by Jas T. Ward
Epsilon assumed his father actually acknowledged him, not out of paternal pride, but due to him being the only one not born of a lowly being, like the dozens of bastards his father sired with the concubine whores his father stabled, but of a goddess.
Despite that genetic upgrade and abandonment in his making, his life was one of happiness and merriment, joy and laughter. Epsilon seemed to smile as much as any other expression he had in his life. All because of finding eternal love.
But that was then. Now?
None of that existed.
Not the happiness. Not the joy. Not the wife and not the son. And his father had nothing but confused contempt and disdain for him now. But Lucifer was too cowardly when it came to him; to destroy him or even confront him.
His beautiful wife, Lyisea had always been frail. Ethereal and beautiful, she was graced with having a father who was once the ruler of the Fae and a mother who was a Celtic goddess. Thin and pale, with the eyes the color of a cool steel-grey sky, she was all that Epsilon had ever dreamed of in a mate.
She was intelligent and sharp with a sense of humor that could make him laugh with just a word, even though she was quiet and shy around others. She saved her joy for him and him alone.
When she quietly told Epsilon as she lay in his arms she carried his child, he seriously doubted any male, no matter the species, was more proud and thrilled than he. They had tried for years, but with his questionable unknown bloodline, they weren’t even sure he could impregnate a Fae princess. His blood held so much dark, and hers was total light.
But finally they would have the family he had dreamed of. And together they decided Hell was no place for an infant. Epsilon knew that all too well and Lyisea agreed. Epsilon informed his father they would be moving to the human realm to raise their child once it was born and his father, Lucifer, the ruler of Hell, had been furious. The dark lord was alone despite being surrounded by millions of lost souls, demons and slaves. Lyisea was Hell’s only bright spot with her gentle laughter and coy smiles. Not to mention how joyful her child would be. There was not much joy and light in Hell otherwise, and Lucifer craved to have it around him.
His father’s reaction to his plan only solidified Epsilon’s resolve more. He needed to get his wife and child out of the dark lord’s realm as jealously and greed was already tangible in the making if they stayed.
Epsilon knew without question that his sire loved him. But his father was who and what he was. A being of nature and darkness could not help but thirst for light that he was not allowed, but craved nonetheless.
Lyisea and he decided the childbirth should occur in Hell as his father had the best healers to wait on his harem of slaves and had delivered many mixed supernatural babies. The Earth realm was not equipped to assist in a birth of a superior infant; one whose gifts were completely unknown. But Lyisea was a being of light and sunshine and he wanted the same warmth for his son on Earth far from his father’s brooding and strange ways.
The pregnancy had been extremely hard on Lyisea and Epsilon doted on her constantly to see to her comfort.
On the day of the birth, her screams of pain had echoed through the halls of his father’s castle as Lyisea refused herbs and potions to ease the difficulty, afraid it would harm the child.
Eighteen hours later, Epsilon had sat in awe holding the most beautiful infant son to have been born on any realm, in his completely biased opinion. With Lyisea’s soft wavy, brown hair, and his eyes, his son was a mixture of both of them in the form of a beautiful creation.
Already Epsilon was proud to see the child’s eyes were alert and intelligent after only an hour of coming from the haven of his mother’s womb. Lyisea, however, was so weak she could barely whisper for him to lay the baby at her breast so that she could nurse their child.
It was then that his father burst into the room, sending all the nurses and servants scattering in his wake. “Where is that grandson of mine?”
Epsilon stepped into his father’s way to slow the god’s flow as well as block his father’s gaze from Lyisea, with the infant suckling at her bosom. “He’s with Lyisea. She’s nursing him.”
Lucifer smiled and stepped around him, clapping a hand on his shoulder as he passed, saying loud and booming in his deep tenor voice, “You did well, Epsilon. A son on your first try. Excellent.”
Epsilon nodded and smiled, but it fell as he watched his father stare down at Lyisea and his son. He could tell his father’s eyes were fixated on his wife’s creamy, smooth breast as the infant fed. Epsilon knew all too well that glazed, lecherous look in his father’s eyes. It was the same one the god got when a new sensual or appealing soul or slave was dragged to Hell.
Possession. Want. Must have at all cost.
And that, Epsilon could not allow; for no one took what was his, not even the devil himself.
So they had left for the Earth realm within a week of their son’s birth. Lyisea did seem to grow stronger in the sun and surrounded by all the good energy of mankind, but it didn’t last. She never completely recovered from the birth of their son and one night he found her lifeless and still on the floor of their luxurious home.
Whereas his father had command over death, God, the Omega, had power over life. His father would have seen and felt his beautiful wife’s death, yet did nothing to stop it or warn out of anger for being left alone in Hell. Desperate not to lose her, he had gone before the high powers of Heaven and begged them to save her. Epsilon had been willing to do anything as he knelt there, pleading and offering up everything he had - from his own soul to that of his infant son before the highest power of creation.
In the end he was denied. And in the end, Heaven would pay for that.
“Highness?”
Epsilon was pulled out of his haze of the past as one of his Eater demons came up behind him and fell to its knees before speaking, in a pose of both reverence and fear.
He glanced over his shoulder and sighed, only to turn his pained eyes back to the empty chamber in front of him. His most prized possession, the only thing he had left from his past, had been taken. He had not wanted to be disturbed and had in the past, stripped the flesh from one of the hideous things for just breathing in the same realm when he was like this.
“What is it?”
The demon remained with its forehead on the dark marble floor and hissed out, its hideous face contorting as it tried to form words with a slurred brain of a mish-mashed creation.
Epsilon regretted making the things at times such as this. They were ugly as any carnal sin and had an odor that reminded him of rotting flesh. Their purpose had seemed so simple at their conception. Send them to the Earth realm to devour all that was human, take over the realm so Epsilon would then rule it, and send a very clear message to Heaven.
Don’t save what I love? I’ll destroy what you love.
Including destroying the very fragile pact between Heaven and his father’s Hell realm because he wanted his father to pay for all the pain he felt with each waking moment. Haunted in his nightmares and tortured in his loneliness.
The pact had been in place ever since Lucifer had appealed to Heaven to be allowed some power of his former self after being cast down from the high lofts eons before.
The pact stated that his father and his minions could test mankind however they saw fit, but only if the souls of those lost would stand judgment and be allowed a chance into the Heavenly realm.
The Eaters, because they devoured all the light in a human, left nothing behind to be judged. No soul, just a shell with no spark; nothing but an empty vessel serving no purpose and not able to feed the Source of creation. God’s most beloved children had become nothing more than food for Epsilon’s Eaters.
Add to that the death of a bright light meant less of it to feed the Grid that was determined to hunt him and his creations down? A total bonus of grand design for the Eaters merged with the humans, appearing as such and fed on mankind like unsuspecting cattle, which in turn drowned the Grid i
n dark with each kill.
Standing, he turned to look down on the demon, his patience never serving him when dealing with his cockroaches and this time would be no different. “Again.” Epsilon snapped each of the next words out in aggravation. “What is it?”
The demon looked up while barely lifting its head so that only it’s pale, bug-shit green eyes could meet his. “The powers. Something caused stir.”
Epsilon frowned at the news and tilted his head in puzzlement. “They haven’t stirred in over a century. Impossible.”
The demon quaked in fear, afraid that its creator did not believe him as it put its forehead back down on the floor.
“True. True. But they do. The Void is awakening.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Promise?
“What’s this called?”
Reno whispered the words, completely enthralled, as dancing cups and twirling teapots danced and sung on the big television screen. He had awoken at dusk to get up and be ready for patrol. But the moment he stepped into the living room where Sophia was watching a movie he had been captured.
Sophia giggled as she sat next to him on the floor, her legs mirroring his, folded and crossed as they watched. “It’s called Beauty and the Beast.” The little girl let out a dreamy sigh as she parked her chin on her upright hand. “It’s my fav’rite movies.”
Reno simply nodded as he smiled in a daze lost in the story with his eyes glued to the screen. “I think it might be my favorite too.”
The story was amazing and it struck something deep inside of him when he realized it was about a beautiful and sweet woman falling in love with who everyone else thought of as a beast.
Belle, the woman in the animated film, saw past all the bad to fall for the man inside of a beastly curse. She was able to love beyond what appeared to be flawed and scarred on the outside and save the Beast. Who was really a prince and not scary at all.
The Beast had just been waiting for her to come along and find him. And the Beauty was waiting for him to trust her enough to love him.
Reno couldn’t have moved away from that spot if his hair caught on fire and his pants broke out into song. Which, according to the film, would not have been too odd.
It was almost as if whoever made this movie secretly knew about him. Like a stranger he had never met knew that he was never meant to be nor ever be lucky enough to have Emma love him back. He was a beast in way; a monster that only wanted to be loved for what he was inside, regardless of what people thought or saw on the outside.
“It’s like me and your mommy” he whispered in a hushed tone as Sophia leaned over to place her head on his arm as the movie ended with the beast, now a prince, dancing with his beauty with the curse now removed.
“Eno?”
Looking over to smile at Sophia as he swiveled to face her, Reno tweaked the little girl’s nose and asked softly. “What’s up, Rugrat?”
She gave him the most serious look and for a moment he thought she looked years, if not decades older than just her three years.
She had been mostly quiet since they had come home from that disastrous family dinner out a few nights ago with Jess, and Reno felt guilty about that since he had let Jess get to him, setting him off. He knew better than that. After all, he knew all of the cowboy Breaker’s buttons, but Jess on the other hand knew none of his.
As he looked at this beautiful little girl, he had to correct himself on that.
Their buttons were probably the same. Sophia and her mother Emma were huge, giant buttons for both men.
Sophia looked at his face as if she was searching for some permission, some indicator that the answer was there without her having to ask. He smiled again and brushed the knuckles of his hand over her cheek.
“Just ask Rugrat. But if it’s about more cookies? No go. You know your mom said you can’t eat as many as I can. And if it’s about the extra hours of TV, well, she’ll ground me and you if I...”
“Promise you no go Eno?”
Reno’s words and brain slammed to a stop at her quiet question, his brows coming down as he looked into her eyes to be the one searching. Her deep brown eyes were full of fear and worry, once again seeming to age her beyond her years. As he watched, she seemed to wrap up inside of herself with arms going around her chest to squeeze, her head was looking down at her feet as she fidgeted, fighting the urge to run and take back the words.
Reno so knew how that was. He did the same exact thing.
He sat back on his haunches and gently wrapped his fingers around her arms and ducked his head to try to meet her eyes.
Maybe it wasn’t complicated. She was a little girl of three after all. Never mind that he was technically only a year older.
“To work? You mean don’t go to work tonight?”
Those dark curls swayed as she shook her head no. She then lifted her eyes to meet his and it tore him apart to see tears shimmering there. “I means leave. Leaves me and mommy. Not comes back.”
That completely floored Reno and he blinked at her question with his jaw dropped, not expecting it. He let out a soft ‘oh’ and gave that some thought.
Leave them?
It seemed impossible now and not something he was even sure he was capable of doing. He had waited over a century to have a life, one that consisted of all the things that made having a life worth having.
Love of another person.
The adoration of a child who lit up your world and finally being a part of a family. All things Reno had never even dared to dream of having.
He had all that and so much more now.
No, he wasn’t even capable of walking away from it. He had no idea how Jess lived with that pain. But he had lived long enough with pain and being alone to know he was never going back to that. Not if he was still breathing, he would fight to keep it.
He gave her a gentle smile as he pulled her in for a hug, wrapping his arms tight to press his cheek against her soft curls. “No, Rugrat. I’m not going anywhere. I promise.”
Sophia hesitated for a second, but then she nodded and wrapped her arms around him and whispered. “Good. Because mommy is happy and I likes mommy happy. Yous too.”
He laughed and nodded as he pulled back to once again tweak her nose. “Oh, I know. She’s nicer that way isn’t she?”
Sophia giggled as he wiped away the small tears on her cheek with the pads of his thumbs as she sniffed, then smiled and said. “She is. I likes her nice too.”
Sophia then threw herself back into his arms and squeezed his neck hard before pressing a kiss to his cheek. “Don’t break promises, Eno. It makes bad things happen, ‘kay?”
Reno nodded and hugged her tight as he stood still holding her in the circle of his arms.
“I promise, Rugrat.”
“Big mistake, Candyman. Promises...make bad things happen. And if breaking a promise brings bad things? Breaking a little girl’s heart is going to bring Hell on your head. And that means... I need to find new digs.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Vroom-Vroom
He was beginning to think tonight’s patrol was a waste of time. That, along with the talk he had with Rugrat before heading out for patrol, had his mind whirling. For her to be so young and so scared seemed really wrong to him. Reminded him of how Jess was just like that long ago.
“Never leave me, okay?”
He listened to the little boy whisper in their mind so only he could hear. They were both scared but he knew together they could make it. They would survive.
“Okay, Jess. Just remember I’m your best friend and you’re mine, okay? No matter what?”
Jess nodded as he curled up tighter in a ball to try to sleep in the falling down rotted shed they had broken into to get off of the streets. Hunger made their tummy growl, but sleep was asking for the most attention.
“Just promise you’ll never leave, okay?”
His head snapped up as his thoughts of the past flew away from the electrical buzz that seemed to
ripple over his skin; an Eater was close by.
Rubbing his thumb over his Grid mark to go online so they could give back-up if needed, he tilted his head to try to pin-point where the energy drain of light as the dark fed on it was coming from.
“Come on. Come on!” he hissed to himself quietly as he struggled to get a lock.
“Get your head in this Candyman. We really need some action. One of us isn’t getting laid.”
He couldn’t help but snort at that one from Sundown as his brow creased in concentration. Then like sonar in his brain, he knew exactly where to go. Already feeling the adrenaline flood his system as Sundown paced in his head, he ran into the darkened Bayside Park and headed for the shore.
That’s where he found two Eaters circling a young woman. She was brandishing a folding knife as she clutched her messenger bag to her chest as if it was a treasure. Judging by the all-too familiar look of her being a homeless person, it probably contained all she had and she was most likely thinking the two demons were muggers.
They were, but not for what she valued in that bag. They taunted her and laughed as she waved her knife around, keeping them at bay with some pretty impressive moves. But she was human and there was no way she stood a chance.
“Hey!”
Both Eaters turned to look at him and the girl jumped from a surprised shock as if she was not expecting anyone to help her as if out of habit.
The two Eaters gave slow smiles as they turned their attention to him. With mental links he wouldn’t be privy to, they split up as one reached out to grab the girl using beyond human speed and the other Eater rushed him.
He bent at the waist and using the Eater’s momentum, tossed the demon over his back to quickly step out of its way to then spin to face it with his twin blades out, catching a glint on the edges in the moonlight. The girl was still trying to kick and fight as the other Eater held her, lifting her off her feet to watch the fun.
The one that was having all the fun with him pulled out two daggers of his own and Reno smirked. “Mine’s bigger. What does that tell you?”
