Sin Eaters: Devotion Book One (30 page)
Read Sin Eaters: Devotion Book One Online
Authors: Kai Leakes
“Okay, baby. Oh, and my mother will love you. She is the only Oracle in this region, so this is business, not”âHe dipped his head down and kissed her lightly, softly sucking on her lower lip as he kissed her twiceâ“personal.” He watched Sanna swallow hard as he swore she swayed to the side.
“Okay,” she muttered breathlessly.
Khamun inwardly chuckled. Tonight, he was definitely going to have Sanna Steele because waiting was killing him softly. He stepped back, ignoring Kyo's Cheshire cat grin.
“Seriously, do you all have someone for me? Because all of this oxytocin and testosterone is driving me up the wall!” Kyo laughed.
Sanna shook her head, reaching out to entwine her fingers with Khamun's.
Khamun just smirked as he leaned back and brought the back of Sanna's hand to his lips with a kiss. “Check ya dreams, and you may find your answers.”
Chapter 19
Darren stood around a mound of U-Haul boxes. He and Takeshi were moving out of the graduate townhouses near campus and moving into an old firehouse close by. With the help of Protection restoration and construction firm, Khamun's business, they were rehabbing it and fitting it to their needs. It also helped that it connected to Khamun's computer and was close to their mother. Even though Darren had moved to get his own independence, he was always checking in on his mother. Now, with learning about the extra bump in their DNA, he had become even more protective over her and his sisters.
Sanna smiled as she studied her brother in too big basketball shorts, red-and-black Jordan, and a white tee that accented his sepia-tattooed biceps. His wavy, low fade was freshly cut, and she saw he was growing a jawline beard.
As she walked through, she had to swerve and pivot as Take rushed beside her with four boxes.
“What up, San!” He smoothly stepped back and walked around Kyo.
Kyo yelled, “Dang! Just run me over!”
Take chuckled and stopped turning around to back up to lower his boxes. He kissed Sanna on the cheek then kissed Kyo on hers before walking about again. “Okay, I'll do that shortly, sis.”
Sanna chuckled.
Take was dressed in track pants with a basketball jersey and white Air Force One. A tattooed-looking branding on his shoulder blade made her squint her eyes hard. She glanced at Kyo.
“Yeah, I have the same thing. I asked Khamun about it, and he gave me a book about our kind Kali gave him. You know I hit up Daddy right after and gave him the book.”
Sanna smirked. Pop Hideo loved books, so it made sense. “Well, what did the book say? Or Pops?”
“It's our clan marking and where our wings will grow from, once we all go through this final phase. So I need you to hurry up and wake all the way up. I'm tired of the random weirdness.”
Kyo hooked her arm with Sanna and pouted. “Well, I love you too, geez.”
“Sis, did you go pick up my package yet?” Darren ran a hand down his sweaty face and glanced at Sanna.
Young men appeared out of nowhere in Kappa colors. Sanna shook her head. Looked like the little brothers of Kappa were helping Darren and Take. “Not yet. I just wanted to see how everything was progressing. I'm headed there now.” She shifted to the side as some of the little brothers stopped and gawked at her. She blushed red quickly, looking away. She had never been gawked at, except for Khamun, so this was something new for her.
“Move the hell on, newbie!” Darren roared.
Each frat little brother almost tripped over running out as the men laughed.
Everyone blinked when Khamun and Calvin strolled down the stairs with various objects.
“Riii, keep your eyes on those boxes, ya dig?” Calvin said. To reinforce his point, he lowered his voice and glared.
“Um, okay. On that note, I'm going to get your package. You said from the history department?”
Khamun was eyeing her. She remembered how he made her body cream back in his room, and she wanted that again.
“Yeah. Hit up Professor Merril. She should be in her office. She's holding some book for me. Not sure what it is, but I don't have time to get it, since I'm done with her history of law class. Hard-ass wench!”
“Truth!” Take yelled, and he hauled some more items out.
Sanna sighed. “Okay, I'll be back.” She turned to leave, and Kyo followed.
“Girl, where you going?” Sanna quipped, smiling. She knew it was no use arguing about it. Kyo was going to go with her, like it or not.
Kyo just hooked her arm with Sanna, and they both strolled out.
The little Kappa brothers followed them both, and some dared to smile when they saw Take and Darren weren't looking.
Frowning, Kyo and Sanna seemed to walk in sync as they both saw women gawking. Sanna kept up the pace, rolling her eyes at the women. Kyo started to laugh as she tried to keep up.
Locating the history department took a while, but maneuvering through the campus was nice, until they felt feet behind them.
“I'm scared to turn and see which one of the damn squad it is,” Sanna said. She knew it wasn't Khamun or Calvin. She could sense them. When Kyo tripped over her own feet, Sanna knew who it was instantly.
“Lenox, I take it?” she joked, trying to smother her laugh with a “faux” choke.
“Girl, yes!” Kyo whispered, flushing a bright ruby red before she looked and waved.
“Ladies. Just taking a stroll, making sure everything is good with you both, if you don't mind.”
Sanna got ready to say something smart-alecky, but Kyo stopped her.
Kyo grinned hard, and her voice rose an octave. “
Noooo
, you are always welcome, Lenox.”
Noooo
, you are always welcome, Lenox.”
Lenox's soft smile flashed in the corner of Sanna's eye. She spotted Dr. Merril's office.
“I got this,” Sanna said. “You and Lenox talk a bit. I'll be a second.” She pushed the pair close together and rushed inside, a coy smile on her face.
Inwardly chuckling, she knocked, stepped in, and smiled at the dark-haired woman behind the desk who sat flipping through an old book.
“Hello. I'm here to pick up a package for my brother Darren, Darren Steele.” Sanna glanced around the room, her arms protectively crossing against her. Something felt off and was causing the hair on the back of her neck to stand at attention. Her temples began to slightly throb as the room seemed to get hotter.
“Oh, yes, Darren. I'm glad to meet his sister. Please have a seat, and I'll get you that book.” Dr. Merril looked up and smiled.
Sapphire blue eyes stared at Sanna, and she suddenly stood. She knew this woman. She had seen her touch Amit. She was the crazy chick's Witch and a Hunter.
Sanna stumbled back, and her eyes widened with paralyzing fear. What was she doing here? She had been close to her brother and to Take. This felt all the way like a trap, and she'd be damned if she'd let this chick catch her.
Dr. Merril smiled with a slight coldness, yet there was something more hidden in that one look. It illuminated her face. She tilted her head to the side and held her hands out.
Books shook on their mantels as Dr. Merril's hair whipped on her head at the magnitude. The power was so strong and concentrated that the hair on her arms stood at attention, and goose bumps rose all over her body. Fear for the first time in a long time hit her hard and heavy, almost suffocating her as tears threatened to spill.
“Please. I am not here to harm you!” Winter almost screamed. Items in her office flew suddenly as the woman she knew to be the Oracle stood in mirrored rigid fear.
Her skin suddenly glowed with intense Light. Her pupils swallowed the whites of her eyes with illuminating power and clarity. That strength, that power, let Winter know that this woman would not be taken, and that in and of itself made her shake with understanding.
The Dark Lady would not have a chance against this magnificent glory. That knowledge made her smile because maybe she could exact the vengeance she now sought for the children like herself who were taken and turned against their will. Maybe this woman was the piece she had found in her studies, a part of a connecting puzzle that would join together and spread holy wrath upon those who sought to harm. That bit of understanding flashed in her eyes and opened the weakened soul she carried. It allowed her to stand and start to mend the broken pieces in her dark form.
Sanna tilted her head to the side and assessed the woman she thought was here to hurt her. She saw something was broken in the woman, something that now seemed to shift and rearrange itself within.
She stepped forward and watched the woman step back. She felt that if this woman was a threat, not to be trusted, that she could kill her as soon as her back was turned. But there was something about that shift in her that made Sanna look closer as the door to the office shook and rattled.
Sanna felt Lenox and Kyo trying to kick the door open. Her body shook and hummed as she felt her brothers and Khamun approach. She knew Khamun would find a way in, so she stepped forward again and wasn't shocked as he stood at her side, her brother Darren with him.
“San . . . ” Khamun unsheathed a hidden gun as he assessed her and readdressed her, “Oracle-Vessel.”
Sanna saw Darren's eyes light with his own power, and she stood closer to them both.
“Dr. Merril, who are you? And what did you do?” Darren quietly asked. His voice was so low, so deadly, it made Khamun flash a dark smile as he reached to open the door.
“Leave it closed,” Sanna heard herself say. “There is not enough room for everyone.”
Darren reached toward her and placed a hand on her shoulder. The touch was innocent and filled with concern, but it triggered something else that broke like an overflowing dam. Power seemed to expand and ebb as both Sanna's and Darren's heads dropped back then bowed forward, their eyes locked in on the threatening target as they spoke as one.
“Tell us now what you want with the Oracle-Vessel,” they said as one voice, one mind.
Something in the change had Khamun breathing hard, his fangs at lethal length as he stood to block them both.
“Speak, or I will drain you of every ounce of dark sin you carry, bitch.” The Reaper was in full mode, and his body shook with a power he never felt before. He had to roll his shoulders to keep his wings from expanding.
Those wings and that thread had Winter scraping at the walls, ready to run. “No, no, don't. Please, please, hear me out. I am not here to play games. I am an ally!” she stuttered, scraping some more.
She couldn't believe her eyes. She was standing in front of bounty hunters for the Most High himself. She felt a trickle between her legs at the realization. This was something none of her kind had ever witnessed for generations.
Yes, her kind was trained to kill the enemy, to kill the pustules who made their love for hunting humans strenuous, and who sat at the feet of the one who shunned them. She was told her kind was an Alpha, but what she was witnessing told her different. She had found information about what she was witnessing, and seeing it in the flesh had her ready to die now for all the wrongs she had committed.
“But you helped some in later life? Your soul opened, and you saw the truths.” The disembodied voice of the Oracle-Vessel and Darren filled the room, tearing into her brain as their stare commanded her gaze.
The tall, handsome one with the extended fangs made her soul shake with fear as she felt a coiling tightness in her chest the closer he got.
Tears poured down her lips, and she opened her mouth to speak, stumbling as if she was mentally incapable, “I know the truths. I found the records.”
“What records?” the Reaper asked. Suddenly he was in her face. He watched as her eyes rolled in the back of her head, and he inhaled with a malicious smile. His large hands slid over her shaking body and gripped under her jaw to expose her creamy neck. “What truths?” he cooed.
She felt her blood pump colder than anything Reina or her father had ever done to her. Why? Because she knew if she died by
his
hands then there would be no return. It would be nothing but eternal pain and suffering, which had her clawing at his wrists as he squeezed.
his
hands then there would be no return. It would be nothing but eternal pain and suffering, which had her clawing at his wrists as he squeezed.
“She has found the records of truths. The Nephilim scrolls. Only, it is one. The rest are well hidden, waiting to be found by others,” the pair echoed.
And the Reaper squeezed in satisfaction as he lifted her with one arm, his bicep pumping. “Is she to be trusted, Oracle-Vessel? Because I am very hungry, and her sins smell succulent.” The Reaper gave a menacing chuckle.
Winter's eyes widened. She instantly prepped her body to kick and flip him over her desk but only ended up with having her leg being blocked.
“Fight me again, and I will suck your knowledge from you,” was all the Reaper had to say to make Winter obey, her eyes still locked on the Oracle.
She licked her chapping lips while the door to her office shook and voices bellowed outside. She knew the others would be here and they had to be careful, or the Cursed who watched her would be ready to start a war on UIC's campus. “The book is on my desk. I wanted to give it to you to show my loyalty.”
“She speaks truth. Her soul was chained in protection. Those chains have broken over time, as is written in the pages of the Scrolls,” the disembodied voice replied.
The door to her office slowly opened as others from their team stepped inside.
The Reaper narrowed his eyes, his head slightly tilting to the side, and he held tight to Winter's throat. “Prophecy? Why hasn't the Eldress seen this?”
“With the loss of potential Oracles, the Cursed knew it would blindside us. This is what has happened. Surviving Oracles have been weakened, and many have been without teachers to know how to reach the Most High, but the awakening has begun. This Vessel will not be taken. Sin-Eater, you are linked with us. It is your duty as is the duty of the linked Gargoyles to carry out the truth. In this, salvation will come.”
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