Fate (Drift Series Book 4) (14 page)

Again, he laughed with confidence before stamping his cigarette out on the table, “Sure…out of sheer curiosity, I will humor you. I don’t know anything but I kind of want to see what you’re all about, tough guy. If you can make me pee my pants…I’ll tell you whatever you want to hear…with one condition.”

“And that is?”

He raised his hands up, signaling for me to take his cuffs off.

“Done.” I accepted his counter offer.

I stood up over him and grabbed the chain between his cuffs. He glared at me to see if I’d really set him free. Instead of reaching for cuff keys, that I didn’t have in my possession anyway, I just squeezed the chain in my fist and it crumbled into pieces. His hands sprang free, even though the cuffs themselves were still around his wrists.

“Very nice tricks…but they’re not going to work little man.” He stood up and looked me in the eye. “You just made a catastrophic mistake.” He smirked.

He pulled a fist back and went to punch me in the chest, when he made contact with me he screamed in pain and grabbed his wrist. He stared at his injured hand for a second before he pulled back the non-injured one and punched me in the face. Naturally, he ended up with the same results.

One more time he yelled as he hunched over in pain, staring at both of his hands. I reached over and grabbed him by the throat, picking him up off the ground. I pulled his face right into mine and let my fury show through my eyes. I could feel his fear begin to build inside of him as I knew he’d witnessed my eyes turning solid black. For added affect, I whipped out my demon wings which made him shriek in fear.

“For the rest of your life, if you do not confess to your crimes, you’ll be a slave unto me. Every waking hour, I will haunt you, torment you, and torture you, for all of your days. You will not even be afforded the luxury of sleep, for I am a creature of the night. You will never again know peace in your life…I will rip it from you. All you will ever know from this day forward is fear. Your sanity will flee from you. I will corrupt your mind until you can longer discern fantasy from reality. I will steal your life, only to return it back to you in shambles.” I glared at him and snarled.

He just trembled in my grip and stammered around for words to say. I shook him.

“Confess…and I will leave you with the only thing you’ll have left in your life, your sanity…confess!”

He mumbled, “We have a deal.”

I smirked and turned into smoke right in front of him, parading him around the room while I still had him by the throat with my near invisible hand. Again, this was just for intimidation. I was trying to honor Sam’s request by not hurting him. After I played with him for a bit, I materialized again.

“You’re right…we do have a deal.” I walked him over to the wall.

“What are you?” He asked, trembling.

“Seems I get asked that same question and I always have the same answer.”

He looked at me with confusion as I placed him against the wall. I reached back and punched the wall around each side of his head, creating two holes on either side of him. I ripped away at the wall creating two small crevasses with those holes. I then reached over and grabbed the metal chair he was once sitting in and contorted it around his neck and through the holes I created. This held him in restraints in as creative way as I could think of. This was my best idea of intimidation without hurting him.

“I’m everything you never want to be…that’s who I am.”

He stammered for words to say as his voice trembled, but then he began to laugh which caught me off guard.

“You-you-still didn’t make me pee myself. I’m innocent.” He continued to laugh.

“You’re right…but we’re not finished yet.” I flashed a sinister smirk.

That made him stop laughing in an instant.

I balled up my fist.

“Wh-what are you gonna do?” He panicked.

I plowed into his gut with a punch, being sure I held back a little so as not to kill him, he got his answer. With that blow, I jarred lose his bladder and from his pants began to flow a stream of shame down his leg. That wasn’t the only thing that happened, the sound of…release…for lack of a better term, sounded out from behind him. I knew I had won our little wager...with a kicker.

“Ooops, I guess I broke the rules a bit.” I pointed out for my own amusement.

“Oh maaaan.” He whimpered at his shame.

“Remember what I told you…when the detectives come back in here…confess, right now, or you’ll never be rid of me…never…understand?”

He nodded in agreement.

I walked to the door and opened it, “Gentlemen, I think your suspect it ready to talk.” I called, stepping out of the room.

When I came out, everyone was standing a few feet away from the door to the interrogation room. I winked at Sam to let him know my work was finished. Sam and the two detectives walked by me and entered into the interrogation room, only to quickly file out holding their noses.

“My lord, Leo, what the heck happened in there? It stinks to high Heaven.” Sam pointed out as the three men fanned the air in front of them.

“When it airs out, we’ll go in and talk to him. But I have to ask you…Leo…is it? What did you do? It’s a mess in that room.” One of the detectives questioned.

“Just a simple act of intimidation. We have tricks we use here.” I grinned.

I received suspicious looks from the two of them and they entered the room.

“I’ll go get him a change of clothes.” Sam referred to the suspect.

“Thanks, Sheriff. Let’s get him off that wall.” The detective pointed to the other investigator.

It wasn’t long before the second interview was over with the suspect and they came parading him out. The entire time he walked through the front office, he kept yelling at them to keep him as far away from me as possible. I kept my eyes to the floor, trying to ignore them all. Once they secured him in their prisoner van, they spoke with Sam for a while before they left. When Sam came back inside, he was giggling to himself.

“Leo, come into my office for a second.” He continued to smile as I followed him.

“I’m sorry, sir. I probably took it a little too far…” I started to explain myself as Sam sat down in his chair, holding his hand up ordering me to stop explaining.

“Leo…when it came to that guy, you didn’t go far enough in my opinion. Have a seat.” He pointed to the chair in front of his desk.

“You sure had all three of those boys in an uproar, let me tell you.” He kept smiling.

“I know, I apologize…”

Again, he interrupted me, “Nonsense, son. You did what I told you to do. Don’t worry about it. I told those detectives that we rigged that room so it looks like we can punch holes in bricks for intimidation tactics. I told them we have putty covering most of the walls in there. Not sure if they believed that, but that was the best I could come up with.” He shrugged.

“What else did they ask about?” I questioned.

He continued to chuckle, “That man confessed to crimes he didn’t have to admit too. Burglaries, robberies…hell, he even admitted to stealing a candy bar from a convenience store when he was twelve.” I joined in with him with a snicker.

“That’s why I’m going to love having you as a police officer, Leo. Not only can you catch people like no other person can, you can get whatever information you want out of them. That’s why I sent you in there. To measure your talents and have you train in the art of restraint…for the most part. You’ll make all of our jobs so much easier…so much safer when you come aboard.”

“I hope that’s the case. So…the suspect didn’t mention anything about me? What I did in there?”

“Oh yeah…he sure did. The detectives told me that he said you disappeared into smoke, had wings, all kinds of stuff. Naturally they didn’t believe him. They think he’s going crazy, but they were curious how you dissolved the chain on the handcuffs into shards.”

“What did you tell them?”

“I told him that you work as a magician at kid’s parties on your spare time, with props and the whole nine yards.”

We both started laughing.

“Well played sir…well played.”

“I thought so. Okay, let’s call it a day, Leo. I think you learned a lot today about this line of work. Go home to that pretty wife of yours and relax. Great work.” He stuck out his arm to shake hands with me.

There’s no doubt about it. I would have a blast being a cop if I’m able to survive Christian. I hope I get that chance.

CHAPTER 13

ONCOMING

When I returned home, I had fun telling Shade about the events of the day. Shade also informed me that both of our mothers and Sandra would be throwing a baby shower for her soon. Shade was looking forward to it because some more girlfriends from our high school days were going to be in attendance as well.

Our baby was coming very soon; it was crazy to think that I was about to be a father. I went from being alone in a dead tree every night, to being adopted, having a family, having a wife, a child, and now a family of my own. What a curve my life has taken. Hopefully, I would be around a lot longer to enjoy it.

“Dad wants the guys to go on over for a barbeque at his house while we’re having the baby shower.”

“Oh yeah? That sounds like fun.” I answered.

“Yeah. Dad will probably call everyone this weekend so be ready for it.”

When the weekend arrived, I indeed heard from Richard about having a get together the following weekend with just the guys at the Lewis house. Being that I had another cool little guy thing going on for the upcoming weekend, the work week flew by.

The following Saturday arrived and it was a beautifully warm day. Scruffy picked me up since Shade had taken her car to the baby shower and we rode over to Anne and Richard’s house. We were the last to arrive as I could see my father had already arrived along with Sam.

“Oh man…you smell that?” Scuff raised his sniffer in the air towards the back yard where we could see smoke rising from Richard’s smoker.

“Ummmm, I wish I could smell it the way that you do.” I frowned at him.

“Oh yeah, my bad, I always forget. Well, it smells good, just so you know.” He grabbed the back of my neck and squeezed it playfully.

“I appreciate that,” I sarcastically stated.

We rang the doorbell and Sam was the one who answered to let us in. We followed him to the back yard where Richard and Benjamin had laid out some paper plates and plastic silverware on a picnic table. There were also two coolers full of refreshments.

“About time boys.” Benjamin came up and hugged the two of us.

“Right on time for the stogies. We were getting tired of waiting on you to puff on them,” Richard added as he pointed at a group of cigars lined up on the table.

“That’s right, if the boys are going to get together to play, then we gotta have a cold drink, a hot cigar and some good food.” Benjamin picked up the cigars and insisted we grab one, which we did.

We were having the best of time. We stood around and watched Richard cook the barbeque as we puffed on our cigars. Dinner was served shortly thereafter and after we ate, Sam pulled out some cards and we played poker until the sun started to set. It was all jokes and laughs the entire time…mainly about the girls. It was an awesome guy’s day, not quite as good as the time Scruffy and I had at Wolf’s Pass, but pretty close.

When we lost the lighting, we decided to pack it up and go inside for a night cap. We were in the process of cleaning up everything when Sam called me out to the back yard with an anxious voice.

“Hey, Leo…you need to come out here and see this.” He called for me as he pulled out the rest of the barbeque that was staying warm in the smoker.

I came back outside and approached him. I could see that he was standing in place, staring up into the dark night’s sky. I raised my view to the skies above and saw exactly what it was he was looking at.

There was a thick looking cloud hovering over the Lewis home. I knew exactly what it was. It was the same thing that I, Shade, Scruffy, and Sandra saw when we were at my spot leaving some time back. It was another cluster of demons flying around the home. This time they didn’t land, they just casually soared around the place in circles. They could easily be seen by anyone in the neighborhood. All a person had to do was look up.

“What do you think they are up too, Leo? What does this mean?” Sam asked.

“I’m-I’m not sure.”

“You better find out. This doesn’t look good.”

The last time I witnessed this behavior from the underworld, I thought it was a message being sent to me about War’s soon-to-be arrival on the earth. Since I hadn’t seen this scenario since then, I thought that was what it was all about. But now that it was happening again in a similar fashion, I wasn’t sure what Hell was up to, or should I say, Christian. I wasn’t clear on whether this was a threat, a spy tactic, or what, but I figured it wasn’t a good sign.

“What are you two looking at?” Scruff came out to us with a grin.

We didn’t speak, just kept looking up and Scruffy joined us.

“Not this again.” Scruffy realized what he we were seeing.

“Again?” Richard chimed in. We looked over to see that he and Benjamin had both come outside and noticed what was hovering in the sky above us.

“Yeah, this has happened before with us and the girls. I thought this phenomena had to do with War in the past, but I can see now that they are up to something else.”

“They’re planning something. Whatever that may be we'd better figure it out before it’s too late.” Sam took his eye off the sky to address me.

“I don’t necessarily know if it’s a plan or not, but it feels like a warning for sure,” I said.

For just another minute or two, we watched the demons continue to swirl around in front of us. They started to file out and I heard my cell ring.

“Hello?”

“Hey babe, there’s something going on over at your parents' house,” Shade shouted in angst.

“Are you okay?” I asked as all the guys looked at me with concern.

“We’re fine, but there are some creatures that look like your type flying over their house. Thank goodness the other girls left already so they didn’t see this. It’s just us girls that are ‘in the know’ here…know what I mean?”

“Yes…I do. The same thing is happening over here as well, they are leaving as we speak.”

“The ones here aren’t leaving yet. They’re just flying around. Leo…I’m scared. What’s going on?”

“I don’t know, but stay inside and I will be over in just a second.”

I hung up with Shade and made ready to head on over to check on the girls.

“What’s going on, Leo? Is everything all right?” Sam asked.

“There are demons flying overhead at your house too, Benjamin.” I looked to my father.

“C’mon, everyone jump in with me, I’ll get us there in no time.” Sam grabbed his jacket and keys as everyone prepared to leave with him.

“I’ll see you all over there shortly. I’m on my way.” I extended my wings and shot into the sky.

There wasn’t a demon in sight anymore above us directly, but as I approached my parent’s house, I could see the small cluster of demons that were parked on the roof and in the trees of the home. As soon as they sensed my presence, they took off like vultures. I started to follow them but thought better of it and landed in the back yard of my old house.

With haste I sprinted up to the back doors, which were locked and knocked. When my mother saw it was me, she opened the doors and let me in.

“Oh thank god it’s you, son.” She hugged me.

“Everyone still okay? All are accounted for here?” I made sure.

“Yes…we’re all fine…everyone that is still here is accounted for.”

“Good…good. Sam and everyone else will arrive in a second too. I chased the flock off when I arrived.”

“What do you think that was all about, Leo? You said that they were flying around over at Mom and Dad’s too?” Shade asked as she hugged me.

“Yes, but I don’t know what they’re up too. Something more is going on here. Christian has a purpose for everything he does. There is a reason for these visits from his henchmen.”

As we all tried to make sense of our demon visitors, Anne piped up with what her instincts were telling her.

“Leo…they want something.” She said.

I turned to her for elaboration.

“They are here for something…I just don’t know what.”

“Well, Leo of course.” Sandra chimed in with a possible answer which happened to be what I was thinking as well.

“No…that’s too obvious. They're keeping tabs…waiting.” She continued.

“Right…for Leo.” Shade joined in.

“No!” Anne became agitated. “It’s something more than that.”

“They are here to collect something for Christian, or at the very least, distract us so Christian can come to claim something.”

“Could it be the Demon Dagger?” I asked.

“I don’t think it’s that either; something much more valuable to him than that…something…that he deems will give him absolute power.” Anne looked like she was struggling with her thoughts as if she was trying to get clarity about something that was affecting her.

“I just don’t know what it is, I-I can’t reel it in. I don’t know…I don’t know.” She shook her head around in frustration.

“Do you sense anything, Leo?” Anne looked to me for an answer.

“Not a thing, Anne, nothing. I know that Christian doesn’t make any move without a motive, but that’s hardly an insight about him. It’s more common knowledge.”

“Regardless, he wants something…bad. I fear if you don’t figure out what that is quickly it may be too late…for us all. Until you do, I have a feeling that more of these kinds of visits are going to occur. Not to add more pressure on you, but you must work faster, Leo. Figure it out.” Anne stepped to me and placed her hand on my cheek.

I nodded to her in agreement.

Just then the front door flew open and all the guys stormed in.

“Is everyone okay in here?” Sam called out as the rest of the fella’s came in behind him.

“We’re are good, Sam. Thank you…thank you all for getting over here in a hurry. Leo chased them off when he showed up,” Amanda answered.

After everyone calmed down, we decided to stick together for a while before we left. Our fun and eventful day had been diminished to a time of anxiety. No matter the outcome with Christian, I could at least take solace in the fact that once the fight was over with him, my family could return to lives of normalcy…I hoped.

When everyone felt safe enough to leave, I decided I would escort everyone home to make sure they got back safely. It took some time, but everyone made it okay. While I was tracking them, I didn’t sense any demonic activity in the vicinity anyway so I knew they were gone…for now.

When Shade and I returned, we had all sorts of baby goodies in tow from her shower. We got baby clothing, bottles, various necessities, and even a crib, courtesy of both our parents. I got it all hauled inside so my wife could relax. When I was done, I sat with her on the couch.

“Well, at least I have a couple of projects to do to keep me busy while we wait on our daughter to come into the world.” I tried to lift her spirits as I could see she had a troubled mind.

Shade was having none of this playful subject discussion.

“Leo…why is Christian doing this?”

I pulled back on my smile and struggled for the words to comfort her.

“C’mon hun, you’ve been a part of this situation from the very beginning. You know how Christian works. He plays mind games to get an edge. How many times have we seen this, huh?” I said while reaching over to rub her leg.

“Yeah…but it feels different this time. Mom clued me in on some things privately, before the shower today.”

“You mean about Christian wanting something from me?”

“She mentioned that yes, but she didn’t have time to tell you the rest of what she’s been sensing.”

“Tell me about it…what’s up?”

“She thinks that Christian is in a position now where he can’t lose to you. I mean, she’s always feared and felt that your death would come for certain if the two of you met, especially since Argento mentioned that you can’t kill him with the Demon Dagger.”

“What do you mean…can’t lose to me?”

“She wasn’t clear, because she didn’t know for sure, but she thinks it’s about Christian getting all obstacles removed out of his way.”

“What are you talking about?” I was confused.

“Leo, hasn’t it occurred to you that the entire council of Hell…”

“Lord Bellock’s council?”

“Whosever…council, is gone now except for Christian?”

“Yeah…so?”

“Doesn’t that council have the absolute say when it comes to Hell's side of things as it pertains to Earth when it comes to spiritual law?”

I turned my head away from her in thought as it was occurring to me what she was saying.

“Leo…Christian doesn’t have anyone that he has to run anything by anymore when it comes to decisions being made on Earth. The balance of that council is gone. Christian has complete say so over what goes down in the world now, at least coming from Hell he does. He doesn’t have to answer to anyone here. He is the council for Hell on Earth now.”