Redemption: A Custos Novel

by Emjay Soren

  Copyright © 2013 by Emjay Sore writing as Melanie Walker

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof

  may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever

  without the express written permission of the publisher

  except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Printed in the United States of America

  First Printing, 2013

  Second Printing, 2020

  ISBN

  Redemption

  Book 2 of: The Custos

  Emjay Soren

  Acknowledgements

  To the fans who stuck with me even when the editing was bad. You still loved the story. I will always try to be better for you and push myself each day to bring you perfection.

  First and foremost I thank God for blessing me with a talent to tell a story that makes people smile. For all the blessings you have bestowed upon me in this life, I am grateful.

  To my dude, my biggest fan, my heart beating in my chest and… my everything! Your support is endless and forever encouraging. I will always cherish you my Monkey.

  To my bestie and the other half of my non-stop support system Katie and Amanda. I can never say it enough but again I will try. Thank you for the uncanny ability to see in my head and know what I am trying to say… I would be lost without your friendship.

  Last to my fans! This is all for you, every word and every page is for you and your support even when I mess up! This would be nothing but words on paper without you.

  Dedication

  I dedicate Redemption to my friend and editor

  Shawna Lisowski.

  Your dedication on Redemption is why I dedicate Redemption to you. Your work on Redemption is the greatest gift I could have asked for and one I will always cherish. Thank you for the ‘Bitch Slap’ that brought me to you. Your OCD knows no bounds and for that I am truly grateful! I also dedicate this book to the family of Shawna Lisowski because of the time it took to edit this novel was time away from them. I appreciate you all for letting me steal her for a few weeks and supporting her awesome editing skills.

  Note to the reader:

  I have pulled no punches with this book. I am certain at some point in reading this you all will hate me before you love me again. Preacher is a victim just as much as the hero. His past will come back in Redemption and he will be faced with it like it or not. You as the reader will face it with him.

  As for Tavern, please, give her a chance. As a victim of the worst kind of assault she will seem weak and annoying. I COULD NOT write her with unyielding faith in the beginning because there was no way ANYONE could come out of hell like she did and not be a total mess. Her path to finding Preacher is paved with heartache, pain and the worst kind of agony. She would have been an unrealistic character if she had no weakness.

  As a woman her story was very hard to write, as a mother and wife, so was Preachers. I made them tough and I made them weak…I made them realistic for the torture they both endured.

  I promise there will be passion and tears, there will be goodbye’s and hello’s and there will be a Happily Ever After…at some point :P

  I hope you will love Tavern and see her as fitting for Preacher. I know you ALL love him and in writing his story I wanted to please everyone, but most of all him. He above any other character I have written deserves his ever after.

  Table Of Contents

  Acknowledgements

  Dedication

  Note to the reader:

  Part One

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Part Two

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  Epilogue

  Then the letters all flash through my head, with the words that I was told about the fading flesh of life and love,

  The failures of the bold. I can list each crippling fear like I'm reading from a will.

  And I'll defy every-one and love you still. I will carry you with me up every hill. And if you die before I die,

  I'll carve your name out of the sky. I'll fall asleep with your memory and dream of where you lie.

  It may be better to move on and to let life just carry on and I may be wrong. Still I'll try.

  Because it's better to love whether you win or lose or die. It's better to love and I will love you until I die.

  ~The Airborne Toxic Event

  Part One

  Chapter One

  Current year Three months ago…

  Seattle, Washington

  Preacher

  I drove separately to the tattoo shop. I needed to get some hash after we made our way through the carnage and no one wanted to tag along for that. As it was I was gonna have to take a few pulls from Cash’s whiskey to keep the Infatuation down. I wasn’t partial to liquor. I preferred a bifter, the green. I liked weed, and the fact it came from the earth made me feel more at ease. I used to say that if I didn’t need the high to banish the Infatuation that I'd abstain. I lied. Hash is my form of oxygen. Humans need air, I need my bifter.

  Infatuation is magic in its truest form. As a vampire it is my very best weapon. I can twist and bend a human's will at my command, and they will bend. With a smile and a sigh, they’ll give into me. Unless I’m high. Cookie says I'm a downer when I’m sober, but she says that when I'm high too. I, however, disagree. Sober, I am simply surviving night to night, helping the innocent where I can. I cannot send the evil to hell on a prayer any longer. I used to show compassion, kill them with an empathetic twist of my cross. Now I just turn them to ash. Their souls are for an Tiarna, the Lord, to decide. The devil has his claws in us all. In the end it is Gods choice, not mine.

  I hear Cookie the minute I step from my `69 Ford Bronco, my only earthly possession that infatuates me. She is yelling at Leushus, and I can hear the plea in Cash’s voice as he tries to calm her. Not bloody fuckin' likely mate.

  I joined the group and watched the argument from beside Bastian, both of us intrigued by the scene playing out in front of us. I lit my blunt and pulled in the smoke. Cookie stopped talking when she saw me. Leush turned to see what had caught Cookie's attention and cursed under his breath. Looking at me, he shook his head. “No weed tonight Preach.” I looked at Cash and Cookie with my brows drawn, blunt hanging from my mouth as I worked to stifle the Infatuation before walking into Inked, the tattoo shop where tonight's job was. Cash made a hand gesture for me to snuff the blunt before Leushus had a fit.

  “Come again?” I asked as I snuffed out the last of the blunt on the sole of my shoe. I was trying to keep my nerves ca
lm, but the dream I'd been awakened from earlier was still nagging at me. The twisted matter of my brain was trying desperately to pull me into a very dark place, and right now I needed focus. Thoughts of my Emme and her sweet spots haunting me while I slept were not the best the way to stay calm and focused.

  Cash was Cacius Troy, my Custos partner, and Cookie was London, his fiancé for lack of a better term. They had decided marriage was the next logical step in their relationship, but Cookie said she was holding out for the ring and Cash on one knee. It was hard to remember she was the same girl that we met all those months ago in Texas when we were brought in to save her from the hit that had been put out on her.

  She was petulant, vain, and boy did she have a mouth on her. She was also one of my closest friends and like a daughter to me, or........how I would have liked my daughter to have been. She was also compassionate and had an enormous heart full of love to give. So it was with a smile that I watched her make herself good and comfortable on Leushus’ last nerve.

  Leushus showed no emotion when he looked at the three of us. “No to Cherry here thinking she is tagging along, and no to you and Cash with the blunts and whiskey. We need the Infatuation tonight.”

  London gasped in outrage before leveling her stare on Leush. “If I have told you once, I have told you a thousand times, don’t call me Cherry! I am Princess, London, Cookie, Pain-In-The-Ass and even Bitch, but I...AM...NOT...FRUIT!” Cookie, as I called her because she smelled like cookies, was famous in our circle for her nicknames. Cash chose Princess because of first impressions. He hadn’t been far off. When Leushus saved her from becoming a Nex (vampires, same as us, just lacking a soul) he' said she'd become cherished, the nickname Cherry had been born, and he'd had been teasing her with it ever since.

  “You hate Cherry, yet you let a ninety-seven year old vampire priest call you Cookie. Where’s the logic Cherry?” He was openly laughing at her, which wasn’t helping his case much.

  She rolled her eyes and I watched her feet, waiting for her to start stomping and yelling like she always did to get her way. Dumb bunch a fucks we were, because we loved her, we let her get away with it, one of us always giving in. But Cookie was a fighter, a bad ass in her own right. Not some delicate little rose, all soft petals and delicate buds. She was more like the thorns on the stem of that rose. “I will revisit and revise this little name bull crap later. Right now I want answers as to why I can’t come in?” She smiled and stepped closer to Leushus, her fingers staying linked with Cash's, “We both know two things here Leush. I won’t forget this little topic, and I won’t sit back while you all go off beating your chests like cavemen.”

  This was Cookie at her best.

  “I am not being all 'caveman', as you so eloquently put it. I am simply making a statement. You are not setting foot in that shop.” He leveled his stare at her before turning to me and Cash. “You two. Clear your minds and let’s go.”

  It wasn’t like Cash was drunk, or that I was so high we couldn’t function. Chemicals affected a vampire differently. Our natural abilities to draw humans in could be stifled and weakened by the effects of booze and some drugs. We had the ability to clean our systems of the effects instantly if need be. He acted like it was a blood bath inside, though I only picked up a trace of blood in the air. There were, however, some pretty freaked out humans inside in major need of memory loss therapy, courtesy of me and Cash.

  Cookie wasn’t having it though, and stepped up to Leushus’ face. "You think that anything in that parlor is going to scare me? Smarten up Leush!" And there went the foot, stomping on the ground in nine hundred dollar shoes. “I’m going to marry a vampire one day, my best friend is a former priest turned vamp, and then there’s Bastian, the only pet I've ever known! He brings new meaning to the words ‘guard dog'........and don’t even get me started on you, my favorite angel. I’ve seen scarier shit than what is in there, I assure you.” She stuttered a breath and choked on her next words. “You forget so easily that I took a life Leushus. I drank a young woman dry, and watched the light fade from her eyes.”

  Leushus was clearly uncomfortable with this conversation. Three months ago she had taken a life. It was a moment she would never forget, never forgive herself for. She took the life of one of the many whores in Bliss when her brother had turned her into a vampire. By Cookie feeding off the girl and killing her, he had hoped to turn her Nex, just like him. It was my life they'd manipulated her with to force her to feed. After they'd injected me with an overdose of the Bliss drug, she'd fed on the girl to save my life. It was a moment I wouldn't soon forget.

  Regardless of the life she took, Leushus didn’t want her in there, and if he was this adamant about it, and the look on his face said he was, then I didn’t want her in there either. “Cookie just hang back a sec and let us take a look." I spoke softly and nudged her shoulder, but she only rolled her eyes.

  “I am aware of your strength London, but you’re staying here and that’s that!” Leushus’ tone brooked no disagreement and drowned out my calmer request.

  “No, I am...." Her words were cut off.

  Literally.

  Leush had some pretty crazy powers, and forcing you to physically do as he wished was one of his more useful ones. He made Cookie stop talking and then, to add insult to injury, he forced her to sit, right there on Aurora Avenue and not move.

  “Go talk some sense into her please." Leushus demanded politely of Cash before turning his silver stare to me. “Preacher is the hero tonight anyway. Calm her down Cash, and meet us inside.”

  He didn’t wait for a response from Cash as he turned and started to the front door of the tattoo shop. The ominous vibe he was giving off told me what waited inside was bad......very bad. I wasn't sure why he'd said I was the hero tonight, but the only thing I felt like right now was a fool.

  *

  I walked into the parlor of Inked and was dumb struck. There was no blood, no signs of struggle. The place was sickeningly clean, and smelled of disinfectant. There was nothing to indicate the fear of the unknown Leushus had placed in all of us tonight. There were examination tables (used I presume for a client when getting tatted) every twenty feet or so separated by partitions. Each cubby had original art on the walls, and each told a story about its owner.

  I see the woman at the front desk and wonder if she's a victim or just some random customer that was in the wrong place at the wrong time. She’s human, and looking around completely shell shocked. There appeared to be no physical reason for her to be unable to leave. “Who’s the Bird in the red pants?” I ask Leush while reaching for my blunt. Leush raised his eyebrow at the action, reminding me its sober living tonight. Damn! I felt my fangs grind in personal protest.

  “Witness.” He says in passing as we head to the back of the parlor. He guides me through an oriental separator and I come to a screeching halt. I can hear the tattered beat of a human heart from the other side. I can also sense the two vampires with the human. I pick up the scent of sugar and peonies and know the human is a woman. “Preacher, meet Xavier and Mateo.” He says in reference to the two Hispanic men before me.

  Both were vamps and completely covered in a series of ink that would take days to sort and figure out. I give a nod before shaking their hands. They aren't Nex, just a couple of Custos flying under the radar, making a living the urban way. “Nice ta meecha.” I say, and look to the girl curled in a ball, shaking violently in the corner.

  I can’t read her thoughts like I should be able to. I am able to decipher thoughts of humans that I have no emotional attachment to. I didn’t know this Bird, she didn't appear to be under Infatuation, and I wasn't using Infatuation. So there was no reason I shouldn’t be able to read her. “What the bleedin’ fuck?” The question came out to no one in particular. I see the bruises on her arms and legs. Her clothes are filthy and she appears unkempt.

  “Take a good look before you start asking questions Preacher. Good.....long.....look.” Leushus says, as Bastain and Cash
come in behind him. My thoughts distracted, it barely registers that Cash is alone, obviously able to keep Cookie outside. Why can't I read this girl? I drop down to a crouch and move in close to the her. She startles as I get close, and I place my hand on her almost too thin shoulder. “Sshhh now, s’okay Bird I’m not gonna hurt 'cha.”

  Her hair is blonde and short like a little pixie. The fairy Tinkerbelle comes to mind, but it washes away the instant she looks at me. I see eyes never forget, though I had believed I would never see again.

  “What the fuck?” I ask and turn to look at the group of immortals behind me, because somebody better have an answer for this one.

  Chapter Two

  The Girl

  Looking into the eyes of another confused and pissed off vampire was not on my agenda tonight. I didn’t get what the big deal was. I just needed a little to get me by. It wasn’t that I liked the shit, I didn’t have a choice in the matter, Bliss chose me. This vampire before me was different though. He wasn’t like the two owners of the shop I'd so graciously broken into. He was masculine and well built. Even through his worn out flannel shirt and faded holy jeans I could tell that his chest and arms were seductively defined. He looked like the kind of guy I’d have drooled over before my life took this awful turn into a nightmare.

  His eyes though were distraught, like seeing me was shaking his faith or something. I hated that he looked at me that way. He dropped his head, and all I could see was the faded to almost nothing Mariners ball cap he wore. In a fit of uncomfortable, or maybe it was just hot in here, he tore the cap off and shook his head. I gasped like a fucking virgin when his long curly blonde hair fell in waves over his large shoulders.

  “Don’t get all flustered Bird.” He spoke and the accent rolled off his tongue like chocolate and coffee, rich and smooth with a hint of bitterness. His voice was so low though, I wasn't even sure he was speaking to me.