The Celestial Rose BoxSet

by Annalee Adams

  “He is, indeed.”

  “Did you meet Jayden?” Nic asked.

  “I can’t remember, sorry, I don’t think so,” I said.

  “They’re boyfriends,” Harland said, winking.

  “Aww, that’s so sweet” I exclaimed, ruffling Nic’s hair. He appeared the same age as me but felt like my younger brother. It was cute that he’d found someone to share eternity with. Then again, Jayden didn’t look like any supernatural I’d met.

  Nic’s cheeks turned crimson. “Thanks, TayTay.” He smiled.

  “Shit watch out,” Harland said as a hoard of fire demons came running towards us. “Get behind me,” he shouted, pushing me back.

  “Nic, transform!” Jayden yelled, standing back and gearing up with a crossbow.

  “Eve stand behind me,” Mother ordered. I obeyed. I wasn’t in any fit state to fight. I could barely walk with the weight of the pair jumping up and down in my womb.

  Ahead of us, the field closed in. Streetlamps flickered to the right and trees swayed to the left. There wasn’t anywhere to run, not quick enough, not far enough. I’d never be able to keep up, let alone muster the energy to fight those things. It wasn’t just Rowena, though, there was a whole army making its way to us. The fire demons were only the start of it.

  Damn, I couldn't just stand there doing nothing. I had to be able to fight, to help in some way. But what could I do? I needed help, heck, we all did. There was no way we could fight the upcoming army. We wouldn’t last five minutes. We had done it before, made a portal, I mean. If we could just reach out and contact Adam, he could send down the angels to help us. Did he even know we were back? I closed my eyes, breathed in, then out, resting my mind and relaxing my soul. I could do this. I had to. Teeth clenched, fists doubled up, I opened my eyes. “ADAM!” I screamed, shouting out with the echo of my own celestial rage. My voice reverberated through the chill of the wind, bouncing from tree to tree, building to building, until it reached up high and touched the celestial sands of Elysium. It had to have made it there, someone must have heard it.

  The army sure did, for they halted position as a familiar voice screamed back at me, “LITTLE EVIE!” Shit. Lilith was there. I looked through the shoulders of my mother and Harland. Was that her? Could that really be her? She was far away but her presence could be felt for miles. She had clearly halted her army, so she could get in first, throw the first punch, so to speak. I wondered what shed think when she saw that Mother was alive and well? Would they recognise each other? Would she know and see the light once again? Was it even possible anymore?

  I didn’t think so, not after what she had done to Lucian. My eyes watered as the height of emotion choked in my throat. It’s so hard without you Lucian, I whispered. Harland heard me. He turned around in amidst the upcoming threat, kissed me on the forehead, and whispered, “You’ve got this, Taylor Lane, keep on fighting.” Pulling back, he smiled and then turned back and engaged with the first of the fire demons as they arrived.

  I didn’t know where to look, what to do. Demon after demon came pounding into the circle my friends and family had created. I was in the centre as they tried to break through. I knew though, one swipe and my babies would be dead. I couldn’t risk stepping out and helping them. But there had to be something I could do.

  The smoked demons ravaged forward. Some were kept busy with the walking dead, whereas the others were fighting to reach me. I huddled down to the ground and brought my hands in while the feet of my loved ones trampled the area around me. The only thing I could do was survive, and try damned hard, too. But it wouldn’t be long before she reached me, and in the meantime, the wall of demons around us was at least three thick. They appeared to take longer to kill, too, Harland was struggling, even in his Lycan form. Jayden had resorted to using daggers and was quite agile for what appeared to be a human male. Nic was back in lion form, his favourite of all his shifting creatures. And Elisha was somehow getting the demons to fight for her side, waging a war between themselves. It seemed, in this instance, hers was the ultimate power. She could control at least eight of them at one time, by the look of it. My mother, however, was holding a wall of light, pushing the demons back so only the odd one or two broke free at one time. The problem was that she was sweating already, she wouldn’t be able to hold up for much longer.

  Perhaps if I helped, if we joined power like before, then we’d stand a fighting chance, we could keep up the wall together. Palms on the ground, knees bent, I rose, standing tall and reaching out to place my hands on her shoulders. She didn’t look back, she was too busy concentrating on the wall around us, it was the only defence we had. I knew, though, that without help, it’d fall before Adam could even get here, if he had even heard me.

  My hands gripped her shoulders. Closing my eyes, I concentrated, brought the light through my body and travelling it down to my hands. It flowed freely into my mother, embellishing her light with my own, empowering the magic before us and strengthening the wall we had created. My mother’s body drooped slightly, as if a large weight had been taken off of her. She turned a bit and thanked me, smiling as she continued to wield the light to strengthen the wall.

  Above my head I heard the flap of wings and the warmth of the sun shined through a gap in the clouds. They were here! I could feel them above me. Looking up, it was Gabriel, but who was he holding? Angels dropped from the sky before us, strengthening the wall with their light as Gabriel landed within. Letting go of my mother, I couldn’t believe my eyes. The familiarity of the man he held took my breath away. It couldn’t be, could it?

  My body slumped from the weight of the babies. Energy waned as I fell to the floor, nearly fainting at the sight before me. Could it be? Was he really here?

  “LUCIAN?” I screamed as I fell to the Earth.

  “Taylor?” I heard, as the wind rushed around me and I landed on the outstretched knee of my beloved.

  “Lucian?” I asked, my eyes flickered, dazed by the sun.

  “Taylor,” he said, his smoky voice teasing me. My eyes warmed by his adoring smile as he bent down and kissed my lips.

  It couldn’t be, it shouldn’t be, but it was. He had survived, somehow my Lucian had survived. My mind was a mess of emotion, hands trembling at the thought of this being a horrible mind trick Lilith was playing. It wasn’t, was it?

  “Are you real?” I asked as he stroked my hair.

  “Damn, I hope so,” he said, grinning, kissing me again.

  Coming up for air, I studied his face, his ocean blue eyes, his soft pale skin, and I smiled. It was him. My dark knight had come to save me. “Thank you for saving me,” I said, smiling.

  “Thank you for needing to be saved.” He smiled.

  “Oh, I’ll always need to be saved by you,” I said.

  He gently sat me down on the ground amidst the chaos around us. “That’s not what I’ve heard,” he grinned, leaning in to hold me tight. “Err, Taylor, what’s that?” he asked, brow creased, looking down at the bump that held our children.

  I grinned. “What do you think it is, Lucian?”

  “Are we pregnant?” he asked.

  “Well, no.” I laughed. “Technically I’m pregnant.”

  “We’re having a baby?” he asked.

  “Yes, but...”

  “WE’RE HAVING A DAMN BABY!”’ Lucian yelled lifting me up, hugging me and then jumping up to punch the air.

  Harland turned around, grinned and said, “Make that two, mate.”

  “Shit, really?”

  I nodded.

  “WE’RE HAVING TWO BABIES!” he yelled, picking me up and hugging me and our babies tight.

  “Say hi to daddy,” I said, as the little ones beamed light out of my stomach.

  “Aww,” he gushed, bending down to kiss them. “I’m a daddy!”

  “THE WALL!” Elisha yelled, half listening to our conversation, half keeping an eye on the battle ahead.

  I turned and looked. It was breaking.

  “Shit,” L
ucian said, he turned to Gabriel. “Get her out of here.” Gabriel nodded.

  “No,” I said, I wasn’t leaving them all there to die. Not now, not ever. “Where’s Adam?” I asked.

  “He’s coming,” Lucian said. “We wouldn’t wait for the rest of the army, not when Gabriel heard you.”

  “We have to go, Eve,” Gabriel said. “Please.”

  “I can’t, I’m sorry. We have to wait a few more minutes. Adam will be here.”

  My mother turned. “Eve go!” she demanded.

  “No, Mother!” I yelled back.

  “Mother?” Lucian and Gabriel said in unison.

  She smiled, waved, and held her hands up again to power the wall.

  They looked at me. “Long story,” I said. “Get ready, the wall's breaking.”

  Gabriel and Lucian pushed me back. I held up my hands, placed them on my mother and bared down, flowing my light into the defence around us. It helped, a bit. The crack started to heal, but would it hold for long enough?

  There weren’t only demons there now, there was a whole host of supernatural beings. Some gremlin types were working with Lilith; goblins, Elisha had called them. Alongside, huge snarling beasts reigned in with human mutations riding on top of them. The shadelings had upped and joined her cause, siphoning the life out of the dead or dying. I even recognised a few of Elisha’s fellow Femme Fatales caressing the ranks. We couldn’t let them get too close, otherwise they’d be turning the angels against each other. But what was that next to them? Beside the alluring beauty stood something of equal magnificence, but in a detrimental way. It was the vilest looking creation known to man. The opposite of the Femme Fatale, something different, something new and by the looks of it, it was what Lilith had been trying to create when she messed up and made a whole host of dead zombies trailing the ranks. It wasn’t just any walking dead. The creature was once a human, but one turned inside out. His largest organ, his skin, had been taken off and sewn on backwards, bloody tissue exposed to the elements, pumping blood vessels and arteries pulsating through its warped existence. Those things were deadly, pure death walking in unison with pure beauty, and there was at least fifty of the damn things, from what I could see.

  What was its power, though? It appeared weak, devastating and scary looking, but with its arteries on the outside, surely that made it weak? Easy to kill? Perhaps its power didn’t allow you to get close enough to swipe an artery or two, and considering they walked alongside the Femme Fatales, one would presume they had a similar power, a way of manipulating the mind of those around them. If that was the case, if they were anything like the Femme Fatales, or like Rowena, then we wouldn’t stand a chance.

  Blustering wind flustered over our heads. The power of an immortal army gave way to the winged creatures above us. Luckily, they were the winged creatures I knew; they were Adam's army, and there he was, flying down, the greatest of them all with Charmeine by his side.

  “PULL BACK!” Gabriel yelled to the angels by the wall. Lilith was coming. She was metres away and beside her, riding on the beast she came in on, was a little girl who looked the same age as Eli. Where was Eli? I wondered. Did he survive?

  Lucian pushed me to Gabriel, nodded, and Gabriel grabbed me, soaring into the sky. I kicked, screaming to be let go. How dare he? I needed to know they were all going to be okay.

  “Pack it in, Eve. I have to save you.”

  “No, you have to save them first,” I yelled. “I order you!”

  “Damn you, Eve. I’m not listening to your orders anymore, you have a knack of finding trouble.”

  “Please, Gabriel” I pleaded. Gabriel slowed down, flying high above the battle taking place below. The demons had broken through, people were flying everywhere. Adam had landed, and losses were apparent on both sides, but who?

  Adam looked up and ordered the angels to rise and pull back, each picking up one of my loved ones on the way. “They’re coming, Eve. Look, we can go.”

  “Wait, where’s Eli and Lawrence? Did they survive?”

  “I don’t know. I’ll send scouts out to look for them. Don’t worry, they’re both Seers, after all, they should have seen this coming.”

  “Not funny, Gabriel, not funny.”

  CHAPTER 83: Eve

  The journey upward was a turbulent ride, a panicked streak of light, as Gabriel flapped his mighty wings quickly, bursting through the clouds at a rampant pace. Landing in Elysium was never a pleasurable experience, especially when being carried by your closest friend and thrown forward at such a force your insides threatened to become outsides.

  “Careful!” I yelled, bouncing across the crystal floor. Here we were again. The axe lady gave me a nod, smirking as she handed out tickets to the dead and fallen.

  “Really, you tell me to be careful?” Gabriel said, frowning. “You’re the one who ends up fighting for her life every time I see you.”

  “Ha ha,” I said, clearly unimpressed. “What’s going on with you, Gabriel? I thought you’d be happy to see me.”

  “I was... I am,” he said, lowering his head. “It’s going to take some time, Eve.” He said looking at my stomach.

  “You’re not mad, are you?”

  “No, why would I be?” he said, frowning. “Why... do you remember?”

  I nodded. He smiled and kissed my forehead. “But I’m sorry, Gabriel. I’ve found my happiness... you need to, too.”

  His head lowered. “I... but I waited,” he said.

  “I know, I’m truly sorry. You’ll always be my best friend,” I said, placing my hand on his shoulder and pulling him in for a hug. “We were always close, Gabriel,” I said, “Always will be. You mean the world to me.”

  He smiled, nodding. I hugged him again. “I’ve missed you, I’ve missed us,” he said.

  “Me too. My life was only ever simple when I was with you.”

  He nodded, pulling me in close to his chest. I breathed in the scent of everything I’d ever dreamed of, ever loved. We were a match, he and I, always had been. We were easy. The problem was, simple wasn’t what I wanted anymore. The life of Taylor Lane had changed me, brought my light into the darkness, and now I encompassed both. I needed both in my life. I had to have both. It was Lucian I loved, desired, and lusted over. He was my darkness and I was his light. Together we could accomplish anything.

  Michael bounded out of the doorway next to the ticket booth. The axe lady grinned, waved us through. “Eve!” he screeched. “I thought you were dead. And not dead as in caput and be brought back to the sparkly place, but dead as in sliced open with the immortal blade where the serpent feeds on your soul. That kind of dead.”

  “Gee, your full of positivity today, Michael.”

  “Always,” he said, grinning. “Come on, Adam's back and they’re waiting.”

  “My family? They’re here?”

  “Yeah, and a few extras, by the look of it.”

  Gabriel and I followed Michael through the door, down the corridor, and into the main atrium where Adam stood tall engaging with his fellow angels to calm the disarray around them.

  “They can’t be here,” one female angel yelled.

  “They’ll be the death of us all!” a man exclaimed.

  “They have no right.”

  “What about the rose?”

  “Yeah,” a crowd of angels said. “Did you forget the rose, Adam?”

  I stood at the back with Gabriel; watching, waiting.

  “THAT IS ENOUGH” he demanded. “You have no right to question my orders. These people are from a number of different races. It is OUR duty to protect them.”

  The crowds fell silent. My Darkwater family were sat bloody and battered in the corner of the room, tending to each other’s wounds. Where was Lucian?

  Adam shook his head and walked over to them. He appeared to look twice “MOTHER!” he yelled at the top of his celestial lungs, running over to her like a child in tears. “It can’t be,” he said as he held her head, inspected her, and hugged her tightly.
My mother was crying tears of joy as she looked over and gave me the biggest smile. She was home, we all were.

  A gallant Irish bloke skipped over to me. “Well if it ain’t Ol’ Luci’s Mrs. right ere’.” He inspected my stomach. “You’ve got to be shitting me. You’re the size of a baby elephant. What did Lilith do to you?” Joey asked, picking his jaw up from the floor.

  “She’s pregnant, you idiot,” Gabriel said.

  “With what, a fucking rhino?”

  “Two rhinos, actually,” I said, brow raised, smiling.

  “Jeez, Ol’ Luci is packing that sperm, right there. They’re mighty babies, them ones.”

  “Yeah, you could say that.” I grinned. “Where is Lucian?”

  “He went over there.” He said pointing over to a crowd of celestial people.

  “What’s happening?” I asked, walking over with Joey.

  “I dunno, but I can hear someone crying.”

  “What? Why?”

  “How am I supposed to know?” he asked as we picked up speed and ran as quickly as I could. Shit. Who got hurt? Nic? Harland? Elisha wouldn’t have let anyone near her, not with her power. Then who?

  Running into the crowd, I toppled forward, landing beside Lucian and face to face with the pale body of a loved one.

  The body of little Eli lay before us, his wispy brown hair coated with the blood of the fallen. His mouth was wide open in the scream of the innocent. It couldn’t be. Not him. He was barely a child, only seven years old, had never seen an ounce of life past his own. He’d already lost too much, too young. Why him? Why did they have to kill him?

  Joey fell to the ground beside us “Eli! Mate wake up!” he yelled. His pale face corrupt with grief.

  Lucian was sat silent, mouth wide open, shocked to the core. His distraught body shook as he wept sullen tears, turning to look up at me. I flung my arms around him, gripped him tight, held him as he cried. Why did this happen? Why is it always the sweet, young and innocent that perish in such a horrific way? What hope do my children have in a World like this? Eli’s face haunted me as I closed my eyes. A single tear whispered down my face, landing on Lucians shoulder as we held one another.