Ceaseless (Existence Trilogy #3)(49)

“Would one of you tell me why you’re upset?”

Sirens began to wail and I spun around to see an ambulance headed our way. Police sirens joined in and suddenly we were surrounded by a swarm of people. Two paramedics rushed toward me and bent down at my feet. How odd.

I looked down and saw myself laying there… oh my god.

“Dank?” I asked, panicking as I watched a man pumping my chest and breathing into my mouth.

Two warm arms came around me. “It’s okay Pagan. We will figure this out. I will figure this out. This was not supposed to happen. You were not on the books. I would have known.”

I wasn’t on the books?

“Dank, am I dead?”

He didn’t reply right away. “Gee, distract the paramedics and police. Distract everyone. I’m taking the body.”

“You’re what?” Gee asked incredulously.

“I said to distract them, dammit. I’m taking her body. Something is wrong. This was not supposed to happen.”

Gee nodded and ran out into the crowd screaming, “Help me, please help me.” Police officers started chasing her and both paramedics looked back to see what the commotion was. She was dodging the police and yelling at the paramedics that she needed mouth to mouth. She was having an allergic reaction.

I turned to look over at Dank and he was picking up my lifeless body. He grabbed my hand and we were no longer outside. We were walking through a dark drafty tunnel that was continuously spinning. I was too busy trying to figure out what was happening to think to ask Dank where we were.

Then we were walking out of the tunnel into my dorm room?

Dank laid my body down on the bed gently as if it mattered. I wasn’t in there anymore.

“Okay. You have to get back in there,” he said looking back at me.

“Um, I don’t know how,” I replied. What was the big deal?

Dank walked over to me and grabbed my hands. His were cooler to the touch now. “Pagan, listen to me. If your soul is taken up then you will be given another life. You won’t be this age again for eighteen more years. I would have to wait until you matured to even approach you. Then there is the chance you will tell me to go away. We’ve already been through that. Please, baby, please. Don’t leave me.

“She can’t get back into the body, Dankmar,” a deep smooth voice filled the room making the walls shake.

Dank pushed me behind him and turned to face the voice. “This was a mistake. She wasn’t on the books. If you took her before her time then a rule was broken.”

Dank’s body was strung tight as a bow. He was ready to fight whoever was in here. The fact their voice shook the room wasn’t a comforting thought.

“We told you she had to choose.” The voice said.

“She did choose,” Dank shouted.

I raised my hand and peeked around the corner, a tall man at least eight feet tall, since his head was grazing the ceiling, gazed back at me with silver eyes. Completely silver—there was no pupil. “I did choose,” I squeaked out. He was bigger than I’d thought.

“We are aware of her choice, Dankmar. We are also aware of other things as well.”

I felt my face and neck heat up. So, they knew about… was there no privacy? I decided hiding behind Dank wasn’t such a bad idea. I moved back out of the giant’s sight.

“I didn’t force her to choose. She never wanted him.” Dank said with a defensive tone. He really needed to stop goading this man. Dank was big but he wasn’t that big.

“We are very capable of determining things ourselves. Now if you would let me finish a complete thought before interrupting me Death, that would be most appreciated.”

Dank stood up straighter and reached back to put his hand in mine. I squeezed tightly reassuring him I was here. No one had taken off with me. Yet.

“Have you considered the fact that she is a mortal? Her body will grow old and die. Were you planning on refusing to take her soul when her body is so old it can no longer function?”

“You promised me if she chose me I could keep her for an eternity.”

“Yes we did and you shall. But there is only one way,” there was a pause and then, “come here, Pagan.”

Dank held my hand firmly and pulled me around to stand beside him. He didn’t let go of my hand. “What do you want with her? What are you going to do?”

The man stared down at me and then raised his right hand into the air. A thick mist filled the room and the sound of rushing water roared in my ears. I squeezed Dank’s hand tighter. A warm tingle began in my fingers and slowly spread throughout my soul. It wasn’t unpleasant but it was different. Something was happening. A loud crack caused me to jump and Dank’s arms came around me.

“It is done. You’ve fought hard for her, Dankmar. We believe you chose well. Now, heed these words. She will live as long as you walk the earth. Your eternity will be hers. She will walk everywhere you walk. Her being is no longer that of soul or body. She is as you are, a form of deity. She may appear in any form. She is your mate. Her soul is no longer. It has been transformed. She will abide by the rules set in place. She may live this lifetime near those souls she loves. They will never know she has changed. They cannot. Her appearance to the humans she keeps close will change as they change. Once she is ready to walk away from the life she now leads she can let go of those rules and walk as you do without care.”