by Crystal Dawn
Frozen Origin Demons Book 1
Lucifer
By Crystal Dawn
2015 Copyright by Crystal Dawn
Cover by Cynthia Lucas Fantasy Covers
Edited by Katrina Breier
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Any resemblance to persons living or dead is strictly a coincidence and the story is strictly the product of the author’s imagination.
Dedicated to the abused, the forlorn, the mistreated and the unloved. May their lives become better and may they find love.
Frozen Origin Demons series is a spinoff series of Frozen Origin series and therefore is best when read after the first book of that series Zeus.
Frozen Origin 1-Zeus
Origin is the best in the field of DNA research and they have finely tuned their craft. They started out with a line of supermen pulling all the best traits from the millions of human DNA samples they had available to them. These supermen were the smartest, fastest, strongest and most adaptable the human race had to offer, but Origin wasn’t satisfied. When they expanded their facility in Antarctica, they discovered something that made the next level reachable. These were the gods, so far beyond the abilities of man that even with some of their gifts still undiscovered, they put the supermen to shame.
Origin managed to get by with enslaving the products of their research for years until they rented the talents of those products to terrorists that used them against the US and her allies. A team was sent to free them and they were allowed to be an independent entity, free to rule themselves. They had much to overcome and Origin wasn’t ready to give them up yet. Origin fought hard to recover their losses, but the gods fought harder to remain free, especially once they realized that they could have a mate and children when they find the right woman.
Sierra, one of the team sent in to free them and Zeus, the leader of the gods, are the first to mate and have children.
Prologue
He was an evil incarnate, wicked and thoroughly bad. At least that’s what he was told in his early formative years. He was Lucifer, named for the devil himself because he was winged and had a tail. He couldn’t pass as a human in a world that was only too human and ruled by those humans that had power. Love didn’t exist, it was a precious fleeting thing given to others but never to him.
Sure, Zeus and some of the other gods had found love, but only one demon had and he was more human than most. What was the difference between a god and a demon? There were two ways to look at that. One was the percent of father Cronos’ DNA that was present was higher in demons. The other way was to look at, not the cause, but the effect. The higher DNA caused mutations that prevented demons from passing as human.
Gods, with all their differences from humans, still looked enough like them that they were impossible to distinguish among humans unless they used their powers. Demons with their back bone ridges, pointed ears, wings and tails and once, in the case of a demon called Devil, horns were impossible to slip into the human population except during Halloween.
His wings were beautiful, a lovely soft lavender and they stretched out to a magnificent span. He was often mistaken for an angel by drunken human females who came to the god’s parties until they saw his tail. His useful and incredible tail that could protect him and give those naughty females so much pleasure. The reactions to his tail were mixed. Some ran screaming while others whispered in his ear asking exactly what could he do with it.
He felt trapped by the very things he was most proud of. He would accept Zeus’ offer of a home for the demons, but would it really help them heal? They would go there and they would try to live a freer life and hopefully they wouldn’t scare the humans that the demons had no choice but to live among.
Lucifer
Chapter 1
A New Home
Lu looked around feeling like the lord of all he surveyed, but he sat on a lonely throne. It was hard being a demon but he hoped all that was about to change for the better. He had accepted this facility from Zeus when he offered it hoping to give the demons something of their own. Those that had come with him had seemed to adjust to the move well. He had many plans that he hoped would make things better for them all.
Someday he and his fellow demons would mate and have offspring. All of them would only be twenty something families because although this facility was nice, it only held a hundred people. They only had a handful of demons that could easily pass as human and here the locals liked to keep in touch. He had plans of a future where they could all mingle with humans. For now, they had two gods that they used to meet the locals, working as local ambassadors. Sometimes he was glad he couldn’t meet with the locals but there were times he resented the hell out of it and that too, he hoped to change soon.
One of those demons, Amodious, was the only demon who was mated. When the Valentine Costume Ball had been coming up he had, well, let’s call it a premonition, that someone would find their mate but it wouldn’t be him it would be Amodious. He’d been right, it hadn’t been him. Amo and his mate had stayed behind with the gods. She was probably more comfortable with those that looked more like her. Even though he desperately wanted to find his other half, he would be happy for any of his brothers that found his mate.
The change that was coming would be helped along by a female. He was waiting for a daughter of the famous Major Dunlevy, a man who’d died helping Zeus and his team survive their first mission, to join them so she could be the catalyst they needed to improve their lives for good.
She was a half-sister to Sierra, Doc and Way who were mated to gods. She’d been in the military and then she’d gone to work as a PA for an ambassador in a small European country for two years. She’d done it for the chance to travel and meet influential people. She had discovered a talent for arranging things and she’d gone to work with Rippin records managing several well-known groups. She left and started her own company and now she was coming here to help establish the new endeavor Lucifer and his demons planned on pursuing.
Lu was pretty proud of the idea they’d come up with although he’d be the first to admit they had a lot to overcome before they could enact it. Sierra, Zeus’ mate, described Stef as brilliant and assured him if anyone could pull it off, she could. She also admitted that Stef was excited about coming in to organize and plan with them. Sierra was sold on the potential, but Stef was already planning on their success.
Stef, short for Stephanie, was coming from a short stay with Sierra and Zeus where she would have been told all about the gods and the demons. She was willing to live here with them and run their program until it was established. Sierra said the girl was a gypsy, like their father had been. She was the redhead of the family and while she was calm, for a redhead, Sierra cautioned him that it didn’t pay to antagonize her. Why she’d thought there was a need to warn him, he couldn’t imagine. He was sure she’d be as much fun as her sisters were and she’d be single so they might have a lot of a different kind of fun.
Lu pulled out his guitar and strummed a few chords. He’d loved music from the time of his earliest memories. He’d sang in his head to get through the abuse that had been heaped on him as a small child. The lonely times when he’d been locked away and punished for being born an atrocity or whipped until his back was raw and bleeding for being evil and hated. He’d wished for love then, for someone to claim for his very own. No one had wanted him and only his brothers had hel
ped him or shown him kindness.
He sang a few lines of a song he’d written. He worshipped beauty and love because it was something he had never had. Even the haunting melody and the words so full of angst and aching need that went unfulfilled brought him no respite. His drummer started in and his keyboard player too. He reached the chorus and they all joined in. He and his Band of Demons sounded as if they were a band of angels. The song was one he had written himself and if the words were haunting, the memories behind them were even more so.
He’d read somewhere that the best songwriters had a wealth of experience in living life. If that was true, he should be the best because he’d experienced more misery packed into his life before he was freed, than most people would experience in a hundred years. The pleasure he had squeezed out of each day of freedom was also enormous. He’d gone through hell and now he intended to enjoy life no matter what it threw his way.
This song really hit him hard and the emotion vibrated from every word as he sang. He knew people would mistake the meaning. They would think he was trapped in a bad relationship, freed himself and that the torture he mentioned was mental or emotional. It didn’t matter what the humans thought it meant, for him it was cathartic and his soul felt freer each time he sang it.
He had been to the very depths of hell while he was at Origin’s not so tender mercy, but while he hadn’t found heaven yet, as his song said he was climbing higher every day. One of these days would see him free of pain and soaring on his lofty wings.
They ended the song and he heard clapping behind them. They all turned to see a fiery red head clapping enthusiastically. Curvaceous and stunning, just the kind of woman he would envision in his dreams.
“That was beautiful!” She cheered in a sultry low voice.
Even her voice made his body react. He could imagine her encouraging him as she lay beneath him. Bad Lu, he needed to get his mind back on business.
“Stef, I presume?” He asked with one brow raised.
“What do I get if I am?” She asked flirtatiously.
Ah yes! He was sure they would get along perfectly. “What do you want?” He asked with a gleam in his eye as he examined her with marked appreciation. She was gorgeous and just what he needed right now to take his mind off the difficulties they would face and hopefully overcome with her help.
“Right now, something to eat, a good strong drink and a place to sleep. It was a long and rough trip coming here.” She said. “Later, we’ll see if we can add to that list.”
She winked at him and he decided he’d finally met a bigger flirt than he was. He knew from personal experience that developing such an outgoing personality was often a way to hide the hurt deep inside. It made him wonder if she was hiding something and what it could be. If she was, he would find it.
“Let me show you where you’ll be staying.” Lu invited. He hoped she’d be in his room more than anywhere else.
He led her out the door and down a hall. She would stay in one of the small suites on the first floor since she was human. The lower floors were for demons that looked the least human and yes, there were those whose faces didn’t even appear human.
Forehead ridges that appeared alien or eyes that glowed in neon colors all the time were difficult to hide. A few poor souls had already looked, what a human would call monstrous, before Origin had experimented on them which was just their way of excusing torture. They were covered with scars and a few even had missing parts. The sadistic bastards had said they wanted to see if they could regrow parts. He’d like some time alone with any one or all of them. He’d see what they could regrow.
“Here we are.” He observed as he opened the door for her. “You’re right next door to me and I can see to any need you might have. Feel free to call on me day or night.” He waggled his brows suggestively and she blushed. Ah, he’d gotten to her. He felt insanely proud for some reason. He had a feeling it wasn’t easy to get the better of this female. “I’ll have someone bring your bags in for you. Why don’t I escort you to the cafeteria now? It’s where you’ll eat most of your meals.”
“Lead on and I’ll follow.” Stef offered with a smirk.
The female was always flirting, smirking, or laughing. He wondered what she was like beneath the surface. He found he wanted to know the real Stef and was frustrated that she was hiding so well. He could usually read a person in the first five minutes or less but not this female.
Lu led her to the cafeteria getting in line with her behind him. When they stepped up to get their plates and fill them, he began to introduce her to the people in line and the ones serving food. The servers were all demons, everyone working and living here full time except for Stef were demons or gods. Humans might see something that would tell them the demons were different than the gods. That was something no one could know.
Things were done differently here. Food was shipped in ready to be heated and served. Laundry went out coming back ready to wear. It would be cheaper to hire humans but the risk was simply too great. There were two female humans that came in and cleaned on the top floor two days a week, but other than that they had to be self-sufficient to hide their secrets.
He wasn’t surprised when his fellow demons took an interest in her, only jealous and a tad annoyed. Couldn’t they tell, that at least right now, she was with him? He frowned as he wondered if something was wrong with him. Females were great, but nothing to get possessive over. At least not until you met your one and only, your mate. Stef couldn’t be his mate, she was too much of a flirt. He had an image in his mind of what his mate would be like.
She’d be sexy and beautiful which Stef definitely was, but she’d be shy. She wouldn’t draw attention because she wouldn’t want attention from anyone but him. She’d be his polar opposite, quiet and unassuming. She’d be supportive without being forceful and she’d let him make all the decisions because that was what was best. As much as he’d enjoyed watching Zeus, Hades and the other gods get taken to task by their mates, he wanted something completely different for himself.
He wanted a quiet, supportive female. A wild, strong female just wouldn’t be the right thing for him. He would enjoy Stef’s company for a while, maybe even let her warm his bed, but forever wasn’t in the cards for the two of them. She was too much like him and he suspected she had some dark memories in her past even if they probably weren’t as bad as what the average demon had been through.
They got their food and sat down to eat. Their table became the most popular with the demons as they came in to eat lunch. He shot a dirty look at some of his friends as they sat too close to his female. Even if he didn’t plan to keep her, he meant to have her. He tried not to think about how cold that sounded. He wouldn’t hurt her intentionally, he’d explain things to her so she could decide if they moved forward. It wasn’t like females ever said no. They wanted what he could give them too much to do that. He just never felt like anyone ever just wanted him. She touched his hand sending a shock through him. Damn, he didn’t want to think about what that could mean because she just couldn’t be his soul mate.
She was staring at him intently letting him know he must have missed something. All eyes at the table were on him. “Sorry, I guess I missed something?”
“Abraxas offered to take me to the lower levels to show me around if you’re busy?” She phrased it as a question.
He’d been busy but he wouldn’t trust Abe with a nun. “That’s nice of you Abe, but I have some time today and I need to talk to Stef about our upcoming plans.” They didn’t really have any plans yet, but that’s why she was here.
They needed funding for this facility. Lu refused to live off his brothers at Olympus regardless of the fact that they offered to give them all they could possibly need. All the gods had been through difficult times with Origin but some, like Zeus and the higher level gods had, for the most part, made the best of it and worked with Origin rather than fight them.
Demons had never been given that choice. Lu held no animo
sity toward the other gods. Zeus had used every bit of authority he was allowed to wield in order to help the demons. He had snuck them food and water when they were locked up. Zeus and the other gods had sat nearby talking to them through the door so they wouldn’t feel alone when Origin tried to isolate them. They tried to break their spirits to study the effects of insanity on a god, but because of their brothers, they’d not gone over the edge, at least none had that Lu knew of.
Those were dark times for demons and those times had even touched some gods that had been destroyed or reconditioned. Times were so much better now and yet, they could be better still. He’d come up with an idea, a talent he and some of the demons had that could be used to bring in money. He’d been told many times that he had the voice of an angel. He could also play any instrument by ear. He couldn’t read music, he’d never bothered to learn. He could however, play music flawlessly. Some of his demons could read music. Good for them, but he didn’t need the ability to hone his skill.
Demons were musically inclined as a general rule. Some could sing, some could play instruments and most could dance. Gods as a general rule didn’t sing or play instruments. Most could dance better than the average human but that was because of the incredible physical condition most gods were in.
Lu could dance too. He could dance like a professional and there wasn’t a dance he couldn’t perform. His body followed directions perfectly. Sierra had told him he’d make a fortune as a stripper. Zeus hadn’t been amused and he had thrown her over his shoulder and dragged her off to bed. She had just laughed all the way there. She seemed to enjoy her mate’s possessive Neanderthal tactics.
Here Stef was, the one that would see his plans, his dreams brought to fruition. If done properly it might even give them a small amount of freedom. Maybe he should avoid being involved with her personally since they needed her to do this for them. If he hurt her feelings, she might leave before she did what she was here for. He could always lure her in once everything was the way it needed to be. He wasn’t being cold or clinical in his approach, he was bending his personal needs to consider those of his males. He refused to be selfish and risk their happiness and security.
