Awaken (Divine Hunter Series) (21 page)

Lacy
’s other hand had moved to her mouth. She choked back a sob. “Oh, God.”

“
The man that took you is that same demon, and the other one is his master, who, from what we know, is very powerful. I don’t know why they are after me, but I do know that I’m the reason they took you and I’m so, so sorry about that.”

“We? You mean Evo knows about all of this too?”

“Yes.” As he looked into her eyes, which were now glistening with unshed tears, his chest tightened with the tremendous guilt he felt over what had happened to her and what she now knew. He needed to help her process the things he was telling her; help her understand that, even though these things existed, and knowing this meant her life would never be the same, he would do anything to keep her safe.

She just stared at him wi
th a complete look of despair on her face. Her lips parted and for a moment it seemed like she didn’t know what to say. She only managed a whisper. “Is Evo also. . . ”

“No. Evo’s human just like you.”

“How. . . ” she cleared her throat and shook her head, “How can I believe any of this? I’ve seen things today that I truly can’t explain, but how can I accept that what you’re telling me is true?”

Michael swallowed hard.
“I understand how hard it must be for you. It took me enough time to accept what had happened to me, but it’s true, all of it.”

A tear fell from her eye and he reached up and wiped it with his thumb.

“How can you seem so. . . real? I can touch you, feel you. I kissed you. . . ”

“
Because this body is real, but. . . ” For some reason the words stuck in his throat. He was hesitant because he feared that as soon as he told Lacy the next part, she would run from him. And even though it would be the safest thing for her to do, he didn’t know how he’d feel once she was gone. Truth is, since he’d met her he’d been able to pretend he had some kind of a life, a purpose, and that he truly was Michael Warden, just a normal guy who worked at the university. A guy that Lacy wanted to be with and who wanted to be with her. He’d considered it. Imagined them being together; imagined kissing her properly, making love to her. But none of it was real. It could never be.

“
But what?” she pressed.

He lowered his gaze, unable to look her in the eye. “
But it’s not really mine.”

The instant he heard her gasp h
is heart sank.

Now she knew.

Everything.

He couldn’t be a
coward, so he looked at her again. “I kinda took it from someone who was dying. I’d used other host bodies, but there was one consequence of that that I couldn’t deal with: it was dangerous, could kill the person, or if it didn’t kill them it damaged them in some way. I couldn’t do that anymore, so I waited. And in the end it paid off.” He watched Lacy as she listened intently, a small crease settled between her brows. “One night, I happened to stumble across a man who was in a bad way, close to death, slumped under a bridge. It looked like the poor guy was a heavy drug user and he’d overdosed. There was nothing that could’ve been done to save him. His death had been inevitable, which meant his body was no longer any use to him. So, I figured I’d wait, and at the very last second, I took it.”

Lacy’s eyes shimmered with her unshed tears. She was silent, her lips pressed together as though she was struggling to process what he’d just told her.

“So, you see. . . I’m not even real, Lacy. Michael Warden is a walking dead man and I’m just hitching a ride. And now you know why I couldn’t kiss you last night.”

She stared into his eyes,
her gaze never wavering. Then her brow creased and when she pulled her hand from his, he thought she was going to bolt, but then a rush of breath left her and she put her head into her hands. After a moment, when she looked at him again, her frown had gone. She looked strangely calm.

She must have seen the despair
on his face as he waited for a response because she reached up and placed her hand on his cheek. Another tear fell from her eye as she stroked his face with her thumb and whispered, “You are real to me.”

He almost stopped breathing. After everything he
’d just told her she should have been running out the door as far away from him, from this whole nightmare, as she could. But instead she was looking at him with adoring eyes like she had done last night before she’d gone to kiss him.

“
Michael, I don’t know how to deal with all of the things you’ve just told me. Part of me, the little girl in me, wants to run away and forget any of this ever happened, but what good is that going to do? It’ll probably only drive me mad in the end anyway. What I do know is this: no matter how hard this is for me to deal with right now, it can’t be anywhere near as bad as it is for you.”

Shit. Before, she’d just been knocking on the door to his
heart, but now, after that speech, she’d gone and moved herself in, kicked off her shoes and propped her feet up on the sofa. Now she wasn’t going anywhere.

He couldn’t speak.

“You’re not one of those demons, you’re not evil. I can feel your compassion and your kindness, that’s the reason I care for you. You came to rescue me at the risk of your own l. . . ” She stopped herself from saying the word
life
and then looked away from him to hide her embarrassment. “I’m sorry.”

He pulled her chin around
so she was looking at him again. “Hey. Don’t apologize. I’ve had a year to deal with this, and even though I still don’t have any answers for why I’m like this, I’m kind of used to it.”

Her lips curled up in a faint smile.
“You are real to me,” she repeated, then surprised him when she leaned across and hugged him, resting her head on his chest. He hesitantly placed his arms around her and rested his chin on her head. He closed his eyes.

He rubbed her back while he thought of how well she
’d taken everything. Perhaps he could have been honest with her sooner. He doubted it. If she hadn’t just witnessed what she had there’s no way she would have believed him. And who would blame her for that? He found it hard to believe himself and yet he was smack bang in the middle of it.

“I don’t think this whole ghosts and spirits thing is so crazy, not now anyway.” Lacy said, her head still on his chest.

“Oh, yeah? Why’s that?”

She sat
up, but he kept his arm around her. “As crazy as it sounds coming out of my own mouth. . . a ghost helped me escape tonight.”

What was she talking about? He gave her a questioning glance. “I don’t understand.”

“I was bound to a bed by my ankles and wrists and had no way of freeing myself. A woman appeared in front of me, a spirit, and she helped me get free,” she explained.

What? He thought the only reason he could see spirits was because he was also dead. How was it possible? And more importantly, why would a spirit help her? He hardly ever interacted with ghosts because they were never easy to communicate with.

“How?”

“Somehow, she was able to break the chain and the rope. Then I ran. But when I got to the door of the warehouse it was locked. The spirit helped me
again by placing her hand on the door which unlocked it. There’s no way I could have broken that chain myself so I couldn’t have imagined it, I swear I−”

He placed his hands on her arms. “Lacy, I believe you.” It sounded like she was trying to convince herself more than him. “I just don’t understand it.”

She smiled and looked down. “I don’t either. But I think, after all these years, I’ve finally realized I’m not crazy.”

She seemed to be talking to herself rather than him. She wasn’t making sense. “Lacy, what’s going on?”

She chewed on her bottom lip for a moment. “I’ve been seeing things I can’t explain since shortly after my sister’s death; people who have tried to talk to me, to show me things. My grandma, and the doctors I spoke to about it, put it down to post traumatic stress. And that’s what I’ve thought ever since. I thought I was having crazy hallucinations, worried that perhaps I was losing my mind. Hell, I’ve paid enough out on therapy bills because of it, even spent years trying to psychoanalyze myself to no avail. I hadn’t had one for nearly five years, until a couple of weeks ago when I was on my way to work. I saw something in the road and swerved to miss it. When I checked, there was nothing there. I think that, after all these years of thinking I was a little crazy, I’ve actually been able to see the dead.”

She let out a heavy
sigh, but surprised Michael when she laughed. “This has been one hell of a crazy day, huh?”

He couldn’t help but admire her even more over her attitude to everything especially this new revelation. Well, well. . . So she was gifted as well as beautiful.

He couldn’t help but pull her into his arms again. “You’re amazing, you know that?”

“Why? Because you’re not hauling me out of here in a straight jacket?” she said as she rested her chin on his shoulder.

Michael felt a slight breeze and a shift in his senses. He looked up to see Alethia standing in the doorway of the sitting room.

“
What the hell took you so long back there?” Michael suddenly snapped. He and Lacy had been seconds away from death.

Lacy pulled away from him. And he
realized how angry he’d just sounded.

Alethia
’s face was pale and she didn’t seem herself. “Yes, I’m sorry for that. I had to wait until Varesh was weak. What he was doing to you was draining his power and I had to wait until the right moment before I could use my powers on him. He’s strong and I needed to make sure he was vulnerable.”

He calmed himself, remembering that she was the reason they were both still here. “
What
was
he doing to me? That hurt like hell.”

“
That’s because it
was
Hell. He was using Hell’s fire to dampen your powers so that he could rip your soul out.”

“
What fucking powers? Demons keep telling me that I’m someone I’m not, and now he’s convinced I have powers? There is some sure fucked up case of mistaken identity here and I need to clear this shit up before he hurts anyone else I care about.” His eyes flicked to Lacy for a moment and he saw her eyes widen slightly. Yes, well, he was all about the truth right now.

Alethia remained quiet.

“Are you okay?” Lacy asked as she walked over to her and placed her hand on her arm. “You look awfully pale.” She led her to the sofa.

“Uh, yeah, sorry. Alethia, this is Lacy. Lacy. . . Alethia.” Michael motioned his hand back and forth between the two. “Alethia is a goddess.” He waited again for a reaction from Lacy but she was more concerned with helping the woman, who actually did look a little sick.

Alethia sat down, shoulders slumped. “Nice to meet you. I’m fine, really, thanks.”

“Are you sure?” Lacy threw Michael a quick look and he shrugged his shoulders.

“Truly, I am. Dematerializing someone usually drains me a little, but, like I said, Varesh is powerful. It took a lot out of me that’s all. I’ll be fine once I’ve rested.”

“Where is he now?” Michael asked as he pulled out his cell ready to text Evo to inform him that they’d made it back okay.

“I sent them both to see an old pal of theirs. Lucifer will enjoy his company for a while, but I wouldn’t count on it being for long. At most, it might buy us a day or two.” Alethia began to cough, her pallor now a pasty gray. She leaned back and closed her eyes.

Michael hadn’t even thanked Alethia for what she’d done. If it wasn’t for her, Lacy would certainly be dead and who knows what would have happened to him. He had a very bad feeling about all of this. Why was this powerful demon after him? What kind of threat did he think Michael could impose? The whole situation was just getting weird.

Was it a case of mistaken identity? Perhaps that’s why he was killed in the first place, because whoever it was thought he was somebody else. He could think of no other reason so it had to be that.

“Would you like to have a lie down on my bed, Alethia?” Lacy’s voice pulled him back from his thoughts and her soft, caring tone warmed him. Thank God she was okay. “You look like you could use a soft pillow right now and I have lots of them on there.”

The deity gave Lacy an appreciative smile as she managed to nod her head. “I’ll show you to my room.”

Michael watched as Lacy put her arm around the deity and helped her towards the door. “Alethia,” he called. She looked back at him over her shoulder. “Thanks.”

“That’s okay. I like diamonds by the way.” She winked at him and smiled a little before they disappeared down the hall.

He was amazed at how Lacy was handling everything. She seemed completely unfazed by what had happened and what she’d learned about the world she thought she knew. And now she was taking care of a powerful goddess without even giving it a second thought. Like it was just something she did every day.

But he couldn’t shake the feeling he had. It seemed he was to blame for everything she’d been through lately. If he’d just stayed away from her none of this would have happened. Yeah, instead of sticking to his normal routine of keeping his distance and getting on with the job he was there to do he’d weakened. It was an innocent slip that had materialized into something that was now way beyond his control. He cared for her, and knew she felt the same and wasn’t that just a ball ache?