Forbidden Embrace (7 page)

“
Hey there bro, nice to see you,” Matt says. I hear their hands slap together and whoosh through the air as he shakes hands with Nathanial.

I’ve learned to control my hearing, but when I allow myself to listen I can hear the slightest movement. I can hear both the sound of their hands clapping as they grip and a swooshing sound as they move their clasped hands though the air. To anyone else they might just hear a light clap, but to me it sounds like thunder clapping and a tidal wave approaching land. My hearing can come in handy at times, but without the ability to control it, one could go insane.

“
Hey, how are you doing?” Nathanial asks.

“
Good, Good! Are you and Sophia hanging out with us today?”

“
Yeah, that’s the plan. We figure we could all just hang here and chat. We have the place to ourselves.” Nathanial is beginning to prep Matt for our discussion.

The boys come to join us in the family room, and Matt opens his arms to Ebony. They embrace each other as if it has been a year since they last saw one another. I can tell Ebony is holding him like she thinks it will be the last time he’ll hold her in his arms.

“
What’s wrong Eb? You seem a little down,” Matt observes.

“
We just need to talk,” she sighs. “I have something to tell you, and I am not sure how you’ll handle it.”

“
Are you breaking up with me?” he asks with concern, reaching out to hold her hand.

“
NO!” she exclaims. “You know how I feel about you. I need to talk to you about my family and our history,”

“
Okay, well go on. There is nothing that you can say or do to change your family history, I care for you now, your family can’t affect how I feel. Whatever you have to tell me about your family is not going to alter who you are, so I don’t see how anything will change between us.”

“
But that is just it; this changes everything about me, about who I am,” she tilts her head up slightly to look in his eyes. “Okay, well let’s all sit down. Sophia knows everything, but we want Nate to hear the details too. He knows the basics already. It all involves Sophia as well,” Ebony begins to explain.

“
I thought you two just met?” Matt asks.

“
We did. But our families have a history,” she confirms.

“
Are you two related?”

“
No. But I’ll explain everything” she insists.

Listening to everything happening, I walk in to the kitchen to get drinks for everyone, and then take my seat next to Nathanial after ensuring everyone has a beverage. “Okay, now that everyone is here I’ll begin, Sophia please jump in at any time,” Ebony suggests, almost pleading with a shaky voice.

“
Only if you need me too…this is your story,” I reply.

“
I really don’t know where to begin,” Ebony admits as she nervously twirls her hair between her fingers.

“
Just start at the beginning and don’t be so nervous,” Matt encourages.

Ebony switches from twirling her hair to fiddling with the necklace she is wearing as she sits at the head of the family room across from Matt. I don’t ever remember seeing anyone this nervous before, and then I remember when I told Nathanial about my secret, and realize I know exactly how she feels.

“
Well I guess a brief history on my family is in order. My family originated in Salem many years ago. My ancestors were
witches
here in the 1600’s. In the early 1900’s my great grandmother was one of the most powerful
witches
around, along with my Grams who was just a young girl at the time. The two of them would help the immortals in need; ones that had kind souls and meant no harm to the mortals. These immortals are called
vampires
.” She pauses to gauge Matt’s reaction.

He is extremely calm and only trying to see Nathanial’s and my reaction, to his surprise we are equally as calm and just watching him.

Ebony continues, “When my sister and I were born it was a magical event within the community; two
witches
from a strong family heritage of powerful
witches
. When I turned sixteen, I began to notice changes within myself. I would think of something and it would slowly move toward me. I realized I am telekinetic; I can move things with my mind. My sister has powers too. Now that we are both of age within the
witch
community, we are considered The Magnificent Ones, the most powerful of all
witches
in the world. That is what happened that day at school with Mel, when the two of us were arguing by the lockers and everything flew open.” She stops again to see how Matt is handling the new information. “You seem so calm, is everything okay?” she questions.

“
Honestly, I am just trying not to laugh,” he replies.

“
What? This is no joke!”

“
No…no, that’s not what I mean. I am all too familiar with the supernatural. I believe you…I have even heard of you and your sister. I just never knew it was you,”
h
e explains. “I guess I should have figured it out that day at school with Mel. I realized then you had powers, I just never put the pieces together. I mean, I assumed you were a
witch
, but you being one of The Magnificent Ones never crossed my mind.”

“
Really? What do you mean by familiar?” Ebony asks.

“
Well, let’s just say I have a family history too,” Matt smiles.

“
Okay…I guess I’ll explain a little more and then you can explain to me?” Ebony suggests.

“
Sounds good to me,” Matt agrees.

“
I really only found out about this around the same time as my incident with Mel–before that I thought it was nothing more than stories. Since then I’ve been working to improve my skills and powers. I have been learning spells and how to make potions. My sister and I are getting pretty good at it too,” she boasts with a hint of pride.

“
Now you say you are familiar with the supernatural, but is it just
witches
or do you know about other supernatural forces as well?” Ebony wonders.

He replies with a smirk on his face, “Well let’s just say that not too much would surprise me.”

“
Okay, well do you believe in
vampires
? Because I happen to know for a fact, that they do exist.”

“
I’m aware of them, but don’t have much extra information on them. What I know is not much more than what you can get off the Internet,” he admits.

“
Okay, well then I guess I can continue,” Ebony says, still shaking with nervousness.

“
Now some of the other things that have been happening in Wenham are that
vampires
have returned; the ones that are here are kind, good spirited and feed only on animals or donated blood. The bad news is that the evil
vampires
are heading this way; they believe that our area is rich in powers, and they are right. This is creating an inevitable supernatural war. The evil
vampires
that are called the ‘Cerberus’ should arrive here in days, and the leaders of the civilized
vampires
, the ‘Renata’, are tracking them here,” she tries to explain.

“
How is it you know so much about
vampires
? Is it because of your family history?” Matt inquires.

“
Sort of–the reason I know so much is because I know the
vampires
that live here,” she confesses.

“
Who? Do I know them?” he asks.

“
May I interrupt?” I request.

“
Please do,” Ebony insists, with a sense of relief.

“
It’s not safe for mortals to know about
vampires
. Only a few know they really exist and those are only the most trust worthy people. With that said, the
vampires
she is referring to are my family. All eight of us are
vampires
. We have not harmed humans in over 80 years. It’s been difficult at times, but we all help one another to stay true to our beliefs,” I confess as Nathanial holds my hand supportively.

“
Okay…and Nate, you know all this?” Matt asks, surprised by this revelation.

“
I do, I know everything. Sophia saved my life the day of the attack in the park. If it was not for her healing me, I would be dead. Her family’s like heroes to me,” Nathanial declares.

“
I understand your family is very amazing. I assume you will all be involved in this war with the Cerberus?” Matt seems to be sucking up; I can sense his heart rate increasing with the new revelation.

“
First off, Matt I don’t want you to worry; we are still the same people you have hung out with for months, just with a little history. Even if you can’t accept this, you are safe. We only ask that you keep this a secret. Secondly, my family will be the main players in the war. With Ebony and her family, we should be successful,” I explain.

“
Not a problem; I think we all have secrets in this room that will need to be kept. Maybe it’s time for me to share mine. Maybe then you will be able to calm down Ebony.” Matt goes to sit next to her and holds her hand.

“
Sure, but I bet it’s not as surprising as mine or Sophia’s news,” Ebony nervously laughs.

“
I’ll take that bet,” he chuckles. “Well, just as your families have history, mine does as well. The thing is, Ebony, it ties in with yours. Have you learned about ‘
guardians
’ yet?” Matt asks.

“
Yeah, a little bit. A
guardian
is kind of
angel
that helps and leads
witches
to protect mortals from evil,” Ebony shares.

“
Yeah that’s right. But did you know that they are chosen even before death, actually from the day they are born if not before?
Guardians
are trained and prepared for their afterlife. It is similar to
witches
–you are born to it and it is passed down through the generations.”

“
No, that I didn’t know.” Ebony seems surprised that Matt knows so much about
guardians
; she sits and listens intently with her deep brown eyes wide on Matt.

“
The reason I know this is because my great grandfather was a
guardian
, and he has now joined The Great Ones. I’m also chosen to be one. I’ve been training from a young age, learning the history of
witches
,
guardians
and all, or at least most, things supernatural. I’ll have powers once I join the others in the afterlife. I’ll be able to heal just like I assume Sophia can, and I have been learning about how to transport myself through time and space, called astral crossing or projection…it’s pretty cool. Anything I do once I become a
guardian
–
everything
I do–must be for the greater good of man, or I will lose all powers and memories related to being a
guardian
,” he explains.

This is cool, now we have even more help and complete honesty within our circle.

“
Okay, let me get this straight. I’m the only one with no special story, no powers...,” Nathanial begins to rant.

“
Nate, have you ever noticed how most people confide in you, how people can’t keep things from you?” Matt questions.

Ebony and I share a glance and chuckle at the comment.

“
I guess so…that’s just ‘cause I am too nice to tell them I’m not interested,” Nathanial pouts.

“
Naw man, that is your gift, you just didn’t know it. You have the gift to expel information out of ones who are hiding things. You are like a truth serum. You might not have supernatural powers, but you’re a good guy. We all just have to find what is special about us. You make people feel comfortable and they trust you without you even trying. Someone else might be extremely helpful or kind to strangers. Everyone is special in their own way; some good and some bad. I don’t have ‘powers’…at least not until I am dead. And then who knows what other powers I may have,” Matt confirms.

“
Nate, I have to agree with Matt. When we first met I had such a hard time keeping everything from you. My entire family felt it; we talked about it, and none of us understood what was happening. We were drawn to you and felt instant comfort; we felt the need to learn more about you and to tell you more than we should. I was so relieved when you confronted me about my past. It meant I didn’t have to fight what I wanted to tell you,” I admit for the first time. “And Matt, I disagree that you don’t have a gift yet. You can relax and calm people.”

“
Yeah, that is standard for future
guardians
. We need to have that effect on people to get them to listen to us, even if the
guardian
doesn’t know what they are yet.”