Emily (6 page)

Not touching Applejacks this time, Emily concentrated on the boot and within seconds it popped away. Emily fell to her knees; the exhaustion was instant. Applejacks pushed his head against her back, propping her up and within seconds his energy flowed into her and she could stand again.

Vladimir had rushed to Emily. ‘How are you feeling? Your skin is cold.’ His face showed his concern for her.

‘
I’m okay,’ Emily responded. With Applejacks’ touch she was instantly better. ‘
Applejacks, how are you my friend?
’

‘
I am cold, I did not feel this when you moved the boot while touching me,’ he thought to them.

Eric asked Applejacks out loud,
‘Did you feel tired when Emily moved the boot without touching you?’ He indicated no with his head. ‘
I just felt cold
.’

‘
I want to try moving us but only if you want to,’ she said to Applejacks. Applejacks snorted his approval and Emily asked Eric to give her a leg up onto Applejacks’ back. Vladimir and Eric were now looking very uneasy.

‘
Emily, are you sure you want to do this now?’ Vladimir’s voice was tight.

Eric added,
‘There’s no rush for us to work all of this out right now.’

Emily smiled and replied to the men
‘When is now a good time? That phase had been a favourite of her Fathers’.

Leaning down she kissed Vladimir on the lips and reached her hand out to Eric, who opened her hand and kissed her palm. The men stood back and with a loud popping sound Emily and Applejacks were gone. Not knowing where she had chosen to go, the men just stood there for five then ten seconds. Vladimir could feel the panic rising in him, where was she?

Suddenly they were back, both breathing heavily. Vladimir and Eric rushed to them and found that Emily and Applejacks’ skin was as ice cold.

‘
Applejacks, are you okay?’ Emily gasped, she felt close to passing out.

All Applejacks could do was snort his response as the air rushed into his lungs. As Emily slipped off Applejacks, Vladimir caught her and wrapped his arms around her. She welcomed his heat. Eric had picked up his shirt and was rubbing Applejacks, trying to get the heat back into his body.

‘What happened, where did you go?’ Eric asked. Applejacks’ body was trembling from the cold.

‘
I don’t know where we were,’ Emily replied. ‘There was no air and it was so cold.’

‘
We went between,’ Applejacks thought. ‘It is the space we rest in before we move to another place.’

‘
Why did you stop there?’ Vladimir asked.

‘
It was me,’ Emily cried ‘I lost focus and wondered how we moved, I stopped thinking about where we were going. Oh, Applejacks, I nearly got us killed!’

‘
We are here
,’ was Applejacks’ only reply.

‘
This is enough for today,’ Vladimir told the group in a tone that brooked no resistance. ‘We will take this up at another time.’

He carried Emily to the house and wouldn
’t put her down until he had reached their big bed. He lay down besides her, allowing the heat from his body to warm her while he thought about what they had done in the barn.

Over the next week the men practised changing into wolves by taking long runs around the farm with Emily joining them riding Applejacks. And Emily practised sending objects, although she didn
’t try to transport herself and Applejacks again. She found that, while she could send items without touching Applejacks, the level of exhaustion didn’t improve with practice. With Applejacks she found she could move objects the size of a small car without difficulty, but she was now very careful to always take a moment to visualise the exact spot she was sending it to, because if she was not clear about where the object was to go, it disappeared for good.

They had also set about reinforcing the spare room in the barn as Vladimir insisted that he and Eric be put in it during the next full moon. Emily had reluctantly agreed not to join them until the full moon had passed; she could watch them through the window. They filled the room with straw and bolted a water and food trough to the wall.

* * *

On the day of the full moon both men were distracted. The night before Emily had made a connection with the men and had kept it
open, wanting to experience what was going on for them during the full moon. The cats had left the house early; they could sense something was up and Rumour became timid every time one of the men walked by her. Emily too could sense the violence coming to the surface and how Vladimir and Eric struggled to suppress it.

They both had a large meal for lunch; Emily had never seen them eat so much. Eric barely seared the outside of the steaks so that the meat was still very bloody. Emily found she couldn
’t watch them eat, so she went outside until they were finished.

Late in the afternoon Vladimir suddenly rose and gestured for Eric to come.
‘We need to go to the barn now.’ Their faces were flushed and they were breathing fast and, as they entered the barn, both men started ripping their clothes off. Vladimir’s skin had a grey tinge to it while Eric’s skin had become paler. Sensing that they were close to losing control, they shut the door to the room, instantly morphing into their wolf shapes, snarling and snapping at each other.

Emily
’s connection with the men was now muddy and confused, it was not the same as when they trained in their wolf forms.
Why?
Emily wondered.
What is going on for them?

All through the first night they paced the small room, unsettled and aggressive, and Emily was distressed that she could not communicate clearly with them. As the next day progressed, Vladimir and Eric settled down and the connection started to get clearer and stronger. She sent them thoughts of love and peace, which they both responded to. On the second night she could talk to the pair, their connection almost as clear as it had been during the training sessions. But she could still sense an underlying violence in them both; they were hungry for blood.

On the third night Emily decided to sleep in her bed. The bond with Vladimir and Eric was clear but she respected Vladimir’s request not to open the door to their room until the following morning. As she walked back to the farmhouse, Rumour met her along the trail. The bitch was upset and when Emily arrived at the house she saw a large, dark grey Hummer sitting in the driveway. A large man appeared from the vehicle. He was tall and heavily muscled, his hair was dark and he was well dressed, but his good looks radiated meanness tinged with cruelty.

‘
Hello there young lady, my name is Roy Cartier, I have come for my dog.’ He spoke softly but his tone was menacing and she knew that this was a man who got his own way.

Rumour
’s hackles were up and she snarled at Roy. Taking a step back, Emily connected to Rumour and instructed the dog to run away and hide, but she had to tell her three times before Rumour finally turned and ran off into the dark night.

Trying to sound confident Emily told Roy,
‘She doesn’t want to go back to you. I would be happy to pay you for her.’

‘
I would be interested in hearing your proposal.’ Roy answered mildly.

Reluctantly, Emily invited Roy into the house. Alarm bells were going off in her head but the need to protect Rumour was strong, and if she could settle the matter tonight it would seal Rumour
’s fate. She brewed coffee for Roy and herself and thought about the $200,000 cash that Vladimir kept in a safe. The amount had seemed excessive to her but Vladimir had told her it was emergency money, to be used if needed. She would try to settle on a price and pay Roy tonight.

As she brought the coffee to Roy he took a moment to look at her.
‘I work for an international organisation, we are looking for people like you.’

‘
People like me?’ Emily replied. ‘What do you mean?’

‘
I had heard of your ability with animals and sent the bitch to you as a test.’ Roy’s smile almost looked genuine.

Confused Emily took a step back.
‘So Rumour doesn’t belong to you?’

‘
Yes she does, she’s from my breeding farm. I sell her puppies to people all over the world. But with her becoming unstable I almost had her destroyed, until I heard of your talent from one of my men; it seemed like a good test.’

‘
A test!’ Emily was horrified and seeing the look on her face, Roy realised that Emily would not join their team willingly. Looking around the room he noticed the painting above the fireplace.

‘
What a beautiful painting,’ he said, excitement showing on his face. ‘Who are the men with you? Are their images captured as accurately as your own?’ Emily pointed to a small silver framed photo on the bookcase of Vladimir, Eric and herself.

‘
See for yourself. They are the men that I live with. This one is Vladimir and Eric is the artist who painted the picture.’

‘
You know,’ Roy added after looking closely at the picture, ‘Vladimir looks like a man I know in Europe, he could almost be his twin.’

Suddenly Emily was compromised. While Vladimir had never asked her to guard his past she understood his desire for privacy.

‘He has no family alive,’ she told Roy and then changing the subject, ‘I would like to resolve Rumour’s future. She doesn’t want to go back with you, she’ll just become aggressive and dangerous if she does.’

‘
Then perhaps we should put her down,’ Roy responded with a menacing look, his manner had turned cold. Emily paused trying to think of what would sway this man.

‘
She would thrive in this environment. She’s already displayed affection and her body condition has begun to improve.’

Suddenly Roy dropped the mask of civility and his face contorted with cruelty.

‘You know, I didn’t expect that you would be so beautiful. If you want to keep the dog I will allow that my dear, but you will have to pay the price I want for her.’

Emily
’s heart was pounding.
No
, she thought,
this is not happening
. She began to back away when suddenly Roy pounced on her. He grabbed her arms and pulled her body against his. His anger was now tinged with lust and his fingers bit into her arms.

Emily cried out in pain.
‘I’ll give you whatever money you want for her,’ she offered, she could tell that he was enjoying hurting her.

‘
I have no need of money,’ he sneered as he pushed his face close to hers, then he picked her up and slammed her onto the table. Emily hit her head hard on a large solid vase and her head became foggy. It became hard to concentrate and she couldn’t focus enough to teleport herself away.

Roy pinned her down with one arm and pulled a knife from his coat. He cut her T-shirt away to reveal her breasts. He ran the blade lightly down from her chest to the waist of her jeans and started to cut her pants off. Emily had stopped struggling, still stunned from banging her head and in shock at the unexpected attack. Suddenly Roy was pulled away from her. Applejacks had come into the house and grabbed Roy
’s jacket with his teeth, yanking him off Emily.

Surprised at being manhandled by a horse, Roy regained his balance and moved behind the couch where Applejacks couldn
’t get to him. But now the cats were in place and both the female cats jumped, biting and scratching at his face, while the tomcats wound themselves around his feet, causing Roy to lose his balance. Suddenly a snarling Rumour was there and Roy knew he was outmatched and needed to get out of there. Picking up a chair he threw it at Rumour hitting her squarely on the head, dazing her momentarily.

Escaping to his Hummer and as he jumped in he screamed,
‘Bitch, I’ll be back,’ and he roared off down the driveway, tyres screeching. The silence that followed was surreal.

Applejacks pushed his head under Emily
’s arm and helped her to a chair.

‘
You need to get help
,’ Applejacks thought to Emily.

‘
I know,’ Emily replied and asked Rumour to get Vladimir’s mobile phone from the bench in the kitchen. She also got Rumour to pull a shirt out of the clothes hamper for her. Within fifteen minutes of dialling David’s number he had arrived. Seeing the bruises on her arms and face, David was shocked.

‘
My God Emily! What happen to you? Where are Vladimir and Eric?’

Emily was feeling very sleepy and she murmured,
‘They’re away, I just fell.’

‘
Emily, I’m no fool. I can see that you’ve been attacked by someone, your arms have handprint bruises on them.’ But David was gentle with her, he could see she was in shock.

Emily spoke softly,
‘What do you think Vladimir and Eric would do if they found out?’ He was silent as he finished checking Emily’s head. It upset him deeply that someone had been so violent with her. In all the years he had known Emily her gentleness had been like an armour and he wanted to protect her from the world. And now, seeing Emily’s eyes, he hated the hurt and confusion that he saw there.

‘
He said his name was Roy Cartier, he was after Rumour,’ Emily’s voice trembled.

David
’s concern for Emily intensified. ‘Roy Cartier! My God Emily, he’s real bad trouble. He has more money than just about anyone in this country and there are stories that he runs guns and mercenaries in Eastern Europe. Give him the dog back Em, because if he wants to he will destroy you.’

‘
I can’t,’ Emily cried. ‘Rumour doesn’t deserve to go back to such a monster.’

Kneeling in front of Emily, David took both her hands in his and said,
‘When I was finishing my veterinarian degree a friend of mine, Debbie, got a job working for Roy. At first she loved it, then one day I got a message on my phone from Deb. She was crying and said she needed to see me. That was the last time I heard from her and she was never seen again by anyone. I went to the police but they told me to drop it; this man has powerful friends.’

Emily started to
shake, the night’s events had affected her to the core. She was so tired and scared and just wanted to be with Vladimir and Eric. The tears were a release from the horror of the attack and David helped Emily to bed, propping her head up against a pillow. He was worried that she might have a concussion so he sat next to her for the rest of the night. Rumour lay on the floor and all five cats cocooned themselves around Emily to provide what comfort they could, while Applejacks waited outside the door in case Roy came back.

In the morning, Emily sent David to feed the animals but before he went home, she had to promise him that Vladimir and Eric were returning that day. After David had gone, Emily slowly walked to the barn. In the room both men had morphed back and were waiting for her to open the door.

The moment the door opened Vladimir ran to Emily ‘My God Emily, did we do that to you?’

‘
No my love, I didn’t open the door,’ Emily’s voice was shaking, her body was still so sore and her head was pounding. Eric came over to Emily and both men inspected her injuries.

Vladimir was gentle with his touch and he asked her softly
‘Who did this to you?’

For a second Emily was almost lulled into telling him before she remembered her conversation with David. Both men would want revenge and while Emily was sure that they could handle themselves against Roy Cartier, he was ruthless and she didn
’t want any blood to run because of her.

Emily pulled away from the men and for the first time in their relationship she lied to them both.
‘I don’t know who did this to me, I didn’t see him.’

Eric asked softly,
‘Emily were you raped?’

‘
No. Applejacks and the cats saved me and then Rumour forced the man outside. I don’t think he’ll be back,’ Emily replied, wishing that the last bit was true.

‘
Maybe Applejacks could identify who it was,’ Vladimir suggested.

Emily could see he was not going to let the matter rest.
‘I already asked him and he doesn’t know.’

‘
Sometimes it just takes time to remember the details, did you call the police?’ Vladimir’s was almost undeniable in his intensity and while he was soft with her, he expected straight answers, answer she was not willing to give.