My Soul to Take (Soul Keepers (Young Adult paranormal romance)) (15 page)

“
What is it?”

“
If Sam knowingly dies so that someone else may live, a selfless sacrifice, then his soul will be washed clean and he may enter heaven.”

I break away from Elijah’s hold and sit on the edge of the tub.

“There has to be away to free him of his mark. He could hurt his little sisters, we are supposed to get married. What if he hurts our children? I can never be really alone with him. I’ll always have to have you or someone guarding me. Always Elijah,” I stress the last words. God Sam could snap my neck in a second.

“
Yes, I’m fully aware, trust me. I will never leave your side.” He takes a long pause. “Bren, maybe you shouldn’t risk it.”

“
Look, we’ll talk about this later, Sam’s cooking dinner. I’ve got to go.” I brush by Elijah and head downstairs. I don’t smell any food cooking yet. The kitchen is empty. Maybe he is grilling something. Guys do love to play with fire. I open the screen door and see the stable engulfed in flames.

“
Sam!” I take off running toward the stable. “Sam!” I can hear the pop and crack of wood being incinerated. The horses are running loose. He must have went in to release them. Clancy rushes past me.

“
Elijah, find him.” He’s winged and already soaring past me into the burning building. The whole place looks like it could collapse at any moment. I stop when I get close, there is no way to get in. Flames rage along the doorway. Smoke fills the night sky so thickly, it covers the stars.  I hear a loud crash and a screeching ear shattering sound that does not sound remotely human.
Please be alive, please be okay
.

Elijah has been in there a while. I try the back door, it’s wide
r. Maybe I can get in through there. I jog around the corner and see Elijah struggling with something near the ceiling. It’s Sam. Elijah looks like he’s pulling him trying to get him down but an unseen force is holding him in midair– up where all of the smoke is. He is face up and oddly contorted. Sam’s body is limp, his arms and legs dangle beneath him unnaturally. Oh my God, the demon possessing him is trying to kill him.

Elijah’s veins bulge in his neck and he pulls Sam with all of his strength. He’s been without oxygen for far too long. Sam won’t budge.

“Elijah please get him out of there!” I cry out as I realize that Sam is dead, I can no longer make out his heartbeat. The thing keeping Sam hostage screeches out a hideous cacophony once again, only this time I see it come from Sam’s mouth.

“
Get out, get out of him!” Elijah is chanting the exorcism but it doesn’t seem to be working. When Will did it he practically beat Sam to death in the process. I fish my phone out of my pocket and my fingers are shaking so hard that I can’t find Elena’s number quick enough. By chance I hit the right button and she answers on the first ring.

“
Elena come quickly. The stable, hurry.”

In less than a few seconds Elena appears and soars in to help Elijah. They both grab Sam by the waist and pull. He comes down hard and fast. Elijah carries him out of the building just before the entire building crumbles down. Elena swoops me up and carries me further away from the implosion.

“I’m sorry Brennen, he’s gone.” Elijah lays Sam down gently on his lap. I kneel down beside him. Tears stream down my face.

“
Heal him Elijah.”

“
I can only heal the person I’m protecting. We’ll take him to the In-Between.” I nod and hold onto Elijah as he closes his eyes and takes us there.

We enter the transport room filled with Keepers coming and going. Elijah carries Sam to the hall that leads to the medical rooms. I pass through the doors and am blinded by the light. I cover my eyes and I can’t see where to go.

“Here Brennen.” I hear Elena’s voice say. She tucks a pair of sunglasses in my hand and I put them on in a rush to get moving again. Elijah is already gone. Elena and I catch back up to him. We enter a large open room that looks almost like a modern day hospital but there is no medical equipment anywhere. Only beds and curtains to separate them. Elijah has laid Sam on one of the nearest beds.

A team of Keepers rush over and asses Sam. Elena keeps me away. The Keepers look worried and even a little frightened. I recognize Inara as she puts her hand over Sam’s heart. Her hand begins to glow and then the warm yellow light fades to nothing. Sam lies still and motionless. Inara shakes her head. No, No he can’t be gone. This isn’t how he’s supposed to die.

I’ve hit rock bottom and the only thing I can do now is pray. Elena joins me. She holds my hand and tries to comfort me. Elijah comes back over to us and rubs my shoulder.

“
It’s trapped inside him,” he says.

“
The demon is trapped in Sam?” I repeat just to make sure I understand correctly.

“
If we can get it out we may be able to still save him.”

“
Elijah he’s been gone for too long.”

“
Inara is checking the oracle to see if this is Sam’s time.” Then there
is
hope. I walk over to Sam. He’s all alone. His chest is still and his lips are just the faintest of blues. I caress his cheek.

“
Sam if you can hear me I want you to fight. You can’t leave me, you said you’d never leave me again. Don’t break your promise.” Sam’s lips part and I jump back. That thing inside him screams out again.

“
Ah ohh,” I growl right back at it.

“
Careful love.” Elijah pulls me away from Sam’s body and holds me in his arms. After a few minutes Inara comes back into the room. We all wait for the news. She runs her small hand over Sam’s forehead in a cross pattern. Sam’s lips open again and he hisses. I shove my face into Elijah’s chest. He holds my head and pulls me in close.

“
Well Sam, it’s your lucky day.” I turn to face Inara. “Today is not the day you are going to die.” Inara turns back to us. “We’ve called to the Seraphim, there are very few who can talk a demon out. Your mother gladly volunteered.” Inara gives me a heartfelt smile as she removes her hand from Sam’s face.

I look up at Elijah.
“My mother? As in Emmagen? Is coming here. What if I’m a disappointment to her? Look at what a mess I’ve made of things.”

“
She is going to love you,” Elijah says as he nuzzles my head. His words don’t bring me any comfort. I go to Sam and run my finger over his hand.

“
Elijah he’s getting cold.” My voice is small. I’m so afraid I’ve lost him for good.

“
He’s going to be okay.”

“
Is his soul in hell right now?” Oh no it could be even worse. “Is he in that horrible place being tortured?”

“
I’m afraid so,” Elijah says full of remorse. I shudder when I think of Malphas kicking me so hard that I had bruises on my lower torso. Elijah tucks me into his arms and holds me there. He is once again my steel cage scented with the warm smell of chocolate mixed with his delicious body wash.

He hands me a white handkerchief, pure linen with the letters E.M embroidered in silver thread in one corner. It reminds me of the blanket that my mother abandoned me in and I gasp at the similarities. Elijah pulls me back to see what’s wrong.

“She loves you Brennen, just remember that.” Elijah knows me, he knew what I was thinking when he saw my fingers graze over the stitching.

A woman comes into the room and walks towards us. Her long honey blond hair is draped on both sides of her face like a silk curtain. Her emerald green eyes meet mine and
I’m frozen by her beauty. She is wearing a deep purple dress that flows in volumes around her as if it were her own personal cloud to ride in on. I’ve never seen anyone this beautiful.

“
Oh my baby!” She pulls me away from Elijah’s arms and into her own. Tears flow down her soft pink cheeks and wet my face. “Oh my dear sweet angel. I’ve missed you so much.”

I’m
flooded with emotions I didn’t even know I had, they overtake my eyes and spill over the brims. Being in my mother’s arms, feeling the love she has for me, and knowing what a disappointment I must be to her, has left me feeling, as the south would call it: a hot mess.

What
should I call her, Emmagen, mom– mother? I should say something, but what?

“
I’ve wondered what it would be like if I ever met you. I’ve to say, I’m sad.”

“
Oh darling why?” she asks. I wipe another round of tears from my eyes with Elijah’s handkerchief.

“
Because I just met you and I already love you. And I want to stay with you.” I didn’t even know I was feeling that way until the words spilled out of my mouth. I wonder if she has some sort of truth serum gift that makes people vomit the truth from their lips whenever she’s near. And now we’re both crying again. I guess that is where my water works gene comes from. The thought brings a little smile to my face.

Sam, he’s suffering every minute that he is gone. I hate to cut our reunion short but she needs to get to doing what she does.

“Please help him mother.”
I called her mother
. She smiles and goes over to Sam.

“
This is the boy that you are destined to marry?” I give a fleeting glance to Elijah before nodding. “And Elijah it’s so nice to see you again. You’ve been doing a wonderful job keeping Brennen safe.” She brushes her hand down Elijah’s arm with compassion. Does she know that we’re in love? Can she see me from Heaven? My mind is filled with questions.

My mother examines Sam’s body. Her brow goes up and she pushes Sam’s shoulder to turn him over. Elijah doesn’t question what she’s doing but holds Sam in the position she propped him up in
order to help her. She bends down and looks at the back of Sam’s neck.  Carefully parting the hair until her fingers find what she was looking for. She glares up at Elijah.

“
This boy has been marked.” I’m curious to know what it is, she sees. So I bend down beside her and she parts the hair again. Under Sam’s golden locks is a tattoo of an upside down cross in white. You could easily mistake it for a scar or a birthmark. They lay him back down.

“
We only just found out, Emmagen,” Elijah is quick to cover. He almost sounds like he’s in trouble.

“
Brennen I will expel the demon, but I want you to know that when Sam regains consciousness he will have gone through a highly stressing ordeal over there. He will probably have suffered a great deal of pain and sadness, any number of traumatizing, excruciating…”

“
Okay I get it, please hurry! I know what it’s like over there.” My mother is quick to tick her head back. “Sorry mother. I…”
“Say no more. I will begin.” She starts chanting in a language that I don’t even begin to place. She washes Sam’s wrist with a sponge and hangs his arm over the edge of the bed. She repeats the process on the other. She takes a scalpel from the same table and slices his wrist open. Elijah has already positioned a basin on both sides to catch the blood flowing out of Sam’s veins.

“
What do you mean, you know what it’s like over there?” she says, scalpel still in hand and looking oddly serene while her eyes are glued to Elijah. My mother can be scary.

Elijah swallows hard as if he were about to confess to slaughtering dolphins and eating them.
“It was my fault she was taken.” He owns up to his mistake and keeps his eyes focused on hers while he explains. My mother relaxes her shoulders and says they’ll talk about that later. Elijah looks as if he’s just been scolded but his tail his hardly between his legs.

She resumes her ritual and circles her hand above Sam’s heart and the blood begins to come out faster. I begin to feel woozy and Inara is quick to push a chair up for me as my knees finally give way.

“Orneus, is that you old fellow? Come on out now and leave this boy, he is of no use to you dead.” My mother appears serene as if she were only coaxing a cat down from a tree.

“
You’ve been baptized Brennen?” Her question catches me off guard.

“
Yes, ma’am,” I say in a small voice.

“
Good, we wouldn’t want this pesky spirit going into the next open vessel.”

“
Orneus, don’t make me come in there after you. I promise you, it won’t be near as pleasant.” She sings out the first part. Is she serious with this? I saw that thing nail Elijah and Elena to the ceiling with its strength. Does she think she can baby talk it out? An unearthly growl comes from inside Sam’s body, which by now must be completely drained of blood.

The sound causes me to cringe down in my chair.

“Elijah be ready with the, you-know-what.” She eyes a lead box on the table. Her hand hovers over Sam’s heart for a moment before diving in elbow deep. Her hand is inside of Sam’s chest, in spirit form, thank goodness. She quickly begins to pull her hand out. Clutched in her grasp is a shapeless, cat sized, plume of black smoke, dark as soot. Elijah opens the box and the demon gets inhaled by it, as if it were a satisfying meal. Elijah shuts the lid and locks it.