Ember glanced up at Derek; his expression was guarded. Her heart sank.
Damn Ava and her impeccable timing.
“What, like exorcisms?” Derek spoke.
Ava turned in her chair. “Something along those lines.”
“I’m not sure that will work. You see, this isn’t your average possession. Deidrick …” Derek paused and glanced at Ember, swallowing hard before continuing. “The spirit within me, it’s a curse as much as it is possession.” Derek slowly walked to the kitchen table and sat down dejectedly. Ember tried to drown herself in her tea. This was not her best morning.
“I’m aware,” Ava said matter-of-factly.
“How much did you tell her?” Derek turned to Ember, his guarded expression softening just a tad.
“Just assume I’m very up to speed with things, Derek. I’ve got Em’s best interests at heart, so believe me when I say you can trust me.” Ava’s voice was unwavering, crisp, and clear.
Derek nodded. “I sure hope so,” he relented.
***
Ava leaned in the doorframe, just a fraction out of Ember’s reach. Her expression had softened but her eyes still held an apprehensiveness Ember couldn’t ignore. “So what was so important you had to make me wait?” Ava cocked an eyebrow.
Ember leaned against the doorframe, angling herself to face Ava. “It was Nick. The results are in.” Ember nervously twirled a lock of crimson hair around her finger as she bit her lip.
Ava smirked as she single-handedly placed her aviators on her face in one fluid, cool movement. “Ah. So today is the day you find out if you slept with a serial killer or not.” The concern in Ava’s voice had vacated, replaced with her usual air of banter. Her mischievous grin took some of the anxiety away and Ember couldn’t help but roll her eyes.
“I never said he was a serial killer.” Her lips turned up in a smile.
Ava shrugged. “It’s always the quiet ones who have the weirdest turn-ons. No matter, bring your cyber-challenged serial killer with you to the address. 1:00. Don’t be late.” She smiled as she turned on her heel and walked down the sidewalk to her Impala. There was a spring in her step that shouldn’t exist at 10:00 in the morning.
Derek came and stood behind her, exuding a subtle warmth as the chill morning air kissed her skin.
As Ember turned around, the world around her fell to shambles to reveal a memory long forgotten.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Rose sat with her knees pulled up to her chest as the plush white linen, flush with her skin,
contained her. She spread the cards out in a fan in front of her, analyzing them. They hadn’t changed.
She wrapped her arms around her knees and set her chin atop her forearms as locks of copper-colored hair tumbled forward in an unkempt manner. The sun filtered in through the windows in a most serene way, contrasting against the dark ebony and walnut that ensconced the room.
Soft fingers pulled back her rosy locks and silken lips traced her collarbone.
“Leave them be.” His voice was melancholy wine.
“I can’t.” Her voice was soft and defeated.
With the smallest maneuver of his hand, the cards dispersed. Rose pursed her lips as Deidrick wrapped his arms tightly around her, drawing her back into the heat of his own body.
“I’ve found the perfect little town out in the country. Down in Virginia. It would be the perfect place for a winery.” He sounded hopeful, wistful even.
“It sounds lovely.” Her tone betrayed nothing.
“Come with me, Rose …” His lips brushed her ear, turning her skin into gooseflesh, melting her insides.
Rose fixated on the fallen cards. Her heart sank.
“Giovani would turn over every rock between here and Florida looking for me. You know that.” Her lashes fluttered as she bit her tongue.
“Why don’t you trust me?” The betrayal in his voice stung. “I can evade him. I am quite powerful if you remember.” Now there was a hint of teasing.
“I do trust you, Deidrick. That’s why I need you alive. I can’t come back if you’re dead.” Her voice stilled.
“We have defied the odds for so long. Even after this curse…” He trailed off then sighed. “Look at you, trying to be my hero once again.” “Well, certainly someone’s got to save you from your own lunacy,” she teased. Trying to keep him distracted was quite a feat.
“I’ve told you, Rose, you don’t need to save me. I’m perfectly capable of fighting my own battles.” His lips sought hers as she forced back tears.
“We are bound together. Nothing can keep us apart, least of all Giovani.” Her fiance’s name on her lover’s tongue was a bitter growl.
Rose glanced at the fallen cards, unable to tear her eyes away from The Hanged Man. It stared at her, in the upright position, with that knowing glare.
Today would be a day of sacrifice.
Today would be the day she died.
As Deidrick found her lips once more, Rose turned to meet his hunger with her own.
Their lips danced a wicked tango as she pressed her chilled breasts into him, embracing his heat. His lips crushed hers with ferocity and as Rose opened her eyes, she lifted her hand and focused her concentration on the retrieval of one card.
She stretched her hand out as she grappled with an invisible force. The card in her hand, the Lovers Upright, felt warm as she wrapped her fingers around it like it was a cure.
Perhaps it was.
***
The car ride over to 1100 Frankfurt Ave was filled with tension. While Derek insisted on giving Ember a ride so he could hear what Ava’s friend had to say, the feeling of betrayal hung in the air.
Ember understood all too well that she was the villain in this scenario -- she had divulged Derek’s personal secrets after he’d told her he trusted her. But Ava was her best friend and it was her concern that was helping them find a way out of this strange situation. Ember could hardly regret her mistake. Especially if it worked.
“I’m sorry for breaking your trust,” she broke the silence.
Derek glanced over at her. “I understand why you did. I only told you because I thought … I thought you could help me. Since we shared this connection.” He swallowed as he turned the car down a road that looked somewhat abandoned.
“I promise you, I’ll do everything I can to help you break this curse. Ava’s quite tenacious. Believe me when I say she’s on our side. If anyone can find an answer, no matter how remote it is, it’s Ava.” Ember’s belief in her friend was well placed. She’d seen Ava talk her way into and out of just about everything; the woman was relentless. She wouldn’t let this go until Ember was free and clear of Rose.
Ember glanced at the small black bag nestled in her purse. She couldn’t deny that, although being possessed presented more problems than it did solutions, she’d never felt more alive, more in tune with her very being and soul, than she did when sharing the spaces of her consciousness and body with Rose. She wasn’t a dark, foreboding presence, out for vengeance or blood. She was alluring, kind, whimsical, and, in turn, so was Ember; she didn’t seem to mind the personality upgrade.
If it wasn’t for Rose, Ember would never have forged a connection with her cards, which had provided her so much solace over the years.
Without Rose, she likely would have never met Ava.
If it wasn’t for Rose, Ember would never have experienced the feeling of eternal love.
If it wasn’t for Rose, Ember would have never spoken to Kacie or Nick again.
If it wasn’t for Rose, Ember most certainly wouldn’t have found the courage to ask Derek to stay the night with her.
She owed so very much to Rose Hartford, and she hadn’t realized it until now.
“I shouldn’t have expected you to hold my secret. After all, we barely know each other.” Derek’s dark eyes were focused straight ahead.
“You’re right. We don’t really know each other. In the present sense at least.” Ember reached her h
and out and gently brushed his arm. “But I want to know you, Derek, and I think you want to know me.”
Derek breathed a sigh of release. “It’d be a lot easier if I didn’t have someone else’s thoughts and feelings in my head.” His voice softened.
Ember didn’t know what it was like for Derek, sharing his mind and body with his ancestor, but if Derek was agreeing wholeheartedly to break the curse and exorcise Deidrick, Ember suspected it wasn’t as peaceful a union as hers was.
***
Ava leaned against the driver’s side door of her Impala, tapping away on her phone. Her short, straight hair hung in perfect angles over her shoulders, and against the burnt orange and red trees, she looked like a bonafide rock star.
Ember had always admired Ava’s edge, the way she seemed to straddle the line between who she was and who others saw. She knew Ava had a life before they’d met, one she didn’t talk about often because, as Ember suspected, it brought up unpleasant memories. Still, despite her total trust in her friend, Ember couldn’t help but wonder if Ava had led her to some seventh circle of Hell as she approached, taking in the sight of the windowless building. Ember would have sworn it was built out of old storage containers from the docks.
Derek closing the car door behind her made her jump more than she wanted to admit.
“What is this place?” Derek asked as Ava looked up from her phone.
“Bryan’s a little eccentric, so don’t mention anything about the government, birds, or Taylor Swift. Got it?” Ava pushed off the car and walked ahead of them. A dangling buckle banging against her studded belt sounded like chimes crashing together in a melody of impending chaos.
She knocked on what Ember supposed was a door -- it didn’t look like what most people had as an entrance to their home. The sound of sliding metal creaked and the rusted scratching made Ember’s skin crawl as the door opened.
The man who stood in the entrance was stout, wearing large bifocals someone their age should never be seen in, and his scraggly, light brown hair was pulled back into a thin ponytail.
“Ava, so good to see you. Where’s Cassius?” The man didn’t even address Ember or Derek.
How rude, Ember thought.
Ava stood with her trademark, unamused, stoic face. “Never said I was bringing Cas.” Her tone seemed different, guarded somehow. Ember noted the anxiety in her voice.
Who was Cas? And why did Ava seem to react sharply to the name? Ember took note and decided she’d ask about it later after she got the answers to more important questions.
Bryan’s eyes relaxed only slightly. “I’m sorry, just when you mentioned bringing a friend …” He eyed Ember and Derek skeptically.
Ava brushed past him as she stepped over the threshold, which seemed to be covered in a white substance. Salt?
Bryan shrugged his shoulders in defeat and extended his arm inward, looking Derek and Ember over cautiously. “Well, don’t just stand there, come in.” His welcome was rather lackluster.
Ember eyed the salt divide before stepping over it and into Bryan’s … home. If that’s what it was.
Derek glanced down at the salt and looked up at Ember with confusion. His hesitation was odd but he stepped inside without difficulty.
Bryan shut the door.
“Well, they passed the first test.” Bryan left Derek standing in slight bewilderment as Ember went to stand at his side.
Ava had found a spot on a tarnished, somewhat worn brown leather couch. She took off her aviators and threw them on top of the stacks of paper that covered what Ember hoped was a coffee table.
Something about Ava was different. She looked like Ava, sounded like Ava, but her genuine friendliness and sardonic humor seemed to have disappeared.
“What do you mean by the first test?” Derek asked.
“If you were possessed by a demon or something of that nature, you wouldn’t have been able to come through the door.” Ava’s voice was flat, uninterested.
“Your boy hesitated there for a minute though. Definitely surprised me when he came in.” Bryan walked over to the grimiest countertop Ember had ever seen and started pulling things from shelves.
“And what does that mean?” Derek walked toward Bryan curiously.
“Ghost possession is a lot more straightforward. It’s not like exorcising a demon, which takes a lot of work, so on the plus side, it should be fairly easy to extract.” Bryan continued to pull things off the shelves before moving on to begin opening dusty cupboards, the dust motes floating in the air.
Ember met Ava’s gaze.
“Did Ava tell you it's not just possession. My family’s cursed.” Derek spoke cautiously.
Bryan looked up from where he hovered on the floor.
“Cursed?” Bryan’s voice sounded confused, laced with a hint of alarm.
Ava leaned back into the leather couch and glanced in Bryan’s direction. “He’s the one who’s cursed. She’s the psychic.” Her voice maintained its edge and Ember noticed, even if it was slight, the tremble in Ava’s hands.
“What kind of curse?” Bryan asked as he pulled a mortar and pestle down from a shelf and began combining herbs.
Ember wrinkled her nose at the pungent smell.
“I come from a family of witches,” Derek started.
Bryan slammed the pestle down and regarded Ava with a worrisome look.
“Fucking witches, Ava? Jesus Christ, you know I loathe those sons of bitches,” Bryan shot out.
“You’ve got to let that shit go, Bry.” Ava’s voice echoed in the open space.
“Easy for you to say, you’re a fucking Crowley,” Bryan grumbled.
“You might hate them but you’re the only exorcist I know who can break a bound curse with actual success.”
Ember fixated her gaze on Ava. How many exorcists did she know? Why did Bryan hate witches? What did Ava have to do with it? The questions were stacking up in Ember’s mind and she started to wonder, despite being so forthcoming with her best friend, what Ava had kept from her.
Ember’s stomach flipped with anxiety.
Bryan sighed. “You’re going to owe me for this Ava.” His tone still held a tinge of animosity.
“Yeah, yeah. Put it on my tab,” she scoffed.
Derek sat in the circle, hidden behind layers of brick dust and salt, the smell of burning white sage and mugwort pungent in the air. Ember stared at the large pillar of quartz standing in black ash, which stood directly across from him.
According to Bryan, exorcising the ghost of Deidrick would not be an easy feat; it depended on how deep the possession was actually embedded. He would call forth the words that should pull Deidrick to the surface and, if all went smoothly, he would be able to trap Deidrick in the quartz, alienating him from Derek. That would buy them enough time to break the curse.
After half an hour of continual prodding and enough Latin to put her to sleep, Derek remained the same.
Bryan, meanwhile, looked exhausted.
Ava looked worried.
“I have a solution but you’re not going to like it, Ava.” Bryan turned to her and she leaned over her knees with anticipation. “I’m coming up against a wall. The veil is too thick.”
“You’re not suggesting …” Ava’s voice dropped.
“You said you have something of your possessor’s, yes?” Bryan spoke softly to Derek.
“He has his Book of Shadows,” Ava cut in before Derek could even speak.
“If your possessor indeed wants to make this permanent, he’ll do so on All Hallows’ Eve. You know that. And we …” Bryan broke off as he glanced at Ava before continuing, “We know the veil is thinnest then. That will make you and your spirit more vulnerable and easier to exorcise,” Bryan explained.
“Are you telling me I have to wait two weeks until you can fix this?” Derek looked defeated.
“When the sun sets on Hallows’ Eve, I can perform the same ritual and it will be much easier to direct his spirit into the crystal. Then we burn the tal
isman.” Bryan spoke confidently.
“What about her?” Ava asked. It was as if they suddenly remembered Derek was not the only one possessed.
“If the spirits are tied together then it will be easier to exorcise them both at once.” Bryan looked at Ember as if she was nothing more than a vessel.
Suddenly the strangest feeling overcame her. She wanted to cast a spell, to protect not only herself but also Derek. Deep in her soul, Ember was certain she didn’t trust this man.
But Ava did.
“Do you have a talisman too?” he asked her.
A part of her wanted to tell him yes. Honesty will help me out of this, she thought. But that rationality warred with another part of her soul that didn’t inherently belong to her, begging her to lie to this man who would destroy her. Deep in those depths, words uttered long ago and yet only hours ago, danced in her cerebellum: I can’t come back if you die.
If Bryan was successful in transferring Deidrick to the crystal, and if he burned the only talisman Deidrick was tied to, would Deidrick finally cease to exist? Would that be Rose's last walk on Earth?
Yes. Ember knew in her soul that once she answered Bryan it would change the course of not just her life, but also Derek’s. She had promised him she’d do everything to help him, hadn’t she?
Tears formed behind her eyes as memories crashed through her consciousness.
How could she grieve for a life she never had?
How could she feel so strongly about the man seated before her in the circle of salt and brick dust without the existence of Rose to guide her?
Ember didn’t know but she knew they both deserved the chance to find out, and so the word that tumbled off her lips was both a prayer and an answer.
“Yes.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
Ember watched through the Impala’s window as Derek pulled out of the dirt driveway. Bryan had agreed to meet with them at the Rhyan Family Vineyard on the night of their annual masquerade.
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