Music Track List:
Toxic ~ Yael Naim
****
Emma's POV
Panic struck my heart as I watched Gabriel's back charge away from me towards the door where I had come from. My feet felt stuck to their spot on the floor as I watched him glide further and further away from me. And then just like that, I had the ability to will my body to move again. My limbs felt thick with glue and made of fragile sheaths of paper, but soon I had kicked off my heels and bolted towards Gabriel's fleeting figure.
I wonder if he knew I could run this fast or did so in other worlds.
I slid past him on the marble floor and glided myself to a halt in front of the door. I wrenched my hands and feet in the frame to prevent him from exiting.
Gabriel glared at me and I think he might have laughed out loud at my feeble effort if he hadn't been so infuriated.
"Stand aside, Emma," Gabriel said calm enough but his flaring nostrils betrayed his true feelings, "I don't want to have to hurt you."
I shook my head and stared at him with steely eyes. I steadied my breath so he wouldn't sense how very afraid I was.
"I'm warning you, Emma," Gabriel sang and took a step closer.
"You can't kill him," I commanded with a steady and clear voice and even I surprised myself at how calm and resolute I sounded.
"Oh yes, I can," Gabriel smiled. "I'll kill him again and again and as many times as I have to. Which is often enough."
"That's not very nice, Gabe," I teased trying to lighten up the mood.
He only took a step forward and pressed his forehead into mine before pulling back and gnashing his teeth, "What difference does it make? He is a cockroach! No matter how many times I manage to stamp him out...there he is again crawling through the woodwork again."
"What are you so afraid of? He's meaningless...a mere insect that is not worth your valuable time and energy," I said in a cool voice, removing my right hand from clutching the frame and placing it tenderly on his heart.
Gabriel looked down at my hand and smiled a smile I wasn't so sure the meaning of. "You are right, Emma," he said taking my hand in his and then he suddenly drew me towards him and folded me into his arms. "I do have better things to do. Now where were we," he said and he drew his lips to mine. I closed my eyes and screamed silently in my head.
It's amazing how a single conversation totally puts a wet blanket on any ardor you feel for a guy. And now I'd rather be kissing a cold dead fish than this man – if he was a man at that. Is he a demon? I wondered. Or a fallen angel?
Or something else entirely?
I don't know if Gabriel sensed my dulling passion for him or not. He only drew his head away from me with a wicked smile and I could see around the edges of his hair the sudden twinkling of stars in the cool night sky. I pulled away and looked around me. We were back on the bow of the boat. The party was all but over and the ocean quiet and serene. He released me from his embrace and said, "Now be a good little girl and go back to sleep. I have work to do." Gabriel took a step back away from me.
"You tricked me!!" I shouted with a huffy stamp of my foot to which he only laughed.
"You are so adorable when you are angry, Emma," Gabriel smiled broadly at me with a twinkle in his eye.
"I wish I could say the same about you when you are jealous," I snapped and I could see my words had affected him. "That's why you want to kill him right? You feel threatened that he is more of a man than you ever will be," I said while taking a step forward and jutting my chin up at him with a defiant glare.
"Emmah!" Gabriel warned, but I was angry now.
I took a step back towards the edge of the boat, "Everything you said about him was a lie, wasn't it? He, the David of this world, he never hurt anyone...he isn't crazy!"
Gabriel shot me a withering look, "Oh I dunno, Emma. If you are so sure about all that, ask him yourself."
He turned away from me and panic set in again. I didn't know how this was supposed to work. Would he just pop and disappear before my eyes to signal he had jumped from this reality? I couldn't let him go back...not when murder was still hot and foremost on his mind.
"Fine, I will," I cried. "Take me back this instance and I'll go ask him."
Gabriel just kept walking away from me. I had to do something drastic.
I scrambled to the edge of the boat and poised myself dangerously to fall overboard. "Fine. I'll swim to shore myself," I threatened.
Gabriel didn't even turn his back to face me as he said, "And then I will dive in and fetch you back."
"Then I will make sure to swim down and deep as I can so that we'll both drown before you have the chance," I seethed. That finally had an effect on him and he whirled around with anger marring his face.
"Varför måste du alltid vara så helvetiskt envis!" Gabriel said shaking in anger.
"För att jag är Jack, dräpare av Jättar! Du sade det själv. Kommer du ihåg?" I replied in Swedish. And he couldn't help but break out in a warm smile. I sensed his burning anger was finally dampening.
"Fine, I will take you back now," he answered. "I'm not a monster. You have free will to do your own choosing."
"And you won't kill David."
"And I won't kill David." Gabriel acquiesced, "For now."
I believed he would honor this promise and I took a step back towards the boat, relieved to be away from the perilous drop behind me.
"But you will fall in love with me again, Emma," Gabriel warned with a ravenous smile, "You do so in every world I conquer. You can't help it. It's your destiny."
***
I didn't feel at ease again until Gabriel had dropped me off at the Standard. We both seemed content not to speak another word to each other, and I couldn't read any of his thoughts or feelings. I could only hope that he had time to cool down long enough not to run immediately back to that other world and summarily execute David right there and then.
Besides, surely Gabriel needed to sleep at some point? I hoped, but feeling unsure that he actually required any.
As if sensing my clouded thoughts, Gabriel walked me to my door and saw me into my room. "Get some sleep, Emma," he said for the third time tonight and I nodded weakly.
But sleep was the last thing on my mind. How could I possibly sleep after all that had happened? I shivered inside. I needed something more...some small comfort and understanding and love. I needed my Gran. I looked at the time; the day would be in full swing in Sweden.
Gran's beloved crinkly face measured surprise when I finally called her on Skype. "Emma, shouldn't you be in bed?" she immediately asked with a look of concern but then her face grew dark and clouded. "Something's happened..." she said in an ominous voice, "Your aura...it's....Emma!" she gasped, "Did you...cross over?"
I didn't know what to say. I just slumped my shoulders and looked back at her. I could feel my lower lip begin to tremble as the events of the past few days finally took its toll. It reminded me of the time I fell off my bike as a kid in front of all my friends and scraped my knee but I didn't cry until hours later when I suddenly saw my mom standing before me as I ran sobbing into her awaiting arms.
But I couldn't hug a computer screen so I tried to suck the tears back into my eyes.
"Min lilla ärta," Gran hushed softly. "You must simply be exhausted. The first time is always...the hardest."
I didn't want to correct her that it had been several times already. "Why is this happening to me," I asked while silent sullen tears slid down my cheeks.
"Because you are born without Fate. The threads of your wyrd get too easily entangled together as they aren't laid out in taut straight lines...Think of it like...static cling. One moment you are walking down the street, and the next moment...there you are...in another world completely different," Gran sighed sympathetically. "But...you will get used to it. You must Emma. It is important you learn to do so."
I stared at her with a new feeling and renewed respect. All these years she hadn't been crazy. It was the rest of the world who was too blind to know she only spoke the truth. I hated them all for mocking her. I hated myself for all those times I gently chided her for acting strangely.
"I want to stop it!" I seethed in anger.
"You can't. No more than you can stop time. And time is a much more cruel entity you will have to face than this...small inconvenience," Gran cautioned me.
"Inconvenience?" I laughed cruelly, "You call THIS an inconvenience."
Gran looked resigned at me and only said, "This is too much for you to take in now. Right now, what you need most is rest and sleep. It is important that you are always vigilant...and alert. You need your sleep, Emma. And then we will talk, and I'll explain everything."
I nodded weakly and promised Gran that I would go to bed before I let her go and hung up the call. That was what Gabriel had instructed though wasn't it? For me to sleep? He kept insisting on it. But I knew I couldn't. There was no use for me to even try.
I just had to go see David. He was the only one who could help me now. I had to go back and help his alter ego escape...before Gabriel remembered his desire to kill him.
//A/N
Wow....51k!!!
We are so happy to have you on this journey with us. Especially the early adopters of our story who believed in it from the beginning and have stuck with us the whole way. And of course: we love you newcomers too!! We do have a special fondness in our hearts for the commenters though. When you guys comment --> our hearts sing. We often rush to share with each other the latest comment, how you react with love/hate to the characters, it makes our day. We love how much you guys seem to "get" hipster David. Hipster David has been with us since late July 2011, and this is really his backstory leading up to the TV series: how he became the person he is then.
And we are very happy to see love lavished on Emma as well. Emma is such a special character to us --> a rare kick-ass female character you rarely see. And I hope you are just beginning to see in this chapter why she is so meaningful to us.
Thanks so much for all your support.
<3 Tom, Jim & Carrie
P.S. Next chapter we throw a wrench into things by having a DIFFERENT character's POV who isn't David or Emma (in any of the realities)...Who are you hoping it will be?? Hmmmm???
Like All Your Fates? Show your support for the creators:
Follow:
Read Carrie's other books on wattpad on her personal account: http://www.wattpad.com/user/CarrieCutforth
or check out her other projects on http://carriecutforth.com
Read Jim Martin's novel Young Americans here: (you can read the first 20 pages for free): http://www.amazon.com/dp/B019EY6MP4
//
All Your Fates © 2012 Carrie Cutforth, Jim Martin and Tom Liljeholm. All Rights Reserved.