An Eternity of Dead Sun (An Eternity of Eclipse Novel Book 2) (44 page)

“She was Gracie’s nanny up until Gracie turned three,” Phix went on to explain.

“What happened to her?” Eclipse inquired, his expression uncertain if this development was relevant or not.

“She died a couple of days after Gracie’s third birthday,” answered Phix.

Eclipse tipped his head at them. His eyes were critical. “Why is she of significance?”

“She was a nun.”

Chills shot through me like a bullet.

“What?” I asked, stunned.

“She was a nun,” Phix repeated. “She was a nun before she became Gracie’s nanny.”

I recalled the story Father Baek told us at the cathedral.

“There was a nun who helped deliver me on the night of my birth,” I said to Eclipse, who was recalling the same thing.

I swallowed apprehensively, feeling uneasy with this new information. I thought back to Father Baek. The first I heard about a nun was from him. I didn’t understand why he didn’t mention this crucial detail to me.

“Why didn’t Father Baek mention that she became my nanny?” I uttered to no one in particular.

“Maybe he forgot,” Phix offered.

“Or maybe he omitted this on purpose,” said Eclipse, echoing my thoughts.

Eclipse locked eyes with me, and I knew that we were both on the same page. Awkward (or unfinished) sexual tension aside, we knew when to get back to business. There was more that Father Baek kept from us, and we’d be damned if we didn’t go back to him to find out what it was.

We thought it would be a little while longer before we returned to Serenity, but as it would appear, we were returning much faster than I could have anticipated.

The second road trip to Serenity was about to begin.

I cast an apologetic glance at Eclipse after we got up. I was sorry that we had to end his party so soon because my soul business was alive and active again.

“Happy birthday.”

Eclipse laughed roughly, fastening his backpack on. “Hell celebrates my birthday all week, Teacup,” he dismissed, causing me to stare at him in nervousness. “Your gift to me is on hold. It’s not over yet.”

I didn’t say anything because I had no idea how to reply to that without sounding like an incoherent bimbo.

“Party’s over?” Phix and Coco asked timidly, both already discerning that they were accompanying us on this impromptu road trip.

Considering what happened the last time we visited Serenity—being ambushed by a horde of Demons and all—we needed all the additional help we could get.

“It’s over for now,” Eclipse told them while I crouched down to pick a sleeping OinkOink up. “Dim your powers, pack up, and warm up the car. We’re heading back to Serenity tonight. If fate is on our side, then let’s hope we don’t run into anything on our way there.”

I glanced at Coco and Phix, both of whom were looking worried. I knew that in their minds—as well as my own—we all nursed the same hope. I hadn’t forgotten how crazily exhausting and “busy” my last outing in Serenity was. I prayed to the God-who-will-never-answer-me that this particular expedition would be less eventful.

Unfortunately, as with all of my prayers, this one would go unanswered. We had just witnessed an eclipse and according to the omens of life—as an eclipse was considered the harbinger of evil—there was nothing good coming our way.

“Serenity,” I whispered glumly, knowing deep in my fearful heart that I was in for another hellish ride. “Here we come again . . .”

“Thou shall not seek the forbidden?”
28
: Return to Serenity

“How was the party, Gracie?” Phix asked from the backseat of the car.

From the wariness in his voice, I could only assume that he was at his wit’s end with fear. Eclipse had made it abundantly clear that he resented both Phix and Coco for interrupting us during our “party.” I knew that the poor baby Demon was on edge. I surmised from his hopeful demeanor that he was praying that we had an overall good weekend. A good weekend meant that he would be spared from Eclipse’s wrath.

“Really good!” I chirped enthusiastically, thrilled to share my success. I was eager to both assuage Phix’s fears and shamelessly announce that my surprise party wasn’t such a bust after all. “Eclipse really enjoyed my surprise.”

“Wow, really?” Coco piped in surprise while Phix’s face illuminated with relief.

I proudly bounced my head before poking Eclipse, who was driving the Rav4 in the burgeoning rain. Why was he being so quiet? I needed confirmation from the birthday boy that the weekend I set up wasn’t a failure after all.

“Tell them how much fun you had.”

“I had a lot of fun,” Eclipse confirmed, making me smile in elation. A sly grin quirked on his lips before he impishly added, “The flower picking part was my favorite.”

An onslaught of heat boiled on my face. I was already hot because I was wearing a pink scarf, a puffy baby blue jacket with a white sweater underneath, dark blue jeans, and black boots. His teasing words brought the heat to another level.

“Yeah? Flower picking?” Phix voiced in amazement, oblivious to how quiet I had become. There was a dumbfounded expression that swept his baby-like face. Nevertheless, he was pleased that Eclipse had such a good time. “I never thought you’d be one to enjoy flower picking, your Dark Majesty. Gracie must’ve planned some fun flower picking activities.”

Unbeknownst of the betraying blush on my cheeks, Coco cheerily patted me on the shoulder.

“Good job, Gracie!” she praised, her voice genuinely proud. “We doubted you, but it’s good to know you didn’t have to use your body to give our Prince a good time.”

Eclipse smothered a laugh at this remark. He had changed from white shorts to black pants and a red hoodie. Along with his stifling laugh, the dress attire made him look younger, more handsome, and just more playful. It was awful that I was tempted to jump on him in the same manner that I did in the garden when he brought up the flower picking. The temptation was difficult to resist as his mellifluous laughter settled over me like fine whiskey.

Ashamed of myself for my current naughty thoughts, my face turned rosier from embarrassment.

“Any – anyway,” I started, subtly shifting gears as rain and wind hammered against the car. I didn’t need the whole car to know what a wanton I was when I picked flowers. “Do you guys know anything else about this nanny?”

Phix and Coco shook their heads.

“Information about her is pretty obscure,” explained Phix. “The most we could find out was that she stopped being a nun in 1990 and became a nanny instead.”

“Basically right after I was born,” I murmured. My thoughts migrated back to Father Baek. I recalled the heartfelt conversations we shared with him. I couldn’t fathom how my nanny didn’t come up in the course of our conversations. He mentioned a nun who was there on the night of my birth, but he said no more about her. “I can’t believe Father Baek didn’t mention that the nun became my nanny.”

“No kidding,” Eclipse said grudgingly, bearing right at the curve of the slick road. His face was rife with resentment. “That old man is going to get a piece of my mind when I see him again.”

“Maybe it’s because we didn’t ask him about her specifically,” I tried to defend. I was beginning to feel resentment towards Father Baek as well, but the logical part of me wanted to find other reasons as to why he omitted this information.

“Maybe,” sighed Eclipse, the irritation on his face diminishing faintly. His eyes connected with mine. “But he was unusually secretive. Even when he knew it was you the entire time, he remained very guarded. We had to push him to even learn how you were born. With this track record, I would place money on the fact that he knows more than he lets on.”

I didn’t disagree with that. “Why wouldn’t he tell us?”

Eclipse pondered over my query. “Perhaps he wants to—”

“Protect me,” I finished for him, knowing exactly what he was thinking because it was pooling in my mind too. It didn’t slip from my attention that Eclipse, like myself, didn’t jump to any incriminating conclusions about Father Baek and automatically label him as a “bad guy.” Whatever Father Baek’s intentions were, we truly believed it was to keep my best interests at heart.

“We’ll get to the bottom of it when we see him,” Eclipse assured.

Eclipse wasn’t thrilled with the inconvenience of traveling back to Serenity, but I knew he couldn’t bring himself to be severely angry with Father Baek. Due to the strange bond we formed with him, the old man had garnered a soft spot in both of our cold hearts. Logically, even though it was justifiable for us to harbor ill feelings for him, it simply didn’t come out that way. For now, we would give him the benefit of the doubt. Once we received his explanations, we would take it from there.

I peered out the rain-streaked window and studied our rural surroundings. Rain had inundated every part of the land, leaving the world drowning under the storm. After leaving the cottage, the weather grew significantly worse. It was difficult to believe that it was so sunny and beautiful just hours prior.

“I have no more powers,” Coco announced to the car, yanking our thoughts off Father Baek and back to our immediate reality. We had just entered a new terrain when she stated this.

After Coco announced her ailment, I instantly noticed the color difference in the rural land; the vegetation was greener and healthier on this side of the country.

“You just started to feel it?” Eclipse questioned, his eyes on her through the rearview mirror. When she nodded, he darted his eyes to Phix’s reflection in the mirror. “Phix, do you still feel your powers?”

“A bit,” Phix reported, his face alarmed, “but it’s decreasing the more we drive over the land.”

“Does that mean we’re human right now?” asked Coco.

I didn’t miss the small breath of hope in Coco’s voice. While Phix was concerned, Coco appeared relieved. Even though she wasn’t happy that her powers were stripped from her, I suspected that because she missed being human, being momentarily “normal” again was a blessing in disguise for her.

“Yes,” confirmed Eclipse. “As long as we’re in the radius of the Holy Land, you’ll be ‘human.’” His voice took on a solemn tone. “However, if you actually step onto holy ground, then you will turn to ashes.”

Phix and Coco held their breath and exchanged worried glances.

Eclipse went on. “We’ll keep driving, but once we get close to the border of the Holy Land, Gracie and I will continue on foot. After that, wait for us in the car until we come back.”

Phix and Coco nodded glumly, and just like that, the once carefree ambiance in the car was replaced with grimness. No one said anything, but I suspected that we shared the same eerie sensation.

There was something extremely menacing about the weather that we couldn’t ignore. The freezing temperature, the torrential downpour, and the imposing darkness—everything was just so dark and sinister.

My dazed eyes continued to trace over the terrain of the gloomy world we were in. I was silently ruminating when I spotted a man several yards ahead of us, stepping onto the rainy road . . . right in front of our car.

Holy—!

“Eclipse, stop!” I shouted at the top of my lungs.

At my command, Eclipse floored the brakes.

Screech!

The Rav4 screeched to a halt against the pavement of the road, lurching the car forward with one final force before it came to a stuttering stop. The scent of freshly burnt tires filled my nostrils, nearly suffocating me with its potency.

I gawked at the scene in front of me in utter amazement. The hood of the car was an inch away from hitting the man, and the crazy thing about this careless lunatic was that he made no move to get out of the car’s way. Whereas the entire car was stunned out of our minds, the man, who was smoking a cigar, looked eerily calm. If anything, I would go as far as saying that he looked amused.

Reeling from the aftershock of the scare, I dazedly appraised him from head to toe. He was dressed in a pitch-black business suit and had black hair that was slicked back to the nape of his neck. His face was defined in a savage but regal way. He reminded me of someone, but in my befuddled state, I couldn’t figure out who.

“Shit,” Eclipse muttered once he made eye contact with the man.

“Who is he?” I asked without delay, positive that Eclipse’s reaction meant that he and this looney tune were familiar with one another. “Is he a Demon?”

A dry laugh issued from Eclipse. “He’s a Demon, alright.”

I glanced at him sideways. “Who is he?”

“You know how I don’t get along with some of my Elders?” he prompted gravely. Never taking his eyes off the Demon, Eclipse took off his seatbelt and announced, “Well, here’s one of them.”

My breath hitched at the announcement.

One of Eclipse’s brothers.

In the past, we were the ones who sought out Eclipse’s brothers. For Sloth and Gluttony, their appearances, though intimidating, weren’t unexpected. We were the ones encroaching on their territory so there was a certain comfort in that relationship. However, it was a different experience to be sought out by one of Eclipse’s brothers. It might have been presumptuous of me, but I had a really bad feeling about all of this.

“Wh – which one is it?” I whispered unevenly, watching closely as the Demon came out of his immobile state.

He took several retreating steps from the car. With a sense of authority radiating from his powerful stature, he lifted a lackadaisical hand and motioned for Eclipse to come out.

An arduous sigh escaped Eclipse’s lips before he sulkily answered, “Greed.”

Eclipse twisted around to face the baby Demons with purposeful eyes. Like myself, the baby Demons were drowning in unbridled fear. They may have been familiar with the more “laid-back” Dark Majesties, but Greed was a different breed. Though he had yet to say or do anything, his simple presence scared the living daylights out of me. Just when I thought I couldn’t be more afraid, every brother I met appeared to be scarier than the last.

“Stay in here,” Eclipse commanded them, reaffirming that my uneasiness with Greed’s impromptu appearance was merited. “Don’t come out.”

“What about me?” I asked, staring wide-eyed at him.

Eclipse leveled his gaze onto me. However much I sensed that he would rather have me hiding out in the car, it was clear that Eclipse deduced such actions would do more harm than good. If a Dark Majesty was here, then I had to be introduced. Staying in the car wasn’t an option.

“Come out,” he said carefully, his voice rippling with subtle warning for me to stay close to him.

Shaking internally, I nodded and nervously unbuckled my seatbelt. We stepped out of our respective doors and came together in front of the car. As the wind blew droplets of rain over us, Eclipse and I walked side by side and approached Greed.

Greed remained rooted in his position, smoking his cigar while his black eyes rested on us. Rain was pouring all around him, but in the circle he was standing in, rain did not dare encroach on his territory. Whereas we were drenched like dogs, he was dry from head to toe.

“Eclipse,” he greeted in a deep voice that drummed with prestigious air. The cigar’s smoke flittered like mist from his mouth.

Right away, I noted that he was a much different breed from Sloth and Tony. Sloth and Tony had an air of aristocracy to them, but it was in low dosages; for Greed, he practically radiated
aristocracy. From how he stood, how he spoke, and how he acted, there was no doubt that he was created to have others kneel before him.

I knew who he reminded me of now.

His ambiance was exactly like Eclipse’s, and therein laid the problem. I could understand why they didn’t get along. A Kingdom couldn’t have multiple Kings, and Eclipse and Greed were the embodiment of alpha males butting heads. The tension was so thick between them that I could cut it with a knife.

“To what do I owe the honor, Elder?” Eclipse asked diplomatically, though in the subtle inflections of his voice, one could detect his disdain for his brother.

We stepped into the circle with Greed, now being completely sheltered from the weather. Rain continued to deluge like waterfalls, but it simply fell around us, never on us.

Greed smiled, the warmth not reaching his eyes. He tucked one hand into his pocket while his free hand held the cigar. “An older brother cannot visit his baby brother?”

“Not when he’s having fun ruining the economy of the human world,” remarked Eclipse.

Greed chuckled, exhilarated at the mention of his handiwork. Unlike Eclipse’s laughter that made my heart gallop a mile a minute, Greed’s laughter sent ice into the marrow of my bones.