My Soul to Take (Soul Keepers (Young Adult paranormal romance)) (6 page)

I speak in a hushed tone.
“Look, I don’t know how we are supposed to do this. I love you and you love me. How do
they
expect us to put our feelings aside and pretend that they don’t exist? Why does it have to be right now? Sam and I aren’t going to get married straight out of high school or anything right?” Elijah looks around to make sure we aren’t being spied on. He leans into me and his warm buttery vanilla scent pulls me in. I just want to lick his neck like the drip off of an ice-cream cone, top it off with a little hot fudge and he can be my own personal sundae. He whispers in my ear and his hot breath sends warmth radiating throughout many places in my body. He’s lit the pilot light and my body has roared to life.

“
I’m as lost as you are right now but there is something that I’ve to tell you and it may change everything.”

Elijah’s worried expression tells me
it’s not good news. I sink into my seat and motion for him to commence the onslaught.

He scans the room for a moment and leans down. I mimic his hunched position.
“If the timing isn’t right, Sam won’t be able to cure cancer. His path is set either way. If he chooses you, then the road will lead him to discover the cure. If his heart remains broken, the path will never be discovered.” Sapphire eyes gauge my reaction to this news. His dark brows lower and his lips part slightly. My gaze lingers on his lips and for a second I forget what he just dropped in my lap. I shake my head, willing my sense to come back for Pete’s sake.

“
Seriously?”
Flipping cancer?
Why not: “he’ll cure athlete’s foot”, the common cold even, but no, he’s going to cure cancer. I can be the reason that millions suffer from itchy feet or a runny nose, but I can’t possibly intervene with a destiny like that one.

“
Courtesy of Nehemiah and his “screens of the future” as you like to call them.” I’m quiet for a while as I think about this. My thoughts lead me to Mrs. Cohen and her daughter. Six years is all that baby gets.

There is no other choice,
I’ve to get Sam back. Which means, I’ve to stop this flirting with Elijah. How can I possibly accomplish that? He is always with me. A constant reminder of our budding love, pruned before its season.

His oceanic eyes watch me with anticipation building inside like a rolling tide. He knows me better than I know myself. He tightens his lips when he sees the change in my eyes shift, he knows my decision. And gives a nod that says
“well that is that.” Yes, that about sums it up. Giving up Elijah will be like a meth addict trying to stay clean while locked up in the FBI seizure warehouse.

Journal of E.M              February 10
th
2012

I leave Elena in charge of guarding Brennen while I go and try and talk some sense into Sam. I mine as well get my part of the mission over with, as much as it pains me to do so, an order is an order. 

I find the young man sitting in the crowded cafeteria next to his friend Chris. He glares at me when he sees me sit in front of him. I wish I had Brennen’s gift of mind
reading right about now. Sam’s digits clench into a fist and I see Chris grab his arm to hold him back. I’d like to have a go at him after what he almost did to Brennen the night he was supposedly possessed by a demon. It’s not that I don’t believe Brennen, but those marks he left on her, bared his hand print. 

“
Sam can I’ve a word with you alone?” His brows deepen as if he can’t believe I would want to talk to him. He turns to Chris and tells him that it’s fine. Sam follows me outside.

“
What the hell do you want? You already have my girl,” he blurts out rather loudly. A few people turn and look our way. His girl, if he only knew, she’s only choosing him to save the lives of others. I grit my teeth and tell him the words that he needs to hear, so I can get away from him.

“
Sam, Brennen loves you. I don’t know what you think happened the other night, but you are making a big mistake. You’re going to lose her for good man if you keep up the jealous boyfriend act. I will always be in her life, and I hope you can accept that.” He ticks his chin up and looks off toward the road. I obey my orders to help rectify the blunder I apparently caused when I kissed Brennen six months ago.

             
Sam can’t love her the way I love her, unconditionally. With humans there are always conditions. Sam turns back to me. He is the man that Brennen will marry, he will get to experience with her what I could only dream of.

“
When you left her Elijah, she was heartbroken. I was there for her. But none of that mattered, in the end she still loves you.” He rakes his hand through his hair. “I can’t- I won’t make her choose.” His comment angers me. It wasn’t my choice to leave her.

“
Do you know what you almost did to her that night? I saw the bruises all over her. You tore her panties off and you almost raped her. So don’t try and lecture me on Brennen’s heartache. I know everything you and
I’ve
put her through.”

             
Sam goes into a fit of pacing and hair pulling at my slip of a comment. He has been brought to tears. It seems Brennen had spared him from the ugly details. Well he should know the truth, even if he was possessed. Both of us have broken her heart due to circumstances beyond our control. At least we have something in common.

“
Just talk to her,” I say as I shove my hands in my coat and take my cue to leave. This was a momentous waste of time.

I take a walk to meet Brennen at the cafe. Sam won’t make her choose, only because if she really had a choice in the matter she would choose me. I know the love we share surpasses any human emotion, we are connected spiritually, and emotionally.
When she touches me, an electric current passes through my blood like nothing I’ve ever felt. A piece of my soul is locked away inside her heart and there it will remain for eternity.

I can physically feel that part of me is missing when she isn’t near me.  The night she was taken I felt it the moment they ripped her
out of this world and into theirs but I didn’t know what it was. I’d felt it once before, the time I had to leave her under Will’s guard. 

Nehemiah learned of her location through Jesson and ordered me to wait at her home as punishment.
He said I wouldn’t get to be her hero this time. I already felt like scum so I didn’t press the issue. I just wanted her home safe. But now looking back, I’m beginning to think Nehemiah has it out for us.

She and Emily are seated in a booth talking about Sam the molester now. She doesn’t know I’m here yet
, but Elena takes her cue to leave. I love watching Brennen do just about anything. She takes the paper cup and presses it to her lip, toying with it. Taunting it with her raspberry pink lips. Just a hint of a smile visible as Emily tries to cheer her up. She glances up as someone walks through the door. She’s still nervous and anxious about being taken. I will never forgive myself for that. I plan on getting rid of this Malphas sideshow very soon and in a permanent, take-up-residence-with your-master-in-hell kind of forever. 

             
Brennen dips down low and whispers to Emily. Tears accost those beautiful emerald eyes and Emily rubs the back of Brennen’s hand to comfort her. I will never forget the night we shared. The dream I poured over her, spun itself into one sublime stream of passionate lovemaking bliss that I never knew would feel so real. Sam will get to know that ecstasy in non-fiction and it’s like a dagger of ice into my heart.

I t
ake a seat in our usual booth, the one in the corner. The café’s little red gingham curtains pop against the pale blue walls. I gaze outside the window while I wait for Emily. I notice Elena is here, she’s sitting next to a well-dressed man, who has no clue she’s there, and she keeps stealing his French fries. I shake my head at her and the guy thinks I just gave him the you-should-be-ashamed-of-yourself look. Oops.

Emily finally shows up and slides in across from me.
“Hey, thanks for coming.”

“
No problem.” She gives me a polite smile.

“
I feel like we haven’t talked in so long. How are things with you and Chris?”

“
We broke up.”

“
Oh Em’s, I’m so sorry. I had no idea.” Her thoughts tell me she went home the morning after the party and realized that she had this huge crush on Sam. She knew it wasn’t fair to be with Chris, even though she doesn’t plan on acting on her feelings for Sam. Great now I’ve three girls who would worship the ground Sam walks on.

“
It’s okay. He just wasn’t right for me. He was getting too clingy anyway and you’re right, it’s been way too long since we talked. I’m sorry I let Chris take up so much of my time.”
I’m sorry I almost kissed your boyfriend too
.

“
I guess you know why Sam left the party.”

“
I would like to hear your version of the story.” Emily is sure Sam is correct in thinking that something happened that night with Elijah. She really does care about Sam, it’s not just my gift that made her realize it, and that little fact makes me want to curl up and disappear. She looks down and sips on her iced tea waiting on my account of that night.

“
Elijah found me on the beach right after Sam punched Chris. He invited me back to his house to talk and that’s all that happened, we talked. I spilled some wine on my dress and so I changed before coming back to the party.” I hate lying, especially to Emily. Wine, blood, close enough. My inner angel is scolding me right now.
What? It’s not like I can tell her the truth.
“And now Sam won’t even talk to me.”

She is not sure if she believes me or not. She wants to trust me, but she knows what Elijah means to me. She is fighting those same feelings for Sam. My eyes are beginning to water just thinking about this whole situation. Emily tries to cheer me up and gets me to crack a bit of a smile when she suggest I should pin him up against his locker and have my wicked way with him. But then she pictures herself doing the same and my smile disappears.

***

I dread looking into Sam’s eyes in the class that we share with Elijah,
knowing
how badly I hurt him kills me. But there he sits in all of his long legged splendor, dressed in his well-worn jeans and soft plaid shirt with the sleeves rolled up. Sam’s muscles are lean from logging hours in the pool, his sport of choice has gifted him a swimmer’s physique that mimics Olympian gold medalist. Waves of amber hair play softly around brown eyes.

             
I’m so sorry, God what have I done?
Repeats like a chant in Sam’s head. What is that all about? What
does
he have to be sorry about? I’m the one who lied, cheated and tore out his heart like a carnivorous fanged beast. Elijah walks in with his usual grace and godlike air and Sam sinks in his seat. I take up residence between both, the flesh in this hot man sandwich. For a brief moment, I imagine having them both intertwined around my body and a wash of color turns me a shade of red God spiked for the tops of rainbows. The hint of Sam’s cologne breezes into my nose as he bends over to retrieve his textbook from his bag. The familiar woodsy scent elicits memories of the long week we spent together for Christmas.

             
Emily suggested that I ask Sam to talk with me after school today. I know that I’ve to formulate my words correctly so that my gift of influence doesn’t force him into doing whatever I say. I never want to use my gift on Sam. He deserves better than manipulation, heck he deserves someone better than me. Before Mr. Sanchez gets too engrossed in his bi-lingual banter, I slip a note to Sam. I hope he doesn’t shred it like he did the check I wrote him for the extravagant party he threw me. He paid a couple of grand for a front row seat to Elijah and I’s shared look of morning-after-bliss.

             
Sam unfolds the note, reads it and tucks it into his front pocket. He doesn’t even glance my way. Mr. Sanchez begins his class by conjugating several new words on the board. My note simply read: Sam, can we meet later to talk? Love, Bren. Maybe I shouldn’t have used the word love, it likely soured his taste buds like spoiled milk. He is probably holding down chunks right now to spare the class from our rotten relationship.

             
After class, Sam puts away his book and slings his messenger bag over his neck. He acts as if I’m not even there as those worn boots of his walk right out the door. Well hell, now what? Emily and I didn’t even discuss a plan B. Elijah just shakes his head. The day presses on with my classes and Sam avoids me like I’m the crust on his PB and J. Can’t say I blame him. I guess I just thought if I made the first move to repair things he would at least hear me out.

The next day is the same. And so goes the rest of the week. I decide to take matters a bit more seriously and I sit down at his table one day during lunch
the following week. Chris coughs the word bitch as I sit down. A small part of me, okay a large chunk of me wants to water board him with his own carton of chocolate milk right now. I settle for a smack to the back of his head.