Eternal Devastation (The Celestial Rose Book 3)

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Eternal Devastation (The Celestial Rose Book 3) Page 9

by Annalee Adams


  The woman stopped screaming, grabbed her child, and tried to run. EJ punched her pretty face and knocked her back down to the floor. The child dropped too, cradled its mother, and wept.

  “Shall we try that again?” I asked, smiling. “Hello.”

  “H...Hello,” the woman muttered, holding her bloody nose and gripping her child in her other arm.

  “Much better!” I exclaimed, clapping in glee. “Now, what is your name?” I asked.

  “Aroelyn,” she said, sitting more upright.

  “Delightful, that is a wonderful name. Aroelyn, I like that. I shall have it.”

  The woman looked confused.

  “Can I have it?” I asked.

  “If...If you want.” She said through the glistening tears in her eyes.

  “And what is your name, little girl? You are a girl, aren’t you?”

  “Yes,” she said, grinning.

  “So do I call you girl, or do you have a name?” I was not feeling very patient.

  “My name is Aria.”

  “Fabulous. So we have Aroelyn and Aria.”

  Aroelyn nodded. “What do you want with us?” she asked, looking over at the split bodies EJ had enjoyed eating.

  “Well, I am actually hungry. I was planning on eating you both.” I smiled from ear to ear, teeth bared. Aroelyn held her daughter tighter. “However, I think you would be perfect for my entourage. I need... what do you call it... handmaidens.”

  “What about my daughter?” she asked quietly.

  “Oh, little Aria can join me. I need a new child. My last one died and the first one ran away. I don’t have much luck.” I grinned, cackling at my own joke.

  “No, please don’t take her away!” she pleaded.

  “You’ll still see her. You’ll be by my side, too.” I paused “Or did I not explain that?” I was sure I had explained that. She nodded.

  “Aria come here.” I demanded, sitting on the floor, patting my thighs. Aria looked up at Aroelyn, who nodded. She walked over, head lowered, and sat on my lap. “You’re very thin, Aria, have you been fed?” She nodded. “Are you still hungry?” She nodded again. “Fantastic! You’re going to love the food I delight you with.” I shrieked, clapping. I waved over to EJ to fetch dinner. “Now, I know you humans are used to everything flame grilled. I can fix that.”

  EJ bought in a whore and plonked her beside me. “Not too close, EJ.” He gripped her long, curled hair and pulled her backwards. She screamed, mascara running down her face.

  “Please don’t!” she begged, her eyes wide, lips trembling.

  “EJ, fetch Blane.” Blane strode in. His upper torso was ripped due to his athletic body. He was based on a human, but with the added features of a scorpion tale and a crispy exterior that steamed from his pores whenever he moved. His eyes were a piercing red and he wore a refreshing frown on his face. “Now, Aria, Blane here is one of my Disciples. He is the first of his kind. Can you guess what he is?” I asked, cradling Aria’s fragile body.

  “No,” Aria said, confused.

  I giggled. “She is adorable.” I said to Aroelyn.

  “Well, Blane is my first fire demon. He is wonderful at burning things and, just to please you, we are going to cook your dinner today.”

  Aroelyn’s eyes widened, jaw dropped, as she looked at what her daughter was about to witness.

  The whore screamed and jumped up to run and hide, but EJ knocked her down before Blane, who awaited the nod to go ahead.

  “Are you ready for your dinner, Aria?”

  “Yes,” she said, innocently.

  “Splendid!” I clapped, grinning. Aria clapped too, drying her eyes and a fresh smile on her face.

  I nodded, and Blane responded.

  Chapter 19: Elisha

  Where was I? What was I?

  Awaking to voices I knew was a good sign. Lawrence was beside me, as was Eli. “She’s awake!” Eli shouted. The room fell silent as Hayley and Kathryn came to my side.

  “Where’s everyone else?” I asked, rising with a heavy head.

  “Take it easy,” Harland said as he appeared from the doorway.

  I smiled. “I’m glad to see you survived.”

  “I’m glad I did too.” He grinned.

  “What about Nic and Jayden, Pearce and Jessie, Allyson?”

  “Nic and Jayden are fine. They’re downstairs talking to Clyde and Allaric. Pearce and Jessie are resting. But Allyson, Meghan, and Jodie didn’t make it.” He said, head lowered.

  Tears caught me by surprise. I’d failed. They’d died because we weren’t good enough to protect them. I still remembered Jodie’s screams, a memory that I hoped would one day disappear. Harland walked over, sat beside me, and held me tight. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you cry, Elisha.”

  “Well, don’t get used to it.” I said, wiping the tears from my eyes.

  Eli walked over. “You saved them.” He said, looking over at Hayley and Kathryn. They smiled.

  “I know, I just wanted to save them all.”

  “You’re not a superhero, you know.” Harland said.

  “I feel like I should be.” I said then smiled.

  “Come on, woman up. We’ve a war to win.” Harland said, standing up and lifting me up beside him. “Right, from what I can figure out, Rowena and her troops were in some kind of stasis. Saving their energy for the next battle, perhaps?”

  “I thought that too.” I said.

  “So, they aren’t as much of a threat at night. But the zombies are.” He said.

  “They’re not zombies,” Eli said.

  “No, but what are they?” I asked

  He shrugged.

  “Okay, let’s call them zombies for now, shall we?” Harland said, frowning at Eli.

  Eli smiled.

  “Right, so how about we let Rowena and her army take out the ‘zombies’?” he said, eyeing up Eli’s reaction. Eli smiled back at him. “Then we take out Rowena when she’s finished with her pest control.”

  “Okay, but isn’t time of the essence?” Hayley asked.

  “Yes, she’s right.” Lawrence said. “Lilith is on her way. The longer we wait, the more likely she will appear and end us all. At the moment, we are only up against a small selection of foes, not the whole army.”

  “True. But how do we take out Rowena?”

  “She’s a puppet master, right?” I asked. Harland nodded. “Well, so am I.”

  “Kind of,” Harland said. “But not to her strength.”

  Fine. He thought I wasn't capable of using my power. Let’s see what I could get him to do. Exposing myself to the environment around me was the simple part. The scent of roses carried my alluring enchantment forward. “Harland,” I whispered, slipping the notes off of my tongue with delightful desire. My body ached as I swirled myself around him. Hair gleamed in the light of the day as the shimmering rays of the sun caressed my body with their warming lustre. Soaking in the spirit of his sexuality, I descended upon him, whispering sweet nothings in his ear, resonating the promises of something more. Moist breath touched his face as I snaked my arms around him, embracing his soul and capturing the light of his eyes in my own. “Bow,” I whispered. He obeyed. Kneeling beside him, I placed my knife by his body. “Pick up the knife,” I whispered deep within his ear. He obeyed. “Hold it to your throat,” I said. He obeyed.

  Pearce and Jessie walked in. Jessie screamed. Pearce knocked Harland back, taking the knife from him. “Huh, what?” Harland said, shaking out of the moment.

  I laughed.

  “How could you, Elisha?” Pearce asked as Jessie stood shaking.

  “What? I wasn’t going to hurt him.”

  “How the Hell did you do that?” Harland asked.

  “See, I’m more powerful than you realise.” I smirked. I’d proven my point.

  Pearce held onto Jessie, directing her out of the room. Harland looked over at me, eyes wide, he said, “Okay, you can tackle Rowena, then.”

  “Tomorrow.” I said. “We take the
fight to them tomorrow.”

  The evening came and went with a make shift dinner, banter, and time with friends. I’d never have imagined ever sitting with those people at the academy, let alone giving them the time of day. But the Arellano’s, well, they weren’t all bad. I’d grown to know, and like, Harland over the past year. He was strong, courageous, and hot-headed which made him cute and sexy as Hell.

  “We’re off to bed.” Pearce said, “Jessie needs to rest.” He was right, she looked drained. She’d hardly had any blood since she’d turned, and it’d taken its toll on her.

  “Good night,” I said, smiling. Looking over, Eli was fast asleep on the sofa with Lawrence dropping off beside him. Alaric and Clyde were outside taking turns in keeping guard and Nic and Jayden had already headed up for the night. There was only Hayley, Kathryn, Harland, and I left. Hayley smiled, winked, and told Kathryn she was tired but didn’t want to go to sleep alone. Kathryn joined her, and the two of them headed upstairs leaving only Harland and I alone at the table.

  “And then there were two,” I said, smiling. “I’d better head up too.”

  “Are you sure you want to?” Harland asked, rising from his chair and walking around the table over to me. “It’s just...” He turned my chair towards him, knelt before me, and smiled. Shivers ran over my skin as I awaited what he was going to say. “This might be the last night we ever have together.”

  “It may be,” I replied, biting my bottom lip. Sexual tension was ripe in the air. My body curled towards him as he placed his hand on my thigh. I was far from an innocent little girl. I leapt off of the chair and landed on top of him. Ripping off his top, I bent down, kissing him, tongue against tongue, as he yanked off my shirt, unclasped my bra, and growled as he ripped off my pants. It was quick, hot, fast, and as sexy as Hell. He fit perfectly. Claws ripped at skin and blood trailed down our backs as we yearned for more, quicker, deeper, faster. Reaching a hot hard and heavy climax together, we collapsed in a sweaty, sexually-scented mess.

  “I can’t believe you fell for the last day on Earth line!” Harland said, grinning.

  “I can’t believe you waited so long!” I said, laughing.

  He kissed me once again as we lay in silence. Tomorrow could be our last day. But for tonight, tonight we got to be young teenagers lusting for love once more.

  Chapter 20: Lucian

  Shit. We’d been give the raw end of the deal with Lilith. The place was stunning. No wonder Taylor never wanted to leave. Imagine being cast down to Earth again and again in body after body, just because daddy dearest couldn’t keep his hands to himself. Damn, that was some creepy shit right there. Okay, so I didn't recall him being that ‘type’, but he definitely needed a good smack round the earhole for being a shitty father figure all these years. I mean, who on Earth would want to kill their own kid? I did want to snap that kid's neck, but he was damn right annoying. The chatterbox had never stopped, even when the plane went down. That kid has issues. I wondered how he was doing back down on Earth. I wondered if my family was alright in Elvington. Lilith had better not have touched them. She and I were going to be having words, and not the nice kind. I should have guessed when she stabbed me that she wasn’t in the mood for talking. But for now, well, the bitch needed to go down.

  I missed her, though. We had some good times together, she and I. She had always been the joking type, but nothing like Cain could be. She’d changed. She’d lost the sparkle in her eyes, the good in her heart. She had actually had some good in there. I was there, I remembered it. It may have been buried deep down, but even when she made me eat my own mother, she still had concern for my wellbeing. Messed up and completely disturbed concern but concern all the same.

  Damn. No matter how perfect I made her out to be, she was still going to be the epiphany of all evil. She really did follow in her father’s footsteps. But wow, I mean, she’d never measure up to this place. Enoch didn't have a leg to stand on compared to here.

  Getting changed was the easy part. Adam seemed to be able to conjure up any number of items. Jeez, what I’d do with magic like that! Then it came to showing me around. The room was a pure, bright white, gleaming with the endless possibilities of a blank canvas. Adam said it was a room that changed depending on the person's mindset. Shit. I hoped it didn't delve into my mind, it may not like what it saw. I was getting quite anxious. Mentally blocking the darkness out grew tiresome. I needed to get out of there and into the main atrium. But instead, I fed the room an image. The cruise ship bedroom Taylor and I had christened. It was the perfect place, somewhere easy going, simple, and nice. Washing up, I chucked on jeans and a tee-shirt, straightened my hair, and headed out to meet Joey and the celestial crew. But when I headed out, I could hear the whispers from a mile away. The angels were scared of me. Me, little old me. How was that even possible? They were bigger, broader, strong... I wouldn’t say stronger, as I was pretty strong myself. But they were definitely harder with their celestial magic that they could wield. Let alone the swords. The blades were about the size of one of my legs. Shit, I couldn’t wield one of those buggers. I’d stick to my blades and fangs, thanks. But then, I was selling myself short. I was a pretty nifty speedster, so that was on my side. I was as stealthy as one of those rogues in a video game. So, I was hoping I’d outwit an angel, should I have ever felt the need to battle one. Although, I didn't think Taylor would be too chuffed if I picked a fight with her big brother. I laughed.

  Heading into the atrium, I passed a huge white building, a palace of sorts. Adam stood beside Gabriel and Joey, awaiting my arrival.

  “Yo mate, what took you so long?” Joey asked.

  “Would you care for a tour of Elysium?” Adam asked.

  “Yes, that would be marvellous.” I responded.

  “Cool, mate,” Joey said.

  “Gabriel, perhaps it would be wise if you took Joey on a tour and I spend some time with my soon to be brother-in-law, or so I hear.”

  I winced. “Ah, so you know.”

  “Indeed. Gabriel told me.” Gabriel hunched his shoulders, pushed Joey forward, and headed off.

  “And are you okay with it?”

  “I’m happy if Eve’s happy. But don’t forget, I’ve known of you for many centuries now, so I also remember your past as well as your present,” he said. I winced again. “You were once Lilith’s right-hand man. Has that changed?”

  “I am loyal to no-one except for Taylor and my family.”

  “I am glad to hear. I hope that one day we can gain one another’s trust, too.”

  “That would be good, Adam.” I said and smiled. He was right, it would be nice to be welcomed by Taylor's family as well, and the link to that was Adam. Hell, he was the only real family she had left that wasn't demented, dead, or dispelled.

  Walking through the atrium, crowds of celestials stood and stared, whispering to their heart's content, obviously unaware that I could hear them. They were quite sweet and innocent for something so big and broad. The couple in the corner was discussing how I entered Elysium covered in the blood of a poor human girl. They were well and truly scared. It was amusing and appealing. I think I could like it here. “Adam, one minute, I need to set something right.”

  “Err... okay.”

  I left Adam and walked over to the couple who were declaring their fear of the big bad wolf. Little did they know, I wasn’t a fluffy werewolf but a hard ass Dark One. This is going to be fun. They aren’t even watching. Should I jump in and say boo? Would that look bad in the eyes of the big brother over there? It would be highly amusing, to say the least.

  Instead, I wandered over casually, raised my hand high, and tapped the cute girl on the shoulder. “Excuse me, you do realise I can hear you?” I said.

  The girl shook and backed off as her partner in crime stepped in front of her, baring his wings in defence.

  “Cute wings, they’re very fluffy,” I said, reaching out to stroke them. “Anyway, if you want to know about me, just ask. I’m not here to ea
t you all. I’m just here to find my Taylor and I’ll be out of your way again.”

  “You shouldn’t be allowed here,” another angel spurted.

  “Well, that’s not very forgiving of you, is it?” I smirked.

  “Get away from us.”

  “Leave us alone,” another angel chimed in.

  Adam walked over. “Now, now, he is our guest and will soon be part of my family. You will treat him with respect.”

  “How can you allow him to be part of the family? He’s one of her creatures.”

  “The ‘her’ you are discussing is still my twin sister and she should also be treated with respect. It is not Lilith’s fault, what happened to her. We all know the reason she was banished.”

  “Err, I don’t,” I said holding my hand up to speak.

  “She is female. Father said females can hold off the darkness, they are a threat to it whereas men easily succumb to its darkened nature.”

  “Well, that’s why I’m doomed, then.”

  “Clearly, as are we all if Lilith finds her way up here.” He said. “Look, we all need to work together. There’s a war coming. It’s already reached Earth and we need to prepare for the final battle.”

  “Final?” one of the girls asked.

  “Yes, as in lots of bloodshed, arms and limbs flailing about, lots of people dying for the cause. One side wins, everyone cheers, and we drink blood and be merry.” I said.

 

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