murderer. I couldn’t forget or ever forgive that fact.
The mausoleum was dark and empty. I searched the blackness but there was no trace of him.
He was gone.
I crawled over to Ray’s broken body. He was still lying in the exact spot I’d left him. Again, I tried to bring him to life but it was no use.
Dead.
Then I remembered the words Adrian had shouted after he’d killed Ray.
“I destroyed his perfect Adam.”
I knew now my dreams were not imaginary, they were real. And in believing them, I accepted the fact that I was Eve and Adrian was Samael. This also gave me hope because Adrian had called Ray, Adam.
Could it be possible that Ray was just as much a part of this absurdity as I was?
Could Ray’s soul have woken up someplace…in the Garden?
Oh my god.
Chapter 11
Seize the Day
Still in a daze from the night’s unspeakable events, I stumbled down the narrow cemetery path toward the exit.
Alone.
As I passed the two large oak trees, I didn’t even bother scanning their branches as I normally did in search of any nocturnal creatures. After seeing what I just saw, it was going to take much more than a couple of overweight raccoons to jolt me.
My undershirt was drenched in Ray’s blood and I was freezing. I didn’t bother to hide the bloody mess that was my shirt as I trudged down the broken, cracked street and headed back into town.
It was odd to think that just six months prior, Adrian and I had walked this same route together. That had been the first night we met. Ray and I had just begun to spiral out of control and in walked Adrian, with perfect timing. But in hindsight, I guess Adrian had always been there with me, somewhere in the shadows of my life waiting to bring me back into his reality. Where we could live as Eve and Samael.
But where was he now?
I finally saw with my own eyes who I was, and now it seemed as though he had disappeared.
I had so many unanswered questions but he had abandoned me.
Somehow I found myself sitting on the cathedral steps of St. Catherine’s church. It was pitch black as the sun had set behind the golden hills hours ago. I felt like my soul had faded along with the daylight. It had evolved into darkness and enveloped my entire body in its black, mysterious aura. I felt so empty.
The blackness of the night promised to wash away all the sins of the prior day and allow me to start anew when the morning sun would rise, or so I desperately hoped.
If only that were true. If only we could have a do over of this day.
God, I missed him.
I wrapped my arms tightly across my chest and dropped my head into my shivering lap. All I could think of was Ray all alone inside that dark, dank mausoleum. His shimmery blond hair matted in that thick red fluid, his big sinewy neck, gaping open like a gazelle being torn apart by lions.
Adrian was right about that movie we’d watched, but he had the characters confused. Ray wasn’t Tom Buchanan, he was Gatsby. I’d had my Gatsby all along. Everything Ray did, he had done for me. He had accumulated a small fortune, the accompanying fame so he could marry and provide for me. But I refused to see it. Instead I wallowed in self-pity and played the role of sad little Sidney who could never figure out how to be happy. I had ruined it all. It turned out I was just as selfish as Daisy and now because of my choices, Ray was dead.
“Sidney, is that you?” a gentle voice called from behind me.
I didn’t have to turn around to know who the voice belonged to. “Yes, Father Renley, it’s me. I’m sorry, did I disturb you?” I asked as I climbed to my feet, ready to move on and take my loitering somewhere else.
“Not at all, my child.” The good priest paused while he looked me over, his face full of concern. “Are you hurt?”
I touched my head where it had smacked against the marble stairs after Adrian had tried to stop me from leaving. There was a trickle of dried red that seemed to
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