Predestined (23 page)

Setting his plate on the table Leif
stood up and began to pace at the end of the bed. I watched as I
ate the cheese and crackers on my plate. I had a feeling I wasn’t
going to like this answer and I decided I’d better eat now before I
lost my appetite again.

“I’ve been with you many times in
your life. When you were lonely or sad, I was there. When you were
in danger, I was there. It was what I did. Father said you were
mine and I should protect you. So I did. I’m sorry that you don’t
remember. It wasn’t something I did on purpose. It’s just that I am
soulless and your soul can’t remember me for long when I’m not near
you.”

“Why did you want me to remember
those times? The ones you’d picked out for me to dream
about?”

Leif stopped pacing and placed his
hands on the railing at the foot of the bed. His intense blue eyes
bore into me. “Because those were the times I fell a little more in
love with you.”

No. Nonononono. I did not want him
to love me. I wanted him to let me go. “You don’t love me, Lief. If
you loved me you’d never have been able to hold me against my
will.”

Leif growled in frustration and
threw his hands up, “I’ve told you I can’t control my father. He
saved your life. He owns you Pagan.”

“No one owns me.”

Leif shook his head, “I don’t want
to argue with you. Not tonight. Let’s just eat. Okay?” he walked
back around and picked up his plate.

I finished eating my food until my
stomach was finally satisfied and then drank every last drop of my
coke. I wasn’t sure how long it would be before I got a chance to
eat again. Because there was no possible way I’d go back to that
dining room. They could starve me for all I cared.

“Are you full?” Leif asked standing
up and stacking our plates on the tray.

“Yes,” that was the only reply he
was going to get from me.

He turned to leave then stopped.
His shoulders heaved with a heavy sigh and he looked back at
me.

“What can I do to prove to you that
I do love you? Anything except letting you go; because I can’t.
I’ll do whatever else you ask of me. I want you to accept this. Us.
Just tell me.”

I stared back at him and I knew
what I could do to make my eternity more bearable. “Release Wyatt
to a transporter. Don’t keep him here.”

“If I can convince my father to
release Wyatt to a transporter then you will believe I love you and
you’ll let this work between us?”

I felt the lump rise up in my
throat at the promise I was about to make. I’d be throwing away the
small hope that Dank could save me from this. But Wyatt’s soul was
at stake because of me. “Yes, if you hand Wyatt’s soul over to a
transporter and I get to see this happen. Once I know it has
happened and that his soul is where it belongs then I will stay
with you. I’ll do whatever I can to make you happy. To make...
us... happy.”

Leif’s face broke into a grin for
the first time all night, “You have a deal. Get some rest Pagan.
Tomorrow is a new day and I can’t wait to start eternity with
you.”

I couldn’t agree with him. I’d just
shattered my own heart.

Dank

Standing in the
crumbling school building left devastated by the tornado that had
just taken out an entire town I couldn’t focus on my purpose. I
needed to be searching for the entrance to Vilokan. But souls had
to be taken. I stalked through the grief stricken building pulling
souls from the bodies of children and teachers. Several
transporters followed in my wake. Each time I’d pass a child whose
soul wasn’t in need of release I was thankful. One more life that
had been saved from this tragedy.

I continued on to each building and
house no longer counting the souls as I took them. It only took
moments and I was then walking across the muddy roads of Nicaragua
taking souls from sick women and children who never stood a chance.
Cardboard houses and dirt floors littered the land. No clean
drinking water for miles. So much poverty here while other places
had such an abundance.

Different countries, continents,
causes all flashed before me as I snatched souls from bodies. Death
happened often. It was a dark void I’d once walked with no joy.
Then Pagan had entered my world and she’d made everything right.
She’d made the emptiness leave and given me a reason to exist. Now,
she was gone. I’d let her down. I’d lost her and I was on the brink
of storming the streets of New Orleans and ripping it wide open
until I found the portal I was looking for.

“Dankmar,” Gee’s voice called out
to me and I spun around from my task and glared at her.

“What?” I snarled angrily. Seeing
her only made me remember Pagan. My Pagan.

“Ghede is releasing Wyatt’s soul to
a transporter. The Creator has summoned me. He said to alert you
and you could choose to do with that information what you
liked.”

“Where? When?” I asked as hope
soared through my chest.

“Tonight. He wants it done as soon
as possible.”

Why? What was his game? “Where?” I
demanded.

“Bourbon Street.”

So the portal was on Bourbon
Street.

“I need all transporters to go with
us. You rally them. I’ll handle the rest.”

Gee ran to keep up with me as I
stalked down the street toward the Catholic church where a priest
had just ended his life. I’d deal with that soul then I’d call in
the troops.

“Why? What’re you gonna
do?”

“I’m going to bust Hell wide open.
That’s what I’m going to do.”

“You mean Vilokan?”

“Same thing.”

Chapter Twenty-
Two

Pagan

I was tired of this
room. Even though the nurses were all really nice, I missed my
bedroom. I loved my pink fluffy cover and my Bratz dolls. I’d asked
mommy if we could go get them but she said it was too far away. She
didn’t want to leave me that long and I didn’t want her to be gone
long either. Now, that Grandma had gone back home to see her doctor
it was just mommy and me. She’d gone to get some coffee and
something hot to eat she’d said. I knew she didn’t sleep very good
in the chair beside me that turned into a bed. But I was glad she
stayed. At night I would get scared. The room was so dark and then
sometimes my door would open and no one would be there. Mommy said
ghosts weren’t real but I wasn’t so sure.

I missed Grandma already. She read
me a story every morning. I wanted to ask mommy to read me a story
today but her eyes had looked so sleepy. I reached under my pillow
and pulled out the pretty heart shaped pin Grandma had left me. I
always loved it when she wore it on her fancy shirts. She said my
grandfather had given it to her on their wedding day. He’d told her
that now she had his heart. That was a silly thing to say but it
sounded kind of sweet. I had it now because I had Grandma’s heart.
I could always remember she loved me.

The door opened and in stepped a
guy I didn’t know. He wasn’t wearing white or blue so he wasn’t a
doctor or a nurse. His dark hair was kind of long in front and it
curled a little on the end. Really blue eyes studied me and I
stared right back. He had long eyelashes like a girl but he was
wearing a black leather jacket and scruffy jeans and a pair of
black boots so he wasn’t very girly. Was he somebody’s older
brother and he’d got lost?

“Hello Pagan,” he said in a warm
deep voice that made me feel at ease.

“Hey. How do you know my
name?”

He kind of laughed a little.
“Because I’m here to talk to you about something.”

“I’m not supposed to talk to
strangers,” I replied shaking my head and pointing my finger toward
the door. Mommy would have a fit when she got back and found him in
here.

“That’s correct but I’m not
exactly a stranger. You’ll be seeing me again soon. I’m here to
explain something to you and I need you to listen to me,
okay?”

I nodded

“Your body is sick. The doctors
aren’t going to be able to make it better. But your body is just a
shell. You are a soul. When this body gets too sick the soul will
need to leave it and that’s where I come in. I’ll be here to take
you out of this sick body and then I’ll give you to a beautiful
young girl who will remind you of a fairy princess. She’ll take you
to a place where you’ll be given a new body.”

“But how will my mommy know me if
I’m in a different body? She just knows this body.”

“That’s true. You see, the life
you have now will die. Do you remember when your grandfather
died?”

I nodded

“Well, his soul left that body and
he was sent up and given a new body. A new life. Your next life
your soul will be near your mommy’s soul and the souls of all the
people you love. Souls are attached in each lifetime. You won’t
remember this life but your soul will remember the souls it
loves.”

So I wasn’t going to have to go
sit and wait on Mommy up in Heaven? I was going to get to come back
and see her again?

“Okay.”

The guy seemed happy with my
reply. “Good girl. Now, the next time you see me you’ll know it’s
time. You come with me. Don’t try to stay with your body because
you want to get another life, okay?”

I didn’t understand really but I
nodded. Then I remembered my grandma’s pretty heart. I squeezed it
tightly and asked, “Can you take this and give it to me after my
soul leaves my body? I want to keep it.”

The guy frowned and reached for
the pink heart in my outstretched hand.

“I guess I could do that,” he
replied.

I watched as he slipped it into
his jeans.

The door opened and in walked my
mommy, “Hey sweetheart, I brought you some of that orange juice you
like so much,” she said in her happy voice. I glanced up at the guy
and he put his finger over his lips and shook his head and then he
was gone.

“What is this?” I asked holding up
the strange silk gown I’d found on my bed when I’d woken
up.

Leif sat down a tray filled with
donuts, berries, cream, bagels, cream cheese, and bacon before
answering me. “It’s the ceremonial gown you’ll wear
tonight.”

“Um no, I want my
jeans.”

Leif clenched his jaw and stood up
straighter. “No, Pagan you will wear what I tell you to wear. I’m
tired of you being so difficult. You agreed that if I made
arrangements for Wyatt’s soul to be handed over to a transporter
you’d do everything you could to make this work.”

Well, crap. “I didn’t realize you
would be picking out my wardrobe from now on is all,” I grumbled
and dropped the black gown back to the bed and reached for a cream
filled donut.

“I know, and normally I won’t be,
but there are certain times you must wear certain things. This is
one of those times. You’ll be with me as my princess standing with
Ghede.”

“But it looks like a nightgown,” I
argued.

“It will look lovely on you,” Leif
replied.

I
glanced back at the piece of offensive silk. Did everything Ghede
have his hand in have to be so
sexual
?

“It will cover you properly. I
promise. But you must get comfortable with your flesh. Here it is
worshipped and appreciated. There are few who cover it up. The only
coverings on the flesh are meant to enhance the attractiveness, not
hide it.”

I
wanted my jeans. Now. Just hearing him talk about my flesh made
my
flesh
crawl. If he expected me to flash my body for
his perverted father he was crazy. I’d agreed to make this work not
become a call girl.

“It all just takes some getting
used to.”

“When will we be giving Wyatt’s
soul to a transporter?” I really wanted a change of
subject.

“This evening.”

Good. I had hoped it would be
today. Picking up the silver goblet I paused and lifted it toward
Leif, “What’s in this?”

“Grape juice. It’s fresh and like
nothing you’ve ever tasted,” Leif replied with an amused
grin.

Since I was here for eternity I had
to start trusting him. I put the cup to my lips and took a
tentative sip. The sweet juice hit my tongue and I quickly drank
more. He was right. It was like nothing I’d ever put in my mouth.
The rich taste awakened my taste buds and I felt a little
lightheaded. Warning bells went off in my head and I quickly set
the drink down and reached for the bowl of berries.

“It was a sugar rush, Pagan.
Nothing more,” Leif said as he reached for his cup.

I wasn’t so sure about that but
then I was also paranoid. With good cause.

“Would you like a visit from Wyatt
before he leaves?”

“Yes, please.” I’d managed to sound
polite that time.

It obviously pleased Leif because
he smiled a little too brightly.

I finished with my breakfast and
hoped Leif would take that as a hint to leave. He’d knocked and
woken me up asking if I wanted breakfast then given me barely
enough time to pull on the robe he’d supplied last night with my
pajamas. Which were flannel, thank God.