Fate (Drift Series Book 4) (11 page)

“You lose again…Darryl.” I mocked him.

With what little strength I had, I rose up while holding Darryl above me as he remained skewered on the Demon Dagger. I carried him over to the edge of the crevasse and lowered him towards it.

“Tell Christian I said he’s next…oh, that’s right, you won’t be able too. You’ve just been completely eradicated from history.” I declared, placing my foot into his chest, sliding the Demon Dagger out of him.

He screamed as he fell into the crack. I watched his body begin to deteriorate the further down he went. Suddenly, an array of light shot out of the hole where I had stabbed him and his body exploded into ash. The earth shook violently which knocked me on my behind. After the shaking slowed to an end, everything got still and quiet. Even the blizzard like conditions that were so relentless during the entire time we fought suddenly stopped. The wind came to a halt as well as the snow.

Then, I got hit with a short vision. I saw Christian in Hell, throw his arms up in disgust and roar in anger at the reality of the defeat of War…Darryl. That was all there was to the sight before I broke from it. When I did, out of the crevasse, I actually heard a demonic growl of fury echo from out of it. I knew that was Christian.

Christian had failed to stop me again. Now there was nothing left to stand between him and me, at least that I knew of. Our fight was finally drawing near. I had proven worthy of facing him.

But the time for that wasn’t now. Once again, I was able to return home to Shade and my child. That was all that mattered for right now. It is time to leave this frozen wasteland.

CHAPTER 10

ALIVE

I had set my compass for home. War, or Darryl, whichever, was down. Not only have I defeated Agrelia and Shimmer, but I overcame the curveball in this journey, pitched by Christian. As far as I knew now, I had one foe left on my hit list, one more to go before I won my freedom. Whatever freedom that may be. Hell was one step closer to remaining in my rearview forever.

It was night—not sure of the exact time—when I finally touched down back at home. While flying in I noticed quite a bit of snow. I landed at the end of our driveway at the front of our home. I looked to the porch and saw Shade sitting there, bundled up.

We made eye contact and shared a silent smile in relief of my return.

“It’s about time.” She giggled.

“Yeah, I guess it is.”

I started to walk towards her, expecting her to hop right up out of her chair and run to me in greeting like she had done so many times before. Instead, I saw her more or less push herself off her chair while arching her back to stand. It didn’t take me long to see that her stomach had grown dramatically and she was showing the signs of pregnancy.

Seeing her that far along stopped me in my tracks. Like the battle with Agrelia, apparently time had passed in the human world while Darryl and I fought. The snow and her stomach were the sure signs of that.

“How-how long have I been gone?” I questioned.

Shade looked at me in confusion, “Will you shut-up and get over here and hug your wife?”

I sheepishly adhered to her request and marched right to her, gripping her tight.

“Easy…our little one won’t allow us to hug as tightly and as close as we once could.” She kissed me passionately.

“I noticed.”

“I knew you’d come back to me.”

“Hey, I made you a promise. What are you doing out here? You should be inside resting, where it’s warm.” I rubbed her stomach.

“I have sat out here every night since you left, waiting for your return. Luckily for me you got back just after sunset. I don’t have to sit out here and freeze tonight before I go to bed.”

“You shouldn’t have been sitting out here to begin with in your condition, Shade. How long was I out?”

“Just over seven months.”

“Geez…that long?”

“Yes…that long. You’ve just missed Christmas. It sucked without you.” She ran her fingers through my hair.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t realize. It feels like mere seconds when I’m locked in battle. That’s crazy.”

“Is it over now…I mean, with War?”

“It’s over. War is dead, but there is a minor detail that I should tell you about pertaining to War.”

“That is?”

“Let’s go inside and I’ll explain.”

I reached around and supported her back, then reached down to support her legs in my arms, picking her up. I carried her inside before I placed her back onto her feet. I took a quick assessment of our home and realized that she had been doing some busy work around the house while in my absence. There were new pictures hung up on the walls, curtains, even some plants. I kind of felt sorry for those plants because they didn’t have the same level of resistance that the humans do when in my presence. I knew they’d die in no time.

“The place looks awesome, babe,” I mentioned.

“Thank you.” Shade reached for a chair to sit down on.

I quickly gave her a helping hand before taking a seat myself.

“You stayed busy. Everything going okay?”

“Yes. I had to do something when I came home after school, and work, to keep from thinking about you, so, I fancied up the house. Dad came over and finished the touch up work that the house needed. Mom and your parents have been stopping in to see me periodically. Scruffy and Sandra come by here the most, seeing if I need anything. I’ve been really well taken care of while you were away.”

“That’s good.” I reached over and gripped her hand, “So…how’s the baby?”

Shade grinned and looked down to her stomach.

“Not a single problem up to this point. The doctor says she is perfectly healthy as far as he can tell.”

“She…we’re having a girl?” I elated.

“Yes…we’re going to have a baby girl.” She smiled huge with a blush.

I couldn’t help myself and got out of my chair to hug and kiss her again. She giggled at my response to the news.

“So the baby is looking fine. No deformities or anything because of what I am as the father?”

“As far as we can all tell, this will be as normal as a birth as there is. Our baby girl is perfectly healthy at this point.”

I sunk my head on the kitchen table and Shade reached over to rub the back of it.

“Leo…you okay?”

I delayed a moment before I answered, “Yes…yes, I’m fine…now.” I raised my head and looked up at her.

“Then what’s the matter?”

“I was so worried that there would be something wrong with the baby because of me. I didn’t want to be responsible for ruining another life being associated with me.” I fretted.

“You’ve ruined no one’s life, Leo. You’ve enhanced them. We may not be out of the weeds yet, but our daughter is fine in there as of right now,” she pointed to her stomach, “and if anything does happen, it will be of natural causes. Not because of you. Our daughter will enter this world strong. Don’t worry, baby.” She consoled.

In an effort to change the subject, Shade grabbed her phone, “Now I can ease my mom and dad’s mind by letting them know you’re back. If I was you, I’d call your parents too…which reminds me…Sheriff Taylor wanted you to call him when you got back as well, but that one can probably wait until tomorrow.”

She pushed herself off the chair by placing both hands on the dining table and fiddled with the phone. She walked into the living room where she had a fire burning in the wood stove and informed her parents. I picked up my phone and placed a call to Benjamin and Amanda who were ecstatic about my return. They also informed me about the fact that Scruffy had gotten his own apartment and was fully moved out now. The world just kept right on moving while I was away. While in my life and death struggle, mankind kept pressing forward. That reality was always such a personal paradox for me. I mean, of course the world of men doesn’t stop on just account of me and my situation, sometimes I just need it to. I feel like I miss out on so much.

Anyway, after our phone calls were over we sat down on the couch in the living room and Shade told me that there were a couple more small earthquakes that occurred while I was out battling War. I put two and two together and realized that was probably the turbulence from our struggle.

“Like I was saying before, there is something you should know about War.”

“Why do I care anything about War? That was between you and him…it…her…whatever. You won, you’re still alive…who cares?” She grinned.

“Well, War wasn’t who we thought he or she was.”

“Huh?”

“Christian played another masterful mind game with me again.”

“What are you trying to tell me?”

“You know how I didn’t know what form War would take? What he or she would look like?”

“Yeah?”

“Well, it was the last person I would have ever suspected.”

“Get to it, Leo.” She grew anxious.

“Darryl…War was Darryl Kite. Or should I say, Darryl had become what would have been the permanent form of War.”

“What?” She exclaimed as she turned as pale as a sheet. Her face reeked of horror.

“War was Darryl. He came back.” I insisted.

“But I thought when you beat him at the top of Eagle Peak Mountain that Christian had banned him to Hell forever?”

“So did I, but as it turns out, Christian hid him in discretion only to give him more power when the time was right.”

Shade leaned forward and placed her hand around my wrist, “He is dead this time…isn’t he.”

I placed my other hand on top of hers, “Yes hun…I assure you he’s dead. I stabbed him with the Demon Dagger and watched him die. There is no way he’s returning. It’s the last you’ll ever have to worry of him. He’s been wiped from existence.”

“Yeah, well, I thought that the last time.”

“Well this time it is final in regards to him. I promise you. So you don’t worry…okay?” I patted her hand.

“If you say so.” She sighed.

In an effort to calm her, I hopped up from the couch and looked around the room.

“So, what do you need me to do around here before I get back to work with Sherriff Taylor this week?”

“Well, we were about to run out of the wood you chopped up before you left. We need to re-up on that. Your timing for returning home was good on that matter. I don’t think dad was looking forward to chopping the wood for me.” She chuckled.

“I think I can arrange that.” I smiled.

“There’s enough for a few more days, but you were cutting it close.”

At my feet I could feel something rub against them. I looked down to see our little buddy Fate crossing back and forth in front of me. I reached down and picked him up.

“My goodness…you got bigger too buddy. You look just like Shadow did…it’s uncanny.” I scratched him under the chin as he purred and rubbed against my face.

“I know, he does. I’ve been tripping out about that myself. Doctor said I also need to be careful around Fate and his litter because it may make me and the baby sick. So I’m glad you’ll be here to tend to him for me now.”

“Will do, hun.”

I put my little fur-kid down and stepped into the kitchen for some substance to eat. The body was weak and needed to be fed. Shade followed me and pointed to some food that she had just made. I warmed it up, not that it matters but it’s the human thing to do, and sat down to eat it.

“Oh, I almost forgot. Mark mentioned that he wants you and him to have a guy’s weekend out for some skiing at Wolf’s Pass when you returned home. He’s been doing that a lot lately. He wants the two of you to get a cabin up there for some man time or whatever.”

“Wow…that sounds romantic. I’ll give him a shout tomorrow and see what he has on his mind.” I chuckled.

“Don’t give it up to him. It’ll only make him want you more.” She kidded.

We talked for a little while longer before going to bed. I told Shade that I would go out and chop some wood while she slept so she put some earplugs in so she wouldn’t hear me.

“It sounds like thunder when you do that,” she said, giving me a goodnight kiss.

“I’ll take it easy, I promise.”

When I knew she was good and asleep, I went outside to find some trees. I did and spent most of the night chopping away, making sure to go slowly being that I had nothing else to do anyway; plus, slower meant quieter. When I finished, I sat on the porch and waited for the sun to come up, reflecting on my struggles up to this point. The sun began to reveal itself and I went inside to wait for Shade to get up.

I called Sheriff Taylor and he was pleased that I was okay and was curious when I wanted to come back to work at the station doing odd jobs. I decided to go in after I spoke with him. Sam recommended to wait until after my fight for Diccittidel ended before I should go to school to become an officer and we talked about that for a bit. I was so honored that the good Sherriff was holding a spot open on the force for me. When the time came for me to accept the position, it would be waiting on me. That was awesome.

After I arrived back home from work I called Scruffy, who’d been blowing up my phone all day anyway. He wanted us to chip in together on a small ski cabin at Wolf’s Pass for some guy time. I thought that sounded like a good way to get free for a while and have some laughs. After getting the okay from the better half, of course, we made plans for the upcoming weekend. Scruff knew that in a couple of months I would have no time to hang out because of work and the baby. Not to mention I had to face Christian soon.

For the remainder of the week it was all I could think about. I really didn’t know how to ski, but I knew I wouldn’t have a problem learning it fast because of what I am.

When the weekend finally arrived, Scruffy and I set out for the small ski resort set up a few miles out of town. We took Scruff’s truck loaded with supplies for the weekend, including a brand new snowboard that Scruff was anxious to try out. We had a ball the entire ride there. Scruffy about lost his mind when I told of my reunion with Darryl. That was pretty much the dominant conversation on the way to the resort.

When we arrived, we checked in and got our keys to one of the many quaint, tiny cabins that were sprawled out for adventure seekers atop one of the slopes. The cabin was about half the size of my house. It was perfect for us. We unloaded our things, including a cooler full of ice cold beer and settled in. Scruffy filled me in on what I needed to do to rent a board from the clubhouse as we cracked a couple brews and took a seat at the small table in the narrow kitchen.