Total pages in book: 126
Estimated words: 123065 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 615(@200wpm)___ 492(@250wpm)___ 410(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 123065 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 615(@200wpm)___ 492(@250wpm)___ 410(@300wpm)
I won’t be one of them.
I prepare myself to see her. All of them are attractive, they can’t help it any more than I can help breathing, it’s all part of Chaos’s plan, darkness is rarely ugly. I grab a glass of whiskey and lift it to my lips just as the door opens. I’m immediately irritated that Alex is blocking the view and then even more irritated when I smell the mixture of the woods, ash, flowers, and the sky behind me.
“Leave.” I hiss while Alex is still standing there.
“Not on your life, hey, aren’t you supposed to be happier?” Anubis grins and takes a seat while Ethan, a vampire with way too much time on his hands, joins him. My brother Horus along with Enki all pull out seats. If they’re taking bets, I wouldn’t so much as blink.
Enki’s just like Anubis he doesn’t know when to shut up, it truly confuses him that people don’t want to hear him fill the air with his honeyed words.
“Suit yourselves. I won’t be here long anyways.” I muttered under my breath.
Horus laughs, I’d recognize it anywhere. “Oh, you poor soul.”
“I’m leaving.” I snap.
“Sure.” Ethan rasps. “We believe you.”
Alex chooses that time to pull her luggage away and walk towards us, grabbing the bottle of whiskey in my hand and dumping it down his wide mouth before swiping the drips from his chin. “Sorry I didn’t want to drink and drive. I waited, like a good boy.”
“You literally can’t even get drunk.” I swipe the bottle out of his hands.
He frowns. “It tastes good.”
Another immortal walks in. I’m already tired, and here we go. “Mine.” He swipes the whiskey and growls in Alex’s face.
“Ah, Mason, please don’t tell me you flew all the way from Scotland.” Really. Please. Don’t.
His grin is almost as annoying as his shoulder length brown messy hair. “Someone had to throw the final party for you, and I do love a good party. Don’t all werewolf---” He stops himself and actually does a small head bow to Cleo. “Sorry were discussing a children’s story.”
Alex chokes on a laugh while Horus elbows him.
Yes, a story about werewolves, gods, demons, vampires, fae, fallen angels, and elves. It’s very comical, no bloodshed whatsoever, we can barely remember the body count.
And as luck would have it.
She’s normal.
As in, she’s pretty like I knew she would be, but there is nothing specifically that stands out about her. Her brown eyes look like mud except for the flecks of yellow in them. Shoulder length black hair flows down her black sweatshirt paired with loose jeans. Nothing screams chaos and yet, she is. I smell waves of him in her, one that my soul—if I still even have one—recognizes as an almost twin flame. It would make sense; there’s always a familiarity with the descendants of Chaos. We will always be at odds, drawn to one another only to end each other.
Her eyes are big though. Her posture screams innocent, weak, probably because that’s all she’s believed her entire life, that she can’t control things around her, she just exists in the time and space she’s been given.
A survivor. Nothing more, merely clinging to the heat of the sun.
I inhale deeply. She smells of the Nile—of where she will return one day.
This desperation will make things easier, I think, the fact that she’s almost given up on life in general. In the end. It’s harder to cover up the light anyway, so pushing her toward the opposite end is the only thing that truly makes sense, besides, it’s not her fault.
Something about her is raw and exposed, she smells of both fear and perseverance. Then again, I didn’t expect anything less than that. I hoped for it. I wished for it. Now I have it.
I have her.
My final challenge.
“Hello.” I force my most comforting smile which isn’t hard considering who I am. I hold out my hand. “I’m Cyrus.”
“Oh!” She hurries and shakes it. “I thought I’d just be meeting the manager not the owner of the bar. Nice to meet you.” Her grip is surprisingly strong, her fingers warm. It’s a rarity I feel my own heat used against me, damn it. I feel it all the way down my body. Oh no. Nope. Chaos won’t be pulling that trick on me. Nice try. I quickly drop her hand and wipe it on my pants. I ignore the shaking. The sooner I get back to Olympus the better.
“Yes, well, something came up, one of my managers had a cough. He should probably go home now, hmmm?” I glance at Ethan. He glares back at me. He’s not even a manager nor can he get sick.
He coughs lamely into his hand. “Yes, I think it’s contagious.” He swats Enki on the back of the head who trips Mason the minute he starts to take another step towards us.