The SpellBinder's Grim Book Two: Incinerate

Chapter 4

The afternoon sun rained down on them, and Emily shivered from the cold. Her hand had found its way through the barrier and entwined with Fredrick's during his story. She was so tired, yet she hung onto every word he spoke, asking questions about every detail and trying to imagine what it would have been like to have met her grandmother back then.

"You do realize your mother has not shown up yet with your sister." Fredrick said to her, patting her hand that she had exposed through the barrier.

"I know. Perhaps I was wrong and everything went alright. Maybe I misunderstood."

"Or they need your help."

Emily snatched her hand back and glowered at him. "What an awful thing to say. As if I was not already worried enough."

"I am only being reasonable. They could need help," he said while he stared at his hand that was now void of hers. It was a strange thing, to be staring at your granddaughter, never even getting to know your own daughter first.

"It is not like I can waltz back into the village now." She pointed to the bite wound on her shoulder. "I could turn there and then everyone is dead."

Fredrick noticed how she had been occasionally wincing with pain. "The bite should not be painful anymore."

"It is not the bite. I just do not feel well is all."

Fredrick regarded her for a moment and stood up. "Get out of there," he demanded.

Emily looked up at him from her spot on the ground with a confused expression on her face. "Why?"

"The barrier is starting to reject you, that is what is causing you this pain."

Emily did not move. She felt angry in that moment and all the feelings of connecting with Fredrick disappeared again. "So I have no home now."

"Emily, get out of the barrier."

"I will be like you, watching them from a distance and never belonging anywhere."

"Get out of there before you get seriously hurt. I will not be able to go in there and save you."

"I will do what you were too afraid to do then." Emily stood up and passed to the safe side of the barrier. She looked him dead in the eye and for a second Fredrick saw a flicker of something in her eyes that he had not seen in a long time.

"If you are referring to ending your own life, I wish you luck," He said with a cocked brow. "By the look on your face you were not expecting that response."

"You want me to kill myself?" Emily asked in surprise.

"I never said that. It was you that said you would do what I feared to do, and I am not a fool I know what you meant. You assumed I have not tried doing that? I have climbed the tallest trees and have landed on my head. Nothing happens but pain. Our bodies heal too quickly."

"Silver would work."

"Silver blades cut through us, yes, but they do not kill us. Once the blade is removed our bodies start healing. I have stabbed myself in the heart and kept it there for three days. All that happened was that I was in immense pain."

"So you are saying we are immortal?"

"Not at all. Another werewolf can kill you. Wolfs Bane can kill you, though I have searched for such a plant and have never come across it. Stories suggest a vampire has the strength to, though I have not seen one of them either."

Emily grabbed his hands in hers. "Then kill me. Please. I do not want to live my life like this."

He pulled his hands from her and growled. "I will not do such a thing. Even if I wanted to I could not kill you, the bond has already settled in. Knowing what I know about you I dare say it would have been rather difficult to kill you even without the bond."