He picked up a box, sporting a shiny gold bow, and handed it to her. “Open it.”
She opened it and choked on a shocked laugh. Inside was a large, shiny machete. She took it out and tested the weight of it, noticing a green stone set in the hilt. “I don’t get it,” she said.
“Everyone living on a tropical island needs a machete. I know the hilt isn’t as glamorous as your dagger—”
“Love it.” She beamed at him. “But why?”
“When you said relationships aren’t your thing, I had to do something to convince you that I am worthy of you.”
He meant it. He really did want her for himself. He didn’t need to do this, to buy her things. She loved all the gifts, the ridiculous amounts of food, the emerald encrusted machete, but she didn’t need that from him. She just needed him. Needed him. She’d never needed a male for anything but a feed.
“Ya know, this girl loves her some gifts but, I don’t need that from you.” His hands clenched at his sides, and a muscle ticked in his jaw. “Lemme finish this time,” she said quickly.
“No, I don’t accept that.” He closed the distance between them and took the machete from her hand, placing it on the counter, and held her face in his hands. “I will add on to the bungalow, build you a fancy house. If I don’t have enough money saved, I’ll take side jobs. I need you to stay with me Valia. I feel empty without you. You plague my mind. I’ll buy you whatever you want, need. I’ll steal it if I don’t have enough money. Kill for it. Whatever, but you will stay with me.”
Valia’s breath caught in her throat. A declaration like that coming from a Ferox demon was a thing to behold. She’d asked Araya what it felt like to be in love, but Valia thought she might just have a clue for herself now.
She pressed a finger to his lips. “If you’d shut it and lemme finish, you’d already know that’s what I want too. I want to be with you, you bossy, arrogant, villainous male.” She smiled as a look of pure relief washed over his face and couldn’t resist teasing him a little. “You’re gonna have to quit cuffing me though, unless it’s for…fun.
“Whatever it takes, Valia. Whatever it takes to convince you to stay and be mine.”
She stood on tip toes, looking into his eyes and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling his lips to hers. “Whatcha waiting for?” She spoke lightly against his lips. “Start with the convincing already.”
Rydin’s amber eyes blazed with desire as he swung her into his arms and flashed them to his bedroom where they convinced each other all night long.
The next morning, Rydin woke her with breakfast in bed. He fed her kiwi and pineapple and then decorated her with pieces of fruit and ate his breakfast from her naked body.
After a leisurely shower, she dressed in one of the bikinis Rydin had bought for her, then they went out to explore the island. They walked hand in hand along the beach and along paths Rydin had cut through the jungle. The small island was truly a paradise. Their paradise. It was breathtakingly beautiful. She loved the palm trees, the blue water, the sand beneath her bare feet, and the salty tang in the air.
Valia couldn’t imagine living anywhere else. Yeah, Rydin was going to have to build on to the bungalow a little to house her clothes and boots but no biggie and no hurry. Here, she wouldn’t have much use for clothes anyway as she planned to be in bikinis or naked most of the time.
She couldn’t believe she’d found a male she wanted to keep, wanted to be monogamous with. It sounded so absurd to her but at the same time felt too right to be wrong. She wouldn’t be going all crazy and jumping on the marriage bandwagon like her sister, but at least now she had a better understanding of Araya’s thought process and her feelings.
Rydin stopped as they came to a clearing with a huge hammock hanging between two palm trees. He maneuvered himself into it and held out his arms to her. “Come,” he said.
Valia carefully climbed onto the hammock and curled around him. “In this thing? Dunno if that’s possible.”
He laughed, a hearty male sound that warmed her insides, and made her feel all gooey. “We’re going to find out. Soon.”
“Not now?” She pouted.
He lifted her chin and kissed her forehead. “Insatiable.”
“I thought ‘spoiled’ was your fave word for me.”
“I will spoil you always.”
Valia still felt weird about the whole love thing, but as she absently stroked one of his horns she felt compelled to ask, “Have you ever been…in love?”
Rydin sighed, his amber gaze locking with hers. “Not until now.”
Valia’s heart skipped, felt full to bursting. Her face heated, and she thought she might be blushing. She’d never felt such happiness, such completeness as she did in this moment. She nuzzled his neck and whispered, “Me either.”
* * *
The End
Please continue your journey in the Sempire Seductions series. Revisit book one, Araya’s Addiction.
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Or read on to book three, Fin’s Fantasy.
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About the Author
Jocelyn was born in Iowa and currently resides in hot-as-hell Texas. She shares her home with her very own 6'4" alpha male and varying numbers of spoiled cats and dogs. Jocelyn writes paranormal and contemporary romances that include humor, lust, love, and four-letter words on the way to a Happily-Ever-After.
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The Men Who Killed God
J Alex McCarthy
Copyright © J Alex Mccarthy, 2017
* * *
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise without written permission from the publisher. It is illegal to copy this book, post it to a website, or distribute it by any other means without permission.
The Men Who Killed God
God is in his heaven, and we are living in his hell.
* * *
In August’s world, everything was created by a single, secular god. HE—the creator of everything. However, HE left the world to be ruled with a subtle, iron fist by less powerful gods.
* * *
It had been two years since August stepped foot into his hometown, Sotira. It had also been that long since he’d last visited his father, seen his crooked smile, and felt those familial ties. He had always been the asshole, the loner, the slacker, and now he was heading home.
* * *
He wished he didn’t have to return. However, at the request of his girlfriend and his family, he was heading back home. To a place where the foundations themselves were built with false truths, hidden behind the ‘utopia’ the gods supposedly created. He knew fear lay under all that outward, deceitful happiness—a terror that Sotira would be next to come under the wrath of the gods.
* * *
When August arrived home, he wasn’t prepared for what he found. His best friend had been hanged and turned into a monument in the middle of town by the order of his father and the gods. The world he thought he knew had been turned upside down as he was driven to his lowest point. To a place of no return. To murder. To betrayal. To turn it right again, August would do anything… even start down the path that would allow him to gain the power to kill God.
Prologue
Epilogue as Prologue
The ocean shimmered white in the dying light of the sun as sparkling green lights traveled into the sky. The Pacific Coast. Cliff sides and mountains curved into the tan sands. August sat on the edge of a cliff staring out into the blue. The world was still beautiful.
Even with a dead God.
Dead because of him.
August peered into the sun as he thought back to what he'd done, back to when he killed God.
* *
*
There it stood, a few miles away from him in a sea of blue and steel. The tower of the gods, the headquarters of Ifor, a skyscraper of glass and metal, a man-made building of awe. August stared at the ivory tower, his brown hair quivering in the wind. The buildings top exploded open and rained down hundreds of bodies and debris across the ground as screams rocked the city.
Just how many innocent people would he kill? How many lives would be lost by his hands before he could dethrone the creator? He, the almighty and the creator of everything. Would it have been worth it? The sins he committed?
In his heart, he believed that ending the rule of the gods was well worth the price, but in the back of his head, he knew what he'd done was just as vile as the crimes the gods committed.
Ifor, the government created by the gods to rule over them. The gods watched from their towers in the clouds, controlling, manipulating humanity, forcing them to do their will. But they made a mistake. Just because they created humans, it didn’t mean they could control them. He needed to kill them. He needed to kill the gods.
He peered at the concrete ground beneath his feet and the colorfully radiant blade in his hand. They created this world. And now he was going to take it from them. The blade shifted between every color imaginable without end. With this, he could separate the radiance from this world, he could kill the creator, the kings of kings. With this blade, he could kill God himself.
1
No Kind of Son
August sat in the passenger seat of a car, his head lying against the window. He watched as the trees went by. They never seemed to end, but they helped him think.
He wondered how he would tell them. Tell his parents that he quit his job. Another mark on a long list of disappointments. His list of achievements was far too short for a man of twenty-nine years. Maybe he wouldn’t tell them.
August glanced at the woman driving. Sara, his love, his life now that he had quit his job. Her beautiful face always calmed him. The slight mole under her right eye showed that even though she was perfect, that nobody was perfect.
When they first met he was only twenty-two and she was eighteen. He was at a beach where he was supposed to meet up with his best friend, Garrett, to hang out. But he brought his sister Sara with him instead. August didn’t plan to fall in love that day, but as soon as he laid eyes on her, he knew that they would need to be together forever.
That whole day, he spent his time getting to know her and eventually, he asked her out. Garrett was unhappy at first, but when he learned that August’s infatuation was genuine, he gave their relationship his blessing.
Now it was seven years later and they were heading back to their home town of Sotira, in California, and they weren’t even married. She didn’t push for it because she knew that August was still getting on his feet. Even though he was a grown-ass man. It was another thing he loved about her.
Two years, that was how long it'd been since he'd been back home. He would’ve never set another foot in the damned place if it wasn’t for Sara or Garrett.
Sara riffled through her pocket as she drove and pulled out her phone. She called someone. But she let out a sigh. “Voicemail.”
“Again?” August asked.
“This is the twentieth time I called him in the last few weeks. I knew he was angry the last time I talked to him for some reason, but now I’m getting worried.”
“Don’t worry, I’m sure he’s fine.” That was a lie. He knew what Garrett did in his free time and Ifor didn’t like it.
Sara gripped the wheel with unease, her eyes on the point of tears. August said, “How about this? You can drop me off with our stuff and you can go see him if you’re worried.”
“Yeah … Yeah that sounds good. I’ll just call him and leave a message.” She called again and said she was coming to see him.
August worried about her, and Garrett, but he thought it would be fine. Things seemed to work out for Garrett in the long run. They still had a few more hours left on their drive before they would arrive home. So August closed his eyes and went to sleep.
* * *
…
* * *
Sotira’s town square was bustling. Built when the town was first erected over a hundred years ago, it was a popular destination for the town’s residents.
But as people shopped and milled around, nobody went toward the town’s center. Some stared, some gawked, and some walked by as if there was nothing to be seen. It was better to fake ignorant bliss than it was to have the gods make a note of you.
In the dead center of the town square was a monument. An ivory pillar stood twenty-feet tall, with chains wrapped around it. In those chains was a naked man, the life long gone from his body. Garrett’s lifeless eyes stared at the crowd. The eyes begged and pleaded for help, to be cut down and buried properly, but people knew what would happen if they helped. They would be in the same position as he was.
Gashes covered his body as he was whipped to near death and left hanging for dead.
As the insects crawled along the pillar to get to their feast, a plaque rested under him with the phrase. “He is in his heaven, all is well in the world.”
August’s eyes opened. Sara had a hand on his shoulder.
“We’re home.”
August rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. They were in front of his parent’s house. He got out of the car and unloaded their things. Sara rolled down the window as August leaned in.
August said, “Call me when you get to your brother’s place.”
“Okay.” They kissed.
Sara drove off and August paused before continuing to the house. It'd been two years since he’d been back. The house was exactly the same as he remembered it, the house he lived in for most of his life.
Trees surrounded the house; they lived slightly off the beaten path. Not that there was much of a path in this town to begin with.
He made his way to the front door with his things and knocked. His brother answered.
“Bro!” his brother said.
“Long time no see, Kevan.” They hugged and walked in.
“Hey, mom! August is here!” Kevan yelled.
Kevan was only four years younger than him.
Their parents walked in, Barbara and Patrick Hedley. Barbara hugged August. She was a brittle little thing, his mother.
“Glad you made it,” she said.
Patrick tried to get one in, too, but August stepped back. Patrick sighed and pulled back. No one mentioned it as Barbara continued, “Where’s Sara?”
“She had to do a few things.”
Barbara looked at Patrick, but he didn’t gesture back.
“Go put your stuff away and I’ll call you for dinner.”
August and Kevan slowly walked off. August heard his mother whisper to his father as he was leaving.
“He still hasn’t changed,” his father whispered.
“He’ll come around eventually. You did.”
He would never come around to like a man like that.
* * *
August walked into his room. His walls were filled with posters and drawings from when he was a kid. His parents hadn’t changed a thing. He was sure Sara would love that.
He saw one that he and Garrett drew when they were younger. It was the two of them fighting a dragon. Garrett was always the more creative one, so Garrett drew the picture while August colored it in.
August paused. “Dammit.”
Sara got him worrying about Garrett. He should call him.
“Hey!” Kevan walked in holding a ball and a catcher’s mitt.
“Hey,” August replied.
“How about we play catch like we used to?”
“I was thinking of calling Garrett and going to see him.”
“Come on, man! You’ll have two weeks to hang out with him.”
August looked down.
“It’s hard to find good friends out in the real world, Kevan.”
“So? It’s hard to find someone goo
d at throwing the ball around.”
“Look, I haven’t had a good real friend since I left this god-forsaken town. You’re my blood, you’re not going to drift away from me like the others have. You still have your high school friends. While I only have Garrett.”
“What are you trying to get at? Why do you always have to turn our conversations this way?” Kevan asked.
“I’m saying I have the rest of my life to hang out with you. But Garrett and I are growing apart. I want to hang out with him before we get to the point where I never see him again.”
“You think you’re so special because you’re one of the few to leave town? I’m going to leave this place eventually, you know. I’m going to leave my dead-end job, dead-beat friends, but I will always have you as my brother. So what? Friends leave, people change, but family is forever.” Kevan played with the ball in his hand. “I was thinking we could make throwing the ball a tradition. Every time we see each other, we could throw this ball around and reminisce about the good ol’ days. Today can be our first.”
“God! Okay, I’ll play ball with you. No need to get all sentimental.” August stood up. “Go on ahead, I need to call Sara.”
As Kevan left, August searched through his phone and found Garrett’s name. He called him. Almost immediately, his phone emitted a tone.
“The number you have dialed is no longer in service.”
“What?” August said with shock. What the hell?
He called Sara, she picked up immediately.
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