The Celestial Rose BoxSet

by Annalee Adams

  “Birthday?” I asked, “Since when is it my birthday?”

  “Tomorrow, I believe” he said, “I missed your nineteenth, didn’t want to miss your twentieth, too.”

  “Heck, we all missed my nineteenth,” I said, laughing. “Is it really that time of year again?” I asked. I’d lost track of the date months before. Hell, over a year before, come to think of it.

  He nodded, placing a rectangular, velvet box on my mountain of a tummy.

  “Oh Lucian, you didn’t need to get me anything!”

  “Of course I did.” He smiled.

  I opened up the clasp and inside the box lay a crystal bracelet, with one crystal for every colour the universe held. “It’s beautiful,” I exclaimed. “Thank you so much!” I turned, sat up, and kissed him.

  Taking the bracelet, he wrapped it around my wrist three times. “These are all the crystals Eden holds,” he said. “So you’ll always have your home with you where-ever you go.”

  “Aww,” I gushed. Was it possible to love him any more than I did right then “Thank you,” I said again, kissing him. Gently at first, taking time to taste the texture of his tongue as ours danced together in a triumphant battle of love, lust, and delight.

  He laid me down, sat up, and removed his top. I pulled him down, unzipping his trousers as he lifted my dress up and over my head. “Kiss me?” I asked, pulling his face to mine. He obliged my request as our tongues danced once again.

  I took my time, wanting to remember every second of the moment, every ounce of passion we shared. Our love was eternal, just as we were immortal. We shared an all-consuming lust for one another, a desire beyond any I’d ever known. Could I truly be this lucky?

  Suckling at my neck, he threatened the fangs of a lover’s bite, but he didn’t nip, never tasted. It was me he wanted, not just my blood and all I wanted was him, his touch, his ignitable passion within me. Pulling down his trousers, he shook them off, lifted my legs, and consumed my skin, kissing each part slowly, delicately, teasing and tantalising me. My mind was a mess of chaotic emotions. Holding back the ecstasy, I sat up and lifted his chin. Kissing him as he hitched up my thighs, pushing himself in deep. A shockwave of sparks shot through me as we grinded back and forth. He pulled my legs and pushed in deeper as I came. A trembling sensation of a thousand butterflies tickled my skin from the inside out. It was beauty in its rawest form, an explosion of light and emotion as I screamed out in ecstasy, gripping his buttocks harder, pushing him in deeper. I wanted more, needed more. “Don’t stop,” I panted, wriggling in the writhes of passion. I would have screamed more if I could, but at that moment, the purity in perfection, I was silent. Ecstatically silent. He came within as I felt him contort, too. My body trembled. I was in Heaven, literally. Well. and truly. in the one perfect place I had always wanted to be in. My type of heaven, with my lover, as he laid beside me panting, my babies as they wriggled in my tummy, and my body feeling satisfied... yet sleepy.

  Lucian smiled, turning over to me. “Come on, let’s get you to bed.” He said as I yawned, lying in my safe spot on his shoulder. I nodded. He picked me up and carried me back to our room where we rested the night away, ready to start afresh on a brand-new day.

  CHAPTER 88: Taylor

  “Are you ready, sweet cheeks?” Lucian asked, rolling over in bed beside me.

  “I’m debating the word ready...” I frowned.

  “Okay, what’s on your mind?”

  “Aside from the only slight strand of hope glimmering inside of me, I have this dreadful feeling it’s going to be Hell on Earth down there.”

  “Well... I’m not going to beautify it for you. Lilith’s a twisted daughter of darkness, so yeah, I’d hazard you’ve made an accurate assumption.”

  “Oh, you’re full of doom and gloom today.” I said sitting up, punching him on the shoulder.

  “Nope, I’m a new born realist.”

  I laughed. Lucian the ever soppy romantic suddenly a realist, come on... “Well... if my sister is the daughter of darkness, wouldn’t that make me just as twisted?” I asked, standing up naked, draping a sheet over my body to head to the shower.

  “Hmm, did I forget to mention I like a bit of darkness?” he growled, sitting up and then running after me as I bolted, giggling to the bathroom.

  “Lucian, no, I’m showering.”

  “I could join in on the steaming shower...”

  “Okay, you can wash my back,” I grinned.

  “Now when you put it like that, I’m all in, gorgeous.”

  “Wow, you really are cheery today,” I said, stepping into the shower. “What gives?”

  “Is it bad of me to want to head back down to Earth, collect my own actual clothes, and check out the home I’ve had for... well... a while now?” He smirked.

  “No, not at all... do you think they survived?”

  “Who?”

  “Charles, Eliza, and anyone else we knew when we were down there.”

  “Like you said, Taylor, we have to have hope.”

  “Indeed, we do, now scrub.” I said handing him the sponge.

  “Yes, ma'am,” he said, standing behind me, soaping up the sponge. As he caressed my back, I moved my hair around over my shoulder, revealing one side of my neck. His hot body leant against mine as he bought the sponge around, soaping my breasts, kissing my neck.

  Making love was an art we were both accustomed to. It was natural between us. I urged, and he answered. It was like he knew every part of me. We matched not just in love, but in body, mind, and spirit, too. He was my anchor, keeping me sane, taking away my pain in troublesome times. Between us, we grew. Our love knew no bounds, no matter of the devastation that could tear us apart. Hell, we’d crossed realms to be together, our babies were a miracle growing inside and the future we dreamed of. Both my light and his darkness, they’d be the perfect balance, nature at its best, yin and yang, good and evil. Without one, the other could not exist, but together, they shined.

  After a long, hot shower, we kissed, washing off the sweat as we soaked under the steaming rainfall showerhead.

  “Woohoo, little Evie...”

  What? How the Hell did he know to call me that? “Joey, go away, we’re showering.”

  “I heard.”

  Jumping out the shower, Lucian wrapped me in a towel as Joey burst in. “Mate put some clothes on we have a trip to take.”

  Lucian laughed, “Get out, mate, we’ll be there shortly.”

  “Tick tock goes the clock, hurry the fuck up.” He paused as he looked over my dripping body, the towel barely covering me due to my huge baby bump. “Mmm, you look tasty.” He examined as he took a step closer to me.

  Instincts took over. I raised my right hand and forced out a blast of light directed straight at him. “Back off, Joey.”

  Joey flew out of the bathroom and tumbled into the bed frame opposite. Standing up, he held up his hands. “Whoa, girl, you’re hot when you’re mad.”

  “Out!” I demanded, raising my hand again. Lucian laughed. Joey sped out grinning.

  “He’s right, though, you are hot when you’re mad.”

  “Shut it, Lucian.” I said, grinning and pushing him sideways.

  After we had changed, we met the gang for breakfast. The table seated all of us. You would think it was built directly for the occasion and, knowing Adam, it was. I sat beside Lucian with Adam on the other side, at the head of the table, Mother was opposite. Beside Mother sat Gabriel, who smirked as he kicked me underneath. Brow raised, I blew the candle out before him, transporting the flame to his delicate hairstyle that he loved so much.

  Lucian laughed as Gabriel jumped up with Michael throwing water over his head.

  “Children, children,” Adam said. Even Mother was laughing.

  Beside Gabriel and Michael sat Elisha, Harland, and Joey on that side, with Lawrence, Nic, and Jayden on my side, but with three seats missing.

  “Who are those seats for?” I asked Adam.

  “Ah, they aren’t her
e yet. Charmeine, would you fetch them, please?” he asked, waving her over. As she left, I saw the glint of a dagger in her belt, one I recognised from Adam's book. Was that the Reaper’s blade? It couldn’t be. How did she have it?

  “Why does Charmeine have the Reaper's blade?” I asked Adam.

  “For your safety, Eve. She’s going with you to Earth.”

  “Fine. But there really doesn’t have to be a lot of people. We’ll stand out like a sore thumb if there are.” I said.

  “A sore what?” Adam asked.

  “Oh, nothing, but isn’t it better to go in a more stealthily manner?”

  “Hmm, you may be right there. I’ll tell her to keep the numbers down.”

  “How about we see who wants to go and take it from there?” I asked, smiling.

  “Fine.” He said, frowning.

  The door opened and Charmeine directed my father in with Caleb and his partner, Jennie, close behind. She curtseyed when entering. I smiled and jumped up, hugging my dad. “Where have you been? I didn’t see you at the celebration yesterday.”

  “I was working with Gregory to make sure the defences were in place. I wanted to keep you all safe.” He smiled.

  “Oh, look at you Dad, you’re really taking part here, aren’t you?”

  He nodded, pulling me in for a huge bear hug.

  Breakfast was served. Sitting at the table, it was nice to see everyone again. Elisha and Harland were quite the couple, always fooling around just like Lucian and I. Nic and Jayden were made for each other, but I’d never understand how a shapeshifter and a hunter quite worked. Opposites attract, I guess. I shrugged.

  Then there was Adam, my big brother and the ever-brave leader, and my mother, too. It was so nice to see her laugh and bring the family together again. I just hoped Lilith could be turned back to our side one day, then all we’d be missing was the Almighty, but I doubted he could ever be saved. I should have felt more for him, but he’d turned against me when I was still so young, and since then I’d had countless lives to contemplate that fate. Beside them sat Gabriel and Michael, both my best friend and my protector. Although Michael wasn’t always bad at protecting me, and I couldn’t blame him for wanting companionship; he had thought I was dead, after all. Gabriel, well, he and I we were eternal best of friends, although he wanted more, but he was important to me. He was my closest ally and the angel I’d run to every time I needed a shoulder to cry on. He’d always been there for me. Heck, he was willing to give up Elysium for me. We were going to take over humanity and show them how they should live, without the wars, the greed, and the negativity. We planned on showing them the light, bringing life back into their miserable souls. That was what I thought, though, until I was one of them. When I walked through the footsteps of a mortal girl, I learned that even when times are bad, when life was at its worst, there was always hope. Good triumphs and evil dies. Human lives mattered, we mattered, and I could never see them like I used to, not now, not ever, and that’s where Gabriel and I differed. He didn't see the mortals as I did, he saw them as an inferior race to be ruled and ruined, there for his pleasure to do with as he saw fit. He didn't mean anything bad with the way he acted around them, it was all he knew, all he’s ever known. One day I hoped to change that, to change it for all of them, make them equal in the eyes of every survivor, mortal or immortal. No-one had more right to live then anyone of us, and if we worked together we could achieve great things. Lucian understood that, he valued human life. Heck, he was human. He saw how both light and dark can bond. Humans walked a shade of grey all the time. They were capable of both and it was that balance that made them great He saw that just as I did, and that was how we’d save the universe, by working together, one step at a time.

  “Eve, it’s time.” Adam said, interrupting my thoughts.

  I nodded, smiled, and rose from my chair. Was I ready for this? The babies kicked. We’re going home, I thought, hand on my tummy. I was really looking forward to visiting my old home, picking up a few things I needed. The blanket, for example, the one my mother gave me. It should be right on the chair in my room. I wanted my children to have it, to wrap them in it just like she did with me. It had kept me safe, it’d keep them safe, too. I knew I shouldn’t put so much sentimental value on pointless items, but realistically, if we didn’t have our memories, our hope, what was left?

  Lucian took my arm, rose from the table and gave me a huge hug, pulling me close. “Come on,” he said, directing me out of the room.

  “Wait!” I turned and ran over to my dad. “Daddy!” I cried Jeez, what was wrong with me, I wasn’t going away for good.

  He pulled me in close, bent down, and looked into my eyes. “It’ll be okay, baby bear,” he said, smiling, looking deep with concern. “I want you to take this. I don’t have much left, but this watch was your grandfather's. It’ll keep you safe and where ever you go, you’ll know that with every second that passes by, I’m thinking of you and awaiting your safe return.” He smiled. “Be safe, Taylor Lane. I love you.” Huge arms pulled me in close. My lips tasted of salty tears as he let go, turned, and left with Caleb and Jennie. Caleb waved and blew a kiss in the air as Jennie curtseyed as they were leaving the room.

  “Right, who’s comin’ to play?” Joey asked, clapping his hands. “Dog? You comin’?” He asked, directing his attention to Harland.

  Harland growled. “No, I’m bloody not, and I don’t think you should either, Taylor. It’s not safe!”

  “I’ll be fine, Harland, Lucian's with me, and so’s my mother.” I said. Mother smiled.

  “We’re coming, too,” Nic said, raising his and Jayden’s interlinked hands.

  “I need to see if any of the hunters survived.” Jayden said.

  I nodded. “See, I’m not alone.”

  “That’s not enough, Taylor, and you know it.”

  Lucian stepped forward. “He’s right. We can’t go without more of you, just in case Lilith’s still down there.”

  “I checked the pool this morning. There was no sign of her anywhere. I couldn’t reach her.” Adam said.

  “That’s good news.” I replied.

  “I will be coming,” Lawrence said. “I need to bring Eli home.” I nodded, tears stung in my eyes. We all wanted Eli home, and that was always on my agenda.

  Gabriel stepped forward and grinned. “What, you didn’t think you lot would go and party without me, did you?” I laughed as he walked over and kissed my forehead. “Michael, you coming, mate?” Michael nodded, walking over.

  “Okay, so plus Joey, that makes nine of us.” I said.

  “Ten,” Charmeine said, walking in.

  “What? No, Charmeine, you can’t leave Elysium undefended.” I said.

  Adam smiled. “It’s okay, I need to make sure you and Mother are safe. Charmeine is our best fighter here, she will keep you all safe, and in the meantime, if there is an attack, Gregory has fortified the walls and we have the guard to keep us safe until you’re all back. Just don’t be long, okay?” Adam said, walking over and pulling me in for a brotherly hug.

  “Okay,” I smiled, looking up at him. “So what now?”

  “This way.” Charmeine ordered as we followed her from the dining area, through the atrium, with crowds of celestial beings watching us, whispering and waving their goodbyes, then into the ticket station. The axe lady gave us a wave as the guards pulled open the gates, allowing a hoard of undead souls in and our living bodies out. “Well, at least they’ll find peace.”

  “I wouldn’t count on it.” Gabriel said as we walked through the tunnel.

  “Why?”

  “Adam's got them training to fight, remember? You gave him the idea.”

  I winced. “Oh crap, yeah. I guess at least they have something to fight for.”

  Lucian nodded, took my hand, and sped us forward.

  “Hey, not fair!” Gabriel shouted, unleashing his wings and flying forward to catch up. “Don’t you need a lift down?” He grinned.

  “Hmm, d
o we have to?” Lucian moaned.

  I laughed as Gabriel picked us up and flew us down into the fiery pits of Hell on Earth below.

  CHAPTER 89: Taylor

  Lips dry, fists clenched, was I ready for this? With my wide eyes, down we flew, my breathing rapid and erratic. There so much smoke. How would Gabriel find Elvington, let alone a safe place to land? But then, it was Gabriel, he had beady, hawk eyes. I’d always taunted him for it, but he had the natural hunter instincts; he could find a needle in a haystack if he wanted to. Although he never did believe in himself, never saw himself like I’d seen him, like I still saw him. Now, now I’d found real love, the love that makes you sweat in their presence, stop breathing as he kisses your neck, the love that when he touches you, it takes all pain away, every ounce, swept from your system while you’re with him. Nothing was left except the wondrous feeling of never being alone again, of finding your one true soulmate, the yin to your yang. The beauty of that emotion as it consumes you whole.

  Where were we? Amidst the smoke-fuelled skyline, it was hard to breathe. My body choked on the fumes of nature's own element, an element that, when combined with air, travelled from one incendiary to another. Was there anything left down there?

  Flying lower through the smoke-filled blizzard around us, the world as we knew it had vanished. The smog cleared around us as we searched for a safe place to land. Flames lit the horizon with every structure in sight scorched beyond recognition. The taste of smoke corrupted my senses as what should have been autumn on Earth. Crisp leaves falling and Halloween plans in the making had become a corpse-filled existence of cinder and ash. A forgotten world with no survivors anywhere in sight.

  Where was the sounds? Birds tweeting, children playing? There was nothing, not even the stirring of the zombie-like experiments roaming the streets. What was this place now? How could something so forgotten ever have been my home?