The Chosen Knights (Read Prequel--The Angel Knights first) (The Angel Knights Series Book 2)

by Mary Ting

  To my surprise, he leveled my body straight out and then held me in his arms. He pointed up and shook his head. He was letting me know the demons were still lurking above and we had to stay underwater until it was clear.

  Eli’s necklace, along with my wings and my hair, gave us enough light so I could clearly see his face. I wanted so badly to know what he was thinking, especially when his eyes showed so many emotions I couldn’t pinpoint. I could do nothing except be hypnotized by them...by him.

  It was strange to look into each other’s eyes as time passed, floating in the water. But at the same time, it was beautiful and peaceful, and I wanted to drift away from reality with him. Eli stroked my hair away from my face and lightly ran his hand down the feathers of my wings as if he were touching something precious. He even traced the torn part of my T-shirt where the wings protruded.

  When his eyes lowered to my lips, I quivered from the possibility he would kiss me. Would he even dare? And what would I do if he tried? I didn’t know how long we had been there, but it seemed endless...timeless. Eli shifted my body to an upright position, pointing up to let me know it was time to go.

  It was good timing; my muscle coordination was slowly coming back, and I could crane my neck and move my fingers. Holding my waist, Eli kicked his feet and moved us upward. What I saw next was unfathomable. Water parted in the middle and lifted us up. I saw the reflection of the sun before we were completely out and water surrounded us again. I gasped, not from the lack of oxygen, but relief at being out of danger.

  “Can you move?” Eli asked, still holding me close.

  His lips were a breath away from mine and driving me insane. This feeling had come crashing through me without any warning. I told myself it was gratitude since he saved my life.

  “I think I can.” I moved my arms beneath the water, but they felt sluggish.

  Before I had a chance to protest, Eli cradled me and lifted me out of the water. When I rested my head on his chest, his heart thumped as fast as mine. I wondered if he was nervous like me. Incredibly, he was walking on water while carrying me. When my eyes caught his, I was lost. I stared at the marvelous being who had me under his spell.

  When we reached land, the leaves on the ground levitated and swirled around us into a barrier, creating the most magnificent sight. As if magic, as he walked back into the forest, the branches on the ground piled on top of each other, and then the leaves settled on top of those, layer after layer. He was making a place to lay me down.

  When Eli gently settled me on the bed, I stared at him. All this time I thought he was only a Possessor demon, but he was so much more. Being able to manipulate the things he had indicated Elementum blood. He was a Possessor demon, Lamia, Elementum, and what else?

  “Who are you?” I asked. Gripping his wet shirt, I pulled him closer to me. Drops of water fell from his hair, cooling my face.

  Piercing his dark eyes into mine, he said, almost angrily, “I am...something you should be afraid of.” His tone came out cold and harsh.

  “Impossible.” I raised my hand and caressed his cheek, wiping away the wetness. My arm was the only thing I could move so far. When I stroked his cheek again, he leaned his face into the palm of my hand and closed his eyes. “You’re beautiful,” I murmured under my breath.

  His jaw tightened and kept his eyes closed. “You don’t know what you’re saying. Your life will be in danger because of me. I can’t let that happen. But I don’t know how to stop feeling—”

  “How do you know?” I broke in, regretting interrupting his sentence. He wanted to tell me so much more, but a part of me didn’t want to hear it. “My life was already in danger before I met you. It’s who I am.”

  He opened his eyes and flexed his muscles to lean lower on either side of me until his lips were inches from mine. My breath hitched. Then a sensation engulfed me that made my body quiver all over. Heat fused through me and I felt faint.

  “Cyrus is after me,” Eli confessed. “And he will go after everyone I love or care about. It’s the reason my mother died. It’s the reason why I have to not care and why we are trapped.”

  You care about me? I wanted to ask, but couldn’t. My mind raced in hundreds of directions. He’d confided that his mother had died, which I already knew, but I had just found out the root of his suffering—he believed he caused his mother’s death. “I thought Cyrus stays hidden?”

  “He does, but once in a while he comes out.”

  “So you think Cyrus has us trapped here because he thinks you care about me?”

  “Yes.” Something brewed in his eyes, making them darker. The chestnut-brown became black as night. Though it frightened me, I knew I was safe, I hoped.

  Blushing, I unthinkingly asked, “How would he know you cared about me?” I didn’t know what exactly “care about me” meant to him, but it meant something special to me. Hopefully, I wasn’t making a fool of myself.

  He leaned even closer, taking away my space. His air exchanged with mine as my breathing became heavier and faster from his closeness. “Because of what I’m about to do. What I’ve been longing to do since the second I laid eyes on you. The way you make my heart pound so fast with your voice, your smell, or your presence alone, it controls me. You occupy my mind and my thoughts. No matter what I do or say to make myself stop thinking of you, I can’t.”

  I lay as stiff as a corpse, unable to move, breathe, or blink as I listened to his heartfelt speech I would never have dreamed of hearing. Trying to think of something intelligent to say, I parted my lips, but nothing came out.

  “I-I’m not sure what you mean,” I said stupidly. Although it was the truth, I needed clarification. “Maybe you just need to walk away.” More idiotic words escaped my mouth.

  “It won’t be enough,” he sneered. His body tensed. “You’re always with me, no matter how far the distance. I don’t want to feel this way, but I can’t help it.”

  “Surely Cyrus can’t know your feelings? How would he?” I asked that question again, growing more frustrated.

  “Because of this.”

  Before I could ask what “this” was, he conquered my lips. I froze until his soft lips moved in ways I didn’t know they could, slowly and sensually, and somehow my lips were taking his in.

  His kiss moved me in ways I couldn’t describe. I was scared, excited, and I felt everything at once. It was as though I was in the center of the universe and everything moved around me as I stood still, we stood still. It was everything I had expected in a first kiss, but I never dreamed it would happen to me, especially with a demon.

  Without knowing what had come over me, I kissed him back harder and with so much desire. Oh, what a pleasurable feeling. I still couldn’t believe he was kissing me, really kissing me.

  Kissing him back must have been a green light for him to continue. He kissed me deeper and more passionately with his arms tightly around me, as if he couldn’t get enough. Heat exploded in me, taking me to another level of pleasure.

  Luckily, I was lying down because if I were standing, my legs would have given out. I didn’t know kissing could make you feel like that, like I was flying, soaring so high. I didn’t want to come down.

  “Lucia,” he muttered my name with such tenderness, the way someone would call a lover’s name.

  The way he said my name, held me in his arms, and kissed me with so much desire and need was forever branded on my heart. I would never forget today. I would savor every single second, for it would never happen again.

  Eli pulled back, panting, when I stopped kissing him back and seemed like he was trying to read my expression. I was sure it was a look of shock. Not only had I been astounded by his kiss, the Possessor demons had surrounded us. There must have been thousands of them. Floating in mid-air, it appeared they were watching our intimate moment, waiting for us to finish. They were just...there.

  I gasped and managed to sit up. Eli stood in front of me in his usual protective stance. “Eli, what’s going on? Why aren
’t they attacking us?”

  He waited a few seconds, taking in the phenomenon. “They know we’re here, but they can’t see us.”

  “Why? What happened?” Eli helped me to stand. We both turned in a complete circle to see the demons floating in the mist, just waiting. Then we found out why.

  A man appeared a short distance away. He made his presence known when the trees in his way fell as if a giant had knocked them down. With each impact, we bounced off the ground. I waited to see what Eli would do next.

  The tall man, who I knew then to be a demon, possessed broad shoulders and a dark presence that would make anyone fearful. Everything about him was dark—from his hair, to his eyes, to the clothing he wore, and especially the massive black wings that were open and just as big as an archangel’s. They were beautiful, but at the same time he was death and evil. He made his grand entrance and folded his wings to close them.

  The demon twirled a dagger in the air, caught it, and gripped it tightly in his hand. It wasn’t a normal dagger. It was made of wood but had a steel handle. “Eli, I know you’re here. Come with me and no harm will come to your friend,” a deep menacing voice said. The man waited for a second for Eli to respond, but when there was none forthcoming, he spoke again, “Your mother taught you well. You can’t hide from me forever. Forever isn’t that long for beings like us. Bring me the page you are looking for by Friday the thirteenth and no harm will come to the humans at the dance. Meet me at the football field by eleven. It’s in your hands, my boy.”

  The demon casually strolled away while his black cape swayed with the rhythm of his steps. When he raised his hands, all the black mists floated to him. One by one they melted into him, entering his body.

  “Who was that?” I asked when he was gone, still trying to process what had just happened.

  Releasing a heavy sigh, Eli tightened his fists. “That was Cyrus. You just saw the epitome of evil. The lord of the Possessor demons.”

  “Oh.” I gulped a big breath in relief that he was gone. Feeling uncomfortable in the wet clothes, I gradually opened up my wings, allowing feather after feather to expand to air them out. Eli’s eyes widened as he watched me fan them once, twice, and then my clothes were dry and good as new, except for the two long slits at the back where my wings had punctured my shirt. Folding my wings away, I asked, “Why couldn’t he see us?”

  Eli tugged on the leather cord at his neck and showed me the pendant. It was the first time I’d seen it. A sunray design was etched in a circular crystal. It shimmered against the light, glistening with the colors it captured. Something else captured my eye—Eli’s white shirt which clung to every curve of his body. I wasn’t sure which one was more captivating.

  “Before my mother passed away, she gave me this necklace that had belonged to her friend who was killed by Vince. She showed me how to use it and told me how powerful it could be, but said I had to be careful. It was only to be used when absolutely necessary because it becomes so depleted of energy, it needs time to build up strength again. Cyrus is drawn to that power. He will know where I am when I use it. Milani has one too.”

  “It’s beautiful.” I breathed. How this pendant, which was the size of his thumb, could give off so much light was unfathomable.

  “Isn’t it?” Eli agreed, staring intensely at me while taking a step toward me.

  My heart pounded mercilessly from his words. A hint of playfulness was behind his tone, especially since he wasn’t staring at his pendant but directly at me.

  “Umm.” My face flushed. I changed the subject. “We need to get back to our friends. They’re worried about us, and they might need our help.”

  He took another step, followed by my backward step. We continued that way for several steps more until I bumped into a tree.

  “They’ll be fine,” he said. “Time stands still when we astral travel. It sounds strange, but we could be here for days, and only seconds will have passed in the present.” Eli stood before me with hunger in his eyes. The nearness of his six-foot-plus strong and masculine body caused fluttering feelings to erupt in my stomach.

  “What are you, Eli?” I tried to break whatever was happening between us because God help me, I was falling.

  Eli cupped my face tenderly with the palms of his hands. With his eyes deeply set on me, I imagined he could see right through my soul. “I am...everything,” he answered softly but sternly. Then he paused to brush his lips ever so gently on mine. “And you...are my girl with wings.” I was frozen in place, as stiff as the tree trunk supporting my back. The only thing that moved was my chest and my heart racing at the same speed as his. Just before he crushed his lips onto mine, he said in somber tone, “You will be the destruction of me.”

  Chapter 24

  Darkness surrounded me. I didn’t know if I was dizzy from his kiss or if we were astral traveling. When light appeared, I opened my eyes to see a small house with a stable nearby. Horses roamed about inside a gated fence.

  Eli was standing by a black horse. You could see how much he cared for it by the way he handled the horse, stroking its mane and speaking to it as if it understood.

  When I sensed a hand touch my shoulder, I turned to see Eli. Then I spun around to where I had seen him a few seconds ago, and sure enough he was there too. It dawned on me we had astral traveled forward in time. It also dawned on me that the clouds beyond the house were the ones Eli and I had been on a couple of days ago. Turning my head back to the house and the stable, I realized the stable was the same one from before, but I couldn’t recall a house being there.

  “I don’t know why we’re here. I didn’t bring us here.” He looked troubled, angling his brows together. “Since you know what a freak I am, you might as well know the rest of me. Come.”

  I followed him and stopped when he paused and turned around to reach for my hand. I didn’t protest. His touch always gave me comfort and security. It was strange to see another version of Eli tending to his horses while he was still there with me.

  A lady wearing a long lavender dress came rushing out of the house. She moved elegantly, and with my angel senses I could tell she was pretty. I realized the lady was Ikelia. She was his mother for sure. Oddly, she wore pastel colors, more like a mother than an assassin. Not wanting to make him feel uncomfortable, I didn’t say anything. Eli was sharing this secret with me, but not really by choice.

  His grip tightened on my hand when Ikelia caressed her son’s face and embraced him. I noted his expression as he watched the loving affection between his mother and his past self. His pain was evident. How badly I wanted to take the torment away, but I didn’t know what to do.

  Angels were taught the appropriate words to say in situations like this, but words didn’t seem enough, so I gently stroked his hand with my thumb to let him know I was there for him. He gazed down at our intertwined hands and looked up at me with a warm, penetrating smile as if to say thank you. Then he gingerly caressed my hand. I wished he hadn’t done that; it made me feel the things I didn’t want to feel.

  I knew our level of friendship had deepened and this incredible connection between us would be my destruction, and of my own doing. Everything I had been taught about attachments had flown out the window. When it came to Eli, I had broken most of the rules.

  Shifting my attention, I saw Ikelia place a necklace around past Eli’s neck and whisper something in his ear. Past Eli seemed worried, holding on to the pendant I assumed was the same one he wore now.

  “Why didn’t you tell me Ikelia was your mother?” I asked gently, trying not to upset him.

  “It’s not your concern. Why would I want to share my most painful memory with you? What you are about to witness will be branded on your soul. You will never forget today, just as I can’t. I didn’t want you to see this, but Cyrus has somehow altered my travel. I keep coming back to see if there is anything I can do to change it.”

  “I thought you said you shouldn’t change the past.”

  “That was what
I was taught by my mother. However, if I could bring her back, it would be worth the risk.”

  “What will I see?” I tugged at his shirt when he ignored me. His eyes were rooted to the conversation between his mother and his past self. His facial muscles tensed as if preparing for something dreadful.

  “If only I could have predicted,” he said, “I could have helped her. I could have stopped...used the necklace to stop her from blocking me in.”

  Ikelia ran away, breaking our conversation.

  “What’s going on, Mother?” Past Eli started to follow her.

  “Stay right there, Eli. Stay with the horses. Whatever happens, you stay with the horses. Do you understand?”

  Eli didn’t listen. He started to trail behind her until he was pushed back by Ikelia’s magic. Her arm was raised in his direction, and she was speaking in a language I didn’t understand. The light of his necklace glowed, just enough to sparkle, but not bright enough to blind him. Then a second light glowed. Did he have two necklaces?

  When she lowered her arm, she was thrown across the field. Eli tried to get to her, but it seemed as though there was a shield around him. He couldn’t get out, and whatever he was shouting remained in the protective bubble.

  Black mists appeared and then large black wings followed. When his wings creased to close, his black cape danced with the wind. A being I didn’t recognize at first stood tall in front of her with that arrogant smirk. Then it struck me who he was. No one could mistake those horrifying wings.

  “Where is the boy, Ikelia? Give me the boy, and I’ll let you live.”

  Ikelia stood up, placed her arms out again, and created a tunnel of wind around him. “Go to hell, Cyrus. You’re not getting my boy. He’s gone. You’ll never find him.”

  Cyrus let out a boisterous evil laugh. “You have no idea of the power I possess, my little witch. You have forgotten over the years.” He reached out his hand and magically dragged her to him.