Destiny's Wrath (Destiny Series - Book 3) (20 page)

Samael leapt up from the bed and his hands were all over me. Caressing, kneading, squeezing all parts of me. I knew I had him. I pushed him away, “Wait - I don’t think we should. Not with you inside Max, anyway. How long until you can be back to your old self?”

“
Soon, very soon, my dear.” He didn’t ease up. He was still all hands. Even though I knew it was Samael, he was in Max’s body, so mine reacted the way it did every time Max touched me.

“
Samael, I want to. I really want you to show me your darker side. I know I can please you. But . . . not while you’re in Max.” I still had his super-human strength and was able to shove him hard as I took a step back. “You could always put Max back in charge of his body. You could watch.” I picked up the chains and slipped them back in my purse. “He said you really liked it when he and I made love that one time you were inside him.” I was pretty sure that this was the equivalent to throwing a bucket of ice water on him.

Urgently, Samael yelled, “NO! Lauren, I promise, he’ll never know. He cannot see. I’ll keep him in the dark for days, weeks if you want. I need this, I need you!”

“
Awww, Samael, you don’t
need
it.” I feigned bashfulness, “You want it. I want it, too, but not with you inside Max. I want it with you, while you’re you. I guess I can tell you: all that time I stalked you, I think I developed some sort of obsession with you.” Pausing for effect, I wanted to reel him in. “Don’t worry, I’ve waited months; I can wait a little longer. I’ll wait as long as it takes for you to be strong enough to be you again.”

Max took another step back away from me, his body started convulsing, pulsating, his skin stretched in all directions right there in front of me. Pulling and contracting in unnatural ways, his facial expressions distorted, Max let out a blood-curdling scream. I could see Samael was trying to regenerate himself, trying to morph into his previous shape-shifting self before my very eyes. All colors of dark hued lights emanated from Max’s chest - greens, reds, blues; those lights projected into the outline of a man, materializing right in front of me.

I stood mesmerized for a full five minutes. When the change was done, Max lay lifeless on the bed beside me. I reached over to check his pulse: it was strong but he was immobile. I caressed his face but saw no response. His seafoam green eyes were back to their normal color, but they looked blank, and I saw no response as I looked into them.

Samael, in the body that I had tried to kill all those months ago, stood in front of me. Tall, slender, blue eyes, light hair, definitely an attractive form if there ever was one; that is, unless you knew he was a demon. With this knowledge, any form he chose was repulsive. He was completely naked, his sapphire blue eyes beaming at me as he took a step in my direction. “I can assure you, Lauren, he is very much alive. The process is hard on the body, but he lives. Now, allow me to make your wildest fantasies come true.”

“
Samael, you read my mind.” I smiled a rich, welcoming smile when I asked him, “Would you mind lying on the other bed? I’ve seen this play out in my head a lot of times, and am anxious to make my fantasy a reality.”

He lay down, without reservation, without hesitation, without the slightest idea of what was about to happen. I reached between the mattress and box spring, wrapped my hand around my Glock, slid it out and aimed it squarely on Samael’s chest. It took too long for him to see the weapon and understand what was about to happen. The last time I had aimed in on him, in the freezing drizzle, hiding in his bushes, I had hesitated and then shot wildly – missing him entirely. Samael lived because I had choked. I refused to repeat my mistake from months ago. I squeezed the trigger in rapid succession, three to the chest, three to the head, and waited to make sure the wounds wouldn’t heal themselves. They didn’t.

The sound of the Glock woke Max from his trance. He sat up quickly, trying to jump out of bed, fearing I was in trouble. I shook my head at him, and he saw the handgun in my hand, the folded up body of Samael lying on the other bed. As we both watched, Samael’s wounds seemed to grow larger by the second. The gaping holes began to sizzle as if on fire. Max asked, “What about. . .”

I interrupted him. “Killing him isn’t enough. To destroy him, so he doesn’t exist, we have to trust that he’s gone and never coming back. He isn’t real; he’s gone.” Max agreed. He remembered Renny telling us this before: Samael could be killed easily enough, but to destroy him we needed to believe that he didn’t exist, trust that he would never return. In my mind, I knew this was absolutely the case. I did trust that he was gone for good.

Max eyed my outfit and reached over to my thigh, “So, what’s up with the sexy ensemble? Giving him a heartfelt send off?”

“
Something like that. I needed to get him out of you. There was no way I was going to risk someone on the Council or Cabinet getting a wild idea and trying to kill you.”

“
I guess you wore that outfit for me, even if it wasn’t for me to enjoy? We’ve got a little time, we could put it to good use.” Max’s arms wound around me, tugging me toward him on the bed.

“
Max, I just killed a demon: the same one that hunted me down in a campsite and put me in a coma for over two years, the same one who took you hostage and hid you in a bank vault, the same one who made a teenager kill nine people. I’m not feeling all that frisky right now.”

“
He’s gone. He’s really gone, Lauren. It’s just you and me. I think we should celebrate.”

I shook my head as my lips found his, “Let’s celebrate later. I think I need to change into something a little more formal before we meet with the Council and Cabinet.”

Five minutes later we were downstairs and members from both the Cabinet and Council began arriving. The meeting went very well. Max and I shared with both groups what had become of Samael. Both were interested in our achieving Virtue and the interesting way I was able to convince Samael to leave Max and take on his previous form. Renny responded first, “Lauren, that was genius, absolutely brilliant on your part. He was weakest right after regenerating himself.”

I recognized a face I’d seen before, but did not realize she was a member of the Cabinet: it was Ebony. She spoke in a condescending tone, “So, you killed him. Big deal. He’ll be back in no time. You can’t kill Samael. He immortal.”

“
Ebony, so nice to see you again. I didn’t realize you were a colleague of Dakota’s. What fancy emotion do you represent?” I asked her, trying to keep the disdain to a minimum.

“
Oh, c’mon girl, take a guess.”

“
Boyfriend tempter?”

“
That isn’t an emotion. I tode you I was testin’ him for you. He passed wif flying colors.”

Dakota interjected, “Lauren, I wasn’t aware you had met Ebony. She represents Deceit, which would make your hostility toward her understandable; she obviously tried to pull the wool over your eyes.”

“
Ebony, you’re wrong. Samael’s dead and he’s not coming back.

“
How you be so shore?”

“
Because I put the bullets in him. He’s dead. I trust that he can never hurt another, and he’s never coming back.”

“
Shooooot, you tell yourself that. He deceived more people in a day than I do in a month. He’ll be back. When he does, nobody goin’ help you. You be on your own.”

“
He isn’t coming back. He’s dead. He’ll never walk this earth again.”

“
Prove it.”

I thought for a minute. How could I prove that there really was nothing left of Samael? Then it hit me. Every time we had run up against one another, I’d won. The last time, I’d taken all his powers from him, except one.

I smiled, and visualized the darkest, sleekest, Black Panther I’d ever seen. I pictured bright yellow eyes, razor sharp fangs, paws the size of baseball mitts. I thought of smooth black fur so dark that purple highlights glistened off of it. I went to the floor and transformed into the majestic predator right in front of twenty-one sets of eyes. I had taken his power of shape shifting away: there truly was nothing left of Samael.

I felt magic, somehow, like there was nothing I couldn’t become. I let out a heinous, “RAAAWR,” as I saw all eyes staring in disbelief. To drive my point home, I began stalking toward Ebony, slowly, creeping toward her with my tail down, looking like I was ready to do a full frontal assault. Out of my peripheral, I saw the desk clerk in the lobby leap over the counter and sprint for the door. When Ebony had backed up all the way to the wall and could crawl no further away, I visualized my body again and transformed back into myself. Mike from the Council jumped up to go after the terrified desk clerk.

My smugness couldn’t be hidden, “Satisfied?”

Ebony, probably for the first time in her entire life, was speechless.

“
Trust is powerful. Sometimes you must believe in something you cannot prove. Sometimes you have to convince those that are ill-prepared for a new reality.”

Renny cleared her throat, “A new reality? You intend to pick up where Samael left off?”

I shook my head, “No, Samael was the last of his kind. I am no more a demon than I am a saint. I have his magic. When I die, it dies with me.” I stared daggers at the Council members before they could come to the conclusion, “Do not get any ideas about making that day come any sooner than I am ready for it to come. I have his power because I trusted in this outcome. I understand each of you standing before me has a purpose on this earth. There is just as much a need for a Cabinet as there is for a Council. Neither Max nor I will interfere with your regular duties. If there is ever an emergency where I believe it is necessary for the two groups to come together, I will summon you. Until that time comes, I do not wish to see or to maintain contact with any of you.”

Renny was skeptical. She asked me telepathically, “
You remember when we talked about Yin and Yang? Without an opposite of your strength, who will keep the balance
?”

My answer to her telepathic question was forceful and confident, “Trust, Renny. Trust that I will make the right decisions. Trust that I will not abuse my powers. Trust that my only desires are tied to enjoying this last lifetime with Max. Trust in me will keep the balance.”

Dakota didn’t wait for Renny’s response. She said, “Lauren, I trust you. Not because you ask for it, but because you have earned it. The Cabinet will stand ready to assist you if you ever need it. We wish you a happy life and a tranquil eternity.”

Mike stepped up, stood shoulder to shoulder with Renny, and added, “Lauren, your courage, your unwavering devotion to do what is right, for no other reason than it is the right thing to do, has earned you the Council’s trust as well. We, too, stand ready to serve you in any capacity you require. Enjoy the peace that you have earned. Thank you for destroying Samael and bringing peace to the world.”

A warmth emanated from within me. I looked at Max and could see he felt it, too. Earning the pillar Trust had little to do with destroying Samael and believing that he would never again walk this earth. Trust was earned through our actions. Trust was given to us freely by two opposing forces of the universe. Max and I were one pillar away from completing our souls and going to the eternal.

We said our goodbyes. I knew in my heart we would probably never see or hear from any of them again. It was bitter sweet. I would miss seeing Mike, Renny, and Dakota, but had no desire to ever again see Ebony. I’m sure they were all wise, and there was much I could have learned from them, but I had come to trust my heart, and my heart told me my time with them was over.

As both groups dispersed and Max and I made our way back to our room, I began to wonder. Empathy seemed a strange pillar to have left to achieve. I thought of how best to empathize, to feel deeply for another’s situation. The only way to feel another’s pain was to experience it for myself, right? I felt like I had already been through so much in such a short period of time that fighting another of life’s challenges might be too much, even for me.

I was twenty-six years old. I’d fought and defeated a demon, a beast, a shape-shifter, whatever he was. I’d won, not with a magic sword or might, but by understanding his weakness and exploiting it. He was drawn to me: he was vile, evil, and nearly everything he touched was tainted. But even Samael was capable of humanity. He felt lust for me; for all I know, he might have been capable of falling in love with me. I began to question whether his destruction was for the betterment of humanity or for me, the removal of someone I feared.

As I contemplated my decision to kill Samael at the moment he was most vulnerable, Max came up behind me and wrapped his arms around me. “Now that Samael’s really gone, are we ready to get on with our life?”

I leaned my head back on Max’s shoulder, “I’m ready to go home.”

“
You want to go to Ridgeville tonight?”

“
Yeah, I think I do. I’m done with this place, and I just want to get back to our lives.”

Max kissed the top of my head, “Me, too, love. Me, too.”

We were home just after dark. Rather than get into our normal routine, Max suggested, “Let’s go for a walk.”

Puzzled, “It’s dark out. Where do you want to go?”

“
I’m just tired of sharing you with everybody. I don’t think there’s anything we have to worry about that’s going to go ‘bump’ in the night.” Max gripped my hand, beaming at me, “If there is, you can turn yourself back into a panther and rip it apart. Let’s just see what we can see.”