Revelations: The Black Chalice (Revelations Series Book 1)

by Lauretta Hignett

  “Well, I wouldn’t think you’d need to. You two are so close.” There was a curious pause. “Why don’t you both have her?”

  “Mother!”

  “I’m sure she’d be willing. You are both spectacular-looking. I bet neither of you have met a girl that has turned you down before.”

  “Not the point,” Alex said firmly. “She’s… vulnerable.”

  There was silence again for a long moment. I could feel both of them watching me. I tried hard to keep my breathing even.

  “So you want her for yourself, but for unselfish reasons,” Nimue said gently. “You love her.”

  Nimue’s words echoed around the room, and I soaked them up like a sponge.

  “Regardless of how genuine my feelings are for her,” Alex said finally, “she just doesn’t deserve this. She’s innocent.” There was a long pause. “But she’s so brave… and so funny, and sweet...” He trailed off. “It’s not fair. She’s caught up in a cosmic battle, and none of it is her fault.” He cursed, low and under his breath. “It’s just so… just…”

  “Typical? Innocent souls, getting tortured?”

  “I guess so,” Alex sighed.

  “It’s what we’re fighting for, darling. The end of all the suffering.”

  “But at the expense of all the good things? If this world ends, Nimue, then everything does. Sex, good food, dancing. Coconut lattes. Waterslides.”

  “Oh, I do love a good water park.”

  “I know you do. I’ll never live down that time you lost your bikini top at Jungle Island in Miami,” he muttered. “Hell, that was embarrassing.”

  I heard Nimue snigger.

  “But all those things will be gone,” Alex mused. “Singing, dancing. Getting drunk.” His voice grew soft and unbearably sad. “Love. Us, her. All the good things.”

  Nimue sighed heavily. “I guess when you’re as old as I am, you do get a bit tired. And all the good things of this earth don’t seem worth the endless eternity of torment that follows.” I could hear a wry smile in her voice. “And I will never be damned to suffer at the bottom of the pit of my own hell. That’s for humans only. So you understand why I feel the way I do.”

  “I do. And you understand that I will fight until my very last breath for what I believe in.”

  “I would never expect anything less.” The pride in Nimue’s voice was so palpable I could almost taste it. “Now, my darling son. Go, take care of your woman. She is awake.”

  My heart thudded. Would Alex be mad that I was listening?

  “I know,” Alex replied. He sounded resigned. “Good-bye, Mom.”

  There was no point pretending. I opened my eyes just in time to see Nimue step into the burning circle of salt outlined on the floor and vanish in a burst of flame.

  Alex turned toward me, his face inscrutable. We stared at each other, unmoving, for a long time.

  Finally, he spoke. “How are you feeling?”

  Until then, I’d ignored my body’s aches and pains—the conversation between Nimue and Alex had taken center stage. But now that he’d asked…

  “My knee is a little sore. And I’ve got a thumping headache.”

  “I’m glad your knee is just sore, now. It was fractured.”

  “Fractured? As in broken?”

  “A small one, but yes. It’s healed now.”

  “Did you… heal me?”

  “Both Nate and I did. He’s better with fractures, I’m good with inflammation. It’s just a matter of trying to channel the right energy.”

  My fingers explored; it felt like the deep cut that was on my knee had sealed up. It was still tender.

  Alex read the expression on my face. “We’re not miracle workers,” he said, smiling crookedly. “We do okay.”

  “No, it’s great, thank you,” I said quickly. “I’m actually glad I got the cut when I did; I needed the distraction from the pain in my head.”

  A shadow passed over his face. “I’m so sorry about that.”

  “Why? It wasn’t your fault.”

  “I promised I would protect you.”

  “And you did,” I said simply. “I’m here. I’m alive.”

  “You’re still sad,” he said, watching my face carefully.

  “Of course I am. If I had my way, I would protect myself. And,” I added bitterly, “in a perfect world, I wouldn’t need protecting in the first place.”

  “You still shouldn’t have been in the caves. I never thought Nate would take you down there. It’s very painful for him, too.”

  I had thought Nate was okay. Although, now that Alex said so, I remembered the little flinches that Nate gave, the heightened anxiety that was the opposite from his usual smooth demeanor. I remembered how Alex had reassured him. I’d chalked it up to the stress of our situation. “Really?” I asked. “Why? Can he not block them out like you can?”

  “He can,” Alex replied, and he started walking toward the bed where I was half-sitting up. With every step he took, my apprehensiveness disappeared, but my pulse increased. He reached me and sat down on the bed, careful not to jostle me too much. He was still a foot away, but I could feel the heat emanating from him like a bonfire.

  “Nate has a special sensitivity to the sounds of the tormented,” he said softly. “You would too, if you could hear your own mother screaming.”

  My mouth dropped open. “His mother is down there?”

  “Not ‘down there.’ But in hell, yes.”

  “Oh, God.”

  “Yes, God did this.” Alex’s jaw tensed, and I felt a roll of his anger wash through the room.

  It seemed horrific, the idea that the whole time we were in the caves, Nate could hear his mother screaming in agony. I’d asked him about his mother. He’d spoken about her to me. No wonder there had been an infinite well of sadness in his eyes. “And nothing can be done,” I said softly.

  Alex knew it wasn’t a question. “She’s been there for a thousand years. Her soul doesn’t even recognize him, even when he calls her.”

  “You can call souls?

  “We can. We’ve called her many times; we’ve tried so many things. Nate’s mother was a very devout woman, and she lived her life as sin-free as possible. And despite Malach preparing her the best he could for death, she was still confused when she didn’t go to heaven.”

  I breathed out. “That’s awful.”

  “Yes. So you can understand why I never thought Nate would take you down there.” He gave me another crooked smile. “He told me your theory about the caves. About the Devil’s Drop being a… what did you call it?”

  “A Hellmouth.”

  “It was an interesting concept.”

  “Okay, now you’re messing with me,” I said, a little testily.

  Alex’s eyebrows shot up. “How so?”

  “How can it be, in all your centuries on earth, that you’ve not watched one episode of ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’?”

  He looked confused. “I must have missed that one.”

  “Yes, but it’s not even about the show. I get that you guys are always correcting the outdated concept that hell has gates because it’s not a physical place, right? So you’re always focused on that one point. But you’ve never thought that energy might converge on particular places to make the veil thinner?”

  “Well, yes,” Alex nodded. “But it only happens at certain times and seasons rather than places.”

  “That’s what Nate said. But ley-lines are a thing. And we’re pretty close to the equator here, so the seasons are all messed up. We don’t have four seasons, we have two: The Wet and The Dry. So it stands to reason that down in the Develians, we have The Loud Screams and The Louder Screams.

  “I wonder what one we heard down there?”

  “I’m hoping it was the last one.”

  “Me too. I seriously doubt that they could get any louder.”

  Alex nestled back against one of the huge pillows behind him, and I exhaled, letting go of the tiny bit of tension I was holdin
g onto. It felt so right to be close to him, to be so comfortable after being in pain, and to be with him after being so worried he was going to be taken away.

  But I didn’t know if it was real. Even he didn’t know, not really. The strange, divinely ordained sexual pull that I was endowed with made his declaration murky. He did have real feelings for me; I could tell. But did they grow from his lust? And would they disappear if that pull disappeared? Was he finding it hard to resist me? If he let his guard down, would he attack me? Or, at least, turn into some sort of turbo-Casanova?

  Nimue said that Nate was good at seduction. I would bet money on Alex being much better.

  But, the hard question was, would he still love me if I wasn’t the Black Chalice?

  I didn’t know what to say, and an awkward silence grew between us like a mushroom.

  “So,” he said finally. “How long have you been awake?”

  “How much did I hear? That’s what you’re really asking, isn’t it?”

  “Yes.” He turned to face me, and the intimacy I felt in meeting his gaze was as intense as wildfire burning through me.

  “I heard enough.”

  “So you heard Nimue’s little observation.”

  “She’s funny, your mum.”

  Alex laughed out loud, his eyes crinkling at the corners. It was as though the sun had come out. “Funny? I don’t think anyone in all of existence has ever described my mother as funny.”

  “She is, though. Losing her bikini top at Jungle Island.”

  “That wasn’t funny.”

  “Not for you, I guess.” I bit my lip. “But yes, I heard her.”

  He looked apprehensive. “And what do you think?”

  I swallowed roughly. “I guess… it’s hard for both of us.”

  He quirked an eyebrow. “It is, yes, but I get the feeling you mean something different.”

  “Well…” I began. “I mean, I get that you have feelings for me, and that’s nice and all, but you’re obviously cracked in the head because of the cosmic magnet in my vagina.”

  Alex’s mouth dropped open. Then he threw his head back and roared with laughter.

  I had to wait several long minutes before he could catch his breath. “And you think my mother is funny. Woman, I don’t think I will forget you saying that in all my existence.”

  “Well, that might not be for very much longer anyway. But seriously now, I get that you think that you love me. And I know, even without the whole Chalice thing that I’ve got going on, I’m pretty awesome.”

  He smiled at me broadly.

  I didn’t return his smile. “But Alex… if I am the Chalice… I can’t ever… I mean I can’t…”

  “I know.”

  “But do you? You can’t touch me. I know what I am. The last boy that touched me… I thought he cared about me. He did care about me. But we tried just a little bit, and…”

  “I won’t ever get that close,” Alex gestured to the space between us; one foot of emptiness. “I can love you from here.”

  “From a foot away?”

  “I can resist your pull,” Alex growled. “I can be close to you, and not ever hurt you. But I don’t ever want to make you scared, so I won’t come near you. I’ll love you from over here.”

  I shook my head. “No, you don’t understand. You don’t make me scared. That’s not what I mean. I don’t…” I swallowed and tried again. “I’m not scared of you touching me, Alex. I’m not scared of you losing control.” I stared at him, right into his icy-blue eyes, so he could see I was being serious. “This is not an issue of consent. We’d get close, and we’d both lose control. And if anything happened between us, there’s no birth control in the world that would stop me from getting pregnant.”

  He nodded, his eyes clear and candid. “And that’s not a risk we can take. If you get pregnant and give birth, the world will end. But not only that: If you get pregnant, you’re more of a target from the Sanctum Domeni than ever before. They’ll get desperate and do anything they can to destroy you.”

  I bit my lip. When I spoke next, there was a wobble in my voice. “So those are my choices. Stay away from you completely, or destroy the world.”

  “No,” he growled, and the comforter bunched in his clenched fists. “You won’t leave my side. I won’t leave you to the mercy of the Sanctum Domeni. And I’m not that guy, the one who would abandon you because it ‘might’ be safer for you to keep your distance from me. I’m stronger than that.”

  He shook his head; his expression softened. “And I don’t want to be away from you. You make me laugh, you make everything… lighter.” He smiled, his hard jaw softening a little. “You give me hope. In you, I don’t see the end of all things. I see the beginning.”

  “My purpose is to be the end,” I said roughly.

  He chuckled and stretched out his arm, lightly brushing a tear from my cheek. The briefest touch of his fingers on my skin sent a shockwave through me.

  “I know it’s strange, considering what you are to this world. But Eve, it’s not your purpose; it’s just… the convergence of energy. Destiny is not concrete; our lives are just a stream of energy that ebbs and flows. Our futures can be predicted because some people can see the way that energy flows. It’s not preordained; God has not decided that this is how things will go. It’s just evolution.”

  “That doesn’t change what I am.”

  “You have a… disadvantage,” Alex said softly. “But that doesn’t matter to me. That’s why I will love you from over here.”

  My breath hitched in my throat; I was dangerously close to crying. The irony was unbelievable. I’d finally gotten what I wanted my whole adult life: Romantic, sensual love. Lust. Passion.

  Was the reason I thought I couldn’t have it in the first place the same reason I actually had it now? It was such a cliché. Did he want me because my karmic energy pulled him in, and was he sticking around because he couldn’t have me?

  I gazed at him—his strong brows, the fire in his eyes. His declaration was almost unbelievable. But I wanted it so very badly, I could almost dismiss the idea that he might only want me in the first place because I was the Chalice.

  “Then again,” I said out loud, following that train of thought. “I have the same dilemma with you.”

  He cocked an eyebrow. “Huh?’

  “I don’t know if you care about me because of me, or because of superficial, sexual reasons. I’m right there in the same boat as you.”

  His mouth downturned. “Okay, you’ve lost me.”

  “Look at you,” I said, waving a hand over his perfect, muscular body, and the bulging planes of his stomach muscles leading down the defined V shape at his hips. “How do you know I’m interested in you as a person or just because you’re maybe the most gorgeous, sexy man in the history of the universe?”

  He laughed again, a warm, throaty chuckle. When he looked back at me, smiling softly, the tenderness in his gaze made my heart thump almost out of my chest.

  “I don’t care,” he whispered. “I’m just glad you’re interested in me.”

  “To be fair, you’re the only man in the world that I have ever been interested in.” I shrugged. “And you’re not even a man.”

  The smile died from his eyes, and he bit his lip. I wanted to rub the spot where his teeth sank in, I wanted to smooth away the furrow that suddenly appeared in his brow. “I will never push you,” he said softly. “I’ll keep my distance. I don’t ever want you to be scared.”

  “And I don’t want the world to end.” I sank lower into my pillow. “But if you stay close enough to me,” I murmured, “I will never be frightened again.” I closed my eyes and basked in his warmth. “Just stay close.”

  TO BE CONTINUED

  A note from the author

  There’s more where that came from. Grab the next book in the series on Amazon now.

  And if you missed it, there’s a prequel novella, available on ebook only. You can get it on Amazon or download it free through
my website. Go to www.laurettahignett.com for the details.

  If you liked this book I’d love it if you could leave me a review on Amazon and Goodreads. I read and appreciate every single one.

  Get on my Christmas card list, give me some feedback, just drop by and say hi: Email me at info@laurettahignett.com

  Read on for a sneak peak at Revelations: Of Demon Breed

  Of Demon Breed

  I wasn't sure what to expect when summoning an angel, but it wasn't this. I gasped, flinching back in shock when the beam of light from heaven appeared suddenly in front of me.

  The light was bright; so bright that it should have hurt my eyes, but strangely, it didn’t. The beam shot through the room from a circle of salt on the floor and went straight up through the ceiling - a perfect cylinder of blazing luminescence.

  The light was astounding. Dazzling, but cool, like a sweetwater stream on a hot day. It called to me. It promised relief, the end of pain, the loss of the creeping anxiety that had been following me around for the last few days. I wanted to fall head-first into that bright channel, and get swept away forever.

  Only one thing was holding me back.

  Well, not a thing. A man. Sort of.

  And he wasn't literally holding me back. In fact, he wasn't touching me at all. I wished to God that he could hold me. But it was safer if we didn't touch.

  I glanced at Alex, sitting on the sofa beside me, a meter of space between us. My heart thumped in my chest at the sight of him. He sprawled out on the sofa, relaxed, loose-limbed, long-legged, his perfect muscular body clad in a simple light blue t-shirt and plain tan shorts. His disheveled dark-blond hair brushed his shoulders. My hands itched to run my fingers through it and trail along the stubble on his chiseled jaw.

  He was so beautiful that it hurt my chest to look at him. His arms, thick with cords of muscle, rested on the back of the sofa. One of his large hands almost touched my cheek.

  The meter of space between us was like a black hole; a void so tangible that I could feel it sucking at me, imploring me to fill it. There was nothing that I wanted more than to sink into the void, to wrap myself in his arms and feel his skin on mine. I wanted to face all my fears head-on, and dive right into his body.