“You think I don’t know that?”
“I think you’re trying to find a way to pin the nine murders on yourself, or at least take partial blame for them. You didn’t do anything wrong. The kid wanted to host Samael. If you would have kept him inside you, the Council would have killed you and destroyed me in the process.”
“I know.”
“This isn’t your fault.”
“Lauren, even if it isn’t my fault, I can’t help but hate the circumstances.”
“Me, too. I want to get in to see Jimmy, to see if there is anything I can do for him.”
“What’d you mean you? Don’t you mean, we need to see him?”
“I want you close, but I don’t want you close to Samael. I think he could easily transfer right back into you, and then we’d be right back where we started.”
“Lauren, we’ve already talked through all this, you’re not going to go see the kid by yourself.”
“Fine, I’ll take Renny, or better yet, Dakota - but not you.”
“Lauren, if, and that is a big if, we get to see him, we will see him.”
“At what point do you stop trying to protect me and realize that you have even more to lose than I do? When do you face the reality that we’re a team, and sometimes good teams are individuals working separately?” I opened the truck door and let myself out on the desolate road.
Max followed suit, standing, resting his arms up over the hood of the truck. He sighed deeply, looking across the truck. “I just…can’t…you wouldn’t understand.” He trailed off and refused to look at me.
“Tell me what I wouldn’t understand.”
Max’s eyes caught mine, “Everyone who has ever meant anything to me in my life is gone, but you. I can’t sit back and watch you take unnecessary risks.” He dropped my gaze as if this confession somehow made him weak.
“You don’t have to sit back. As long as we’re a team, they’re our risks, our victories. But you can’t go near Samael. I don’t know how I know, but I know he can’t possess me. We both know he is perfectly capable of setting up house in you.”
Max still looked at the ground, refusing to make eye contact with me. “Have you ever watched me sleep?”
An odd question. “Sure, lots of times.”
He did a little double nod with his head, “You ever watch me sleep for a full day and night?” I eyed him closely, knowing exactly where this was headed. He threw out another rhetorical question: “You ever see me sleep for weeks and months on end, feeding tubes running into me, a ventilator to keep my lungs going?” I watched him wide-eyed, knowing what was coming next. “Lauren, if anything happens to you again, I won’t live through it. I can’t live through it again; the last time nearly killed me.”
I walked around the hood of the truck, refusing to allow him to fall into a depression of “what ifs.” He was leaning over the truck, his arms crossed on the hood, unwilling to look at me. We were here in the middle of nowhere; I had the urge to take advantage of the remoteness. I walked up behind him, wrapped both my arms around his body, and leaned my head onto his shoulders. “Max, there’s something you need to know.”
He pivoted his body toward me, with his back to the truck. The driver’s side window was rolled down, and he was leaning against it. I looked into those same incredible eyes, the pain shining back at me, when I reminded him, “I’m still very much alive. I don’t think we’ve been doing enough living lately.”
I wrapped both my arms around his neck, wrapping myself around him. Max’s eyes widened. He was trapped with only two options: unwind my body from his or enjoy the electricity I knew I was sending through him.
He smiled, enjoying my offer, but said only, “Not here.”
I didn’t let him get another word out as my mouth latched onto his, and I reminded him there was far more to life than wondering what major catastrophe would happen next. He seemed to be a near unwilling participant. “Yes, here, right now.”
His struggle against me lasted mere seconds when he said, “Okay, you win. Let’s go back to the room.”
“No, here.” The words were no sooner out of my mouth than I could see a car coming down the road in the distance. We were stopped in the middle of the road, not even pulled off onto the shoulder, clearly not the ideal location for a tender moment. I begrudgingly agreed, “Okay, you’re right - not here.”
Chapter 12
That night Max and I decided together that if we could get in to see Jimmy, we would go: not he, not I. Max believed that Samael couldn’t simply insert himself into a host’s body without being an invited guest. I don’t know where this notion came from, but in all honesty, Max knew Samael better than I did.
My cell phone rang late the next morning, “Lauren?”
“Yes, this is Lauren, who’s this?”
“I got…your letter arrived…I just wanted to say, thank you.”
“Ms. Jacobs? I’m so glad you called. I was worried that you might think I was a crack-pot or something.”
“The thought crossed my mind, but then I realized I hadn’t gotten any support from friends or family, so it would be bad karma to turn down kind words from a stranger. How do you know Jimmy?”
“Ms. Jacobs..” she cut me off.
“Please, call me Maggie.”
“Maggie, I met Jimmy a few months ago when he came to my house. I’d really like to talk to you in person, if that’s okay?”
“I’d rather not meet in person until I have some idea what we might have to talk about.” I could hear in her voice that she was a nervous wreck. I could only imagine what she was going through.
“Maggie, have you noticed anything different about your son the last few months?”
Maggie jumped to the wrong conclusion when she spat out, “I don’t know who you think you are, but pretending to be a friend of Jimmy’s just to write an exposé is pretty low. I want to know who you work for. I’ll sue your editor for this.”
“Ms. Jacobs, I can assure you I’m not a reporter of any kind. I had a very bad experience with a group of people a few months ago. Jimmy is. . . running with the same crowd I used to. . . and I only wanted to see if there was anything I could do to help. I didn’t mean to upset you.”
“You know who put him up to this? Have you talked to the police? They told me Jimmy did this on his own. If you know something that will save my boy, you have to come forward!”
“I really think it would be better to talk to you in person before I visit the police. I will see them if you want me to, but I really need to talk to you first.”
Her voice was a little more subdued, “Fair enough. Do you know where I live?”
“Yes, we drove by yesterday, but there were reporters everywhere.”
“When you are a block away from my house, call me back at this number. I’ll open the garage door so you can pull your car in. If you want to keep your privacy, you may want to rent a car or cover up your license plate so the reporters can’t track you down. Otherwise, I’m sure the sharks will be after you, too.”
“We’ll be there in the next two hours.”
*****
We took Maggie’s advice of renting a car before going to her house. Two hours later we were sitting in Maggie’s living room. A handsome man in his late thirties was sitting with her on the sofa. He wore jeans and a button-down shirt. Not a power-lifter by any means, but he was muscular, clean-shaven, and seemed friendly. I watched him for a few seconds and detected just a twinge of nervousness from him. I didn’t know why, but having Max and me there made him very uncomfortable. Maggie didn’t introduce him to us.
Maggie was distraught. I knew there was little chance anything I said to her would improve her disposition. She thought the child she had reared, whom she had loved unconditionally since birth, was a monster. She wanted to be able to point to something that would make this horrific tragedy somehow an enormous mistake.
I couldn’t tell which was less steady, Maggie’s hands or her voice, “You sai
d on the phone that you knew something about some friends of Jimmy’s . . . some kids that made him do this?” Uncomfortable Guy was paying attention.
I started out slowly, doing my best to read her emotions, “Maggie, are you . . . do you believe that there is evil in the world?”
“There is evil all around us, Lauren. You don’t plan to give me a sermon, right? You said you knew something.”
“Jimmy is being influenced by . . . someone named, Samael.”
Uncomfortable Guy leaned in and asked, “Samael, who?”
I shook my head. “I don’t know his last name, but he is responsible for all this. I know it.”
Relief showed on Maggie’s face. Uncomfortable Guy asked, “How is he involved? Jimmy gave a full confession. He never once mentioned a Samael. Is Jimmy protecting him?”
I turned my attention to the man, “I’m sorry, we weren’t introduced. I’m Lauren Davis. This is Max Meyer. You are?”
“Dennis Thornton, a friend of Maggie’s.” She nodded eagerly. He gently placed his hand on Maggie’s knee, and I understood. Dennis was here to anchor her, grounding her, maybe to keep her from getting her hopes up.
“No, I do think Jimmy did everything he said he did, but I think he wouldn’t have done it if not for Samael. I’d really like to talk to Jimmy to see if I’m right. Maggie, do you know how I could get in to see him?”
Dennis responded before Maggie could get a word out, “Jimmy isn’t permitted visitors. I’m sorry there’s no way for you to talk to him.” He gave Maggie a gentle look and added, “But I could get a message to him or ask a couple questions for you.”
“Are you his lawyer?”
Dennis shook his head, “I’m a cop. I was there when Jimmy. . .when he. . .gave his statement. He didn’t say anything about a Samael. What’s he look like? Where does he live? How do I find him?”
I looked at Max. Neither of us expected Maggie to have invited a detective to our get-together. “I don’t know. I just know he’s bad news.” I turned to Maggie, “I really just wanted to offer you whatever support I could. I was hoping there would be a way we could speak with him. We should probably go.”
“That’s it? You said you would tell the police what you knew. Dennis is right here. What do you know about this Samael?”
“Nothing that I can prove. Nothing that the police would believe.”
Dennis didn’t stand up; instead he motioned for us to sit back down. “Listen, I don’t know Jimmy that well, but I know Maggie. She’s not the kind of woman who could raise a serial killer. It just isn’t possible. You’ve got to give me something to go on. Anything.”
“Dennis, I wish I could. I wish we could. Samael is sort of . . . trouble. When we saw the news a couple days ago, we knew Samael was involved, but unless we can talk to Jimmy, we don’t have anything to go on other than we don’t like the guy. I don’t have a picture of him, I don’t have his last name, I don’t know where he lives.”
“Would you be willing to make an official statement about what you do know?”
I looked at Max, and he shook his head. I couldn’t say no, but saying yes wouldn’t help anything. “I may know someone who may be able to provide you with information. I need to get in touch with her. She knows Samael better than I do.”
“What’s her name?”
I hesitated for a second and saw Maggie’s eyes pleading with me. “Renny. Her name is Renny. I’ll contact her and see if she can help.”
“What’s her number?”
“I think I should call her first before I give you her information.” It occurred to me I’d never called her on the phone before. I knew Max had her number programmed into his cell, but I couldn’t be sure she hadn’t been listening in on our little visit, and I didn’t want her angry with me over this.
“Let me see if I have this right: You think Jimmy was somehow influenced by this Samael guy. You don’t know anything about him, other than his first name. You know someone who knows Samael better than you, but you won’t give me a means to contact her. Little lady, you are dangerously close to impeding a police investigation.”
Dennis stood up to walk us out to the truck. As we crossed the door’s threshold, just out of Maggie’s hearing, “I don’t know what you two planned to accomplish today, but if this Samael doesn’t exist, I’m going to find you both. Maggie doesn’t need anyone giving her false hope right now; she’s hanging on by a thread.”
“Oh, he exists all right. My guess is that Jimmy will be too scared to talk about him.”
Dennis handed me his card, “If you see him, or think of anything that’ll help me find him, you better pick up the phone.”
Max and I got into the rental car and made our getaway. We had just cleared the media gauntlet when he murmured, “Well, that went better than I expected.”
“Were you in the same living room as I was?”
The grin that I love erupted, “It could have gone much worse. The cop could have thought we were accomplices. He could have put handcuffs on us for withholding evidence. Maggie could have opened the front door and invited all the news stations in. Yes - that went better than expected.”
“You are so hot when you think you’re going to be arrested.” I leaned over, close to his ear and whispered, “There is no one I’d rather be locked up with.”
There wasn’t much conversation on the way back to our motel. We still didn’t have a game plan on how we could possibly help Jimmy. It’s not like we could send a priest uninvited to a jail. This whole situation didn’t make any sense. The last time we were involved with Samael, he was adamant about not screwing with people’s destinies. It couldn’t possibly have been everyone’s destinies to be slaughtered, especially the children. He should have tried to stop it. Maybe he wasn’t to blame? Maybe this Jimmy really was a psychopath who was going to erupt no matter what.
As I stood inside the motel room contemplating whether we were wrong, I felt Max come up behind me. His lips found my neck and gave me goose bumps. I stood there enjoying the shiver as he wrapped his arms around me, caressing my abdomen. I turned to embrace him and my lips found his. It was amazing that he was still able to bring out the “frisky” in me with almost no effort on his part.
“Lauren, I think we should talk.” Renny’s voice echoed in my mind. I ignored her as her voice echoed a few more times. I was otherwise occupied, so I didn’t respond and I blocked her communication.
A minute or two passed before I heard Max’s voice, frustrated and loud. “For Pete’s sake, Renny, she’s right here.” A short pause from Max and he responded to the silence, “I don’t know, ask her yourself!” More silence, then, “Fine.”
Max rolled his eyes and backed away from me, the frustration in his voice for Renny melted away as he talked to me, “Renny really wants to talk to you. She’s on her way here.”
I knew we didn’t have much of a choice. As much as I needed to recharge with some alone time with Max, the reason we were here was Jimmy. Renny had answers that we wouldn’t be able to get anywhere else.
Not long after, the three of us were sitting around a little dinette table in the motel room. Renny began, “I know you two harbor much guilt about the murders here. I’ve already told you both: you had no hand in them. There is little that could have been done to prevent them. You both need to return home. Your presence is not needed, and your involvement is not desired. I wish you both the best of luck in the future, and I look forward to seeing you under better circumstances.”
Max leaned toward her and began speaking before I could get a thought formed in my head, “I don’t think this was our fault. I think it was yours!”
Renny is telepathic. She looks a little like a younger, lighter-skinned version of Whoopi Goldberg. She wears shoulder length dread-locks, a welcoming smile, and right this second - eyeballs as big as olives. You would think that no one could sneak up and surprise her like that, but Max must have been blocking his thoughts from her because she was completely taken off gu
ard. “My fault? I did not even know who Samael’s host was! You cannot possibly levy the blame on the Council.”
“What you don’t seem to get: when Samael was in me - I was in control. He didn’t have the kind of influence on me that he did on that kid. If you would have let him be, I would have figured out a better solution than letting him ‘host-swap’ and go into hiding. You and your precious Council wouldn’t let that be one of the available options that day.”
“It’s my fault we wanted to rid the planet of Samael’s existence? You cannot possibly believe that I could foresee these events.”
“You and your stupid Council decided that with Samael in me, the best way to destroy him was to murder me. The fact that we found a way to keep me alive, you think that somehow translates to it being my fault? You’re frickin’ nuts, Renny!”
“There is enough blame to go around; we do not need to pass it around like a potato.”
“Screw you.”
Renny turned her attention to me. “Lauren, if Samael is still in the young man, and they go to prison, Samael could easily change hosts again, and cause chaos all over again. We need you and Max to leave. Your presence constitutes a wild card, and we cannot take the chance with either of your lives.”
“Renny, because Samael was in Max before, is he at a greater risk of possession again?”
“We don’t know, dear, we just don’t know. Max is the only known host that has been permitted to live.”
Max cut in, full of rage, “Permitted? You permitted me to live? You’re bat-shit crazy. Dakota stopped you from murdering me! Get out, now.”
“Dakota is certainly more resourceful than we had given her credit for. Her intervention is what allowed this atrocity to take place. I do not recommend you seek her assistance again. The results this time were tragic; a second time could be disastrous.”
A friendly voice came through the closed door, “Renny, I wish I could say it was a pleasure to see you again, but as always, it is the bane of my existence to be near you.” The door opened, revealing Dakota smiling brightly.
Destiny's Wrath (Destiny Series - Book 3) Page 7
