LUXURE

This is not how I wanted to tell her who I am, but time isn’t on my side. The Vollstrecker are closing in, and they will vastly outnumber the Guardians. I had no choice. That’s what I’m telling myself as I take in the horrified look on Sirena’s face. She’s shouting and screaming at me, hitting my chest in a mixture of anger and confusion. I can feel her pain, as I’m sure she can feel mine. I want more than anything to calm her in the only way I’ve ever known how, but she’s too erratic for me to get a read on her reactions.

“Please sit down, Sirena. I’ll explain everything. But first, I can assure you that I only did this to ensure your safety. If there had been any other way, I would have done it.”

“My safety? What are you keeping me safe from? Where I’m standing, it seems I need to be protected from you. Who the hell are you?” I reach for her hand, sure that this small contact will remind her of the intense connection we share and reassure her that I would never hurt her. “Don’t fucking touch me! You don’t get to touch me.”

She paces the room running her elegant fingers through her fiery red hair trying to make sense of what’s just happened—her whole body shaking uncontrollably. I can’t begin to imagine what she must be feeling after such a shock. “You just… you just… transported me from one side of town to the other.” She starts rubbing her temples. “That’s a physical impossibility, Lux. The laws of physics don’t allow for us to be in one place and instantaneously appear somewhere different.”

“I know this is a lot to take in.”

Her nervous laughter at my statement unsettles me. If she’s not coping with this one small aspect of my existence, I don’t know how she’ll react when I tell her everything. Fuck! How will she respond when I tell her that she’s half-angel? I don’t want to cause her this much pain, but I don’t see any other way. I can’t protect her if she doesn’t know what we’re dealing with.

“A lot to take in? That’s the understatement of the century. What happened? Did you drug me? Did I pass out and now have no memory of the journey here?” I can sense her anxiety emanating off of her in waves. “I was right about you when I thought I was joking. You’re some sort of psycho stalker, and I just ate it up offering myself to you no questions asked. Fucking hell!”

“That’s not it at all, and deep down you know it.” I can see the cogs turning, she’s grappling for anything that would make sense to her in the world she understands.

“I had another seizure, didn’t I? That must be it. That’s the only explanation that makes sense, that explains my loss of time.”

I can’t take it anymore. I have to touch her. I wrap my arms around her front pulling her back tight against my chest. Her heart is racing, her breathing labored. I’m not proud, but I have to use the talents in my arsenal to calm her down. I dip my head down to her ear as she struggles against me kicking and shouting for me to let her go. “Shhh.” My voice is barely a whisper. “Listen to the sound of my voice, Sirena. Let your heartbeat slow down. You’re safe with me. You can feel it in the deepest parts of yourself. You and I have a bond that you can’t ignore. Don’t fight it, angel. Let me in. Let me soothe you.” My breath is soft on her skin, and as her body goes limp in my arms, all fight and fear are gone.

“What… how are you doing that?” She sounds almost dreamlike as she speaks—relaxed, content, and aroused. She has an inner strength that still fights against my abilities to influence her. “I should be running from you as fast as I can, but all I want to do is stay here in your arms. I feel completely safe all of a sudden. What did you do to me?”

“I can influence people’s emotions. Calm them, anger them, turn them on. You are particularly susceptible to me. Usually, I have to be looking into someone’s eyes, but just the sound of my voice seems to affect you.”

“I don’t understand any of this. I’m afraid.”

“I know, angel. You’re special. You react in ways I’ve never witnessed before. You cause me to react in ways that I’ve never experienced before.”

“What does it mean?”

“I don’t know, but if you let me, we can find out together.” I listen to the sound of her heartbeat slowing and evening out to a steady rhythm. “Good girl. Your heart has calmed.”

I seem to trigger a memory for her with my words. She turns in my arms and places her hand on my chest where my heart should be beating. My skin burns under her palm. “You don’t have a heartbeat.” Her eyes dart up to meet mine. “You don’t have a heartbeat, Lux… how is that possible?”

I place my hand over hers. “Nothing I’m about to tell you will seem plausible, but it’s all true.”

“Are you dead? Are you a vampire or zombie? Even hearing myself say the words, I sound ridiculous. How can you NOT have a heartbeat?”

“If only it were that simple.”

“Being a vampire would be simple?”

I run my thumb down the side of her cheek, her skin shuddering at my touch. “It would be simpler than the situation we’re in now.”

“Shit! Back in the gardens, you said we were being followed. Who was following us?”

“You’re not going to like this.”

“I don’t like any of it. Just tell me.”

“Your father.” I hate that I’m about to tear her world apart even more than I already have.

“My father? Why would my dad be following us? And why would that put us in danger? He’s a missionary for crying out loud.”

“There are things you don’t know about him… about yourself.”

“What? That’s ridiculous. My dad and I are close. I know everything about him. And I’m certainly clued up on myself.”

“Okay. I need you to sit down, and I’ll start at the beginning. I’ll tell you who you are and who I am.”

She slips out of my arms and over to the couch, her demeanor completely altered by my whispered words of reassurance. I’m dumbstruck once again by just how intensely she reacts to me. “Who am I, Lux? At this point, I’m beginning to wonder if I know myself anymore.”

I sit down resting my hand on her leg to keep her relaxed and open to what I’m about to say. “Firstly, to explain who you are, I need to explain who your dad is.” I take a long shaky breath readying myself for the backlash. “Your dad used to be an angel, Sirena. He’s not human.” She doesn’t speak, she doesn’t react, she doesn’t move a muscle, so I continue. “I don’t know all the facts at this point but what I’m certain of is that he is a fallen angel.”

“Like cast out of Heaven by God?” Her voice is so quiet it’s almost indecipherable.

“Maybe. I think he chose to stay here on Earth with your mom and be here to raise you. To be a real dad.”

“So my mom…” She’s fighting back tears.

“Your mom is human. My best guess is that they fell in love and had you. It is forbidden for supernatural beings to procreate with humans, so you had to be hidden and protected. A father wouldn’t just walk away from that responsibility. Especially not your dad.”

“Why would you say that? You don’t even know him.”

“I saw the way he was with you at the restaurant. He loves you more than life itself. He loves you enough to give up the Heavens to be with you.”

I begin to explain what this means for her, for who she is, but she cuts me off. “I need a minute. This is a lot to take in. I don’t know if I even believe you. What you’re saying is crazy.”

“Trust me, I know how crazy it sounds.”

“Do you? You just told me my dad is an angel from Heaven. What does that make me?”

Fuck. She is not ready for this. This isn’t the way I wanted to share all of this with her. “It makes you half-human, half-angel.”

She stands desperate to put distance between us nervously pacing the floor. I can sense she’s at war with herself. Everything she believes contradicts what I’m telling her, and yet she finds herself accepting it. She wants to seek comfort with me, I can feel it. “Wouldn’t I know if I were half-supernatural? I don’t even believe in all that stuff.”

“I’ve never known of another being in existence who is half-human, half-supernatural.”

She starts laughing an unnerving, almost maniacal cackle. “This just gets better. So not only am I some sort of half-breed, I’m the first and last of my kind.”

“As far as I know, yes.”

“How do you know all this? Who are you? Are you an angel?”

If only I could give her the answer that would help her adjust, to tell her that we’re similar in so many ways. If I could change my entire existence to make this easier on her, I would. There’s a part of me that doesn’t want to tell her the truth. She’ll see me differently. I’m the embodiment of evil, the polar opposite of her. “I’m no angel. And I’m not human either.” I go to her, knowing I have to look into her eyes when I reveal the worst parts of myself. I need to be able to gauge her reaction. I need to see if our connection is severed—not for her sake but mine. I’m not ready to give her up. I haven’t felt much of anything since Abi was taken from me. Sirena has awakened something inside of me, and I’m too selfish to let that go. “In the course of your research, you’ve studied all religions, myths, and cultures. You’ve heard of the seven deadly sins?”

“Of course. A concept in the Christian Bible, a set of rules to stop society from giving in to their base urges. What does that have to do with me?”

“It doesn’t. It’s me. The seven deadly sins aren’t a concept, Sirena. They’re real. They are a brotherhood of demons. They have roamed the Earth since the beginning of time causing destruction and chaos in humans’ lives.”

“O-k-a-y.” I can see that she’s not putting the pieces together yet because she wants to see the best in me.

“My full name is Luxure Zonder. Humanity knows me as… Lust.” I search her eyes for any indication of what she’s thinking. Her expression is blank, so overwhelmed that she has completely shut down.

“You’re a d-demon?”

“Yes.”

“The demon of lust?”

“Yes.” She doesn’t shy away from me, doesn’t flinch at my touch. She simply studies me looking for answers to questions she doesn’t know she has yet.

“Is that why I feel so strongly for you? Do you have this effect on everyone?”

I tuck a stray tendril of her luscious red hair behind her ear before cupping her face in my hands. “No. No one has ever reacted to me the way you do. And I have never reacted to another being the way I react to you. You are unique. What we have is unique. I can’t explain it, I don’t even know what it is. What I do know is that I’m drawn to you. I feel in my soul that I need to be around you. I also know that I’m not worthy of you.” The tension between us is a ticking time bomb waiting to explode with devastating consequences.

“I need to get out of here. I need time.”

“I can’t let you do that.”

“What the fuck do you mean you can’t let me? I’m a grown woman, and I do what I want. I’ve managed just fine in my life until now. If anything, the moment you came into my life is when the problem started.” She’s pissed, and her tone is irate, even outraged.

“You’re probably right, but I can’t change that now. I didn’t come looking for you just as you didn’t come looking for me. What you need to realize about the world you live in is that we don’t have a fucking choice. Free will is a bullshit lie. No matter what we did, we would have met at some point. This… thing between us will happen whether you want it to or not. When a soul is born, its path is already mapped out. So hate me, love me, beat the shit out of me, but you’re stuck with me.”

“Like hell I am! I’m out of here. I need to talk to my dad. I want answers.”

“Listen to me very carefully, Sirena.” I lower my voice, letting her know in no uncertain terms that I’m not asking her permission. I’m fucking telling her how this is going to go. “I know you need answers, and I will happily take you to see your dad when it’s safe to do so. But at the moment, you need to listen to your gut and fucking trust me. If I let you walk out that door tonight, you’ll be dead by sunset tomorrow. Not only you but your mom and dad, all of your neighbors, and probably me. You’re not fucking leaving this apartment.”

“So now I’m going to be dead if I don’t stay here with you? Why am I in danger?”

“Let’s just say some very bad demons are heading to San Francisco, and they plan to kill every last person who has been protecting you since you were born. They don’t know about you… yet. But as soon as they get here, they’ll know, and all hell is going to break loose.”

“They’re coming for my mom and dad? I have to warn them.”

“Your dad already knows that something is coming. I guarantee it. The Vollstrecker aren’t coming for your parents. They’re coming for your Guardians.”

“My Guardians? The Vollstrecker?”

I explain to her who the Vollstrecker are and how they tried to kill me. Why I’ve been ‘dead’ for a thousand years, and why we need to avoid them at all costs if she’s going to stay alive. Then I drop the bomb that she’s been surrounded by Guardian angels her entire life, and the fact that so many of them are here in the city has drawn attention because of our connection and the knowledge of my survival spreading throughout the realms.

“So all of these… angels… are in danger because we can sense each other?”

“That’s a bit too simplistic, but I guess so.”

“We need to help them. To warn them.” I can sense her guilt threatening to consume her.

“I can’t.” I tell her what happened at Thanksgiving, the fact I can’t go up against that many celestials alone, and I will be signing my death warrant if I go to them now, even if it is to warn them about the Vollstrecker.

“And the Vollstrecker are what?”

“Enforcers. They do Lucifer’s bidding. They are warriors with no conscience, deadly, and ruthless.”

I give her some time to digest everything I’ve told her, and as I sit in the deafening silence, I find myself in awe of the woman before me. I don’t know anyone else who could deal with the gravity of what I’ve just told her and remain calm and practical. I can see her thinking, processing, trying to come up with a logical way to accept the fact that her world has been turned upside down. Everything she thought she knew, everything she believed in, the entire basis of her career… was wrong.

Imagine living in a world where you believe you are the only species of intelligent life, and when you die, that’s it. You’re born, you live, you die, and you’re gone. You’ve lived your whole life believing this is the reality of existence. Then, one day you wake up to find out all of the myths and stories and things that go bump in the night are real. That you’re not alone in the universe and that human life is a blip in the scheme of things. You’re born, you live, you die, you go to Heaven or the Underworld and spend all of eternity in another plane of existence.

I’m truly stunned by her composure. Maybe she’s in shock, too traumatized to understand what’s going on around her, but I don’t think that’s the case. She has an unparalleled inner strength which gives me hope—hope we can make it out of this alive, and we might have a shot at exploring the feelings we have for each other.

She doesn’t speak for hours curling up on the couch and resting her head in my lap. I don’t question it. I’m just glad I can offer her comfort. It’s the first time I’ve used my influence over human emotions for a good reason—to help someone. But, it’s not a selfless act by any stretch of the imagination. Having her so close, running my fingers through her hair as I listen to the steady beat of her heart, feeling the warmth of her skin against my hand, is amazing. It’s the most content I’ve felt since the moment I first saw her. It can’t last, though. We need to leave the city tonight. The Vollstrecker will be here by morning, and if we need to warn her parents, then I’m running out of time to come up with a plan. I decide to leave her a little longer to enjoy the calm before the storm.

* * *

“Luxure. Wake up.” I’m startled by the early morning sun streaming through the windows. I must have fallen asleep next to Sirena. “Lux, you have to get out of here. Now!” It’s Cole.

“Fuck. What time is it?”

“The sun is rising, brother. The Vollstrecker are coming. You need to flee the city now and take your friend with you. Neither of you is safe.”

How could I have been so careless? I put Sirena at risk. How could I fall asleep when I was supposed to be getting her as far away from here as possible? I don’t even need sleep, and yet when I’m around her and see her in peaceful slumber, I can’t help but join her. She calms me.

I realize she’s gone. I look to Cole. “Where is she?”

“She went to the restroom. I told her to call her father and tell him to meet her in New York.”

“Why New York?”

“I don’t have time to fill you in on all the details of what I’ve discovered since we last spoke, but Kade is in New York, and he has the resources to ensure you disappear until we can form a plan and ready The Brotherhood for what’s to come.”

“Kade? He knows I’m alive.” I told him not to tell our brothers until it was safe. This is going to put Cole and Kade in danger.

“He needed to know. We need his help. He’s already putting a plan in motion to help you. Trust us, brother. We’re going to keep you and the lovely Sirena alive.” I don’t like anyone else knowing about her, not even Cole. I need to be in control of what happens and how I’m going to protect her.

“I don’t like this, Cole. Not one fucking bit. How did you know about her father?”

“I told you. I’ve been searching for answers, and I found out a lot of very interesting information. We can talk about this once you’re safely out of the city. As soon as Sirena finishes freshening up, take her to New York.” As much as I want to protest, I need to get her out of San Francisco right away, and I can work the rest out later.

“What about the Guardians?”

“The Vollstrecker are coming. They won’t go home empty handed. The Guardians would never betray their vow to protect Sirena. They’ll die before they talk.”

“She wants me to warn them.”

“Luxure, you can’t keep her safe and save the Guardians. These are the same beings who threatened to kill you or turn you over to Luc if they ever see you again. It’s better for you if they’re eliminated. If you want to stay alive and keep that pretty girl breathing, you’re going to have to lie to her on occasion for her own good.”

I hate the thought of it, but I know he’s right. I’ll do whatever it takes to ensure her survival.

“I need to go and take care of a situation before I meet you in New York. I’ve given Sirena an address for Kade. I’ll find you. Stay safe, brother.” Before I have a chance to ask him what ‘situation’ he needs to deal with, he’s gone.

I go in search of Sirena finding her in my closet in nothing but a bra and a pair of my boxer shorts. I’m lost for words when she turns around and smiles. “Sorry. I wanted a fresh pair of underwear and a t-shirt. I hope you don’t mind.” She pulls one of my black t-shirts over her head laughing at how large it is. It could be a dress on her. She quickly slips into her jeans and pulls on her boots. Her hair is wet from the shower falling into natural waves cascading down her back. She looks stunning.

I want nothing more than to strip her bare right here in my closet and taste every last inch of her body, but time is of the essence, and we need to leave. “We better get going.” I don’t recognize the sound of my own voice—thick with desire for this woman.

Her labored breath and racing pulse only serve to heighten the tension between us. She can hardly speak. “I know. I’m ready to go with you…” Holy fuck she’s amazing. I pull off my t-shirt and grab a fresh one from the shelf behind her, her breath hitching as my chest brushes against her body. “Mmm.”

“Don’t make noises like that, angel.”

“Why?” The playful look in her eyes is going to be the death of me.

“Because it’s sexy as fuck, and it makes me want to devour every inch of you. It makes me imagine what you’ll sound like as I slide my cock deep inside you. How fucking beautiful you’ll look when you come for me… over… and over… and over again.”

“Mmm.”

“Fuck me, just one taste.” I pull her into my arms and kiss her with everything I have. I don’t need to open my eyes to know they’re glowing. My entire body is on fire. She wraps herself around my body as I back her into the wall savoring the smell of my shampoo in her hair and the feel of my t-shirt against her skin. I feel strong when I’m with her, and I know the time is now. Without interrupting our kiss, I make the jump. She doesn’t stop, and I don’t stop her. We’re lost in each other, and nothing else matters in this moment.

I don’t know how long we stay like this, but when Sirena finally becomes aware of the wind in her hair and the chill in the air, she breaks our kiss, her eyes sparkling red in the bright morning sunshine of New York.

“The view from here is unbelievable.”

I can’t take my eyes off of her. “You’re right. It’s breathtaking.”

She meets my gaze, her eyes wide and filled with wonder as she studies the effect she has on me. “Your eyes, Lux… they’re so beautiful.”

“You do that to me. Only you, Sirena.”

She turns her back to my chest wrapping my arms around her for warmth as we take in the city around us. I know that our lives are about to become complicated, and I may not make it out of this alive, but there’s no place I’d rather be than right here, right now, with Sirena at the top of the Empire State Building.