Denial (Goblin's Kiss Series Book One) (3 page)

“Emma here will take me to my
destination. Please excuse us ladies. I look forward to our
next...chat.”

Christina and
her counterparts looked none too happy that I was taking their
fresh catch. If I know her, she
’
ll quickly make me harbor the day
I ever crossed her when I yelled the “
I quit
” statement to the
squad. The tricky part was walking away from the girls hoping they
would not call out any embarrassing former nicknames or such to
this guy.

“Yeah, lucky
you. Always lucky you. Maybe you could share this one with us
sometime Emma, unlike the last one. Some girls gotta do what they
gotta do.” Erin was beside Christina goading me on as his hand took
mine and dragged me outside the circle. Her jabs
didn
’
t work on me anymore, but his hand on mine
did.

His closer to
emerald green more than the grassy color I
’
d seen at first glance
snapped to mine as I jerked to own my own space. They danced with
something secretive I couldn
’
t read. Two green beacons
signaling me.

I stopped his
ardent stride two feet from the girls and turned back ignoring him.
They would do something if I didn
’
t first. “You can keep him.
I
’
m
done with guys.”

“Oh, I could so
come back with something clever with that Emma, but for the sake of
our new man on campus, I
’
ll save the details. Ames here
will find out how taken you are all.too.soon.” Christina laughed a
little too hearty for a girl and told the cheer groupies to head on
to class. Their backsides were all I saw as I turned to an empty
hallway and the dark creature that stood before me. He
screamed
bad
! I
didn
’
t need that again, so taking stock of his points of interest
only made it all too real and easier to move on. He was
distributively alluring to the eye. Determined mouth. Very easy on
the eyes and off limits in my book. I needed space from guys
altogether.

But ogling a hot guy was easy
morning work. I could handle it.

Ring!

Great! I was late.

The longest errand in history.
Emma Steele. I was to find her, bind her, and return her to my home
where the creatures that ruled my world would have her as their
queen.

She thought she
was human. And she was part. But the other part was something
sinister and dark. She was the Goblin King
’
s daughter. Well, the dead
one
’
s daughter all grown up. And boy was she
all grown up
. I
’
d seen her once, when
she was seven. I was ten. Not the same.

I remember that
day though. It was weird for me. I just felt compelled to see her,
not leave her. It was that way every time I checked on her for
Joshlin, the successor for King Ares, over the years.
I
’
d
stand outside her bedroom on the front lawn, check for a pulse, and
leave. I never once saw her until days ago. Yet, somehow
I
’
d
always had her coming destination in the back of my brain when
I
’
d
near her area for retrievals for my current king. I always shook it
off as her being one of us and ignored what my gut told
me.

King Warren
started this war when he lost his human wife. Greed set in for a
means of revenge against the sister realm of our area. When he
thought his daughter was dead in the battle, he took his own life.
But he was mistaken. Jem didn
’
t die that day. A left for dead
member of the guard allied to King Ares found her and hid her away
for all enemies to assume she was dead. Until
now.

A new, very young king was
appointed and she was hidden somewhere safe with his supposed
appointed special guards posts. When he found her, she was older
though. Years had passed since the war. Six to be exact. He didn’t
find her as a toddler with the death of her parents, but as a young
girl. That’s when I met her first. I went as an apprentice to the
guard to see about her when a friend told me of her
fate.

Jem, or Emma, was alive and well
in an average Tennessee area not far from our realm living in a
small suburb with adoptive human parents who loved her like humans
do. Sickening really.

All I knew about
this girl was that she was the lost daughter of the man who ruined
my family.
Her
family originated out west in the Rockies before her human
mother showed up in our business. Her mother was insistent on the
daughter’s doomed existence because some fortune teller seer said
so. And she was one prized possession to be captured even though
she wasn
’
t really a true heir. She was only half goblin. I know all
about half breeds. I was one too.

I did my
research on her, but I was still in denial that she could be that
important or that some seer could really predict a
person
’
s whole existence.

Not a single
human knew we existed outside our realms and returned to the human
world. So it wasn
’
t by chance one
entered.

Our powers were
well guarded and so was our land. The world was full of creatures
that resembled humans, but with better resources and without a
democracy. That tem seemed like a bad word to my people. The way it
is...is the way we have always done it. It
’
s the law we live
by.

I was sent to
find her and bring her back. I didn
’
t know how my king knew she was
more powerful than the rest of us, but he wanted her immensely. She
gave her identity away to the wrong side just a week ago. One of
the goblin scouts of the other realm was out searching for wayward
spies when he happened upon her out in the open using her powers.
Word got out, I was sent in. She didn
’
t know why or how they were
growing, but she was trying them out on helpless pine trees. Trees
that are known for falling at the slightest shiver of wind. I was
furious they sent me. All she did was remind me of what
I
’
ve lost.

The drive into the parking lot was
as easy as the monotonous record keeping changes I made to the high
school files. Been there, done that.

Powers within me
since before I knew what they were. Illusions were my favorite play
toy as a child. My father taught me most of it, though he
couldn
’
t do it himself. What he didn
’
t, I grew into. Others in my
realm obsessed over my “extra” abilities. They would remind me that
my father never had that much “put out” ability and that I would be
more powerful than him. I ignored the idiots in the weapons area
who watched me too close and said things like that. They worried
me.

I pulled into
the parking space with my acquired side vehicle of maximum
security, a 1990 hot Tennessee black Jeep Wrangler that was the one
and only sexy girl in my life worth getting to know any better. It
wasn
’
t the color for even this time of year in the heart of the
mountain air weather, but she was mine.

I
’
ve been here many times during different times of the year
and this was just too hot for November. My world was closer to
cooler from the inside out.

I tucked my keys
in my pocket and headed in the front doors of high school doom and
gloom. Immediately, a group of human girls attacked gathering
around me, touching me. To the human females my abilities zoned out
and begged to be acted upon if I didn
’
t keep it under control. I
assumed it was a goblin king thing.

I pulled in my power and they
backed off. Mostly. One of them asked me if I was new. Duh! Another
asked me what my first class was. Whatever Jem had listed. Another
asked if I had a girlfriend. Blunt, ever?

Human girls were
too damn forward nowadays and lacked self-respect. Their parents
should teach them that a man wants a girl who respects herself, not
flaunting it out. But what did I care, a long-term girl
wasn
’
t in the picture for something like me. It only got in the
way.

Besides, one would scream and run
once they knew what I was.

I climbed the
stairs and left them in the large open main hall. The mapped out
trail I
’
d traced the night before in my boredom of being here in the
first place served its purpose at the moment. I held the spiral
notebook and pencil in my hand and drifted into the math classroom
and Johnson City High School hell.

Ring!

Class ended. Not
horrible. I at least took classes I cared for. Luckily the girl
took some of the same. (Since I made it that way)
I
’
d
never allude to liking the pick of subjects she had, but it is what
is.

The groupie girls found me again
too easily. They were standing outside my room at the bell.
Great!

I smiled to appease their pinning
attention. Still holding back my power, I found this all too weird
to have a dozen females following me around like a bull with a love
potion sign on its rear. I checked. My power was zoned in. They
were following me on their own accord. Hmm!

I let them get me to the next
hallway feigning lost puppy and kind of enjoyed the attention once
I saw the glares some of the other males threw in my direction. A
guy named Scott fist bumped me in the stairway and grinned,
“Alright, my man. First day and chicks are all on ya. Dig it now,
ask it later.”

I asked him where the English hall
was and he told me though I knew. The groupies stood behind us
giggling like squirrels as we talked. After Scott introduced
himself and invited me to hang at lunch, I veered off in the
direction of class.

I let the girls
crowd around cuz
’
well...I was a guy. They were each telling me
their names.

When I turned to the sound of one
talking about another girl approaching, there she was.

If l could have
prepared myself for what I would be confronted with,
I
’
d
have never believed it. My body shook at seeing her, feeling her
burning energy. The last time I saw her she was seven, but up close
and made into a woman now...

Almost dropping my notebook, I
stopped for a brief second before continuing my stride in her
direction. The closer I came, the stronger it got. At some point it
became so strong that I planted my feet to the ground and waited
for her to ascend upon me rather than get any closer.

She kept on. Closer. Two feet. The
tips of her shoes knocked mine. Her hand clamped down on my arm.
Heat flooded me, grounding me to the floor.

The groupie
cheerleader named Christina barked something at her I
didn
’
t quite hear since my insides were barbequing and roasting to
a good 100° above even the unusual scorching Tennessee heat. The
girl taunted her with her words finding it seriously easy to
downgrade her self esteem in front of me. Were these human girls
even more evil than I? I doubted it, but it was a close
second.

Jem was toying
with the girls as her emotions were doing a flip-flop motion with a
combination of anger and and
desire
.

I
don’
t even know how I know how she was
feeling it. It
’
s a power I
’
ve never
held.

She actually
liked me. I didn
’
t know how to compute this
information. She wasn
’
t repulsed by me and she
didn
’
t siphon anything from my own emotions to help herself.
Processing this was beyond jacked up much more than the fact that I
was even feeling her
emotions
in the first place. All of this was just
wrong.

After the
initial shock that she didn
’
t use any of her own pain
inducing powers on me, I decided to let go of my own and see how it
fared. She didn
’
t seem to be the queen of evil
I
’
d
expected of her. She didn
’
t have an ounce of malice in her
body at the moment. But I did have an overwhelming urge to search
her body for scars and other distinguishing differences that would
make me know her better than any other man on this
earth.