As Dale and I were headed inside, Randy was waiting in nearly the same spot I had seen him last night. I could feel that he wanted to talk again, and it was like he picked up right where he left off last night. “So, what’s Lauren doing these days?”
I tried to keep the frustration from shining through on my face. It was hard enough keeping her off my mind as it was; I didn’t need Randy asking about her, too. “Not too much. She’s been self-employed for a while.”
“Is she a consultant of some kind? Private security, maybe?” Randy was a great guy, really upbeat every time I’d ever talked to him, which in itself was a little strange. I hadn’t seen or heard from this guy in nearly three years, I had only talked to him a few times in my life, and not only did he remember me, he remembered my girlfriend, her name, and was interested in what she was doing. A part of me realized I was just being paranoid, then Samael’s voice quietly rang through me and said, “No, Max – you aren’t being paranoid. Evade his questions, give him nothing.”
It’s hard to roll your eyes at a voice in your head, but then I thought a little harder. I didn’t trust Samael, heck I didn’t even like him, his existence had caused nothing but pain for me even before I ever met him. But so far, his advice had been right on the money. Rather than answer Randy, I answered Samael in my mindversation, “Give him nothing? He’s just trying to be friendly. I’m the new guy again.”
Samael’s response was firm, “No, he’s asked nothing about you, and he is trying to worm his way close to you so that he can get near Lauren. Share nothing with him.”
My brief exchange with Samael had created too much of a delay in responding to Randy. My answer was almost strained when I finally said, “No, I’m not really sure how to describe what she does, but she seems to be happy. I’m going to go get ready for the turnover. I’ll see you later.”
As I took a stride to step away, Randy called out, “Hey, maybe you two would like to go to dinner this weekend?” His expression was hopeful, and he really looked like he was just trying to make a new friend.
Samael’s voice echoed again, “Tell him no.”
This time I opted not to carry on a conversation inside my head while I was interacting with another human, “I’ll check with Lauren. We might need to plan something a little further out.”
I did the pass off with the oncoming team, clocked out, and was in my truck headed home when Samael let loose, “Don’t trust him, Max. You are incredibly naïve and he may be dangerous. Don’t you find it odd that you met him while on a date with Lauren? He introduced himself to you both. In less than twenty-four hours from meeting you he convinced you that his lifelong dream was to be a paramedic? When you returned he happened to be in charge and offered you a job on the spot, no questions asked, didn’t even ask for a reference?”
“No, I don’t think it’s odd. It isn’t like I don’t have skills, Samael. This is what I do.”
“Max, no one gets hired the minute they walk through the door. What about hiring paperwork, salaries, benefits? None of those things even came up. He just told you to grab your uniform and show up.”
“Samael, again I worked here before. All my information is already on file. I could have come back any time. You’re blowing this way out of proportion.”
“No, you are turning a blind eye to someone who wants to exploit you. Worse yet, you could end up allowing him to get close to Lauren.”
“Can’t you leave? If I could get you out of my head, my whole life would be normal again. Maybe I need to find a priest or something. They can exorcise demons.”
I heard him laughing. It’s like Samael didn’t have the right responses. You would think if you were a demon taking up house in someone’s head and they threatened to find a priest, you’d try to talk them out of it, or get angry or something, but laughing?
The roaring laughter died out, “Max, you need me. I know this is an uncomfortable friendship for you, but I am your best shot at you keeping Lauren safe, and we both know it.”
“Samael, you and I both know you took up refuge in me in some feeble attempt to keep Lauren from killing you. You are not helping me keep Lauren safe. You are an uninvited guest.” I thought of Rewsna again; she would know how to send Samael on his way.
The flash of Rewsna in my thoughts was significantly more shocking to him than my threat of a priest. He said nothing, but I could feel his anger welling up. Oddly enough he waited until I pulled in my driveway to answer back.
“Listen Max, I know you are enamored with Rewsna. She is capable of many impressive skills. Her telepathy is second to none, and let me tell you, it has been no easy feat to block her constant attempts to communicate with you since I took up refuge. You keep looking at the world in visions of good and evil – this is some stereotype that is planted in people from the time they are children. You need to grow up and realize that it has less to do with good and evil and more to do with action and reaction. All souls make choices throughout their lives, some are good and some are evil – their
