by Riley Storm
The taser hadn’t wavered in her grip. How often did she bring it out, he wondered. Most humans weren’t used to having weapons, and so they would inadvertently follow their eyes when they looked elsewhere. But so far, Emma had kept the weapon trained on him expertly.
Not that he was concerned for his safety from such a little pea shooter. In fact, it was getting in the way of them focusing on the real issue here, that of his missing treasure.
Even just admitting that fact to himself, stating it in his train of thought sent a knife blade twisting deep in his guts. There was no way this wasn’t done purposefully, by someone out to get him. But Asher had no real enemies, no one who would be willing to stoop this low.
“You can put that away,” he said, looking at the taser. “I’m not going to hurt you, and it won’t do anything to me anyway.”
Emma frowned at him, twisting the weapon slightly in her grip, likely thinking he meant it wasn’t turned on or something. By that point though, Asher had stopped focusing on her. He was turning his attention to the vault, to his surroundings.
Walking through it, he scanned the floor for any markings, any dropped coins or gemstones. But it was completely and totally clean. The pallets were all that was left, but many of those had even been taken as well. Whoever was behind it was thorough, to say the least. Not that they’d been in any rush. Clearly, they hadn’t set off the alarms, so there was really no need. They could have taken their time, loaded it into trucks and been gone.
Of course, he hadn’t really been paying attention on the way in, and now his and Emma’s vehicles would have destroyed any tracks the robbers might have left. With the ground as wet as it was from the recent storms, there would be nothing left.
He looked up to see Emma watching him as he wandered, her eyes narrowed, thoughtful. What was she thinking, he wondered? Still trying to decide if he was telling the truth most likely, or if he was this evil character she’d dreamt up in her mind.
“I guess you’re going to have to use a check after all,” Emma said, lowering the taser, but not putting it away.
It’s a start, I guess.
“I don’t have access to that kind of money,” he said quietly. “I told you, we don’t trust—”
“Humans and banks. Yeah, I heard you the first time,” she said with a sigh. “How convenient for you. Just so you know though, if you don’t pay up, I’ll be moving forward with the original lawsuit. Don’t think that this is going to get you out of paying.”
Asher stared at the woman. Had she no compassion? Couldn’t she see he was distraught over what had happened to him? That he wanted to fly into a rage and go find whoever it was that had done this to him?
“You can’t be serious,” he said, eventually finding his words. “You think that I’m doing this to what, to get you to pity me? As if I planned it?
“Well, you have to admit, it is mighty convenient.”
Asher straightened, his eyes narrowing on her. “Yes,” he said quietly, taking a step toward Emma.
The taser twitched in her hand.
“You’re right,” he continued. “This is mighty convenient. I tell you, a human, where to meet me. Where to get paid. No idea why I did that either, but I did. You know there’s going to be some valuables here. And wouldn’t you believe it, I show up, and everything is gone. And you don’t seem too concerned about it at all.” He came much closer to her, stopping as the taser came up. “Almost as if you knew about it!”
“What?” Emma yelped. “How dare you accuse me of having something to do with this. I don’t even know what was here! I’m leaving, Asher,” she snapped, backing toward the exit, holding the taser level at him.
“Oh of course you are. You have all the money you could want now you grubby, greedy human thief!”
“This was never about money!” she shrieked. “Why can’t you see that you pig-headed, arrogant, Neanderthal!”
Asher snarled, but stood his ground, not entirely sure what to do now at all. Things were…complicated. Deep down, he knew Emma hadn’t had anything to do with this. She wasn’t that good of an actor; she couldn’t keep a secret like this. If she’d truly known about the size of his treasure, and had been a party to taking it, there would have been some sort of sign.
Besides, he didn’t pick up that sort of vibe from the copper-haired woman. She just wasn’t that type. Her concern, oddly enough, was more about the house than anything else. Something about it weighed heavily on her, and she only cared about it.
Well, it, and making Asher suffer for the damage he’d done to it. Because apparently fixing damage wasn’t enough for this woman. She was insufferable! Irritating! He couldn’t stand to be around her any longer.
“Emma, wait,” he said, calling her name as she backed toward the vault door. “Listen, let’s figure this out.”
Why did he want her to stay? She was about to leave. On her own. Meaning he could look into the theft alone. In peace. Without her constantly being there, wanting to know more, not believing anything he said.
“I think I’ve had enough for one day,” Emma said, continuing to back toward the door, now less than twenty feet from her.
Asher threw up his hands. “Fine. Whatever. Leave me.”
Emma frowned.
“What was that?” she asked, tilting her head at him before slowly turning around as she heard a sound.
Both Asher and Emma watched in shock as the vault door closed with a very permanent sounding clunk.
Chapter Eight
Emma
She whirled on Asher.
“Let me go,” she said, choosing not to believe that the door had just closed on its own. Asher had triggered something, done something remotely, to keep her locked in there with him.
“Let me go now,” she repeated as Asher continued to stare in shock. “Or else I’m going to hit you with the taser.”
“What did you do?” Asher asked.
“Me? I didn’t do anything. You’re the one who closed the door remotely! I had nothing to do with this,” she snapped. Was he delirious? First imagining a treasure, now thinking that she would willingly trap herself in the room with him.
“Well, I certainly didn’t do it,” Asher said. “I was standing right here. In front of you.”
“I don’t want to be trapped in here with you,” she said, fighting back a surge of panic. “So, I didn’t do it.”
Asher rolled his eyes and started advancing.
Emma lifted the taser and hit the button. Two prongs shot forward, embedding themselves into his chest. She heard the telltale clicking as the weapon emptied its charge into Asher and waited for him to drop.
The big man winced, pausing in his advance. Then with casual disdain he reached up and pulled the leads free. “Do not ever do that again,” he snarled, throwing them to the ground as if she’d flung a pair of balloons at him.
“H-how did you do that?’ she gaped.
“I told you it would have no effect on me. Now, for the last time, Emma, I am not against you. I am not your enemy. However, if you insist on continuing to act like this, you’re going to find your settlement money going down.” He paused thoughtfully. “Or perhaps a counter-suit coming your way.”
“For what?” she shouted, still trying to process how the taser had precisely zero effect on Asher. It shouldn’t be possible, as she’d made sure everything was charged and ready to go before she’d left. “I didn’t do anything.”
“Maybe,” Asher said, shrugging casually as he started forward again, heading toward the vault door. “Maybe not. But that isn’t up to me or you to decide. That will be up to the courts. They’ll figure it out.”
She glared at him unhappily as he leaned in her direction while passing. “I hope you can afford a good lawyer. They’re very expensive. And trust me, this won’t get solved easily. Or quickly.”
“You can’t turn this around on me,” she said, pulling the wires free of her end of the taser and stuffing it back in her purse. If it was useless, no need t
o keep holding the heavy thing. “Let me out of here. Now.”
Asher sighed. “I can’t, Emma. Or I would have done so already.”
“What are you talking about? Why not? We need to get going. I have places to be.”
“How, Emma? We’re locked in. It only opens from the outside. I can’t just push a button and tell it to open.” He shrugged, pushing on the door, just in case the wind had somehow moved it. It didn’t budge. “See. Do you see any control panel? Any way for me to open the door?”
She looked around, but it seemed he was telling the truth. There was nothing in the way of controls that she could see.
They were trapped.
“There is no way for you to get us out?”
Asher didn’t respond for a long time.
“Asher?”
There was a long hesitation. “No, I can’t get us out,” he said at last.
“Okay, that’s great. That’s just great,” she said, trying to hold it together. Pulling out her cellphone she turned it on, but unsurprisingly, there was no reception. That figured. They were under a freaking mountain after all.
Take a deep breath, Em. Try to remain calm. Don’t panic. Yet.
“Why aren’t you freaking out about this?” she asked, turning on Asher. “You seem overly calm. Way too calm.”
Asher pivoted to face her, leaning back against the wall, the picture of calm and uncaring. “The last time I was any sort of worked up, you tried to tase me,” he pointed out. “What happens this time? Are you going to pull a gun out of there next and shoot me?”
Emma almost told him she didn’t have a gun on her, but then decided that maybe she shouldn’t give everything away. After all, she had tried to tase him in a moment of panic, so Asher wasn’t likely to be overly forgiving of her.
“Um.” It was the best she could come up with given her current mood and mindset.
“I’ll find a solution,” Asher said, still the picture of calmness. “Just give me some time, okay? I’m still processing…this.” His eyes flicked past her to the empty room.
She nodded slowly. Asher truly did seem distraught about the lack of contents in the room. Looking around, she tried to imagine it filled with gold and jewels. A true treasure, as he seemed to call it.
Then she saw it as it was now. Empty. Devoid of all contents. All that wealth taken from him without his consent, without his knowledge.
There was a noise behind her. Looking back, she saw Asher slide to the floor, his eyes still staring out at the empty room. He was going into shock, she realized, the gold of his pupils disappearing behind a glazed distant look.
Suddenly, she felt guilty about accusing him of doing all this to trap her. No one could pull off that sort of dull emptiness when it wasn’t for real. It was the eyes that gave it away though, that told her he truly wasn’t faking anything.
With a sigh, she went back over to him, sitting down and putting her back against the vault door as well.
“This really happened, didn’t it?” she asked, turning her head slowly to look over at him. Only a foot or so separated them now, and even sitting she was forced to tilt her head upward some to be able to look him in the eye. It was the closest she’d been to him, she realized, very suddenly aware of his presence.
Asher nodded slowly, in a daze.
“Someone took everything from you. Then locked you in.” It never occurred to Emma that she might be the target. Why would she be? Nobody knew she was there, so how could they be doing this to get her?
“It seems that way,” Asher said quietly.
“Who? Why would anyone do that? Who are your enemies?”
There was a long pause. “I didn’t really think I had any,” he admitted at last. “There are always some hu—people—out to steal from others. They’re drawn to it, to this sort of things. They live off rumors. Occasionally, they get lucky. But this…whoever it was, they were still here,” he said. “They stuck around to lock me in.”
Asher, it seemed, also knew he was the target, that whoever it was, they were after him.
“Well someone must have it out for you,” she countered, not buying his lack of enemies for a moment. “What is it you do up there all day?”
“Up where?”
“On your mountain,” she said. As if everyone had their own personal mountain play place. “You live up there, don’t you? Asher Aterna. Your family is named after the mountain, is it not?”
He shrugged. “Something like that.”
“Well you live up there, and nobody ever sees you come into town. You’re just a bunch of hermits, your entire family? Weird people,” she said.
“We’re not weird,” he said defiantly. “We’re normal. It’s just that we’re not big on…civilization.”
“Uh huh.”
“You’re the weird one,” Asher countered with a snort.
Emma coughed, totally unprepared for the comment. “What? Oh, please, do explain how I am the weird one. This is going to be rich.” She sat back, crossing her arms, pulling her knees up to her chest.
“Really? You tried to sue my family for a hundred million dollars, all because you have a couple of holes in your house? That could all be fixed for less than ten grand. Yet you’re flipping out about it. It’s just a building, Emma.”
“Screw you,” she said under her breath, getting up and walking away.
Asher sputtered behind her. “What the hell was that all about?”
Chapter Nine
Asher
He stared after her as she walked out into the middle of his treasure vault, arms wrapped around her midsection, staring at the floor.
There it was again. Her extreme and unnecessary over-reaction to that damn house. What could be so special about it to evoke such a reaction? It was just a physical thing. It could be fixed.
Asher clenched his teeth. If only he’d met her under any other circumstances. Things would have worked out just fine. There would have been no lawsuit, no stolen treasure. No being locked in his vault. Everything would be great.
Except you wouldn’t have met her.
So what? His life would be better off, and he wouldn’t have to pay out a stupid amount of money just to shut her up and make sure she didn’t bring his family into the courts, and thus into the limelight. Where people would start asking questions about them, prying into their life.
Learning things that the Aterna clan and the other dragons didn’t want humans knowing about them.
“That was my grandfather’s house, Asher. Not that I expect you to understand what that means."
“I know what a grandfather is,” he called after her as she kept walking, approaching the far wall. “It’s not exactly that complicated to understand.”
“Fuck you!”
His eyes opened wider at the very uncharacteristic cursing directed his way. To his knowledge, he couldn’t recall Emma having sworn once. Certainly not so profanely and directed at him.
Clearly, there was something deeper here. His comments had touched a nerve, and a big one.
He waited a bit, giving Emma time to calm down, to relax and perhaps move on from his comment.
You also need to remember that she believes we’re trapped in here. Perhaps permanently. So, she’s thinking she’s going to die in here with you. Give her some slack, go easy on her.
Getting to his feet, he walked across the empty space between them, bridging the gap.
“Hey,” he said quietly as he approached.
“Hi.”
“I’m sorry,” he said in the same voice. “I didn’t mean to be rude to you.”
Emma just nodded, but he could see that she’d shed a couple of tears. Feeling extremely guilty for making her feel that bad, Asher did the only thing he could think of that would help.
He reached out and drew her into a hug, hoping to show her that he didn’t actually dislike her or have anything against her, even if she was trying to take a lot of his money.
The action seemed to surprise both
of them. They both sort of froze, letting it happen, but neither really knowing what to do next.
“I didn’t mean to make you upset,” he said quietly, stunned by his own internal realization that he was enjoying the moment, the closeness.
“I know,” she admitted. “I’m sorry for swearing at you. There’s a lot to take in, you know. Being trapped under here, potentially going to die here. It’s not exactly how I expected to go out.”
He nodded slowly. “How did you expect to go?”
“Sometime in my eighties. On my birthday. Surrounded by male strippers. The hot ones, you know the ones that wear bowties and not much else?”
Asher struggled to find words. “I…”
“There are worse ways, you have to admit.”
He shook his head. This woman continued to surprise him. Cracking jokes at what for her was a dire time indeed? That showed some serious internal fortitude that he was forced to admit he hadn’t known she possessed. There was more to Emma Starling than he’d thought.
“I’m kidding, by the way,” she said, still in his embrace.
Asher didn’t think about moving. He knew that the moment he shifted or so much as breathed wrong, Emma would come to her senses and pull away from him. But he didn’t want that, he realized. Not right now at least.
Eventually, she would fall asleep, and then he could get them out of there. The way out was actually quite easy—for him. But to let them out now would involve revealing to her what he truly was, and well, that just wasn’t an option.
It irked Asher to have to go along with the charade that they were locked in the room with no way out, but what choice did he have? His secret was more important than her feelings, unfortunately. The five clans had lived on the nearby mountains for decades without anyone in town finding out their secret. He didn’t intend to be the one to let it out.
“So, you work at the quarry?” he asked, fumbling around for a basic question to ask, anything to get Emma talking about herself, to keep her mind off their situation.
She sniffed, and his arms rose and fell as she took a deep breath in. “Yeah.”
“What do you do there?” he pressed, forcing himself to ask such basic questions. In a normal conversation, Emma would have understood he wanted to know these details, but her brain was likely racing right now, so he had to draw her attention to it.