Immortal Memory (Book One) (7 page)

Dread suffocated her as she took
unsteady steps away from him. “Stop lying to me. I know both of you
are out for her blood. You’re both evil. Let me pass.”

Tristan pulled her by the arm. His
determination to keep her remained persistent. “Zach wants to get
on your good side first. He murdered me and brought you to his
house for horrible reasons. My brother’s going to kill you and your
grandmother. He wants you to believe I’ve cursed her. There’s no
such thing. You know that. I know you’re angry at me, but we can
stop him…together.”

She didn’t know what or whom to
believe. Simra stepped away from him but soaked in the information
he gave her. “I’m doing nothing with you. I must’ve been right
about him. He’s like you-wants to get on my good side first. I’ll
stop both of you. If you or Zach dare lay a hand on my grandmother,
you’ll regret the day you ever met us.”

Tristan pulled her close. His cold lips
devoured hers in a kiss. Simra jerked herself free and stormed away
from him. Flashes of their past relationship invaded her torn
senses. Her ex-fiancé’ didn’t give up and appeared in front of her
to stop her in the blink of an eye.

She felt the blood drain from her face
at his horrifying speed. Simra stumbled backward and restrained a
scream when she gazed up. Zach towered over her on the sandy
shore.

The angel’s fierce stare pierced into
Tristan. Zach balled up his fists at his sides. Shivers crawled up
and down Simra’s spine. Zach never appeared as heroic as he did
now. But he wasn’t someone she could ever date.

The angel and his brother shared too
many physical and emotional qualities. Besides, Zach wanted to
collect her grandmother’s soul. Maybe the physical similarities
between him and Tristan caused her heart to be weak.

Tristan chuckled with sarcasm. “Missing
her, brother? Neither of us missed you. We were both just leaving
the little hideaway you picked out for you two.”

“Leave her alone. Everyone refuses
listening to your lies. You should go on ahead to the lake of fire
now. You’ll be destroyed soon anyway,” Zach grumbled.

Tristan frowned with dark shadows
painted across his pale face. “She doesn’t wish to be with you, and
you won’t be destroying me anytime soon. Be careful who you
threaten, dear brother. You might be sent back to heaven very soon
by me.”

Zach towered over Tristan,
and his bold gaze stabbed into the demon without any fear. “Simra
didn’t ever love you and never will love you. She only
thought
she loved you
once. You won’t ever know the meaning of real love. You’ve never
experienced loving anyone.”

Simra continued walking backward and
observed the two feuding brothers. She stumbled into the sand when
her ex-fiancé’ lunged for Zach. Tristan caused him to move away
before the angel gripped his brother’s shoulder. Zach pinned him
against a tree. Her ex-boyfriend slipped away from his brother only
to charge at the angel from behind. Tristan tried to place a hand
against Zach’s head.

Simra loathed the heavy concern
spiraling through her aching heart. She stepped toward the demon
until Zach spun around. The angel pinned him to the ground and
mumbled an unknown language over him. Zach was getting the best of
Tristan, and Simra broke into a mad run up the dirt
road.

She passed the house again.
Wild goose bumps spread across the back of her neck. The angel
described the way she felt about his brother in such an exact way.
How could Zach know so much about her, what she felt, and what she
thought? He probably knew she had a weakness in her heart
for
him!

There were no other houses on Zach’s
road. Simra panted hard from running so fast and such a long
distance. Her lungs throbbed from such intense breathing. She
didn’t stop until she reached the busy road. Simra leaned against a
tree to catch her breath.

The awakening of a Texas dawn hovered
in the distance. The day might not be survived. This wasn’t a dream
for certain. The weakness, the heavy breathing, the running, and
her heart pounding seemed real enough.

Simra slipped a hand into her pocket to
retrieve her cell phone, but her body stiffened at the sudden
noise. Footsteps crunched the leaves along the side of the thicket.
Zach or Tristan must have caught up before she could escape. Daring
to take a small peek, she turned her head slightly. A man
approached her with quick steps.

His white cap was worn to the side, and
he approached her with a dark scowl. “Simra Reece?”

That voice sounded…so familiar. Her
entire body began to quiver. “Who are you?”

Pulling a gun from his pocket, he
nudged it against her. “Quint. The guy you must pay. Come wit' me,
or I’ll shoot.”

Chapter 7

"Fear of man will prove to
be a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe." -Proverbs
29:25

Simra tried to hide the terror
spiraling through her body. She didn’t hesitate to do as Quint
demanded. “How’d you know I was here? You been following me the
whole time?”

This would
not
stop her from getting
to her grandmother. Tristan might arrive at the nursing home any
moment to harm Lucinda. There must be another way other than
bringing Lucinda to Zach’s lake house to keep her safe. First,
Simra needed to escape from this thug. It wouldn’t be
easy.

The crook’s laugh rumbled behind her,
and he pressed the hard tip of the gun deeper into her back. “You
askin’ too many questions. Naw. I didn’t follow you. It might sound
crazy, but I had dis vision or dream about dis place. Tha' vision
led me here, and what do ya know? Here ya are. Keep walkin’,
woman.”

Simra almost froze in her tracks. She
gasped at how Tristan might have led him there through a dream.
“How were you involved with my ex?”

Quint grabbed her arm and led her to a
hidden dirt path leading into the woods. “Dis way. We were in tha’
business of dealing and stealing together. He killed himself before
he was supposed to give me my share of tha' money for selling
drugs. I took his phone after he shot himself and found ya number.
I knew to find you.”

Curiosity overwhelming her, Simra dared
to ask him what she always wanted to know. “Did Tristan ever use
drugs?”

Quint laughed raggedly. “Naw. We just
sold ‘em to other people. We were in it for tha’ good money. That’s
all.”

Selling drugs to people was the most
inhumane deed a person could ever do! It only caused chaos and
misery in people’s lives. Drugs made most people in society hit
emotional, spiritual, physical, and financial bottoms. How could
anyone want to make money in such a cruel way?

They sold countless drugs to the
people. Tristan even laughed about it the day she left him. He
claimed so many people would risk anything for them.

She scanned the thicket down the path,
and they stopped near a rusted and beaten car. Now might be her
only chance to escape. “Where's his body?”

Quint turned Simra around at the
passenger door and aimed the pistol toward her. “I’ve almost had
enough of your stupid questions, woman. I’d like my money
now.”

Simra placed her hands above her head
and backed up against the car. “You never told me how much you
wanted or gave me any warning. Give me more time to obtain it, and
I’ll have it for you.”

Quint cocked his gun, and his eyes
fueled with a hot rage. He inched closer. “I’ve waited long enough.
Take me to tha’ money now. It’ll be in my hands today. Understood?
Get in tha’ car.”

Her weak knees wobbled. Simra’s
trembling hands reached for the rusted surface of the door handle.
After she turned around to open the door, her body jolted. Gunshots
boomed from just a few steps behind her.

She dared turning around to see what or
who Quint shot. Cold tremors raced through her veins when she saw
Zach shooting the gun. He pointed it somewhat away from the drug
dealer. Quint stumbled backward into a tree with a low heavy limb
hanging from it.

The drug dealer’s eyes rolled backward,
and he nodded off to sleep from hitting his head on the low branch.
Simra covered her mouth with a hand when Zach stopped shooting the
gun. The angel seemed to be only trying to scare him. Quint must
have not seen him. Zach towered over the crook. Simra scurried away
from the disturbing scene.

Running into an opening of the foggy
thicket, Simra never stopped to look behind her. Some of what
Tristan said about his brother might be true. They were both fallen
angels trying to get on her good side. Although Zach saved her more
than once, he continued following her. Zach revealed signs of
possession in the same ways as Tristan. She must find a way to get
to her grandmother and keep her safe from all of them.

The hanging limbs of trees and thorny
briars tore at Simra’s skin as everything spun in circles around
her. The same trees surrounded her in the long distances she ran.
The pines loomed over her with their powerful scent of the
wilderness. They continued reminding her of how lost she
became.

Simra stopped to lean against one of
the wide trunks. Her deep breaths grew rough. Simra’s heavy legs
ached from running so much this morning. Her throat went dry for a
crisp cold taste of water. Silence settled in the depths of the
forest, but the stillness indicated she wasn’t alone.

Scanning the overgrowth of briars and
pines, she turned around to see if anyone stood behind her. Dread
rippled through her when she spotted Zach standing a breath away
from her. “You! Stay away from me!”

“Simra, you’re very confused and tired
right now. Don’t allow Tristan’s lies to affect you anymore. My
brother should be considered as the prince of lies. You know
this.”

Her beliefs swam in different
directions, and she tried to think better. “I know that, but you
following me and fighting people in such a way doesn’t help
matters. Not to mention, you want my grandmother’s
soul.”

Zach stepped closer with a dark frown
across his face. “I’m trying to protect you, and your grandmother’s
dying because of Tristan. Not me. I don’t want her to die. You
could’ve gotten killed had I not shown up in time. I didn’t shoot
or hurt Quint but only scared him. I don’t need you in the way my
brother does. All I need is your help, and you must have mine as
much as I require yours.”

Simra’s heart raced after he pointed
the truth out to her in such an insensitive way. The deep spark he
ignited within her all this time should not be there. Zach felt no
passion for her, and he just admitted it. She should feel nothing
for him anyway. He wasn’t human.

The angel shouldn’t feel anything for
her either. Her heart confused her during the moments she spent
with him. The brothers were so similar, yet they seemed so
different.

Simra bit her lip in frustration. She
hated admitting how she and her family were much safer at the lake
house. Her grandmother would be much more secure in a place where
only two men were a danger to her rather than all three of the
guys. Everywhere else would be more dangerous than at the lake
house where only Zach and Quint were a threat to Lucinda. Simra
could keep an eye on her grandmother during all times.

“I’m sorry, Zach. It’s just that I’m
afraid of trusting you. I’ve been through so much this past year
with your brother. You probably don’t understand, but it’s fine.
I’ll learn to adjust. I’m so exhausted, and I realize it's safer at
the lake house. I must call Mandy, and my grandmother does need to
stay with us here.”

Zach nodded with a slight smile and
crossed his arms against his orange polo shirt. “I understand. I
understand you need to let go of your troubled past. God will help
you if you seek His guidance. Come. Let’s return you to safety.
Call your cousin to bring your grandmother. I’m not murdering
Lucinda. The curse is what’s killing her.”

Simra loathed to hear this man spit
such direct truths to her. She did fight letting go of what Tristan
did to her all this time. Simra needed to release the past and move
on. If she didn’t, it would be the end of her. Regardless of Zach’s
reassurances of how he wouldn’t kill anyone, collecting someone’s
soul meant the same thing. The angel of death could stop Lucinda
from dying if he wanted to.

Simra scanned her surroundings once
more and tried to find any area that looked familiar. “I’ve no idea
where we are in this thicket. I’m lost. Where’s the
road?”

Zach’s lips tugged into a smug grin,
and an amused chuckle slipped from him. “This should prove to you
that I’m nothing like my brother. You’d already be dead if you
didn’t have me to protect you.”

Simra gasped in surprise when he swept
her up into his arms and held her close to his hard chest. Zach
looked into her eyes, and the warmth of his nearness melted her
soul like hot lava. Her wild heart hammered against her chest. The
forest moved so fast around her and caused Simra to gasp with
wonder.

The sun flashed with its rays of light
dancing around them. She almost didn't notice the changing
surroundings. Her studious gaze remained in the eyes of the
irresistible and arrogant angel holding her in his arms.