Death & Fire

by King Ellie

  Death & Fire

  The Evolved Series Book 1

  A Novel By,

  King Ellie

  ©2019 Published by After Hours Publications, Inc. www.afterhourspublications.com

  All rights reserved.

  Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage without express permission by the publisher.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  Contains explicit language & adult themes suitable for ages 17+

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  Prologue

  Xánur

  I could never forget when the virus hit the world. Everything ceased, and families were torn apart. At first, it started slowly, a human coughing here and there, but then, they started dropping like flies. They weren’t exactly zombies. No, they were worse than that. As old as I was, I had seen dead bodies during wars all over the world, but this wasn’t the same thing. No, it drove people apart, and it caused the greatest war to break out forcing people to choose between the humans and the supes.

  Us supes came in different forms, sizes, and backgrounds. We weren’t all just vampires, Lycans, sirens, or even warlocks. There were us, the original creatures, before the hybrids came along. We, the Nephilim, were of royal blood while the hybrids were the children of the Nephilim. They weren’t fully like us, but they possess certain characteristics like us. Over the years, the genes were passed down, but each time it was different. No one really found out what it was, just that the DNA carried a trait of who their descendants were.

  When we chose to separate ourselves from the dying humans, all of us originals gathered, separating half of the world and literally splitting the earth horizontally on the equator. We built a fortress from heavenly materials that no human could break through, and we finished it off with an invisible layer of protection that was built by the warlocks. It was a solid plan and fortress for years as we continued to build our society and living life. Many humans had survived and were immune to the virus. They lived amongst us in peace. I ruled over our world for years and years, until I wanted to do something else. Everything was mundane, nothing made me happy, and I wanted to live, so I left sitting on the throne like a pompous king and joined the people. The throne would always be mine as it was my birthright, but right now, I let another royal, Vali, take over. It was time for me to explore our world alongside my best friend, Asar.

  ****

  Years went by, I forgot all about the throne and became one with the people. I lived like them, went to work like them, and laughed like they did, but I was empty inside. Everything changed, the world evolved, and we updated. We were building as the world grew, more supes were born, and some died. The humans that lived amongst us did the same, yet nothing shook the void in me. That’s when Asar and I created the Sentinels. We were a team of supes that served to protect the growth of the world. Asar and I traveled around our world, training, teaching, and guiding these men and women to show them how to protect themselves.

  Yes, we were a different part of the world, but we needed to always be ready and there needed to be order. Just because we were supes, it didn’t mean that we didn’t need some direction in our communities, cities, and countries. Asar and I were gone from what was once called the United States but was renamed the North because Canada joined us. We explored like a bunch of kids in a new land, but then, it was time to go back to the North. There was a pull, a force I couldn’t get rid of no matter what I did. I drowned myself in all sorts of alcohol and drugs but nothing shook it. That force drove me so mad that even Asar knew we had to go back.

  When we landed in L.A., I smiled because that force simmered down leaving me breathing space. Years went by before I felt it again as I trained and taught new sentinels.

  Today was the day to welcome those level one sentinels. I smiled as Asar came into the classroom with a line of students behind him. They all had black jumpsuits, combat boots, and a bracelet with a color that matched what they were or who they were a descendant of. Asar’s face had the biggest smile I’d ever seen in my life as he announced each student as they stood side by side. Then, a female student ran in the classroom. This one snatched my soul as she ran in the room with her hair a curly mess, her combat boots untied, her bracelet missing, and her jumpsuit hugging her body like a second skin.

  Asar cleared his throat, I glanced at him, and then, he spoke to me telepathically.

  Your wings are… uh, they are out and flapping.

  I slightly turned, noticing that my wings were spread wide calmly flapping as though they should be out. I faced the students again. They were in awe of my wings. Then, my eyes stopped on hers. Her eyes were so beautiful to me; hazel-gray, almond-shaped eyes. A combination of an eye color I had never seen before, and the most beautiful thing happened. Her hair, face, and entire body turned into flames. I was in awe as the flames didn’t consume her. Instead, they were part of her. I was speechless. I had nothing else going through my mind except for these words that repeated themselves, until I said it telepathically to Asar.

  My mate.

  ****

  Lucinda

  I had never in all my life seen a man as gorgeous as this one. I was raised here in L.A., raised amongst different supes in the orphanage. Still, I had never seen anyone like him. His pale blue eyes contrasted with the dirty blonde hair that he wore French braided to his waist. He had a trimmed beard, but it didn’t take away from who he was, and then, my heart beat so fast inside my body as he stared at me. I had never been gazed at in this way. I couldn’t look away from him, and I don’t think I wanted to.

  When his wings showed themselves, my fingertips itched to touch and caress them. I couldn’t help but sigh at such glory, such royalty in front of me. I knew who he was from the moment I joined the Sentinel program. He was Xánur Helson or what I called him in my head, Xáne. He was the son of the god of death that most people thought was a goddess, but those rumors weren’t true. I knew this much from the proper studying I had to do to join this program.

  I stood in front of this giant, and I couldn’t control my flames as I thought I had over the years. My entire body reacted as I felt them lick on my skin, yet they didn’t burn me. Xáne’s wings retreated as he took the small steps in my direction. When he stopped in front of me, I craned my neck trying to make sure I saw him through my flames. Usually, they hindered me from seeing anyone up close because they were my defense mechanism, but with him, I could see him clearly. With a scowl on his face, he spoke,

  “No need to show off.”

  His deep voice resonated through each and every bone in my body. There was nothing else that could ever seep through me like his voice. I would always remember it, no matter where I was. I bit my bottom lip, nervous as ever. I shut my eyes trying to call off my flames knowing I had no control over them. When I opened my eyes, I knew they were still there,

  “I can’t… ” I glanced up at him.

  “You don’t know how to call your flames back?” He asked me with a cocked eyebrow.

  I shook my head, embarrassed as ever.

  “What’s your name?” Xáne eyed me up and down.

  “Lucinda Howell, but you can call me Lucy.” Not able to look away from his gaze.

  Xáne leaned into my face, “I think I’ll call you Cin,” His eyes turned fully black with stars in them. Then, as fast as t
hey did that, they went back to the normal ones he had before. “Now, learn how to control your flames before you kill someone.”

  Before I could say a word, the students shuffled out of the room with the other trainer, Asar, as if they knew what was going to happen next. When they were fully out of the room, he stepped in closer pulling me into his arms. He transformed in front of me as the man that stood before me disappeared and another creature appeared. His wings enveloped me as my flames threatened to grow. I couldn’t stop looking into those eyes. They were even more enticing now, “You are the most beautiful creature I have ever seen,” I said breathlessly while my flames licked my skin.

  As Xáne smiled, his fangs came out to play while he watched me.

  “I’m a natural born devil, let you be the light that converts me,” he effortlessly said to me despite the fangs.

  My poor heart couldn’t take this. He didn’t know me, and I didn’t know him, but we both knew the force that pulled us together.

  It felt so natural being here with him and like this. Death and Fire.

  Chapter 1

  Xánur

  My heart was racing once again, and I knew why. I had the same damn dream for the third time this week. I didn’t need to dream about her again. I didn’t want to see her anymore. It’s been three years, but she won’t leave my subconscious. What the hell am I supposed to do about that? How do I get rid of her?

  Those hazel-gray eyes spoke volumes to me in my dreams. They always looked at me as though they missed me, but I knew better. I resented them the most because I loved them the most about her. Those almond-shaped eyes would always look my way, and I couldn’t turn away. They would trap me, and I would lose all sights of anything else. What were the last words she said to me?

  Oh yeah, I love you.

  Such traitorous words made me want to vomit. Can’t she just disappear and not visit me at a time where I wished to be rid of her?

  This house, my house. One of the royal homes of the Nephilim left roaming the earth. My father is a fallen angel who loved to populate the world with his seed. Unfortunately, I was the last born who was still alive from his line. There were many supernatural creatures here on the other side of the world…

  I lost focus of that as she came into view again laying down beneath me on my bed with rose petals showering all over her body. She was my favorite to stare at. I could stare at her brown skin that resembled a Hershey’s kiss, her eyes, her lips that I always wanted to kiss on, and then, the rest of her body. A body that set me on fire each time, yet nothing could get me off her. I loved to show her how much I wanted her, from the moment she let me the first time until the last time.

  She was everything to me, that’s why I hated her so passionately. The look in her eyes was mesmerizing as she called out to me each time I made love to her.

  “Xáne…Xáne,” she called my name like a prayer, and there I stood like a dummy eating it all up, but that night, she left me.

  She never looked back or said goodbye to me. That’s when the dreams started. I would see her beneath me, but right after, she was consumed by the very flames she could conjure out of her body. She was a hybrid, a special one. Her mother was a fire-breathing dragon Nephilim, and her father was a human.

  “Cin…” My nickname for Lucinda. I called her out in my dreams, but she couldn’t hear me.

  My fire, my flame, yet she let them consume me and burn me to a crisp. I would hate her for the rest of my life if I could. That was something I, Xánur Helson, last born son of who the Norse called Hel, the god of death, would never forget. If I could bring her death, I would.

  ****

  I was jolted out of my sleep when I felt a piercing in my side. I didn’t scream in pain or anything. It wasn’t the first time my girlfriend, Jaya stabbed me in her sleep. She had this thing about sleeping with her knives, and sometimes it was cute or funny to see her try to hurl them at me during training, but right now, it was not funny. I told her a million times that if she weren’t human, I would’ve killed her had I not had any damn self-control. I was a damn vampire, so it didn’t take me long to heal but fuck it hurt like hell.

  I sat up quickly before she attacked again. She had the same routines as she did when she was fighting. I jumped out of bed not wanting to have to restrain her. I moved over to the edge of the bed watching her in my California sized king bed. How she always gravitated towards me made no damn sense. She had all this space, yet she hogged the entire bed. She was a descendant of the Amazonians, but along the way, she must’ve lost the power that came with the bloodline. Jaya was one of the million humans left alive after the disease took them years ago. The disease changed their entire earth but us, the supernatural, were able to escape it as it took more than a common airborne virus to kill us off.

  Jaya smiled in her sleep as though she knew she succeeded getting me off the bed. She was beautiful with her big, brown eyes, her soft, tanned skin, brunette hair that she kept short in a pixie cut, and she was almost six feet tall. She was built like an Amazonian woman as well, unlike… No! I stopped my mind from wandering to the one person that could ruin my day even without her presence there.

  Just then, there was a surge as it traveled from my toes all the way to the roots of my dirty blonde hair. The last time I felt this way was when I had Lucinda beneath me, and she was so overwhelmed with emotions that she couldn’t control herself. She set me on fire consuming every part of me, but I didn’t stop, I couldn’t stop. I shouldn’t have stopped because that night she wouldn’t have left. I never regretted that moment because I tatted my body up from collarbone to ankles with masterpieces mapping out my life. There was one tattoo of her, and that was placed over my heart sin in big letters because at the time, I was heartbroken, and I thought she was coming back to me.

  The alarms began blaring all over town, and my black wings came out because of the shock. I could feel it in the air, and something was up. I shut my eyes letting all the sound in and focusing on the furthest place which was the gate to enter the town. I heard multiple heartbeats, and then, the one thing I never thought I would hear again.

  “Guess who just tried to come back in? Lucinda Howell. Take her to quarantine and make sure you alert the captain,” one soldier said.

  “Fuck!” I screamed out shocking myself.

  Jaya jolted up.

  “What? What is it!” The alarms blaring didn’t wake up, but my shouting did.

  I shook my head. I ran my fingers through my shoulder-length hair gazing up at my ceiling.

  “I have to go take care of someone that just snuck in,” I shut my eyes, my body already reacting to her as the closer she got the tether between us, that we could never break, it began erratically humming. “I am the captain, after all.”

  I sighed, walking away not able to look Jaya in the eye. Somehow, I knew something was going to happen with Cin back on this side of the gate, but one thing that wouldn’t happen was me ever forgiving her.

  ****

  Lucinda

  I can’t believe I got caught coming back when I never got caught leaving. I inhaled deeply. I missed the air on this side. It was different; contained as we were covered by an invisible fortress that couldn’t be seen since it was so high up. The gate wasn’t some crazy looking thing, it was red-brick built and high enough to reach the skies with a magical door that only the sentinels knew how to open, but I had a crawl space. I should’ve known that I was going to get caught. I looked up at the sky as the blue stood out and the clear clouds unlike the other side of the wall that was full of smoke, carcasses everywhere, some humans staggered to stay alive because the virus hadn’t fully killed them as we thought.

  I took a deep breath knowing I had no right to come back but where else was I going to go? I selfishly left everything behind because I had to find my parents. I wanted to believe my father was out there with my mother before they sent me off here to be part of this side of the world, but I fooled myself. My parents were nowhere to be fo
und. All that was left were just dead, rotting bodies, waste polluted the open side of the earth that contained only humans who couldn’t beat this. I contemplated for three years if I should come back and after realizing how alone I truly was, I came back with my tail tucked between my legs, figuratively speaking of course.

  “Why do you have to call me out here when you can handle this yourselves… huh? What are you guys getting paid for, if it isn’t this?” He yelled.

  I heard his voice before I righted my head in his direction. I could never forget my mate’s voice. My entire body froze, I knew what I was avoiding deep within me. The vibrant humming of our tether as I got closer and closer to this side of the world, I felt him, but I couldn’t read his emotions until now as his pale-blue eyes met mine. He hated me. The emotion hummed so loudly that I could’ve sworn those around us felt it.

  “Why is she here? Who allowed her in?” Xáne’s voice caused my heart to skip a beat, but the icy stare in his eyes let me know that he didn’t want to see me.

  If he could kill me, he would, and I would let him. That sounded crazy, but that’s how much I loved this man. He didn’t get it, he would’ve never let me go out there alone, and I needed to do this journey on my own. He is my everything, but the way he watched me told me so much more than I wanted to admit. I hurt him; I really did. It was killing me that he had changed physically as well. He was even much more handsome than he was three years ago. He grew out of his younger looking body, and now, he stood tall like a man.

  His kind grew up differently, looking young for a long time and aging slowly. His hair wasn’t down his back anymore. It was shoulder-length now. His bushy, naturally arched eyebrows told you how he felt before he even said it. I used to joke with him telling him that his eyebrows always told me how he felt about a situation. He no longer had a beard, and his jawline was impeccable. It showed off his best features and his lips; the bottom fuller than the top. The bottom lip was like a cushion for his fangs. His entire body was beautiful in a gray t-shirt that hugged his upper body like a second skin, and those dark jeans didn’t help it either. Xáne was definitely not the younger looking man I left three years ago. A man was standing in front of me now. He was bigger in size which made him look taller than his freakishly six- foot-eight inches.