Without diminishing her fake smile, I watched Lauren say, “We were going to go get some breakfast. You guys are welcome to hang out. We’ll be back in an hour or so.”
Renny shook her head and stared directly at me. When she spoke to Lauren, she was looking at me, “I hate to eavesdrop on people, Lauren, but sometimes it is a necessity. Samael needs to be destroyed, once and for all. If left where he is, he will get stronger. Max won’t be able to stop him, and you’re both going to be killed. Don’t be fooled by him. He feigns weakness and the two of you are believing it.”
I could feel the end drawing near. The only solace I felt was that my last few moments would be spent near Lauren. Samael pushed an image to me, the same one he had shown me days ago of the Council slaying an innocent host he had inhabited years before. The man was screaming, “No he’s gone, he’s not here anymore, really he’s gone.” It didn’t do the man any good, the Council still took it upon themselves to slice the man to pieces. Then a thought occurred to me. If it occurred to me, Samael would understand as well.
I knew we had one very slim chance. He and I only communicated inside my mind, where the Council members could not hear. “Samael, hide, drop the brick wall that prevents Rewsna from communicating with me. If I’m right we might both get out of this alive. You need to trust me enough to let her in.”
In a fraction of a second I had his answer. I threw myself to the ground and pretended to be in the most extreme agony of my life. This was not exactly the reaction that everyone had expected. I screamed and writhed around on the ground imagining that a hot poker had just been jammed in an eye socket. After a few seconds I was even able to make tears well up in my eye. Lauren didn’t know what I was doing, and she got down on the ground holding and rocking me as if I were a child who had just crashed my bicycle.
I knew I had to be convincing, then I heard the sound I needed to hear, it was Renny communicating with me telepathically, “Max, what happened? Can you hear me?”
I yelled out loud so all the onlookers could see the proof that I was no longer blocking Rewsna. “Holy Shit, Renny, I can hear you. He’s gone. It felt like he ripped himself out of my eyelid. Where did he go? Is he coming back?”
Lauren held my head in her arms, partially I guessed to keep the Council members from moving in on me, although I’m sure my performance had caught her off guard. I could hear Rewsna’s words in my mind again. “Max, where did Samael go? He needs a host. Where is he?”
I answered verbally, again so the Council members would see proof that Samael was no longer blocking my communication, no longer censoring me because he was long gone. “I don’t know, but he was pretty sure you were going to kill me. He leaped out before you could slice and dice me. He showed me an image of a group doing the same thing to one of his hosts years ago.”
A large man approached Lauren and me. He had kind features and he offered both of us a hand up off the ground. The other Council members did not approach, and when Lauren and I were on our feet, he spoke in a warm voice. “Mike, why don’t you take Lauren inside and get her a cup of tea?”
Lauren grabbed my hand tight and her words were like venom, “Tea? Are you smoking crack? Samael is in another host and you think I need tea?” She redirected her attention to the group at large, “Where is he?”
No one spoke, no one blinked, everyone stood staring only at Lauren and me. I knew Rewsna could read my thoughts, so I didn’t betray myself or Samael. I thought of only the agony I had pretended to feel moments ago, visualizing that same hot poker being jabbed in my eye. To Samael’s credit, wherever he was hiding, I could not even feel him inside my head. Finally Rewsna said verbally so all the Council members could hear her, “The Beast is not in this man any longer; he must have attached himself elsewhere. Max, I want you to go inside with Lauren. We must run through the possibilities together to decide how to proceed.” With a wave of her hand, she essentially dismissed us.
We walked into the house, I continued concentrating on only the pain manufactured in my mind. Lauren really believed my performance was for real, we stepped into the kitchen and she wrapped herself around me. She said in such an enthusiastic voice, “It’s really just us, we’re really going to be okay! I was willing to deal with Samael if it meant that I didn’t lose you. I never even hoped that we could get rid of him so easily.”
Rewsna was, no doubt, still listening in on my thoughts so I couldn’t betray my performance and tell Lauren the truth. I monitored my own thoughts, never allowing myself to slip. I knew I needed to start a conversation with Lauren that I could concentrate all my attention on, in case Rewsna was still listening in. “Lauren, I’d like to go away, get out of this place. Will you go with me?”
She nodded, “Wherever you want to go.”
I chose the place that I knew I didn’t want to go, my charade would eventually be over, and I needed to plant enough information with Rewsna to give the two (or three) of us a fighting chance at freedom. “California, you mentioned Carlsbad before, I think we
