CHAPTER 9

 

 

I knocked him upside the head.

"Don't scare me like that!" I scolded him.

He winced and rubbed his head. "It wasn't my intention to fall unconscious."

"Then you could have woken up sooner!" I argued.

Roland sat up, turned to me, and grasped my hands in his own. He smiled and his bright eyes twinkled. "Misty, I'm whole."

I blinked at him. "You're holy?"

He shook his head. "I'm whole."

My eyes widened. "No more box?"

"No more box."

I turned my eyes up to heaven. "Thank God."

"He has nothing to do with this trouble," the Devil spoke up. He held his cane out in front of him and slim black tendrils slithered out of the object and repaired the damage. The same happened to his clothes. His eyes blazed with fury as he struck his fixed cane against the ground. "Whole or not, that soul is still mine by your existence as a vampire."

I stood up and crossed my arms over my chest. "Oh yeah? Says who?"

The Devil opened his mouth, but a bolt of lightning struck the ground between us. We all glanced up. The stars twinkled back at us. I tilted my head to one side.

"God?"

Another bolt of lightning struck the ground, but this time closer to the Devil. The man in black jumped back and snarled. He looked up at the sky and shook his cane.

"His soul is mine! It has been mine for centuries!" he protested.

Another bolt cracked overhead and connected with the Devil's cane. The bolt of electricity threw the Devil back. He rolled and skidded across the ground for five yards before he came to a stop face-down in the dust. The Devil sat up and coughed out the dirt. He glared at Roland and me.

"Very well," he growled. He stood and brushed himself off. "I will revoke my claim, but your troubles aren't finished. A vampire with a soul is a rare thing, and others will learn of it. Then there will be no place on earth or above and below where you will find peace."

The Devil cracked his cane against the ground. The earth beneath him split and a ball of fire flew out of the crack. The flames engulfed the Devil and pulled him and itself back into the depths of the earth. The crack sealed after them.

Then there was silence. I looked around and turned to Roland.

"You think we're alone?" I whispered.

He chuckled and stood. "I find it comforting that God is always with us."

I snorted and smiled. "That's just because you have your soul back." My eyes caught on something on the ground nearby. I bent down and picked up the necklace. The violet emblem was cracked. I looked up at Roland. "You think it still works?" I asked him.

He closed his eyes and shook his head. "No. The strength of your love and the use of it against the Devil's curse has ensured it can never be used again."

I shrugged and pocketed it. "I guess I'll keep it as a memento."

Roland stepped up to me and grasped my hands in his. "I still owe you a meal."

"I'll have to give you a rain-check. My aunt wants us over for Thanksgiving," I told him.

"Both of us?" he wondered.

"Why not? Can't that soul body of yours handle a good turkey?" I asked him.

He smiled. "I'm willing to try."

"So does that mean we can start working on that relationship now?" I teased.

He leaned down and pressed our lips together in a passionate kiss. His body was still cool, but the warmth he evoked in me more than made up for his lack of body temperature.

"What's going on out here?" a voice yelled.

We broke apart and glanced at the house. A bony man of forty stood in the doorway clad only in his boxer shorts. He had a table leg in his hands and a wild look in his eyes. His nose was flat. He spotted us and squinted his eyes.

"What the hell are ya two doing out there? Take yer filth somewhere else!" he snapped.

I glanced at Roland and grinned. "You know, there is that extra box of fish in the back seat," I reminded him.

He smiled. "An excellent idea."

Flat-Nosed Finnegan's eyes widened a few moments later when we came up to his porch with a familiar box in Roland's hands. He stumbled back and shook his head.

"Don't ya dare do nothing with them! Git them things away from here!" he ordered us.

"You heard the man. Don't do nothing with them," I told Roland.

Roland tossed the fish box through a second-floor window. Flat-Nosed Finnegan yelped and flew back inside. In a few moments we saw his silhouette as he batted the fish out of the air. I didn't feel too sorry for Flat-Nosed Finnegan. He had the counter-curse to deal with his trouble, and Ralph had a bit of revenge.

I wound my arms through one of Roland's and turned us towards the car. "Now about that soul. What do you say to testing it out with a nice sunrise?"

He smiled and grasped my hand. "Only if you are by my side."

I leaned my cheek against his arm and smiled. "Forever."

That wasn't a promise I could keep just then, but things would change soon enough.