Barbara ran ahead of him. “Put her down on the couch.”
“I will be fine. It’s just that I am so woozy I don’t want to try and stand,” Seelah said, as Barbara placed one of the couch pillows beneath her head.
Donavan walked into the kitchen to find Jack twisting the lid from a fresh bottle of brandy. “Since you’re pouring, pour one for Barb and me, too.”
“What the hell are we gonna do ‘bout this, Donavan?” Jack dumped a hefty portion of liquor into each glass.
“Right now I don’t have the foggiest. Hopefully, Chandra will come up with some answers. Because I’ll tell you, right at the moment she’s all we got.”
“Donavan, we don’t even know if something like this is possible.” He took a swallow of his drink, waited for his throat to stop burning. “I mean, how the hell can one soul push out another soul and just move in?”
“I don’t know.” Donavan swirled the liquor around in his glass, thinking about their problem. “It would explain a theory I’ve had for a long time though.”
“What theory is that?” He swallowed the last of his drink reached for the bottle of brandy.
Donavan took the bottle from his hand, screwed down the cap, placed the bottle back in the cupboard. “I’m not trying to be a poor host, but right now we both need to keep a clear head. If you want another drink there’s beer in the fridge.”
“Naw you’re right we need to keep our shit together.” He took both their glasses to the sink to rinse them. “You were gonna tell me about your theory?”
“I’ve always wondered about the belief some people hold of a person being born without a conscience. I just never could wrap my mind around that.”
“I don’t know why not.” Jack tore off a paper towel, wiped dry the glasses, put them back in the cupboard. “We’ve dealt with some pretty coldhearted sons-ah-bitches!”
Seelah’s asleep.” Barbara walked into the kitchen and picked up the glass of brandy Jack had poured for her. “Chandra has her so zonked she can’t hold her eyes open.”
“Good, she needs to relax,” Donavan said.
“You should have seen her earlier. I thought for sure she would go into labor.”
“That’s the last thing she needs to do right now. If any of what Chandra says is true, Seelah needs to hold off giving birth to this baby as long as possible.”
“I don’t know how to fight this.” Jack peeked around the corner to check on Seelah.” We can’t shoot the bastard. We can’t even beat the shit outta him.”
Chandra stood watching as Jack paced around the room and her heart went out to him. “I will do all in my power to protect your son and all you hold dear, my darling. You must stay strong and trust that I will help you. The one coming back into your life must not win this battle.”
Chapter Twenty Nine
Jack picked up the remote, clicked off the TV. As he laid the control back down on the end table he chanced a quick glance at Seelah. “I didn’t think you were any more interested in that show than I was.” When she remained staring at the blank screen, he spoke up, “Seelah, we need to talk. Ignorin’ what’s happenin’ ain’t gonna get anything resolved.”
“I don’t know what to do,” she whispered, her gaze still focused across the room. “For the first time in my life I am unable to relax my mind enough to think.” She rubbed her hands back and forth across her swollen stomach. “I’m his mother, I should be able to protect him from all this.”
“How do you think I feel? You’re my family and as the man of the house it’s my place to protect the both of you.” He pulled her against him. “What about your guides? Ain’t they able to step in and do somethin’ here?”
“I would think they could help. After all, it would be good energy combating bad.”
“That’s how I see it. Ever since you told me about our guides and how they can help us out of a tight spot, I’ve sure trusted in mine.”
Seelah looked at him and despite her fear, she smiled. “I have always trusted in my guides, too, Jack. Up until Chandra told us about what Jonathan had planned I never doubted their ability to protect me.”
“Are you tellin’ me that’s changed?” He drew back to stare at her. “If that’s so, then we might as well hang it up.” He moved away.
“It isn’t that I don’t trust them, it’s that I don’t know how much they will be able to do.”
“You know, there’s somethin’ that has always bothered me.”
“What’s that?”
“Freedom of choice.” Caught up in his thoughts, Jack left the couch to pace the floor. “We keep hearin’ `bout freedom of choice for the Hindel’s freedom of choice for all the killers and pedophiles and all the other assholes who want a price for their soul. What about the baby’s choice? When the hell does he get a say in what’s goin’ on?”
“That is a very good question, Jack.” Seelah scooted down, rested her head against the arm of the couch.
“Yeah, I think so. And all the talk you hear `bout women’s rights. What `bout the poor little baby’s rights? Maybe he don’t wanna be killed in the womb. Maybe he wants a chance to grow up and have a life. And, if she didn’t wanna take a chance on startin’ a new life, then she should’a kept her legs crossed.”
“I have heard it said, we make a decision to come to this plane while we are still on the other side. That it is our choice to come here. If that is true then how can someone or something go against that choice?”
“Exactly,” he nodded in agreement. “Shouldn’t there be spirit-laws in place to keep the abortionist and the dark spirits from intervenin’ with that choice?”
“I certainly think there should be.”
“Too bad Chandra ain’t here right now. I bet she’d know the answers to these questions.” He walked back over to the couch, plopped down beside her. “You got any way to send for her?”
“I could try. I am sure, after what she found out about Jonathan, she is keeping herself attuned to my energy.” Seelah looked at Jack, waiting for him to move over and give her room to stretch her body out straight. As he scooted to the far side of the couch she laid back, closed her eyes and taking several deep breaths, tried to relax her body.
Without warning, a scene inside the home of Donavan and Barbara Hays slammed into her mind. As she watched she saw Barbara pull the vacuum cleaner from the hall closet and pushing it ahead of her, stoop to plug it into the wall-fixture. As the cleaner roared to life she maneuvered it over the floor of the living room unaware of someone moving up behind her. Feeling a tug on her arm she whirled to see Donavan, one hand clutched to his chest.
Seelah sat up, her breathing harsh and labored. “We need to get over to Donavan and Barb’s house right away.” She swung her legs to the floor.
“Why, what the hell’s goin’ on?”
“I saw Donavan clutching his chest. I think he might be having a heart attack.”
“Ah Christ no!” Jack was on his feet and moving towards the door as Seelah shoved her feet into her shoes. As soon as he could he helped her out the door and down the walk to the truck. Not waiting for her to try and get into the vehicle on her own he pulled open the door, lifted her into the seat of the pickup.
***
“Donavan!” Barbara screamed, as Donavan slipped to the floor, dragging her down with him. She lifted his head into her arms rocking him back and forth. “What’s wrong? Donavan, talk to me and tell me what’s wrong.” She shook him trying to get a response, then bent forward, raining kisses over his face.
“You need to move outta the way, Barb. I already called the paramedics.” Jack hauled her to her feet before dropping to his knees. “They’ll be here shortly.”
As though in a daze, Barbara turned to see Seelah holding out her arms. “Oh, Seelah, what is wrong with him?”
“I don’t know, sweetheart. The ambulance will be here soon and then they will get him to the hospital where he can get help. Right now, we need to back out of the way and let Jack do wha
t he can for him.”
Placing fingers to the side of Donavan’s neck, Jack breathed a sigh of relief as he felt a faint pulse. “Don’t you die on me! Do you hear me, Donavan, I said don’t you die on me!” Positioning Donavan’s head up and back, he gave two sharp, quick breaths into his mouth. Seeing no results, he placed one hand over the other to press down hard on Donavan’s chest. “You know what the hell we got goin’ on here!” he grunted, breathed two more sharp breathes, watched as Donavan’s chest rose and fell. “You know you can’t leave me to handle this all alone!”
Donavan stared up at him, his eyes glazed with pain.
“Come on, we’ll take over now.” A man pulled him to his feet, then threw up his hands as Jack whirled, his fists balled and ready.
“Don’t swing on me, man,” a husky paramedic told him, dropping his hands and yanking open a large first-aid chest, “your partner needs me too much right now for you to bust me up.”
Jack stumbled out the front door and onto the porch. Uncaring of the tears rolling down his face or the thick mucus dripping from his nose, he cried out to the unseen. “I ain’t a prayin’ man, but I’m beggin’ with everything in me, don’t let him die. I ain’t strong enough to pass this test, that’s comin’, all by myself. `You got enough do-gooders, all I’m askin’ is for one. I’ll do anything you ask, just…don’t…let…him…die.” Jack wiped his face on his arm.
“Jack,” Seelah put her arm around his waist, “they’re going to be taking Donavan to the hospital now. I know how much you need to be with him. So why don’t you go on ahead to the hospital. Barb is going to ride in the ambulance with Donavan.”
“Ain’t you comin’?”
“I told Barb I would stay here to be with Jenny when she gets home from school. I’ll be all right, “she told him as a look of uncertainty skittered across his face. “Jenny’s already on her bus, so as soon as she gets here, I will drive us both to the hospital. You can drive Donavan’s jeep. I’m sure he won’t mind.”
“Yeah, I can do that. I left the keys in the truck.”
“Jack, I can’t tell you what you want to hear.” She swiped the tips of her fingers beneath his eyes. “Donavan is in a very bad way right now. He might not make it. If you have ever prayed in your life now would be a good time to offer up the best you have.”
“That’s all I been doin’ since I found him on the floor. But, Seelah, I don’t think I’m bein’ heard.” He pulled her against his chest for a moment. “Looks like they’re loadin’ him up so I’ll follow behind the ambulance.”
Seelah watched as the paramedics lifted the stretcher into the ambulance and her breath shot from her lungs. A dark shadow hovered just above Donavan’s head. As she watched, the shadow turned, allowing her to see its face.
Chandra stood watching in horror as Jonathan Hindel held her gaze, his energy every bit as evil as it was before she destroyed their bodies.
Jonathan grimaced, then swooped down in front of her. “You can do nothing to stop what is planned for this mortal, Chandra.”
“Are you saying it was you who caused this pain Donavan Hays is suffering?” She saw his smile of admission. “Why? I am the one who destroyed you. Why aren’t you turning your wrath on me?”
“Your time will come, Chandra. Of this I can promise you. Because of you the vengeance of the dark side is set to fall on every man, woman and child in this parish.”
“Do not think to lay the blame for your evil on me, Jonathan. I had no choice but to destroy you.”
Diabolical laughter chilled her. “You only destroyed a part of me, Chandra. The Hindel legacy lives on. Now, you and this parish will reap what you have so thoughtlessly, sown.”
“Since I am the one who ended your days on this plane, Jonathan, why don’t you simply take your revenge against me and leave everyone else alone?”
“You know and I know, right now, I am unable to touch you. However, something is coming that no one will be able to stop.”
“Jonathan, just as you disallowed Lawrence in seeing what awaited him in the White Light, you have been misled in what you can and can’t do to a white spirit.”
“Lawrence was not kept from seeing what his life would be like if he chose the White Side. Freedom of choice. Remember?”
“I was there, Jonathan. I saw Lawrence gazing past the vale and trying to better see into the Light, when you deliberately, stepped in front of him. You wanted to make sure he chose the path you had chosen for him, not the path he would choose for himself.”
“The choice has been made, Chandra. Lawrence is where he belongs.”
“If I have to I will call on every White Spirit in God’s legion. This evil must be stopped.”
“Chandra, you can call on anyone you choose. It still will not stop what is already set in motion. This parish and all its people are doomed to suffer what you, in your ignorance, brought down on their souls.”
“I do not believe you, Jonathan,” she cried out. “You are not that strong.”
Hearing fear creep into her voice, his resolve to weld the upper hand, climbed higher. “What you say is true, but with the one I serve walking beside me, my strength grows to new heights.”
Seelah jumped as the siren on the ambulance cut through the silence, momentarily calling her attention away from the unbelievable scene going on across the way.
Chandra moved across the yard. “Seelah, I know what you are seeing has to be very upsetting to you, but you need to trust me when I tell you, Jonathan’s power is limited.”
“He is going to destroy us all.” She started to shake.
“Seelah, Jonathan forgets the strength of the White Side. He wants us to believe the Power of Darkness rules this plane. He doesn’t.”
Seelah could feel Chandra spreading relaxing warmth all around her and she welcomed its healing glow.
“You must stay calm so the child, growing within your body, will remain safe.”
Jonathan moved over beside them. “Your child will soon be shoved into limbo to stagnate with all the other lost souls who are not needed.”
In her relaxed state, Seelah forgot her fear. “If you harm my child, I will hunt you down and destroy you even if I have to go to hell to do it!”
“Your child is but a small part of what is planned. This world, especially this country, at long last, stands at the threshold of ruination.”
“If what you say is true and this plane is about to be destroyed, why would you bother to trade your soul with that of another?”
He grinned down at her. “Always the thinker, Chandra. To answer your question, I did not say this plane is about to be destroyed. I said this world, especially this country, stands at the threshold of ruination. Just as a human body can be kept alive by machines, a world can continue to exist even when there is no reason for its existence. When people blindly follow someone who means to utterly, destroy them, there is no chance for their survival.”
“This country will not continue on the downhill spiral it has been on.”
“How do you plan to change it? We have all but had your God erased from the teachings of this world. We have stopped prayers in the schools. We have been able to stop their allegiance to this country’s flag. Children all over the world are forbidden to even speak the name of God.” He enjoyed delivering his message. “They are no longer allowed to hear of your God’s love for them.”
“I think you underestimate the love our Mother and Father have for their children, Jonathan. They will not turn their backs on us and allow you and your kind to destroy this world.”
“We shall see, Chandra. It is the dark side who welds the greater power now. We wait and watch as the morals of this planet continue to decay. Your teachers can no longer teach your children what is right and wrong. Instead, they teach how it is all right for men to fornicate with other men and for women to lust after other women. Is it any wonder this plane is being swept away by the dark side?”
She turned away wanting to disagree with Jona
than’s ugly truths, but she couldn’t. As long as people chose to follow the dark side, all those in the Light could do is stand by and hope someone decent, who put the betterment of the world ahead of their own greed, would come forth to end the evil.
Chapter Thirty
Jack stared down at the man lying in the bed and his heart plunged. “Donavan,” he hesitantly, touched his hand, “can you hear me?”
Donavan remained silent and unmoving.
A nurse walked into the room and without a word to the man brushing a hand across his face, pumped the rubber bulb attached to the blood-pressure cuff wrapped around Donavan’s arm.
“Is he gonna make it?”
The nurse watched the numbers come up in the small window then picked up the medical chart to pencil in the read out. As she placed the chart back on the small table she turned to look at him. Recognizing him a smile slid across her face. “Jack, I’m sorry. I was so intent on my patient I didn’t realize it was you standing there.”
Jack tried to recall her name. Then, as his eyes dropped to the small tag pinned to her lab coat, he replied, “How ya been, Nurse Lyons? It’s been a long time.”
“Yes, it has.” Her eyes swung to the plain gold band on Jack’s left hand then to the man in the hospital bed. “Isn’t this man your partner?” She picked up the medical chart. “Yes, Donavan Hays.”
“Yeah, my partner.” Jack wiped his eyes. “Is he gonna make it?”
She looked at him and seeing the complete devastation on his face, motioned him towards the door. As they stepped out into the hall she pulled the door to behind them. “We never know how much a person, who is unconscious, can hear, so we try not to say anything that could upset them. Detective Hays has suffered a heart attack. It wasn’t massive, but the doctor will want to run tests to try and pinpoint what brought it on.”
“So you’re sayin’ he will probably be all right then.” The sheer relief sounded in his voice.”
Rougarou II Page 22