Save My Soul (23 page)

I was losing the nervousness, and it
was being replaced by anger. "Do you not even care that I almost
died again? I told you about Mason and you didn't believe me. Do
you believe me now?" I didn't know where Sherri had gone. I assume
he had told her to stay in the bedroom until I left. She probably
hadn't liked it, but he was mad at me, so that would make it a
little better for her.

"When I heard that you were brought
in, I made sure your injuries weren't life threatening, then I
left. I told Mason to stay away from me, and I told your boyfriend
here to tell you the same thing." He pointed at the door. "Get out
of my house or I will call the police."

"Do you love her, Adam?" I
whispered.

"I don't love anyone," he said, but a
muscle twitched above his eye as he said it.

"You're lying," I challenged, and
began walking toward him.

He didn't back up, I knew he wasn't
afraid of me. "What are you doing? I told you to leave."

I didn't stop walking and I kept eye
contact with him the whole time. "Yeah, you did, but ask my friends
how well I mind when someone tells me to do something."

He looked a little nervous now that I
was so close. I was standing only a few inches from him, and he
didn't have a clue what I was going to do. I looked up at him. "If
you don't believe that we're soulmates, then kiss me; prove me
wrong." I had to admit that I was doing this on a hunch, but surely
something had to happen when soulmates found each other and kissed
for the first time.

His eyes grew wide and he stepped back
from me. "You're insane. You need psychiatric help,
Kendra."

"Tell me, with me standing here now,
that you don't want to look at me, that you don't want to touch me.
Tell me that you don't want to kiss me, Adam. I know you still feel
that way, because I still feel that way about you. I'm in love with
you, Adam. We were meant to be together, and you know I'm telling
the truth. You just don't want to believe it. I'm not crazy,
because if I am, that means that you are too. You've seen your
guardian demon and my guardian angel, just like I have. You feel
the same emotions I feel for you. So, if I'm crazy, then so are
you."

"I can't love you, Kendra," he
whispered, and I could tell he was scared shitless.

"You already do," I said back to him;
he shook his head and backed away from me. "What are you afraid
of?"

"If I love something," he
pointed to the ceiling. "
He
will take it away from me!" he shouted, then
turned his head away from all of us in the living room. I was
betting his eyes had misted over.

I flinched, but I didn't back away
from him. "Just kiss me. I know that you..."

He turned to look into my eyes and I
had been right, his were gleaming with tears. "I've tried to hate
you since Monday night. I've never felt so strongly about anyone
before, but when Mason brought me to your room…" His eyes shot
daggers at Rhyan. "And I saw the two of you like that; I didn't
have the will to live any longer. I realized when I was sitting
alone in the cave that you may have turned to him because of the
way I acted. I can't hate you. I still want to hate you, but I
can't." He shook his head. "No, I don't love Sherri."

I took in a deep breath in and let it
out. "Kiss me, Adam."

"I don't have to kiss you, Kendra!" he
shouted. "I know that I love you. I already fucking know that!
Kissing you will only make it harder on me when you die
Friday."

I felt like he'd slapped me. I was
stunned and I couldn't breathe. He admitted that he loved me, but
he also admitted that he wasn't even going to try to save my soul.
I got my breathing regulated and squared my shoulders. "Do it for
me then."

"Do what?" he said a little more
calmly.

"If I'm going to die Friday, I would
like to know what it's like to kiss my soulmate at least once. Kiss
me and you will never have to see me again. I promise to leave you
alone."

He huffed. "Dammit…fine," he said, but
made no move to come any closer to me. That was fine, I could go to
him; no big deal.

I was nervous as I closed the space
between us, like I was about to have my very first kiss.

His muscles tensed up when I touched
him, then he let out a breath soon after and relaxed, as though my
touch was the best feeling in the world. I had to agree; it felt
really good to touch him. I didn't want to ever let go of him, and
the rush was almost too much. I hadn't even touched his bare skin
yet. I moved my hand up his chest and touched his neck. It felt
like there was a magnet in my body pulling me closer to him. I
slowly slid my hand behind his neck and waited. I wanted him to
look at me, but he wasn't. I waited until he finally opened his
eyes to look at me. They were a considerably lighter shade of brown
than they'd been the last time I'd looked into them. I could see
that he was afraid of me, but I could also see love in his eyes. I
stretched up on my toes and gently touched my lips to his. The
magnet became much stronger. Adam wrapped his arms around me and
pulled me close to his body, taking the kiss to a whole other
level. He devoured my mouth with his and kissed me like I was his
last breath that he wasn't going to let go of without a
fight.

If I had any doubts about loving him,
or that he was my soulmate, they were all gone. If I had ever been
in love with anyone else, I wasn't any longer. I belonged to the
man in my arms, and I was never letting him go.

Adam abruptly shoved me away, and
Kobhye caught me before I fell over the coffee table.

"I can't do this. I…I can't, please
leave." He turned and walked out of the room.

He was gone. I had promised to leave
him alone if he kissed me. He had done his part, and I had to let
him go.

Rhyan had to carry me out of the
house. I was in shock and I couldn't move. The only thing I felt
was my heart shattered in a million pieces. I'd done everything I
could do to help Adam, and my best wasn't good enough. I guess the
guardians didn't mind Rhyan touching me now, because he climbed in
the back seat of Kobhye's crew cab and made me comfortable on his
lap. I could feel his soft breathing against my body, and every
once in a while, I felt his body shudder as if he were sobbing
silently. All was really lost. I was going to die and Rhyan would
lose my soul. I would belong to Patrick in Hell. It was too much to
comprehend, so I didn't try anymore. I closed my eyes and drifted
off to sleep.

The moment I opened my eyes, I knew I
was dreaming. Murry was sitting in a chair across the room from me,
and he was laughing. I jumped to my feet from my own chair. "Kill
me you bastard, kill me now!" I shouted at him.

He stopped laughing, and turned his
head to the side. "No," he said.

"You have him; you don't need my soul
too," I sobbed.

"You know, I really thought you had a
chance back there. I thought you were going to steal his soul away
from me. It was like watching a really suspenseful movie. I was
biting my nails the whole time. The ending was perfect. I would
sell my soul to watch it again. Oh wait...I don't have one," he
grinned. "But I will have yours soon."

"Kill me, please," I
pleaded.

"I will…in about thirty-five hours,"
he said as he looked at his watch. "Give or take a few, I don't
want you to know exactly what time you will die. That would drive a
person crazy, wouldn't it?"

I sat back in the chair and cried. If
he wasn't going to kill me so my soul could go to heaven, I wasn't
about to sit here and chit-chat with him.

"Oh, now, Kendra…don't cry." I looked
up then rushed him with every ounce of energy I had left. I knew I
couldn't hurt him, but maybe I could make him kill me. I wouldn't
stop till he did.

He grabbed my arms when I got to him,
then spun me around and held my hands in place with one of his
hands at the small of my back. His other arm was around my neck. I
was pressed firmly up against his body, and could feel his heavy
breathing by my ear.

"You don't have to worry about
Patrick, Kendra. I'm going to keep you as my own. I won your soul
fair and square. Therefore, you belong to me." He placed a big
smacking kiss on my cheek. "We are going to have lots of fun, don't
you worry your pretty little head about that."

"I couldn't take your photo because
you're dead right?"

He laughed. "No, sweetheart, you
couldn't take my photo because I don't have a soul. Your precious
Rhyan's photos would probably turn out just fine. Tell me, how's he
taking the good news?"

"He hasn't given up,
Murry."

He smiled. "Have you?"

"Not until I take my last breath," I
said, then turned and bit myself on my arm.

I woke up in my bed, with Rhyan lying
beside me. He wasn't touching me, but he was staring at me
intently. "Did he visit your dreams again? You were
struggling."

I nodded. "He said he's keeping my
soul for himself when he takes my life. He said I will be his, that
he will own me because he won my soul."

Rhyan closed his eyes and sighed as I
sobbed. "I'm going to talk to the guardians again. I didn't want
you to be alone when you woke up. Kobhye is in the guest bedroom,
but she's out cold."

"All right, but if it isn't good news,
I don't want to know about it."

He nodded again.

"I tried to get him to kill me now,
but he wouldn't do it. Will you do it? Will you cause something to
happen so I can keep my soul?"

"If I thought you would be able to
keep it and go to Heaven, I would do it for you. Even though it
would mean my soul would be sent to Hell. If they know it happened
intentionally, they would send your soul to Hell anyway; and mine
too for helping you."

"Well, shit," I said. "Go talk to the
guardians. I'll be fine." He looked at me like he wasn't sure I
would be, then he popped out of my sight.

I wouldn't be fine, though. Some
people wonder, and actually think they want to know when they are
going to die, the year, the day, and even the exact time they will
perish and leave this world. If you are one of those people, stop.
I promise you don't want to know.

It was almost dawn when I was awakened
by a sound. I looked at the clock on my bedside table. It was 5:15
a.m. I'd gotten less than four hours of sleep all together, but
then again, I'd slept for twenty-eight straight hours before that.
It wasn't a pop that woke me up; the sound had come from outside,
so I knew it wasn't Rhyan.

I heard a car door shut. My head shot
up from the pillow and I held still so I could hear better. Who the
hell was at my house so early? Everyone I knew would let me sleep
in until at least eight. I was suddenly afraid of whom it might be,
but I didn't know why. I wanted Murry to kill me today so I could
go to Heaven. If it didn't happen before tomorrow, my soul would be
gone.

I swallowed my fear and crawled out of
bed just in time for the doorbell to ring. Hercules looked up from
the foot of my bed and began to bark. I was pretty sure that
whoever was at the door didn't want to hurt me or they wouldn't
have rang my bell. Then again, Murry rang the bell Monday night. I
walked barefoot to the door, then realized what I was wearing.
Kobhye or Rhyan had dressed me in my nicest black lingerie. Hardly
anything was covered. I was betting it was Kobhye. She slept in
crap like this. I asked her why once, and she replied: "You never
know who is going to show up at midnight." This coming from a girl
who fixes her hair and wears makeup to bed for the same exact
reason.

I quickly ran back to my room to get
something to put over it with Hercules at my feet. He was undecided
whether to follow me or eat the monster at the door. He came with
me. My black satin robe was lying on the bed. It went with what I
was wearing; Kobhye had thought of everything. I wondered if she
dressed me like this then called Aven to come over for me. Maybe
she thought it would cheer me up.

I shrugged my shoulders and put on the
robe. The doorbell rang again and I ran out of my room and to the
front door before it could ring a third time and wake her
up.

I did not, at all, expect what I saw
when I opened the door. Adam was standing on my porch with his back
to me. He was looking toward his car, but he turned to look at me
when I stepped on the porch. There were tears in his eyes and he
looked like hell warmed over. Had Kobhye known he would stop
by?

Hercules growled and I cleared my
throat, because I didn't know if my voice would be steady or not.
"Why are you here?" I didn't say it in a rude way like he had
earlier. I was merely curious as to why he was at my house after
the way he'd reacted to me visiting his.

"Your, uh…guardian angel," he frowned.
"He stopped by my house again a few hours after you left." That
must have been when Kobhye was dressing me, but when I'd talked to
Rhyan earlier, he hadn't mentioned anything about it.