Chapter 2 — Carter

It has been over three months since Emmy just disappeared into the night like a thief. No one has been able to find her. The Reapers have been looking for her and so have The Warriors, but neither organization has had any luck finding her. Emmy has hidden herself well, wherever the hell she is. I’m angry that she left. I don’t understand why she had to leave. How were we supposed to be a team with a member missing, and not just any member, but our damn leader?

I’ve found a mountain that I like to ride up to with my bike. I park my bike and look over the scenery. It brings me peace on days like this where I’m so angry and upset at Emmy. We are all mad that she left. I replay that moment in my head—when I picked up that forsaken note that said she was leaving, and why she had to leave.

My heart sank. I thought it shattered just a little that day. It has shattered even more every day that Emmy was missing, gone like a leaf that was blown away by the wind. I lost it that night. I worked out all my anger on the punching bag in the manor’s training room.

Ryan was furious for a different reason. He didn’t take kindly to his supposed leader abandoning the team. Bex and Brie were at a loss for words over their cousin leaving. Alice was upset and pissed at Emmy. Avery didn’t have much to say other than she didn’t know how the team was going to stick together without Emmy.

But even with Emmy gone, we have stuck together. We train harder every day, and we are pretty damn comfortable with each other's fighting styles. We have a system, and it works. We’ve even been on a few missions that we took over for The Reapers and The Warriors. We’ve kicked ass every time too. We have grown as a team even if our leader is missing.

Emmy claimed she had to leave to get her dark magic under control, that she was unstable. Maybe she was, but still, she left without saying goodbye, and that stung like a thousand bees. I was supposed to be her soulmate, the love of her life, and yet she left me.

I’ve dumped plenty of girls in my time, but I've never had someone dump me. I know Emmy didn’t dump me. We’re still together, or I guess we are. I don’t really know because I haven't been able to talk to her about it. Maybe that’s what frustrates me the most—that I can’t even talk to her about what’s going on with her, the team, or us.

Emmy has promised she will come back, but she didn’t know how long she would be gone. Part of me wants her to come back, to hold her, kiss her, and screw her brains out; but the other part of me wants her to stay as far away from me as possible. I’m wounded that she didn’t tell me what was going on with her. Does she not trust me?

I was not the same man she left over three months ago. I have hardened, become stronger, wiser, braver than I ever was before. I’ve killed with my guns, the only true reliable things I have in my life. Sure, I have the team and they are great. We are all really close now. Emmy leaving brought us closer together. Maybe it was our anger at her or something else. I don’t know, but we are a tight knit group now. A strong team.

When Emmy comes home, if she ever comes back home, she is going to have a rude awakening. I’m not the same and neither is the team. I can only assume that Emmy has changed as well, which makes me nervous for when she does come home. I have to wonder if things will change between us since we won’t be the same people. Can our love handle such change?

I hop on my bike and head back to the manor. I love riding my bike. Normally I take rides with Bex and Ryan, but sometimes I just need to clear my head on my own. They understand because they do the same thing. I normally need a ride on my bike after a mission, especially one that involves killing. I need to process it on my own.

Besides, I know Bex likes to spend time with Avery. Ryan, well, he is trying to figure out his feelings for Brie. Alice is another story. She's been off doing her own thing with some secret lover. Hell, sometimes I feel like I’m the only single guy in the damn manor. Except I’m not single. I have a girlfriend who went missing months ago, and no one has heard from her or seen her.

Sure, Ryan is technically single, but I know he gets around even while he is trying to figure out how he feels about Brie. Even if Ryan and Brie get together, they have to figure out if they are soulmates, which could add complication to any relationship. I don’t know if they are soulmates, and neither do they. It’s for them to figure out and for me not to worry about because I have my own relationship to figure out…if you can call it that when you haven't heard from your girlfriend in over three months.

I park my bike in the garage and then join everyone out back on the patio. Ryan passes me a beer. One perk about the magic world is they don’t give a shit about age when it comes to drinking. Most witches and warlocks start drinking at twelve, they can even buy their own liquor at sixteen. Plus, they have some awesome stuff that isn't available in the human world. Bex, Ryan, and Alice are all drinking beer with me while Avery and Brie are drinking wine.

“How was your ride, man?” Ryan asks as he takes a swig of his beer.

“Good,” I reply.

“How do you do it, Carter?” Alice asks me.

I give her a confused look. I don’t know what she is talking about.

“I mean with Emmy missing, how do you keep it together?” Alice asks.

Alice never brings up Emmy except for when she is tipsy. Alice hates talking about Emmy most of the time, but tonight it would seem that the alcohol had won.

“I don’t half the time. Why do you think I’m constantly training, taking my bike for rides, or pounding the shit out of my drums?”

I take a swig of my beer. Bex, Ryan, and I often play together. Bex plays the guitar, and Ryan plays the bass. It relaxes us and gives us something to bond over.

“I wonder where Emmy is,” Brie says mostly to herself.

“Who the hell knows,” Ryan answers. “She’s impossible to find. Two of the best organizations in our world can’t find her ass. For all we know she ran off and joined the Enchantress.”

“I doubt that. She is with her dad. That’s what the letter said.” Avery defends Emmy every time she comes up.

This was where we normally start to argue about where Emmy is and how we feel about her leaving. I can't stand it when this happens. I hate arguing over Emmy. It’s just another reminder that she is gone.

“Can we not start this again?” Bex asks. Bex is the voice of reason in the group. “Emmy is gone and talking about her doesn’t bring her back. We are all upset that she left, and that’s that. Let’s just leave it alone for once.”

“I agree with Bexton on this. I don’t feel like talking about Emmy,” I say in a bitter tone as I down half my beer.

The rest of the team agrees to drop the topic and move on to our next mission. We have to take out a group of rogue witches that are causing problems in a small town out west. By the time we all head up to crash for the night I’m still in a bad mood. I take a shower and flop on my bed. I have my drum sticks in my hands, and when I tap them together the sound relaxes me, but sometimes I still need a sleeping potion from Bex or Brie.

I’ve had a hard time sleeping at night since Emmy left. The first week I tossed and turned worrying about her, but then the worry turned to anger. Some nights I missed her like hell, and other nights I was so pissed I hoped she never came back. Some nights I prayed that when I woke up, she would be downstairs in the dining room looking so beautiful, and ready for me to ravage her. I want her to beg for forgiveness because I’m not going to give it to her so easily. I want to run my hands over her creamy skin, and through her dark chocolate hair. I want her dark blue eyes staring at me like I’m the only thing that matters in her world.

Bexton walks up to me, and hands me a bottle of dark blue liquid. I thanked him and then downed the bottle. The lights turned off and the three of us went to sleep. Tomorrow would be a day of training, and planning for our mission. We had to take out the rogue witches within the week. They were causing too many problems, and they risked revealing the magical world. I considered myself lucky because I now belonged to two worlds. I cared about both of them, but not everyone could handle the fact that another world existed within the human one.