I wasn’t a fan of human magicians—the irresponsible use of their power could really fuck up the balance of nature. I didn’t break out of Hell just to live on a ruined planet.
“Follow us,” Elly said. “We’ll take you to the place.”
“I don’t think so,” she said. “I’m calling a cab.”
Chapter Nine
Amony gathered the group, her spirits visibly high. The slightly disheveled hair, Sin’s too, gave me all the information I didn’t want to know.
I made sure to sit as far away from the new girl as possible. The vibe she radiated just wouldn’t go away.
“I’d like to introduce you to your newest member, Layla,” Amony said. “She’s a distorter.”
My eyes widened. I looked at Amony. The witch beamed at me.
“Look, I’m no tree hugger,” I said, “but you know the second Paradise Realm finds out about her, she’s dead and probably anyone that associates with her. Mother Nature herself hates distorters more than the humans that pollute her waters.”
A hand caressed my shoulder.
“Don’t worry, I’m skilled enough to heal nature with each spell not harm it.”
I looked to see the girl, right beside me. That made me flinch and then pull away my arm. Something fucking hurt, like the worst kind of static electricity.
Everyone stared at me.
“That fucking hu—stay out of my personal space,” I said.
“Ah, he’s so cute, Amony can I keep him.”
The distorter playfully grabbed my arm again, hugging it tightly. Pain erupted.
Unable to control some kind of instinct within, the warmth of heavenly light outlined me. I raised the girl into the air with force.
“There are lines you don’t cross, distorter,” I said, voice calm but dripping with venom. “Touch me again and I’ll fucking kill you.” I let her drop. “How distasteful.”
I let the freak of nature drop to the table.
“Epex what the hell’s gotten into you?” Amony snarled.
“It’s not his fault,” Layla said, surprising everyone. “If I would’ve known he was a heavenly being, I wouldn’t I played around with him like that.”
“What do you mean?” Amony said. She looked as if she knew the answer already judging by the lack of surprise in her voice.
I sat back down, uncaring, but a little wary. Why did I react like that?
“The instinct is as ancient as time itself, engraved in them,” Layla said, still lying on the table, cheerfulness in her tone. “Distorters warp reality. Back then when morals were a joke, distorters were a huge threat to the planet. The gods almost wiped them all out.” She climbed off the table and for the love of all fuck, sat next to me.
“Why the fuck are you tempting fate by sitting next to him?” Elly said. “If you’re going to be an annoying fly, then do that somewhere else.”
“Because we’re a team now,” Layla replied then looked me in the eye. “I’m not going anywhere. Control and dissolve the instinct and we’ll be fine, demigod.”
I gazed into the brown eyes for a few seconds then said, “don’t go triggering it. I’m not one to just go around attacking people.” I scooted my chair away from her but she only moved closer, bringing the vibes with her. We had ourselves a mischievous weirdo here. “If your human boyfriend comes crashing through the window to fight me, I will kick his ass.”
She glowered at me.
“All of my relationships flop. No one will stay with a distorter. We have like the worst luck.” She stuck out her tongue.
Amony shook her, probably tired of this.
“Like her not, we need her,” she said.
“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but you’re right,” Elly said. “She took out a shit load of dust-devils with just a thought. Badass.” She offered a hand. “Thanks for saving our asses and welcome to the team.”
Layla beamed, accepting that hand with both of hers.
“Glad to be here,” she said. “You’re a lot nicer than mister table-thrower over here. So rough with women.” She let go of Elly’s hand. “I bet he’ll never pick up a woman—which means I’m not the only one stuck single. Yay.”
“He’s dating a goddess,” Elly said as she rolled her eyes.
“A real goddess? I call bullshit,” Layla said looking at me. “He’s half-human. Looks alone won’t seduce a goddess.”
“It’s true,” I said, feeling smug. I could’ve used this moment to throw Elly under the bus, but the ‘don’t you dare’ look she gave me, thwarted that idea. Everyone introduced themselves and then got explained the plan. At the end, Amony dropped the bomb.
“In three days, we’ll be going after them, so make sure you start making preparations now.”
That night Amelia and I feasted on a delicious Japanese-style dinner she prepared, which consisted of rice, miso-soup, fish, vegetables, and fried shrimp. I explained the latest shenanigans from work. The goddess wasn’t surprised about the movement. Like me, she also didn’t like the idea of being around a distorter. For once, the goddess didn’t torture my hormones that night.
“Epex, let’s talk college.” Emerald-green eyes peered at me.
“We’ve had this conversation before,” I said.
“There’s something I want you to investigate,” she continued, “but you’re going to have to apply this fall to do so.”
“I don’t think so,” I said. “You’re already a student. It’s your investigation.”
Amelia rolled over until she was snuggled into my chest. The softness of her skin…. Alright, I get it, I’ve been sexually energetic lately. Or is it repressed. You try sharing a bed with a goddess, unable to do anything because of her values. I can only respect them.
Her presence prevents me from considering, “making the first move.” The human side of me can’t get all “rapey.” The rational side of me don’t want to end up as ashes in someone’s cigarette tray. This didn’t count the kissing, as it’s the purest expression of love. But anything that crossed the sexual threshold is a big waste of time. And here I counted my chickens too early.
“You should have some kind of backup plan in case the witch’s company goes down,” she continued. “At least look at the available things you could study in. I’ve had a conversation with the witch and she’s prepared to get you a full ride scholarship.”
“I don’t know,” I said. “With the hunters and all.”
“Don’t worry about them.”
“What’s this thing you want me to investigate?”
Amelia looked up at me. “We need to find out all why the school’s a hotspot for demonic energy. My presence would frighten any leads, but if you did it, we could finally prevent what happened with Simon from occurring ever again.”
I nodded, realizing she had a point.
“Alright, I’ll go undercover as a student with Amony’s full ride.”
Amelia smiled.
“I’ll take you to an advisor in the morning.”
“Do we have to pretend like we don’t know each other?” I said to her, jokingly.
She gave mean a blank look.
“Thinking about taking advantage of those fragile human hearts eh? Well I won’t be having that. I’ll be all over you like a girl in heat.”
I chuckled, kissed Amelia, and then closed my eyes to drift off to sleep. I trained with Mom for a few hours to get a grip on state two, at least a little.
Chapter Ten
Thankfully there were no lines to wait in since I’m registering very early for the fall semester. The advisers gave me the information I needed as well as suggestions and advice. Criminal Justice became my major and after some paperwork, we were finished. The process didn’t take more than an hour.
When Amelia and I stepped outside, a strange feeling hit me. I can’t explain it, but something felt wrong. Like a weird distortion in the air. And I don’t mean the distorter’s kind either. This felt otherworldly. It reminded me of something, but I ju
st couldn’t put a finger on it.
“Do you feel that?” I said.
“Yeah,” Amelia said. “It feels off. I’ll check it out later. Let’s go get lunch before you head off to work.”
“Sounds good—let’s go back to that Taco Shop.”
“Fine, but you’re running the twelve miles with the girls and I to burn off the calories.”
The strange feeling, the energy in the air still bugged me, even during the meal. It felt like a preparation of some sort but what? Neither Amelia or I didn’t feel a heavenly-presence, though with heavenly-beings, you never know.
At work, I decided to ask everyone about it. We were sitting around the meeting table, bored, enduring the slow day. Amony wanted us to brainstorm and prepare for the clash with Sunset, while promising to give us any jobs that came up in the meantime. We weren’t allowed to leave for six hours, that is if we wanted to get paid.
“Does anyone feel that distortion in the atmosphere?” I asked the group, garnering their stares.
“Nope,” Elly said.
“Don’t feel a thing,” Devante said.
“Nothing,” Layla said.
“Same here,” Sin said. “You sure you’re not just feeling under the weather.”
“I guess it’s a heavenly-being thing,” I said. “Amelia felt it too.”
“Maybe it’s because they’re not having sex like a proper couple,” Devante said.
“They never had sex?” Layla practically bounced over to me. “You poor thing, let me take that awful virginity away from you.” She said that in a voice that one would enact to a one-year-old to make them smile. She even made the face with it.
My eyes widened a little as my face burned with embarrassment. Everyone was in hysterical laughter at my expensive and there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about it.
I observed the weirdo. She was wearing a light-blue dress, a complete contrast to the cloak she wore yesterday.
“Great, I’m getting babied by Elsa over here,” I said then changed the subject while simultaneously shaking away the Australian girl.
I wasn’t sure if they were touchy feely, but her aura drove me nuts, in a bad way, like a summer gnat that wouldn’t go away. I made sure not to look at Elly—can’t have her snapping my neck for a laugh at her expense. Not while she’s around anyway.
The succubus had me a little worried though. She implied something but didn’t act on it. There aren’t many people strong-willed like that these days.
“So any ideas about killing the Drifter? We can’t go in there just to get our asses handed to us,” I said.
Layla placed a finger on my lip, attracting everyone’s curious stares and my glare.
“Don’t worry about infiltration, I’ve got it covered,” she said. “It took Amony two months to convince me to fly all the way to America. The witch even took care of my paperwork with connections all the way up into the government.” She grinned.
I pushed away her finger, relieving myself of the shock of her aura.
“Human, why do you continue to provoke me?” I said.
Everyone looked alarmed, preparing to response to any loss of control but Layla didn’t look worried at all. The fucking woman even sat on my lap. The aura threatened to send me into a frenzy but I strained against the pain.
“I want to become your follower,” the weirdo said simply. “Now offer your virginity to me as a sacrifice. Or do I offer myself?” Silence. Even the pain of the aura vanished and we all stared at her. I bet the others were as worried as me. “I’m kidding, wankers. Where’s the sense of humor, you stale-minded blokes?”
“Then get off me,” I said, restraining my anger. “You do realize that you’re basically a current of electricity.” Layla gave me an evil smile. “
That will teach you for flopping innocent girls onto tables.” She fluttered her eyelashes. Before I could react, she did that teleport thing again, back to her chair.
Amony finally graced us with her presence again, punching some things into a tablet as she took her place at the end of the table.
“Guess what,” she smiled. “I’m going to send two of you home.”
We gazed at her intensely. “But, you’ll be coming back for a late rove to weed out some minor demon activity. Amelia’s studying for a test tonight at her followers’ home, so we’ll take the load.” Please don’t pick me. Please don’t pick me. “Epex.”
“Fuck,” I said.
“And Layla.”
“Are you fucking kidding me?” I said.
The witch winked.
“If it makes you feel better, you’ll be split apart. You’ll cover one area known for activity, she’ll cover the other area. You meet back up after you take care of the threats.”
I sighed. Devante and Sin grinned at me. Elly gave me a sympathetic look.
I left before the distorter. Amony called her over to explain some things, giving me the opening to get the hell out of there while I had the chance.
We met up around ten that night and went our separate ways, though the distorter kept suggesting we stick together. She got bored really easy and even made suggestive implications, which I ignored as I walked away.
Even if I were single, I wouldn’t go near her. I could imagine it would be like making love to an electrical outlet. Damned sadist.
After about thirty minutes of no activity, I sat on a park bench and watched cars zoom by, as I tinkered on my phone a bit. Seconds later, I shamelessly drifted off to sleep.
It took maybe a minute for me to slowly slip into a dream state. But… something rejected me from the dream world. Teemie’s face flashed into my vision.
“Epex, run!”
Chapter Eleven
A MAELSTROM OF ESSENCE descended upon the city like the waters of a waterfall crashing into a riverbed. My heavenly-being senses dashed into fucking overdrive.
It took all of my will to ignore them as I hopped from the bench, heart racing a million miles an hour. This essence, this pressure—it brought earthquakes to the city.
People screamed as the chaos heightened.
That distortion from earlier, that feeling—that…that was a fucking premonition. Why didn’t I figure it out earlier?
I glanced at the time on my phone. Midnight. A flash of light made me look at the sky. The earthquake stopped.
Humans around looked up too, confused at the crazy whirling of bright colors.
I felt something…several somethings. No…they were presences. Six of them. Six super-presences. I pieced things together: Teemie speaking of some meeting. Then her telling me to run. I never got a warning for any ordinary hunters. Shit, normal hunters don’t have this kind of power. Six.
Oh no.
Oh shit, this couldn’t be happening.
That warning. Six. Which means they’ve even found a replacement. That or became the band of seven.
I looked at the gathered crowd, police cars, fire trucks, and ambulances going nuts, and helicopters flying about. Yeah, there wasn’t a need to draw attention, so I ran back to Secure Corps, texting everyone along the way. Everyone but Amelia answered. Fuck.
“Epex, what’s going on?” Amony said, her voice close to panic.
“Bloody hell, I’ve never seen anything like that,” Layla said.
“I got a bad feeling about this,” Devante said. “When a sorcerer gets a bad feeling, it’s time to get going.”
“That’s exactly what you guys have to do,” I said. “Leave the city, immediately. Shit’s about to get really fucked up.”
“Even if we were to comply to your request, what do you plan to do,” Sin said. “Stand here and be the hero.”
“They’re on earth,” I said, calmly. “If they’re here, they can and will track me, no matter where I go. Guys, there’s no easy way to say this, but I may be done. Don’t get caught up in this. I can only talk them down from wiping out the entire state.”
“You can forget it,” Elly said. “I don’t know who you’re talking
about, but we’re not letting you face this alone. At least I’m not.” She looked at Sin and Devante.
“We’ve seen some crazy shit and came out on top,” Devante said. “I don’t think it gets worse than Karma. Well, there’s Michael, but he didn’t come to fight himself, so you got lucky.”
“It does,” I said. “Karma let us win. Michael kicked our asses and the only way we came out of that was due to having one common enemy. This is something way worse, so I need you guys to listen. The elite six are here. I’ve gathered you here to warn you so just in case anyone witnesses my ass getting handed to me, you don’t run in for incineration. They’re gods. Very powerful gods. It’s instant death for all of you.”
Before I could continue, I heard a voice boom in my head.
“Come, fallen prince. There is no use running. If you refuse, we’ll kill all of these people in your name. Follow our presences. It is time to atone.”
“Fuck, I’ve got to go,” I said.
“Where’s Amelia?” Amony asked.
“Don’t tell me that goddess betrayed you,” Elly said.
I shook my head and answered based on a strange feeling in my heart. Intuition that felt right.
“She’s trying to save as much people as possible,” I said. “I can take care of myself until she arrives to back me up.” I rushed out the door and to my dismay, they all followed, except Layla.
Amony ordered her to protect the confused nightshift humans. That was an excuse. If Layla’s vibe set off the elite six, they’d probably nuke the city.
I followed my instincts, though in no particular hurry. Someone yelled for help.
I looked to see a man who looked to be in his early forties hanging on for dear life, on the side of his apartment balcony. Five stories high. This guy didn’t deserve a drop like that—not because the elite dicks wanted to interfere with the day to day life of the humans.
Till the Last Breath (Blood for Soul Book 2) Page 5