A Black Decision - A Missing Moment Serial

A Black Decision

~Part VI~

"I didn't know!" Archie's eyes were wide. 

Jessamine was at his side before I could demand to know what was being unsaid. She placed herself as a protective barrier between Archie and Edythe - which put her in direct line with my sight. I'd seen Jessamine before, of course, in the minds of others and just two days ago when I'd come to give them more freedom, but I'd never before focused on her.

I stepped back involuntarily as the hundreds - if not thousands - of criss-crossing crescent shaped scars came into focus in my mind. They not only covered her arms and hands but ran up her neck, and I was sure, if she removed her shirt, they likely covered her entire body.  They even ravaged her face. I swallowed. I recognized the style of scar well. After all, Beau had three of them. 

How did anybody survive that?

Jessamine smiled wryly, probably at both my visible reaction and the emotions I was sure I was throwing out.

I shook my head. I couldn't help but wonder, were there scars down - 

"Yes," Edythe said, looking at me and cutting me off mid-thought.

My eyes widened infinitesimally. That... had to hurt. 

Edythe turn her attention back to Jessamine and Archie. "I wasn't going to hurt him."

"I never know when it comes to anything involving Beau. I swear the way your emotions jump all over the place, I'd think you were the newborn, not him."

Edythe crossed her arms over her chest, looking wholly unimpressed by Jessamine's assessment of her emotional state. "Tell me, Jess. How would you feel if I knew all these potentially dangerous secrets about your mate, and I chose not to warn you. How would you feel?"

"I don't know that the one with the purple hair was a danger... to him," Archie said.

Edythe narrowed her eyes.

"I saw maybe a half second vision of you and Beau together, and someone with purple hair. I didn't even know if the person was a guy or a girl, Edythe. Let alone if it was a vampire, werewolf, or what. But it looked like you had been bit. Not Beau. You. I added it in my note to him because he was going to be there at the same time as you and I didn't see myself there. That was all."

Edythe closed her eyes, pinching the bridge of her nose. 

I didn't need to read her thoughts to guess that she was wishing for patience.

Her lips twitched. 

To be continued...