Immortal Memory (Book One) (21 page)

Simra prayed in silence for God to
watch over Mandy. She stepped out of the steamy shower. She dried
off with a plush turquoise towel and changed into her clean dress.
Simra inhaled a deep breath of cedar and evergreen.

She missed the delightful comforts of
being clean and at home. Home. Zach’s place seemed like home, and
she felt they shared it together.

Shaking her head of such thoughts, she
tried to forget having a life with him. He wasn’t human. It would
never happen. Besides, he was gone forever. She stepped into the
kitchen to smell pork chops, rice with homemade gravy, purple hull
peas, and sweet cornbread being cooked.

Ms. Hanley was outdoing
herself! Simra glanced at the ticking clock. 7 p.m. Night grew
near. Going back into that house
would
be more than
dangerous.

Ms. Hanley turned around and smiled at
her. "I hope you like it. It's my southern home
cooking!"

Simra's stomach growled for several
bites. "I can't wait! You're too nice. Did Zach cook this
too?"

A familiar laugh came from behind Simra
and distracted her from hearing Ms. Hanley. "I never cooked it as
well as Mom, but I did learn to cook it."

“Zach! Where have you been? It’s been
days! Why didn’t you come and find me before now?”

Ms. Hanley rushed toward them. "Zach's
here?"

Simra gazed at her and nodded with
joyful tears. "He's here."

The angel caressed her cheek, and his
concerned gaze raked over her. “Did Azazel harm you in any way? Are
you hurt? I apologize for not being able to get to you. The two of
you were shielded from me. The place he held you is protected by
demonic symbols and prayers to keep an angel of God’s from
it.”

He paused and added, “I did pay a visit
to Quint and found a way to distract my demon brother for a while.
He needs the drug dealer as a human to do his killing. Azazel came
to protect him in a rush when he sensed Quint was in
danger.”

Simra combed her fingers through her
damp hair. There were still answers she needed from Zach. She
explained what Tristan told her. The brothers were very skilled at
keeping secrets. There might be many more facts about them to be
discovered. “Is it true that you want to collect my soul
too?”

"What?" Ms. Hanley paled.

Simra glanced at his mom, who had
returned cooking. But what Simra asked Zach appeared to have
stunned her. Zach looked from Simra to his mom.

Ms. Hanley appeared to try not to look
worried. "I'm sorry, dear. I'll let you two talk. But I'm sure
Tristan's trying to scare you with lies." She resumed
cooking.

Zach stood in silence for several
moments and looked lost in deep thought. “No, Azazel wants to
collect your soul. He's an angel of death who works for Satan. I
collect human souls and bring them to Christ. I also destroy
certain demons like him. During the marriage ceremony, he plans to
collect your soul. It's quite a story what he plans for you. Are
you sure you want to hear it?"

“Please. I need to know what I'm up
against."

"He'll collect your soul during the
marriage ceremony but keep you alive. You'll be raped several times
and become pregnant many times with half-demon children. He'll
teach your children ways to become powerful and rich. They'll go
throughout the world and rule over many places. Most might become
presidents and leaders. Many terrible things will happen. The world
will be destroyed. God sent you and me to team up and stop it.
We’ll stop Tristan from marrying you and destroy him.” Zach’s
reassuring gaze softened toward her.

Simra's blood ran cold at the thought.
“That's terrible. I refuse to let that happen. And what of me when
I die? Where will my soul go?”

Zach sat in silence, and his face
became void of expression. “That’s between you and God. Are you
following Him? Have you accepted Him to come inside your heart? Do
you have a strong relationship with Him? Do you believe and trust
in Him with all your heart and how His Son died for your
sins?”

Simra’s heart dropped to her knees when
she answered all his questions in silence. Simra didn’t have the
strong relationship she needed with Him. But she did believe in Him
and His Son. Pain gnawed at her insides just to remember the awful
tragedies Tristan caused. How could God allow him to cause such
damage? She blamed God for everything that happened and walked away
from Him without even realizing it.

“Your brother can't have me!” she
snapped. The thought of Tristan claiming her soul caused shivers to
tickle her spine.

The angel rested a hand on her cheek.
“There’s no reason to be afraid. We’ll destroy Azazel.” His
expression grew solemn. “I’ll give you some advice about God. Let
go of the past and what haunts you. Your soul will be trapped
forever if you don’t let go of a dead memory. There's a reason for
everything. Some reasons are very difficult to understand, but
you'll understand someday.”

How could such a charming,
loving, and handsome man be something so grim and deadly? And she
was falling in love with him! Loving
Death
frightened her.

Simra’s bones almost jumped out of her
skin when her phone buzzed against the kitchen table. She gave the
angel a dark frown when a careless chuckle escaped from his lips.
He must've read her thoughts. She took a peek to see who called her
and answered in a rush. Mandy. Only static screeched on the other
end of the line.

Her heart dropped from panic. “Mandy?
Mandy, you all right?”

The loud noise faded, and her cousin
shouted through the phone. “Sim! Can you hear me now?”

“Yeah. Go ahead.”

“I had a wreck, and I’m not certain how
it happened. It’s so similar to the way Jeff described his
accident. You think the demon caused it?”

Simra felt the blood drain from her
face. There was no doubt Tristan caused it. She needed to get to
Mandy without Tristan catching her and fast!

Chapter 26

"In addition to all this,
take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all
flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and
the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God." -Ephesians
6:16-17

Simra’s stomach twisted to think the
worst. “Are you hurt? Are you stuck? Tristan did this and is trying
to stop us. Where are you?”

Her cousin groaned in pain on the other
end of the line. “I’m just a little hurt, but the car’s stuck. I
can’t drive it out of the ditch. I’m about a mile or two up the
dirt road from the lake house.”

Simra covered the phone with her hand
and turned to Zach. She begged him in desperation. “Can you please
drag Mandy's car out of the ditch?”

“I’m an angel, Simra. Not human. I
can’t do such things. Maybe there's someone with a truck who can do
this.” He closed his eyes and prayed for Mandy's protection and for
help.

Simra uncovered the phone, and her
trust in God grew strong again. She only focused on bringing her
cousin to safety. “Mandy, we'll find a way to get you home. I just
know it.”

Simra's phone beeped while she
comforted her cousin. Someone else called. Her knees grew weak as
she expected the worst of calls to be Tristan or Quint. Relief shot
through her when she saw the detective’s name on the screen. She
hung up with Mandy to answer his call.

“Jeff?”

“Sim, I spoke to Mandy earlier. She
told me about Tristan capturing you. Are you all right? I’m out of
the hospital now and feeling great. I’m back on the job. Where’s
this abandoned house? We should all go there together.”

Simra smiled to know her friend was
better, but her shoulders slumped from guilt dominating her. Jeff
and her family were still in great danger. Tristan might succeed in
killing them soon. Simra’s faith in God was weak.

It wasn’t safe for anyone she loved to
be involved with helping her anymore. Jeff and Mandy were only
injured the first time. But Tristan would murder them next if they
continued helping her.

“I’m fine. Mandy's not." Simra
explained what happened and how they needed someone to drag the car
out of the ditch. She gave him directions. "I don’t want you two
involved anymore. You’ve already seen how it’s much too dangerous.
Tristan almost killed you. You and Mandy should stay at the lake
house with me. He can't get to you here.”

“I'm sending someone on their way to
help Mandy. Don’t beg me to stay out of this because I won’t, Sim.
I'm already involved, and I’m trained for such dangerous
situations. You, Ms. Reece, and Mandy are my family. Now I’m doing
everything in my power to stop this madness.”

“
You aren’t trained for
fighting a demon and keeping him from killing you.” Simra fought
back tears from the sharp emotions cutting her to
pieces.

“Sim, I can handle it. You have to
trust me. Tristan caught me off guard. I’m more prepared for him
this time. I'm wearing the armor of God. I know the demon’s out
there waiting to strike, and I'm ready for him this
time.”

Simra became unable to refrain from
breaking down into continuous sobs. She wiped her tears with a
tissue. Penetrating fears shot deep through her like a thousand
arrows. They were worries about her loved ones, her own soul, her
destination, and breaking her grandmother’s curse. Would Tristan
ever be stopped? Regardless of what Simra or anyone else did,
nothing could ever be the same again.

Jeff tried to soothe his friend on the
other end of the line. “There’s no reason to be concerned about me.
I promise everything will be fine once the demon’s destroyed. But
you have to let me and Mandy help you.”

Simra began to tell him that it was
almost impossible that all of them would get through this alive,
but the phone clicked. “Jeff? You still there?”

No one replied on the other end of the
line. He must have had enough of debating about the situation and
hung up. Then again, it wasn’t like him to do such a
thing.

Ms. Hanley finished setting the table
and came to Simra with worry in her eyes. "Simra, I couldn't help
overhearing your conversation. I have my car. Should I pick up
Mandy?"

Zach interrupted them before Simra
could respond. "Absolutely not! That's Azazel's plan. He wants to
draw one of you out of the house to kill or capture you. It's best
that you both stay here. Help is on the way sooner than Jeff's
people can get there. I sense it."

Simra's heart pounded at what Zach
said. What he said made perfect sense. She repeated it to Ms.
Hanley. "There's someone on their way to help Mandy. For now, I
must find out why I lost connection with Jeff."

Simra glanced at Zach, who gazed at her
with intensity. Her heart jumped at the thought of Tristan doing
something horrible to Jeff again. She squeezed the cell in her hand
and started redialing his number.

Zach took the phone from her firm grip.
“I caused the call to end. Allow the detective and Mandy’s
assistance. But have strong faith in God as you pray for their
safety. They must trust Him too. I’ll protect them to the best of
my ability. We need all the help we can get. Jeff should keep an
eye on the drug dealer. Your cousin will bring us the ingredients
to destroy the body.”

Simra shook her head with aggression.
“No. I’m sorry, but I can’t allow them to be involved anymore.
Tristan will kill them! He’s already tried.”

Zach took bold steps toward her and
squared his shoulders. “If you’d like this madness with the demon
to end well for you and your loved ones, you’ll let them
help."

Simra tried to hide the excruciating
fear of him by lifting her chin in much defiance. “Your threats
toward me and my family don’t scare me, nor do you. My faith will
grow stronger, and I’ll protect them to the best of my
ability."

Zach’s lips tugged into a smile, and he
chuckled as though amused by her outburst. “I made no threats to
your family. I only said your loved ones might be harmed by Azazel
or emotionally damaged if you don’t allow them to help. I wouldn’t
dare hurt them because I’m here to protect all of you. You can't do
all this on your own.

“Your emotions and worries are running
rampant, Simra. Take a moment to rest your mind and gather your
thoughts back into place. You can't take everything into your own
hands and believe it's all up to you. You must allow others and God
to help.”

“What are you saying, Zach? Are you
trying to tell me that I'm not capable of getting the job
done?”

“You can't do it on your own. No angel
or human can without teamwork and Christ involved. It's impossible.
You must stop worrying so much and focus on the mission, which is
destroying Azazel.”

“I'm fine!”

“Stop deceiving yourself. You
aren’t.”

Zach's mom walked into the restroom and
left the two bickering. Simra fidgeted with her hands behind her
back and dared stepping closer to him. She made a continuous
attempt to hide her building panic.

“Zach, please hand over my phone, and
let me return Jeff’s call. He’s probably very worried about me.
Especially if he knows I’m alone with Death.”