Destiny's Wrath (Destiny Series - Book 3) (7 page)

When he realized I was back in my body, he casually asked, “Where’d you go?”

“
I wanted to see the kid.”

Max nodded, “I was guessing that’s where you were. What’s his defense? A demon made me do it?”

I shook my head, “No, not a word. From what I heard, two of the kids he killed were his friends. Several of the others were their families.”

“
He didn’t say why?”

Wishing I had gotten better answers, “No, he was talking to a psychiatrist, and the doctor says he’s not a psychopath. It was sad, even the doctor talked about the death penalty for him.”

“
Did the kid say anything, you know . . . about Samael?”

“
Not a word.” I took a deep breath. I hated that I felt this way, but Max needed to know, “I wouldn’t do anything differently.”

Max reached over and caressed my cheek. I could look into his eyes for days and never want to blink. As he held my gaze, he whispered, “We should have found another way.”

“
The Council would have killed you.” I took his hand, “I love you, Max. I can’t lose you.”

Somberly he answered, “I’m not sure my life is worth more than nine others. If we had let the Council do what they came here to do, Samael would be gone and none of this would have happened.”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, “You can’t know that.”

I leaned into Max’s chest, felt his heartbeat – it was the rhythm of my world. Without his heartbeat grounding me, I don’t know what would happen. When Samael took up refuge in Max, I had taken Samael’s physical strength and his “power-of-sight” from him. My physique hadn’t changed, but I could bench press a Volkswagen and had on numerous occasions just for the fun of it. Hearing Max question our decision to move Samael to a willing host must have created a surge in adrenaline for both of us. I could feel our heartbeats picking up speed, beating in unison.

I knew we couldn’t go through the rest of our lives with Max carrying this guilt, “So, we go find Samael - we fix this.”

Max eased away from me, far enough to look in my eyes, still holding me in his arms, “What do you have in mind?”

“
We find Samael. We destroy him.”

Chuckling at the absurdity of my idea, “Just like that? We destroy him?”

Projecting more confidence than I felt, “Samael doesn’t scare me.”

Max wrapped his palm around my cheek, cradling my jaw, “He didn’t take up residence in you, Lauren. He scares the hell outta’ me.”

Surprised at his confession, I didn’t want to share with him my own fears. I reached over and squeezed Max’s bicep, “He scares
you
? Seriously?”

Max nodded his head, and answered in a voice barely audible. “He’s a demon, Lauren. He has a fixation on you.”

“
That’s only because you had a fixation on me. He’s been out of you for months. He probably hasn’t given me a thought since he left.”

“
You don’t understand. It was a constant barrage of what he wanted to do to you. The images he put in my head . . . I just don’t want you anywhere near him.” His mouth came to my ear, a heavy whisper, “Eventually, we’re going to make a go of it: a wedding, kids, the whole ‘happily-ever-after.’ I don’t want to risk any of our future.” Max pulled my hand to his lips and gently grazed my knuckles.

“
Max, you’ll be with me. Samael doesn’t scare me. Besides, if we don’t do something, who will?”

“
I don’t know. The Council, the Cabinet, Priests, Fairies, at this point, I vote for anyone but us.”

“
So, our plan is to do nothing? Sit here on the couch and watch the story on the news?”

“
I’m all ears if you’ve got a better plan – one that doesn’t put you anywhere near him.”

“
I think we go find that kid. Find out what happened. If Samael’s to blame, we figure out how to exorcise him from the kid; then we destroy him, so nothing like this could ever happen again.”

Max shook his head and used his lips to attempt to dissuade me, “Or we could go on a Caribbean cruise.”

“
Or, we could destroy Samael, save the kid, then come home and go on a Caribbean Cruise.”

Seething with sarcasm, Max replied, “Or, if we screw up, and Samael somehow leeches back into us, the three of us could go on a cruise.”

I wrapped my arms around Max tightly, and squeezed harder than normal, “Naw, three’s a crowd. We’ll just destroy him and the two of us can go.”

A soft, “Uhmf,” escaped from Max as his eyes went wide for a second from my squeeze. “Okay, Supergirl, stop showing off, or I’ll withhold sexual favors from you.”

“
I double-dog-dare you.”

“
That sounds like a challenge.”

“
Take it for what you will.”

Max gave me a crooked grin, “I’ve always liked a challenge.”

I straddled Max as he sat on the bed; his arms were stiff and he refused to wrap them around me. Knowing he had a sweet spot just behind his ear, I began nibbling his earlobe, kissing his neck down to his collar bone. My fingers lightly caressed his back under his shirt as my mouth found the spot behind his ear. He didn’t have to say a word; I could feel him melting into me. Max let out a low moan as I pressed my weight into him further. His stiff arms began easing as he let his torso sink onto the bed. When I felt like he was going to crumble right in front of me, I asked, “Still withholding sexual favors?”

“
Ummmm hmmmm.”

What started out as a playful moment between us was suddenly revving my engine. Sometimes men need things spelled out for them; this was one of those times. I removed my t-shirt and bra, tossing them on the chair across the room. Max smiled but still kept his hands to himself. I looked at the t-shirt he was wearing. It wasn’t one of his favorites, so I put both hands on the collar and ripped it right down the center of his chest. I stifled a giggle; it looked like a button-down shirt minus the buttons. When I leaned onto his bare chest, skin-on-skin, I was sure he would give in any second.

Max flipped me over in the blink of an eye. My shorts decided to join my shirt on the chair across the room, and Max’s steel arms wrapped around me. “Okay, you win.”

I smiled to myself, thinking, “Y
es, I did
.”

*****

As I lay in Max’s arms, my mind started running through possible scenarios. Jimmy could be really tied to Samael, or he may not want us to help rid him of his demon. Samael may not be with Jimmy; he may have
host hopped
months ago. Jimmy might be mentally ill, possibly driven that way by Samael. And the one I feared the most: Samael is in Jimmy and may refuse to leave, making Jimmy lethal for years to come.

Max suddenly announced, “I know what you’re thinking.”

Surprised, I asked, “Really? Enlighten me.”

“
If Samael really did make that kid kill all those people, maybe he’s stronger than we thought.”

That hadn’t even crossed my mind. “What do you mean?”

“
Didn’t Renny say something about if they let him live inside me, he would get his strength back, or something?”

“
Yeah, I remember. But if he were getting stronger, wouldn’t he draw his strength from me? Wouldn’t I be getting weaker?” Max shrugged, so I continued, “I don’t feel like my old self. I feel just as strong as the day I took the bank vault door off. I just used the ‘sight’ thing a little bit ago and it worked fine. I think I would
feel
it if he were getting stronger.”

“
But he lost his powers when he went up against you. If he’s pretending to be weak, lulling us into a false sense of security, maybe his plan is to take you on and get his powers back?”

“
You’re giving him way more credit than he deserves. I don’t think he’s that smart.”

“
Lauren, I spent a lot of time with him. Don’t underestimate him. Remember, I had Samael inside me. I don’t think he’s ever ridden the short bus.”

“
So, you think he made the kid kill nine people, so he could make us come to him?”

“
This whole thing feels like a trap. I don’t know how he made the kid kill all those people, but our first thought when we heard about it was to go to the kid, right? Maybe he did it so he could get you to come running. What if it’s an ambush?”

“
You’re forgetting. I have my secret weapon this time.”

Max looked confused, “What, Renny?”

I shook my head, “No. I have
you
this time. Remember? The Dynamic Duo. As long as we’re together, Samael doesn’t stand a chance.”

Max’s hand began to caress my back, “I just think we’re walking into something neither of us is really prepared for.”

I shook my head, dismissing his doubt. “My whole adult life, I’ve only wanted two things.” Max raised his eyebrows, silently asking what was dearest to my heart. “To meet you and to spend the rest of my life loving you, we’ll never have a normal life if Samael is allowed to exist.”

“
Don’t you see, Lauren? Getting involved puts you at risk. It puts our future together at risk.”

“
But what kind of future would it be if the guilt from doing nothing consumes us?”

Max stopped caressing my back and pulled me to him in a tight embrace, pain intertwined in his whisper, “You are my world. I’ve come so close to losing you so many times, I don’t think I can risk it again.”

“
This is bigger than you and me, Max. This is bigger than Jimmy. Samael made him murder nine people. If Samael is gaining strength, we need to stop him now, before he could do it again. We have to stop him.” I didn’t need Renny or Dakota to validate my belief. Stopping Samael was not just my destiny, it was life’s mission. In my mind it was no longer even a choice.

“
I love you, Lauren. I trust you. There is nothing I wouldn’t do for you, but promise me, if you confront Samael – you won’t do it alone.”

“
Promise.”

It took a whole day of talking through all the possible scenarios, we agreed, neither of us could live with the decision of doing nothing. Max was clear that he wanted me nowhere near Samael, I couldn’t help but feel there was something he wasn’t telling me. We would keep our distance, but would find a way to help Jimmy if we could. We decided not to take Peanut with us because we didn’t want to lock him in a motel room. Julio had been the farm’s caretaker before Max and I moved in together there. Julio stayed in our guest house and offered to take care of Peanut while we were gone. When I packed, I was “packing.” Since Samael had been out of our lives, I’d barely given my handgun much of a thought, but as I was closing the suitcase, I slid it in, just in case.

Two days later we were at the funeral, grieving for people neither of us had ever met. I watched Max, the turmoil on his face difficult to bear. He blamed himself; I didn’t need to hear him say it - I could see it. Because Jimmy had annihilated two families in such a small community, the outpouring of friends and neighbors was heart wrenching. There wasn’t a funeral home or church large enough to accommodate all the people who had been touched by the deaths.

We sat looking at retracted basketball hoops, a blackened score board, seated on wooden bleachers not meant to provide any comfort to those grieving from their loss. We saw mourners of all ages. Max and I sat near the top and to the right, away from the tight knit group below. We didn’t want to be comforted, nor did we feel like we belonged there.

There were seven full-sized caskets and two smaller ones lined up on the gymnasium floor. All the caskets were closed with silver framed smiling faces placed on top of each. Flowers lined the tables up against the wall, behind the minister’s podium. The sobs coming from all directions were overwhelming.

There wasn’t a dry eye in the place when an uncle was talking about the youngest victim . . . “And little Melanie only just started kindergarten. I was there the first day of school as she bounded toward the school bus, blonde curls bouncing as she skipped her way to the bus with her Barbie backpack. She rode the school bus with her big brother, Bradley. Melanie had a soft place in her heart for every stray animal that walked into her yard. Part of her nightly ritual was to leave cat food and milk on the front porch for the cats in her neighborhood. Melanie said she was going to grow up and be a veterinarian so she could help the strays that couldn’t help themselves.” The tears flowed freely from the uncle as he stepped away from the podium to lay a stuffed toy on the top of her casket: a gray plush cat. When he continued, his voice was even more strained than before, “Her seven year old brother Bradley watched a news story last year in late December, about a Christmas tree catching a family’s trailer on fire. The story touched him deeply. The next morning he announced to everyone that he wanted to become a firefighter. He also insisted that his mother give his Christmas presents to the little boy who had lost everything in the fire.” He stepped away from the podium a second time, this time to lay a fireman’s hat on Bradley’s casket. “Both of these children had such bright futures. They were the light of all our lives. Their older brother, Miles, was often seen forgoing plans with friends on the weekends, choosing instead to take Bradley and Melanie to the movies, to a ball game, or to the dog park with their Labrador. . .”