Predestined (24 page)

I’d had a dream last night of a
memory that absolutely nothing to do with Leif. He hadn’t been in
my head. I’d dreamed of the day Dank had come to my hospital room
and I’d given him my brooch. Tears burned my eyes as I thought
about the brooch that now lay beside my bed at home. It was the one
thing I wished I’d been able to bring with me.

“I’ll take this tray away and come
back for you soon. Maybe we can finally take that tour,” Leif said
in a jovial tone. He had so much to be happy about. He’d
won.

“Could you send Wyatt to see me?”
That was all I really cared about.

Leif nodded, “Of
course.”

He closed the door behind him and I
stared at it hating the sight of it and wondering if this was ever
going to get better.

Chapter Twenty-
Three

“You
convinced them to let me go,”
Wyatt’s voice entered my head and I spun around to see him
standing in my doorway.

“Yes, it’s the least I can
do.”

“But what about you?
What did you promise them to get them to agree to this?”

“Nothing I wouldn’t have to do
anyway. I’m stuck here Leif. I just promised I wouldn’t be an
eternal brat if they granted me this one wish.”

Wyatt
smiled,
“You do know how to
be a brat.”

“Look who’s talking ‘Mr. No Girls
Allowed.’”

Wyatt’s grin grew,
“You aren’t ever going to let that go are
you?”

“Nope and I have an eternity to
simmer about it.”

His amused grin faded. I hadn’t
meant to remind us both what I was in store for.

“I
wish I could take you with me,”
his voice had dropped to a whisper.

“Me too. But this is it. It’s my
fate. It isn’t yours and I’m so thankful you’re being set
free.”

“Do you think Death...
er, Dank will come?”

I doubted Ghede would let him get
close to me if he did. Besides what good would it do? I couldn’t
allow Death to take me. Ghede would take the life of someone else I
loved and we’d be back in this same predicament.

“Doesn’t matter if he does. I must
pay this restitution.”

Wyatt
shook his head in frustration.
“This is so wrong.”

I couldn’t agree more but I was
going to come to terms with it. I forced a smile. “Would you do
something for me?”

“Of
course,”
he quickly
replied.

“Would you tell Dank that I will
always love him? That I’m sorry that I can’t leave here. I’m
protecting those I love. But I will think of him every day and I
will hum his song to myself every night as I go to
sleep.”

Wyatt
nodded then smirked,
“That’s
kind of too mushy for my taste but yeah, I guess I can relay
that.”

I rolled my eyes at him and he
chuckled. It was almost as if we were sitting across from each
other in the cafeteria again.

“He’s returning and
you know how I feel about him.”

“I love you Wyatt. I’m going to
miss you,” I called out as he opened the door.

He
stopped and looked back at me,
“I love you too Pagan. I’ll miss you too. In every
life.”

Sniffling, I managed to nod before
he disappeared out the door.

Dank

“You know Dankmar,
when you told me we were going to handle everything else I kind of
thought maybe you were going to get backup. But a bunch of
transporters and you aren’t enough to shut down an entire voodoo
posse.”

I had a plan but for once Gee
didn’t need to know everything. She’d done what I asked of her and
that was enough.

“I got this,” I simply
replied

“I’m hoping you know something I
don’t know because not only are we about to confront a bunch of
voodoo spirits but we’re also going to do it on their turf. Right
here in their mecca. You ever heard the saying, ‘home field
advantage’ well, this is the description.”

“I got this Gee.”

With a weary sigh she trudged on
beside me with the hundreds of transporters in our wake. We kind of
looked like the devil with heavenly host groupies but I didn’t
care. My plan was sound. This was going to work or I really would
charge Vilokan and take down every spirit who stood in my way.
They’d asked for my fury; well, now they had it.

Pagan

The door swung open after one swift
knock, “It’s time,” Leif announced smiling brightly.

I
really wanted to slap the smile off his face but instead I adjusted
the black
nightgown
that I was being forced to wear and
thanked my lucky stars it was long. “Let’s do this,” I replied and
headed for the door. He offered his arm and I shook my head, “No,
it’s not over yet. You get Wyatt safely in a transporter’s hands
and out of this place, then I’ll hold up my end of the
deal.

Leif seemed to think about that a
moment then nodded. At least he was reasonable.

“You lead the way,” I said standing
back once we were out in the hallway. I had no clue where we were
going.

“You know that Dankmar will
probably be here, Pagan.”

Yes, I’d already prepared myself
for that. The urge to run into his protective arms was going to be
strong but I had to keep my head. Lives depended on me. Lives of
those I loved.

“I figure he would be,” I replied
icily.

“You understand the implications if
you go to him.”

“Yes Leif, I know you’ll kill off
everyone I love and suck their souls down here to live in
fornication for all eternity. Got it.”

Leif stopped and turned back to
look at me. “Pagan, this isn’t about me. I’ve told you this is my
father. It’s how he operates. I can’t control him. You have no idea
how much cajoling I had to do in order for him to give Wyatt’s soul
back. And to be honest the only reason I think he agreed is because
he sees entertainment value in you refusing to go to Dankmar and
that he will be the one controlling you.”

I felt sick at my stomach. I really
hated his father.

“Now please understand, no pain you
have suffered is because I wanted it. I never wanted you to hurt. I
always thought you’d want me. That your soul would want me. Hell
when I get anywhere near you your eyes look like they’ve caught on
fire. You’re supposed to want me. But you don’t. Instead you want
him. And you can’t have him, Pagan. It was never meant to
be.”

I opened my mouth to scream at him
how unfair all of this was but quickly snapped it closed again. I
needed to stop being angry with him. This was my life now. At some
point I had to accept it. Today would be a good day.

“Okay.”

Leif raised an eyebrow,
“Okay?”

“You heard me, Leif. I said okay.
Now let’s go.”

He looked a little taken aback but
he nodded then continued to lead the way. We turned down one masked
hall to another until two large doors up ahead were opened wide and
I could see the familiar sight of Bourbon Street.

We walked by other inhabitants I
recognized from dinner last night and I cringed as they smiled
sadistically at me. I was stuck with these sickos.

“Stop it,” Leif hissed as one of
the men ogled my chest area.

He pulled me up against him and I
went gladly.

“May, dat is sumtin to see is it
not,” Ghede called out as he walked into the large foyer. He was
once again in a top hat, black sunglasses, and a tuxedo with
tails.

“Don’t make her uncomfortable,
Father,” Leif pleaded.

“Who me?” he asked in an amused
voice. I watched as he lifted his hand and placed two cigarettes in
his mouth and then turned his attention to the activities going on
outside. I’d seen this once and I didn’t want to watch
again.

Wyatt walked into the room flanked
on either side by practically naked women. Which wasn’t surprising;
I was beginning to think every female down here but me liked to
wear as little as possible.

One of the women ran a long red
fingernail down the middle of Wyatt’s shirt and then continued on
down over his zipper. He didn’t flinch but I could see the tension
in his face.

“Please make them stop,” I
whispered to Leif who followed my gaze.

He shook his head and leaned down
to me, “If I make a scene Father will then make it much worse. If
you don’t want to see one of those two mount Wyatt right here then
don’t say a word. Wyatt knows this. That’s why he’s so
still.”

Swallowing the bile in my throat
burned and I had to turn my eyes away from them and pray the
transporter wasn’t late.

The streets outside suddenly became
vacant and quiet.

“Ah, Death draws near. The fallen
have run to hide,” Ghede drawled and pulled the two cigarettes from
his mouth to exhale small rings of smoke before placing them right
back in.

“What does he mean?,” I asked
Leif

“Dank is close. The souls of the
people in the streets felt him and ran. Unlike you most humans
don’t cling to Death when he’s in his true form. Sure, they like
the singer Dank Walker but when he’s truly in Death’s form they
hide.”

I watched as the dark streets grew
brighter. Whispers and giggles behind me had me wanting to run out
in the road away from all this but Wyatt stirred to my left and I
remembered why I was doing this. He gave me a sad smile and then
Ghede beckoned him forward.

Dank, along with more transporters
than I’d ever seen, filled the street in front of the doors. Gee
was directly beside him. Her fierce expression scanned the crowd
inside and immediately found me. I shook my head at her letting her
know I couldn’t come to them. If they’d brought all these
transporters to take me then they were out of luck because I wasn’t
going. I couldn’t.

“Well, well, well, Dankmar and
pals. To wat do we owe dis honor?” Ghede asked in a loud amused
voice.

“You know why I’m here, Ghede,”
Dank replied, locking his expression on me. The hard cold
determination in his eyes transformed to fury as his gaze took in
my dress.

“Tsk tsk tsk, I don know whut you
mean. You said to let her choose,” Ghede announced brightly waving
his hand in my direction. “She did.”

Gee took a step toward me and
Dank’s arm shot out and held her back. He understood. She didn’t
but he did.

“No. You forced her choice. That
wasn’t part of the deal,” Dank replied. The venom in his voice
caused me to shiver. I’d never heard him sound quite so
sinister.

“Here’s the soul you came for,”
Ghede pushed Wyatt toward Dank and Wyatt gladly went. A transporter
stepped forward and instantly she and Wyatt’s soul were
gone.

“Now is dat all you want or would
you lak to axe her yourself?” Ghede turned and beckoned me forward,
“Come here Pagan,” he coaxed.

Lief squeezed my arm and pushed me
gently toward his father. I tried to remind myself that if I acted
in any way like I was scared Dank would take me and be done with
it. Then I’d lose someone else. I had to remain calm.

“Axe her Dankmar,” Ghede goaded
pushing me in front of him.

Dank’s eyes bore into mine. He was
trying to tell me something but I wasn’t sure what. Instead, I
closed my eyes tightly and fought for strength then opened them and
stared straight at him. “I want--”

“I didn’t ask you anything just yet
Pagan. Hold onto that thought just a moment more,” he cut me off.
His hard glare drilled into Ghede who stood behind me.

“You’ve messed with the wrong guy
this time Ghede. You like your entertainment but I was never one to
entertain.”

Transporters began to shift off to
the sides covering the streets as massive men with actual swords
hanging from their waists filled the street behind and beside Dank.
Gasps and screeches and other horrified sounds came from behind me
but I stood in amazement as the army around Dank grew.

“You brought de warriors for a
gurl?” Ghede’s voice sounded incredulous.

“Yes,” was Dank’s only reply. He
took a step forward and held out his hand to me. I wanted to grab
it and run to him but I shook my head as tears filling my eyes. “I
can’t,” I choked.

“Trust me,” he replied. I’d heard
those exact same words from Leif so many times over the past few
weeks but nothing he’d done had been trustworthy. Dank was
different. He was Death. He knew the reasons why I was scared to
leave. But his “trust me” was enough. I stepped forward and placed
my hand in his. He pulled me up against his side.

“Bad choice leetle gurl,” Ghede
hissed from the other side of the door.

“No, Ghede. You’re the only one who
made the bad choice. You don’t take what’s mine.”