by Lia Davis
Death’s Storm
The Divinities, book 2
© copyright 2016 Lia Davis
Published by After Glows
Digital ISBN: 978-1-944060-16-9
Print ISBN: 978-1-944060-17-6
Cover by ORIGINAL SYN
Formatting by AG Formatting
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Death’s Storm
A desire he’s never felt before could be more dangerous than the demons out to destroy them.
Technical genius and demi-goddess—a.k.a Divinity—Khloe Bradenton relies on no one for help, and she definitely doesn’t need comfort from anyone but her twin. After her parents were killed by the demons over two years ago, she graciously accepts her role in the war between the demons and witches. But when a creature far more dangerous than the ones responsible for killing her parents claims he is her guardian and steps in with help she never asked for, she is torn between her desire for the dark predator and memories of the painful loss she endured at the hands of her enemies and from those who claimed to love her in the past.
One of the last Death Demons still in existence, Jagger has pledged his life to the Goddess of Witchcraft, Hecate. Charged with guardianship of the Divinities—one particular spitfire, in particular—he was told never to approach them, but simply to aid from a distance. But when Khloe sacrifices herself to save her twin and best friend and thus becomes the demons’ prey, Jagger has no choice but to reveal himself to her. However, he is taken by surprise when the desire to claim her as his own emerges, and his need for her burns hotter than her Fire. But in the midst of the war, their feelings for each other could prove more dangerous than the demons out to destroy them.
Chapter 1
Chaos was working overtime.
Buildings burned, many with flames about ten stories high. People ran, screaming, in all directions. Children cried in the distance. The thick, inky feel of black magic hung in the air like a wet blanket.
Khloe’s heart ached at the scene. She stood in the center of the Maxville Coven. Only it wasn’t present day—that she was sure.
“Connie?” Noah, a Divinity Elder and close friend of Khloe’s parents, spoke softly, his voice carrying to her despite the noise around her. “Can you help Vanessa with the little ones?”
Khloe jerked around at the sound of her mother’s name. “Mom,” she breathed as she spotted her mother as a teenager. Connie nodded at Noah and immediately directed the children to go with her. Beside her was Vanessa Manus—Noah’s wife and the current priestess of the Maxville Coven.
Tears burned Khloe’s eyes. They were so young.
An explosion, like a large ass bomb, sounded several blocks ahead of where she stood. Khloe jumped, noting her mother and Vanessa rushing into a house with the children. Somehow, she’d been transported back in time. To when the Maxville Coven had been attacked by Khan and his demons—when the Divinities had gained their powers.
Noah had told them the story, but to see it in the flesh was surreal.
A surge of power cut through the air, making the hairs on her arms stand on end. Turning, Khloe watched as Hecate appeared in front of Noah, Kristoff, and Melaina. “Are you ready, my children?”
The shock on their faces told Khloe they hadn’t expected her. They went down on their knees and bowed their heads without question. “Yes, Goddess.”
“Then stand and let’s kick some ass,” she prompted.
A group of demons flashed in at that moment, then stalked toward them like a wave. Noah narrowed his eyes and thrust his hands straight out in front of him toward the demons. White light left his palms and hit the first couple of demons, sending them flying backwards into the fiends behind them.
Stunned, he studied his hands as if he didn’t know he possessed that power. He lifted his gaze to Hecate. Khloe followed his stare and saw the goddess engaging four demons. They charged her two at a time, and then all four at once. She was too fast for them, Khloe mused before Hecate took a hit in the side that made her cry out. Khloe’s heart skipped a beat. When Noah made a move to go to her, the goddess spoke, stopping him. “Don’t worry about me. Use your magic. Think about what you want and will it so.”
He glanced at Kris and Mel, who nodded as if they too had heard Hecate’s command. As a unit, they rushed the demons with powers no normal witch possessed. Although the god-like magic was new to the three Divinity Elders, Khloe had known it her whole life. Well, as long as she could remember. The ability to connect to the elements had always been with Khloe. The power increasing as she grew up.
A roar cut through the night, stealing Khloe’s attention and shifting it to Kristoff as one of the demons swiped a sword across his back. A fierce growl ripped from him as he whirled around to face the demon. His eyes glowed amber like dancing flames. Khloe had heard stories of shifters and knew from her mother that Kristoff was a white tiger. However, she’d never seen him shift. By the way his eyes glowed, and his skin tightened, she guessed she was about to.
“Back off!” Kris called out. Noah and Mel backed off slightly. When they did, Kris threw his hands out in front of him and then spread them wide, sending flames out like a blowtorch to encircle the group of demons.
Khloe smiled while her own hands itched. Fire was her favorite element. Plus, she hated being there, seeing them fight, and not being able to join them.
A moment later, Noah stepped up and raised his arms. The vines covering the trees snaked along the ground, unseen by the demons until they took hold, twining and twisting and wrapping around the demons’ legs up to their torsos.
Mel took that opportunity to call her element. A light breeze picked up, blowing Kris’s Fire toward the demons and feeding the flames.
All together, they sent everything they had into what they’d created. The vines twined around while the air intensified the flames and pushed them over the demons, burning them all in a matter of minutes.
Everything fell quiet. Khloe watched with amazement as Hecate walked toward the three. She was still as beautiful as she had been before the fight began. Then again, she was a goddess. She stopped in front of them and held out an amulet of some kind. About five inches in diameter, it was too big to be worn as a piece of jewelry, but Khloe knew what it was. She also noted that it looked slightly bigger than the one they’d recovered last month.
The center of the amulet was a crystal sphere that seemed to glow with multi-colored energy waves. Surrounding the sphere was a labyrinth-like symbol: Hecate’s Wheel, the symbol of knowledge and life.
“This is the Sinew. It is the source of all magic and knowledge. Guard it with your lives. The demons must never have it again.” Hecate gave them the Sinew and vanished.
Suddenly, everything faded, like Khloe’s surroundings just dissolved away. A moment later, she stood in a living room that she didn’t recognize.
A woman�
�s painful cries echoed from the hallway. Khloe rushed to a bedroom at the end of the hall and froze at the doorway. Paul Loomis—a demon living as a human and the father of Kalissa’s ex-boyfriend—knelt on his knees, holding his very pregnant wife, Barbra’s, hand as she gave birth to their child.
The midwife delivered the child, wrapped it in a towel, and started to leave the room when Barbra called out to her. “I want to see him. Why can’t I see my son?”
Panic set in, creasing her forehead and making her shake. Paul tried to calm his wife, then said, “Bring the boy here.”
Khloe had always hated the man, even before she’d found out that he was a demon. Moving closer to Barbra, Khloe snuck a peek at the child she knew all too well was Liam Loomis—the male who’d stolen her twin’s memories to keep her from her true magical partner and the love of her life. The demon had taken precious time from Kalissa and Ayden all because Liam wanted Khloe’s sister for himself. Sick bastard.
“Why does he look like that? Is he okay?” Barbra’s panicked tone made Khloe glance at the baby again.
Her heart skipped a few beats. It wasn’t the slight blueish coloring of his skin, but the black rose on the inside of his left forearm that caught Khloe’s attention.
A Dark Divine. Half witch, half demon.
Just then, Paul’s head snapped up and turned in her direction as if he could see her. Impossible. Wasn’t it? After all, it was her dream. He narrowed his gaze and snarled with a curled lip.
Fear froze in her gut as her father’s face flashed in her mind. Tears stung her eyes, and her nose tingled. Dad. When she reached out to him, he transformed into a black leopard and leapt at her, teeth bared.
She screamed. Her magic ran wild within, and the flares from her connection to the Fire element sparked to life. A moment later, wind blasted through the windows and glass shattered around them. “You killed them!”
“Khloe. Damn it. Ayden.”
“Kalissa?” Khloe heard her sister, but she couldn’t see her. She sounded so far away.
“I’m here. But you have to calm down. Let go of the vision.” Kalissa didn’t make any sense? What vision? She didn’t have that gift.
A moment later, Ayden materialized in front of her and gripped her shoulders, flames crawled up his arms, but it didn’t harm him. He was using his Divinity gift of adaptability—the ability to use others’ powers.
“Lo, listen to me. This isn’t real.”
She blinked then glanced over his shoulder to Paul, who bent to kiss Barbra on the forehead. Meeting Ayden’s stare, she frowned. “They killed them.”
“Not them.” He pointed to Paul and Barbra. “Khan ordered it done, and we’ll catch him.”
Yes, they would. “I don’t know how to get out of this.”
Ayden smiled, and her surroundings shifted again. When the room came into view, relief flooded her as she recognized her own bedroom. She glanced to Kalissa. “Are your visions always like that?”
“No.” She paused, drawing her brows together. “I’ll put coffee on, and we can try to make sense of it.”
Khloe stared at the ceiling and slowed her racing heart. A tightening in her chest matched Kalissa’s concern that brushed against Khloe’s subconscious. And Ayden didn’t help by closing off his emotions. Sometimes it sucked being linked to an empath.
Khloe glared at the red digital numbers on the stove clock. 5:00 AM. She was never up before nine. “How did I get sucked into a dream vision?”
Kalissa handed her a cup of coffee, then sat across from her at the small kitchen table. “I’m not sure. Maybe because it isn’t your gift.”
“I don’t know what it means. Why me?” Khloe sipped her coffee and sighed as the dark, robust but sweet taste hit her tongue. None of it made any sense. Why would her dad change into a leopard?
“I’m not sure.” Kalissa repeated, then offered, “The Fates could have chosen you for a journey.”
The Fates can suck it. Khloe was just fine on the path she was on. Hunting demons and finding out how to go to the Underworld to kill Khan.
Ayden leaned against the counter and nodded. “Could be one that brings the past to the future or something.”
“Oh, well, that sure clears things up.” Khloe rolled her eyes and sagged in her chair. It was great that she didn’t have to explain the visions to either of them. They were bound, times two. Because Khloe shared a psychic connection with her twin, when Kalissa and Ayden mated—binding their magic and lives together—Khloe had been dragged in with them. It wasn’t in a creepy threesome way. It was more like Ayden had joined the twin connection.
Then they were bound to Hecate and the other two Divinities, Lydia and Melaina, as well as Zach—Ayden’s cousin and one of Khloe’s best friends. Zach was also the grandson of one of the Divinity Elders, Noah Manus.
“I don’t like the vague hints of what they think my future holds.” Khloe hated structure, most of the time anyway. She didn’t want to know what the future held. And she definitely didn’t want the Fates playing with the path she was supposed to travel.
“I don’t think it’s something we need to worry about right now. For all we know, it could be a sign of what Khan is cooking up.” Kalissa stood and yawned. “I’m going back to bed. We promised to take Lydia shopping today.”
Khloe smiled. Even though she wasn’t a huge fan of shopping, she did love spending time with her sister and her new best friend. “I may stay up. I’m too wired to sleep right now.”
As Divinities, they didn’t need much sleep. The enhanced magic in their blood kept them young and energized. The only time Khloe ever remembered getting tired was when she used up large amounts of energy, which had been a month ago when Liam kidnapped Kalissa, and Khloe and the others went in to save her.
Damn demons. Lightning cracked over the house as Khloe’s anger toward the Underworld servants spiked within her. Her emotions were too closely tied to her elemental gifts.
“Khloe.”
She laughed at her sister’s warning tone coming from the downstairs master suite Kalissa and Ayden stayed in. “I’m fine. Go to sleep.”
Cupping her coffee in her hands, she glanced out the window. They needed to find out what Khan had planned. Things had been too quiet in the last month. No demon attacks, no threats.
Khloe knew something was coming. And she was ready.
Chapter 2
There it was again. The creepy, dark feeling of being watched. The awareness was always there since Kalissa’s kidnapping, but this was different. Darker. Khloe had first felt it about an hour ago. It followed them like a black storm cloud hovering overhead.
Khloe exited the last clothing store for the day, relieved to be heading home. At least she was glad to get her twin sister and her new BFF away from whatever or whoever was watching them. She tested a theory that she was the one being watched by wandering away from the other women. Not too far away, just enough to know if the feeling lessened. Khloe never let her sister and Lydia out of her sight.
The entity followed her. It even seemed to get closer to her the farther away from the others she got. Interesting.
The three of them were Divinities—witches born with extra, god-like abilities—and could take care themselves. Even Lydia being eight months pregnant could defend herself as much as the others. However, after Khloe and Kalissa’s parents were killed almost two years ago, they’d found themselves thrown in the middle of an ancient war between witches and demons.
A war where the Divinities were the front line, protecting both the magickin and humans from the Underworld demon lord, Khan. The demon wanted the Sinew—a crystal sphere that held the magic of the three worlds.
Khloe was happy to hunt the bastard down and stop him.
Shaking off the thoughts of war, Khloe glanced at Lydia and frowned. The other Divinity had tied her long, red hair up in a ponytail about halfway through the shopping trip, complaining about the heat. Khloe dismissed it as one of Lydia’s prego hot flashes that sh
e often had. After all, it was early March, and the air still held the crisp winter coolness. For Florida, it was like a second Fall.
However, the fatigue settling over Lydia’s porcelain features was starting to worry Khloe. “Are you okay?”
Lydia shifted her green-and-blue gaze to Khloe and smiled. “I’m fine.”
With a sigh, Khloe looked at Kalissa, shrugged, and let the subject drop. Lydia kept her emotions on a tight leash, not letting anyone see her pain. Being able to pick up each other’s emotions was one of the benefits of having been bound together a month ago by the Goddess of Witchcraft, Hecate. It was a blessing, and very annoying. Especially when it was Khloe who tried to rein in her emotions. They were heavily tied to her Divinity gift to control the weather and the natural elements so she had to.
Beyond the wall Lydia hid behind was a lot of pain and even more rage. Khloe understood the anger and the need to hide the pain from others. Lydia hadn’t only lost her father and husband, her mother was missing, and she was possibly in the hands of the demons. Hell, Lydia was handling it a lot better than Khloe would in her shoes. Then again, she wasn’t the one about to be a mother, so she didn’t know what it was like to possess the maternal instinct to love, protect, and be strong for the sake of a child. Still, it wasn’t healthy to keep everything bottled up inside.
“We can relax in the hot tub when we get home,” Khloe said, moving ahead of the other two women.
“That would be nice,” Lydia replied with a real smile this time, not the forced I’m-not-hiding-my-pain smile she usually offered everyone.
Stepping off the curb to head to the car, Khloe stilled and let the cool air caress her skin. An electrical charge that only the select few magickin—like her and the other Divinities—could detect was palpable in the early spring air.
Her spine tingled as another supernatural energy drifted on the wind, putting her on full alert. Reaching out with her senses, she relaxed. A little. The power was familiar in an odd kind of way. Her admirer was nearby. Was he the one following them, hiding his signature?
