by C. J. Pinard
The next morning, Marie was up early making breakfast and getting the two younger siblings ready for their school lessons when Emma came out of the room, yawning. Jonathan was at the breakfast table, drinking strong hot tea.
“Good morning, Emma. How did you sleep?” Jonathan asked.
“Good morning, Jonathan, Marie. Very well, thank you.” She sat down at the table with him and Marie brought her a steaming cup of tea with a bowl of sugar and a spoon.
Emma eyed the tea, and then dumped a spoonful of sugar into it. She stirred the tea for about a minute, setting the spoon down when she was done. She smiled at Jonathan, who was staring at her.
“I’ve been giving your offer some thought, and after sleeping on it, I have decided to stay for a little while, if the invitation is still open.”
CHAPTER 3
∞∞∞
Portland, Oregon – Present Day
The portal took them right back in front of the downtown Murphy Architecture Building. A chilly ocean wind hit them all immediately, reminding them they weren’t in the warm Gulf any longer.
Jonathan shuddered, then said, “Where to now, Pascal?”
Pascal wearily eyed Angel, and turned back to Jonathan. “Here is fine, we will walk home.”
“I don’t think so. Those cuffs aren’t coming off until you tell us your address. It’s about time we see where you live,” Thomas said, folding his arms over his chest.
Pascal, too tired to argue, let out a huff and answered, “Sixty-six Mockingbird.”
“Ooh, nice part of town,” Kathryn said sarcastically. “I’ll go get the van.” And with that she was gone, disappearing through the front doors of the building and down to the parking garage.
“Malina, I will see you later, okay?” Thomas wasn’t asking her to leave, he was insisting on it. She took the cue.
“Okay, Tom.”
And without another word, she was gone, disappearing through her shimmering doorway.
They drove mostly in silence on the way to the vampires’ house. Thomas and Kathryn sat in the front while Jonathan sat in the back with the vampires. The van was outfitted with a solid metal screen between the front and back seats of the van, the type used to transport prisoners. There were hooks in the floor in which to secure leg irons from the inmate to the floor of the van, if necessary. The doors only opened from the outside. Jonathan had purchased the van from a government auction three years before, and it had come in handy plenty of times.
The four weary vampires stared silently out of the windows, just wanting to be home to eat and sleep.
Pulling up in front, Kathryn put the van in park.
Jonathan whistled through his teeth and said, “What’s wrong, Pascal, the nightclub business not doing well?”
The house had seen better days. A lush, but overgrown green lawn was the only bright spot, thanks to the constant rain. Squat juniper shrubs in need of a trim lined the front porch. A short chain-link fence surrounded the two-story house, which had once been painted white but was peeling and chipping in most places. Three large triangle peaks trimmed in what was once black paint decorated the top of the house. Cloudy windows were framed inside each peak. A rickety wrap-around porch hugged the house. It had probably once been beautiful in its original state back in the 1920s.
Pascal huffed. “We get by just fine. Would be doing even better if we were allowed to conduct our usual businesses, too, but since the Treaty, we’ve had to find other means in which to supplement our income.”
He was, of course, talking about bank robberies.
“Yes, well, the humans need that money more than you do,” Kathryn replied.
“I don’t think so. Living forever is very costly,” Pascal replied.
Thomas snorted under his breath, “You can say that again.”
The Immortals walked the vampires into their house. Angel awkwardly fished a house key from between her cleavage with her handcuffed hands and opened the front door. It moaned on its rusty hinges as the four vampires walked inside. Dust danced in the slices of streetlight that cut in through the cracks of the butcher paper that had been taped up over all the windows to keep the sunlight out. The furniture was definitely vintage, and could probably be beautiful with some upkeep and cleaning. But apparently, vampires were too busy to clean.
The three Immortals stayed outside.
“Come here,” Jonathan said to Joshua. He did as he was told and was rewarded with his handcuffs being broken off by Jonathan’s bare hands. Jonathan threw them to the warped wood floor of the porch. Behind him, he heard chuckling. He turned around to see Thomas holding a shiny cuff key, moonlight glinting off of it.
“Oops.” Jonathan grinned.
After the iron handcuffs were removed, the Immortals got into the van and left.
Mike watched out the window as their van drove away. “It’s all clear, boss.” He turned around to see Pascal standing in front of an open refrigerator with his head tipped back, greedily sucking from a blood bag. Joshua and Angel were ripping open their own bags. Mike soon joined them.
After two or three bags each, they sat on the dusty red sofa, all exhausted.
“What are we going to do now, baby?” Angel asked wearily.
With a serious expression, he looked right at her and answered, “We’re going back to the Oregon Vortex.”
∞∞∞
The Island of Nymph, Gulf of Mexico – 1809
Their meeting room was a crude little one, but it worked. The wood chairs were thick and comfortable. All ten sylph queens were gathered in a circle, seated.
“I call to order the business of the month,” said Elizabeth. She was largely pregnant, a purple tunic hanging loosely over her swollen belly. She folded her legs as lady-like as she could manage in her condition. “First order on the agenda is the monthly reports.” She paused, looking around the room. Batting her long eyelashes against her topaz-colored eyes, she continued. “There have been three reported shapeshifter sightings in London. None of the animals have been captured, however. No deaths were reported.”
The room was filled with hemming and hawing, but nobody said anything.
Elizabeth curiously eyed the paper in front of her and said, “Huh. We have a report of a vampyre attack in Newcastle. A Doctor Charles Porter has reported that a young woman was attacked in the forest there, two holes in the left side of the neck. She was, however, rescued by a human man who apparently stabbed the vampire,” she finished.
The room now erupted in laughing and clapping.
“Who is this human?” a pretty red-haired sylph wearing green asked.
Elizabeth rubbed her belly then brushed a strand of brown hair from her forehead. She squinted at the paper, “It says his name is Jonathan Murphy. He has apparently taken the young woman to his home for recuperation.”
“Well, that is a very interesting outcome to what could have been a very unfortunate situation,” the redhead added.
“Indeed!” Elizabeth confirmed. “On with the rest of the reports. Oh my. It seems a boatload of vampyres disembarked in the New World on the shores of someplace called… Florida. They killed all humans onboard the ship, and then twelve more once they reached land,” she finished, sighing heavily.
That solicited a chorus of sighs.
“That concludes the reports for the month,” Elizabeth finished. “Do we have any other business to attend to?”
When nobody answered, they all rose from their seats and went to the refreshment table for tea and sandwiches. When everyone had a plate, they sat down for their favorite part of the meeting – social hour.
“We have got to get a handle on these dangerous Fae. Not only do they seem to be multiplying like rabbits, they are not adhering to the human laws, and we have no means to enforce them,” Elizabeth said, taking a dainty bite of her sandwich.
A blonde sylph dressed all in pink said, “It doesn’t seem that the human in Newcastle had too many problems killing one. I’d like to shake that man�
��s hand.”
“Yes, but humans die. They are only worth a measly twenty or thirty years before they wear out their usefulness,” another sylph said.
Elizabeth tapped a finger against her mouth and said, “What if we use magic on them? What if we give them some kind of potion that will give them long life and extra strength and speed?”
“All of them?” a sylph in yellow asked.
“No, not all of them. Just a select few who can keep dangerous Fae under control; give them consequences for their crimes,” Elizabeth answered.
“Do you have a potion that will do such things to mortals?” the redhead asked, her curiosity very much piqued.
“I have been working on some spells and potions. I do not want my child growing up in a world where he or she could be a victim of vampyres or shifters,” she looked down at her stomach and rubbed it lovingly.
A long silence ensued.
“Elizabeth, are you nervous about becoming mortal after you have that baby?” a fellow sylph asked.
She smiled sincerely and said, “Absolutely not. Mathias and I are in love. Even if this baby is a boy, we look forward to having lots more children and having a long, mortal life together. I hope we have a few girls, the world needs more sylphs.” She smiled and sipped her tea.
∞∞∞
Marie looked at Emma in shock, then at her father. “Father? Where shall she sleep?”
Emma looked playfully at Jonathan while blowing on her hot tea and asked, “Yes, Mr. Murphy, where shall I sleep?”
Jonathan shifted nervously in his seat and said, “For the time being, I will sleep on the floor here in the front room. She can have my room. I, in the meantime, will add on to the house. We need more bedrooms anyway, Marie needs her own space.”
That definitely pleased Marie.
After breakfast, Jonathan grabbed his tool bag, kissed Marie and the two younger children, and left for work. Marie and Emma were left alone.
“So tell me, Marie, do you attend school?” Emma asked.
“Yes, my younger brother and sister and I attend at the schoolhouse in town. After I clean up breakfast, I have to get them dressed and walk them down there.”
Emma got up from the table and put her empty teacup in the basin. “I will help you. I would like to see your schoolhouse.”
“I would like that very much, Miss Emma,” Marie said.
Emma set off to the back room to help get the younger children dressed. When everyone was ready to go, she walked the three children to the schoolhouse in town. She introduced herself as a friend of Jonathan’s to the two teachers. She left the children at the schoolhouse for the day and decided to explore town.
Coming upon a small general store, she went inside. The nice-looking older man working behind the counter greeted her as she came in. He was counting money in the till.
“May I help you find something, miss?” he asked.
“No, sir, I’m just trying to meet some people. I’m new to town, my name is Emma.”
He tipped his hat at her. “Well it’s nice to meet you, my name is Jim. Where are you staying?”
“I’m a guest of Jonathan Murphy’s, he lives out of town. It’s a bit remote,” she answered.
“Aye yes, I know ol’ Jonathan Murphy. Poor chap losing his wife like he did,” he said, shaking his head. He then eyed Emma up and down and said boldly, “You lookin’ to replace her?”
She smiled coyly and said, “It was a pleasure meeting you, Jim.” She left the store.
Emma wandered around the small town most of the day, settling into the local pub early in the afternoon. The pub had a dusty floor with candles and kerosene lamps illuminating the corners. The wood rafters were crisscrossed along the ceiling and crude tables were set up randomly around the establishment. A small bar with five or six crafted barstools was set up at the front.
“What can I get you, little lady?” a young bartender with a chubby red face and kind eyes asked.
“Whiskey, please,” she answered.
“Coming right up, miss.”
The bartender plucked a bottle from the back bar and splashed the pungent liquid into a waiting glass. He then plunked the glass in front of her. She paid the man and said, “Name’s Emma. What’s yours?”
“Nathan,” he said. “You new around here?”
“Yes. Pleased to meet you, Nathan,” she said, raising her small glass to him before throwing the whiskey down and ordering another one.
Spending the entire afternoon in the pub, she almost lost track of time and hauled out of there on the double back to the schoolhouse. She tripped over her long dress a couple of times.
“Probably shouldn’t have had those whiskeys,” she mumbled to herself on the steps of the schoolhouse.
Just as Marie and the younger two Murphy children were coming out, Marie saw Emma, and said excitedly, “Hi, Emma! I did not know you were going to walk us home, too!” The two younger ones were bouncing excitedly around Emma, yanking on her dress for attention.
“Hello, children,” she said.
When they reached home, Emma offered to help make dinner. While Marie felt a bit slighted, as she had been making dinner every night for two years straight, she also welcomed the help.
“So, where are you from, Emma?” Marie asked as she chopped carrots on a small wood cutting board Jonathan had made for her mother some years ago.
“Oh, all over,” Emma smiled at her. “I don’t tend to stay in one place very long. After I became an adult, I decided to travel, see the world.”
Emma placed a large ham hock into a metal pot of water that had just begun to boil over the fire.
“That is very exciting. Your parents do not need caring for?”
Emma let out a small laugh. “No, they do not. I’m the youngest of four daughters. They get by just fine.”
Marie thought long and hard before asking her next question, but she just had to know. So plucking up the courage, she asked, “Emma, how old are you?”
“I’m twenty-eight,” she replied.
“Twenty-eight? You don’t look much older than some of the girls I attend school with!” Marie replied a little too quickly.
Emma laughed. “I get that a lot.”
Three months had passed since Emma was invited to stay with the Murphys, and the new little makeshift family was getting along wonderfully. Emma and Jonathan had begun a flirtatious and playful relationship. He found her carefree attitude and easy-going personality both sexy and endearing. She loved what a hard worker he was for his family and what a good father he was. She was also very attracted to him, but was not the type to be aggressive about that aspect of her life.
They would take long walks in the forest together after dinner, or sit in the meadow near the back of Jonathan’s property when the weather got warmer, and just talk. He would take her into town occasionally and introduce her to people he knew. Emma was discovering that domesticity wasn’t so bad after all. She really loved being responsible for the children and helping Jonathan and Marie when she could. She was becoming attached to Jonathan’s children. But her favorite part of the day was when Jonathan would come home after work. His face seemed to light up at the sight of her, and she just knew her own face reflected the same. Sometimes he would bring wildflowers picked from the meadow, splitting the bunch into two bouquets for both Marie and her.
One night, while Emma lay awake unable to sleep, she heard a noise at the doorway and looked over to see Jonathan standing against the doorjamb, stripped to the waist in just a pair of cotton pajama bottoms. A slight sheen of sweat covered his nicely toned chest. The candlelight from her nightstand bounced off the moisture, giving him an angelic glow.
“Can’t sleep?” he asked.
“Not really. I have trouble sleeping when it’s this hot outside,” she said, propping herself up on her elbows.
He eyed her very thin cotton nightgown. It was sticking to her in places, and he could see she had nothing on under it. He went over to the
bed and sat down on it. She was still propped up on her elbows. Her long, red hair was out of its usual clips and was lying lazily down around her shoulders and down her back. He took his large hand and brushed her hair off her shoulders, and as he did, her nightgown strap slid down, exposing her bare shoulder. He looked down at it, then into her face, placing his hand on it. He leaned down and brushed his lips over hers, and she hungrily accepted.
Kissing him back, she reached up and grabbed his wavy locks in her fist and pulled him closer to her. He broke the kiss as they both gasped for air. Looking into her eyes, he trailed his lips down her neck and kissed her exposed shoulder then back up to her neck. She leaned her head back and let out a small moan.
He then lifted her nightgown over her head, throwing it to the floor. He gazed with appreciativeness at her beautiful exposed body. Easing her back down, he used both hands to pin hers to the bed while he continued kissing her. She raised her hips to meet his and continued to greedily kiss him. In a bold move, she pushed him off her with one hand, causing him to land flat on his back. Jonathan was a bit surprised by this but was even more shocked by what she did next. Sitting up on the bed, she yanked his pajama bottoms off and straddled him, and pinning his arms to the bed, she crushed her lips to his once more.
They spent the rest of the night trying to stay quiet enough to not wake the children in the next room.
CHAPTER 4
∞∞∞
Portland, Oregon – Present Day
“You’re just screwing with us, right?” Joshua said in shock. “I am not stepping foot in that place after what that shit Darius drank did to him!” He was now standing, his arms folded.
Pascal was up in a blink and had Joshua pinned against the wall. “Listen very carefully, you child. If I say we are heading back to the Vortex, you nod and say, ‘Yes, sir,’ – are we clear about that? Or would you like me to tie you to the tree out back and let the bloody sun have its way with you tomorrow?”