I woke up and it was pitch black outside. Being in the middle of nowhere meant we had no streetlights and couldn’t see any other houses. If we didn’t count the stars, there was absolutely no light. I knew something had woken me, because it was not like me to be up before dawn. I quietly got out of bed and headed towards the door. I put my ear against it to see if I could hear Gabriel’s footsteps in the hallway, but all I got was silence. I was working on convincing myself it had been him going out, but then I heard it. Or rather them. Muffled voices coming from outside, somewhere near the balcony. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up, and I brought my hand up to protectively rub the birthmark, before I recognized Gabriel’s faint southern drawl.
I rushed to the other side of the room and put my ear to the patio door and strained to see out into the yard. I needed to figure out if he was talking to someone I knew, or if someone evil had managed to get in. Then I heard the hint of an Italian accent.
I slid open the balcony door and quietly walked down the stone steps with my bare feet, not even bothering to put a robe over my nightgown. Gabriel saw me once I rounded the corner, but he rolled his eyes instead of letting Embry know, so I could jump from the bottom stair, onto Embry’s back.
“Missed you, Bambolina,” Embry called me one of his many Italian terms of endearment, like he had since I was a little girl. Bambolina, Principessa, Tesoro…each made me feel special and loved. He turned around so he could properly take me in his arms and give me a hug that felt like home. He sounded tired and worn out, but I couldn’t tell if my arms encircled him easier because I was older and bigger, or because he was thinner.
“It has mostly been a borefest without you,” I went along with the pleasantries, allowing myself to be happy he was finally here. I didn’t want to complain about Gabriel being mean when he had been forthcoming yesterday, and there would be more than enough time to grill Embry on everything in the morning.
“I’m here now,” he assured me, but he wasn’t smiling and making everything okay like I had expected him to. “I’m sorry I missed your graduation. I hope someone took a lot of pictures?” he asked, so I nodded.
“Did you lose the people who were following you?” I fished for information.
“I did.” Embry sat on the steps with me, while Gabriel disappeared into the darkness.
“I could have used you these past few weeks,” I told him once we were alone.
“I think we all wish I was the one to tell you instead of him,” he agreed.
“Why didn’t you? You had a million opportunities over the past thirteen years…”
“You were a kid,” he said simply, before noticing my reaction. “Not as in you were young or immature or couldn’t handle it, but until the danger was concrete…I wanted to give you as much of a childhood as I could after everything you had already been through.”
“I’ve been eighteen for months. Lots of them,” I pointed out.
“I wasn’t ruining your birthday with this, or Christmas. And Keisha and Clara are always there whenever I visit…” We both knew they were excuses.
“Maybe you should come more often then,” I called him on it. He didn’t tell me because he didn’t want to tell me.
“I would give anything for your happiness Lucy, anything but your safety.”
“Even the truth?” I asked, looking at him expectantly.
“I have been as honest with you as I could. There was no benefit to telling you all of this when you were younger.”
“You could have trained me. Like John Connor.” I tried to be serious, but we both laughed.
“What would be the point in saving you if I had turned you into a robot?” he asked.
“A badass, not a robot,” I argued. “And I would have believed this a lot easier when I was five. The whole, we’re Gifteds who don’t stay dead while we wait for your dolls to come back to life.”
“I wanted to tell you the supernatural parts when you were younger, so it wouldn’t be so much of a shock all at once…”
“Then why didn’t you?” I asked when he stopped himself.
“Your Grams,” he said simply. “Evelyn knew everything and told you nothing about that stuff. She changed the stories to take out anything paranormal. She wanted you to be strong and confident, but she did not want you to be a part of our world.”
“Did she know I was like Annabelle? That I would be hunted?”
“I think she suspected it,” he gave me a sad smile. “But she didn’t want you to know enough to be able to go looking. Neither did Martha.”
“Will you answer everything I ask you now?” I verified.
“Anything I know the answer to,” he agreed, looking worried, but I believed he meant it. He wouldn’t volunteer anything, but he would answer whatever I thought to ask.
“J’ai trouvé un homme dans la forêt,” Gabriel interrupted us, talking to Embry in a language I did not understand.
“Un des siens?” Embry answered with a question. My money was currently on French.
“Je pense. Il va à l’école avec elle, mais il a l’air louche.”
“Louche comment?”
“The thing you’re not telling me now is…” I knew I had a much better chance of getting information with Embry, especially after he told me he would answer all of my questions. Not only was Embry usually more likely to share, he was a terrible liar. Gabriel was already giving him an angry glare, knowing exactly what was coming.
“Gabriel found a guy in the woods,” he told me in a tone that implied it was absolutely nothing to worry about. Just a precaution.
“Embry,” Gabriel warned, nodding over to me. It was this that let me know there was danger coming, way more than Embry’s slip.
“You realize I’m not a child anymore? You’ve already told me there’s someone trying to find me whose main purpose in life is to kill me. Letting me know the details of how he’s trying to accomplish this won’t make much of a difference to my fear level. It just might let me prepare myself for what’s coming, maybe see danger before it’s right in front of me.” I was mostly pretending to be so brave and unaffected. If I knew exactly what was going on, I could make a plan and figure things out. If they kept me in the dark, I not only had to fear the Big Bad that was after me, I also had to contend with everything my imagination was making up to fill in the blanks.
Gabriel shook his head before walking a few feet away, so Embry could fill me in. He knew exactly what was going on, but if he stayed away and wasn’t a part of it, he could tell Embry ‘I told you so’ when things inevitably went wrong. It gave him plausible deniability.
“There was a guy creeping around in the woods. When Gabriel found him, he said he goes to school with you. We think he’s harmless, regular townsfolk, but he might not have come of his own free will.”
“Someone I know?” I asked, confused. No guy from school would come looking for me. Other than to do me harm.
“We think he’s being possessed by the men who were following me,” Embry admitted, exchanging a glance with Gabriel. I understood that was the secret part they didn’t want me finding out.
“I don’t really have friends who would come here otherwise,” I confirmed their fear.
“He said his name was Tennison Montgomery.”
“Then it isn’t just people like you that he can…” I concluded, trying to find a nicer way of saying he takes over and makes you do what he wants you to, even if it hurts you or someone you love.
“It is. But there are more people like us than you realize. I don’t know how he finds them, because most people…”
“Just die like they’re supposed to,” I finished for him, so he knew I was listening and understood the concept. It was an insurance policy, which most people didn’t end up using, they were just nice to have, in case. “You think him being here means the Big Bag knows where I am, which is why you guys are talking French and Gabriel is angry.” I was relieved it wasn’t at me.
“We’re trying to figure out our next move,” Embry agreed. He made it sound like we were playing chess. The other team moved a pawn at the other side of the board and we were trying to decide if we wanted to jump two squares to meet it, or sneak over from the side. Gabriel’s face, however, suggested we were in check and figuring out if we should take their bishop or move our king.
“Would it help if I talked to Tennison?” I offered. “He’s the only guy in the world, other than Sam, who would possibly visit me.”
“Really?” Embry got into overprotective parent mode.
“He’s a friend,” I argued.
Embry and Gabriel had a full-on conversation with nothing but shrugs, raised eyebrows and looks before Gabriel said, “He’s in the shed.”.
“Tied up?” I asked, knowing that even an innocent person left alone in our shed would take a pair of shears or something to defend themselves.
“Alive,” Gabriel said like I should be grateful, before I followed Embry to the other side of the house.
“Lucy!” Tennison called out with relief when I got close.
“Tennison, are you okay?” I asked, seeing he was tied to a chair inside the shed. He didn’t look roughed up, but he was terrified.
“What’s going on? I came to see you and this guy knocks me out and locks me in this thing.” He looked to Gabriel.
“I barely hit him,” he defended himself.
“What are you doing here? Did you try my house first?” I asked, remembering that I wasn’t staying at home, and this wasn’t like peeking into the windows when someone doesn’t answer the door. It was at least a forty-minute walk from the manor to the plantation. I don’t even think Keisha had ever been before.
“You weren’t there. No one was there, which was weird. You’re always home.” He had a point. “I got worried.”
“Why were you coming to see her in the first place?” Embry asked, worried I wasn’t being objective.
“You disappeared on prom night. I missed my sidekick. I missed you.” He turned on the charm, but not in our usual banter way from when we crossed paths. This was how he talked to the girls that were all over him, the thing that annoyed Keisha. “I knew you had another property, so I figured I would look around and find my Buffy.”
“Just friends?” Embry turned to me, not impressed with me lying to him. He looked like he was about to knock Tennison out like Gabriel had. I pointed my finger at him in warning, then walked away from the shed, knowing he would follow.
“That’s not Tennison,” I told him. “He must be skimming over the memories or they come in all messy because those googly eyes are not aimed at me. I was his sidekick when I helped him get Keisha to dance with him at prom. She’s his Buffy,” I stopped any further reproach.
“Our Keisha?” Embry asked, and even Gabriel perked up, though one was excited for her and the other worried.
“She left right after prom for a summer semester at MIT. Cops would be all over this place if she hadn’t shown up; I’m the first person her mom would reach out to if she went missing,” I warned Gabriel’s look, not letting myself think that way. “And it was so cute,” I told Embry.
“He knows you’re here then,” Gabriel stated.
“Maybe he sent him here to see? This could be one of many places he sent people,” I suggested.
“You just said that isn’t Tennison, so even if he is one of many, the person who is controlling him knows you’re here,” he argued.
“We knew this was going to happen. This is your home, he was always going to come, we just needed a safe place for the two of you to wait for me,” Embry assured me like it was nothing to worry about, all a part of the plan.
“If they know where we are, that means we’re leaving, doesn’t it?” Tactical plans and defensive plays were not my strengths, but it seemed logical and straightforward to me.
“Ultimately, yes, but I think they might try to stage an attack while they think we don’t suspect it. You’re safer in here than leaving when they could be watching.” What Embry meant was that we had to leave, but he didn’t know which way to go, in case we were surrounded. Or so said my paranoia, that I only got because Embry’s eyes didn’t participate in the comforting words that told me everything would be fine.
“We’re just sitting here and waiting for them to try and attack us?” I asked in a way that hopefully told him I thought this was a terrible plan.
“I’m pretty sure he’s still at least a day’s travel away. They didn’t know for sure where you were, so it’ll only be the men he had following me who will come at first,” Embry continued to act like it was no big deal, when I knew it was.
“And you can handle them?” I verified. They were staying alive so they could protect me, after all.
“We will try our best,” he assured me with his confident smile, making an effort for the eyes to play along, so I momentarily believed we would win.
“Did your best work for the others?” I asked delicately.
“Rosie died of an illness, Cassandra was mugged, and Beth was in the wrong place at the wrong time when a theater caught fire,” he let me know none of them were killed at the hands of the Big Bad, though they didn’t tend to die peacefully in bed either.
“What do we do with Tennison?” I asked, looking back to the shed. I didn’t feel like dwelling on how my doppelgangers died, so I elaborated. “When he’s not possessed he’s not evil. He’s even friendly. Not to mention, he has apparently been in love with Keisha since the sixth grade, and I don’t want to take that away from her.”
“I’ll take care of it,” Gabriel said, exchanging a look with Embry.
“What is that supposed to mean?” I asked Gabriel, but quickly turned to Embry for backup.
“He’ll be fine,” Gabriel assured me.
“Because he’ll come back to life?” I asked, not sure how far they would go to protect me…how far they would need to go to keep me alive.
“We don’t know if he would,” Gabriel reminded me, which did nothing to make me feel better. “I’ll bring him to the highway and call him a taxi.”
“My car’s in the garage. The keys are…Where did he go?” I asked, looking around, but Gabriel and Tennison were gone.
“Gifteds often have a Gift,” Embry explained.
“Hence the name?” I offered.
“Gabriel is a lot faster than your average human.” He smiled at my smart-alecness.
“The Flash fast?” I questioned.
“He’s not a superhero. It’s just heightened speed, no stopping time or moving faster than speeding bullets,” he explained.
“What’s your gift?” I asked. Questions about them and their past was a lot less scary than our future at the moment.
“I can change the mood of people around me,” he shared.
“That’s a weird gift.”
“I was good at talking my way out of situations, or convincing people to lay down their arms…”
“You were a charmer,” I simplified.
“You could say that,” he agreed with a sly smile. “When I was alive, I was good at negotiating and making people feel at ease, or safe, so that carried on.”
“I would have found that made sense, but you’re not helping much today.” I wondered if he wasn’t using it on me now that I knew about it.
“Your powers tend to grow stronger the longer you’re alive, and it takes a while to come back in each new life.”
“You died?” I asked, my heart beating fast again, the complete opposite of calming me down.
“It happens,” he tried to dismiss it.
“That’s why it took you so long to get to us. You were lying dead somewhere.” I was horrified at the idea. I pictured him on the ground, dying alone, clutching his wound and feeling helpless.
“You’re making it a lot more dramatic than it really is. I was injured and knew I wasn’t going to recover so I got myself a nice hotel room, put up the ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign and got a nice long rest before heading here, with lots of detours, so I wouldn’t be followed,” he said simply.
“You said you wouldn’t lie,” I warned.
“You’re not the one who is supposed to be worried, Tesoro. Especially not about me. I’m tougher than I look,” he assured me.
“Why don’t you two stay in the house with me? They can’t get in and we can let the house protect us,” I suggested. That was my Plan B to whatever their Plan A was. To bring everyone I cared about into one of these fortified houses, lock us all up in the bunker, then let the Big Bad grow bored and eventually give up.
“That can work for a little while, but then we’re stuck. It’s fire-resistant, but I don’t know how long that would last. We don’t want them to keep us in the house while they wait for reinforcements. We want to get rid of this search party and leave before the others get here.”
“How long do we have?” I asked, looking around as if I would be able to see them coming. This was why I wasn’t the one making plans.
“I would say an hour if we’re lucky, or a few minutes if we’re not.” At least he was honest this time.
“I need your blood then,” I said before rushing inside to get the bloodsucking device from Control, so I could program him into the house.
I came back and pricked him, just as Gabriel hurried over in the dark, without making a sound.
“They’re here,” he said, all business. “Get inside,” he added, turning to me when I took a deep breath to brace myself for their arrival.
I nodded before running back inside with the drop of Embry’s blood. I knew Gabriel wanted me to run straight to the bunker and lock myself in, but I didn’t see the point of that until someone defeated the two of them and managed to get inside the house. I still didn’t know how the house would react to being breached by someone without access, but I felt certain it would put up a good fight. Otherwise I was poking everyone for a placebo effect.
I decided my time would be better utilized in Control, giving Embry access so he could rush inside if ever the fight wasn’t going our way, which I hoped wouldn’t happen.
I knew I would be a distraction and would get in trouble if I watched from a window, but I couldn’t imagine not knowing what was going on. I was already in Control, so I played around with knobs and buttons until I managed to get the screens to show me the view from the cameras outside.
At first all I saw was Embry and Gabriel standing out in the open, no cover whatsoever, waiting for the others to show up. I switched to a few different camera views until I found the band of men that had been sent to spy on us and kill me. I watched them pass the gate at the end of the property and effortlessly go over the bridge that normally terrified people who hadn’t crossed it before. Deanna had to watch me, Sam, and Mrs. Boyd cross it before she believed us that it was safe. The entire bridge looked like a well-placed gust of wind could make it crumble to the ground. Tonight, there were four of them, but only two of the strangers looked like they had any type of training and would know what they were doing in a fight. One of them had a leather jacket and combat boots, long greasy hair, and arms the size of my waist, while the other was basically a tattooed thug in a wife beater with a spiked-up Mohawk. Even in the dark, far past the point of accuracy for the camera, I could tell he had washboard abs, and arms that could lift cars. My money was on the other two being newly possessed, rather than voluntary recruits. They looked relatively tough, each one tall and wide, but their muscles were replaced by beer bellies. One had a red, plaid shirt on, like he was about to go out and work the fields, and the other had a really old, torn t-shirt. The type of guys who had wives at home who would wake up in the morning wondering where they were. Still, they definitely worried me when they finally fit onto the same screen with Embry and Gabriel.
For a few minutes, it looked like they were just talking, and after playing around with all of the buttons, I condemned the expensive system for not having something so pivotal as a microphone, to hear what they were saying. I considered going outside to figure out what was going on, but then the talking stopped and they drew their weapons.
I knew from experience that both of my protectors could shoot, as they’d used an old can as target practice once. I got to try a few rounds and had so much fun, as long as I was shooting at a cardboard box. I had no interest in hunting, or shooting people. Still, I was not surprised at all when it was knives and swords that everyone pulled out tonight. Now that I knew how old they were, it made sense. Big, heavy ancient weapons that were probably forged and blessed by priests, but looked so out of place with the modern day clothes. I would have found it funny if more than half of these medieval weapons weren’t currently trying to chop my people into pieces. I was right in my original assumptions about the strangers. The main fight for Gabriel was with the biker, while the farmer occasionally butted in every couple of minutes, only to get pushed back with the handle of a sword, or a well-placed punch. The same was happening on the other side with Embry, the thug and the guy in the ratty t-shirt. They could tell the civilian types didn’t know what they were doing, so the intent was to get rid of them, not to kill.
Embry and Gabriel were outnumbered, which terrified me, as proven by the nail marks in my palms, but they had also been training for this for hundreds of years. Their reflexes were outstanding, and I could barely keep up with them while watching, so it was hard to believe the other guys were still standing.
I would be able to breathe easier if Embry and Gabriel got rid of the farmer and the guy in the old t-shirt for once and for all. They were more than capable of it, but I understood why they weren’t. Finally, Gabriel butted the handle of his sword into the head of the farmer, who had been rushing at him, effectively knocking him out. He then slid his sword into the biker’s stomach, barely waiting for him to fall before he went over to help Embry. He put the guy in a ratty shirt in a chokehold and held him until he passed out. Gabriel was lowering his unconscious body to the ground when I saw the biker he had just stabbed getting back up.
“Gabriel!” I screamed as I rushed out of the Control room, down the hall and pulled open the heavy front door. “Gabriel!” I yelled again, this time with a chance of him hearing me, but the biker had already made his way to him and plunged a dagger into his back. Embry had finished his thug, slicing the guy’s carotid artery by the looks of it, and hurried to take care of the dying biker. I decided it was safe enough for me to run out of the house now, not that I could have stayed back at this point, even if it wasn’t. The fact that Gabriel wasn’t yelling at me to stay inside scared me more than anything else.
“I need something to stop the blood,” I told Embry once I got close, putting my hands over the wound and applying pressure like they show you in movies, everything from my textbooks and first aid classes completely forgotten. I could feel the warm tears falling down my face, mixing with the blood on my hands, but Embry watched on without moving. “Why aren’t you helping me? He’s hurt, we need to save him.” He always had my back. Usually.
“He’s not going to make it,” Embry said, his face a mask of anger and fear and adrenaline.
“There has to be…”
“You have to let him go,” he cut me off with authority, and the lack of emotion at losing his only friend of the past few centuries reminded me that unless these four attackers were the Big Bad Gabriel was protecting me from, he shouldn’t really die. Or more specifically, he should come back.
“We can’t leave him outside,” I decided, wanting to get away from the two dead bodies, and to be far away when the other two woke up.
“I’ll bring him inside.” Embry handed me the weapons they had used before carrying Gabriel over to the house. I had watched Sam carry Clara like that hundreds of times, and could remember Embry doing it for me too when I was younger. Watching Gabriel be the one who was limp in someone’s arms made me have to struggle for air as I walked behind them.
Embry paused in the doorway, then cautiously stepped in when I nodded to let him know it was safe and the house wouldn’t attack him. He put Gabriel down on the couch in the drawing room off the foyer, with his head on the pillow as if he was sleeping. It was then that Embry finally took me in his arms and let me cry.