An Eternity of Dead Sun (An Eternity of Eclipse Novel Book 2) (9 page)

My instincts were right. I was correct to be concerned. “Why are you having second thoughts?”

“Because of the veil he placed over you,” he shared warily. “The force field he wrapped around the room prevented someone from seeking who they wanted to seek. Does that type of veil not sound familiar to you?”

An upsurge of knowledge flooded over my senses. “Isn’t that the same veil you and your Elders placed over me?”

He nodded. “Veils are very complicated things to cast. Only an extremely powerful entity would know how to cast such a spell. Even I’m learning how to do it. San is a strong Demon, but he should not have possessed the power to cast such a spell—not unless his Creator is a very powerful Demon and not unless his Creator was able to give San a portion of that power.”

A sardonic smile played on Eclipse’s lips. “I do not doubt that there are Demons planning to overthrow the monarchy. Things like that happen everyday. What’s interesting about this particular group is the capabilities they have, namely the ability to execute a complicated veil that is far beyond their understanding. In any case, I am not entirely worried. Whoever or whatever is behind the event at the inn no longer concerns us. Since we killed everyone at the inn, I’m sure we lost them.”

I nodded, prepared to ask something else when I noticed that the grayish black fog I observed earlier was now moving closer to the train.

“Doesn’t that look really creepy?” I asked unthinkingly, my eyes transfixed on the fog that appeared sorely out of place, even under the ashen and gloomy sky.

“What?” Eclipse asked with disinterest.

I pointed. The black fog was coming closer and closer to the train. “Look at all that fog coming in.”

From beside me, Eclipse averted his attention to the window. I could feel his gaze follow my finger and rest on the black fog that surrounded the train tracks. Suddenly, his whole body stiffened in vigilance.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, uncertainty seizing my shaking body.

Without answering my question, he whipped around in his seat. His watchful eyes charted the expanse of the train.

“Do you hear that?” he asked, his voice hardening with alertness.

I listened.

Nothing.

No rustling, no clattering, no voices, no music, and no sign of life. All I could hear was the beating of my own worried heart.

“No,” I whispered, the color draining from my face.

“Exactly,” he replied. “It’s too quiet.”

“Eclipse?” I called hesitantly, my body freezing up in utter fear. I felt like I was in some horror movie where an axe murderer was going to pop out at any second.

“Stay here,” he ordered distractedly, moving away from me.

With the agility of an animal, he propelled quietly from his seat. Every part of his body on high alert, he gradually made his way down the hall, edging to the corner to keep from being seen. He continued to walk silently down towards the next section of the train. Once his feet stepped on the motion detector, the dividing door slid open, allowing him passage into the next zone.

Creak.

Creak.

Creak.

Feeling my heart in my throat, I watched him with anticipation. We were both so quiet that the only sounds that could be heard was the creaking sound of the train running over the tracks, lurching us back and forth as it made its curvy turns. My unblinking eyes shadowed his movements. I watched him stick his head out into the next room. Just as he moved away from my vantage point, I saw something else from my peripheral vision that nearly had my soul jumping out of my body.

Whooooooosh!

An enormous cloud of black smoke swept past my window with the velocity of a speeding bullet, flying in the direction Eclipse was headed in. Panic overriding my senses, I jumped out of my seat and clutched a hand over my palpitating heart. I was trying to register the shock in my frenzied mind when I caught sight of Eclipse running back towards me at full speed.

Alarm colored his face when he reached me.

“Eclipse!” I stuttered, fearfully pointing at the window. “Ther-there’s a black smoke that just flew—!”

“They’re all dead.”

I stopped mid-sentence and gaped at him in elevated horror.
“What?”

“Everyone on the train is dead. The black smokes are Demons. There are Demons
on
the train,” he explained urgently. “We have to run. We have to go now!”

“What?!” I screamed, registering that we were stuck on a train filled with Demons. You didn’t have to be a rocket scientist to deduce that they were either here for me or Eclipse. Since we had become two peas in a pod, we were screwed either way.

“Use your powers and kill them,” I commanded desperately, my voice rising to a shriek. What would possess him to think that we could outrun Demons? And on a moving train for that matter? Why couldn’t he make things simpler for us and do what he did last night?

“I can’t,” he said tautly. Mortification flushed on his usually arrogant face. With pained effort, he laboriously added, “I ran out of my powers.”

I gawked at him with dubious eyes. “I thought you said you can’t use your powers because you didn’t want to run the chance of having it traced back to you? I thought it was voluntary that you weren’t planning to use your powers?”

“No.” He gave me an unsettling smile that was lined with bitterness for his state in life. “I was embarrassed, so I lied. The truth is that I literally ran out of my powers. I used the very last of it on the ticket attendant. I’m barely a Demon right now.”

I thought I was going to have a heart attack when I digested the meaning behind his words. “You’re
human
right now?”

“Nearly,” he amended with a stiff and weak smile. “I’m 99% human right now.”

All the nerves in my body went into full panic mode at the confirmation that my all-powerful Guardian Demon was now as powerless as I was.

Shit.

Holy shit.

“Eclipse,” I prompted, trying to impress on him the dire predicament we were in. “We’re on a moving train and we’re both humans right now attempting to fight against Demons. Do you not see how suicidal this is? What do you suggest we do to survive?”

He offered a halfhearted shrug at my query. “Do you know how to fight?”

“No,” I responded with a squeak.

Eclipse gave me an apologetic smile that would’ve melted my heart—that was if my heart wasn’t about to fall out of my ass in fear.

“Well, you will learn today. Show me what you got when you faced a room filled with Demons, Teacup. Now run!”

“I have holy water and salt in my backpack!” I shouted before Eclipse was able to pull me away with him.

At my words, Eclipse paused mid-run, whipped around, and ran to our backpacks. He was an inch away from latching onto our backpacks when a powerful force thundered through the train, causing Eclipse to go flying back.

Crack!

Akin to being hit by an oncoming semi-truck, Eclipse’s body flew towards the window on the other side of the train at full force, battering into it with brutality. The menacing sound of skin and bones colliding with glass filled my ears, shocking me into motion. I hurried to Eclipse as the window splintered into several different roots of impact. As the thundering sound subsided, Eclipse fell down onto the table with a resounding
thud!

“Crap. Crap. Crap,” I voiced, helping him sit up on the nearly demolished table.

Sucking in a sharp hiss, Eclipse locked his eyes with me.

The expression in his eyes said it all: he was stunned. I didn’t imagine the Prince of Hell had ever been knocked around in his life. This was certainly not something he was accustomed to. With a cursed groan, he jumped off the table and shook off the excess pain. Injured or not, there were still Demons that we had to outrun, and Eclipse was never one to be subservient to pain.

“Let’s go.”

We were getting ready to take off when I felt my nerves turn rigid. A cold draft entered the room, indicating to my human body that something evil had entered my life.

Demons.

My first encounter with these Demons was about to begin.

“They’re here,” I whispered fearfully, my eyes glued on the mechanical dividing door across from us.

Boom!

The mechanical door burst open, sending shards of metal flying in our direction. Eclipse and I ducked down in time before anything could spear through us. Once we determined that the coast was clear of flying objects, we stood back up, staring cautiously at the entryway that was filled with smoke from the destruction.

On cue, as the smoke began to dissolve into the air, six “men” appeared in the train car across from us.

They were tall, fit, and dressed in impeccable Italian black suits. Their faces were tattooed with intricate, black symmetrical curves and lines that covered the expanse of their faces and bald heads. These Demons couldn’t have looked more like savages in civilian’s clothing.

The leader of the group stood several inches taller than the rest. Whereas the other five Demons wore black ties, he wore a blood red one. With every advancing step he took, the remaining five shadowed closely behind him. It was difficult to surmise their age, as the intricate tattoos over their faces did well to detract from their facial features. The Demons looked like they ranged from late twenties to early thirties. However, since they were immortal Demons, I heavily doubted they were that young.

“Now, now. I wouldn’t recommend doing anything foolish, kids,” Red Tie taunted as the train continued at full speed, his accent hinting that he was of British descent. He appraised our stance, noticing that we were about to run. “You cannot get far now that we’re here.”

Their obsidian dark eyes locked with mine.

A sadistic grin outlined Red Tie’s thin lips as all six walked over to us. The leader’s next statement sent chills throughout my entire body.

“We’ve been looking all over for you, Grace.” He smirked when he saw our eyes enlarge in shock. “You didn’t think that San would let it get lost that he had secured the most coveted soul of the new millennium, did you?” He chuckled as the color drained from my face. “What did you think that pail of water in the middle of the room was for?” He pompously kicked what sounded like a dead body out of his way before embarking onto our section of the train. “That was his phone call to us. We got word that he had somehow stumbled upon the infamous six-year-old murderer.”

Dark fury stirred in his eyes.

“Unfortunately, San’s call to us was disconnected after we found out that he had you in his possession. When we went to find you at the inn, it came to our attention that you had escaped. Luckily for us, the scent for such a coveted soul like yours does not dissipate like other souls.”

Although I was relieved that San’s call was “disconnected” before he found out I was a Source (and that Eclipse was a Prince of Hell), it still did not make me feel entirely better because these Demons had found me nevertheless.

Clearly sensing my distress, Eclipse stood protectively in front of me. With or without his powers, he was not going to allow them to hurt me.

Eclipse’s exhibition of defense did not deter them. They kept advancing along the train’s aisle, their pace slow and certain. They were getting closer when Red Tie reached his pale hand out and motioned for me to come to him.

“Do not make this harder than it has to be,” he said to me. “Come with us and perhaps we’ll go easy on your boyfriend.”

Eclipse locked hands with me. Even as a Demon who was 99% human, he wasn’t going to allow these Demons to get to me without a good hard fight.

“Let’s make this harder than it has to be, Gracie,” Eclipse said boldly, his vigilant eyes on them as his grip on my hand tightened. “We can probably outrun these bastards.”

“I wouldn’t advise it, boy,” Red Tie admonished, his stoic eyes trained on our interlocking hands. “If you run, then we would have to forcefully reel you back to us. And let me tell you, the two of you would not stand a chance against us. Don’t bother running. It would only piss us off and spell more trouble for you.”

“I’m pretty sure I can outrun, outplay, and outwit all of you bald eagles,” Eclipse mocked coolly.

I had to give it to him. Even as a Dimmed Demon who had lost his powers, his arrogance knew no bounds.

A sneer met their lips. With a menacing smirk aim at Eclipse, all six lifted their hands and whispered an incantation that had me holding my breath in dread. I just knew it. They were going to send us flying into captivity at any moment . . .

We waited for the inevitable, our hearts racing without signs of slowing down.

Creak.

Creak.

Creak.

The train kept running at full speed, now moving past a few houses and even a cathedral in the distance. Everything in our immediate world remained the same, including how we were standing.

Eclipse and I blinked at one another in confusion.

Uh, why weren’t we being pulled towards them?

It was only after a few stupid seconds of us staring expectantly at them that Eclipse and I realized that these Demons, for whatever reason, had no powers at their disposal.