Born Sinner (Se7en Sinners #1)

by S. L. Jennings

  I don’t have the words to tell him that that was the norm around here. People didn’t get involved with matters that didn’t concern them. For all they knew, I was just that crazy girl that kept to herself. Drugs, alcohol, mental illness, domestic abuse…they were all dealing with their own problems.

  “We couldn’t interfere—not just yet. Not until we were certain that you were the one.”

  The one. Lucifer’s little pet. The girl that would unleash Hell on earth.

  “You said you wanted to show me something,” I say, eager to shift the conversation away from me or anything remotely prophecy related. I can’t stomach it, not yet.

  “I told you I had certain abilities that are nullified here on earth. What is left of me is just a small fraction of what I am capable of. But still…it can be effective.”

  “What can you do?”

  Legion finally looks at me, his eyes glowing brighter than the moon and the stars combined. “Let me show you.”

  He lifts a single palm and…nothing happens.

  I expected a glow or sparks or fire, but nothing.

  Seconds later, I hear the distinct sound of flapping wings approach. I can’t see them all but I can hear them. It’s hard not to. Dozens, maybe hundreds, of birds fill the sky, flying in formation towards us. They eclipse the full moon for several long seconds, painting it in shimmering blackness. My first instinct is to cower but Legion reassures me, telling me it’s ok.

  “They won’t hurt you. They are my eyes and ears, my tiny, winged ambassadors.”

  “You speak to them?” I ask in wonder as feathered creatures of all shapes and sizes begin to rain from the sky. He’s right—they don’t bother me. It’s as if they are all under his control.

  “Yes, but not in the way that you think. I don’t chirp or sing, although I’ve been told I can belt out a mean rendition of Highway to Hell.”

  I laugh out loud, covering my mouth with my chilled hands. “Well, I’ll be damned. Legion, did you just crack a joke?”

  He shrugs a single shoulder and dons an amused half grin. “Maybe I did. You didn’t think I was just fire and brimstone all the time, did you?”

  “No. Not at all. It’s just nice to see you like this.” I smile at the brute that had watched me sleep on top of his chest. The man that had laughed with me about music and junk food and comforted me in my darkest hours. I have never felt so special, so revered, than when I was in his arms.

  Legion juts out a finger, allowing a small yellow and black bird to land on it. Such a fragile little thing in comparison to his size and strength. He could crush it in his palm in a heartbeat. The tiny creature cheeps and chirps as if speaking to him.

  “He said it’s good to see you, Eden.”

  My eyes grow twice in size. “What?” I swallow thickly. “He told you that? He’s seen me?”

  “They simply watched you when I couldn’t. They never interfered.”

  “Aren’t birds supposed to be south for the winter?”

  “They’ll leave soon,” he nods. “Then other animals will be summoned to do my bidding.”

  I shiver. “Please tell me a bunch of rats aren’t about to convene up here.”

  “No,” he chuckles, shaking his head. “Although, I am able to control most small beings. They can come in handy when I’m called away or occupied with other missions. Larger animals are harder, more strong willed. I don’t have any need for them inside the city, anyway.”

  “Is that all you can control?” I ask, my niggling suspicions causing the question to come out much icier than I intend.

  A smug smile. “For now.” He turns his attention to the little bird on his finger, his expression softening, and whispers, “Fly, little friend.”

  The tiny bird spreads its ombré wings and shoots into the star-speckled sky, taking the flock of feathered guardians with him. It seems as if they’re all careful to avoid brushing against me, although their sheer strength and volume sends a fierce wind to stir my hair and clothing. For long moments, I’m wrapped in a cocoon of soft feathers and down, looking up in wonder at the sheer splendor of God’s creatures. Legion included.

  We spend the rest of the evening talking, purposely avoiding the war-torn reality below us. It’s cold up here, but when Legion reaches out for me after seeing me shiver and pulls me into the warmth of his body, I can no longer feel the chill. I know I shouldn’t be surprised by his affection. He doesn’t seem like the type to give it freely, but he has, even when I didn’t know it. That person—that monster—that threatened and assaulted me after snatching me from carnage, I don’t recognize anymore. And while there are things about him that frighten me, I’m not afraid of him. To be honest, I’m more afraid of myself.

  “Can I ask you a question?”

  “Anything.” His hot breath fans over me, warming my insides.

  “What Dorian, the Dark king said to you…” I feel him stiffen at my side, but I soldier on. “What did he mean when he said, “it’s been a long time”? Did you know him before?”

  He shifts on his feet but doesn’t let me go. “You caught that, huh? The Dorian I met was much different from the polished royal that we sat down with. Long ago, I stumbled upon Dorian Skotos at a time when there was dissention amongst the Dark and the Light. He was cold, ruthless and power hungry, but he was also very young and unchecked. We received word about a small coven that had been siphoning humans recklessly. Since we were all at risk of exposure, and neither the Light nor the Dark could tame him, the Se7en stepped in to handle it. That was nearly two hundred years ago. He was spiraling, so filled with rage and pain. But I saw something in him—something that gave me hope for his future. I made it a point to check in with him from time to time, maybe even tried to mentor him. I liked him; I still do. And I’m glad to see he turned things around, especially for his people. It seems like his is a reign of peace.”

  “Wow. So he’s over two hundred years old?” The gorgeous warlock couldn’t be pushing thirty on his worst day. But then again, Gabriella’s father, Alexander, didn’t look much older.

  “Older actually, but not by much. He’s still fairly young, by their standards. His brother, the one I am to locate, is even younger. For him to die after merely two centuries is rare for their kind. I can understand why they’d do anything to get him back.”

  I lift my head to peer into his face, an obvious frown carved between my brows. “But at the expense of your life? Look, I like Gabriella, and I even like Dorian, but to ask you to die for their cause…it’s selfish. It’s outlandish. What kind of person would even request that?”

  He gazes down at me and gently cups my cheek, gently stroking it with the callused pad of his thumb. His hot skin on mine causes a zing of electricity to surge in my gut.

  “When you find something worth living for, you won’t hesitate to die for it.” A small, sad smile rests upon his lips. “We’re all dead, firecracker, yet no one really dies. Don’t worry. I’ll make my way back to you.”

  “You promise?” I whisper.

  “Even if I have to crawl my way out from the depths of Hell, I’ll never leave you. Not again.”

  Before I can ask what he means by his heartfelt words, his mouth is on mine, and I’m drinking his scorching elixir, drunk off the taste of him. We kiss fervently, wildly, until the closeness is just not close enough.

  “Come on,” he pants against my lips. “Let’s go home.”

  “Already?” I tease. I was ready to go the moment his arms wrapped around me, desperate for more of his body.

  “I may not have been able to spend the day inside you, but I intend to spend the night.”

  Legion takes my hand and leads me to the elevator. The moment we’re inside, he pushes me up against the dingy aluminum and claims my mouth, his large hands kneading my breasts through my sweater. I moan at his strength, at the palpable frenzy that seems to course through his fingertips. I want this man so much that I don’t care what he is. I don’t care what I am. I just need him,
every bit of him, inside my body, my soul. My heart. And it doesn’t make sense, but in a world full of monsters, both human and other, nothing seems more solid than the charged chemistry between us. In that, I believe.

  We make it to the floor level and nearly sprint for the car, both of us laughing with lust-filled bliss. The moment we slide into the butter-soft leather seats, Legion revs the engine and takes off into the night, one hand grasping my thigh. I lay my own on top of it and intertwine my fingers with his, craving the contact.

  I don’t hear the sirens anymore. I don’t see the criminals shuffling into the shadows, slinking further away from their humanity. I don’t even feel their malice and disgust. No blood taints my tongue, for all I taste is him. And my city—the very same streets that chewed me up and spit me out covered in filth and blood—has never looked more beautiful.

  I rest my head against the seat and smile, letting myself feel pure, unpolluted happiness for the first time since…since forever. After all that’s happened, after all that will happen, I’m going to be selfish with it. I’m going to relish the feeling of Legion’s hand joined with mine, and his scent of fire-spliced earth and smoke embedded in my skin. Resplendent. In this very moment, I feel resplendent beside him.

  “Why don’t you play us some music,” he suggests, his voice husky.

  I reach over and turn the dials, settling on a smooth R&B station. No hardcore hip-hop to drown out my rage and sorrow. I want music that speaks to the song in my soul.

  “I like this song,” Legion remarks, nodding his head. His hand on my thigh squeezes before slowly inching upwards.

  “Yeah?”

  “I do. It reminds me of—”

  An explosion rips open the entire left side of the car, twisting the metal into ribbons of silver and glittering sparks. Glass erupts around us and rains jagged droplets onto our heads, slicing us open with tiny daggers. The barrier of sound collapses and everything around me becomes muted screeches of steel against the pavement. I gnash my teeth against it, struggling to just hang on to something, but I’m weightless, the gravity stripped from the atmosphere. I’m flying through clouds of blood and burning rubber, and I can’t see ground. Not until I’m tumbling back down to Earth.

  All becomes silent and still around me, despite the screams echoing in the distance. I blink against the pressure in my skull, my eyes burning with tears and blood. I smell gas and charred plastic, the noxious fumes intensifying the sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. I’m so tired. So, so tired. I just want to sleep until it doesn’t hurt anymore. Until this nightmare erupts into a beautiful dream, its blinding light blotting out the ugliness surrounding me. And in that dream, Legion will be there, smiling, holding me, filling me with his brilliant heat. Soothing my ravaged body with the hardness of his.

  But I don’t feel his fire beside me. There’s only the soiled pavement under my raw cheek and broken glass under my palms. There’s only the bone-chilling emptiness of death.

  I know this room.

  I’ve felt the damp, cold cement floor under my bare feet. I’ve breathed the dank air, tinged with the taste of blood. I’ve smelled the sickening stench of rotting flesh.

  My arms are bound, tied behind my back, and my legs are trapped as well. I sag in the chair I’m tethered to, the metal biting into my back. I’m covered in cuts and scrapes, some of them oozing, but at least I’m dressed. That’s the only thing that’s keeping me from crumbling in two. That and the fact that Legion is tied to another chair on the other side of the room. Hurt, unconscious, but breathing.

  I knew all signs would lead me here, but I thought I had more time. We thought we had more time. I’m not ready. I push the words out, hoping they will reach that piece of me that’s not really mine. Adriel, if you can hear me, I’m not ready.

  No voices. No whispered commands. Just the silence of a lonely death.

  “Legion,” I whisper harshly, the hushed words rattling in my aching skull. “Legion, wake up!”

  He groans, giving me just a flicker of hope. Clearly, whoever took us from the wreckage is an amateur. Nothing will be able to bind him once he’s fully awake.

  “Legion, please! Listen to me. I need you to wake up.”

  He groans again, and his head lolls from side to side as if he’s trying to fight his way to the surface. There’s a steady stream of blood trickling from a gash on his head, and his sweater is soaked with the thick, sticky substance. I have to get to him. I have to get him out of here before my nightmares come to fruition.

  I pull at the rope around my wrists, but the more I struggle, the weaker I feel. Plus, it seems to be coated in some type of solution that burns my skin whenever I try to pull. I grit my teeth, take a deep breath and pull—hard. I can hear my skin sizzling, and it feels as if my arms are being dipped in battery acid, but I bite down on the scream. But despite all my struggling, the rope just won’t give.

  “It’s coated in a very special silver mixed with angel venom. Uncomfortable for you. A little more debilitating for our friend,” a sinuous voice croons. A voice that’s haunted me for the past four years.

  I jerk in overwhelming fright and scan the room, searching for the source. It’s still empty, save for Legion and me. It’s just in my head, I tell myself. There was an accident. I hurt myself and lost a lot of blood. I’m just hallucinating.

  “You don’t truly believe that, do you, Eden?”

  I swallow my terror at the sound of my name on his lips. No, no, no. This isn’t happening. Not yet. I shake my head as if to shake the voice from my ears.

  “You’re not here. This isn’t happening.”

  “After all the time we’ve spent together, how can you say that? I’ve been with you all along, waiting for you to come to me. And here you are. All you have to do is say the words.”

  “No!” I shout. The word echoes and dies in the darkness.

  “No?” Footsteps from behind me, although no one has passed through the entrance since I’ve been awake. And if he’s been here the entire time…

  It’s him. The man from my nightmares. The stranger from the bathroom who I fucked while being licked and sucked by his female companions.

  Lucifer.

  Every depiction of him plastered in books or shown in movies are false. Merely scary stories to detract from the truth that stands before me, clothed in a dark, tailored suit that fits his body like a glove. He’s much younger than one would expect, tall and lean like a swimmer. And his face…

  I always wondered why he was said to have been God’s favorite, the most beautiful and talented of all the angels. Now, I undeniably understand why.

  Handsome doesn’t quite seem to do it. Gorgeous seems contrite. His beauty transcends any word in any language that could possibly begin to describe it.

  His eyes are just as I remembered from The Watcher’s home—dark and stormy, flecked with the shades of dusk. They remind me of aurora borealis, the eerie colors ever changing. Not human. Those haunting irises rival only his extraordinarily sensual mouth that appears almost too full yet just the sight of it makes me crave the taste of his lips. His gold-dusted brown hair is perfectly styled and falls just slightly over his proud forehead. Thin nose, distinct cheekbones. His face is a work of art.

  “I can make this all go away, you know. Just say the word.”

  I squeeze my eyes closed and turn away, refusing to look at him. “What do you want from me?”

  “Oh, precious Eden. Do you really have to ask?” I suck in a terrified breath as I hear him step towards me. “You. I want you. Haven’t I made that clear? You certainly understood that when we met in Irin’s bathroom.”

  “No.” I shake my head furiously, my eyes still shut tight. “It wasn’t real. It wasn’t real.”

  “But wasn’t it? The way I made you feel, the way I made you moan. It felt real to me.”

  Another step closer, and his warm hand brushes my cheek. I jerk violently, refusing to be seduced by his touch. But the feel of his skin propels m
e back to that mansion, back to that bathroom. Back to me bouncing up and down on his cock with a strange woman between our thighs.

  “You can still feel me, can’t you?” I glare up at him through angry tears just in time to see a smug smile grace those pouty lips. “Yes, you do. You were on fire that night, Eden. You were radiant, unbound by your human inhibitions. Freedom looks so gorgeous on you. And that’s just the beginning. Imagine how you could look—how you could feel—if you just surrendered yourself to me fully. You’d be unstoppable.”

  “Fuck you,” I spit.

  He laughs heartily. “You have. And you will again. It’s fate, darling. And you don’t fuck with fate.”

  “If you think for one second that I will do anything with you, you are fucking deranged. So you might as well kill me now, because I will never, ever be your toy.”

  “My toy?” He has the nerve to look affronted, and even that makes me quiver. “I don’t want you to be my toy, Eden. I want you to be my bride. Can’t you see? All those dreams, all those thoughts I implanted in your mind to make every worthless, pathetic fuck suffer for disrespecting you…they’re my gifts to you. To show you how much I care.”

  A slight wave of relief sweeps through me as I digest his words. It was him. Him. He made me do all those things. He told me to hurt, to steal, to fight. Irin was wrong about my skewed conscience. It wasn’t me. The Devil made me do it.

  It doesn’t make me feel any better, considering I was weak enough to listen, but maybe I’m not beyond salvation. If the Se7en can seek it, why can’t I? I just need to hold on long enough to find a way out of here and get Legion to safety.

  “What do you want?” I ask for the second time. Keep him talking. Surely the Se7en are aware of the accident, considering there are cameras all over the city. Maybe there was some alarm system in the Jag that alerted them to distress. They have to be on their way.

  “I told you—I want you. Your fealty. Your body. Your heart. Come with me and you can shed the filth and feebleness of this world. You will be a goddess—a queen. You will rule beside me as my equal, respected and feared by all. You will want for nothing. You will never have to spend a second on useless human emotions such as guilt or doubt. I will take care of you, Eden, the way you should’ve been taken care of all these years. Let me be your true family.”