Masquerade (41 page)

Sam was dead.

“
What did you do to him!” I
screamed, standing up to face the woman.

“
He exchanged his life for
yours.”

“
No!” I shook my head. It
was impossible! I wasn’t dead. I hadn’t died! I looked around for
some sort of reality. There was nothing. There was no color except
for the three of us and a bed draped in pale gold satin. How did we
get here?

“
I brought you here,” the
woman spoke. “You were in a car accident.”

Realization dawned. I remembered China
chasing me, the car running off the road. I was hurt and wanted
Sam…I gasped. Had I died?

The woman nodded gently. “He loved
you.”

Loved. Past tense. “He died for me?” I
whispered.

“
He wanted you to
live.”

“
I don’t want to live
without him.”

“
Why is that?”

I dropped to my knees before him. A
lock of hair had fallen onto his forehead, and I brushed it aside.
Tears slid down my cheeks and dropped onto his. “Because I love
him.” My words were broken.

If the woman made a response I didn’t
hear it. I curled up next to him and put my head on his chest. I
felt the loss of him so deeply that I was sure I would die from it.
I wished I could – then we could be together again. Suddenly I felt
very warm so I looked up. An intensely bright light surrounded us.
I reached up, put a hand over his face to shield him and ducked my
face into his neck. It was so hot…

Then there was nothing.

A cool breeze brushed over my skin,
cooling and soothing me. My entire body ached, and I
moaned.

“
Heven?”

His voice was so sweet. I’d thought I
would never hear it again. I must be dreaming. Not wanting to wake
I burrowed further into sleep and willed him to come to
me.

“
Heven?”

Sam.

“
Why isn’t she waking up?”
His voice was anxious, not as it should be in a dream. “What’s
wrong with her?”

“
She’s dreaming,” the woman
answered.

Sam let out a frustrated sound. I felt
hands in my hair and on my face. “Wake up, Heven.
Please.”

I opened my eyes. Sam’s
face was so close I actually flinched. He didn’t move but his eyes
flared
gold and stared into
mine.

“
You’re alive?” I asked,
hope welling up inside me. I prayed that my mind wasn’t playing a
cruel trick on me.

“
Either that or we’re both
dead.”

A small smile splayed
across his lips, and I squealed coming up off
the ground so fast he fell
backward
with me landing on top of him. “You’re alive!” The relief was so
great that I laughed.

He laughed too and wrapped
his arms around me and squeezed me until I couldn’t breathe. “You
have no idea what I went through…you died in my arms. Oh God,
Heven. You’re alive. Oh God, you’re alive.”

His hold on me was iron clad but there
was a fine tremor in his muscles. I could imagine what he went
through because seeing him lying motionless and cold on the floor
was a sight I never wanted to see again. Those few moments had been
the worst of my life. “I couldn’t stand to see you that way…so
cold…so still. I wanted to die alongside of you.” Tears leaked out
of my eyes to stream down my cheeks.

He buried his face in my
neck and inhaled, his hold iron clad. I left him that way until my
lungs began to burn, and I truly had to have oxygen. I wiggled, and
he eased his hold while I gulped for air. “Sorry,” he murmured,
pulling back and
taking my face between
his palms. “Don’t ever die again.”

“
You either,” I whispered,
more tears falling. He wiped them away with his thumbs and
paused.

“
Are you okay?” he asked,
tilting my face and studying me. Something passed behind his eyes,
and it looked like shocked disbelief. It was the same way I was
feeling.

“
I’m okay,” I
whispered.

“
Where
are you hurt?” He ran his hands along my arms and shoulders, coming
back to brush the hair away from my face and stare at me again.
“
Your head…so much blood…” his
voice caught and his eyes glazed over in panic.

“
Sam.” I caught his hands
and pressed a kiss to the inside of his palm. “I’m not hurt. Not
anymore.”

He groaned and pulled me
into him again. I fit against him so perfectly and he felt so right
that I knew I never would have been able to live without him. I
loved him so much that I could feel the connection between us,
pulling me closer.
God, I love you.
The words pounded through my head over and over
almost like a mantra. I couldn’t stop thinking and feeling
them.

Sam held me tighter still,
his face buried in my hair.
I love
you…

My head snapped up at the same time
his did and we looked at each other, both our eyes widening in
surprise. “Did you say that out loud?” I whispered.

“
No. Did you?”

I shook my head.

“
I heard you.”

“
I heard you,
too.”

His eyes held mine and he
stared at me hard.
I love you,
Heven.
His lips did not move yet I heard
the words as if he’d spoken them. He was watching me for a
reaction, something to let him know what he suspected.

I love you,
Sam.

He jerked like I hit him,
his eyes closing for a second only to reopen and stare at me,
shocked.
I thought this was just a
legend.

A legend?

His eyes flared again
because I heard his thought and answered. “
Mindbond
,” he said, mostly to
himself.

I had no clue what that was or what it
meant, but whatever it was seemed to be a big deal. But right now
we had bigger problems. “Where are we?”

“
I don’t know.” He frowned,
and in one fluid motion stood, pulling me with him. “What’s going
on, Airis?”

I completely forgot about the woman in
white. “You know her?”

“
Allow me to explain,” she
graciously answered.

Sam settled an arm across my
shoulders.

“
You are safe here,” Airis
said.

I believed her. I did feel safe here.
Besides, if she wanted to harm us she would have just left us
dead.

“
Where exactly is here?” I
asked.
And how the heck did I die and then
come back to life?

“
The InBetween.”

“
The what?” I asked, and
Sam stiffened
. He had heard of this
place?

Yes.

I jerked when he answered my thought
with his own.

“
It’s a place where people
who have died come before passing over completely to
Heaven.”

“
Or Hell,” Sam finished
Airis’ explanation.

“
Why are we here?” I
asked.

“
Because you
died.”

“
We’re still dead
then?”

“
You were. But you passed
the test.”

“
What test?”

“
Sam gave up his life for
yours. He made the ultimate sacrifice for you, proving his
loyalty
–
his
love. Your clear distress and utter certainty that you would not go
on without him proved your love for him

You wouldn’t live without
me?
Sam’s thought speared into my brain,
and this time I didn’t react.

Never!

My response seemed to anger him and he
glared at Airis. “You killed her to see if I would give up my life
for her? You killed her for a stupid test!”

“
I had nothing to do with
her accident. She died because of China’s decisions.”

I shuddered at the memory
of China’s soulless, red eyes.

Sam made a sound in his
throat. “How
do we get out of
here?”

“
I can send you
back.”

“
Do it,” he said, not
unkindly.

I wondered how much time had elapsed
since we got here.

“
Not just yet,” Airis
began. “When I spared both of your lives you acquired a debt. I
need to explain this.”

“
You want me to pay back a
debt because you spared my life when I didn’t ask for it?”
Sam
vibrated with confusion.

I began to worry. I was
thankful that we were both alive, and I was beyond grateful to this
woman…but I didn’t like the idea that we were now indebted to her.
What would she want from us? I pulled
away, but he anchored his arm around me harder. I felt
trapped…

Calm down, Hev.

I can’t
breathe.

Yes, you can.
He removed his arm from around me to rub slow
circles over my back
.

In. Out. In.
Out.

Air found its way into my lungs to the
tune of his voice, and the panic ebbed.

That’s my girl.

I kind of like hearing you
when no one else can.

He smiled.

“
You did ask me to spare
her life, did you not?”

He gave a tight nod, “I thought the
debt was my life.”

“
Your life is too
valuable.”

“
My
life?” He seemed surprised, but I wasn’t. His life was more
valuable to me than my own.

“
If she lives, then you
must live as well.”

“
Can you please say
something that makes sense?” I asked.

She inclined her head and spoke to
Sam. “How much do you know about being a hellhound?”

He sighed. “Hellhounds are
not as common as they used to be. Rare, in
fact. They were once used to guard the gates of Hell and help
souls pass into the World of Sin. They were
also responsible for dragging escaped souls back to
Hell.”

“
Do you know why they have
fallen out of favor to use?”

His feet shuffled a bit
then
he cleared his throat, “They were too
hard to control. Even Satan couldn’t handle them when they
wanted
to
disobey.”

“
Did you know that
hellhounds have been asked to undertake other
duties in the recent past as well?” Airis asked.

“
No.” He seemed genuinely
confused by this.

Airis nodded. “Yes. And I have come to
offer you a job.”

Something told me that this job wasn’t
something he could turn down. He squeezed my hand again. “What’s
the job?” he asked, grim.

“
We would like you to guard
a Supernatural Treasure.”

“
We?” Sam asked.

Airis lifted her eyes to the heavens.
I felt Sam recoil. “You can’t possibly be saying that…”

“
Yes, you have been chosen,
Sam, by the highest power there is.”

“
That’s
impossible.”

“
Why?”

“
I’m a
hell
hound. We usually operate on the
other side, for the sinners. We are sinners.”

“
You were created by God,
but twisted by the wrath of Satan. Satan twisted two beasts,
coerced them into his evil and the hellhound was born. You were
always children of God, but you were led to believe otherwise. But
then hellhounds were cast out of hell, and your lineage changed.
Hellhounds realized that they, too, had free will. A choice of who
you would become. Tell me, Sam, do you think that you are a sinner
by birth?”

“
Yes.”

“
You have a dark
soul?”

“
No!” I yelled. I’d stayed
quiet until now, but I couldn’t stand here and allow this woman to
call Sam evil, to imply that he wasn’t good. “If he was a dark soul
he wouldn’t be capable of love. He wouldn’t have given up his life
for mine.”

“
The test,” Sam
murmured.

“
Yes, the test. Now
you
have proof that you have always wanted
– you have proven you are pure of heart.” Airis smiled
brilliantly
.

“
Are you telling us that
God now wants to employ hellhounds to do good?” I asked
skeptically.

Sam laughed. “If Satan couldn’t
control us, then how will He?”

“
He does not seek to
control you. He seeks the abilities that were sired to you, that
are yours by birth; He prays that you choose to use
them for Glory
and not
for evil.”

“
By guarding a Supernatural
Treasure?” Sam asked.

Airis nodded patiently, kindly and Sam
fell silent. It was a lot to take in, and I don’t think Sam ever
thought of himself as a child of God before. If he could accept
that, then everything could be different for him,
better.