Free Give Me Love by Zoey Derrick Page A

this room will help you, and you will have Elysium on your side when you go.”
    Mikah takes his mother by the arm and kisses her cheek. He whispers in her ear so that only she can hear it. “I know. And you know that I will do anything to keep both of them safe.”
    “Do not be a martyr. Protect them and yourself,” she whispers back. She knows how much Vivienne and her daughter mean to him, though he may not yet realize it himself.
    He kisses her cheek once more, and she goes to Vivienne and kneels in front of her. “I knew from the very first moment I saw you, so many years ago, that you were special.”  
    Vivienne raises her head to look at her. Elizabeth’s eyes are soft, warm and a comfort, but they are wary too.  
    “Your strength, your determination, and most of all your heart are pure. Call on me at any time if you need to talk.” Elizabeth kisses Vivienne on the cheek. “Go now and rest.”

TWENTY-THREE
    “What do we do now?” Mikah asks. He, Vivienne and the guardians are back in his penthouse, standing in the dining room.
    “We need to establish some type of daily routine for Vivienne. Like walking along the river or going to a store nearby. And while she’s engaged in this activity, we have to drop her protection.” Red says.
    “No. Absolutely not. She cannot go out unprotected and alone.”  
    “Mikah, she will not be alone. We will all be there with her. But she has to appear alone. We need to be able to draw Riley out, get the attention of Link, who will send Riley in to do whatever it is he wants him to do. But in order to do that, we have to lay the trap, and in order to do that, her presence needs to register with the devil’s watchers. They need to know at what time of day they can expect her to show up. Once they’ve identified her pattern, they will pass the message along. Exposing her one time will not draw out what we’re after.”
    “I don’t like the idea of using Vivienne as bait,” Mikah says, but his tone is more plaintive now than commanding.  
    Vivienne looks at Mikah. “We have no other choice.”
    She’s right of course, and Mikah knows it, but fear grips him; he is putting her in danger, something he swore to himself he would never do again.  
    “She’s right, Mikah, we have no other choice,” says Red.
    “I know, it’s just...it’s so dangerous. He got to her once and I couldn’t live with myself if he gets to her again.” He looks to Vivienne, on the verge of tears at the idea of anything happening to her.  
    “We have a plan in place,” Red says, “we just need you two ready and willing to make it happen. No harm will come to Vivienne, we will make sure of that. We will do everything in our power to make sure no harm comes to anyone, but Vivienne’s protection is our main concern.”  
    Red’s commitment to keeping Vivienne safe makes Mikah feel a little better about the situation, but still he’s not convinced.  
    “You don’t think I worry about you?” Vivienne whispers to Mikah, aware that his concern for her safety could drive him to try and stop this from happening. “All of you? It would kill me if anything happened to any of you.”
    “We know,” Red says, compassion in his eyes.  
    Something occurs to Vivienne. “I’m not sure that I’m understanding all of this,” she says. “If the devil likes control, why doesn’t he handle things himself?”
    “The devil doesn’t do his own dirty work because he knows that there is always a chance that someone could defeat him. He uses ‘tools’ like Riley to keep himself out of harm’s way.”
      “Okay, so where do we come into all of this? How does our defeating Riley change any of that?” Mikah asks. It is the same question that’s weighing on Vivienne’s mind.
    “The devil killed Riley, thus making him a tool at his disposal to do his work. Until the demon Riley is destroyed by something other than the devil, Link can continue to use him as he sees fit. When he is