Destiny's Wrath (Destiny Series - Book 3) by Straight, Nancy (read full novel .txt) 📗

lots as a deterrent for criminals. If he were a betting man, Jimmy’s money was on this one being a fake.

Jimmy looked at his watch: it was still pretty early. If he picked up his pace, he’d be home before 10 p.m. Originally he had decided not to worry about curfew tonight; it wouldn’t matter if his mother grounded him. He didn’t have any friends to spend time with anymore. Jimmy quickly dismissed this and picked up his pace. There was no sense getting home late for no reason and having to come up with a viable reason for breaking his curfew. As he walked down the dark streets, Jimmy noticed blood splatter on the shirt he was wearing. It wasn’t that obvious; it wasn’t technically even his shirt, but he made a mental note to burn the shirt in the morning.

He didn’t know how long it would take for all the bodies to be found, but he knew it wouldn’t be long before the police tried to figure out who was the last person to see them alive.

Chapter 7

Jimmy arrived home without much notice from his mother. She was engrossed in a documentary and only paid enough attention to note that he had made it home. Jimmy grabbed some chips from the cupboard and went to his room.

Jimmy couldn’t help himself, “So, I’m weak, am I?”

Samael’s voice sounded pleased when it echoed in Jimmy’s head, “You performed marginally this evening, better than my expectations for you. You do know you haven’t much time. What you have set in motion cannot be undone, and you must be willing to follow through.”

Jimmy was elated to hear praise from Samael, “I have no intention of turning back now. Three days from now this town won’t know what hit it.”

“Three days? You may need to fast forward your plan. The police will have isolated you as a suspect by tomorrow or Thursday at the latest. You may not be a free man on Friday.”

Jimmy hadn’t figured that into his timeline. He lay in bed discussing the details of his plan with Samael for hours. By two a.m. Jimmy was exhausted, but each time he closed his eyes, he saw faces, contorted with the shock of Jimmy murdering them. The guilt for what he had done finally began to erode the exhilaration of fulfilling his plan. He tossed and turned for hours, but sleep wouldn’t find him. As he saw the first light of day streaming in through his window, he knew he wouldn’t be able to camouflage his guilt. Five seconds with the police and they would know he was involved.

Rather than getting out of bed when his alarm went off, he stayed there waiting for his mother to check on him. When she finally did, he faked a migraine, telling her the light hurt so badly he couldn’t even stand. Having been a victim of migraines for years, she went to the window and pulled his shades, drew his curtains, and gave him one of her migraine pills. She left for work without giving it another thought.

Jimmy was disappointed to find out that even in the daylight the images of Miss Abbey, Noah, Miles, Jessie, Miss Phyllis, and the two kids just flashed faster in his mind. He tried to reason that it had to be done; he didn’t have a choice. When he tried to force the images of the blood and gore away, worse images appeared, little Melanie laughing at the lake last summer, Miles teaching him how to drive his old Jeep, Noah staring down some jackass at school who had threatened Jimmy. Samael didn’t comment on the images, but Jimmy knew he was watching.

Jimmy flipped on the television and waited patiently for the news report. He dozed in and out of nightmares: most of the faces were familiar, but many of the images creeping into his subconscious were horrific and had nothing to do with the friends he had slaughtered last night.

One image in particular played in slow motion, with no sound. It was of a woman near a campfire. She had offered her food to a man who didn’t accept it. Jimmy recognized the man’s actions: he was stalking her, but she didn’t even seem to realize. The man and woman seemed to be talking, but Jimmy couldn’t make out the words. He could see fear in the woman’s face, then watched as the man transformed into a bear right before his eyes. The bear began slashing at the woman, blood going everywhere. Jimmy could see gashes on her stomach, arms, legs, everywhere but her face. He watched the woman’s body go limp.

He knew that Samael had just shared a prized memory with him, that this woman was special. Samael had not allowed Jimmy to hear any of the words or the screams, but a fantastic feeling of ecstasy came over him as the woman lay limp on the ground and the bear ran for the woods. Jimmy awoke to a breaking news story.

Body bags were lain out on the front lawn of Miss Abbey’s house. Jimmy looked at the clock on his dresser: it was 1:15. Shortly before 3:00, the house phone rang. Jimmy let the answering machine get it. He could hear a man’s voice saying “Ms. Jacobs, this is Detective Ross. Your son James was not present at school today, and the attendance office did not receive a call from you regarding his absence. Please call me at your earliest convenience.” The detective left a phone number and hung up.

Jimmy went to the answering machine, and his hands began to shake. Detectives didn’t make truancy calls. I must have left some sort of evidence behind - but what? My clothes - how would they know they were mine? I put them in the washing machine before I left. Fingerprints? No way, I’ve never been arrested for anything; mine aren’t even on file. I didn’t take