Golden Blood (10 page)

“Feeling better?”

She looked at him with a tired smile. “Yeah,
thanks for helping me out.”

Harrison’s eyes narrowed.

“Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Mm-hmm.” She nodded. “Just a bad day, that’s
all.”

Harrison gripped the steering wheel. “Sorry
if I made it worse.”

“You could never make my day worse,” Gemma
whispered.

Her blush sent fireworks down Harrison’s
spine.

“Here.” He leaned towards his stereo. “I’ve
got the perfect remedy.”

He watched Gemma’s lips rise slightly at the
edges as he fiddled with his iPod. Soon soft piano music was
filling the car. Leaning back against the headrest, he let a
satisfied sigh escape his lips.

“What is this?” Gemma said.

“My mother’s cure for the blues.”

“It’s beautiful. Who is it?”

“A composer from the early 19
^th
Century. She was…”

“A woman?”

“Yeah.” Harrison smiled. “I know, but it
wasn’t like she was famous back then. Her compositions were
discovered about fifty years ago in an old manor house near
Cambridge, England. But that’s not the best part. She has the most
amazing story.”

“Why? What happened to her?” Gemma swiveled
to face him.

“Well, according to her diary entries, she
was rescued by an angel during the French Revolution.”

“An angel?”

His eyebrows puckered as he watched the blood
drain from Gemma’s face.

“That’s what she claims. See, she was a
little girl in France in the late seventeen hundreds. Not only were
her family wealthy, but they had also been harboring some
clergymen. They helped the men escape, but left it too late for
themselves. Her father had already been executed and it was only a
matter of time before she and her mother got the chop. Apparently
the mob had been coming when she said an angel appeared and carried
her to safety, hiding her in the hollow of a tree trunk.”

“What happened to her after that?” Gemma
whispered.

“Well, her mother found her that night and
they managed to escape to England. She vowed to spend the rest of
her life honoring God for sending her this guardian angel. She did
it through her music.”

Gemma leaned back against her seat, a soft
smile creasing her lips. “What was her name?”

“Emilie Clayton. She married Lord Robert
Clayton. Like everyone else I know, he fell in love with her
music.”

Gemma’s eyes held a warm glow as she looked
at him. All the sadness and tension from moments before had
vanished.

“What?”

“That’s a really nice story, Harrison. Really
nice.”

She closed her eyes. His gaze traveled over
the plains of her skin and he saw the mark on her collarbone
appear. The phenomenon made his insides quake, but he knew he
couldn’t ask her about it. He watched the star shape mark burn a
passionate red, before fading again as her body relaxed.

In an attempt to dispel his disquiet, he
reached for the icepack she was holding. He needed something else
to focus on.

“Here let me have a look at that.”

Taking the pack from her before she could
object, the uneasy fire stirring in his gut accelerated as if
someone had doused his insides with gasoline.

“What?”

Whipping off the stitches, he ran his finger
over the hairline scar that now lay where her gash had been. Her
skin was no longer purple and the only evidence of her recent wound
was a little dried blood in her hair.

“How did…? Where did it go?”

Gemma’s shoulders stiffened. She brushed his
hand away and covered her scar. “I’m a fast healer.”

“Fast? Gemma, I’m a fast healer, okay? You’re
just… All you’re giving me is fast? You have a scar now! The kind
of scar that takes days, sometimes weeks, to appear! What happened
to the bruising?”

She closed her eyes and turned her head away.
“What do you want me to say, Harrison?”

“The truth would be nice.”

“I can’t tell you that!”

His heart thudded in his chest as he watched
her struggle, but he couldn’t let this go.

“Gemma…” He licked his lips.

“Please don’t, Harrison. I’m not allowed to
say anything.”

“Why? Are you an alien or something?”

“This isn’t Roswell.” She huffed and looked
out the window. “Just accept that there’s things you’ll never know
about me.”

“I’ve been trying, but I want to know
everything about you… and I want you to know everything about me! I
feel like we could have something awesome if you were just willing
to bend a few rules.”

Her eyes were fiery when she turned back to
face him. “I am
breaking
the rules for you! Do you have any
idea what my parents would do if they found out I was sitting in
your car right now? What more do you want from me?”

“I want you to trust me with the truth!”

“You don’t know what you’re asking! I can’t,
okay?”

Harrison’s anger spurted to life as he
started the engine and reversed.

“You know you’re not the only one putting
yourself on the line here. Do
you
have any idea how much
flak I’m getting just for talking to you?”

The fact he didn’t really care was hardly
relevant. He accelerated onto the road.

“The least you could give me are a couple of
reasons why you’re such a secretive freak.”

“I’m sorry I can’t give you what you want,
but you either take me as I am or you don’t take me at all.”

“You know it would be a hell of a lot easier
not to take you, but I can’t stop thinking about you or wanting to
be with you! Ever since that day we touched… I… it’s like you’ve
cursed me!”

Gemma flinched. His words were an invisible
blow that left her looking bruised and aching. Harrison glanced at
her, hating himself.

“I didn’t mean-”

“Stop the car.”

“No, I’ll take you back to school.”

“I don’t want you to.”

He knew he could probably spend the next ten
minutes arguing with her. By then he’d be pulling into school
anyway, but his foot pressed the brake and he pulled to the side of
the road.

“Gemma, I’m sor-”

The door slammed shut behind her. She hitched
her bag higher onto her shoulder and began a fast paced walk up the
street that soon turned into a run. Closing his eyes, he banged his
head against the steering wheel.

“Granger, you are such a JERK!”

Chapter Nine

Ponte Vedra Beach,
Florida - 2011AD

Gemma took the long route home hoping her
tears would dry up by the time she pulled into the garage. It
didn’t work. She took off her helmet and wiped her blotchy
cheeks.

Shaking her head, she slammed her helmet down
on the seat and sniffed.

“Put a curse on him? So I’m a witch.”
Wrestling the bag off her shoulders, she unzipped her leather
jacket and threw it over the handlebars. “Or better yet, an
alien!”

“Who are you talking to?”

Gemma whipped around, blushed red and focused
on the tires of her mother’s BMW. “Just myself.”

“Have you been crying?”

Her head shaking turned into a nod.

“I sensed you weren’t being entirely honest
on the phone. You should have let me come and get you.” Her mother
clipped down the concrete stairs and wove around the cars to her.
“By the look of your puffy eyes it must have been a painful
afternoon.”

“You could say that.” Gemma kept her gaze on
the tires not willing to risk eye contact. Who cared about some
little scratch. It wasn’t her head that was hurting!

“Let me have a look at it.” Penelope brushed
back Gemma’s hair with a soft hand and ran a finger over the scar.
“It’s healed nicely.”

“Yep.” Gemma nodded and forced a smile.

Her mother pulled her into a tight hug. “I’m
just glad you’re okay.” She rubbed Gemma’s back then stepped away
with a smile. “Come in and get washed up. You know how much your
father hates tears.”

Gemma snorted. In spite of the fact he had
left the army years ago, he would remain a hardheaded soldier. With
a nod, Gemma followed orders and was sitting at the dining table
five minutes later. The air was thick with tension, something Gemma
had forgotten to take into account having been distracted by
Harrison.

Dom sat straight backed in his chair, looking
defensive. Ruby was slumped in her chair, studying her nails. Gemma
caught her eye and silently asked what was wrong. Ruby rolled her
eyes and shook her head.

Somehow they all knew Dom’s decision across
the line would have consequences.

Licking her lips, Gemma glanced at her
father. His steely expression softened when he caught her eye then
went hard again.

“You didn’t check in,” he said.

“I -”

“You must always check in no matter what your
state, otherwise we assume the worst.”

“I’m sorry, I just -”

“Your mother had to call twice before she got
through.”

“My phone was buried in my bag. I didn’t hear
-”

“I had Dom and Ruby combing the school for
you.”

“Which was a total waste of time.” Ruby
mumbled then looked at Gemma with a frown. “Where were you?”

Gemma’s heart began to pound like a
jackhammer. She cleared the lump in her throat. “I hid out in the
bathroom until the blood stopped, then went to the library.”

“We must have missed each other.” Ruby
shrugged and eased Gemma’s fears with a smile. “You did the right
thing. It would have sucked if someone saw you.”

“Yeah, totally.” Gemma cut off her nervous
laugh and scanned the faces of her family. She was surprised they
couldn’t feel the vibrations of her heartbeat. Thankfully everyone
seemed to be caught up in the brewing storm.

She glanced at her father. His grim face was
aimed at Dom. “What the hell went wrong today?”

Dom shuffled in his seat. “Like I said
before, we didn’t have any other choice. Gemma’s the fastest. I
knew she could get out with the girl. We wouldn’t have stood a
chance if we hadn’t separated.”

“You NEVER leave her!” Alistair slapped the
table and jumped up. Burying his hands in his pockets, he paced
away from the table. “I’ve put rules in place for a reason. We need
to protect each other and we can’t do that alone. Do you have any
idea what it would have done to your mother and I if we lost
her?”

“Or any of you,” Penelope added swiftly.

“Dad, I was fine.” Gemma kept her voice soft.
“You didn’t need to abort early. I could have made it.”

“I’m not willing to put you in that kind of
danger. As it was, you were injured! What if you hadn’t made it?
Your body doesn’t start healing until you return, Gemma. If I
hadn’t aborted when I did, your head may still be bleeding
now!”

“You three come before anyone else.” Penelope
leaned forward. “As soon as a mission goes bad, we always abort.
When Dom and Ruby arrived without you, Gemma, we had no other
choice.”

“You guys need to trust us.” Dom clenched his
fists. “You practically make us sweat blood during training. We
know how to handle ourselves. If anything, Gemma is the most
capable of us all. I know I took a risk today, but it was a
calculated one.”

“You put Gemma’s life in danger.” Alistair
snarled as he leaned towards his son.

“You were the one that sent us back at the
wrong time, Dad. Are you going to take any responsibility for
this?”

A ferocious roar shattered the air as
Alistair came towards his son with a raised hand. Dom jumped up to
block it, but there was no need. Gemma’s father froze, his eyes
wide with mortification as he slowly lowered his hand.

Every face at the table stared in stunned
silence; the only sound was the heavy breathing of her father.
Gemma had never seen him lose control before. Dom stood his ground,
disbelief scarring his expression. Gemma had a split second thought
that maybe there was more to this error than her parents were
willing to say.

Her father’s voice shook, “I’m sorry,
Dominic. I…” He sighed. “You’re right. I am partly to blame and I’m
very angry with myself. I can’t lose you guys.” He ran a shaky hand
through his grey speckled curls. “This can’t happen again, you
understand me? When we cross that line you do as I say and nothing
else.”

Dom kept his subdued gaze steady as he
answered his father. “Yes, sir.”

Without another word, Alistair engulfed his
son in a bear hug. The tension in the room ebbed as Penelope stood
from her seat and joined her men, Ruby followed and finally Gemma
stood to entwine herself in the family embrace.

She could hear Ruby sniffing and almost felt
bad for not wanting to cry herself, but she couldn’t. This embrace
was only a reminder of what she belonged to. The arms around her
felt like manacles. She could see her life stretching out before
her, one mission after the next, each one dictated by her father,
each one a secret. There would never be room for her own decisions.
There would never be room for love.

Her eyes welled with tears. She sniffed and
felt the arms around her tighten.

Chapter Ten

St. Augustine, Florida
- 2011AD

It had been three days since the incident in
the car. Harrison was going insane through lack of sleep and total
frustration that Gemma was nowhere to be found. He’d spent most of
Tuesday scanning the school for her. Apparently she had been there,
but in none of her usual places. He found out on Wednesday morning
that she’d actually gone to the nurse during History.

She was avoiding him and doing an expert job
at it. By Thursday lunchtime he was ready to tear his hair out.
Having refined his apology speech, he didn’t think he could go
another day without delivering it.

Heading to the library for the third
lunchtime in a row, he planned to wait by the door. Surely her old
pattern would resume eventually. He spotted Courtney on his way and
she gave him a sympathetic smile.