Fate (Drift Series Book 4)

by Michael Dean

  “Easy…our little one won’t allow us to hug as tightly and as close as we once could.” She kissed me passionately.

  “I noticed.”

  “I knew you’d come back to me.”

  “Hey, I made you a promise. What are you doing out here? You should be inside resting, where it’s warm.” I rubbed her stomach.

  “I have sat out here every night since you left, waiting for your return. Luckily for me you got back just after sunset. I don’t have to sit out here and freeze tonight before I go to bed.”

  “You shouldn’t have been sitting out here to begin with in your condition, Shade. How long was I out?”

  “Just over seven months.”

  “Geez…that long?”

  “Yes…that long. You’ve just missed Christmas. It sucked without you.” She ran her fingers through my hair.

  “I’m sorry, I didn’t realize. It feels like mere seconds when I’m locked in battle. That’s crazy.”

  “Is it over now…I mean, with War?”

  “It’s over. War is dead, but there is a minor detail that I should tell you about pertaining to War.”

  “That is?”

  “Let’s go inside and I’ll explain.”

  I reached around and supported her back, then reached down to support her legs in my arms, picking her up. I carried her inside before I placed her back onto her feet. I took a quick assessment of our home and realized that she had been doing some busy work around the house while in my absence. There were new pictures hung up on the walls, curtains, even some plants. I kind of felt sorry for those plants because they didn’t have the same level of resistance that the humans do when in my presence. I knew they’d die in no time.

  “The place looks awesome, babe,” I mentioned.

  “Thank you.” Shade reached for a chair to sit down on.

  I quickly gave her a helping hand before taking a seat myself.

  “You stayed busy. Everything going okay?”

  “Yes. I had to do something when I came home after school, and work, to keep from thinking about you, so, I fancied up the house. Dad came over and finished the touch up work that the house needed. Mom and your parents have been stopping in to see me periodically. Scruffy and Sandra come by here the most, seeing if I need anything. I’ve been really well taken care of while you were away.”

  “That’s good.” I reached over and gripped her hand, “So…how’s the baby?”

  Shade grinned and looked down to her stomach.

  “Not a single problem up to this point. The doctor says she is perfectly healthy as far as he can tell.”

  “She…we’re having a girl?” I elated.

  “Yes…we’re going to have a baby girl.” She smiled huge with a blush.

  I couldn’t help myself and got out of my chair to hug and kiss her again. She giggled at my response to the news.

  “So the baby is looking fine. No deformities or anything because of what I am as the father?”

  “As far as we can all tell, this will be as normal as a birth as there is. Our baby girl is perfectly healthy at this point.”

  I sunk my head on the kitchen table and Shade reached over to rub the back of it.

  “Leo…you okay?”

  I delayed a moment before I answered, “Yes…yes, I’m fine…now.” I raised my head and looked up at her.

  “Then what’s the matter?”

  “I was so worried that there would be something wrong with the baby because of me. I didn’t want to be responsible for ruining another life being associated with me.” I fretted.

  “You’ve ruined no one’s life, Leo. You’ve enhanced them. We may not be out of the weeds yet, but our daughter is fine in there as of right now,” she pointed to her stomach, “and if anything does happen, it will be of natural causes. Not because of you. Our daughter will enter this world strong. Don’t worry, baby.” She consoled.

  In an effort to change the subject, Shade grabbed her phone, “Now I can ease my mom and dad’s mind by letting them know you’re back. If I was you, I’d call your parents too…which reminds me…Sheriff Taylor wanted you to call him when you got back as well, but that one can probably wait until tomorrow.”

  She pushed herself off the chair by placing both hands on the dining table and fiddled with the phone. She walked into the living room where she had a fire burning in the wood stove and informed her parents. I picked up my phone and placed a call to Benjamin and Amanda who were ecstatic about my return. They also informed me about the fact that Scruffy had gotten his own apartment and was fully moved out now. The world just kept right on moving while I was away. While in my life and death struggle, mankind kept pressing forward. That reality was always such a personal paradox for me. I mean, of course the world of men doesn’t stop on just account of me and my situation, sometimes I just need it to. I feel like I miss out on so much.

  Anyway, after our phone calls were over we sat down on the couch in the living room and Shade told me that there were a couple more small earthquakes that occurred while I was out battling War. I put two and two together and realized that was probably the turbulence from our struggle.

  “Like I was saying before, there is something you should know about War.”

  “Why do I care anything about War? That was between you and him…it…her…whatever. You won, you’re still alive…who cares?” She grinned.

  “Well, War wasn’t who we thought he or she was.”

  “Huh?”

  “Christian played another masterful mind game with me again.”

  “What are you trying to tell me?”

  “You know how I didn’t know what form War would take? What he or she would look like?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Well, it was the last person I would have ever suspected.”

  “Get to it, Leo.” She grew anxious.

  “Darryl…War was Darryl Kite. Or should I say, Darryl had become what would have been the permanent form of War.”

  “What?” She exclaimed as she turned as pale as a sheet. Her face reeked of horror.

  “War was Darryl. He came back.” I insisted.

  “But I thought when you beat him at the top of Eagle Peak Mountain that Christian had banned him to Hell forever?”

  “So did I, but as it turns out, Christian hid him in discretion only to give him more power when the time was right.”

  Shade leaned forward and placed her hand around my wrist, “He is dead this time…isn’t he.”

  I placed my other hand on top of hers, “Yes hun…I assure you he’s dead. I stabbed him with the Demon Dagger and watched him die. There is no way he’s returning. It’s the last you’ll ever have to worry of him. He’s been wiped from existence.”

  “Yeah, well, I thought that the last time.”

  “Well this time it is final in regards to him. I promise you. So you don’t worry…okay?” I patted her hand.

  “If you say so.” She sighed.

  In an effort to calm her, I hopped up from the couch and looked around the room.

  “So, what do you need me to do around here before I get back to work with Sherriff Taylor this week?”

  “Well, we were about to run out of the wood you chopped up before you left. We need to re-up on that. Your timing for returning home was good on that matter. I don’t think dad was looking forward to chopping the wood for me.” She chuckled.

  “I think I can arrange that.” I smiled.

  “There’s enough for a few more days, but you were cutting it close.”

  At my feet I could feel something rub against them. I looked down to see our little buddy Fate crossing back and forth in front of me. I reached down and picked him up.

  “My goodness…you got bigger too buddy. You look just like Shadow did…it’s uncanny.” I scratched him under the chin as he purred and rubbed against my face.

  “I know, he does. I’ve been tripping out about that myself. Doctor said I also need to be careful around Fate and his litter becaus
e it may make me and the baby sick. So I’m glad you’ll be here to tend to him for me now.”

  “Will do, hun.”

  I put my little fur-kid down and stepped into the kitchen for some substance to eat. The body was weak and needed to be fed. Shade followed me and pointed to some food that she had just made. I warmed it up, not that it matters but it’s the human thing to do, and sat down to eat it.

  “Oh, I almost forgot. Mark mentioned that he wants you and him to have a guy’s weekend out for some skiing at Wolf’s Pass when you returned home. He’s been doing that a lot lately. He wants the two of you to get a cabin up there for some man time or whatever.”

  “Wow…that sounds romantic. I’ll give him a shout tomorrow and see what he has on his mind.” I chuckled.

  “Don’t give it up to him. It’ll only make him want you more.” She kidded.

  We talked for a little while longer before going to bed. I told Shade that I would go out and chop some wood while she slept so she put some earplugs in so she wouldn’t hear me.

  “It sounds like thunder when you do that,” she said, giving me a goodnight kiss.

  “I’ll take it easy, I promise.”

  When I knew she was good and asleep, I went outside to find some trees. I did and spent most of the night chopping away, making sure to go slowly being that I had nothing else to do anyway; plus, slower meant quieter. When I finished, I sat on the porch and waited for the sun to come up, reflecting on my struggles up to this point. The sun began to reveal itself and I went inside to wait for Shade to get up.

  I called Sheriff Taylor and he was pleased that I was okay and was curious when I wanted to come back to work at the station doing odd jobs. I decided to go in after I spoke with him. Sam recommended to wait until after my fight for Diccittidel ended before I should go to school to become an officer and we talked about that for a bit. I was so honored that the good Sherriff was holding a spot open on the force for me. When the time came for me to accept the position, it would be waiting on me. That was awesome.

  After I arrived back home from work I called Scruffy, who’d been blowing up my phone all day anyway. He wanted us to chip in together on a small ski cabin at Wolf’s Pass for some guy time. I thought that sounded like a good way to get free for a while and have some laughs. After getting the okay from the better half, of course, we made plans for the upcoming weekend. Scruff knew that in a couple of months I would have no time to hang out because of work and the baby. Not to mention I had to face Christian soon.

  For the remainder of the week it was all I could think about. I really didn’t know how to ski, but I knew I wouldn’t have a problem learning it fast because of what I am.

  When the weekend finally arrived, Scruffy and I set out for the small ski resort set up a few miles out of town. We took Scruff’s truck loaded with supplies for the weekend, including a brand new snowboard that Scruff was anxious to try out. We had a ball the entire ride there. Scruffy about lost his mind when I told of my reunion with Darryl. That was pretty much the dominant conversation on the way to the resort.

  When we arrived, we checked in and got our keys to one of the many quaint, tiny cabins that were sprawled out for adventure seekers atop one of the slopes. The cabin was about half the size of my house. It was perfect for us. We unloaded our things, including a cooler full of ice cold beer and settled in. Scruffy filled me in on what I needed to do to rent a board from the clubhouse as we cracked a couple brews and took a seat at the small table in the narrow kitchen.

  “So is this what you’ve been up to while I was out?” I asked.

  “Sure have. Sandra and I decided we needed a little hobby together, so, we both wanted to learn how to ski, well, snowboard, and came up here. We’ve gotten pretty good at it. We wanted to include Shade, but in her current state that wasn’t an option. We’re hoping after the baby arrives, the two of you can get free from time to time to join us up here. We’d love that.” He held up his bottle and we clanked them together.

  “So…how have things been between the two of you?”

  “Pretty good…really, really, good actually. As you know, I snagged an apartment and have been learning another craft in my MMA classes. School is great, work is great. Sandra has decided to live at home until we marry, then we are going to move in together in my apartment. Hopefully we can find a little something like you and Shade did shortly after that.” He took another gulp.

  “Cool deal…and the wedding between the two of you? Have we locked down the date yet?”

  “Yep…sure have. You and Shade got married in June last year. We are tying the knot in July this year.” He grinned.

  “Congrats, my man.” I raised my bottle to clank with his again. “Have you guys picked a location for the wedding?”

  “That we have! We are going to do it at the convention hall in Mountainside.”

  “Sweet!”

  “Guess where the reception is going to be held.”

  “Where at?”

  “Right up here…at the clubhouse.” Scruffy pointed out the window in the direction of said location.

  “That’s going to be awesome, bro. Looking forward to it.”

  “Heck yeah it is. I mean, it won’t be snowing here that time of year, but the scenery, with everything in bloom, is going to be off the charts…can hardly wait.”

  “I bet. I’m happy for you, bro. This has truly been a time of joyous change as of late.” I reached over and squeezed his shoulder.

  “Thanks, Leo. It sure has.” He grabbed my arm as I clung to his shoulder lovingly.

  “It is frickin freezing in here. We’ve gotta get that woodstove up and running.”

  “Thank goodness they do the work for us here. I spent an entire night chopping wood for Shade and me the other night.”

  “No doubt. Let’s get that thing fired up, then we can head on over and get you a snowboard to rent. Do we need to set up some lessons before you go down the bunny slope tough guy?” He smacked me in the back.

  “C’mon now, you know what a bad-ass I am. I am precisely designed to perform at a high level in the human world. I’ll rock that snowboard out in no time flat and be going kamikaze down the double black diamond before you know it.” I winked at him.

  “Yeah, that is a perk, and a downside, to being a brother to a superhuman figure. It’s taken me this whole winter to get this down enough to where I can hit up a hill or two that was rated more dangerous than the bunny slope. You suck.” He grinned.

  “No I don’t, I rock. Now c’mon, let’s finish up here and get to that clubhouse so I can show you up.”

  Scruffy shook his head at my teasing arrogance and we went to work carrying in the wood for the woodstove. After we got it going and let it burn for a little while, we made our way over to the clubhouse. We found the right snowboard for me, following Scruff’s recommendations of course, and headed for the lift.

  “You know, if there weren’t people everywhere, I could have just flown us up there in no time. Sure would make it a lot faster in getting around.” I teased my brother as we slid onto the lift.

  “Take it easy, Batman. I’m glad you can’t fly us around. Riding the lift and taking in the sights is a big part of the skiing experience.”

  We joked around until we got to the slope Scruff wanted to go down. He was anxious to get started so he could see how I would do my first time ever. We got off the lift at our stop and strutted over to a slope.

  “Since you are cocky, and I’m only feeding your ego more because I know you can handle this, I didn’t hit the bunny slope first on your accord. We are going down a slope a notch or two up from that. Think you can handle it?”

  I just mashed my lips together in sarcasm and glared at him in assurance.

  “I thought as much. Well, tell you what, I’ll go down first and you can at least watch and see how it’s done. When I get to the bottom, I’ll wait for you. I’m afraid to go down with you at the same time. Somehow I feel you might get competitively ag
gressive with me.”

  “Me…nahhhhhhh.” I grinned.

  Scruffy signaled for me to watch him put on his snowboard. After he locked it in, I followed suit and did so under his instruction.

  “All right, let’s do this! I’m out. See you at the bottom.” He wiggled his way towards the slopes edge and started to go down.

  “Try not to kill the other skiers on your way down.” I messed with him.

  “You’re telling me? Apply that to yourself there, chief.” He screamed back at me.

  I watched him squiggle and squirm his way down the hill, trying to learn a little bit about how to do this snowboarding thing. I may be a demon, but that doesn’t mean I won’t bust my ass doing this. He fell a time or two, eating a mouthful of snow one time. I took great pleasure at that. It took a little time but he reached the bottom in pretty good shape. I saw him wave at me to do my thing next.

  I hopped my way to where the slope started and began to make my way down it. Instantly, I fell down. Although I couldn’t hear him, I just knew that Scruffy was having a field day with that one down there.

  I got back up and gave it another go. This time I honed in my demon instincts for advantage. I started out a little slow, but once I knew the beast within me had taken the wheel, I didn’t hold back.

  I started slashing through the snow, kicking it up in every direction. I think I might have been scaring the crap out of the other guests on the slope as I passed them, but I didn’t care. I was making that hill my…well, I was owning it. About halfway down I decided to show-off for Scruffy. I turned in the direction of some trees and bobbed and weaved between them at warp speeds. I rocketed out from the gap and found a small mound of snow piled up and decided to jump off of it.

  I hit it fast and began to twirl around in the air before I landed. I hit the ground in a fury and shot down the rest of the hill to an awaiting Scruffy who has shaking his head. I turned just before I got to him and blasted him with snow. He spit and wiped the snow off his face and body.

  I stood there staring at him with utter confidence. Then all of a sudden the other guests around us began clapping at my performance. I looked around at them and bowed in thanks as they stroked my ego.