The Balance

by C. L. Nelson

  She screamed her release, her body tightening on mine. I lose control. I pound wildly into her before burying myself as deep as I can go, releasing into her. I collapsed on top of her, trapping her under my body.

  Emilia starts laughing, her core clamping on my too sensitive dick. “That was amazing. Can we go again?”

  I shuddered as I pull out of her. I roll both of us to our sides, so her back is against my chest. “I need a minute, beautiful,” I said, kissing the back of her neck.

  After about five minutes, I was ready to go again. Emilia insisted she be on top this time, so I laid back and enjoyed the ride. About an hour later, we were resting, both of us satiated.

  She was lying on top of me, her head on my chest. “Love you, Finny,” she muttered, half asleep.

  I smiled and kissed the top of her head. “I love you too, beautiful.” We fell asleep just like that, both of us sated and blissfully happy.

  ***

  I wake up sometime later with Emilia beside me, an arm draped over my body. We must have gotten cold at some point because we found our way under the covers. I smiled down at her and run my fingers through her soft hair.

  She blinked open her eyes and looked up at me. She smiled at me before kissing my chest. “Good morning, lover.”

  I kiss the top of her head. “Good morning, beautiful.”

  She pressed her naked body against mine right as our bedroom door was kicked open.

  Emilia’s twin was at the door, seething. “I am going to kill you, fairy. I told you to stay away from my sister!”

  Emilia sat up, holding the covers against her chest. “Jarrett, I am nearly a thousand years old, the same as you. I am not a child and you don’t get a say in who I take to bed,” she said, her tone harsh. “At least I have feelings, other than lust for the person I chose to take to bed. Get out. We can discuss this more when we are dressed, or not. I’d prefer not.”

  Jarrett’s face fell as if his sister had never taken that tone with him before. “I’m sorry, Em. I just…nevermind. I’ll see you later,” he said, closing the door as best he could with it being damaged from his entry.

  I got out of bed and start to pull on my clothes. I go to put my shirt on but forgot that Emilia had torn it off me last night. I toss it in a nearby trashcan. “Emilia, we can slow things down if it would make life easier for everyone,” I offered, not really meaning it.

  She shook her head as she got dressed. “No. I am not like Kian who runs from his feelings or Jarrett who avoids intimacy by just fucking randoms. I meant what I said last night. I do love you, Finlay. I know we haven’t known each other long, but I refuse to deny what I feel for you.”

  I swept her up in a hug, lifting her off her feet and spinning her in a circle. “Good, because I feel the same way about you, beautiful. Besides, it will be fun to torment your brothers with our affection.” I laughed as I put her down.

  She giggled. “I like the way you think, lover.” She kissed me softly before turning to leave the room. She stopped suddenly. “Do you think Charlie will be okay with us being together? I don’t mind sharing,” she said with a shrug like she meant it.

  I smiled at her. “As hot as that sounds, I don’t think she would be down for that. I don’t think she has ever loved me more than a best friend with occasional benefits, and she is definitely in love with Kian, but the two of them are being idiots,” I said, rolling my eyes.

  She grinned at me. “I agree. Now let’s go face some glares from my brothers.”

  “I might stand behind you, so I don’t get punched in the face,” I said.

  “Lover, you can stand behind me anytime you want.” She winked.

  I laughed. “Behave yourself or we might not leave this room.” I grabbed her by the back of the neck and pull her to my mouth, kissing her hard.

  We reluctantly pulled away from each other and walked out of the room, holding hands.

  ***

  I didn’t get punched in the face. Winning! Jarrett must have warned everyone because no one tried to kill me, but they didn’t seem particularly happy about it either. They did proceed to warn me, however. It was the usual brother threats: “hurt her and die,” “break her heart and I will break your face,” that kind of stuff.

  Jaxon and Rhett weren’t in the kitchen. When I asked where they were, I was told that Jaxon left earlier this morning. He left a note that said he had pack business to take care of and that we could use his house for as long as we need it.

  Jarrett said Rhett left last night after the funeral. He said Rhett doesn’t like to be away from his tech for too long.

  I look at Kian who is still acting like his dog died. “You missed a nice funeral last night. It would have meant a lot to Charlie if you had come.”

  He shrugged.

  I narrowed my eyes at him. “Seriously? What the fuck is wrong with you?”

  He glared at me. “Oh, let’s see. I went to the Pit and back to save a female that I thought I was in love with. Turns out her infernal seduction was just fucking with my head and everyone felt the same way about her.”

  I nearly launched myself at him. The only thing that stopped me was Emilia’s hand in mine. “Are you serious?” I turned toward Jarrett. “Jarrett, what you felt for Charlie before she turned off the seduction, was it love?”

  He shook his head. “No, it was more like uncontrollable lust with a dash of obsession.”

  I looked at Dashiel. “What about you? Were you in love with Charlie?”

  He shook his head. “I loved her like a sister and I still do. I don’t think that was caused by the seduction ability. She is just a cool female. The only difference now is that I don’t have inappropriate thoughts about her,” he explained.

  I looked at Kian. “No one was tricked into loving her. Her ability manufactures lust, you asshole, not love. You need to think really hard about what you felt for her. If it was only lust that you confused with love, then the only one you have to blame is yourself,” I told him. “If you continue to treat Charlie like she has wronged you, I will hurt you.”

  “I second that. Kian, you are being stupid,” Dashiel said.

  “You would take her side over mine?” Kian asked Dashiel.

  “No one is taking sides, Kian. We are just trying to get you to pull your head out of your ass. Or don’t. I will probably get to fuck her if you keep this up,” Jarrett said.

  Kian moved so fast that it was hard to see. He grabbed Jarrett by the throat and lifted him in the air. “She’s mine,” he growled.

  “Nice…to hear…you…admit it,” Jarrett croaked out.

  Kian dropped him. “Oh, man. I’m an idiot. Where did she go? I need to talk to her.”

  “She didn’t say, only that she would be back before we woke up,” I said.

  Kian looked panicked. “Why isn’t she back then? Do you think she is in trouble? We have to go find her.”

  Jarrett put a hand on his shoulder. “She is more powerful than all of us now. I think she can take care of herself.”

  “He’s right. We should focus on what we are going to do about our father. He is going to retaliate. We need to strategize,” Dashiel added.

  Together, Kian, Dashiel, Jarrett, Emilia, and I discussed battle plans. The Balance isn’t safe when the supposedly neutral leader of the reapers is throwing good souls in the Pit. Alaric, soon to be former King of the Reapers, needs to be taken down.

  Chapter 26

  Charlie

  I glimmered out of Jaxon’s house, but I didn’t go far. I materialized in a nearby alley under a security light. Only a few random partiers are still left out in the streets at this time of the early morning. I couldn’t concentrate while being under the same roof as Kian. I just wanted to go to him, but I knew I wouldn’t have been welcome.

  As a darkling, I can travel to the Pit and to the Everlasting. As much as I would love to go hug my mother, I need to take care of a few things first. I need to set things right. To do that, I need to go meet my father.
All I know is that he is an infernal, so he lives in the Pit.

  I am not even sure how to get to the Pit. I closed my eyes, thought about going to the Pit, and tried to glimmer. I opened my eyes to see that I haven’t gone anywhere. Why isn’t this working? Then it hits me, I can’t glimmer into the Pit. That’s an ethereal ability.

  I have to shadow. That’s the way infernals and some dark hybrids travel. Shadowing only works in a dark spot. It's literally traveling through one shadow to another shadow. The ability does not work in the light. I now know that’s how I was able to travel from the fourth floor of the office building to the first-floor lobby during the shooting. I was under the desk, in a shadow, and ended up under another dark desk.

  I take a couple of steps back, further into the alley and out of the light. As soon as I was out of the light, my body was sucked into the shadow. I feel like I am falling, but before I can panic, I’m suddenly standing in what appears to be a cave.

  Wow, it smells good in here. It mostly smells like someone is making brownies, but there are also undertones of flowers, clothes fresh out the dryer, and bacon. Wait, I know what I’m smelling or at least part of it. I’m smelling fear. I’m not exactly sure what the other scents could be. I feel like I should be disgusted, but most of the soul’s down here have earned their punishment, so I will go ahead and enjoy the smell of their fear.

  “Daughter, you have returned,” A deep rumbling voice said.

  I looked around but didn’t see anyone. Out of the shadows, a large male stepped towards me. He is slightly taller than Kian but muscular like Dashiel. His eyes are solid black, like my eyes when I am angry, and his hair is the same shade of brown as mine. He is wearing all black which stands in contrast with his pale skin. Though a lot of that skin is covered with intricate tattoos.

  “Dad?” I asked.

  He chuckled. “Would anyone else be calling you daughter? You look nice, like you belong here,” he said, stepping forward to wrap his arms around me. “I am glad you survived. I guess I don’t have to kill your male. Bummer.”

  I pulled out of his embrace. “Kian came down here? He isn’t my male. He can barely stand to look at me.”

  My father growled. “Do I get to kill him after all? He came down here to retrieve your body. He told me he loved you.” Flames flickered out of his hands.

  “Apparently, I have inherited the infernal ability of seduction. He didn’t love me. It wasn’t real,” I said, looking down.

  “He’s an idiot. That’s not how the seduction ability works, and he should know that since an infernal female tried to rape him using it. It only manufactures lust, not love.”

  My eyes flicked to his. “WHAT? Where is the bitch? I’ll kill her!” I feel my hair light up with the blue flames, the heat licking at my skin.

  My father laughed loudly. “Yep, you are definitely my daughter. You looked a lot more like your mother when you were asleep.”

  I feel the flames go out as my anger fades, my confusion taking over. “What do you mean? Did you have my immortal body?”

  He nodded. “Yes, daughter. It came to me thousands of years ago, and I have kept it hidden and safe.”

  I hugged him. “Thank you. And please call me Charlie. So, Kian loves me, huh?”

  He patted my back and kissed the top of my head before stepping away. “Yes, he looked as hopeless as I did when I first met your mother, already fallen, but too dumb to realize it. He will figure it out.”

  I changed the topic, getting to the main reason I came to the Pit. “Who do I talk to down here about releasing the souls that don’t belong here?” I asked.

  “Well, I guess that would be me since I am the king of this realm, but why would souls be here if they weren’t sent here by the Ladies of the Waiting?”

  I looked at him with my mouth open. “King? Woah. I’m a princess.” I started laughing hysterically.

  He smiled at me and just waited for me to stop laughing.

  When I calmed down, I answered his question. “The reaper king, the same male who attempted to rape me and ripped my soul out, has been tossing innocent souls down here.”

  My father burst into flames from head to toe. There wasn’t an inch of him not covered in white fire. “He’s dead! I am going to break out of here and rip him to pieces.”

  I put a hand on his chest, his flames not burning me. “Calm down. I think I have earned the right to kill him myself. How come you didn’t know this was happening in your realm?”

  He looked down where my hand is touching him. “You aren’t burning,” he muttered. “I don’t have a good answer to your question. I haven’t been a good king. I have let my infernals run wild. I should have known when good souls entered my realm.”

  “Help me fix it. We can find the souls that don’t belong here and release them.”

  He frowned and shook his head. “After so many years of constant torment, those souls won’t be salvageable. The best we can do is recycle them. They would be completely destroyed, to become a new soul.”

  I feel defeated like I have let the souls down, but if the best we can do to get them out of here is to recycle them then that will have to do. “Let’s do that then. They don’t deserve to be stuck down here for eternity being tortured when they didn’t do anything wrong.”

  He shook his head again. “I’m afraid I can’t do that unless we have a truly evil soul to balance out the loss of the recycled souls. However, if you do kill that son of a bitch, Alaric, and bring his soul to me, we can make it happen.” He smiled like he was thinking about what he was going to do to Alaric.

  I smiled at him. “Deal.” I hugged him to seal the pact.

  “Who’s the skank, Nox?” A female voice said, interrupting our father-daughter moment.

  With a blur of motion, my father was gone from me. When I turn around, I see he had a female that appeared to be part gargoyle by her neck against a wall. Her skin was gray, and it looked rough like concrete. She also had horns and she was completely naked.

  “It’s King Nox, and you will treat my daughter with respect,” he growled.

  “Please. Don’t try to play king now. You haven’t acted like a king in over three thousand years,” she said, spitting in his face.

  More infernals started to come out of the nearby tunnels, being drawn by the commotion. Two male infernals grabbed me when I wasn’t looking, each one taking an arm.

  “Daughter? She doesn’t smell like an infernal to me,” one of the male infernal said, his body transforming into a wolfman before my eyes. “I think I will fuck her doggy style. Get it?” He laughed.

  The crowd of infernals laughed with him, clearly thinking my rape would be amusing.

  I look at my father who nods at me and I nod back. At the same time, we send our fire, igniting those who were touching us. White flames cover the gargoyle infernal, while blue flames cover the wolfman and the other male infernal. They howl in pain as the flames burn them. My father’s white flames continue to burn the female, but they do not kill her. She is just in constant agony.

  My would-be attackers were more fortunate. Or not. My blue flames burned them for a while, but in the end, they burned to ash, ending their suffering. I pulled my flames back inside of me and crossed my arms, daring someone to try me. The crowd of infernals backed away from me, no longer laughing. They all looked scared.

  “She’s an abomination!” someone yelled out.

  “How can this be? They were all supposed to be destroyed as infants or toddlers,” another said.

  “Someone kill her!” somebody in the back yelled.

  No one moved toward me. They are all too afraid after seeing my power.

  My father laughed. “The party is over. Do your job. If anyone brings a soul down here that doesn’t reek of evil and I find out that you decided to torture it instead of bringing it to me, you will be punished. My daughter will handle repeat offenders. DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?” he yelled.

  They all dropped to their knees and nod. There was
a lot of “Yes, my king” going around.

  “Good. Now go spread the word. Make sure people know not to fuck with my daughter,” he said, drawing his fire back into his body and extinguishing the infernal female.

  The infernal female stayed down; her body burned down to her skeleton. Her internal meat was showing, but she was still alive. Infernals truly cannot die unless killed by a darkling, by me. Well, you know what Spiderman’s uncle said, “with great power comes great responsibility.”

  I hugged my father goodbye and promised him that I will visit as often as I can. He also makes me promise to give my mom a hug for him and to tell her that he misses her. The Creators should allow them conjugal visits like human prisoners get because, let’s face it, they are prisoners of their realms.

  Shadowing out of the Pit was a bit harder than it was on my way in. I was down there for a few hours, talking with my father. It is now light in New Orleans, leaving few shadows. I stopped trying to shadow back to the alley and decide to shadow to an interior bathroom in Jaxon’s house. One that I know has no windows, so as long as the light is off, I should be able to shadow in.

  It worked. I am in the bathroom. From there, I glimmer to the guest room that I was staying in. When I materialize, I am surprised to see Kian sitting on the bed, his head in his hands.

  “What’s up, Kian?” I asked, staying where I am.

  He jumped as if I startled him. Without hesitation, he leaped off the bed and pulled me into his body. “I’m sorry. Again. I’m an idiot. I was just scared that what I feel for you wasn’t real, but I know now that it is. I’m in love with you, Charlie.” He pulled away. “Please tell me that I haven’t blown it.”

  “I’m sorry, Kian, but I have decided to date Jaxon. You snooze, you lose,” I joked.

  His face falls like he thinks I am serious.

  I push his chest. “Good lord, Kian. It was a joke!” I grabbed his shirt and pulled him to me, pressing my lips to his. “I think you need to get laid. You are really tense,” I said against his mouth, flicking my tongue across his lips.