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Authors: Kelly Martin

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BOOK: Breathless
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“Ah.” I lean my head back against the cool concrete blocks that I’ve grown to hate. “That makes everything so much better.”

“Hart, just… would you listen to me?” Lucien turns the light on again, blinding me… again. I’ll kill him.

Kill him dead.

Kill him again.

“Would you stop doing that?” There are other words I want to use, like son of a bitch, bastard, jerk, and all other kinds of unkind words that I don’t say because I don’t. Maybe Lucien has earned a little bit of a right for payback. Maybe.

Maybe this isn’t the best time, but he’s earned it. Slightly.

Jackass.

“Oh, stop your bellyaching. You’re lucky I just drugged you.”

“Yeah, I feel incredibly lucky.” I blink about a thousand times to try to see. Finally, slowly, I can. The light is so bright I’m sure I’ll get a migraine, but in the scheme of things, a migraine isn’t the worst thing that can happen.

“You should. Seth wanted me to hit you over the head with a mallet. I thought this was more humane.” Lucien smirks.

I smirk back because he’s my brother, and it sort of comes out before I can stop it. “Well, then. In that case, thanks for drugging me.”

“Anytime.”

Lucien is fiddling with something in his hands. I can’t tell what it is, but it reminds me of when we were kids. When he got nervous about anything—and let’s face it, that was most days—he would get something and start fidgeting with it. They’d probably diagnose him with something now. A nervous disorder or something we didn’t actually have back in the day, or at least we didn’t try to call it anything. It was just Lucien playing with a stick.

Lucien’s Stick Syndrome.

Yeah, that’s not going to catch on.

I clear my throat, trying to make it sound the least bit like a dude in his twenties, and look in the general direction of the way-too-bright lamp and my brother’s legs. It’s all I can see of him. His legs. He’s sitting in a chair, wooden by the look of it. I can’t see anything else. I don’t guess it matters if I can or not.

“So what’s the plan? You gonna keep me in here until the world ends? Brother bonding until the end of time?”

“And whose fault will it be if the world does end? Huh,
Jessup
?”

Jackass.

“That’s wonderful, Lucien. It does so much good to play the blame game. Especially now. No, no, the world is ending, and I’m the only person in the world with a connection to Gracen, and you have me locked down here. That’s really great planning, brother. Really. I see why people call you the smart one.”

“Connection? You don’t have a connection to Gracen. Not a real one anyway.” Lucien scoffs. He crosses his ankles, and for a moment, I want to break them. When did I get so violent? Oh yeah…

“As much of one as anybody.”

“You tortured her for years.”

“I took care of her.” I yell. I don’t know why I feel it’s important for Lucien to get that through his thick skull, but I do. Maybe as much for him as for myself. “I took care of her, Lucien. Me. When her mother wanted to abort her, I talked her out of it. When Seth tried to kill her, I saved her.”

“Yeah, you’re a real hero.” I can hear Lucien roll his eyes. Hear it. He’s not even trying to hide his disdain for me.

Well… if we aren’t pretending anymore.

“What about you, Lucien?”

“Me?”

“Yeah, you. You were an angel. A soldier for God. Good and pure and all that crap, and you couldn’t save her. You were her guardian angel! You above all things in this world and the next should have been the one to protect her. And you failed. You didn’t kill Seth, and you didn’t save her.” I’m shaking. My insides feel like they are going to explode. I hate being chained down. Hate. It reminds me of…

I need out. Now.

I need away from my brother.

I need Gracen.

I need this conversation, this useless fight that will fix nothing, to end.

“You’re right.”

I stop pulling at my chains. I wasn’t expecting that.

“You’re right, Hart. It was my job to protect her. It was my one duty. I was supposed to save her by any means necessary. Seth doesn’t know this. Heck, Gracen doesn’t either, and I’m not surprised you don’t, but I wasn’t supposed to even let Gracen get as far along with you as she did. I was merciful because I couldn’t do what she wanted, and look where it got us! So, yeah, I guess all of this, as usual, is my fault, you big, self-centered jerk.” Lucien’s voice shook through his entire speech. I just stare at his feet. It’s all I can see of him. I don’t even know what to say. I want to say something all smart-ass back. There’s nothing to say.

“Oh, for the love of…” He moves the lamp over so he’s sitting in the dimmer portion. I appreciate it.

I can see him.

I wish I couldn’t.

My brother looks like my brother.

His blond hair is still curly.

His jaw is still set like it always was when he was cross with me.

Now, his shoulders are slumped, and he’s breathing hard.

He’s staring at me so hard I want to look away.

I can’t look away.

I deserve this.

“Wait… who told you to do what to Gracen?” Because that’s the important part of this conversation.

Lucien sits back and runs his fingers through his hair. His jaw clinches, and to me, it looks like he’s ready to throw something at a wall. Good for him. I’d love to too. Maybe one of Farmer Serial Killer’s torture instruments hanging from the ceiling. Oh look, a handsaw.

“Doesn’t matter.”

He did
not
just say that.

“Lucien! You ass! You brought it up, not me. Who told you to… what did they tell you to do? I’m…”

“A jerk.”

“Confused.” I correct him because he’s being, well, he’s being my brother. I slightly like it. I haven’t had anyone to bicker with in years. Gracen wasn’t as fun. She got mad, and I made her cry. Lucien doesn’t cry. He used to just hit me on the arm. He’ll probably just break my nose or something now. “I’m confused. What are you babbling about? Who wanted you to stop Gracen? It certainly wasn’t her father.”

Lucien leans back in the chair and rests his hands on his stomach. He looks like a man who’s so tired, who has lost so much. I can relate. I feel the exact same way, only I don’t have time to feel like that. I have to get Gracen back. I have to make Lucien let me go.

I have to care.

Of all the people in the world who have to care at this particular time, it has to be me. Because the world is a screwed up, messed up mess. And I’m at the center of it, or I would be if my brother didn’t have me chained to a wall—stalling.

He’s stalling.

Why is he stalling?

“No matter what you
think
you know, you don’t know everything. The angels, we knew Seth was up to something for a while. An angel can’t make a baby with a human and the angels not know. We were told to keep it quiet and see how it played out.”

“How it played out? Wow, that’s a great plan. It seemed to have played out rather well.” Morons.

Lucien glares at me. “She wanted me to kill her.” He says it so calm, so dark, that it makes the hairs on my arms stand up.

“Who wanted you to kill whom?” Part of that question is stupid. I know who… Gracen. She’s the Abomination, and if she’d died, then we wouldn’t be here right now, would we?

But who was the other she? I don’t know any other shes except my mother, and Amelia sure wasn’t working with the angels. Well, she might have worked with Lucien. He’s Mommy’s favorite. She’d probably fight the devil himself for her precious little boy.

Side note: I’ve never seen the Devil. Heard all about him, though. That’s one dude I’d rather stay away from, thanks.

“She…” Lucien laughs. “She… she is the angel who told me that to save everyone, I needed to kill Gracen. She’s the one who told me that if I didn’t, the entire world would suffer. And I said no… that she hadn’t done anything wrong. That she was a pure soul, and it would be murder to do something to her without a reason.”

“Not because she was pure. Because you were sweet on her.” I don’t say it snarky or even like I’m mad. It’s just a fact. I remember that. Gracen, when she talked about Lucien, made me realize that she might like him somehow. I couldn’t have that. Not again. Not like Colleen.

“I wasn’t…” He sits up and puts his elbows on his knees. He throws the stick he’s been messing with down on the floor. It falls with a clank. Not a stick. A nail. He’s been playing with a nail. Um, what was he going to do to me with a nail?

I don’t want to know.

“I wasn’t sweet on her, Hart. Not really. She was a nice girl who didn’t deserve the hand she was dealt in life.”

“Like Colleen.” I don’t know why I say it. I just do. It comes out before I can stop it. I look at Lucien, hoping he didn’t hear it. But of course he did. It isn’t like I said it really low, and it isn’t like there’s any other noise besides us talking. And the thunder.

“I didn’t remember Colleen at the time, but yeah. I suppose like Colleen. I didn’t want to hurt Gracen if I didn’t have to. It made her so mad. She wanted me to take care of the threat so we could get on with our lives. She wanted Seth stopped. She wanted the world not to end, but I convinced her to just let me deal with it. I’d stopped you before. I’d stop you again.” He takes in a deep breath.

“Then I screwed it up.”

I can hear the pain in his voice. I’m pretty sure he’s about to cry. Nope, that can’t happen. I can’t handle a brother bonding moment. Not now. My heart won’t take it. Unless I can use it to my advantage and get him to let me go somehow.

“I screwed it up. I was too late getting to the Hell gate, and then I found out you were my brother. And I remembered everything, including the promise I made Father to keep you safe.” He rubs his eyes and leans back. “So I did. I kept you safe. I took on demon blood, and I jumped into Hell, and by doing that, I killed everything. Because I was weak, and I couldn’t do what needed to be done in the first place. I wasn’t sent to the world to save or protect Gracen, Hart. I was sent to destroy her. And I failed.”

“I wouldn’t have let you.”

“Let me what?” He sucks in a breath and looks down at me.

“Let you hurt Gracen. It was my job to protect her. It was my job, and I was not going to let anyone hurt her.”

“You couldn’t have stopped me.” His eyes narrow. “You wouldn’t have stopped me. You never saw my true power, Hart. Never. I barely lifted a pinky finger and still sent you back to Hell more times than I can count. Imagine if I was truly, truly motivated.”

Never in my life, and it’s been a long life, have I ever heard Lucien use his big scary voice. It’s slightly… intimidating.

I won’t let him know that, though. “Like you could’ve stopped me. Not you. Not with all the power of Heaven behind you. Face it. I would’ve stopped you from hurting her. I would’ve protected her.”

“Because we both did such a grand job.” He sighs.

“Who is
she
?” I ask again because it was very convenient that he didn’t mention it the first time or two I asked. “I thought Seth was your superior angel, and he sure wasn’t wanting you to hurt his revenge plan.”

“Not Seth. Another angel. Another angel who knew what Seth was up to and wanted me to deal with it. The one I had to convince to let me do my own thing and try to save Gracen without killing her.”

“And… her name?” He’s stalling. I’m not happy about this. Got things to do. Worlds to save.

“Tina. Her name is Tina.”

I smack the back of my head against the wall.

Ouch.

Of course it’s Tina. Of course it is. “I thought Tina was Seth.”

“Nope. Tina is Tina. Why? How do you know her?”

How indeed. “Look Lucien. It’s been awesome catching up and doing this brotherly stalling dance we have going on, but you have to let me go now. I have to find Gracen. I have to save her.”

“You don’t know how.”

“And you do?” I actually wouldn’t care if he did. I mean, as long as it was a good plan.

“Seth is working on it.”

“Uh-huh.” I pull at the chains and rattle them really hard for extra effort. “Let me out of these, Lucien. I mean it. I need to get to Gracen. You know I’m the only one she’ll listen to. The only one who can save her. Save the world.”

Hart Blackwell. Former demon. Future world saver.

I want it on my tombstone.

“It’s not Gracen anymore. You know that. It’s the Abomination. She doesn’t have a soul. You can’t help her. You can’t even help yourself.” He stands and kicks the chair back against the wall. He’s pissed. This isn’t the way I wanted this to go.

No…

No. No. No. No. No.

He reaches for the lamp. “No! Lucien. Come on, man. Let me go. I can’t be here. I need to help. You need me to help!”

“I don’t need anything from you.” He turns off the lamp, and I’m flooded by darkness, which is almost as blinding as the light was earlier.

I hear footsteps and then boots on wood. Steps. “Lucien! Don’t do this! Don’t leave me down here! You can’t do this!”

He doesn’t say a word. I hear the hinges of the door at the top of the stairs creak and then the door slam shut.

“Lucien!” I scream into the darkness as I pull at my chains. I need out. I need out! “Lucien, get down here! Let me go! Lucien!

LUCIEN!”

He doesn’t come back.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

 

Gracen

I
T TAKES TIME FOR MY EYES
to adjust. Not because the world is big or bright or anything. But because it’s the opposite. It isn’t dark here. It isn’t sunny. It’s… gray. It’s not like a foggy gray or even a gloomy-day gray. It is more like the inkwell setting on Instagram. Gray scale. A little brighter than black and white. Just a little.

It hurts my eyes, and it takes time for them to adjust.

Finally. Blessedly. They do.

I guess I’m happy about it.

I have no idea where I am, except I know exactly where I am. I’m home. Well, Crimson Ridge. I’m on the street where I live with Sam… with Hart. I’m lying on the sidewalk next to one of the trees someone planted about twenty years ago to spruce up the place. They aren’t my favorite things. They sort of just get in the way. Now, though, I’m glad it’s here because it gives me something to grab onto.

BOOK: Breathless
2.68Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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