She had to get to her grandmother to see if she was all right. Simra reached for her phone inside her pocket and sighed with relief when she found it. Mandy or Jeff needed to pick her up when she discovered where she was.
She made it to her destination with her fists clenched in frustration. This was no road. Instead, it was the lake shimmering beneath the radiant full moon. Simra couldn’t chance going toward the house again. She might run into Zach.
Tristan’s furious voice startled Simra from behind and caused her heart to drop. “What've you been doing with my brother?”
She shook her head and rubbed her eyes in multiple attempts to wake herself up from this nightmare. Simra kept opening them to face the man she couldn’t forgive standing by the shore. “What happens in my life's no longer your concern. You and I are done. Get over it. Face facts about yourself and life, or you’ll be miserable forever. I don’t and never will love you in a romantic way again.”
His balled fists trembled when he inched closer to her. “If you’re going to point out my faults, why don’t we name a few of yours? You continue dating other men behind my back and lying to me. You’re also much too dependent on your precious little grandmother. We both know Zach’s going to claim her life soon.”
Hearing this guy’s bickering over and over again throughout the last year of their relationship was enough. She wasn’t naming his flaws. Tristan always had delusions in his head and tried making her react in a horrible way.
Drawing such reactions from her seemed to make him feel better since he despised hearing facts. Maybe he and Zach were different, and she didn’t wish to hear facts from the angel. The longer she spent running from Tristan and Zach began to prove how this couldn’t be a nightmare.
She stepped away from the guy. How she pitied him! “I’m not getting into this absurd dispute with you again. I never dated anyone behind your back and didn’t list your faults. I’ve tried to help you before, but you refused it. You and your brother will stay far away from my grandmother if you know what’s best for you. Leave me alone.”
Mandy's words haunted her wounded heart. In most cases, a jealous and possessive man is guilty of dating other women behind your back.
He stepped in front of her the second she turned to walk away from him. “You’re right, princess. We shouldn’t argue, but you shouldn’t trust my brother. I’ll do nothing to hurt your grandmother-unlike him. Zach’s attempting to claim her life. He wants you to believe I'm a demon so you’ll hate me. My brother’s trying to make you believe he's an angel of God. But he’ll eventually lead you into worshiping evil.”
Dread suffocated her as she took unsteady steps away from him. “Stop lying to me. I know both of you are out for her blood. You’re both evil. Let me pass.”
Tristan pulled her by the arm. His determination to keep her remained persistent. “Zach wants to get on your good side first. He murdered me and brought you to his house for horrible reasons. My brother’s going to kill you and your grandmother. He wants you to believe I’ve cursed her. There’s no such thing. You know that. I know you’re angry at me, but we can stop him…together.”
She didn’t know what or whom to believe. Simra stepped away from him but soaked in the information he gave her. “I’m doing nothing with you. I must’ve been right about him. He’s like you-wants to get on my good side first. I’ll stop both of you. If you or Zach dare lay a hand on my grandmother, you’ll regret the day you ever met us.”
Tristan pulled her close. His cold lips devoured hers in a kiss. Simra jerked herself free and stormed away from him. Flashes of their past relationship invaded her torn senses. Her ex-fiancé’ didn’t give up and appeared in front of her to stop her in the blink of an eye.
She felt the blood drain from her face at his horrifying speed. Simra stumbled backward and restrained a scream when she gazed up. Zach towered over her on the sandy shore.
The angel’s fierce stare pierced into Tristan. Zach balled up his fists at his sides. Shivers crawled up and down Simra’s spine. Zach never appeared as heroic as he did now. But he wasn’t someone she could ever date.
The angel and his brother shared too many physical and emotional qualities. Besides, Zach wanted to collect her grandmother’s soul. Maybe the physical similarities between him and Tristan caused her heart to be weak.
Tristan chuckled with sarcasm. “Missing her, brother? Neither of us missed you. We were both just leaving the little hideaway you picked out for you two.”
“Leave her alone. Everyone refuses listening to your lies. You should go on ahead to the lake of fire now. You’ll be destroyed soon anyway,” Zach grumbled.
Tristan frowned with dark shadows painted across his pale face. “She doesn’t wish to be with you, and you won’t be destroying me anytime soon. Be careful who you threaten, dear brother. You might be sent back to heaven very soon by me.”
Zach towered over Tristan, and his bold gaze stabbed into the demon without any fear. “Simra didn’t ever love you and never will love you. She only thought she loved you once. You won’t ever know the meaning of real love. You’ve never experienced loving anyone.”
Simra continued walking backward and observed the two feuding brothers. She stumbled into the sand when her ex-fiancé’ lunged for Zach. Tristan caused him to move away before the angel gripped his brother’s shoulder. Zach pinned him against a tree. Her ex-boyfriend slipped away from his brother only to charge at the angel from behind. Tristan tried to place a hand against Zach’s head.
Simra loathed the heavy concern spiraling through her aching heart. She stepped toward the demon until Zach spun around. The angel pinned him to the ground and mumbled an unknown language over him. Zach was getting the best of Tristan, and Simra broke into a mad run up the dirt road.
She passed the house again. Wild goose bumps spread across the back of her neck. The angel described the way she felt about his brother in such an exact way. How could Zach know so much about her, what she felt, and what she thought? He probably knew she had a weakness in her heart for him!
There were no other houses on Zach’s road. Simra panted hard from running so fast and such a long distance. Her lungs throbbed from such intense breathing. She didn’t stop until she reached the busy road. Simra leaned against a tree to catch her breath.
The awakening of a Texas dawn hovered in the distance. The day might not be survived. This wasn’t a dream for certain. The weakness, the heavy breathing, the running, and her heart pounding seemed real enough.
Simra slipped a hand into her pocket to retrieve her cell phone, but her body stiffened at the sudden noise. Footsteps crunched the leaves along the side of the thicket. Zach or Tristan must have caught up before she could escape. Daring to take a small peek, she turned her head slightly. A man approached her with quick steps.
His white cap was worn to the side, and he approached her with a dark scowl. “Simra Reece?”
That voice sounded…so familiar. Her entire body began to quiver. “Who are you?”
Pulling a gun from his pocket, he nudged it against her. “Quint. The guy you must pay. Come wit' me, or I’ll shoot.”
Chapter 7
"Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe." -Proverbs 29:25
Simra tried to hide the terror spiraling through her body. She didn’t hesitate to do as Quint demanded. “How’d you know I was here? You been following me the whole time?”
This would not stop her from getting to her grandmother. Tristan might arrive at the nursing home any moment to harm Lucinda. There must be another way other than bringing Lucinda to Zach’s lake house to keep her safe. First, Simra needed to escape from this thug. It wouldn’t be easy.
The crook’s laugh rumbled behind her, and he pressed the hard tip of the gun deeper into her back. “You askin’ too many questions. Naw. I didn’t follow you. It might sound crazy, but I had dis vision or dream about dis place. Tha' vision led me here, and what do ya know? Here ya are.
Keep walkin’, woman.”
Simra almost froze in her tracks. She gasped at how Tristan might have led him there through a dream. “How were you involved with my ex?”
Quint grabbed her arm and led her to a hidden dirt path leading into the woods. “Dis way. We were in tha’ business of dealing and stealing together. He killed himself before he was supposed to give me my share of tha' money for selling drugs. I took his phone after he shot himself and found ya number. I knew to find you.”
Curiosity overwhelming her, Simra dared to ask him what she always wanted to know. “Did Tristan ever use drugs?”
Quint laughed raggedly. “Naw. We just sold ‘em to other people. We were in it for tha’ good money. That’s all.”
Selling drugs to people was the most inhumane deed a person could ever do! It only caused chaos and misery in people’s lives. Drugs made most people in society hit emotional, spiritual, physical, and financial bottoms. How could anyone want to make money in such a cruel way?
They sold countless drugs to the people. Tristan even laughed about it the day she left him. He claimed so many people would risk anything for them.
She scanned the thicket down the path, and they stopped near a rusted and beaten car. Now might be her only chance to escape. “Where's his body?”
Quint turned Simra around at the passenger door and aimed the pistol toward her. “I’ve almost had enough of your stupid questions, woman. I’d like my money now.”
Simra placed her hands above her head and backed up against the car. “You never told me how much you wanted or gave me any warning. Give me more time to obtain it, and I’ll have it for you.”
Quint cocked his gun, and his eyes fueled with a hot rage. He inched closer. “I’ve waited long enough. Take me to tha’ money now. It’ll be in my hands today. Understood? Get in tha’ car.”
Her weak knees wobbled. Simra’s trembling hands reached for the rusted surface of the door handle. After she turned around to open the door, her body jolted. Gunshots boomed from just a few steps behind her.
She dared turning around to see what or who Quint shot. Cold tremors raced through her veins when she saw Zach shooting the gun. He pointed it somewhat away from the drug dealer. Quint stumbled backward into a tree with a low heavy limb hanging from it.
The drug dealer’s eyes rolled backward, and he nodded off to sleep from hitting his head on the low branch. Simra covered her mouth with a hand when Zach stopped shooting the gun. The angel seemed to be only trying to scare him. Quint must have not seen him. Zach towered over the crook. Simra scurried away from the disturbing scene.
Running into an opening of the foggy thicket, Simra never stopped to look behind her. Some of what Tristan said about his brother might be true. They were both fallen angels trying to get on her good side. Although Zach saved her more than once, he continued following her. Zach revealed signs of possession in the same ways as Tristan. She must find a way to get to her grandmother and keep her safe from all of them.
The hanging limbs of trees and thorny briars tore at Simra’s skin as everything spun in circles around her. The same trees surrounded her in the long distances she ran. The pines loomed over her with their powerful scent of the wilderness. They continued reminding her of how lost she became.
Simra stopped to lean against one of the wide trunks. Her deep breaths grew rough. Simra’s heavy legs ached from running so much this morning. Her throat went dry for a crisp cold taste of water. Silence settled in the depths of the forest, but the stillness indicated she wasn’t alone.
Scanning the overgrowth of briars and pines, she turned around to see if anyone stood behind her. Dread rippled through her when she spotted Zach standing a breath away from her. “You! Stay away from me!”
“Simra, you’re very confused and tired right now. Don’t allow Tristan’s lies to affect you anymore. My brother should be considered as the prince of lies. You know this.”
Her beliefs swam in different directions, and she tried to think better. “I know that, but you following me and fighting people in such a way doesn’t help matters. Not to mention, you want my grandmother’s soul.”
Zach stepped closer with a dark frown across his face. “I’m trying to protect you, and your grandmother’s dying because of Tristan. Not me. I don’t want her to die. You could’ve gotten killed had I not shown up in time. I didn’t shoot or hurt Quint but only scared him. I don’t need you in the way my brother does. All I need is your help, and you must have mine as much as I require yours.”
Simra’s heart raced after he pointed the truth out to her in such an insensitive way. The deep spark he ignited within her all this time should not be there. Zach felt no passion for her, and he just admitted it. She should feel nothing for him anyway. He wasn’t human.
The angel shouldn’t feel anything for her either. Her heart confused her during the moments she spent with him. The brothers were so similar, yet they seemed so different.
Simra bit her lip in frustration. She hated admitting how she and her family were much safer at the lake house. Her grandmother would be much more secure in a place where only two men were a danger to her rather than all three of the guys. Everywhere else would be more dangerous than at the lake house where only Zach and Quint were a threat to Lucinda. Simra could keep an eye on her grandmother during all times.
“I’m sorry, Zach. It’s just that I’m afraid of trusting you. I’ve been through so much this past year with your brother. You probably don’t understand, but it’s fine. I’ll learn to adjust. I’m so exhausted, and I realize it's safer at the lake house. I must call Mandy, and my grandmother does need to stay with us here.”
Zach nodded with a slight smile and crossed his arms against his orange polo shirt. “I understand. I understand you need to let go of your troubled past. God will help you if you seek His guidance. Come. Let’s return you to safety. Call your cousin to bring your grandmother. I’m not murdering Lucinda. The curse is what’s killing her.”
Simra loathed to hear this man spit such direct truths to her. She did fight letting go of what Tristan did to her all this time. Simra needed to release the past and move on. If she didn’t, it would be the end of her. Regardless of Zach’s reassurances of how he wouldn’t kill anyone, collecting someone’s soul meant the same thing. The angel of death could stop Lucinda from dying if he wanted to.
Simra scanned her surroundings once more and tried to find any area that looked familiar. “I’ve no idea where we are in this thicket. I’m lost. Where’s the road?”
Zach’s lips tugged into a smug grin, and an amused chuckle slipped from him. “This should prove to you that I’m nothing like my brother. You’d already be dead if you didn’t have me to protect you.”
Simra gasped in surprise when he swept her up into his arms and held her close to his hard chest. Zach looked into her eyes, and the warmth of his nearness melted her soul like hot lava. Her wild heart hammered against her chest. The forest moved so fast around her and caused Simra to gasp with wonder.
The sun flashed with its rays of light dancing around them. She almost didn't notice the changing surroundings. Her studious gaze remained in the eyes of the irresistible and arrogant angel holding her in his arms.
Zach placed her on her feet at the porch of his house and opened the door for her. “After you.”
Simra scratched her brow and tilted her head with confusion. She hardly realized they were back at the lake house. Zach’s gentle eyes captivated her during those quick magical seconds. “How’d you do that?"
“I’m an angel. I can do such things.” He gestured for her to go inside the house.
She never turned her eyes away from him after she walked into the house. The heavy aroma of cedar welcomed her as she sat at the kitchen table. “How’d you get rid of Tristan? You didn’t murder Quint, did you?”
Pulling out a chair at the cedar table, Zach took a seat across from her. “I said a powerful prayer to dispose of Tristan until I could return you
to safety. No, I didn’t kill Quint. He’s only unconscious and will continue trying to find you.”
“Zach, I believe Tristan told him where to find me in a dream. You believe Quint will come to this house?”
The angel leaned forward, and his eyes widened with questioning in them. “You’ll be safe here. It’s protected against all evil. Tristan can’t see or hear inside this house because of the sacred protection. He can't show Quint the house in the dream either. All he can do is show him the area of the highway. Trust me.”
Zach stood to pace the floor and scratched his chin. “Call your friend, Jeff, to assist us. Maybe he can help us locate Tristan’s body.”
Simra slid the phone out of her pocket and glanced at the time before calling her friend. “It’s six in the morning. I must call Mandy first and tell her to bring Grandmother here.”
Dialing Mandy’s number, Simra allowed it to ring several times before her cousin answered in a drowsy voice. “Yeah?”
Simra told Mandy about the confrontation with the drug dealer. She explained how Quint captured her until Zach knocked him unconscious. Simra told her cousin about how Zach kept her in a safe place where the drug dealer and Tristan could never find them. “I’d like to bring Grandmother to safety with me. Quint knows where she’s staying, and she’s in danger. He might ask anyone to go inside the home and kill her. Explain to everyone that I’m bringing Grandmother to my place for a while. This man’s dangerous.”
“Oh, Sim. This is all so difficult to believe! You certain this place is safe? I hope the drug dealer doesn’t find you there. Maybe I should come and stay with the three of you.”
“I realize that, but this is real. Yeah, come and stay with us. Please bring Grandmother. Zach knows what he’s doing. The drug dealer won’t find us here. I’m calling Jeff as soon as I get off the phone with you.”
“Ok. Promise I will, Cousin. But please call Jeff. Where’s this place? I’ll bring Grandma this afternoon. She can stay with us during the evening and night there. We can bring her to work with us during the day. I love you so much.”
Immortal Memory (Book One) Page 5
