Revelations (Blood Bound Book 1)

by L. L. Wright

  “That’s not true,” Emmie said, rolling her eyes at Collin. She could feel the magic rushing through her, but refused to admit her own concern in front of Leo. “Leo is a member of The Faction, I would never kill him.” She shifted her eyes to meet Leo’s. “ I’m not, however, against maiming him severely if he continues looking at my sister like she’s some animal to hunt.”

  “I guess she does sound a little off,” Leo said to Collin, ignoring her threat completely.

  “We can deal with that later. Right now we need to decide how to move forward,” Collin announced. He held up the creased baby picture and said, “Emmie, you were an exception to the kill order because you not only had demon and angel blood in you, but you were also one third human, and angels are forbidden from hurting humans,” Collin explained.

  “Jenny went through the same injections I did. She’s a human with angel and demon blood. Just like I was.”

  Collin rubbed a hand over his mouth. Then he sighed and ran his hand through his hair. “I get what you’re saying. I really do, but when we met with the elders today it didn’t seem like they’d be willing to make any more exceptions anytime soon. If we take her in I can’t guarantee the outcome.”

  “I think I have something that could change their mind,” Emmie said. “But I have to ask you something first. Call it a curiosity,” she shrugged.

  “Ok. Shoot.”

  “Do angels, specifically elders, have the ability to take angelic items out of the city?”

  “I’m not sure I follow,” Collin said, shaking his head.

  “Hmm. Ok. Are there any items imbued with angelic magic? Like the power that comes from a Sigil, or the hall of truth,” Emmie said.

  “A few,” he nodded. “Objects that have been touched by Michael or Gabriel. They’re called artifacts.”

  “Michael and Gabriel?” Emmie narrowed her eyes and pressed her lips into a hard line.

  Leo scoffed and shook his head.

  “Ignore him,” Collin said. “It’s a bit of a touchy subject for some of us. Michael and Gabriel are the archangels. It was Michael who defeated Lucifer, casting him and his dark angels out of heaven. And when Lucifer’s fallen angels paired with humans, creating the first wave of demons, Michael and his partner created the perfect hunters in turn. The Faction angels.”

  “All of The Faction angels?

  “Yes. All of The Faction angels,”

  “But, there are like hundreds of you.”

  “Thousands, actually.”

  “So that means your ‘soulmates’ are also your siblings?” Emmie asked. Her mind was spinning with questions, so, so many questions.

  “No. It’s not like that. We’re not born, we’re cast. Like weapons in a forge. We aren’t raised. We don’t have siblings and none of this works the way it works on earth. Can we get back on track now? There will be plenty of time for explanations later.”

  “Ok…Sure...So, those Artifacts. Can they be taken outside the City of Angels?”

  “No. Absolutely not. If that was your plan you can just forget it,” Collin said.

  Emmie tilted her head and looked at Jenny with raised eyebrows. Then she turned her attention to Collin. “I already have one,” she said.

  “That’s impossible. You must be mistaken,” Collin said. He crossed his arms at his chest and tilted his head back slightly.

  Emmie turned her gaze toward Leo, now standing a few yards away.

  “Hailey and Malcolm had it,” she said cooly. “And I for one, have a hard time believing that she just so happened to smuggle an Artifact out of the city on the same day she was kidnapped. One hell of a coincidence if you ask me.”

  “What are you saying?” Leo growled.

  “I don’t think she was taken at all. I think she’s been working with the demons the whole time. I think she brought them the Artifact, and turned her back on The Faction, and you, freely.” Emmie put emphasis on the part she knew would cut the deepest. Her conscience immediately felt guilty for rubbing salt in Leo’s wound, but her inner angel, now emboldened by the power of the brand pushed the guilt away, feeding her confidence and certainty.

  “Why would she do that?” Leo insisted, closing the distance between them.

  Their toes practically touched and Emmie felt Jenny tug at her arm, desperately trying to pull her backward to restore the buffer between the two sides. This time Emmie held her ground, and Leo did too, ignoring Collin’s grip on his shoulder.

  “Why don’t you ask her yourself,” Emmie suggested, a smile tugging at the corner of her lip. “After I hunt her down, but before I kill her,” she said as her smile widened and she shrugged nonchalantly. She heard the cold, callous words leave her mouth, but this time she didn’t care at all. She has taken everything from me. I’m going to uphold my promise to The Faction. She is one demon I'm looking forward to hunting and killing, she thought to herself, feeling the heat of her sigil intensify against her ribs.

  “No,” Leo said leaning in closer. “If you’re right, and she orchestrated all of this, I’m going to kill her myself.”

  42

  Leo

  When Collin pulled into the parking lot of the cemetery Emmie and Jenny were already there waiting. Demon powers, Leo thought, shaking his head at the idea of an angel willingly blinking to the edge of consecrated ground with a demon. The times they are a-changin lyrics quickly filled his mind and he wanted to kick himself for absorbing so much of the human world that surrounded him, too much.

  “So what’s the plan?” Collin asked as they walked toward one another.

  “You go in and tell Chamille what we know. Tell her we’re willing to trade this artifact for my sister's safety. You can do the same thing to her that you did to me. She joins The Faction and we stay together. Or I can toss that crystal into the middle of the ocean. Her choice.”

  “Uh, I probably wouldn’t word it exactly like that,” Collin said, scratching his head and pressing his lips into a hard line as he looked at Leo.

  “Oh, I’m not going to be wording it at all. This is Emmie’s suicide mission. She can go give the elders an ultimatum herself.”

  “It’s not a suicide mission. It’s a trade. Something they want in exchange for something that I want,” Emmie said, crossing her arms at her chest. “And I can’t go because I don’t trust you out here with my sister.”

  “Well, then it seems like we have a problem.”

  Collin groaned, “You two are going to kill me. Emmie, do you trust me?” he asked.

  Emmie cocked her head to the side and looked at him thoughtfully for a few seconds before saying, “Yes.”

  “You and Leo go in and negotiate. I’ll stay back with Jenny. Everyone is happy.”

  “I’m not,” Jenny said from Emmie’s side. “I don’t trust either of you.”

  Emmie turned and grabbed her hands. “We can trust Collin. He’s a good guy, I promise.”

  How exactly did I become Emmie’s enemy again? Oh, yeah, my soulmate murdered her parents, and experimented on her and her twin sister and now her head is full of our most intimate moments. I guess that about covers it. Pair that animosity with whatever intense effects her sigil is giving off and I guess we’re in a pretty bad place.

  “Leo, did you get that?” Collin asked, stepping toward Jenny.

  “No, sorry.”

  “You and Emmie are going to go in to make the deal. Jenny and I are going to leave so that if things go bad we aren’t ambushed. If you succeed call me when you’re out of the city,” Collin explained.

  “What will you do if they don’t agree? If we don’t come back out?” Leo asked.

  “I’ll do my best to get Jenny someplace safe. Someplace off the grid. But, they can track me through my sigil so I’ll have to leave her to give her a real chance.”

  Emmie wrapped her arms around her sister, leaning in and whispering something into her ear. Jenny nodded her head and bit her bottom lip, the same way Emmie does when she’s nervous or overthinking somethi
ng, Leo noticed. For the first time he looked at them side by side with clear eyes. He saw their resemblance, their similarities as well as their differences. Their hair was different colors, Emmies a deep auburn and Jenny’s chestnut, but so many of their features were the same. He felt his chest tighten with guilt over the exchange on Emmie’s front lawn. If I hadn’t let my anger and hatred cloud my judgement maybe things wouldn’t be this messed up with Emmie. If I hadn’t looked at Jenny like an enemy to take out, if I had just stopped and realized that she has lost everything, they both have, everything except each other.

  “If we’re doing this, let’s go,” Emmie snapped, brushing past him as she walked through the gates.

  “Ok then,” he whispered. He met Collins eyes once more before he crossed the threshold. As soon as both feet were firmly planted on the hallowed ground he breathed in deeply, inhaling the purity in the air the same way he always did.

  “Do you notice the difference in the air?” he asked, picking up his pace to catch up to a very determined Emmie.

  “I don’t notice anything,” she said as she continued walking through the cemetery.

  “The air is pure here, not to the degree of the city of angels, but a lot better than out there.”

  “I don’t notice anything,” she repeated cooly.

  His arm lunged forward before he realized what was happening. Leo looked down and saw his hand wrapped around Emmie’s wrist. She stopped dead and turned around slowly, looking down at his firm grip on her pale skin. She huffed out an impatient breath and raised her eyes to meet his.

  “Is this how it’s going to be from now on? We couldn’t make it work as more than friends because of my past, so you hate me?” he asked, his eyes wide and his tone demanding.

  Emmie swallowed hard and took a deep breath, her emerald gaze never faltered and Leo noticed that she didn’t try to pull her arm free, that’s a good sign, right?

  “I don’t know,” she said with a small shrug, and she pulled her bottom lip between her teeth.

  “It doesn’t have to be this way, Emmie.”

  “Doesn’t it?” she asked. Her hand moved toward her ribs and he couldn’t help but wonder if the sigil was working to dull her emotions at that very moment, just when I finally seem to have the real Emmie in front of me for a second, alone.

  “I know you’re hurt. You try to hide it, to push the pain away and stay strong. But I can see it in your eyes,” Leo said, hesitantly moving his free hand to stroke her cheek. He let out a sigh of relief as she closed her eyes and leaned into his touch. “It kills me to see you this way. To watch you fight so hard just to hold onto the last piece of the family that was stolen from you. You’re fighting to keep your grip on your humanity as the power the mark gives you tries to dull your emotions. Your life turned upside down and was torn apart and you’re still here. Still fighting. You don’t have to fight alone. We can put all of this behind us and go into battle together.”

  Emmie opened her eyes and stared back silently. Her breaths were heavy and Leo could feel her arm begin to shake under his grip. She reached for his hand, and pried it from her wrist, letting it drop as she took a step back, putting just enough distance between them. Leo felt his chest tighten as he searched her wet and pained eyes for a clue, anything to tell him what he could do to fix this.

  “You almost had me there,” Emmie said. She pressed her lips together and nodded her head thoughtfully.

  “What are you talking about?”

  “An hour ago your feet were firmly planted on team Hailey. You stood in front of me and defended her. She murdered my parents, experimented on me for years, and separated me from my twin sister. And you were willing to give her a free pass for all of it. You sure as hell didn’t care about my fight then.”

  Leo ran his hand over his mouth as he stood frozen letting Emmie’s words wash over him like waves of cold truth.

  Emmie turned on her heels and walked further into the cemetery.

  “You’re right,” he called after her.

  She stopped and his heart beat wildly against his ribs. He took a deep breath, searching his mind for the right words, the words that will make her understand.

  “But it’s hard to explain,” he said, unable to find the right ones.

  “Try,” Emmie shot back, turning around quickly and crossing her arms.

  “Hailey and I were made to be together. Created to complement one another until the end of days. That kind of connection comes with a lot of strings that are hard to cut. Until I learned the truth about her, about what she’s capable of. The lives she’s taken and the pain she’s caused, I couldn’t let go of the fierce loyalty I felt for her. Even after all of these years it clouded everything. An angel’s loyalty to their partner is second only to the loyalty we feel for The Faction. It’s more intense than anything I can put into words,” Leo explained desperately. “But since the first day I met you I felt other things too. Things that couldn’t quite match that angelic loyalty, but that have grown and changed me in ways I don’t even understand. The moment I learned the truth about her, my loyalty to Hailey was extinguished. And my feelings for you aren’t clouded anymore. I can finally understand everything I’ve been feeling since fate brought us together.”

  He walked toward her, slowly closing the distance between them until he could hear the raggedness in her breath and see the unadulterated hope behind her wet emerald eyes

  "Before you, everything was so black and white. I did my job, I lived by the codes, and that was fine. It was enough. But now, everything is gray except for one thing...You. You’re weirdly honest and effortlessly beautiful, adorably clumsy and extremely awkward at times,” he said seriously, creasing his brow as he reached for her hands. “You’ve shown me that love can’t be programmed or forced. You have to find it in those quiet moments between the chaos, and even after you find it, you have to work to earn it and to keep it.” Leo paused as a tear slid down Emmie’s cheek and she pulled her bottom lip between her teeth. Overthinking, for sure. “I know that I’ve hurt you, and I wish more than anything that I could have seen the whole picture sooner. Maybe things would have been easier for us. Hell, maybe I could have stopped her, and none of this would have happened if I hadn’t been so blind. But, if I’m being honest, I wouldn’t change any of it. I know that’s selfish, but, now that you’re a part of my life I can’t imagine living without you.”

  Emmie inched closer, and she shook her head, squeezing Leo’s hands. Her eyes were warm, finally losing the cold edge that had enveloped them all night.

  “This morning I asked myself, ‘if I could go back to the life I was living a few weeks ago, would I?’ I didn’t have an answer then, because things were hard and complicated in different ways before I knew the truth. But, in my heart, I know I wouldn’t. Everything I lost was an illusion, and everything I’ve gained is real,” she paused, huffing out a deep breath. “ Love is messy and unpredictable and, at times, painful. But without the lows you can't fully appreciate the highs. So, I hope our lows are behind us, but if the universe has another twist up its sleeve that's fine too. We’ve walked through fire for each other and we’ll do it again if we have to. Because we’re worth it,” she whispered.

  She let go of Leo’s hands, and leaned in, wrapping her arms around his waist and resting her cheek against his chest. His pulse quickened as Emmie’s body relaxed into his own, and he could feel the anger and pain that had pulled them apart melting away with each deep breath of her scent he inhaled. Leo wrapped his arms around her and kissed the top of her head.

  Emmie sighed and tilted her head up. Their eyes locked in silent understanding. Those gorgeous green eyes will be the death of me, Leo thought to himself, stroking her cheek with his thumb.

  “We should go,” Emmie said. The fear in her eyes was real and she bit down on her bottom lip nervously.

  “This is going to work, Emmie.” It has to, he kept the last part to himself, not wanting to add his own doubts to her heavy mind.


  She nodded her head, her brow furrowed thoughtfully, but she kept chewing her lip as she grabbed his hand and walked further into the cemetery.

  43

  Emmeline

  They crossed the boundary into the City of Angels and Emmie noticed a difference immediately. The first time she had crossed over into the hall of truth through, what Chamille had called “a back door.” She had never seen the streets or the architecture of the city. It was a miracle that the wards of the angelic boundary hadn't killed her. The second time she had traveled the pristine sidewalks in awe. Everything was so bright and clean and the streets had been completely empty aside from herself, Leo and Collin. A fact that hadn’t actually occurred to her until now.

  “Leo, what’s going on,” she asked, looking around at the busyness of the previously dead city. People, angels, were everywhere. She had only seen the pristine streets empty before, and the angels she had mingled with at Faction Towers dressed plainly, no different than humans. But this was different. The streets were filled with angels, not in ordinary clothes, but dressed head to toe in intimidating black leather. It’s like they’re preparing for something. Something big.

  “That’s a good question,” he answered slowly, looking around with the same confusion. “The city is usually empty, or close to it. Not many angels stay here full time, most of us just pass through on Faction business.”

  Emmie felt her heart begin to race, and a second later her sigil grew warm, tapping into it’s angelic magic to dull her emotions. To dull my humanity. She stopped walking and closed her eyes, focusing all of her attention on subduing the effects of the brand. Desperate to hold onto what was left of the person she had been before all of the reality of angels and demons had come to light.