Predestined (6 page)

Dank sighed and rested his forehead
on mine. That wasn’t reassuring.

“Do you understand this? Do you
know what’s happening to me? Is this because Leif has a claim on my
soul?”

He didn’t respond right away.
Instead he cupped the back of my head with one hand and ducked his
head into the curve of my neck. Although I enjoyed being all
cuddled up to him on my bed his hesitancy to answer me was taking
away from the warm cozies I normally felt in this
position.

“Dank,” I repeated.

“It was a Voodoo doctor that you
visited that day Pagan. Your mother allowed evil magic to save your
body.”

What! I swallowed the bile in my
throat. What was he talking about? Voodoo wasn’t real but the fear
overtaking my body told me it believed in Voodoo. It knew something
I didn’t.

“I don’t understand,” I managed to
choke out over the gripping terror clogging my airways.

“I’m going to find a way to fix
this. Evil has a claim on your soul. Deities don’t associate with
voodoo spirits. They aren’t all powerful but they can use their
power over humans to cause pain. A restitution must be made in
order to send them away from you. I can protect you but the spirit
after you is the most powerful voodoo spirit out there. It won’t go
away without a fight.”

“Leif is a... a voodoo spirit?”
That couldn’t be right. Leif wasn’t evil.

“Pagan, those who don’t have souls
can only belong to one place. The Creator does not create soulless
creatures. He has no use for them. A soul can only be created by
the Creator. Therefore, all that doesn’t contain a soul is evil.
Leif is the product of one of the strongest evil spirits there is.
The Voodoo lord of the dead, Ghede, is powerful because of the
chants and prayers he receives from humans. Leif is his creation.
His child. Leif is the prince of the dead within the Voodoo
religion. Your connection to him is the reason you see souls.
Before you were sick, before your mother took you to the voodoo
doctor, had you ever seen a soul?”

I couldn’t remember. This was too
much. Voodoo? My mother saved me with Voodoo? Oh God.

“How... how can you fix this?” I
asked, needing someone to reassure me it was going to be okay.
Maybe this was just another dream. Maybe I would wake up and I
would be normal again.

Dank dropped his arms from around
me and stood up. I didn’t like the distance. I wanted him
close.

“When I’m not taking souls I will
be finding a way to end this,” he paused then looked away from me,
“Gee is going to come stay with you until I’ve handled
this.”

What? No!

“You mean you’re leaving?” I fought
the tears stinging my eyes and threatening to spill. I couldn’t do
this without him here. I wanted to be strong and fearless but right
now I just needed him near me.

Dank let out a sigh and closed his
eyes and ran his hand over his face. I knew I was making this hard
on him but I didn’t want him to go away. Even if I loved Gee, I
wanted Dank.

“There is no other answer to this
Pagan. I can’t exactly forego my job. I still have to take souls.
All my free time will to be focused on keeping you
safe.”

“But--”

“PAGAN! BREAKFAST!” my mother’s
voice rang up the stairs interrupting my attempt at
begging.

“Go get ready Pagan. Go to school.
I won’t stay gone completely. Every chance I get I’ll be right
here.”

“You promise?”

“Yes.”

“Alright Peggy Ann, where we headed
first?”

I turned to look at Gee who had
fallen in step beside me, I realized she didn’t look like an
ethereal “transporter” but instead the Gee I’d met in the mental
hospital. Her blond hair was spiky and bleached white. Her eyebrow
was again pierced and it looked like she’d added another small bar
beside it. The diamond in her nose was no doubt very real and, of
course, she had to be wearing black lipstick. She made the wanna be
goths look pathetic in their attempts to pull off the
style.

“Whatcha staring at Peggy Ann? You
miss me that much?”

“I’d forgotten how well you can
pull off the crazy bad-ass look.”

Gee burst into a cackle of
laughter. “You said ass,” Gee announced rather loudly causing me to
wince a little. “My little princess is getting some bite to
her.”

Rolling my eyes I glanced past Gee
to see Miranda standing by her locker with Wyatt watching me with a
horrified expression on her face. She’d remember Gee from the crazy
house. Crap. I hadn’t thought of that.

“Um, my friend Miranda saw you...
ya know before. What am I going to tell her?”

Gee followed my gaze and then waved
at my friends as if they were long lost buddies of hers. “She isn’t
staring at me with her mouth hung open because she remembers me
Pay-gan. She’s gawking because I don’t fit the profile you normally
hang with.”

I started to respond and decided
not to. Gee was right. My friends didn’t have piercings on their
face, or wear short miniskirts with tall black army boots. Or deck
themselves out in black nail polish and lipstick. Gee was
definitely going to draw attention.

“So, she doesn’t remember you from
the mental house?”

Gee shook her head, “Nope, Dank
took care of that.”

With a sigh of relief I made my way
over to Miranda. I wasn’t up for telling more lies today. I was
glad I wouldn’t have to come up with something to appease Miranda’s
questions. Although, I was going to have to find a way to get
Miranda to stop gaping at Gee like she had a third eyeball. Gee was
really cute all dressed up like a rebel. Sure she was gorgeous when
she was all transporty but she pulled this look off well
too.

“Miranda, Wyatt, this is my friend
Gee,” then I was stumped. I hadn’t thought that far.

Miranda’s horrified slightly
confused gaze shifted from me to Gee lingering just a little longer
on Gee.

“Gee?” Miranda asked

“Yep, Gee. Look your friend can
already say my name. Isn’t she a bright one?” Gee teased, obviously
eating up the uncomfortable gawking. I elbowed her hard in the ribs
and shot a warning glare at her.

“Gee is a friend of mine from out
of town. Her uh, Dad is a friend of my Mom and she’s staying with
me for a few weeks,” I stumbled all over my words. If they believed
me, then it would be a miracle.

“If this fascinating introduction
is over, I’m going to go find a vending machine. I need a Coke and
a Snickers since you rushed me out of the house before breakfast,”
Gee announced then headed off in what appeared to be the direction
of the Teacher’s Lounge. Surely she wouldn’t. No, she probably
would and was going to.

“So
she has to
live
with you? Like in your house? Please
tell me you lock your doors because she looks insane. Maybe you
should just sleep with your mother. I mean, honestly Pagan, she has
probably been in jail or,” Miranda gasped and covered her mouth, “I
bet she has. Ohmygod I so bet that is why she’s here! What did she
do? That is so unsafe--”

“Miranda, calm down,” I interrupted
her babbling and grabbed her arm. “She hasn’t been in jail. She’s
harmless. She just likes to draw attention. Now stop making up
insane scenarios and relax.”

“She’s kind of funky looking,”
Wyatt piped up. I shot him a “shut up” glare and hooked my arm in
Miranda’s.

“She’s eccentric but she’s fun.
You’ll love her once you get over her appearance and colorful
language.”

“Colorful language? Oh no, she
curses a lot?”

I nodded, “Yep and it’s amusing.
She could put a sailor to shame.”

“I like her already,” Wyatt said
glancing back to the corner where Gee had walked around. “You don’t
think she’s going to the Teacher’s Lounge do you? Because that’s
the only vending machine that way.”

I sighed and tugged Miranda toward
our first period class. “That’s probably exactly where she’s
going.”

“That’s just badass,” Wyatt replied
in awe, then a very loud “umph, ow baby,” followed. Miranda had
gone for his ribs with her pointy little elbow.

I laughed for the first time all
morning before I remembered Leif and the mark on my soul. My smile
quickly faded.

Chapter Six

Dank

“You know, I’ve been thinking,” Gee
said as she appeared beside me. I walked through the desert taking
the souls from fallen soldiers. I hated wars. They took up a lot of
my time.

“Ooo, you missed one,” Gee pointed
to the soul standing beside the body he’d once
inhabited.

“I didn’t forget one Gee. He
doesn’t want to leave,” I snapped, annoyed that she was here when
she was supposed to be with Pagan. “Why are you here?”

“Well hello to you too Dankmar,
geez chill, Pagan is safely eating dinner at her friend Miranda’s
house. Miranda doesn’t like me. I’m positive she’s terrified of me
and is waiting on me to drink blood or something.”

I snorted, “Ya think? Try to look
less scary.”

“Whatever, listen, why is it that
you can’t just go say ‘Yo, stop haunting my girl you stupid ass
piece of shit’ and then be done with it? I realize you’re hanging
with the humans these days but Dank, you’re Death. What’s with all
this angst?”

I finished with the last soul and
then we were walking down the smoke covered highway into a pileup
of cars that had just happened. Ambulances were just arriving and
the traffic was backed up for miles.

“I can’t just tell a Voodoo spirit
to stop and expect them to stop. I have no control over a Voodoo
spirit lord. His power comes from humans. It’s an evil spirit. Not
a human soul.”

Gee sighed, “This is ridiculous.
What the hell did her mother do?”

Jaslyn, another transporter,
appeared and I sent the souls taken from the wreck to her and she
waved at Gee before vanishing.

Then we were inside the house of
another celebrity. America would mourn this in the morning. But
unfortunately, this was a regular occurrence. The pill bottle lay
open and empty beside the bed and the soul came out looking
confused. I turned to Gee, “Take this one, then get back to Pagan.
I’m almost done and you’re just slowing me down.”

Gee snarled and beckoned the soul
before they both vanished. Thankfully. I needed some peace and
quiet. Besides, I had hospitals left to visit.

Pagan

Gee hadn’t wanted to hang around
and eat at Miranda’s. Which was probably a good thing since she
would have scared Miranda’s mother senseless. I was reaching to
open my car door when suddenly the hairs on my arms stood up.
Glancing up at Miranda’s front door I thought about sprinting back
to it and rushing inside. But my feet felt heavy. Whatever was here
wasn’t going to let me get away that easily. Where was Gee when I
needed her?

“It’s
just me, Pagan,” Leif’s voice surprised me and I managed to slowly
turn around. Sure enough. It was Leif. Looking as normal as when he
had been standing in my kitchen doorway. But he wasn’t normal. My
body hair standing at attention proved he wasn’t normal. He’d never
caused that to happen before. Was it because I now
knew
what he was?

“Leif?” I croaked out, waiting to
see if the boy I’d trusted would morph into some strange demon
before my eyes. God, I hoped not.

“Can we talk?”

That would be a bad idea.Voodoo
wasn’t cool. And I was positive their spirit prince of the dead
wasn’t either. Where was Gee and what did I do about
this?

“Um... well... you kind of scare
the crap out of me so I’m not sure I want that.”

He chuckled and I almost relaxed. I
was familiar with that sound. Leif’s chuckle always made me
smile.

“There’s nothing to be scared of. I
would never hurt you.”

I rubbed at the hairs on my arms
thinking that my body begged to differ and he shrugged, “That I
can’t help. Not anymore. I’m not in a human form any longer. You’re
going to react to me that way.”

Human form? Any longer?

“What do you want?”

He took a step toward me and I
pressed up against the door of my car. The cool metal did nothing
to soothe the strange heat coming off his body.

“Hmm... I should have guessed you’d
ask that question first. You always cut to the chase,” he flashed
the crooked grin I’d always loved. “But I need you to trust me and
listen.”

Trust him? Not likely.

“Have I ever hurt you
Pagan?”

Well... not exactly. I responded
only with a small shake of my head.

“And I never will. Haven’t I always
been there when you needed me? The tree, the lake, the time you
were lost... the time you were dying from the disease in your
body.”