“But I thought you said a psychic could break the curse?” she asked.
“You see, that’s where things get tricky. Yes, a psychic can break the curse but that means they need to make right his error. A century ago, my family discovered a way to appease Deidrick’s restless spirit. But it isn’t necessarily something we’re proud of or something we want people to know about.” His eyes held shame and anguish, a familiar echo of traumas endured long ago.
Ember held his hands tightly.
“The family doesn’t really practice the craft anymore but the natural abilities, the gift itself, is still passed down through our bloodline.”
The wind whistled as the leaves crushed together in a symphony of fall.
“My gift is genetic too,” she murmured.
Derek gazed down at her. “Those with my particular … trait ...” Derek gulped. “We’re chosen by him. As vessels.” Derek swallowed again.
“The book …” Ember started to see the pieces in her mind.
Derek spoke exactly what threat Deidrick imposed. “On Hallows’ Eve, when the veil is lifted, he’ll make the possession permanent.” Derek let the words escape in a flurry of sadness, guilt and fear. “Unless a psychic can right the error, which means …”
Ember felt the black tourmaline heat up in her pocket and she couldn’t stop the tears as they fell. “Deidrick needs to die. The way he was supposed to.” Her voice shuddered as the words left her lips.
“Or he’ll just keep possessing bodies until he gets what he wants.” Derek hung his head, his dark hair lit up by the flames reflecting against his skin.
Rose.
Chapter Twenty-One
For the first time in her life, Ember was truly speechless. Derek opened the car door and, for a moment, she wondered how deeply Derek’s and Deidrick’s spirits were intertwined. Ember slowly lowered herself into the silver Mazda, tucking her tote bag close to her chest. Derek’s car smelled like cinnamon and cedar; the scent was both sweet and inviting. She breathed in deeply as he rounded to the driver’s side.
After all that he had told her, Ember couldn’t stop replaying the night's events over in her mind.
The way Derek had looked at her before he’d kissed her. Deidrick’s words, I’ve found a way we can be together forever. The warm, enveloping feeling, the sudden draft, the way the temperature and the weight of the room had changed as Ember banished the spirit of Deidrick Rhyan from Derek’s body.
What exactly is Deidrick’s plan?
He’d found a way to sustain his spirit, by possessing his own descendants, but Ember couldn’t shake the feeling there was more to the story, and Derek wasn’t telling her. What did he mean, by ‘making the possession permanent?’ What did his family do to appease Deidrick? What was he holding back?
Halloween was only two weekends away. She had exactly two weeks to find out and help Derek break the curse. Her fingers curled around the tourmaline in her hand.
Ember had thought she was special because she had the gift, like her father, like Kacie, like her grandmother; she had thought her ability to read cards was her gift, never knowing that her abilities were more than that. She could also banish spirits and act as a medium. The realization made her feel a sense of shock and awe. After all, she’d thought her talents only extended to the cards she was able to read, which she knew now was because of Rose.
Derealization left her feeling a sense of shock and awe.ek started the car and the smart screen and lights roared to life. He tapped several buttons, bringing up the illuminated map. “You can type in your address if you want.” He looked at Ember, his gaze heavy and worrisome. His eyes shone deep cobalt, free of the glimmer that lay in the gaze of her long lost Mr. Blue Eyes.
Ember silently entered her address and waited for the automated voice to start talking.
Derek pulled out of the driveway and Ember glanced at the clock. It was only 1:30 am.
She looked out the window and her eyes settled on the moon. She could feel its light, even through the barrier of glass; it felt as though the moon answered a question she wasn’t sure she had even asked.
In two weeks, on All Hallows’ Eve, the moon would be full. The veil would be at its thinnest, a moment in time in which spirits could easily communicate with the living and when rituals and spells would be cast easily.
The push of memory against her chest was soft and the image of full moons of the past filtered into her consciousness.
“What’s it like for you? Being possessed by Deidrick?” Ember asked suddenly, watching the tree limbs pass by overhead, adding their shadows across the view of the half-full silver circle casting its glow to the treetops.
Derek’s voice, calm as the October sky, answered, “It's like … I’m there but I can’t break through. I feel everything the way I would normally except I’m not in control.”
Ember turned to face him, his profile illuminated by the light of the moon. There was an obvious genetic connection to Deidrick -- the blue eyes and dark black hair, the toned forearms, and the uncanny ability to look dashing in rolled-up shirtsleeves, yet …
Derek’s eyes were softer, his cheekbones not as pronounced. His stance wasn’t timid by any means, but it didn’t cast an air of suave, unbridled confidence either. Even his voice was different, slower and softer, more honest.
“How long have you felt this way?” Ember chose her words carefully.
“Since I found the book about ten years ago. My parents were remodeling the winery and I found a secret room. My parents said it probably had to do with Deidrick’s suspected nefarious businesses, or it could have just been a safe room in case of a raid or something. They didn’t seem too concerned with it and planned on patching over the entrance, so I did what any inquisitive fifteen-year-old would do. I went exploring.”
Ember thought about the day she found the cards, in a box in her grandmother’s attic. A box that was going to be put to the curb.
Derek continued, “I’d say it was a coincidence but I know it’s more than that. It’s magic. Real, actual magic. I felt it the day I stepped into the room like I was walking across some invisible line. The book caught my eye. I felt this pull …” He paused as if searching for a way to describe the feeling.
But Ember understood all too well. “Like it was calling to you -- like it found you,” her voice chimed in.
“Yes. Exactly like that,” he agreed as he turned a corner and came to a stoplight. “I felt this energy. But the feeling mainly occurred when I was reading the book or when I was in that room. Until that night at Scarefest.”
He paused before continuing, “Coincidentally, the construction on the remodeling came to a halt over some issue, I don’t even remember what it was now, but back then I had spent a lot of time exploring that room and the things in it. When I was there, I felt this fascination for things I’d never even dreamed about or had any interest in. I was just a kid who happened to believe in ghost stories. I didn’t think I’d actually be living in one.”
The light turned green and Derek slowly started toward the neon lights of Cory’s.
“I found my cards in a box in an attic. I was 9. My dad had just died and they just seemed to call out to me. As if they wanted me to find them. Honestly, I’m surprised my family didn’t take them off me. They must have known …”
The GPS spoke loudly, telling Derek they would be arriving momentarily.
“What did you mean when you said he wants to make the possession permanent?” The moon was now hidden behind the dark trees and Ember missed its comforting light.
Derek hesitated. “I wish I knew.” He pulled up to the sidewalk and turned off the ignition.
Ember looked out the window to her porch, illuminated by bright white lantern light. Derek turned to face her and she met his gaze.
“I’m so sorry, Ember. I didn’t mean to get you mixed up in this. If I had only passed your tent …” he started.
“It would have happened another way, somehow. It would n
ot have changed a thing.” She spoke the words clearly; her heartbeat pounding against her chest.
Derek’s eyes shimmered in the darkness and the sight of those eyes left Ember in awe.
The pull between them was something other than supernatural. It was magnetic, as infinite as the galaxy sprawled above them.
Ember closed the distance between them, leaning over the armrest rather awkwardly. Derek’s lips fell in swift reciprocation, tender and hesitant with the sweetness of promise.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Ember’s mind raced along with her heartbeat and as she withdrew her lips from Derek’s she was overwhelmed with one sole desire. As the words fell out of her mouth, she knew them to be her own, forged out of the embers of fires burned centuries ago, catching flame in her own upheaval -- The World Reversed. Derek walked with her to the porch. As she walked up the one small step under the light, she turned and uttered but a single word.
“Stay.” That one word, which held such weight, such longing, belonged to her as much as it belonged to Rose.
There he stood, in the bright white light, the shadows befalling his face like that of the trees against the moon. The sound of leaves rustling and whispers long lost were an orchestra all its own.
Derek swallowed hesitantly and the slightest turn in his stance left him frozen in place.
“I know you feel guilty as if this is all your fault, but I assure you it isn’t. If I have garnered anything from this entire situation it is this: our spirits may be intertwined but you and I are not just hosts or vessels. We are people with our own feelings and our own experiences. Rose and Deidrick may have brought us together but I am asking you, Derek Rhyan, to stay with me, Ember Rose Stone. Because I’m not sure I want this to end.” Her voice was calm, steady, and completely vulnerable.
Derek turned toward her as her hand turned the key, stepping up to meet her as the wind whistled around them, chilling Ember beneath her ivory sweater.
Derek reached out to cup the sides of her face, softly pushing the waves of her hair back.
Ember fell against the door, pulling Derek with her as he kissed her, his lips melodically in tune with the symphony of the whispering winds outside her door. Arm extended as her fingers fumbled for the light switch, her lips turned up into a sly smile against the warmth of his contact.
Ember kicked the door shut brashly, her oversized tote bag sliding to the ground with a thump as emotions overwhelmed her from the inside out. Excitement danced with fear as she let her fingers trail down the outer shell of Derek’s chest, her fingers tugging at the seam of his sweater’s cuff.
His hands slid down her fuzzy sweater in response, stopping just above the waistline of her jeans.
Ember stared at eyes as endless as the sea, her heartbeat in her throat. Stella’s soft meow beckoned in the distance.
“Don’t tell me you’re a crazy cat lady.” He smiled sweetly.
“Why? Is that a dealbreaker?” Her voice was light as Stella walked through her legs and sat down, tail thumping against Derek’s foot.
“As long as it's not an army of mini black panthers, I should be fine.”
Ember let her hands slide up the expanse of warm skin, underneath his sweater, pulling Derek closer until their mouths danced in sweet desire again.
The familiar feeling of déjà vu, like a haunted wind, washed over her as she traced her hands down his torso with anticipation. When his fingers curled around her wrist, she smiled. Like a lion with its prey, she pulled him through the kitchen in small intervals of frantic movement, leaving the remnants of clothes strewn on the floor as if they were merely breadcrumbs leading directly to her bedroom. It was as if time moved both in a slow meander and at the speed of light simultaneously.
This is absolutely crazy, she thought. The moonlight shimmered through the window casting shadows against Derek’s slender, tapered waist.
The familiar feeling of enveloping heat and desire mingled with the chill in the air, turning her skin into gooseflesh. With the slightest flick of her hand, in a motion that was all too familiar, Derek fell back into the mass of white linen -- his legs quite the open invitation. Ember stepped forward to close the gap and his arms circled her, splaying fingers along the curve of her back as her breasts melted softly into his chest.
It was like seeing in double vision, her eyes blurred the lines together--separate entities colliding in a most perfect storm.
Derek’s lips traced their way over her skin and as Ember’s eyes fluttered shut with bliss she realized the enveloping heat wasn’t just all around her but boiling inside of her as well. The feeling was reminiscent of a dormant volcano on the edge of eruption.
A long lost voice inside comforted her as she angled her body to meet his, whispering to her like a prayer.
We are one under the light of the moon and the dawn of the sun for all eternity, the voice, and its words reverberated in her brain.
Behind her shuttered eyes, Ember could finally see how it all connected. She could see it as if the planets were aligned under the light of the moon in the forests of long, long ago. She could feel it as he moved inside of her, a syncopated heartbeat pushing her to the edge of a cliff and begging her to jump with him, together into the sea of eternity.
The flames of a ritual performed long ago lit up the expanse of woods casting an eerie glow amid the sacred space. Her hands grasped at the tufts of his dark hair. The sweat of their bodies mingled as ragged pants and cries of ecstasy threatened to steal their consciousness. Yet it wasn’t the name of ecstasy they called out to the gods and goddesses but a promise. A wish.
The skies outside Ember’s windows rumbled with thunder and, as the lightning crashed and the rain fell, Ember finally let go.
Chapter Twenty-Three
The teapot whistled, startling Ember out of her thoughts. Just as she picked it up off the stove, a heavy knocking at her door made her blood pressure spike.
“You better be in there, Em, or I swear to God …” Ava’s voice sent a buzz of panic through Ember and she hurriedly set her teapot down before sprinting to the door, almost tripping over Stella in the process.
She opened the door to see Ava standing there in her usual attire, the look on her face shifting from concern to relief.
“Good morning Princess,” Ava said as she brushed past Ember in a manner most would consider rude but that Ember considered the utmost of normal behaviors for Ava.
Ember took a deep breath and prayed to every god or goddess she could think of, hoping Ava’s ‘normal behaviors’ wouldn’t disturb her current houseguest. After all, Ember had little to no experience with these sorts of things, unless she counted all the times she’d collected Ava from a night of poorly made decisions. Perhaps Ava was starting to rub off on her.
Ember continued to pour her cup of tea as Ava sat down at the kitchen table.
She clasped her hands together and regarded Ember with a serious look. “I think I may have a solution to your possession problem.”
The way she spoke sounded like she was delivering a serious journalism piece on the nightly news.
Ember’s phone beeped loudly and she held up a hand to interrupt Ava as she leaned over her aged, pale pink countertop to check her phone, which was still plugged into the charger.
The text was from Nick.
Ava pursed her lips expectantly.
Are you available to meet later today? I have the results of your background check.
That was fast, Ember thought. It was only yesterday that she had asked but she supposed, since she’d never asked Nick for any favors before, perhaps that was a normal time frame. She quickly tapped out a response.
Cory’s Diner? 4:00? I’m off today so whatever works for you, let me know.
She turned to Ava as she took a sip of her tea.
Ava opened her mouth to speak but the phone beeped again.
4:00 is fine. See you then.
Ava looked as if she were about to explode.
“If
I could have your undivided attention,” she spoke through her teeth.
Ember felt the blood drain from her entire body as her bedroom door swung open slowly, revealing a most wicked sight.
Derek’s black hair stuck out in static disarray and the sunlight from the kitchen window shone down directly in beams of light that lit up the expanse of his long, toned torso, illuminated only by the shadows his hip bones cast in contrast to the dark wash jeans. Ember was certain if she’d been a teapot, her whistle would be going off too.
She closed her eyes and bit her lip, waiting for the onslaught of incoherent judgment that would soon befall her.
Ava’s response was less of a screech and more of a whisper, to Ember’s surprise.
“As I have been so patiently waiting to tell you, and I suppose you should hear this too …” Ava looked over at Derek with fire in her eyes. Her newscaster tone was back as she continued, “I think I have a solution to your problem.”
Derek looked confused. “What problem?” He looked back at Ember, his brow furrowed.
“The possession, of course.” Ava rolled her eyes.
Derek’s eyes widened in surprise. “You told her?!” he asked as he crossed his arms.
Ember took a sip of tea and Stella meowed at her feet. “Of course I told her. She’s my manager,” Ember answered, suddenly feeling a wave of guilt.
“I’m also a friend, a very concerned friend.” Ava flipped her short, brown hair over her shoulder and fixed her gaze on Derek.
“Derek, you of all people know this is bigger than us. She would have found out eventually. What I do --”
Ava went on, interrupting them. “Possession is serious. Until we get this sorted out, Ember is a danger to her clients. For God's sake, she’s a danger to herself, and to you.”
Ember pointedly hung on the words as Ava continued to fire away at Derek. “Whether I like it or not, you are a part of this too, and in my opinion, you are to blame for this whole fiasco.”
She relented and looked at Ember with warmth. “I know a guy who specializes in this sort of thing. He’s agreed to meet us today, say like 1:00?” Ava steepled her fingers together as she clicked her tongue, waiting for an answer.
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