Chosen Soul

by S Lawrence

  I want to rip my brother’s hand off his body. My demon screams for her, and then they are gone.

  Are you fucking kidding me? Poof! Disappeared. Again.

  “She needed care immediately, Dagen,” Lillian tries to calm me. “He’ll make her well.” She locks eyes with her man.

  That one look says more than her words. She doesn’t know if they found Charlie in time.

  How many times will I lose her? How many ways?

  I look at Torryn. “You guys go ahead. I’ll catch up.” His eyes narrow.

  “We’ll ride with you.” The ‘so you don’t do anything stupid’ is implied.

  Lillian climbs in the back seat and is asleep before the dirt turns to gravel.

  I glance over at Torryn. His eyes are closed, but I know he’s awake. Babysitting.

  “If she doesn’t make it...” One eye opens and rolls my way.

  “She will.”

  “But if she doesn’t... I’m done.” He sits up.

  “What the fuck does that mean?”

  “It means I’m going to find the Fallen and kill as many of those bitches as I can before they kill me.”

  Blaze of glory and all that. I always did like Bon Jovi.

  Chapter 17

  CHARLIE

  Hell is hotter than I thought.

  The screams are exactly as I imagined though. I cringe as another one echoes around me.

  The bed is super soft so I ain’t going to complain. Much.

  I really thought they would find me. I guess I was wrong.

  “We found you, Charlie.” I pry open my eyes, and there a few feet away is Luc. “I brought you here to heal you. I’m strongest here. It’s safe here.”

  “I feel like I died.” My voice sounds terrible and my throat is as dry as the dirt caked on my cheek.

  “Well, technically, but let’s keep that between me and you. I don’t think Dagen could take it.” I open my eyes wide.

  “I died?” He nods.

  “Just for a little while.” He pauses. “I revived you after I got you here.” Something must have shown on my face. “It won’t change you. I promise.”

  Another screeching scream, and this time he cringes as he looks towards the door.

  “Where am I exactly?” I glance around. “Whose room is this?”

  “Dagen’s.”

  I’m surprised. I don’t know why. I don’t even really know him but I would have expected blacks and reds, maybe. Instead everything is shades of champagne with very subtle hints of the palest pink.

  I try to merge the big, tattooed man that screams masculinity to where I’m sitting.

  “Dagen is a complicated man.” Luc smiles when I raise a brow at him. “Very complicated. But aren’t you a complicated woman?” He holds a glass up, turning the straw towards my lips.

  I draw a long drink of cool water and swallow. I fight my stomach’s rebellion for a couple of minutes.

  “You must go slow,” he warns, and I nod as he sets the water back on the table beside the bed. “I healed you, brought you back, but you still have to give your body a chance to recover. Do you want to stay here?”

  Another scream pierces the quiet and I jump.

  “Umm, no.” I smile to try to take the edge off of my words.

  “I’m sorry. It’s not usually like this but I have another guest.” He doesn’t say more and I don’t ask.

  “Are they okay?” I can’t help that one.

  “I hope she will be soon.” He looks sad, like maybe he doesn’t believe his own words. “Come, I’ll take you back to Vegas. To Dagen.”

  He reaches for me, but I hold up my hand so he stops. “Is he really mad?” I need to know.

  “He was but now he’s just worried. About many things.” The last is mumbled under his breath.

  “Can I ask another question?” He smiles and I’m again amazed at his beauty, his pure sexuality that hides just below the surface. It kinda takes my breath. “How do I know?”

  “You mean if Dagen is for you?” I nod. “They are all in Vegas now. You will meet them all. I don’t think it’s like something out of the movies or books. I think it is like actual love or attraction. You just know.”

  Just know. Right.

  “So simple.” The two words are dripping with sarcasm.

  “Maybe not simple, but like I told Dagen, my Father was very good at this soulmate business. It may be the thing He was best at.” I nod. So many things I’d like to ask but I just don’t want to cause this man, angel, devil, any more pain. His eyes are filled with it when he thinks no one is looking, and his song at times sounds like a thunderstorm.

  Another scream rings out, and he reaches for me. I want to go but I’m also scared to.

  “It will be alright, Charlie.” He looks at my sympathetically. “No one expects you to do anything. You can take as long as you want. Yes or no, we will keep you safe.”

  “Okay.” I blow out a breath and push up, feeling weak but determined. “I’m ready.”

  Just as he takes hold and I have that feeling of falling through time and space again, I realize I really need to tell them about my trip. Tell them about what I learned.

  Seconds later, we are in the Vegas condo, and eight people turn to look at us. Luc has placed me on the couch. I’m quickly joined by Lillian as she draws me into her arms, squeezing me tightly before letting me go quickly.

  Dagen stays where he was, but I see his entire body tense.

  “Charlie, like I said before, I wish to introduce you to the rest of my Princes.” He nods at the others.

  One by one, they step forward and each of them takes my hand, squeezing it gently.

  “Arkyn. Zeph. Drayce. Victor. Of course, you already met Evander and Dagen.”

  Evander smiles, and it is filled with welcome. Dagen nods. Even when Lillian glares at him, jerking her head towards me, he refuses to move.

  “Dagen, could you get Charlie some water?” Luc asks, but there is a tone to his voice that suggests that wasn’t really a question. “I healed her but she is still weak and dehydrated.”

  The man in question pushes away from the wall and moves quickly to the kitchen area. I notice more than one small smile, including one on Luc’s face. In seconds. there is a glass being held in front of my face, straw included again.

  “Thank you.” I look up at him through my lashes. I sip it like I was cautioned, then lean forward to set it on the table. My voice is still scratchy, but I know I need to tell them.

  “It wasn’t the Fallen who took me.”

  “What?”

  “Who?”

  Multiple voices said both words. Luc holds up a hand, and they grow quiet. Dagen sits across from me on the table, watching me closely. I feel like I’m under a microscope; being the center of his attention is both frightening and exhilarating.

  “She said she was Lemuria. Created by God first. Destroyed by Him first. She showed me... I… Well, I guess I sort of fell through time. I was there. I saw them running and screaming, terrified.” Luc tenses beside me on the couch. I lay my hand on his thigh. “I’m sorry.”

  He shakes his head. “Don’t be, Charlie. He is what He is, He does what He does.”

  “She showed me that two survived, hidden by those that once ruled Avalon. One male and one female. She helped an angel named Diniel hide the infants. The male helped the Fallen. She fled Avalon when he let the Fallen in. They killed everyone that called Avalon home.”

  I look at Lillian as she starts to cry. “I knew they had killed everyone, but to hear it, I don’t know, it makes it worse somehow.”

  “I’m just full of shitty news tonight.” I look down at my hands as I pick at the polish on my short nails until a dark hand closes over them.

  “It’s things we need to know, sweetheart,” Dagen whispers close to my ear.

  I nod and draw a breath for the last bit, the last thing she told me as she dumped me in that cave.

  “It’s the male that is helping them find us. So
mehow, he found out that it was her that helped hide us.”

  “I knew someone had to be helping,” Lillian said quietly. “I’m surprised they let a man of any species live, though.”

  She paces away from the group, going, like everyone seems to, and looking out the large glass doors. She’s quiet and the others keep watching her, and I swallow at the amount of concern on all their faces. She is one of them. Part of them. Something in me cries out, wanting that for myself. Something else is terrified of it.

  I wonder which will win the battle. When I drag my eyes away from her, I look right into Dagen’s. I can’t look away, even though I want to. They hold too much understanding. He stands and before I can say anything, scoops me into his arms, straightening.

  He doesn’t say a word, just turns and walks out of the room. I see the shocked faces of the others. Only Luc is smiling, and what a smile it is. I can picture him in Heaven, an angel with that smile. Wow. Lady killer, stealer of hearts and destroyer of inhibitions; he must get so many girls.

  They must be ruined for any other when he leaves.

  I tear my eyes away as a door is kicked open in front of me. Dagen strides through and then kicks it closed. A black mark mars the pristine white paint.

  I wait to see if he’s going to say anything. I’m laid gently on a bed and I know it’s his because once again, it’s a shade of champagne. I wonder about his choice until I see his skin against it.

  Instantly, an image of him naked laid back against it pops into my mind, and I feel heat race through me. The attraction was immediate, and even though that first meeting is blurry from the mint juleps, I know how my body responded to him.

  Even now as he remains braced on his arms over me, I smell the brownies, I feel the coolness coming from his flesh. He isn’t even touching me and I feel it. I try to imagine it against me, in me, and I shiver.

  He misinterprets that shiver and pulls a creamy fur blanket up from the foot of the bed, laying it over me.

  “You should rest,” he murmurs while looking down at me.

  “I should,” I agree. We both hear something else. I lick over my dry lips, and his eyes follow the motion.

  “You should really think about what you want.”

  “I really should,” I agree, my voice husky.

  His fingers curve into the fur like claws, and some part of me loves that he is fighting for control.

  “You’re not helping yourself, Charlie.” He closes his eyes as he whispers the words at me.

  I look at him then, really look at him. What had I felt as I touched each of the others? Nothing. Friendship, maybe. Something that could grow into family. That was nothing at all like with Dagen even that first night, even while clouded by alcohol, or maybe because I was.

  My walls were down some that night, and he leapt right over them. Even now, I feel as if my very soul is reaching for him. Like his is calling for mine.

  Before I can change my mind or he can stop me, I lift my head and brush my lips over his. He doesn’t move. A sweet, gentle kiss. I pull back and then move forward again, this time opening my lips slightly to draw just a tiny bit of his lower one in.

  He groans. Damn. That was a really fucking sexy sound.

  “Sweetheart, please.” His lips move against mine. “I’m trying so hard to be…”

  He doesn’t finish, and it makes me curious. Letting my head fall back, I look up, waiting until he opens his dark eyes.

  “Be what?” My brows are furrowed as I wait for him to answer. When he does, it takes my breath.

  “The man you need.” Damn. He just demolished that wall I so carefully constructed.

  “Oh.” I don’t even know what to say.

  He leans down and kisses my forehead. Sweet, sweet demon. As he straightens, he smiles a little. “Get some sleep. I brought your car here and your things.” He nods at the corner of the room, and there are my bags. Like I said - sweet man. “The bathroom is through there.” He points at another door. “I’ll bring you some soup in a little bit.”

  I nod. He looks at the door, which opens as a tray with a pitcher of water and a glass floats into the room and glides over to the table beside the bed. I just stare as it gently lands there.

  “Telekinesis.” I just nod at his explanation. “I won’t let anyone bother you.”

  I believe him. He turns to leave. “Dagen?” He stops at the door and looks back. “Thank you.” He nods once and then leaves.

  Sleep doesn’t come. I’m tired but restless. I don’t even pretend to not know why.

  My phone dings and I get up to go dig it out of my bag. It’s a message from Connor. I see it is just the newest of many.

  I hit the call button and hold it to my ear.

  “Charlie, thank God. We were scared shitless. Where are you? Are you okay?” He stops to let me answer.

  “I’m sorry. It’s a long story, but yes, I’m okay. I can’t tell you where I’m at but I’m safe. You guys are safe. That’s what’s important.” I want to say so much more but I know I can’t.

  “So he found you.”

  “Yes.” I smile.

  “Good.” He takes a breath. “Be careful, Charlie. Maybe it’s time you stop running.”

  He sounds sad, and I fight the tears that threaten to fall.

  “I think you’re right, Connor.” I swallow. “I think it’s time I fight.”

  “Good for you.” I can picture his smile. “We’re here if you need us. Anytime.”

  “I know.” I don’t say goodbye and neither does he, but we both know it is. I hang up and lay back down on the bed, curling around the phone clutched to my chest.

  Sleep comes but it is filled with death and blood.

  Mine and others.

  I just wish I could tell if it was a memory or a glimpse into the future.

  Chapter 18

  DAGEN

  Her tears are killing me.

  Literally, slicing through my fucking soul. I want to be a better man. What the actual fuck. I don’t know why I said that.

  I try to calm down as my fingers crush through the door trim. That’s going to make her feel real safe, asshole.

  Some maniac destroying the house around her like some abusive douche. Slowly, I force my fingers to uncurl and will the claws away. I haven’t seen the onyx nails in many, many years.

  The memory of the last time they made an appearance brings a grim smile to my face. I had caught one, not an original Fallen but some other weak ass angel that decided they’d rather run amok than stand up for the right thing.

  He’d died on his knees under those claws, wishing he’d made better life choices. Now I understand the hint of recognition in his eyes, then I didn’t. Fucking loser.

  “Dagen?” I turn slowly at my name said low. Arkyn stands at the end of the hallway. I glance back at the door and sigh before turning and making my way down to him.

  Everyone is gone. “Where’d they go?”

  “Luc and Evander went to try to find out more about the Lemuria. The others went to the places they have here in the city.” I frown.

  “I didn’t know they had places.” He shrugs. “Why didn’t you go?” I listen for Lillian and Torryn but I don’t hear them. “Did Lillian and Torryn leave too?”

  “Yep. I guess they closed on a place a couple weeks ago.” My mouth falls open.

  “Why the hell have I been forced to listen to them bang constantly then?”

  He laughs as he flops down on the couch and grabs the remote. I’m surprised when he turns the T.V. to HGTV and starts watching some improvement show. After a few minutes, he finally turns to look at me as I sit in the corner of the sectional.

  “I think Lillian didn’t want you to be alone.” I shake my head. Of course she didn’t; she’s like a mother hen.

  “And you?” I raise a brow, daring him to say the same for him.

  “Nothing better to do.” Yeah, right.

  I let it slide for now. I don’t need a fucking babysitter. We sit in silen
ce as one episode rolls into another and then another. I kinda like the style of the designer but not exactly my thing. I could see Arkyn in a house by her though.

  I bet his home is very native. Probably all original artifacts given to him throughout the years.

  He thinks we don’t know that he spends his time on reservations, building schools and homes, hell, even teaching in those schools, but we do. Maybe we have all donated to a certain charity set up by Demon Bayou Rum that does those things and more.

  I happen to know for a fact there is a piece of art painted at least a hundred years ago that depicts Arkyn on a horse, fierce in battle against soldiers determined to destroy the entire tribe he was protecting.

  “You don’t have a place here?” I ask as I pick up the phone to order some room service.

  “Out in the desert.” Vague.

  “Hey. Yeah, could I get two steaks, baked potatoes, salads, cake, something to drink, and a big bowl of chicken noodle soup brought up?” I listen as they read my order back. “Yeah, that’s all. Thanks.”

  Hanging up, I glance at him and he’s smiling. “What?”

  “Maybe I’m not hungry.”

  “Then don’t eat it.” I push up and cross to the drink cart and pour a whiskey. I hold up a glass and glance at him as he nods. I fill his up and bring it over to him. I listen down the hall before I sit back down. “I think she just got up.”

  “You going to go in there?” I shake my head. “Why not?”

  “I will when the soup gets here.” I shrug. “I don’t want to rush her. It has to be her choice.”

  “I’m pretty sure she made it, Dagen.” I just don’t get that, although the feel of her warm lips on mine replays in my mind. “For someone who has so, and I mean so, much experience with, well, lovers, you are really dense sometimes.”

  Jesus, does everyone know my damn business?

  “Yes, we all know about your tastes. And no, we don’t give a shit.” Oh, well okay then. “Listen... When she shook our hands today,” I can’t stop the growl the rumbles up, “she didn’t have one ounce of interest in any of us. She did keep glancing at you leaning against the wall like a sullen child though.”