My Soul to Keep (The Soul Keeper Series - Young Adult Paranormal Romance) (14 page)

     
“Yes
please. I thought you didn't like it when I drink?”

     
“I don't
consider one glass of wine drinking, but then again you did have two of those
cokes at the dance,” he admonishes, I shrug. He was paying close attention. He
brings me a glass of cool wine. I sip it and the spell the crisp fruit casts on
my taste buds is exquisite. He stares at the fireplace for a moment and it
ignites at his silent command, the same way my blood emblazes for him.

     
“You are
taking all of this better than I would have expected.” He brushes a hand down
my neck and continues along to the side of my ribs following the seam of my
dress all the way down to my hip. Oh my God. His trail of kerosene ignites and
burns the traces of where his fingers had been. My eyes close, I pant once as
my breath escapes me. When I open my eyes, I see something in his that eases
me.
 
 

     
“I just
needed that explanation, that all of the bad things that have happened in my
life... When that plane went down and those people lost their lives, the only
thing that kept me going was that I needed my life to mean something. I can
never make up for all of their lives but I never want my life to just fade away
into something mediocre. If this evil wants to destroy me because I have some
great destiny, and you were sent to make sure I achieve it, then it has to mean
that I am meant to help turn this crazy world into a better place, right?”

     
“Oh
Brennen yes, I have seen a glimpse of your future and you are going to go down
in history, believe me.”

     
“Tell me
what you saw, please.” I take another sip of wine and ready myself for his
story.

     
“I saw
you sitting behind the desk at the oval office.” He looks off, staring at
nothing in particular while he speaks.

     
“That's
it?
 
I was probably just dusting it as a
maid for the president,” I say halfhearted and he chuckles.
           
“No I am sure it was yours,
and you had young children, but that's all I could see.” I imagine myself for a
minute as head of state. Possibly the first woman in office, dressed to impress
in a designer fitted suit, I will always try to look feminine but powerful. My
subconscious blasts me for thinking about fashion before the real issues. There
is so much I could do. I am eager for this future; it excites me on a molecular
level. He said young children, so I will be a young president. I mean a woman
is pretty much done having kids by forty or so. This means I could be the
youngest president in history as well, this is extraordinary.
 
Elijah's eyes are back to me. I could stare at
him all night.

     
“Do you
have special gifts or magic powers or something?”

     
“Or
something is fairly accurate.”

     
“Is
smelling of delicious deserts one of them?”

     
“What? Is
that why you asked if I baked the other day? Who ever heard of cookie dough
being a magical power?” he laughs playfully.

     
I move
over to him and nuzzle his neck, loosening his tie with my free hand. “You
smell like dark chocolate truffles and cherries,” I move my nose to his ear and
inhale, “and wine.”

“I think that I smell like whatever will calm and
relax you. I don't have control over it. You,” he says each word between warm whispers
on my neck, “smell, like, Honeysuckle and, Jasmine.” His voice is sultry, and
his breath ignites flames under my skin.

“I'm scared Elijah. I don't want to lose you.”

“I know. I don't know what's going to happen either.
We Keepers have maintained our secrecy from humans for centuries. I don't know
how you were able to read my journal either. This whole thing is strange. There
are so many things that don't add up Bren. I wish they would give me more
answers. They won’t even let me find out who your mother is. I want you to take
my journal, if anything happens to me at least you'll have that to remember me
by.”
 
He walks over to his desk and takes
the book up, wrapping the cord around it again. There were so many entries. The
book is thick with his... our history.

     
“No, I
won't let them kill you because I found out your secret. If they harm you then
I will refuse to live out their destiny. They can't force me to become
president.”

“I cannot die, but I can be cast out which is a fate
far worse than death. You can't outsmart them Bren, they have
ways
of getting what they want. They
could just dangle my life in the kingdom in front of you until you comply. Come
let’s get you home, it’s safer there.” He swallows the last bit of wine in his
glass and scoops me from the couch and carries me all the way to my door. The
moon is high in the sky already; it cast a glow on his face that deems him all
the more worthy of an ethereal world.

     
“I don't
know what is going to happen to you Brennen. However, my biggest fear is that
they take your life. I will do everything in my power to make sure that doesn't
happen. I believe you are too valuable for them to turn back now. Their stakes
are too high. But don't be afraid for me, I have lived a long and full life and
if I am punished tonight, I want you to know that it was all worth it.”

     
“When
will we know?”

     
“I don't
know, frankly, I'm astonished I'm still here with you.”

     
“Will you
stay?” I ask, as he eases my body down inside my doorway. He looks uncertain
but I see the moment the ephemeral look sets his sapphire eyes ablaze. Those
crystal clear eyes open into an idyllic world where I can see his unyielding love
for me all the way down to his soul.

     
He
follows me inside and I place the journal inside of my dresser for safe
keeping. I lead him out to my catwalk.

     
“Why does
it have to be this way Elijah? Has this ever happened before?”

     
“I don’t
know the answer to either Brennen.” I stare out into the shoreline and he pulls
me in close to his chest. The night seems so normal compared to what is
happening here between the two of us. Not knowing what tomorrow will bring, we
cling to each other like frightened children.

“What fate brings us, rest entirely in their hands.
I need you to know that I don’t regret a single moment of my time with you.” I
know he is saying goodbye but I won’t think about that right now. I just draw
his head near me and he closes the gap with a steel embrace. His scent, his
body, and his unsteady heartbeat all swirl together, sweeping me up into one
rapturous epiphany: This glorious man was meant for me. He takes my hand and
leads me to bed. He lies next to me on top of the covers, wrapping his arm
around me.

     
“Goodnight
Brennen, I love you.”

     
“I love
you too, Elijah?”
           
“Yes?”

     
“Pray
with me.” We close our eyes and press our foreheads together and whisper. “Now
I lay me down to sleep. I pray the Lord my soul to keep, if I should die before
I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take.” I know it’s a silly child's rhyme but
the words seem fitting. He continues in an inaudible mumble for another minute.

“I love you.” I murmur softly. He buries his nose in
my neck and inhales releasing a deep sigh.

“And I love you,” he says finally.

***

I am so exhausted I think I'll just close my eyes
for a second, but when I open them the sun is streaming through my curtains. Ugh,
morning came too soon. I blink rapidly, noticing that for the first time since
the accident I didn't have the dream. I reach over for Elijah but he isn't
there. I feel panicked all of a sudden.

“Brennen you have to get out of the house,” I hear a
strange voice say. Who the hell said that? The air smells weird. “Get out now,
Brennen run!” The voice says again, louder this time. It startles me right out
of bed. I realize that it’s not sunlight streaming through my window. My house
is on fire. The smoke along the ceiling is pooling in eerie swirls. The wall
outside my window is incinerating. Shit! No, this is not happening!

     
“Elijah?”
I cry out. I check the restroom and find it empty. “Elijah?” I run down the
stairs in my socks, almost slipping halfway down. My heart is pounding. Please
be in the kitchen cooking me breakfast, even though it’s not morning. I turn
the corner grabbing the column for anchorage. He isn't in the house. I bolt out
the back door into the night, and I run to his house. I find his back door is
wide open, although I distinctly remember him closing it behind us. “Elijah!” I
search his house and find it empty. He's gone. They’ve taken him, whoever
they
are, all because I was too stupid
to trust him.

The journal, no, no, no! I have to get it. It's all
I have left. I run back to my house and through the back door. There is smoke
everywhere now. The alarms are all going crazy, the phone is ringing. The alarm
company will be sending help. I dash up the stairs, the flames are growing
larger, and the heat up here is staggering, suffocating. I begin to choke. I
crawl to my door and grab a dirty t-shirt off the floor to cover my mouth and
nose. I make my way over to my dresser. I can't even see through the smoke and
it’s burning my eyes. I feel around for the book and can't find it. Greif
overcomes sanity and part of me just wants to curl up back in bed and let
destiny play itself out. I search the drawer once more and feel the soft
leather bound book in the very back. My fingers caress it before pulling it
out. I hug it to me, fighting off another coughing fit. No, not my house! I
grab my cell phone and make my way out of my room with haste. I make it to the
stairs and I can just begin to hear sirens in the back ground.

Half way down the stairs I am gasping for air. I
feel exhausted. I just need to rest a minute. I hang on to the iron railing and
try and catch a breath. I make it down a few more stairs. I can't pass out. I
have to keep the book safe. I crawl down the rest of the way. The back door
looks a million miles away. The sirens sound like they are right outside. My
eyelids are so heavy and my arms weighted with lead. My face slides along the
plush rug as if it were the most comfortable bed in town. Why Elijah? Why did
they take you from me? I will sleep here and dream of your kiss for all of
eternity. My eyes close as the fog creeps in.

My eyes drift open as my front door is violently broken
open. I can just make out the silhouette of a fireman in full uniform rushing
towards me. He scoops me up in his arms and carries me to the fresh cool air outside.
No! I don’t want to live in a world that he doesn’t exist in. I fight to climb
over his shoulder but the struggle is weaker than the fight in my mind. He
grips me firmly in his hands as I inhale a lungful of fresh sea air and end up
coughing and sputtering. My throat burns as if I had tried drinking sandpaper.
They put an oxygen mask on my face.
           
“Is there anyone else inside?”
one of the firefighters asks me. I shake my head no. They stole him from me. The
other fireman takes my pulse and puts a blanket around me.

“Are you hurt anywhere?”

“Of course not.”
Like I could get hurt, no I am their valuable little asset. I grip the diary in
my arms as if it were a life preserver. Flames lick the walls of my house.
Water hoses shoot a jet of water on the roof try and quench its thirst. This
was no accident; this was a warning, meant for me. Mess with us and we will
burn you, like a spark to a dry brush. Elijah's words play in my head. “They
have ways of getting what they want.”

Before I know it, half the town's emergency force is
in my drive way. I am escorted to an ambulance that is waiting to take me to be
treated for minor smoke inhalation. But first the fire chief wants my
statement. My hand is shaking involuntarily as I clench the blanket around me.

“So you were home alone when you woke up and saw the
house was on fire. Is that correct?”

“Yes, I saw the flames out of my window and I got
downstairs as fast as I could.” They didn't need to know I was stupid enough to
get out of a burning home only to go back in for a second helping. I can't take
my eyes off of the smoldering facade.

“The fire looks like it started right under your
bedroom window. Do you have anyone who could be angry enough with you to do
something like this?” I have a demonic flock of assassins waiting in the
lurches, and I pissed off a whole bunch of Soul Keepers, hmm choices, choices.
Which is to blame is a real toss-up.

“No one on earth,” I finally say. Well I guess that
much is true. He goes through a few more questions and I tell him what he wants
to know. When he asks where my parents are, I tell him my grandmother is spending
the weekend with family and I will call her first thing in the morning. The
fire is put out, and the doors to the ambulance shut, taking me away.

By the time they are done with me it is early
morning. I call Emily to see if her mom wouldn't mind picking me up. Then she
can get her car from my house.
Killing two birds, with one
whatever.