that you didn’t want anything to do with me. But I just couldn’t shake you. I couldn’t let go of the idea that you were my sister.” Jenny sighed and leaned her head back against the wall. Emmie noticed the way that her eyes glistened in the light and she felt her own throat constrict as a rush of emotion hit her, but a moment later it dulled as quickly as it had come.
Jenny took a deep breath and closed her eyes. “So, I compelled Lisa to tell me everything about you. I know it was wrong, but it was the closest I could get, and the more she told me about your childhood together the more I craved a relationship with you. So, I tried to break up your friendship. I used my powers to make Lisa drive a wedge between you because I thought maybe I could fill the void she would leave. But I felt so awful afterward, so I stopped. I was such a mess, and I did terrible things, and I'm so sorry. I swear that’s not who I am, Emmie. Coming here has just been so hard. Meeting you, and having to stay at arms-length."
"Why do you think they separated us? I mean, they killed our parents, and took us both. Why didn’t they just keep us together?" Emmie asked after she had absorbed all of the information bombs Jenny was dropping. She felt such a mix of emotions toward the girl in front of her. Anger and sadness trumping the rest, but she couldn’t help wondering, would I have done the same thing if someone dangled my twin sister in front of me, but told me we could never be more than enemies?
"I think it started out as part of their experiment. We’re twins, and they injected us with the same samples, and then raised us in different places. I think maybe they wanted to see how those variables would change things. But once we came into our powers I think they were afraid of how strong we would be if we were together. Alone they were all we had, but together..."
"You think we would make each other stronger?"
Jenny looked at the empty spot on the bed beside Emmie and then walked over and sat down. "We were the first ones to survive the injections. And I think it was a surprise that we developed full demonic powers. So, yeah. I think maybe they didn’t know what we were capable of on our own, let alone together.” Jenny exhaled and picked at the edge of her nail again. “When I was learning to use my powers the only thing that kept me in line was Malcolm. He was all I had and I didn’t want to disappoint him so I used my magic the way he told me to, and when he told me to. But I think if I had you by my side maybe I wouldn't have been as afraid to say no. Maybe I could have done things my way." She shrugged.
Emmie creased her brow and nodded her head as Jenny's words sank in.
"If I had you maybe I would have learned how to control mine in the first place," she said giving Jenny a sideways glance.
"We're twins, Emmie. We were never meant to be kept apart."
&
nbsp; "We were never meant to become supernatural science projects either."
Jenny sighed, and shifted on the bed so that she was looking at Emmie's profile. "They took everything from us. Our parents, our childhood, our chance to live normal lives," she said, tilting her head to catch Emmie's eye. Emmie looked up and noticed how similar their eyes were. Practically identical, actually, emerald with a strikingly dark outline. "Against the odds and all of the roadblocks they put between us, here we are. Side by side. We can't go back and we can't change what they did to us, but we can move forward, together. The way we were always meant to be. Sisters, twins. We're bound by blood. Nothing can change that."
Emmie bit the inside of her lip and wiped the corner of her eye as tears began to form, pooling and threatening to run down her cheek. She sniffled and felt Jenny's arm wrap around her, and she leaned against her shoulder. All of these years I felt so alone. I felt out of control. I felt like a freak. I was barely even existing because I lived in fear of myself, and the whole time I had a sister, a twin who should have been by my side. This whole time she was the missing piece.
"They'll never let us stay together," Emmie said. She sat up and wiped her eyes on her sweater again. "If Hailey and Malcolm were afraid of us being together I have a hunch that the angels are going to feel the same way."
"We'll run. If Malcolm taught me anything it's how to hide in plain sight and avoid being detected by the angels."
Emmie looked around the room. Her eyes scanned over the destruction, and her mind raced. She knew she was missing something. Forgetting something. She stood up and crossed the floor, stopping beside the closet as her mind flashed. A memory she had seen before, but the first time it was fuzzy and out of context.