Total pages in book: 126
Estimated words: 123065 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 615(@200wpm)___ 492(@250wpm)___ 410(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 123065 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 615(@200wpm)___ 492(@250wpm)___ 410(@300wpm)
“But why?” she asks. “Why sacrifice people, why me?”
“Is that your question for the day?” I ask. “Think about it very seriously because we have work to do and the last thing I need is to fail at your lessons when we have limited time left.”
She chews her bottom lip. I wonder what it would feel like to bite it again, to taste her very special blood, to lick it off her and find out where she came from, even though we all know to where she will return.
“Yes.” She crosses her arms, making her breasts look delectable.
I roll my eyes and grab one of the blankets then toss it at her. “Cover yourself.”
I sigh and bend over to the dirt beneath my feet then dig my fingers inside it and speak his name. The sound is like a booming guttural yell, causing her to cover her ears with her hands in horror. Tears stream down her face. I never told her calling an immortal’s name aloud was easy especially one so different from myself. The heavenlies are balanced differently than us. To speak is to have knowledge of them, to have knowledge of them is to wield the very power of the creators themselves. “Cassius. Come.”
Lightning strikes across the sky. Tiny pebbles from the very earth I helped create start to rise and fall near my hands before bursting into dust.
And then one large purple feather falls at my fingertips. I grip its sharp edges, my blood spills onto the shards as I slam it into the ground.
It sinks into the dirt and goes up in purple flames.
Cleo is silent.
Does nothing terrify her? Not even a fallen angel of old?
My blood, mixed with the dirt and sharp edges of the feather all disappear, the last drop of silver from my blood also vanishes.
“You.” The voice echoes through the cave.
Suppressing a laugh, I turn. “That was fast.”
“You used your blood.” Cassius crosses his arms, he’s hiding his wings, though I can see the purple feathers flickering like fire at his sides, ready to strike anyone who gets too close. He’s a walking, talking weapon.
He peers around me. “New sacrifice? Final one?”
I nod.
“She’s pretty.” Why does everyone say that?
She. Is. Human.
Cassius must be able to sense my irritation. “What did you need, Ra? I was busy dealing with Anubis.”
“You’re always busy, especially with Anubis.”
“Get back to me when you have a family and an entire house full of immortal misfits, your brother included.” He’s over seven feet tall, bulky, wearing jeans, in slippers and has a black cable knit sweater on. How very weirdly domesticated. Marriage looks good on him.
Talk about a weird wedding.
Oh, look an angel and a goddess.
I shake my head and point at her. “She’s on day two of training before the eclipse.”
“Either you’re slow or she is.” He frowns, his dark eyebrows drawing together. His jet-black hair rests past his shoulders nearly down to his ass.
Thus, the nickname dumbass that we use behind his back.
“She’s stubborn,” I fire back.
“Gods be with you.” He smirks. “I’m suddenly thankful I answered your call.”
“How are the Creators?” I ask.
He shrugs. “Probably waiting for you to come to brunch, why?”
“I loathe brunch.”
“No, you just loathe Anubis complaining about cold eggs.”
Man has a point.
The guy is impossible to please and last time burned my chair to the ground while laughing even though I’m partially responsible for creation of the cosmos, but sure, burn my chair for your own amusement.
“Does she speak?” Cassius asks, his eyes narrow even further like he’s suddenly perplexed for the first time in a millennia.
Cleo makes a little grunt and then plops onto the bed. Wow, I’ve finally shocked her and all it took was a fallen angel.
Miracles do happen.
Cassius checks his watch. “I’m gonna go ahead and do the fast version. Hi there!” He peers around me. “Try not to pass out, though if you’ve been dealing with Ra, I’m surprised you’re still standing,” He pauses and looks over at me. “Hey, I heard about the first training day, if you need any—”
“Not a word.” I clench my fists.
I can tell he’s trying not to smile as he looks away. “Yes, well, there’s this book that I think—”
“Do not make me spill your blood, angel,” I hiss.
He sighs and walks barefoot over to Cleo then bends down to meet her at eye level. “He’s a god.” That’s literally all he says.
Cleo regards him in silence, her face expressionless.
He heaves another sigh. “Many people and cultures worship different deities, but there is only one where sacrifice was the main form of worship as time went on.” He presses his hands together and pulls them back. Between them shows a graphic with a long timeline of war, famine, the Greek gods, Roman, Egyptian, African, and so the list goes on. “All the stories are the same, even though the locations were spread all over creation. Free will allows people to decide how they worship. And in that, the very god you’re looking at, decided he would rather not be worshiped for his godliness. What happens when the people stop worshiping? Take one look at the Greeks and get back to me.” Cassius sighs and slams his hands together then pulls them apart again. “The Great War between all the gods caused many deaths, much destruction. It was asked of the demigods to participate in the armies of heaven. Many lives were lost, but as the demigods fell, the land became fertile again, and the gods that created them became more powerful—mainly Chaos. There were trials established by the gods to keep their power strong while the worship stopped. Chaos decided not to take part in the trials and hid away his power as much as he could in his abominations. Always twins. Always linked, always searching, never satisfied. Ra can’t go back to the skies where he belongs without ending Chaos for good; and in order to finally be able to end Chaos, he has to kill off the last of his power—you.” He sighs. “So you see, you were drawn here, now you will be sacrificed here, you will return to the Nile and the world will have a deep exhale because of it.”