Emma (Dark Fire) (22 page)

Nearing a large three-story home, they slowed. Inviting pink and white lights decorated the small, carved fountain. Next to the door, in flowing script, a sign etched in stone read: Pastor Jonathan and Elizabeth Hill.

^___________

Tyler watched Pastor Jonathan cup Emma’s face in his large hands, looking into her mind and body as only a true healer could manage.

“Emma, there’s no need to be concerned,” Jonathan said, his deep voice a gentle murmur in the tranquil courtyard.

“Um, don’t we need to go into an office or something?” she asked nervously.

“It’s not necessary. It’ll only take a few minutes.” The man, who had fought as a warrior priest in the last conflict with the Southerners, patiently added, “You might feel a tingling sensation in your body and my hands will grow warm, but I want you to stand as still as possible while I track down what’s going on with your mating.”

Her eyes nervously flickered to Tyler.

He held her gaze, wishing he could give her the courage she needed. He adored her, but she had some of the most outlandish ideas. The thought that a healer would poke at her, maybe hurt her, was beyond weird.

The healer frowned, tilting his head to the side. His eyes narrowed then closed as he mentally delved deeply into Emma’s body.

Tyler fisted his hands, clenching them in his attempt to keep his mouth shut. Emma was worried about pain, but he was terrified that Jonathan might find something wrong.

He knew Emma shouldn’t be progressing so fast. What if he’d done the wrong thing by giving her his blood to drink? He shuddered, barely able to withhold a moan of pain. If he inadvertently hurt her, he’d never forgive himself.

Over the last couple of days, he’d come to terms with the horrible fact of her approaching death. The thought of losing her in sixty years nearly destroyed him, literally taking him to his knees when he thought too hard about it, because after a few short days of meeting Emma, she’d grown to be everything to him. Time no longer mattered. Even if he had the option of giving her up and taking a Tuathan as mate, he would never let her go, not ever.

“Well,” Jonathan said in an odd tone of voice, “that is certainly interesting.”

“What?” Tyler anxiously demanded. His eyes turned to Emma’s face, a crease of worry marred the smooth skin of her forehead.

Jonathan released Emma’s face, stepping toward Tyler. “If you have no objections?” he asked, reaching toward Tyler’s strained face.

“No, of course not,” Tyler readily agreed.

He briefly cupped Tyler’s face. A few moments later, he grunted and stepped away.

Tyler smothered a growl. He wanted to demand answers from the silent man, but knew better than to interrupt the healer’s fact-finding process.

“When did you suspect she was your mate?” the healer asked, rubbing his chin.

Emma appeared beside Tyler, wrapping a slender arm around his waist.

He curled his arm around her, realizing she trembled. His entire attention focused on her. Each time she touched him, it felt like the first time. He wished she could feel his emotions at that very moment. If she did, she’d never doubt how much he adored her.

“Tyler?”

“Oh, sorry, Pastor,” Tyler said, pulling his attention back to the somber healer. “I touched her the first day, just minutes after meeting her. When my hand touched her skin, it was like a jolt. My fingers turned numb.”

“Anything else, anything from either of you?” he questioned.

At their look of discomfort, he explained, “What’s going on inside her is beyond abnormal. I know my questions are extremely personal and if you’d like to continue in my office, we can.”

Emma shook her head. “I felt his emotions within an hour, maybe two of first meeting him.”

He tightened his hold around her waist. “I thought I felt her fear the day after we first met. She was climbing on my back for the flight back to Fortress and she slipped, nearly falling. The flash of fear was so fleeting that I just wasn’t sure if it was hers or mine, and then afterward, I didn’t have that empty feeling in my chest.”

“You felt that?” Emma asked, looking up at him with an odd expression on her face.

“Yeah, I hated the fact you were frightened and I couldn’t help you.”

“Oh.” She frowned, looking thoughtful.

“And that’s all?” Pastor Jonathan questioned, his face drawn tight in apparent frustration. “Earlier, you said that she growled and her eyes turned white.”

“And I healed really fast from cracking my head.”

His eyes grew thoughtful. “Did you lick her wound?”

“No, uh, not that time.”

“There was another?”

“Yeah, the day after we met, she cut her finger. I licked the blood off and healed the wound,” Tyler said, fearing where the conversation was going.

“I was nearly positive we were mates, but I wanted to know for certain.” His feeling of dread increased. Giving her his blood had been the wrong thing to do. He struggled with his words, growling as his fear put a strangle hold on his voice. “I gave her my blood in return.”

“What?” the healer shouted, making them both jump. “She’s mortal, why would you do that?”

“Everyone knows blood sharing between mates hurries the process.” Tyler curled his other arm protectively around Emma. “Tell me I haven’t hurt her,” he demanded. The faerie lights distorted around him as tears glistened in his eyes.

“No, no, thank God, it didn’t hurt her,” the healer said, waving his hand in a negative move, “but it should’ve killed her.”

“Killed?” Tyler whispered, horrified.

Emma whimpered, turning in his arms. “Stop that! I am fine.” She cupped her delicate fingers around his cheek, tugging his face down. “I’m not dead, so stop feeling like you killed me. Your pain hurts me worse than my fear of what could’ve happened.”

He shuddered, leaning his cheek into her precious touch.

“You two are definitely progressing at a rapid pace. Everything I know about mating is getting thrown out the window.”

“Why?” Emma asked Jonathan, searching Tyler’s eyes before turning around in his arms, giving the healer her attention. “And why would his blood kill me? If it was supposed to kill me, why didn’t it? And what did it do to me?”

The priest chuckled. “I know you two have a lot of questions. I do as well. The short of it is simple: I don’t have a clue, because Tuathan blood has always been poisonous to mortals. Before the gateways closed, a mating between a Tuathan and a mortal was rare. When it did happen, either the Tuathan remained on Earth and died when the mortal died or the mortal drank from a dark energy spring.”

“That doesn’t sound like a very good idea,” Emma said, shuddering.

“No, it wasn’t. If they drank from any of the lakes containing dark energy, nothing happened. The water weakened the properties of dark energy. If they drank from one of the land-locked natural springs, drinking pure undiluted dark energy, one of three things happened: They either died a very painful death, or they gained the ability to heal rapidly, staying eternally young, or they were Changed.”

“Changed?” Tyler asked, spitting out a soft curse as he remembered the stories of the Changed mortals. “The story of how the first witches and wizards came into being is true?”

Jonathan nodded his head once.

“So, what happened with Emma? Will she be okay?”

“She’ll be fine. I think her body’s transformation might have something to do with Earth and Tuatha combining. Dark energy has flooded onto Earth, but even that doesn’t explain how her body is processing your blood and showing dragon attributes. To my knowledge, that has never happened with a mortal.” He chuckled, nodding at Emma. “One thing is certain. The masters in the healer’s guild are going to want to know how it happened. You’ll be given every test we can think of.”

Emma snorted, shaking her head. “No thanks.”

Jonathan frowned, lifting a single eyebrow. “You’d condemn other Tuathan-Earthling mates to a short life and eventual death?”

“No, of course not! I didn’t think about the testing helping other Earthborn,” she said. Her head snapped up and she exhaled a sharp squeal of excitement. “You mean I’m not going to grow old and die?”

“No, your body is showing every sign of a young dragon, including healing damage your body receives on a daily basis.”

“Yes!” Tyler shouted, whirling Emma in his arms. His heart, his head, everything in between, felt as if it was going to explode for the sheer joy he felt.

They laughed and hugged, then laughed some more as they realized they’d have forever together.

“I guess I didn’t make that exactly clear the first time. That’s why we’ll want to study your mate bond. That okay with the two of you?”

Emma quickly nodded, answering a fraction of a second before Tyler agreed, “Yes, absolutely!”

Chapter - Scrimp

A thin, young man with an eager smile met them as they entered the Cantina’s outside courtyard. “Your party is waiting on the south River Patio.” As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he motioned upward.

Emma glanced up. She had noticed the second floor, but hadn’t paid the area much attention. Faerie lights around the area appeared muted, nearly blurry. The closer she looked she realized the upper balconies looked like they sat amid a thin bank of fog.

A few minutes later, Emma walked out of a set of swinging doors and onto the River Patio. The patio was a wide French-like terrace with a single table running down the middle of it. She looked over the railing to the lake beyond. The view of dancing fire was beautiful, an unearthly image she’d never forget.

“Hey, you guys timed it perfect. The food just showed up,” Zach said, digging into what looked like a bowl of stringy yellow and black seaweed.

“Why can’t we hear all the music and people on the dock,” she asked, curiosity filled her face. The terrace was only a single story above street level. The noise from the evening crowd should have been irritating, if not overwhelming.

“The Cantina pays for an energy charged faerie shroud. It blocks the noise,” Jenna said from the table as Emma and Tyler sat down. “Did you have fun today?”

“I love, love flying!” she said, smiling up at Tyler. “Riding Tyler ranks as one of the best days of my life.”

At her enthusiastic words, Kyle snickered.

She groaned, only then realizing how naughty her words sounded.

Tyler flashed his teeth and growled at Kyle, answering her earlier question. “The shroud also gives us privacy. When we were in the courtyard, did you notice the upper level of the building looked blurry?” he asked, sliding his arm securely around her shoulders, ignoring the wér-wolf’s chuckles.

“Yeah, I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me or something,” Emma said, turning her attention to the food spread across the long wooden table.

She tried hiding her distaste, but it wasn’t easy. She was starved and had been looking forward to eating. That was no longer true. If the food wasn’t blue then it had a tail or wings. She was not looking forward to the meal.

Tyler leaned closer and chuckled in her ear. “Just give it a try.”

Her look of horror must have been more comical than disgusted, because Zach and Kyle burst into laughter.

Tyler picked up a blue crusted something. It looked like a shrimp with wings. “Try it.”

Placing it on her lips, he didn’t give her much choice.

She sighed in resignation and took a small bit. Flavor exploded in her mouth. She hummed with delight, swallowing the mouthwatering tidbit she might learn to kill for. The crispy bite tasted like a buttery tidbit of lobster crossed with shrimp and bacon. She took a larger bite, and a hint of fire grew as she literally inhaled the delicious blue thing.

She raised her eyes in question, and Tyler grinned at her. The twinkle in his eyes let her know he was enjoying her venture into Tuathan food as much as she was.

“That was fried scrimp.”

“Scrimp or shrimp?” she asked, not positive she heard him correctly.

“Scrimp. The lake is famous for the small blue, fresh water shell fish.” Tyler dropped several pieces on her plate and added a little bit of something from each platter.

She tried the pasta next. The light green sauce was a rich cream that hinted at cheese and butter, but not quite either one. The blue and pink vegetables were the weirdest looking items on the table with a mildly exotic flavor. A steamy cup of sweet mead was the best part. Surprisingly, the golden cream didn’t contain alcohol. Emma couldn’t decide, but she thought it tasted like a mixture of hot chocolate and butterscotch with a hint of caramel.

The piles of food quickly disappeared.

Emma was full to popping. She wished she could undo the top button of her pants, but that wasn’t about to happen. Unable to resist the last item on her plate, she gave a small sigh of resignation and bit into an oval-shaped fruit that resembled the stripes on a skunk. The walnut-sized fruit puckered her mouth with its tartness.

“Ty,” Jenna said, looking uncomfortable, “we found out why Lily is acting so weird.”

Tyler stiffened. “How?”

Kyle and Zach growled.

The young chimera looked extremely uncomfortable. “When we were younger, Lily told me about the secret passages. I promised I’d never tell but that was before she tried to kill Emma. After you took Emma flying, I told Zach and Kyle about them.”

“Jen, why don’t you just show them what happened?” Kyle asked.

Looking uncomfortable, Jenna glanced at Emma and exhaled a big sigh. “Emma’s not used to all of this and I was worried she might think I’m horrible or something.”

“I haven’t seen or heard anything all day that wasn’t weird.” Emma shrugged her shoulders. “Give it your best shot.”

The group looked at her as if she was speaking French. “Um, I meant that I doubt if you could surprise me any more than I’ve already been surprised.”

Kyle snorted. “Mortals are so weird.”

“Careful, you might just find yourself attached to a mortal turned wér-wolf,” Tyler said, chuckling at Kyle’s sour look. He turned to Emma, curling his hand around hers. “Chimera can share their memories with others.”