69 INCHES AND RISING by Rebecca Steinbeck Read Free Book Online Page A

wanted to bring her back to a better place, one that had been burned to the ground but would surely be rebuilt on a foundation of true love that he shared with Serena, and one that a woman who raised him to become who he was would be safe because she would be protected there by the man who, in life, was her son, but in death, and with every step forward, would become her guardian angel.
     
     
    CHAPTER NINETEEN
     
    J onathon’s mother pulled her knees hard to her chest, and the tears that were falling cut her face and blood dripped from the wounds. A demon peered at her from the darkness and it licked its lips in anticipation at the meal that lay ahead. It circled her, its black heart pumping fury around its dead body and hatred across its soul. It ran its bony hand up and down the spear it was carrying then touched its tongue to the sharp end and its tongue began to bleed. It drank its own blood and smiled. Its razor sharp teeth that were poisoned by the souls of a thousand dead men were ready to plunge into the heart of the woman, to tear it apart so the demon could feast upon it with greater ease. The demon moved closer now. It could taste her blood and it was sweet like the nectar dripping from the fruit in God’s great Garden of Eden. It came to the edge of the darkness and peered into the blood red light from the fires that burned in the heart of the Devil. Jonathon’s mother had her back to the demon and she didn’t move except to rock back and forth like a baby in its mother’s arms. All hope had been drained from her body and she no longer cared for her heart and soul. She welcomed death for she had no reason to live. But she had every reason to live, and as the demon came even closer the angels in Heaven looked down on her and prayed that her son was ready to fight for her and to win her back from the bowels of Hell. As Jonathon wandered further down the road, he saw into the heart of the Devil, and there he saw his father, and his girlfriend’s father, and they were drowning in the Devil’s blood. The time had come to avenge the loss of not just a loved one, but of one too many. He turned to God and said, “Please give me the strength to give my mother back to you.” God looked down at him and smiled, for He knew at long last that Jonathon was ready. “The final layer has been removed,” God said. “You now want for someone more than yourself. That is all the strength you need.” Jonathon heard his words and believed. His heart believed too and it drove him toward his mother, and it drove him toward the demon that was readying its spear to pierce his mother’s heart. Jonathon felt her pain and he began to run, and while the road was hard and hot, and while it hurt his feet, he carried on.
     
     
    CHAPTER TWENTY
     
    T he demon came up behind Jonathon’s mother now and raised its spear high. “In the name of Beelzebub, God of Gods, Lord of all the Lands, I smite thee.” The demon lowered the point of its spear toward the woman’s heart and she felt no pain, and while the road was hard and hot, and while it hurt his feet, Jonathon moved faster now for his mother needed him. The point of the demon’s spear pierced his mother’s skin and still she felt no pain, and while the road was hard and hot, and while it hurt his feet, Jonathon moved faster now for his mother needed him more than ever. He approached the demon and reached into it. He grabbed its black heart and squeezed it until it stopped beating and now the demon’s body was dead and so too its soul. Smoke rose from the demon’s body and soon it caught fire and Jonathon let go. It fell to the ground and a great roar echoed through the darkness surrounding them and soon the demon was gone, leaving behind a spear and a pile of ashes as the only proof in Jonathon’s eyes it had been there at all. He turned to his mother who had her back to him and was still holding her knees to her chest and he reached out to her. He touched her shoulder