“Emma,” I tried to say but the punch to my ribs knocked the breath out of me. Emma was no longer sparring, she was trying to take me out. Her fist crunched against my cheekbone and my head snapped to the side. Ramping up, I managed to block several of her punches but the ones that landed cracked and bruised. I tried to call out her name several more times, but she wasn’t listening. Her fists moved so fast they blurred. I tasted blood.
“Emma stop,” I bellowed.
Emma’s eyes widened and she halted her assault. I finally broke through whatever trance she was in. Wiping my mouth with the back of my hand, it came away bright red. A quick internal scan told me nothing was likely broken, but she might have cracked a rib or two.
At first she reached toward me, but then she snatched her hands back, holding her hands against her chest as she could trap them there. Remorse filled her honey-colored eyes.
“Oh my god, Calan, I’m so sorry. Are you okay?”
“Are you?” I asked, my voice was hoarse. “You stopped responding to me and suddenly your speed was supernaturally charged.”
She covered her mouth with her hands before backing away from me. “Oh god, I don’t know what’s happening to me.”
Approaching her cautiously, I reached for her. “Is this from absorbing the demons?”
The look on her face was heartbreaking. Emma resembled a lost child, hopeless, the world too big to be in. “No, yes, probably. I don’t know.” She raked a hand through her hair, pulling chunks of it out of her ponytail.
Then Emma launched herself at me, kissing me like her life depended on it. She continued to kiss and cling to me as if I were her only life preserver in a raging ocean. The frenzied desperation was as alarming as her previous assault. It took effort to push her off, and for a moment I thought I saw anger flash across her face.
“Emma, what’s wrong?”
Tell me. Tell me what is happening, baby. I don’t know how to help.
When she opened her mouth, all that came out was a whimper as she covered her face.
Taking a deep breath, I instantly regretted it, wincing against the pain in my torso. “We’ll figure things out. You don’t need to be afraid.”
Not asking anymore of her, I stepped forward to embrace her. I folded her into my arms, and she laid her head against my chest.
After a few moments, she mumbled against my skin. “It’s just been a lot of stress. With the nightmares, Othanos, and the...” for a moment I thought she would mention her powers. “the wedding.”
“Right,” I said, stroking her hair though I sensed she was lying to me about something. Emma never lied to me though.
“I'll feel better after some rest. Can we go home now?”
I nodded. As we grabbed our things and went home, Emma seemed more settled, like herself.
Not for the first time did I wish we still had our psychic connection. But the Reckoning, or the Stygian had changed that. She grew more of a mystery to me, and I didn’t want to admit it but I was disturbed by it.
But we had our whole lives to figure out what was happening and get back in sync. There was no power on earth that would keep me from loving her. She could fight me all she wanted, but I would never give up on her, or us.
13
“Five minutes,” the wedding coordinator said, peeking into our bridal suite. Krystan shot the woman a thumbs up and returned to zipping up my dress.
Krystan wore a flowy black gown and her hair was up in an elegant twist, some strands falling down her neck and around her face. My best friend looked like a goth goddess and I told her so. She shot me the devil horns and stuck out her tongue.
I was reminded of the flash of red eyes peering at me from the bushes outside the dojo last night. After my full-on attack against Calan, I wanted to tell him I wasn’t fighting him, I was fighting the visions. I disappeared inside myself, stuck in the recurring nightmare. When I’d finally come too, I realized I wasn’t fighting off the entire Stygian, I was beating up on my fiancé
. There was nothing in the bushes, and I was left terrified I was losing my mind. Judging by Calan’s reaction, he also had his doubts about my sanity. I promised myself right there I would stop hunting Othanos. I wouldn’t absorb another demonic entity until I knew exactly what was going on with my powers.
Calan seemed to forgive me and woke me up early with a lazy but passionate kiss. The man still wanted to marry me, and I refused to look that gift horse in the mouth today.
I turned around as Krystan stepped back. Krystan’s breath audibly caught in her throat as she looked me up and down. To my surprise, her eyes grew shiny with unshed tears. Again. This was the woman who used to claim that she hadn’t a tear left to spare the rest of her life after what happened to her parents. But as she clutched her chest, the other hand on the baby carrier with a sleeping Tristan, I could see she was teetering on the edge of losing it.
“That good?” I asked, looking down at the dress. Admittedly, it was gorgeous in and of itself. The made-to-order dress had a deep V plunging neckline that nearly hit my naval, but a piece of nude fabric kept it from being too showy. The back was the real risqué part, hanging off the straps it opened all the way down to the top of my rear, A long slit travelled up one side of the dress showing off a tanned leg, and admittedly made me feel better about my mobility for dancing or in the more likely case where I’d need to kick a guest’s ass.
The sexy cut of the dress was offset by the 3D lace that adorned the entire gown down to where it pooled on the ground by my feet, adding an air of whimsy and romance. I'd curled my thick hair, so it fell into beachy waves. I pulled half of it up into a crystal clip.
