Destiny's Revenge (Destiny Series - Book 2) by Straight, Nancy (management books to read .TXT) 📕

hadn’t acknowledged anything he said since early this morning. If I could make my mind inhospitable enough, maybe he would decide to leave.

“You can’t ignore me forever; in fact, I’ll make a wager with you. I bet you cannot ignore me for five minutes.”

I walked into the barn to clean out Christy’s stall without so much as a second thought. I was stronger, this was my body, and as soon as I could figure out how to get rid of him, my mind would be mine alone. I shoveled the stall when a dull image began playing in my mind.

It looked like me asleep in my bed. The image showed me in the same pair of shorts I had fallen asleep in last night. The alarm clock on the dresser showed eleven pm. I watched my body get out of bed, put on a t-shirt and shoes and make my way to the kitchen. My truck keys and wallet were in my hand as I walked out the door.

As I watched the events in my mind unfolding, I could feel my body reacting. I was asleep last night, all night. I didn’t get up or go anywhere. These images showed that while I was sleeping, I wasn’t sleeping. The scene faded out and faded back in. I was standing in the yard of an unfamiliar house I had never been to before. I couldn’t imagine why I was looking at it in the dark until I looked to my right and saw Lauren’s van. No outside lights were on, and from what I could tell, the inside was just as dark.

I watched my legs walk up the steps, my hand turn the door knob, and I stepped through the door. As I watched the scene unfold, dread washed over me, the same way when you’re watching a horror movie and you want to scream at the person on the film, “No, don’t go in there.” This time I could feel in my bones that I was the monster, I was the one that was there to create chaos and pain. I watched myself walk down the hallway to a little bedroom at the end, turn the door handle and there on the bed was Lauren. I watched her through the crack in the door and then the image went fuzzy again.

The image of Lauren blurred in front of me, and I came back to reality and shouted at Samael, “What the hell did you do to her?”

“Why Max, whatever do you mean? I did nothing. It was all you. You were the one that sent her away and broke her heart. It only seemed fitting that you be the one to go make amends, don’t you agree?” I hated the smugness of his voice. If he took control of my body last night, he could have done anything. The reality that Lauren might be injured, dying, or even dead sent me to my knees. A sharp pain pierced my heart. I scrambled to my feet and ran back in the house for the phone. I dialed Lauren’s number and her voice mail picked up, her phone was off. I called Rewsna, who answered right away.

“Renny it’s me, I need to see you right away, can I come to your house?”

Samael’s voice was full of acid, when he said, “Remember what I told you: the Council has been trying to destroy me for millennia. If they know I am in you, you can bet they’ll murder you. Rewsna is not your friend.”

Rewsna hesitated and asked, “Max, did you and Lauren have a fight? I tried to contact you both earlier and you are both blocking me.”

I knew I didn’t want to keep this a secret, but I also didn’t want to spring it on her over the phone, “Yeah, we had a fight. It’s really important that I see you. Can I come over right now?”

She didn’t answer right away, and finally said, “Max, why are you blocking me? I’m a telepath. If you just open your mind, it will save you a trip. Just show me what happened.”

Samael’s words were quick, and I could hear his panic when he rumbled, “Max, Lauren is fine, you didn’t go to her house last night. I planted the image to torment you. Don’t tell Rewsna or we’ll both be dead!”

I hated him. I couldn’t tell if it was the truth or a lie. It seemed so real. If anything happened to Lauren, even if Samael did it, it would be my fault. I couldn’t live like this.

It took a little longer to answer than it should have, but I finally responded with, “I’m not blocking you intentionally. I noticed it right after you rescued me from the bank vault. I tried to communicate with you in the van on the way to your house, but you didn’t respond.”

I could hear the skepticism in her voice when she said, “You’re doing it right now. Max, I really don’t like telephones. You never know who might be listening in.”

Samael sounded worried, his voice nearly pleading with me, “Max, if you ever want to see Lauren again, don’t tell Rewsna anything. If Rewsna finds out about me, you will not get a second chance. You need to hang up the phone now, before she figures it out. I was in another surrogate years ago. I left before they made the connection. By the time they realized I had been hiding in him, I was long gone; it didn’t stop them. They sliced him into pieces.” Samael showed me the visual of a man in khaki trousers and a button down shirt on a dirt road with ten people all with knives approaching him.

The man was unfamiliar to me. He stood screaming out, “He’s gone, he’s not in me anymore, he’s gone…” I watched the entire assault, the most gruesome scene I had ever seen; surprisingly, a more disturbing image than finding Lauren at our campsite after