Chapter Five
Serenity
My body feels heavy, and I’m already exhausted from being awake before I even open my eyes. I feel drained. Sure, I always feel this way; but it’s multiplied this time.
I think about what could have happened. I remember talking to the voice in my head who said his name was Lucifer, and then there was a panicked edge to it before the door to my room burst open and some black figure was standing there.
I screamed because it reminded me of the dark figure that attacked me six months ago. I only could recall a glimpse of his face because he was hiding his face exactly like this guy had done, but the height and build of him was the exact same. I felt it in my gut that it was the same guy.
How did he find me? Why is he trying to kill me?
I don’t understand how this is what my life has become.
A feeling of terror came over me, and I willed my body to move but nothing happened. It’s like I was frozen in fear.
People say your fight or flight instinct kicks in during moments like this, but I obviously don’t have those. I had just stood there, frozen.
I remember thinking, “I’m going to die. This is how it all ends.”
Just as that thought had ended, the dark figure came closer and slashed me with some sort of knife. The pain was excruciating.
That’s when I saw a man appear out of some sort of hole in the wall and stand in front of me before everything went black.
I open my eyes wide and look down at my stomach where I was attacked. I lift up my shirt to see that there’s nothing there.
Did I dream all of that up?
There is no way I dreamed all of that. I know it was real.
I look around the room and see I’m not in the motel; where the heck am I?
“You are finally awake,” a deep voice says that sends chills throughout my body.
I let out a sigh and look over to see Silas sitting beside the bed looking at me worriedly.
“Where am I? How long was I out? I thought for sure that I died,” I say.
“You almost died. Your body healed you before your heart stopped. You are in my side of the family palace, and you have been out for sixteen hours,” he says.
“What do you mean, healed?” I ask as it is the first thing that comes to my mind.
“That’s what I was going to explain before you took off on me,” he says with a twitch of his lips.
“I know now that won’t work because of the bond. Your father already explained. Though I’m not sure I still believe it all, but it’s easier to come to terms with it after seeing a man walk into a room through a sudden hole in the wall,” I say, trying not to let my nerves show.
“That hole in the wall is a portal. All of us can make them. The man you saw walk through was my father. Once he knew you were under attack, he sent my brothers to help me fight off the shadows, and he came to protect you. He was a few seconds late,” Silas says as his eyes suddenly turn cold thinking about it.
“Did you get the guy that attacked me?” I ask hopefully.
He shakes his head. “No. He got away.”
Fear takes over me.
“I don’t know who it is, or why they want me dead. Why do you think I’m ready to run on a moment’s notice?” I say, my breathing getting heavier as panic starts to take hold.
Silas comes onto the bed and takes me into his arms.
“Baby, I won’t let him get to you. You are safe here. The palace is protected. I didn’t think I would have to bring you here so soon. No one knew who you were to me, so I thought you would be safe,” Silas states.
“Go back to how I healed,” I say, trying to distract myself.
He lets out a sigh.
“My father said that once the bond starts to form, our brides will get special powers. They are supposed to form slowly but, because you almost died, yours seemed to come out faster.”
“So, I can heal just myself?” I ask curiously.
“He said you would be able to heal yourself and others. I don’t know how long it will take for you to learn to control it though,” he explains.
“That means I just need to practice,” I tell him, sounding excited about the idea.
That would be an amazing gift to be able to heal anyone.
“What do you mean, practice?” he asks warily.
“I’ve got to figure out this whole healing thing. What happens if we are attacked again, and I don’t know how to heal others?” I say in a tone like he should know this already.
“Who would you need to heal?” he asks.
“You; your family,” I say softly. “I’m assuming you all can get hurt.”
“We can get hurt, but it takes special weapons to actually kill us. We heal, but slowly. If we were stabbed to the degree that would kill a mortal, it would take us weeks to heal,” he explains.
“See, now if I can control my power, you guys won’t need to wait that long,” I state.
“You aren’t scared or going to run anymore?” Silas asks.
“Oh, I’m fucking terrified but, as more shit happens, I can’t really deny it anymore. It’s still hard to believe that all of this is real, but I’m literally in Hell right now. I can’t just ignore it or run away,” I tell him.
He chuckles.
“That’s true. My brothers wanted to meet you once you were awake,” he mentions nervously.
“Meeting the family already?” I ask with a new set of nerves taking over.
“They saw you when we brought you back home, but you were unconscious so it doesn’t really count,” Silas says.
I get up off the bed.
“Let’s go meet these sinful men,” I state.
He pauses before asking, “sinful men?”
“Well, that’s what you are,” I say with a shrug. “You said you and your brothers are each sin, and you are all men, so sinful men.”
He shakes his head and grabs my hand.
I can feel myself shaking with every step we take.
“Relax. It’s going to be fine,” he whispers as we walk through what looks to be a main room, kitchen, and down a long hallway.
Once we make it to the end, I see a huge common room with a bunch of men sitting around it. They are all chatting but stop once they spot us.
Okay, maybe this is stupid to be in a room with so many men, considering my history, but I don’t feel threatened by any of them.
“Finally!” one says, sounding excited and a little too cheery for me.
“Gareth. Relax,” another says while stopping this Gareth from running over to me.
“We have been waiting for you to wake up,” a voice says. It’s loud and commanding, and I turn to see the man who walked into my motel room.
Shit, that means this is Silas’ father, Lucifer.
It’s cool. Be cool, you are only meeting The Lucifer; it’s just like any other day.
“Well, I’m awake. No more sleepy sleep for this girl. Eyes wide open and everything,” I blurt out.
It takes a moment, but chuckles ring out through the room. I can’t help but flush in embarrassment.
“Sorry, I don’t know what I’m saying anymore,” I whisper.
“It’s okay, baby,” Silas whispers in my ear.
“It’s fine to be nervous. It’s not everyday you find out your father-in-law is The Lucifer,” the man says with amusement in his eyes.
I narrow my eyes at him. “Are you going to be reading my mind all the time?”
He chuckles. “Not all the time. You will learn to block me. I was just curious what was going through your mind as you walked into this room.”
I give a nervous laugh and reply, “well, it’s not everyday a girl wakes up in hell surrounded by Lucifer and his seven sins. Shit, I mean sons.”
“Very true. No one in here is going to harm you,” he says, trying to reassure me.
“I know. I don’t feel like you all are threats. You all feel like family. It’s a weird feeling since I haven’t had a family in years,” I say, and my eyes start to well with tears at that thought.
“We are your family. Soon, you won’t be the only daughter here,” Lucifer states.
“Who is next?” I ask curiously.
He shakes his head. “I can’t spoil the surprise,” he says with a wink.
Everyone is quiet, but they are all looking at me so it’s starting to creep me out.
“So, are you all going to just stare at me, or can I get some food in this joint?”
That seems to make them all jump into action.
“I had my chef make burgers,” Lucifer says. I pause on my way to the dining room and look at Silas with wide eyes.
“We all know about how you sent my brother for burgers and ran away,” Gareth says with a chuckle as he walks into the dining room.
I walk into the room and see that there are eight black chairs. There is a smaller red chair next to one of the black chairs.
“Why is there only one red?” I ask.
“The black chairs are for my sons and me, and I decided we would make my daughters’ chairs red,” Lucifer says as we walk to the table.
When I get closer to the table, I notice that the red chair has my name on the back of it. I can’t help but smile as I trace my name.
“I still find it hard to believe this is real,” I mutter to myself, yet they all seem to have heard me loud and clear.
“We have kept hidden from the mortal world for centuries. There are times we have had to step in, but the world would turn into chaos if we had let ourselves be known,” one of the brothers say.
“It’s hard to believe that the stories I have read about Lucifer are real, and no one knows that the seven deadly sins are actual people or beings or whatever you call yourselves. No one knows you are Lucifer’s sons,” I ramble on.
“That’s the way we prefer it,” another brother says.
I sit back in shock and go silent once I see food being delivered. I need to absorb everything that happened and everything I have been told.
I notice one of the servers brushes up against Silas and gives him a sly smile.
He doesn’t notice but, from what his father told me, this kind of thing happens a lot.
I don’t know what she is; she looks human, but I don’t think there are any humans here. That I’m not sure on, but I’ll have to ask at another time when there isn’t some woman creature making eyes at my sin.
I know I haven’t been exactly accepting of Silas, but I still know in my heart that he’s mine, and I do not like anyone touching him.
I can see how much she wants him by the way she bites her lip and gives him a slow once over. She leans over a tad too much to try and entice him.
I let out a little growl that I didn’t know I was capable of. “You need to back the fuck up right now.”