Believe me now!

32 A time to leave.

Blaze drove up and down the beach resort, looking for his wife. He talked to several local people asking about Leo.

No one was talking to the American that looked like a mercenary.

He went back to their beach front room where they had been staying. He lifted up one of Sera's dresses. He smelled her perfume. " Tell me where you are my love."

Sera was getting her strength back. She was eating on her own and able to sit up and walk. The drugs she had been forced to take were finally wearing off.

Sera tried to forget the horrible experience she'd had with Manuelo. She needed to put her fear aside and go to Blaze.

She was planning her escape. Dorinda and Charlie had been keeping a close eye on her.

But lately they were giving her a little more space. Dorinda left to go to the market. Charlie had to tend to some in his congregation.

" When do you think I can see my husband again?" She asked Leo.

He smiled at her. "You ask me every day. I think you know that answer Sera."

" Have you ever been married Leo?" She asked him.

He didn't want to talk to her since she had pushed him away and told him not to touch her.

He shrugged. "My life is not what's important here. I am keeping my promise to your husband."

Sera looked at him. " I hurt you. I'm sorry Leo. What did I do?"

He grinned. " You did nothing. Do not worry."

She reached her hand out to him.

" Do not touch me!" He said to her.

She pulled her hand back. "Yes, that is true. Thank you for reminding me.

It is very hard for me to maintain my connection to Jason Blaze if I connect to others around me.

I must be crazy to you. If I hurt you, forgive me friend?"

Leo understood now. She wasn't just pushing him away, she was trying to pull her man in.

" Don't worry. He won't be long. I have word he is looking for you. I am hiding you from Manuelo. I cannot let anyone find you.

If you have a true connection to him and he to you, he will be here soon."

Sera nodded. She wanted to leave and find him. She decided that she would not go out of Charlie's home. She would try to be patient and let Blaze come to her.

Sera nodded at Leo. " I need some rest. Thank you for telling me that. I was planning my escape to go back to Manuelo and find him."

Leo grinned. "You are fearless my dear. You were drugged and held captive by a South American mafia drug lord and you want to go back."

He gave her a flower that he had picked from Charlie's garden. "Rest my dear. I wish someday that a woman like you would risk her own life to find a man like me. Your husband is a very lucky man."

Sera thought about that. "He didn't seem to think that while we were in school together."

" He steered clear of me for the longest time. I don't think I was very special or attractive then." She admitted.

Leo pictured her as a younger girl. He could see that she would make any young man shy. " A woman with such beauty as yours can be intimidating to a young man. I bet he was just scared to talk to you."

" No he wasn't interested in me. I almost gave up on him after he ran me over with his car. My leg was broken. He really avoided me then."She frowned.

"Leo, that was a painful time. But that's when I first talked to spirit. I guess it was a curse for me being so blinded by him all those years." She looked at her hands.

Leo thought about her curse.

" I think it was a blessing, not a curse. I mean you help so many people find comfort. You don't have to talk to the dead....I know a woman that could rid you of this power you have. I can take you to her if you want me to, just say the word."

Sera nodded. " I will think about that. Once I find Blaze again, I will really think about it. Thanks Leo you are a good friend."

Leo wasn't a good friend. The woman he was thinking of sending her too was a psychiatrist.

He was thinking that Sera should be locked up for her own safety.

She was actually planning her escape to go back into Manuelo's compound even if it meant her very life. She must be crazy. that's all there is to it.

Blaze sat on the beach he looked up at the stars and listened to the waves lap the shore. He closed his eyes.

Sera was also looking at the nights sky. She was seeing those same stars. She was thinking about Blaze now. She was thinking about what Leo had told her.

She was realizing that she had cursed Blaze by connecting herself to him. She put his life in great danger. He only loved her because she used her gift to make him love her.

She was full of self doubt. He never actually had shown any interest in her before she had gotten her gift. She did it all. She had to undo the connection. She had to let him go. He wasn't her true love, she tricked him into thinking that he loved her.

Sera let her mind go blank. She lay in the stillness of the night. She knew what she had to do. She got up and walked outside. Leo saw her and jumped up from his bed. He ran to stop her.

Sera removed her necklace and threw it into the ocean. She had tears streaming down her face.

" Leo hold me please."

He shook his head- no.

She walked to him and hugged him tightly. He rubbed her back.

" What about Blaze, your connection?"

" It's not right. I won't subject him to my powers. I think I must have cast a spell on him with my power to make him love me.

When I was talking to you earlier it became very clear. He never showed any interest in me before I started having visions.

I trapped him into believing that he loved me. I have been so selfish.

I must break the connection. I must set him free. Leo, can you get me out if here. I need to go home. Back to the states. Please Leo, let's go."

Leo unfortunately agreed she would be safer far away from here. He nodded. " Yes, I will help you. We must make Manuelo believe that you have died. We must fake your death. No one will know you are alive, just me and you. Agree?"

Sera did agree. Leo took care of everything. He had an idea. He ran and got her dress from her room. He cut his own hand and covered it with blood.

He took it to the waters edge. Sera drowned tragically as she was swimming in the shark infested water. Her body was never recovered.

There was a whispered about an American tourist drowning last night. Sera was on a plane homeward bound. Leo had put her on a private jet. She would be home by 5pm. He waved to her as she cried and said goodbye.

Blaze had heard the rumors, he hunted down the location of the missing girl. He spoke with the police. They showed him a dress. It was hers. There was blood all over it. He didn't shed one tear. He found her necklace, the one he had seen her wearing. She left it for him to find. He knew it was a sign from her. He smiled. " Until we meet again my love."

He drove back to Manuelo's compound with that dress. He knew that his wife was still alive. He had tethered himself to her. He knew she was safe. He felt it in his bones. He was relieved.

Seraphina was picked up at the airport by her best friend Landen. He took her to his place. He was now in his own home with his sister Diane.

Sera hugged him tightly. He was much thinner now. He showed her his scar from his surgery.

" Do you even know how greatful I am to have you as my best friend?" he asked her.

Sera smiled and said. " Please tell me, I need to know how great I am right now."