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CHAPTER NINETEEN

The ride home from the hospital was a quiet one. Lacy felt a distinct tension in the air and was growing more and more anxious by the minute about what would become of her and Michael’s impending talk. Many times she’d gone to say something, but couldn’t seem to find her voice. After Michael had asked her about Nina, and she’d told him what the doctors had said, he’d shut down and neither of them said another word until they pulled up outside her house.

“I’ve told Alethia that I’ll text her when I leave. She’ll stay with you tonight,” Michael said, his voice so void of emotion that Lacy found it hard to even answer him.

“It’s good of her to help us.”

Michael remained silent as they approached the house. She couldn’t bear itmuch longer. Never before had she felt so nervous over a coming break up. Not that she could call it that. One proper passionate kiss was all they’d shared−hardly relationship of the century−but she knew she would pine after him once he’d finalized things, nonetheless. Damn, her emotions had been all over the place the last few weeks. She was a mess.

Lacy removed her coat and scarf and hung them on the hook in the hall.

Michael left his jacket on and went straight to the sofa in the front room and sat down. He clearly wasn’t planning on staying long and that was probably for the best. She just wished he’d speak and get it over with.

She couldn’t take the silence any longer. “Can I get you coffee?” Jeez, her voice was trembling. What the hell was the matter with her?

Michael didn’t look at her. “No. Thanks.” He scrubbed the short stubble on his chin anxiously and then glanced up at her. “Would you sit? Please.” He motioned to the chair, clearly not wanting to be too close to her. Lacy did as he asked, pushing her hands between her knees.

“About what happened earlier, I’m sorry for my behavior. That should never have happened.” His eyes found hers, full of sorrow, guilt, confusion? It was hard to read him. Just as Lacy was about to speak, he continued.

“Unfortunately, I let my emotions get the better of me and I shouldn’t have. I’m finding things a little hard to deal with and had a moment of weakness. It won’t be happening again.” It was said so matter-of-factly, it actually made her feel a little annoyed. His face was serious, eyes narrowed as he looked at her, obviously waiting for some kind of reaction from her.

A moment of weakness? Well. . . he was going to get a reaction all right.

She was sick and tired of the emotional roller coaster they were both on. She didn’t appreciate the way he’d made her feel in the car on the way home and even though he’d said the reason they couldn’t be together was to protect her, she couldn’t help thinking it was bullshit. If he didn’t want her, then he just had to man up and tell her.

“You’re right,” she thundered as she got up from the chair and began to pace up and down in front of him. His eyes widened at her sudden outburst. “It won’t be happening again. I’ve had enough of you playing with my emotions. It’s not fair. You tell me you want to be with me but nothing can happen between us. I try to deal with that. Then I wake up with you kissing me and you tell me it was a mistake because you were dreaming, which also tells me how much you want this if you’re dreaming about it. Again, I try and deal with it. Then you kiss me the way you did this afternoon.” She stopped to face him, her voice lowered to nearly a whisper. “Just. . . stop using me as an excuse.”

She lowered her head and let out an exasperated sigh. It was hard to feel the way she did about him knowing that she wouldn’t be able to have any more.
Why did she let herself fall for this man? She couldn’t bring herself to look at him and kept her gaze to the floor.

It was a few minutes before either of them spoke and then. . .

“It was me.” was all Michael said.

She looked at him, confused. “What?”

He scrubbed his hand through his hair and met her gaze. “The boy who helped you in high school. The one who got beaten up and put in hospital? That was me.”

Whoa! So that’s what a ton of bricks landing on your chest felt like. She froze, breath caught, mouth wide open as she repeated his words over in her mind to make sure she’d heard them right.

“What?” she whispered so quietly that she barely even heard it. She walked over to the sofa in a daze and sat down next to him. They looked at each other without speaking. She couldnt seem to find her voice or her brain was refusing to function or something. Finally, she managed to force out some words. “You?

How. . . ”−she swallowed hard−“how can that be?”

Michael shifted his body so that their knees were nearly touching. “I was brought up by foster parents in Lawrence County.”

“I can’t believe it,” she gasped. “Jack? That was really you?”

She watched as he reached into his inside pocket and pulled out a black leather wallet. He opened it and slid a crumpled picture out from one of the pockets inside, looked at it for a second and then passed it to her.

Oh, God. A handsome face stared back at her. Dark brown/black hair styled neatly to one side, blue eyes framed with thick dark brows, a strong jaw. . . It was Jack Pearson, just as she remembered him only older. “This was really you?”

He nodded and closed his eyes.

She felt deep sorrow as she looked back at the photo. It was hard to imagine his situation. Having not only your whole life, but your body being suddenly ripped away from you was inconceivable. After she’d processed the news, she thought back to the day he’d saved her. “I thought about you a lot after what you did for me. I hated the fact that I couldn’t say thank you. Your parents−”

“They weren’t my parents, not really. I’m sorry for what they said to you. I never knew you came. They never told me.”

Lacy knew she shouldn’t do what she was about to, but was past caring and did it anyway. She leaned across and softly kissed his cheek. “Thank you for what you did,” she said, quickly resuming her position.

Michael’s eyes widened and for a second he looked tense. After a moment his shoulders relaxed and he smiled at her. “You’re welcome.”

“How did I not know you? I don’t remember seeing you except for that one time.” Clear View High wasn’t very big, so she wondered why she’d never noticed such a good looking guy.

Michael sat back, visibly more relaxed than he had been since he’d picked her up. “I didn’t really mix with the kids in school; never really had the time.

Each day I’d leave after last class and go straight to work so I never had any kind of social life. I’d seen you around. Never spoke to you though because what was the point?” He smiled.

“Didn’t think I’d be your kind of person.”

She couldn’t help but smile back at him. It was a rare thing lately to see Michael without a permanent crease between his brows. Not that she could blame him. The dangers that she now knew existed, dangers that were after both of them, were enough to undo the strongest of people. Add the fact that he’d been turned against his will into some sort of unknown, inhuman being and it was a surprise that he could smile at all. But he was and it invigorated her.

“And why not?” she asked playfully with an eyebrow raised.

He smirked. “Because I saw the kind of guys you hung out with; the hard working geeky types, the ones who would hang around the library on a Saturday afternoon to get their recreational kicks. I certainly didn’t fit that description.”

“Hey, are you saying you thought I was a nerd?”

He laughed. “Noooo, I’m. . . just saying you were a hard worker that’s all.”

“Oh! That’s all, huh? Well, maybe you shouldn’t have assumed that I wouldn’t be interested in you.” Lacy grew serious at the same time Michael’s face straightened. His gorgeous blue eyes stared into hers and she was instantly mesmerized by them. Her chest tightened. Why did things have to be so difficult?

She sensed the door had just slammed shut on his emotions again and Lacy knew that their playful moment was over. She looked back at his photo before giving it back to him.

After putting it back in his wallet he stood up and walked over to the window. She watched his shoulders rise, then fall before he spoke. “Lacy. We can’t be near each other anymore.”

There they were, the words that she knew he would say. Her heart sank in her chest and she honestly didn’t know what to do. Maybe it was for the best.

Maybe Michael having to battle with his feelings was no good for any of them.

She knew it was a huge distraction for him and the last thing she wanted was for him to be vulnerable when it came to fighting Varesh. Because that was what he intended. She knew that much.
But how could she just let him go? Knowing what they both felt for each other, how could she let him walk away from her?

“I don’t want to stay away from you,” she said before she could stop herself.

He turned around to look at her, a deep frown on his face.

“We have no choice.”

Lacy got up and walked over to him. “Why?”

“How can you want to be with me knowing what I am? I’m not even alive, Lacy. And who knows how long I’ll even stay this way. What if I just stop existing?” He took her hands in his. “I don’t want you to get hurt and that’s the reason I came over tonight. I had to see you, to clear things up before I leave.

There’s something I have to do and I don’t know if I’ll even survive it.”

* * *

“I’ll take a seat out here in the hall.” Alethia said softly.

Lacy nodded her head as she reached down for the door handle and walked quietly into the hospital room. Nina’s head shifted around from her gaze out of the window. Her mouth turned up into a light smile as she looked at Lacy.

“Miss Holloway?” Her voice was hoarse.

Lacy smiled at her. “Hi. Please. . . it’s Lacy.”

The head of her bed was raised so that she was nearly in a sitting position propped up on a bulk of pillows. She looked weak and her skin was pale which only accentuated the dark shadows under her eyes. But she was awake and the doctors had said that she was responding well, which was all Lacy needed to hear.

“I brought you some things.” Lacy said as she held up a sports bag that she’d filled with toiletries and some clean night clothes. “How are you feeling?”

She walked over to the large chair beside the bed, eyeing the uneaten food on a tray across the other side before sitting down.

“Thanks. Strange.” Nina said. “I can’t really remember much of what happened. It’s all fuzzy.”
“That’s understandable.”

Nina looked down at her hands as she picked at her nails. “I remember thinking I was dying, but I wasn’t scared. All I could hear were echoes of distant voices all around me and then they began to fade and I could no longer feel my body. I just felt relief. It was like something was telling me that I was going to see my boyfriend, Danny, again and that’s all I was waiting for.

“Then everything went dark and all I remember after that is waking up feeling really groggy in this room.” She closed her eyes and frowned. It was hard to ignore the sorrow in her voice. The poor girl had been through hell and back. “The nurses say that you stayed with me.”

Lacy nodded. “I couldn’t let you go through this alone.”

“Thank you,” Nina said, trying her best to smile.

Lacy reached over and placed her hand over Nina’s. “You don’t have to thank me, Nina. You just get yourself better.”

Noticing the sorrow on Nina’s face, Lacy wondered if she should leave her to rest. After all, she hadn’t been conscious that long and the whole situation must be quite overwhelming to say the least. She was just about to say her goodbyes when Nina spoke.

“What do I do now?” she asked in a low whisper. “I have no one left.” Her eyes began to glisten before she turned her head away.

Lacy thought back to when she’d first arrived in America. Being from a little place in England, and never venturing much further than the end of her street, everything had been so different. She hardly really knew her grandparents and didn’t really fit in well at high school, so alone was a very familiar feeling for her. After her grandparents died, she had no choice but to deal with the way things were, and she did. But even though she was around people every day at work, there was always a void in her life she could never seem to fill.

Lacy noticed a small box of Kleenex on the cupboard beside her. “Hey,” she said, taking one from the box and handing it to Nina. “I promise that you won’t be alone.” And somehow, she would make sure of it.

Lacy felt the vibration of her cell phone in her pocket. When she looked at the screen her heart skipped. She read the text message from Michael: At yours. Where are you? Need to talk.

She quickly typed back:

With Alethia at hospital. Nina doing well x

K. Pick u up in 20 mins outside main doors, he replied.

It wasn’t totally unexpected to hear from him. They’d hardly said two words to each other before Michael had left earlier. But it was the ominous “Need to talk” part that unnerved her.

Everything okay? she asked.

Yes. See u then.

She put the cell back in her pocket. Everything wasn’t okay. She knew they would have to talk about what happened earlier, but for some reason she had a feeling it was more than that.
She said her goodbyes to Nina, promising to visit again tomorrow evening.

She explained to Alethia that Michael was coming to pick her up, and that she could take her car, and then made her way down to the lobby.

tunjilomo:
Aren't they supposed to be working, or are they on leave?

You go fit work for this kinda situation

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN


dedicate this chapter to all my fans that has been coming out to comment you guys gave me the zeal to continue this story...
#Dranoid
horwa10
olaiyadoam
tunjilomo....
you guys can still invite more peeps here you know.....
.............. ........... ..


“Oh no. No! No way. . . Not happenin’ my man.” Evo said as he began to pace the length of the small living room.

Michael wasn’t at all surprised by his reaction and the least he could do after dropping such a bombshell on him was keep quiet until he’d finished his rant.

Not that Michael was paying much attention.

“. . . only thing you’ll succeed in doing is being skinned alive,” he went on.

“And I, for one, am not going to play any part in helping you get there. You got me?”

Silence.

“Have you finished?” Michael asked as he leaned his back against the apartment door.

“Well, that depends. . . Have you changed your mind?”

“No. And I’m not going to either.”

“Then no. Have I Bleep finished!” Evo scrubbed at the stubble on his chin. He stopped to face Michael placing both his fisted hands on his hips. “Okay. So. . . let’s say I did help you, what is it that you plan on doing when you get there?”

“Talking with Lucifer.”

Evo’s eyes widened before he began to laugh until he saw Michael’s stoic expression and realized he was deadly serious. The laughing ceased and his face paled. “You’re out of your goddamn fucking mind.”
Michael brushed past him. Maybe it was a dumb idea. Maybe he would be facing a fate worse than death. But the way he saw it, he had to do something about Varesh and maybe speaking to Lucifer was the only way.

“Think about it. He’s after that demon piece of shit just as much as we are, remember. What if we can help each other?”

Evo was looking at him like he’d lost his mind, the horror at the fact that Michael had even suggested looking for Lucifer clear on his face. “Can you hear what you’re saying right now? You’re suggesting teaming up with the king of Hell, and you expect me not to have a fucking issue with that?”

“No. I’m not expecting that. I understand why you do, but you need to understand that this might be the only way. I’ve already seen some of Varesh’s power, hell. . . even his demon minion was more powerful than any other we’ve encountered. For whatever reason he wants me to team up with him or he wants me dead, I mean really dead. I’m not joining him, so do you think he’s going to stop until he gets his wish? We don’t stand a chance against him on our own Evo.”
Evo dropped his head and let out a sigh. His voice had calmed and the weight of his friend’s grave expression was evidence of how dangerous Michael’s plan actually was. “There has to be another way, Mike. This has to be the stupidest. . . Jeez, I don’t think even I would have come up with something as crazy as this.”

“I told you what Alethia said. It’s not going to be long until he returns and he’s going to be more pissed than before. We have to try this.”

“What about Alethia’s ring? The one her father gave to her. I thought it was supposed to capture demons.”

Michael sat on the sofa and rested his foot on his knee. “She tried. He was too powerful. All she could do was send him away and that nearly killed her.”

“But it will work on other demons right?”

“Appareently so.”
Evo didn’t speak. Instead, he sat staring at the coffee table for a moment until he eventually looked back up at Michael with a smirk. “Then we’re not going down there without that ring. There will be plenty of other things in that place to worry about besides Lucifer.”

* * *
After about an hour of trying to convince his stubborn jackass of a friend that he wouldn’t be going with him, Michael had finally given up. Evo was a determined SOB and when he decided he was going to do something, there was nothing Michael could ever do to stop him. This time was no exception. Evo was going with him to find Lucifer and that was that.
Meanwhile, after his friend had gone out for some supplies, Michael played back the answering machine message that he’d just listened to. It was from Lacy. She’d called twice since he’d returned to his apartment and both times he hadn’t answered.

Fucking coward!

The second time she’d left a message: “Hi, it’s Lacy. I. . . I was hoping you’d be back home by now. I just wanted to speak to you about earlier. I figured that’s the reason you left so quickly but. . . Michael I. . . ” Pause. “I just wanted to say I’m sorry. Call me if you want to.”

Michael stood with his finger on the delete button. Shit! She had no reason to be sorry. He should have called her back. Damn! He really wanted to, at least to tell her that everything was okay. But he didn’t. When he heard the key turn in the lock he knew Evo was back. He pressed the button and erased the message. They would talk and he would tell her that nothing could happen between them, but it would have to wait.

Evo walked through the door looking like he’d had a fight with a mud wrestler and the mud wrestler had clearly won. His coat was covered in dirt, but that wasn’t all, he had smears of the stuff all over his face too.

Michael shot him a quizzical look. “If this is your attempt at camouflage. . .

Well, I can still see you.”
Evo’s responding smile was full of sarcasm. He dropped a small backpack, which was just as dirty as he was, onto the floor in front of the coffee table. “I hope you’ve got plenty of Jack,”he said as he removed his coat and slung it onto the chair in the corner of the room.
Michael didn’t even bother to ask where he’d been and instead, retrieved two glasses from the cupboard and a large bottle of whiskey from on the unit.

He walked over to where Evo had now placed a pile of items on the floor and watched as he grabbed his Bowie knife from his ankle and began to cut away at what looked like a tree branch. Again, Michael didn’t ask. He’d seen his friend do this kind of thing many times before and never really understood any of it.

He poured them both a glass of Jack Daniels and sat quietly on the sofa watching Evo go to work on the branch. Finally, after about twenty minutes or so, it resembled some kind of. . . wand? Evo held it up and studied it for a moment. “It’s a branch from one of the trees in the cemetery. Has to be from sacred ground.”

Michael nodded and took another swig of whiskey. “You gonna drink that?”

His friend didn’t answer and got back to work. Now he was carving something into the thicker end. Some symbols, four of them. When he was done, he took a swig of his drink and looked at Michael, eyes narrowed. “I’ve no chance of talking you out of this have I?”

“No,” was all Michael said as he put his glass to his mouth and took another large sip of Jack.

Evo chewed on the inside of his cheek and nodded his head. He picked up a dirty piece of cloth and ripped it into two pieces.
“What’s that?” Looked like something he’d grabbed from a dumpster.

“Part of a shroud.” Evo answered.

Michael frowned. “Please don’t tell me that was wrapped around someone at some point.”

His buddy’s eyebrows rose. “Then I won’t. But it won’t change the fact that it was”

Nice. Just what the hell else was he going to produce from that bag? His answer came next when Evo pulled out a dirty bone. Michael guessed it hadn’t belonged to an animal. That would just be too acceptable. “Human?” he asked, not surprised when his buddy replied, “Yup.” before cutting through it. “I need two small bowls.”

After Michael retrieved what he’d asked for from the kitchen, he poured himself another whiskey and resumed his place on the sofa.

“Make sure you save some of that.” Evo said, nodding towards the now half empty bottle. He then placed the small portion of bone he’d cut into one of the bowls “I’ve poured you one, remember? Ain't my fault if you don’t keep up.”

Next Evo pulled a lighter from his shirt pocket and lit the bone on fire, watching the flame crackle and burn before placing a piece of the shroud inside.

“Not to drink. We’re gonna need it for something else shortly.” He then pulled out a clear bag, which looked to have dirt in it, and placed it on the table next to him. When he blew the flame out of the bowl, he crushed the charred remains with the back end of his knife, and then added the contents from the bag. He reached into the backpack again and this time pulled out a hip flask, unscrewed the top and emptied what was inside into the same bowl.
“Holy water.”

Of course it was. The main ingredient for most of the rituals he’d seen Evo perform.

“I need your arm.” Evo said as he rolled up his own sleeve. “And bring the whiskey.”
As soon as Michael handed him the bottle, Evo poured some of the stuff onto his own forearm, then without hesitation, he sliced through his skin and held it over the other empty bowl. Shit, it was deep. He clenched his fist and watched as a steady stream of dark crimson dripped from his arm, a stark contrast against the bright white porcelain of the bowl. When he was satisfied, he wiped at the wound and then the blade with a piece of torn cloth and handed the knife to Michael, hilt first. “Make sure it's deep,” he ordered.

As he took a hold of his friend’s blade Michael felt a pang of uncertainty rush through him when he thought about all Evo was willing to do to help him.

He knew he was loyal through and through, but this was worse than anything they’d ever encountered. Michael’s decision to confront the most powerful being known to man, and. . . everything else, to ask for his help was most likely a suicide mission, but one that he was willing to partake in to see that that bastard demon got what he deserved. His own life had already been taken from him, but he wasn’t happy about being the cause of Evo losing his.

Nothing could be done, though. Once Evo set his mind to something, there was no talking him out of it, even something as stupid and dangerous as this.

As he held his arm over the bowl, Michael glanced over at Evo, placed the blade on his forearm and began to draw it deep through his skin. No pain. Just a strange pulling sensation as his flesh parted and blood that wasn’t his own began to drip from the wound and into the bowl, merging with Evo’s.

He had no clue what his friend was doing and quite frankly he didn’t care.

He was focused and willing to do what he must. A vision of Lacy popped into his head, her smile lighting up her face as she sat across from him in the restaurant. Then that nice vision quickly changed into the grim sight of her cowering away in the junkyard, her face bloodied. Her fear had almost broken him apart. She was the reason he was determined to see this through. No matter what became of him he had to make sure she was safe and getting rid of that son of a bitch and his minion was priority one. The rest would follow.

After enough blood had left Michael’s vein, Evo passed him a torn piece of cloth to hold over his wound to stop the bleeding and continued with his ritual.

Next he combined the ground bone, earth and holy water to the blood and mixed it together until it became a paste. Michael screwed his nose up. It was pretty gross.

Evo retrieved the make shift wand from the table, looked at it for a second and sighed. “This is the final part of the ritual,” he said still looking down at the thing. “There’s no going back from this. I can give you more time to think about it before we do it. Just so you’re sure.” Evo’s eyes flicked up to meet his. The intense stare from his friend cut deeply, knowing they may not return from this yet, selflessly, Evo was ready to go in guns blazing. The concern on his face wasn’t for himself though.

Michael closed his eyes for a second and again, his mind was filled with more visions of Lacy. Her pale green eyes staring back at him full of concern.
Then his vision shifted to her flushed cheeks and hooded lids just after they’d kissed. He tried desperately to fight away her image, to pretend that she meant nothing to him and get his mind fully focused on what lay ahead but it was impossible. His feelings for her were more than he’d anticipated and the thought of leaving her without saying a word and throwing himself into certain danger was proving too difficult.
He heard her voice echoing over and over through his head. “You are real to me.” “I’m sorry.” “You’re not evil. I can feel your compassion. . . ”

Evo’s voice brought Michael back from his thoughts. “Look buddy, if you’ve changed your mind, I’ll gladly burn all this sh−”

“No.” Michael said harshly. “I haven’t. I just. . . I just need to go out.

There’s something I have to do first.”

He got to his feet and headed for the door. He had to tell Lacy what he was about to do even though he didn’t want her to worry about him. He had to let her know how he truly felt.
“Oh. . . I’ll just hang here then.” Michael heard Evo shout in a derisive tone as he pulled the door closed behind him.
* * *

horwa140:
Ave been shadow reading dis story all dis while
Ah swear ur story is.....don't knw what to say
If am a director u will be a whole. Lot richer. Nw cause of ur handwork great story bro

Thanks bro

tunjilomo:
Nice story you got going here and your editing skills are good.

Thanks man

Dranoid:
".........to get into Hell"

Osheyy!
Bro, we dey your back solidly.

The story is dope its just that a lot of people are ghost reading and it's bad, very bad

it's not encouraging at all.... almost 9500 views no comment

* * *

After fetching a fresh towel from the closet in the spare room, Lacy returned to her room to find Alethia sitting on the edge of the bed, eyes closed, head tilted back, and a rush of whispers coming from her lips. Lacy approached slowly, wondering what language it was that she was speaking. Not wanting to disturb the strange ritual, she quietly walked to the armchair in the corner next to the window and placed the towel on it.

“I was just talking with my father.” Alethia said unexpectedly.

Lacy turned around to face her. “Wow. Impressive. Your cell phone bills must be nonexistent. Do you even need one at all?”

Alethia smiled. “Not for our conversations. It’s one way my kind communicates with each other when we’re not together.”

“I see. Like a form of telepathy?” Lacy asked, still trying to understand all the bizarre stuff that had happened in the last twenty-four hours.

Alethia nodded. “Yes.”

It was hard to see the deity as anything more than normal−human. If Lacy hadn’t witnessed her power first hand, she would never have believed it. She was very pretty, in a sophisticated way; dark eyebrows framed unusual caramel colored eyes. Her black hair hung straight with the slightest curl at the ends.

“I brought you some clean towels in case you want a shower. Feel free to.

The bathroom’s just across the hall.” Lacy paused as she noticed how off color Alethia looked. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Yes. Really, I am. It’s just. . . it’s been a while since I’ve used that much power.” Alethia shifted herself until she was lying down.
As Lacy thought back to when she’d appeared from nowhere in the junk yard and used her powers the way she had, she remembered seeing how much the woman had struggled. Whoever, or whatever, that being was that had nearly killed Michael it was certainly very powerful, and to think that she’d been captured by such a thing brought the dread sweeping back over her. She worried for Michael−worried for all of them. If using her powers on such a creature when he was weak had drained Alethia as much as it had, she dreaded to think what would happen if Varesh was at full strength.

She didn’t want to keep her any longer so she headed for the door. “Well, let me know if you need anything okay.” She was about to leave when. . .

“He cares for you, you know.”

Lacy paused with her fingers around the door handle as Alethia’s words surprised her. She turned around, a little taken aback. “I’m sorry?”

“Michael. He has feelings for you. I sensed his sadness when we first met at the airport and I saw a vision of you in his mind. Then just now, his guilt over what happened to you.”
Lacy walked back over to the bed not really sure what to say so she just sat on the edge. “You can read minds?”

“Yes. Look, I try not to invade people’s thoughts, but sometimes it just happens. He’s scared to let himself feel for you because of what he is and. . . ”

She paused. “Shit. I just thought you should know. I’m sorry. Perhaps I shouldn’t have said anything. See, this is exactly why I’m normally strict with myself when it comes to hearing people. I can’t ever keep my damn mouth shut.”

Lacy placed her hand on Alethia’s arm and gave her a smile. “Hey. It’s fine.

I kind of knew anyway. I kissed him last night and he told me then.” She didn’t know why she wanted to talk about this with someone she’d known for all of five minutes but the truth was she really did. She felt quite calm, strangely comfortable in her presence even though she was practically a stranger. Must be the goddess thing. “I just don’t know what to do about it. When I saw that. . . thing nearly killing him I wanted to run to him, to help him. I couldn’t bare it.”

Oh, God. She’d fallen for him. Hard. Well, wasn’t this a revelation?

Alethia pulled herself up to a sitting position and Lacy saw genuine compassion in her face. “Can I give you some advice?”

Lacy nodded.

“Just be patient with him. I understand his concern about the two of you and if I were in his position I would feel the same. He isn’t human anymore.” She let out a sigh.
“I know we don’t know each other, but you need to know that I’m quite good at detecting when someone is pure of heart. I sensed it about you, even Evo.” She must have seen Lacy’s eyebrows rise because she laughed a little. “I know he’s a Hot, womanizing snake−Yes, I’ve been in his head too. Don’t judge me−but his heart is in the right place when it needs to be. With Michael though, I sensed it the most. I don’t know how to explain it, but I just feel that he’s here for a purpose. There’s a reason he came back from Hell. I don’t know why he’s been targeted by Varesh, and I don’t know why he was killed, but everything happens for a reason right?”

It was a philosophy that Lacy wasn’t entirely on board with, at least she hadn’t been until now, but maybe Alethia was right. She didn’t really understand any of this, in fact, her head was beginning to spin with the events of the past few weeks, but she knew Michael was a good man. She’d sensed it too, in her own way, and that’s why she felt the way she did about him.

Why couldn’t she have met him when he’d been alive?
The two of them sat in silence for a little while. Both of them clearly affected by this evening’s event, but in very different ways. She was sitting next to a powerful goddess who had exhausted her powers on some evil demon, and in the other room, was a man (she refused to call him anything else) who had experienced severe tragic circumstances−resulting in that same demon hunting him down−who she now had feelings for.

What a mess.

Lacy looked up at Alethia who now had her eyes closed. “I’ll leave you to rest,” she said as she stood up. She headed for the door, but before she opened it, she turned back around. “Thank you, for the chat.”

“Mmhmm.” Was all Alethia managed along with a slight nod of her head.

Lacy closed the door behind her and when she returned to the living room, Michael wasn’t there. Before she thought anything of it, she heard movement coming from the kitchen. When she walked through the door, he glanced at her over his shoulder and gave her a faint smile. “Thought I’d make coffee,” he said as he placed the jug that he’d just filled with water in front of the machine.

She walked over and leaned against the counter watching him gather the cups and the sugar bowl from the cupboard above his head. He put one sugar in each of the two cups leaving the spoon inside the last one. He stood motionless with both hands on the counter, his head hanging low. He didn’t look at her as he spoke. “I’m sorry.”

She straightened. “Sorry? What for?”

He stayed with his back to her while the noise from the coffee machine increased in volume. “For everything. All of this is my fault. I should never have brought this to your door.”

She thought about what he’d said to her in the living room when he’d confessed to what he was. “You told me you came here to help the students. To find whatever was killing them didn’t you?”

“Yes,” he answered quietly.

“And you had no idea that this demon was after you, and that he had something to do with what was happening on campus?

“That’s right.”

“Then how is any of this your fault?”

His voice rose slightly. “If I’d stayed away from you then you wouldn’t have been dragged into it. You wouldn’t have been abducted and almost killed.”

He slammed his hand down on the counter.

She didn’t say anything. Couldn’t. Instead, her thoughts went back to being tied to that bed, terrified she would never see anyone again: her friends, her colleagues, but most of all Michael. The whole time she’d laid in the darkened warehouse she’d thought of him−the only reason she’d gotten through it.

He turned around and took up the same position as she had, arms crossed over his chest. “I’m not used to this, Lacy. For the past year I’ve had nobody but myself to worry about. But now, I’ve somehow managed to drag Evo deeper into this shit than he was in the first place; Alethia, who Varesh now knows is involved as well; and worst of all you. . . I’ve put you in danger and it was purely because of my selfish actions.”

“What do you mean, selfish actions?”

He seemed to hesitate as though he was finding it hard to say his next words.

“Because I allowed myself to feel. I just wanted some normalcy, just to feel for a moment like I wasn’t the guy who’d been murdered, that I was just me.

Because you, Lacy, you made me feel human again.” A tendon twitched as he tightened his jaw. “I put you in danger.”

Lacy bit back the tears that were threatening to form and walked over to him. He looked her in the eye as she reached up and stroked her hand down his cheek. The coffee machine had run through its cycle, leaving nothing but silence as the two of them stood and looked at each other.

Michael tucked a stray hair behind her ear and surprised her when he reached up and placed both hands on her cheeks. “I’m sorry.” He whispered it this time, but before she had chance to tell him to stop apologizing, he bent his head and placed his soft lips on hers
Stunned at his unexpected kiss, she closed her eyes, allowing herself to get lost in the feel of him. A warm flush filled her cheeks.

He broke contact and pulled back slightly, just enough to look at her. His piercing blue eyes scanned her face and she couldn’t quite place his expression.

Her heart began to race; her whole body had warmed with a sudden glow that soared through her veins as she stared back at him unable to speak. But she didn’t have to. He kissed her again, this time licking his tongue over her lips and pushing inside. She opened up to him and he moaned as their tongues met and began to twist around each other. His hand stroked through her hair to the back of her neck and he walked her backwards until her back hit the other countertop.
She stroked her hands up his back. Oh, God. This was what she’d wanted, needed from him. Her body was filled with a rush of sensation as Michael’s tongue continued to massage hers, the taste of him making her head spin with desire. At that moment she wanted everything from him, she wanted to feel his flesh on hers, their bodies lying together with no barrier between them. The thought of it heated her core.

Her thoughts were cut off when the doorbell rang and Michael immediately broke contact and pulled away from her. He was panting in much the same way she was, and he swallowed hard before he eventually spoke.

“That’ll be. . . ”−he cleared his throat−“That’ll be Evo.” His brows dipped slightly and then he was out of the door before she could blink. Lacy stood in the same spot while she heard Michael letting Evo in. Feeling bereft, she put her hand on her chest and felt the rapid beat of her heart. Even though she’d craved Michael’s kiss again, the glow quickly began to dissipate and she felt her chest tighten as a sudden sadness washed over her. For some reason she feared that might be their last.

* * *
In Lacy’s bathroom, Michael had just finished splashing water over his face and was now towelling it off. He’d let Evo in with his big bag of takeout and made like he was desperate for the toilet, but not before catching the concerned expression on Evo’s face. Never missed a thing that man. Hands propped either side of the basin, he stared at his bruised reflection. He tried to replace what face he saw with his own, but the truth was, the memory he had of his real self was fading. He’d been in this body for around ten months, but with everything that had happened since then, all the battles he’d fought, it felt more like ten years. He thought back to how simple his life had been. Even though he’d been CEO of his own company, and it had been hard and very stressful at times dealing with the many staff who worked in his building and the general day to day responsibility of running things, his biggest worry right before he’d died had been whether he was going to be able to make it to his damn conference in Connecticut.

Things couldn’t be more different for him now.

Now, at this very moment, he was faced with the harsh reality that he was falling too hard for a woman he could never have, and didn’t deserve; a woman whose life he’d selfishly endangered and who, he suspected, felt the same forhim despite now knowing what he really was. Part of him had hoped that when he’d confessed everything to her, she’d have been so freaked out she’d have had no choice but to distance herself from him, but in fact it had done quite the opposite.

And now, not only had he succeeded in making her feel sorry for him, with a moment of complete madness he’d just made things even worse.

God, that kiss had damn near torn him apart. He closed his eyes for a second and allowed himself to remember it. Her lips had been so soft; her sweet floral scent had made his head spin with desire for her. He was surprised that he could feel all of those sensations given his situation, but feel them he had. The buzz of desire had run through his very core lighting him up, making him feel as real as he had before he’d died. In fact more real than he’d ever felt.

He inhaled deeply and let his breath out in a long drawn out sigh. He had to get his head together. It had been lovely, had exhilarated him, but it was a moment of weakness that he couldn’t, and wouldn’t, allow to happen again.

He flushed the chain for effect and went through to the kitchen where Evo and Lacy were playfully arguing over what looked like egg rolls?

“You’ve got the extra bit of shrimp toast so it’s only fair that I get that extra roll.” Lacy snagged it from Evo’s plate before he could argue back.

“You, woman, are a pain in my ass,” he grumbled. “You’re−HEY, buddy.”

Michael managed a smile. “Hey.” He went over to the counter where all the plating up was happening.

“We’ve shared it out equally.” That last word was said with gritted teeth and a look towards Lacy, who shrugged her shoulder at him as she sat down at the dining table with her plate piled high. “Yours is over there,” he gestured. “I just shoved a bit of everything on your plate.”

Michael wasn’t really in the mood, but he grabbed the food anyway.

“Cheers, man.” He went over and sat opposite Lacy, who glanced at him briefly and gave him an awkward smile. She’d obviously sensed something was off with him. Not surprising since he’d practically run away from her just now.

Better that she did. It was time for him to stop this nonsense. He would apologize to her for what happened and then move on. He had much more important things to do right now than battle with himself over a woman. Yes, he’d made up his mind and was determined to stick to it.

Evo sat down next to him and before he spoke, his friend glanced at Lacy then back to him. He knew something was up, but to Michael’s surprise, he didn’t mention it. “So. . . You going to tell me what the hell happened over there?”
* * *

After they’d eaten and Michael had filled Evo in with all the details from Lacy’s rescue, Michael decided he needed to go back to his place. It wasn’t going to help his situation hanging around Lacy when he didn’t have to, so he and Evo had left pretty much straight away. Besides, he had something else he needed to do.

Alethia had agreed to stay behind. Going by what he’d seen so far Lacy would be very well protected by the deity should anything happen. There wa no need to continue staking out the hospital because Lacy’s friend had informed her that an officer was now watching her room in case Jake returned, and the chances of Varesh or his sidekick bothering her now were very slim.

Michael knew Evo wasn’t going to be happy when he found out what he was about to do, but he had no choice, and had no idea how to do it on his own, which was the only reason he had to involve his friend, as much as he hated to.

After retrieving Evo’s MERC−after the guy had insisted−and Lacy’s Focus from the breaker’s yard, they were now at Michael’s apartment. He grabbed a clean shirt from his closet and did a quick change, throwing the ripped and bloodied one in the trash. He returned to the sitting room where Evo was sat on the sofa fiddling with one of his guns. “So, what now?” his friend asked as he flicked the safety on one of his SIG SAUER pistols.

“You help me,” Michael said as he watched Evo’s eyes narrow towards him.

Evo placed his pistol on the table in front of him without looking away.

“Help you with what?” His voice was thick with suspicion.

Michael held his gaze. “First, I want you to promise you’ll hear me out before you say anything, okay?”

Now he frowned. “What is it?”

“Evo,” he pressed.

“I promise,” he said through gritted teeth. “What do you need me for, man?”

Michael paused. “I need your help. . . to get into Hell.”



#Com'on guys your comment matters alot..... you ain't encouraging me fa

TheBlessedMAN:
which sisters of destruction is that? Beauty and Pretty ? Funny you

..

You don forget wetin dem take him eyes see when he find joke go that year... Wetin dem do am he don forget too soon!!

TheBlessedMAN:
Ahahahahahahahahahahahahaha...



U really want to see the end of that dude
..na wa for you o...pity am small na

I just dey reason wetin those sisters of destruction go do am... He go wish say he die that year when dem kidnap am...

he's back!!!!!!! My main man is back.... Welcome back bro.... But wait ooooo why did shango decide to help in the dying minute faa... Thats cheating...

“I’m not human.”

He watched her face for any kind of reaction, but her expression remained blank. He continued. “The men who abducted you aren’t human and neither is Alethia.” He took one of her hands in his and covered it with his other. “Before I explain things I want you to know that everything I tell you now is the god’s honest truth. And that I have only kept this from you to keep you safe. Okay?”

She looked up at him through her long eyelashes and nodded her head.

“A little under a year ago something happened to me. I was murdered.”

He heard her sudden intake of breath.

“I don’t know who did it or why, all I know is that I didn’t pass over to where I should have, instead I ended up in Hell. I don’t really remember my time there, and I am pretty sure that’s for the best. I don’t even know how I got free, but ever since I did, I’ve been trapped here on earth as a spirit of some kind. Or even a demon. Hell, I don’t know what I actually am but I don’t think I’m the same as those demons who took you.

“Anyway, I figured I must be like this for a reason, but what that is I’ve yet to figure out. The next thing I’m going to tell you is going to be even harder to believe. You know the monsters and ghosts you read about when you were younger and some of the things you’ve seen in movies, they’re real Lacy, they exist in a different plain which is not really part of our world but sometimes those monsters cross over and end up right here on earth. I don’t know how but it’s true. I’ve spent the last year hunting and tracking them down and sending

them back to wherever they came from.

“I came to Oakland because I suspected something supernatural was killing the students here and I was right. They didn’t just decide to kill themselves, they were pushed to do it by a demon. It possessed each of them and made themjump to their deaths. Just after Nina had jumped and we found her lying on the ground I saw the demon leave her body. It had possessed Jake which is the reason he was acting so strange. It’s also the reason he came after you. I believe he would have killed you if you hadn’t gotten away.”

Lacy’s other hand had moved to her mouth. She choked back a sob. “Oh, God.”

“The man that took you is that same demon, and the other one is his master, who, from what we know, is very powerful. I don’t know why they are after me, but I do know that I’m the reason they took you and I’m so, so sorry about that.”

“We? You mean Evo knows about all of this too?”

“Yes.” As he looked into her eyes, which were now glistening with unshed tears, his chest tightened with the tremendous guilt he felt over what had happened to her and what she now knew. He needed to help her process the things he was telling her; help her understand that, even though these things existed, and knowing this meant her life would never be the same, he would do anything to keep her safe.

She just stared at him with a complete look of despair on her face. Her lips parted and for a moment it seemed like she didn’t know what to say. She only managed a whisper.
“Is Evo also. . . ”
“No. Evo’s human just like you.”

“How. . . ” she cleared her throat and shook her head, “How can I believe any of this? I’ve seen things today that I truly can’t explain, but how can I accept that what you’re telling me is true?”

Michael swallowed hard. “I understand how hard it must be for you. It took me enough time to accept what had happened to me, but it’s true, all of it.”

A tear fell from her eye and he reached up and wiped it with his thumb.

“How can you seem so. . . real? I can touch you, feel you. I kissed you. . . ”

“Because this body is real, but. . . ” For some reason the words stuck in his throat. He was hesitant because he feared that as soon as he told Lacy the next part, she would run from him. And even though it would be the safest thing for her to do, he didn’t know how he’d feel once she was gone. Truth is, since he’d met her he’d been able to pretend he had some kind of a life, a purpose, and that he truly was Michael Warden, just a normal guy who worked at the university.

A guy that Lacy wanted to be with and who wanted to be with her. He’d considered it. Imagined them being together; imagined kissing her properly, making love to her. But none of it was real. It could never be.

“But what?” she pressed.

He lowered his gaze, unable to look her in the eye. “But it’s not really mine.”

The instant he heard her gasp his heart sank.

Now she knew.

Everything.

He couldn’t be a coward, so he looked at her again. “I kinda took it from someone who was dying. I’d used other host bodies, but there was one consequence of that that I couldn’t deal with: it was dangerous, could kill the person, or if it didn’t kill them it damaged them in some way. I couldn’t do that anymore, so I waited. And in the end it paid off.” He watched Lacy as she listened intently, a small crease settled between her brows. “One night, I happened to stumble across a man who was in a bad way, close to death, slumped under a bridge. It looked like the poor guy was a heavy drug user and he’d overdosed. There was nothing that could’ve been done to save him. His death had been inevitable, which meant his body was no longer any use to him.

So, I figured I’d wait, and at the very last second, I took it.

Lacy’s eyes shimmered with her unshed tears. She was silent, her lips pressed together as though she was struggling to process what he’d just told her.

“So, you see. . . I’m not even real, Lacy. Michael Warden is a walking dead man and I’m just hitching a ride. And now you know why I couldn’t kiss you last night.”
She stared into his eyes, her gaze never wavering. Then her brow creased and when she pulled her hand from his, he thought she was going to bolt, but then a rush of breath left her and she put her head into her hands. After amoment, when she looked at him again, her frown had gone. She looked strangely calm.

She must have seen the despair on his face as he waited for a response because she reached up and placed her hand on his cheek. Another tear fell from her eye as she stroked his face with her thumb and whispered, “You are real to me.”

He almost stopped breathing. After everything he’d just told her she should have been running out the door as far away from him, from this whole nightmare, as she could. But instead she was looking at him with adoring eyeslike she had done last night before she’d gone to kiss him.

“Michael, I don’t know how to deal with all of the things you’ve just told me. Part of me, the little girl in me, wants to run away and forget any of this ever happened, but what good is that going to do? It’ll probably only drive me mad in the end anyway. What I do know is this: no matter how hard this is for me to deal with right now, it can’t be anywhere near as bad as it is for you.”

Shit. Before, she’d just been knocking on the door to his heart, but now, after that speech, she’d gone and moved herself in, kicked off her shoes and propped her feet up on the sofa. Now she wasn’t going anywhere.

He couldn’t speak.
“You’re not one of those demons, you’re not evil. I can feel your compassion and your kindness, that’s the reason I care for you. You came to rescue me at the risk of your own l. . .
” She stopped herself from saying the word life and then looked away from him to hide her embarrassment. “I’m sorry.
He pulled her chin around so she was looking at him again. “Hey. Don’t apologize. I’ve had a year to deal with this, and even though I still don’t have any answers for why I’m like this, I’m kind of used to it.” Her lips curled up in a faint smile. “You are real to me,” she repeated, then surprised him when she leaned across and hugged him, resting her head on his chest. He hesitantly placed his arms around her and rested his chin on her head.

He closed his eyes.

He rubbed her back while he thought of how well she’d taken everything. Perhaps he could have been honest with her sooner. He doubted it. If she hadn’t just witnessed what she had there’s no way she would have believed him. And who would blame her for that? He found it hard to believe himself and yet he was smack bang in the middle of it.

“I don’t think this whole ghosts and spirits thing is so crazy, not now anyway.” Lacy said, her head still on his chest.

“Oh, yeah? Why’s that?”

She sat up, but he kept his arm around her. “As crazy as it sounds coming out of my own mouth. . . a ghost helped me escape tonight.”

What was she talking about? He gave her a questioning glance. “I don’t understand.”
“I was bound to a bed by my ankles and wrists and had no way of freeing myself. A woman appeared in front of me, a spirit, and she helped me get free,”

she explained.

What? He thought the only reason he could see spirits was because he was also dead. How was it possible? And more importantly, why would a spirit help her? He hardly ever interacted with ghosts because they were never easy to communicate with.

“How?”

“Somehow, she was able to break the chain and the rope. Then I ran. But when I got to the door of the warehouse it was locked. The spirit helped me again by placing her hand on the door which unlocked it. There’s no way I could have broken that chain myself so I couldn’t have imagined it, I swear I−”

He placed his hands on her arms. “Lacy, I believe you.” It sounded like she was trying to convince herself more than him. “I just don’t understand it.”

She smiled and looked down. “I don’t either. But I think, after all these years, I’ve finally realized I’m not crazy.”

She seemed to be talking to herself rather than him. She wasn’t making sense. “Lacy, what’s going on?”

She chewed on her bottom lip for a moment. “I’ve been seeing things I can’t explain since shortly after my sister’s death; people who have tried to talk to me, to show me things. My grandma, and the doctors I spoke to about it, put it down to post traumatic stress. And that’s what I’ve thought ever since. I thought I was having crazy hallucinations, worried that perhaps I was losing my mind.

Hell, I’ve paid enough out on therapy bills because of it, even spent years trying to psychoanalyze myself to no avail. I hadn’t had one for nearly five years, until a couple of weeks ago when I was on my way to work. I saw something in the road and swerved to miss it. When I checked, there was nothing there. I think that, after all these years of thinking I was a little crazy, I’ve actually been able to see the dead.”

She let out a heavy sigh, but surprised Michael when she laughed. “This has been one hell of a crazy day, huh?”

He couldn’t help but admire her even more over her attitude to everything especially this new revelation. Well, well. . . So she was gifted as well as beautiful.

He couldn’t help but pull her into his arms again. “You’re amazing, you know that?”

“Why? Because you’re not hauling me out of here in a straight jacket?” she said as she rested her chin on his shoulder.
Michael felt a slight breeze and a shift in his senses. He looked up to see Alethia standing in the doorway of the sitting room.

“What the hell took you so long back there?” Michael suddenly snapped. He and Lacy had been seconds away from death.

Lacy pulled away from him. And he realized how angry he’d just sounded.

Alethia’s face was pale and she didn’t seem herself. “Yes, I’m sorry for that.

I had to wait until Varesh was weak. What he was doing to you was draining his power and I had to wait until the right moment before I could use my powers on him. He’s strong and I needed to make sure he was vulnerable.”

He calmed himself, remembering that she was the reason they were both still here. “What was he doing to me? That hurt like hell.”

“That’s because it was Hell. He was using Hell’s fire to dampen your powers so that he could rip your soul out.”

“What fucking powers? Demons keep telling me that I’m someone I’m not, and now he’s convinced I have powers? There is some sure bleeped up case of mistaken identity here and I need to clear this shit up before he hurts anyone else I care about.” His eyes flicked to Lacy for a moment and he saw her eyes widen slightly. Yes, well, he was all about the truth right now.

Alethia remained quiet.
“Are you okay?” Lacy asked as she walked over to her and placed her hand on her arm. “You look awfully pale.” She led her to the sofa.
“Uh, yeah, sorry. Alethia, this is Lacy. Lacy. . . Alethia.” Michael motioned his hand back and forth between the two. “Alethia is a goddess.” He waited again for a reaction from Lacy but she was more concerned with helping the woman, who actually did look a little sick.

Alethia sat down, shoulders slumped. “Nice to meet you. I’m fine, really, thanks.”

“Are you sure?” Lacy threw Michael a quick look and he shrugged his shoulders.

“Truly, I am. Dematerializing someone usually drains me a little, but, like I said, Varesh is powerful. It took a lot out of me that’s all. I’ll be fine once I’ve rested.”

“Where is he now?” Michael asked as he pulled out his cell ready to text Evo to inform him that they’d made it back okay.

“I sent them both to see an old pal of theirs. Lucifer will enjoy his company for a while, but I wouldn’t count on it being for long. At most, it might buy us a day or two.” Alethia began to cough, her pallor now a pasty gray. She leaned back and closed her eyes.

Michael hadn’t even thanked Alethia for what she’d done. If it wasn’t for her, Lacy would certainly be dead and who knows what would have happened to him. He had a very bad feeling about all of this. Why was this powerful demon after him? What kind of threat did he think Michael could impose? The whole situation was just getting weird.

Was it a case of mistaken identity? Perhaps that’s why he was killed in the first place, because whoever it was thought he was somebody else. He could think of no other reason so it had to be that.
“Would you like to have a lie down on my bed, Alethia?” Lacy’s voice pulled him back from his thoughts and her soft, caring tone warmed him. Thank God she was okay. “You look like you could use a soft pillow right now and I have lots of them on there.”

The deity gave Lacy an appreciative smile as she managed to nod her head.

“I’ll show you to my room.”

Michael watched as Lacy put her arm around the deity and helped her towards the door. “Alethia,” he called. She looked back at him over her shoulder. “Thanks.”

“That’s okay. I like diamonds by the way.” She winked at him and smiled a little before they disappeared down the hall.

He was amazed at how Lacy was handling everything. She seemed completely unfazed by what had happened and what she’d learned about the world she thought she knew. And now she was taking care of a powerful goddess without even giving it a second thought. Like it was just something she did every day.

But he couldn’t shake the feeling he had. It seemed he was to blame for everything she’d been through lately. If he’d just stayed away from her none of this would have happened. Yeah, instead of sticking to his normal routine of keeping his distance and getting on with the job he was there to do he’d weakened. It was an innocent slip that had materialized into something that was now way beyond his control. He cared for her, and knew she felt the same and wasn’t that just a ball ache?

He had to stop it. There was no choice. He had to stick to his plan of Evo staying with her from now on. As soon as his buddy got back, he’d inform him of the new plan, then Michael would go to his place, pick up a few things and head over to the hospital. He didn’t think Nina was still in danger but wanted to be sure.

His phone vibrated in his hand. It was a reply from Evo: On my way. Will get takeout.

Michael exhaled hard. Now he had to prepare to give his friend the next bit of bad news: they’d left the MERC behind.

****CHAPTER SEVENTEEN*****

“Now is as good a time as any, Alethia.”

Michael called out right before he got a heavy boot in his abdomen. He flew through the air, landing against a hunk of metal which caved under the weight of him. He jumped to his feet as quickly as his legs would let him and ran at Varesh. He knew he was only fighting to hold him off until Alethia intervened in whatever way she was planning, and wished to hell she’d hurry up about it.

Just as Michael was about to charge into Varesh’s six feet seven−at least−frame he disappeared into thin air leaving Michael to crash into his minion instead. Whatever. . . Either one would do as long as he kept them both away from Lacy.

They hit the ground and skidded along the asphalt. Michael swung at the bastard who−and he had no idea why he noticed at this moment−was wearing a suit. "Some poor office bloke on his way to work that he’d found no doubt". He connected with his jaw. Of course all that did was jerk the demon’s head back a little and make it even more riled than it already was.

The demon maneuvered his leg under Michael and kicked out, once again sending him backwards through the air. When he landed, he cracked the back of his skull. He lifted up onto his elbows and shook away the stars that had filled his vision temporarily. He reached around his head and felt a wet patch in his hair. When he looked at his hand it was soaked with blood. “Son of a−” The demon charged towards him.
Michael jumped up, but the bastard crashed right into him, the force pushed him back until his back got slammed up against a wall of scrap metal. He felt something sharp puncture his skin above his right kidney just as he heard Lacy crying out his name. He looked down to see that he’d been impaled on a piece of metal tubing, a goddamn tailpipe?

He glanced over to where Lacy was huddled between two cars. When his gaze met hers, she gasped. Her eyes widened, her face filled with bewilderment as her hand slowly covered her mouth. When Michael flicked his eyes back to the demon minion who was now snarling in his face, he knew why Lacy had reacted that way. The demon’s face was illuminated by the white glow Michael was now emitting from his eyes, which was always the case when he was angry.

She’d seen them.

He didn’t have time to worry about that now. Besides, she’d also seen his back eat the end of a tailpipe and was about to watch him walk away from it unaffected so, yeah, he knew he’d be having a certain conversation with her once this was over He pushed the demon backwards with all of his strength and managed to free himself from the metal. Without hesitation, he punched the guy under his chin and before his head had chance to correct itself he punched again, then twice more. The demon only stumbled backwards a couple of steps, but it was enough for Michael to gain back his momentum. As the demon looked back at Michael he wiggled his jaw, his eyes now glowing crimson, just like he’d seen in Jake’s and another demon’s eyes in the alleyway all those months ago when he’d saved Evo. This bastard was as strong as that one had been too.

Michael braced himself for what would come at him and sure enough the bastard pulled out a knife.

“When you are mine, I’m going to enjoy slicing your flesh from your bones,” he hissed as he began to pace around Michael like a lion circling his prey.
Michael looked at the knife, then smiled. “You think that will hurt me?”

The minion laughed. “Maybe this won’t. But that will.”

“MICHAEL!” Lacy cried out.

He was just about to turn around when a white hot pain shot through his entire body, burning every inch of him like he’d imagine hot molten lava to feel if it were poured over his skin. He would have fallen to his knees in agony, except there was something stopping his body from collapsing. He looked down and. . .

What. The. Bleep?

A glowing hand protruded from his stomach. Despite the intense pain Michael turned his head in stunned silence to see Varesh was standing behind him. He’d pushed his hand right through his stomach. Bleep!

Michael let out a pained roar.

Varesh laughed with deep satisfaction. “I have waited for this day for a long time. I must thank you for making it easy for me. I expected a much harder battle with you given the power you are rumored to possess. Now, you have a choice to make. Die, or join us.”

Michael couldn’t think past the acid heat that was now surging through his entire body. He heard Varesh’s words, but nothing he said made any sense. He tried to speak, but it was no use.

The distant cries of a female voice confused him. It was familiar, but he couldn’t quite place it.

“STOP! You’re killing him,” she pleaded.

Then he remembered. Lacy! He had to keep her safe, but his body was paralyzed.

Varesh’s voice shouted out to his minion. “Kill her!”

“NO!” Michael roared. He managed to open his eyes and saw the other demon stalking towards Lacy. The fear in her eyes pained him more than what Varesh was doing and when he tried with all of his strength to move he couldn’t. He was helpless.

In the next instance, his vision began to change. Everything around him grew brighter and began to spin.

NO! This can’t be happening. Not now.

But this was it. He was finally dying and there was nothing he could do about it. Nothing he could do to save Lacy either. As his vision began to fade he heard muffled voices shouting out.

“What’s going on?” A male voice penetrated the fog now filling Michael’s mind.

“Alethia!” another voice shouted. “What business do you have here,

Alethia?”

Then a feral growl filled the air. The sound was close to him so it must have been from Varesh. “You will die for this,” the demon shouted.

He forced his eyes open and everything was brighter now. This was what he’d longed for through his torture all that time ago, the light that he’d heard appeared before you died. He felt the burning beginning to ease, a peace rushing through him like a waterfall dousing the flames that had been so rampant over his skin and through his veins. Then everything went quiet and he felt like he was floating. Flying through an expanse of nothingness, unable to see or hear, just feel. This weird sensation must have been his passing. He was finally going to where he was meant to be. If this is what true peace feels like, I’ll take it, he thought. And in that moment he didn’t want anything else.
His weightless body touched down onto something solid, then he felt something touching his arm. As he slowly opened his eyes a blurry shadow appeared over him and a voice grew louder in his mind. “. . . wake up.

Michael.” He knew that gentle voice, but it took him a moment to place it.

Lacy. He blinked and his vision began to clear. Lacy was leaning over him, her face was like an angel’s. Was she an angel? Had she died too?

“Michael. Talk to me. We’re safe.” The moment his brain kicked into gear, like someone had jump started the thing and begun to rev the engine to give it more power, everything came back to him. He sat up quickly and looked down at his stomach, feeling panicked and a little dizzy.

“Where are we?” his voice croaked.

Lacy placed her hand on his shoulder. “It’s okay. We’re at my place. We’re safe.” She reassured him again.

“Where’s Alethia?”

“You mean the woman who helped us?” Michael nodded. “I don’t know. I saw her appear from nowhere and then she did something impossible and those men disappeared right in front of my eyes. I don’t really know what happened after that. Then suddenly we were here, just the two of us.” She shook her head in disbelief. “How. . . How is any of that possible?”

He placed both his hands on Lacy’s face. “Are you okay?” Remembering the last thing he saw was the demon prowling towards her.

She nodded her head slowly. “Yes,” she whispered. But there was something in her expression that he couldn’t place. Shit. She’d seen his eyes.

Before he could say anything to her, she placed her hands in his and pulled them away from her face.
You’re wounded.” She reached down and pulled at his coat to get a better look. He twisted his head around to see a bloody hole in the fabric where the tailpipe had penetrated him. Shit! He pulled himself up from the floor. Lacy followed him, grabbing hold of his arm to steady him when he wobbled a little.

“Thank you.” he said to her, noticing a kind of sadness in her eyes.

She reached down to grab the hem of his shirt, which was soaked with blood, but he put his hand on hers to stop her. “It’s nothing. I’m fine.”

Lacy’s eyebrows pulled down into a frown. “I saw what happened. You need to go to the hospital and have it looked at. You’re bleeding a lot.”

“Really, I’m fine.”

She pulled the shirt up anyway and gasped. “Oh, my God.” Her hand covered her mouth and her eyes widened. “We need to call an ambulance, now.” She went to turn around and Michael grabbed her shoulders, holding her still in front of him. “Jesus, Michael. You have a big hole in your back and−”

“Lacy. Listen to me,” he interrupted. “I’m fine. I promise you.” She looked confused, bewildered, which was understandable. She inhaled as though she was about to say something, but stopped herself. Instead, she stared into his eyes for a moment and then the expression on her face suddenly changed to something more like disbelief which told him she’d just remembered what she’d seen.


“Your eyes. . . What happened to your eyes back there?” She stepped away from him.
There was no hiding it any longer.

He knew he had no other choice but to be honest with her. He owed her the truth and now he was going to tell her. Everything. Maybe she would understand why he’d run from her at every opportunity. Maybe she would run from him once she knew. The latter was probably for the best.

He began to move them over to the sofa. “What the hell is going on, Michael?” She walked with him and they sat down next to each other. “None of that could have been real right? It’s not possible that any of that really happened. Tell me I’m completely crazy and I’ll believe it right now.”

He shook his head. “You’re not crazy, Lacy.”

Where to begin?

He inhaled deeply and let his breath out slowly stroking to find the right words. In the next few minutes she was either going to think he was a nut job or that he was some sort of monster. Neither one he was prepared for but it couldn’t be avoided anymore. She’d seen too much to accept some lame attempt at a logical explanation, and he knew she wasn’t stupid enough to believe it anyway. He had no other choice but to come out and say it.


#This is my birthday present for all my fans... There's still more to come today.......

out of the shadow!!!!!! Mhen this op na killer.... More brain to your head.... Mainwhile i'm writing my story too, check it out : Awaken: divine hunter.....

Dranoid:
Happy birthday to you!!! Many happy return of the day long life and prosperity!

Thanks bro

Mczigx:
Happy birthday sir wullnp

Thanks bro

Happy birthday to me!!!!!!!!!

******Continuation ******


The pressure and pain eased and she felt the chains fall away from her.

Before Lacy could register what had happened, the woman had moved to the head of the bed so quickly Lacy hardly even saw it. She noticed how pretty the woman was now that she was closer. “Who are you?” Lacy asked in the faintest whisper. The woman’s head angled to the side as she looked down at her. She didn’t speak, only proceeded to do the same at her wrists as she’d done at Lacy’s feet.

Lacy held her breath in anticipation of the same pain she’d just felt.

Snap!

Her hands were now free. She rubbed at her wrists.

In spite of her complete shock at what had just happened, and at the realization that maybe, after all this time, the visions she’d always seen were never actually hallucinations, she still somehow managed to climb off the bed and stand up. When she looked around to thank the woman she’d disappeared.

Before her mind began trying to convince itself that the woman hadn’t been real after all, and that she was actually losing her mind, Lacy reminded herself that imaginary women in their nightgowns could not snap thick rope and chain with their hands.
She shook herself. No time to think about it.

Now she had to move, and fast.
She looked over at the door to the other room and to her relief it was still closed. Forcing her eyes to focus she hurried through the large space, careful not to kick anything or trip over as she struggled to navigate through the dark, thick shadows without making a sound. Up ahead, she noticed there were a few small windows that had been blackened out, one of which had a beam of pale light bursting through a small gap in the paint. Was it still daylight? As it was the only source of light, she headed in that direction and as she got closer, two large metal doors became visible.

Please don’t be locked. Please don’t be locked. Her pleas went unanswered.

Her stomach sank when she saw a thick chain, much like the one that had bound her ankles, threaded through the slide lock and held in place by a large padlock.

Shit!

Her eyes frantically scanned the darkness. She didn’t have much time until that bastard returned to find her gone and when he did he would surely be pissed. God knows what he’d do to her. Besides that, another reason was spurring her on: If she managed to get away, it’d save Michael from risking his life to rescue her. She inhaled a deep breath and willed herself to a relative calm so she could focus for a minute. When she did, she noticed that one of the large doors looked slightly different to the other and then she saw why: a smaller door, normal height, was inside of it.

Oh, my God. Through all of my damn stressing I almost missed it, she thought to herself as she quietly undid the bolt at the top. She noticed another towards the bottom, unlocked that one too and then pushed. It didn’t budge. Her eyes narrowed, focusing on a keyhole.

Shit!

It must be locked.

She pushed again, but it was no use.

Tears began to sting her eyes. How cruel was it that she’d been set free from her binds, but was now locked in the damn building? There had to be another way. She was about to turn around, but froze as she was hit by a familiar sensation. Her body had gone cold as it had on the bed, and no sooner had she realized why, an arm reached past her, its hand flattening against the lock. She turned to see the brown haired woman standing next to her. Immediately, a faint click sounded and the door pushed open to reveal the blackened night outside; a rush of sweet, chilled air hit her instantly. Maybe she was going to make it after all.

She turned to the spirit and whispered, “Thank you,” then watched as she faded away.

Lacy shot out of the warehouse and into the grounds of a junk yard. The light she’d seen through the window was caused by floodlights that lit up the whole yard. Twisted metal heaps that were once cars were piled up high in organized rows stretching out as far as she could see. She never thought it possible to feel claustrophobic in such a vast open space but she did.

Suddenly a loud roar came from inside the building, the echo of which filled the expanse of the disused warehouse until it reached Lacy, hitting her full in the face. Fear spiked through her veins and she ran. As fast as her legs were able to carry her, she ran for her life.
Her breath rushed in and out as she ran through the tall maze of metal. The moon reflected on the damp floor of the junk yard, helping to illuminate the way. She reached the end of the aisle only to be faced with more of the same.

She looked both ways and couldn’t see an end to the rows upon rows of stacked up cars.

There has to be a way out of here.

Lacy gasped as she heard her captor’s malevolent laughter filling the air as though it was flying around, travelling on the cold night breeze. She picked a direction and ran, hoping that she’d find a way out of there. It had to end somewhere, right?

Her head whipped around to the sound of the man’s sinister laugh in her ear, much quieter and a lot closer, as though he was running beside her, in fact, she could have sworn she’d felt his breath stroke her neck but he wasn’t there. Her heart began to race and freezing cold tears flicked off her cheeks as she fought to stay upright on her weakening legs. She kept checking behind to see if he was following but there was still no sign of him. She could only hear his voice.

Somehow he was projecting it, tormenting her. Her lungs burned, her chest ached but she didn’t stop running.After checking over her shoulder once more she went ploughing into a dark figure: her captor. His laugh was the same as she’d just heard only his face was still. The sound wasn’t coming from his mouth, but yet she still heard it echoing all around the junkyard. She screamed and he spun her so she faced away from him, locking his arms around her.

“Get off me,” she cried, frantically trying to break free from his hold. Her energy was fading and she struggled for breath. “Please.”

His hand covered her mouth and he whispered next to her ear. “Now I get to hurt you.” His raucous laughter grated in her ears.

She attempted to scream, for all the good it would do, but it just came out as a muted grunt. She knew she’d signed her death warrant when she’d decided to run. If her kidnapper had planned to let her go in exchange for Michael she highly doubted that would be the case now. He was pissed off.

She still struggled in his grip; no way was she dying without a fight. Not after how close she’d come to escaping.

“Stop it bitch or I’ll just snap your neck right here.” His voice sounded a lot deeper than usual and almost like there were two of him speaking.
She doubted he would. If he killed her now he’d lose his leverage.

It wasn’t her kidnapper’s ominous threat that made her body freeze. It was the voice that came from the shadows, a voice that both filled her with hope and fear.

“Don’t you fucking dare harm her you son of a bitch!”

Michael. She feared for them both now.

“Well, well.” her captor said, keeping his grip tight over her mouth. “Didn’t you show up just in time? Shame though, I was about to have some fun. Perhaps

I still will, now you’re here to watch.”

He brought his arm up and Lacy felt something sharp dig into her neck. She inhaled sharply through her nose and her eyes widened and locked onto Michael’s.

Michael’s hands went up as if to show he had no weapons. “Easy. I’m here just like you wanted.” His voice had lost all the anger. He took a step closer then paused. “You hurt her, the deal’s off.”

“And you’re alone?”

“You know that already. Now summon him.”

Michael’s hands remained where they were. Lacy could see in his face that he knew with the knife being so close to her throat, one wrong move and she was dead. She tried but couldn’t stop trembling and could hardly breathe due to the fact that every inhale pushed the blade deeper into her skin.

“I said summon him.” Michael demanded.

“I don’t have to. He’s already here.”
Lacy saw a large figure appear behind Michael. From out of nowhere! She tried to shout, to warn him. Then felt a piercing sting as the knife cut her. It worked. Michael whipped around, but was immediately thrown backwards by some sort of invisible force.

What the hell?

Lacy was suddenly thrown free. She hit the ground with a thud, but managed to shuffle herself into a corner out of the way where all she could do was watch with absolute horror as the two men descended on Michael.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

“. . . I’m sure. I’ve seen the way he looks at her.”

Silence.

The ache in Lacy’s head was pretty intense as she awoke from what seemed like a very real nightmare. Was it a nightmare? And who was that she could hear talking? Through the haze and confusion, she thought she’d heard a male voice, but that too was probably part of her nightmare. She felt groggy, nauseous, in fact her whole body felt heavy, weighed down by something strong.

“You have my word, my lord.”

There was that voice again. She heard no reply so assumed whoever it was was talking on a phone. It hurt to move her eyelids. She slowly opened them, but everything was blurred. Blinking once, twice, her vision began to clear but she still strained to see her surroundings. She blinked again until the room slowly came into focus.

At first she was confused, her brain refusing to work through the throbbing pain in her head. She inhaled a deep breath and almost choked on the heavy stench of urine and God only knew what else.

Then a vision flashed in her mind, a memory so vivid yet so hard to fathom: Mr Hinckley. Oh, God. . . Mr Hinckley had hit her? Hadn’t he?
She realized she’d been abducted.

No! She fought to stay silent even though every part of her wanted to scream, but she managed to compose herself Where the hell was she?

She was lying on a bed but she couldn’t move. Her arms were stretched above her head tied together by her wrists, probably to the headboard. Her feet, the same: bound at the ankles. She summoned the strength to lift her head slightly, wincing, and saw that she was in a large room, some sort of disused warehouse it looked like.

There was a lamp with no shade to her left on what looked like a metal hospital trolley. It was hard to make out anything beyond the shallow pool of light that fell over her, but she thought she could see dirt and debris covering most of the surrounding floor. She noticed a room just off to her right side−door ajar, light on. That was where the voice had come from. She heard metal crashing from inside which startled her. Soon after, the door swung open.

Shit!

She closed her eyes and pretended she was still unconscious.

“I know you’re awake. I can smell your fear,” a raspy voice said. Lacy couldn’t will her heart rate to slow down. She ignored him and kept her eyes closed.

“Hey. Bitch!” He was closer this time.
SLAP!
Lacy cried out at the sudden pain on her cheek as her head whipped to the side. She tried desperately to keep the tears inside her eyes but failed as they rolled down either side of her temples, wetting her ears. Her head already felt like it had been kicked around a school yard and now one side of her face burned like hell too. She looked at the man without saying a word, taking in as much of his appearance as she could through her watery eyes.

He looked to be about forty. His eyes were deep set, though she couldn’t tell what color, framed by thick dark eyebrows. His hair was short, recently cut and black, but dusty−much like his face. She found his clothing strange: navy suit under a tatty gray coat with a dirty white shirt and a matching blue tie. It wasn’t the kind of clothing she’d expect a kidnapper to wear, not that she’d had any experience with one before. He looked ready for the office.

He stood sniggering at her.

Somehow she managed to speak. “Where is Mr Hinckley?” Her voice was hoarse. She swallowed to try and help it, but her mouth was bone dry. “What have you done with him?”

The man frowned as though he didn’t know who she was talking about, but then seemed to remember, “The old man? I got rid of him.”

Lacy choked back a sob, determined not to let him see a weakness.

“He served his purpose.” He put his hand near her face like he was contemplating stroking the very same cheek which he’d just slapped−Oh, God No. . . Please−but he pulled away. He swung around, grabbed an old, wooden chair and sat on it the wrong way round, leaning his elbows on the back and leering at her. She hadn’t noticed he had a knife, but he was now twiddling it through his fingers. The way he stared at her sent a chill through her blood.
“What do you want with me?” she asked, trying to hide the fact that she was trembling.

He grinned. “What I want, and what I’m allowed, are two very different things.” He licked his bottom lip, eyes narrowing as they looked over the length of her body in a way which made her skin crawl. “Unfortunately, for now, I have to use you as bait, but while my master is away that don’t mean I can’t have a bit of fun while we wait.” He reached over and ran the blunt side of the knife down her cheek. She inhaled sharply, and clamped her jaw tight to stop herself from crying, as the back of the cold metal blade scraped down her flesh.

The man’s eyes widened as he sensed her fear; he enjoyed how frightened she was. She had to put a stop to that right now so she forced herself to exhale slowly and tried her damndest to push her fear to the back of her mind.

Bait? What for?

She couldn’t bring herself to ask the question, but she didn’t have to.

“So how is your teacher friend? Do you think he cares for you enough to come save you?”Lacy’s stomach sank, a deep dread washed over her as she realized. . .

Michael. No. What did he want with. . . ?

Suddenly, Michael’s words from last night rushed through her mind, “There are things you don’t know about me. Things I can’t tell you.”

Oh, God. He must be involved in something really big for someone to have kidnapped her over it. That’s why he couldn’t tell her. Was it drugs? Gang related? Michael and Evo? They were in some deep shit she was sure. She closed her eyes, unable to cope as all of the thoughts of what he could be involved in spun through her mind. “You don’t have to worry. I haven’t done anything bad.” he’d said.

She turned her head to face her kidnapper. “Who are you and why are you after Michael?”The knife touched her again, starting from the top of her temple, only this time it felt sharper. “It’s not me that’s after him, although, he’d be much better off if it were. I would just end him. When my master gets a hold of him, he’ll wish that I had.” As he spoke his eyes glazed over like he was imagining something. She gasped, holding her breath again as she felt a sharp sting as he pressed the knife down harder, slicing her skin just by her eyebrow.

Her captor paused as a cell phone began to ring from the other room. He grunted, then shot up from the chair and disappeared from view.

Air burst from her lungs and she began to feel light headed. Don’t you dare pass out! She warned herself. You don’t know what he’ll do to you. She felt a warm trickle of blood roll from her temple and a familiar feeling of panic began to rise up from her toes. She closed her eyes tightly and tried to think of something that would take her mind off where she was. Last thing she needed was to lose it here.

A vision of Michael’s face sitting across a table from her filled her mind. He was laughing, his blue eyes sparkling like sapphires over the flame of a candle.

She wished she was back at Carlito’s, back at that night when they’d both first spent some time together. She’d liked him from the start. He’d seemed kind and gentle and hadn’t taken advantage of her when she’d so stupidly thrown herself at him. Where was he now? She wondered. Had he returned to find her gone yet? She hoped so. Maybe he’d informed the cops and they were now looking for her. But what if they couldn’t find her.

She heard the door open and her kidnapper came rushing through holding a piece of paper. He returned to the chair that he’d occupied before, but moved it closer so that the back of it was touching the mattress. His twisted grin chilled her to her very core.

He flipped his cell phone open and began to dial a number from the piece of paper he was holding. He waited.

She could just about hear the voice answer on the other end of the line.

The kidnapper spoke. “I have something you want.”

Lacy’s heart sank. She suddenly found it hard to breathe. Michael’s voice bellowed through the phone’s speaker. Her heart pounded so hard in her ears, she had to struggle to make out what he was saying.
Where is she you bastard. She better be okay or I swear I will make sure you suffer you son of a bitch!”

Her tears were back. She thought of him returning to her house to find her gone and couldn’t bear it. How would he find her? How long had she even been there?

Her thoughts were cut off when her kidnapper laughed at Michael’s words.
“Met my mother have you? She was more of a bitch than you could ever imagine,” he mocked. “You think your words scare me? Don’t bother. You want to see your woman again, you better listen carefully. My master wishes to do a trade. Her for you. That’s the only way she gets to live.”

“You fucking asshole!” Michael’s words came thick and fast.

“I am indeed. And you’re being offered a chance to save someone you care about. We both know you will come.”

“Oh I’ll come, and I’ll end you and your master. I promise you that.”

Lacy’s eyes widened as she listened, wishing there was something she could do to prevent Michael from putting himself in danger. She almost screamed with frustration. She was the one who’d put Michael in this position. If only she’d been more careful, but how was she to know that Mr Hinckley was there to hurt her? What had happened to him to make him hit her? When she’d looked into his eyes as he’d stood in front of her they’d looked blank, dead even, like he’d been in some sort of trance. Someone must have forced him to do it, but how?
All those questions weren’t helping right now. She was here, and Michael would come as her captor demanded.

Another laugh escaped the man who was now standing at the bedside.

Michael’s voice was stern. “I want to speak to her. I want to know she’s still alive.”

The man didn’t answer him; instead, he put the cell to her ear. “Speak!”

She struggled for air. At that moment she wanted to bawl into the phone, to tell him not to come for her because she feared if he did they would both be killed. She had to sound strong. She would. “Michael?”

“Lacy, are you hurt?”

“No, I’m okay,” her voice trembled beyond her control.

“I’m coming to get you. I promise. Stay strong−”

“No!” she cried as his voice was pulled away from her ear. More tears streamed from her eyes as she tried to hold on to it, to keep the sound of Michael’s voice in her head, trying to filter out her captor’s voice as he continued to speak on the cell. Would she ever see Michael again? That she didn’t know but whatever happened to her now, she would keep his voice in her memory right up to the point of her inevitable death, holding on to him with everything she had.
The man’s voice grew louder, more savage, pulling her from her thoughts.

Now she had no choice but to hear him as he spat his venomous threat into the phone.

“If I even sense that you haven’t come alone, believe me when I say that your bitch will die in the most horrific way possible, which I’ll enjoy immensely, after what you attempted to do to me last night.” that sickening laugh again ”What a shame you failed.”
Last night? What did he mean? Michael and Evo had encountered this monster before? So many questions swirled around her head, sending her into a tailspin. This must have been the kind of trouble Michael was in, the reason why he’d said he couldn’t be with her. Now she was starting to wonder if they’d looked for Jake at all last night. Perhaps they were too busy dealing with this other problem instead.

Her abductor ended the call and peered down at her. He no longer had his creepy smile, just a deep scowl twisting his features, turning him into something much more sinister than before. “Let’s see how much he cares for you, shall we?” he hissed, before reaching down and taking hold of a chunk of her hair, fanning it through his fingers.

What was wrong with his eyes?

She swore she’d just seen the slightest hint of red glowing around the edges of his irises, bleeding out into the white before disappearing again. It was probably a reflection from the lamp or something.

He walked away from her and went back into the other room, pushing the door closed behind him.

Lacy closed her eyes and immediately saw Michael’s face again. He would be coming here for her now and she really couldn’t let that happen. She had to at least try and free herself. She began pulling her wrists as hard as she could, but all that did was cause the rope to burn as it rubbed against her skin. She tried twisting and pulling this time, holding her breath and squeezing her lips tightly together to stop from screaming out at the pain. . . Still no use.

She tilted her head back to look at the headboard that she was bound to. The rope was twisted and tied over and over again through the metal slats that were welded to the frame.

No way was she getting out of this.

She strained her head to look at her feet and almost screamed in frustration when she assessed the thick metal chain that bound her ankles in much the same way. She began to wiggle her feet anyway. Pulling and twisting, but again, it was no use. The chains were even tighter than the rope. She bit back a curse and blinked her eyes a couple of times to stop the tears−tears of anger this time−that had begun to fill her eyes. She huffed, lifted her head and narrowed her eyes as she tried again to see beyond the glow of light around the bed.

It was still too dark to make anything out. Distant shadows were all she could see, of furniture or equipment of some sort. She knew wherever she was, it was big, going by how her and her abductor’s voices had echoed, his more so than hers.
A noise, like metal clanging on concrete, flicked her head to the side. Her eyes widened as she waited with baited breath for something to come into view.

Her heart pounded loudly, the only sound in the silence that followed.

Nothing.

She began to slowly breathe again as she told herself it was probably a rat or something, hoped it was anyway. No. Not hoped. . . she hated rats.

Something caught in her peripheral vision, the opposite side from where the noise had come from. She reluctantly turned her head, but there was nothing there.

There it was again. A little over to the right this time. She jerked her head to look for whatever was catching her eye but still. . . nothing

She was losing her mind. That had to be it. The surrounding darkness was playing tricks on her and she didn’t appreciate it. She was scared enough as it was without scaring herself to death as well.

This time she saw it. A shadow moved past the bed so quickly she nearly missed the damn thing. Her breath caught. What the hell was that?

Then a figure appeared from the darkness at the foot of the bed. A woman, dressed in a long white nightgown, her long brown hair ran down past her shoulders, curling at the ends. She looked to be in her early twenties maybe, it was hard to tell, she wasn’t exactly solid.

Lacy groaned. Not another damned hallucination. Now really wasn’t the time.
The woman began to walk towards her, her form flickering ever so slightly, like Lacy was watching an old video tape that was damaged. Suddenly, Lacy felt her whole body go cold. She shivered, goose flesh tingling all over her skin, and watched with gritted teeth as the woman reached out a hand toward her.

This is all in your head. She’s not real. She’s not real.

Lacy blinked hard over and over again, hoping that one of the times when she opened her eyes the vision would be gone but no such luck. Her mind was determined to destroy what little amount of sanity she had left.

Please, just go away.

The figure came closer to the bed, her arm outstretched in front of her like she was reaching out for something. Her face was gaunt, eyes glazed over as she stared at Lacy.

Something wasn’t right. If this was a hallucination, it was very realistic.

All of a sudden the woman’s hand came down and grabbed Lacy’s ankle.

Shit!

She was real all right. Lacy bit down on her lip to stop herself from screaming as the woman’s grip got tighter, causing her ankle to sting from the pressure.
What the hell? She didn’t dare speak the words through fear of her abductor returning so she remained as quiet as possible, forcing her mouth to stay closed.

She felt something snap−praying it wasn’t her ankle−and almost cried out with the last sudden jolt of pain.

Then. . .

..

* * *

The journey back was an interesting one. Michael had learned nothing more in the time spent with Alethia and Evo, except that Evo’s flirting was something to behold. . . Or not, in Michael’s case. His buddy had tried every which way he could with Alethia but she wasn’t succumbing to his pretty impressive−as much as it was hard for Michael to admit−attempts to woo her. He’d never seen Evo have to try so hard. Alethia seemed amused by him, not at all bewitched, which was the case for most females who got in the way of Evo’s infamous charm.

Poor bastard wasn’t used to it.

Michael hadn’t quite figured the woman out yet. She was a peculiar character; that much he’d already established. Sometimes when she spoke, she sounded mature, wisdom poured from her suggesting she was much older than she appeared. Other times she was playful. The way she teased Evo, playing him in a mischievous way, resembled the behavior of a teenager. Not unlike Evo himself.

They finally arrived back in Oakland. Michael had said he wanted to swing by Lacy’s before anything else, to make sure she was okay. He’d promised he’d go with her to the hospital and he still would, but it would have to be later on tonight. The meeting with Alethia was number one priority; if he was going to let her help, then he wanted to know everything about her first.

As the SUV pulled up outside Lacy’s, it took less than a second for Michael to realize that her car wasn’t in the drive. She’d promised him she’d stay at home until he got back and she wasn’t the type to go back on her word. Even though she could’ve just popped to the store, or something as simple as that, his instincts were telling him there was something wrong, and he usually trusted them.
“Evo. Buddy. Have you got that special knife on you?” he asked, his heart rate increasing slightly, preparing for the worst.

Evo turned to him. “What’s wrong?”

“Just being cautious, that’s all.” As he walked up Lacy’s driveway, he heard the sound of two doors closing shut behind him, then the footsteps of Evo and Alethia following him to the house.

He got to the front door which was open slightly. By this time he’d slipped his own knife out from inside his jacket and, holding his breath, he slowly pushed the door and walked inside.

“Lacy?”

Silence.

He pointed down the hall, silently gesturing for Evo to check the other rooms which his buddy did with no hesitation. Michael went into the living room, still no sign of her. He noticed a cup on the coffee table which was half filled with coffee. He reached down and touched it with the back of his hand.

Cold, so it had been there a while. He didn’t like it one little bit.

“Lacy. Are you here?” Again there was no reply. He checked the kitchen.

Then a woman’s voice called out from the hall. Alethia’s.

“Uh, I think you need to see this.”

Michael raced out of the room catching sight of Evo doing the same thing at the other end of the hall. Evo shook his head as he left Lacy’s room, confirming she wasn’t there. When Michael looked down at what Alethia was pointing to on the floor, he sank to his knees. He stared at the droplets of blood trailing off towards the door where they stopped suddenly. Michael found it hard to breathe as he imagined Lacy being hurt and then probably carried out to her own car and taken somewhere.He barely registered Evo as he spoke.

“Shit. Man. That doesn’t look good.”

“Does someone want to tell me what’s going on?” Alethia asked.

Michael couldn’t seem to find his voice for a moment, but through the deep mixture of anguish and rage now pulsing through his veins he managed to produce some sort of sound.

“That bastard has her, Evo.”

“Who?” Alethia demanded, her voice ringing in Michael’s head.

Evo was quick to answer her this time. “That shit of a demon we captured.

He must have taken Lacy and no doubt”−he hesitated−“Varesh will have ordered it.”

All of a sudden Michael couldn’t hear beyond his own thoughts. How long has she been gone? What if they’d killed her already? His head started to pound. He was so filled with fury that his vision began to distort. Then his whole body started to vibrate. The walls around him appeared to rumble and through the haze he heard Evo’s voice.

“What the Bleep. . . ?”

What was happening to him?

Evo’s voice cut through again, this time with the kind of urgency that he’d never heard coming from his friend. “Do something Alethia!” He sounded. . .

scared?

The vibration continued, like he had two thousand volts of electricity travelling through every inch of his skin. Through his now severely reduced vision, he saw the walls moving. He was hallucinating, had to be. No. Wait. . .

This was real. He caught the fear in Evo’s eyes, his shocked expression confirming that Michael wasn’t the only one seeing what was happening.
Michael gripped his head on either side as a strange pressure began to build inside of it, as though someone had a foot pump on his brain and was seeing how far they could inflate it before it burst. He couldn’t stop it. Whatever was happening was beyond his control.

Everything seemed to blur into one, spinning around faster and faster until he couldn’t make anything out anymore. It was like he was in the eye of a hurricane with everything rushing, circling around him then. . .

Darkness.

Silence.

Nothing but the sound of his hitched breaths in his ears.

Then he was consumed by light; bright, white hot light that stung his eyes.

He threw his arm over his face and heard his friend’s voice groan beside him.

When Michael removed his arm, and after blinking a couple of times until he could see properly, he looked down to see Evo crouched over, his guts doing a damn good impression of Niagara Falls.

“What. . . the. . . Bleep. . . just happened?” Evo said in between retching.

When Michael looked around, he saw that they were alone in a long bright room with alabaster columns running along each side. The floor was covered in marble, also alabaster, and there were pale, delicate drapes across the far end.Where was Alethia?

Michael turned to help Evo. “You okay buddy?”

“Yeah,” he moaned as he got to his feet while still clutching his stomach.

“Man that was a bitch of a ride. Where the hell are we anyway?”

“I’ve no idea. And what happened to Alethia?”

“Beats me. . . One minute she was standing there with her eyes closed, gripping hold of something that was on the end of her necklace, the next I felt like I’d been sniffing PCP.” His buddy’s eyes narrowed as he looked at Michael. “Let me see you man.”

Michael sensed concern in Evo’s tone as he walked right up to him and placed his hands on his shoulders. His gaze was intense. “Thank God. Your eyes are back to normal. Are you feeling okay?”

Michael frowned. Why was he asking him that? His eyes always changed when he was really angry. “Why the concern? Not like you haven’t seen my eyes change before.”Evo nodded his head and dropped his hands from Michael’s shoulders.

“Oh, I know I have. . . but not the rest of your body glowing white I haven’t.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” It had to be the hallucinations. Evo must have had one too. He was getting confused. Had to be.

“And before you say it, it was before all of that spinning started.” His friend said as if he’d read his mind.

He wasn’t convinced. “How can you be sure?”

Evo paced around the big empty space. “I was well aware of my surroundings at that moment. And Alethia was still coherent. She seemed as surprised as I was. It was only after that happened that she actually listened to me and went into a trance. Then she started chanting or praying or some shit.”

Evo stopped and faced him again. “Oh yeah, there’s something else I forgot to mention too.

”Michael didn’t know how much more of these revelations he could take right now. What else? He grew horns. . . A tail? “What?” he snapped. It came out more harsh than intended.

Evo ignored it.

“Your rage made the walls shake.”

Now Michael was certain Evo was mistaken. How could that possibly happen? He’d been like he was for almost a year now and neither of those things had ever happened before.

Evo must have sensed his denial. “I’m telling you man, that spinny, stormy crap that just happened? That was Alethia−and remind me to thank her for making me hurl my guts up next time I see her, by the way−but the wall shaking thing. . . all you buddy.” he said all matter-of-factly Before Michael could respond, the veil of drapes at the other end of the room parted unhanded and two figures walked through, one being Alethia, the other a tall man with wavy brown hair that fell to his shoulders. His clothes were unusual: white linen trousers and a sleeveless drape of the same color, which fell over his hips, held together with a sheer gold cummerbund around his waist. He wore white sandals, their ribbons wrapped from his feet to his ankles.

The man had both hands behind his back as both he and Alethia gracefully ambled towards them. It was mature Alethia that faced them now as they stopped right in front of where he and his buddy stood; no sign of the playful female that had teased Evo earlier. Michael noticed Evo stiffen, but thought nothing of it.

Alethia spoke first. “This is Valtas. God of shadows.”

The stranger held out his hand, a golden cuff covered his wrist. “Welcome, gentlemen,” he said in a slightly accented voice that Michael couldn’t place. He shook Michael’s hand, then moved to Evo who now looked as pale as the guy’s clothes.

“Is this Heaven?” Evo asked, seeming to be awed by the man currently shaking his hand. Michael almost choked at Evo’s strange question. But Valtas simply smiled and shook his head. “No. You are in Asirus. No longer are you on Earth, though you are not yet in heaven.”

That’s what all of the spinning was about. Alethia had somehow materialized them here. But where exactly was here? Were they amongst the clouds or further beyond? He was stunned for a moment. Not only had he been to Hell, but now he’d visited the heavens. As a dead guy he’d seen a lot of strange shit and knew from experience that there was an afterlife and spirits and monsters. But this seemed too surreal; too impossible, even for him to get his head around. He couldn’t quite believe that he was standing in front of a god, a living breathing god. Now he understood why Evo was acting all polite and self-effacing around the guy. Bastard knew everything.

Valtus began to pace a little, hands behind his back and accentuating the thick muscle that covered his bare arms. He was powerful and stood easily at six and a half feet. His physique resembled Evo’s only he was much larger, as you would expect of a man of his stature.

“You are honored gentlemen. Only the gods enter Asirus. We do not allow for visitors of any kind in our realm,”−he turned to face Michael, caramel eyes locking onto his with a fierce stare−“Especially those who have returned from Hell. You are only permitted here now because my daughter tells me we have a mutual enemy and that you seek her help.”

His daughter? Whoa! Evo hadn’t lied when he’d said she was powerful, only powerful didn’t quite sum it up. She was a fucking goddess. Only Evo could enlist the help of an all powerful deity. He almost wanted to kiss the shit out of him.

Valtus continued with his gaze fixed solely on Michael. “Tell me. How is it that you managed to leave the underworld that you were banished to? It’s not easy to leave such a place unaided. ”The question was unexpected and plagued by suspicion.

“I can’t give you an answer because I don’t know.” It was the truth. He had no memory of how he’d returned. Only the intermittent memories of his torture, but even they weren’t clear. The pain was, though. He didn’t think he’d ever forget that.

“Father,” Alethia said. “It’s Varesh. He has returned. I believe he has taken a human woman hostage and he’s done it to get at this man.” She held her hand towards Michael.

Valtus’s eyes narrowed. “Why would he be after you?”

Michael remained stoic. “Again, I have no answer. I’d never heard of him until we captured one of his demons who then spoke about him to me. He told me Varesh had been looking for me for a long time. I don’t know this demon.”

But he would do soon, of that he was certain. Whoever, or whatever, he was, he would pay for taking Lacy. “Look, as much as I’m enjoying our little meeting here, I have something more important to do. Every moment wasted talking to you could be spent searching for my. . . for Lacy.”

“And how can you be sure you’ll find her? Alethia says you’ve requested her help, which I’m reluctant to allow.” Michael noticed Alethia fight back a frown. “My daughter is too important to me to get mixed up in some human’s unfortunate affairs, but you, I am intrigued by. Varesh has been our enemy for thousands of years. He is powerful and unfortunately wants to be more so, which is why I question what he wants with you.”Michael remained still as Valtas stepped closer. The god’s stare penetrated him intently as though he was trying to see right into his soul, if he still had one. No one said a word. Through his peripheral vision Michael saw Evo tense. He’d remained uncharacteristically quiet through their whole meeting. His buddy had his hand perched over one of his guns, as if a gun would do any good against a god. He looked like he expected things to turn sour at any minute.

Valtas was so close to Michael now that he felt his breath on his face as he spoke. “Because of my daughter’s persistence, Alethia will assist you in findingthe human woman, but once you do, you will not call on her again. Am I understood?”
Michael’s gaze flicked to Alethia and back to Valtas.

“You have my word,” he replied and as Valtas stepped away, Michael relaxed his shoulders and allowed himself to breathe again. Jesus, he’d felt the male’s power pouring off him, a power he wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of that’s for sure.

He noticed Evo relax too. His buddy raised his eyebrows at Michael and also let out a relieved sigh. He’d obviously felt that power too, his pasty color was evidence of that.

Next, Valtas walked up to Alethia. Without speaking, he held out his hand.

A small glow of bright light formed right above it and after it faded, a jewelled, silver ring appeared in his palm. He brought it down in front of Alethia whose mouth curled up in what looked like a wicked smile before she took it from him and placed it on the middle finger of her left hand. The damn thing resized on its own until it fit.

“I trust I don’t have to tell you to take very good care of this?” Valtas said.

“Only you are to use it. Its captives will be dealt with accordingly.”

Its captives? What the hell did he mean?

Valtas turned on his heels. “I expect you to keep me informed, Alethia,” he called out over his shoulder as he walked away. The woman remained silent until her father had left the room.

“Pompous ass!” she whispered. Evo fought a laugh. “Let’s get out of here,” she said as she grabbed the pendant around her neck and the room began to spin.

*****Continuation*****

“So, who is this woman again?” Michael asked Evo as they sped along Garrett Highway towards the airport.

He’d received a text from Evo earlier telling him he would pick him up at Lacy’s because he had some good news. He still wasn’t saying much; only that he’d been waiting on an important phone call and finally received it at four a.m while he was still outside the hospital. Now they were going to pick up some woman from the airport. Her flight was due in at ten forty-six. She, apparently, was a friend of a friend of Evo’s who owed him a big favor after he’d captured a creature that was responsible for the death of the guy’s son. That friend had agreed to talk to this woman and persuade her to meet with them. Something about her knowing who Varesh is.

But that was all Michael knew. He could pretty much guarantee that because this person was female, that Evo had already been there, but if he had, his buddy was keeping quiet about that too.

“I’ve told you once already. She’s agreed to meet us to talk about this Varesh guy. I don’t know what she knows about him, but anything’s gotta help right now, huh?” Evo said completely unaware of the speed limit as he raced down the highway.

“How do you know she’s trustworthy?” She could be on this Varesh’s side. He hoped to God that wasn’t the case or else she could be leading him straight to them.

“Oh, she’s trustworthy. We have a mutual enemy: demons. So trust me, she’s on our side.” Evo had a smug look on his face. He was feeling proud of himself for some reason but while he was being vague, he was irritating Michael.

It wasn’t really Evo’s fault though. Michael had been antsy for two reasons since leaving Lacy’s place: one, he wasn’t happy about leaving her on her own, but Evo had insisted he go with him. And then there was the fact that he couldn’t get her out of his mind and it was irritating the hell out of him. He couldn’t stop thinking about last night. As he’d suspected, he hadn’t been able to trust himself at all while Lacy lay next to him: As soon as he knew she was sleeping, he’d been stupid enough to stroke his fingers down her arm, enjoying the softness of her skin. Then she’d sighed and backed herself closer into him and he’d placed his arm around her before going to sleep.His dream had felt so real. He felt really bad about the way he’d kissed her, not that he hadn’t enjoyed it, really enjoyed it. He was so ashamed and annoyed at himself.

He’d spent the next few hours watching her sleep. The sound of her deep breaths had soothed him, and every now and again she would quietly moan words he didn’t understand. It made him smile though. It was like she had her own sleep language. She made his goddamn heart swell. Shit! He hardly recognized himself at the moment.

When he looked out of the driver’s side window, he was surprised to see the airstrip beside them. He’d been so lost in his thoughts, he hadn’t noticed the distance they’d covered. Evo must have sensed his mood because he’d kept quiet for the last part of the journey which Michael was grateful for. He suddenly felt bad for feeling irritated by him, he hadn’t deserved it.

Now Michael was back to being aware of his surroundings, he realized there was another reason he was glad he’d been pre-occupied by his inner-turmoil over Lacy: Evo’s musical taste hadn’t improved in their time apart. “What the hell is this you’re listening to?”

Evo shot him a look of utter bemusement, like Michael was supposed to know who the female country singer coming out of the stereo was. “It’s Faith Hill. . . What? She’s talented.”
“Jeez buddy. As soon as we get back, I’m buying you some new music.”

Thank God they were nearly there.

He needed a distraction and fast.

After checking the arrival time on the information screen−to make sure Evo’s woman’s plane would be landing on time−the two men walked through the small airport towards the arrivals lounge. They still had a little time until the plane was in so Michael ordered a coffee-to-go from the Wild Bean kiosk in the corner. They took a seat near the window.“I have a feeling this Varesh is going to be a piece of work.” Evo said, as he removed his sunglasses. It was the middle of October, and they were expecting snow any time, but Evo was always wearing those damned wrap arounds no matter what. Usually only took them off at night when his vision was restricted.

“Yeah. How does your lady friend know so much anyway?” Michael was eager to know more about the woman he was about to meet. A little prior information would have been nice. Why was Evo being so vague about her?

“Alethia.” Evo said.

“What?”

“Her name is Alethia. And she’s not my lady friend. I’ve never met her before.”

Michael’s eyes narrowed. “Then why would she come all this way to meet us, and at such short notice?” It seemed strange that a complete stranger was willing to do that. He assumed Evo knew her. He guessed that corrected his earlier assumption that the guy had slept with her.

Evo sat forward, arms leaning on his knees. “I told you already, I’m owed a favor.”He was beginning to get on Michael’s last nerve with his short, uninformative answers. “Not from her, though, right? Come on man, you’re not giving me anything here. I’m about to meet this woman and I know nothing about her. I’m not comfortable with this.”

Evo scrubbed his hand down his face and his eyes scanned around the lounge as if to make sure no one else was in earshot. “She’s different.”

Michael’s eyebrow raised and he gave Evo a look that urged him to continue. “Different how?”

“She’s. . . kind of powerful. And my friend said she may be able to help us.

In fact, when I spoke to her on the phone, she was already on her way to the airport. She seems keen to meet us. This is a good thing Mike, buddy. You trust me, right?”

He never mentioned it was her he’d spoken to on the phone. And what did he mean by powerful? Someone working for the government powerful? He gave Evo a quick nod of his head. “Powerful like how?”

Evo’s voice dropped to a whisper. “She’s not human.” Then he got up and joined the small group of people who had gathered waiting to greet the throng of passengers who’d begun to come through the exit doors, weighed down with luggage. Most of them had companions or were in small groups.

Michael went over and stood by him. The only person who had come through alone so far was a short, very round man with a thin mustache and a Yankees cap until. . .

Michael saw Evo’s eyes light up as a tall, slim, brunette−who was dressed in a knee length, tan, double breasted coat with fur around the collar−came through the doors, pulling along a small suitcase. Her tight black pants were covered by brown, knee high boots. She was the picture of elegance as she stopped to fumble with her coat before her eyes scanned the room.

“That’s gotta be her.” Evo said before almost sprinting towards her.

God help her, Michael thought as he followed him.

“Alethia?” She looked straight at Evo and smiled tentatively.

Michael noticed she had a small dimple in each of her cheeks. She looked to be in her early thirties and very human, but then again, so did he.“Yes. You must be Mr O’Reilly?” The woman outstretched her hand to Evo who took it immediately, gently shaking it while his gaze never left hers. “I’ve had quite an interesting chat about you with our mutual friend,” she said wryly.

Evo seemed to like it. “Please. Call me Evo, and this is my good friend Michael.”

She looked at Michael, her blue eyes narrowed with curiosity while it was his turn for the handshake. She lowered her voice. “Ah Yes. You’re the one Varesh is looking for. He’s not the kind you gain as an enemy easily. You must have really pissed him off.” Michael was surprised by her words. So she did know who Varesh was?

Well, that was a start. The fact that she was here with no hesitation, worried him though. Three things he would need to find out about her before he trusted her:

one, how well did she know this Varesh? He needed to be sure that she wasn’t working with him and had come here because she planned to deceive them. The second thing, Is she as powerful as Evo said? And finally, if she’s not human then what the hell is she?

“I haven’t done anything to him.” Michael replied coldly, informing her where he stood with the trust issue. Her eyes narrowed with her irreverent smile. “I highly doubt that,” she said before turning her attention back to Evo. “How long till we can eat? I’m starving.” She began to walk towards the exit, suitcase in tow, not bothering to look back to see if they followed.

They did though.

Michael looked at Evo who was happily enjoying watching her walk on ahead. “I think I’m in love with her which is bad.” Evo said, to which Michael rolled his eyes. “No, I’m serious. I mean, how am I going to concentrate on anything she has to tell us when she looks like that?”

Michael shoved his elbow into Evo’s arm. “I’m sure you’ll manage, you sexed up asshole.


#HappyNewMonth...

TheBlessedMAN:
envy? Wen me self dey pray to God everyday to make me half as great as u? No dey whyne me jare.

lolzzz I laff

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

The smell of fried bacon filled Lacy’s nose as she awoke from a deep sleep, but the minute she opened her eyes she panicked.

Where the hell am I?

The living room. Her living room. Panic over.

As her brain came back on line she remembered why she was lying on the sofa. She’d slept with Michael. . . Well, not with him, but next to him. Her sleepy eyes scanned the room, but there was no sign of him.

She closed her eyes and fought to rid her mind of Michael’s horrified expression as he’d pulled away from her during the night.

And. . . Oh, God. What if she’d kept him awake after that because she’d been snoring or something? Never mind the shameful kissing and handling moment, this could be far worse. She hadn’t slept in a man’s company for a long time. He probably couldn’t take anymore and escaped before she’d woken up. Or what if she’d frightened him with her sleep talking? She knew she still did it now and again. She’d woken herself up with it. She couldn’t take anymore humiliation.

The door from the kitchen opened slowly and in walked Michael, freshly showered by the looks of it and fully dressed. He was holding a tray. He smiled at her. He looks so handsome when he smiles like that. Her stomach groaned.

“You’re awake?” he said with a gleam in his eye that made her melt inside a little. “I thought I’d fix some breakfast before I left.”She sat up and he passed her the tray which had a plate of bacon and eggs and a steaming hot cup of coffee on it.

She decided then and there that she could quite easily marry him. “Thanks,”

she managed to say past the warm glow in her chest. For God’s sake, she was acting like a school girl with a silly crush.

Michael grabbed his coat from the chair and put it on. Soon after, a car horn sounded outside. “That’ll be Evo. He wants me to take him to the Lake.” He rolled his eyes. “He’s such a tourist.” The edges of his smile pulled down turning his expression more serious. “Will you stay at home today?”

“What about Nina?” She’d planned to take some things up to the hospital for her, realizing when she was last there that the poor girl didn’t even have and toiletries, or extra nightwear. It wasn’t like anyone else visited her apart from Lacy and the hospital staff. She’d been in that standard issue gown since her operation and Lacy thought it was about time she changed into something more comfortable. Besides, she felt guilty as hell when she didn’t visit, even if Nina didn’t know her. Lacy believed that when she spoke, Nina could hear her and it would be better for her to hear a familiar voice when she did come around.

“Just until I come back, then we’ll go to see Nina together. I’d feel happier knowing that you’re here.”
She understood. If Jake was still about then it was safer to wait. “Okay, I’ll stay.” She placed the tray on the sofa and followed him to the door. He stopped before opening it and turned to face her.

He surprised her when he leaned in and kissed her softly on her cheek. Her breath caught.

“Call me if anything happens, okay?”

All she could do was nod her head, then he opened the door and left.

Lacy finally released her breath. She placed her hand on her cheek and replayed in her mind what had just happened. That kiss, even though it had only been on her cheek, not her mouth like the others, it had almost stopped her heart. It hadn’t been a polite see-you-later kind of peck on the cheek; his warm lips had lingered for a second, like it was more an acknowledgement of their feelings for each other.

She was so confused. Why had her feelings for him developed so quickly?

She was never the type to fall for someone so easily, always cautious whenever she was dating someone, so why was this happening? It was strange to feel this way about someone so soon.

Last night when she’d laid in bed thinking about how concerned she’d been over Michael, she’d realized it wasn’t just a crush like when she’d fancied Karl James back in high school. And it was certainly nothing like what she’d felt for Simon when she’d stupidly accepted his proposal before finding out about the cheating. She knew she never really loved him, just felt flattered that a man like him would want to spend the rest of his life with her. She’d learnt a very big lesson there.

No. this felt very different, like there was a strange connection between them. Michael felt too familiar to her; given the short time they’d known each other. She’d spent over an hour in her room trying to convince herself to go and talk to him, but had chickened out, deciding it could wait till morning. That was until she’d gone to the bathroom and heard his voice. Knowing he was awake,

she couldn’t go back to bed without talking to him first. It was a vice of hers:

When something was on her mind it had to come out, no matter what.

She’d sensed that he felt something for her though−especially after what had happened, or nearly happened, in Nina’s hospital room−but when he’d admitted earlier that he had feelings for her too, her heart had sung with delight only to clamp its mouth shut a few seconds later when he’d told her that they couldn’t do anything about it.

So he had secrets, didn’t we all?

He’d nearly let her kiss him. He’d hesitated before pulling away. And the way he’d kissed her in his sleep, even though he was just dreaming, it was obvious he desired her too. So what could be so bad he had to deny her?

Perhaps it was also because he was only working in Oakland temporarily. Did he have someone to go back to? Her stomach sank at the thought of him belonging to someone else.

She could still feel his lips on her skin as if he’d left them with her. Then she allowed herself to think about their brief encounter again. She’d wanted him to kiss her so badly and couldn’t believe that she’d awoken to him doing just that.

She played the moment over and over in her mind and her body began to heat.

No! That’s enough, she told herself. She wouldn’t allow herself to fall any harder until she knew what he was keeping from her.

After receiving a very pleasing phone call from the hospital informing her that Nina had woken up during the night and was doing well, Lacy had showered, dressed and was feeling a lot more positive about her day. The nurse had told her that Nina had even spoken and was aware of where she was; all positive signs that led towards the hope that she had no brain damage. She’d told Lacy that Nina was resting and would be having some tests this afternoon, so it would be best for Lacy to visit in the evening. Great! She’d go with Michael after dinner She was just stuffing some dirty laundry in the machine when her doorbell rang. Michael had only been gone a little over an hour, so she didn’t expect it to be him. Besides, he never rang the bell.

It was still early. She glanced at the clock on the sideboard as she passed it on the way to the front door−eight-thirty, unusual for someone to call round so early, especially on a Sunday. Then she remembered: Teresa. She’d said she’d call in on her way home from her shift.

Lacy peered through the small, round window in the door and sure enough, Teresa stood on the other side of it blowing a cloud of warm breath onto her hands and rubbing them together. She quickly opened the door and greeted her with a smile. The cold air hit her straight away “Hi, come on in.” After closing the door behind her Teresa followed her into the living room and Lacy gestured for her to sit down. “Coffee? Some pillows?

You look about ready to drop.” She had dark circles under her eyes and her shoulders were slumped.

Teresa pinched the skin at the top of her nose. “Busy night. I’ll be glad when I’m in my bed. And yes, just some coffee would be great, thanks. I think I can hold off the pillows for a little while longer.”

Two cups of coffee later and Lacy had finished giving Teresa her statement about what happened with Jake. Teresa had said that she found it hard to believe Jake would act so aggressively. Lacy had been surprised herself, even though she didn’t really know him, she’d seen him on campus and he was usually pretty quiet; walked around with his hood up mostly not seeming to interact with many of the other students. Her deputy friend explained that he’d been in trouble in the past for petty things like pinching a donation box from the pet store in town. And once she’d caught him spraying the words SMOKING KILLS. WEED HEALS on the back of a bus stop but she’d never heard of any violence, couldn’t even recall any fights he may have been involved in. She insisted that what happened with Nina, and then Lacy, was out of character.

Teresa closed her file and put her pen back in the inside pocket of her navy blue, duty jacket. “So you’ve no idea where Jake is?”Lacy shook her head. “My colleague and his friend searched for him for a while after but no joy.”

As Teresa got up to leave, she passed Lacy a business card. “Could you ask your friend to call me if he hears anything?”

“Of course,” she said, taking the card and putting it on the table beside her.

She walked Teresa to the door and after saying their goodbyes and promising to call each other to arrange meeting up for coffee, Lacy returned to her laundry in the kitchen. As she poured the detergent in the tray, she thought about what she’d do for the rest of the day. She had some assignments to mark, but wasn’t in the mood, so they could wait until she got back from the hospital. She could clean the house, but that didn’t sound very appealing either.

Maybe she would do nothing but watch movies until Michael returned, or even read a book, but something tense, a thriller, maybe, or a horror; definitely not a romance. Best not to feed that stupid fire she was determined to keep under control. Imagining Michael as the hero and herself as the love interest just wasn’t going to help the situation at all.

She was looking through a pile of books she’d recently bought, over by the wooden bookshelf, when the doorbell rang again. Teresa had probably forgotten to ask her about something. She was normally sharp as a pin, but going by how tired she looked just now, it wouldn’t be a surprise.

“Did you forget something. . . Oh!” The person standing on the other side of the door surprised her. Not Teresa but her neighbor.

“Mr Hinckley.” Damn. She’d promised to get him milk this morning. “I haven’t been to the store yet Mr Hinckley but if you still need some milk. . . ”

Her words trailed off as he walked straight into her hall without saying a word.

His gaze was hollow, like he was looking at her but wasn’t aware.

“Is everything okay? Mr Hinckley? You don’t look so−” She never got to finish her sentence because the old man’s arm flew up and he bashed her on the head with something heavy.

Darkness was all she knew after that.
********

fergie001:
Tnx,I appreciate

you're welcome

fergie001:
Tnx,I appreciate

you're welcome

fergie001:
Tnx,I appreciate

you're welcome

Damn. The way she was looking at him now made him nauseous. Hurt, fear, confusion, it was all clear to see on her face.

“What things?” she pressed.

Shit. He was sinking deeper into the hole that had appeared below him and it worried him that, without being honest with her, he wouldn’t get out of it.

“Things I can’t tell you, but I assure you, you don’t have to worry. I haven’t done anything bad. Believe me, if there was any way I could tell you I would.

You do know that, don’t you?

He could no longer read her expression. She stared at the floor, her eyes blank behind those heavy eyelashes. He longed to know what she was thinking.

Had he hurt her? It wasn’t his intention but perhaps it would be for the best; better for her to be wary of him−to not trust him.

The silence seemed to last forever. Then Lacy damn near floored him.

“I do believe you.”

It was her kind and trusting nature that had attracted him to her in the first place. Her willingness to care for a complete stranger such as Nina and the fact that she was accepting what was happening around her without question, trusting Michael to see her through it and make sure that everything was okay.

Believing him now, after he’d meant to put doubt in her mind, was just a testament to her true nature. How was he going to stay away from her when every second he was with her, she pulled him in deeper?

“I’m glad because I would never intentionally keep anything from you unless it was to protect you.” He placed his hand on her cheek and turned her face to him. “I would never hurt you, Lacy.”

“I know you wouldn’t, not only because of what you’ve told me, but because I can just feel it,” she replied, and he could see that there was nothing but sincerity in her words. She’d never looked as attractive to him as she did at that moment. He was doomed.“Michael, can I ask a favor?” She picked at her fingernails again. A habit, he’d noticed.

“Sure, anything.”

She hesitated, biting her bottom lip. “Can I lie next to you? I don’t want to be alone right now.”

"Anything but that! Jesus!"

He stared into her eyes and saw a sadness behind them that he could relate to. He knew he shouldn’t, that it was dangerous territory, but he felt the same way. After all this time of being alone, he suddenly didn’t want to be either.

He held the blanket back for her and she climbed in next to him, lying down with her back to him, which was good. He only had a certain amount of control left and knew how thin the line was that he was walking right now. He kept his arms awkwardly by his sides, even though the temptation to put one around her and pull her into him was so strong. He tried not to breathe the sweet apple scent of her freshly washed hair in too deeply and ignored the heat of her body−which was way too close to his−as best he could.

If he could get through the rest of the night without touching her, he would take his ass out for a celebratory drink the minute there was a bar open. Who knew he would have this much control over himself?

“Good night, Michael.”

He knew he should reply but honestly didn’t know if he could speak. “Good night.” he managed to say as he squeezed his eyes shut. This was one time he needed to sleep.

* * *

Lacy let out a contented sigh as she woke to a warm sensation at the back of her neck. As her eyes flickered open she realized soft lips were caressing her skin. As consciousness gripped her, she froze, making sure what was happening was real and that she wasn’t in some crazy realistic dream.

She wasn’t. Michael.

She felt his arm tighten around her waist, pulling her closer into his warm body as his lips travelled around her neck, softly caressing her as they slowly moved up to the flesh behind her ear. Her heart began to pound and when Michael gently sucked her earlobe, her eyes closed and she couldn’t help the gentle moan that escaped her. Her breath caught and somehow she managed to whisper, “Michael?” as he continued to kiss her.

He didn’t answer her.

My God. Is this really happening?

Her mind went foggy as the feel of his warm breath upon her skin sent a glorious shiver down the length of her body. She lay silent, afraid that if she moved she might wake up and realize that this was nothing but a dream.

His arm moved upwards and he placed his hand on her cheek, gently pulling her face towards him and kissing her softly along her jaw until his lips found hers. She closed her eyes, shifted her body around to face him as he continued to kiss her. His kiss grew more intense and just as she reached up and tangled her fingers in his hair, he whispered her name against her lips. Then. . .

Michael paused. His whole body had gone rigid.

He pulled his head back suddenly and she caught his horrified expression in the glow from the lamp. “Shit! Lacy, I’m so sorry.” he said as he quickly sat up, nearly knocking her to the floor.

She followed him, swinging her legs off the sofa and sitting up beside him.

She lowered her head, letting her hair fall around her face to hide her embarrassment. How could she be so stupid? Of course he was still sleeping.

She should have realized when he hadn’t answered her, but it had been a little hard to think straight.

The few moments that neither one of them spoke was almost unbearable.

Michael let out a sigh as he dragged his hand through his hair. “I didn’t know what I was doing.” His voice was almost a whisper and, swallowing her shame, Lacy found the courage to turn and face him. “I was dreaming. I’m. . .

I’m so sorry.”

She had to do something to make it right. As ashamed and embarrassed as she was, she had a feeling he felt worse. “Hey, listen. . . It’s okay.” When she was sure her cheeks had cooled down, she tilted her neck so he had no choice but to look at her. When their eyes met, she smiled and saw the tension ease a little from his shoulders. She nodded. “Really. . .”

He shook his head, leaning into his hand. “I feel like such an ass.”

“Well, please don’t. No harm done, I promise.” She reached for the TV control not wanting to risk any more of that awkward silence. “Why don’t we just watch some cheesy late night movie and forget about it?” She turned the power on and began to flick through the channels. “Besides. . . ” She gave him a sideways glance, “I quite enjoyed it.” Her face heated up and she couldn’t believe what she’d just said. Then she looked up and caught the surprise on his face. They both laughed.

“Perhaps I should. . . ”−he pointed with his thumb−“. . . the chair?” He left the sofa and after settling on some eighties sci-fi b-movie, Lacy lay back down.

They were both silent.

* * *

Michael didn’t really dream anymore. For the past year his slumber had only been filled with vivid images of his time in the pit. Jumbled nightmares filling the spaces between consciousness and anxiety were what usually woke him up with a start.

But again, not this time Only two times he’d dreamed properly since he’d died. Gone were the crimson skies and the blood and the slicing. Instead, for the second time in what must have only been a few hours, all he’d seen was Lacy. But the second time had seemed even more real than the first.

It was as though his mind had hit record on their whole conversation prior to him falling asleep, then replayed it to him in his sleep using an alternate ending, the one he’d really wanted to play out when Lacy had nearly kissed him.
Shit, it had felt good.

He watched as she slept on the sofa across from him. The movie had finished so he’d turned the TV off and could now hear the gentle sounds of the birds singing outside as they awoke to the coming dawn. He hadn’t bothered trying to get back to sleep, not wanting to risk any more dreams, however pleasant they had felt. Hell, he’d stop sleeping altogether if that’s what was needed.

This wasn’t meant to be happening.

He promised himself that this was the last time he’d stay with her.

SmartestPopQUEEN:
Wooo! Words are no longer capable of describing how good you are Theblessedwriter. You're simply amazing.

Thanks for the usual suspense.

you're right ooo words cannot describe how ducking good he is.... I envy him..

sorry for the delay famz na Exam cuz am ooo but will be uploading soonest