The Angel Series Collection - Books 4-5

2. Throes of Cataclysm-1

I stood in the throes of cataclysm and the hard realization that I"d been duped once again ripped through me. My gaze dropped down to the ring that embellished his middle finger, the diamond eye that betrayed his identity as the faceless boy… my beguiling adversary. A deadly mistake on his part!

my beguiling adversaryWith complete certainty, I knew what I must do next. It was like the walk of doom. Mine. I scoffed.

MineFuck ‘em.

Aidan froze. Sweat beaded his forehead. My pendulous knives hovered dangerously at his throat. The cold blades obeyed my command. I narrowed my eyes at Aidan. He knew only one slight slip, and my knives would finish him off. I smelled his fear, and I reveled in it.

Rage surged forth deep within my core, and it obeyed. The winds whipped through as I unleashed my essence, an inauspicious place where I did not recognize myself.

As if we stood in amidst of a tornado, my powers soared and the tempest grew fiercer. Everything began twirling at warp speed. The winds howled encircling Aidan and me as if we were its prey. Trees snapped back and forth violently.

Focusing on my enemy, I reigned back my powerful essence as it gnarled in protest. I asked in a voice unknown to my ears, a voice of a true and deadly Zophasemin. “I’m going to ask you this once,” my voice echoed. “Don"t lie to me, druid,” I warned in a calm, steel voice. “It was you and Sally all along. The two of you framed me!”

Zophasemin.Aidan’s mouth opened to speak, but it seemed the cat had taken his tongue.

“After all this time, you hid in the shadows of anonymity like a yellow-back coward with that damn needle, full of God-knows-what!” I hissed through gritted teeth. “I remember your diamond ring.” My eyes fixed on his third finger, the ring glimmered in the sunlight, gold diamonds marking an eye. I nodded at it. “It’s quite unique. Though, it’s hideous.” I snarled.

cowardwhatAs rage embraced my internal war, I began to toy with Aidan. With a flick of the wrist, another knife appeared pointing straight at his groin. I taunted him with a wicked smile.

The glint in his blues confirmed his fraught. I knew that I’d never become a victim to him ever again and I delighted in that little insight. Aidan didn’t dare flinch, not even a twitch. He was wise not to trust me. Hell, I didn’t trust myself at this point.

himI eyed him cautiously as the dark seductress deep within my core sang its wondrous song. Intoxicated, I craved the essence like a bloodthirsty vampire craving to feed. But I fought the urge and harnessed its desires.

Answers hung on the tip of his tongue and I needed the truth. I called to him in that strange voice. “It was your hand that was behind my suffering. It was your evil magick that compelled every lawman and judge in the state of Louisiana to convict me. You were the mastermind behind my fate, sending me off to an asylum where they left me lying in my own piss and vomit, under a constant drug induced stupor by your orders. As I laid unconscious for months on end, unaware, my child grew within me.” My voice broke from the gut-wrenching pain that consumed me. “After I gave birth, you ripped my baby from me, denying a mother of her own child. You destroyed everything I loved!” Electricity coursed through my body as lightning struck a tree and snapped it in two. “Tell me this is not true!” I screamed with spittle spewing. My madness was more than a simple emotion. I was a mother aching to cradle her child, a child I’d never had the chance to know, a mother seeking justice.

yourrippedIthisAidan stayed silent for a moment.

“Tell me, NOW!” I demanded. I wanted to rip his heart right out of his chest and set it ablaze. Yet, I held the essence back. I was in control… not him.

NOW!nothim“Yes, it’s true!” he admitted, his eyes wide with alarm. “It’s all true!” Aidan bellowed. “Everything is true! Sally and I are married. We married two centuries ago. The girl lied to you. She’s immortal,” he rambled as if he was standing before a priest.

“Stop! I don’t care, druid. Tell me why you framed me?” I stared at this stranger as my stomach winced from his atrocities. How could I have ever loved this man?

“Wait! I’ll tell you!” Aidan exclaimed, losing what little courage he had. “Before you run your bloody knives through me at least give me the opportunity to explain.” Without thinking, he flinched, and my knives inched closer. He pressed his head tight against the tree as he pleaded. “Wait! I"ll tell you everything.”

Unexpectedly, I heard a deep laugh. I tilted my chin sideways, catching the Cajun standing only a few paces behind me, smirking. He nodded to Aidan. “This one deserves death. He does not respect women, non! This pig murdered my sister!” The Cajun growled. “He got her drunk and had his way, this one did. That murderous bastard used his black magick on her. His puppets… the Law Enforcement claimed she committed suicide. It was lies! All lies. My sister would’ve never taken her life.” The Cajun belted out; loathing filled his voice. “If you like… I will happily dispose of this filthy baggage for you. Gotta gator out back that"s hungry.” A wicked smile touched his lips.

non!My sisterThen, it occurred to me. “What did your sister look like?”

“A lot like me only a higher pitched voice.” Sarcasm poured from his perilous voice. “Adaline was about your height, sixteen, dark hair, and dark skin… very beautiful. She was good. Never in trouble, full of life. She had plans, that one, college, husband, and children. Adaline was full of dreams.” The Cajun’s eyes moistened. “The police found my sister’s body in the alley across from the Catfish diner. It was the last place she’d been seen alive. The authorities are liars. I spit on ‘em!” The Cajun lurked forward and placed his hand on his gun holster, fingers tight around its hilt as he continued, “Funny how things bite you in the ass. My peeps thought they were doing a good thing. They wanted Adaline away from the thugs of the city.” The Cajun’s face hardened. “They moved her to the small town of Tangi where that sociopath lived.”

Emitting only a cold stone face, Aidan exhibited no remorse. The word savage came to mind.

savage I remembered the girl at the diner where my mother worked. She was wasted drunk hanging on Aidan. I had just had a huge argument with Sara. Aidan had caught me before I’d left on my bike. He’d arranged for Jeffery to pick the girl up and take her home. Could he have lied about that too? My incensed eyes cut back to Aidan. “Is this true?” I carefully eyed my captive. He lingered a moment as if he were conjuring up a lie. “I sent her home with Sam.”

true“Wait! I thought Jeffery had picked her up.” Could he had been lying to me? Come to think about it, I didn’t see Jeffery in the driver’s seat. In fact, no one got out of the car.

My suddenly iced.

“The diner?” Aidan’s brows pleated as if he had a sudden onset of amnesia. “I don’t recall having Jeffery waste gas on a drunk girl.”

I narrowed my eyes suspiciously. When did Aidan ever forget anything? “You don’t remember?”

“Why would I remember such a mundane thing as some poor drunk t**t’s name?” His face carried no apology.

“Which one, Sam or Jeffery?” I spat out fighting against the fathom foot that pressed against my chest.

“Why the concern? She was merely a human girl.” Finally, the villain revealed himself, emotions laced with arsenic.

I could hear the Cajun cursing a slew of words. “If you don’t kill that bastard, I swear I will.”

I craned my neck, eyes fixed on the Cajun. “Nick, back off! You’ll get your turn!” I gravely promised. I whipped my eyes back at Aidan. “It looks like you have many enemies, druid.”

“Get on with your barnyard trial. I have admitted to all my mishaps. You decide.”

Nothing about him felt right. He exhumed the epitome of disgust. A far cry from the man I once knew and loved.

“No good deed goes unpunished, right?” I stared Aidan in the eye unlike that day he captured me. The essence rumbled deep within. I could feel the enmity begging to spew forth, and all I had to do was release its fervor on him. It’d be over just like that. Still, I couldn’t do it.

Not yet.

Aidan spoke up. “You are aware as well as I am, the Family controls every living creature from the earth to the heavens, human and numinous. I’ve never belonged to myself. Nor do any of us, even you!” he paused. “Brave or perhaps witless, your father adventured down another path. He risked his life to leave the Family. If you ask me, he was a fool. Look what good his short-term freedom got him… buried six feet under."

“Shut up!” I stepped up, fist flexing by my side. “You don’t get to speak about my father!”

“You mustn"t get yourself in a tizzy, sweetheart. I am merely stating a fact.” His arrogance superseded his common sense.

“Can the facts, druid! I haven"t got time for your bullshit."

“Stupid, inbred! You think I"m wasting your time? Something you should know about your family… our family. If you defect from their sanction, you are as good as dead. The Family considers this apostasy, which is unforgivable. As you know, I make no excuse for my actions. I did what I had to do to survive. You can believe me or not, but I had no knowledge of where you were hanging your hat, so to speak. However, my uncle and the Family felt it was best I didn’t have any contact. They claimed that a large sum of money had been exchanged for the baby. Shortly after, you disappeared with no forwarding address.”

youryourourI spat at his elaborate tale. “You’re lying! Money doesn’t mean anything to me. You knew I would’ve never agreed to such bile.”

lying“It’s funny how fast a person can change their minds when he or she has no family and no means of support.”

“You have yet to tell me why I took the fall for crimes I didn"t commit.”

“What does it matter now?" he shrugged. "You’re free, aren’t you?”

“Tell me!” I hissed.

meAidan exhaled a restless sigh. “Very well, if you insist,” he said in a grudging voice. “The trumped-up charges were for show. It was only a front to the public’s eye. We had to make it look legit. The Family wanted the heat off their trail. There were too many lives lost to sweep it under the rug. Therefore, they decided it was in the best interest for everyone if you took the fall.”