I stood on my own and motioned, with a little embarrassment, for Raymond to have a seat in the center of the prop. I knew that I needed to work on Adam becoming a believer, but this was my last client of the day, and I needed to get it done before I could worry about the end of my life. I know it sounds stupid, but it's what I do.
Raymond sat down in his tux top. I walked to him and smiled before removing his glasses. He smiled back at me shyly. He really was good looking. He looked a hundred percent better than when he'd shown up at my door. I was betting he would go buy contacts tomorrow.
I could feel Adam looking at me, and I was a little distracted by it, but I needed to concentrate on my subject. I cleared my throat, and I felt him look away. I repositioned the soft box and the lights. The sun had started to set, so the lighting wasn't as good in the house anymore.
I positioned Raymond as I wanted him for the first shot. He smiled and I shook my head. "No smile for the first two pictures. I'll tell you when." He nodded and his face became solemn. It was perfect. I straightened his shoulders, and turned his head so he wouldn't be looking directly at the camera. I moved out of the way and said, "Click." My camera came to life. I repositioned him and moved back. Adam took another shot.
"You can smile for me this time, Raymond." He did, but it was clearly a fake smile. Most people aren't able to really smile unless they are truly happy about something. I moved to the side so I was directly in his line of sight and pulled my ears out from my head and crossed my eyes. I got a genuine smile that time and Adam took the shot. Maybe I needed to keep him around to help me with my work. He was actually good at this.
I had him change into the black long sleeve button up and I began changing my props while he dressed. I looked up and just stared at him when he walked around the edge of the screen. He looked dashing. I led him to the new prop, because without his glasses on, I wasn't sure he could see to walk without tripping over something. My equipment was high tech and very expensive, and I didn't want him breaking anything if I could prevent it from happening.
"Very nice," Adam said as I moved the tripod to a new scene.
I smiled as I looked at him, but quickly realized it wasn't my work with Raymond he was referring to. His eyes were lust filled and hungry. My body flushed with heat, and I had to make myself look away from him. I had a job to do, and there was a seventeen year old kid staring at us. When I finally looked back at him, he was smiling.
He stood from his seat and walked to me. I stiffened. I didn't know what to expect. He bent close to my ear and whispered, "I just wanted to see if I affected you, the way you affect me." He exhaled, and even that got my blood boiling again. "We can get back to work now. Your client is waiting on you."
I took in several deep breaths before I opened my eyes. Adam was all calm and collected. There was no sign that he had seduced me with his eyes. I thought it was mean what he'd done to me, but I guess he'd only done it because I wouldn't tell him why he was so attracted to me. I took in another breath, then got back to work.
We took three different poses of Raymond in the black dress shirt, two in the cashmere sweater and four in the knit polo. It seemed like the polo was his favorite of the three, so I gave him more shots in it. He changed back into his nerdy shirt, but this time he left the top two buttons unfastened. Much better, I thought.
I walked him to the door and he gave me an awkward hug. He sighed when he stepped back. "Thank you for taking the time to help me, Ms. Larkin. A lot of photographers would have just taken the pictures."
His eyes glazed over, and he turned and walked out the door.
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Chapter Twenty-five
Adam was pouring two glasses of wine when I got back to the kitchen. I really liked it when a person made themselves at home in my house. I didn't care for the nervous type that would say no if you asked them if they needed or wanted anything, when you knew they really did.
I noticed a skillet and a large pan on my stove. I thought I might be going plum wacko, but I knew they hadn't been there a few moments before. If I ignored them, maybe they'd go away.
I could hear Rhyan's laughter in my head, and decided to ignore him, too. It wasn't funny at all that I was turning into a crazy person. Then I heard meat sizzling, and caught a whiff of beef. My eyebrows drew together; I knew I wasn't imagining that.
Adam handed me a glass of wine and smiled. "Usually, when I cook for someone I'm at my place, but we're at your place, and there isn't enough time to get to my place before I starve to death."
I looked at him for a minute then burst out laughing. I sat on the barstool and enjoyed my first sip of White Zen. "So, Chef Adam, I have a question I would like to ask you, but first, what are we having for dinner?"
"Spaghetti, and I may or may not answer your question, but you can ask anything you like." He grabbed my cutting board, a knife out of my wooden knife block, and an onion out of the onion basket.
I smiled at him. He'd said that same thing the first time we ever tried to have a conversation. Of course the circumstances were totally different now. "Is this a date?"
He shook his head. "No, I was just hungry." I looked at him, aghast, and his eyes lit up as he chuckled. "Yes, Kendra, I am considering this a date, but it's hardly fair, I think."
My eyebrows drew together again. "Why isn't it fair?" I asked.
He shrugged. "Well, you were the one who paid for the food and the wine. Didn't you tell me that if it's considered a date, that I get to pay?"
I laughed again then wiped at my eyes from the onion fumes. "But you're doing the cooking. I think that makes it fair. I would pay a lot of money to have someone else cook for me. It isn't one of my best talents. I can make good dishes; I just don't enjoy making them."
He opened the freezer and grabbed a loaf of cheese bread. I know you're supposed to eat garlic bread with spaghetti, but I don't like it, so I buy cheese bread instead. He set the oven temperature, tossed the diced onions into the skillet and got a jar of spaghetti sauce and salt from my pantry. He was walking around my kitchen like he knew where everything was. It was a little puzzling, but maybe he kept everything at his place in the same place I kept all my things.
"I'm guiding him to where everything is, Kendra. He can't hear me like you can, but he's following his instincts, me. He wouldn't have listened to me two hours ago. You're making progress with him. Keep up the good work." Rhyan said through my mind.
"Is that why his eyes are getting lighter?" I said back to him.
"I'm not sure, but I believe so." He said back, and I left it at that.
The doorbell rang, and Adam turned to looked at me with a disappointing look on his face. "You expecting another client?"
I shook my head as I got off the barstool. "I'm done working for the day. I don't know who it could be." I walked down the hall toward the door. I knew that Kobhye or Aven wouldn't be stopping by, but that didn't rule out my parents or other friends.
"Kendra, get rid of him. He's only here to cause trouble for you." Rhyan said, and I froze before opening the door.
"Who wants to cause trouble for me?"
Then I heard him on the other side of the door. "Kendra, it's Mason. I need to give Adam something."
I started to open the door, but Rhyan spoke again. "He's lying. Tell him to go away."
"Why would he be lying?"
"Okay, ask him what he needs to give him, or why couldn't he give it to him tomorrow morning at work."
I wasn't going to argue with him. I knew Mason didn't like me seeing his best friend, and him too. "What is it, and why couldn't you just give it to him in the morning?"
I heard him sigh. "He left his phone at work. I figured he'd need it before in the morning in case there's an emergency at the hospital. I know Richardson is on call for him, but if they need more hands, they'll need to get a hold of Adam."
I hadn't heard Adam's phone ring the whole time he'd been here, but he'd called me from my front porch when he got to
my house. He was lying.
"Thank you. Now tell him to leave you alone." Rhyan said.
I was confused. Why would Mason lie about something like that? Why would he lie, to get in my house?
"I found out why I can't find Mason's guardian angel. He doesn't have one. He is Adam's guardian demon. I would've told you sooner, but I just found out right before he showed up at your door. He knows your motives, and I think he's here to kidnap you so you can't complete your mission and get any closer to Adam's soul. Lock the damn door!"
I was in shock, and instead of moving forward, I took a step back away from the door and stared at the handle. I watched in horror as it began to turn. I rushed to lock it, but I wasn't fast enough. He opened the door and grabbed me by the throat, raised me up off the floor a couple inches and slammed my back into the wall. I couldn't breathe. He was trying to collapse my windpipe.
"You may have gotten to him a little, but you won't get the chance to get to anymore of his soul."
I heard the loud pop through the pounding in my ears. I fell to the floor as Rhyan knocked Mason away from me. There were swirls of neon blue color, and the wind was blowing heavily around them as they fought in my foyer. Rhyan forced an arm around his neck, and placed his other hand on Mason's chest. The pop that followed was deafening, and then they were both gone.
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Chapter Twenty-six
I was still shaking as I stumbled back into the kitchen.
"You have to get Adam and leave. I can't hold him much longer, and he'll kill you if he finds you. His real name is Murry. You have to get Adam to leave with you until all of this is over!"
I could tell he was still struggling with Mason/Murry; his voice was strained.
Then I heard Mason shouting at me. "There's no where you can hide that I won't find you, Kendra!"
I stopped in the hallway and tried to catch my breath. I could hear Hercules barking and growling from his pet carrier. I kept him in it when I had a lot of people coming in and out of the house, and had forgotten to let him out so he could meet Adam when Raymond left. What could I do? Where could I take Adam so we would be safe until Friday? He wouldn't go with me and leave work that long. I hadn't gotten close enough to him for that. He still wasn't so sure if I was crazy or not.
"Kendra, are you all right?" Adam said to me, as if he hadn't heard any noise at all. I was looking at the floor, and I could feel him coming toward me, I looked up. He was looking at the open door with a puzzled look on his face. "Who was at the door?"
I made eye contact with him. I really didn't have a choice but to do this now. If he didn't believe me, then I was screwed. "It was Mason, Adam."
"Mason? Well, where is he? And why is your door still open?" He took my shoulders in his hands and looked me in the eyes. "And tell me why you look like the world is about to end."
I dropped my head. "Because mine is," I whispered around the large sore lump in my throat.
Adam looked back to the door, then back to me. He huffed. "Look, you're going to have to do a little more explaining than that. I don't have a clue what you are talking about."
When I looked back up at him, my tears brimmed over and slid down my cheeks. "You won't believe me."
His eyes grew wide at the sight of my distressed state, and he hugged me tight to his body. I knew he was scared and confused and maybe thinking about admitting me into an insane asylum, but he stood there and held on to me. "Does this have anything to do with me?"
I nodded.
He sighed. "Okay, does this have anything to do with me being so attracted to you?"
I nodded again.
"And does this have anything to do with me not being able to stop looking at you."
I nodded, yet again.
"So what does Mason have to do with any of this?" he asked.
I ignored his question. "If you believed in God, this would all just go away."
He let go of me and held out his arms. "I don't know what "THIS" is, Kendra. Try telling me, and I will listen, and try to understand."
I took a deep breath in, and then exhaled slowly. "Mason isn't good, Adam. He wants to kill me."
His eyes grew wide and he backed up a step. He shook his head slowly. "Mason wouldn't try to kill you, Kendra. He isn't a murderer. He may be upset because he took you out on a date, and I moved in on his game, but he wouldn't hurt you because of it. I swear, Kendra," he said as he took my hands in his. "You have to believe me. Mason wouldn't hurt you."
I clucked my tongue twice on the roof of my mouth. "Well, he just tried to." I tilted my head back so he could see my neck where Mason had tried to choke me to death. He hesitantly ran his finger lightly over the red finger markings on my neck. "And he isn't mad because you are trying to steal me. He's pissed because I'm trying to steal your soul away from him. He's your guardian demon. He always has been, and he has more control over you than your guardian angel does. He is pissed at me because I was making progress in winning your soul back."
He saw the red marks. He couldn't deny that someone had tried to hurt me, but he still looked skeptical.
"And where is Mason now?" he said as he looked to the open door, like he wanted to run outside and kick Mason's ass for hurting me.
"He's gone for now. My guardian angel knocked him off of me and took him somewhere. He can't hold him for long, and there will be nothing to stop him when he gets loose from Rhyan. Rhyan thinks I should take you and go hide somewhere until Saturday. But I don't know where to go that he won't be able to find us. He's really strong, and he is tapped into you like a GPS tracker. He hears your every thought.
Adam let out a long breath and ran his fingers through his hair. He shook his head again. "So, what happens if he doesn't find us, but I still don't believe in God by Friday?"
"I will die, and both of our souls will belong to him."
He walked away from me and went back into the kitchen. When he came back a few moments later, he looked like he was still thinking. "I've been around Mason for six years. He was working at that hospital when I started there. He can't be my guardian demon, or whatever you say he is. He's always had my back. He's a good person, Kendra."
I shook my head. "He influenced you to take that job. He has the power to make people think things that don't really happen. I bet he started there the same time you did, and only made the people at the hospital think that they knew him and that he had been there a long time. This is some really unusual shit, and I know it's a lot to comprehend, but I wouldn't lie to you. My life and soul, as well as yours, is at stake."
"I don't really know you, Kendra. I know Mason, and he isn't some demon. What exactly is he trying to stop from happening? How are you gaining better control over my soul? I don't believe in God anymore than I did three days ago."
I shook my head.
"Tell me, Kendra, or I'm walking out that door and you will never see me again!" he shouted as he pointed at the open door.
I started crying again. "Because I'm your soulmate!" I shouted back.
He stared at me, clearly astounded. "I don't know what to believe, but it isn't going to be this. I turned everything off on the stove. Enjoy your dinner, Kendra, and leave me alone." He turned away from me and walked out of the house, leaving the door open. I heard his car start and then heard it quickly leaving my drive.
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Chapter Twenty-seven
I leaned against the wall and slid to the floor as I cried. I sat in that same spot and cried for what seemed like an eternity, but was probably only about twenty minutes or so.
"I'm sorry, Rhyan. I have failed, and all is lost."
I heard the pop, and I quickly raised my head thinking that it was Mason, or rather Murry, coming back to kill me. It was Rhyan and he was wearing a sad look on his face.
"It isn't over yet. We won't give up until your soul is lost."
I had a thought. "If Murry kills me before my time is up, does he still get to keep my soul?"
He shook his head. "No, your soul will go to Heaven if he kills you before your time is up. I know it may sound selfish, but if we can't win, then I would prefer it happen that way."
I nodded as I stared at the wall in front of me. "Are there many good souls in Hell?"
He shook his head. "There aren't many guardian angels that would have made a deal like that. Coen was an exception, and he has been given the maximum punishment for it. His soul has fallen into Hell. He can never return."
Good, it served him right. "Where is Murry now?" I had to catch myself, I almost said Mason. That was what I knew him by. Then again, I really didn't know Mason either, did I?
Rhyan shrugged and slid down the wall to sit beside me. "I don't know. He got away from me. I came straight here so I could protect you if he came back." He inhaled deeply, and then let it all out at once through puffed out cheeks. "I can't protect Adam though, and I'm sure Mason will dig his claws into him even deeper if you're not around. There wasn't any other way you could have handled that, Kendra. It isn't your fault that Adam chooses not to believe."
I started crying again, and he looked at me with a helpless expression. I knew he wanted to put his arms around me and comfort me, but he'd promised to never touch me again. "Will you stay with me tonight, Rhyan? I don't think I can be alone."
He nodded. "You're never alone. I'm always with you, but I'll stay here with you like this if it will make you feel better. He won't hurt you if I can help it."
I took his hand in mine and laced my fingers with his. He stiffened. I didn't care if my emotions got taken over by his. I needed to feel the love that I had felt when we'd kissed earlier. I felt like I was slipping away from myself and he was the only thing that could keep me together. I loved him. I had to admit that I was starting to have feelings for Adam as well. I even believed he was my soulmate, but Rhyan made me feel safe, secure, and in control. I needed him like I needed air. Was it possible to love more than one man at the same time?
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