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

by Melissa Solis

  We come to what looks like a small town. There are neighborhoods and a few shops. The buildings are vastly different from the ones in our world. An architect’s dream is what this place is. Each building looks as if it were intricately carved out of one very large tree. The detail is remarkable. Elijah helps me down from his horse after we reach a small café. I run my hand along the intricately carved wood framing the window, it looks like a tightly woven braid. Two horses reared up and poised are carved into the wall around each side of the window. The name of the café, Pastoral, is carved into the door Elijah holds open for me.

  Inside, the scene changes vastly from the fairy garden motif, to ultra-modern and exotic. We sit at a table that looks like the top of a giant emerald cut ruby. The chairs are sleek chrome wire and black leather. The room is alive with other Keepers enjoying the company of others and drinking wine at the bar. A pianist plays a soft melody in the corner and a beautiful woman accompanies him with her voice.

  A man comes over to our table. He has long blond hair held back in a ponytail and light blue eyes. “Elijah welcome! I’ven’t seen you in fifty years give or take a decade.”

  “Mud, thank you. I’d like you to meet Brennen.”

  “So this is the girl everyone is talking about. Well pleasure to meet you deary. It’s quite the honor, we don’t get too many celebrities in here.”

  “Mud?” I confirm with Elijah. He nods and laughs. “It’s my pleasure to meet you. This place is a work of art.”

  “Thanks dearie, I’ll have your meal right out.” Mud is a cheerful, lively sort of guy. I wonder how he got stuck with that name. Elijah glances around the room, taking in the faces and surveying the crowd.

  I’m confused on our food, since we didn’t even order yet. I glance around and no one is eating. Maybe they Keepers don’t really need to eat since they’re spirits. Several more people come over and greet us. The more people find out who I’m, the more attention I find is being paid to me. This is not something I particularly like.

  This room holds nothing but stunningly beautiful angels. Elijah brings a bottle of wine to our table and pours me a glass. I motion for him to keep going when the glass in only half filled. He shoots me a glance that’s either a –don’t embarrass me in front of my friends, or –I guess I’ll be carrying you home tonight. I couldn’t differentiate which. Not that I care too much either way. It’s been a long hard day and the fact is, I could use a nice warm buzz to relax my tension away.

  He hands me the glass and our fingers happen to cross paths, sending those warm vibrations all the way to my toes. I greedily sip my wine until I’m down to half the glass. Mud comes out with a two bowls of what looks like stew. I notice several servers have emerged with trays of food. The entire restaurant is served at once. Elijah takes my hand and bows his head. I follow suit. Mud begins a blessing over the meal. I notice he has an Irish accent that comes out when he speaks in a louder than normal range.

  “Friends, guest, and occasional free loaders, welcome and please share this blessing with us. Father we thank you for this meal. We give thanks for your abounding love and grace. Your will be done. We thank you for allowing such a gift, this young beauty, to be created so that we may try to grant a bit of peace to those good folks back home, Lord. Amen. Let’s dig in.”

  A resounding amen from the room and then forks and knives are the only sound in the room for a little while. Elijah breaks me off a piece of bread and I dip a piece in the stew. I hope they have cows here. I would hate to find out I’m eating Zebra or baby deer. Oh wow, this is really good. Okay so maybe I wouldn’t care if this wasn’t cow, it’s delicious.

  “So how was meeting your mother for the first time?” Here we are in a whole other world and we resume our nightly routine like we haven’t missed a beat.

  “She’s amazing. Oh my word, I can’t believe how nice she is. She’s brilliant too.”

  “Yes she is. I could tell she felt the same about you. She is so proud of what an exceptional young lady you’ve become, Bren.”

  We both finish our meal rather quickly. After meeting yet another round of people, I slip out while Elijah is in full reunion mode and attempt to find the ladies room. I don’t know how many humans this place sees on a regular basis but apparently ethereal beings do not need to use the restroom. Mud hands me some tissue and directs me to the trees out behind the place. That is not happening. He shrugs out an apology as I mutter under my breath.

  On my way back to our table, I spot Will at the bar. I sneak up behind him and cover his mouth with my hand.

  “Hey girl you trying to give me a heart attack?” He booms out a laugh in a low baritone. He pulls me in for a hug, nearly crushing me with the sheer girth of his biceps.

  “Will, I’m so glad you are all healed up!” His dark skin reveals only a faint scar across his cheek. The jagged line trails up from the corner of his mouth and ends above his left eye, where a powerful dark force almost managed to rip half of his face off.

  “Me too. How have you been?” He says laughing again.

  “You know my life, I can’t seem to stay out of trouble.”

  “Ain’t that the truth?” He laughs mostly to himself. I’m sure he caught some slack from his fellow peers about bringing me in mostly dead.

  “Sam is marked. He was possessed again.” The smile leaves his face. His face goes blank like he’s recalling the night that he had to practically beat Sam to death to expel a demon.

  “I’m sorry Brennen, I know how much he means to you. But I heard that Elijah got the order removed, that must make everything worth it right?” I roll his words around in my head, the order? The order to keep me safe? No, he is still on my guard.

  “Will, what order would that be?” My heart accelerates faster and faster until I feel a heart attack could be an imminent possibility. He glances up at Elijah and back at me? He cringes, realizing that I’m not privy to the news he thought was common knowledge. “Will?” I plead, sounding very desperate.

  “I’m sure he had a perfectly good explanation for not telling you Brennen. I don’t know if I should say anything.”

  “The only order in place that if removed, would make all of this worth it, is the one keeping him from showing me his love.” He lets out the breath he’d been holding and gives me a sheepish grin. He looks oddly helpless like a bulldozer with four flat tires.

  “I’m so sorry, I thought you knew, because it happened weeks ago, your time. Please don’t tell him I told you. I’ve to deal with the guy for eternity after all.” Weeks ago?

  How could he keep this from me for weeks? How could he... oh my, that night on the sofa, he could have kissed me! But he didn’t, what if he doesn’t want me in that way anymore? He has been very proactive in getting Sam and I back together. The truth of the matter begins to seep in. Suddenly the lights above the bar feel like heat lamps as my face is set to sizzle.

  “Don’t worry Will, I won’t say a word.” I make my way back to Elijah who is now surrounded by his friends. He’s telling stories about his adventures in soul keeping. A mix of emotion has left me without a smile on my face and Elijah is quick to notice.

  “Excuse me for a moment,” I say as he stands in front of my barstool, his leg touching mine.

  “What’s wrong?” His voice is soft and velvety and would normally pull the truth from my lips like water from a leaky faucet.

  “I don’t know what’s wrong.” I’ve every emotion in the book hitting me all at once hurt, confusion, passion, anger, they’re all fighting to the death inside of me right now.

  “Come on, we’ll go back to my place so you can get some rest. I’m sure you must be exhausted after such a stressful day. Everything will look brighter in the morning.”

  Chapter 14 ~ Decisions

  I wake up alone in Elijah’s bed and the world does not look one bit brighter. I go into his bathroom and take a very long shower.

  I hear a knock on the door and Elijah’s voice on the other side. “Breakfa
st is on the table. I’ve got to go out for a little while. When I come back we’ll go visit Sam.”

  I finish getting ready and wear a long flowing sea foam green dress and tan sandals. I let my hair dry in soft waves. It’s getting long again and I need to go back to the tattooed guy and get another trim. Fresh strawberries Romanoff and once warm waffles are on the table. A coffee press has a cup waiting for me. Elijah has drawn all of the curtains, keeping out the too bright light. There is a television behind two cabinet doors but judging from the expansive DVD collection, the In-Between doesn’t get cable or satellite. I pop in Gone with the Wind and relax at the table while I indulge in this delicious breakfast.

  The famous ending score is playing when I hear the front door open, I must have fallen back asleep on the sofa. I shield my eyes from the blinding light Elijah lets in momentarily. I’m still at a loss about what to do or say now that I know.

  Technically, I’ve a boyfriend again and I do not want to make the same mistake twice. Second, Elijah is a grown man, thousands of years old, if he knew the order was lifted and didn’t take action, it had to be for a good reason. So either he wants to spare my feelings and no longer feels like he’s in love with me, or C, he knew that I would have to choose Sam and he didn’t want to make that decision any harder than it was for me to make.

  Now throw into the mix the fact that my boyfriend has the potential to murder me in my sleep and we’ve got a party. I pull my legs up and make room for Elijah on the sofa.

  “Gone with the Wind hm?”

  “Oh, it’s one of my all-time favorites. I love it when Rhett tells Scarlett how she needs kissing, often and by someone who knows how,” I say trying to gauge his reaction. Elijah chuckles lightly.

  “Yes, well had Scarlett not played so many games, running after Ashley and the other fellow, maybe Rhett wouldn’t have been such a cad?”

  “Well Rhett made it perfectly clear he wasn’t the marring kind,” I say letting my anger at our own situation come through.” I’m suddenly full of emotion again. I’ve to get away from Elijah’s oceanic blue eyes before I drown in them. I pluck myself off the sofa and return to Elijah’s bed with stupid tears dripping down my cheeks.

  “Bren, what’s wrong?” Elijah spoons in behind me. His fingers touch my arm and I shrug them away. He removes his hand. “Did I say something to upset you?” I still don’t answer and I know I’m being childish. “Bren this isn’t like you. You always talk to me.” His words tug at my heart and I roll over to face him. He searches my face for answers but keeps his hands to himself.

  “This is all just so much to take in. Sam being possessed, meeting my mother, being in love with someone you can’t have. It has all made me a wreck.” Elijah lips spread apart revealing his extraordinarily beautiful smile. That smile alone could lift a foul mood off a badger. It turns me into Jello. He knows it too. His lids lower and give a, you-can’t-resist-my-smoldering-gaze look.

  “Ask yourself this: Can you do anything about it? If you answer is no, then I want you to wad it up and throw it away. If the answer is yes, then you do what you have to do. My point is most people spend so much time worrying about a problem that they can’t fix that they ignore the ones they can.”

  I consider his words. Okay I can’t fix the fact that Sam is marked and may become possessed. So I’m supposed to wad up that trouble and toss it out the window. My mother lives in Heaven definitely can’t fix that. Elijah’s order has been lifted. This gift, this answered prayer, taunting me, a mere six inches away. I can do something about that.

  But not right now. Not after acting the way I had and with a tear streaked face. Right now is not our moment. And for all of my luck, that may be just what we get, a moment. Elijah always knows the right thing to say to me. A smile crosses my face when I think about his words to me months ago. Elijah just “handled” me.

  “Come on, let’s get going. I’m anxious to see if my mother and Nehemiah found what they were looking for.”

  “There’s my girl.” His comment makes me blush. Elijah gracefully rises from the bed and straightens the covers. He looks very relaxed in his sand colored linen pants and gauzy blue button down shirt, with only a few buttons done up in the middle. His tan skin practically glows in that color combo and his sapphire eyes look even bluer than usual. I ready myself by putting on the grandpa style sunglasses, there goes my game.

  Outside he removes his shirt and I watch with my mouth agape as his wings spring from behind him. He takes me in his arms and we lift off the ground effortlessly. He’s an eagle with a tiny mouse in his talons. We fly over the trees and the little cottages that dot the landscape. We pass an expansive lake that glistens under the sun as if it were filled with diamonds.

  “Where did you go this morning?”

  “I had to prepare for our return, make sure everything was set in place for our cover story. When Sam wakes up, he’ll be in your car, he’ll remember going to dinner with you and then dancing. You will come home and find the stable had caught on fire. It’s a good thing his family was out of town for the weekend.”

  “You can do that, plant memories in peoples head?”

  “One of us can.” His admission seems blasé, like they do it all the time, and resetting someone’s brain is akin to fine tuning an old guitar.

  We arrive at the headquarters and upon landing, Elijah’s wings disappear in silence. He pulls his shirt free from his back pocket and covers up his flawless torso. Gak, he catches me staring, oops. I blush and avert my eyes to the sky. When I view his face again, his smirk is only hinted at. Ugh, he loves that I find him so attractive. The building’s smooth curvaceous walls, covered in vertical cedar, blend into the forest and gardens that surround it. A rainbow of flowers at every turn give the air a heavy floral scent. Every place I’ve seen here is wreathed in beauty. It makes me want to go meditate in the Zen garden or weave a daisy chain --anything to be one with this nature-on-steroids.

  Inside we find Sam in a private room, the very same room I woke up in just a couple of months ago. The window is covered with a filtering shade that allows a faint glow of light in. Elijah leaves me with Sam and tells me to go to Nehemiah’s office when I’m ready.

  Sam’s long brown lashes dust his cheeks as he sleeps. His hair looks as if it had just been brushed. His gold waves are soft between my fingers. He doesn’t keep it too long, but a controlled shag that suits his face well.

  I take his hand up and examine it in mine, soft calluses from the ranch but clean short nails, make me wonder if he lets the twins give him manicures. “I’m so sorry for you Sam. I’m sorry your mother chose this curse for you. I’m sorry that your life will be anything but normal. You deserve so much more.” I watch the steady rise and fall of his chest for a while before finally working up the nerve to go to find Elijah.

  “Brennen, come in.” Nehemiah motions to me from behind his desk. My mother is seated beside him, looking as if she is bursting with information. I take the chair next to Elijah feeling more like we are in a normal business meeting than on some other planet. However, the always changing picture that hovers over Nehemiah’s desk would beg to differ. Elijah squeezes my hand and releases it. His warm touch has started a fire over my skin that is spreading flames up my arm and over my chest.

  “Brennen, I’ve good news.” My mother comes up and hugs me, pressing her cheek to mine. She smells so good I just want to inhale her scent in deeply, bathe myself in it. I try and place all of its notes of berries and flowers mixed with something warm and spicy.

  “Please share.” I say with a smile on my face. She settles back next to Nehemiah and she looks to him to tell me.

  “You have two options that we see here. Option one: Sam doesn’t get accepted to Harvard, he goes to Baylor, his second choice for sentimental reasons. You two have a long distance relationship. The fire will weaken his family’s assets so that he can’t afford frequent visitations with you. When he does, Elijah will keep an eye on him.

  Option
two is riskier. He will still be in Texas in this scenario. You tell Sam that you don’t want to be in a committed relationship with him while going to college. The key to this future is that he feels the same way, so you may need to coerce him into it with your gift. Both scenario will buy us several years and when he gets closer to the cure, I can get a clearer image of his path, then we will go from there.

  “Wait, are you saying Brennen may not have to marry Sam?” Elijah chimes in.

  “We are aiming for that, yes. It’s too risky. If she does end up having to marry him, she will have to end the marriage before she becomes president. We can’t have a demon parading around the White House as the first gentleman. The two timelines are running very close in either scenario right now.” I gather he means that Sam’s search for the cure will happen very close to the time I’m elected.

  “We are also giving Sam his own guardian. Will, will be with him to make sure he doesn’t harm anyone or himself.” I cringe when I think about Sam’s cracked ribs and bruised neck.

  “We need to know your decision by tonight.” I already know my choice, but I will take the day to confirm it further in my mind.

  “There’s only one problem. I think Sam is immune to my ability.” All three of them stop and stare at me. You would think I’d just announced I was Satan in disguise. “I already tried scenario number two, and Sam wanted no part of it, I think I actually had the opposite effect on him.”

  “Doubtful, your tests came back better than expected. Perhaps you just didn’t word your message in the right way.” Nehemiah says with a swelled chest. I consider this. Maybe he’s right.

  “Brennen, I wanted to know if we could spend the rest of the day together. I’ve to return to Heaven this evening.” My mother chimes in to break the awkward silence.