by Leah Grant
She writhed underneath him, and Drake left her breast to claim her mouth again. The kiss was intense, his gaze locked with hers. The feeling of being buried inside her was so incredible, Drake knew he couldn’t hold off any longer.
“I love you, Darna.” The final thrust sent him spiraling. Darna’s body clenched tightly around him into climax.
He wanted to languish with her in their intimacy, but it could not be so. Drake traced her cheek with his finger. Darna’s eyes opened, and Drake knew the evil thing had left her. He pulled out, rolling off the bed. Quickly he grabbed his clothes and got dressed.
“What are you doing? Drake, I think it’s gone. What happened?” Darna sat up, reaching for her robe.
“Darna, it’s inside me now. That was what it was gunning for all along. It’s a demon, and it has been hunting me for a long time.” The look on her face left him torn. He didn’t have time to explain. He had to get out of her apartment before the wretched thing took control of him.
“You’re leaving? But I thought you loved me?” Her eyes filled with tears. Drake slipped on his jacket, then faced her.
“I do love you and I always will.” He reached for her hand, bringing it up to his lips.
The last thing he saw before he went down the hallway was Darna’s beautiful face and fear-filled eyes. She was alive, and that was all that mattered.
Chapter 8
DRAKE got into the car. He drove as fast as the speed limit allowed, getting far away from the city. He’d staked out a spot where it would be safe to unravel his plan. Finally, he made it out to the countryside. The low rolling hills reminded him of his past, and he smiled. Drake pulled off the road and onto a rough gravel lane. What had once been an access road for a field was overgrown, and tree branches scraped against the car as he drove along. Now surrounded by growth, he came to a stop. Drake could feel the demon becoming more powerful inside him, and he needed to move fast.
“Why are we here?” The voice was loud and clear inside his head. Drake felt the kingpin looking out through his eyes.
“I have a surprise for you, like that day you showed up in the barn and surprised me.” Drake couldn’t repress the smug feeling over duping the kingpin.
“I am inside you now. I will take over and gain the power you possess. You are special, Drake—or should I say, Nathaniel. So many years I hunted you. You have destroyed many of my kindred. Now we will fuse, and you will become the instrument I have sought over the centuries.”
Ah, the confidence only a demon could possess. Drake got out of the car and walked to the middle of a small clearing.
“I’m going to rid myself and this world of you once and for all.” Drake swallowed hard.
“You cannot extract me without dying. You would not do this. You love the woman Darna. If you behave yourself and do not anger me, I will allow you to continue to have relations with her.”
“Sorry, Kingpin, not going to happen.” Drake took the gun out from his coat pocket.
“What are you doing? Suicide?” the demon asked, its voice changing.
“Yes, and by killing myself, I am killing you, so I guess it’s more a murder.”
“You would be throwing away any chance for love.” Drake heard the hiss edging the kingpin’s words. Clearly, it was distressed.
“I love Darna, and I am willing to die to save her and thousands of others. I have rid this world of so many of your kind. When I kill myself, you go with me. Although—don’t take this personally, fella—I don’t think we’re going to end up in the same place.” Drake chuckled.
He didn’t wait for the response. The kingpin would try to buy time to take over and prevent what was the only way to finally destroy it.
Drake took the safety off the gun and pointed it at his head. He pulled the trigger.
* * * *
The angel shimmered into form, its soft white light radiating outward, filling the entire area. The kingpin screamed as it endured the agony of its dying host. Then suddenly, silence. As the last breath left him, the angel stared into Drake’s eyes, letting him know he was not alone. The demon’s poison trickled out from Drake’s lifeless body, the green-tinged fluid sizzling until it dissipated into a vapor. In seconds, it dispersed in the wind. The angel stood guard, ensuring that all traces of the creature had been destroyed.
The angel drifted over to Drake, gazing down at his face with an expression of complete love. Its wings spread out and light a thousand times the sun came out from its core to surround the body.
* * * *
Drake woke up in the driver’s seat of his car. It took a couple of minutes to get his bearings. He turned to find the angel sitting next to him in the passenger seat.
“What’s going on?” he asked, dazed.
“You have proven yourself, Nathaniel Banner. Your action to rid this world of the kingpin demon and to save thousands of lives by taking your own has been the ultimate sacrifice and one which has spared your life. I am truly humbled that you took the kingpin on from Darna, sparing her life and all because of the love you have inside your heart for this woman.”
“I’m alive?” Drake patted around his body. He rolled down the car window, taking in the noise of the traffic on the street.
“I’m alive!” he shouted, then just as quickly became silent again.
“What is it, Nathaniel?” Drake felt the angel’s penetrating blue gaze linger over his heart.
“What is to become of me?” he whispered.
“You now have your mortal life back, Nathaniel. You will live out your natural life from this point until it is time for your soul to depart the earth.”
“I will finally grow old?” Drake rested his hands on the steering wheel. He had matured from his seventeenth year, but never really aged.
“Yes, and if I were you, I wouldn’t wait too long to settle down and have a family.” The angel smiled, and Drake found himself bathed in the most comforting light.
He closed his eyes for only a second, and when he opened them, the angel was gone.
It was over. So many years spent hunting demons, living through entire time periods and watching as everything came alive and then faded. He would now be a part of the world around him. He could live. He could love.
Chapter 9
STILL half-dazed, Drake looked about, realizing his car sat right in front of Darna’s apartment. He got out of the car and ran to the building.
Panic engulfed him as he realized he’d left without giving her any explanation. Would she talk to him? Drake felt a stab of pain go through his heart. He loved her. He wouldn’t take no for an answer, no matter how long it took to win her over.
He took the stairs two at a time all the way up to the fifth floor. By the time he reached her apartment, he was winded.
Drake's hand was poised to knock on the door when it opened. Darna narrowly missed getting his fist in her face.
“Sorry,” he panted, leaning against the doorframe.
“Nice to see you as well. Should I take a swing at you? Welcome you back?”
They both burst out laughing.
“May I come in? I would like to speak with you. There is so much I need to tell you.” Drake waited for her invitation.
“Yes, come in.” She opened the door further, stepping aside so he could enter.
Everything seemed so different now. Was it because he understood his mortality? It was that, but more. His heart was filled with so much love for this woman. He stood at the window, looking down at the city. It had a vibrancy he’d never noticed before.
“My real name is Nathaniel. Nathaniel Banner. I was born in the seventeen hundreds.” He spoke low and slow. When he turned, Darna was sitting on the couch.
“I’m listening.” Her tone let him know she wasn’t mocking what he said, or treating him as though he were crazy.
“What you had inside you was a demon. It's called a Kingpin Leader, and it's powerful and dangerous. The kingpin
had picked me out and was about to take my soul on my seventeenth birthday. An angel saved me that day, but I had to become a demon hunter. The angel charged me with this.”
“I don’t understand. Why did this ‘kingpin’ pick you?”
He indicated for her to sit on the couch. “I have the power to destroy demons. It wanted me to protect itself and its kind. By taking me, it could have wreaked destruction on the earth.”
“You know, normally I would label you as crazy for saying all that. Now, after everything that has happened, I believe you. I saw that thing. I could hear it speaking.” Darna covered her face. Drake went over, sitting next to her. He draped an arm around her shoulders.
“It’s okay now, Darna. I destroyed it.” God, she was shaking. He rubbed her back, then grabbed the throw and wrapped it around her shoulders.
“Did it transfer when…”
“Yes. I had to leave right away before it took power over me. It was the only way I could keep you safe,” he explained.
Suddenly, she lifted her chin, looking right up and into his eyes. Damn, she was so beautiful. He swallowed, wanting only to be able to stay with her and love her.
“When you left, it felt as though you were saying goodbye forever. Were you?” she whispered.
He didn’t answer right away. It took a couple of moments to get his words together.
“I was. I realized how much I loved you, Darna. I knew the only way to keep you safe was by taking the thing inside myself and then destroying it. That meant killing myself.” He spoke quietly.
“It’s still inside you?” She went to jump up, but he held her wrist, preventing it.
“No. Don’t be afraid.” He guided her to settle back on the couch. “I drove out of the city to a secluded spot where it didn’t have anyone to use as a pawn for leverage. Then I shot myself.”
Darna stared at him, speechless. Was she going to faint?
“But…you’re…alive.”
He watched her blink a couple of times. Poor thing, she’d been through hell. “I did die. The demon was destroyed, and because of my sacrifice, the angel graced me with life again,” he finished.
“That explains something.” Darna got up and went over to the bookshelf. Drake saw her pick out a book. She brought it over to him.
“The Existence of Angels and Demons.” He read the title out.
“Turn to page seventeen,” she instructed.
Drake did and nearly dropped the book with what he found. It was the feather the angel had sent as a message. Now here it was again.
“This is the feather the angel sent me when we were about to…” He didn’t finish. Now Darna had been given the feather.
“Interesting that it was on page seventeen. Isn’t that the age you said the demon had come for you at?” she asked, her voice so serious.
“Yes. I lived in a small village. I have to tell you—I wasn’t a good person. Far too headstrong and I was selfish.” Drake thought of how many years had passed since that time.
“It seems as though you have been given a second chance, and so have I.” Darna's warm gaze brought some hope to Drake's heart.
Drake got up and went over to where the clock sat. He picked it up and turned to Darna.
“You know, this is very similar to the one my family had on the mantle back on our farm. Where did you get this?” He turned the object around in his hands.
“I found it in the lobby the day you first came over.”
Drake positioned the black mantle clock so he could view underneath. There was a small marking. A chill went right through his body, and he almost dropped the clock.
“This is my clock—the family clock. It has our marking.” Drake turned back to Darna.
It all became clear—the angel’s words. In the end, you will know that the time is right. A message? He swallowed hard. Yes. The time was right. Right now.
Drake set the timepiece back and went to Darna. He pulled her up, taking her into his arms.
“I love you, Darna.” The softness of her lips was everything he needed.
She smiled up at him, and a sparkle of mischief went through her eyes.
“You’re pretty hot, for an old guy,” she teased.
Drake raised his eyebrows. “Really?” In one fluid motion, he scooped her up and into his arms, striding toward the bedroom. “I’m going to make you pay for that comment.”
“I’m counting on it,” she whispered against his ear.
The End
Publisher’s Note
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About Leah Grant
Leah Grant lives on the Canadian Prairies with her husband and cat, Miss Fish. Love coffee, anything ghostly, thunderstorms and chocolate. Don't be afraid to step into the storm, you never know where it will take you.
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