Destiny's Revenge (Destiny Series - Book 2) (27 page)

“As long as we’re laying our cards on the table, not only did you steal three years of my life and nearly kill my girlfriend in the process, you took my grandfather from me. One of your minions possessed him, for no good reason. He was an old man. You can’t tell me you didn’t foresee the consequences. Lauren is convinced it’s her fault and carries that guilt with her. Where’s your guilt?”

“Max, you may not have realized, but it was Joe’s time – it was actually past his time. He should have perished in the nursing home months ago. However, meeting Lauren and being around her energy invigorated his soul. His mate was waiting on the other side for him, and I can tell you she was growing very impatient.” I thought of my Grandma Ruth, Joe’s wife of sixty years and her constant nagging: “I’m waiting in the car,” “I’ll meet you at the mall clock,” “I’ll be at Erna’s when you’re done.” She had waited on him his whole life, and I believed Samael when he said that she was impatiently waiting for him in death.

“Whether it was the possession by one of my followers or his being denied access to Lauren’s energy when she ran off, I cannot say. I do not apologize to you, because as I said – he was already on borrowed time, and he had eternity and your grandmother waiting for him.”

A lump in my throat formed, to think that if it weren’t for Lauren, I would have never seen my Grandpa Joe alive after I left for Afghanistan. He really did have a special attachment to Lauren. She did for him, too, an uncomplicated friendship in the purest form. So many times people meet a significant other’s family members and pretend to care for them – Gramps and Lauren really had a bond.

As I stepped out of the truck, I pulled my cell out of my pocket and dialed Lauren’s number. She answered immediately, and I responded, “I’ve got some things I need to talk to you about. Can you come over right away?”

Lauren’s tone was relieved. My goodbye with her yesterday evening must have wounded her more than I realized. She responded quickly, “Sure, I can be over in twenty minutes.”

“Great, I’ll have breakfast ready.” I paused for a second then added, “Make sure to bring your Glock and Peanut.”

She hesitated but didn’t ask me why she should have either with her.

Lauren and Peanut got out of the minivan and Peanut marched right beside her. I half expected him to growl at me when they approached, but he was his laid-back, happy-go-lucky self, not at all concerned with me. I thought that was strange. Why couldn’t he sense that Samael and I shared my body? Maybe because he was such a small part of it? Maybe because he was only here in spirit – he had no authority over my body. I purposely leaned down and got on Peanut’s level to see if he could see anything menacing about me, but all I got was a wet tongue to the face.

We had breakfast together and were both able to keep the small talk up until the dishes were done. I told her about my last two nights on the job, and she shared with me her job search and catching up with friends she hadn’t seen since college.

Lauren must have tired of the small talk, because she asked, “Okay, Max, I was happy to get your call inviting me for breakfast, but you were pretty adamant that you wanted your space yesterday. What changed?”

I took her hand, leading her through the front door to furniture out on the porch, knowing that this may very well be my last contact with Lauren, ever. I owed her the truth, the whole truth, regardless of the consequences. Her hand was so soft as it intertwined with mine, and her eyes were fixed on me. I listened to see if Samael had any thoughts at this moment – but he was silent. I took a deep breath, and asked, “Do you remember that day when you rescued me from the vault?” She nodded that she did. I continued, “Something odd happened. Samael was still there when you guys arrived.” She tilted her head as if contemplating this.

I wondered how best to continue, I wanted her to know the truth, but as I looked at her, I knew I didn’t want her to leave, to be repulsed by the truth. I cleared my throat, gathered my strength and continued, “He was pretty sure you were going to wipe him out of existence, so he took the only defense he could find.”

I was still holding her hand, and she gave mine a little squeeze. Then quietly she asked, “So you know that he’s in you?”

I could feel my jaw open, but words failed me. “You know…you’re not…but how?. . . when did?. . . ” My mind processed her question, but I wasn’t able to respond with a coherent sentence. I tried to let go of her hand, believing that she must be repulsed, but she didn’t let go.

“Max, I knew yesterday, when you told me you had some things to work out, I just knew. I wanted to talk to you about it then, but you were on your way out to work, and I thought you hadn’t come to grips with it yet. I thought I might be wrong, so it wasn’t something I wanted to blurt out if I wasn’t sure – but I felt Samael here yesterday. When we talked this morning and you told me to bring my Glock and Peanut, I guessed you were going to tell me.”

I sized up her response; she didn’t appear to be as mortified about the situation as I was. She wasn’t agitated or frustrated with the idea that Samael and I were somehow in this body together. How could she accept this so casually? The person or whatever he was that stole more than two years of her life, that threatened her family, was inside me; all this and she continued to hold my hand.

“How much control does he have over you?” she asked.

“None physically, he can’t make me do anything I don’t want to do. However, his thoughts are sometimes hard to ignore.”

“Can you block him out entirely?”

“I wish. It’s an uncomfortable situation. He is able to see and comment on every aspect of my life. He critiques conversations, and he is extremely scared of Rewsna. He knows when I don’t want to hear from him, and, for the most part, he keeps silent on topics that I really do not want his input on. He’s got a much different take on Rewsna and the Council. I’m not saying I like him or trust him, but he definitely has a different vantage point. I don’t know that I’ve successfully blocked him or his thoughts ever, he just seems to choose not to share his with me when he knows I don’t want them.”

“You say he’s scared of Rewsna? That’s strange because she called me a couple days ago and said she couldn’t connect with you telepathically, as if you were a brick wall to her. She asked me if we were still seeing each other.”

“What did you tell her?”

“I said you were pretty freaked out about the whole situation. I told her that I had moved back to my rental to give you some space, but that it was only temporary, that I was still seeing you every day.” Lauren’s eyes went to the floor, “It wasn’t technically a lie. I’ve looked in on you every day since you came back.”

I sighed out deeply, “I know.” How much should I tell her? She seemed to be sharing everything with me and Samael was so far not interjecting himself. I saw her confusion and replied, “I can feel when you’re watching me, at least most of the time. I haven’t noticed Rewsna trying to contact me, though, but Samael told me he was able to block her, so he must have been telling the truth.”

We sat on the porch for several minutes, both trying to figure out the best course forward. Finally Lauren said, “So how do we get him out?”

I shook my head. If I knew the answer to that one, I wouldn’t be having this conversation with Lauren right now. I wanted so badly to have a normal life, to go on with the life we started years ago.

She asked innocently enough, “Maybe Rewsna would have an idea?”

I could feel Samael’s response as much as I could hear him scream, “No!!” That feeling of fear, rage, hatred all mottled into his response. He was quick to follow with, “Tell her! Tell her now! She needs to get this possibility out of her head right away. If Renny knows that I am inside you, the entire Council will seek us and kill you in the process. Tell her now!”

I know my delay in responding to Lauren was probably interpreted as contemplating her suggestion rather than listening to a stern warning from Samael. “Samael seems to think that if Renny knows that he is inside me, that the Council will hunt me down and kill me in an effort to eradicate Samael. I don’t know if it’s true. All I know is that he feels very strongly that this is the case.”

“So why did you tell me to bring my Glock?”

“I thought that was obvious. I don’t believe Samael can take control of my body, but I wasn’t going to take any chances with you.”

We sat on the porch a long while. Lauren and I didn’t speak much, Samael didn’t interject any thoughts: it was almost normal. I’m not sure if I was daydreaming or if my body was going into sleep mode after working all night, but Peanut looked at the driveway and made a low gravely snarl. It quickly brought both Lauren and me back to the reality of the situation.

Samael screamed in my head, “Max, we have to go now, now!”

I still didn’t trust him, but in the days since he had invaded my body, I had learned to believe his fear. I blurted out, “Lauren, something’s wrong. Samael says we’ve got to go, now.” Lauren didn’t hesitate for a second. She was on her feet, keys in one hand and carrying her gun with her other hand, running for her van. Peanut loped beside looking back at me. She was several strides ahead of me but got to the van and had it turned over as I was opening the passenger door.

As she put the van in drive, I could see what had Samael so nervous. Cars began driving through my gate one at a time creating a seriously long string. I recognized Rewsna and Mike, who had helped Lauren rescue me from the vault; the others I’d never seen before. Lauren asked, “What do we do now?”

I shrugged my shoulders but knew what was going to happen next. Samael could feel it, too.

Rewsna was the first to approach the van. Lauren had left the engine on and somehow plastered a huge smile on her face as Renny placed her hands on the door. “Rewsna, was there some meeting I didn’t know about?”

Rewsna, ever cautious, opened the driver’s side door. “Lauren, you need to get out of the van.”

Without diminishing her fake smile, I watched Lauren say, “We were going to go get some breakfast. You guys are welcome to hang out. We’ll be back in an hour or so.”

Renny shook her head and stared directly at me. When she spoke to Lauren, she was looking at me, “I hate to eavesdrop on people, Lauren, but sometimes it is a necessity. Samael needs to be destroyed, once and for all. If left where he is, he will get stronger. Max won’t be able to stop him, and you’re both going to be killed. Don’t be fooled by him. He feigns weakness and the two of you are believing it.”

I could feel the end drawing near. The only solace I felt was that my last few moments would be spent near Lauren. Samael pushed an image to me, the same one he had shown me days ago of the Council slaying an innocent host he had inhabited years before. The man was screaming, “No he’s gone, he’s not here anymore, really he’s gone.” It didn’t do the man any good, the Council still took it upon themselves to slice the man to pieces. Then a thought occurred to me. If it occurred to me, Samael would understand as well.

I knew we had one very slim chance. He and I only communicated inside my mind, where the Council members could not hear. “Samael, hide, drop the brick wall that prevents Rewsna from communicating with me. If I’m right we might both get out of this alive. You need to trust me enough to let her in.”

In a fraction of a second I had his answer. I threw myself to the ground and pretended to be in the most extreme agony of my life. This was not exactly the reaction that everyone had expected. I screamed and writhed around on the ground imagining that a hot poker had just been jammed in an eye socket. After a few seconds I was even able to make tears well up in my eye. Lauren didn’t know what I was doing, and she got down on the ground holding and rocking me as if I were a child who had just crashed my bicycle.

I knew I had to be convincing, then I heard the sound I needed to hear, it was Renny communicating with me telepathically, “
Max, what happened? Can you hear me?”

I yelled out loud so all the onlookers could see the proof that I was no longer blocking Rewsna. “Holy Shit, Renny, I can hear you. He’s gone. It felt like he ripped himself out of my eyelid. Where did he go? Is he coming back?”

Lauren held my head in her arms, partially I guessed to keep the Council members from moving in on me, although I’m sure my performance had caught her off guard. I could hear Rewsna’s words in my mind again. “
Max, where did Samael go? He needs a host. Where is he?”

I answered verbally, again so the Council members would see proof that Samael was no longer blocking my communication, no longer censoring me because he was long gone. “I don’t know, but he was pretty sure you were going to kill me. He leaped out before you could slice and dice me. He showed me an image of a group doing the same thing to one of his hosts years ago.”

A large man approached Lauren and me. He had kind features and he offered both of us a hand up off the ground. The other Council members did not approach, and when Lauren and I were on our feet, he spoke in a warm voice. “Mike, why don’t you take Lauren inside and get her a cup of tea?”

Lauren grabbed my hand tight and her words were like venom, “Tea? Are you smoking crack? Samael is in another host and you think I need tea?” She redirected her attention to the group at large, “Where is he?”

No one spoke, no one blinked, everyone stood staring only at Lauren and me. I knew Rewsna could read my thoughts, so I didn’t betray myself or Samael. I thought of only the agony I had pretended to feel moments ago, visualizing that same hot poker being jabbed in my eye. To Samael’s credit, wherever he was hiding, I could not even feel him inside my head. Finally Rewsna said verbally so all the Council members could hear her, “The Beast is not in this man any longer; he must have attached himself elsewhere. Max, I want you to go inside with Lauren. We must run through the possibilities together to decide how to proceed.” With a wave of her hand, she essentially dismissed us.

We walked into the house, I continued concentrating on only the pain manufactured in my mind. Lauren really believed my performance was for real, we stepped into the kitchen and she wrapped herself around me. She said in such an enthusiastic voice, “It’s really just us, we’re really going to be okay! I was willing to deal with Samael if it meant that I didn’t lose you. I never even hoped that we could get rid of him so easily.”