My Soul to Save (Soul Keeper) (2 page)

My fingers grip the counter as if the inanimate object could swallow me up and save me if the need should arise. I grab a curling iron off the counter and wield it like a samurai. His lips pull to one side, humored by my choice in weaponry.

"I'm sorry I scared you. I just had to see you one last time. They are going to take me soon, and I don't know if I'll ever see you again as me. After today, I don't want you to ever trust me again okay?" he says it as if it pained him. "Take this, I gave it to you once before when I had to leave." He slides an old worn leather book towards me on the counter.

"You know I don't remember us, don't you?"

"I know, but your memories were starting to come back. I saw you write them all down. It won't be long now." He keeps his distance like he's still not sure if he should come any closer. He's drop-dead gorgeous, and I try and imagine us together. I try and force the memories to come. But my mind is blank. I inch closer to him as if my body had slipped into his gravity. Maybe it's autonomic for it to draw near him. Maybe only my defunct brain is the problem.

"What will they do to you Elijah? How can I help you?"

"Can I hold you in my arms, just for a moment?" 

It won't hurt when I snap your neck.
 
I think to myself. My body stiffens, but I nod anyway. God, Elena would kill me herself if she knew what I was doing in here.

He takes me up in his arms. His touch is so tender. The fog comes over me and elicits sweet memories of this very thing. This man has held me like this an awful lot. His scent wafts up into the space between us and I drink it in. It’s intoxicating whatever it is. Notes of wine and dark chocolate and something else I can't quite place, makes my stomach lurch in its tracks and beg to consume it by the bucketful. Steam from the shower fogs up the room. The heated room plus his body has blushed my cheeks into shades of pink roses.

"I love you with all of my heart. I made a promise to you and I will never stop trying to fulfill it," he says slowly so that my heart can fully absorb the weight of his pledge.

Tears spring to my eyes as I recall the promise I made to him the night they stole our love from us. I said I would never stop fighting for us. I said I would find a way for us to be together. And now here I stand in his arms and it feels like I'm watching a home movie of someone else’s life.

"Don't cry love. Remember my words. I will love you even when you don't love me. I will love you even when you don't want me to love you," he says softly in my ear, the heat from his breath in my ear causes my pelvis to launch in his direction as if she were saying, "
Hey stupid, you're going the wrong way, turn this ship around
." I didn’t even realize I was crying and really didn’t know why. I hate this. I hate how warped my mind is right now.

"Elijah, I'm so sorry this happened to us. I've ruined your life. I'm going to get you out of this. I promise." He presses a finger over my lips and shakes his head.

"No Brennen, this is not your fault. I chose this, and I accept my punishment. I deserve this and worse for renouncing my creator, for letting you ever get taken in the first place and for not getting rid of Nehemiah sooner."

"No Elijah, I did this. If we would have just listened to Nehemiah in the first place none of this would have happened. You kissed me
, and my whole world took a different path. My mother says now I am back on that path. She's going to read the Oracle from now on."

"There is something she needs to know. Something that Nehemiah showed me just before I captured him."

"What Elijah?"

"I don't know if it's changed now or not. But she'll know it when she sees it."

He offers a warm smile and I can see how easily I must have fallen for him. He begins to fade away with the steam, his sapphire eyes dissipating lastly, as if the moist air had swallowed him up whole.

"Good bye Elijah." I glance down and finally remember what little clothing I'm wearing. Heat singes my body from the embarrassment. I eye the old looking book on the counter and wonder what is inside but I’m too afraid to open it. I’ve already exceeded the amount of knowledge one person can render in one day.

I slip into the shower without rousing a single suspicion. Part of me wonders how competent my two guardians are. What if I’d been in danger? How did Elijah pop into the room without alerting them at all? What’s in this book he left me? Part of me is afraid to open it. The naive teen in me can’t wait to get her greedy hands on it. I ease back into the room and notice Elena right where I left her, perched atop my dresser.

“So did your talk go as you had hoped?” She slithers out. I freeze mid-stride turning all shades of beet.

“Um I guess so. So you knew he was in there with me?”

“What kind of fool do you take me for Brennen? I told him he could have five minutes alone with you and if anything happened, a lead spirit-trap had his name on it. What, did you think, you’d snuck one past us?” She gleams out a dark smile. I’m left standing there stunned for a moment.
 Something tells me I’d better never get on Elena’s bad side.

"Easy Elena, you must realize how difficult this is for her?" Inara coaxes
, attempting to simmer the boiling pot. Now I see why my mother put Inara here, not for added protection from Elijah or demons, no I believe she's here to prevent Elena from ripping my throat out.

My entourage and I find our way back to Sam's room. I knock quietly on his door at midnight, and slip inside when he eases the door open. Sam pulls me into his arms like he hasn't seen me in years. "I missed you."

He lays a kiss over me that should be reserved for soldiers coming home from war, and I leave his lips feeling breathless and intoxicated by him. He's changed into nothing but a pair of cotton pants and I slip off my robe and toss it over the big guys face by mistake. Shoot, sorry I wince. He booms out a laugh, and herds my two Keepers into the bathroom. Ah that’s better I sigh a long breath of relief.

"I missed you too. I don't want to think about how bad I'm going to miss you when you're gone."
 

"We still have the summer. By the
end, you’ll be ready to ship me off to Texas in a freight box."

"Never, I m
ay just have to move to Houston. What good is an Ivy League education when I won't be able to concentrate on anything but how many days until the next break?" He sinks down onto the bed and runs his hands along my waist.  He looks as if he's giving some serious thought into moving to Massechusets with me.

This was the
Keeper's  plan to to insure my safety? Keep me thousands of miles away from the man I love. Elijah's face creeps into my thoughts like a splinter. I try and shake out the image and nestle myself onto Sam's lap. He holds me tight against him and runs kisses up my neck, heating up my body to a simmer. Sam washes the unwanted blue eyes from my head as easily as that.

"I won't let you give up your dreams for me Brennen. I may be far away,
but you'll always be right here." He grips my hands and holds them over his erratically beating heart. I smile and find my way to his lips again.

I set my alarm for five a.m. and drift off under the warm blanket of Sam’s body as if he were my only shield to a world caving in around us. That night in his arms, I dream of Elijah. Memories flood through my mind as clear as a stream of water. My eyes burst open at the realization that I was totally in love with him. I had never given Sam a real chance when Elijah was around, and living without him for the last six months has cemented those same feelings in my heart, only now they’re for Sam. My mind is struggling with the fact that my love for Elijah has evaporated.
Where could a love like that go? It turns my stomach, twists my guts inside until they’re nothing but a tangle of angst.

I tuck a wave of Sam’s golden hair behind his ear. He’s out cold, his face smoothed over and at peace. His bare chest is immortalized by the moonlight shining in from the window. I run my fingers over the masterpiece and study his face.

The words of Hell’s president ring in my ear. Because of his mark, my sweet Sam will live out eternity in the pits of Hell. I want to protect him. If I take the deal Malphas offered, we can live in that room together. Three square meals a day. A king size bed all to ourselves. I lick my lips at an eternity of Sam’s gloriously perfect body contouring to my own in every way shape and form.

There’s a single loophole in his mark though, if Sam’s dies in the place of another, a selfless sacrifice then he gets to go to Heaven. When I die, where will a half-breed like me go? Again I wish they would have let me go on ignorant of all things supernatural. I sit up in the bed and stretch as I turn off the alarm that didn’t quite have the opportunity to go off. Guess I’ll go climb back into my bed upstairs if Taylor hasn’t taken over the whole thing by now.

I glance up and see two sickly yellow eyes zero in on me from the darkest corner of the room, and I scream for all that is holy and good. Sam flies off the bed as the creature emerges from the shadows with a fully expanded set of wings, dive bombing my boyfriend.

Will, that’s his name, leaps across the room, and grabs the evil beast
, ripping its head clean off. I cringe as it shrieks out an ear piercing scream while he chunks the bird head out the window. Sam sits up on the floor confused as hell and scrambles toward me.

“What happened
? Are you okay?” His hands search my body for missing limbs, because I must have been being hacked to pieces from the scream I let out. He didn’t see it. He can’t see anything that goes on in this crazy monster ridden, version of the world. I wish I couldn’t see this shit either.

“Sorry, happens all the time with this kid.”

Will shrugs his shoulders and returns to lounging on the sofa. Inara and Elena didn’t even bother to get up. My breaths came heavy and fast and I think my heart may have jumped out the window right along with the demonic bird head.

“I guess I had a nightmare. I told you,
I hate knowing your off zooming around in a tiny little plane. So many things can go wrong.”

“Come here.” He opens his arms, and I settle into him as he kisses the top of my head. “I’m very safe when I fly. Did you know there’s a greater chance of being in a fatal car wreck than a plane crash?”

“So what, you’ll take the bus from now on?”

He laughs and nuzzles me. “Wow, your heart’s beating fast.” His warm palm flattens over my chest as if he were willing its blood pumping effort to slow down to a survivable rhythm.

“I think I know what will calm you down.” He gives me a lazy smile. He peels his body off of me and kneels down on the floor next to me like he’s about to propose or something. Seeing him like this only speeds my heart up to the cadence of a snare drum. I blink away unwelcome tears.

His velvet smooth voice starts in on a song. Sam’s got a voice that could make the top forty. His rendition of
 
Rihanna's Stay, 
turns me into liquid. 
 
I want to stay alright, right here in this bed with him all damned day. Sans the guards from Amorous of course.

“I love it when you
sing to me.” He turns away smiling, being a little bashful now.

“I’d serenade you every day if you’d let me.” Inara fans herself like she’s going to pass out from Sam’s smoothness. She elbows Elena. I guess
she wants her to get on board the Sam-express. Elena taps her non-existent watch while glaring obstinately through me. 
 

“I may hold you to that. You might just have to give Harvard yard a daily concert via Skype.”

“Oh no ma’am, only one pair of ears will ever hear these pipes.” His eyes dance as he laughs and I can’t help but smile too.

“I’d better go; Mrs. Rycroft will be checking on us any minute.”

“Later gator.” He grants me one cheesy grin.

“After while
dile.” I say shaking my head while Elena shoves her finger in her mouth. My elbow finds her rib cage as soon as the door is shut.

“She’s just miffed her vacation is being spent holed up in a hotel bathroom
,” Inara chides

“You're supposed to be on vacation? I’m sorry Elena, this must be awful for you.”

“I just can’t wait until we get home. I like your house, it’s not a bad alternative to a vacation. You can make it up to me with some of your cheesecake later.”

“Only if you take us to Philippe's pizza place in Sicily.”

“You remember?” she says getting excited. I wobble my head around. I vaguely remember it. She swells with pride as if I just took my first steps.

“Is everyone still asleep?” I ask with my hand on the door handle. She nods and I slip in the room and stand at the foot of my bed.

“Up and at em ladies, time for a morning workout. Nothing will get those brain cells humming like a jog at six a.m. we’ve got to score big or go home today!” I get a pillow tossed in my face from the other bed. So I proceed to strip the covers off.

“Hale, you’re gonna die for this!” Taylor pipes up.

“Don’t make me get the ice bucket, Taylor. I’m going to wake up the others. Ya’ll meet me in the lobby in ten.” If I thought they were bad, the bitchy ones will probably bite my head off and feed it to me for breakfast. I use the shared door and give them the same treatment just as Mrs. Rycroft opens the hall door to rouse the team. 
“Good morning Mrs. Rycroft. We need you to escort us on our morning jog.” She slumps as if I shot her in the gut.