Destiny's Revenge (Destiny Series - Book 2) (28 page)

Rewsna was, no doubt, still listening in on my thoughts so I couldn’t betray my performance and tell Lauren the truth. I monitored my own thoughts, never allowing myself to slip. I knew I needed to start a conversation with Lauren that I could concentrate all my attention on, in case Rewsna was still listening in. “Lauren, I’d like to go away, get out of this place. Will you go with me?”

She nodded, “Wherever you want to go.”

I chose the place that I knew I didn’t want to go, my charade would eventually be over, and I needed to plant enough information with Rewsna to give the two (or three) of us a fighting chance at freedom. “California, you mentioned Carlsbad before, I think we should go there. You’re job searching anyway. You’re just as likely to find a job there as here. I know I can be a paramedic anywhere.”

Her eyes looked hopeful, then she looked to the couch where Peanut lay, “What about Peanut?”

“I think he’ll like the ocean as much as we will. I don’t have any real ties here now other than Rose and Benny. We could just pack up and go. We could leave tomorrow.”

Thirty minutes passed with Lauren and me planning our new adventure. We planned out the specifics, towing her van with my truck, what we would take, where we wanted to stop along the way. It sounded like a grand vacation and the beginning of a life we both longed for.

Rewsna and Mike walked through the door. Lauren and I stopped talking about our plans. Rewsna’s face was stern, “Lauren, Samael has not found a new host.”

There was nothing but silence. I kept the panic from grabbing hold. I met both Rewsna and Mike’s eyes without the slightest bit of fear. Lauren looked confused, so I willed myself to mimic her expression.

“Dakota has arrived. This can only mean that Samael is still present and he is in hiding.” She turned her attention to me, “Max, Samael is still in there. I know you don’t want to hurt Lauren. If he remains inside you, it is only a matter of time.”

Lauren still looked confused, so I didn’t attempt to emulate a new emotion and there was no way I was going to show any fear. Showing fear would be the equivalent of admitting deception, and that would mean certain death. Lauren asked, “Who is Dakota?”

Rewsna continued concentrating on me but answered Lauren. “Dakota is a Cabinet member that represents Doubt. As you can guess, her presence here makes me extremely uncomfortable.” Rewsna could see that neither of us understood this revelation, so she continued, “Dakota represents Doubt, I represent Confidence. As I told you before it is extremely uncomfortable to be physically close to your opposite.”

Lauren said earnestly, “Rewsna, I don’t care who comes or how they make anyone else feel, I’m done with all of this. Samael is gone, Max is fine, I’m better than I’ve been in years, and we’re leaving this place and all of the drama behind us. Cabinets, Council, Demons, or anything else the world has to throw at us are no longer a priority, or even interesting. We’re leaving tomorrow. I don’t know if we’ll ever be back. The only thing I know is we don’t want any part of any of this anymore. You and everyone else in the yard can show yourselves out. We’re done.”

“Lauren I’m afraid it isn’t that easy. Samael is still in Max, I’m sure of it. We cannot allow him to simply walk away. . . ” Lauren didn’t let Rewsna finish her sentence.

In a voice that left no room for interpretation, Lauren demanded, “Get out. Now.”

Rewsna glared in my direction. I kept my mind as blank as possible, not wanting to let on that I had been purposely deceitful. I put an image of the ocean in my mind, with Lauren and I sitting on a sandy beach, and the surf encroaching on us. The seagulls were overhead, the sun glared off the water: I let myself be taken in by this fantasy. If Rewsna was searching me for any sign of Samael, I wouldn’t make it easy on her.

Without another word, Lauren walked to the front door and held it open for Rewsna and Mike. Lauren and Rewsna stared at each other long enough, that the general awkward feeling that had been prevalent was replaced by an unnerving silence from both women. For several long minutes I stood frozen, looking from one face to the other to see who would triumph. I could see Rewsna was angry, the emotion radiated from her. Lauren, on the other hand, was not upset in the least, just resolute that whatever had happened during the course of their relationship had no bearing whatsoever on how she planned to go forward.

A woman I did not recognize began climbing the steps to the front door. She was enough of a distraction that the tension between Lauren and Rewsna ebbed briefly. This woman was of average height, not fat or thin, had dishwater-blonde hair, wore blue jeans, a t-shirt and running shoes. She was, to say the least, unremarkable. She was someone I might have never seen before in my life or she could be someone I’d seen at the grocery store hundreds of times. She was exactly the type of person that almost no one would remember meeting.

I was standing against the far wall of the kitchen. Lauren was still at the door holding it wide open and Rewsna stood half way in between us. This stranger reached out her hand to Lauren as she stepped to the door. Lauren shifted her body in an effort to block this new person’s entry, but continued to keep the door open to her side. It didn’t look as though this action offended the stranger in any way. When strangers introduce themselves, they typically are over enthusiastic about greeting a complete stranger, which was not the case with this woman.

Lauren did not accept the stranger’s hand. It looked as though she were unwilling to acknowledge that it had even been offered. Lauren simply asked, “Can I help you?”

The plain woman said, “I don’t believe so, but I’d like to have a word with Renny, if you don’t mind.”

“I don’t mind a bit. She was just leaving.”

Lauren stood to the right of the door again and motioned for Rewsna to exit. Whoever this stranger was, her presence at the door prompted Rewsna’s departure. The two women stepped quietly down the steps together with Mike a few steps behind. Lauren closed the door quietly and locked it, then turned to me and said, “Not a word.” She handed me one of her handguns. I hadn’t realized she had brought two with her. She opened a backpack by the door and checked the charge on her cell phone. She began to put it back in her backpack then opened it again and dialed a number.

“Hi Dad, I’m glad I caught you. I know everything that’s gone on the last couple weeks has you and mom in near hysterics, but I wanted to call and warn you I’m about to do it again.” There was a short pause and her tone was jovial when she continued, “Max and I are going to the West Coast.” Another pause and her answer, “I don’t know, it might be a vacation or it might be longer. So much has happened that we really just need to get out of here for a while. I don’t want you and Mom to worry about me. You’ve got my cell. Call whenever you want.” They talked for a few more minutes, but nothing more profound than Lauren promising to call them every night. I made a mental note to myself that no matter what, I would make sure she kept that promise.

Lauren turned her attention to me, “Max, pack whatever you want to take with you. We may not wait until tomorrow.” I was surprised to see such authority in her voice, but I agreed that waiting around longer than was necessary could only invite more potential problems. As far as I was concerned, five more minutes here with all of those people in the yard was longer than was necessary.

I grabbed clothes absently from my drawers and closet, a few family photos off the wall and my shaving bag from the bathroom. In five minutes time I was ready. I made some calls to make sure the farm was taken care of and decided to call Randy to let him know I wouldn’t be making my shift tonight.

He answered right away. I had selfishly been hoping to get his voice mail. “Randy, it’s Max. I hate to do this to you, but I’m going to take a vacation again.” This has to be some sort of record, a whopping two days back on the job and I’m leaving again.

Randy responded in an understanding voice, “I thought you might. Dakota mentioned she was going to talk to Lauren about that cult that has been trying to recruit her.”

My stomach tightened as if Randy had just poked me through the phone. It took a second to process what he had just said. “Dakota? You know Dakota?”

“Sure, she’s my new wife. That’s right, you never met her! She and I married about six months ago. I met her shortly after you took your leave of absence. She’s been real worried about Lauren, and today she told me enough was enough, she was going to go intervene on Lauren’s behalf.”

Grasping for words, I had trouble forming a sentence, “A cult? You mean the…the group that…the people that Lauren has been hanging around with, you called them a cult?”

Randy sounded a little embarrassed, “That might be a strong word, but they are bad news. Dakota has known that group for years. She doesn’t trust them, not at all. I know it isn’t any of my business, but Lauren is such a nice young girl, I’d hate to see her get wrapped up with a bunch of lunatics. Dakota didn’t realize I knew you and Lauren, it only came up the other night when I mentioned that you were working again.”

“Huh… I didn’t realize Lauren knew your wife?” I hated that paranoid feeling that I got when things seemed to fit together too smoothly.

Randy was oblivious to my anxiety, “My wife was one of the nurses that took care of Lauren while she was…you know. I don’t know if she and Lauren are lifelong friends or anything, but she took care of her for over a year and feels a kind of kinship with her.”

“Alright, well I think we’re going to be leaving soon, but I wanted you to know right away.” He thanked me for calling him and wished me good luck. He told me I’d always have a job waiting when I was ready for it. I liked Randy from the very first moment I met him. Finding out that his wife was one of Lauren’s nurses was an amazing coincidence. And whoever she was, Rewsna did not seem very pleased to see her.

By noon Lauren and I were packed and were ready to go. No one had entered my house since Dakota and Rewsna had stepped off the porch. I absently watched a few cars leave, a few arrive, and could see people milling about the yard. I was tired, after working all night, but then believing I was close to death this morning didn’t do anything but kick my adrenalin into high gear. Now that the immediate danger seemed to be delayed, I could feel my body slowing down. The standoff in the yard seemed almost not to involve us at all, but I knew better.

I was pleased that Samael still wasn’t communicating with me, laying low I guess. It struck me that Lauren hadn’t said much after Rewsna left. I had a weird feeling that she might be doubting our plan to go west. Who could blame her? From our first minutes together we never had a normal relationship. These past weeks had been something beyond my worst nightmares. For a quick minute, I had almost believed we had a shot at escaping with our lives; maybe even a chance at the normal everyday life together, with regular jobs – no demons, no angels or any other kind of creature to stop us.

I finally sat on the couch and made a motion for Lauren to sit beside me. She did. She leaned her head on my shoulder and took my hand. I could feel that same electric pulse vibrating through me. We sat in silence together for a long moment when she finally said, “Rewsna is still listening.”

I nodded, understanding that she did not want me to confide anything to her that Rewsna shouldn’t know.

It was a little awkward, both wanting to talk, neither wanting to say something that could bring Renswa’s wrath down on the other. Absently I asked, “So do you remember Dakota from the nursing home?”

She looked puzzled and asked, “What do you mean?”

“You remember my boss, Randy?” She nodded that she did. “He and Dakota are married. He told me she was a nurse at the nursing home when you were in a coma. I just wondered if you remembered her?”

Lauren shook her head that she didn’t. I could see she was thinking about something, but I didn’t press her. Finally she said, “Dakota is on the Cabinet, right?”

“I guess so.”

“Mike told me that the Cabinet members weren’t exactly human. Do you suppose she’s a shape shifter like Samael?”

“I don’t know. Samael didn’t go into that kind of detail with me.”

“Dakota couldn’t have been one of my nurses, because Samael didn’t know where I was staying. She’s married to your boss? That guy we met in a coffee shop right before Paul was murdered?”

Paul, was a friend of Lauren’s who was killed right in front of her. Executed is more like it. “Yeah, Randy said that Dakota and he met shortly after our camping trip. She was a nurse at the nursing home where you were staying.”

Lauren stood up from the couch, looked out the window into the yard, hesitated briefly, then stepped to the front door. I could hear her nearly bellow, “Dakota, could you come here for a minute, please?”

Although Lauren’s words were cordial, her tone didn’t match her words. I couldn’t see the front yard from my vantage point on the couch, but I could hear Dakota entering. Lauren cut right to the chase, “Dakota, why are you here?”

“I was worried about you.” The two stepped from the hallway and Lauren motioned for Dakota to sit down. Dakota looked around, taking in the room quickly. She saw her answer did nothing to satisfy Lauren’s curiosity. “You know who I am, yes?”

Lauren shook her head and responded with, “I know you’re married to Max’s boss. For some reason Max thinks you were a nurse that took care of me?” Dakota nodded that this was indeed the case but offered no other words.

Lauren eyed Dakota carefully, “How is that possible?”

“I’m a Registered Nurse; I work wherever I am needed.”

“But you’re a Cabinet member? You are a follower of Samael?”

Dakota’s voice was very stern when she answered, “Is that something you heard from Samael or Rewsna? Samael doesn’t have followers. He’s not a deity. Let me guess, the Cabinet is full of monsters that are out to hurt you. I bet that’s what you’ve heard!”

Lauren nodded. It looked like someone had lit a match under Dakota. She was pissed. “Lauren, I represent Doubt. I influence doubt in people who need it. That doesn’t make me a bad person. I am the reason people make good decisions.”