The Celestial Rose BoxSet

by Annalee Adams

  “What? No!” Lucian yelled over the top of the noise of the battle.

  “Yes, Lucian. Eliza’s here. Joey, too. You and Cain are the strongest fighters and we need you out there. We won’t win otherwise.”

  Cain winced, brought Aria to my side, grabbed Lucian, and dragged him into the battle ahead.

  CHAPTER 124: ELISHA

  Hand in hand we ran, fighting for our family’s survival. We were once on opposing sides. Wasn’t it strange how time changes everything? Who would have thought a Femme Fatale and a Lycan could be mated? We ran as two bodies, but our souls walked as one.

  The fog smothered us, a blanket of vile purgatory penetrating our veins. Breathing in the corruption, we ran, poisoning our lives with the intensity of our hatred at its finest form. Lilith must have sent the fog of war that surrounded us as we ran forward. We were muddled by the gloom that encased our vision. Clouds of obscurity paved our path forward. “Harland, I can’t see a damn thing!”

  “Me neither, honey,” he said.

  Now wasn’t the time for sweet talk. We were running blind here.

  Entering a clearing in the centre of the storm, we waited. Squinting to see further into the fog, we braced ourselves for the charge. Nic pounded his four padded feet on the ground behind us, roaring and raising his mane, scratching the dirt, ready to jump into battle.

  Pearce and Jessie circled round to the sides, heading in for the quick attack and hoping to catch some of them off guard. I couldn’t see how we could win the war, not with the small number of troops we had on our side. But we had to try. And now that Adam’s army was here, I guess we had a slight chance.

  The noise of marching feet grew louder as Lilith’s troops drew in closer. I could almost hear her cackles resonating in the background of her formidable force. Where was she? The fog soothed as thousands upon thousands of mutated troops stood side by side. Our petty little gang shrivelled in size as Adam and his angels swept in, blasting the troops with bolts of light, igniting the fog with an orchestra of commotion and firelight.

  Harland shifted in mid-air, crashing down on the skeletal remains of humanities fallen souls and taking down monster after monster, beast after beast.

  Out snapped my whip as I engaged my senses, luring in the enemy with the promise of my lusting love and sexual desire. Walking through the battlefield, their heads turned and, like the pied piper, I breathed out my tune. Dancing amongst the roses, I siphoned in one soul at a time, breathing their last breath and butchering their last moments. Leaving a few to fight for me, I was protected, encircled by my forces, my own private army. I was the queen of this land, their answer to the meaning of life, love, and everything. I sighed at the small minds of the creatures. They were so easy to sway to my side. It would have remained a simplistic war if Lilith’s cackling creation Rowena hadn’t found me in that moment.

  Snapping her fingers as she walked, she engaged the minds of others to do her bidding. She was like another version of myself. Lilith had taken her, mutated her, and given her my power to warp the minds of others with the snap of her fingers and a devilish grin. I remembered her; she was once a friend to the family. Taylor and Rowena had been the closest of allies back in the day. But now they sat on opposing sides, waging a war with an infernal end. I had wondered, if I came face to face with another version of myself, how would I fight? We had the same abilities, the same power, heck, even the same good looks. Granted, my blond curls suited my frame better than her rosy red bunches did with hers. I smirked. She might have had the same abilities as me, but I knew damned well that I had a heck of a lot more experience than she did.

  I raised my right hand and commanded my army to take on Rowena. They would keep her busy while I turned her troops to fight by my side. Within seconds I had a full battalion added to my own. Rowena screamed as she battled off the undead. She raised her hand and every single soldier turned against me. Damn. I didn’t see that coming. I had to reach her; the only way I could win the battle was through hand to hand combat. Leaping forward, I let my fingers do the talking. Every soldier I touched absorbed my aroma, embracing it as their own. Troops turned, the battle continued, and I ran headlong into the centre of it.

  “ROWENA!” I yelled. Coiling my whip high into the air, I snapped it around her neck like a noose. She struggled to release herself as I held her down with my other hand. “Let it go, Rowena! Don’t let her do this to you,” I yelled.

  “GET OFF ME,” she shouted. In the corner of my eye, Ricky came pummelling into view, landing smack bang into the side of me. I flew across the ground, landing in a pool of maggot-infested remains. Quickly standing up, I batted myself down, shuddering. Vile things. What the heck had happened to him? Ricky used to be the sweet boy in the science class. He wouldn’t say boo to a goose, let alone take on a Femme Fatale during battle. What was he thinking? Stupid human!

  Although... it was no human force, it was something more, something immortal. Heck no! Ricky wasn’t Ricky any more... Lilith had changed him, too. He looked human, but with the strength of a herd of rhinos. My bloody arm ached from the impact. Damn, why did it always have to come to this? I leapt in the air, smacked my whip down around his wrist, yanked him forward into my arms, and kissed him smack on the lips. With the kiss, Rowena screamed. I siphoned every drop of life out of the creature and I wasn’t sorry for it. I don’t know what he was, but damn he picked the wrong side to fight on.

  Rowena’s eyes streamed, her heart sobbed, and her voice staged a scream of devastation. She was broken; her love was gone. Her mind was a mess of revenge and trepidation. She leapt in the air, landed on top of me, and gripped her scrawny fingers around my neck. Pulling hair was a trick for girls, clawing ones throat out was one for the women. Fuck it hurt. Blood streamed from my neck, my skin serrated as it bled.

  “GET OFF ME!” I yelled, clawing at the back of her hands to release myself. It was no use, she had me strapped down and buried in the ground. Her strength would be commendable, if only it wasn’t used against me. Covered in mud, I managed to yank my neck back and turn to the side. Her weight toppled as she moved. Not much, but just enough. I flipped over, balled my fists, and smacked her square in the jaw. Falling back, she yelped, gripping her bloody nose. Scrambling to my feet, I fumbled around. Where was my whip? There wasn’t enough time, she’d be on me in seconds. I had to act. Without further hesitation, I leapt forward, locked jaws, and kissed her holding her face to mine, gripping her hair tight. One final kiss, one lasting moment as her arms fell limp. Her solemn face exhausted its colour. Greyed skin turned to ash as her weary eyes lost all sign of hope. Dropping her cold dead corpse to the ground, I licked my lips and continued into battle, onto the next vile victim. Never looking back, never surrendering.

  CHAPTER 125: CAIN

  “Lucian watch out!” I yelled, as a three-headed monster swung an axe at Lucian’s head.

  “Shit, that was close!”

  “You’re telling me,” I exclaimed. Lucian nodded, ran forward, and took on the next beast that headed his way. Luckily it was just a duel-headed ponce.

  “Shit, stay still you wriggling mutt,” I yelled. The bloody pet was crawling all over me. “Aren’t you supposed to be helping me here or something?” Jesus wrapped itself around my neck and kept me warm as he continued to lick my face. “Damn mate quit doing that, you’re putting me off my battle dance.”

  Jesus growled to the right just as a former human ran headlong into me. “Fuck! What the hell are you?” I asked, looking the thing up and down. Its body was human, its head something from the Twilight Zone. Its legs, all eight of them, well, six arms and two legs by the looks of it, slurped over the ground. It looked a downright mess. “That’s some horrific shit you’ve got going on there!” I said, gagging. The thing stopped, its whiskers sniffed the air, and it looked down at its tendrils. “I know, mate, she messed you up pretty bad, didn’t she?” It grunted, looked down to the ground, turned away, and walked off. “Damn, she is one mean bitch at ti
mes.”

  “Who’d you call a mean bitch?” a voice I recognised said from behind me.

  “Shit,” I said. Jesus wriggled down, over the floor, and disappeared towards the voice.

  “Aren’t you going to turn around and look at your wife, Cain?” Lilith asked.

  “Fuck that, you’ve lost the plot, princess.” I said, keeping my back turned. Which I knew, would infuriate her further.

  “QUEEN!” she yelled, “I’M THE FUCKING QUEEN!”

  “Since when?”

  “Since daddy said so,” she said, exhaling air through her nose.

  I laughed and turned around to face her. I ended up laughing harder when I saw her pouting her lips with her hands on her hips.

  “Stop laughing!” she shrieked. “It isn’t funny. Daddy said I would rule this land. That makes me Queen, so you’d better be quiet, or you won’t be King.”

  “Since when did you think I’d want to be King?”

  “Since, like, always,” she said, tapping her foot.

  “No, Lilith, the only reason we were ever together is because you were quite literally the last woman on Earth,” I said. “I had no fucking choice.”

  “Oh, what... and you do now?”

  “Err, yeah!” I yelled, raising my hand to show the population fighting around us.

  “Well, fine. I never liked you anyway!” she said, stomping down her foot and turning away from me.

  “What, so that’s it then?” I asked.

  “Yeah, that’s it,” she tossed back.

  “So, you’ll leave me alone?” I asked. “And Aria? You’ll leave her alone, too?”

  “Fine,” she said, quietly pouting.

  “Fine,” I said as I turned away. Shit... did she really mean it? She’d really leave us alone? Let us be? No. That wasn’t right. I’d turned my back way too early. It had to be one of her messed up games. She had a plan in motion, I was sure of it.

  I turned back around and came face to face with my emotionless wife. My chest hurt, an ice cold shrill of death wrapped its fingers around me. My arms dropped, face drooped, and I gagged on my rich, crimson blood as it swirled down my chin, over my greying body. The last thing I knew, the last thing I saw, was my wife holding my dead, non-beating heart in her hand, laughing. And that’s when I died.

  CHAPTER 126: TAYLOR

  I held the children by my side, protected them with all my might. But I knew it wouldn’t be enough, not if something penetrated the defensive barrier we had in place. Then what would happen? There was only Joey there to clean up any escapees that managed to reach our side.

  Bending down, I looked all three children square in the eyes. “Do any of you know how to form a shield?” I asked, remembering my mother casting one last time. Hope nodded. “Can you do that, Hope? Malek, can you help your sister?” They nodded. “Good... stand behind me. I’m going to help Uncle Joey defend us all.”

  Eliza assisted with the barrier spell as I ran forward to join Joey and fight off anything that came through from the darkness. The fog was thick, I could barely see two feet in-front of me, let alone the children behind. It would be easy to get lost in there.

  “Joey,” I said, reaching out to the side of me.

  “I’m here,” he screeched as something jumped out of the darkness. The sound of pummelling fists erupted through the air.

  “Joey?” I yelled, searching around in the darkness. “What’s happening?” My voice was getting higher pitched every second that passed by with no answer. My throat tightened, and tears welled in my eyes. Where was he?

  “Nothin’, it’s all good here,” Joey said, stepping out of the darkness, brushing the dirt from his jacket. He took my hand. “Sweet cheeks, you’d better go back. It ain’t safe out ‘ere for you.”

  “I’m fine, I can take care of myself,” I frowned. At least I hoped I could. Adam had told me I was the most powerful being on Earth. If that was the case, then why did I feel as frightened as a four-year-old left alone in the dark? I shuddered as tingling fingers felt their way up my spine. I jumped. “What was that?” I asked, darting around.

  Joey laughed. Howled, actually. “What?” I yelled, frowning. Footsteps sounded nearby. “Joey, what was it?” He was still laughing. “Shit, Joey, pack it in. This isn’t funny anymore!” I yelled. Joey wouldn’t stop laughing.

  “You’ve got to admit,” he laughed, “it was funny!”

  “You’re a bloody idiot, Joey. You scared the shit out of me!” My nerves were shot as it was.

  The sound of something scratching about resonated across the fogged environment. Joey stood up and looked around as his figure merged with the fog around him. “What was that?” he asked.

  “Pack it in,” I yelled. My eyes searched the fog that engulfed me, “it isn’t funny anymore.”

  “It’s not me!” he shouted back as the scuffling sound grew closer.

  “Bugger off, Joey. You wait till I get hold of you,” I said, fumbling in the darkness.

  He screamed like a baby. “Joey...” I gulped. “This better not be one of your games.”

  Pounding footsteps darted past me. “This ain’t no game,” he yelled, “RUN!”

  “What? Wait! Why?” I yelled. The noise stopped; something scratched the ground around me. What the heck was that? “Who’s there?” I asked. Nothing. No response. Biting down on my lip, I tensed up. “Who is there?” I demanded. Nothing. I could feel it. Instinct took over as my hairs stood on end. Goosepimples rose their weary heads and I balled my fists, ready for a fight.

  The ground shook as something moved with a determined pounding noise. Fog dissipated as eight crooked sticks stood tall. What were they? Rising high into the sky, the sticks moved, stepping out around me. Was this what I thought it was? Bile lurched in my throat and my body tremored in fear. I looked up, slowly but surely, afraid of what I’d see next. The eight crooked sticks connected to a huge, rounded body. Sickly thick fur wrapped itself around eight beady eyes as it glared down at me. Shit. Run. Its legs blocked the way. I was trapped like a fly, a victim for the predators next meal. A funnelled mouth shot down above me. I leapt to the side as it missed, sucking up the liquefied insides of a dead human corpse instead.

  I didn’t stop to think, I ran. Darting past its ten-foot legs, I dashed to the side, hoping to lose it in the darkness that reigned over the world. Running around, I didn’t know which direction to go in. Everything was coated with the fog, nothing stood out. Before I knew it, I was tripping over dead bodies. Scrambling to pick myself up, I stood in the dark, alone, listening. Where was it? I couldn’t hear anything except for the battle sounds that crashed and banged over to the west of me. I’d ran away from the spider, ran away from the battle, and left my children out in the open with only a barrier spell and an aged witch to help them. Shit. I had to find my way back.

  Walking forward I didn’t know which way to go. Had I run left? Right? Had I gone in circles? Where the hell was I? “HOPE!” I yelled, searching over the remains of both sides of the battle. I couldn’t see my loved ones amongst all the dead and dying scattered around. I could hear them in the fog; the screams were unrecognisable. I just hoped they were the screams of the remains of Lilith’s army and not my own.

  “MALEK,” I yelled. The fog closed around me, darkening my view. The warm touch of breath caressed my neck. A burning hand gripped my shoulder and pain shot through me like a bullet from a gun.

  I whipped around and came face to face with Blane. His dark hair curtained across his callous face; his disregard for me was apparent. “Look who the cat dragged in...” he purred, running his searing hand over the back of my neck. The heat of his touch scorched my skin, leaving second degree burns in its place. I screamed, backing away, fumbling my hands together to muster up an ounce of light. I was never any good at controlling my powers when I was writhing in pain. Focus was what I needed, but since my mother had healed my body, she had healed it back to its former self and Eliza’s sigil wasn’t part of my human figure. It
had been an added extra she’d gifted me.

  “Get away from me, Blane, I’m not here for you,” I yelled, backing away. In the darkness I couldn’t see much except for the glow of the waning moon as it silhouetted his leathery figure. Blane was a red hot, burning pile of demon standing right in front of me. His inner core lit as his skin steamed away the residue of his former humanity. There was nothing left but demon in there, and by the look of his snarling face, he wasn’t about to let me go that easily.

  “How do you think you’ll take on your big sister if you can’t even fight me?” He laughed. Jumping up high in the air, he landed on top of me knocking me to the ground. I laid amongst the maggot infested remains of a former human. Gagging, I scrambled backwards. Blane pushed me down, holding me there with his hoof.

  Ribs cracked. I yelped, gasping for air. My lungs crushed under the weight of him. He knelt atop of me. Straddling my body, every part of his fiery core scorched me to a blister. Amongst the darkness I cried. “GET OFF ME!” Battering at his chest, my hands bled from his touch.

  He laughed. “Never, Little Evie, you’re my victim now,” he sneered, bending forward and licking my neck with his forked tongue. My skin steamed with his saliva, like acid corroding my skin. “Don’t you see, Taylor,” he said as he tugged at my burning blouse, shredding it to pieces. “It’s the perfect revenge!” He laughed. “Lucian will never forgive himself for leaving you behind.” His hands gripped my broken ribs as he pushed, delighting in the cracking noise. Broken bones burrowed deeper into my lungs, warmth trickled down my face. I couldn’t see for the blood that flushed over me.

  My body crushed into the ground below. Fingertips clawed at the dirt, trying to pull myself away. His weight suffocated me like a straitjacket, constricting my airway, and choking the breath right out of me. My eyes bulged, face hot and heavy. I can’t breathe! Digging my heels into the broken bones below, I pushed up against him. Gritted teeth. Fists balled. There was no escape. He was too heavy. Blane’s body ground forward, his sick nature turned on by the triumph of mounting his enemy’s girl. As he ripped off my clothes, I swallowed back the sick in my stomach. I needed to act now, to push back, to get away. I knew what he had in mind and I’d be damned if I was going to let him take me. I screamed with all my might, pushed him back, and battered my fists at his chest. The crazed look in his eyes terrified me. His hand gripped my neck and flesh burned as he squeezed the light from my eyes. Again, and again I hit. I yelled. I kicked. Pushing and screaming, I dug my nails in his skin, but his grip wouldn’t yield. Clenching his fingers around my windpipe, I gagged. My lungs burned from the lack of air. Reaching out, I scratched at his face. Dark floaters blurred my vision. My heart pumped faster. Blood surged through my veins. My face turned purple and my eyes bulged. Vessels popped as I felt my body weaken. My arms weighted by my side, and then nothing. My eyes began to close on the world around me, and as I stared into his unblinking gaze I knew, my body was his.