Sha’ní cupped his jaw and gently turned him to face her. Her crystal eyes begged him to fall in their depth and share her love for eternity.His sins still clung to him even though he was pardoned. He was still capable of horrors that would give anyone nightmares. Her soul was too pure to be tainted by him.“You are your father’s son. You have Charles ’s heart. You are cold and stubborn, yet compassionate and empathetic."You say the males of the gods are the alphas. They are the masters of the home. I see this quality in you.“You want to shut everyone out and become stronger than before. You are afraid you will become what you once were.“I have a feeling Ra gave you a new body with a new mind strong enough to resist any temptation to become what you once were in the underworld or the demon realm.”Her words and acceptance sliced him open and burned away the delicate wall he started building. How could a goddess love a demon?“You are not a demon. You never were. Your soul was only
and pulled her to him.Her body collided into a wall of hard muscles and then conformed to it as he dove for her lips with a searing kiss. She held on to him and soaked in his desire for her. She wanted him to take her to the magical place he showed her on the first night.Horace slammed the door behind her, making the decorative weapons on the wall rattle. He shredded her clothing into tatter scraps while he pushed her further into his chambers.His scent is disgusting. You belong to me, Beautiful. It seems you need reminding of that, his deep voice growled in her mind.Sha’ní could not respond to his displeasure. His hands worked in a frenzy on her body as his mouth nipped and sucked in places that made her weak.She landed on her back on the bed with a bounce, and Horace’s vampire form pounced. His passion sheathed inside with a punishing strike fueled with his hot jealousy. She was dizzy from his onslaught and could hardly comprehend what was happening.“Give me your love, Sha’ní,
Those nights were not about love. It was about possession and reclaiming his authority over her body. He would force her to know him to be master, not the bastard traitor.If he had his way, Kebachet would remain gone. Unfortunately, her brother was her link to life. He must fulfill his duty to her to calm the storm and keep the demon within dormant. Without him, earth would be lost.Sha’ní would not simply die of a broken heart as Charles would do. Her grief matched that of Lilene’s personality, and she possessed the blood of Set. One could imagine the kind of evil she could become. She would never betray those she loved; however, if she felt betrayed, the consequences were grim.KebachetKebachet roamed the outer realms and forged relationships with allied gods. He never bothered with the mortals. They were simply pawns in a bigger game. The gods were the true power of their world. They would reach out to him and whisper floating rumors on occasion. In return, Kebachet agreed to aid
The Prelude There was once a people on Earth known as the Vallian. It was a long time ago.They were people of the sword and were warriors. They lived with integrity and honor because of their belief in the creator of all life.All around them, the world was shifting away from the ways it had been since the beginning of time.They were despised by their adversaries for their unwavering determination not to alter and succumb to the evil tide of man's fall from grace with their Creator.In secret, the Vallians got ready to do the only thing left for them to do:leave the first world, Earth.They planned a way out of the disaster they felt was inevitable given the circumstances of the fallen Earthlings, anticipating a judgment.They left the place of their creation two hundred years before the global flood that the Creator had sent. Their preparations were finished.a flood that would wipe out the entire planet, save for one man's family, which was found to be pure and righteous.The Vallians
When we were young, we lacked a solid understanding of the concept of a fallen, sinful world and what it meant that one day everything would be set right.I wasn't entirely convinced at the time that anything was wrong with the outside world.When we had put our products on the market in the fall of each year, I had observed that the wider world appeared to be quite exciting in comparison to our modest hilltop home.We were looked down upon by those around us because our parents stuck to the old ways.The Zoarinian Empire, with its numerous great cities by the sea, was the world's dominant culture as we knew it.They lived their lives quite differently from my parents'.Surely so many people couldn't have done so badly in life to be deserving of their parents' ridicule?My parents' old ways may have been abandoned by the Zoarinians for a good reason.At that point, I had begun to consider the possibility that my parents weren't the ones who required change.As I thought back on that time in
Momma: "Special class?"You will serve your new master in the same way that I served Master Nivaron, but that has no bearing on the matter.The most important thing is that you will have good food and at least some ease in your life, which you won't get working in the field."No, Mother!I can't be told to do this by you!“Krista, I know what I'm asking for is terrible, but at least you'll get good food, a place to sleep, and protection from too much abuse if you do as your new master says.As a manual laborer, you won't last long in the cane fields!"To ask such a thing of me, I would rather die in a firan cane field and keep my self-respect than be a soulless whore like you have become!"Slap!"Krista, you will never talk to me again like that!I've carried out my obligation!After your father passed away, I cared for you and your brother!"You mean killed!In addition, what good have you gained by surviving?Mother, look where we are!Moreover, he is not my brother!”“Yes, he is, and what
After being pushed off the wagon by a guard, I had fallen face-first to the ground.I had tried to get up, spitting the dust out of my mouth, but another guard had me flattened out again.I had attempted to get back up, but a series of powerful kicks had slammed into my side, causing me to collapse into a ball in the sand.I had to repeatedly gasp to regain my breath because it had been difficult to breathe.Before attempting to get back up, I had looked up at my oppressor's face.Standing with his feet shoulder-width apart, he did not appear to be armed.He smiled down at me.The smile that was spread across it did not reach his eyes, and his face had the appearance of worn, cracked leather.I'll demonstrate to you what it means to be a slave, boy!I think your pretty face will be the first thing I teach you about!"He had jerked my head up and reached down with one hand to grab my hair.I knew he was going to smash his knee into my nose when he extended his right leg behind him.I threw mysel
In many places, the arena's walls were not strong enough to contain the raging animals inside.Our captors probably believed that the elephants would focus entirely on eliminating the human ants that were screaming for their lives around the arena and would not attempt to escape on their own.Regardless, they probably planned to kill the elephants near the end.I had briefly explained my plan to the other fighters, who had listened intently, barely daring to hope for even a chance of escaping the horrible death that was in store for us all inside the arena.We didn't have as many of us as the Rauin men had, but that didn't matter because we weren't going to fight the beasts.We boldly stepped out and attracted the three elephants' attention when the rusty iron draw chains raised our dungeon doors with a resolute creak.We charged straight at them rather than flitting aimlessly around the arena to avoid our superior opponent.Some of us had fallen when we first came into contact with the th