An Eternity of Dead Sun (An Eternity of Eclipse Novel Book 2) (13 page)

The middle-aged security guard’s eyes turned into suspicious slits as he appraised our disheveled appearances. “Why do you have blood on your faces and why do you two look like you were run over by a car?”

Eclipse grinned suggestively and “drunkenly” pulled me close to him. He affectionately nuzzled his lips against my neck.

“She likes it rough, sir,” he breathed out in a husky, sexually satisfied tone.

The security guard scrutinized us for another second. When it was clear that he had no reason to doubt us, he scoffed at us and walked away.

Once we were sure he was out of sight, we snapped out of our feigned drunkenness and turned back to face the train. When our eyes landed back on the tracks, the train had already started moving again at full speed.

The Demons were gone.

Despite the fact that they were on a train and speeding away from us, dread filled like acid in my stomach.

We had made new enemies on this trip.

They had found out that I was not only the six-year-old murderer, but that I was also a Source. Because of this, I had no doubt that I would run into them again in the very near future. They already wanted me badly when I was just the six-year-old murderer.

Now that they knew I was a Source, they would stop at nothing to capture me, torture me, and eventually kill me.

“Forgive me for the sins I’m about to commit.”
09
: The Genesis Tale

The trek from the train station towards a place of refuge was one of the most challenging things I had ever experienced.

I had no idea how far we ran through the countryside with rain and wind deluging over us. I was shaking persistently from the cold and my body was aching from the beating I took on the train. It did not help that I had placed one of Eclipse’s arms over my shoulder to help support him during our journey. I could barely maintain my own equilibrium, much less his. To make matters worse, I was worried sick about him.

After we left the train station, I was adamant on taking him to a hospital. Eclipse vehemently opposed the suggestion, telling me that being poked and prodded by human doctors—who did not know the first thing about helping a Demon—would do more harm than good. When I began to suggest that we stay at a motel for the time being, Eclipse vetoed the idea, expressing that he did not trust anyone. I didn’t blame him. After what we experienced at the inn and on the train, I was also too paranoid to trust anyone else.

In an effort to maintain a low profile, we darted across the rural countryside, searching for abandoned shelters as refuge for the night. I was starting to feel faint from all the running when we finally came up a hill and spied a dilapidated looking shed in the distance. It looked quiet, abandoned, and like the perfect place for us to call home for the night.

Bam!

We kicked the old wooden door open and ran inside. The shed was small and utterly rundown; it appeared to have been abandoned for years. Rain was leaking through the roof while the windows were quivering from the force of the wind. The wooden infrastructure looked like it could fall apart at any given moment. I sighed, pleading with the fates for the shed to survive one more night—just enough for us to rest for the evening.

I helped support Eclipse’s stability by steering him inside the cold shed. We stepped over the vast array of sawdust littered across the damp floor and maneuvered around the sawdust table that was in the center of the room. Once we reached the furthest end of the shed—the driest area from the storm—I helped Eclipse sit on the ground, being very careful to not antagonize his injury.

“Ah,” came a whispered hiss when he rested his head against the wall.

Outside, a spark of lightning inundated the sky, flooding the shed with momentary bright light. It offered me the opportunity to see that Eclipse’s condition had worsened. I almost fainted when I saw that the stitches on his injured arm had been completely ripped apart. The flesh on his body that was once held together by those stitches had come undone, the gaping hole staring at me with blood seeping out of it.

“Get the stitches out, Gracie,” Eclipse groaned painfully, snapping me out of my petrified daze.

I immediately complied and threw our backpacks off my shoulder. I pulled out a red candle and lighter from his backpack and placed it on the damp ground. After lighting the candle, I extracted rubbing alcohol, a needle, and stitches that Phix left behind for us from my backpack. I tried to be brave and sew it on for him, but courage eluded me. I couldn’t even steady my hands.

Taking inventory of my fear, Eclipse took the needle from me and stitched himself up.

Nausea threatened to coil like snakes in my stomach; the best I could do was hold up the candle to give him light in the darkness. It took all my willpower to not wince every time I saw him pierce his skin with the needle. I could see all the muscles in his body stiffen up, and I knew he was holding in his gasps of pain for my sake. He did not want to scare me and worsen my anxiety. In spite of his own wounded state, the Demon was still protective of me.

After several long minutes, Eclipse finally asked me to help cut the string for him. Once I did, he poured the alcohol over his arm one last time before we gently wrapped a bandage over it.

I helped prop him against the wall to prepare him for his rest and then dug into our backpacks.

“Are you okay with changing out of these clothes by yourself?” I asked, looking at his rain-soaked clothes. This shed was too cold for wearing wet clothes and I didn’t want him to get sick.

“Yes,” he answered with a shaky but reassuring voice.

“Okay,” I uttered, setting out the dry clothes for him to change into.

Armed with my own set of dry clothes, I hurried to the corner, stepped into the shadows, and began to change into jeans and a white turtleneck. It wasn’t the most comfortable pair of pajamas, but my only concern was staying warm that night—not being comfortable. When I returned, Eclipse had already changed into black slacks and a black dress shirt. Bare chest exposed, he only wore one sleeve over his right arm. His chest and left arm were bare to prevent the blood from soaking into the clean fabric.

“Here,” I whispered, taking out a white bathrobe from my backpack.

I draped it over Eclipse to serve as his blanket for the night. While my teeth chattered against the iciness of the air, I layered the rest of his body with whatever dry clothes we had left. With his black jacket as my blanket for the night, I sat to his right and huddled up beside him to steal a bit of body warmth.

Finally.

I let out a long exhale, utterly relieved that I was finally able to relax. I had never behaved in such a caring manner. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I’d ever show such care for anyone, much less a Demon. I quickly deduced that it was because I still needed the Demon to help me find the missing part of my soul. It would be an utter inconvenience to have him die, especially when he was my only guide in this new and scary world. And though I didn’t like to admit it, I hadn’t forgotten that he had called me his first real friend in the world. I suppose, to some degree, I also wanted to be a good “friend.” If anyone deserved such affection from me, then it was the Demon who protected me, even if he was now a 99% human fighting for survival as well.

“Are you going to be okay?” I asked in a low voice, edging closer to him to get a good look at his injured arm.

He nodded, smiling at me. “A small part of me is still immortal. I just need to rest tonight and I’ll be fine.”

“Okay,” I replied, assessing his face and seeing that color was beginning to return to it. “Good.”

An abrupt laugh radiated from him after he evaluated his own injury. He gazed at me, his dim eyes twinkling with amusement. Danger or not, one could always count on Eclipse to lighten the mood.

“Can you believe that it’s only been two days since this road trip started and so many things have happened already?” Eclipse asked blithely, his free arm wrapping around me and pulling me closer to him. My shivering stilled slightly when his body heat overpowered the chills overriding mine.

“It’s crazy,” I concurred before the gravity of everything hit me. It continued to astound me that there were Demons out there who knew that I was a Source. Stomach twisting with dread, I miserably added, “All of this has been really scary.”

“You held your own,” he whispered, his voice filled with genuine surprise and approval. “You’ve saved me several times already, Teacup.” A teasing smirk crossed his face. “I owe you. Like I said on the train, I’ll give you my body as repayment when you’re ready for it.”

I snorted and shook an amused head at him. “Even in situations like this, you still find a way to make me uncomfortable, don’t you?”

“You’re with the Demon of Lust,” he said wistfully, resting his head against the wall. There was a playful glint in his eyes that dissolved all the shadows from my life. “Deal with it.”

I smiled faintly before steering the conversation in another direction. “Why did you give those Demons your real name anyway?” I asked, thinking back to the train where Eclipse told the Masked Demon his name. “Aren’t you afraid they’re going to find out you’re the Demon of Lust?”

Eclipse shook his head. “The name ‘Eclipse’ is only known within the inner circle of the monarchy. Very few are aware of my name. Many simply refer to me as ‘Lust,’ the ‘youngest Prince,’ or as Phix and Coco called me, ‘Your Dark Majesty.’ It doesn’t matter if I give out my real name here. It holds no meaning to anyone other than my brothers.”

I nodded, posing another question that had been plaguing me since the train attack. “Why did those Demons stay in the train? Why didn’t they come after us on the platform?”

“They cannot step foot here.” His eyes momentarily moved to the ground. “Apparently this is the Holy Land.”

“What does that mean?” My face twisted in confusion. “Isn’t the Holy Land in Jerusalem or something?”

“In this context, the ‘Holy Land’ could be in any part of the world,” he enlightened, taking on a sage tone. “When the world was first created, everything here was considered holy ground, for everything had been graced by the Heavens above. Yet, over the centuries, as you humans started to kill one another, the land slowly became tainted. To date, there are only a few parts of the world that are inaccessible to Demons. These parts are usually in the more rural areas that are not heavily populated. Holy Lands in the modern world are so rare that they are thought to be extinct.” A smirk edged his lips. “But as those Demons on the train demonstrated, a Holy Land does exist in this day and age and we have found one in the middle of nowhere.”

I continued to regard Eclipse with curiosity rising within me. “Why were their powers sucked out?”

“Holy Lands have been blessed by the graces of Heaven, which means that if a malevolent entity should step foot near it, their powers will be stripped temporarily. Depending on the strength of that evil entity, the powers could be stripped immediately or it could take a while to strip down. The end result is the same. Once near the Holy Land, all malevolent entities will be powerless. They will become just like humans.”

“That is why those first six Demons lost their powers before we even reached Serenity . . . because we were approaching the Holy Land.”

He blinked in confirmation. “If any of those Demons were to step foot on that platform, then the wrath of Heaven would reign upon them and they would disintegrate into ashes.”

I knitted my brows together. “How can you step foot here then?”

“My powers are gone,” he answered with a sigh. Wind continued to howl over the shed as the rain picked up outside. “Right now, I am more human than Demon. In this land, being 99% human has worked in my favor.” He chuckled, appraising the shed and the land outside of it. “In addition to that, a Royal Demon is immune to the powers of the Holy Land. We can step foot wherever we please, whenever we please.” He looked at me, smiling with confidence. “This is good news for us, Gracie. As long as we’re in the Holy Land, it is almost guaranteed that we will be free of Demons.”

I nodded, lapsing into a thoughtful silence after receiving assurance that, for the time being, we were free of Demons. It was an assurance that I appreciated. I was so exhausted. I did not think I could handle anymore Demon attacks on this trip.

Drip.

Drip.

Drip.

Trickling rain dripped in from the numerous cracks in the ceiling, allowing a rhythmic beating to dance in the room. The rundown shed creaked and shook whenever a strong gust of wind rammed into it. The room was freezing cold, but the red candle sitting on the floor kept us warm, if only minutely in our minds.

I watched the rain patter against the windows, feeling hypnotized by the violence of the weather. With my mind nearly going crazy from the external noises around us, I decided to break the tense silence by bringing up a topic we put on pause during the night on the Ferris wheel.

“The other night, you said that when you fell, you had to make it up—that there was something else you had to seek while you’re here. You didn’t get to finish what you were saying because Lyna interrupted us, but we’re alone now.” I locked eyes with him. Above us, the storm continued to brew. “Can you tell me now? What else do you have to seek while you’re here?”

He regarded me with warm eyes. “Will this story take your mind off everything that’s happening right now?”

“I like hearing your stories,” I said without missing a beat. “I forget how miserable I am when you share how miserable you are.”

He laughed, leaning his head against the wall. His eyes grew secretive. “This is a very big secret. If I share it with you, you cannot allow this secret to get out to anyone else.”

Excitement treaded through my body at his cryptic opening statement.

“I can keep a secret,” I promised, leaning towards him.

After all that we had been through, it felt nice and exciting to be sitting in a shed in the middle of nowhere with Eclipse. I was eager to escape my reality and settle into his. There was no better setting for this enigmatic tale than a secluded shed in the middle of a storm.

“It is a rarity for a Prince to be a Dimmed Demon . . . to be undetected when he’s in the human world for so long,” he began as the candle continued to glow in the background. “Although I was punished as a Fallen Demon, it was my choice to further dim myself and come here for you. Since I volunteered for the job, my brothers and the Elder Demons are also tasking me with something else while I’m here.” An enigmatic light appeared in his eyes. “As I told you that night, I need to find something.”