“Eve,” my mother muttered. My eyes strained through the light. She lived! My mother lived! “Eve, I haven’t got long,” she said.
“Mother, no!” I demanded. “We can fight this!” But I didn’t know how.
“No, my child, you can’t... not yet, but I can...” she uttered. A bright, white light filled her body, streaming through every darkened crevice in the room.
“Wait! What are you doing?”
“Just know that I love you,” she said as the light left her breathless body and swarmed over to my necrotic one.
Warmth fled over my chilled complexion as the sparkle came back to my eyes. The flame of everlasting life penetrated my cells, absorbing into me and bonding with my genetic structure. It began knitting every part of me back together, from the inside out. As it worked, my mind cleared, my body refreshed. It was as though a weight had lifted off my shoulders, as every ounce of tension was released. I was free. My body was alive once again; fresh, strong and full of life.
Looking over to my mother, I saw her smile fade. Her breathing eased as she took her final breath, uttering my name. The love fled from her eyes as her spirit absorbed into my own. She was with me, within me, part of my life force and no matter where I went, I would carry her with me. I was her path out of there, all I had to do was escape, fight, and live. She had entrusted me with her light, had used it to heal me in the hopes that we would both return home. And one day, just as it always did for me, the celestial rose would rebirth my mother and she would rise again standing by my side, forever more.
CHAPTER 109: LUCIAN
Waking the next morning, knowing I'd had some real sleep, even if it was only a few hours, was damn good. Man, I'd missed my bed. I missed sharing it too. I hoped she was okay, hoped she'd found a way to heal, to fight, to survive. If anyone could, she could.
And my boy, my son... what would become of him in Lilith’s clutches? Hell, what would become of him in God's clutches? I thought, shuddering. This place was my happily ever after, the home I thought I'd share with all my family; my wife-to-be and my children. Heck, I never even thought I'd have kids, let alone my beautiful girl.
I was in bed staring fondly at my daughter as she chirped away to herself, smiling.
The room was fit for a king, or a little princess. Elisha had really gone all out in preparing and choosing a selection of clothes and toys. My girl loved every one of them, especially her bright, floppy-eared bunny rabbit.
"Come on, baby, let's get you changed. Today we ascend to Elysium to meet your Uncle Adam." I knew I had to find a way of contacting the powers that be up there. Adam would watch my girl, protect her as I journeyed into the depths of Hell in search of my beloved and my newborn baby boy.
Footsteps hammered up the stairs. "Lucian, we have to go!" Eliza yelled.
Jumping up, I sensed the urgency in her voice. I sped around the room, cursing the bedstead as I bashed into it. Fleeing down the stairs with my child in my arms, I hurtled straight into Eliza. What was wrong with me?
“You need blood Lucian,” Eliza observed.
I nodded. That was most likely the case. The more time between meals, the less revitalised my body felt.
“They’re here,” she exclaimed with a nervous look.
“Who?” I asked, equally as worried. How could anyone find the mansion? They would only see it if they knew to look for it. The demons outside and the mad mutated zombie types... well, they didn’t have a clue, but Lilith... heck, she knew it was there. I bet she knew we were all there.
Joey ran in. “Yo, mate, put on your glad rags, it’s gonna be a party.” He quipped, bracing himself in a poor excuse for a battle stance.
“We have to run, Eliza. I have my child to consider.”
“Shit, man, you neva run from a fight.”
“I never had a kid before!”
“He’s right,” Eliza said, “We must protect your daughter, she brings us hope.”
Clarity befell, I smiled, she sure did. Every ounce of her being bought hope into my life.
Eliza smiled. “Place Hope down, Lucian. I’ll protect her in a ward and they won’t be able to see her.”
I smiled. Hope, my daughter... I followed her instructions as my child giggled, pinching my cheeks while I leant in to kiss her forehead.
Armed with silver blades, a powerful witch, and an insane lunatic, we stood together, ready to fight to the death for my child’s survival. And to the death it may well be.
CHAPTER 110: GABRIEL
The petty humans were more disgusting than they ever were before. I flicked a mutated one across the field so it could go and play with its brethren. “Balast, remove the creatures. I’m bored of the attack.” I said, Balast nodded. The small army of twenty angelic soldiers followed suit, eviscerating every evil that came within fifty feet of our travels.
“Where to now, sir?” Balast asked.
“Eleven miles north and we shall find them,” I answered.
Walking across the scorched Earth, we passed a flock of the dead as they scuttled away for their own survival. Caskets lay bare as the creatures merged with the night. Sight was a bonus for any amongst the living, but even angelic eyes struggled to see the light in the darkness. Although night time would end soon; we’d be there by sunrise. Granted, we could fly, but flight offered a callous speed and one where you tended to miss the obvious from the Earth below. We were trackers tonight, heeding the clues left from the one that had once lived; Lucian Darkwater. His heart might still beat, but his lifeline was lost long ago. I didn’t care much for him, but his life was connected to hers, and she... I did care about. Plus, there was something different about this trail, something new. He didn’t walk alone. Could it be possible that Eve or one of her babies walked beside him? His prints were heavier, some doubled up. If that wasn’t the case, then it was something else following him, and that was more worrisome than ever. His existence was the key to finding her alive. After what Charmeine had told us, there was little hope of that left. But then, I didn’t expect to find a healthy, living Lucian walking the Earth again. How did he escape from Hell? And where was Eve?
CHAPTER 111: LUCIAN
Ready for a fight, we remained poised and dangerous.
The trudging of footsteps in the early morning sun silenced at the front door. Whoever it was had stopped, and then we heard the knocking. A thudding resounded in our eardrums as Joey yelped at the mere thought. Who was it? Why would they knock?
“Answer it, Luci,” Joey quivered.
I glared at him... “No, you answer it!”
“Boys, grow a pair,” Eliza exclaimed as she marched forward and opened the front door of the mansion to a large group of tall, muscular angels.
“Gabby, man! You shit me up!” Joey yelled, running forward to hug Gabriel.
Gabriel grimaced “Get off me,” he ushered, unravelling himself from Joey’s arms.
I laughed. “Gabriel, it’s good to see you!”
“Is she here?” he asked, motioning inside the mansion.
“No, I had to go, Gabriel. She’s still there.”
Gabriel’s eyes widened and his brow furrowed. “WHAT!” He yelled. “Are you telling me you left Eve in Hell?”
“Yes, but I had to get out!”
Gabriel stepped forward.
“You don’t understand, mate,” I said as Gabriel grabbed me round the neck. “Put me down, Gabs, I don’t want to hurt you!” I gurgled. He knew full well we could fight to the brink of death and neither would give in.
Eliza waved her arms and Hope appeared, sat cooing in a circle of light.
Gabriel dropped me, fell to his knees by my child, and tears wept from his eyes. “She looks just like her mother,” he said, holding out his hand as she gripped his finger.
Rubbing my neck, I went over and placed a hand on Gabriel’s shoulder. “Meet Hope, my daughter.”
“You had to save her.” Gabriel said, making a statement rather than a question.
“Yes
, Taylor begged me to.”
“But what about the other baby?”
“My son? I’m afraid God took him before I had the chance to save him.”
Gabriel’s expression saddened. “We must save them.”
I nodded and leant down to pick up Hope. Hope smiled as she stretched out her arms, opening and closing her hands towards Gabriel. “Here,” I said, offering him the chance to hold my baby girl, “She’s asking for you.”
Gabriel took her and kissed her cheek. She giggled.
“We must take her to Elysium, she will be safe there. Then we can search for Eve and your son.”
CHAPTER 112: ADAM
The following morning, I awoke to a chorus of cheers. “What’s happening?” I hollered out into the courtyard, slipping into my robe as I walked.
“They’re back, sire, they’re back!” A citizen yelled as he ran past to greet the travellers.
Gabriel emerged, carrying a weary looking Lucian and a bright and bubbly baby girl. “Gabriel, you found them,” I exclaimed, looking amongst the crowd for any sign of my sister and mother.
“Not quite, Adam.” Gabriel filled me in as Lucian calmed his stomach. His adversity to flying always made me smile.
“So, this is my darling niece, Hope?” I asked, directing my attention to the queasy Lucian.
Lucian stood tall, took a deep breath and nodded. “Yes. I take it Gabriel has filled you in?”
“Yes.”
“Then we must find Taylor and my son. They’re not safe down there in Lilith’s hands... let alone your father’s!”
I grimaced, he was right. I dreaded to think what would become of Eve if she was left in the clutches of my insane twin sister for too long. “You’re right, but you are no good to us like this. Take some time, Lucian, freshen up, eat something, and head down with a celestial army by your side. We WILL find them, we MUST!”
“We need to move fast, Adam.” Gabriel said. “Look how old Hope looks. Time passes differently in Hell. She is ageing just as her brother is.”
“How?” Adam said.
Eliza stepped forward. “We don’t know, Adam, but the longer her brother is down there, the faster she ages. Hope has aged months in a matter of days,” she exclaimed.
I nodded. What more could I say? Eve’s twins shared a bond that even time, and space could not break. I was a little envious. I missed my twin, too, but we’d never had a bond as strong as Eve’s children would have. They were connected, somehow, and my gut feeling said that they would be the future to all our present. As Lucian said, his daughter brought us Hope.
CHAPTER 113: LILITH
The resonating sounds of my father trudging from one wall to another echoed throughout the cave. What was daddy doing? Couldn’t he see I was busy here?
Eve’s son sat pounding the stone floor with his fists, darkness swirled around him. His body tensed, cries leapt out. Daddy was upsetting him! Why would he do that? “Hush now, baby, sit up. I’ll show you a song daddy and I used to sing.”
Pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake baker's man,
Bake me a cake as fast as you can.
Pat it, and prick it, and mark it with "B".
Put it in the oven for baby and me.
For baby and me.
For baby and me.
“Damn you, child, be quiet!” Daddy boomed.
The boy jumped, crying louder at my father’s cruel tone.
“But daddy, he likes it.”
“Go take the boy elsewhere, Lilith, I’m trying to think.”
“Fine.” I said, stomping down my foot as I rose, taking the boy’s hand, and dragging him behind me. The kid had grown since he’d been here. He didn’t know how to walk yet, but he managed to bum shuffle across the caves. He clearly needed the benefit of my mutation chamber. I’d have him walking in no time.
Why was daddy so tetchy all the time? I’d have thought he’d be happy now that he finally had her back. Didn’t he realise she was a waste of his time?
Pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake baker's man,
Bake me a cake as fast as you can.
Pat it and prick it and mark it with "B".
Put it in the oven for baby and me.
For baby and me.
For baby and me.
The tune hummed through my mind. What a catchy little song. “B for boy”, I said aloud, looking down at the child’s dark eyes as the murky ambience of night enriched his soul. “Hmm...no, that’s not right... that’s not right at all. You need a name!” I giggled. “Ohhhh, this is fun!” I clapped. “What shall we call you?” I asked, perching down on the floor beside him. “Ooo, this is a tough one! It must be something strong... like Lucifer was, or is...” The enrichment of catastrophic cackles bled from my throat. The boy’s eyes widened. “Oh well, boy, I’m thinking. Give me a minute.” Standing up, I began to dance, twirling and swirling around the child, encapsulated by his darkness. “I know, I know!” I grinned from ear to ear. “Malek... I’ll call you Malek! It’s fitting, considering who your father is.” My smile widened again. I smirked as I named him. “I’m sure Evie will love it!”
Down the corridor, a scream bellowed as an almighty crash sounded. “Now what’s she doing?” I yelled. Malek cried. “That bloody mother of yours!” I said, leaving Malek to crawl back to the cave we had come from.
CHAPTER 114: EVE
With my mother’s soul entwined with my own, and a body fully knitted and back to its usual spritely self, I was ready. Ready for what, I didn’t know. But I could guarantee whatever was coming would embrace me in the claws of a fight. A battle of genetics, as I rose to seek out my son and escape the infernal place.
Jumping down from the alter caused one of the lanterns to fall to the floor, igniting everything flammable within a two-foot radius.
“Damn, Eve! Are you okay?” Cain yelled.
“Yeah, where are you?” I yelled back as I scurried away from the fire and towards his voice.
My mother’s body still hung there, lit by the screaming rage of the lanterns that inflamed our broken environment. I wanted to release her, set her free, but the voice in my mind whispered my name. My mother’s touch eased my suffering as she pushed me away from her fallen frame. My mother resided within me, I could feel her love as it purified my spirit. She directed me through emotion, feeling, and instinct. If anyone could help me succeed, she would.
“Over here!” Cain yelled, choking on the smoke as it clung to his throat.
Rushing over, I pulled at the door. Cain sat in the darkness coughing, suffocating. The door wouldn’t budge. Where was the damn key? My eyes bulged. It had to be here somewhere! “Use your magic, Eve!” he spluttered, and my hands lit up like Christmas trees. Granted, I didn’t have control, but my mother sure did. Pressing my hands on the lock, it clicked, groaned, and turned. The door creaked open and an abrupt Cain rushed out towards me.
His emerald eyes glared through my soul as his blond hair curtained across his face. I couldn’t remember him from before, but I could damn see why Lilith had a thing for him.
He grabbed my hand and pulled me towards the corridor. “Come on, Eve, we have to go!” he yelled, coughing into a mucky cloth he’d ripped from his shirt. Looking down, I was still half naked. It wasn’t the best way to meet your brother-in-law, but I doubted either of us were bothered. My former dress was shredded through the middle and black as night with the dirt and grime I’d lay in for shit knows how long. There was barely enough material left to cover my breasts, let alone my vagina. I was a mess. I stunk and sounded like I’d smoked thirty a day for the past two years. It hadn’t bothered me before, but now that my mother had healed me, I was aware of what state I’d been in.
As we left the cavern, I took one last look at my mother’s withering corpse. The fire had reached her skin. She was burning. Her outer shell peeled back as it waned, turning her to ash.
Lilith’s callous cackles echoed over the corridor. We stopped dead in our tracks. She was ahead of us and there was no way past. We
could either run and hide or face her and seek justice for all the pain she had caused. “We have to keep going, Cain, she has my son!” He nodded, and we ran at full speed towards the open arms of my spine-tingling, sinister sister.
The corridor was empty. Was this a game? Where was she? We entered a room at the far end where a middle-aged lady was brushing a young girl’s hair. “Aria!” Cain yelled, running over and embracing her. Was this really his daughter? The child he had spoken of? “Aroelyn!” he said as he smiled and kissed his beloved deeply.
“You must leave, Cain!” Aroelyn demanded. “Please, take Aria. She’ll be back soon!” The woman was frightened. Her long, black hair fell over her daughter as she leant down to kiss her goodbye. Her pale skin shone with tears as she pushed them both back. “Go! Now!”
“Come with us!” I urged.
“No,” she said, “I’ll hold them back.”
“You won’t, Aroelyn! You go. Let Eve take you both safely out of here. I’ll stay and control Lilith,” he said.
Aroelyn shook her head. “No, you know what she will do when she finds out who we are to you, who she is...” she said, looking down at her daughter.
“Let’s all go,” I urged. “We need to stick together.”
The pitter patter of dancing feet swirled and twirled down the corridor. “I’m getting closer, little Evie. Don’t think you can out run me this time,” she cackled, breaking into a chorus of laughter.
The Celestial Rose BoxSet Page 72
