Luxure_The Cardinal Brotherhood Book One Read online

  As we mount the steps together, I can feel my body going onto high alert. It’s like a physical wall slamming into my chest as Daniel opens the door. I usher Sirena in first, but as I attempt to cross the threshold, there is an invisible barrier—I am unable to enter the house. I’ve never encountered this problem before in all my years, but then I’ve never tried to enter the house of an angel. Daniel enjoys my discomfort as Sirena turns and stares at me in confusion telling me to get inside. He might have his fun, but I know he doesn’t want Sirena to know who he is just as much as I would like to keep my true identity hidden. He finally relents. “Of course, Lux… please come inside.” I take a step across the threshold, but the warning signals in my body go into immediate overdrive, and it only grows stronger as we make our way down the hall toward the living room. I follow Sirena into the crowded room, the intensity of my survival instinct at a fever pitch.

  I quickly scan the room trying to assess who is a threat to me other than Daniel. I’m horrified as I realize that every last person in the room… is an angel. I can hear Sirena saying hello to everyone before turning to me. “Everyone, this is my friend Lux. Lux, these are all my neighbors. I think the whole street is here. Let me introduce you around.”

  The entire room comes to a standstill. All eyes are on me and the woman beside me holding my hand. I knew this girl was special, but I have no idea what the fuck is going on right now. Her entire block is inhabited by angels? What is so special about one human being that she would require this level of protection? She doesn’t even believe in the existence of anyone in this room.

  Every introduction is an exercise in control. Every hand that clasps mine with a saccharine smile causes excruciating pain to pulse through my body. I feel myself getting weaker every time, my body unable to recover quickly enough. It’s not until Sirena excuses herself to use the restroom that they show their true nature. I find myself at the center of their attention. All eyes on me as they close ranks. They hold hands praying in a language I don’t understand, and a blinding pain takes over my entire body. I can’t see, I can’t feel the ground beneath my feet. I simply drop to the floor paralyzed by the agony coursing through every muscle in my body, as if a blazing inferno has spontaneously erupted inside of me. I can no longer hear Sirena in the distance, my ears flooded with a cacophony of celestial chants.

  I know she’s on her way back to me when the room goes silent, and a pair of hands reach down to lift me off the floor. Sirena’s voice rips through the silence. “What happened?”

  She’s not talking to me. She’s talking to whoever has me in their arms. “He just collapsed. Looks like a migraine maybe. He was holding his head. Why don’t you go and get him a glass of water while I get him up onto the couch?”

  I feel her hand on my cheek, but I struggle to open my eyes. “I’ll be right back.”

  As my senses return, I know it’s Daniel dragging my weakened frame to the couch. “We’re not going to let you take her, Lux. She’s ours, and if you don’t leave her alone, you won’t have to worry about Lucifer finding you. What we’ll do to you will be far worse. Understood?”

  I try to speak, but all that comes out is an incoherent mumble. It takes me a moment to gather my strength again. “Who is she? I don’t want to take her. She affects me in some way, and I her. I just want to know her.”

  “That may be so, but the choice isn’t yours. She is under our protection, and we will do whatever is necessary to keep her safe.”

  “I don’t intend to harm her.”

  “Luxure. It’s hardwired into your brain to harm the human race. Surely, even you understand that by now. You’ve given us no cause for concern over the past millennium. Best keep it that way. If I see you here again, I won’t be so accommodating. Now go.”

  Sirena returns with a glass of water and a concerned look etched on her face. “Here. Drink this.” I quickly gulp it down eager to get the fuck out of here. “I think it’s time we leave.” I just nod my head and follow her to the door, letting her say her goodbyes as every being in the room stares me down with disgust.

  The rush of fresh air that envelops me as I step outside is intoxicating. With every step away from the house, the weight that has been sitting on my chest slowly lifts. My body drained of adrenaline, I need to get out of here and back to Uitare, but I don’t even know if I have the energy to plane jump. We walk in silence to the front door of her house, tension thick in the air between us. As she unlocks the door, she turns to me, a gentle, caring smile lighting up her features. “I would offer to drive you home, but I’ve had too much to drink. I can get the guest room ready, and you can just sleep here tonight.”

  “No.” That came out harsher than I intended, and I can see the hurt in her eyes. “I can’t impose on you like that. I just need to go home, take a few tablets and crash out.”

  “It’s no trouble.”

  I have to soften the blow. I do not want to leave her here surrounded by supernatural protectors who want nothing more than to kill me, but I have no other choice. I can’t explain it to her right now. I take her face in my palms forcing a tender smile. “Sirena, this is not how I wanted our first date to turn out… you taking care of me and me sleeping in the guest room. My male ego has been bruised enough for one night.”

  “I don’t want you to go.” The urgency in her voice echos my reluctance to leave.

  “I can’t stay.”

  “Will I see you again?” God, I want to kiss her so badly right now.

  “I’ll call you. Give me your number.”

  She waits a moment. “Aren’t you going to put it in your phone?”

  “I don’t have a phone.” The look of horror on her face is hysterical. “You don’t have to look at me like I have two heads.”

  “I’m sorry. I just… don’t know anyone who doesn’t have a phone in this day and age.” Her laughter is infectious. She leaves me chuckling on the doorstep and returns ten seconds later with a pen. “Give me your hand.”

  I hold out my hand and relish the feel of her small hand cupping mine as the other writes her digits on my flesh. “Oh good, a migraine and ink poisoning.”

  She slaps my shoulder attempting to shove me, but she’s not strong enough. “Well, Lux Zonder, I guess the ball is in your court. I hope you feel better, and I hope to hear from you soon.” She gently caresses my lips with her own which slowly transforms into a deep, longing, soul-destroying kiss. It takes every ounce of strength I have to pull away breathless and aching to claim her as mine.

  “Goodbye, Sirena.” Her eyes are on fire, alight with desire, red, glowing, and seductively alluring as she looks up into my eyes. That’s when I see my reflection staring back at me. My eyes are glowing a brighter more vivid violet than they have ever been. I know she sees it. I know she saw it earlier this evening. I quickly turn and run down the steps.

  “Lux. Wait!” Each word cuts me to the core. I chance a glance in the direction of the house next door. The window is full of stern faces watching every move I make. “Lux!” Her voice fades into the distance as I force myself to keep walking to the end of her block before making the jump across town to my apartment.

  I sit in the silence of my living room replaying every moment of my evening, and it’s then that I realize that I need help. I need to get to the bottom of this. Before I see Cole again, I need to go and find Selma. I need to know how much damage tonight has caused. If word spreads throughout the Heavens of my existence, it won’t be long before the Underworld finds out and comes looking for me.

  It takes four attempts before I finally garner enough strength to leap to Uitare. My body is weak, and my soul in turmoil. I need to recover and rebuild my strength before I explain everything to Selma. Then it’s time to find out who Professor Sirena Sovende is? She might be human, but there has to be something supernatural about her for the level of protection that surrounds her. And I intend to find out what.

  6

  LUXURE

  For so many centu
ries now, time has meant nothing to me. A day, a week, a year—just a blip in the eternal monotony. Since I met Sirena, I’m achingly aware of every second that ticks by when I’m not around her. It’s been three days since I felt her lips on mine, her eyes blazing with a fierce red flame. It was the most erotic sight. To hear her heart pounding because of me, because of the way I touched her caressing her tongue with my own.

  Over the past three days, I’ve slowly regained my strength after my encounter with the guardian angels that surround Sirena’s life. I was barely able to make the jump back here. Every muscle in my body was in agony for the first twenty-four hours. I’ve come up against many angels in my lifetime, but never so vastly outnumbered and unable to draw on the power of The Brotherhood to enhance my strength and agility. We were created in the likeness of Lucifer’s warriors, however, we have a unique ability. When we come together as one, our power, strength, and talents grow exponentially. We feed off each other’s energy drinking it in. We become a formidable army of seven. Throughout the Bible, there are instances of seven as a celestial number—important and influential. It’s no coincidence that there are seven cardinal sins. Everything in the universe is balanced. For seven to be a supernatural force for good, it must also be a supernatural force for evil.

  No one takes heed of these clues and warnings in the Bible. We’ve done such a proficient job of discrediting the ‘good book’ that humans put very little credence in the literal translation of the sacred text anymore. Lucifer may be a backstabbing bastard, but I have to hand it to him, he knows how to play the game. And make no mistake, this is all a game—good versus evil. Man’s struggle to walk the righteous path is nothing more than a sick rivalry between two beings who strive for the ultimate power. God created something beautiful, but when he created mankind, the angels grew jealous. They wanted free will. They wanted to choose their own path. They saw how much God delighted in his new creation, and some of them became consumed with envy. Lucifer was the most beautiful of all the angels. God’s finest creation… until Adam. Luc became bitter and over time decided he deserved more, and he shouldn’t have to answer to anyone, not even God himself. He thought he should be equal, and for that, he was cast out of the Heavens for all eternity.

  The irony of it all is that he was fighting for something humans have never possessed. Free will is an illusion. Every decision they make is made within an already-chosen framework. Sure, they can choose to wear red or black socks when they get up in the morning, but the big decisions—the aspects of their character that influence every move they make—are already set in stone. Take love for instance. Some believe in love at first sight, some believe in fate, some believe you can be happy with many people in your lifetime, and there are a small number of humans who still believe in the concept of soulmates—someone out there who was born to be the other part of you—to complete your soul. Seems like a pretty fucked-up concept, doesn’t it? But, of course, God in his infinite wisdom did, in fact, create a soulmate for every soul that has ever existed. Most people wonder why they don’t feel complete and content to be alone. It’s not a failure on their part—they were programmed that way from the moment they were born. Essentially, every soul, supernatural or human, is half of a whole. And here’s where the fucked-up part comes in—most people never find their soulmate. It doesn’t work that way. You’re not born in the same town destined to bump into each other at the local Target. No, that would be too easy. If you want to find the other half of your soul, you have to actively seek them out, and even then, they have to be actively seeking you out, too, if you have a snowball’s chance in hell of meeting each other and living happily ever after.

  Is that the feeling I get when I’m around Sirena? Have I found the other half of myself? Is that why we can sense each other before we even know the other is there? I don’t think I would know if that were the case. I’ve not had a chance to be around her long enough to figure it out. What I do know is that she’s not an average human. She has warm blood pumping through her veins and a strong, steady heartbeat which tells me she is physically human, but everything else about her is supernatural in some way.

  I need to find Selma.

  Angry words begin to fill my mind. “Where in the hell have you been, you idiot?”

  “Nice to see you, too, Sel!”

  She pushes me as hard as she can with her delicate little fist straight in the chest bouncing off me and falling to the floor. “Why are you so damn big?”

  “Here.” I offer her my hand, which she slaps away. “Let me help you up.”

  “No! It’s obvious you don’t give a flying fairy about my well-being or your own. I’m perfectly capable of getting myself up, thank you.”

  “Don’t be like that, Sel. Of course, I care about you. You’re my best friend.” I hate to see the flash of hurt and disappointment in her eyes as I say those words, but I’ve always been honest with her about our relationship. She’s like a sister to me. I would die for her.

  “Yeah. A best friend you keep in the dark, put in danger, disappear on, and ignore every piece of advice I give you.”

  “I said I was your best friend… not a girl.”

  “This isn’t funny, Luxure. You have no idea what’s going on, do you?”

  Shit. I knew I wouldn’t come away from my encounter with the angels undetected. “That’s why I came to talk to you. I need your advice.”

  She starts throwing her arms around, always so animated when she’s angry or upset… or both. “Oh, now you want my advice. I told you not to stay on Earth for any length of time. No overnights. No long-term connections. Those were your rules of survival over the past seven hundred and fifty years. I was just reminding you of them, and you’ve broken every last one of them.”

  “I know. Fuck, I know.” I scrub my hands up over the scruff on my face exhausted by the mess I’ve created.

  “I think I deserve to know what danger I’m in. You owe me that much. Harboring you for a thousand years could cost me my life, or worse. I could be banished to the Underworld for the rest of eternity. Do you know what they would do to me there?”

  Unfortunately, I know all too well the horrors that would await a pretty Masuulka in the Underworld. “I would never let that happen, Sel. You know I’d die for you before I would let anyone hurt you.”

  “I used to believe that. I did. But lately? Please just tell me what’s going on, and then I’ll tell you what I know.”

  “Okay.”

  We take a walk through the frozen forest. It’s quiet, secluded, and one of the most beautiful places in existence. It’s our favorite place to come and hang out, talking for hours, and in years gone by, sharing laughs together. I start from the beginning explaining the couple I followed to the college campus the first day I saw Sirena. It was supposed to be like any other day. I explained my need to see her again. I don’t want to hurt Selma in any way, but I can see that this is hard for her to hear, and it’s only going to get worse. “Are you okay?”

  “Just keep going.” She’s fighting back tears already, and a huge weight of guilt descends upon me.

  I tell her about the gallery. Sirena’s seizure, her eyes, the effect my name on her lips had on her body. I continue with everything up to the point where I found out she lived on a block filled with guardian angels.

  “What? Luxure, this is serious. It’s clear she’s not just some girl you want to sleep with, and she’s not your latest target. Guardians don’t live on Earth like that for just anyone. They only descend from the Heavens in extreme situations.”

  “I know.”

  “I don’t think you do! That level of protection… we’re talking imperative to the balance of the universe type stuff. This girl, for some unknown reason, is important not only to the human race but the supernatural world, too.”

  “There’s more…”

  “Oh my God! What more could there be?” I can sense her fear building with every new revelation.

  “I saw a picture in her
house of her at her college graduation. She was with an angel. I think it might be her father. At least a family member of some sort.”

  “Her father might be an angel? Are you kidding me? You know what that means?”

  “What?”

  “She might seem human, but she’s at least half angel. She’s a celestial being in human form. You need to stay away from her, Lux.”

  “I can’t. I have too many unanswered questions. I might be wrong.”

  “What is so important about this girl that you would risk your life to ask her some stupid questions?”

  “Selma, when I kissed her…” She closes her eyes in defeat cut to the quick by my admission. “When I kissed her, her eyes started to glow. Red, like a ring of fire. She can’t feel it when it happens.”

  “Luxure. Has that ever happened before with any being, human or otherwise?”

  “No.”

  “Never? Are you sure?”

  “Yes. I’m sure. Since the beginning of time, I have never kissed a being, human, Masuulka, or Vollstrecker, who has ever had that reaction to my touch… not even Abiteth.”

  “Why are you back here now?”

  “Because I needed to regain my strength. The guardians could sense me. They surrounded me causing the most unbearable pain imaginable. They warned me to leave Sirena alone, or they would alert the Underworld of my existence.”

  “I think it might be too late for that already.”

  “What do you mean?

  “There are rumors and rumblings coming across the planes. No one knows for certain, and most don’t believe the whispers.”

  “What are they saying?”

  “That you’re alive. That you’ve reunited with The Brotherhood.”

  “I haven’t. I haven’t even seen my brothers.” Then it dawns on me. “Selma… I saw Colère.”

  “What?”

  “When I went to see Sirena the other day. I never use my senses to find anyone. I know it can let others track me, but it was out of my control that day. When I was within sight of her office, I could feel her. It was involuntary. There was nothing I could do to stop it or shut it off. When I left her, he tracked me down to the Golden Gate Bridge.”