Chapter Ten: Emma Endless
1823 Words
CHAPTER TEN
EMMA ENDLESS
We were not able to keep Bradley locked in the attic all night long. Eventually, he got a call from Adelaide, and we had no choice but to let him go to her. We knew she had the necklace now, and there was no way we were going to stand in the way of him and his chance at future happiness.
Once we let him out, Ben caught me by the hand.
“Well?” he asked. “Do you still want to try?”
“The village 24-hour pharmacy isn’t exactly twenty-four hours,” I reminded him, “it’s late anyway, I should…I should go to bed.”
“How about we go to bed?” he offered, lightly brushing my knuckles with his thumb.
“You don’t mean….”
“No, not like that,” he said, “well, if you want to, but I don’t think that’s really what you need right now. No, I mean…. that…. all of that…. has been great. But we haven’t had a chance to just be together since we got back from faerie. I don’t know the truth about you.”
I crossed my arms over my chest. “I could say the same thing about you.”
He grimaced. “You’re talking about…about how I know so much about this world, but I never told you?”
“Yes,” I said.
He glanced around. “Do you have a church?”
I was surprised by him. “We’ve got one on the property, to keep the faeries and other things at bay. Who the hell are you?”
He grinned. “Come on. Let’s go.”
I shrugged. “Alright, but if this is the part where you tell me that you are secretly a demon, we’re done. Or a faerie.”
He sighed. “Trust me. Not a demon. Or a faerie. “
“I don’t trust you,” I said, “that’s the problem.”
“Noted, sweetheart. Could say the same about you.”
I walked on ahead of him, and Ben followed behind me. I could feel his eyes on my back the entire way as we walked. It was the most nerve wrecking stroll that we had ever taken.
The estate church was small, attached to the house in the very back. It was guarded by Father McGrath, who had guarded it for as long as I could remember. He was an old man who had been captured by faeries as a young man and was gifted with the sight. He also had a scar on his nose, and a limp from when he’d gotten into a battle with a vampire.
If you believed the old man’s stories, which he’d been apt to tell us as children.
Father McGrath was up, keeping vigil in the pews. He was in his mid-forties, with brown hair, a youthful face, and a tattoo of the name Rose of his wife from his days before taking the priesthood. “Emma Endless,” he said as soon as we entered, “I thought the fey King had claimed you. But you know…. I smell something different about you now.”
I winced.
There was another, more pressing reason as to why I’d had trouble being with Clark after he’d become King. It wasn’t only the issue of the child that might be inside of me, it was also the issue of the deal he had made on my behalf.
Fey were an anomaly. Born from fallen angels and their liaison’s with humans. Their offspring adapted powers, but they were too dangerous to be around humans. So, to keep the humans safe, The First Witch, Hecate, created faerie as a place to keep them.
“That would be the deal Clark made on my behalf,” I told him, “he…. he made a deal with Lilith so that I would be in under her protection.”
Father McGrath turned to look at me. He had grey eyes, and his face was void of a smile as I knew it would be when I told him the news. “Unfortunate,” he told me, “but it seems you’ve made a very wise alley. Excellent choice, allying yourself with a Houdini. Pleasure to meet you, Benedek. How’s your father?”
I could only stare at the priest, certain I had heard wrong.
But Ben only smiled. “Well, sir. I’ll send your regards. Would you mind giving Emma and I some privacy, though?”
“Of course,” Father McGrath answered, and he left, leaving me alone with my former fiancé.
“Houdini?” I whispered. “Benedek?”
He winced. “I told you it was complicated. I…I wasn’t ever going to tell you this, but I think considering the situation I should. I also think I might be a little bit responsible for what’s going on with you and Clark.”
“How?” I asked.
“Let’s take a seat,” he said, “things are easier to explain when you’re sitting. There’s less chance of falling, and if you—”
“Don’t say the ‘p’ word,” I muttered, “but sitting might be a good idea.”
We sat down in the pew nearest to me.
“Did you lie to me about your name?”
He stretched out and used the pew to lean against. “Taylor’s my Moms name. Houdini is my fathers name.”
“When you say Houdini, you mean….”
“The Magician, yeah,” he said with a nod, “but that was only part of Houdini’s story. In the later years of his life, Houdini devoted himself to debunking spiritualists.”
“Spiritualists?” I whispered.
“Yeah, they’re those people that used to pretend to be psychic in the Victorian era. It was a big thing for a while. Anyway, old great granddad Harry, he comes across some things during his time.”
“Angels and demons,” I supplied.
“Yes. He trained my grandfather, and my father, and my father well…. he tried to train me but uh…there was an incident when I was younger.”
“An incident?”
He sighed. “I don’t like talking about this.”
I placed a hand on his back, rubbing it lightly. “Take it slowly. You accepted me when I finally revealed my crazy life, the least I can do is accept you too, Ben. Benedek.”
He groaned. “If you like me at all, you will never call me by that name. Only my mother calls me by that name.”
“How about only when I’m mad?”
“Okay,’ he relented, with a small smile, “okay….”
We sat there in the church pew, staring at each other for a moment.
“Tell me,” I said.
He looked like he wanted to throw up. “I was possessed.”
I stared at him inn surprise. “Possessed? Like, exorcist possessed?”
“Exactly,” he said, “and my Dad, he tries getting this bastard out of me. But he can’t, so he…he made a deal with the damn thing.”
“What’d he do?”
“His soul in exchange for mine, but only if he was killed in action.”
“Smart move, with the loophole. Always got to have a loop hole.”
“Yes,” he said with a grin, “but I wanted to help him at first, but he wouldn’t let me, so now we don’t speak ever. It’s why I write fantasy. I might not be able to save him, but at least I can save the people in my books.”
I reached up and stroked back a strand of brown hair that had fallen into his eyes. “That’s what I like about you. You always want to do good. Or try.”
“Well I…I don’t know that I helped you any, Em. I’m pretty sure I brought trouble your way.”
“Why do you say that?”
“The demon that Clark made a deal with…to protect you….it was the same demon that possessed me.”
I moved away from him. “What…. what would a demon want with me?”
“I don’t think it’s so much about you,” he admitted, “I think it has to do with your family’s access to faerie. Think about it. Faeries were the off spring of fallen angels and humans. Fallen angels, when they’re away from heaven too long, they turn into demons. The demons have been underground, in hell for centuries. I think…I think….”
“You think the demons want to claim faerie for themselves.”
He nodded.
I bit my lip. “You weren’t…I mean….”
“I didn’t know who you were, Emma. You weren’t a demon hunting mission. I met you at the writer’s conference, I fell in love with you for you. And if you are pregnant….” His eyes dropped down to my stomach. “I’ll be there for you. Whatever you need, whatever you decide to do.”
My heart swelled, and at the same time, I hated myself. “Ben….” I whispered.
“You can take that however you want, Emma. Romantically or not. Whatever you decide. I’m here.” He grabbed my hand, as if to reassure me.
“You might not be a faerie King Ben Taylor, but you’re sure as hell a Knight. A noble, noble Knight.”
“Pregnancy test in the morning?” he asked.
“Pregnancy test in the morning,” I replied.
“C’mon,” he said, “let’s go to bed.”
We left the church, going back into the estate, where I slept, wrapped in his arms. There was no Oberon tormenting me, no worries about being Queen. Only Ben and I, alone in bed safe and sound.
- Writer
