Save My Soul (29 page)

We had two minutes to spare when I
pulled into the parking garage. Adam had lost the smug look, and
was clearly back in panic mode. I started for the elevator, but he
grabbed my hand and led me to the stairwell.

"The stairs will be safer." I nodded
in agreement. If I was going to die, I didn't want it to be in an
elevator. I was guessing that wouldn't allow me to have an open
casket; maybe, but probably not.

I glanced at my watch then looked at
Adam. It was 12:02, and I was no longer safe from losing my soul to
Murry. He squeezed my hand a little tighter and took the steps a
little faster.

We were almost to the fourth floor
when I looked up and saw a lone figure in a black hoodie. I came to
a halt and almost yanked Adam back down the stairs. The guy was
just leaning up against the fourth floor stairwell door.

Adam blocked my view of the man with
his body, and the figure laughed creepily. I knew it was Murry. I
looked around Adam as Murry pulled his hood off, revealing his
face. I'd been right. Damn!

Adam was trying to keep me hidden, but
I needed to confront this asshole.

He spoke before I could say anything.
"I think it would be stylish to kill the woman you love in the same
way I killed your family. Don't you agree, Adam?" Murry pulled out
a small black gun from the hands pocket of his hoodie.

Adam went very still. I had to admit,
so did I. "You killed my family?" Adam asked in a disbelieving
voice.

Mason laughed. "I'm a little
disappointed you haven't already figured that out. Now…Kendra will
come with me and we can do this the easy way, or I'll have to break
my promise to her. It really doesn't matter to me either way. I'm
usually not one for keeping promises." He pointed the gun at my
head, but Adam grabbed my arm a pulled me behind him
again.

"What promise?!" Adam
shouted.

"I promised her that she could have an
open casket for her family's benefit."

"You bastard! I thought you were my
friend!"

Mason made a fake surprised face.
"Oh…you didn't get the memo?" His face turned sober again. "You
see, Adam, you were my friend; I was your mentor. Coen was
beginning to gain complete control of your soul when you were
thirteen." He shook his head. "I couldn't let that happen. Now look
at what Coen has gone and done. He's introduced you to your
soulmate, and you've fallen in love." He shrugged. "It looks as
though I have to take matters into my own hands again."

He began to move toward us and I heard
the famous pop. Rhyan grabbed Murry by the shirt collar then slung
him up against the wall. "Get her out of here, Adam!" Rhyan shouted
as he punched the demon in the mouth then body slammed him on the
concrete steps. Murry's foot came within inches of knocking Adam in
the head.

We turned and scrambled down the
flights of steps and out into the garage.

"There is nowhere we can go that he
won't find us!" I shouted.

He started to get in the car, but I
shouted at him, "Wait, we need to think of something to do. If we
get in that car, he'll just cause us to have an accident, and I
will die. If you're injured, how are you going to fix
me?"

He hit the hood of his car with the
palm of his hand, then ran both his hands through his hair as he
growled and paced. Hercules was barking like crazy in his pet
porter, so I set it on the concrete by Adam's car. If something
happened to me, I didn't want my dog to get hurt too.

He stopped and looked at me with tears
in his eyes. "Tell me what to do. Where can we go so you'll be
safe?"

I shook my head slowly and my own
tears fell. "There is no safe place for me."

There was a loud pop, and Murry
appeared fifty feet from us. He ignored Adam and started for me.
Adam ran and threw himself in front of me. There was another loud
pop and Rhyan was suddenly in front of Murry. He grabbed the
running demon around the neck and placed his palm over the demon's
chest. There was a great pop and they were both gone.

"I don't know what to tell
you to do, but I can't hold him much longer. Get to a church. He
can't enter there."

Adam must have heard him too, because
he picked Hercules' pet porter up, took my hand with his other, and
we ran on foot out of the garage.

"Where are we going?" My voice was a
little winded, I was able to speak at a full out sprint because I
ran every day.

"There's a church about a block from
here." Adam's voice, on the other hand, had major windage.
Apparently he didn't run every day. It was actually nice to find
something about us that wasn't alike, well, except for our
professions and religion. I didn't ask him anything else. He needed
to save his breath for running.

I grabbed the pet porter from him. He
shot me a questioning glance, then he must have realized that he
was slowing me down. I kicked it up a notch and Adam hung in there
with me. I could see the great church up ahead of us. Only fifty
yards left…now forty…and thirty…twenty left to go. I smiled and
kicked it into overdrive, leaving Adam yards behind me. Ten yards
from the church, I heard the pop. Murry was directly in front of me
and I was going too fast to stop in time. I screamed as I slammed
into him. He grabbed me and spun me around. He brought us to a halt
and looked up as Adam screamed, "NOOO!" Murry put his hand on my
chest and we were gone.

When I came to, I was lying on a small
bed or cot. I could feel something running down my face and I tried
to wipe it off with my hand. I realized I couldn't, because I was
tied at all four points to the cot. I quickly scanned the room. It
was the same room from my first nightmare I'd had about Murry. I
glanced over my body, but the blood wasn't there like it had been
in my dream, or it wasn't there yet.

The room was damp and dim. I assumed I
was somewhere underground, like in a basement or cellar of some
sort. I could hear Hercules whining in his pet porter, and I sent
up a silent prayer of thanks; maybe my dog had a guardian angel
too.

What puzzled me was that I was still
alive. Murry had been rambling all week that he was going to kill
me on Friday; it was Friday, so what was the hold up, not that I
was complaining or anything.

"Rhyan! Rhyan, can you
hear me?"
He didn't respond.
Dammit!

I heard a door open and my head shot
around to Murry walking through a rusty metal door. "Where am I?" I
asked with a shaky voice. He didn't answer me so I asked another
question. "Why am I still alive?"

He stopped by my head and looked down
at me. "I wanted to take my time killing you. Adam was rushing me."
He pulled out a scalpel from the pocket in his scrubs. I
immediately tensed. He took my hand and flipped it over so he could
see my wrist. I started fighting to get it away from him, but he
only laughed then slashed at my flesh. I didn't feel it at first,
then I felt the burning and the blood as it ran over my skin. I
screamed and kicked as much as the ties would let me.

He moved to the other side of the bed.
I screamed even louder. He grabbed my other hand, and before I
could jerk it away, he slit my other wrist. So, this was how I was
going to die. I was going to bleed to death in a damp basement, and
then I was going to hell. I had to calm down. I did know that the
faster my heart raced, the quicker I would bleed out and
die.

I could hear him laughing to himself.
"It won't be long now, Kendra. Your precious Adam is not here to
save your life. He could still save your soul from where he is
right now though, but we both know he won't do it. He's going out
of his mind with worry. Rhyan is trying to find you, but I've
blocked you from him and he can't hear you. Therefore, he can't
find you. When they manage to find your body, you will have been
dead far too long to be brought back. Would you like to come back
and watch when Adam and Rhyan find your remains? They won't be able
to see or hear you, but you will get to see the two men you love
one last time." Murry kissed my forehead and tears began to flow
out of the corners of my eyes, forming small puddles in my
ears.

I knew this was the end. I could feel
my body growing cold from blood loss. I could feel my blood soaking
through the back of the dress I'd worn to my final meal.

"Please…please, Mason, don't do this."
My teeth chattered as I pleaded with him. He didn't respond. I
cried. I wailed in anguish and jerked at my bindings. I screamed
for help. I shouted for Adam and I screamed for Rhyan. No one could
hear me.

My sobbing slowed and my screaming
stopped completely. I was going into shock. I had only one thing
left to do. Through it all, I had never given up, and I wouldn't
give up until I took my last breath. "God…if you can hear me, I'm
sorry for making that deal, and I'm sorry for not being able to
save Adam's soul. Forgive me Father, for I have many
sins."

Murry rushed over to the bed from the
chair he was sitting in. "Shut up, Kendra! He won't help you. He
didn't help Adam's family nineteen years ago, and he's not going to
help you now." He leaned down to my ear and whispered, "They
prayed, Kendra. Oh, how they prayed for me to spare their lives. As
evil as I am, I couldn't bring myself to kill that baby. I'm not so
squeamish anymore." He kissed my cheek then stood up straight.
"When I shot Adam's mother in the head, she fell forward with the
baby in her arms. It never made a sound."

I ignored Murry and resumed staring at
the ceiling as I prayed. My voice was low and sluggish, and I only
remembered two prayers my mother had taught me, and I began to say
them. They may not help, I would know that I died praying to God.
"Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I
die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take."

"Shut the fuck up, Kendra!" Murry
shouted as he threw the scalpel across the room.

I ignored him and spoke as quickly as
I could, because I was getting very cold and it was getting harder
to keep my eyes open. "Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be
thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth, as it is in
heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts,
as we forgive our debtors…"

My voice was trailing off and the
chattering of my teeth began to override my words. My eyes closed;
I was so sleepy. I could barely feel my body, but I made myself say
one last verse, "And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us
from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory,
for ever. Amen."

I faintly heard Murry whisper
something; it sounded like, "No…it fuckin' can't be." I heard a pop
then I blacked out.

"Kendra! Kendra can you
hear me?!"
Rhyan's voice sounded panic
stricken in my head.

I was groggy and my brain
wasn't working right, but of course I could hear him.
"Of course I can hear you. You're in my head,
aren't you?"

"Are you all
right?"
Was I all right? I thought I was.
Then I remembered Murry taking me and draining me of my
blood.

"Rhyan, I need help now!
Murry slit my wrists and I think I'm dying or maybe I'm already
dead. He's not here. He said something and then he
left."

"I'm coming. Now that I can
hear you, I can find you."

"How is Adam?"

"We may be able to talk
about it later. I'm coming to get you. Sit tight."

Well what else was I going to do? It
was like after my rappelling accident when I was on the operating
table all over again. I couldn't hear anything except my own
thoughts. What had happened to Murry? Was praying really all I had
to do all along?

I was physically and emotionally
exhausted. I knew I had to remain conscious, even if I had to talk
to myself, but sleep seemed so much easier, so much
simpler.

I started to hear things again; voices
of men and women and metal clanging together. Were they about to
take me to Hell? "Kendra, stay with me, honey. Don't you dare leave
me after what I've done for you," Adam said, and I became more
alert. I couldn't open my eyes. It was the same as last week; I
couldn't feel my body, or see, or smell, but I could hear just
fine.

"She can hear you, Adam," Rhyan said,
and he wasn't speaking in my head, but directly to Adam.

There was no talking from my two men
for a moment, but the voices of the other people were more
distinct. I could hear that Debbie woman and Sherri talking. Surely
Adam wouldn't let his ex-girlfriend in here to help; she had to
hate me. I could hear the heart monitoring machine and my heartbeat
was really slow. "I love you, Kendra. I don't want to disappoint
you, so I am trying to keep my promise…and my sanity," He tacked on
at the end.

I laughed a little in my head then
heard Rhyan laugh. "She thought that was funny."

"Glad I can amuse you, honey," Adam
said, then started talking to a nurse or someone. He was telling
them to get more blood and fluids, STAT. His tone became almost
violent as I heard him shouting at someone to get the hell out of
the room, or else.