Devoted (Book Two, Caylin's Story)

by S. J. West

  I lay back down and snuggle against Aiden.

  “Then let’s stay like this for as long as they let us,” I tell him, finding comfort in his warmth.

  “I can do that,” he says, hugging me closer.

  But, we’re not left alone for long. My parents are soon in my room fawning all over me and insisting that I come downstairs to eat something.

  “Everyone is waiting to see you too,” my mom says. “We’ve all been worried about you, sweetie.”

  “Ok,” I tell her, even though all I want to do is lay in bed with Aiden. “I’ll be down in just a minute.”

  After my parents leave, I snuggle back up with Aiden. I feel more than hear him chuckle.

  “I thought you said you were going down?” He teases, not seeming to mind me holding onto him for a little while longer.

  “I am,” I tell him closing my eyes and just enjoying the feel of him beneath me. “Can’t you see I’m moving very slowly out of bed?”

  “Uh, no. I can’t.”

  “It’s very... very... very... slow.”

  Aiden kisses the top of my head and stands up from the bed. He holds one of his hands out to me.

  “Come on, beautiful. Your family wants to see you.”

  I sigh. I know he’s right.

  “I want more cuddling later,” I inform him.

  “As you wish,” he tells me, taking the hand I offer him and pulling me out of bed.

  When I get out of bed, I see that my whole family is indeed downstairs, even the newest members.

  “And she finally emerges,” Desmond says to the others as he sees us walk down the stairs.

  All of my chosen Watchers are present except Jered…and Slade, of course.

  “Where’s Jered?” I ask Desmond.

  “He’s helping Tristan,” he tells me. “But he’ll be back afterwards.”

  Aunt Tara comes and gives me a hug.

  “I swear to the good Lord above,” she say squeezing me tightly to her, “you and your mother are gonna be the death of me. No more fights with Lucifer, ya hear?”

  I nod. “No more fights.”

  “I second that motion,” Uncle Malcolm says, picking up the hug when Aunt Tara finally lets me go.

  I notice he’s holding a cane in his right hand. It’s made of black metal with a wolf head at the top.

  “Nice cane,” I say as Uncle Malcolm lets me go.

  “Brutus’ handiwork,” he tells me with a sly smile, “so it has a surprise on the inside. Speaking of surprises…”

  Uncle Malcolm reaches into a front pocket of his khaki pants, pulls out a set of keys and hands them to me.

  “I’m giving you my Bugatti.”

  “Why?” I ask in complete shock. Uncle Malcolm's car was one of his prized possessions.

  “Well, your car is at the bottom of a lake, and I can’t exactly drive mine with this leg anymore. You can put it to better use. I’ll have something custom made for me to drive.”

  “Wow, thanks, Uncle Malcolm,” I say, giving him another hug.

  “You did the right thing, you know,” he says to me.

  I pull back and look at him, not quite certain what he means.

  “Killing Slade,” he tells me. “It was the right thing to do. Don’t feel any guilt over it. If I had been in his position, I would have asked for the same thing.”

  “I would hope you would come to me before making a deal with the devil,” I whisper to him.

  Uncle Malcolm smiles. “You don’t have to worry about me. I’m stronger than some people give me credit for.”

  “I’ve always known how strong you are,” I tell him. “And I know you will always do the right thing.”

  Jess and Mason come up to me next, each giving me a hug.

  “I need to tell you guys something,” I say.

  I go on to tell them about what happened when Asmodeus attacked me and him stabbing himself in the hand with the dagger.

  “We felt the earth shake,” Jess tells me. “The whole world did in fact.”

  I feel sure I misheard her and have to ask, “Did you say the whole world?”

  Jess nods. “Yes. And we think we’ve figured out why.”

  I follow Jess to the dining table where a piece of paper lies.

  Five words are written on the paper:

  Conflict

  Want

  Sacrifice

  Torment

  Silence

  “We couldn’t read the one on Asmodeus’ hand because of the dagger,” Jess tells me. “Did you happen to see what it said before he stuck the dagger through it?”

  “Yes, it said 'cataclysm'.”

  Jess adds the word to the list.

  “Six of seven,” she says, more to herself than the rest of us. “We don’t know what Levi’s said, but I think we can assume it isn’t anything good.”

  “You said you thought you figured out why the earth shook when I crushed Asmodeus’ hand,” I say, reminding her that she needs to fill in this piece of information for me.

  Jess nods. “We think the brands are what the princes stole from Heaven.”

  “The brands?”

  “They’re not just brands,” Mason tells me. “Considering what happened when Asmodeus’ seal was damaged, we think they might be the seven seals.”

  I try to figure out what they’re talking about on my own. I’ve read a lot of things in my short life, but the only reference I can think of which concerns seven seals of any significance are…

  “Are you talking about the seven seals in the Book of Revelations? The ones that are supposed to bring about the end of the world?”

  “Yes,” Jess and Mason say at the same time.

  “And if they were opened here in the Origin, it would be the end of all worlds” Mason says.

  “So that’s what my descendant is meant to stop?” I ask, thinking this an impossible task for little Anna. “But how? How will she be able to take the seals away from them?”

  Jess shakes her head. “We have no idea. But it’s the only thing that makes sense. And,” Jess looks over at Mason, “since we know Lucifer and the other princes stole the seals in this reality, we have to assume it happened in other realities too.”

  It doesn’t take me long to see where she’s going with this.

  “Then you can’t go there,” I say adamantly. “You can’t go back to the alternate Earth if the seals are being broken open. You might not make it back!”

  “I don’t think that decision is up to me, kiddo,” Jess says with a wan smile. “I have to do what God wants. And like he told Lucifer, I have more to do.”

  “Don’t worry so much,” Uncle Malcolm tells me. “They’re taking me too. What can possibly go wrong?”

  “Not exactly encouraging words, Malcolm,” Jess teases.

  “Ok, who’s ready for presents?”

  The discussion is effectively broken for the time being by Will's question.

  I turn to see my little brother wheeling in the double stroller we bought for my mom into the living room.

  My mom laughs.

  “I suppose that particular present is meant for me,” she says.

  “Good guess!” Will tells her, taking out a pink gift bag from one of the seats.

  “This is from me and KK,” Will tells my mom. “I didn’t want to give it to you until she woke up.”

  Mae grabs at the bag giggling. “Pink!”

  “Let mom have her gift first,” Will tells our little sister. “Then you can have the bag.”

  My mom sits down on the couch, and I sit down beside her with Will sitting on the other side and Mae kneeling before her. Our father comes to stand behind us to see what we got her.

  My mom opens the bag and pulls out the silver cardboard box.

  She opens it and sees the bracelet.

  “We thought the charms helped tell the story of our family,” I tell her.

  My mom pulls the bracelet out of the box and looks at the charms.

  “The book r
epresents how you and dad met at college,” I tell her. “The frog prince charm is dad.”

  “Thanks,” my dad says, but he’s smiling.

  “The one with wings is meant to represent all of your guardian angels,” I say looking at my dad and Uncle Malcolm, but never forgetting her first guardian, Will. “The bride and groom charm is for when you got married. The baby carriage represents me, your first born. Then we have a birthstone charm for all three of us kids. We can add two more in when the twins are born. The next one is meant to represent inner strength because you’re the strongest person we know. And the last one is pretty self-explanatory.”

  My mother reads it aloud, “’Family Forever’.”

  My mother takes in a deep breath, and I can tell she’s trying not to cry.

  “Thank you,” she tells us. “I’ll always treasure it.”

  My mom slips the bracelet on and wraps her arms around both me and Will.

  “Group hug!” Mae says, propelling herself at us.

  I look up and see Aiden smiling at me.

  I smile back at him and hope he can read my mind.

  Today is the first day we’ll have without having to worry about the boogie man trying to tear down our door.

  Today is the first day of our life together. And nothing under Heaven or on Earth will ever separate Aiden and me because from our union will be born a little girl named Anna.

  And she will save the world…

  Epilogue

  The noise of cars and people from the street below is faint since I’m on the sixth floor, but the sound is still strange to my ears nonetheless. As I peer out the window of my new apartment, I see a multitude of college students scrambling to get box after box of their possessions into the building as they move into their own apartments. I turn around to look at my new place, which is all neatly decorated with items I moved from the house Aiden built us in Colorado and my parent’s home in Lakewood. Being able to phase all my stuff to my new dwelling sure did come in handy.

  Aiden phases in with the last item of furniture he said we needed, the white chaise lounge from his home in the Bahamas.

  I giggle when I see the chair and even more so at what the love of my life is wearing.

  As soon as we arrived at Yale, Aiden bought a sweatshirt. The same sweatshirt I saw him wearing in the vision of our future that I saw while in the vessels’ inner realm.

  “And just what do we need that for?” I ask him, crossing my arms in front of me.

  With a devilish grin, Aiden phases over to me and phases us onto the chair with me beneath him. He looks down at me with such happiness it makes me want to cry. I love seeing his eyes filled with so much joy that anyone looking at him can see how blissful his life has become.

  “What do you think we need it for?” He asks huskily.

  “I really don’t have a clue,” I tell him playfully. “You’re gonna need to be a little more transparent about your intentions, Aiden.”

  Aiden grins. “I guess the best way to tell you is to show you,” he says, lowering his head towards mine.

  My phone vibrates in my back pocket.

  I place my index finger against Aiden’s pursed lips and say, “Hold that thought.”

  I phase out from beneath him and grab my phone.

  When I look at the display, I see that it’s my mom calling.

  “Hey, Mom!” I answer.

  “Hey, sweetie. We just wanted to make sure you were doing all right on your first day in your new apartment.”

  I know why she’s really calling. She already misses me, even though I haven’t been gone for even a full day.

  “I’m doing great,” I tell her. “Aiden just brought over the last of what I needed here.”

  “How is his apartment shaping up?”

  “We’ll be working on bringing his stuff over tomorrow.”

  “I’m glad he was able to get an apartment right next to yours,” my mother says. “Otherwise, I might be more worried about you.”

  She’s still worried. I can hear it in her voice.

  “Hey, I’ve got an idea,” I tell her. “Why don’t you guys come over tomorrow night for dinner? We can make it a housewarming party for me and Aiden.”

  “Are you sure?” My mom asks, even though I can hear that it’s exactly what she needs.

  “Yes, I’m sure. Aiden will do the cooking.”

  “I will?” Aiden says in surprise from the chaise lounge where he’s still laying.

  I wink at him, silently telling him he’ll do great. He’s been tutored all summer long in the culinary arts by my dad after all. Time to put my father’s hard work to the test.

  “Ok,” my mom says, “we’ll be there.”

  “Ask Aunt Tara and them to come too. I’ll call Uncle Malcolm personally and get him to contact the other guys.”

  “Do you want us to bring something over?”

  “No, I think we can handle it.”

  “Ok, sweetie.” My mom is silent for a while. I can tell she doesn’t want to get off the phone but doesn’t know what else to say either.

  “You know,” I tell her, “we’re not exactly like other families, Mom. You and I are only a phase away from each other.”

  “I know,” she says. “But, I don’t want to intrude into your new life all the time either.”

  “Mom, I love you. I would never think you were intruding. You’re welcome here anytime.”

  “Thanks, sweetie,” my mom says, and I hear a smile in her voice. “Ok, well, I better let you and Aiden finish moving stuff. You let us know if you need anything.”

  “I will, Mom.”

  “See you both tomorrow night and give Aiden my love.”

  “Ok, I will. Bye, Mom.”

  When I get off the phone, I phase back over to Aiden with me on top this time and him beneath me.

  “Now,” I say, “where were we?”

  “Exactly where we should be, beautiful. Together.”

  I smile.

  Aiden smiles.

  And I know we will live happily forever after…

  Author’s Note

  Thank you so much for reading Caylin’s Story. If you would like more information about my current and projects, please visit my website (www.sjwest.com) or my Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Cursed-The-Watchers-Trilogy/493117270724860).

  In November or December of 2014, I will publish Aiden’s Story. It is one of my ‘bonus’ books that I intend to write. It is NOT a book that progresses the main storyline. If you wish to continue the main storyline of the Watcher series, please read The Redemption Series, which centers around Malcolm and Anna.

  My ‘bonus’ books are simply that, bonus material. Aiden’s Story, The Alternate Earth Series, and Mae and Tristan’s Story are all simply stories I thought would be interesting to read. They also allow me to continue the story of certain characters that I love.

  Below is an excerpt from

  Malcolm, Book 1, The Redemption Series .

  Thanks again for reading my stories!

  S.J. West

  Prologue

  Andre Greco lifted his hand to knock on the study door, but hesitated because he knew the occupant inside the room would not welcome the sad tidings he had to report. With great reluctance, he rapped his knuckles against the dark stained wood and waited.

  A minute passed. Then two. Then three. Finally, the answer Andre both dreaded and felt relief in hearing came.

  “Come in, Andre.”

  When he opened the door to the study, Andre’s eyes were drawn to the lone figure of his leader and best friend standing by the far window in the room. Malcolm’s gaze was directed towards the broken world outside. It was a world they had been left to guard but failed in many ways over the years.

  Andre slowly closed the door behind him and stood unmoving, waiting for Malcolm to turn and acknowledge his presence.

  As he waited, Andre observed his friend and noted the pained expression that was ever present on Malcolm’s
face during the past few years. His friend’s shoulders were broad and held straight with a stubborn pride. Malcolm stoutly refused to show the depth of his pain, both physical and emotional, to those around him. And Andre knew the news he brought this night would add to the mountain of guilt Malcolm already held firmly on his shoulders.

  “Is the child born?” Malcolm finally asked, breaking the quiet of the room but still not turning his gaze away from the city outside to face Andre.

  “Yes,” Andre said, taking a slow, steadying breath before continuing. “But Amalie didn’t survive very long after giving birth. The pregnancy itself just placed too much of a strain on her body. She lacked the strength in the end to hold onto life.”

  Andre watched as Malcolm slowly closed his eyes and hung his head, showing the weight of his sorrow. He waited patiently as his friend took a moment to come to terms with the death of someone they had both loved dearly.

  “Did she suffer because of that thing?” Malcolm asked in a quiet, tense voice.

  “Not in the end,” Andre said. “She was able to hold the baby for a few minutes before she passed away. That, more than anything, seemed to help ease her pain.”

  Malcolm sighed heavily.

  “I should have seen what was happening,” Malcolm said, shaking his head in dismay. “I should have protected Amalie better.”

  Andre took a few steps closer to his friend.

  “It wasn’t your fault, Malcolm. You couldn’t have stopped Amalie from following her heart. All of Caylin’s descendants have been strong-willed and hard headed. You did everything you could to warn her about what might happen.”

  “But it wasn’t enough, Andre,” Malcolm said, guilt over Amalie’s death drenching each of his words.

  The pain in Malcolm’s voice broke Andre’s heart, but he knew there wasn’t anything he could do or say to erase the blame Malcolm felt.

  Finally, Malcolm turned to Andre to face him fully.

  “Take that thing away from here before I do something to it I might regret later, Andre,” Malcolm ordered. “Follow the plan we set into motion when we first learned of this damned pregnancy.”

  “Don’t you want to see her before we leave?” Andre asked. “She’s still a descendant of Caylin and Aiden’s line.”