Bound in Blood 1 Clandestine Read online

  Breaking into her mind babble he said, “Baby, I need to talk to you.”

  Seriously that’s two terms of endearment in one sitting. She didn’t think she could take much more. Somewhere along the line the shoe was about to drop. “Um, sure dad what’s up?” She hedged timidly.

  “Well,it’s about that boy…” Sam’s voice trailed off. His face was reddening,but Emily couldn’t tell if it was

  embarrassment or anger.

  Seriously was he going to give her the birds and the bees lecture? She couldn’t believe this was happening to her. Besides, he was late mom had already told her about that. Plus she did go to public school. Where did this interest in being a parent come from, because however it got there Emily wanted to kill it.

  “Dad I told you,I don’t even know him. He just offered to walk me home so I wasn’t alone that’s all. I promise.”

  “No no, I believe that you just need to stay away from him I mean it.” Sam shoved another bite into his mouth.

  He believed that? Daddy dearest sure didn’t seem to believe that the other night when he was smacking her around. She would sure hate to see what would happen if he didn’t believe her, she thought while she chewed hiding her annoyance. He didn’t even ask about the marks on her face. If he even remembered he could have said sorry but that wasn’t his style she supposed. If he didn’t remember, he could have at least shown some concern. Isn’t that what a typical parent would do? That’s what her mom would have done. He’s so paranoid about everything and everyone,she’s surprised he didn’t try and get a mob of town folk together with flaming torches to start a riot. Then again, that would show he cared which up until tonight, just didn’t happen.

  “Dad really, I don’t even know the guy…”

  “Damn it Emily,I’m serious! He’s dangerous. All of them things are,you don’t understand and I hope you never do.” He interrupted aggressively.

  She started to respond,but Sam didn’t notice he just kept right on talking.

  “There are forces at work in this world that are alien to you. Not everything is peaches and cream and the Brady Bunch little girl.”

  That’s funny, Emily thought. She didn’t think there was such a thing as peaches and cream in the real world. If there were dads out there like Mike Brady, then she got ripped off royally. Except didn’t Mike have an alcohol problem in real life? Also, she thought she remembered hearing something about Greg and Marsha doing it behind the scenes. Clearly even the Brady’s had drama.

  Her dad’s voice rose and regained her attention. “Will you focus?” His slur turned into great steady conviction. He slammed his fist down on the table so hard it shuddered under his blow. “There are killers in this town, probably everywhere. It’s not like in the books and movies either. What you would normally expect isn’t always the rules.”

  “Dad you’re not making any sense.” Unintentionally, her voice came out sarcastic.

  “Good. It’s time you see the truth and don’t believe in the fairytale cuzthat’s just not the way it works. I’d tell you not to go out after dark, exceptthat doesn’t seem to make a difference all the time. Not that you would listen to me anyway, you never do. I couldn’t fix things for your mom.I’ll be dead before I sit back and watch the same thinghappen twice.” He didn’t yell for once, which made him sound all business. When he mentioned Melissa, his eyes took on a distant star struck quality. It genuinely softened his features.

  Here we go, Emily thought as she gave a mental eye roll. The alcohol must have been kicking in again. No one killed her mom. She had gotten pneumonia and her body became too weak and couldn’t fight anymore. He always thought there were other factors involved. Though he had never came out and said what those factors were.

  Switching gears completely Sam said, “I got you something in town today. I had to special order it.” Sam took a little black rectangular box out of his pocket and slid it across the table. “Go on, open it.”

  Emily did as instructed. When she lifted off the lid, her mouth dropped open with an audible snap. So much actually, that she thought her chin banged on the table. In her whole life, her dad had never personally gotten her anything that would constitute as a gift. Well, there was last Christmas when he bought her a pack of socks from the thrift shop in town. Oh, and she couldn’t forget how they were repackaged in a Ziploc bag and the zip part was broken. Second hand stores in Lakeview spare no expense on their value finds,that’s for sure.

  Laying inside the box on white padding, was a necklace. It was a silver cross that appeared to have silver rope braded around the inside corners, with her birth stone in the middle. It was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. The fact that he had given it to her only made it that much prettier. She felt her eyes sting and well up with tears that threatened to spill over at any moment.

  “Thank you. I don’t know what to say. It’s beautiful.” She wiped at her eyes to catch the tears before they betrayed her. Emily worked hard to gulp down the baseball sized lump in her throat.

  Sam didn’t even seem to notice her barely contained flood of emotion. “Now Emily, I want you to wear that always. No matter what. It’s very important that you take this as the one time in your life thatyou listen to your old man.”

  Emily couldn’t remember her dad ever being religious. In fact, after her mom Melissa died he threw away their Bible. It wasn’t like he just casually dropped it in either. He threw it in with everything he had. Emily had to fish it out of the trash after he fell asleep. He had said no God would take such a wonderful woman before her time, so there must not be one. Emily’s mom always told her when someone died, it was because God needed them for a greater purpose than their work on Earth. Personally, she liked that idea much better. It helped her to know there was something bigger out there than the Hell on this Earth. She may have been angry with God when her mom died, but like with the unbearable agony of grief, that too passed.

  “Okay dad. I will I promise.” She felt she was telling the truth. The moment of generosity would never be taken for granted, no matter what his reasoning might have been. She wouldn’t ask either, she thought as she clasped it around her slender neck. The answer might not be as nice as the one made up by her imagination.

  After she was done doing the dinner dishes her cell phone chimed, signaling that she had received a text. When she flipped it open to check she saw that it was from Lucy. Big surprise, she wasn’t even going to give Emily a chance to call.

  Lucy’s text read, I’m patiently waiting for your call… NOT! Lol.

  She’s such a pain in the butt, Emily thought as she typed a message back. I’ll call in a sec, Emily replied. Shutting her phone, she grabbed the trash from under the counter. “Be back in a minute dad. I’m gonna take the trash out and get some laundry started,” Emily called to Sam.

  From the other room, the only response was a grumble. So much for the quality bonding over dinner. That moment was evidently long gone. Oh well, back to reality.

  Once in the garage, she got her phone back out and dialed Lucy’s number. Noticing the mountain of laundry that was piling up, she let out a loud exasperated groan. It would probably be a good idea to throw a load of towels in the ancient washing machine while she waited for Lucy to answer. Emily seriously detested doing laundry. If it wasn’t for the fact that it was considered unacceptable to walk around naked, she would never do it. Lord knows Sam wasn’t about to break up his trend and clean anything.

  “Finally!” Lucy’s voice sounded frantic into Emily’s ear. “So, what’s up? Spill it girl.”

  Emily wasn’t really sure where to start. “Well, I had a bit of a run in with a guy in the alley the other night and then with another guy last night.” Emily paused a moment and waited for the explosion on the other end.

  “Wait, what? Start from the beginning. What do you mean you had a run in? With who?”” Lucy didn’t wait for a response before continuing. “Em were you like mugged or something?”

  “Luce, calm d
own. I’m okay. No harm, no foul and all that. Yes I was attacked,but someone saved me.” Emily’s voice sounded strained as she bent to dig through the hamper for the rest of the towels. How on earth did her friend know to go there? Anyone else might have interpreted Emily’s words as hey I met two different guys and got their numbers. We’re going out next Saturday. Not good old Luce. She was nothing if not observant.

  “Oh my God Em! Who saved you? Did you call the cops? Oh my God!” Lucy’s words were panicked and more than a little worried.

  “Hey, just stop a minute and breathe. Hear me out, okay? Let me get it all out before the interrogation begins.” Emily started the wash and then hopped up on the machine to prepare for the onslaught of questions.

  Lucy sighed. “Okay I’m listening, no more interruptions, I promise.”

  Emily swallowed deep then went for it. “Okay, so I don’t know who attacked me. He pushed me down in the alley and it was dark,so I didn’t get a look at him. Before he could really hurt me, someone came out of nowhere and saved me. He got rid of the guy, I mean literally the bad guy disappeared and I have no idea what happened to him. I didn’t go to the cops because there’s something weird about it Luce. I mean seriously, like with the pod people. I’m not sure why, but I’m pretty sure that it’s all connected somehow. I saw more of the pod thing on the bus yesterday. There was this couple… who kinda seemed to be controlling some of them. A bunch of the passengers followed them off the bus. I tried to ask someone what was going on, but they wouldn’t answer me and then started ignoring me all together.” Emily sighed. She was relieved to divulge all the information. However, it was stressful to explain everything in such a short time.

  Lucy took the breath as an opportunity. “Wow, Em. This is some kind of Twilight Zone script or something! Are you okay? Oh, andwhat about the second attack?”

  “No I’m fine I swear. A few scrapes and bruises, but nothingpermanent.” Except for her sanity, Emily thought to herself. Absently, she hoped it wasn’t that weird voice again. It didn’t seem to be. Thinking about that voice, reminded her oddly of Sebastian. That was ridiculous. It wasn’t like he was talking to her in her mind or something else equally disturbing. That kind of stuff only happened in the movies. “Anyway,” Emily finally continued. “The other attack was a different guy I’m pretty sure. I was walking home from Wal-Mart…”

  “Why were you walking home from Wal-Mart?” Lucy interrupted angrily. “That’s a long walk back to yourhouse.”

  “I know mom, I know,” Emily responded sarcastically. “Anyway,” she continued with more emphasis. “On the way home I fell and this guy helped me up. Nice right?” Emily answered herown question. “Nope, not at all. Dude turned out to be a total creeper. Oh and Luce, here’s more of the weird part. His eyes were a bright green, but that’s not the weird part. Around the green was a ring of bright red. Seriously, like KoolAid red and when he got mad they glowed even brighter. It was freaky.”

  “Oh my god!” Lucy sounded stunned.

  Emily took a second to be utterly relieved that as usual, her friend didn’t doubt her. As crazy as the eye thing sounded, she showed no sign that she didn’t believe her. “I know right? The other thing is that he almost seemed to put me under some kind of trance thing. Seriously, I knew it was wrong, but I wanted to be near him even though not more than two minutes before, I thought he was going to kill me.”

  Before Lucy could freak Emily said, “Don’t worry, nothing happened. Something growled at him and he took off after it. I took the opportunity and got out of there as fast as I could.”

  Emily’s words sped up, as she told her story.“Like a clumsy idiot, I totally tripped over the curb and cracked my head. I passed out and somehow I ended up at home in my bed. When I was out, I had some crazy dream about this gorgeous place,where this old guy gave me advice.” She finally took a breath, it felt amazing. It usually was Lucy that talked ninety miles an hour.

  For a while there was silence until Lucy finally regained her thoughts. “Um... I don’t even know what to say.”

  “Oh, and I’ve run into the guy that saved me a few times now. His name is Sebastian and he is totally gorgeous. His eyes are deep blue like the ocean. He’s totally mysterious. I also think he knows something about the weird stuff going on around here.” Emily sighed. “He’s not really a plethora of information though. Well he might be,but he doesn’t offer any to me.” Emily blew out a big breath glad to have most of it all out in the open. “You believe me right Luce? You don’t think I’m crazy or anything right?”

  Lucy laughed. “Of course I think you’re crazy. I still believe you. I know you wouldn’t screw with me when it comes to paranormal stuff. You would never tease me like that. That would be cruel.”

  “Paranormal stuff?” Emily a sked confused by the reference.

  “Well yeah, paranormal stuff,” Lucy replied. Her tone added in an unspoken but clearly evident, duh. “Think about it. People disappearing and showing up out of nowhere? Eyes outlined with bright ass red? Trance like states…” Lucy ticked down the list, supporting the theory.

  “Emily!” Sam’s booming voice called from somewhere near the house.

  “Ugh,” Emily sighed. “Sorry Luce gotta cut this short. Sam’s looking for me,” she apologized regretfully.

  “No problem. Don’t worry Em,I’m on the case. I’ll do some research on this. Be careful okay?”

  “Emily!” Sam’s voice was getting much louder and more insistent.

  “Crap! He’s yelling again. K Luce I’ll be careful. Gotta go, bye.” Emily quickly hung up the phone and hopped off the washer. “Coming dad!” Emily yelled, hopefully keeping him from releasing the search dogs. It would make things so much easier if their house had a garage that was attached to the house.

  By the time she returned inside the house, Sam had retaken his usual position on the couch in front of the television. Their eyes met, and then his returned to the game that was on. Well alright then, he apparently was just checking to see that she hadn’t run off and joined the circus or something. Whatever.

  Later on that night after her blissful shower, Emily lay wide awake in bed. She couldn’t help but think about her father’s gift. She clutched the cross that hung just below her collar bone while she thought about the day, and what a weird day it was.Sam’s gift was a gesture that she would have never expected in a million years. Even when he wasn’t being impossible, he could never be considered the sentimental type. No matter what his motives were, the thought was totally sweet.

  Before she knew it, her mind drifted yet again to Sebastian. His drop dead gorgeous face kept sneaking passed herself made wall like it was nothing. She didn’t want to think about him. He kind of seemed like a jerk. Plus, for whatever reason her dad seemed quite adamant about his distaste for him. In Sebastian’s defense, who knew if she could take what her father said seriously. He was kind of crazy most days and it might just be that he was afraid of his little girl getting deflowered. Whether he liked her or not,that is every dad’s nightmare.

  The flower metaphor never really made sense to her. It was a known freaking fact with evidence and everything that there were no flowers in the female anatomy.Why can’t people just call things what they were? She wasn’t condoning vulgarity by any means. It was just incomprehensible why people couldn’t use technical terms at least.

  She couldn’t believe Sam with his not wanting her to go out after dark business. What was that? Does he think girls only date at night? Things aren’t how they used to be. Even if they were, she wasn’t dating anyone anyway. It had never been a priority. Sure she has thought guys were cute, hot even. Regardless, the superficial didn’t matter much in the big scheme of things. Soon she would be leaving, so attachments would have to be severed anyway. She didn’t plan on coming back once she got out of Lakeview’s wretched clutches.

  It wasn’t like she had a model example to follow. Her parents had been sublimely happy.In the end it didn’t matter, look at what her mo
ther’s death had done to Sam. Going through something like that would be unbearably horrendous to say the least. And she would never bring kids into this world for fear their daddy might someday turn out to be like hers. She loved Sam but she refused to marry a carbon copy. If it ever came to that, becoming a Nun would be a much more viable choice.

  As her hands massaged the braids on the cross a light clicked on in her brain like a camera’s flashbulb. Pieces of the terrifying puzzle seemed to be falling into place right before her eyes. Her mind became a dizzying blur of thoughts that were almost indecipherable. Her dad bought her a silver cross. He didn’t want her to go out at night because there were things out there she apparently wouldn’t understand. Sebastian knew way too much and it seemedimpossible. She didn’t really know exactly how that fit in, but somehow she just knew it did. The man that tried talking to her on the sidewalk, under the street light had that red glow thing going on… OH MY GOSH! Her mind suddenly exploded.

  In the dream, that Alexander guy who had told her that there was danger when ruby bordered emeralds. That man’s eyes were green and when he got angry, she swore that the red in them was real. There was no way it was just a weird reflection of the light. Sebastian’s eyes were blue and so were Alexander’s. She thought that meant something too but what? Sebastian could somehow disappear or at least run really fast. He avoided talking with her and was vague and mysterious.

  Emily’s mind spiraled out of control, working fiercely to make some sort of connection, when it hit her with a jolt. Holy Hell! Was her dad trying to tell her there really is such thing as…? No that can’t be possible, it goes against everything she believed in. Emily couldn’t bring herself to even think the word. It was just crazy. The people in town must be right about her father. They all think he’s crazy. Melissa’s death knocked him off his rocker, that was the way most of them put it.