Hell to Pay (Blood for Soul Book 1)

by Alvin Atwater

  I couldn’t allow myself to be oblivious to the calm that smothered us before the storm.

  “Are you well?” I turned around to look at Amelia. Am I well? Fuck no. I would never feel completely at ease until the bounty on my head ceased to exist. “We’re alone. Shall we mate?” Amelia said, straddling me. That snapped me out of my daze—the first kiss already planted. My phone chose that time to ring. “Oh, come on!”

  I laughed at Amelia’s pout, and answered the phone. “Hello?”

  “The penis pills you ordered are on the way, sir,” Sin said in a fake voice on the other end of the line.

  “Oh, fuck you,” I said, grinning. “Nice try, but I didn’t put it on speaker this time.”

  Sin laughed. “You’re learning.”

  “So, what’s up?” I said. “You don’t do social calls.”

  “Just passing on the word from Amony,” he said. “We’ve got some big patrol tonight, and you need to bring your “A” game.”

  “Don’t I always?” I said.

  “Not really.” He laughed.

  “Ass.”

  “Someone has to be.”

  I chuckled. “What time?” I asked, trying to ignore the super boner that pressed into Amelia’s crotch. She gave me a sly smile.

  “Nine tonight,” he said. “Be there or be square.” He hung up. Amelia took the phone from my hands and sat it out of my reach. I guess this was it—create the son of Epex.

  At this point, I could no longer resist the goddess’s intense allure, and I didn’t want to. Sadly, the front door opened, the chatter of her friends filling the edges of the front room. Amelia hopped up and I bolted to the bathroom, shutting, and locking the door behind me.

  I splashed some water on my face, picturing dead puppies and baseball games. This took about fifteen seconds or so—now just wasn’t the time to take matters into my own hand. Yes, pun intended. I headed into my room, deciding to take one of those rare times to watch TV. It didn’t have the same appeal as books—my only source of entertainment during the Hell days - but still was awesome. I made a mental note to make a trip to the library.

  I learned everything through books back then—math, human world history, science, English, and technology. I shuttered at the thought of my life without the leak occurring in Conus’s seal. I’d be an idiot. The brilliant C’s in which I created as a foundation wouldn’t exist. I’d lack the brainpower to come up with a circle that could actually trap him. Maybe Amelia was right…I am a prodigy. Pssh, nah. A prodigy wouldn’t have fucked up enough to get himself in a situation where every god alive wanted him dead.

  And speaking of the goddess, she joined in on my Netflix bingeing. The others were in their rooms studying and completing homework assignments. The R and B music that played from Keisha’s room distracted me a little from the show, so I closed the door. Let’s get this straight: Supernatural is one of the greatest series ever.

  Makes me wish I still had contact with my brothers, in a good way. Dickheads. None of them appeared to me to help, not once. That thought gave me an idea. I’m of the Helios clan. I may be a demigod but being born of the Helios meant that I could draw power from the sun. I can’t believe I hadn’t tapped into my birthright yet.

  “Come with me,” I told Amelia. I led her outside.

  “What’s this about?” she asked, eyes sparkling. She could sense my excitement.

  “I haven’t once drawn upon the sun since I’ve been back,” I said.

  Amelia’s eyes widened. “Then how are you manifesting objects? And so quickly?”

  “I honestly don’t know,” I replied. “I didn’t think much about it.It’s just simple power use to me. I practiced manifestation a lot in Hell. Anyway, I need to start practicing my birthright, asap.”

  It took considerable effort to connect my power to the sun. My body was used to producing power on its own. It didn’t take kindly to outside forces like leftover angelic essence, or the sun.

  Still, I ignored the pain and itching, containing it. The training session lasted all afternoon. I decided not to rely on it until I mastered how to bend solar to my will. I needed someone to teach how to properly draw in the sun’s excess—Amelia knew nothing of Helios-based power use, except that the sun amplified it greatly. No one from my family would reveal anything to me now, so I felt shit out of luck. Hell, I’d be better off stealin—I mean borrowing a tome from Conus’s library.

  That night, I waved Amelia off, to go to work, promising to call if I get myself into something way over my head. It was a simple, large-scale patrol, right? I wouldn’t need her babysitting for something this easy.

  “This night should be a breeze,” I said, ten minutes into the city patrol. I should’ve kept my mouth shut. This was literally one of those stupid, “what could possibly go wrong?” moments. One of those times that the work day should’ve been easy but unexpected visitors ruined it. Standing ahead of us in the deserted street were a fuck ton of misthangers.

  Somehow, I just knew they didn’t belong to the the queen from before. They pulled out glistening silver daggers, ready to charge. Oh and let’s not leave out the fucking fact that the scent of honey and roses filled the air. Great! Just my goddamn luck. The huntress was back.

  Chapter Thirty-seven

  “You said the patrol was going to be a breeze,” I told the others while unsheathing Ruin. The patrol ordeal had already become a disaster. Go figure.

  “Can you not tell your Paradise Realm buddies to piss off,” Elly said. “Aren’t you…oh.”

  “Catching on, are you?” I said with sarcasm staining my voice as I slashed the head off the first two misthangers that approached. Novices. The experienced fighters wasted no time and shifted to using force.

  Devante finished chanting his gibberish sorcerer mumbo jumbo, held out a palm at a group of misthangers, and burned them away with an inferno of hot green energy. Holy shit. This guy was no slouch.

  Elly too, fought with awesomeness, shooting powerful purple energy balls from her hands, which turned a dozen unsuspecting misthangers into ashes upon contact. She combined this with some kind of martial art that I wasn’t familiar with…all of it looked like Kung Fu to me. She hadn’t fought like this before, when Sin and I detained her—which meant she was taking this job seriously enough to train. And pretty fucking hard, from the looks of it.

  Sin moved like a whirlwind, slashing dozens, easily besting both the power-wielding efforts of Devante and Elly by kill count alone. I didn’t bother showing off. The real threat awaited somewhere around here. Wasting energy is pointless. The misthangers were nothing more than fodder.

  “The huntress I told you guys about is here,” I yelled to them. “Don’t be stupid and let your guard down.”

  My team nodded and then in what felt like no time, mowed away the rest of the misthangers. It was either them or us. I didn’t feel remorse. Just then, a brief chill tickled my spine before she appeared beside me, hand on my shoulder. The confidence that oozed from this bitch was astounding, but after experiencing Amelia’s divine state, I felt less fear. Now don’t get me wrong, she’s a goddess. A hot form of walking instant death. I needed to know who I stood against.

  “Who are you?” I asked her, allowing the others to get into position. The huntress sported what appeared to be a very expensive-looking half-dress, two diamond and gold necklaces draping down her neck, decked with rubies and emeralds. She looked as if she was dressed for a ball or is simply a queen of some foreign land. In other words, she took none of us seriously.

  “You seem to have quite the spark of confidence,” the huntress said, knowing damn well she was the pot calling the kettle black. Human sayings, got to love them. “You’ve put up no fleeing effort of the hunt, even going as far as to ask of my name.” She looked thoughtful for a moment before her expression went neutral. “You know of the mystical law of give or take, right? What comes around, goes around. Eye for eye, tooth for tooth. You do something stupid or evil and it comes around
to bite you.” She waited for a response.

  “Yeah, of course,” Devante said. “That’s pretty much life for you.”

  “I’m Karma, the driving force behind it all.”

  Before we could voice our doubts, she entered a divine state that dwarfed Amelia’s several thousand times over—raw power that threatened to make me shit myself. Silver heavenly-light blasted around the goddess as her wings appeared, double the size of Amelia’s wings.

  The area shook like an earthquake or maybe a fucking erupting volcano. Her eye color shifted to gold, her hair, snow white. Winds circled her with hurricane strength.

  When Karma spoke, her voice boomed everywhere like Conus’s did when he was pissed off or hosting a large festival.

  “I am the ancient force that helped evolved humanity. I am both loved and hated, the one who punishes those who harm others. I enforce all consequences.”

  “Well, you are a bitch,” Devante said unhelpfully. “Or wait, is that payback?”

  “Run—” the word never came out of my mouth as force knocked as all to the ground.

  “Maybe we should show some respect,” I said as I sat up, ignoring the pain. Respect…as much as I disliked the laws of Paradise Realm, I knew ancient heavenly-beings breathed them. Karma looked like a twenty-year-old, but was almost as old as Conus. She was simply a legend, the invisible punisher of mankind. Why show herself to me? As if responding to my thoughts, the light show, wind, and earthquake disappeared as she reverted to normal.

  “I see the Paradise Realm teachings of respect have not been lost to you.” She smiled. “Prince Epex Helios, I felt you reach out and caress the sun yesterday. You still know your birthright. I show myself to you because you’re next in line to rule, whether you like it or not. But as you are now, letting you roam free here, the Order of the Kings will be damaged. To prevent that, I’m taking you back to Paradise Realm where you’ll face your charges, then mature into the destiny you were meant to take.”

  “I don’t think so,” I said, aiming Ruin at her. She didn’t blink at the bluff. Ruin needed a shit ton more sessions of charging before it was ready to take on heavenly-beings near Conus’s age. Even seven to eight years wasn’t enough.

  “Are you going to attempt some struggle for your life?” Karma said. “Or will you come quietly.”

  “You mean quickly,” Devante laughed. “The vir—”

  “Finish that sentence and I’ll lop off your head,” I said.

  Glad to see this fucker having the time of his life while I’m being threatened. Asshole. I dug deep inside, releasing my power. The warm and gold hue of the heavenly-light, surrounded me. My aura wasn’t as fancy as the asshats of Paradise Realm, thanks to Conus’s seal, but I still had one. That counts, right?

  Karma shook her head as I charged her. I swung Ruin fast and purposeful, giving her little time to think. If Karma entered her divine state, we were dead, period.

  I wanted the goddess’s arrogance to be her own undoing. Sadly, she was too fast, easily dodging my swings. She poked my cheek, giggled, and dodged again.

  I charged force then as she came in to tease me, unleashed it, knocking the goddess to the ground. Good. Not even she was immune to force outside of a divine state.

  I rushed her, stabbing the blade down. Karma rolled out of the way at the last second then swept my leg. The fall on my back sucked.

  She straddled my chest and repeatedly punched the shit out of my face with what appeared to be little effort. And holy fuck did they feel like trucks. I mustered enough force to throw the goddess off me, wiped the blood from my nose but before I could go after her, a combination of Devante and Elly’s power struck the bitch.

  Sin tried to finish her off but his blade only met concrete. Karma blinked beside me via quick-ascension and shortly, I found myself flying backward. When I hit the ground, she was on top of me, beaming, heavenly-light outlining her body.

  “I bet you feel nice and at home, on the bottom,” she taunted. My anger gave in to the taunt as I snarled, then knocked her to the side with force. We stood off, four on one. The reality of this situation couldn’t be denied. Karma was kicking our asses. Ha. Karma kicks everyone’s ass. I couldn’t help but chuckle.

  “Epex, please tell me you haven’t lost your goddamn mind already,” Elly said.

  “No—the irony of this fight is kind of—oof.” I didn’t even register her movement—the fist smashed into my midsection hard enough to make me drop Ruin. I fell to one knee. Fortunately, the others attacked while I recovered. They didn’t stand a chance.

  “Alright, fun’s over, I’m done with this,” Karma said. Silver heavenly-light violently swirled around her like an angry tornado. She raised a finger. Beams of light struck all of my friends, rendering them unconscious.

  I didn’t get the beam treatment. No, that would be too easy for me.

  Karma walked over, bent down and kissed me on the forehead. Before I could think how much Amelia was going to kill us both, a jolt of pain signaling a kick to the head put me face-first of the concrete. The blackness came afterwards.

  End of part two…

  Interlude 2

  Amanda knew that she was the heart of the household, even if the others didn’t know yet. As her goddess’s greatest spy, her reports and even solitary demon slaying contributed significantly to Middleburg’s safety.

  The difficulty of her duties had changed when HE showed up. He who’d succeed the universal throne. At least he was supposed to be the heir, but the idiot somehow messed things up. Amanda figured the others, including Amelia, knew that Epex’s presence attracted an array of impurities. Not to mention the idiot got himself a job with Secure Corps, the witch-led organization doing a piss-poor attempt at locating Sunset.

  Amanda sighed, as she patrolled the city on foot. She typically hovered near areas where Sunset sightings were somewhat common. Well, she’d spot a member about once bi-monthly. Her orders were to never engage, just watch and then report patterns and routines. Amanda had to assume that they knew she was watching. Her presence could keep the organization on the edge, mitigating the chances of attracting any Fallen. Amanda had never seen one in her life, but she understood Amelia’s warnings and the ugly rumors about them. If they terrified the divine and demons, she could only hope she never met one.

  She sat in the outside seating area of a coffee shop and ordered a medium coffee when the waitress approached. A few minutes later, it was just Amanda, nice outdoor lighting, and a notepad. Everything appeared to be normal for an eight-o-clock evening. In fact, it felt too damn normal and that’s what worried her. Sunset had two phases: predictable and unpredictable. Tonight seemed to be the latter. Great. It was either going to be detective time, or witness something horrible time.

  Amanda took a nice sip of her coffee. The warmth made her appreciate her place in life. It helped her to forget the days when she had nothing, believed in nothing. Amelia had given her the push to find a calling in life. She hoped Amelia’s influence would spread to Epex, who probably needed it the most. Too bad he wasn’t the successor anymore. Amanda figured with the flick of a wrist, he could make anything happen. Her goddess could have him magically change the world into a peaceful society. She wasn’t sure how the divine powers worked, but the ruler was supposed to have the most, right?

  Just then, a feeling of dread made Amanda nearly drop her coffee cup. A man dressed in an expensive grey suit was arguing with someone on his phone, in a language she knew wasn’t human. The variation of Latin, plus a hint of darkness gave it away.

  Time to get to work. She pressed the button of an electronic, high-range recording device in her pocket. The device combined with Amelia’s blessings allowed her to not only pick up plots from any demon or devil speaking in the language, but she could successfully predict at least thirty percent of their movements.

  When the demon hung up, someone or…something appeared in front of him. The figure was a shadow from Amanda’s vantage point, but she could
vaguely make out the shape of a woman. They spoke for a short time, then walked off.

  Feeling that her job for the night was done, Amanda hurried off to the car.

  She gathered the others as she soon as she got home and urged them into the usual meeting spot: a hidden room that only she and the other women knew about. Amanda placed the recording device on the center of the table, pressed the play button, focusing intently on the voice of the Sunset demon.

  “The Drifter is going to kill us if that transaction doesn’t go through. No-no-no, you will get it done, you bastard, and do it right.” Pause. “Yes, moron, I’m well aware of the misthangers in the area. The only reason Jow the dumbass failed was because he ran into that bitch.” Pause. “Just hurry up, we can’t perform the damn the rituals without it.” Pause. “You’re sending who? Oh fuck, why her? She creeps me the hell out.” Pause. “Don’t act like the Black Agnes doesn’t give you shivers too—she’s so goddamn weird.” Pause. “Fine, whatever, I’ll stand by.” A minute passed, with a simple background noise and passing cars. “Holy tits, you scared the shit of me,” the Sunset demon said.

  “Forgive me,” said an amused woman’s voice in an English accent. “It is a pleasure to meet you. Now take me to the Drifter. I’ve got something he’d like to see.”

  “Please tell me you’re not offering him stewed child. Because he eats normal food,” the Sunset demon said.

  The Black Agnes laughed a kindly laugh. “Of course not. This isn’t the good old days of being nearly mindless.”

  “Let’s get going, then.” The Sunset demon muttered something that the Black Agnes wouldn’t hear but Amanda’s device would. “Small fry like you are no threat to us, we who have eyes in all places. If you know what’s good for you, girl, you’d stay as far away from Sunset as possible. Ta-ta, child.” The recording ended. Everyone stared at Amanda, silent.

  “He doesn’t scare me,” Amanda finally said after a minute. “Like you said before, Amelia, assume they’re always watching.”