Emily (2 page)

Two years before she met Vladimir and Eric, a bushfire had swept through a farm near her own in the Hunter Valley. David had called in the early morning hours requesting that Emily come and assist him, knowing he would need her special abilities. She could smell burnt flesh when they arrived at the farm and sensed overwhelming pain. Before she left the car Emily shut down her emotions by placing them behind an imaginary glass wall. She had practised for situations like this and would grieve later for the animals lost.

Only a few animals had survived the fire and David had put down four sheep before she had arrived. It was Emily’s job to soothe the animals so that David could see which of them could be saved or mercifully put to sleep. The first animal Emily saw was an old sheepdog called Bengi whose paws were badly burnt, and she removed the pain from the old dog the minute she saw him. This was something David had suggested she try and she had found that if she concentrated on the animal’s brain, she could block the commands to the nerve endings. It was something that Emily rarely used because the animal would tend to move the affected part thinking it was better and hurt themselves more. The dog was so distressed that Emily had a hard time remaining focused on the job. The next three animals were goats that all had to be put down as their burns were too extensive.

The last animal Emily was taken to
was a mare and she was in frightful pain. It took all of Emily’s willpower not to cry with empathy. She pushed her mind into the mare’s, sending it soothing thoughts and, as the pain began to recede, she received pictures from the mare of her foal standing nearby in the river. The mare showed Emily how she had shielded the foal with her body from the ferocious fire, pushing the little foal into deep water.

‘
David, the mare is telling me a small grey foal has survived the fire. Where is he?’ Emily called out to him.

‘
There is no foal here. Ask Seth over by the truck, he owns the farm,’ he replied. Now that the mare was calm he began to examine her. Emily walked to the group of people standing by a neighbour’s old truck. The neighbour had come over with hot drinks and food for the fire crew who were still trying to put out the last of the fire.

‘
Who is Seth?’ Emily asked them.

‘
I am, little Missy,’ an old man replied. He himself was in pain, with burns to his hands and face; the night had pushed him to hell and back.

Pointing to the mare, Emily asked,
‘This mare has a small grey foal, do you know where it is?’

‘
Well, she had a small stallion that we called Applejacks, as he had a talent for stealing apples from the orchard, but he would have died in the fire.’ Seth’s grief for his animals was plain on his face. Emily liked him from that moment, recognising a kindred spirit. Pushing her mind out to see if she could sense the foal, Emily picked up a weak connection. The little foal was still in the water and was very tired. She was trying to see where he was but the smoke and Applejacks’ panic made it difficult for him to show her a clear image.

‘
Seth, where in the river is there a wall of stone with boulders around it?’ Emily asked the old man.

‘
What are you talking about?’ He didn’t understand why Emily was there, he’d thought she was a vet nurse.

David walked over and instructed Seth,
‘Just tell her and I’ll explain later.’

Confused, Seth thought for a minute.
‘Three hundred metres through the trees is a river. If you walk due east for another hundred metres, you’ll find a spot that sounds like that. But it’s still too hot for anyone to walk through.’

‘
Don’t worry, Seth,’ called Emily as she jogged over to her car ‘I plan to run.’ She pulled an old oil slicker that had belonged to her father, out of the boot. She was already wearing long black gumboots and reached for a pair of heavy leather gloves and a short rope. Securing her hair under the hood of the slicker, she soaked a cloth with water from a water bottle and used it to cover her nose and mouth. Usually she enjoyed running, but now, as she ran through the smouldering trees, her eyes stung from the smoke and she found it hard to breathe. She covered the three hundred metres in less than two minutes, it was hard going dodging the hot spots, and looking east she saw the river. She ran until she could see the stone wall, and then she spotted Applejacks’ small head just above the water.

Reaching the water
’s edge, she slipped off her excess clothing and jumped in. The shock of the cold water took Emily’s breath away for a moment and while she was a good swimmer, the current was so strong that it took her a few minutes to swim to Applejacks. The river was well over her head but Applejacks was standing on a ledge behind a boulder, which was lessening the current around him. But Emily knew he would not be able to stay where he was for much longer.

‘
Hey, beautiful boy,’ she cooed to him.

He nickered softly, trembling from cold and exhaustion. Emily placed a rope around his head and tied it to her waist so her arms would be free to swim. She looked around but the only way out of the river was to swim back to where she had entered. Behind them was a sheer rock face, over twenty metres high. Projecting to the little horse what she wanted him to do and promising that she would give him some apples, Emily pushed off the ledge and started to swim towards the bank of the river. Applejacks followed but Emily had underestimated how tired he was and as he struggled to swim, the strong current pulled him under. Emily was dragged below the surface and frantically tried to untie the rope around her waist, but the water had made the rope swell and she couldn
’t undo the knot. Applejacks had gone into shock and she could sense he was losing consciousness and sinking like a dead weight, taking her down with him. Her lungs were bursting and she knew that in the next moment she would need to open her mouth for a breath and if she did it would be her last, but she was not physically strong enough to pull them both up to the surface.

Panic overtook her and as she opened her mouth to breathe, air not water, rushed in. Somehow both she and Applejacks were on the bank. Before she blacked out she saw that the little foal was breathing.

When she came to she found she was lying on the ground beside the old truck. She had a blanket over her and a coat under her head as a pillow. David was kneeling over her and had her wrist in his hand checking her pulse. Emily’s head was foggy and her body was so tired, that at that moment, she didn’t even think she could raise her arm.

‘
What happened, David? How did I get here?’ Emily’s voice was soft but because David was listening hard for a sign, he heard her words.

‘
Hey Emily, you are one crazy girl, did you know that?’ he smiled at her. ‘After you started running for the river, Seth called the crew and followed you with water to try and cool down your path. When we got there you were on the bank with the foal’.

‘
Applejacks!’ Emily cried and tried to sit up, but she was so tired her body wouldn’t respond.

‘
He’s going to be fine, Emily, he regained consciousness ten minutes ago. You’ve been out for a half an hour,’ David replied.

‘
Half an hour?’ Emily echoed. Her mind was trying to sort out what had happened. Seth walked over to them and leant down besides Emily with a cup of hot soup.

‘
Drink this Missy, it’ll do you good.’ Emily reached for the cup and with David’s help, sat up with her back against the wheel of the truck.

‘
I had to put the mare down,’ David said sadly, ‘but she got to see that her foal was alright. I told her that he’d be safe.’

Emily smiled slightly. She was always telling David that animals understand more than we think they do, and to talk to them and tell them what was going on.

‘What happened?’ David asked, happy that the colour was returning to Emily’s face.

‘
I’m really not sure, David. All I remember is swimming across the river and then waking up here.’ It was a small lie but Emily wasn’t ready to face what had happened and didn’t want to even think about it.

‘
I want to see the foal David, please help me up.’ Lifting her off the ground was easy as she was so light. David held onto her arm as she walked slowly to the field where Applejacks was. Seeing her approach, Applejacks trotted over to Emily and nuzzled her waist. She could see that he was unharmed and when she touched him the energy flowed back into her body.

Seth had followed them and remarked,
‘That foal would be dead if it wasn’t for you.’ He had tears in his eyes. It was too much to see his farm burnt and his animals suffer. Feeling stronger, Emily laid a hand on Seth’s arm, wishing her talent worked on humans as well as animals.

‘
I’m so sorry for your loss Seth, is there anything I can do for you?’

‘
Well,’ Seth thought for a moment, ‘I guess I’ll be retiring now. I don’t have the strength to rebuild the farm and my daughter is always on at me to move in with her. Applejacks and Bengi are the only animals to survive and the old dog and I are in it to the end. But this little fellow is going to need a new home.’ Seth rubbed Applejacks’ nose with the unburnt back of his hand.

‘
I’ll gladly take him,’ Emily responded gratefully. Whatever had happened to them in the river had forged a bond between them.

As Seth walked away he turned back and said,
‘Missy, just keep him out of the orchard. That horse will eat all your apples if you’re not careful. Makes himself sick, he does.’

Hearing the word
‘apples’, Applejacks pushed his nose against Emily asking her where the apples were that she had promised him.

Walking across the field to the farmhouse, Emily saw that Vladimir was outside chopping wood for the fire. His arms were the size of tree trunks and he made easy work of cutting the wood to a smaller size. Vladimir was a complex person, it was easy to look at him physically and just see a strong man, but underneath the bulk lay a mind that was keenly intelligent. He had amassed a small fortune since coming to Australia, his law firm was one of the country
’s leading litigation and property law specialists, and he owned property and businesses all over the country. Seeing Emily approach he smiled at her and picked up a large armful of wood to take inside.

‘
I hope you are hungry, Eric has planned a big meal for us all tonight.’

It was always a
‘big’ meal as the men ate huge quantities of food that had at first caused Emily to wonder why neither man were fat, but they seemed to burn off the food with ease and arrived at the next meal as hungry as ever.

‘
He has a new dish tonight,’ Emily replied. Eric was a master cook. Often Emily would look in the cupboard and claim there was nothing to eat, but Eric would manage to cook up a masterpiece with the most basic foods. Entering through the back door, which led into the large warm kitchen, the smell of food was tantalising and Emily’s mouth began to water. Although Emily was a vegetarian, the men weren’t and they ate large amounts of meat with all their meals. It didn’t worry Emily that they ate meat, her cats and dogs ate meat; there would always be a food chain.

Vladimir put the wood down by the fire and said,
‘It is cold; I think I will start the fire now.’

‘
Good idea. I think Eric must be out running, we could cuddle until he returns,’ Emily suggested. Eric’s studio was on the farm so Emily got to spend a lot of time alone with him but Vladimir commuted from the farm to his office daily so it was rare for him to be home before seven at night.

‘
Now that is a good idea,’ Vladimir replied. He quickly lit the fire as Emily made him a coffee and herself a hot chocolate. Settling down in front of the fire Emily snuggled into Vladimir’s arms. He had an oaky smell from chopping wood and the fire had warmed the room. Emily could feel her body relaxing but her mind was still reflective; she thought back to when she had first met Vladimir.

* * *

Emily rarely attended functions of any kind, preferring the solitude of her farm. But the invitation had come from Claire Butterfield, a long time customer with four pampered poodles. They were characters just like Claire, who always dressed in bright colours and called everyone ‘darling’. But the woman had a kind heart and although her way of overpowering people could be annoying, Emily knew that, if asked, Claire would do anything for anybody.

‘
Emily, sweet girl, you must come to this function, it’s for a good cause. We’re going to raise a lot of money for the animals darling, it’s just your thing!’

Claire was used to getting her own way so Emily had said she would go and wondered if anyone ever said no to Claire. The thought made her laugh out loud. No one could say no to her poodles either.

The function was hosted by one of the largest law firms in Sydney, Adamec Legal Group, whose office took up several floors of the prestigious Comets Building and the foyer, where the event was being held, was cut into three floors. A grand circular staircase seemed to float up, connecting the three levels and there was lots of white marble and pale green glass panels that gave the space an illusion of the natural world. Around the foyer were various sculptures of animals carved out of marble and one could imagine them coming to life. Soft music played and waiters, all formally dressed, were gliding around with glasses of champagne and canapés.

When she arrived, Emily noticed that all the women were wearing cocktail dresses in dark colours and, as it was rare for Emily to go out, she had chosen to wear a white dress, that was Greek in style, with a gold cord wrapped around her waist and matching gold sandals; she felt underdressed and out of fashion.
I’ll stay ten minutes, see Claire and go
, thought Emily, keeping her eyes low; she hated small talk of any kind.

A waiter offered her a glass of champagne, which she gladly took and wandered over to look at a display of the charity
’s work. Near the display was a large sculpture of an eagle just taking flight and Emily marvelled at its beauty. The detail was breathtaking and she couldn’t resist touching it.

Suddenly there was a buzzing in her head; it was like when she was asked to find a missing animal. To help her find a connection with an animal, she would hold an item that it had touched, like a collar or blanket, and she would hear this same buzzing. As she removed her hand from the sculpture the buzzing stopped. This roused her curiosity so much that she put her glass of champagne down and placed both hands on the sculpture. Taking a deep breath, Emily closed her eyes and began searching for the source.

* * *

Upstairs Vladimir was finishing up with some papers in his office when there was a small knock on the door followed by Cathy, his stern secretary.

‘Mr Adamec, I think you should attend the function.’

‘
Whose idea was this again?’ Vladimir grumbled. He hated gatherings of any kind.

‘
Not mine, I’m sure,’ Cathy shot back. ‘Don’t think for a moment that you’re the only one who doesn’t want to be here. I think it’s time I retired.’

Vladimir had heard her say this at least once a week for the last year.

‘You will never leave me woman,’ he boomed, but he knew one day soon she would. More softly he said, ‘Cathy, have a glass of champagne and go home.’

He liked Cathy very much, she was smart and professional and she never minced her words. But she was tough and the only person to ever receive a smile from her was Eric, his partner, on his infrequent visits to the office.

She left without further comment.

Vladimir had just received a text from Eric, cancelling coming to the night
’s event, when all of a sudden a strange pulse hit him. It was sharp and intense like an electric shock and he jumped up from his desk and strode across the floor of his large office. He opened the door and scanned the foyer for any danger. Sensing none he walked slowly down the staircase. Just before he reached the bottom of the stairs, he saw a woman at the back of the room, touching the sculpture of an eagle that Eric had made for him and, for no apparent reason, his heart began to beat faster. As he approached her, he had the overwhelming sensation that he knew her and the rest of the room seemed to melt away. She turned suddenly and found herself looking up at Vladimir and he was caught by her smile, as it was the purest one he had ever seen.

‘
You like the sculpture, I take it,’ Vladimir said, his deep voice was tight. He didn’t understand why he was feeling so strange standing near this woman.

Emily blushed and replied,
‘Yes, it’s so beautiful, the detail is stunning.’

She was taken in by Vladimir
’s brutal beauty, almost at odds with how well he was dressed. There was a rawness to his face and Emily fought the impulse to touch it. Vladimir moved closer to her now and she could smell his scent. Instinctively she reached out to touch the eagle again but at the same moment Vladimir reached out and placed his hand on hers. The buzzing was suddenly louder and then, quite clearly, she heard his voice in her head, ‘
My God, you are beautiful. Who are you?
’

She replied to the message silently,
‘
I’m Emily, who are you?
’ Confused, Vladimir pulled his hand away. He had heard her in his head, he was sure of it. Before he could speak, Claire was with them.

‘
Darling, you found Vladimir,’ Claire hugged Emily. ‘I didn’t think you would come.’

Emily just
smiled, her heart was pounding in her chest.

‘
Vladimir, this is Emily, the animal whisperer that I told you and Eric about.’ Claire added, ‘Her work with my dogs has saved me a lot of grief.’

Vladimir smiled at that. Claire
’s poodles were monsters and the work that Emily had done had saved everyone that knew the dogs a lot of grief.

Emily was confused, it was almost like she had fallen asleep and was dreaming.
Trying to think of something to say she stammered, ‘We were just admiring the eagle.’

‘
I know, darling, isn’t it beautiful? Vladimir, is Eric here tonight?’ Claire asked scanning the room.

‘
No, he is working on a piece for an exhibition next week,’ Vladimir replied, glad that Clare was doing most of the talking; it gave him a moment to observe Emily.

‘
Shame,’ Claire smiled, ‘I like looking at him.’ Claire was at an age where such things could be said. ‘Perhaps you should show Emily his other sculptures in your office,’ and with that she morphed back into the crowd, winking at them both.

‘
Would you like to see the other pieces?’ Vladimir asked Emily, he wanted to get her alone. Emily paused, a part of her wanted to run away from this man, yet more of her wanted him to touch her again. She nodded not trusting her voice.

Vladimir led her up the steel stairs to his office, taking care not to touch her as they climbed the steps. When they entered his office he shut the door behind them and for a moment they just looked at each other. Emily slowly reached out and placed her hand in his. A wave of peace and carefree emotions coursed through Vladimir, every cell in his body exploded with it. Then her hand was gone and it was like a big door had been shut, leaving him empty.

‘How did you do that?’ he asked her. His body was trembling and he could feel the blood rushing through his veins.

‘
I’m not sure,’ she replied, ‘this has only ever worked on animals.’ A look of bitterness crossed his face and she might have missed it but for the flare of emotion that flashed from him. ‘I’m sorry,’ she said, ‘it looks like I’ve offended you.’

‘
No, it is just…’ and then his mobile rang, it was Eric. ‘One moment please,’ and he turned his back on Emily as he answered the phone.

‘
Vlad, are you alright?’ Eric’s voice was tinged with alarm.

‘
Môn vieux, I am fine,’ Vladimir replied, keeping his voice low.

‘
I was overcome with a strange sensation,’ Eric responded ‘it was very strong and it was…I was…I actually don’t know! Where are you, Vlad?’

‘
I’m in the office. It’s alright, Eric. Remember the woman that Claire told us about, the one who can talk to animals? I am with her now, that feeling came from her.’

‘
From her?’ Eric was silent for a moment. ‘I don’t like this Vlad. Come home!’

‘
Eric,’ Vladimir’s voice was softer now, ‘relax, I need to see where this goes.’ Eric was silent and Vladimir could sense that he was upset. ‘Môn vieux, please, I will call you later,’ and he pushed the button to end the call, turning back to Emily. ‘You have a strong gift, Eric felt it as well.’

‘
Who is Eric?’ Emily enquired, she couldn’t take her eyes off him.

‘
My lover,’ Vladimir replied. Pausing, he thought for a moment and then asked, ‘Do you think you can only project to me?’ He wanted the experiment to continue, he wanted her to touch him again. Emily thought for a moment, she was trying to work out what was happening. She could project her thoughts and emotions onto Vladimir and she could hear his thoughts and feel his emotions. This was new to her as she had only been able to communicate this way with animals before now, so how was it passed onto Eric? She knew Eric was upset, anxious and frustrated but how could she know that? Reaching out to Vladimir, she could feel that he had calmed himself and that he was strongly attracted to her. Oddly, Emily thought,
I know you
. It was the strangest feeling, her body was flushed at the nearness of him and she needed to touch him.

‘
Just concentrate on this room,’ Emily instructed, ‘I want to try something.’

She shut her eyes to focus and placed her hands on his arms, but instead of sending him a feeling of peace, she opened up the connection to the emotions that she was experiencing.

Caught up in the honest raw emotions, Vladimir felt a crumbling of the walls around himself and he ran his hands along her arms, tracing his fingers up her back and along her neck before pulling her body against his. With their first kiss Emily surrendered completely.

* * *

Emily woke up in a hotel room. It was still an hour before sunrise and she was half lying on top of Vladimir, who was in a deep sleep. As she pulled away from him, she ran her hand along his hard stomach and across his chest. He was so big yet he had been so gentle with her.

She remembered how he had tenderly moved his large hands across her body, seeking to know every part of her, and she had explored him. His chest was covered in thin scars but it did not mar his beauty, and for a moment she wondered what could have left such marks. Although her body was not quite finished with his, she had to leave. Her animals would need feeding and it would take her two hours to drive home. Slowly, so as not to wake
him, Emily ran small kisses across his chest before she dressed and left.