Prologue
“The Sentinel Demons-A History”
AUTHOR-UNKNOWN
Many people believe that demons are evil spirits, possessing humans, taking over their minds and bodies until they are nothing but a shell, a vessel for the evil entity that dwells inside them. What most humans don’t know is that there are also other types of demons, physical beings created thousands of years ago, during a period of time when demons came to rule the Earth, having been set loose by careless gods who used them for chaos and revenge. The gods created them in so great a number that they finally had to confine all their creations to a demon realm, a prison that could contain them. Said gods, who are now considered nothing more than myth, and whose vanity was endless, adamantly refused to destroy the demons to annihilate all of them would be an admission that what the deities had done was actually wrong. All-powerful, all knowing gods and demigods did not make errors. They themselves declared it impossible. And how could they destroy their own magic, lose creatures that might be needed later? After all, the gods were usually at war, and what if they needed their evil creations for weapons? So instead, the demons stayed confined to the demon realm, a place where no god would venture a realm of such vile evilness, such toxicity and so malodorous, that no selfish deity could tolerate visiting.
The realm was hidden, situated between Earth and Hades, a place where the demons remained, multiplied, and grew in strength while the gods ignored their existence. Unfortunately, ignoring such heinous immortals eventually created utter chaos, the demons finally gaining enough power to leave the demon realm and create havoc on an Earth that was, by that time, inhabited by a large population of humans. These demons became known as the Evils.
Devastation ruled, humans being taken in large numbers, disappearing in droves. The balance between good and evil tipped, evil ruling the planet, creating a rift that not even the gods themselves could fix. Desperate to restore sanity to an insane world, the gods tried in vain to destroy the vile beasts that upset the equilibrium, finally putting aside their vanity in favor of survival. But it was too late; the demon population was too large, too powerful, and the egotistic gods weren’t about to venture near the Evils to destroy them.
Desperate, the deities banded together and created a new breed of demon to fight the Evils; the newcomers’ souls would still be dark, but their purpose would be to protect humans from becoming extinct, bringing good and evil back into balance. These newly-created Sentinel demons blended in, appearing human…but they weren’t. They were magical beings, although they adapted and took on more facets of humanity as they evolved. Having given the guardian demons the power to recruit humans and thus replace Sentinels lost in the battle between good and evil, the gods no longer needed to be bothered with their “annoying little problem” and went to war with each other once again, losing power as the centuries passed and humans ceased to worship them. However, the Sentinels carried on, striving to protect the human population, governing themselves and growing in magical powers, even though the gods had embedded a set of rules into the Sentinels’ magic-supposed fail-safes imposed to keep the guardian demons in check. Still, the Sentinels brought balance back to the planet in spite of the stifling rules, finding ways to bend them or work around them, angry that the only rule imposed on the Evils was that human victims could not initially be taken by force, or coerced via lies. But manipulation was easy for an Evil, and once a human had agreed to an Evil’s bargain, there was no end to the torture the heinous demons could impose upon the duped individual in order to increase their own strength.
So…are all demons evil? They are all dark at their core, and have some degree of inherent wickedness…but demons were not all created equal.
Evils and Sentinels are both demons, engaging to this day in a battle of good versus evil that has been going on for thousands of years, a war that most humans are blissfully unaware even exists. However, for the small percentage of individuals who actually have encounters with demons…their lives will never be the same.
* * *
Kristoff Agares, king of the Sentinel demons, placed the anonymous papers back into a manila folder with a sigh, dissolving the whole file into thin air with a single mental command. When he had first started getting reports about a human writing about his people, he had blown it off. Most of the sparse information about the Sentinels coming from human origins was mere speculation or myth, not a threat to the existence of his brethren. However, the person writing these accounts was getting too close to the truth for comfort and needed to be stopped. He had a pretty good idea who was authoring the information, and that person had enough dirt about the Sentinels to be dangerous. Fortunately, he knew exactly how to handle the situation, and, if his suspicions were correct, the outcome was bound to be entertaining.
He smiled as he teleported himself from his stately home in Seattle to another equally impressive residence on the Olympic Peninsula, located in an area where humans were few and far between. The residence was more of a palace than a home, hidden from hikers or anyone who might happen to pass by the remote area, by the magic of the gods-or rather, the magic of a goddess, the only one still powerful enough to remain on Earth, while all the others had faded away to the kingdom of the dead. Personally, Kristoff secretly believed the majority of them belonged in Tartarus, rather than Elysian Fields, for creating the Evils and bringing so much suffering to so many humans with their selfishness. As far as he knew, this particular goddess was the only one who had argued against the gods’ folly of creating, and then ignoring, the Evils, which had allowed them to eventually overrun the Earth.
What would I do without Athena?
Honestly, Kristoff didn’t want to find out. The female deity was his advisor, his confidante, and Athena gave new meaning to the expression of having a “longtime friend” since they had known each other for thousands of years. There were moments when he needed the insight and wisdom of the fragile goddess, and now was one of those times. She had summoned him, but he had already sensed that change was coming.
I just wish I had a little more clarity. It really irritated the hell out of him when he didn’t have complete information.
“Athena?” he called loudly, his booming voice echoing in the opulent residence. He had materialized in her monument room, a large hall filled with statues of the Greek gods. Scowling as he passed marble statues of Apollo, Artemis, and Zeus, he shook his head, grateful that only Athena remained. The rest of them hadn’t been worth a shit, and he couldn’t bring himself to regret that they were gone, although he knew that Athena still missed some of her family. Exiting the room, he made his way down a grand spiral staircase. The steps were made of gold, the sparkle glinting from the tiles probably diamonds and gemstones. The residence was ostentatious, and personally, Kristoff cringed at the gaudy furnishings, from the crystal chandeliers to the heavy forest green draperies, but he knew that Athena didn’t decorate this way for show. After all, who came to visit except him? No…Athena did what she thought was pretty and cheerful, money really having no meaning to her. She obviously liked the flashy décor, and was able to manifest anything she damn well pleased to try to brighten her solitary existence.
Kristoff knew Athena was lonely because he knew exactly what it was like to be isolated. Cut off, different…and always alone. But at least he had his Sentinels, even if he couldn’t always share everything with them. They were amusing and good company when he didn’t feel like bashing their heads together for doing something stupid.
Athena was sequestered here, her existence known only to him, a prisoner of the grand residence she had created in this isolated area. If she wandered far from her residence, she became sick, confused, and unable to function; thus, she was confined to this area, unable to travel far from her home without some very adverse effects on her body and mind.
Kristoff found her in the solarium, surrounded by lush green plants that she was currently watering with a serene expression that instantly calmed him. Athena was balance and enlightenment, and although she might not always have the answers to his questions, her aura was tranquil and soothing. Not that the goddess didn’t have a temper that could be fearsome, but her core essence was peaceful.
“Kristoff!” she exclaimed as she turned, her watering pot disappearing from her hands as her face formed a brilliant smile. “Thank you for coming.”
He nearly laughed. Athena had summoned him, and he would have to be a complete idiot to ignore the summons of a goddess, but she greeted him like an unexpected guest. “You called me,” he reminded her, making himself at home as he sat down on one of the chairs perched around a small glass table.
She moved toward him gracefully, looking almost fragile. Although there were many depictions and likenesses of the Greek goddess of wisdom-Athena-none of them was totally accurate. She was slight, with her long silvery blonde hair currently in a braid down her back, her slim figure dressed in a flowing silky blue robe that was several shades darker than her ice-blue eyes. Reaching the table, she seated herself elegantly across from him. “Yes. I requested your presence, but I didn’t know when to expect you,” she answered in her soft, melodic voice. “The time for the Sentinels to increase their magic is coming soon, and it’s imperative that they do so because the Evils are growing in power. So you’re going to have to move your ass.”
Kristoff stifled a chuckle, the words that had just left Athena’s lips so out of character and incongruent with her normally serene personality that it was amusing. “Watching too much television again?” he asked, unable to mask a tiny smile.
Athena shrugged. “Not much else to do. Isn’t that what humans say when they want someone to take action soon?” She cocked her head and looked at him with an innocent expression.
“Yes,” he answered honestly, not wanting to offend her and knowing she was completely cut off from the modern world except for a few electronics. “That’s exactly what they’d say.” Kristoff didn’t add that the words just sounded odd coming from a goddess who was thousands of years old, a deity who had been born an adult with more wisdom and reason than any other creature on Earth. “What did you see?” he asked curiously, wanting to know anything and everything that she had foreseen for the Sentinels.
She sighed, a long beleaguered exhalation, before replying, “Everything and nothing. You know how frustrating it is when you know change is coming, but not everything is revealed.” She leaned regally against the back of her chair and folded her delicate hands on top of the table. “The Evils are growing stronger, more powerful. But the Sentinels will also gain advantages. Be watchful, Kristoff. We can’t afford to miss an opportunity. It’s important for the Sentinels to gain every edge they possibly can.”
Leaning back, Kristoff ran a frustrated hand through his hair, leaving some of the blond locks spiked on top of his head. “I’ve felt it, too. I just don’t know exactly what is happening.” Knowing something was coming, but not knowing exactly what or when it would occur, was exasperating. While his Sentinels thought he was being annoyingly mysterious and evasive, more often than not, he just didn’t have specifics until they were revealed to him. Okay…maybe he did hide a few things, but only information his Sentinels just didn’t need to know, or things that would be detrimental for them to find out.
Athena unfolded her hands and laid one of them gently over the fist he held tightly on the table, a gesture of support and comfort. “You will know when it’s time for you to know. I just wanted you to be warned and watchful. We’ve always known the Winston brothers were special. The power will come through them. Soon.”
Kristoff had always known those three men were key to the survival of his people. That knowledge had been crystal-clear from the moment he had bargained with them. “But how?” he asked aloud. It was a question he had asked himself many times during the last two centuries, ever since he had converted them from human to Sentinel.
Releasing Kristoff’s hand and using her goddess powers, Athena manifested an array of delicacies on the table, and an elaborate tea set. Steam rose from the spout of the teapot as she reached for it. “Let’s have tea and share our knowledge. Everything is better with tea.”
He nodded automatically, thinking that he’d really rather have a glass of Scotch, or maybe a whole bottle. He might not feel the effects of the alcohol, but the fiery burn caused by the excellent whiskey was much more suited to his present mood than tea.
Like it or not, he was responsible for every Sentinel on the planet, male or female, and the majority of them were more human than demon, and to say that some days he had conflicting emotions about his destiny would be putting it mildly. It was a duty and an honor, a crushing burden and an exhilarating challenge. But mostly…it was just who he was, and he accepted the albatross easily, donned the mantle of king with pride. Because he was proud of the Sentinels…most of the time. They had, after all, kept the fight between good and evil in balance since the time of the ancient gods.
Heaving a very masculine sigh, he accepted the dainty cup from Athena, glad he at least had her occasional company to discuss the things that he couldn’t share with anyone else. Athena helped center him, and had given him wisdom when he had become a little too hotheaded in his younger years. He’d asked her once why she still remained when all of the other gods had faded from existence. Her reply had been both wistful and pragmatic, telling him that she would remain until she was no longer needed.
As the goddess started talking, telling him about her visions, Kristoff couldn’t imagine a time when Athena wouldn’t be essential to the continued survival of the Sentinels. They spent the next hour in conversation, sharing their ideas and knowledge before he said goodbye, her melancholic face fading as he transported away.
Kristoff left Athena’s enormous home with a lot of questions still plaguing his mind, and very few concrete answers. The only thing he knew for certain was that the lives of some of the Sentinels were about to be altered, and he had work to do to ensure that everything turned out the way it was fated. Because sometimes, even if one were on a predetermined course, one could still get lost. The Winston brothers, all three of them, in their own different ways, needed to heal from their past to fulfill their destiny for the future.
As king, he cared for all of the Sentinels, but Zach, Drew, and Hunter were special, more friends than subjects to him, which created a real internal conflict. He couldn’t reveal their destiny, but he’d do everything in his power to make sure they fulfilled it.
Kristoff reappeared in Seattle to complete the first of many tasks on his list, determined that, no matter what, he wouldn’t fail.
Chapter One
Be careful what you wish for; it might come true.
The oxymoronic saying floated through Zachary Winston’s head as he sat with his hands under his chin, listening to the satisfying clack of metal against metal as the two end spheres of his Newton’s cradle rose and fell. Kinetic energy, velocity, and scientific explanations were far from his mind at the moment. He simply enjoyed watching the symmetry of the movement, the hypnotic action serving to slightly calm the darkness and bleakness of his demonic soul.
If he had wished more carefully two hundred years ago, his twelve-year-old sister, Sophie, might have actually lived after his bargain with the Sentinel demon king. Zach had agreed to become a Sentinel for eternity in return for fabulous wealth, certain that money could get him the help he needed to save his baby sister from dying of smallpox. It didn’t. She had died alone in the squalor of a pest house while he was out trying to steal things to make her more comfortable, and making an eternal bargain that hadn’t done a damn thing to help her. The deal had come too late; it wasn’t what Sophie needed to save her, and Zach had been left completely alone in the world. The only person in the universe who had cared about him had been ripped from his grasp, regardless of the fact that he had become one of the richest men in the world because of his demon bargain. Actually, he still was one of the richest men in the world, although money meant little to him now. Not after two centuries of guilt and remorse had been plaguing him every single day, his soul growing darker every year.
I should have made a different wish. Sophie was probably still alive when I struck my bargain with Kristoff.
Zach had made the wrong wish, one that had left him with two hundred years of loneliness, and enough time to curse himself for not thinking harder about Kristoff’s offer before agreeing so readily. He would have made a deal with the devil himself to save the sister he had adored, and for whom he had been responsible after the death of his mother.
Zach didn’t remember his father. A fisherman, he’d died in a violent storm at sea soon after Sophie was born. His mother had been left in a poor area of London with nothing except two young children to feed and no money. Zach knew his mother had been a prostitute, using the only commodity she had to feed herself and her two children, and he had never condemned her for it. How in the hell else was a woman with two young children going to make money in the early nineteenth century? His mother could have given him and Sophie up, sent them away, but she didn’t. Instead, she had become old before her time, developing consumption after years of struggling to take care of them. Before she had breathed her last, she’d made him promise to watch out for his younger sister, and Zach had taken that deathbed promise seriously. Still, he had failed both his mother and his sister. Both of them were dead, his innocent sister Sophie at the tender age of twelve.
Why wasn’t it me who died? It should have been me!
“Playing with your balls again, I see.” The deep, gravelly voice sounded from the doorway of his plush office. His eyes rose as he glanced at Kristoff Agares, the Sentinel demon king, as he swaggered into Zach’s office with a smirk, not waiting for an invitation. Not that he ever did. Kristoff answered to no one as far as Zach knew, and he did exactly as he pleased.
Zach reached out a hand and stopped the clacking executive toy, focusing his scowling attention on the tall blond demon. Although he had gained a grudging respect for Kristoff over the last two centuries, Zach had never quite let go of the fact that the Sentinel demon king hadn’t shown up a little earlier, in time to save Sophie instead of him. But he hadn’t. Kristoff had intervened when Zach was caught stealing and had made his bargain with him. Later that same day, when Kristoff had come to complete Zach’s bargain and transform him into a Sentinel, the demon king had found Zach clawing at Sophie’s grave, angry and half crazed because he hadn’t even been able to say goodbye, hadn’t been there when his sister had perished and been dumped in a mass grave along with other bodies from the pest house. Kristoff had transported him away, taking him into his own home to give him time to get over his grief and anger. Unfortunately, although his anger and grief had lessened over the last two hundred years, his guilt and remorse still remained.
Kristoff lowered his muscular body into the roomy leather chair in front of Zach’s desk as he remarked casually, “You need to find your radiant. You have absolutely no sense of humor.”
“Did it ever occur to you that your stupid comments aren’t really all that funny?” Zach muttered as he frowned at Kristoff.
“Nope. I’m hilarious. You’re just in desperate need of a radiant,” Kristoff told him with a grin. “You need to get laid.”
His radiant? Oh, hell no.
A radiant was the Sentinel equivalent of a mate, the one who would bring light back into his dark soul. All Zach had ever found were women who wanted to lighten his damn wallet…not his soul.
Once…just one time…I’d like to find a woman who wants me and not my money.
Truth was, Zach had given up on taking women to bed just for sex a long time ago. It just seemed to make him darker, and more restless. The emptiness of casual sexual romps just no longer appealed to him. It left him even more lonely and unsatisfied than he’d been prior to the sexual encounters.
“I don’t need my radiant to get fucked,” Zach grumbled defensively, although he hadn’t gotten fucked for quite some time.
“Trust me. You need more than a quick, unemotional screw.” Kristoff’s expression grew serious, his voice concerned.
“I assume you’re here for a reason?” Zach shot his superior a glare, wanting to change the subject. He did want more, needed more, but it wasn’t something he actually wanted to discuss at the moment. He was too restless, too edgy, and he’d been that way for a while now. It was as though he was just waiting, biding his time until some type of mysterious metamorphosis happened, and the uncomfortable, impatient feeling was making his fuse shorter every damn day.
Kristoff shrugged. “Aren’t I always?” He leaned forward and shoved a file across the desk toward Zach. “Your next assignment.”
Zach actually released a sigh of relief. It had been a few weeks since he had been given a mission. He needed the distraction, the challenge. Boredom wasn’t good for him. It gave him too much time to think, and thinking usually led to regrets and guilt. Honestly, he didn’t mind being a Sentinel, and he didn’t regret that part of his bargain. There was nothing he loved more than letting Evils give him a reason to annihilate the ugly little bastards.
Yeah, I need a mission. I have too much time on my hands right now.
Zach didn’t need to worry much about business because there was absolutely no reason why he should. He’d always be wealthy. Winston Industries was worth billions and he knew it always would be. Any decision he made would be the right one to increase his wealth. Being rich was part of the demon bargain he had made two hundred years ago. Demon magic would make it a certainty that he stayed a billionaire, which pretty much took the challenge out of work for him, leaving him with too much time to think, unless he was on assignment.
Zach lifted the file curiously. “A recruitment?” Kristoff shook his head. “A rescue.”
Zach’s hand halted before he opened the file, his eyes returning to Kristoff with a startled expression. “The Evils are abducting an innocent? How?” It was a stupid question and he knew it. The bastards had a multitude of trickery and deceit to capture blameless souls. But his surprise over being given a rescue instead of a recruitment disturbed him in a visceral way, an instant denial ringing in his head, telling him that he would suck at rescue. Hadn’t he failed in the task of keeping an innocent from harm in the past? Oh, hell no. Not a rescue. He was used to recruiting salvageable souls that were straddling the line between good and evil to become Sentinels. He was the last Sentinel that should be left with the care of a blameless soul. More than likely, he’d screw it up; the Evils would take the victim, and he’d end up with another death on his conscience. Whoever the poor unfortunate human might be, that individual deserved a hell of a lot better Sentinel than him as a savior.
Truly evil demons could manipulate humans in any number of ways. Their main goal was to sway as many untainted and unsuspecting humans to the demon realm as possible, using whatever means available. The catch was…the uncorrupt human had to agree, had to give permission to be taken, even when not entirely understanding what the bargain with the Evils entailed, since the assholes weren’t exactly into full disclosure. Wallowing in the pain caused by corruption of an unblemished soul was empowerment to an Evil. The purer the soul, the more power the Evil absorbed. And once the vow to go with the Evils was uttered, that was one more soul lost to the Sentinels. And if there was anything a Sentinel really hated, it was to be defeated by an Evil. The instinct to win was strong, the trait imbedded since the creation of the Sentinels and passed on by demon magic whenever a new recruit was changed and indoctrinated.
Kristoff nodded his head to the file that Zach was holding as he replied, “Emotional manipulation. Not uncommon for the Evils, but pretty dirty this time.”
Zach opened the folder. His breath whooshed out of his lungs as his inspection was met with the blinding smile of a veritable angel. With flame-colored hair that tumbled over her shoulders, Katrina “Kat” Larson-the name on the file label-was definitely an unholy temptation. Zach viewed all of her pictures slowly, taking in the creamy light skin and curvy, generous figure in every photo. Every picture showed her laughing or smiling and her spirit was almost infectious, even via the glossy images.
No wonder the Evils want her. Her sweetness practically jumps out of the photos.
Kristoff spoke as Zach continued to stare at the woman’s pictures. “Twenty-seven-year- old female. Coerced to sacrifice herself to the Evils for a week in exchange for her eight-year-old nephew’s life…her twin sister’s child. He suffers from leukemia, which is currently in remission. They apparently told her he wouldn’t die if she would come with them to the demon realm for a week.”
“And will it save him?” Zach asked distractedly as he placed his hand over the smiling face of the woman to absorb her information, rather than wait for it to be revealed on paper. He couldn’t read her thoughts unless he was actually close to her, but he could get the general facts faster by absorbing the written words in the file.
Kristoff leaned forward as his voice lowered. “No demon has power over life and death from disease, Zach. Not even me. We can see the outcome sometimes, but we can’t interfere. I’ve told you that. You just choose not to accept it. The Evils can only damage souls or kill a human victim who agreed to bargain. They don’t have the power to cure an incurable disease.” Kristoff sighed as he leaned his muscular body back into the soft leather of the chair. “They told her that her nephew would live…which is true. What they didn’t tell her is that it has nothing to do with any power they have. Her nephew’s disease will stay in remission whether she goes to the demon realm or not. They’ve managed to use her fear for her nephew’s life to manipulate her without actually lying.”
“Bastards! So they led her to believe her nephew would die unless she struck the bargain and went with them?” Zach snarled as he closed the file, his brown eyes starting to glow amber as he looked at Kristoff, his face revealing his frustration and anger. Shit…he hated those ugly little bastards. He’d seen humans who they’d manipulated and taken to the demon realm, souls the Sentinels hadn’t been able to save. Sometimes they killed their human victims in the demon realm after absorbing all the power they could get from the individual. Occasionally, they sent the bodies back alive, but drained of their souls, completely lifeless. That particular action was usually done as a taunt to the Sentinels, and it generally worked. His kind had a very hard time not being angry when confronted with the harm done to a human who couldn’t be saved.
“Obviously they didn’t say that directly,” Kristoff answered unhappily. “They just told her that her nephew would live if she gave up a week of her life to live in the demon realm. Not exactly a lie, but definitely an extreme evasion of the truth.”
“Dammit. She’ll be destroyed, a shell of who she was before leaving…if they even send her back alive. All for nothing.” Zach’s hands clenched into fists, his knuckles whitening with the pressure. The thought of the smiling, innocent, vivacious redhead being turned into an empty body with none of her spirit left made his guts roll, although he wasn’t quite sure why. It wasn’t as if he didn’t see it happen frequently, but his emotional reaction to this particular case unsettled him. Maybe it was because he didn’t normally take these types of assignments.
“Not if you get to her first.” Kristoff’s eyes were intense as he nailed Zach with an urgent look. “She doesn’t understand that they mean to steal the life from her soul and she hasn’t given consent. You need to convince her, Zach. She has a soul worth saving.” He hesitated before adding, “She’s…special.” Kristoff sounded like he wanted to add more, but simply shook his head.
“Why me? I’m a recruiter…not a rescuer. Why didn’t you give the job to Drew or Hunter?” Drew and Hunter were rescuing Sentinels. Zach…wasn’t, and he didn’t want to be, although he was reluctant to give this particular assignment to another after seeing the victim and absorbing her general history. Something about her intrigued him, made him want to learn more about her, see her in person.
Zach recruited new Sentinels, humans who had nowhere to go, no one to help them…and who were ready to leap from good to evil because of their circumstances. He offered them the same bargain Kristoff had offered Zach a few centuries ago. That was Zach’s designation, a demon duty completely different from that of his two partners in Winston Industries. Zach, Drew, and Hunter posed as brothers, all leading Winston Industries together, but they weren’t actually blood-related. They had just all wished for the same damn thing, had wanted the same demon bargain. Money. And they had gotten it. Drew was the only one of the trio who seemed to be happy with his bargain. Zach was still filled with regret, even after two centuries. And Hunter was downright bitter and angry.
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