Ceaseless (26 page)

              
“Well I want to get back before Loose ends up banging some random slut in a bathroom stall. We all want something.”

              
She was still seeing Loose. That was all kinds of screwed up. I didn’t even want to consider what that might lead to. Gee was just a transporter. She wasn’t deity. She didn’t have the power I did to get away with breaking rules.

              
“This still a fling, Gee?” I asked as we stood outside a hospital room where sobbing and heartache awaited us.

              
“I like his 
‘
dre
a
ds okay
?
 And all that practice he’s had screwing around has made him rather 
skillful 
in the area. He’s just for fun.”

              
She didn’t sound convincing. This wasn’t good. I’d deal with 
that 
later. Maybe Loose would end up 
ending this and I wouldn’t have to handle it.

              
“It isn’t like we see each other but a couple times a week.  I know he is getting it elsewhere the rest of the week. I’m good with that. He’s human, I’m not.”

              
Nothing about her tone 
supported her statement that it 
was okay. She was going to go jealous
-
girlfriend on him real
ly
 soon. God help the boy survive
 that
. He’d never pissed off an immortal before. This could not be good.

              
When I entered the room I didn’t see the soul I’d come to 
collect
. 
However, t
he familiar face standing in the corner holding a weeping female caught my attention.  Jay stood solem
n
ly as he tightly 
held 
the blond in his arms. I recognized her soul. It was the one he’d been unable to stay away from while he was dating Pagan. A translucent glow wrapped around their two bodies connecting their souls.

              
“Well look what we have here,” Gee said as she came up beside me. Her attention captured by the bond 
visible 
between 
their 
souls.

              
“I didn’t see this connection between them before,” I said studying them as Jay whispered soothing words in her ear.

              
The soul we’d come to collect walked away from the body on the bed. He was young.  He was also trouble. There was a darkness 
surrounding 
him. 
The darkness 
marked him as 
hazard
ous
. This soul wouldn’t get another chance. He’d messed up in this lifetime. 
             

              
“Uh, oh. We got a bad egg,” 
Gee
 grumbled a
s I 
stepped forward to wrap the 
iron
 ba
n
d
 reserved for 
angry souls around his wrist.  It 
provided 
control
 for the transporter 
until she 
delivered the soul to it
s final resting place. 
Dealing with damaged souls could be tricky. Once I’d had to take them down myself but over time we figured out a better way to handle it. I didn’t like wasting my time on the trip.

              
“Come on
,
 
bad boy. Let’s get this over with,” Gee told him.

              
This soul had been Victoria’s mate. Now that it was damaged
,
 the connection had transferred. Jay’s soul was now complete.

CHAPTER 26 

Pagan

              
My mom was 
peppering 
Dank with a million questions. It never occurred to me until Dank brought it up on our way here that when my memory was taken away so was my mom’s. 
Dank’s
 had been wiped from the memory of 
everyone 
in my life
. Miranda had 
forgotten
 about Dank and Leif just like I had. 
Although 
my memory was restored
,
 theirs 
were 
not. In doing so it would completely mess with things. They’d know more than they should. My mom already had known more than she should. Now, Dank was the new guy I’d met at college. He was also the singer in a 
rock band
.

Mom hadn’t been 
pleased
 when I introduced her
,
 but Dank and his charisma were quickly winning her over.

              
I brought him a glass of 
sweet
 tea before sinking down on the couch beside him.  This was the way it was supposed to be.  My mom would
 love him
 soon enough.

              
“So, you 
sing
 rock music? Do you do drugs?” my 
m
om asked
, watching his 
face for any sign of a lie.

              
I covered my 
mouth
 to keep from laughing.

              
“No I don’t 
take 
any drug
s
 and I don’t drink
 either
. I never have. It’s not something I’m interested in.”

              
Mom nodded and cut her eyes at me. She was not amused with my obvious amusement. “And you’ve been 
dating
 for how long? Because I thought you were seeing Jay again.”

              
Dank tensed beside me and I patted his leg. “Jay is in love with a
 
girl
 named Victoria
. He thought he wanted to rekindle things with me but it didn’t work
 out
. He and I don’t go well together. We bored each other. It was during a brief time that Dank and I had a misunderstanding and I refused to talk to him.”

              
Mom narrowed her eyes at me, “You do know 
to 
use protection don’t you?”

              
This time Dank had to cover his mouth with his fist to keep from laughing.

              
“
MOM! Don’t ask me thing
s
 like that. I promise IF we were doing anything that required it that
,
 
yes 
I’d use protection.”

              
My mother shrugged, “A mother can’t be too careful. I needed to make sure you were thinking straight.”

              
“I got this mom,” I assured her.

              
“Well, that’s good. Now, tell me about this guy Miranda is seeing. I hear he is a sweetheart.”

              
I reached over and grabbed 
Dank’s
 hand and threaded my fingers through his. He had handled my mom’s interrogation with 
flying
 colors.

              
“Well, I think it is very possible that Miranda may have found the one,” I told her knowing good and well she had. Maybe not this year or the next but one day they’d end up married. In this lifetime and every
 
one after it.  Just knowing that I’d get to watch them find each other and fall in love 
in 
every life made me smile.

              
Later that night I was curled up in my bed. I hadn’t realized how much I’d missed my room until I’d pulled my 
quilt
 over me and the smell of 
home
 hit me. I no longer required sleep but I liked lying in bed at night. Dank said it was something I’d trained myself to do and I shouldn’t let go of anything that made me happy.

              
“This never gets old,” 
Dank’s
 voice said in the darkness.

              
I turned around to see him sitting in the chair he used to sit in to sing to me at night.

              
“What are you doing here?” I asked sitting up. He was supposed to be out collecting souls.

              
“I’m about to go. I just couldn’t resist coming in here and seeing you tucked into that bed one more time. I realized you owned me one night in this room. I was 
singing
 to you and you were sleeping. You made a little 
sound
 in your sleep like you were distressed and I panicked and ran to your side. You grabbed my arm in your sleep and pulled it up against your face and went back to sle
ep. I didn’t want to ever move.” He stood up and walked over to me. “I knew then that I had never understood what humans called love. But that if it was anything close to the power you held over me, then no wonder they searched for it so passionately.”

              
I reached out and pulled him onto the bed with me. “You’re going to be late,” I told him as I pushed back the covers and reached for the hem of his shirt.

              
“Why?” Dank asked lifting his arms willingly so I could pull his shirt off.

              
“Because after hearing that I can’t let you leave until I’ve had my fill. Get naked, 
Dankmar
.”

              
              
              
              
The End