The Elemental

Chapter 8

"Damn girl, you look sexy!" Payson said laughing as she walked over. Emily smiled as she fluffed her hair up a little bit. 

"Oh come on now, you know you are the one thats hot! That dress is your color for sure," Emily said and turned to her. "Are you ready?" Emily asked and Payson nodded. 

The girls set out for the village which was not far from the house. During their walk into town Emily could not get her mind off what had happened the previous night with James. She could not believe that James felt that way about her. She kept thinking back to Nicholas and would hate to break things off with him, he truly was such a gentleman who treated her well these past few weeks. 

"Emily, what are you thinking about?" Payson noticed Emily's distant thoughts. 

"It- it's nothing," Emily said getting nervous about talking about it with Payson. Payson had grown into Emily's closest friend since getting to Idalia and she did not want to say the wrong thing, especially aout what happened last night. 

"Are you sure? Does it have anything to do with what happened last night," Payson asked. Emily's eyes grew wide with worry that she knew exactly what happened last night. Emily's mind ran wild not sure what to say.

"Wh- wha- what do you mean," Emily said he hands getting clammy not ready to tell Payson the truth. 

"Emily what is going on," Payson said stopping crossing her arms over her chest. Emily looked down and squeezed at her fingers. 

"Last night I heard what was going on downstairs and I went to go see what was going on," Emily started. She continued "When I got downstairs I saw that James was downstairs and drunk. I tried to talk to him and get him to go to bed, but he kept rambling about how he hated that the girl he wants is with a man and that he is with another woman," Emily finished in one breath. Payson stared at her with wide eyes not sure how to respond. 

"He tried to kiss me Payson!" Emily said with exasperation. Payson sighed and pulled Emily in for a hug. 

"You know James really cares for you, we can all see it, Nicholas included," Payson finally said pulling away from the hug. It was Emily's turn to look at her with wide eyes. 

"What do you mean, everyone can see, I am not that special," Emily said throwing her hands up and got frustrated at the drama at the house. She missed her normal life when it came to this boy drama. 

"I mean, he brought you in and the way he looks at you is no secret, I know you care about Nicholas and he cares about you, that's obvious. James believe it or not does not like Amelia, he hates the idea about marrying her. He spent so long looking for you that he hates the idea of losing you in any way," Payson finished. 

"But I care about Nicholas, I don't want James," Emily responded. Payson nodded knowing that was exactly what Emily wanted at the time. 

The pair kept walking towards town to have a night away from everyone to have just to themselves. 

Finally the two arrived into the village and they began looking around at all of the merchants that had set up. Emily did not have much money but she still like to look around at all of the hand made things that caught her eye. 

"I'm going to get something to eat," Payson said and walked away leaving Emily alone as she browsed through the merchants. Suddenly Emily bumped into someone. The man turned around and looked at Emily curiously.

"Clumsy, are we?" he said with lust laced in his voice. Emily curled her lip up in disgust as the man tried to hit on her. Emily went to turn around and not give the strange man the time of day. 

"Hey! I was talking to you," he said grabbing at her arm and whipping her around to face him. Emily looked at his hand and saw red. She grabbed his hand roughly trying to pull it off her arm. She realized his strength as he tightened his grip around her. Emily raised her hand to slap the guy and managed to slap him across his face. The man's eyes turned dark as he stepped up to her. 

"You bitch!" he screamed and punched her stomach. Emily doubled over, the pain radiating from her stomach made her anger grow more. 

"Oh yea," Emily said thinking of something that would not draw much attention. She grabbed his arm and thought of the warmth that fire brought her hands heating up burning his skin. The man screamed out in pain drawing attention to the pair. Emily at this point did not care for what attention was brought to her, she just wanted to get away from the creep. 

"You fucking whore, you're getting it now," he roared out and snatched Emily by her hair and dragged her behind the merchants. They lived in a time where this was a normal and people turned their eyes away from the scene unfolding. The man threw Emily on the ground and threw a punch at Emily her eyes getting blurry and her mouth filling with the taste of blood. She whimpered back knowing that even with her powers, this man was much stronger. The man threw another punch at her face, and everything went black. 

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