He scoffs at my statement. “You’ve done nothing wrong, Celeste. All you’ve done is rid the world of the filth that covers it. And as for you hurting your own child, you could never. Cat has told me exactly how you treated the pups you came across with. There isn’t a mean bone in your body when it comes to children.”
“You don’t know anything about me, Austin.” The words come out so quietly that, for a second, I think he didn’t hear them, but the thoughts vanish when I hear his next words.
“For the last two weeks, I have spent all of my time with Cat, learning about you and her. I’ve learned every detail about you that I could.” He pauses for a brief second, thinking about how to word his next sentence. “I know you are kind and adventurous with dreams of traveling the world. You’ve obviously worked on it by going to Russia, Ireland, Scotland, Australia, and even England.”
My confusion is clear as I stare up at him. Why would Cat spill my secrets like that?
“That’s where you met Cal. I know you’ve killed, and you hate it. I know your favorites to nearly everything.” A light chuckle escapes his lips.
“I know about Hoshi,” he continues, “about how every time you meet an animal while camping out for shelter, you’d name it after him. I know absolutely everything there is to know about you besides the things you keep private, the things not even Cat was willing to share, but I still know enough to tell you…you are everything I want in a mate.”
By the time he ends up speaking, my back is already against a tree with his chest pinning me there. A shock gasp escapes my lips as the last three words leave his mouth and I look up towards his face. His face is set in stone with how serious he is. Before I can even respond to him, he presses his lips to mine.
CHAPTER 15
|celeste|
After our little kiss, I freaked out and ran away. I’ve been avoiding him since. That was three days ago.
For the last three days, I’ve been doing everything I can think of to keep my mind off of Austin and the stupid bond that has now grown even stronger. I can feel it pulling me to him and keeping me up at night. The only way to sleep now is to feel the comfort of my mate.
“Celeste?” I’m pulled out of my thoughts when Cal snaps his fingers in my face.
“Hm-mmm?” I hum in response.
“Your daydreaming again.”
“Sorry, just a lot to think about. Did you find out anything about my eyes and my mom’s.” I tuck my hands underneath my legs and lean forward in anticipation.
On the second day of avoiding my mate, I ran into Cal. At first, I freaked out, thinking he had been captured or was trying to get me to escape again, but then he explained everything to me.
After a quick chat to catch up on everything that have happened, I told him about my dream…well, memory, of my mom and her eyes. We’ve been searching the pack library for information ever since. While we are doing such, Austin has his trackers searching for more clues on my family.
“We’ve searched every book on mystical creatures from fairies all the way to the 18th century mud monsters. There’s no creature with your eyes,” Cal concludes the results of our fruitless research, and I sigh in defeat as I slump into my chair. “Well, except for this.” He pulls out an old leather-bound journal.
I mumble curse words under my breath, but he just snickers to himself. He always seems to find a way to laugh even in the worst of times.
“You said your eyes turned red when you were angry at Roman because he wouldn’t give you your wolf, correct?”
I nod slowly while I watch the gears turn in his head.
“And your mum…it happened when she thought your dad was leaving with you?”
“What’s your point, Cal?” I rub my temples as a headache begins to form from the hours of no sleep and endless reading.
“My point is the trigger to the change seems to be your anger. Who knows how many times your eyes have done this.. This was just the first time you actually saw it.” He opens up the giant journal and sets it in front of me. “This book is the journal of a famous hunter named Wesley Adams. He, unlike most hunters, knew werewolves weren’t the biggest threat to mankind. So, he worked with this certain pack. He helped the warriors track down bigger threats. They would lock them up and figure out their weaknesses. “
He flips through the pages of the book until he finds the information he’s looking for.
“He almost went mad looking for a certain creature until, one day, he finally caught it. He describes all the methods of torture used against this one particular creature, but he couldn’t find its weakness. It just laughed at his attempts and egged him on by talking about his family.”
“How do you know I’m the same thing as this creature?” So far, he hasn’t said any detail that would lead me to believe I am anything like it.
“Wesley’s very last entry.” He flips the page to reveal rushed scribbles of writing sprawled across the crisp yellow pages. “He found out the creature had a family of his own. He captured them; tortured them right in front of the creature. He wrote out the creature’s reactions. At first, the creature kept his temper under control, only threatening him. Adams got fed up, and he killed the wife. Finally, the creature had had enough of Adams’ games and broke free. During the struggle between Wesley and the creature, Adams caught sight of his eyes. They were all black with a red ring. He looked feral.” He closes the book after I glance through it.
“So if the creature was trying to protect its family, why didn’t he kill Adams? Surely, he figured Adams would come after him again.”
“Well, a few days after the incident, some wolves checked on him since they hadn’t heard from him. When they arrived, his cabin was a mess, and there was a text scratched in all of the walls.” His eyebrows scrunch together as he rustles through the papers. Once he finds what he’s looking for, he places it in front of me. A picture of the word “δαίμονας” is scratched in giant letters above a fireplace.
A horrible feeling settles at the bottom of my stomach as I look up to my friend.
“They found him in his room, muttering about a voice in his head―the creature’s voice in his head. When the wolves tried to approach him, he freaked out. He yelled out apologies, thinking they were the creature before he finally shot himself in front of the warriors.”
I swallow the lump in my throat as my mouth goes dry.
“Whatever this thing is,” he continues, “it got into Wesley’s mind. It drove him crazy until he couldn’t take it anymore. This thing is dangerous.”
“It’s a monster,” I whisper to myself as my heart begins to pound against my chest, a ringing forming in my ears as Cal’s voice becomes distant.
“Celeste?” His voice is hushed and panicked. Then warmth spreads through me as Austin’s giant calloused hand rests on my shoulder. “Celeste,” he whispers in my ear. “Calm down, love. Take deep breaths, in and out.” He mutters in a low voice, rubbing small circles on my back to calm me.
“Austin, what am I?” I ask, the stinging in the back of my eyes warning me of the tears trying to bust out.
“I don’t know, Celeste, but we’ll figure it out.” His bright green eyes are full of worry as he gazes down at my tiny form.
“I’m a monster, Austin.”
“No, darling. You’re not a monster.”
I shake my head, ignoring his words. “I am. I’m a monster―an evil, evil monster.”
He is about to speak when a deep and dark chuckle interrupts him. We both tense up at the noise before turning ourselves towards the door. A man in all black, with raven hair and blood-red eyes like mine, stares at us in amusement. “My dear girl, you aren’t evil or a monster.”
Austin stands, placing himself in front of me as he faces the man. “Who are you and how did you enter my land?”
The mystery man walks forward as he slowly pulls off his black leather gloves.
“I simply walked in. You can get in anywhere when you’re something like me.” He places the glove
s on a table before he continues his walk. “And as for who I am…” He stops right in front of Austin, making that gut-wrenching fear pool into the pit of my stomach once again. “My name is Zeke Masters.” He holds his hand out for Austin to shake. “I am her grandfather, and I can tell you what “δαίμονας” means.”
CHAPTER 16
|celeste|
Zeke stands before us, his hand still outstretched as he waits for Austin to take it. Austin is hesitant, but he makes the handshake. My eyebrows scrunch in confusion as Zeke’s friendly smile turns into one of malice. His red eyes start to glow as intricate markings begin to appear on his arms and neck in black ink.
“Stop!” I shout, pulling Austin away from my supposed grandfather.
The markings disappear quickly, his eyes becoming darker red.
“What’s wrong, Celeste?” Austin holds on to my shoulders as he continues to look at Zeke.
“You didn’t see that? You didn’t see his arms?”
He slowly shakes his head, still confused about my outburst.
Growing irritated, I turn away from him, putting my attention on Zeke as he clears his throat to speak.
“Only creatures of our species can see our true forms, Celeste.” Zeke chuckles darkly at my irritation which earns him a glare from me.
“What do you mean true forms? And what were you going to do to my mate?” I give a low growl at the tall man before me, keeping Austin and Cal behind me.
“Well, I could’ve done anything to your precious mate. I could’ve brain-washed him, drove him mad, or simply ended his life.” He takes in a deep breath as he stuffs his hands in his pockets. “But I wasn’t going to do any of that. I can’t harm your soulmate and have you despise me. No, I was merely going to put the pup down for a nap.” He finishes off his sentence by peeling off his thick overcoat and placing it on a chair, only turning back to face us when he hears movement. A look of surprise passes over his slightly aged features when he sees both my friend and mate gone, leaving only me with him.
“Well, aren’t you a very trusting young lady.” He laughs lightly, leaning against a table with his arms crossed and the sleeves of his white dress shirt rolled up.
“Not a single part of me trusts you. I just prefer not to have the people closest to me in the room when I skin a man.”
A smile forms on his face at my words, one of respect and admiration.
“My dear girl, you’re just like me: always eager to torture a man for information. However, you look just like your mother.” A tsk escapes his lips at the last bit of his sentence.
“What do you know about my mother?” I cross my arms, my eyes turning to slits as they stare harshly at the man before me.
“Everything, considering she’s my daughter.” His eyes harden while talking about the woman I grew up with for the small portion of my life. “The bastard of a girl never even told me about my own granddaughter.”
“If you’re really her father, then what’s her full name?” I ask. My mother never told anyone her true name.
“The name I gave her when she was born over three centuries ago is Lilith Alice Masters.”
My body goes stiff. No one knew her as Lilith but me and my father. Everyone else knew her as Lily Anne, the sweetest girl you could ever meet. No one really saw behind the mask she wore everyday.
“This is impossible. You can’t be her father because my mother is a human, and her parents died in a house fire when she was twelve.” I take a small step back, distancing myself from the stranger. My head begins to pound as I try to gather my thoughts.
This doesn’t go unnoticed to Zeke as he sees me clutch my aching head. His hands shoot out to steady me when I nearly trip and fall.
“Calm down, Celeste.” His voice is like an echo in my head as the markings on his arms appear once again, along with his glowing eyes.
My body instantly calms on command. “What was that?”
“That, Celeste, is just a small demonstration of what we can do,” he says proudly while taking a step back.
“How did you find me?” The question just pops out randomly when I’ve calmed my rapidly beating heart from exploding out of my chest.
“Well, I first heard about you a few years ago. Word of a rogue girl spread across the world and, at first, I thought nothing of it. “It’s just another rogue”, I told myself. Then I heard of her eyes; how they would change from a striking vibrant red to a dark abyss of black, with only a slim ring of red remaining around the iris. I realized this is no ordinary rogue going around killing the damned souls that walked this earth; it is one of my kind.”
He begins to walk around the room, taking in the quaint little library I’ve been held up in for the last three days. “I started doing research on you. Then, about a year ago, I learned your name. It was quite difficult to do, too, considering you’re mostly known as the Angel of Death. “No one dares to speak the name of the Angel of Death for she will kill you, too.” Dear god, I can’t tell you how many times I got that same response over and over again, but it was worth the wait. A drunken fellow was willing to tell me your name for a price. Celeste Middleton. You can imagine the shock I felt when I heard the last name of my daughter’s mate.”
He scowls once again at the mention of his daughter. I grow a little confused but decide to voice my questions at the end of his story.
“Once the shock left my system, I grew restless. The thought of a possible granddaughter out in this world had me on edge. I constantly wondered what you looked like or how you acted. So, I visited my oh-so lovely-daughter.” Sarcasm drips from his voice as he flicks his wrist in distaste. “And I got my answers. I, in fact, did have a granddaughter roaming this earth: a granddaughter that I had wanted for years, a little girl who I could teach the ways of our people and, hopefully, do better than the first time. So, I asked where I could find you and was appalled to find out she had abandoned you when you were merely a child. My own blood threw her daughter away like she was nothing.”
He looks to me with pity in his eyes which I growl in annoyance at. I don’t need anyone’s pity.
“I’ve been searching for you ever since, and now I have found you. You’re quite better than anything I could’ve hoped for. You’re everything your mother could never be.”
He comes up to me, placing the palms of his hands gently on each side of my face.
“What are we? What does “δαίμονας” mean?” I ask quietly, fearful of the answer.
“It means demon, and that’s what we are—demons. We’re warriors of hell and the devil himself.”
CHAPTER 17
|celeste|
A smile breaks across my face before a bubble of laughter escapes my throat. Zeke takes a small step backwards at my sudden intrusion to the quiet.
“A d-demon?” My hysterics come to the point where I’m clutching my stomach, trying to catch my breath as pain blossoms in the pit of my stomach. “You…” I draw in a deep breath, calming my racing heart before standing up straight to face my dear old grandpa. “You actually expect me to believe that?” I scoff, shaking my head slightly as I peer at my feet. “This has been nothing but a waste of my time. Find your own way out. I have more important matters.”
I turn to leave, reaching for the handle of the door when I’m thrown back, landing with a loud thud against a chair.
“And why don’t you believe me, little girl?” When I look up to Zeke, I see nothing but anger as he stares down at me.
“I guess I know where I got my short temper.” I make an unladylike snort as I try to stand, only to find I can’t. I’m pinned to the chair by nothing but air.
“Let me go.” I hiss out between clenched teeth, letting Cat surface.
“Tell me why you think this is a joke!” He screams as he bends down to my level.
“Because it’s insane!” I yell back, my own anger rising.
“How? How is it so insane?”
“It’s insane because demons don’t exist here!
They only exist in the realm of the damned, and they can’t escape.” I watch my eyes flash black through Zeke’s glassy ones. Cat doesn’t like being so vulnerable.
“You’ve done your research, my girl.” He laughs lightly and the feeling returns to my body. My limbs are no longer limp.
“Being a rogue…you have to know what’s out in the wild and what your threats are,” I say as I stand, shaking the stiffness from my arms and legs. Whatever magic he used to hold me down is powerful.
“Well, wherever you got your information from, it is good a source. You see, my dear child, only lower level demons are trapped in that realm. But us, warriors, were designed to be stronger. We had to be because we are the collectors of souls. We take the damned and drag them to hell when their time has come.” He smiles, his eyes devilishly black.
“There’s very few of us, Celeste. That’s why whenever we actually are seen or captured, no one can figure out what we are. There are no books or stories of encounters with demons because the only time a person does come in contact with one, they end up dead less than twenty-four hours later.”
I shudder at the thought of being one of them. Although, considering my savage past, I guess I have lived up to the expectations of a demon.
“So, my mother, was she a demon?”
“Yes, she’s a full-blooded demon, unlike you who is only half-demon. So, fair warning, your powers may not be as strong, and you might not even be able to do some of the things a full demon is capable of.”
“How do I figure out what I can and can’t do?”
He walks behind me and grabs his coat from the chair. “I will be back shortly to help you figure this all out, but for now, I have business to take care of, and you have a friend to talk to. I believe you call him your cousin; his name is Jack?”
With one last friendly smile towards me, he vanishes into thin air. I’m left stunned as I stare at where he was just standing.
I’m snapped out of my shock when a frantic Cal comes running into the room.
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