Awakening (Promiscus Guardians Book 1)

by Brianna West

  “Fuck,” I breathed out as my body throbbed painfully.

  How much blood had I already lost?

  I could see Lucas as he did his best to make it through the field of demons surrounding me. I had left his side and now I was paying dearly for it. If I harnessed a sphere, I knew that it would deplete me greatly. Besides, I could barely move my left arm now.

  “Izzy!” Lucas cried out as he battled his way to me.

  A fear bloomed inside of me unlike any fear I had felt before.

  What would happen if Lucas couldn't get to me? What would he become if there were too many? What if Lucas died trying to save me?

  We need Victor.

  Light flashed around us. Blinded and in pain, I fell backwards. Suddenly, Victor was beside me. He pulled me from the ground before throwing light once more at the demons circling around us.

  “You seem to be outnumbered,” he remarked as he healed the wound in my shoulder. “Allow me to assist you.”

  He placed his hand next to my waist where the second cut had been made. I could feel his deep warmth flowing into me, restoring some of my vigor. It was enough to allow me to stand on my own.

  “How did you—“

  Victor smiled before he set me right and threw another sword of light at the demons that hovered around us. “I will always come to your rescue.”

  “Victor,” Lucas called from beyond. “It's here.”

  I didn't need to know what “it” referred to as it would assuredly make me crap my pants.

  I watched as an astronomically sized creature stepped from the slit in the world, materializing covered in vibrant flames. The gigantic weapon it carried dragged along beside it. I watched it for long minutes, unable to vocalize the sheer terror it created within me. The body was as large as a building. I was so small in comparison.

  So like an ant beneath a shoe, I could only watch as it approached.

  It spoke. The deep voice echoing out into the night in a language I would never understand nor did I want to.

  This thing scared the hell out of me.

  I curled my hands into fists in an attempt to subdue my shaking.

  Lucas was on the beast instantly, taking his sheer power to throw it off kilter. It would swing its massive weapon each time to counter Lucas’ attacks.

  It was an amazing scene to watch.

  Lucas was so practiced in his movements that he wasted no effort to avoid the counter attacks and return with his own.

  If we lived through this, which I really hoped we did, I was going to jump him as soon as we got home. Morals be damned. I had never been so turned on in my entire life.

  Victor was holding my shoulder tightly. “Remember your training.”

  Lucas was watching me. And as if time slowed down, I could feel the pulse inside respond. It moved through me like water, warming every inch of me as it consumed my entire being. I held out my palms, remembering what Pavel had taught me, harnessed Lucas’ essence from a distance and created the sphere-o-destruction.

  My lips upturned as the deep war cry of the arch-demon shook the earth beneath me.

  With little hesitation, I tossed the gyrating ball of light bodily towards the arch-demon. Simultaneously, the arch-demon threw down its weapon, creating waves of hot air and rolling waves of earth to ripple out.

  Lucas was thrown backwards and slid against the floor hundreds of feet away. Victor had curled himself around me and flown upwards, barely missing the waves of hot air and earth.

  I could hear the high-pitched screeching of my sphere as it made contact. Victor held me tightly to himself as the world around us quaked with the impact. I imagined that the world around me also lit up as if it were daylight, as was my previous experience with the attack.

  My little sphere was just awesome like that.

  My vision swam as Victor brought us back to solid ground, distinctly destroyed by the previous attack. I was too weak to stand, so Victor kept a firm hold on me as we inspected the aftermath. The portal was gone and so were all of the demons that we had disposed of. The earth cratered where the large weapon had made impact, but the rest of the area was relatively undamaged.

  However, I was suddenly face to face with the reality of the power within me. The arch-demon had been defeated with one small orb, and I couldn’t be any more flabbergasted.

  “That was fucking incredible!” I nearly screamed but swayed with the vertigo that resulted from using nearly all my power in the sphere.

  “You were injured,” Lucas growled as he stole me away from Victor's hold and cradled me against himself. “You still require training.”

  “You were quite outnumbered,” Victor interjected, “and she did outstandingly well considering that this was her first real experience. Her ability to tear down opponents of that sheer magnitude would suggest that she would face very little that she could not defeat.”

  “Why are you here?” Lucas asked.

  The rumbling in his chest and closeness of his body made my pulse elevate considerably.

  Dear lord, this man was incredibly sexy when angry.

  Hey, this was the ultimate fantasy of mine. Two men fighting over me. Well, okay, so they weren't exactly fighting over me, but that didn't detract from how hot it was making me.

  Victor was watching us with a knowing gaze. One that made Lucas tighten his hold on me.

  “She called for me,” he said simply.

  Wait...what?!

  “No, I didn't,” I rejected loudly.

  The sparkle in Victor's eyes made me the tiniest bit uncomfortable. “Oh, but you did.”

  Lucas released me slightly, pushing me just enough that he could see my face for himself. “Is this true?”

  Okay, maybe I thought for half a second that we needed Victor, but that wasn't even thought that loudly, or towards the man himself.

  I gazed into Lucas' questioning eyes. There was emotion swirling in them that I could barely depict.

  Was he afraid that my feelings were so easily swayed to another man? Dear lord, he must think me a serious man-eater if that's the case.

  I was suddenly angry. “I didn't intentionally call him here,” I argued as I pulled away from Lucas. “I may have thought for a second that it would be nice to have an extra body but that could have been anyone. Victor was just the first person I thought of.”

  Victor had been watching the exchange silently before he interjected, “She speaks the truth, Lucas. Her mind has somehow connected with mine, so I was the first to hear the cry.”

  “What do you mean that your minds are connected?” Lucas questioned scathingly.

  Yeah, what the hell did Victor mean our minds were connected?! I don't remember consenting to that.

  “Let us convene to a more comfortable setting before I go into further explanation,” Victor said as he motioned to the battlefield around us.

  Oh yeah, we were still out in this wide dead field.

  I was suddenly hit with the cold. I had been so invigorated by the battle that I nearly forgot that it was well into winter, and I was freezing my ass off.

  Victor offered me his outstretched hand. “I shall take you. You may find my way of traveling much more comfortable.”

  I could see the tightening of Lucas' jaw as Victor said this. It was no doubt the no-no face, but as if unable to argue otherwise, he remained completely silent. I gave him a fleeting glance before taking the proffered hand.

  Simply, I was curious to see what flying with an angel felt like.

  Victor pulled me into his body, tightly wrapping his arms around me, and effectively surrounding me in warmth.

  Holy hell. I found a new heat lamp, and it came in one sexy package.

  There was something inside me that responded to his touch; it comforted me.

  Victor smelt of citrus and earth. It was definitely a scent I wasn't expecting from an angel. I pressed my face against his hard chest, marveling in the rising and falling with each breath. I guess angels did breathe.

&n
bsp; “I do it more out of habit than need,” Victor offered before spreading out his bird-like, white-feathered wings.

  I was too afraid to see what face Lucas might be giving us; it was mostly because I was sure it was scary as hell.

  “Ready?” Victor asked rhetorically before soaring up into the sky.

  My stomach dropped, and I was robbed of air. The speed was amazing. In minutes, we landed, and I was home.

  Victor led me inside with a hand to the small of my back. “Lucas will be here shortly, so make yourself comfortable.”

  It was more my house than his, I thought grumpily as I took a seat on the sofa.

  The door slammed open just before Lucas stormed into the room. He closed the door roughly behind himself, nearly taking it off its hinges, before joining us in the sitting room.

  “So?” he demanded.

  Victor had reappeared holding two mugs of coffee to which he offered one to me. I took it with a small thankful smile. Victor took a seat beside me and gazed at the irate vampire-angel.

  It seemed that very action caused Lucas to snap as he drew me upwards, careful not to let me spill my coffee, sat me in the arm chair, and then took a seat beside Victor instead.

  Well, okay then.

  Victor chuckled lightly before saying, “Our angel blood connects us. Since she is part angel, her blood responds to us even without her knowledge. You and Izzy share a connection, do you not?”

  Well, we definitely connected, but not in the way I was hoping.

  I looked downwards to hide my perverted thoughts because my grin was sure to expose them.

  Lucas huffed his annoyance before giving a curt nod. “It is the same for Izzy and me,” he concluded.

  I had long since forgotten my coffee as I stared at the two men sitting on the couch before me.

  My angel blood was making me connect with two men simultaneously? That seemed a little backwards. Weren't angels supposed to be pure? Wouldn't it then be true that my demon blood would connect with other demons? Why did demons make me nearly cripple in their presence?

  Even worse, it would seem that my attraction to Lucas was ultimately my reaction to his blood. That was the worst revelation I had come to thus far.

  “So you and I...” I started.

  Victor nodded his head, “We have connected through our minds. I am able to read your thoughts without effort and feel your emotions as if they were my own.”

  It felt like a glass of cold water had been poured over me. So he was being unintentionally invasive and none of my thoughts were safe from him?

  Holy hell. This was a nightmare.

  My maidenly thoughts!

  Victor was chuckling once more, no doubt finding my mind interesting.

  I honestly couldn't help the way I thought about things no matter how hard I tried. He was made privy to those instantaneous thoughts of how incredible his body looked in that black shirt. I'm sure he was even listening as I fought my inner most perverted thoughts of us running away together and making beautiful babies.

  I groaned as reality hit me like a semi-truck.

  “What about my connection to Lucas?” I asked the question that had plagued me since we started this conversation.

  I, no doubt, would regret having asked it, but I'd already learned a little too much information this last few weeks. Why not just add a little more life-shattering information while I was at it.

  Victor shrugged his shoulders. “Your connection to him is much deeper. You two are connected on many different levels, in many different fashions. The connection you share is complex and tangled. It would seem the union is both physical and mental.”

  Cryptic.

  I was starting to tire of overly elaborate responses. I just wanted a clear cut answer.

  “Unfortunately, answers for the questions you have are not so simply explained,” Victor stated with a small smile. “If it were easy to explain the connection of two beings, then they would not write books about it. Is that not right, Izzy?”

  He stole that prize of a line from me! Thief.

  Well, I wouldn't be baited.

  I ignored my hunk of a boss and instead turned my attention to Lucas who was oddly crammed up against the side of the sofa.

  Two men of their size sharing a couch; it was one of the most beautiful sights I had beheld so far, coming only second to the sight of Pavel in a pink tutu.

  I licked and bit my lips in an effort not to laugh, but the visage was too much for my little self to take.

  “It is quite becoming how in mere moments she can move from one thought to the next,” Victor commented lightly as I laughed until my sides hurt.

  “I pity you for being subjected to her every thought,” Lucas responded dryly.

  Jerk.

  I was hardly put off by them, however. This entire month had been jam-packed with a plethora of crazy realities that I would have otherwise never believed if not for being an intricate part of it.

  “Well,” I started, rubbing the laughter from my eyes, “I think that I've had quite enough for one evening”—and it felt like my body was going to give out if I stayed awake any longer—“so I think I'll just head to bed.”

  Both men stood up on ceremony, offering to help me up the stairs and into my room. Lucas, the more persistent of the two, finally convinced me to let him at least help me up the stairs.

  I would have normally been aggravated by how demanding he was being, but honestly, I was having a hard time keeping my body upright on my own. So I accepted his help, albeit a bit grouchily.

  “Izzy,” he started as we stopped at my door.

  I didn't want to look over knowing his handsome was going to make me agree to anything he asked of me and that would be my undoing.

  “What?” I replied softly.

  “I should like it very much if you would permit me to join you in your room,” he said with a gentlemanly formality.

  Holy hell. So would I!

  I kept my face empty of the inner thoughts of victory and turned towards him, my eyes studying him as if I might be able to decipher the true meaning for his asking. I wouldn't though. I was clearly not that good at reading faces.

  “Why?” I asked.

  “So that we might discuss various things,” came his over-simplified response.

  Like how I am still not getting into your pants. Or maybe, your crazy hot bod that I still have yet to sample fully.

  Jesus, my mind was one tracked.

  I coughed away the wayward thoughts and opened my door, stepping back to allow him to venture in first.

  The secret smile on my face, I swear, was only because I felt like I had won and not because I had ulterior motives.

  Okay, maybe I had some, but they were entirely understandable considering our last meet-and-greet.

  Lucas immediately chose to perch himself on my less than perfectly made bed; actually, the bed was a total mess of sheets, clothing, and essentials that I had littered upon it. The heat flushed into my cheeks as I quickly stuffed what I could back into my bag before taking a seat beside him. With my hands tightly clasped in my lap, I waited.

  It wasn't that I thought that he would bodily throw himself at me; even though I would welcome it with legs spread wide. No, I knew that Lucas would be true to his word and discuss various things because he wasn't led around by his dick like most men.

  Dammit.

  I wished that were the case. It would be an answer to my prayers if he just outright loved me through the night. Complications be damned.

  The tense atmosphere was broken only by the deep sigh leaving Lucas' lips before he was turning me to face him. I angled awkwardly towards him, desperately attempting to calm my pulse. He would no doubt hear it—vampire senses and all that.

  “Is what you feel for Victor similar to what you feel for me?” Lucas demanded.

  I was suddenly unsettled by the eyes that fixed on me. He looked almost like he was pleading with me. It made me want to reassure him that, even though Vi
ctor was a class-A hunk, no one would ever come close to comparing to Lucas and the way he made me feel.

  What I felt for Lucas was deeply rooted and unmoving. Despite several attempts to discard my feelings for him—god knows it would be easier if I could—I was unable to. He was the person I thought about without pause all throughout the day. The man I wanted to indefinitely tie myself with even if it meant I would never be able to resurface in the world I had known before all of this.

  The desperation in Lucas' eyes was comforting, mostly because I thought I was the only one feeling desperate most of the time.

  If he felt desperate, did that mean I could hope that whatever we had between us could possibly one day bloom into reciprocated love?

  I cringed at my own girly thoughts.

  Dear lord, I was starting to sound like all those love-sick heroines I read about.

  Instead of pondering it further, I finally responded, “Not even close.”

  His brow rose in question; Lucas gave amazingly good brow, among other things.

  Words couldn't express enough to a brooding vampire-angel like Lucas; so instead, I chose the best way to explain what I felt. I kissed him silly.

  At least, I think I did. I really did put my all into this one.

  I pressed my lips firmly into his, daringly sliding myself into his lap. I pressed down onto him, swallowing the small grunt he gave way to.

  His lips were truly the softest I had ever kissed. Although, I hadn't really kissed many lips—loath I was to admit it.

  Now nothing would probably compare. Not that I was harboring thoughts of kissing anyone else. I was mostly dismayed by my lack of experience to pull from.

  I slid my tongue adventurously over his, relishing in the jolts of pleasure that the friction created. The consuming moist heat of his mouth had me delirious with want.

  I wanted to taste every part of it, mapping it with my tongue. I wanted to make my home there and become a recluse. I could seriously become addicted to kissing Lucas. Nothing compared to the way our lips touching felt like a once void part of me was slowly disappearing. My arms encircled his neck, pulling our mouths impossibly close. I wanted to mold myself into him, but his hands clenching my hips kept us inches apart.