Predestined (11 page)

“Puhlease stop looking like a love
sick puppy. It’s annoying as hell,” Gee teased.

“So, I’ve gone from a guard dog to
a love sick puppy. What is it with you and your canine
descriptions?”

Gee laughed softly, “I don’t know.
Maybe I need a dog.”

“Yeah, like that’s gonna happen. A
transporter with a dog as a pet. Where you going to board him while
you’re working? On cloud nine?”

“Well, aren’t you a barrel of
laughs? For your information I figure if they will let Death have a
human I can at least have a dog.”

I started to respond when Pagan’s
eyes blinked slowly and she opened them. I could see her pupils
dilate as she tried to focus.

“Hey you,” she rasped in a sleepy
voice. It was time for Gee to leave.

“Go Gee. I’ll call for you when I
need you here,” I demanded without bothering to glance back at her.
I enjoyed watching Pagan wake up and I didn’t want to miss a second
of it.

“I can see I’m not wanted here,”
Gee’s amused tone caused the corners of Pagan’s lips to
lift.

“I’ll see you soon Gee,” Pagan
called out as Gee left the room.

“That’s better,” I sighed, sitting
down beside Pagan and leaning back against the headboard. I reached
over and pulled Pagan up to lay her head on my chest.

“Mmmmhmmmm,” she agreed, still not
fully awake. Leif had drained her energy by apporting her human
body. It was dangerous to apport a human yet the idiot had done so.
Pagan would be feeling its effects for days. I’d brought her home
via a private jet and she’d slept the entire way.

“I can’t seem to keep my eyes open
but I want to.”

I played with her hair wrapping the
strands around my fingers. “That would be Leif’s fault. He used a
method of transportation not meant for humans. For that he’ll
pay.”

“I’m sorry I left,” Pagan’s small
apology caused me to stiffen. She had no reason to apologize. I’d
been panicked and handled the situation wrong.

“No, I’m sorry I didn’t explain to
you that the blond was soulless. I shouldn’t have disregarded your
feelings. Seeing her so close to you sent a jolt of fear through
me. I’d been on a mission to find out why she was
there.”

Pagan yawned then tilted her head
back to peer up at me, “She was soulless?”

I nodded, “She distracted me and
upset you all for the purpose of Leif getting you alone. I fell
right into their trap.” Admitting my failure left a bitter taste in
my mouth. I’d failed her twice now.

“No, I fell into their trap. You
were trying to protect me and I acted like a silly jealous girl and
ran off,” the sleepiness was gone from her voice now. She didn’t
like for me to take the blame for anything. If I didn’t defuse her
she’d stand up and start ranting about how wrong I was.

“You were jealous,” I teased and
her determined gaze morphed into a bashful smile.

“You know I was. The girl was
calling me your newest fling and acting like you dated a different
girl every week. I knew she didn’t know you very well just by that
comment alone but then she called me a slut and well, I
snapped.”

“She
called you a
what
? I wonder if
Leif knows about that. Since he seems to think you belong to him I
wonder how he’d feel knowing his little evil sidekick called you
such a vulgar name,” I paused and took a deep breath. Raging while
I held a very sleepy and exhausted Pagan in my arms wasn’t a good
idea.

“I should have disposed of her
right then,” I muttered angrily to myself.

“No, you shouldn’t have. Besides I
was just being a jealous girl. If I’d kept my cool none of this
would have happened.

“Hmm, I like you
jealous.”

Giggling, she pinched my nipple
through the thin cotton of my shirt and I burst out laughing. The
sound was still so new to me. Before Pagan I don’t think I’d ever
laughed.

Pagan

“So what are you and
your sexy rocker boyfriend planning for Valentine’s Day?” Miranda
asked coming up beside me as soon as I stepped out of my car. I’d
forgotten about Valentine’s Day but I doubted Death actually
acknowledged that holiday. Besides Dank had left again this
morning. Gee would be here soon. I’d left her eating the leftover
waffles and strawberry topping Mom had put out for me on the
kitchen table before she’d left bright and early for a writer’s
convention in Chicago. She’d be gone all week. The way things were
going at the moment that was probably for the best. This way Gee
could remain in human form and roam my house freely while we waited
on Dank to find an answer to my problem.

At the thought of Leif, I glanced
over to his parking place and stopped walking at the sight of his
truck parked in his spot. Ohgod he was here. What did that mean?
Everyone had forgotten him. Now he was back.

“I know you broke up with Leif but,
dang, you don’t have to glare at his truck like it’s the worst
thing ever. So he’s back from his trip up north visiting his
grandparents. You’ll get used to being around him again. No
big.”

His grandparents? What? And she
remembered him. My head started pounding. This was too much.
Nothing made any sense.

“There’s my girls,” Gee’s voice
broke into my internal panic attack and I swung my horrified
expression toward her. She understood. Her eyes flickered over to
Leif’s truck and then back to me. “Well, lookie lookie, the king
has returned or should I say ‘prince,” she smirked at her own joke
and squeezed my arm. “Won’t today just be loads of fun?”

I started to shake my head and she
squeezed my arm tighter.

“Smile and be nice Peggy Ann.
That’s all you need to do. I got this,” she hissed and led me
toward the doors of the school. Miranda silently followed behind us
which in itself was a miracle. But then Gee always freaked her out
anyway.

Gee didn’t stop pulling me until we
reached my locker. Miranda had said her goodbyes and gone to wrap
herself around Wyatt as soon as we entered the hallway. I was
thankful for her departure because I needed to talk to Gee
alone.

“What am I going to do?” I
whispered as I glanced around frantically for any sign of
Leif.

“You’re going to act like
everything is fine. He’s your ex; act like girls do around their
exes,” Gee blew a bubble with the gum in her mouth as if this
weren’t a big freaking deal.

“Gee.
You are aware that he’s after my
soul
,” I snapped
angrily.

She rolled her eyes, “You are aware
that he ain’t got nothin’ on Dank.”

“But Dank isn’t here.”

“I am Peggy Ann. Besides he’s here
because Dank disposed of his little helper. He has no one to report
back to him.”

Little helper? What? “Can you
elaborate on that one please?”

Gee leaned against the locker
beside me and pulled a string of gum out of her mouth as she rested
one booted foot on the bottom locker. “Kendra was soulless,
sweetheart. Now she’s no more. Dank was on a rampage when he got
you back from New Orleans. He isn’t a fan of the French Quarter you
know. All those old French buildings bug him to no end. But me, I
like all the alcohol. Except then there are the naked women. That
can get a little annoying.”

Kendra was soulless. I rested my
forehead on the cool metal in front of me while Gee continued to
prattle on about New Orleans. Of course, Kendra was soulless. That
made complete sense. If Leif was so enamored with me then he’d
never really be in a relationship with someone else. Her taunts
were all meant to feed me right into Leif’s arms. And Dank, he’d
pretended with her because he was protecting me from her. God, I
was an idiot.

“So, she’s gone...” I
muttered mostly to myself.

Gee stopped talking about beignets
and their gift to the world and sighed, obviously frustrated that
her attempt to change the subject had failed.

“Yep, and Dank does his clean up.
Not a soul will remember her. No pun intended.”

“Gee?”

“Yeah.”

“I need a coke and a candy bar.
Lots of chocolate.”

Gee laughed and shoved off from her
perch against the lockers. “I’m on it. I’ll meet you in
class.”

“Thank you.”

I watched her as she headed down
the hallway toward the teacher’s lounge.

Leif’s laughter rang down the halls
and I turned to see him standing among the same group of boys that
always surrounded him. He didn’t glance my way and the cheerleaders
hung on his every word. It was as if nothing had happened this
year. This was very similar to the same scene I’d witnessed the
first day of school. The day I’d met Dank sitting in the back of my
homeroom. Smiling, I turned and headed for homeroom. Things might
be all screwed up now but just thinking about how sexy Dank had
been that day while I tried so very hard not to stare at his
adorable little dimple made things better. I’d thought he was just
another soul back then. One that could actually talk. So much had
changed. The soul I was convinced was stalking me wasn’t that at
all. He’d been here to take my soul because I was meant to die. But
something changed his mind. I liked knowing I’d affected him in a
way no other human ever had. He’d broken all the laws of the
universe for me. He’d let me live.

“Coke and Snickers,” Gee announced
as she placed the cold can in my hand and dropped the Snickers down
the front of my shirt.

“Gee,” I squealed in surprise and
quickly caught the candy bar before it hit the floor and was
trampled on by the herd of students rushing from homeroom to second
period.

“Beggars can’t be choosers Pay-gan.
Deal,” she chimed beside me.

“You can be such a brat,” I snapped
opening the Snickers and taking a bite.

“Yep, but you love me
anyway.”

I could only nod. My mouth was full
and of course she was right. I did love her.

“Hey! Where’d you get that?”
Miranda demanded as she ran up next to me.

I tilted my head over at Gee, who
smirked. We both knew there was no way Miranda would ask Gee for
anything.

“Oh,” was Miranda’s reply. Then she
seemed to get over it quickly enough and whispered loudly, “You
talked to Leif yet? And how weird is it that Leif comes back right
after Kendra up and moves? It’s like we’re playing musical chairs
around this place.”

I couldn’t help but tense up at the
mention of Leif and Kendra’s name. If Miranda thought this was
weird she’d really be weirded out by the truth. Trying to wrap my
brain around the fact Kendra was a soulless creature was just too
much. I had Leif and his claim on my soul to deal with. I was going
to have to put Kendra and her existence out of my head. Maybe I’d
forget her like everyone else eventually would.

Gee softly cleared her throat.
“Nope, but she’s about to and we get a front row seat. Damn, I
should’ve grabbed some popcorn while I was in the
lounge.”

Leif was coming directly at us with
his crooked grin and easy swagger. “Hey Pagan, how are you?” he
asked, stopping in front of me so I couldn’t go any further. Even
though I was flanked on each side by Miranda and Gee I wished
fervently that Dank were here.

“Um, good thanks, and you?” I could
feel the eyes of other students glued to us. This was what everyone
had been waiting for. The teenage drama and angst that fueled our
lives. If they only knew.

“I see you’ve made a new friend,”
his gaze shifted to Gee and the warning gleam in his eyes was
obvious. Was he actually challenging her?

“Uh, yeah, I have.”

“Ya know what they say, out with
the old,” Gee piped up raising her eyebrows and glaring directly at
him, “and in with the new and improved.”

Leif stiffened and I worried she’d
pushed him too far. We were in the hall with a bunch of humans.
Maybe it would be wise if we kept the evil spirit prince
calm.

“A matter of opinion,” his voice
was clipped and cold. Knowing Gee she’d get amusement from that and
make this worse.

“Um, okay well, it was good to see
you again Leif and I’ll, uh, see ya around,” I reached for Gee’s
arm and held it firmly in mine tugging her with me as I stepped
around Leif and walked as quickly as possible toward the girls’
restroom. I could hear Miranda’s heavy breathing as she ran behind
us to keep up. Where was Wyatt when you needed him? Not that it
would do much good. Miranda would pick gossip and drama over a
make-out session with her boyfriend any day.

“Dang, Peggy Ann you’re running
like the demons of Hell are on your tail,” Gee chuckled at her own
joke. I didn’t find her one bit funny.

“Please be nice,” I shifted my
focus off Gee and found Miranda watching us with a look of worry
mixed with determination on her face. I realized she was prepared
for Gee to lash out at me and she was mentally getting ready to
come to my defense.

“I was being nice,” Gee drawled and
jerked her arm out of my grasp. “Jeez, Pagan get a grip. Eat your
chocolate and drink your soda. I think your sugar is low and it’s
making you bitchy.”