Golden Blood (17 page)

“It doesn’t bother her?”

“Well she can hardly talk. She’s practically
dated every senior in the school.” Gemma’s nose wrinkled. “Although
she’d probably flip if she knew how I felt. She’s always going on
about keeping things casual and light. I don’t know if I can do
that with you.”

Gemma turned beet red as she suddenly
registered the words coming out of her mouth. He chuckled softly at
her mortification and drew her back into the room.

“Come on, there’s one more room I want to
show you.” She grabbed his hand and pulled him down the main
stairs, through the games room into what looked like a closet. She
flicked on the light revealing a second door with a keypad. She put
in the combination and the door clicked open.

She drew him down a narrow staircase and into
a huge room that looked to be the same size as the ground floor of
his house. To one side was a complete set of gym equipment. In the
center of the room was a raised platform with padded flooring.
Glass cupboards lined the walls and held every weapon from long
swords to rapiers, bows and arrows through to 18th Century
pistols.

“Whoa.” Harrison moved to inspect the
contents. “This is amazing! Where’d you get all this stuff?”

Gemma shrugged, grabbing the key and
unlocking the cupboard so he could inspect a medieval bow more
closely. “Dad’s spent his life hunting it down. Before we were born
he used to travel back, find what he needed and store it somewhere
safe so he could dig it up years later.”

“How often do you train?” Harrison gently
lifted the bow and pulled the string back.

“Every weekend, unless Mom and Dad are away.
We spend the first half of the morning on hand to hand combat and
the second half on weaponry.”

Harrison shook his head. He couldn’t have
found words if he’d tried.

“Anyway.” Gemma took the bow from him and
gently replaced it. “I brought you here for practice. Take off your
shoes and jump up here.” She slapped the padded platform.

He did as commanded. She then went about
working his sorry ass until he was sweating. Punching, kicking,
blocking, repetitive drills and corrections. He braced his hands on
his knees and watched droplets form on the ends of his hair as he
panted.

“That was good.” Gemma slapped his back.
“Let’s do it again.” She stood straight and walked back to her
position.

“Let’s not.” He ran towards her and tackled
her to the ground. She let out a yelp and began to laugh as she
shuffled beneath him. He pinned her arms to the floor.

“Harrison, get off me.”

“In a minute.” He gazed into her eyes for a
long moment before kissing her.

The slow fire simmered along his lips then
down through his body as he drew her deeper into the kiss. Running
his fingers down her body, he tucked them underneath her shirt and
ran his hands up her smooth flesh. The fire raced down his arms.
Gemma ran her fingers into his hair, grasping a handful as she sank
into his kiss. Harrison’s body was flaming blue as his thoughts
jumped to places he wanted to go with this girl. His mind warned
him they should stop now or he might not be able to control
himself. Were they ready for this? His body screamed a very firm
yes, but…

“Gemma? You’re home early. Where are you
sweetheart?”

They jumped apart as if electrocuted. Gemma’s
eyes were as wide as saucers. She roughly shoved Harrison towards
the gym equipment. Pushing him onto his stomach behind the
treadmill she ordered him not to move as she whipped off her shirt
and threw on a pair of boxing gloves. He tried to slow his
breathing as he listened to Gemma pound the bag with venom.

“Gemma?” He heard a female voice followed by
the quick clip of heels on stairs.

“Oh, hey Mom.”

Harrison could hear the nervous twitter in
her voice. He hoped her mother didn’t notice it.

Part of him wanted to stand tall and reveal
all. He hated the thought of Gemma battling this out on her own,
but he hated the thought of being screamed from the house even
more. Who knows what kind of restrictions her parents may enforce
if they knew the truth.

“What are you doing home so early? I thought
you were studying with Courtney this afternoon.”

“Yeah. She had to cancel.” Gemma sighed. “I
thought I might as well come home. Aren’t you supposed to be at
work?”

“Yes. I just forgot my phone.”

There was a horrible pregnant pause. Harrison
watched a drop of sweat hit the concrete floor and prayed her
mother didn’t have super sonic hearing. He could almost picture
Mrs. Hart sniffing the air as her suspicions grew.

Don’t bite your cheek, Gem. Just stay
cool.

“Are you okay, Mom?”

“I’m just wondering why you’re down here
working out in school clothes instead of upstairs doing your
homework.”

“Oh.” Gemma’s laughter sounded forced. “I… I
just felt like burning off some energy. Sorry, I know I should have
gotten changed first.”

“Yes, well at least you took your shirt off,
but jeans?”

“I know, I know.”

Harrison heard the ripping of velcro as Gemma
took off her gloves.

“I’ll go change.”

“No, it’s okay. Just five more minutes then I
want you upstairs, showered and hitting the books.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Another long pause.

“And if you’re home for the night you should
park your bike in the garage.”

“Oh, I will, um, I just thought I might go
for a ride later… if I finish my homework in time. Is that
okay?”

“A workout, homework and a bike ride? Aren’t
you trying to fit a little too much in?”

“I guess.”

“Make sure you’re home for dinner with the
twins. I have patient testing then a meeting. I should be home by
nine.”

“Okay. Hope it goes well.”

“Me too. Love you, sweetie.”

“Love you, Mom.”

The air went very still as Mrs. Hart clipped
up the stairs and shut the door. He stayed lying down for a few
moments more then slowly stood up, checking for sounds
upstairs.

Gemma was frozen in place, staring at the
wall.

“Hey.” Harrison slid his hand down her back,
making her jump. “That was close.”

“I shouldn’t have brought you here.”

“Gem?”

“You can’t come here again. Ever. If she
caught you…” Gemma shook her head. “There… they can’t know. It’ll
be over if they know.”

“I understand.” Harrison kept rubbing her
back, trying to ease the waves of nervous tension radiating from
her body. The pale face and cheek chewing had him worried. “Gemma,
maybe we should just tell them, get this out-”

“I can’t. I can’t do it.”

Her body was so taut he thought her muscles
might snap.

“I’m sorry to put you in this position. I
know you hate lying.”

She let out a big sigh, her shoulders
drooping as her eyes studied the floor. After what seemed an age,
she looked up at him with a soft smile. “You’re worth it.”

Her kiss was tender. Harrison held her face
and relished the feeling. They had been official for just under a
month and it was enough to solidify the welling feeling inside of
him. He knew it was ridiculous to fall for someone so quickly. He
knew he was playing with fire, but he’d rather get burnt with Gemma
than freeze without her.

Chapter Seventeen

St. Augustine, Florida
- 2011AD

Gemma stood in the doorway of the library
pondering the new phenomena in her life. One, she had an amazing
boyfriend who after two and a half months still looked at her as
though she were the most precious jewel on earth.

Two, in spite of the news spreading like a
bush fire at school, she was managing to keep it all under wraps at
home. Her biggest fears were not being met and it was a pleasant
surprise. Her mother was so relieved she had a friend that Gemma
was able to avoid the third degree whenever she got home late.

The third phenomenon, and the most bizarre in
her opinion, was the fact that she had managed to strike up a real
friendship with Darren and Courtney, who incidentally started
dating after their first Friday night movie.

Courtney had kept up her smiles and small
offers of friendship, finally breaking Gemma’s shell. They had
lunch together almost everyday now, in the cafeteria, and they hung
out on weekends too. They had been to the movies three times, even
once on their own when the boys had both been busy. Gemma had been
so nervous about the event she had nearly chickened out a couple of
times, but Harrison said he’d be really annoyed if she didn’t go,
so she did… and she’d had a totally fun time. Courtney was sweet,
occasionally ditzy and very easy to be around. She was always
content with Gemma’s vague answers, which was perfect.

Gemma caught the small hand waving at her as
she walked further into the library. A natural grin stretched over
her face as she approached the group.

“Hey guys.” She dumped her books on the table
and slid into the seat next to Harrison.

“What took you so long?” He kissed her nose
in greeting.

“I had to go to the bathroom.” She shot him a
quick wink, letting him know that this time was in fact just a
normal bathroom break.

Pulling her books towards her, she shuffled
through the pages, looking for her notes. Mr. Lomax had landed them
with a huge assignment leading up to the end of the semester. Most
of the class had groaned, Harrison’s eyes had lit with excitement
and Gemma’s stomach had dropped with fear.

The task was to build an intricate family
tree, tracing back as far through your personal genealogy as
possible and to then choose an interesting ancestor that you could
write a full report on.

Harrison had thrown himself into the task and
after much cajoling finally got out of Gemma that she didn’t know
much about her family history and was afraid to investigate. The
subject was always a little taboo in their house for some reason
and with Gemma already treading on eggshells to keep her school
life hidden, she didn’t want to make any waves. When she had
casually mentioned the assignment to her parents, their faces had
blanched and her mother had walked towards the phone rabbiting on
about how she would call Mr. Lomax and get her out of the task.
Gemma was mortified and after much discussion they had decided it
was safer for her just to make something up, so she was currently
compiling a list of people in history that could possibly be
related to her.

“I can’t believe my
great-great-great-grandfather was a bank robber.” Harrison slumped
back in his seat with a sigh.

“Aren’t you more mortified that your
great-great-great-grandmother was a saloon girl.” Courtney put it
delicately, making Gemma giggle.

“I can’t believe you have traced your family
history back that far. You’re making me look bad, Granger.”

“Well, my mother’s side has been relatively
easy to trace. Besides, it’s interesting.”

“Geek,” Darren mumbled.

“Are you going to do your report on…” Gemma
leaned over his notes. “Wallace 'Coyote' Granger, wanted dead or
alive?”

He shot her a dry look. “I haven’t decided
yet.”

“I think he sounds interesting.”

“I think you should do it on your
great-great-great-grandmother.” Darren’s eyebrows wiggled up and
down.

“I think you should concentrate on your own
work.” Courtney gave him a quick slap on the head.

Gemma choked down her laughter as she watched
the interplay. She didn’t realize having friends could be so much
fun. She never thought it would be possible, but Harrison made her
feel so safe that she never needed to worry about letting her
secret slip or being embarrassed about her quick departures. He was
always there to cover for her and made it look so innocent and
natural that
she
almost believed him.

A warm hand slid over her knee and rested on
her thigh. She felt the sparks fly up her body. She glanced at her
boyfriend. With his free hand he continued writing his notes, his
eyes flicking from old newspaper clippings he had printed to the
assignment sheet from Mr. Lomax.

His incessant need to always be touching her,
even in the smallest way, was a huge bonus Gemma hadn’t expected.
They had still not slept together and if she was honest Gemma felt
relieved, she wasn’t quite ready for that step in spite of the fact
she could sometimes devour her boyfriend. They couldn’t seem to get
enough of each other.

They had both found excuses to do their
homework together at school before heading home at night. Gemma had
made dinner at Harrison’s place a weekly event and the weekends
were now filled with trips to nearby National Parks and long drives
in the Stingray. Harrison was still trying to wrangle the keys to
the Ducati, but she hadn’t relented yet. She wasn’t quite ready to
see someone else hooning down the highway on her baby. Harrison was
playing mean and not letting her drive his car either so they
remained at an impasse. She wondered who would break first.

Turning back to her own work, she pulled out
her print outs and began skimming the text for information she
could use.

Silence descended as they each absorbed
themselves in their work and it wasn’t until Gemma glanced up a few
minutes later that she felt her insides run cold.

“Courtney, what are you looking at?”

“Oh this?” She lifted her pages with a frown.
“My English teacher wants us to look at the history of
language.”

“Can I see the symbols on that sheet?” Gemma
tried to stop her hand from shaking as she reached over the table.
Images of a stone emblem swinging back and forth in the moonlight
flashed through her brain.

“Sure.” Courtney handed it over, studying her
expression with interest. “It’s the Latin alphabet.”

“Of course it is!” Gemma took the piece of
paper and glanced over the images, quickly figuring out the writing
on the side of the necklace. “Tita,” she whispered. She felt her
face tighten with unrest. Tita was one of the electus.