Lead Me From Temptation (Divine Darkness Book 1) Read online

  “How did you know?”

  “You assume I don’t read the legal documents that pass over my desk. 127 Oak Street—your address is on your contract. I’ve known where you live for quite some time.”

  We neared my tiny yellow house with the white picket fence that needed repairing. The rain had finally stopped and the streetlights reflected an amber hue off of the pavement. As we approached the house I could see someone was parked in my driveway. The only other person who had a key to my house was Jonathan, and if he were there he would’ve called to tell me he was drinking my diet Coke and going through my panty drawer.

  “Who’s in my driveway?”

  “I think maybe you are,” he replied as he pulled behind the black sedan and turned off his car.

  I shot David a puzzled look and sat up in the low riding seat of the sports car. “Seriously. Whose Audi…” I paused to search for the letters and numbers on the back of the vehicle. “S eight?”

  He laughed quietly under his breath. “The car is yours, Indie.”

  “What?”

  “My dad had it sent over for you. Let’s take a look,” he said as he simultaneously opened the door and bound around the front of the car to get to mine.

  “What do you mean, your dad had it sent over for me?”

  “Indie, you didn’t read your contract very closely. You get either a car allowance or a company car and since your Accord was—well—dead, my dad had a car sent over for you.”

  “This is my car?” I was in shock. I’d never had a new car.

  “This is your car.”

  “For ever and ever? Or just while I work for GlobalTech?”

  “For ever and ever,” David laughed. I could tell he was pleased with his surprise.

  I touched the shiny black paint, running my hand across the hood through beads of water left from the storm. Placing my fingers on the door I looked up to David. “Go on,” he said with an encouraging smile. “Check her out.”

  I opened the driver’s door and the indescribable new car aroma wafted out. I’d never experienced the real fragrance; the closest I’d come was a scented air freshener in the shape of a tree.

  I slid into the driver’s seat, the fresh leather barely giving way to the weight of my body. Leaning back against the headrest, I closed my eyes. Was this my life? When I opened them again I found David smiling down at me as he sexily braced himself on the frame of the door.

  “I’d say let’s take her for a spin, but the last thing we need is a DUI to get out of before we leave for Italy.”

  “I don’t have to drive it,” I said, running my hands across the dashboard. “I might just sleep in it instead.”

  “It’s a turbocharged TFSI engine and it’s all-wheel drive. Do you like the color?”

  I looked around the car, into the back seat and back to David. “It’s perfect in every way.”

  He smiled his million-dollar grin and I thought I’d crossed over and gone to heaven. For the first time in as long as I could remember, my life felt like it was on the right track.

  TWELVE

  I awoke the next morning and rushed to the window to gaze at my new car. I couldn’t wait to get dressed and drive it into to Atlanta. The falling apart Honda was the only car I’d ever owned and as I thought about all the days I’d had with the rusted out car, I remembered the things I’d left inside it. I quickly picked up my new phone and texted David.

  Good morning. Thank you again for the car. I was so excited last night I forgot to ask where my old car was towed. I need to get a few things out of it.

  David: Not to worry. It’s been taken care of. Everything that was in the car has been delivered to the office. You can collect it today.

  Thank you. See you soon.

  David: No, thank you and I’m looking forward to it. Be careful on the drive in. Your new car is fast!

  Pshhhhhh…don’t underestimate my skills. LOL

  David: Never. See you at 3.

  I quickly dried my hair and dressed in black dress pants and a light blue cashmere sweater set. It was vintage and one of the articles of clothing I kept from my Grandma Indriel’s closet. That and a set of diamond earrings I rarely wore—too afraid that I would lose them. I knew she’d tell me that jewelry needs to be worn and not sit in the box, but I felt like it was one of the few things I had of hers to hold onto. I wouldn’t know what to do if I ever lost them.

  I glanced at the clock and thought about Mike. Did I dare go to the park again today? The wine last night had taken my mind off of him. Well, that and the undivided attention David paid to me. I looked at myself in the mirror brushing my long hair from my face and gazed at my violet eyes—just like my grandmother’s.

  Grabbing my new notebook, iPad, phone and my messenger bag, I walked out the door knowing exactly where I needed to go first in my new car.

  I locked up my house and looked down at the key fob in my hand. It was the prettiest thing I’d ever seen. I clicked on the button and heard the car release like a vapor lock. I opened the door and the intoxicating smell filled my head. I couldn’t help but smile.

  I started the car with a push of the button and without a prayer and adjusted the seat and mirrors to fit me and me alone. Turning on the radio, I found classical music and my smile widened. I put the car in reverse and began to back out of my little driveway. As I sped away from Oak Street I couldn’t recall a time I was happier.

  It only took me fifteen minutes to make it to the assisted living home where Aunt Sally had resided for the past year. The tremors and her dementia were hard for me to watch. She’d been such an active woman her whole life and it was unfortunate that it was all going to end this way.

  Aunt Sally was one of the best people I knew. My father’s twin sister, she’d run an orphanage in the Philippines for most of her life. It seemed unfair that someone who’d given so much of herself wouldn’t have the chance to enjoy her golden years.

  I walked into her room and saw her sitting in a rocking chair staring out the window at the beautiful day. I felt guilty immediately for not seeing her earlier in the week as I usually did. I dreaded coming to the home, but always felt better about everything as I left. “Aunt Sally? It’s so good to see you, darlin’,” I said loudly in order to get her attention right away.

  “I had a feeling you’d be coming by this morning.” Her voice shook as her rigid limbs jerked.

  “You did?” I asked, knowing Aunt Sally was so like my dad and Grandma Indie. I never had to tell her I was coming to see her. She seemed to know—even if I didn’t.

  “I’ve missed you, Indie baby.”

  Sally was sixty-one, feisty and my almost mother for my entire life. After my parents died Aunt Sally took Jacob and me under her wing. She’d never been married or had kids of her own and it seemed like the natural progression of our family. After Jacob died it had just been the two of us. Even then, I was so busy paying bills and working I never had the time I should’ve to spend with her. “I’ve been so busy lately, Sally. But all that’s about to change.”

  She gave me a puzzled look and tried to nod.

  “Hello there,” the nurse chimed as she came in to check on Aunt Sally. “It’s nice to see you, Indie,” she said to me before turning to my aunt. “Isn’t it nice to see Indie, Miss Sally?”

  Aunt Sally nodded with everything she could muster in her failing body.

  “How’s she doing?” I asked the nurse.

  “Okay.” I could tell by the nurse’s tone that okay wasn’t really okay. “We had a little episode this morning. She was confusing a pile of socks for a bunch of snakes. It took a little bit to calm her down.”

  I knew the Lewy body dementia was wrecking her mind. It wasn’t uncommon for those who suffered from it to make no sense, or to talk to people or animals that didn’t exist. It sometimes made me worry about my own life as I grew older. But I knew Aunt Sally’s Parkinson’s had been linked back to the old pesticides used to keep the mosquitos at bay around the orphanage.
She’d sprayed the toxic stuff herself for years. This was her reward.

  “Well, we’ll just have to chat about more pleasant things,” I said as I smiled and kissed her on the forehead. “I’m going to tell you all about my new job and car.”

  “Start with the car,” she said as she tried to give my hand a love pat.

  “I’ve taken a new job and as part of it I got this beautiful, shiny black beast.”

  “New job?” The smile fell from her face. “Why?”

  “Well,” I said, fumbling with my words. “Lots of reasons. Money, for one.”

  She looked at me and nodded. Her body was failing her and her mind was sometimes with me and sometimes not. I could tell by her eyes when the Aunt Sally I knew and loved was present. As she blinked at me I knew she understood everything I was saying.

  “I’m taking a break from hospice work. Not that I won’t go back some day. It’s my calling for sure, Aunt Sally. I just needed—” I paused to find the right words. “I needed a break.”

  “Sometimes it’s hard doing good in this world.” Her voice shook and I smiled at her words. “It’s a thankless job. But in the end helping others is what’s most important.”

  She understood the pace and pressure that came along with people depending on you to make their lives less burdensome. She’d lived that life and it was easy for me to talk with her about my work—something that I didn’t share with anyone. “I’ve had such a hard time lately—well, since Jacob died—dealing with death. His or anyone else’s. And now…” I paused to lower my voice. “Now I’m seeing things. More things than I usually see. I feel like maybe I’m starting to lose my grip on reality.” I confessed my true feelings, knowing if Aunt Sally ever told anyone what I was saying they would only chalk it up to another episode.

  “I understand.”

  “You do?” I moved in closer to her and tried to control my elation. Aunt Sally was beautiful and even though she’d been dealt a crappy hand in the end, she always said she wouldn’t change a thing about her life. I had to wonder if maybe she, like Grandma Indie, could see Spirit.

  “It’s hard not to want more…” she paused, working up the energy to continue. “When you’re giving everything and not getting much in return.”

  I nodded and exhaled, thinking she had no idea what I was trying to say without actually coming out and saying, I see things I’m not supposed to. She was the salt of the earth—good people. I respected my Aunt Sally tremendously and the last thing I would ever want to do was disappoint her. Still, she’d always said things to me that didn’t make sense and now that she was into full-blown Parkinson’s with dementia, I suspected that she’d been on a downward spiral for a while. I never noticed because frankly, Aunt Sally was what most people would consider kooky.

  “People who are marked for a life such as yours sacrifice so much for others. It’s only human for you to want more. Your father never wanted to talk to you about it, but I knew at some point you’d come to realize your worth.”

  I shook my head. “I don’t understand.”

  “The way you help people, the way you view the world and everyone in it.” She leaned in, gazed into my eyes and whispered, “The things you see.” In a jerking motion she reached for my hand and I knelt at her feet so she could find it more easily.

  “Do you see them too?” I asked, matching her quiet tone.

  Slowly she nodded.

  I leaned my head into hers. “So I’m not crazy?”

  She shook her head, letting me know I wasn’t alone in my life of Spirit.

  “Why didn’t you ever tell me before?”

  “There’s a time to know and a time to know why. You need to know why.”

  “Tell me why.”

  She took pause and stared out the window again. I worried she was slipping away from the conversation—a conversation I was anxious to have with her.

  “Tell me about your new job,” she said, changing the subject.

  “I’m working for Lewis Thornbury at GlobalTech. Do you know who I’m talking about?”

  “Rachael.” She said the word and nodded with a smile.

  “No, Lewis. Lewis Thornbury.”

  “Rachael. She was marked.”

  I looked deep into Aunt Sally’s eyes and thought maybe I’d lost her.

  “Okay, Aunt Sally. Rachael.”

  “Rachel was marked. Like you. Like me.”

  She was gone. I sat and smiled at her and felt bad for not visiting sooner. I’d had a moment of clarity with her, or was it merely another delusional thought brought on by the clumps of protein in her brain? I glanced at my watch and realized that even on a Sunday it was going to take me a while to get into downtown Atlanta. “I need to go,” I said as I stood and looked down at my once vibrant aunt. “I’m so thankful I have you.” I said as I pulled her in for a hug.

  She lifted her hand to point to me—her arm jerking as she had a difficult time starting or stopping any movement. “Ne-fill-um.”

  “What?” I asked.

  She repeated the gibberish. “Ne-fill-um. Beware.”

  “I’ll see you soon, Aunt Sally. I will.”

  I walked to her door and turned to say my last good-bye.

  “Next time bring the one you dream about.” She said the words as her head jerked to the side uncontrollably. “He’s divine.”

  “What did you say?” Her comment caused me to pause. Yesterday morning I woke up thinking only of Mike. Today my head was filled with thoughts of David.

  “You’re a naughty old woman. You know that? Please don’t confuse me any more than I already am.”

  “Be…watchful. He prowls, seeking someone to devour.”

  I paused and blinked hard before heading out the door. I walked the long hallway to sign out and thought of all she’d just said to me and searched my mind for where I’d heard those words before.

  As soon as I made it into my car I started it and as the air conditioning began to cool down the interior, I opened my messenger bag and rummaged for my blue spiral notebook. Finding one of the many pens swimming in the bottom of my bag, I opened the dog-eared pages and began to write: Marked, Nefillum—it was a phonetic spelling, but the best I could do. Finally, I tried to remember Sally’s last words. Be watchful; he prowls, seeking someone to devour.

  As I pulled out of the parking lot I could see Aunt Sally watching me from the window. What was going on in her head?

  THIRTEEN

  As expected, Six met me as I pulled my new car to the curb. I’d had so much fun driving it on the interstate I was almost sad to arrive at the office. I’d tried my best to leave the conversation with Sally behind me and just enjoy the ride.

  “Good afternoon, Miss Indie.”

  “Six,” I began as I stepped onto the pavement. “Remember when I said you didn’t have to be careful with my car?”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “I’ve changed my mind. Do you mind to be extra careful with my new baby?”

  “Of course, Miss Indie.” Six shot me a huge grin and I could tell he was happy that I was so elated.

  I climbed the steps to the front of the building and once again looked up to the top where I was heading. Blowing through the revolving door, a new security guard was waiting to greet me. “Miss Luce.”

  “That’s me,” I said as I stopped and waited to be let through the gate.

  “Before you go up I need to do some security marking.”

  “I have no idea what that means.”

  “Your fingerprints. I need them.”

  I looked at my hand as if it held answers. “For what?”

  “It will give you access to the building at night, the security gate as well as access to all GlobalTech files.”

  “I don’t know that I need to access files, but okay. How are we doing this? Is it like you’re booking me for a crime or something?” I asked with a laugh.

  “Nothing like that, ma’am. I just need to ask you a couple of questions and then take an image
of your fingerprints. Are you right or left handed?”

  “Left.”

  “May I see your left hand please, Miss Luce?”

  “Please, call me Indie.” I held it up in front of my face and gave him a smirk.

  “I need you to place it on the scanner.”

  From under the security counter he pulled what looked like a giant iPad that was illuminated in bright blue. As he sat it on the counter between us he began his instructions. “Hold your hand open and flat please and then carefully place it on the scanner. When the blue background turns green, the scan is complete.”

  “Okay.” I stretched my hand wide as he’d shown me and carefully placed it on the pad. The electric charge I felt as it began to scan was a little unnerving and for a moment it felt like my hand had gone to sleep.

  When the pad turned green, he looked to the monitor below and then back to me with a puzzled stare. “Is there something wrong?” I asked, anxious to be finished and upstairs where I needed to be.

  “No, ma’am. Do you mind to do it just one more time? I think we’re experiencing a software glitch.”

  “Okay,” I sighed. “But this is the last time, Leroy.” I joked, reading his nametag.

  “Thank you for your patience, ma’am.”

  Once again the screen turned bright blue and I carefully placed my hand in the middle and felt it go slightly numb. As the light turned green for the second time I looked to Leroy and nodded. “Did I do good?”

  “I’m sorry, Miss Luce. I’m going to let you in and we’ll have to figure this out on Monday when the tech supervisor is in the building.”

  “What’s the problem? Don’t I have enough fingerprints?” I joked.

  “No, ma’am. The program isn’t registering any fingerprints.”

  “Ah, well I can see why you need to wait for someone in tech. That’s definitely a glitch.”

  “Yes, ma’am. Sorry to hold you up down here.”

  “No worries,” I said as he buzzed me through the gate and I walked back to the express elevator. I pushed the button and the doors opened immediately. I gave one last glance back to Leroy as he shook his head and looked at the image on the screen. It was my hand all right, but it was a solid mass of red with a bright yellow glow around it.