But the homicidal rage that Trilland had fallen into the instant I deprived him of his victim was a sight to behold. He threw Zar, a Human, and Marin, a Meta, away from him in a hard push. Both went flying and Marin landed in a pile of onlookers. Zar fell back on the stairs.
“Give her back to God!”
Someone in the audience yelled the words with a zealous fervor. The rest of the group took up the sycophantic chant a moment later as Trilland marched toward me, Min, and Aura.
Zar yelled from the stairs, where he was struggling to stand. “Martin Alveron, you are under arrest for the murder of Jessika Forlf, Helen Grestin, Jolesi Mgabe, Herino Re—”
Trill’s rage got him, and he double backed to Zar, and kicked his head.
The onlookers were getting whipped up into a frenzy, and they were starting to push forward, shoving the chairs with them in a great press of Humanity. John looked between the situations and stepped forward. He held up his hands.
I felt the wave of his Influence was over everyone in the room. It wouldn't be as strong on the Metas, but it was still a powerful push that halted the Humans. He glanced back at me. “Let Aura handle Min. You need to deal with Trilland!”
Aura caught my attention. “Go, deal with him. Marin can help her more than you right now.”
I relinquished Min to her and stood to face the incredible monster who was stalking toward us. His face was red and distorted. I’d honestly never seen a psychopath in action before. The rage boiled off him, fighting against John’s Influence to keep the audience calm, the cords of his neck were pulled tight and his chest was heaving.
“I will kill you, djinn. And then I will kill everyone you brought with you. She is my daughter and I will do with her as I please! You would not help me in my plans, and I will make sure that you never see the light of any sun again.”
“Trill, what the hell are you thinking?!” I said, taking a few strides away from him towards the stairs—away from Min. “This isn’t you. Who the hell is this? Are you possessed?”
“You think that because we’ve had a few drinks you know me? You think that because I asked for your help, you know who I am? You know nothing! Nothing! I am Martin Alveron and I am to be feared by all!”
“You tricked Arahambramina into thinking you loved her.”
“Angels are the silliest of creatures. The most trusting. It only took a few sweet promises to convince her to fall.” His steps were deliberate, calculated. I could see he was trying to plan his attack against me. “The bitch took long enough to get pregnant. I would get the dysfunctional angel. All these people are under my thrall now—already afraid of what they’ve seen here at The Complex, they are ripe for hate. They are ripe for war. They are ready to follow me into battle to eliminate the Metas.”
“Why?” I moved my position to keep ahead of him, trying to anticipate any attack he might launch. “Why do you want to eliminate the Metas?”
“Because it fucking amuses me.”
The words hung there. I was expecting more—but there was nothing more than that.
He wanted to kill the Metas off for fun.
His face twisted and there was a knife in his hand as he lunged at me. I ducked out of the way. By the time I turned back to him, he was already launching at me again with the knife. He was fast for a human—
An explosion of blue magic washed over me, and I was then holding a long straight jian—an ancient Earth weapon that needed two hands and a lot of practice to use properly. The beauty of having all the power in the universe meant that I knew how to use the jian.
Djinn couldn’t make wishes like this for themselves, though.
John had used wish number two.
I twisted out of the way of his charge and walloped him on the back hard with the flat of the blade. He barked in pain and spun, jabbing his knife at me. I quickly and easily disarmed him with the sword. Roaring with anger, he dove for the knife where it had clattered to the floor in front of the first row of the audience.
He grabbed it as I charged toward him, the blade at chest level. Throwing himself to his feet, he whipped around—
—and stepped right into the sword.
With no compunction, I pushed it forward. The blade was sharp and slid as easily through his heart and spine as it would it’s own sheath.
Trilland was an instant deadweight on the sword. It surprised me so much I let the sword slip down, and with the most disgusting squelching sound I’d ever heard, the body slid down off the sword and collapsed on the ground, blood pouring from the wound in the back.
“Kill him!”
The mad yell came from the spectators. John was having trouble overriding their desires when the shock and anger at Trill’s death hit them. I stepped back, still too shocked to think straight.
Marin had at some point stood and made his way to Aura and Min. I had only a moment to glance them at them before the crowd in the room really started to buck John’s Influence. He couldn’t hold back a room full of anger, hate, betrayal, and shock. They were too strong.
As the crowd approached me, the spark of vengeance in their eyes, I didn’t know what to do. I knew that Trilland’s death was necessary, but as a Meta, I hadn’t realized that this entire crowd was here because they wanted to be. There was no Influence or spell cast over them. They were there because they really believed in what he had been peddling.
A few pulled out knives. Another pulled out a gun. More held their fists at the ready.
“I wish all these people back to their apartments with no recollection of the events that went on here tonight!”
John.
The blue magic charged through me and as I dropped the sword, I brought my hands together and saved up the energy there. Once the crowd was close enough, I tossed out the power and sliced through each and every person who had been in the audience with the arc of the wish. It ran through them, covering each with the blue glow, and one by one, each popped out of existence here and into existence in their own apartments in the Complex, with the magic assuring us that they would never remember what happened to Trilland. Martin. The murderer.
The magic was gone.
Chapter Thirteen
I dropped to my knees, the sword clanging to the floor next to me. The room was empty now, save for the eight of us.
Zar stared down at the body of the dead Trilland. “Well. That’s that. I’ll have to search his rooms for his journals, and make up a reason why this man was run through with a sword.”
Marin looked up from where he was kneeling next to Min. “We’ll work on that with the Climintra. I’m not worried about it right now. Right now, we have to figure out how to get this sword out without killing her.”
“Mama?”
All of us turned and looked at the little girl that Ella was still holding.
Min held her hand out. “Brami…”
I nodded at Ella to let her go, and she walked to her mother’s outstretched hand. “Mama. It is you. Daddy told me you were dead. That the only way I could see you again was to join you in heaven. He said he was going to send me there.”
“I am here, Brami. I didn’t want to leave you.” She looked up at Marin and I. “I don’t want to leave you.”
Min pulled her daughter a little closer. Marin leaned into me. “Brami. Does she have angel powers?”
“Nephilium abilities are a little unpredictable. She has her mother’s wings, so she probably has some of them.”
“Do you think she can help me heal Min?”
“No harm in asking.”
I knelt next to Brami and Min. “Hi, Bramisamarad. I’m Pili. Marin needs your help to heal your mother. Do you think you can help him?”
“You’re...blue…” The little girl studied me.
“Blue? My magic is blue.”
She smiled and ran her hand over my forearm. “It’s sparkly.”
“She can see auras,” Marin explained.
She looked up at Marin. “You’re orange.”
He knelt. “
I am. It’s a bright, happy color, isn’t it? Do you think that you can help me move that orange into your mom? She’s very badly hurt and if we don’t get her to heal, she may die. You’re part angel and that’s what she needs.”
Brami looked at her mother and nodded. “Yes. I’ll help. I remember mommy. She was very pretty, and was very nice to me. She loved me. She used to read to me at night.”
“I will again, baby.” Min smiled, and squeezed her hand.
I sat cross-legged on the ground and motioned Brami to me. “Come sit on my lap. Marin can kneel next to us.”
Not letting go of her mother's hand, she plunked into my lap. Marin took her other hand and placed it on Min’s hip. Aura was suddenly there with us, and I realized he'd called her over with their mate bond.
“Aura is going to help us, Brami. She's going to slowly pull the sword back, and we're going to lend your mother as much of our power and energy as we can, so her body can heal the wound. Ready?”
The little half-angel on my lap ruffled her wings and nodded.
The shocking amount of power I felt flowing through her in the next instant nearly threw me back. Marin’s and Aura’s senses joined in, but only as a controlling factor. It took both of them to guide and channel this little girl's power.
It didn't take but a few minutes for them to pull the sword back and we watched as Min’s wound stitched together. The child on my lap was amazing in every way.
Aura and Marin help Min sit up slowly, encouraging her the whole way until she was finally seated upright and facing her daughter.
“Do you remember me, Brami?”
“Yes, Mama. I do. You didn’t like me when I grew up.”
“Oh, Brami… I loved you. I love you. Your father kept us apart.”
“Daddy said he loved me but…” She looked over to where John had covered the body with his coat. “I don’t think he really did. But he didn’t lie about me getting to see you again.”
Min and I locked gazes, and I thanked whatever deities there were that it was not the way he had planned.
14
Ludus
I would never be able to get enough of her lips.
Like the red strawberries from the Human markets, she was sweet, soft, and full of promises. I planned to make her mine forever, and give her everything.
But I was also a male, and that male caressed her breast, exciting the bud.
“Oh, Pili. I don’t have energy.”
I smiled into her hair. “I know, love. I just really like them.” My hand slid to her swollen belly. “I like this more.”
“You need to have a conversation with your son about my bladder.”
“I’ll get on that.”
She snorted and turned in my arms to face the window. “You listen like a brick.”
“Oh, I’m a little more responsive than that.”
“Only a little, and only when you’re as hard as one.”
“I haven’t heard a complaint.”
Leaning back, she kissed me with those strawberry lips.
“Where is Brami?”
“Flying again,” I answered. “Every since she got the hang of it, she goes all the time. Her classmates love it. She wants her mother back out there with her.”
Min’s smile was broad and genuine. “I will be happy once your djinn is born. Flying will get me back in shape.”
“We will all be happy when the baby is here.”
“True.”
I ran a hand up and down her arm. “Are you content here, love?”
“Yes. I will not miss this place when we are gone, though.”
“Oh the Complex isn’t that bad.”
“You like it because your friends are here.”
I cleared my throat. “You know I would like to settle near John, Aura, and Marin when this is all over.”
“Of course you would. I’m not going to object. I don’t have a home.”
I rested my chin on her shoulder. “You have a home. Here. With me. With John, Marin, and Aura. With Ella, and with Brami. This is home.”
“You’ve given me your child but you haven’t given me your lamp.”
I sighed. “There is a reason…”
“Tell me the reason, Pili. I am your mate, I choose life with you. Why haven’t you given me your lamp.”
I paused. “Marin has seen that the djinn powers will be needed again. And before you object— understand that he has seen things that endanger you if I were to give you my lamp right now.”
She blinked a few times at me. “And when can I expect this?”
I grinned. “When I ask your father’s permission to marry you.”
Her eyes welled with tears. “You know my father—my family won’t talk to me.”
Reaching into my pocket and withdrawing a moment later, I pressed a small data recorder into her hand. “Maybe he can convince you otherwise.”
In a flash, she turned back around in my arms, staring at the small black chip sitting there. “How…”
“Zar. He got me permission to talk to your father on the interplanetary channels. That message is for you.”
“You spoke to my father? You found them?”
I kissed my angel’s forehead. “I’ve always known where they were.”
“You really do love me.”
“I love every part of you. That includes the family who wants nothing more than to welcome you back.”
“Thank you for waiting for me, Pili.”
“I would wait a thousand more stars, and thousand more beyond that. I would give you more than all my wishes.”
She gave me a tender kiss. “I have my only wish.”
THE END
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Thank you so much for taking the time to read my novella from The Complex!
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Balance Point
About the Author
Katherine Rhodes
Armed with a pen name, Katherine has gird her loins and set her mind to writing erotic romances which are kinky, dirty, and fun. As a lackadaisical laundry goddess, and an expert in the profundities of bad music and awful literature-thanks to her husband-Katherine strives to find balance in the universe and time to cook dinner. An East Coast dweller, currently located in the Philadelphia Tristate area, she is the proud servants of three cats and would take a vacation in Prague over a day at the beach any time…
http://instagram.com/thekittylover
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www.katherinerhodes.com
Also by Katherine Rhodes
Club Imperial Series
Consensual
Broken Bonds
Knots
Untied
Lessons
Now. Forever.
Silver Soul Series
Not Quite Juliet
The Realm
Half-Soul
The Club
The Darkest Corners
Anything for Her
Teach Me To Sin
Come Fly with Me with Isobelle Cate
The Complex
Balance Point
One Thousand Wishes, One Thousand Stars
Moonlight Calling (The Nightshift in New York 1)
Amazon
Standalones
Acts of Contrition
Passion Flames
Captain
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Katherine also writes as J. Rose Alexander.
J. Rose Alexander
Chatter box, compulsive writer, bon vivant, stunt commuter, and a ninja in her dreams, J. Rose enjoys losing herself in the capes and masks of her superheroes, finding
new trouble for her witches and werewolves— and is always on the look out for a new adventure, on the page or in real life. J. Rose write sweet, clean(ish) stories that are suited to readers 13 and up, unless she warns you otherwise...
http://www.facebook.com/jrosealexander
http://twitter.com/jrosealexander
http://instagram.com/thekittylover
www.jrosealexander.com
The Witchwolf Chronicles
Penumbra: Equinox
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Penumbra: Solstice
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The Art of Dying
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The Art of Living
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The Royals of Grand Island
Shadow in Glass
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The Faction Stories
Apathetic Avengers
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The Natural Order of Things
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Zenko
(Woodland Creek Series) [ages 16+]
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Eunica
(Skeleton Key Series)
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Slip the Waves
(Hotel Paranormal)
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One Thousand Wishes, One Thousand Stars (The Complex Book 0) Page 9
