Page 43 of Sundowners
Muse’s eyes were wide and her whole body shook.
“He…he canshow youthings. He made me…he made me see what he wanted to do. I tried not to show him I was afraid, but what he did, what he wants… Oh my God, Creed. He’s awful.”
I pulled her into my arms and held her. I wanted to tear the guy apart for scaring my friend.
“And the more afraid I got,” she continued, speaking into my shoulder, “the stronger the images, the more intense. It’s like he was feeding off my fear.”
Leader Caleb had talked to us about absorbing negative energy to heal, but this sounded like creating negative energy in a continuous loop, one that would drain the person and continue to feed the creator until they were gorged with it.
That motherfucker.
I started to go after him, but she grabbed my arm.
“Creed, you can’t.”
“But we have to. If he’s allowed to continue this way, he’s a threat to anyone around him.”
A tear rolled down her cheek and that was the last straw for me. After all the shit we’d been through in San Francisco, I’d never seen her cry. She’d been beat up, taken advantage of, hungry, and sick, and I’d never seen her cry.
I took her hands in mine. “Muse, darlin’, I can’t let this pass. We are being given too much responsibility here.” It was true. We’d learned so much from our teachers over the past year, and as we progressed, we were promised more and more training, one-on-one sessions, and eventually, an audience with the Source, who we’d only been exposed to in passing a few times.
“Okay, but let’s go to Leader Bree. I feel like she’s the most likely to listen to us.”
“Okay, but until then, you stay away from him. Stay close to me. I won’t let him hurt you, okay?”
She hugged me to her tightly, and I tried to use some of the healing energy I’d learned how to express.
“You’re so strong, Creed. I really think we were meant to be here. You’re going to be a great healer.”
I kissed the top of her head. “Let’s join the others before they come looking for us.”
She wiped her face with the bottom of her tunic and took a few deep breaths. I admired her strength. And as we joined the others at the baths and Mack gave me an inviting smile, I knew I needed to be more careful. I couldn’t let anything happen to Muse, and now, I was determined that Stephen and his crew—the other three obnoxious twits who were drawn to him for some stupid reason—would not gain any traction. If I really was meant to be here, it was to protect the others from their violations.
* * *
I went insideto finish my shift, but I was dragging. An event occurred in my favor in the wee hours, however. One of the residents in the B wing, which I usually wasn’t assigned to, woke with night terrors, and none of the staff were able to calm her. I volunteered, knowing full well that I could get her right back to sleep.
Sure enough, after fighting two much bigger nurses and scratching the shit out of them, she sank into my embrace and I absorbed all of her fear, her dread, and the agony her body was putting her through as it began the process of shutting down. She began to weep, and we slumped to the floor. I held her until my calming energy put her into a restful state.
“Man, she’s strong when she gets like that,” Jamal said. He’d been one of the nurses she’d attacked. “She’s been doing this at least twice a week for the past month.”
“Call me next time,” I said as I picked her up and carried her back to bed. The worst part was, I hated that she’d had to suffer in order for me to be at full strength, despite knowing that I wasn’t the cause of her misery. I would do anything in my power to ease her until it was her time to leave this plane.
Six o’clock seemed to take forever to arrive. I couldn’t wait to see Roman, and Rhonda couldn’t wait to see me, either. She barked at me when I opened the door and then stood by her food bowl, refusing to look at me until I fed her the gourmet, organically sourced food she loved and gave her a full-body rub down. When it was time to go, she pranced by the front door, ready to greet the day.
“Let’s hope you like him as much as I do,” I said to her, and she gave me one of her looks I liked to think meant, “whatever, dude. As long as you rub my belly for an hour before your next shift, we’re golden.”
We walked the three miles to his house and by the time we arrived, she was pulling on the leash as if she knew something I didn’t.
“Hey, I hope you like— Oh, your friend is beautiful!”
14
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Roman
There isnothing better for an ailing soul than cuddling a willing dog. Okay, maybe the kiss I got from Creed last night was pretty good, but when I bent down to introduce myself to his beautiful dog, and she rubbed her face all over my cheek and licked my ear, I was in love.
