by S. J. West
Anna
The Redemption Series
Book Two
By
S.J. West
©2013 S.J. West. All Rights Reserved
Cover Art by Christina Holland
http://paperandsage.com
Chapter 1
Time. It can be your worst enemy or your best friend. People say time changes all things, but it's ultimately our actions which affect where our lives go and what we become. Time is simply a bystander watching how each individual unfolds their own lives. It has no say in which path we take. It can't guide us into making the right decisions. Only we can change the course of our lives, and in the end, time can only tell us if we've made decisions which were for the better or for the worse.
I listen to the hum of the force field surrounding me. It's almost imperceptible but contrasted against the silence of the stark room I'm in it’s become rather annoying. I watch as the red laser beams comprising the spherical prison I'm trapped in whirl around me with maddening speed. As I hang suspended within the middle of my jail, my legs and arms are spread wide apart by an invisible gravity field, presumably meant to prevent me from taking out the silver dagger Levi stabbed into my shoulder. Every inch of my body aches from its awkward positioning, but its pain is dwarfed by the burning tightness inside my chest. My heart cries for those who were unjustly taken from me just when I thought my world had finally been made right with Malcolm's declaration of love.
I had dreamt of Malcolm kissing me since the first night we met. Yet, just when my most fervent dream finally came true, it turned my world into a living nightmare where simply opening my eyes wasn't enough to alter reality. My soul burned with the knowledge that Levi had captured the love of my life because of me.
Through Catherine's paranoia that I would physically betray my vows to her son, Malcolm had unknowingly stepped into a trap neither of us saw coming. The poison she injected into my body every week had rendered him unconscious and now Levi, one of the most sadistic people I have ever had the misfortune of meeting, had him in his grasp. I had no way of knowing what Levi was doing to Malcolm. I also didn't know whether or not he had Lucas as well, but the odds were definitely in Levi’s favor.
As soon as the guards phased me back to the palace in Cirrus, they brought me directly to the room I'm in. It was a room I never knew existed until that moment. I assumed it was somewhere in the deepest bowels of the palace where few people ever ventured. My guards made quick work of trapping me in the force field and turning on my revolving laser prison cell. Time was elapsing slowly. I felt sure only two, maybe three hours had gone by since Levi captured us. While I waited for someone to come and tell me the things I needed to know, I felt a flame of hatred towards Levi all but consume my soul. I wanted to tear him to pieces for what he had done to my family. Not only did he hold Malcolm, and more than likely Lucas, prisoner, but he was also the only person in the world who knew where my father was being held.
Even though I now know Lucifer is my biological father, he will never take the place of the man I still think of as my papa. Andre Greco had loved and nurtured me all my life. It didn't matter much to me that half my genetic code came from Lucifer. He obviously didn't care enough to want to raise me himself after my mother's death, and I felt no regret about his absence from my life. Perhaps it was for the best. If he truly is as vile a person as history has made him out to be, maybe my life was made richer by not having him in it at all.
The sound of a cracking whip makes me look up. Levi stands on the other side of the room with his lightning whip firmly grasped in his right hand.
“Have you missed me, my little dove?” He asks, his lips stretching into a manic grin.
“Where is Malcolm?” I demand.
“Still alive,” he answers, arching an eyebrow at me and looking rather pleased with himself. “Though, I feel sure he wishes he weren't right about now.”
“What did you do to him?” I ask, my voice sounding more like a deadly threat than asking a mere question.
Levi cracks his whip against the floor again and smiles.
“I made him pay the price for kissing my wife.”
I stare at Levi for a moment because I want his full attention. I want him to hear my next few words clearly so he never forgets them.
“I will kill you one day,” I promise.
“Threats, threats, threats.” Levi says shaking his head as he walks toward me. “All I ever hear from you are threats, Anna.”
“Then be a man and stop hiding yourself behind the people I love to protect your own life,” I taunt. “Or are you truly that frightened of me?”
“I'm not exactly scared of you,” Levi says, “but I'm not stupid either. Why wouldn't I use the people you love against you if it means I can get what I want?”
“What do you want from me?”
“I want you to do something for me that not even your father could get your mother to do for him.”
Levi falls silent. I wait for him to continue, but he doesn't. He just stands there and stares at me with an aggravating smirk on his face.
“Am I supposed to guess what it is you want?” I ask becoming even more irritated. “I'm not a mind reader.”
“No,” Levi says closing his eyes like he's experiencing something pleasant. “I'm just trying to enjoy the moment. It's a rare day when I can one up Lucifer. So, please... do shut up and let me bask in my own greatness for a little while.”
“Tell me what you want!” I say, not even trying to hide the loss of my temper.
Levi sighs heavily as if disappointed in my impatience with him and opens his eyes.
“I want you to bring me my brothers,” he finally says. “I know your Watcher friends have them, and I want them all back.”
“I don't know where they are.”
“But you can find out.”
“And if I bring them to you, what do I get in return?”
“I'll give you Malcolm and that little boy we found hiding in his house.”
“What have you done to Lucas?” I ask, praying that Lucas is somewhere safe.
Levi grins. “Oh, I'm using his safety to keep Malcolm in line. I wouldn't want him to just phase away before I had my fun with him, now would I? Unfortunately, I only have the one dagger, and I'm using that one on you.”
“And what about my father?”
“Andre?” Levi asks, seeming to want to confirm which father I am talking about. “Oh, I plan to keep him for a while longer. I can't give you everything you want all at once. Plus, if I gave you Andre, what would prevent you from simply killing me and my brothers?”
I hated to admit it, but he had a point.
“I'll need time to find the other Watchers,” I tell Levi. “I don't know where they are.”
“Unfortunately, neither do I,” Levi admits with a dramatic sigh. “They've laid low for so long they don't even exist in the public databases anymore. But, you do know where one of them is.”
Jered. I did know where Jered was heading, but I didn't know where Rory and Lora lived exactly. They were the people who were supposed to look after Lucas for us until I could retrieve all of the seals from the princes of Hell.
“Do you know where Jered is now?” I ask.
“Of course I do,” Levi replies acting as though I've just asked a stupid question. “But, I'm not going to tell you.”
“If you want me to do what you want, wouldn't it be smarter to just tell me where I need to go?”
“Where would the challenge be if I told you everything you need to know? That's not very sporting of you, wife.”
“Stop calling me that,” I say unable to keep the disgust out of my voice.
�
��But, it's the truth.”
I choose to ignore Levi and move on with his demands.
“How am I supposed to find Jered if I don’t know where he is?”
“Oh, I’m sure you can think of someone who does know. Someone you probably want to pay a little visit to again anyway,” Levi suggests.
I instantly know exactly who he's talking about.
“And,” he continues, “I’ll give you a small bit of information just to help you out. Jered is still in the same city as the people he was visiting. In fact, he’s trying to figure out what happened to dear Rory and Lora as we speak.”
“What did you do to them?” I ask, dreading the answer.
“Oh, they’re still alive,” Levi says, obviously knowing where my thoughts went. “He just can’t find them. I simply needed to delay Jered for a little while. I have no use for those people. They’ll be returned to their homes after you locate Jered.”
“I need you to do something for me before I gather up your brothers for you.”
Levi crosses his arms over his chest. “I don't think you're in any position to be making demands.”
“If you want me to get your brothers, I need to see for myself that Malcolm and Lucas are still alive. I trust you about as much as I want you to take another breath. My life isn't worth living without them in it.”
“Awwww,” Levi says exaggeratedly, “that has to be the sweetest thing I've ever heard. It's so adorable it's literally turning my stomach inside out.”
“I won't do anything until I see them. And I don't just mean a hologram. I want to see them in the flesh.”
A twinkle enters Levi's eyes, and I know that can't be a good sign. Nothing gives him pleasure except torture and pain.
“This might surprise you, but that's entirely agreeable to me. Who would you prefer to see first?”
“Lucas,” I say, knowing Malcolm will want a firsthand report of Lucas' welfare from me.
“Fine,” Levi says, walking over to a control panel on the brick wall of the room at his back and tapping in a combination of letters and numbers.
The force field holding my body suspended in mid-air suddenly releases me into a freefall. The red laser sphere vanishes just before I land on the stone floor beneath me.
I take a few precious seconds to let the soreness in my limbs dissipate. Levi phases over to me and pulls the dagger in my shoulder out. The sucking sound accompanying its removal from my body sickens me slightly, but I'm glad to have it out of my shoulder.
I slowly stand to my feet. “Where is Lucas?”
Levi smiles. “At your house.”
I immediately phase home. Unfortunately, Levi phases in right beside me.
I phased to my sitting room. It's still nighttime, and I know for sure now that only a few hours have passed since Levi’s unexpected appearance in Malcolm's workshop. I hear a familiar song being hummed by someone I know and trust. I phase to my bedroom and find Millie sitting on the side of my bed singing to a slumbering Lucas. Vala is curled up on the pillow beside him watching over Lucas just like she did me when I was his age. When she notices I’m in the room, she instantly jumps up and runs across the bed, leaping into my arms.
“Where have you been, Anna?” Vala asks, her voice filled with the loneliness she must have felt during my absence.
Millie turns around to meet my gaze. She raises a trembling hand to her lips at the sight of me, and I see tears appear in her troubled eyes.
She rises from her seat and walks over to me.
“Oh, my sweet, where have you been? We've been worried sick about you.”
Millie's gaze soon lands on the bloody wound on my shoulder. She makes an about face and rushes straight into my bathroom. She returns with a Cirrun healing device in her hands.
“Take your jacket off so I can heal you,” she instructs.
I place Vala on the floor at my feet and unzip my jacket. Millie has to help me take it off because my arms are still extremely sore from being suspended in mid-air for so long.
“Oh, my poor child,” Millie says, pulling my shirt away from the wound, “what has that devil done to you?”
Millie sweeps the black healing wand in her hand over the wound, mending it almost instantly.
“It's nothing I can't handle, Millie,” I tell her, looking over her shoulder at Lucas. “Who brought him here?”
“One of the guards brought him about three hours ago,” Millie tells me. “He was very upset when he arrived, but Vala and I were able to calm him down. He seemed to trust me after he saw Vala.”
“Lucas said you told him about me,” Vala says, sounding proud that I would mention her to Lucas.
I bend down and pick my little friend up in my arms again. “Yes, I did. And I need you to do something for me, Vala.”
“You know I will do anything you ask of me, Anna.”
“I need you and Millie to watch over Lucas for me while I'm gone. I won't worry about him as much if I know the two of you are taking care of him.”
“I'll protect him with my life!” Vala promises fiercely, making me smile in spite of the situation we find ourselves in.
“I know you will,” I tell her, rubbing my nose against her little wet one before placing her back on the bed. She promptly pads over to the pillow beside Lucas and sits down again, taking up her position as his protector.
“Lucas kept calling you his mother,” Millie says, looking perplexed by the fact. “Why is that?”
“Since he's Malcolm's son, I will officially become his mother once we’re married.”
Millie smiles. “So, you did make that stubborn old fool finally admit he's your soul mate.”
“I'm not sure what changed his mind actually,” I say, just now realizing I truly didn't know what happened to make Malcolm accept how he felt about me.
The only thing I did was let him go. Yet, he came back to me with his heart completely open and ready to declare his love. I felt as though there was a piece to the puzzle that I was missing, but there just wasn't enough time to find out what that piece was. In the grand scheme of things, it really didn't matter. Malcolm loved me. That was all I needed to know.
And right now, I had more important things to figure out.
“I have to go back to the surface,” I tell Millie. “Levi wants me to do something for him before he'll give Malcolm and the rest of you back to me.”
“He has Master Malcolm too?” Millie asks, obviously hearing this bit of news for the first time.
I nod. “Yes, and I have to find Jered. You wouldn't happen to know where some people named Rory and Lora live in the down-world, would you?”
“No,” Millie says, looking concerned that she can't help me, “should I know them?”
“They were people Malcolm seemed to trust because he planned to have them look after Lucas while we dealt with the princes.”
Millie shrugs her shoulders. “I'm sorry, my sweet. I have no idea who they are.”
“It's ok, Millie,” I tell her. “I know someone who will.”
I look back to Lucas and walk over to the bed. I bend down and kiss him lightly on the cheek because I don't want to wake him up. I feel sure he would ask about his father, and I don't have any answers for him. It's better to just let him sleep. The sooner I get to work on doing what Levi wants, the sooner we can all be together again. As far as I'm concerned, Operation Family is still in effect, and I will do whatever I have to do to make us whole. I wish I could just phase him somewhere safe, but with Levi so close, it would never work. He would simply follow my phase trail to wherever I went. There isn’t anywhere I can hide Lucas safely, not yet at least.
“We'll be back together soon,” I promise him. “And don't worry about your dad. I'll take good care of him.”
I let my gaze linger on Lucas' sweet, angelic face for a few more seconds before I steel myself for my next visit.
I look over at Millie. “I'll come back for all of you when I can.”
Millie nods. “I know
, my sweet. We'll be here waiting.”
I phase back to the living room where I find Levi speaking with Eliza in hushed tones.
Levi sees me and smiles tight lipped. “Nice visit?”
“Take me to Malcolm,” I say brusquely.
Eliza turns to look at me and raises a questioning eyebrow. “You should show more respect to the person you’re talking to.”
I look at Eliza and realize the person standing in front of me isn't the same young woman who has served as one of my ladies in waiting for the past five years.
“What are you?” I ask, knowing Eliza's soul isn't present anymore. “Are you like Levi?”
“No,” Levi answers for her. “This is a changeling. And I've given her orders to snap your precious little Lucas' neck if you try to come back here and rescue him.”
I don't feel surprised by this. In fact, I expected Levi to place someone near the people I care about to hold their safety over my head. It was his modus operandi, and I was becoming used to it by now.
I look back at Levi.
“Take me to Malcolm,” I say more stridently.
Levi rolls his eyes at me. “Oh, very well. As you wish, my little dove.”
He grabs me roughly by the arm and phases me into the small confines of a prison cell.
The white walls of the cell are all too familiar to me. I can remember staring at them for hours on end when I was accused of being a traitor to the crown, a crime my father confessed to in order to spare my life. But, these four walls aren't completely white anymore. Patterns of splattered blood cover them in an abstract fashion. To anyone who might not know better, it would almost look like some sort of perverse form of art. Unfortunately, I wasn't naive to the evils of the world. I knew exactly who the blood had come from.
Malcolm hangs suspended in mid-air in the center of the room by an invisible force field, just as I was earlier. His eyes are closed, and his head hangs so low his chin is resting against his bare chest, but I can see his face clearly enough. His silky black hair is a ragged mess of uneven lengths thanks to Levi's rather childishly given haircut. I stare at Malcolm looking for any evidence of where all the blood on the walls could have come from. I can't see any signs of torture on the front of him, and I know that can only mean one thing.
