Between Worlds (Pendant Series Book 3) (15 page)

My mother, so pure and bright, and Adrian, overcome with his burning rage, was calloused and dark. So unlike the Adrian I had come to love.

Still clutching the dagger, I didn’t know what to do.

I loved Adrian and he was offering me an escape out of this chaos. But if what my mother was saying was right, then it meant Adrian was ultimately the cause of all of this confusion.

I wasn’t crazy after all. He somehow made it look that way. But even if she’s right, how can I be redeemed now?

It was far too late for me. I pressed the knife to my chest. Adrian was staring desperately at me, nodding his head, giving me the approval I needed.

“He’s a liar and a beast!” my mother shouted.

“And you’re a no good whore!” Adrian fired back at my mother, unleashing all of his fury onto the small, cowering woman.

“Adrian,” I exclaimed in disbelief. “She’s my mother.”

He frantically tried to regain his composure as he ran his fingers through his long, black hair in frustration. He turned and grabbed my arms. Staring deep into my eyes, he pleaded with me. “I can’t lose you, Sidney.”

“You will not take my daughter’s soul!” my mother shouted.

Adrian spun around and lurched toward my mother, taking her throat in his hand and squeezing it as tightly as he could. I screamed for him to stop as I was being reminded of the last time he’d lost control in this very same place.

He looked at her with such hatred, leaving me to wonder how a man who loves me so deeply and passionately could feel so much hatred toward the one who breathed life into me. If what my mother was saying was true then that meant she was once in love with him and he with her. But the way he felt about my mother now was crystal clear. He showed nothing but disdain toward her.

Suddenly an epiphany came to me; would I take her place if I didn’t do what Adrian asked?

Perhaps everything had worked for us thus far because I had been subservient. But what would happen if I told him no?

I vividly remembered Ray’s fate when I had disobeyed Adrian’s request to leave him. What would happen now if I didn’t use the dagger to end my own life?

Would he kill my mother in order to teach me a lesson?

Would he kill me?

As if my mother was reading my exact thoughts, she spat at Adrian through gasps of breath.

“You can’t kill me, Samael. I made sure of that when I jumped in front of the train.”

It was true after all. My mother did know him. Was it his fault she committed suicide all those years before?

“What is she talking about?” I asked Adrian, desperate to learn the truth.

“Don’t listen to her, Sidney, she’s a liar. She’s a crazy, old liar. She jumped in front of that train because she couldn’t handle the burden of motherhood. She was a coward, just like your father. They all abandoned you.”

He let go of my mother’s throat and came back to me, those pleading eyes boring into me. “But I’ve stayed, Sidney. No matter how hard things have gotten, I’m still here. I’ll never leave you. I love you.”

My mother cut off his promises. “Just as he asks you now to plunge the dagger into your body, Samael requested the same thing of me twenty years ago.”

Her voice took on a deeper sense of urgency. “I told you, Sidney. He takes away what you love most to make you feel empty and alone. I couldn’t find the courage to use the dagger on myself but he knew what would make me beg for death.”

The tears flowed down her face and the words spilled freely out of her mouth as Adrian glared at her with abject hatred.

She continued. “The loss of a child would send any mother to extreme measures. When he threatened your life—the life of an innocent baby—I saw his real soul. He was pure evil. I knew then why he insisted on me using the dagger. It was a talisman of darkness; an anchor that trapped countless numbers of souls inside. I would never give him what he wanted and so I jumped in front of that train so he could no longer use you as leverage against me. Keeping you safe was all I cared about. You have to believe me when I tell you this.”

She took a step toward me but Adrian stepped in between us, once again acting as the barrier standing in the way of what I needed most.

The pure heart of my beloved mother.

He spewed venom at her. “Liar! Even in death she’s a bloody liar. Don’t listen to her, Sidney. She just wants you to continue suffering here in this hell. She never cared about you.”

He grabbed my hand and gently turned the blade so that the pointed end was pressing against my chest. “I care about you, Sidney.”

I stared into those emerald eyes once again, looking for the approval on his face to validate that what I was doing was the right thing. “Nobody’s loved me as deeply as you, Adrian.” I said, as a tear slid down my cheek.

He gently cupped my face in his hands and kissed my forehead.

“I’d do anything for you, Eve.” Those beautiful green pendant eyes blazed into mine.

I smiled a wistful smile, remembering our short bit of happiness together on this earth and replied, “I know you will. Goodbye, Samael.”

I watched as his face went from confusion into pain and finally into rage as I turned the dagger around and plunged it as deeply as I could into Samael’s heart.

I called him Samael because that’s who he truly was, in all of his present darkness.

Adrian was fictional, a figment of my imagination made up by Samael. He was the perfect man who never existed in reality.

I watched emotionless as Samael fell to his knees.

I coldly observed the dagger sticking out of his chest glowing bright red, like a hot iron of righteousness, oozing all the life out of his evil essence.

Forever.

I watched as the many different faces that Samael had used flashed before my eyes before engulfing his entire body into an inferno of fire. All those years of lies, charm, and deceit of tricking innocent women, trapping their souls had literally evaporated.

When the smoke cleared the only thing remaining in space was the dagger.

Then, the dagger lit up again and the flames wrapped around the knife until the weapon itself combusted into another small cloud of smoke, simultaneously emanating an outpouring of yellow light, setting free all the entrapped souls as they made their way into the heavens above.

Strangely enough it reminded me of the classic movie,
A Nightmare on Elm Street
, after Freddy’s demise and all of the souls he had taken spilled out of his chest.

Funny, I thought Adrian was my Gatsby but he turned out to be my ghoul.

My mother ran over to me and we embraced in a long, desperate hug that was twenty years overdue.

“How did you know I was telling the truth?” she asked, wiping away her tears

“It was when he called me Eve. The truth was in the last words he spoke when he said he would do anything for Eve and not Sidney, not
me
.”

He never loved me. It was always her.

My mother filled in the details. “He was collecting the souls so that he could be reunited with her. He made a deal with the devil long ago; 1,000 souls for Eve’s return.”

“So was Eve just as evil as he was?”

My mother walked across the room and touched a small plaque that was nailed to one of the old coffins. It was the same plaque I saw in my dream but was unable to read the name. I wiped away the years of dust and was astonished to read the name “Eve” on the marker.

“I don’t think so, Sidney. I believe in the beginning they were both good. Samael would go to great lengths to be reunited with her and in the process he was overcome by his obsessive love for her which led to his evil.”

She turned and looked at me with sadness in her eyes. “You would have been the
thousandth
one. He came so close to being reunited with her, that’s why he hated me so much. If I had done what he wanted twenty years ago, he already would have been reunited with Eve. He blamed me for his plan failing and promised to pay me back by claiming you. But I could never let him take you, Sidney. I gave my life to protect you.”

She broke down and sobbed.

I clutched my mother’s waist as I buried my face in her chest and wept with her. “Oh Mama, all this time I thought you had abandoned me. I’m so sorry for the hatred I felt for you growing up. I was just so hurt.”

She wrapped her arms around me, stroking my hair. “There, there, Sidney. You can smile again. You know the truth now, and most importantly, you’re free. Go now, and live the life you were meant to have.”

I looked up at her smiling face and felt lost. “Mama, I’m so afraid…”

My mother leaned forward and showered me with all of the kisses that had been stolen from my life as a child. “Close your eyes, Sidney, I’ll sing you the song I used to sing you as a baby before putting you down for your nap,” she consoled.

I placed my head against her shoulder and was not surprised by my mother’s song choice of “Jewel.” I closed my eyes and listed to the soft melody coming from my mother’s enchanting voice. I had been sung to sleep many times growing up but the voice had always been Granny’s. I’d always enjoyed my grandmother singing to me as a child, but the voice now was something entirely different. I finally had my mother singing me her soft lullaby while cradling me in her arms. As my eyelids got heavier, I slowly drifted into that peaceful state of mind until her dulcet tones faded out and I was unconscious.

Chapter 21

Vortex

It seemed even with divine intervention, I was still plagued with the dreams. I stood in front of the gates of Eden as I watched a horrific scene unfold before my eyes.

Something must have gone terribly wrong because Samael was kneeling on the ground clutching Eve’s limp body in his arms as Samjaza stood over them without any emotion.

“Oh god, what have I done?” Samael shouted in agony. Screaming at his love’s lifeless body, he desperately pleaded for her to wake up. His efforts were in vain.

Eve was gone.

Samjaza twisted his snakelike lips into a smile as he answered Samael’s calls for help. “She’s dead. Do not be saddened though, she died in the name of love.”

As he held Eve close to his chest, Samael shouted to the serpent, “I should have known better than to trust your sorcery and listen to a snake like you!”

Samjaza laughed at the man’s dramatics as he waved him off. “Calm down, you fool. You truly didn’t believe I would give her to you prior to paying your debt, did you?”

Wiping his eyes and attempting to catch his breath, Samael responded, “I told you, I have gold. I’ll pay you ten times over if you bring her back to me.”

“And I told you it was not gold that I sought.”

“Name your price,” Samael growled.

“Souls,” Samjaza said tersely as he stretched his bony finger out toward Eve’s body, “From women who love you just as fiercely as this one did.”

The Snake handed him the bloody dagger that had been used moments before to kill Eve.

“You must get them to plunge this same blade into their body in the same way Eve had done, in the name of love. On the thousandth one, just as your victim takes her last breath, the life will leave her, enter into Eve, and you will have your lover back forever.”

Another wave of the boney hand as the Snake commanded, “Take her now. The gates have been opened and are now blanketed in a spell. If you pass through them quickly you will be allowed to retain your memories. Take Eve and place her body somewhere safe. You have a lot of work to do, boy.”

Samael slowly swept up his lifeless love and began heading toward the gates feeling alone and defeated. He was meant only for Eve, how could he encourage one thousand women to fall in love with him and repeat her fate?

Eve and his circumstances were unique.

With each step he took, he began to understand just how hopeless of a task this would be for him. Eve had perished for no reason. He was never going to be able to bring her back.

“Oh, boy?” the Evil One called out.

Samael stopped, too heartbroken to look back. Knowing that he had his ear, the Snake said, “Do not forget to remove her necklace before laying her to rest. It contains all of her memories. Whoever wears the pendant will become spellbound. They will be consumed with Eve’s memories of you. If Eve’s love is as true as she claimed it to be, then the one who wears the necklace will desire only you, making your task a little easier.”

I lay in bed processing my latest dream.

The dream validated everything my mother had told me. I was nothing more than a soul for Samael. A stepping stone to get to his one true love. I took a deep breath and exhaled as I glanced around the bright room.

Then I realized that I was not in
my
bed.

I was still incredibly drained and disoriented.

Where was I and how did I get here?

In the distance, I heard the soft sounds of mourning doves cooing outside of the bedroom window. The risen sun was blazing as it welcomed me to a new day.
Groggy with sleep, I quickly scanned my surroundings, rearranging them into an order that made sense.

The white walls contrasted boldly with the deep mahogany woodwork of the room. The richly hued brown beams going across the vaulted ceilings gave it an illusion of a church cathedral.

I murmured to myself, “
I’ve been in this house before
.”

The old wooden window was framed with the same mahogany wood and it was covered with a sheer, white curtain that was blowing against the breeze of the summer air. I arose from my bed and tip-toed across the room, peering curiously out the window. The backyard was beautifully landscaped with orange trees which framed the picturesque San Rafael hills.

Mount Washington!

I knew this place was familiar. This was the home in Los Angeles that Ray and I had planned to live in someday.

Just as the pieces of the puzzle began to fall into place I heard the keys of a piano being played from outside of the bedroom. I ran across the room, following the familiar sound of the song that only had one singer.

Could it really be true? Could Ray really be here with me?

My bare feet flew swiftly across the wood floor as my heart began to pound against my chest and the heavy brass pendant and its telltale emerald swung back and forth. I skidded to a stop and removed the cursed piece of jewelry from around my neck and held it like the tail of a dead rat. I noticed the decorative wall grille in the hallway. Quickly, I removed the cover and tossed the necklace inside the dark air vent.

It was exhilarating to finally be rid of it.

As I entered the living room, I was greeted by several familiar faces. I was so happy to see them all and feel their collective warmth. But my eyes only focused on one individual.

He sat on the piano bench pounding away at the keys, humming the beginnings of a song that would eventually become his number one single on the Billboard music chart as he sang the lyric, “
Not kissing you goodbye
.”

I stared at him, not wanting to dwell on anyone or anything else in the universe.

His blond hair splashed golden as the sun shone brightly through the large living room window. His blue eyes looked into mine and he flashed me his bright smile.

“Morning, sunshine,” Ray greeted as he patted the bench, inviting me to join him.

I glided across the floor and perched myself next to him, still unable to believe that he was really here. He wrapped his arms around me and excitedly began to tell me about the new song he had been working on.

“I mean, it’s still a work in progress. Finn’s gonna eventually add some guitar riffs to it to make it a little more rock and roll, but overall I think it’s gonna stay a love song,” he explained, just as passionately as he always did when he spoke of his music.

“I love it,” I said, addressing the entire room, resting my eyes on Ray’s guitar player. “Finn, you definitely need to add your guitar and get that working in there.”

Finn, sitting on the maroon couch next to Chrissy, smiled and I noticed the two were sitting thigh to thigh. I nodded at her silently, letting her know through the raise of my eyebrows that we needed to talk later. Chrissy returned the smile and for the first time in a long while I saw that she truly looked happy.

She stood up and stretched as I observed her pink tank top and matching pajama bottoms. I realized that she must have stayed over last night. Then I looked at Finn and noticed that he was still in his pajamas too.

I gave Chrissy a look that said, “W
here exactly did you sleep last night?”

Again, she flashed me that sneaky, yet satisfied smile, and skipped over to me, grabbing my hands. “Well, our soon-to-be Mrs. Ryker.” She held up my left hand and for the first time I beheld the beautiful white gold wedding band crafted in a pattern of diamonds and blue sapphires which met one large diamond in the middle.

“We have a very busy day ahead of us. First your baptism that is if you still want to have that grand Catholic Church wedding you’ve always dreamed of, and then off to eat some cake samples with your bestie.”

She said this as she rubbed her stomach and closed her eyes. We both envisioned all the different cakes we would soon be eating. Chrissy always had a major sweet tooth, in both men and desserts.

I laughed at the combined craziness and familiarity of my friends as I remembered my mother’s final words to me,
“Go now, and live the life that you were meant to have.”

Then I remembered one of the most important people in my life. Almost too scared to ask, I meekly asked, “Has Granny woken up?”

Chrissy gave me a strange look as if not fully comprehending my question and then answered, “Emmy has been waking up at seven o’clock in the morning like clockwork ever since I’ve known her. In fact, she’s on a plane headed down here now.”

As the tears spilled down my cheeks, Ray took my hand in his and asked me, “You’re not getting cold feet, are you?”

I smiled and shook my head. “Never. Marrying you is my dream come true.”

“Me too,” Ray answered.

Then I added, “Just don’t die on me like last time.”

He gave me the strangest look.

I laughed and said, “Never mind. You’d never believe the crazy dream I had last night!”

As we embraced each other he began to sing the familiar song that I had heard before.

The one that had always made me smile.