Dark Heirloom (An Ema Marx Novel Book 1) (17 page)

“I know his dirty little secret. He’s Jack the Ripper. He’s killed innocent women, Jesu.”

He faced me. Green flames burned in his eyes. His brow pulled tight, and his lips curled back as he bared his sharp fangs.

I swallowed and took a step back.

“You think you have it all figured out, but in truth, you do not know anything.” His voice bellowed through the halls. I clasped my hands over my ears. “My brother is
not
a serial killer.”

My back hit the wall. While my fight or flight reflexes argued amongst each other, all I could do was stand frozen in fear.

Jesu noticed my lip quiver. His expression softened. “Ema, I’m sorry—”

“Both of you are monsters,” I whispered. “Just leave me alone.”

I ran to my room and slammed the door. Outside, the wind rattled my bedroom window, howling like the captured animal I was.

Chapter 17

The sun’s unforgiving light flooded the room, dousing everything in a yellow haze, and that was with the sunglasses on. I didn’t dare allow them to slip down my nose.

I lay alone on the bed, surrounded by black stone walls. I didn’t belong here. I’d been stupid to think Jesu was my friend, and even though I looked like them, I wasn’t one of them. That was the only thing I knew for certain. Even Raven refused to stick around now.
Well, screw him. I’ll get a puppy, and name it Raven-Two.

A light knock interrupted my thoughts. I cursed under my breath and opened the door. Jesu stood in the hall with a glass of red liquid in his hand. I rolled my eyes.

“Haven’t you tortured me enough for one day?” Leaving the door open, I returned to the bed and slumped facedown into the pillows.

He kept his voice low. “It is not for practice. It is all yours, if you want it.”

I glanced at him, disbelieving his words. He hesitated, then held the glass out. I took it and chugged the entire drink in one large gulp. I’d wanted to do that all day. A warm tingle coated my insides, filling me with an euphotic glee. I lay on my back and welcomed the euphoria as it kissed every inch of my mind and body. I didn’t fight it. Screw it, let it have control of me.

“I came to apologize.”

Damn, I forgot Jesu was still in the room.

“I did not mean to snap at you, or to scare you.”

I scoffed. “Uh huh.”

He sighed. The end of the mattress sank as he sat on the edge of the bed and took my hand. “Ema, I would never, ever hurt you. You know that, don’t you?”

I removed my hand and propped myself up with my elbows so that I faced him. “What?”

“I do not want you to fear me. I would never hurt you.”

“How sweet.” My head plopped against the pillow and I closed my eyes.

“I spoke to Jalmari. He has agreed to continue training you. If you want to learn from him, that is.”

I laughed. The bloodlust made me too giddy to be angry.

“You must’ve lost your mind, Jesu. Can I have some more of this?” I extended my arm, holding out the glass. He silently took it and set it aside.

Then, he reached out and gently push a strand of loose hair behind my ear. The scent of his flesh reminded me of spring; the freshness of grass after a light rainfall kissed by sunshine. My eyes snapped open as I caught his hand and held it against my cheek, letting it linger while my pallid fingers entwined with his. The bloodlusty me enjoyed this very much, and wanted to go further. But did sober me want to?

Jesu frowned as he whispered. “I will do everything in my power to protect you, but I cannot always be where you are. I need you to learn how to defend yourself.”

I grimaced. He was such a buzz-kill. “Why are you always so depressing? Lie next to me while I enjoy the blood for a moment. We’ll talk later.”

His gaze darted around the room like he wanted to say more, but he bit his lip and nodded instead. He leaned over me to climb to the other side of the bed. His face hovered just above mine for a moment, and I couldn’t help but push upwards and crush my lips against his.

He pulled back and looked at me, his mouth slack in surprise. I couldn’t tell if it was a good shock, or bad shock, and thinking about it was exhausting, so I gave in and let my body do as it pleased. I reached up and ran my fingers through Jesu’s long, black locks, and wrapped my hands behind his neck. Gently, I pulled him closer. His breath caught as our lips met again.

Slowly, gently, I kissed him until he finally relaxed and opened his mouth a little more. Our tongues met and slid over each other as our lips meshed harder together. His masculine hands cupped my face while his body relaxed and sighed against mine.

I felt his weight on top of me, felt the pressure of his hands and face—but not much else. I couldn’t feel his breath, even though he breathed in shallow gasps. I couldn’t feel if his skin was smooth or rough, even though I ran my palms along his neck, arms, and back. I couldn’t feel the heat. I tried harder. I kissed him harder, pressed against him harder, held him tighter.

But I couldn’t feel a single thing.

Jesu gasped and pushed away. His gaze went everywhere except to me. “I am sorry, I did not mean—”

“No, it’s my fault. I didn’t mean to go so fast, it’s just that I wasn’t feeling anything, and—”

“You did not feel anything?” He glanced at me from the corner of his eye.

I winced. “It’s not you. I’m sure you’re wonderful, it’s just… I’m still so numb, you know?”
Oh yeah, that’s good. I probably just stomped all over his mojo
. I wanted to ask how much he could feel, but the bulge in his pants suggested he’d felt more than enough.

Jesu shook his head and stood. “I am sorry, Ema, I cannot do this.”

“Why not?”

He rushed to the door.

“Wait. Is it because I can’t feel anything? I’m sure we can fix that… um… somehow?”

He hesitated in the doorway, then glanced over his shoulder. “I do not want to take advantage of you.”

I snickered. “Jesu, you don’t have to worry about strings. We’re both adults.”

“It’s not that. I do not mind the… strings, as you say… but I know this is not really you speaking. It is the bloodlust.”

He exited the room, closing the door behind him. I sat speechless on the bed.

How…? What just…? Ugh.

I felt like such a schmuck.

Later that night, I graduated from keeping my clothes in place while phasing, to flying through solid objects. I zipped past the frosty tree trunks of the forest, racing against Jalmari. I struggled to keep up. Every time I thought I might catch up to him, he’d blast ten feet ahead faster than I could blink. Channeling every last drop of brain power, I forced myself to concentrate on everything and nothing at the same time.

Remember to stay weightless. Remember to hold the molecules of my clothing. Ignore the sub-zero temperature. Ignore the wiggly gelatin feel of the trees as they pass through me. Ignore the pulsating leaves blowing in the wind, the rippling moonlight, the thunderous tide…

Unlike in my physical form, I felt
too much
when I phased. Everything rippled, pulsed, thumped, and pushed against me. Jalmari told me to read the ripples like Morse code, since our senses vanished in full phase-form. Heck, my eyes were nothing more than a million microscopic atoms loosely connected in a gaseous state. Reading the waves of motion, light, and sound was all we had to rely on for orientation.

I couldn’t help but cheat a little. I unphased my head so I could see where I was going. However, being solid meant I had to dodge a multitude of equally solid tree trunks with thickly needled branches. My speed faltered. Jalmari ricocheted back and flew beside me, unphased, so he could speak.

“No cheating,” he barked, all the while effortlessly dodging obstacles without looking.

“But, I’m freezing. This sucks.” In phase-form, the cold night air assaulted every individual atom of my body. My molecules shivered, threatening to solidify.

“
No
cheating. Come on.” Jalmari zipped past me and turned invisible in an instant.

Oh fine.
I phased my head and propelled myself forward.

I shuddered as trees passed through me. Flying through solid objects was like having Jell-O pumped through my veins. I tried to use the sounds of the waves crashing against the cliffs and the feel of the moonlight to guide me.

Ridiculous.

We were on an island, the tidal noise came from all around, and the moon only signaled which way was up. I could’ve been going in circles for all the help they provided.

I took one more quick, physical look around, but didn’t see a thing. Instead, I heard a very loud crunch. Pain flamed from my nose to the back of my skull. My mind turned to molasses, but I managed to get my underwear and bra in place before my body condensed and fell. My back hit the ground, and a burning heat incinerated my spine as I rolled over and gasped for air.

Jalmari and Jesu rushed to my side.

“Are you all right?” Jesu blushed all shades of blue when I met his gaze. He focused hard on my face, trying to ignore my mostly exposed body. I wished he would forget about our make-out session. If I’d known he was going to act so immature, I wouldn’t have done it.

Well, probably not, anyway.

“She’s fine,” Jalmari huffed before I could find my voice. My lungs longed for the oxygen required to speak. Jesu glowered at his brother.

“Training is over for the night. Her nose is bleeding, she is not fine.” He gathered my remaining clothes from wherever they landed.

Jalmari gnashed his teeth together. “I am her teacher, I say the lesson continues.”

“I do not care what you say.” Jesu took my hand and pulled my arm around his shoulders, helping me stand. I winced as pain shot from my face to my back.

“Ouch.”

“See, she is not fine.”

Jalmari growled. “She needs to learn to take it. She needs to learn her lesson. She hasn’t even flown all the way across the island yet, and if she had kept herself phased like I told her to, this wouldn’t have happened.”

“Enough, Jalmari. I am taking her inside.”

Jalmari growled and flew away. We followed at a much slower pace.

“He really is… a horrible teacher,” I coughed as Jesu helped me through the castle door.

He glanced at me, then looked straight ahead as we made our way to the kitchen. “You seem to learn faster with him than with me.”

“Everyone learns faster with a strict teacher, but no one enjoys it.” I cringed as Jesu helped me sit on a stool. Lava coursed through my spinal cord.

Maria whisked into the room with a warm smile and a bag of O-Negative. Jesu eyed the blood. His face flushed navy blue.

“I think I will work on my painting while Maria takes care of you.” He laid my clothing in a heap on the counter.

I rolled my eyes. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to hit on you again.”

Maria choked back a snicker.

Jesu nodded. “That is probably for the best.” He turned and disappeared into the hall heading to the fourth wing. I grumbled nonsense while Mari poured the blood into a chalice and set it on the counter.

“Maria, what’s wrong with me?”

She gently inspected my back. “Just some bad bruising, darling, nothing major. Your nose might be broken though.”

I laughed. “No, I mean, do I just have terrible luck with men, or is something actually wrong with me?”

“What do you mean, dear?” She probed the bridge of my nose.

“Ouch.”

“My apologies.” She smiled. “It’s a little swollen, but it’s not crooked. It should mend fine on its own and be good as new in an hour. Here, drink. It will speed up the process.”

She pushed the glass closer. I took it and guzzled the liquid. A drop trickled down the side of my chin. I wiped it with the back of my hand, then licked it clean.

“Now, what is this about bad luck?” Maria sat next to me with her own glass of blood. She crossed her ankles and adjusted her long skirt to cover her feet in a very lady-like fashion. I cocked my head, wondering which generation she was from. A few strands of silver-black hair came loose from the bun at the nape of her neck and splayed lazily across her collarbone. Maria’s hair reminded me of my mother’s.

“Well…” I paused to pull my T-shirt over my head, not feeling comfortable carrying a conversation in my underwear. “Before
this
, I was having some trouble with a boyfriend. He… well… he cheated on me, even though we’d been together for four years.” I carefully maneuvered my legs into my jeans. My stiff, raw back muscles didn’t allow me to bend fully. “I thought we were going to be together forever, you know? I never thought… Well, I guess it doesn’t matter anymore anyway.”

Maria placed a hand on my shoulder. “I’m sorry, darling.”

I bit my lip as emotion gripped my chest. My own mother and I never had a conversation like this. If I opened up to Mom, she would just find some way to make the situation about her, and tell me it was my fault she was miserable. Maria was the kind of mother I had always wished for.