KING OF THE UNDERWORLD (Earthbound Book 1)

Lucien has just come back into the room and dropped a bomb, leaving all of us in a state of shock.

The words echo inside my head.

The soul eater is dead.

This is really bad. We are so screwed!

Someone managed to place a trap inside his brain that caused his head to explode when Lucien went digging through memories. By the matching expressions on my family’s faces, they don’t believe a word he’s saying, and who could blame them? Am I an idiot for thinking he’s telling the truth? Lucien has no reason to lie to us.

If what he described really happened, we have to figure out what it means. How did someone get into a soul eater’s mind that way? What would the person responsible be capable of doing to the rest of us?

Even as I’m asking it, I know how stupid my question is. “What are we going to do?” I look at Lucien who is staring at us as though waiting. For what, I have no clue.

Nobody says anything, we just take turns looking at one another. My family doesn’t seem to have any answers, and judging by Lucien’s lack of reaction, neither does he.

After an interminable silence, he finally speaks up. “Nothing. There is nothing for any of you to do. I have a few contacts who might be able to help, and they owe me favors.”

My family huffs, practically in unison. It’s clear they’re unconvinced. They do not trust Lucien; despite everything he’s done to try to make them see that he’s on our side. It’s going to take a lot of time for them to get over their preconceived notions of him.

“You’re forgetting something, Lucien. We are not human; nor are we your regular, run-of-the-mill witches.” Melissa states as she strides back into the room and takes a seat, Luke standing behind her. She was gone longer than thirty minutes, but I hadn’t worried. I know her wolves would need more than thirty minutes to run around.

My sisters and Evelyn are whispering back and forth, shocked by Melissa’s words. She turns to us and rolls her eyes. “Come on guys, he isn’t stupid. He suspects how powerful we are, if he didn’t already know, that is.” Turning to me, she smiles mischievously. “Am I right?”

Lucien’s voice turns our attention his way. “You’ve got balls, I’ll give you that.” His eyes roam over her tattoos, a smirk on his face. “I wasn’t completely sure, but yes, I suspected you all were more than just the normal witches I’ve been exposed to.”

Shocked, I ask him, “Why didn’t you say something sooner?” I can’t believe he kept quiet about his suspicions. I thought he wanted me to trust him. Why would he keep something so important from me?

Turning his black eyes on me, he shrugs. “There was no reason to. But now there is,” he states simply.

I know it shouldn’t matter. It isn’t like I’ve told Lucien everything, but I’m still irked. Of course, I should have known he was too smart to miss the fact that I survived an attack by Aria, too smart not to realize that I must be more powerful than I’d let on.

Bloody Demon, I think, pushing the words at him. You aren’t supposed to hide things from me, Lucien.

He raises his eyebrow at me, and I know he heard my thoughts. I feel his mind brush against mine, an attempt at comfort, a lover’s caress. I know it’s his way of apologizing. I understand why he kept it from me, but I’m not happy about it. A small part of me feels guilty, though. I still haven’t told Lucien that we are all part omega or that we have a phoenix among us. I’m too frightened to tell him everything.

Frightened that his feelings for me will change. I’m sure he knows I’ve been holding back, without knowing exactly what it was. I wonder if he suspects the truth now.

I also can’t help but wonder if he’s still having sex with Aria. I can sense her when she’s here and I noticed that I haven’t seen him any of the times she’s been in the building. I’ve considered using an orb to follow him and find out exactly what’s going on.

Lucien’s voice breaks me out of my thoughts. “My men are going to patrol the streets more frequently and in larger groups,” he announces.

“Great. And seeing as you now know what we are, you must see there’s no reason we can’t help,” Evelyn states and the rest of my family voices their agreement. “We can patrol the streets alongside your men.”

“And how will you be able to protect yourselves?” Sneers Damien. “I know Lucien seems to think you’re more powerful than you’re letting on, and you all seem to think you’re some kind of powerhouses, but we haven’t exactly seen any evidence to speak for that. You are, after all, part human.”

“You’re right, we are part human. But I can assure you, we are far from helpless,” says a voice from the back of the room as Mia steps forward and raises her hand, a small discharge of lightning shooting from her fingertips in Damien’s direction.

We all watch in fascinated horror as it flies towards his head with a humming sound, just barely whizzing by his ear and hitting the wall behind him with an almighty bang, a charcoal smudge staining the wall in its wake.

Eyes wild and lips curled in aggression, Damien checks his ear to make sure he wasn’t hit. “You’re fucking crazy! You could have scalped me,” he shouts.

“Please. If I wanted to hurt you, you wouldn’t be standing,” Mia laughs wickedly, her eyes shining with mirth. She flicks her fingers at him again, and this time the lightning grazes his other ear.

“Mia!” I shout, running my hands through my hair in frustration. Bloody hell. Is this really happening?

All hell breaks loose, and I groan.

Lucien and Damien come charging towards us, their faces painted in determination, as the rest of Lucien’s men attempt to surround us. I know my sister was only trying to show them that we aren’t the helpless little humans they think we are. But they don’t know that, and if they get their hands on her, I’m worried they’ll hurt her.

Before they can reach us, a clear shield rises up, surrounding me and my family. I don’t need to look around to know who constructed it. Abigail’s instinct to protect her twin has certainly come in handy. I know she won’t lower it until she’s certain we’re no longer in danger. Any of us can step outside the bubble, but nobody will be able to come inside.

Lucien places one of his large hands against the shield and I watch as it bounces off. “Scarlett! Lower the shield!” he demands through gritted teeth, his intense black eyes meeting mine.

“I can’t,” I tell him, shaking my head. “I didn’t put it up, so I can’t take it down.”

“Then who the fuck can take it down?” Damien asks, stepping closer to the shield and putting his hand against it. He pushes in and watches as his hand bounces back out.

“Me,” Abigail replies, stepping forward.

“Lower. The. Fucking. Force. Field.” Damien growls, pacing the barrier like a wild animal. If looks could kill, I’m certain we’d all be dead.

“No. Not until I’m assured nobody is going to try to hurt Mia or any of the rest of us,” Abigail’s voice trembles slightly, but her back is ramrod straight. I’m proud of her for standing up for her family, but this could go terribly wrong very quickly. We all need to learn to trust one another, and I’m not sure this is the way to go about building that kind of relationship. I watch warily as the rest of Lucien’s men gather around the shield, standing directly in front of it.

I reach out to Lucien’s mind. I need to convince him she means no harm. Lucien. Please. I promise she was only trying to show you both that we are capable of taking care of ourselves. That we aren’t helpless.

She should have done it some other way. Shooting fucking lightning bolts at us with no warning isn’t the best way to build rapport. Lucien snaps back. And why the fuck did she direct them at his fucking head?! His voice echoes through my mind, causing me to grip my head with both hands.

I glare at him. She wanted to get her point across.

Well, I’d say she fucking succeeded. He replies through the link.

“Lower the fucking forcefield,” Damien shouts again, punching it repeatedly. I’ve only ever seen him calm and collected, and his anger is quite the sight to see.

“Screw you,” Abigail shoots back, laughing nervously. “I already told you. I’m not taking it down until I have both your word that nothing will happen to Mia or any of the rest of us.”

“Oh, I intend to screw you, witch. By the time I’m done with you, you’ll be begging me for more,” Damien fires back, a look of lust clouding his face.

“In your dreams, demon,” Abigail scoffs, even as her eyes travel his body appreciatively.

What the fuck is happening right now?

“Oh, it will be happening there too,” he growls.

Abigail walks closer to the shield until she’s nearly touching it and runs her tongue along her bottom lip. “Look all you want, demon, because that’s as close as you’ll ever get to touching me.” She winks at him, and he snarls.

“Don’t delude yourself, witch. You’ll be begging me to fuck you before I ever lay a finger on you,” he replies, licking his bottom lip seductively.

Is this really fucking happening? I seriously cannot believe what I’m hearing.

Pamela finally speaks up, causing everyone to look at her. “Stop. Both of you. Just. Stop. Abigail, you need to release the shield,” she says sternly before turning her attention to Lucien and Damien. “What Mia did was stupid, but she didn’t mean anything by it. She’s young and still in training. They both are.” Pamela holds up her hand when she hears Mia’s words of protest.

“Get her to lower the forcefield,” Lucien orders Pamela. He’s clearly ignoring the sexual tension that’s building between my sister and his second-in-command.

Abigail turns and looks at Lucien. “I’m not lowering anything until I know none of you are going to harm us,” she says stubbornly. “Both of you swear you won’t do anything and that you won’t order your men to do anything either,” she says, pointing her finger at Lucien’s men surrounding us.

“Fuck! Fine! I promise, nobody will touch any of you,” Lucien shouts, looking at his men to make sure they understand his orders.

“What about him? Is he making the same promise?” Abigail asks with her eyebrow raised, nodding her head in Damien’s direction.

I can tell she’s trying to goad him; the look in her eyes is one of teasing mischief. What the fuck?! I don’t like this at all. Whatever is going on between the two of them is not going to end well. Abigail is normally the sweetheart; the quiet one.

I know Damien is disdainful of humans; he and Lucien are cut from the same cloth. Damien seems even colder than Lucien, though. While Lucien was originally cold towards me, I can now see that much of it was a façade.

I touch Lucien’s mind, communicating my gratitude through our mated bond, and telling him how sorry I am for what just happened. I can tell through the link that he’s fighting the instincts of his demon to attack Mia. His demon isn’t pleased, but I can sense the moment he decides to step back.

Tensions are still high on both sides. Things got out of hand rather quickly. Mia was stupid to shoot lightning at Damien’s head that way, no matter what her intentions had been. I know none of them trust Lucien yet, they haven’t really been given a reason to. They think he has his own agenda, and I have to admit, I’m still not entirely sure how much we can trust him to act in our best interests, either. But standing here, looking at him and being able to see into his mind, I know he has no intention of hurting me or my family.

“Abigail. Drop the shield,” I say softly, laying my hand on her shoulder and reaching my mind out for hers so I can give her a glimpse at Lucien’s thoughts. “You can see he means us no harm.”

She looks at me and her eyes narrow as she tries to understand what she’s seeing in her mind. I can see the moment she realizes that he would protect me with his own life if need be, that the bond we share is for life; her eyes widen in shock. She knows he intends to protect those I love because of how deeply he cares for me.

He might not retaliate; she communicates through our link. But what about the demon standing beside him? And the others?

Lucien won’t allow Damien or any of his other men to act. They know better than to disobey his orders, I promise.

Her chanted words flow through my mind seconds before I feel the power dissipate around us, indicating the shield is down. Immediately after it drops, Damien takes a step in Mia’s direction, his eyes full of contempt, but Abigail steps in his path.

ABIGAIL

I put my hand on the demon’s hard chest. “Don’t,” I whisper, stopping him dead in his tracks. My eyes widen in shock as an energizing blast travels from the tips of my fingers to the warm skin under his shirt. It feels like a thunderbolt, shooting deep inside his blackened soul before slamming back into my fingers, down my arm, and throughout my entire body. He had to have felt it, but he doesn’t react. My witch and omega are both shocked; they’ve never felt anything like that before. My omega finally speaks up, telling me that she thinks I just linked myself to Damien.

My light grey eyes meet his dark blue gaze, and I see excitement and recognition shining inside them. A simple innocent touch has changed us both irrevocably, though I’m not really sure what that means. Not yet anyway.

“Do you really think you can protect her from me?” His tone is soft and low as he steps closer to me. His white shirt is open at the collar, exposing his well-muscled chest and a black swirl of tattoos he appears to be covered in. The sight of his naked flesh causes my mouth to water.

“Maybe,” I whisper, my voice hardly audible over the sound of blood rushing in my ears. This cannot be happening. I won’t allow it. I clear my throat before speaking. “I don’t want us to be on opposite sides, Damien. We’re going to need each other if what’s been happening is any indication of what is still to come. Mia didn’t mean anything by it, she had no intention to harm you. She only wanted to show you that we aren’t helpless little humans who need protection.”

He gives me a look that communicates he intends to discuss whatever it was that just passed between us later, before looking to his boss and giving a slight nod.

I let out a sigh of relief.