Cloak of Echoes

by CK Dawn

  Love always,

  Mom

  Emma was quiet for a very long time. She took her mom’s advice and allowed herself to feel. Emma cried while Mattox held her, shielding her from all other emotions but her own. They remained that way for a very long time.

  “You’re a, uh, a shepherd?” she asked in a quiet voice.

  “Yes,” a hushed voice behind her answered back.

  “And that man and woman, they’re hunters?” Emma asked through an uncontrollable yawn. Sleep threatened to take her soon but the new world opening up to her had her intrigued.

  “Yes, and I’ll explain everything tomorrow, but right now you need to rest,” he rubbed the skin on her arm gently, lulling her to sleep. “Tonight you’re just Emma, I’m just Mattox, and I’m yours.”

  “Mhmm,” she replied, liking the sound of that. “Goodnight, Mine.”

  Mattox chuckled, “Goodnight, Mine.” He seemed to focus and shut everything down for her. Pure silence greeted her and sleep came easily for the first time in months.

  Mattox looked so peaceful Emma hated to wake him, but she wanted answers and couldn’t wait any longer. She got out of bed and padded toward her window and pulled the curtains open flooding her bedroom in sunlight. Mattox stretched contently then must have realized where he was as he went perfectly still and popped his eyes open.

  “Crap! What time is it?” he whispered.

  “Will it hurt?” Emma asked, ignoring his question.

  “Your father killing me when he finds me here? Probably,” he whispered.

  “He’s already gone to work and it’s not like we did anything anyway.” She rolled her eyes, “I meant my gloaming bond, silly.” Mattox reached out and pulled her back into bed kissing the back of her neck, but Emma was unrelenting, “Want some breakfast?”

  Mattox groaned, “Ugh! You’re a morning person aren’t you?”

  “Right now, I’m an, I need-answers person.” Emma rolled over and faced Mattox, “And training. I don’t want to be hunted by one of those things ever again.”

  “Alright,” he groaned again. “That’s understandable, but please tell me you have coffee?”

  Emma gave him a mischievous smile, “My dad is the guru of coffee. Come on, you’re in for a treat.”

  “No, the gloaming bond doesn’t hurt,” Mattox stated sipping on the cappuccino Emma had made him from her father’s industrial looking coffee machine. Even though he wasn’t a morning person he won extra brownie points for remembering and answering her question from earlier. Mattox had insisted on making her breakfast once she started grinding coffee beans, frothing milk, and pulling ground cinnamon and vanilla extract from the cabinet. He took another sip of her barista worthy concoction with a contented sigh and began whisking some eggs. Emma watched in awe as he expertly added mushrooms, garlic, and spinach cooking them all down before adding his heavenly smelling stewed tomatoes, pancetta, and cheese to the pan and placed the entire frittata into the oven. “It’s, well, it’s hard to describe. You’ll be connected to us.” He chuckled, “My brother actually describes it like being a human computer, downloading centuries of mega data in a matter of minutes. Most Neophyte’s say it’s a pretty cool experience, since they had no previous knowledge of guardian history. And your chosen path, which seems to be a shepherd will be declared.”

  Emma giggled, “Kind of like the sorting hat?”

  “Something like that, you Potter nerd,” he teased.

  “The rainy day in the cab. Why was I drawn to the Vaughn building?”

  “So you did feel it then?” Mattox asked and Emma nodded. “It’s home to hundreds of guardians and our headquarters here in New York. Bernie thinks you didn’t answer the gloamings call and find us on your own because the pull most neophyte’s feel was dulled by all the emotions from dociles you’ve had to weed through.”

  “Bernie?” Emma asked.

  Mattox laughed, “Pretty much the coolest guy on the planet and he just happens to be my mentor.”

  Emma tugged on her bottom lip with her teeth. Mattox was so damn sexy standing barefoot in her apartment wearing a simple t-shirt and jeans like something out of a magazine, she could barely stand it. “And what about us? Will there be an Us afterwards? The Court isn’t going to say no fraternizing or anything lame like that are they?”

  Leaning against the kitchen counter, Mattox smiled and pulled Emma closer. “No, nothing lame like that,” he gave her a sly grin and kissed her on the lips. Tracing kisses up her neck he paused at her ear, “I will have to okay it with my three wives though.”

  Emma pulled away and chucked him in the arm. “You better be kidding.”

  “I am,” he pulled her closer, “I only have one wife.”

  She slugged him again. “Mattox!”

  “Ouch, okay, I’m totally kidding. Are you sure you aren’t a hunter? You pack a pretty good punch.”

  “Like your friends? No thanks, if I never see another one of those, uh, krims again it’ll be too soon.” Emma kept physical contact with Mattox enjoying the silence he brought to her mind. She looked at him with watery eyes as the impact of what she was thinking about doing hit her. “What about my dad?”

  “He’s your family, Emma, of course he’ll be brought in. You can even have him join your bonding ceremony. Being a shepherd you can actually share the experience with him even though he’s a docile. Would you like me to show you?” Mattox intertwined their fingers and held her gaze.

  Emma nodded, thinking of how Mattox had told her that during her gloaming bond she’d relive the Court’s history through its descendants that had moved on. His hands went around her waist and Emma hugged his neck tight as she asked her next question, “Will my mom be there?”

  He squeezed her waist and wrapped his arms around her completely. “Somewhat. It’s sort of like an after image of her memories, so in a sense, yes.”

  After a long time still in his embrace, she let out a contented sigh enjoying his hug and the silence, “Mmm. I could get used to this.”

  “Me too.” He said, pulling her even closer.

  Emma thought about how she would broach the subject to her dad. It was a lot to take in, even for her, and she was the one experiencing it. She gave a little giggle as she thought of something. Her belly and chest moved with each bout of silent laughter.

  “What’s gotten into you, giggle worm?” Mattox teased, pulling away so he could look at her.

  “Can you have one of those hunters come over for an orb demonstration for my dad?” She chuckled again and was only half joking.

  “Trying to figure out how to tell him everything?”

  Emma nodded and he kissed her gently, “I’m here if you need me, Em, always.”

  The kiss and his term of endearment sent shivers up and down her body. “I know,” she said, but she wanted to talk to her dad alone, at least at first. So she decided to put her mother’s letter out with his morning coffee tomorrow so they could have a nice little chat about dociles and dragons.

  Emma wrapped her arms around Mattox and hugged him tight. She enjoyed the feel of the curves in his body and how she fit into them. She let out another contented sigh. “Can this be part of my training? I mean, I need to practice right?” she said with mock coyness.

  The timer on the oven rang and Mattox gave Emma a quick soft peck then looked at her with his sly sexy smile. “Time to eat up. We’ve got a lot of work ahead of us.” He grabbed her waist and tugged her closer as he started kissing her neck. “I think,” he said, moving his kisses to her shoulder, “You’re going to need,” he pulled the strap of her cami to the side, “Lots and lots more practice.”

  The intercom buzzed at Emma’s front door and Mattox’s voice came over the box, “You ready for school, Emma the Fair and Brave?”

  Emma rolled her eyes knowing he couldn’t see her, but wondered if he was able to sense her eye roll. She walked over to the door and pushed the button, “I’ll be right down, jeesh.”

  Emma placed her
dad’s coffee on the kitchen counter next to the morning paper and added one more item, her mother’s letter. She placed the corner of it underneath his #1 Dad mug and knocked on his bedroom door. “Dad, there’s something on the counter I’d like you to look at. I’ll talk to you about it today after school okay?”

  Robert opened his door and peered out. “Is everything okay, honey?”

  “Everything is actually great.” She looked at her father in a new light. It hadn’t been his fault that she was assaulted with his grief day in and day out. He was doing the best he could and outwardly he always appeared strong for her. “I love you, dad.”

  “I love you too, honey. Have a good day.” He smiled brightly.

  “I think I will,” she smiled sincerely and for the first time, she knew she would have a good day.

  “Are you sure you want to transfer to S.B.? You know you can always stay here at Jefferson,” Mattox teased as they walked down the street.

  “And miss out on the real history of Lancelot and King Arthur? No way!”

  “Have you told your dad yet?” Mattox quizzed her.

  “I left him my mom’s letter. I figured I’d ease him into it with the whole ‘hey I’m not really a normal human’ first, then drop the school transfer bombshell on him, topped off with the dessert of ‘oh by the way there’s a million dollar condo in the Vaughn with our name on it.’ Yeah, I’m thinking that’s the best plan of attack,” she laughed.

  Mattox chuckled and kept his voice down, “So, did you really want me to bring over a hunter for an orb demonstration?”

  “Ha! I’ll keep you posted.” Emma sighed as they got closer to school, “How much longer do I have to go to Jefferson anyway?” She would miss Mel, but promised herself to keep in touch with her friend.

  “Today can be your last day if you like.”

  Emma stared up at Mattox in shock, “Seriously?”

  “It’s all been taken care of.”

  “Crap, I still need to explain my absence Friday!” she remembered.

  “That’s been handled too,” Mattox gave her a sinful smirk.

  “Did you do all that?” she smiled.

  “I know a guy, who knows a guy,” he said, trying to pull off an innocent shrug.

  They were almost to the front doors of Jefferson High and Emma’s emotions were swirling, trying to make room for themselves amongst all the invading whispers surrounding her. “Mattox?” Emma pleaded.

  “You can do it. I’m right here.” Mattox placed his hand on the small of her back, but barely shielded her from the cacophony of white noise in her head.

  Emma’s breathing was sporadic and her heart was racing as she tried to gain control. No hoodie, no earbuds to fall back on, this challenge was all up to her to conquer on her own, Mattox had insisted. This morning Emma had actually fixed her long chocolate locks and put on a little lip gloss. She even felt pretty for once. The lip gloss hadn’t lasted long however. As soon as Mattox had seen her he kissed it away. “Mmm, cherry. My favorite. You’re in trouble,” he’d stated, kissing her longer and harder. Emma’s heart began pumping even faster from the memory of those kisses as emotional echoes flew at her from every direction. She wiped her sweaty palms on her jeans.

  Mattox whispered in her ear as students gawked at the new couple. “Relax! It’s like you’re trying to breathe air, but you’re underwater.”

  “Exactly!” she hissed.

  “Emma? There is no water. Just breathe.”

  A sonic boom echoed in her ears and then everything went silent. Mattox walked around to face her and was smiling. She hadn’t even realized that he wasn’t touching her anymore.

  Mattox nodded and mouthed something. “Can you hear me?” She shook her head no and he laughed. He took a hold of her hand and tried again. “How about now?”

  “Yes,” she sighed. “Well that was different.”

  “Look at you skipping over lessons. You’re a quick study. Now just let people’s external voices through. Your mind and body will remember, it’s almost like muscle memory or neural pathways you forgot were there.” He let go of her hand.

  Emma thought about something simple, like what it felt like to blink and slowly her ears picked up voices all around her. As an experiment she shut everything down again like putting part of her mind to sleep. All sounds, external and internal ceased. “Well that’s a neat trick!” She yelled. Realizing what she’d done she turned the volume on everyone’s voices back up to normal.

  “Isn’t it?” Mattox beamed, uncaring about others’ reaction to them.

  “What do we do now?” Emma looked around at her schoolmates and actually smiled for the first time in months.

  “Be normal teenagers and go to class,” he shrugged.

  Emma rolled her eyes, “Ugh, do we have to?” But she was ecstatic at how normal she felt and didn’t really care what they did as long as they were together. As one of the boys that had been particularly cruel to her walked into view Emma gave Mattox a devious smirk. Patrick had always made it a point to mock her appearance in front of his friends, drawing a lot of unwanted attention and emotions Emma’s way. High school in general was bad enough, but to be bullied when you’re down and unable to fight back, was one of the worst things in the world.

  “No experimenting on dociles.” Mattox whispered.

  “Oh, come on. I promise to use my superpowers for good and not evil.” Over exaggerating she batted her eyelashes at him and he rolled his eyes. “Okay, maybe just a little evil,” she stated truthfully.

  Emma sat in her usual seat with a new found confidence. Mattox brushed his hand along her arm before taking his seat in the back of Mrs. Blake’s class. His touch sent goosebumps up Emma’s arm and her cheeks flushed. Since Mattox’s physical contact wasn’t focused on helping her control the emotions surrounding her anymore the contact was purely sensual and intoxicating.

  The cruel boy, Patrick, entered the doorway shoving his football buddies playfully but still demonstrating his testosterone dominance over them as well. He took his seat right beside Emma, but instead of sneering at her he actually looked embarrassed and turned away from her. Emma scrunched her eyebrows together and finally realized what had changed. No longer was she hidden by her hood and stringy brown hair covering her face. She was all rosy cheeked and sparkly eyed. Emma pierced through the silence and listened to Patrick’s emotions. He was focused in on Emma’s sexual confidence. Ugh! You’ve actually been attracted to me this whole time and were ashamed about it because of the way I looked? Why don’t you just pull my hair already! What are you twelve? She was disgusted. Patrick needed to learn a hard lesson on how to treat girls and not give a damn about what his friends might think. Emma laughed at her own pun. Hard. Oh yeah!

  Emma took her lip gloss out of her bag and pouted her lips as she applied it. She swept her hair off her shoulder towards Patrick making sure he got a big whiff of her cherry lips and lavender scented loose waves. She looked back and giggled at Mattox as he raised his eyebrow disapprovingly. She shrugged and turned her attention back to her prey. With all her might she pushed the sexual energy she felt for Mattox towards Patrick and let out a little seductive sigh.

  The footballer squirmed in his seat and reached for his textbook. “Um, Mrs. Blake.”

  He rushed to put the book in his lap, but not before Emma saw the growing bulge in his pants. “Oh, Patrick!” she teased.

  Students privy to what was happening giggled as Patrick jumped out of his chair dropping the book from his lap as he bolted to the front of the class. He made excuses on his way out the door, “Mrs. Blake, I’m sorry, I uh, don’t feel very--” but everyone saw the enormous bulge he couldn’t hide.

  The class erupted in laughter before he could disappear into the hallway.

  “Oh, Rick! Oh!” his teammates said in unison. “Loser!”

  Mattox cleared his throat and Emma sent him an emotional eye roll. He chuckled out loud and sent her an emotional ‘tsk tsk’ back. But, she wasn’t
done yet. There was one more person she wanted to see and this time she would use her powers for good and not evil.

  6

  Family Reuniting

  “So a shepherd, huh?” Robert Kincaid looked down at his daughter as they walked into the moonlit Central Park to Emma’s gloaming bond ceremony. He’d been diligent in asking her that question for the past three months. “Are you sure?”

  “I’m sure, dad.” Emma beamed at her father’s protective nature. She’d never been so sure of anything in her life, except for Mattox.

  “Your new school seems nice.” Robert patted Emma’s hand. “How’s your friend Mel doing these days?”

  “Dad, are you nervous?” Emma giggled.

  Robert laughed too, “You tell me, honey.”

  Emma opened her senses and let her father’s emotions in. “Mmm, only just a little. And don’t worry, Mel’s fine. She actually has a boyfriend now. She’s bringing him to our ‘housewarming’ party later tonight.” Emma giggled when she made air quotes for her gloaming bond’s secret docile friendly title. Leading the life of a secret agent was going to take some getting used to. She missed seeing Mel every day, but enrolling into S.B. Devere and being around so many other neophyte’s, pre-gloamers, and guardians was making her transition much easier.

  Emma and her dad walked for what seemed like half an hour through brush and thick trees. Then off in the distance Emma spotted a quaint old stone bridge crossing a stream. Its shrubs and vines were overgrown and lush as they grew up and over the curves of the bridge. The full moon’s glow reflected off the natural beauty of the little alcove creating an almost fairy like environment. Emma figured the secluded spot had been chosen decades ago for its privacy in gloaming bond ceremonies.

  “Hiya, hon.” Bernie’s big booming voice found Emma and her dad as a crowd of guardians caught up to them.

  “Bernie!” Emma ran and gave the man a big hug. She couldn’t help it. The veteran shepherd felt like Christmas and Santa Claus with a Southern accent wrapped in a warm blanket.