The Rise of Monsters: Angelus Book One

by Brianna Jean

  Contents

  Blurb

  Author’s Note

  Prologue

  1. Annalise

  2. Annalise

  3. Lanier

  4. Annalise

  5. Cabe

  6. Annalise

  7. Quint

  8. Annalise

  9. Quint

  10. Annalise

  11. Lanier

  12. Annalise

  13. Annalise

  14. Cabe

  15. Lanier

  16. Annalise

  17. Annalise

  18. Lanier

  19. Cabe

  20. Annalise

  21. Quint

  22. Annalise

  23. Lanier

  24. Annalise

  25. Lanier

  26. Annalise

  27. Lanier

  28. Annalise

  29. Cabe

  30. Quint

  31. Annalise

  32. Cabe

  33. Annalise

  34. Annalise

  35. Lanier

  36. Annalise

  37. Lanier

  38. Annalise

  39. Quint

  40. Annalise

  41. Annalise

  42. Lanier

  43. Cabe

  44. Annalise

  45. Lanier

  46. Annalise

  47. Lanier

  48. Cabe

  49. Quint

  50. Annalise

  51. Annalise

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Brianna Jean Books

  Copyright © 2019 Brianna Jean Books

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, including information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations embodied in reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, organizations, places, events, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.

  Editing: Helayna Trask

  Cover Designer: Books and Moods

  Formatting: Black Widow Designs

  “What do you do when the world hardens you? When looking in the mirror becomes too painful and using your fists to let the anger breathe isn’t enough anymore? You either drown and die in your own bullshit or you fight to survive.”

  Annalise. Lanier. Cabe. Quint.

  One fought underground to make money in the slums of New York City. One lived with crippling guilt, swimming in self-hatred. Another fell in love with a ghost, losing himself to his dedication, while the last spent centuries alone, fighting for control of his own mind.

  Unforeseen circumstances bring the four of them together, sparking to life an unwanted bond, igniting new and foreign power in their veins, and bringing forth more questions than answers.

  Thrown into a game they don’t want to play, they’ll have to rely on each other to find the truth.

  Angels. Demons. A war for Human territory.

  From the ashes of their pasts, monsters will rise.

  To Annalise, Lanier, Cabe, and Quint. I love you.

  We did it. We took what we wanted.

  This is our beginning.

  The Rise of Monsters is the first book in a 3 book series. It is dark. It is occasionally bloody. It is raw and unapologetic. If you have triggers, proceed with caution.

  If you would like to listen to the spotify playlist, here is the link!

  https://spoti.fi/39HoMOk

  “It’s her.”

  My brother’s voice was like gravel, deep and dark and unfeeling. He didn’t want to be here. He didn’t care about her, but I was suspended in time as I watched the two girls fighting in the ring. The one with the darkest black hair, piled high in a sleek ponytail, was kicking the ass of a girl—an Amazon—twice her size, bulked up and ’roided out. The girl didn’t seem fazed, as if her competition would bring her an easy win.

  My heart beat wildly in my chest, both awe and admiration probably evident on my face. She was amazing.

  “It’s definitely her,” Quint agreed, sniffing the air. “She’s Nephilim and she’s like a queen around here. All of the bets are in her favor. She’s still Human, and yet her strength rivals yours, Lanier.”

  Lanier scoffed and looked around the room, anywhere but at the girl in the ring. The girl we finally found after so much time searching.

  Her small body was packed with power as she threw punch after punch. Her leg lifted with lethal grace before she slammed it into her opponent’s stomach, causing blood to flow like a river from her mouth.

  The little beauty didn’t stop until the Amazon was on her back and unconscious.

  From our place against the wall on the right side of the warehouse, I couldn’t see her face, just the sensual curve of her body, the strength of her arms.

  I wanted to get closer.

  Something about this girl attracted me; she was haunted and dark. I could feel her anger even from across the room. A strange feeling formed in my chest, shocking me. I’d never felt drawn to a single female outside of my Annalise.

  Naturally, I was curious.

  Why was this girl the exception? Why did I want to snatch her up and run like hell away from the men with prying eyes and dirty thoughts?

  Guilt clawed its way up my spine as I thought of Annalise. It had been a month since my last vision of her, and my life had turned to fucking hell ever since. I couldn’t eat, couldn’t sleep, couldn’t think of anything but the Human girl in my visions. The girl who dug herself into my mental space eleven years ago and then disappeared after all this time.

  I saw her every day before the visions stopped, and never once had another woman caught my eye.

  Until the dark beauty in the ring.

  I walked forward, not caring that Lanier would kill me for breaking the plan. I had to get closer.

  I walked one step at a time until I was close enough to see her face, the noise level of the crowd filtering through my ears. She lifted her head and looked over my shoulder, seeing right past me, but even still, I sucked in a breath. She didn’t need to look directly at me in order for me to recognize her. The lilac eyes, the plump pink lips…

  “Oh my god…” I stumbled, tripping over my feet as I tried to get closer. “It can’t—”

  Suddenly she hopped over the ropes and onto the cement floor of the warehouse, her small body brushing right past me as she walked to where the bookie was standing in the corner of the room, surrounded by guards.

  I couldn’t breathe as I watched her go.

  “It’s her…” I said out loud, my brothers moving to my side with confused expressions.

  “Yes, we know,” Quint said sarcastically. “We literally just said that.”

  I tore my eyes from her retreating back to look at them.

  “No, it’s her,” I whispered. Turning to get one last look, knowing I couldn’t approach her here. Not yet. Not like this. “It’s Annalise.”

  Hot anger blew through my veins, lighting me up from the inside. All this time, I thought she was a Human, helpless, alone, afraid. The visions never once indicated that she was anything but Human.

  But sure enough, here in the flesh…


  She’s Nephilim. And I had found her.

  I spat a mixture of saliva and blood on the girl I’d just knocked out. Her nose was already broken, red liquid streaming down her face, so all it took was a few direct hits to the ribs, a jab or two to the face, a power packed upper cut, and she was down.

  I’d officially won another fight.

  The roar of the crowd was loud enough to make me want to reach up and cover my ears, but I fought the urge. It was the same every time I walked off the mats, and I never stayed for the celebratory part.

  Instead, I searched the faces around the ring until I found JD’s familiar gaze. Hopping over the ringed ropes, I landed with a smack on the concrete floor and headed in his direction. He stood along the back wall of the warehouse, surrounded by tall beefy bodyguards.

  JD might have looked like a nerdy blond kid, glasses and all, but he was heavily armed under his long white T-shirt and was more dangerous than any other criminal standing in this room.

  “Nice hit, girl,” he said with a wicked smile as I walked past his guards. “You seem to be getting stronger with every fight.”

  It wasn’t the first time he said it, but this time the statement was laced with suspicion. I knew he thought I was pumping myself with drugs to gain the strength, but he also knew not to question me, or it would be him lying on the ground like the girl still unconscious in the ring.

  It was true though, what he said, much to my confusion. I’d been fighting for four years in this shady underground ring, deep in the depths of the New York City slums, and though I’d never lost a fight, I’d also never seen a change in myself or my ability to win until very recently.

  My already solid punches had become more fluid and packed more power, and the few hits my opponents managed to land on me hurt less and healed faster.

  Rather than question it, I just ignored it altogether and kept training as usual.

  “Money, JD.” I looked up at him and held out my palm. My five-foot-two frame ensured that I pretty much always had to look up at anyone I was talking to. But those who knew me—or knew of me—were aware that my height meant nothing. I could take anyone down without even ruffling my sleek black ponytail.

  “Yeah, yeah,” he sighed and flipped through the wad of cash he held in his hands. “You made out good tonight, darlin’. You’ll be out of that asshole’s place in no time.”

  I didn’t bother responding, and he didn’t take offense. He just put the cash in my open hand, and I bent down to pick up my black backpack that sat at his feet.

  I thanked him before he stalked away, leaving me alone in his small guarded section of the warehouse. I opened the front pocket of my backpack and slid the cash down to the very bottom, covering it with my hoodie, then pulling out my phone and making sure my headphones were attached before sliding one into each ear.

  Hitting play on my post-fight playlist, I was greeted by Kat Dahlia’s “Gangsta.” The melodic tune and harsh rasp of her voice always helped ground me after a fight—not to mention the relatable lyrics of the song. I didn’t have parents like she did, but her attitude matched mine perfectly: angry, raw, crass.

  Pushing past the guards, I fought my way through the thick crowd that blocked the exit. I kept my head down but used my strength to knock a few people out of the way, signaling my wish to leave. One by one, they split down the middle, allowing me access to the door.

  I never looked up, didn’t care to. I didn’t want the congratulations, nor did I want the slaps on the back or the creepy stares from the Mafia guys that always foamed at the mouth as they watched me fight.

  I’d been approached hundreds of times over the last four years, and never once had I even considered taking them up on their offer to fight professionally. Sure, what I did was illegal, but it was also one and done. I arrived ten minutes before my scheduled fight, I beat the bitch to a pulp, I collected my cash and got out.

  I had no interest in being paraded around and worshipped, celebrating my ability to knock someone unconscious. I wanted to use my odd strength to get the money I needed to get the fuck out of my shitty apartment. I’d been living there three years too long.

  Once I got outside, the balmy summer night threatened to suffocate me. I needed water. Or vodka.

  Either one would work.

  Heading down the street, I maintained my head down posture and kept the music blaring on full blast. I knew it wasn’t particularly safe to not keep an eye on my surroundings, but I wasn’t worried for my safety.

  I always wished someone would try and jump me, just for the adrenaline rush I always got when I put myself in danger. I craved it. The beast that raged within me craved it.

  Fucked up, I know.

  I turned down the familiar alleyway that served as a shortcut to my destination, but I didn’t get far before I slammed into a hard body.

  “Fuck me,” I gritted out as my tits hit a solid chest. I yanked my headphones out of my ears and slammed my hands on the huge guy in front of me, throwing him back a few feet. “Get the fuck off me. ”

  “You always walk around with fucking headphones in and your head down like that, Angel?” The voice came out as a snarl but didn’t hide the smooth undertone that still managed to bleed through.

  I knew instantly what I would see when I looked up.

  That voice only meant one thing: he was looking for trouble. He was probably hot as hell too. I could fucking feel it.

  “I do, actually,” I said to the ground with a fair amount of inky sass.

  There was that adrenaline I was talking about. I felt the beast shake off its slumber and prepare for an attack. This was what we craved.

  This asshole had no idea what I was capable of.

  So I steeled my shoulders and threw my phone in my back pocket.

  And then I looked up.

  Fuck. Me.

  It wasn’t just one. No, three massive guys stood in front of me. Three sets of eyes: one blue mixed with hints of dark gray, one a strange red color like burning molten lava, and one—belonging to the voice who spoke—a seafoam green so bright I could see little golden flecks within them.

  They were striking.

  And something was wrong.

  As I stared at them, my breath started coming out choppy and a little labored, my senses were going haywire, my beast began growling. She was pacing and shaking up my insides, warning me that this was more than just three guys jumping me in an alley.

  What the fuck?

  Oh, hell no, I needed to walk away from this mess before shit got crazy.

  “Get out of my way,” I bit out as I tried to maintain my composure.

  It wasn’t how they looked—I’d seen hot guys before. Hell, I’d fucked plenty of them. But these guys? They were…beautiful. The kind of beautiful that promised a sweet death. They were twisted and reeked of darkness as they stared at me. Pain and anger surrounded me in the alley, bouncing off the bricks and clashing with my own broken soul.

  Especially the one in the middle, the one with the seafoam eyes. His soul burned almost as bright as mine. I could feel his flames reaching out to play with my own.

  So instead of breaking into a run like I should have, I simply stepped forward. Challenging them to disobey my order.

  “She’s got a death wish, man,” Lava Eyes chuckled, a low and sexy sound.

  He was mocking me.

  I whipped my head to him and watched as he ran a tattooed hand through his ash colored hair, a deep smirk gracing his lips. He was fucking hot. Like, deliciously hot. While his features were all light, his grin spoke of nothing but madness.

  “Shut up, Quint,” the blue eyed one responded.

  I turned to look at him and sighed.

  For fuck’s sake, he was just as stunning. Messy blond hair with streaks of honey gold—the kind of hair that makes you want to run your fingers through it. Or pull on while his head is between your legs. He had high cheekbones, a straight nose, full pink lips, and tattoos that snaked down his muscu
lar arms. Both Lava and Blue Eyes were tall as hell, probably six two?

  “This is definitely her, but I doubt she is going to come willingly. She’s got no fucking idea what she is,” the one in the middle muttered with barely contained anger. I wanted to get a closer look at him, but I couldn’t take my eyes away from Blue yet. He was staring at me like he knew me, but I sure as shit had never seen him before. I would have remembered him.

  I probably would have fucked him.

  I tore my eyes away from his and took my time turning my head to view the one in the middle.

  Somehow, I knew that once I looked at him, there was no going back. His flames would envelop me.

  I blinked. A foot away from me stood the tallest of the three guys. He was like nothing I’d ever seen before.

  I inhaled a small gasp when I noticed his glare. His seafoam eyes were hard and framed by silky dark eyelashes that fanned his pronounced cheekbones. His jawline was harsh as he gritted his teeth, a visible sign of his anger. His inky black hair was perfectly styled in the sexiest way. Shaved at the sides but long enough on top that when he reached up to push it out of his eyes, you could easily imagine it neatly organized with hair product if he ever chose to tame it.