Predestined (19 page)

“I can understand that,” he
replied.

Miranda scooted closer to me and
patted the spot beside her. “Come sit,” she ordered
Leif.

I wanted to tell her he was the
most dangerous thing out here but I kept my mouth shut. At least on
the other side of Miranda I didn’t have to see his face.

“Here, it’s good,” Miranda replied
shoving the bottle toward Leif clumsily. Okay, so maybe she’d had
enough to drink.

“Don’t mind if I do,” he replied
and I could see him tilt the bottle up from the corner of my
eye.

“Sorry I ran off today and we
juslefyouthere.” Miranda was starting to slur. Yep she’d had
enough. I reached across her and took the bottle from
Leif.

“You’ve reached your limit Miranda.
Any more and you’ll hate me tomorrow,” I explained pulling the cork
out of my pocket and stopping it up before setting it down by my
feet.

“I was worried about you but I saw
Pagan caught up with you,” Leif replied patting her
knee.

“Yesss. Don know whatid do
withouther,” Miranda slurred.

Leif leaned forward and I could
feel his eyes on me. “She’s pretty special,” he agreed.

Miranda nodded then started to lay
her head on my shoulder but missed and fell forward. Both Leif and
I grabbed her before she could topple face first into the fresh
dirt and flowers.

Giggling, Miranda swayed back and
forth as we sat her back up. She’d had way more than enough. I
doubted she’d remember much in the morning. Hopefully, she wouldn’t
wake up hugging the toilet.

“Okay, I believe it’s time for us
to go home,” I said reaching down to grab the bottle of wine and
then stand up. “Come on, you. Let’s get you to bed.”

“I’ll help you get her to the car,”
Leif offered and I started to tell him no when Miranda fell forward
on her knees and cackled with laughter.

“Yeah, okay thanks,” I muttered. It
would be really helpful if Gee hadn’t disappeared completely on me
today. But I was on my own and Leif was the only ‘being’ stalking
me at the moment. Leif looked entirely too pleased with this turn
of events and I had to squelch the urge to tell him I could do this
on my own. Because I was more than positive we’d end up sleeping in
the graveyard if it was up to me to get her to the car.

Leif reached down and picked her up
under her arms. She swayed on her feet and Leif wrapped his arm
around her waist. “Easy girl,” he coached.

“Easygirl,” Miranda mimicked
laughing like he’d said the funniest thing she’d ever heard. Note
to self, Miranda was a lightweight. In the future one glass of wine
was her limit.

“Bye Wyatt loveyousomuch,” Miranda
called out as Leif led her down the pathway we’d followed from the
parking lot to get here. Like me Leif could see the souls and he
dodged them and let them drift past so I didn’t have to walk
through any on the way out of here.

“Loveyousomuch,” Miranda began to
chant forlornly. The sad drunk was starting to emerge. I hadn’t
thought about that possibility.

Leif opened the passenger side door
and eased Miranda into the seat instead of letting her fall inside.
Which I had to admit was very thoughtful. Especially for a voodoo
spirit.

I walked around to the driver’s
side when I heard the passenger side door close and the rear door
open. Snapping my head around I watched as Leif got into the
backseat. No way was that happening.

I stopped and opened the rear door
on my side and stuck my head in. “What do you think you’re doing?”
I hissed.

“I’m making sure you two get home
safely,” he replied with a polite smile on his face.

“Oh no, you’re not. Get
out!”

“Donbesomean Pagan,” Miranda chimed
in from the front.

Rolling my eyes I let out an
exasperated sigh. Fine, if he wanted to be prince charming he
could. I wasn’t dealing with him right now. I needed to get Miranda
home before she passed out, or worse, threw up in the
car.

“Whatever,” I grumbled and slammed
the door for extra effect.

I managed to crank the car and pull
out onto the road without once glancing back or acknowledging
Leif’s presence. I intended to ignore him the entire way home.
Maybe he’d get miffed and disappear. God knows Miranda wouldn’t
realize it. I shifted my eyes over to her and saw her eyelids
getting heavy.

“Stay awake. I won’t be able to get
you inside if you’re passed out. We don’t want your Daddy coming
out and finding you like this.”

That perked her up. If her Dad
found her drunk he’d be furious. Well, maybe. Her parents had been
so worried about her he might understand. Or they might admit her
to a mental house. She really didn’t want to go to one of
those.

“That’s better, keep those eyes
open,” I rolled down her window. “The cold air should help and if
you start to feel sick please lean out that window and
puke.”

Miranda giggled and laid her head
back against the headrest letting the cold breeze blow her hair
across her face.

“Whose idea was it to get her
wasted?” Leif asked from the backseat.

I was going to stick with my plan
to ignore him so I reached for the volume to turn up when Miranda
drawled, “Paaagaaans, shesosmart.”

Leif chuckled from the backseat. I
had to agree with him. I was questioning my intelligence at the
moment too.

“Canwedoit agaaain to..tomorrow?”
Miranda asked.

I shook my head, “No. Trust me, the
headache you’re going to have in the morning will agree with me.
That was a one-time deal.”

Miranda made a “pfft” sound that
caused spit to spray from her mouth.

I pulled into Miranda’s driveway
fully expecting Leif to just evaporate when he opened the car door
like a human and then proceeded to get Miranda out of the car.
Great, Prince Charming was going to continue with his polite
behavior. I followed them to the door and Miranda’s mother met us
there.

I stepped forward and handed her
the half empty bottle of wine.

“She wanted to go see Wyatt’s grave
tonight. I took this because I felt like she would need it. I’m
sorry--”

Her mother held up her hand to stop
me. “No, it’s okay. I understand. That’s not any worse than the
pills I’ve been giving her.” Her mother’s tone was so defeated. I’d
heard that tone before with my mother. I hoped they weren’t going
to do with Miranda what my mom had done with me.

“Just go on home tonight Pagan.
Your mom’s already called me looking for you. Her plane arrived an
hour ago. I’ll look after Miranda tonight.”

I nodded and stepped back as
Miranda went into her mother’s arms and she closed the
door.

“Looks like it’s just you and me,”
Leif said, entirely too pleased.

Chapter
Eighteen

“No, it’s just me and
I’m going home,” I replied turning around and heading for the car.
I didn’t give him the pleasure of even looking back. I opened my
car door with a little more passion than was actually required and
got inside. Reaching up for the keys I’d left in the ignition I
fumbled around and couldn’t find them. Frustrated, I turned on the
overhead light and peered around the steering wheel to see my keys
weren’t there.

I checked both my pockets and
started to lean down and feel around in the floorboard when the
passenger side door opened and Leif slid in with my keys dangling
from his fingers.

Grrrrrr... I reached out and
snatched them easily from his two finger hold and then shoved them
into the ignition. “What do you plan on doing Leif? Going inside
and visiting with my mom? Hmmm... because more than likely Gee is
going to be there shortly after I arrive and she’s chomping at the
bit to kick your ass.”

Leif leaned back in the seat making
himself comfortable. “No, Pagan I just think you and I need to
talk.”

“About what? The fact you want to take my soul off to some
voodoo hereafter or the fact that you stalked me my entire life
then took my memories away from me? I know! You want to talk about
how you
lied
to me about everything from the very
beginning and made me think you were this nice guy. Pick a topic
because I’m all talked out with them all.”

Leif
let out a weary sigh and rubbed his palm over his blue jean covered
knee almost nervously. Back when I thought he was
human
I’d thought that was a cute gesture. Now, I wasn’t very
fond of it. “You’re angry with me. I get it. I even understand it.
I always expected you to be once you knew--”

“Then why do it?”

“Because I picked you. It was your
purpose. It is your purpose. Don’t you get it? You’d have died
Pagan. Died. Gone on. Gotten another life and completely lost the
chance at this life. Because you were going to die. Death wasn’t in
love with you then. He was going to take you like he was supposed
to. There was nothing anyone could do to stop him, except your
mother. She could choose to hand you over to Ghede and she did. She
may not have realized it but when she begged a voodoo doctor to
save you with voodoo magic she gave you over to my father. So you
lived. You didn’t die. Death didn’t take you. You got to grow up
with your mother and have friendships with Miranda and even Wyatt.
You got to LIVE. Those were years you wouldn’t have gotten had I
not chosen you. This life you have now would have ended that night
in the New Orleans Children’s Hospital.”

Hearing it explained like that was
hard. Swallowing against the sudden lump in my throat I started to
turn down my road when Leif grabbed the wheel.

“No. We aren’t done
talking.”

I tried to turn but the wheel
wouldn’t budge. The car stayed headed east toward the outskirts of
town and the old East Gulf bridge.

“Okay, fine. You kept me alive. I
got to live this life. I appreciate it but now I want to keep it
and you don’t care. You claim to want me and need me but you
couldn’t care less what I want. It’s all very selfish with you.
It’s all about what Leif wants. You take no consideration as to
what I want. You act as if I’m your possession and I should just be
happy about it.”

Leif didn’t respond right away. I
tried to turn the wheel again and couldn’t. I suspected if I took
my hands off the wheel the car would drive itself. The idea that
Leif might not let me go home began to set in. My heart rate picked
up and I tried hard to remain calm. If that wasn’t his plan I sure
didn’t want to give him any ideas.

“I’ve tried to make this easy on
you. I’ve tried to make this transition one you could accept. I’ve
sheltered you from the truth. I wanted you to make this decision
because you wanted it. Not because I was forcing it but we’ve run
out of time. There is something you need to know,” Leif pointed
toward the side of the road right before the bridge, “pull
over.”

I wasn’t sure if he was directing
me or the car because I wasn’t about to pull over but the car
pulled over and came to a stop without my help.

“What is it I need to know?” I
asked hitting the stupid steering wheel for betraying
me.

“You aren’t going to like this. I
didn’t want you to ever know. But when you refused to accept that
your soul was the restitution for the life my father granted you,
my father decided he’d take his restitution elsewhere.”

What in the world did that mean?
Did this mean he was paid in full and I could get away scot free
now because if so there wasn’t anything about that I didn’t
like.

“Pagan, look at me,” Leif ordered
and I turned my head to meet his steady gaze.

“Wyatt’s death was only the
beginning. Ghede will take more. Everyone close to you. He’ll take
them one at a time until you either cave in and agree to come with
me or there is no one else left to take.”

Numbness settled over me as I
stared back at Leif. It was as if he’d just spoken in a different
language. I’d understood what he said but the meaning behind it was
almost impossible for me to accept. I wanted to push it back, shove
it away. He couldn’t possibly have said what I just heard. There
was no way that this restitution on my soul could affect others.
Just me. Not... not Wyatt. No, I’d been there. I’d seen Dank. Leif
was lying.

Shaking my head almost violently I
yelled, “NO! YOU are lying. You are a liar. I saw Dank. I saw him
draw out Wyatt’s soul. Dank would have never taken a soul for your
father. He would have never--”

“Dank didn’t know.” Leif
interrupted me. “Did he tell you about it beforehand? Did he
prepare you for the death of your friend? No. He didn’t. Because
Wyatt’s death wasn’t that of fate. My father used his power over
your unpaid restitution to kill the body Wyatt’s soul inhabited.
Dank was drawn there to retrieve the soul from the body because
that’s his job. He was as surprised as you were.”

I had no response. Dank hadn’t told
me. He never prepared me for it. Could this just happen? Could this
spirit lord of the dead just take souls because I didn’t do his
bidding?