by J. E. Taylor
“We’ve been looking for you,” he said. His voice held the quality of maturity, like he had escaped the hell of puberty, but he would never age from the form he held. And just like Fate, this version of Death had taken his post long before his prime.
I wanted to sign no shit, but I was frozen in place. Fear raked every nerve ending, numbing them. A dull roar sounded in my ears.
“Get her, Levi,” he said to the dog.
The dog growled, but the façade he wore wavered. Leviathan grew to his imposing size, shadowing the beach, and his clawed paw swiped in my direction. I turned, trying to protect my abdomen. The beast hit with the force of a wrecking ball.
I sailed through the air like a rag doll that had been drop kicked.
Based on their open-mouthed expressions, I didn’t think Leviathan or Death expected me to be thrown quite so far. I had a moment to relish their shock before the pain of his open-handed punch sank in.
I thought he smashed my rib cage, and I had issues drawing a breath. Cold water splashed around me on impact. A sharp pain prickled through my scalp. I gasped, drawing the sea into my lungs, before everything went black.
Chapter 9
Voices around me registered, as well as the fact I wasn’t breathing seawater. I tried to focus on the words, but it was all just noise. Too many heated people talking at once.
“Aunt Val, please help her,” a deep male voice cut through the rest.
“I am trying,” a female that I could only assume was Aunt Val said. Hands inspected the wounds in my side. “I don’t know what the hell could have caused these. Where did you find her?”
“One minute I was fishing in the rocks, and the next, she splashed in the water less than a yard away. I have no idea how she got there, and she was far enough out to rule out falling from the rocks.” a voice argued above me. “Just fix her, and we can find out what happened.”
If I could have laughed, I would have. Only the ocean could mend my body. I tried to pry my eyes open, but they stayed shut. Moving my arm or leg or even my head produced the same results. Nothing. It was as if I was trapped in my own body without a way to communicate.
“I’m not sure if you can hear me or not, but this is going to hurt,” the woman whispered, close enough to feel her breath on my eyelids. Then lips brushed my forehead.
Agony filled my form, burning through my skin like a wildfire. Yet I couldn’t scream, but Alex could, and his cry of pain filled my head.
The same voice that whispered in my ear gasped. “What is that thing?” The voice wavered like she had lost all strength.
As soon as the pain abated, memories flashed before my eyes. They weren’t mine, and they certainly weren’t Alex’s. The picture show in my brain continued while my skin itched, mending like when the ocean healed me. I thought the memories were my victims’ memories, until I saw an image of Lucifer.
I drew a great inhalation into my lungs as I sat up. My eyes flew open. Terror gripped every cell, and I scrambled to my feet, spinning around to take in the people surrounding me. My heart jumped in my chest.
Lucifer wasn’t among them.
I glanced at my torn and bloody shirt and picked it up to inspect my wounds. Perfect skin met my gaze instead of Leviathan’s handiwork. I ran my fingers over the area his claws had punctured as awe filled me.
I raised my gaze to the three people a few feet away. They all had variations of brunette hair that ranged from the woman’s warm chestnut hair to the youngest man’s almost black hair. The woman, whose memories I now shared, was on the ground, and the two men gathered around her. All three of them existed in a haze of bright light that seemed to come from within each of their beings. All three of them could have walked into an L.A modeling agency and had work lined up for weeks with a snap of their fingers.
Their names remained locked in the memories pinging around in my brain.
When the man cradling the woman’s head in his lap glanced up at me, my chest tightened. A familiarity spread over me, but I couldn’t quite place where I had seen his bright blue eyes before. They narrowed and his lips tightened as a tingle ran across my scalp.
Leave her alone! Alex growled in my head.
The man’s eyes widened like he’d heard my dead husband’s voice.
The woman stirred, drawing his attention.
The other man turned, his clothes and hair darkened from the ocean water. Random drops ran down his angelic face, and his deep-set eyes were a blue that made my heart skip. A friendly smile formed on his lips, and he approached me cautiously like I was a wounded animal.
His calm mannerisms drew a smile to my lips.
“Hi, I’m Michael Andreas. And you are?” he said when he was close enough to reach out and touch me. His voice was even more melodic than Alex’s was.
I signed my name, unsure if anyone would know sign language.
“Kylee Cervas,” he spoke and signed at the same time, surprising me. “Do you know where you are?”
York, Maine, I signed, hoping I was still there, but who knows how far Leviathan had thrown me.
His nod confirming my whereabouts settled some of my nerves.
“What are you?” the woman asked.
She was now sitting beside the man who I still couldn’t place, but deep down, I knew I should know his name. Unfortunately, the memories I now had didn’t readily pull his name from the layers of information accosting my head.
Her hair shimmered in the sunshine, making her pale features starker than I would assume was normal. I didn’t know how to explain what I was to this woman. She obviously guessed I was more than human.
I could ask you the same, I signed, trying to make sense of the memories I had been fed.
Both the woman and the man laughed and glanced at each other.
“I’m Valerie Ryan,” the woman said as she climbed to her feet. “Usually I don’t pass out when I heal someone, but then again, I don’t usually get assaulted with thousands of years of memories either.”
My eyebrows arched, and I popped my mouth closed after a moment. When she offered her hand, I shook it.
“This is my husband, CJ.” She waved towards the man behind her. “And Michael, our neighbor.”
My gaze jumped to the man. CJ Ryan. The memories snapped into place and mine with them. CJ Ryan, the famous crooner with the voice that lulled his audience like a siren.
My hands broke out in a sweat, and heat filled my cheeks. The man chuckled at my reaction. There weren’t many people that I got all fangirlish over, but CJ Ryan up close was just as stunning as he was on television. Although the television never picked up the shine coming from his core that made me want to squint.
His lips toyed with a grin, and he looked away. A crease appeared between his eyes as he glanced at his wife. “Did you say thousands of years of memories?”
Valerie glanced at him and nodded. “She’s older than Damian was. At least I think she is from the onslaught of memories.” They both glanced at me as if for confirmation.
I found her choice of words interesting. Trying to shuffle through the download she gave me was near impossible. It wasn’t linear in any fashion, like one person’s memories were. It seemed to be more of a conglomeration of many lives, not one.
CJ stared at me, his eyes narrowing, and that tickle in my head occurred again.
How old was Damian? As soon as I signed his name, the memories surfaced. I gave a small huff. He was just a baby in comparison to me. Can I meet him? As soon as I asked the question, I regretted it.
Michael’s sweet smile faded, and sorrow filled his eyes.
“Damian was my father. He’s been dead for almost fifteen years.”
I dropped my gaze to the ragged remains of my shirt. My hand naturally went to the flat area over where my child grew.
“The baby is fine,” Valerie said.
“Can you tell us what happened out there?” Michael asked, handing me my dripping backpack.
My breath locked in my chest at
the sight of the soaked backpack. My chest squeezed as I yanked it from his grip and ripped the bag open. The only memory of my wedding sat in the middle, soaked. I grasped it and dropped the bag, giving no mind to the wet bundles of cash that dropped onto the ground. The idea that the only mementos I had of that day were ruined made me sink to my knees with the book clasped to my chest.
Valerie took a seat next to me and peeled the book from my arms. Her husband handed her a roll of paper towels as I shook helplessly next to her. My heart hurt at seeing Alex’s smile on each page she turned. The pain of his loss pulsed through my body. This was not how I wanted to see my wedding album. Valerie carefully mopped up the water from each page with the kind of care that only a lifelong friend would give. Her kindness touched me.
“I’m sorry for your loss,” she said softly after she cleaned the last page and closed the book, handing it to me.
What are you? I signed, opting for asking the direct question rather than trying to find it in the slush inside my head.
“Angel descendant,” she said, like it made all the sense in the world. “And you?”
I’m a siren, and yes, I’m older than Damian was by a few thousand years.
“So the memory flood... That was all you?”
I think so. But yours wasn’t just you, right?
Valerie laughed and glanced at her husband. “No. It was a whole host of memories from my father-in-law’s to Damian’s.” She climbed to her feet and offered me her hand.
I gathered the wedding album and let her help me up. Is someone in your family deaf?
CJ’s smile faltered, and he shook his head. “My brother had to learn sign language when he was eight, but he wasn’t deaf.”
The circumstances bloomed in my head, and I bit my lower lip. His brother had been at the mercy of a serial killer who liked to operate on his victims. He survived the ordeal, but not without his tongue. I shivered and glanced out at the ocean.
In all my years walking the earth, this was by far the most unique situation I had ever been in. The only angel I ever encountered had been the fallen one, and he was a bastard of epic proportion. I had seen auras like theirs before, but there had never been an explanation.
Do all angel descendants shine?
Valerie smiled and shrugged. “My best friend once told me we do.”
I chewed on the inside of my cheek and turned to Michael. Thank you for saving my life.
“You’re welcome. But I still don’t understand what happened.”
You don’t want to know. I didn’t want to drag these people into my problems. I had taken enough of their time and energy, and now someone else besides Alex had my history.
Someone else knew how to kill a siren.
The sliders on the back of the house opened, and the man who stepped out froze me in place. I trembled as my own memories accosted me. The suave good looks, crystal blue eyes, and bright aura threaded with black took me back thousands of years to the darkest days of my life.
Lucifer.
I shuffled through the memories Valerie had infused and came up with his name. Tom Ryan. His gaze shot to mine and he winced, like my thoughts had reached him. He blinked before his gaze traveled in the air around me like he could see something the rest of the group couldn’t.
“Why are so many ghosts tethered to you?” he asked.
I cocked my head. Tethered?
He raised an eyebrow, challenging me like I knew what he was seeing.
After a few moments of scrutiny from everyone, I signed, I would imagine they are the souls that fell to my siren.
“Damn,” Tom said.
I picked up my backpack and shoved the wet money back inside. I should be going, I signed and glanced around for an easy exit. There wasn’t any, and I looked at Michael. Can you show me out of here?
Before I was able to escape the growing crowd, Valerie asked, “What attacked you?”
Leviathan. Death’s pet.
They all stared at my hands, and they arched their eyebrows like I was off my rocker.
“Death’s pet?” Valerie asked as if she were unsure what my hands had spelled out.
I nodded.
As if bringing my point home, the teenager holding his dog’s collar materialized on the point just beyond the swimming pool. And this time, Fate was with him.
Silence blanketed the backyard. My heart thundered in my chest. I took a step backwards, right into the hard chest of Michael.
His hands grasped my arms, and his voice whispered softly in my ear. “Don’t worry, my uncle won’t let anything happen to you.”
“Kylee,” Fate said, her voice sharp with anger.
“Julia?” Tom asked, cocking his head as he studied the teenagers standing on the bluff.
Fate turned towards him. “This is none of your...” she said, pointing at him, but her voice faltered as she stared, her eyes widening with recognition.
“Nick?” he said even more exasperated than before.
This time the kid glanced at Tom and offered a tilted smile. “It’s been a while.”
I was truly screwed if these people knew Fate and Death.
I tried to break out of Michael’s grip, but a giant tiger jumped over the wall, shocking me to stillness. It hissed and paced in front of where Michael and I were standing, its aura as bright as Michael’s. Its attention was solely focused at Leviathan.
The dog bared its teeth at the tiger, issuing a growl that rivaled the tiger’s hiss.
“It seems your dog isn’t a dog at all, is it?” Michael said from behind me.
I glanced back at him.
“My sister can sense supernatural threats,” he said, nodding towards the tiger.
I wondered why she hadn’t pounced on me.
“Grace, this isn’t your fight,” CJ said sternly and pointed behind where we stood.
The tiger gave him a cursory glance and crouched low, focusing on Leviathan.
“Grace, I think we have this,” Michael said.
The transformation from beast to beauty took a blink, stunning me more than I already was. She certainly was Michael’s sister, with jet black hair and an olive complexion that reminded me of a Greek goddess. She had the same angelic beauty as Michael, but her demeanor was more predatory.
“It’s been so long since I had the opportunity to sharpen my claws,” she said and sulked as she wandered behind us.
CJ stepped forward. “Nick, as in Nick Ramsay?”
The teen smiled. “That’s who I used to be before I had to take this job.” A scythe appeared in his hand and he shrugged.
“Funny, we have never run into you,” CJ said, leveling a cold stare at the boy. “And I’ve died at least once,” he added before he crossed his arms. “I’ve even been to heaven, and can’t say I ever saw either of you.” His tone challenged their station.
“Really, CJ, this isn’t your fight,” Fate interrupted, stepping between Death and the Ryan clan. “Kylee broke her contract, and we are obligated to return her to where she belongs.”
“And where is that?” Michael said from behind me. His hands were still firmly on my arms, like he could protect me from what was coming.
“Hell,” both Fate and Death said in unison.
Tom stepped next to his brother. “No one deserves to be sentenced to hell,” he said, the challenge in his voice clear.
“It’s not for us to say whether it is deserved or not. She broke the one rule that is explicit in her contract. She used her siren, and innocent people died.”
Eyes shifted to me.
“I would have done the same had CJ died in my arms,” Valerie said. “I have her memories. I endured the pain with her. Her intention was not to kill. It was a wail of sorrow, and unfortunately someone was driving too close to where they were held hostage and was affected by the siren. That is not a willful breach of contract.”
“Innocents died,” Fate said.
“Innocents die every day,” Tom said, glancing at Valerie. “I trust
my sister-in-law. If she thinks this woman is worth saving, I stand with her.” He glanced at the rest of his family. “We stand by her.”
My stomach plummeted.
“What makes you think you can stop us?” Fate said, but Death put his hand on her arm.
CJ laughed. “I’m pretty sure I can stop anything you throw my way.”
Fear peppered my tongue turning my mouth sour. These people didn’t understand Leviathan was in their midst.
Tom glanced my way and winked.
“I’m not here for a fight,” Death said and stepped to the side. “But if that’s what you want...”
Leviathan growled and grew to his imposing form. Tremors filled my skin. Michael stepped closer, his chest pressed against my back.
“You came onto my property trying to take one of our guests to a place few truly deserve, and you issue a threat?” CJ snarled and put his hand out.
A blast of air rocketed from where he stood and launched Leviathan into the stratosphere. I didn’t see where the beast landed. The shell-shocked expressions on both Fate and Death’s face as they looked out over the ocean were priceless.
CJ glared at Fate and Death. “You know who I am. You know what I’m capable of, and yet you still decided to fuck with me?”
“Just because you killed Lucifer doesn’t give you the right to stand in the way of us doing our job,” Death said.
Killed Lucifer? I stared at CJ, frantically shuffling through Valerie’s memories for that information, but all I kept seeing was a blackened lawn, headless bodies, and Tom almost ripped in half.
“Next to Lucifer, you and Julia are anticlimactic,” CJ said.
Death’s lips pressed together.
“Besides, if you are so worried about innocent lives being sacrificed, what about the baby growing inside her?” CJ added, waving in my direction. “You’re going to damn that child to hell? That seems more insidious than her losing control when her husband died. It seems to me that you are the villains in this scenario.”