Origin (Eternal Sacrifice Saga Book 2) (5 page)

Warm fuzzies raced through me.

“Because you look radiant.” He dropped a kiss to my lips. “Glowing.” Ran his nose across my neck. “Breathtaking.” Drew my earlobe between his teeth, tugging gently. “I’m so thankful you’re home. Your Gemini has missed you terribly.”

My heart raced, my body begging for him.

“I want you, love.”

“Yes, please.” I responded between kisses.

He picked me up and drew me to his chest. Striding confidently into our bedroom, he ripped off the sheet standing between us and laid me down, then climbed above me, crushing his lips to mine.

Cade had this way of making me feel like I was the only one who existed in his world.

A girl could get used to this.

Zoe

“Wake up, Zoe. Help them…”

I startled awake by a burn in my wrist sparked from a voice in my head. What the hell does
help them
mean? Help who?

“A vision or were you projecting?”

I glanced over at Cade lying beside me. “What? Neither. A dream, I think.”

“It’s never a dream.” He reached over and tugged me to him, wrapping his arms around me so tight, I could hardly breathe. “It’s either a vision or you were projecting.”

I closed my eyes and pressed my nose into his warm chest, inhaling his intoxicating scent of musk and man.

My Gemini mark flared up again, and not just a little.

“Damn it.” I pulled from his arms and sat up, raking at my wrist.

“What’s the matter?”

“My mark. It’s driving me nuts. Keeps burning. It started this morning when I woke up from…” I stared blankly at the wall.

“From what?”

“My vision. Or projecting, whichever.”

“Tell me about it.”

I narrowed my eyes, silently begging him to let me off the hook.

The vision of Cade being stabbed in the chest ran through my mind. A knot grew in my throat, and my heart began to pound.

“Zoe.” He reached for me. “Are you all right?”

“Yeah, sorry. I don’t want to talk about this now.”

“You’ve Eternalized. These visions you have, they’re significant. It’s one of your gifts. You must share them. We’re not just Gemini in love, we’re partners in our duties protecting the Trees. Symbiotic. One does not work without the other.”

I needed to talk to Raz. Or Gabrielle. Someone, just not Cade. I couldn’t tell him I watched him die, especially if it was more than a dream.

“It was Lilith. When I killed her.” I sucked in a breath, squeezing my eyes shut, pushing out the memory of Cade’s body collapsing to the ground. “Lilith came back to life, said to wake up. Then just now, a voice said,
help them
. Whatever that means.”

Cade grit his teeth. “We must speak with Raz.”

“What’s going on?”

“Raz came to me this morning. There’s been an overwhelming number of breach attempts since Lilith’s banishment.”

“Banishment? No, I killed her.”

“There is no such thing as true death. Not for humans, and certainly not for immortals.”

“I don’t get it.”

“Fallen immortals are banished to a particular plane deep within the dark realm depending on their transgression.”

“A plane?”

“There are many planes to the dark realm. Levels. The fouler the transgression, the deeper the plane of banishment.”

“So she’s not dead? But her light. It literally burnt out.”

He narrowed his eyes. “How so?”

I blew out a breath. I didn’t want to go there again, but I couldn’t keep things from him like before. At least not things that mattered.

“Her light changed. From dark blue to light, then it just—poof.” I tossed up my hands. “Burnt out.”

“What do you mean, her color?”

“Her aura?”

“Fallen don’t have a color. It’s simply shadowed.”

“Oh no, she had a color. Really dark blue. Or purple?”

“Curious.” He scrubbed his chin. “I’ve not heard of such a thing.”

“More research for Raz?” I sat back against the headboard, pulling the sheet up over my chest. “So, Lilith. She’s not dead?”

“No. Death by an Eternal dagger means she won’t be returning to any other plane. I suppose when you banished Lilith, Azriel’s threat was just the first of many.”

“Perfect. Azriel is way worse than Lilith. At least we know her motives but Azriel, he’s unpredictable.”

Cade sighed, running his hands through his messy chocolate hair.

“What?”

“Raz suggested we might need to end our holiday early. Perhaps he’s right.”

“And so it begins.” I slumped my shoulders, leaning back against the wall.

“Listen to me, love.” Cade pinched my chin between his fingers. “I’ll do everything in my power to make our time alone all you dream of.” He moved closer. “I swear.”

“Okay.”

I closed my eyes and moved to lean against his chest, letting his heart thump beneath my cheek. Something about it just settled my nerves.

“We’ll speak to Raz and see what we can coordinate.”

“So what now? What’s on today’s agenda?”

“Nothing if you prefer to remain here a while longer.” He ran his hands over my hair. “But if you’re ready to explore Aravot, we traditionally hold a Genesis feast. Reintroduce you to your family. Afterwards, we hold our inaugural Council meeting, and then you and I begin our holiday.”

I picked my head up and glanced out at the terrace. It should’ve been getting dark by now. Twenty-four seven daylight was hard to adjust to. I’d miss the stars. Moonlight.

“What time is it?”

“Time is irrelevant here.”

“So weird.” I scoffed. “Wait, what day is it?”

“Uh…” He narrowed his eyes. His empty stare made me laugh.

“How long has it been since I rescued you? A day?”

He shrugged. “Or two. Why?”

“Because it’s almost Christmas. Phoebe always planned a huge event. Cooked for everybody, decorated a tree and gave out presents. We can’t leave her alone on Christmas.”

“Don’t worry. We’ll speak with Raz and Remie today and arrange something. Phoebe cannot come into Aravot, but perhaps we can hold something in the Great Hall in Eden?”

“Thanks, it means a lot to me.” I nuzzled back into him and blew out a breath. “Okay, let’s do this food thing. I’m ready for my honeymoon. As short as it may be.”

~

Cade held my hand and led me to the Eternal Building for what he called the Genesis Feast. Apparently all of Aravot gets together to celebrate our Convergence and meet Zoe 2.0.

My memories hadn’t come back, only sporadic visuals, so I expected I wouldn’t recognize much of my Genesis family.

I was actually nervous. I wasn’t a huge people person, preferring to keep to myself, and the idea of being bombarded by tons of new people kind of scared the crap out of me.

Cade opened the door and ushered me in ahead of him. He squeezed my shoulder, like he felt my anxiety as his own. Maybe he did. Having synced brainwaves was disorienting, to say the least.

I nearly gasped at the sight of the hall. Vaulted ceilings and white walls. Immaculate was the best way to describe it, kind of like the downstairs at my house. Archaic. There were columns spread through the vast room and tables lined up with tons of people sitting at them.

Waiting for us.

For me.

My pulse sped up, and my palms got sweaty.

Angels and Eternals mumbled beneath their breath. Their voices grew louder as we got closer. I could hear every word. My ears throbbed at the intensity.

“Relax, love.” Cade grabbed my hand and squeezed. “You’re all right.” He kissed my cheek and led me to a long table at the front of the room.

All the Elders were at one table and the Newborns at the other. Throughout the rest of the room were at least another hundred people, all with brightly glowing auras. Their colors were blasting me out. Red. Green and blue. Orange. Amber.

My temples throbbed. Slow at first, then harder.

I put my hand to my forehead to block out the brightness in the room. It was worse than the spotlight at the lounge in Chicago when I’d take the stage.

Blood rushed to my head, whooshing through my ears, then a low pitch sound rose louder.

Blaring.

Shattering.

I stopped and squeezed my eyes shut, covering my ears with my hands.
Not helping
. The pitch rose higher and higher until my head began to spin and bile rose into my throat.

The screaming lightened up. Just for a second.

“Wake up, Zoe. Help them.”

My eyes popped open, and I scanned the room. “Help who?”

“Zoe?”

“Cade.” I squeaked out as the high pitch returned, and the auras in the room got so bright, I could no longer see.

I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to drown it all out, but it didn’t help.

Yep, I was going down.

Cade grabbed me as my knees gave out and caught my fall before I hit the floor. He drew me against his chest, letting his heartbeat calm my nerves.

Thump.

Thump-thump.

Another heartbeat pulsed in my ears.

I peeled open my eyes and stared into Cade’s.

I was surrounded by Elders.

“Zoe?”
Their lips moved, but I didn’t hear a thing, just some weird static noise.
“Focus. You’re safe.”

“Help them.”

“Who? Help who?” I muttered.

A dull drum beat against my head as I pushed out the pain. Grabbing my temples, I squeezed my eyes shut. “Cade.”

“You’re safe, love. Just focus.”

“Let’s get her somewhere more private,” Raz said.

Cade lifted me into his arms and carried me off.

Ramblings from around the room grew louder as the lights behind my eyes nearly blinded me, even with them shut.

My stomach lurched.

A door opened, then closed.

Cade lowered himself and pulled me into his chest. “She should not be having visions so severe this soon.”

“I tried to warn you,” another voice said. I think it was Raz, but I wasn’t sure.

I kept my eyes and mouth shut as the Elders’ muffled voices argued out beyond the high-pitched screams still assaulting my ears.

“Can you see them, Cade?”

“No, she’s shut me out. I told you, we need time alone. Time to bond. This isn’t just about our reunion. If she doesn’t bond with me, she won’t trust me. Her memories will remain hidden, and we’ll all be in jeopardy.”

“Help them.”

“Stop it,” I yelped at the mystery voice in my thoughts.

My Gemini mark seared my wrist as the voice grew louder.

Thrashing in Cade’s arms, I grabbed at my wrist to soothe the burn.

“Wake up.”

“I am awake, stop it.”

“Help them, Zoe. Help him. Help Samael.”

“Who’s Samael?” I asked to nobody in particular.

Cade held me close, keeping me from moving while the voice faded away.

My heart settled to a slower pace. Finally. I relaxed into Cade’s arms as the room fell silent, the only sound now came from my slowing pulse.

I peeled open my eyes and took in a deep breath, staring at Cade as tears streamed down my heated cheek.

Cade wiped them away and rubbed my temples. “Is it over, love?”

I nodded, the burn subsiding in my wrist.

“I don’t think the feast will happen today,” Raz said.

“I’ll take Chayah home to rest. We’ll meet later once she’s recovered.”

“Take her out the back. We’ll deal with the guests.”

Cade picked me up once more and carried me out a private exit into the warm air.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered into his chest.

“Do not apologize. I should have known it was too soon. All the auras and voices in your head pushed you too far, and you weren’t prepared.”

“What do you mean?”

“You’ve only just Eternalized. Your senses are heightened. In past incarnations, you had Eternalized long before entering the Eternal City. This time, however, it was just days. You’ve not had time to adjust. I should have known better, Chayah. I won’t fail you again.”

We made it home, and Cade laid me in our bed. He pulled the blinds down to shut out the light from the terrace.

Residual beats pulsed against my head, and a dull ache returned.

Cade laid beside me and pulled me into his arms.

“I’ll make this right, love. I swear.”

Cade

Raz called incessantly the moment Zoe fell asleep.

I carefully removed myself from beside the bed so not to disturb her. Zoe had endured so much in such a short time, I was more cautious to protect her.

When I stepped into the front room, Raz was pacing the floors, leaving scuff marks in his wake.

“What have you learned?”

“Let’s take a walk.”

“I won’t leave Zoe. We can go on the terrace.”

Raz moved toward the back door leading outside.

I followed him out and sat on the deck overlooking the Chayah Fountain while Raz continued to pace.

“You’re making me dizzy. Sit. Please. Tell me what you know.”

He was never in a panic over anything, so this behavior forced a knot to my chest.

“Do you remember Samael?” Raz sat on a bench, folding his hands in his lap.

“Fallen Arch? Vaguely. What of him?”

“What do you know of Zoe’s visions?”

“She said Lilith comes back to life. And she hears a voice crying,
help them
. That’s all we’ve discussed.”

“Do you recall Samael?”

“Remind me. What’s his background?”

“Samael is a Fallen Arch.” Raz began. “His journey started shortly after the Gemini Doctrine was enacted. Samael was sent on a mission, one to this day, Michael and Gabrielle have kept sealed. Samael failed his mission and fell. He was the first Fallen Arch, in fact. He left Genesis by choice. It was a precarious situation, and his soul still wanders the earth.”

“While that’s intriguing, I don’t understand why Zoe would be urged to help him.”

“Samael was also Genesis. A high-ranking Archangel, which explains why the details have been kept quiet all this time. Arch business is often kept in strict confidence. There were whispers once, a few millennia ago, but nothing since. When Zoe spoke his name, did you notice the expression on Gabrielle’s face?”