Burning Emerald

by Jaime Reed

  “Caleb and I aren’t lovers, not technically,” I groused.

  “Which shows your ignorance of the word and its true meaning,” he returned nastily. “That’s part of the problem, am I right? You’re too concerned with the physical when it’s just a means to something more profound. We’ll deal with that later. Now, I have bigger obstacles.” Capone reached his feet and roamed around the room, staying close to the walls, listening to its secrets. His smooth gait worked the floor, bidding the shadows to come forward.

  Again, where was Haden? He should have been up here by now. I was sure he could hear all the commotion up here. Or was something keeping him downstairs? Was he hurt?

  Manic laughter intruded my thoughts. Capone stood by the door with his ear pressed to the wall, giggling.

  “I hear you,” he singsonged. “Come on, fight me. That’s the only way you’re getting what you want.”

  “What’s going on?” I asked.

  “He’s coming, and he’s not happy.” Capone pressed his face against the wall again, his hand stroking the chalky white surface affectionately. “Shh. He’s coming. Don’t you hear him—that poor little puppy, crying for his lost mate. Well, he can’t have mine. Here, puppy, puppy. I’ve got something for you. Who’s a good boy?”

  I didn’t need to ask who he was referring to. No one else I knew cried like a dog, and the way Capone was egging him on, I had no doubt Tobias would answer the challenge. I pleaded with Capone to stop, but he ignored me and continued antagonizing the walls.

  He paused and glanced at me over his shoulder. “Ah, I see. He needs a motive, an extra push.” Capone scooped me into his arms before I could protest. He trapped my face in one hand and crushed his lips against mine. I pushed and squirmed, but he was too strong. The kiss, greedy and punishing, initiated a response from Lilith. She didn’t appreciate being manhandled either and rushed to my aid.

  Capone leapt back with a yelp and wiped his lips. “Dammit, Lilith, you didn’t have to bite me! Just having fun.”

  “Fun time’s over,” I replied.

  He backed away, his chest rumbling with more inhuman laughter. Just before he was about to run into the wall, he used his heels to begin a backward climb that disobeyed the laws of physics.

  “You think he didn’t follow you?” he asked as he climbed. “You think he doesn’t know where you are right now? He doesn’t like me touching you. Not one bit.”

  While Capone continued to play Spiderman, I heard it, the shrill whine that abraded my ears and hurt my heart. The sound traveled faster like a soaring jet overhead, almost deafening upon approach. Capone just giggled at this, elated to get the game started.

  “Capone, please, we have to get out of here.”

  Squatting, he leaned at a ninety-degree angle, perpendicular to my stance. His face drew closer as if ready to kiss me again. “No. I told you, we won’t share you. He started this and I’m gonna finish it. He needs to know what he’s dealing—” His eyes lifted to a spot just over my head. “Get down!”

  A firm shove sent me to the opposite side of the room, my feet kicked from under me. During this unplanned flight, a shadowy tube whooshed past me, tunneling its way toward Capone. The air cracked in a burst of sound as it struck Capone in the chest. His body slammed against the wall, almost driving him completely through it. Plaster crumbled and chipped, raining dry clumps on the floor.

  That’s when I realized that the man of the hour had arrived, and what an entrance! Tobias squatted on the headboard, gold rays shooting through the black strands covering his face.

  Capone pushed from the crater in the wall and charged after him, using his hands and feet like a large monkey. Tobias followed suit, springing off the headboard to meet Capone halfway. The two collided in midair, wrestling their way to the floor. The wood cracked and bent under their weight. Capone broke from the hold and raced to the opposite side of the bed.

  Tobias stood and wiped his mouth. He looked at his hand, surprised at the smudge of blood on the fingers. “You’re pretty strong for a demon mutt.”

  “Must have been something I ate,” Capone sneered and looked to me.

  Tobias’s hurt and resentful gaze fell on me crawling on the floor.

  It took me a minute to understand his meaning, but a lightbulb clicked on in my head when it did. That was why Tobias didn’t want me feeding Caleb his energy. Whatever power he had would pass on to Caleb, making them equals in combat.

  Again, that contradiction about time travel came to mind where two of the same matter could never occupy the same space. By fighting each other, they were fighting themselves and the attempt would backfire in a really bad way. But I was the only one in the room who seemed to care.

  The lamp flew across the room, hitting Tobias in the shoulder and drowning the room into semidarkness again. A battle cry echoed the walls; footsteps pounded the floor as two dark components rammed into each other. The impact was a bomb with no fire, two atoms clashing in an explosion of power. Everything after that occurred with unnatural speed, while the pair performed acrobatics only seen in Cirque du Soleil.

  My screams went ignored by the brawling men as bodies flew over my head. I curled into a ball in the corner, ducking sailing furniture, and cringing from every blow delivered. This couldn’t go on forever and if they kept it up, they would destroy the house in the process. I got to my feet on shaky legs when a gust of air knocked me over.

  One push sent me airborne again, barreling through the door and into the hallway. The more I fought, the more the force pushed me back. I tumbled and rolled, hitting walls and objects soaring in the upheaval until I landed in the tub in the hall bathroom.

  Lights flickered around my eyes. I couldn’t breathe, let alone scream. Every blow and hit struck my body with remarkable strength. Yet I felt no pain. Though numb to the sting of each assault, I felt its pressure, the strike across my ribs, stomach, and jaw. Angry scratches dragged along my neck, but didn’t break the skin.

  I didn’t know who hit who at this point, but it became apparent that I could feel both of them at once. It could’ve been from the energy we shared or the ever-growing link, but I was a third party to this brawl and I wasn’t even in the room.

  This was a bad situation, not conducive to tight quarters such as a bathroom. Though I didn’t feel the punches, the effects threw me against the wall, hurled me into the sink, slammed me against the mirror, and shredded my forearm in broken glass. Before I could scream, I was thrown upward. I scrambled for the edge of the sink, the towel rack, but nothing could slow my ascent to the ceiling. I hit the surface with a sound thwack; my back lay flat as though magnetized to the roof.

  Catching my breath, I looked down at the destroyed area below. The ripped shower curtain hung on its rod by two rings. The broken toilet cover lay cracked on the floor. Shattered glass glittered in the sink. The bathroom door, dislodged from its hinges, canted against the wall. Yellow and purple flashes shot from the hallway, turning the house into a discotheque.

  There was no time to evaluate this new turnabout. I kicked out my feet and tried to drop down, but all efforts left me pressed against the ceiling, withstanding an indirect beat-down. I managed to roll on to my stomach and crawl on my elbows toward the door. I grabbed the doorframe and pulled my body into the hallway.

  It looked as though Haden had decided to join the festivities at some point; he now lay unconscious near the stairs. Part of a bedroom door—what was left of it—had landed on top of him.

  “Haden!” I yelled and got no answer.

  Air rushed in every direction, howling in my ears and tangling my hair over my face. I crawled across the ceiling until I floated directly above him. “Haden, wake up!”

  Haden’s head floundered from shoulder to shoulder as he came to. He sat up slowly and shoved the door off his chest. He shook his head, shedding the cloud of dust and rubble from his hair.

  “Sam? Sam, where are you?”

  “I’m up here,” I called.


  Seeing my predicament, he sprang to his feet with one of Caleb’s daggers shaking in his hand. No doubt, it was the first weapon he’d grabbed from downstairs. “How the hell did you get up there?”

  “Long story. We have to get Caleb. He’s in the room with—” My words were cut off by another violent impact that sent me tumbling to the end of the hallway.

  Haden tried to follow, wading through the jungle of furniture and fallen wires.

  Something caught hold of my feet and dragged me from one wall to another. With only a split-second glimpse into the bedroom, I caught Capone sailing from wall to wall in a similar fashion, our paths crossing in a synchronized dance in midair. My body ricocheted off each surface in a bad game of pinball until I flung through the entry of Caleb’s bedroom. I hit the floor hard and slid across the carpet to home plate, and the friction burned my jeans. I planted my feet down to stop, but lost my footing and plunged downward.

  The back wall and the window disappeared into the night. The furniture had either flown outside or fallen through the great crater in the floor from whose edge I now dangled.

  My feet rocked to swing my legs up, but I couldn’t manage a grip. All the while, Tobias and Capone continued to scrap in the corner. Capone served a heavy right cross, which sent Tobias flying over my head and into the wall. The bedroom in the apartment next door came into view.

  “Take my hand!” Haden yelled above me, reaching over the edge.

  Just as I reached out, movement came from above and knocked my helper off his feet. Tobias towered over him and delivered a sound kick to Haden’s ribs. Capone wrapped an arm around Tobias’s neck, giving Haden time to get to his feet. With dagger in hand, Haden lunged forward with deadly purpose. Capone and I seemed to reach the same conclusion as we saw what he was about to do.

  “No. Stop! You can’t!” Capone warned.

  “Haden, don’t!” I screamed to no avail.

  The blade burrowed into Tobias’s stomach as far as it could go with only the handle sticking out. Tobias fell to his knees, doubled over in pain. Capone soon followed, clutching his abdomen from a sightless injury. In that same instant, fire ate at my torso, burning my insides. Haden paused, stunned at our joint reaction, a realization that arrived too late.

  Tobias wrenching out the dagger was the last thing I saw before my hand slipped. Gravity pulled me downward, my arms flung over my head as the second floor drew farther away from me. I landed on my back against broken wood planks, albums, and soft couch cushions. It wasn’t a hard fall. Plus, the stabbing pain below my right rib kinda blotted out all other injury. But the drop itself left me stunned with tiny starbursts and dust coating my vision. Beyond the light show stood two men looking down at me from a hole in the floor. Behind them lay a ruptured roof, exposing the burnt night with moving clouds.

  “Samara!” Tobias’s frantic screams accompanied footsteps and low grunts of pain that seemed to shake the remaining walls. If the deep, guttural roar was any sign that I had outstayed my welcome, the growing cracks snaking the ceiling made it clear.

  “Samara, run! Get out of the house and take Haden with you!” Capone shouted down to me as the second floor began to crumble under heavy pressure.

  I rolled on my side, stumbled to my feet, and raced toward the front door, which now stood in triplicate. More rumbles and yells aimed at my back, but I trained my focus on the exit, and chose the door in the middle. Neighbors in bathrobes held cell phones, gawking at the sleigh bed and dresser scattered across the lawn. Yells and accusations rent the air as people huddled around the demolished yard.

  I took off in the opposite direction, cutting through the row of bushes that divided the next cluster of houses. My feet ate up the dirt and grass, my thighs burned, my throat felt like sandpaper, sweat and drywall prickled my face, and yet I kept running. My hand pressed into my side, staving off the gush of blood that wasn’t there. I had to remind myself that it was mind over matter, and my feelings couldn’t be trusted. Not anymore.

  I must have reached four blocks when I realized I’d left my car. And Haden. I wasn’t about to go back for either of them, even if Haden still had my keys. I decided if I got far enough, I would call Mom. Haden was larger than I was and well able to handle himself.

  But I couldn’t stop, not now, not while the fear of pursuit remained fresh. Whoever it was, he gained on me fast, shrinking the distance between us with each second, until I could almost feel his breath on the back of my neck. I pushed my legs out, pumping faster, running harder, but my limbs wouldn’t cooperate.

  Something heavy knocked me to the ground. I rolled on my back, fists swinging. My screams were no more than whispers, but I fought without sight.

  “Sam, it’s me.” I heard his voice, but I didn’t want to believe it. My body was shutting down, its adrenaline wearing thin. I was too far gone to weed out the Caleb imposter, but I had to try. To my knowledge, Tobias never fed from Caleb. Our link may allow Tobias to feel Caleb’s emotions, but he didn’t have his memories.

  Between breaths, I asked, “You told me you loved me once. Where were we?”

  “In your bedroom,” he answered without pause. A lavender glow filled his eyes, silhouetting his face and body. “But Caleb gives you quarters every day in case you forget.”

  And that’s when I broke down. I laid my head back against the chilly grass, trembling with each sob. My breath fogged the air, making little smoke signals in the night.

  Capone took my hand and pulled me up. I lay limp against his body, which seemed to hum with vitality. I would’ve killed for just a drop of that energy now, because I’d been torn into three pieces: Tobias, Caleb, and whatever was left of myself.

  Capone wrapped his arms around me and stroked my back. “It’s all right, Samara. It’s me. Caleb is safe. But we have to get you out of here.” Capone winced at the pain in his side, as our twin wounds throbbed in the same rhythm.

  “I feel it, too,” I said. “I’m not bonded to either of you, but I feel pain.”

  “We feel his response to the pain, nothing more. If you were bonded, you’d be bleeding all over the place, so be thankful.” He paused for a moment as if in thought, then said, “I think it’s starting to go away. That means he’s healing, and he’ll be coming after us soon.”

  “Come with me,” I begged. “I don’t know how long that energy I gave you will last.” I wiped my tears on his shirt, then looked around. “Where’s Haden?”

  “He took your car and is looking for you. We need to get on the main road.”

  I patted my jean pockets for my phone. “I’ll just call him.”

  I was relieved that it hadn’t been damaged in the fight and that I had two good bars left on my battery, but I paused at the time on the display. 11:46? Only ten minutes had passed since I entered Caleb’s house? Ten minutes, two lifetimes, and a leap year was more accurate. I called Haden, who sounded as weary and terrified as I felt.

  “Where are you?” he barked.

  I searched the area until I spotted a street sign.

  “We’re just five blocks away. Head toward the highway. We’ll meet you there in a minute.” I shoved the phone in my pocket as a hand yanked me forward, almost giving me whiplash.

  “Run!” Capone yelled.

  Running was the last thing I wanted to do right now. That was, until I sensed the danger storming behind us. At first, we only heard it coming, the bending and cracking of branches, the swooshing of leaves.

  “Come on!” Capone held firmly to my arm, dragging me along like a child with a kite. He moved more quickly than I could; my feet barely touched the ground. Capone’s movements appeared locked in counterpoise as the surroundings blurred around us. The wind stung my face, my legs ached, but I kept moving.

  We cut through a small wooded area, the trees spaced far enough to see the road and houses on the other side. Just like those chicks in the movies, I made the foolish mistake of turning around. Tobias had warned me of what he could do, but I hadn’t been prepa
red to see it. Not then, not ever.

  A storm burrowed behind us, eating all in its path like a dead star. Lawn furniture, shrapnel, and particles swirled in the eye of this cyclone. Streetlights, even the glow of the moon absorbed into its vacuum, but the beast craved the taste of flesh. Unsatisfied, it spat out debris around our heads. Splinters and glass scraped our skin. It plowed forward, moving as we did, echoing its rage with inhuman howls and cries.

  We made a sharp left in an attempt to confuse it. I lost my footing, stumbled, and righted myself again without missing a beat. Making up for whatever adrenaline I’d lost, fear tapped into hidden reserves, and rebooted my system once again.

  I didn’t know how fast we were going, but I could never have achieved this mileage by my own strength. The green glow tinting my vision answered that riddle, but why was Lilith helping? Wasn’t it her plan to be with Tobias? Or maybe survival trumped romance at the moment? Either way, now was not the time to refuse aid.

  Trees and brush zoomed past me as the world was set on fast forward, and I no longer needed Capone’s hand. We raced side by side, hurling over brush and logs to get to the finish line.

  Leaves and wet earth gave way to paved road. I stopped to catch my breath, watching the houses and more forest sitting across the empty street. Capone rested his hands on his knees, his breath coming out in puffs of steam.

  “Where is Haden?” he asked.

  Before I could answer, a pair of high beams blinded us. The driver leaned on the horn, trying to get our attention. Shielding my eyes, I ran toward the car. Whether it was Haden or an angry commuter, it was worth the risk to get him to stop. The car slammed on brakes and spun in the middle of the road as the driver’s window rolled down.

  “Get in! It’s coming!” Haden yelled.

  The warning was unnecessary. We could feel Tobias snapping at our heels, his heat at our backs. We didn’t need to see what lurked behind us; the wide-eyed terror on Haden’s face told it all.