Arianna Rose: The Awakening (Part 2) (19 page)

“You sound jealous, Desmond
,” she accused and stepped away from him.

“Jealous?  That’s absurd!” he said and crossed his arms over his chest.

“You sure seem it!” she pressed.  “And I bet you put that image in my head of you all shirtless when Luke and I were doing it.”

Desmond visibly cringed at the words “doing it,” then his expression changed unexpectedly, and a smirk spread across his lips.  “You thought of me while you were intimate with Luke?” he asked and appeared pleased.

“Yeah, like you didn’t know.  Like you didn’t put that image in my head,” she
egged him on.

“Arianna, your thoughts and fantasies are your own.  I do not have the power to make you think or do anything you do not want to think or do.  So if you thought of me while with Luke,” he started and his sky-blue eyes suddenly danced with delight.

“Don’t even say it!” she interrupted him before he could finish his sentence.  “And don’t talk to me like you’re my father because I’ve never had one and don’t need one now!”

“Father?” he asked and looked injured.

Thrilled she’d hit a nerve and ruffled his seemingly unflappable feathers, she persisted.  “Well you say you’ve been hovering around me my whole life, like a father.”

Desmond took a step forward and gripped her arms, “I feel
nothing
fatherly toward you,” he said and his aquamarine eyes smoldered.  He pulled her close.  Arianna could feel his breath hot on her lips.  She wondered whether he was going to kiss her, wished he would kiss her.  But he did not.  Instead he embraced her and placed her head against his chest, over his heart.

With her body pressed against Desmond’s
, she felt the slight adrenaline rush she’d felt while arguing with him
dissipate.  S
he felt as though their powers were mingling, felt the calming presence of his energy
flowing through her in a steady curr
ent.  Yet in that current, she still
detected the slightest hint of jealousy
concerning her night with Luke
.  She
ignored
it, however, chalked it up to wishful thinking.

“
I hate to bring him up again,” she said softly.  “B
ut Luke has my m
otorcycle, and I need it back.”

“I will get you another motorcycle if that is how you chose to travel.”

“Well, I can’t afford a car.  Besides, I love the freedom of riding,” she said and envisioned herself on an open road, the wind in her face, the sun shining.

“A motorcycle it is, then,” he agreed.  “In the meantime, stay close to home.  I will stay close, as well.  I can be with you every moment your mother is not around.  It will give us time to work on breathing and relaxation techniques that will help you channel your powers more responsibly.”

The news that she’d be spending more time with Desmond was the best new she’d received in quite some time.

“Okay,” she said.  “But what about Howard Kane?”

The mention of Howard Kane clouded Desmond’s glorious features.  “He is close, and you will face him soon.  That is why we need to ready you,” he said firmly.

His words suggested she would be preparing for battle, a battle she would be fighting alone. 
Her heart sank to her stomach and she let go of Desmond. 

Sensing her reaction, he pulled her closer.  “You will not be alone against Kane,” he said.  “
He wants us all dead.  We will help you as much as we can
.  Ultimately, though, you will be the one to kill him.”

Arianna squeezed her eyes shut and refused to acknowledge what he had just said.  Instead, she focused on the even beat of his heart.

“It is time to return,” he whispered.  And with his words, the flowery meadow began to evaporate.  Light filled her field of vision, brilliant white light.  Desmond and his warmth surrounded her once again, covering her body with wisps of
awareness, light and feathery. 

Chapter 14

Howard
Kane
directed his large Chevy Suburban into the Shady Pines Trailer Park
in Herald Falls, New York
.
Though it was daylight, thick fog smothered everything in its wake.  Each trailer
appear
ed
haunted, crawling with ghostly curdled shapes that
dove and lunged at every turn.
He found it fitting that the Sola
should live in such a sinister
looking community. 

He parked his car just outside a smaller unit near the end of the long lane, and saw that a rusted Toyota Camry occupied the space right in front of it.  He turned the headlamps off
,
as well as the ignition
,
and spoke to the men with him. 

“This is her lair, gentlemen,” he said.

“Are you sure she isn’t here?” the man beside him, Eli, asked.

Eli had sounded worried, frightened by the prospect of a possible run-in with the Sola.  Fear among his followers did not inspire much confidence in Howard.  Fear made them potential liabilities.  He would be sure to keep a close eye on Eli in the coming days.

“Yes,” Howard replied
and leveled his gaze at Eli
.  “John Pawley confirmed
that she is
at school
.  He called
about ten minutes ago
.  You have nothing to worry about.”

Eli raised a brow at him, “I’m not worried,” he said but his eyes told another story.  “I just want things to go smoothly, that’s all.”

Howard could tell that the man had lied to him, that Eli was feigning calm he did not feel. 

“Good, Eli,” Howard said plainly.  “We fight with righteousness on our side; there is nothing to fear
when God is on your side
.  Fear when fighting alongside the Lord would mean your faith has wavered.  Has your faith wavered, Eli?”

“No, no of course not,” Eli replied quickly.

“Good.  That’
s good, because I need you in top form in the
hours
forthcoming.”

Howard did not say more o
n the topic.  Rather, he climbed out of his SUV and strode
to
Arianna Rose’s front door.  He turned the doorknob and, to his surprise, the door had not been locked.  Given the seediness of the trailer park, most others would have found more security precautions necessary.  But no other was the Sola, only Arianna Rose. 

He opened the door slowly and peeked ins
ide.  The faint light of a side
table lamp illuminated the area before them, a crowded area with a couch and coffee table.  No one appeared to be in the living-room area.  He turned to his men who’d followed and nodded before proceeding to enter the trailer.

Once inside, he was immediately greeted with the sour smell of liquor and nicotine.  Both familiar scents from his youth, the stench reminded him of his childhood home he’d shared with his mother, before he’d killed her.  He glanced around and saw that an empty bottle of Scotch sat atop the far edge of the coffee table, along with fast-food wrappers.  His eyes quickly scanned the kitchen area and hallway.  He did not see anyone and was about to address him men when the sound of panting
and moaning filled the trailer.

Howard felt a small jolt pass through him and his knees buckled involuntarily.  The moaning, the stink of alcohol, cigarettes and
cheap cologne transported him back in time.  For an instant, he was eight years old, his father dead and he alone with his mother.  A different man had shared his mother’s bed each nig
ht of the week, and they had dru
nk and smoked a bevy of vile substances
before retiring to her bedroom, a
nd that had been when the panting would begin.

The overwhelming urge to march down the narrow hallway before him and kill the two fornicators snapped Howard back to the present.  He balled his fists at his side so tightly his fingernails bit into his palms.  He glanced at the faces of the men with him.  Their heads had turned toward the sound.  Fortunately, none of them had no
ticed his moment of weakness. 
His movement toward the moaning alerted them to follow him.

The first door on the right was closed, the sounds of sexual intercourse on the other side of
it
loud.  Howard opened the door and boldly stepped inside
, expecting some sort of reaction
. 
But he did not get one.  The moaning did not stop. 
The carnal display before him was grotesque.  A pale
man with dark body
hair thrust his pelvis
from behind a blonde woman like a barnyard animal,
one hand
gripping her
breast while the other bounced and flopped
as he did so.  Both the man and the woman had been so consumed by
passion that
they hadn’t noticed that four men had entered the room.

He stood, stunned, momentarily as they brazenly continued with their depraved act.  Another shock bolted through him as it had moments ago and weakened his knees once more. 
A vision of his mother being ravaged by a greasy-looking man with long hair flashed through his mind’s eye.  The man had knelt behind his mother, thrusting, and clutching her breast, just as the one before him did now.  His insides began to quiver and sweat beaded his forehead as anger mounted inside of him. 

Silently, he unsheathed his blade from his waistband and crept up behind the man.  He swung it in a wide arc and slashed at the side of the man’s throat.  Blood spurted out immediately.  He’d hit the man’s jugular vein.  The man cried out and held his neck then flopped to his side, disengaged from the woman’s body.  A bright-red pool expanded aroun
d him and the shrill scream of the
woman tore through the room.  The woman spun and faced them.

“Oh my God! Oh my God!” she cried again and again, and the irony of her pleas did little to calm Howard.

“Shh! Shh!” he shushed her.  “Stop screaming.  Please, stop screaming.”

His voice had obviously calmed her as he’d hoped it would as her
wailing ceased.  She reached for the covering on her bed and attempted to cover herself, suddenly modest after a room full of men had seen her naked and submitting to immoral behavior.

“Please just take whatever you want.  I’ll do anything you want, Just please don’t kill me,” she said in a trembling voice. 

With her hair in a state of disarray, her blue makeup smudged around her eyes and streaming down her cheeks, and her face the epitome of terror, Howard almost felt bad for her.  But pity was an emotion he reserved only for those deserving of his graces, for the just.  And the woman before him was anything but just.

“You have only one thing I want,” Howard said calmly.  “And you are going to help me get her.”

The woman looked at him confusedly before a nod to his men ordered them to descend on her.  One held her arms while another grabbed her feet.  Eli approached with a syringe.

“Please!” the woman begged.  “Please don’t kill me!”

Neither Howard nor any of his men flinched at her entreats.  Eli jabbed the needle into the woman’s
buttock.  She blurted out a few incoherent
sentences;
her voice slurred by the powerful sedative they’d
administered then fell to the bed.

“Put her in the truck,” Howard ordered his men. 

Three of the four men obeyed, but one paused.  Eli hesitated and turned to Howard. 

“This is the woman who bore the Sola?  This is Arianna Rose’s mother?”

“Yes, Eli.  I told you we were coming here for her,” Howard said, impatience creeping into his tone.

“How does she help us kill the Sola, though?  The Sola is so powerful, so evil.  What makes you think her mother will give us any leverage?”

Anger edged its way into Howard’s already changeable mood.  Eli was questioning him.  He wondered who exactly Eli thought he was.  Eli had not heard the voice of God.  Only Howard had. 

“I have a plan, Eli,” Howard hissed.  “
God’s
plan.  Do you question God’s plan?  It sounds to me like you are.”

“No, no,
Brother
Howard.  I would never,” Eli
fumbled but was interrupted by the sound of Howard’s booming voice.

“
God does not speak through you, Eli.  He speaks through me!  How dare you question my plan,
God’s
plan?  Were it not for your father, I’d strike you down her
e
and now!”

Eli did not respond or bristle at Howard’s words.  He knew better. 

“Now, get her
e
out of her so that we can move things along.
Make no mistake about it, we will not fail.  Evil will not rule this world.  Arianna Rose will burn at the stake as God intends.”

Eli would not meet Howard’s weighty gaze.  Instead, he kept his head bowed, eyes lowered and
assisted the other two men as they covered Arianna’s mother in a sheet from the bed.  Once she’d been covered, they hauled her to the truck parked behind Howard’s.