[The Watchers 19.0] Dominion - Reckoning Read online

  Contents

  Books by S.J. West

  Acknowledgments

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Author’s Note

  About the Author

  COPYRIGHTS

  * * *

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

  © 2016 by S.J. West.

  All rights reserved.

  Cover Design: Paper & Sage Design, all rights reserved.

  Interior Design & Formatting: Stephany Wallace, all rights reserved.

  Proof Readers: Kimberly Huther, and Allisyn Ma.

  * * *

  Published by Watchers Publishing June, 2014.

  www.Sjwest.com

  * * *

  BOOKS IN THE WATCHER SERIES

  The Watchers Trilogy

  Cursed

  Blessed

  Forgiven

  * * *

  The Watcher Chronicles

  Broken

  Kindred

  Oblivion

  Ascension

  * * *

  Caylin’s Story

  Timeless

  Devoted

  Aiden’s Story

  * * *

  The Alternate Earth Series

  Cataclysm

  Uprising

  Judgment

  * * *

  The Redemption Series

  Malcolm

  Anna

  Lucifer

  Redemption

  * * *

  The Dominion Series

  Awakening

  Reckoning

  Enduring

  * * *

  The Everlasting Fire Series

  War Angel

  Between Worlds

  OTHER BOOKS BY S.J. WEST

  The Harvester of Light Trilogy

  Harvester

  Hope

  Dawn

  * * *

  The Vankara Saga

  Vankara

  Dragon Alliance

  War of Atonement

  * * *

  Vampire Conclave Series

  Moonshade

  Sentinel

  Conclave

  Requiem

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  I would like to express my gratitude to the many people who were with me throughout this creative process; to all those who provided support, talked things over, read, wrote, offered comments, allowed me to quote their remarks and assisted in the editing, proofreading and design.

  * * *

  I would like to thank Lisa Fejeran, Liana Arus, Karen Healy-Friday, Misti Monen, and Erica Croyle, my beta readers for helping me in the process with invaluable feedback.

  * * *

  Thanks to Kimberly Huther, and Allisyn Ma, my proofreaders for helping me find typos, correct commas and tweak the little details that have help this book become my perfect vision. Thank you to Stephany Wallace for creating the Interior Design of the books and formatting them.

  * * *

  Last and not least: I want to thank my family, who supported and encouraged me in this journey.

  I apologize to those who have been with me over the course of the years and whose names I have failed to mention.

  CHAPTER 1

  (Malcolm’s Point of View)

  Life rarely leads you down a straight path, and it’s often the curves and hills you have to traverse that end up being the most interesting parts of the journey. To be honest, I could do without any more detours. I realize now how foolish I was to believe Anna and I could live out the rest of our lives together in peace. I had hoped when my father sent the War Angels to us that it meant the responsibility of handling Helena’s shenanigans would fall on their shoulders more than ours. After living on Earth for so long, I thought I might have earned the right to live out the rest of my life with Anna and our children like normal people.

  Obviously, I was wrong.

  I grab my sword from its spot beside our bed and phase back down to the living room to rejoin the others. When I arrive, Jess and Mason are speaking with Desmond, Brutus, and Andre while Vala is comforting a distraught Luna. Our resident hellhound has remained a constant by Lucas’ side for as long as she’s been with us. If someone had told me even a year ago that I would care so much about a hellhound, I would have told them they were insane. Against all probability and rules of logic, I do care about her, and I know she won’t be the same until Anna and Lucas are safely home.

  I notice Anna’s War Angel guards haven’t made it back yet. I advised them all to go home and wash off the blood they were covered in from the fight with the rebellion angels at the beach house. I’m sure the home I built for her is now drenched in red with blood, but I can’t worry about that right now. All I can think about is my wife and son being trapped in Hell with Helena. Getting them back overshadows everything else.

  “I’m glad to see the three of you here already,” I tell my fellow Watchers. “There are things that each of you need to handle while we’re searching for Anna and Lucas. Brutus, I need you to take care of the Cirrun refugees, just as we discussed. Andre, there’s bound to be some political fallout from the hellspawn attack. You need to deal with any questions the other cloud cities have about what happened there. Handle it the best you can without letting them find out what’s actually going on. Desmond, I need you to keep an eye on Catherine and find out how she intends to use this latest development to her advantage. The election will have to be postponed now, of course, and it gives her more time to rally supporters to her side. All of you need to do whatever you can to make sure Anna doesn’t return home to find that she’s lost her throne before the election even has a chance to take place.”

  Brutus opens his mouth and looks like he’s about to argue against my orders. I hold my right hand up, palm forward, to stop him before he can utter a single word.

  “I need you all here,” I say before he can protest that they should be going with me to Hell. “With so many of us gone, I need people I can trust to take care of things. The three of you are the only ones I have complete faith in to handle whatever might happen while we’re in Hell.”

  Desmond is about to say something, but Andre places a restraining hand on his arm and says, “We’ll protect Cirrus for you, Malcolm. Right now, all you need to worry about is finding Anna and Lucas and bringing everyone home safely.”

  I have to look away from Andre’s earnest expression, because all I can think is that I’ve already failed my family. It’s probably painfully obvious to everyone that the babies don’t feel as though I can keep them safe on Earth. With the rebellion angels determined to kill them and their mother, Liam and Liana seem to believe their psychotic “Aunt” Helena is more capable of protecting them than I am. Perhaps she is, since no one is allowed to phase into Hell without her permission. The rebellion angels would be foolish to enter her domain through a fissure, w
hich is exactly what we’re about to attempt. Helena has complete autonomy inside her home. The only hope we have of succeeding there is if Anna can somehow find a way to keep her preoccupied with something else while we try to find her. If she can keep Helena distracted, she won’t be watching our every move, and we might have a fighting chance to reach them.

  “Malcolm …” Jess places a comforting hand on my arm and squeezes it lightly. I look into her eyes and know she understands the thoughts going through my mind without me even having to say them out loud. “We’ll bring them back home. Don’t doubt that.”

  “I don’t,” I tell her.

  We either come back with them, or we don’t come back at all is what I’m thinking, but I don’t say it.

  As I look at Jess and Mason, I notice for the first time that they’re wearing the same clothing they wore when we went to alternate Earth. She’s dressed in the maroon leather outfit JoJo made her while we were there, while he’s wearing his black one. There’s only one thing missing.

  “I’ll be right back,” I say before phasing up to my bedroom to retrieve something. When I return, I hand Jess the sword that was originally hers. “You might need this,” I tell her. “I don’t think Anna will mind you borrowing it.”

  She smiles as she accepts the sword sheathed in its baldric. It’s strange to think about how many years have passed since she first retrieved Jophiel’s sword from the Garden of Eden. A long line of descendants have used it to protect this world, but only Jess has the distinction of being the one who pulled it from the Tree of Knowledge.

  “Hello, old friend,” she croons as she holds the sheath with one hand, gripping the hilt of the sword and pulling it out. “I’ve missed you.”

  “I think I have the perfect thing for you, Mason,” Brutus says before phasing, only to return a few seconds later holding a well-crafted long sword. He still forges weapons on occasion, and I know the sword he hands Mason will be able to cut through anything Helena places in our path.

  “Malcolm,” Vala says as she walks over to me, “is there anything I can do to help?”

  “Just take care of Luna for Lucas,” I tell her. “I have a feeling he’ll need her when he gets back.”

  Vala nods. “I can do that.”

  After hearing her name, Luna comes up to me and gently paws at one of my legs, as if she wants to tell me something. I bend down on one knee in front of her and pet the sensitive spot between her ears.

  “I’ll bring them back home,” I pledge to her.

  Luna whines and paws at me again. All I can do is assume she expects me to keep my promise.

  As I stand back up, Anna’s War Angels phase into the room. I know exactly fifteen minutes have passed since I last saw them. It was the amount of time I gave them to prepare for our trip into the bowels of Hell, and angel punctuality is practically infallible. All of them are dressed like me: shirtless and only wearing black leather pants and boots with a weapon in their hand. Blood’s a lot easier to wipe off if you’re not wearing something that will absorb it easily. Like me, they expect Helena to throw a few obstacles in our way. There isn’t a shred of doubt in my mind that we’ll end up having to fight our way to Anna and Lucas. To be honest, I welcome the challenge. Perhaps it will help me get rid of some of my rage before I see my family again.

  Not long after each War Angel was born in Heaven, they had to select a weapon that was an expression of their fighting style. For a War Angel, battle is like breathing to regular people. Their class of angel was specifically made to end the rebellion Lucifer started, and many of them felt like their lives were pointless after the war was won. I know they all treasure the opportunity God gave them to live here on Earth and to be afforded the chance to forge a different sort of life for themselves. Selfishly, I’m thankful they’re the ones who will be going into Hell with me. I couldn’t have selected a better fighting force to stand by my side and help me rescue my family.

  “We’re ready when you are, Malcolm,” Ethan, the commander of the War Angels, tells me, hefting the black and gold great sword he uses in his hand.

  I turn to look at Mason. “I suppose Jered isn’t back yet with the traitor?”

  Mason lifts a disapproving eyebrow at me. “No, he hasn’t returned with Slade, and I think you need to curb that attitude of yours toward him. He doesn’t have to help you, Malcolm. Yet he’s willing to risk his life to do so.”

  “He’ll come with us whether I want him to or not,” I say, having mixed feelings about Slade’s involvement in this mission. My father told me I should try to find a way to be sympathetic to him, but I’m finding it impossible to change my mind about him. “Slade cares about Anna. He’ll come for her sake, not mine.”

  Alex, the War Angel assigned to this part of the down-world, walks into the room carrying his silver morning star and dressed like the rest of us.

  “Are you sure you want to come with us, Alex?” I ask. “It’s all right if you would rather stay here.”

  He’s always been a rather shy angel, even when I knew him during the war. When Anna returned from her trip to Heaven to seek advice from Lucifer about Helena, she learned that Amalie and Alex spent a great deal of time together there. Her mother was able to help him work through his issues and learn how to verbally express himself to others more easily. I guess I should have noticed the difference in him when he first came to Earth, but honestly, I wasn’t around him enough to notice the change.

  “Unless you have a specific objection to me coming, I want to help you get Anna and Lucas back,” he tells me.

  “No, I don’t have any objections to you joining us,” I reply as I look around the room at the group going to Hell with me. “I just want to make sure everyone here understands what we’re going to be facing there. Helena won’t make it easy for any of us while we’re in her domain, and I’m not just talking about throwing demonic creatures at us to fight. She’ll dig deep into all of our memories and try to use what she finds against us. I’m sure we all have secrets that we don’t want others to learn about, but after this trip, I have a feeling we’ll know more about each other than we may want to. I hope you’re all prepared for that to happen.”

  “We’ll deal with whatever she tries to do to us,” Cade assures me confidently.

  “Out of all of us, you may be the one she focuses on the most,” I warn him. “You won’t be able to hide anything from her while we’re there. She’ll know every thought and feeling you have about her, so watch yourself.”

  Cade nods, fully understanding my advice to him.

  I still can’t understand how someone as pure of heart as Cade is Helena’s soul mate. It’s the ultimate irony. He couldn’t be more dissimilar to her if he tried. When the dice were rolled to pair up souls, he definitely lost. I feel sorry for him, but there isn’t anything I can do to change his fate. He’ll have to figure out a way to deal with his feelings for her, and live with them, the best he can.

  Jered phases just inside the entryway to the room with Slade standing by his side. Slade automatically lifts his gaze to meet mine, and I know exactly what he sees in my eyes for him: utter loathing.

  It’s not only the fact that he betrayed us that causes me to hate him; he also used Caylin’s sense of decency to end his miserable life after we found out what he did. I hate weakness, and I hate the fact that he played on Caylin’s caring nature to end his own suffering on Earth. He shouldn’t have used her like that, although I suppose he got what he deserved during his time in Hell. I have zero pity for whatever he might have endured while he was there. As far as I’m concerned, he earned it.

  Slade is shirtless and wearing a ratty pair of brown trousers that are smeared with black smudge marks, just like the ones staining his bare skin. I stationed him on Saturn to oversee the mining colony there because it was the farthest off-world site Cirrus controlled. I had heard that he often went down to the mines to work, but this was the first time I had seen any evidence to support those reports. Slade looks even more
muscular than I remember, but he no longer has the large black tribal tattoo on his shoulder like he did the first time he lived on Earth. Back in the day, it was what he used to cover up his hellhound bite. To truly feel his torture in Hell, Lucifer gave him a new body there after he died, minus the tattoo. He holds a large mining pick in a firm grip by his side. I have to assume it’s his weapon of choice to bring to Hell.

  Mason walks up to him, extending his hand in greeting.

  “It’s good to see you again, Slade,” Mason says. “Thank you for coming to help us.”

  Slade cracks a small smile and shakes Mason’s hand. “Jered told me you and Jess were back, but I guess I didn’t really believe it until now. It’s good to see you both, too.”

  “We should go,” I say abruptly, not wanting to waste any more time since there’s nothing else we need to wait on. “Where exactly is the fissure you came through?” I ask Slade curtly.

  The only reason we need him here is because he came through an opening when he escaped Hell. Only those who have spent a great deal of time there can see the tears in the veil between Earth and Hell. Twenty other Watchers who sold their souls to Lucifer came through it with Slade, but I haven’t welcomed them back with open arms either. They all have a lot to atone for, and I just don’t have the patience to deal with their issues. Desmond was placed in charge of taking care of them. To my way of thinking, the less contact I have with them, the better.