The Touch (Healer Series) (29 page)

  
Max countered, “I will come with you, friend.
You won’t be alone.”

  
AJ objected.

  
“Max, you have to sit this one out. You can’t
battle him. He could kill you simply for being there.”

  
“AJ’s right,” an elder replied.

  
“Unless,” interjected another, “we can
combine our strength to be a shield. If we do this, we can have an element of
surprise and surround their battle ground. We cannot touch the Grim; however,
perhaps our presence will be enough to strike fear into him and force him to
forfeit.”

  
AJ stood firm.

  
“There’s no forfeit option for him. If he
forfeits, he walks away, goes somewhere else to do the same thing again. He
needs to be stopped from continuing the wrath of his clan on this earth.”

  
The others knew AJ was right, despite his
newness to the profession. They knew as well the cost associated with such a
gesture.

  
“We’re talking about your life, AJ,” Max said
quietly. “It will take your entire being, all of your strength, to end his
powers. Do you understand what you’re offering? What you’re suggesting? We
cannot heal you if you die. He could kill you.”

  
AJ looked around the table at all of the eyes
staring at him. Despite their petitions to find another way, they were all
thinking the same thing AJ was: the only true way to rid the earth of Devin was
to defeat him. And defeating him would cost AJ his life.

  
“I know,” AJ said. “I know that it could be
the final healing I ever do, drawing the powers from Devin. But it has to be
done. I need to do this for all of you, for the people of Lee and every other
town Devin might find his way into.
Especially for Addie.
If she’s safe, I’d die a thousand times to make sure it stayed that way.”

  
“How do you plan to lead him somewhere? And
where?” a voice from the crowd asked.

  
“A challenge.”

  
“He won’t fall for that,” another voice
called. “He doesn’t seem to want to battle you outright. He wants to hurt you,
slowly and painfully.”

  
“They’re right,” Max said. “I don’t have any
suggestions though, at the moment.”

  
“I do,” a voice called, the owner pushing her
way to the middle of the gathering where the table was.
 
“With me.”

  
“No!” AJ yelled before even seeing her
figure. He knew the voice. “What are you doing here?” he asked, the Healers
around him looking startled at a mortal amongst them. They were aware this
mortal knew about their secret and they feared for their own powers. “Addie,
turn around and go back home.”

  
“I’m not going until I can help.”

  
“How did you even find us?” Max questioned
her.

  
“It wasn’t hard. Gram squealed like a pig.
She said she got your address one time when you were out at the café, talking
to people. She eavesdrops, you know.”

  
Addie was smiling, and Max laughed.
Figured.

  
“Addie, you have no idea what you’re asking
to do,” AJ scowled, angry that she would put herself in danger when he was
doing all of this to save her life. “Devin isn’t all human, he’s part immortal
and he’s pure evil. He won’t spare you to save his powers. He’s willing to lose
it all to get to me for whatever reasons he has.”

  
“I don’t care, AJ. What type of person would
I be if I let all of you put yourselves in danger in exchange for my life? My
life wouldn’t be worth living. I would feel too much guilt, too much anger. I
would feel too alone. You’ve stood up for me, stood in front of me to spare me
pain and suffering. I can get him to wherever you need him. He wants to use me
to get to you. He’ll think he’ll be able to hurt me, although I trust you not
to let him. Let me do that for you.”

  
“No!” AJ was stubborn and hard-headed, not
willing to back down on the issue.

  
“She’s right,” one of the elders spoke up.

  
“No!” AJ interjected right away, his fist
hitting the table. “She won’t be a part of this.”
    

  
He felt a hand on his shoulder, instantly
calming him.

  
“Sometimes,” said Max, “we don’t have a say
so. People have free-will and the decisions they make are the path they are
supposed to go down.”

  
“We need her,” another elder said, “no matter
how much we don’t like it. For this to work, we need her to get Devin to a
place you can face him.”

  
AJ looked around. They were right and he knew
it. He didn’t like it and he didn’t want to accept it. He stormed off, leaving
the others to decide. He would be no part of a decision that put Addie’s life
at risk.

  
She looked around the table as well.

  
“I’ll talk to him,” she said, heading off in
his direction through the crowd of people.

  
She found him near the back of Max’s property
along the fence. His arms were resting on the feeble posts, his back hunched
over as he rocked back and forth on his feet.

  
“I won’t let you do this,” he said, not
looking up to face her. He knew her sound by the footsteps alone. “I won’t let
you sacrifice your life for me. What about Rose, Addie?
And
Gram?”

  
“Don’t you think I’ve thought about them? How
could I face them, AJ, if I didn’t help? How do I look at Rose and know that
you sacrificed so much to save her and I stood by and let you die in return?
It’s not just for you. Lee is my town. Despite the cruelness of some because of
my past, Lee is my home. It’s where my family has been for generations,
building a future time after time for our children. I can’t stand by and let
someone like Devin destroy it. I know now why you had such disdain for him.
Gram told me about him, about what he does and why he keeps talking to me. He
wants to hurt you. I know what he is, and I can’t risk that.
 
Without my help your plan won’t work and
he’ll be here hurting people in town.”

  
She was as smart as she was beautiful. AJ
couldn’t argue – she was right.
About everything.
Devin would never follow AJ somewhere. He’d know it was a set up. They needed
to lure him without the Grim knowing Addie and the Healers were working as a
team.

  
AJ rocked back and forth, pleading with his
own mind to come up with another way and change the situation. He let out a
scream of frustration, forcing Addie to step back. She wasn’t scared; she was
worried, knowing that by helping she was also hurting AJ.

  
He took Addie by the hand and led her back to
the table.

  
“Alright,” he said, both his palms slamming
against the table. “If we do this, we do it on my terms. We do it so she’s safe
and protected. Agreed?”

  
Max smiled, noting the leadership coming out
of AJ. The potential he had since his first days as a Healer were ignited and
he had finally found his place, his confidence. The others nodded their
approval.

  
“First and foremost – if the situation
arises, it is her you save and not me. Is that understood?” He looked around
the table, his eyebrows furled in a scowl, angry at having to use this woman as
bait. Addie wanted to object but AJ’s look told her not to.

  
“Secondly, someone gets her out of there as
soon as possible, as far away as possible.”

  
Again, they all nodded in agreement.

  
AJ sat at
the head of the table, establishing himself as leader of the operation and of
the group. It wasn’t normal routine for a group of Healers. None of what was
going on could be considered normal, though. There hadn’t been a battle like
this in ages, as long as Healers had been able to keep people well and the bad
clan of Grims had been kept to minimal destruction. This would change history.
The potential for it to change the world in apocalypse type proportions in the
coming years was great and dependant mostly upon the bravery and strength those
assembled were relying on one man to have.

17
This Is Why

All of
the recent happenings had brought Gram back to her days as a Healer and her
decision to let it all go. The memories flooded over her as she looked through
the pictures, reminding herself that her choice brought such great additions to
her life.

  
George had been the most handsome man Gram
had ever seen, and she’d seen her share of men. Living as long she had, she had
watched numerous times as people fell in love and got married, starting a new
phase in their lives. She had never been opposed to giving up her gift, yet
would only do so if she found the right person. None had ever touched her heart
the way she felt they should and so she had not given it away.

  
Until she met George.
He was nothing out of the ordinary, yet he was a diamond in the rough.
Strapping and tall, his best gray suit hung a little loosely on him. He had
bought it that way so it would fit for awhile. His career didn’t allow him much
money to spend on frivolous things.

  
He worked as a salesman, selling kitchen
knives door to door. Most men would have been embarrassed at that point in time
to be doing this job as World War II was raging across the ocean. He found a
sense of pride in it. He wasn’t able to join the service due to a limp in his
walk caused by a childhood farming accident. Though he wanted nothing more than
to serve his country, he resigned himself gracefully to the fact that his
service was to be on the home front.

  
The money he earned selling knives was
divided three ways. A third went to his savings, a third went to his bills and
the last third was put to use helping the community. Whether it was buying food
for a family that could not afford it with their breadwinner away at war or
providing assistance to those who couldn’t afford extravagances such as paint
or trim, he aimed to make life a little easier for those whose loved ones were
risking their lives so he could live his.

  
That’s how Gram met him. Toting groceries
into the house as she waved at her next door neighbor, she assumed the man
working on the front door was a family member or perhaps a husband returned from
war. She greeted him kindly and proceeded into her own home.

  
It wasn’t long before there was a knock at
the door. It was her next door neighbor. The stranger was still in front of her
house. Only this time, he was up on a ladder fixing the shutter.

  
“That’s George,” the neighbor said, pointing
in his direction. The handsome man stopped for a moment and waved back. “He’s a
bit of a handy man, does a lot for the community. He wanted me to ask if you
need anything done while he’s around. He doesn’t expect pay, only that you pass
on the kindness, and says he does it to repay the soldiers for risking their
lives because he can’t go to war himself.”

  
Gram looked at him. He was scrawny and
awkward, yet she felt drawn to him.

  
“Um, sure,” she replied, her eyebrows
scrunched. She wasn’t sure what she had for him to do; she was only sure she
wanted to meet him.

  
She went in the house, waiting for him to
finish up next door. While she waited, she would glance through the windows to
catch a glimpse of him. She was doing just that through the front porch window
when he popped up in front of her.

  
“Hi ma’am!” he said, a big, goofy grin on his
face.

  
She opened the door a bit, sticking her top
half out.

  
“Mrs. Benedict next door said that you had
something you might need help with.”

  
“I do? I mean, I do.” She was infatuated with
this man. It wasn’t how she had felt upon seeing an attractive man before; this
was an actual tug of her heart, as if it were being pulled closer to him.

  
He waited politely for a moment before
speaking up. “And that would be…”

  
“Oh, I’m so sorry!” she laughed, catching her
breath again. “Would you take a look at my refrigerator? It’s making a noise. I
really don’t want to have to replace it.”

  
George hobbled inside, the reason for his not
serving overseas now evident to Gram. He didn’t let it slow him down. As he
bent down to take a look at the machine, he continued the conversation.

  
“Do you know anyone else who might need some
help? I still have some funds left this week.”

  
“Funds?”

  
“Yeah.
I save up
money to help out where I can. I don’t need it all, and I figure someone else
could probably use a hand.”

  
“I’m not sure,” Gram replied truthfully. She
hadn’t really gotten to know her neighbors. Moving frequently kept her to
herself a lot. The less she invested in people, the less it hurt when she had
to walk away.

  
“Well, I’ll just ask you again next week.”

  
“Why? What’s next week?”

  
“It’s when I’m hoping you’ll let me take you
out for dinner,” he replied with a smile.

  
“Is this your shtick? How you pick up girls?”
Gram asked, taken aback.

  
“Only the really pretty
ones.”
His smile was contagious and Gram couldn’t help but smile back.

  
It wasn’t long before Gram was completely
enamored and even through the ups and downs of their marriage, the feeling in
her heart upon meeting him never left. He ended up healing her from the
loneliness she had enveloped herself in.

**************************************************

  
With the plan set, Max, AJ and Addie bid
goodnight to the group and left them at the makeshift camp.
AJ
and Max left first to set the scene for luring Devin.
They needed to be
visible in town in order to create an atmosphere that would entice Devin’s
appetite for revenge.

  
He and Max hit the local diner for dinner.
Neither was hungry, both men only picking at their meals and watching through
the thick glass as the patrons made their way along the street. They had hoped
Devin would be in town, not having thought about how to lure him if he weren’t
there. He was just walking down the main street as they had pulled into the
diner.

  
Devin was making small talk with the locals,
watching AJ and Max through the hazy glass windows. He had been monitoring
their interactions with the locals, determining the relationships they had
built and what he could destroy to cause the Healers a maximum amount of pain.

  
A half hour later, Addie drove up into town
as Gram and Rose met her at the diner. She had called Gram, asking her to pack
bags and take Rose out of town for the night. It was one thing to put her own
life on the line; she wouldn’t risk theirs. She needed them far way, where
Devin couldn’t touch them.

  
They walked into the diner, their backs
towards Max and AJ, and up to the counter to purchase some ice cream. Rose
turned and caught AJ’s stare, giving him a wave and a smile. She wanted to go
over to him but her mother said no, and the disappointment was apparent on her
innocent face.

  
As the three ladies left the diner, AJ made
sure he was staring at them, showing Devin how interested he was in Addie. He
needed Devin to believe he was in love – not a hard act to put on since the
reality of it was based in truth.

  
At the car, Addie stood close to Gram and
they were far enough where Devin couldn’t hear their whispers.

  
“Take care of my girl,” she said, wrapping
her arms around Gram. “If something happens-”

  
“It won’t.”

  
“If it does, please, don’t let her forget how
much I love her. Give her hugs from me every day and make her forgive me.
 
And…make sure to tell her that her
grandmother and mother are together, watching over her like the angels in her
bedtime stories from AJ. Don’t let her think I abandoned her.”

  
“Be safe,” Gram whispered, squeezing Addie
tightly.

  
“If you call and I don’t answer tomorrow
night, stay away. Go somewhere and start again. Don’t come back here where he
can find you.”

  
Addie leaned down to peer through the window.
As she looked at Rose’s perfect face, she felt a twinge in her heart that told
her perhaps she shouldn’t be doing what she is.

  
“Bye, tootsie,” Addie said, blowing a kiss as
her voice cracked. “Be good for Gram. And have fun. I’ll miss you tons and
tons! I’ll see you real soon, okay?”

  
“Okay mama!”

  
Rose was playing cheerfully with her dolls in
the back, no inkling of what the next day would bring. She was only excited for
a trip.

  
Addie looked at Gram one more time, trying
her best to hold it together. “Be safe,” Gram reminded her again. “Trust AJ.”

  
She slid into the car and started the old
motor, backing out of the parking spot and puttering off down the street. AJ
came out of the diner, staring at Addie the entire time trying to act as
nonchalantly as possible.

  
Devin noticed that Rose was fine and wondered
if he had been so flustered by AJ that he hadn’t inflicted the right pain on
her the night before. Perhaps the accident was forthcoming; he would have to
watch and see, he thought.

  
“Hi Addie,” he said, smiling at her. Addie
just sneered at him, as she had practiced doing the entire car ride home. She
had to look believable. She had to make Devin think that she had disdain for AJ
despite the fact that he loved her. Devin saw an opportunity to rub salt in
AJ’s wound and stepped towards Addie.

  
“I told you to stay away from her,” AJ
replied, pushing the adrenaline through his body. He needed to appear angry and
jealous, another feeling that wasn’t a far stretch for him. Devin set his
temper on fire without even uttering a word.

  
Addie turned to look at him. “And I told you
to stay the hell away from me and my family. Are you stupid? I didn’t need you
before, and I sure as hell don’t need you now, telling me what to do or who to
talk to.”

  
“Addie..." AJ interjected, adjusting his
face to look rejected. She was good. The tone in her voice conveyed nothing
except hatred towards him.

  
“No. I mean it – you should leave town, find
a new place to live. I’m tired of all this drama. Butt out.”

  
She turned her back on him, smiling sweetly
at Devin. She kept a safe distance from him, not allowing him close enough to
touch her. She only allowed him close enough to feel as though she were letting
her guard down.

  
“Hi Devin.”

  
“Hi Addie.
Everything okay?” he asked, enjoying the anger she displayed at the one person
he had a complete dislike for.

  
“Everything’s just fine. AJ was just leaving.
Hopefully permanently,” she added, loud enough for them to hear. She turned to
sneer at Max and AJ, who had already begun heading towards their car.

  
“You settling in your new place?” she asked,
turning her attention back to Devin.

  
“I guess. A bit small, but okay for now.”

  
“Listen, I wanted to apologize for last
night.”

  
“No need!” he replied.

  
“Yes, there is. It’s AJ’s fault. He seems to
have these feelings for me and he just won’t leave me alone. It’s frustrating,
this jealousy he has. It’s borderline ridiculous.”

  
“Well, sometimes a guy can’t help himself
around a woman as pretty as you.”

  
“Aren’t you sweet?” she said, mustering all
her strength to smile back at him.
“How about we start over,
you and me?”

  
“I like the sound of that,” he replied,
savoring the words as they came out of her mouth. The fear he could stir in AJ
by spending time with Addie would be great. It seemed too good to be true. He
wanted to touch her, inflict the ultimate pain on AJ. He withheld his
temptations in anticipation of a long, drawn out torture. He knew that hurting
just Addie wouldn’t be enough. “What did you have in mind?”

  
“Let’s see…well, you’re pretty new here. I
could show you some of my favorite places from growing up. Places only a couple
people know about.
 
Pretty private
places,” she said slowly, praying he would take the bait.