Destiny's Revenge (Destiny Series - Book 2) Straight, Nancy (book club reads .TXT) 📖

It will only end badly…for you. Lauren, I’ve got to say, you really surprised me last night. I thought for sure your senses were sharper than that. You truly had no idea you were sleeping with the enemy until this morning, did you?”

I didn’t answer and only continued to glare at him.

“Amazing. All this time I thought you were somehow connected to the Council, that you were using my power of sight and there would be no way to fool you. I’m pleased to see that I overestimated your intuitiveness and skills, but don’t worry - I won’t make the same mistake twice.”

As he was giving his little speech telling me just how inadequate an adversary I was, I looked at his shoulder. The gunshot wound was completely healed. The skin was puckered pink as if it were an injury that were weeks old, not from yesterday. I glanced around the room looking for any type of weapon. There was plastic silverware by the coffee maker. I could easily get to it. I may not be able to slice his jugular, but I was pretty sure I could take an eye out.

“Lauren, have you heard a word I said?” His question forced me to look at him. “Lauren, my dear, the plastic ware wouldn’t make enough of an injury to do any real damage – it would just anger me. I took for granted that you knew I had Max, but again I don’t want to assume anything. You do know I have him, yes?”

His words knocked the wind out of me, and I had to steady myself again. “Where is he?”

“In due time, Lauren, in due time. You see, he’s a bit of an insurance policy for me right now. Last night I went to your residence, I knew I was dangerously close to death, so I shifted into Max so you wouldn’t blast me as I stepped down your driveway. I wrongly assumed you would recognize me upon closer examination, but thought you and I could work out some sort of a truce. I was, after all, unable to evade after being shot. You, I was sure, would barter nearly anything to get Max back. I have to tell you I never even dreamed that you would toss me in your van and drive me to safety. Once we got here I knew it was only a matter of time before you figured it out, but that also turned out not to be the case. There is an old phrase that love is blind - I believe in your case it is also deaf and dumb. Not that I am complaining by any means.”

With every word my stomach wrenched a little tighter, and I knew a couple more minutes and I wouldn’t be able to keep the bile swelling in my stomach down. I commanded as much strength as my body allowed and shouted, “Where is he?”

“He is safe for now, and as long as he is tucked away, I know that no harm will come to me.” I could no longer control my body. I ran into the bathroom barely making it to the toilet before my stomach let loose.

“Oh my, well, that was disturbing. Lauren, I think it would be bad form to kill you now. I mean, you did save my life and everything.” I stepped out of the bathroom and rinsed my mouth out in the sink. Samael came up behind me as I watched him walking to me through the mirror. Every muscle in my body went rigid when I realized he was going to touch me. He gently placed his hands on either of my shoulders, he pressed his body against mine as the towel fell away from him, the repulsion of him leaning into me, made me want to puke all over again. His hands slid from my shoulders to my neck. I could feel the strength emanating through his finger tips as he wound them around my neck. In my mind, I was pretty sure he was going to snap my neck.

I kicked hard with my right leg, trying to catch him in the groin. When I missed, he picked me up off of the floor by my throat. I watched my own face in the mirror, seeing his face right next to mine. I think this was his way of making the moment that much worse for me, in that I was able to see the joy shining on his face as I watched him squeeze the life out of me. I struggled for more than a minute trying to remove his steel grip from around my neck and kicking in all directions.

Ultimately, I wasn’t able to get him to loosen his grip, and darkness fell all around me. My last conscious thought was - so this is what it feels like to really die. I stopped struggling as I saw my distorted face in the mirror and thought to myself - I thought it would hurt more.

Chapter 27

I felt nubby little pieces of polyester under me as my fingers stretched out to feel what I was lying on. It smelled of mildew and feet. My eyes fluttered open, but the scene wasn’t registering properly in my mind. I heard a blood-curdling scream right behind me, as if a banshee were trying to wake the dead. I was sprawled out on the floor. It felt like only minutes ago Samael had me suspended in the air, strangling me. I coughed hard and the wind in my lungs burned. I willed myself to roll over on my side, to take whatever this sadist had in store for me, confident that this had to be a game he was playing.

As I turned, I could feel two warm hands on me. Someone was speaking Spanish faster than I could listen to English. I saw the wide eyes of what I could