Devon's power surrounded him. Above them twisted what literally looked like a black hole within a tunnel of light. The swirling funnel mesmerized Lucien. He wanted to touch it. What would be on the other side?
Don't—Devon's voice, accompanied by a thousand others whispered in his mind.
He looked at his brother, a being of pure light, the only slightly distinguishable feature being the glowing blue of his eyes in a face made of white fire. Lucien had no idea how he was able to stand the brightness of the light. It should have blinded him.
Fuck—Lucien uttered. Are we dead?
A soul is incapable of death—Devon answered.
Again, Lucien looked at the dark opening above them.
What is that?
Devon kept his gaze on Lucien. A portal.
Lucien felt confused, his gaze shifting back to his brother. A portal back home? His confusion intensified. Where was home? What was home? He wanted to think of Boy and Girl's face, but the images would not come. Fear hit hard and fast.
I won't let you go, Lucien.
Why?—He questioned. After everything he'd done, tried to kill him, hated him...why?
Because I love you—his brother answered.
Lucien wanted to embrace him, but...he was a mass of flowing energy. The only thing holding him together and keeping him from being drawn into the swirling vortex above them was Devon.
Voices drew Lucien's attention. Looking down he saw another opening below them.
His body was laid out on a metal table, wrists and ankles restrained with cuffs and chains,but it wasn't dead. The body writhed and thrashed, completely possessed.
What. The. Fuck.
Devon lay on another gurney next to him, eyes also open, except those soulless black orbs just remained unblinking up at them.
They drew closer. More of the room became clear. Thousands of vid-orbs circled them, as well as a dozen Master Guardians Lucien didn't recognize. Their power flared around them as they formed a ring around Devon and his body, swords drawn.
Lucien studied the swords more closely. These were not divine swords. They all carried Lucifer's seal.
Someone was talking.
"The others escaped, and we recruited the help of Master Guardians from allied planetary systems to help in hunting them down. Among their crimes, aside from starting the interplanetary apocalypse a little over three hundred years ago, is the kidnapping and enslavement of the long lost Truidian Princess, and a very dangerous hybrid battle pet belonging to the ambassador of Vrongodia."
The Cyclopean reporter spoke with the congregated Master Guardians, but not a single council member was present.
What was worse, Lucien saw how little devils circled the Master Guardians, laughing and giggling.
They've given themselves over to evil?—Lucien asked Devon.
They cannot see what we see, Lucien. They think those creatures are Dominatio.
Lucien looked around and caught sight of their own Dominatios floating in a far corner of the large room.
When the interview was over, the reporters and master Guardians filed out. As they left, the vid recording orbs following them, Devon reached out and caught an orb.
The glowing ball's light winked out and sank to the floor.
What is that for?—Lucien questioned.
Evidence.
Lucien was about to look up again, wondering if that dark void was still hovering over their heads, but Devon stood in front of him, commanding his attention.
Time to go back—he said, his tone sad.
Lucien looked back at the writhing body. It was spewing up black ooze from its mouth.
Devon lured him closer and when he was hovering just over it, it split down the middle, and opened, exposing a sea of worms and maggots. Screams could be heard, emanating from the hideous sight.
No—Lucien cried out. He didn't want to go back inside there, back to the horrid memories he knew awaited him.
The body laughed, wiggling its tongue out.
Lucien. You must—Devon pleaded.
Lucien backed away, floating higher, away from the writhing mass of maggots, worms and screams that was the nightmare of his body. A bloodied hand shot out and gripped his aura before he could move farther. From the mass of bloody innards exposed to him emerged the face of a child.
"Don't leave me here alone," the child begged.
Lucien stared at himself as a child and wept. The moment sorrow engulfed him, he fell, he screamed. The beatings were real again, the torture, being locked inside the metal box for days, no food or water, forced to soil himself, feeling his mind splintering. The body laughed...no...it wasn't his body laughing. It was the evil part of himself. He was the child, shivering, terrified, not understanding why all this was happening to him.
Cruel hands gripped his arms and lifted him out of the box, shook him.
"It's all Devon's fault, and the Seraphian Master Guardians. They did this to you. They left you. They knew there were two babies and never bothered to look for you. They left you because you were garbage."
Lucien sobbed. "No."
"While you were raped and tortured, Devon knew nothing but love and adoration. No one gave a fuck about you."
Lucien shrieked. He wanted to die. He didn't want to stay within this carcass of horrors.
"That's right," his evil self hissed. "Die, because not even I love myself. I hate everything. Everything. I tried to kill Devon, I tried to seduce his woman...tried to seduce any woman, but they would never have me, only the pleasure I could give them. I hate myself—I hate myself—I hate myself—"
"Lucien," Devon shook him. "Snap out of it."
Lucien opened his eyes the screams of his past still ringing in his ears. "Fuck you," he yelled in his brother's face, enraged he'd made him return when he'd been so close...so close.
"I want to die—" Lucien let out a wail of despair.
Again, Devon shook him. "Stop it. Think of Boy Rayne and Girl Rayne."
"I'm cursed. Can't you understand? Cursed—"
Pain bloomed in his face and he sucked in a shocked breath, staring up at Devon's enraged face.
"D-did you just slap me?" Lucien whispered.
"Have you pulled your shit together now, or do I need to do it again?" Devon snarled.
Lucien closed his gaping mouth and swallowed. His heart was pounding in his chest and the table beneath his chilled ass was hard.
Looking down at himself, he saw he was still in one piece. Over their heads was a metal ceiling with subdued lighting. Smoke filtered from his lips as he exhaled from the cold. His teeth began to chatter.
Devon broke the chains from his wrists as if they were made of paper. The cuffs followed soon after.
As he watched his brother work in stunned silence, Devon's black Alpha Angel's uniform materialized over his pale body. By the time Lucien's feet touched the cold silver floor of the obvious morgue they were in, he was also encased in his own uniform.
Lucien's hands were still trembling as he remembered...not even I love myself.
Devon, cupping his face and forcing him to look into his eyes startled him.
"I won't ever let you go,"
Lucien swallowed, struggling against the silly urge to embrace him.
Devon smiled, released his face, and bent to pick up the darkened vid-orb.
Next thing Lucien knew, his brother was gripping him around the waist and Teleporting them back to the base of the Freedom Tower, beneath the city platform.
They floated slowly back down until their feet touched the dirty ground.
"Again?"
Both brothers turned to look at the girl reaper as she flew down from her perch atop an abandoned building.
"We're not here to traverse the portal," Devon assured.
Her eyes narrowed at them. "I only have one more year to go before my hundred year service is up, and I'm not going to let anything happen on my watch to ruin my chances at an honorable discharge."
"What's your name?"
The girl blinked, her cheeks going a little pink. She licked her lips, her gaze darting between him and Devon. "Kokobiel."
Devon smiled. "What are your plans when you're done?"
She tipped her head higher. "I'm going back to Seraphia to join Amaranth's army."
Lucien felt his brows shoot up to his hairline. "Ama has an army?"
Kokobiel snorted at them. "Of course. It is her sworn task to bring down any who would dare open the gates of Hell. Now that she is free of the bonds of priestesshood, she can come and go as she pleases. It is so much simpler to complete one's life task."
Lucien was sure he looked as bewildered as Devon. Amaranth had been keeping Seth at arm's length since forever...but she didn't have to.
Devon was the first to react.
"Right. Luke, let's get moving."
"I'd help," the girl blurted when they turned to leave again, "But I can't leave...well, you know." She jerked her thumb over her shoulder in direction of the fountains.
Devon nodded. "We understand."
As they headed toward the front entrance of the Freedom Tower, Lucien's mind drifted to his loves, mainly Boy, who last he remembered being ordered to set down. His steps faltered. Boy.
"He's already with the others. Ashriel rescued him. They were about to give him back to his creator."
They watched her. Rayne lay on her back in the center of the throne room. All the male inhabitants of the court surrounded her, sitting at their tables, fed by the females. She was the entertainment.
Not desiring to shame her father, the king, Rayne spread her legs, letting all see how swollen and wet she was. She tweaked her nipples and moaned.
A lone man rose from his floor cushion and approached her. Rayne watched him through her lashes. The glowstones lighting the throne room kept the male in shadow. He gripped her legs and parted them more fully.
Rayne could feel herself clench, her arousal making her throb. She like being stared at while she lay bare for all to see. She also loved the feel of the flogger marking her, of being tied down and at the mercy of...
"Master," she whimpered.
