Amethyst Flame (The Flame Series Book 2) (21 page)

~ ~ ~

Emma would never have predicted that the night she fought and helped slay such a powerful wizard as Loghry, would end with a marriage proposal. It might not even strike the most romantic note. But with all that, it somehow seemed perfect.

She stroked Vaughn’s face with the back of her fingers. “Of course I will. I love you, Vaughn. We’re a team now, you and I.”

He kissed her, a long lingering kiss, with his strong arms around her and his lips warm and full of tenderness.

The embrace only ended when a strange ghostly shouting had Vaughn pulling away from her. “What the hell was that?”

He turned her in the direction of the sideboard that held all her glass canisters, and there the triplets were, lifting the lids up and down and making what sounds they could from their ghostly voices.

Emma laughed. “They’re celebrating our engagement.”

Vaughn turned to her chuckling as well. “Love you, Em.”

“Me, too.”

He kissed her again, despite all the racket.

EPILOGUE

Three weeks later on a Saturday night, Emma sat outside with Vaughn and Beth. Vaughn had fired up the barbeque ready to cook some ribeyes, Emma had prepared potato salad and corn on the cob and Beth had made sangria.

Beth was staying with them indefinitely while she received intensive therapy from a good-hearted witch who specialized in long-term abuse situations. Having been imprisoned by Loghry for years would take time to overcome, as would the second-hand addiction to amethyst flame. The flame drugs were notorious for requiring extensive recovery periods.

As part of her healing process, Beth had taken a part-time job at the Tribunal, working the tip line for abducted teens.

Vaughn had quit the Crescent Border Patrol. Though Connor had wanted him to become a TPS officer, Vaughn felt compelled to go a different direction entirely.

Just a few days after Loghry’s death, he’d presented Emma with the idea that together they could establish a safe house for human teens in Five Bridges. This would be a place where any teen, having escaped his or her captors, could come to seek shelter.

The organization would keep a high profile to make sure the word got out. Vaughn would also use his experience as a Border Patrol officer to provide round the clock security for an endeavor that was sure to enrage the unsavory elements in all five territories.

Emma knew it was the right thing to do. For the first week, she’d even hoped she could purchase Loghry’s mansion to use as their safe house. But Donaldson blocked those efforts, and shortly afterward, it became the headquarters for a powerful cartel lieutenant.

One of the more positive repercussions of Loghry’s death was that without his charismatic presence and dark wizard ability to control those around him, his organization disintegrated. Of course, others took over his clubs, and the places were back in business in a short period of time.

Fortunately, the new owners didn’t have Loghry’s taste and refused to offer up fresh teens to their patrons. In that sense, she knew she and Vaughn, with Beth’s help, had disrupted a truly vile part of the Elegance Territory club scene.

After the meal, Emma had taken the leftover potato salad into the house, when the triplets suddenly arrived in a distressed state.

What is it, Becca?
She put the salad in the fridge, then headed back to the living room where the girls flew around erratically.

The oldest of the girls by two minutes opened her mouth to speak, then rolled her eyes when nothing came out. She switched to telepathy.
My parents will be here soon, though you should send them away. I don’t want to see them, none of us do. Emma, they’ve done something terrible. I mean really, really bad.

What did they do?
Emma knew Samantha and Davis. They were good people and Emma couldn’t imagine what they might have done that could ever be characterized as ‘terrible’.

You’ll see. It’s disgusting. We didn’t want this to happen.

Becca’s sisters nodded their heads vigorously.

Since events at Loghry’s mansion, the girls had taken up residence in Shadow Territory and were working with a powerful dead-talker. The sage woman was training them to function as liaisons between the spirit world and the dead-talker community. In this way, they hoped to be of service to Five Bridges as well.

“Emma, what’s going on?” Vaughn called from the patio. “Do you need me?”

Emma extended her senses, but the situation didn’t feel dire at all. “No we’re okay.”

“Is that the doorbell?”

“Yes.”

“Should I come to you?” Vaughn was always thinking in terms of security.

“No, we’re good. Just enjoy your time with Beth. I’ll let you know if I need you.”

Emma crossed to the large entrance hall and reached for the front door. She had the oddest feeling.

When she pulled the door wide and saw Samantha and Davis standing on her front porch, she realized she wasn’t looking at two humans at all. Instead, her
alter
witchness recognized at once that she was staring at a warlock and a dead-talker. “Oh, my God! What have you done?” No wonder Becca and her sisters were so upset.

Despite Emma’s shock, she held the door wide, beckoning the couple to come in.

Samantha walked into the house with a fluidity of movement Emma often associated with those from the dead-talker territory of Shadow. “We’ve done the only thing that made sense to us once we learned of our daughters’ deaths.”

She closed the door, then glanced from mother to father. “You chose to take the
alter
serum? I can’t believe it.” She’d never been given a choice. But if she had, she would have preferred death rather than to undergo such a difficult transformation.

Each nodded solemnly. Davis took a deep breath. “We wanted to be near our girls, of course, though that’s just part of it. We knew we couldn’t continue our lives as they were in the human part of Phoenix. We wanted to be part of the healing of Five Bridges.”

Emma remained staring at each of them for a long time. Her brain refused to make sense of the extraordinary decision these two people had made. She wished she’d known their intentions when she and Vaughn had paid them a visit following Loghry’s death. “If I’d had any hint of what you were thinking, I would have argued this decision out of you both. I’m sorry, but I’m appalled.”

Davis took Samantha’s hand. She looked at him in turn and smiled a very sad smile.

Davis met Emma’s gaze again. “We know the decision was unorthodox, and so far the girls refuse to speak to us because of it.”

Samantha glanced around. “We were hoping they might be here. Their dead-talker muse won’t help us connect with them. She’s been emphatic that it must be their decision and we respect that.”

Emma glanced toward the girls who had arranged themselves in and around the large chair Vaughn used almost exclusively in the living room. All three shook their heads in refusal.

She reverted her attention to Samantha. “Are you able to see your daughters at all?”

Samantha’s shoulders rose and fell on a sigh. She shook her head. “No. I sense their presence and that they’re very angry with us, but no, I’m unable to see or communicate with them. When you told me that you and Becca had talked to each other, I was hoping you’d be able to help.”

Emma had no framework with which to deal with this kind of situation. She had a close working relationship with the triplets, but she understood the source of their anger. “I don’t know what to tell you, Samantha, except to give them time. I’m in a state of shock myself over your choices. Ultimately, however, it will be up to your girls whether or not they draw close to you.”

She could feel movement from the other room and wasn’t surprised when the triplets slowly moved into the entrance area and lined up on either side of Emma. She also wanted to know their wishes in this situation.
Becca, what do you want me to do? I can send them away, but at some point you’ll have to deal with them.

I just think it’s so sad that they did this to themselves and for what?

Emma took a moment to search for the right words.
I get that they want to be with their children. But like you, I question how wise their decision was. However, they’ve already transformed and I sense they intend to work hard here in Five Bridges, just as you and your sisters are doing, to help prevent this kind of tragedy again.

Davis intruded. “Which of the girls are you communicating with?”

“Becca.”

He frowned suddenly and covered his eyes. He gripped his lips together firmly, but his shoulders started to shake.

Becca cried out telepathically,
Dad, don’t. Please don’t cry.

He looked up, his hand still in front of his face. He peered at Becca, now visible to him and drew in a sharp breath. “I heard you inside my head and you’re wearing jeans.” He wiped his eyes.

Emma was a little surprised that she’d heard Becca at the same time. Sharing in group telepathic conversations wasn’t something that happened often in Five Bridges, perhaps another unexpected side effect of her relationship with Vaughn.

Becca smiled at her father.
It helps when people see us if we look something like we did when we were alive.

“You’re so beautiful, sweetheart.” He took his wife’s hand, glancing at her. “Can you see our Becca?”

Samantha nodded, tears streaming down her face.

But, Dad, why did you do it? Mom, we never wanted this for you.

Samantha drew close to Davis, still holding his hand. “Please try to understand. We had to. But it wasn’t just your abduction that made up our minds. You know the family at the end of the street? Well, their oldest boy was given the vampire
alter
serum and now lives in Crescent. It’s an epidemic here in Phoenix and in about every major city throughout the country. It must be stopped. Don’t you see? We have to be part of the solution, especially since we’re each convinced that if we’d gotten involved sooner, we’d still have our family.”

Becca drew close to Davis first, and though a tangible physical embrace wasn’t possible, she slid her ghostly fingers down his face.

His brows rose and he gasped. “I could feel your touch.”

Becca nodded.
Sorry I can’t do more or I’d hug you.

When she did the same for Samantha, more tears followed.

Now that the ice was broken, Emma suggested the girls and their parents move into the living room. They had a lot to discuss, and no doubt a long conversation would follow.

Emma left them alone and headed back out to the patio. She shared the details with Vaughn and Beth.

Both were just as surprised as Emma that anyone, no matter how motivated, would choose to become an
alter
species. While their curious attention became fixed on events in the living room, Emma watched Vaughn with his sister. Beth had been able to see the triplets for a while now and took a lot of enjoyment in their presence.

Beth sat close to him, holding his hand. She had circles beneath her eyes from both prolonged second-hand drug use as well as from years of starvation. She would regain her full health eventually, but it wouldn’t be a quick process.

When she released her brother’s hand and leaned her head against his shoulder, Vaughn slid his arm around her, holding her tight.

Beth sighed. “Look how happy the mom is. It may not be the same, but she has her daughters back.”

Vaughn nodded, his gaze also fixed to the odd family in the living room. He squeezed her shoulders and kissed the top of her head. His eyes misted over.

She knew how grateful he was to have Beth back.

Emma’s heart swelled as she watched him. She loved Vaughn with every
altered
fiber of her being. He’d become the sun, moon and stars to her, the spin of the planets, the breadth of the galaxy.

He took her to bed often and spent hours making love to her. She couldn’t believe he’d come into her life. She’d thought after Max’s death she’d be alone forever. Nothing about the corrupt nature of Five Bridges life had given her a reason to believe anything approaching a normal relationship could exist.

But here was Vaughn and their sharing of their
alter
powers and abilities had become a promise of good things to come.

He met her gaze, his lips curving softly.
I love you, Emma.
Even his voice had a deep tenor within her mind.

I love you, too. Thank you, Vaughn, thank you for changing everything.

~ ~ ~

Even after three weeks, Vaughn still couldn’t believe his good fortune. Together, he, Emma and Beth had defeated one of the most heinous monsters in Five Bridges, and they were all alive to tell about it.

Now he was here, held tight in the center of a family he’d never thought to have in Five Bridges. He had his sister back, and he loved Emma with all his heart.

Emma said he’d changed everything for her, but she’d done the same for him.

His gaze shifted to the triplets in the living room. The girls were lively now and fully engaged with their parents.

They, too, were a family.

He gave his sister another squeeze of her shoulders.

Beth leaned back to smile up at him. She even patted his cheek. “I should head out. I’m spending the day with my therapist, and right now I’m feeling the sun trying to crawl up my spine.”

Beth spent most of her time in therapy, working hard to recover from years of imprisonment and torture in Loghry’s labyrinth.

He glanced up at the sky, still dark and star-studded. But dawn wasn’t far away, and he was feeling a creepy sensation through the vertebrae of his back as well.

When Beth rose to her feet, he joined her along with Emma. By then, the family in the living room had made their peace with each other and were also ready to leave.

He and Emma walked them all to the front entrance. He opened the door first, stepped outside and checked Emma’s latest security spell. He wanted to make sure it was intact before anyone left the house. He was under no illusion that he and Emma were out of harm’s way. Because of their safe house, they’d become targets of the sinister elements in the province. But Emma’s spell held and seemed to grow more powerful every day. More than one spellcaster had remarked that even the dark coven witches and warlocks couldn’t create this powerful a shield.