Redemption of Blood Read online

  “That’s not really a threat since Nye’s probably on his way here to pick me up.”

  “I thought he was going on a supply run after the bantling was dispatched.”

  KK reclined her seat and closed her eyes.

  “The windows are frosting over.”

  “Quit feeling guilty about not bringing me home.”

  “Why does the princess look like you? And didn’t you say her mother resembled yours?”

  “You know all us white folk look alike.”

  “Sit up, look at me, and tell me what the hell is going on between you and the princess.”

  “I killed the only man she ever loved…she’s a bit upset by that. I’m letting her work through her grief. She’s kinda stuck on level three…anger…bargaining.”

  “Only difference is she thinks if she gets the ashes back she can somehow use them for what?”

  “I really have no idea.”

  “You don’t, that I believe. What I don’t believe is you don’t know why you and the princess are fucking Bobbsey twins. I also don’t believe you have no idea how her mother and yours might have met.”

  KK breathed in deep and opened her eyes. She stared at the roof of my car and nibbled on her lips.

  “There is something you aren't saying, isn’t there?” I asked.

  The chill I felt then was enough to frost the inside of my windows.

  “Did I ever tell you about my mother?” KK began softly.

  “A side comment here or there, nothing more than surface talk.”

  “She never said a harsh word to anyone even when she should have. If people were irate or threatening she could calm them with her voice.”

  “Like you do with your touch?”

  “No, she had no limits. She could do it at will without a second thought. I never considered it until recently. It was just who my mom was: people fell in love and wanted to please her.”

  Condensation formed as the windows began to defrost and KK brought her seat up.

  “My family is so dysfunctional,” KK breathed as if the words could no longer stay inside her. Her hand reached to her cheek and brushed away a tear. “The universe is smaller than I ever thought.”

  I knew better than to interrupt KK when she was like this. Lost in her own world and trying to find her way out.

  “Gabriel—”

  A knock on my passenger window made us both jump and KK wiped away the last of the condensation. “Guess he wasn’t getting supplies.”

  KK unbuckled her seatbelt and opened the door.

  “What’s going on?” Nye’s voice came from outside.

  “Therapy got a little intense.” KK wiped another tear and exited. “See you tomorrow night,” she called back into the car.

  Shit. Something is going on and I’m going to have to do a bit more research. I pulled onto the road and took off toward the compound. There had to be something in the old texts about royalty and their powers. Nye tended to only use the library to find fiction to disappear into, but I’d always been a nonfiction type of guy. I liked the trends and seeing what had happened when.

  I wasn’t even sure where I could find what I was looking for in a library with thousands of volumes. I wasn’t even sure what I was after.

  Chapter 7

  Her Royal Holiness, Princess LaDressa, Daughter of Lucifer the IV

  “HELLO, dearest sister. Hello, whore.”

  My mother hissed at my brother’s condemnation of her.

  “Do not protest, stepmother, for you are only allowed to live as long as my father breathes. As soon as his last breath escapes his lips I shall have your head for a trophy.”

  “I am still the Queen in this land no matter what you or your spouses feel. At least your father was good enough to kill off your mother before marrying me.”

  “Not a worthy Queen and that is all that matters. Your promotion of rank came at the loss of my mother and two others. You were a body my father wished to plunder, nothing more. His intention—”

  “Do not dare to understand your father’s intention with me,” my mother snapped at Lucifer. “Why have you come here?”

  “I have found a mate suitable for LaDressa. She will be married within the next cycle.”

  “Who?” I asked, trying to keep my composure, knowing full well Damarion had not moved into society enough for my brother to even know he existed. A dagger was ripping through my heart at the idea that he would not be the one to lie with me.

  “Treadmont.”

  “Treadmont,” my mother screeched. “He is nearing expiration. He would not even make it past the bridal night. I will not allow it.”

  “Mating is left to the males. When he dies my sister shall grieve him like any other widow. Until she too expires.”

  So that was his plan for me. Marry me off unto a man who would leave me untouchable and who would be unable to touch me for fear of death. I would not be allowed to claw at Damarion’s strong back as he rode my body hard. Never would I be able to straddle his waist nor rotate myself while admiring his strong physique below. He had let me see his body. All of it, and I was enthralled.

  His form was exquisite and had come to my mind even when he was not near. My once-empty dreams now were overflowing with images of Damarion touching every inch of my skin, but until I am married only under my brother’s supervision could I undo my shackles of a dress to bathe.

  “I refuse.”

  “You speak; that is more upsetting then your comment.”

  It had been years since I’d uttered a word around my brother. Instead I took his instruction and sat in my room. Since my dearest Damarion had come into my life I had not known the joy of conversation. More importantly, the importance of the strength that could come from the words was trapped inside me.

  “Refuse or not, it is not your choice to make.”

  “Who will or will not have access to my body? To whom I will bear children that could—”

  Never before that day had my brother so much as touched my hand, and the feeling of the back of his hand across my jaw brought me such displeasure I could not understand that sensation. Warm blood dripped from my lower lip onto the floor. I had landed with only the palm of my hand saving my face from imprinting on the rough stone. My world slowed as my mother jumped to my aid only to have my brother’s arm extend and his fingers curl around her neck as he held her against the wall.

  Praxis, my dear pet, reared back in attack. My brother used his free hand to hold the beast at bay. Lucifer’s powers amazed me—he was able to hold a fully grown dragon with just the twist of fingers and force of his brain. Praxis contorted in pain and when my brother’s hand dropped, Praxis backed off into a corner of the room.

  Within a few seconds two of my protectors were subdued. Even though my mother spat vile words at my brother assuring him that this would not go unpunished he just laughed while her eyes started to bulge from their sockets.

  Inside me a rush of tingling pinpricks ran over my skin and the hand not bracing me on the floor rose. My brother flew across the room and landed on my night table. Shaking, Lucifer paled as he looked at me.

  “Who taught you such things?” he demanded as he stalked toward me.

  “You did, you foolish boy. I’ve followed your command on not teaching her about her powers, but you have unleashed them. For the first time in your pitiful life you’ve pleased your Queen.”

  “Mother, why? Why would you keep such things from me?”

  She did not answer. Instead, she dabbed the blood from my lip and left my chamber.

  “That is the last time you will ever see your mother.”

  “You cannot kill her.”

  “She’ll be sent on an assignment. Only her refusal will cost her, her life.”

  “Father would—”

  “Father is less than a drooling senile puppy. The power your whore of a mother thinks she commands is only in her mind. The Royals laugh at he
r behind her back and as with you she has no value. The only female of worth now is your eldest niece, Princess Lucinda. She is the future of the monarchy and she is the one to carry us after my passing.”

  “Why do you punish me? I am of no threat to you.”

  If I knew then what I know now I would have understood how much my brother feared my womb. Damarion explained it to me, how the royals were on Earth. My brother’s wives had bared him no sons, not that he could acknowledge the children born to any but the first. He’d pushed the point that I was not worthy because I was the child of a non-royal and not the first wife. My brother was so afraid of my father putting me next in line for succession he’d pushed rules through our mockery of a government. Rules that must be followed.

  “Your mother once said she was of no threat to me, then you were born and I knew better. She would have born a dozen of you unworthy bastards if I wouldn’t have stopped her.”

  “How could you stop her?”

  “Do I need to silence your insolent mouth once more? There appears to be more than enough blood running through your veins. A few more drops surely could do little to damage you.”

  I recoiled at his threat and saw the time for Damarion’s visit was impending. Masako would fetch him unaware that my family had chosen to visit me today.

  “I apologize that my life grieves thee so, but I would rather remain untouched than be shackled to a virtual corpse.”

  “That is your wish? To remain pure and chaste?”

  “Yes, my dear brother.”

  “You are a failure as a demon and a reflection of your mother in ways you shall never have the knowledge of. I will take your request under advisement. Though bringing you the contentment you request is causing a tearing in my mind. I shall return when I have my decision.”

  I’d hoped it would be a long time. If I’d have thought my brother would return so quickly to my chamber I would have sent Damarion away the second he was brought to me. Instead, my naivety cost me my love and now here I am making deals with what might as well be the devil herself to recover the small pieces of him that remain.

  “Daughter,” my mother said as she entered what I had been told was an office. “What is your plan? Surely your brother knows of your deception. It’s been too long.”

  “And yet he hasn’t come to retrieve me. It appears he has no interest in my whereabouts.”

  “You need to follow through with your threat or you lose all your strength. With the coven as well as the Frozen. Anyone can say they’ll kill an ant, but if they do not smash it under their foot the ant will take over your home.”

  “How did you know Kiriana’s mother?”

  Mother moved around the room, then sat on the couch. Her back was straight as she placed her clasped hands on her knees.

  “You need to forget about Damarion and his ashes.”

  “I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for Damarion. I’d be married off to Treadmont and praying that he wouldn’t be entering my bed chamber each night.”

  “Love can cost you everything. Your whole life. I do not regret marrying your father, but his choice of me and mine of him set me down a path I could not go back from.”

  “How did father meet you? I know you were not of the royal line, but you’ve never told me of your lineage. I figured it didn’t matter because it was not worthy.”

  “Kiriana’s mother was my sister.”

  “How could a weak human be your sister? You’re thousands of years old.”

  “Her mother wasn’t a human.”

  “A Deumos? I thought they were not allowed to mate or give birth.”

  “They are not. But I was never a Deumos. I was an angel. A daughter in the house Ryeal.”

  “An angel.” I recoiled at the mere mention of my enemy. “You are from Heaven?”

  “I haven’t been there for millennium. I am just as much a demon as your father now. A fallen angel. Like Kiriana’s mother. I can smell my bloodline in her.”

  “Can we use it to our advantage?”

  “It makes her more dangerous to us. If she learns to tap into her angelic powers I’m not sure if your hybrid of demonic and angelic powers can overpower her.”

  “I’ve been able to overpower her easily so far.”

  “She knows of her heritage now, which means my brother may be trying to train her.”

  “Who’s your brother?”

  “Gabriel.”

  “The leader of the Frozen is your brother?” I spat and clenched my hands. They began to burn and I looked down to see redness curling on my skin, but I couldn’t bother with that. “And you’re just now telling me?”

  “What does it matter? An enemy is an enemy.”

  “Family ties can stifle one.”

  “Would you not dispatch of your brother with haste if necessary?”

  “I do not know if I could.”

  “Then figure it out,” my mother hissed. “He would have no qualms about your death.”

  “Why has he not killed me?”

  “Probably because he hasn’t found someone to blame your death on.”

  “Say what you will, but I am of his blood and that holds him at bay.”

  “I did not raise you to be a fool.”

  “You raised me to be a China doll sitting on a shelf.” I crossed my arms in the most unladylike of ways just to add to my mother’s disdain. “If others hadn’t taught me to not fear touch…that I could be more…”

  “You are no longer shackled in your brother’s gown. Why have you not explored this freedom?”

  “Because I only wish for one. No other has even brought a glimmer of interest to my body.” I waved my hand to remove my conflicted emotions at this time. The pain had acquiesced and I was able to focus again. “What assets do we have on this plane? There must be a creature or beings we could summon to aide us.”

  “There were creatures at one time. I have not felt their presence in years.”

  “What of the knife? The one sent to protect Damarion.”

  I turned and retrieved it from the safe in the wall. The hinges of the box creaked as it opened to reveal the knife that hummed as my hand waved over it.

  “What could it do to a human?”

  “Any puncture from a knife can kill,” mother said as she sat on the edge of the desk and picked up the claw-handled knife. “But a wound from this…I am not sure Gabriel could heal. Your great grandmother created it after she feared for one of your aunt’s lives. Lucifer the second was put out by his circumstance and his father’s refusal to acquiesce to God’s offers. He took it out on all those around him.”

  “The second was a fallen angel too, was he not?”

  “He was. He didn’t want to follow his father, but he felt he had no home in Heaven after the betrayal.”

  “So the knife has the power to kill an angel?”

  “I guess it does.” She placed the knife back on the bone handles that held it away from the velvet lining of the box.

  “If it does not I have another Masako acquired for me. Either way death shall engulf this hamlet.”

  “And now I see the genius that was born to you.”

  * * * *

  Kiriana Kladshon George

  “Oh, darn it. Nye, honey, I left my folder upstairs on the bed,” I said sweetly while stroking his hand.

  He sighed and kissed my forehead. “I’ll be back in a minute.”

  “Thank you.” I turned back to Gabriel, who was looking at me with a sly smile. When the door closed he leaned in close.

  “What do you need?”

  “Huh?”

  “You said ‘Oh darn.’ Not shit, not fuck, but darn. What do you not want Nye to know?”

  “I need to know why we’re both puking all the time.”

  He leaned back in the high-backed leather chair and crossed his legs at the knee.

  “You know.”

  “No, I don’t. Is it my HIV? Bad chicken?
The flu we’re not supposed to be able to get? You promised me that he wouldn’t get sick from sealing with me.”

  He touched my hand and shook his head. “You know, Kiriana. You’ve been sealed for what, about three months?”

  My stomach pulled in on me.

  “How is that possible? That’s not possible.”

  “What was my rule on your HIV?”

  “It’s dormant so it stays dormant.”

  “And…” He led me.

  “Zarmina had a cold. An active virus.” Oh God no. I stood up and crossed the room, using the bookshelf to steady myself.

  “You love pushing the envelope, don’t you? I tell you no and you find a way around it.”

  “I never asked for this.”

  “Tomato, tamato.”

  “How? Oh God, my leaving gave it enough time, didn’t it?”

  “You did delay your sealing by about twenty-four hours and it’s obvious you and Nye didn’t wait like most of the Others did until you were married. Tsk, tsk, tsk.”

  “Stuff it.”

  “There’s my Kiriana.”

  “How can I have a baby? Is it going to be normal? I mean, Nye is dead, right?”

  “Outside of the fact that it’s yours, yeah I suppose it’ll be normal. It feels healthy to me. I pull the Frozen before their body really dies. You want to know what sex is?”

  “No!”

  “You are going to tell him?”

  I didn’t know. I didn’t even know what I was going to do. I wasn’t supposed to have a kid. How could I bring a kid into this? No, not a kid—a baby. I can’t be a mother.

  I could hear Nye coming down the stairs. He was rushing, I could tell, by the pressure on my feet.

  “Kiriana?”

  “Nye’s almost here.”

  “Then let me tell you this. You need to get back on your cocktail because I can’t guarantee that sealing will stop you from transferring your HIV to your child. Especially after eight weeks.”

  “Tell Nye I went to get something to eat and lie down. I can’t be here right now.”

  I took off. Keeping my head down, I walked briskly to the barn so I could get the hell away from here. Nye’s bike called to me so I grabbed a helmet and pulled out as fast as I could.