Black Blood (17 page)

Gemma stopped
her ascent to the computer section; her body frozen on the wooden
stairs as a horrible yet emancipating revelation hit her.

Gabe turned and
took in her expression. He rushed back down the stairs to meet
her.

“What is
it?”

“
Decimus
was
bad,” she
whispered, “he nearly destroyed our kind. He… didn’t
he?”

Sudden doubt
pierced her. Her whole life she had been listening to stories about
Decimus and had conjured up an image that was completely loathsome.
Now before her stood a man who she knew in her gut was about to say
the exact opposite.

“Destroyed us?
What are you talking about? Decimus was a selfless man who only
thought of others. His every action reflected that.” Gabe’s voice
was gentle and Gemma felt as if years of brick laying were being
shattered with this wrecking ball of truth.

“So falling in
love with Harrison isn’t a cardinal sin?” She could hear the hope
in her voice and felt it rise with the shaking of his head.

“What have they
been telling you?”

She licked her
lips and swallowed. “They said Decimus fell for a human and was so
blinded by love that he told her everything and she used it to try
and manipulate him. In the end he put her before his family and
they nearly died because of it. That’s why we’re not allowed to be
with humans.”

Gabe let out a
soft snort and shook his head. “Well, I’m sorry, but that is a
complete load of crap.”

Gemma’s mouth
fell open. “But…”

“
Have
Penelope and Alistair
ever
told you the truth?” Gabe let out a frustrated sigh and
pulled her up the stairs, his explanation wafting behind
him.

“
Decimus
did break a vow, I guess that much is true. The
electus
swore they would never reveal the family
secret to anyone outside the village. But he fell in love with Vala
and his heart couldn’t keep it from her. He took the risk and she
accepted him as he was.”

“So, Decimus
falling in love with a human, wasn’t a bad thing?”

“
No, of
course not. Time spirits have been marrying humans for years.
That’s not a forbidden ritual. I’ve heard of some marriages where
the human has never found out what their spouse is capable of and
they’ve lived quite happily together. You see time spirits weren’t
designed to travel miles back into history. They were designed to
help those around them. You know, travel back a day, an hour… a
couple of weeks. That’s partly why the
electus
spread themselves far and wide. They knew they
could help more people if they traveled further a field and taught
their children about how to help others. Once they reached middle
age, they stopped traveling and their children took their
place.”

“So, the more
the earth was populated by time spirits the further we spread?”

“Uh-huh.” Gabe
pulled out a chair for her and she plopped down in front of the
computer.

“But, how did a
line of pure ones make it? If we spread ourselves so wide, didn’t
everyone just start marrying humans?”

“
You know
we all feel a bond between us. It didn’t take much for the
descendants of the
electus
to find
each other again and fall instantly in love.”

Gemma watched
his eyes sparkle and knew he was thinking of Lena.

“So what
happened to Decimus in the end?”

“
Prodo
.”

“Betrayal? But
I thought you said that story was complete crap?”

“I meant that
his wife betraying him was complete crap.” Gabe shook his head,
obviously still irritated that she didn’t know the truth. “Decimus
and Vala had been married for… ten years? They must have had at
least eight children. Anyway, someone came to their village. He
appeared as a missionary… a priest, but beneath the cloth was an
earthly man whose sole purpose was to gain wealth and power. He had
heard talk of a people who could vanish to gold dust and re-appear
moments later. Legend says he was in search of them, hoping to
snatch handfuls of gold as they disappeared. He had a feeling about
Decimus and studied him for weeks, gaining his trust then one day
managing to trick him.”

“I thought it
was impossible to trick a guy like him. Doesn’t legend spout on
about how Decimus had this phenomenal sixth sense?”

“I often wonder
about that myself, but the priest got to Vala and when it came to
her, Decimus would do anything.”

“What
happened?”

“
The
priest placed Vala’s life in danger. When Decimus learned of her
death, he couldn’t help but cross the line instantly in order to
save her. The missionary took his chance and Decimus returned with
a fist sized hole in his leg.”

Gemma
gasped.

“It took him
weeks to heal.”

“What happened
to the priest?”

“He
disappeared.”

Gabe turned to
his computer and double clicked the space bar, bringing up a fresh
screen. Moving the mouse beside him, he opened up a search engine
and began hunting for information on Coyote Granger.

“Oh, well
that’s good, right? He couldn’t bug them anymore.”

Gemma watched
Gabe’s face pinch.

“What?”

“Nothing.” He
shot her a smile. “Let’s just concentrate on getting your man
back.”

“But...”

“Kid, we’ve
only got so much time. Get to work.”

“But you’re not
telling me something.”

“Look, all I
know is that Decimus risked everything to save the woman he loved.
He should never be criticized for that. When it comes to the person
you love… you’d do anything you possibly could to save them.”
Gabe’s voice cracked and Gemma felt her heart constrict.

Reaching across
the desk, she squeezed his hand and wanted to say she knew the
feeling, but suddenly felt she had no right. She hadn’t spent the
better part of her life living without Harrison and she now had the
hope of getting him back. What hope did Gabe have? She wasn’t sure
how Lena died, but if the chilling comment from weeks before was
anything to go by, it was a harrowing grief that Gabe lived with.
Not to mention the fact he probably hated himself for being
powerless to change it.

“Thank you for
helping me, Gabe.” The words were insufficient, but he graced her
with a small smile anyway. Hesitantly she removed her hand and
turned to the keyboard in front of her. Gabe cleared his throat and
gave her a few suggestions about the information that would be most
useful.

* * * *

“Okay, let’s
take a break.” Gabe stretched his hands above him and drew his body
north.

Gemma was
relieved. They had been scanning Internet documents for nearly two
hours. Her eyes felt gritty and her brain was starting to pulse in
time with the screen. All they had managed to ascertain from the
copious reading was that Coyote Granger was hanged on September
26
^th
1885 after being captured by a
family of riders near the gorge. It didn’t say how long he spent in
jail before heading to the gallows and she couldn’t find any
information on Mary either.

How had Harrison found out so much?
She shook her head in frustration then
felt her lips leap with pride. He was a complete genius when it
came to researching history. Not to mention the fact he probably
had old family journals. Journals that no longer existed… but that
was going to change soon enough.

The fluttering
inside her accelerated.

“Can we do a
little practice?”

Gabe
chuckled.

“Sure, kid, why
not.” He scanned the library and indicated with a flick of his head
to the back corner.

Gemma followed
him past volumes of accounting books and finally stopped in the
dusty, dark recesses of the library.

“Okay, where do
you wanna go?”

Gemma had been
making a list throughout the night and felt her lips spread with a
wide grin. “8 pm, June 18, 2011.”

“What happened
then?”

Gemma blushed
and dropped her gaze to the floor. She shrugged casually. “Just a…
good night.”

She glanced up
through her lashes and noted Gabe’s droll expression.

“How good a
night?”

“
Not
that
good. We
haven’t… well, not yet anyway.”

She cleared her
throat and looked up at him. His arms remained folded, his mouth
still grim.

“You’re only
seventeen…”

“Dad!” She
protested without thought then suddenly blanched. “I mean…
Gabe.”

They both
dropped their eyes then fought the awkwardness to look up at each
other. His head bobbed in contemplation before he cleared his
throat and thrust his hands into his pockets.

“Look, whatever
you got up to… and I don’t think I want to know… it won’t have
happened anymore. It only exists in your memory now.”

“I know.” She
shrugged with a frown. “I just thought being in the same location
with that same view of the ocean, might keep the memory clearer for
just a little longer.”

Gabe’s eyes
softened with understanding. He squeezed her shoulder lightly
before shifting back into training mode.

“You can’t
travel that far yet. Choose something that’s at least within the
last 48 hours.”

“That’s
it?”

“
Would
you just be patient, please?” An exasperated sigh escaped his lips.
“Look, if you pull this one off without a worry, then I’ll let you
head back to the beginning of the week, okay?”

He patted her
shoulder and couldn’t fight a grin as he took in her childlike
expression.

“Wipe that pout
off your face and go back a couple of days, will ya? Go on, get out
of here.”

Gemma’s face
exploded with a grin as she shut her eyes and began to visualize.
Moments later she was standing on the beach, staring past a sun
tanned raisin and out at an arthritic pier.

The travel
practice came to an end without any drama. Gemma was permitted to
go back to the beginning of the week and felt an elated buzz upon
her return. She was actually traveling on her own. The sensation
was heady.

The rest of the
afternoon had been spent at Gabe’s caravan looking over their notes
and discussing possible strategies for when she did head back to
Canon City.

A forceful text
from her mother made Gemma aware of the time.

“I gotta go.”
She grabbed her bag and swung it onto her shoulder as she rose from
the booth.

Reaching for
her tatty sneakers, she was about to slide her foot inside when
Gabe’s voice stopped her.

“What’s that?”
He slid from his seat and crouched on the floor, running his finger
over the birthmark on her ankle.

“It’s a
birthmark.”

“No it’s
not.”

“Yes it
is.”

He grabbed her
ankle and lifted her foot towards him, studying the star shaped
mark closely. “Well, you didn’t have it at your birth.”

Gemma tried to
quell her irritation with a confused laugh. “Yes I did. I’ve always
had it.”

Gabe looked up
from the floor, his irritation more evident. “Can you just believe
me on this one? Your mother and I studied every inch of your
perfect skin and you did not have a birthmark on your ankle.” He
let go of her foot and rose to face her. “Your collarbone, yes.
That thing went fire engine red whenever you cried.” He
grinned.

Gemma looked
down at her ankle and frowned. “Well if it’s not a birthmark, then
what is it?”

Shoving his
hands in his pockets, he gazed down at her feet and shrugged. “A
tattoo?”

Gemma fell back
into the seat and lifted her foot for closer inspection. “It
doesn’t even look like a tattoo. It’s brown!”

Gabe ran his
finger over the mark again and Gemma saw the hard lines of anger
forming as an idea hit him. “Do the rest of your family have the
same mark?”

Off the top of
her head, she couldn’t quite remember. “Why?” Her heart thudded
ominously.

“I’m wondering
if that’s how Alistair controls your travel.”

Chapter Twenty-Three

St Augustine, Florida
– 2011 AD

Gemma had been
traveling on her own for two and a half weeks, but it had been
three days since she’d last seen Gabe. Her evil mother had been
hounding her since Gemma had made that humble show at the dinner
table. She was constantly being invited shopping and asked to pop
into the hospital for lunch. There were only so many excuses she
could make up. Finding time with Gabe was becoming frustratingly
impossible.

Today, however,
she was determined. All she had to do was get out of this painful
shopping spree at the mall. She’d already had to try on three pairs
of pants, a skirt that took the word mini and shrunk it several
times in the wash and a pair of shoes that were so high she’d
nearly snapped her ankle on the short trip around the store. Enough
was enough!

Smiling
politely at her mother’s explanation of why hot pink looked so
stunning on her sister, her mind raced with decent excuses for
escape.

I have to go for a run.

I thought you
went for one this morning?

I need to work
out at the gym.

Gemma, you are
pushing yourself too hard.

I promised Dom
I’d go surfing with him.

He can wait
until we get home.

Gemma winced as
every excuse was shot down with an easy argument. How she wished
for school and homework. That used to get her out of anything.

“So? How does
it look?” Ruby whipped back the door to reveal a skin-tight dress.
It hugged her petite frame making her butt look small and her boobs
look big. Gemma tried to hide her grimace. As stunning as it
looked, it screamed slut… something Ruby would no doubt use to her
advantage. Gemma wouldn’t be caught dead in such a revealing
number.