Blood Stained Tranquility Read online

Two weeks ago, she had been a normal girl, working in her best friend Soleria’s restaurant with their other best friend Ismini. She’d had a fun job. A cute studio right by the river in Astoria, New York. She’d even had a hookup at Midtown Comics in downtown Manhattan that helped her support her comic book obsession.

  Everything had been peachy keen. At least, it had been until a week after Ismini’s eighteenth birthday, when some bullshit god showed up out of nowhere and took off with her because she was the ritual sacrifice he needed to reincarnate his ancient lover.

  One would think that Ismini might have mentioned that little fact in all the years the girls had known each other. A simple, “Hey, I’ve been condemned to die since before I was born, and one day, a god is going to come for me and make sure that happens.”

  But no, she hadn’t said anything to anyone. She hadn’t given them one bit of a warning.

  So fucked up. Just thinking about it was enough to send anger rushing into the crevices of Eve’s mind and—wait. She still had a body. Her head felt like a jackhammer had been set loose inside; each excruciating pound reverberated through her skull. A skull meant she still had a body, right?

  Eve threw commands at her brain, one after the other. She tried to open her eyes. Flex her fingers. Something.

  Nothing happened.

  She had the ability to think, but she couldn’t see, and she couldn’t fucking move! She called out, screaming inside her mind over and over, but nothing responded. Her vision didn’t return and the darkness didn’t recede.

  I’m fucked. So fucked.

  “Lay her here. I need to check her.”

  At least she could hear. She was sure that voice belonged to Vedlyl, the God of Medicine. She had met him when she had first been taken to Enzyria, the dimension of the gods.

  Just as she attempted to start screaming with all the might she could muster, a jolt went through her. For a second, she felt her entire body.

  And just as quickly, she wished she had stayed numb.

  “Careful with her!”

  Oh, God. That voice. She knew it, recognized it deep within the very fibers of her awareness.

  “Zen. I can’t believe I’m saying this to you of all beings, but calm down!”

  “I told you to be fucking careful!”

  A whimper left her. It must have actually made it past her throat because she heard Zeniel growl. She had heard that same growl before, back when they’d first met on Earth. The day he’d gone to get her and bring her to Enzyria.

  She tried to call out to him, desperate to see him. Feel him. Zeniel!

  “Zeniel, calm the hell down. I’m going in there; I’m going to try to find her.”

  Nylicia. Eve would never forget her voice either. Shortly after arriving in Enzyria, she’d had a dream. In it, she had met the Watcher of Destines and sealed her own fate by walking through a portal that had Zen’s image reflected on the other side.

  “If I told you this was waiting for you on the other side . . . would you follow me through?” Nylicia had asked her.

  Eve knew then that she was being asked to choose her destiny.

  That destiny involved Zeniel. In the portal, he had been curled into himself, shirtless with his long, dark red hair falling over his shoulders, and every muscle bulging with the strain of some internal battle. She had not known then what was causing his pain. All she had known, with absolute certainty, was that she would do anything to ease his suffering. Anything.

  So she’d walked through the portal.

  What seemed like seconds later, she had been awoken by Vedlyl who asked her to come to Ismini’s room. Her friend had been exhibiting frightening symptoms for days, and the moment Eve ran into the room, she’d learned why.

  Ismini was stuck in an unrequited mating. She had mated to the same god who had planned her sacrifice—Dyletri, the God of Fertility—and a mating in their world wasn’t just a case of “oh-lookie-I’m-horny-now-bang-me.”

  No, in their world, it meant that Ismini was owned, and since Dyletri hadn’t mated to her in return, her body went haywire in a way that was far beyond hormonal. Her very soul was making her sick.

  As in, “going-to-die-soon” kinda sick.

  Then, as if seeing her best friend in that condition wasn’t enough of a mindfuck for Eve, Nylicia’s projection had walked into the room. The shock of discovering that she was real was nothing compared to Eve’s realization that her dream had been as well, and her stupid ass had walked through that portal.

  In that instant, she realized that she was next. She would soon mate to Zeniel the same way that Ismini had mated to Dyletri. Zeniel, the god she had sworn would never touch her again, and ironically, the one male that she wanted to touch her in every way possible.

  Especially right then.

  She tried to call out to him again. Zeniel!

  “Vedlyl, are her vitals stabilized enough for me to go in there?”

  “Her heart rate is way too high, even for an immortal. Look at her skin, look at all the energy coursing through her right now.”

  “I have to try.”

  “You’re not going near her unless it’s safe for her!”

  “Oh, for fuck’s sake, Zen. Shut the hell up and let me do what is necessary!”

  The voices receded, leaving Eve on her own again. For the hell of it, she tried moving a few more times. That ended in failure, of course. She tried not to despair as the darkness seemed to press in on her. At least she knew she was still alive. That counted for something, right?

  Not if I have to remain a vegetable forever, trapped inside my own damned mind.

  “Now, now . . . I would never let that happen. At least not for long.”

  Eve was shocked by the sudden intrusion inside her mind.

  “Evesse? Can you hear me?”

  “Oh, God, Nylicia! Yes. I’m here. Can you hear me?”

  “Yes. I can.”

  “Where are you? I can’t see anything.”

  “I know. Me neither. But I need you to stay calm, okay? Every time your emotions spike, you threaten to bring down the room. Hell, I think the whole dimension is shaking, you powerful little thing, you.”

  “What?”

  “Your powers are multiplying even though you’re unconscious. And . . . well, they’re tied to your emotions, and emotionally speaking, Eve you’re . . .”

  “I get it.”

  Nylicia went on as if she hadn’t spoken. “Passionate, I’d say. Others might say high-strung, but I’ll stick with passionate.”

  Like Nylicia was one to talk. Eve tried to growl, but apparently that couldn’t be done mentally and what came out sounded kind of strained.

  She thought again of how she had met Nylicia. That night, she turned both Evesse and Ismini into immortals. The pain of the change had been almost unbearable, but Eve hadn’t cared. Not only had she been desperate to be more than human, Zeniel had been on Earth, fighting off dangerous monsters. She would have done anything to help him.

  And she had. She had allowed Nylicia to alter her DNA and then she’d gone to Earth and kicked some major ass, if she did say so herself.

  “You gave these powers to me,” she called out to Nylicia. “Can’t you . . . stabilize them or something?”

  Nylicia remained quiet. Eve hadn’t known her for long, but she knew that was a bad sign.

  “Nylicia?”

  “Let’s stick with what I do know for certain.”

  “Hell, no!” Eve cried. “You’re telling me everything. Everything, you hear me?”

  “You are becoming more powerful, but on top of that you’re stuck in some sort of coma. There’s only one thing I know that can cause that. Did you, by any chance, think of anything that happened in your past right before they threw you into the vortex? Traumatizing details. Things like that?”

  Of course she had. Lisrn, one of the two Aviraji that had captured her and Ismini, threatened to force himself on her. All Evesse had been able to remember as she and Ismini were dragged
toward that vortex was what had happened years before, how her stepfather had once tried to rape her.

  The memories of where her life had gone after that followed her all the way into that vortex.

  They’d been there even as she died.

  “I’m taking your silence as a yes.”

  “What does it mean?” Evesse asked.

  “Destiny, hon. Mutation. Amalgamation. Whatever you’re more comfortable with. And it’s going to hurt. I’m sorry.”

  Hadn’t she hurt enough?

  “What exactly does that mean, Nylicia? Amalgamation?”

  “It means I can’t do anything for you. You’ve got to ride this out.”

  “Ride what out? Nylicia, for once just stop with the obscure shit and tell me what’s going on!”

  “She’s barely known me a few weeks and already she knows,” Nylicia mumbled, her voice getting fainter with each word.

  “Nylicia? Nylicia, damn it, don’t leave. Please tell me what’s about to happen!”

  Nylicia never answered. She didn’t have to. The darkness got so heavy that Eve couldn’t make another sound. The pressure grew and grew until there was nothing left. Not even a single thought running through her mind.

  Chapter 2

  -Brownsville, Pennsylvania (USA)

  Two weeks later.

  “Please. Please. I . . . oh, God. What are you?”

  The man didn’t wait for an answer to his question. He spun around and took off, his shoes screeching against the cement.

  It wouldn’t do him any good. He had been selfish. He had caused his wife’s death. There would be nowhere in the world he could hide now. Not until he was dead.

  Zeniel, God of Tranquility, wanted to spare him. Not because of any desire to see the man live. Hell, no, but because he didn’t want to be the one to punish him. Mavrak, God of Vengeance, however, had other plans. He had locked onto the man and was threatening to hurt everyone else around them if Zen didn’t let him have this one thing.

  A single left turn and Mavrak knew he had the man trapped. The man’s breath hitched as he came to a dead end. The whimper that left him pierced through the roars leaking into Zeniel’s mind. Zen wanted to help him. He wanted to turn away before it was too late.

  But it wasn’t going to happen. Mavrak was agonized. The details of the man’s crime replayed over and over in his mind. Zeniel had lost control the moment he’d laid eyes on the man, and now, Vengeance was desperate for its due.

  “Please . . . I didn’t do anything. Why are you doing this to me?” The man’s shoulders fell, his head hanging low. He hadn’t even turned to face Zeniel as he approached. “Why?”

  “You know what you did.” Mavrak’s warped voice spoke out of Zen’s mouth. “You caused her death.”

  “She was already depressed! It’s not my fault she hanged herself!”

  His shout sent more images shooting through Zen’s mind. From the other side, the wife’s soul screamed out in agony, demanding retribution. She was so pained that she hadn’t even moved on. She was trapped between the mortal realm and the spirit world, the four walls of their bedroom her eternal prison.

  “She lost your child, and you betrayed her. Barely a week later.”

  “She couldn’t get over it. I needed a break! I needed someone to make me feel good for a night!”

  That did it. Mavrak’s eyes focused on the man’s back. Shadows slid out, the black and red fog illuminating the alleyway as it made its way toward the man. Zen screamed inside his own mind. Not that it would work.

  “Your selfishness and betrayal pushed her to kill herself. You added to her pain. She was innocent.”

  The man turned, his wide, frightened eyes filling with tears. “Please.”

  Zeniel managed to gain back enough control to turn his head, but it did him no good. The shadows had been released and were locked on their prey. He heard the wraiths cackle from within them. The man’s scream came next. Followed by more pleas, and strangled groans.

  Mavrak wanted to turn around, to bask in the punishment being dealt. Zeniel somehow made himself stay still, not needing to see. The man had cheated on his wife shortly after she’d lost their baby. The wraiths were having a field day with him, tearing at certain organs. He could tell by the man’s choked screams, and the sound of ripping flesh.

  Zeniel wanted to heave. He wanted to scream. He’d sworn never to let this happen again. Even worse? He was so aware this time. Through the roars, through the agony, and the never ending assault of images, he knew what was happening.

  He had no clue how he made himself leave that alley. All he knew was that one moment he was there, and the next he’d materialized behind an abandoned church near the river. He didn’t have to worry about leaving a mutilated body behind. The wraiths were still there, and they wouldn’t stop until there was nothing left.

  He stumbled and landed against the church’s outer wall, barely catching his weight before accidentally bringing the entire, deteriorated thing down.

  It was so late at night that the streets on this side of the small town were practically empty. The only signs of life were the occasional car on the road, the gas station several blocks away, and a few stragglers spilling out of bars.

  Sliding down the side of the church, he sat on the ground. He leaned his head back, closed his eyes and wrestled his brain into submission. He was lost, but he wasn’t so far gone that he couldn’t force his other half to obey him now that it had been given the kill it wanted.

  At least Zen hoped so.

  He had to distract himself, and quick. Running a hand through his hair, he looked around and focused on the road. The number of abandoned buildings in this town was staggering considering its actual size. The population? Not so much. Less than three thousand people lived in Brownsville. For the umpteenth time, Zeniel had to wonder if Ianthen had gotten the location wrong. But the God of the Hunt never made a mistake.

  Ian had tracked Enteax, and the trail had led him here. Neither of them knew what that blue-skinned bastard was up to, or why he was in a small, ex-industrial town to begin with, but Zen didn’t really care about that.

  What he cared about was what Enteax and his partner Lisrn had done to his woman. That was why he was on his current quest. Just thinking about those assholes putting their hands on Evesse had Mavrak twitching again, had him feeling angsty. He was poking, scratching, and hissing his way down Zen’s spine, looking for the override switch.

  He held up images of the world’s sins to Zen like a flashcard exhibition of crimes. Zen had shut down his tranquility grid in an effort to block it all out, but it hadn’t helped.

  There was the woman ten blocks away, going swipe-happy on a counterfeit credit card. The account it was linked to belonged to another woman in North Carolina. That woman would most likely not be able to feed her four kids come tomorrow. She’d be without money, at least until the bank finished investigating the credit card fraud and refunded her.

  And the guy up in Maine? He’d just stabbed a man behind a school. The victim’s wallet lay on the table before him as he twirled his blade and contemplated where to strike next.

  Zen ground his teeth, trying to push the images back. Every second, a new one popped up, a fucked-up circuit of pure shit that lit up every area of the map. He literally heard Mavrak huff right before the prick pulled out the mother of all “sin flash cards” and slapped Zen across the face with it.

  Atherton, California. Two boys, no older than seventeen, had just successfully drugged and raped a fifteen-year-old girl. They had then set their sights on which girl would be next.

  If only Zen could blame the rage that he felt on Mavrak. However, that baby was all his. The urge he had to Sweeney Todd those little bastards was coming from him. He imagined slicing into each of them with his blades, ripping their guts out with his bare hands.

  Him, the same being that had inspired every peace loving religion on Earth.

  It had started out with one small settlement near th
e border of what would become India and Nepal. His teachings eventually spread. In time, he became friends with two of the greatest men who had ever lived.

  Siddhartha and Jesus.

  What would they think of him if they could see him now, if they could see into his thoughts? A great triumph in the peace department. Right.

  He was a hypocrite.

  “Will you stop being so damn maudlin about it?”

  The world around him was ripped away in an instant, his body and consciousness flung through the fabric of existence. The sounds of the world echoed behind him as he was dragged through the dimensions.

  His body slammed back together painfully, grass reforming beneath his feet. It changed colors in waves while, above his head, stars glowed too brightly, the universe exposed. To his right, the Earth hovered like one massive ball of blue, green and brown.

  He straightened and twisted his torso to search out the owner of the giant, floating satellite he now stood on. To his knowledge, no one had ever been in the Haklanayasas while awake. For him to be standing there?

  “You’re getting frighteningly powerful.”

  “Not quite. But working on it.”

  Nylicia rounded a boulder, her cream colored dress floating around her in a wispy wave of gossamer. Her heeled feet floated above the grass with each step. Her form was still as see-through as ever, the stars behind her glittering through her.

  Zen hadn’t seen her in the flesh since the last time he had to put her back into an induced coma. That had been almost three thousand years ago. But her projection, it seemed, was everywhere. He couldn’t freaking escape her.

  Fortunately, she was one of the only beings in the entire Universe that he could be around and not lose his shit. Mavrak never stirred in her presence. Ever. And he was still having a hard time believing it, considering he knew what she was like.

  “I really wish you’d stop being such a pussy when it comes to Mavrak.”

  He glared at her. She probably had the power to block her sins. That was it. Everything except annoyance. That one she loved to flash in everyone’s faces.

  “You’ve obviously been watching me this whole time—”