[The Watchers 20.0] Dominion - Enduring Read online

  As we stand in the circle of words, I take ahold of Cade’s hand to make sure he doesn’t let go before I say the magical phrase.

  “Em hunc numdim entrovit et hoc.”

  A loose translation of the code words would be: From here I enter into worlds.

  The rock beneath our feet disappears, and we begin to freefall into total darkness.

  I hear him gasp in surprise, and he involuntarily tightens his grip on my hand. I’m pleased he has enough self-discipline not to shout out his alarm, like most people would in this situation. He remains silent as he entrusts me with his life.

  Our descent gradually begins to slow as we reach a pocket of warm air near our destination. A soft white light slowly seeps up from below us, allowing me to see him in half shadows. I take advantage of our continued weightlessness while it lasts and turn my body in the air until I’m positioned directly in front of Cade. He silently watches me as if he’s intrigued to learn what I’ll do next. I would hate to disappoint him with inaction.

  I reach up with my free hand and gently slide it around to the back of his neck. My lips part of their own accord as I fill my lungs with a tremulous breath and feel the core of my being tense in excited anticipation. I close my eyes as I lean forward to press my mouth against his. He isn’t exactly resistant to my kiss, but he doesn’t respond very enthusiastically either. I sense that he’s still mad at me for taking Anna’s little girl away from her. It’s not as though I didn’t give her back, for goodness’ sake!

  I pull away from him and say, “You’re not being very much fun.”

  Cade’s eyes darken with resentment as he stares back at me. “I’m not your personal plaything, Helena. I won’t kiss you on command. Do you really need to be reminded that you just kidnapped Anna’s child? You’re lucky I’m even standing here.”

  “You make yourself sound like some sort of prize I should feel fortunate to have in my life,” I reply scornfully, dropping my hand away from his neck but keeping hold of his hand. “I’ll have you know that I was much happier when I didn’t have to deal with all these … emotions I have when I’m around you. You’re a complication that I’m doing my best to deal with.”

  “I’m sorry I’ve complicated things for you. Having you thrust into my life wasn’t exactly something I had planned on either.”

  I sigh in disappointment. It seems like every conversation Cade and I have ends up in an argument, no matter how pleasant we may start out. It’s tiring and not what I want from this little excursion of ours. For once, I’m trying to do something that is only meant to give him pleasure, yet he’s trying to ruin it by shoving my shortcomings in my face. I take a steadying breath and exhale slowly, forcing myself to let go of the burning anger building within my soul.

  As we continue to float down to our destination, the warmth of a million worlds envelops us in a soft glow. Cade is the first one to break our eye contact as he looks around the cavernous space in pure wonder, our argument forgotten for the moment. I step away from him as he turns to take in the spectacle of the universe literally laid open before his eyes. Every inhabitable celestial body ever created by God is represented here in miniaturized form. Some stars are brighter than others, and some planets sparkle a bright shade of blue-green, like the Earth. They all contain sentient life and the promise of new souls to harvest for my domain. Even though there are millions of worlds in the universe, nothing compares to the energy derived from the souls on Earth. They hold the greatest power for a couple of reasons. For one, Earth was the first planet to be populated with humanity. Secondly, the veil separating Heaven from Earth is at its thinnest, passively imbuing the humans who live on that planet with Heaven’s energy. It’s the main reason Lucifer focused the majority of his time and attention on the humans there. The conversion of one Earthly soul is worth thousands of souls from any other planet.

  “What is this place?” Cade asks as he continues to look around, completely mesmerized by what he sees.

  “Lucifer named it the Nexus,” I tell him as I watch his reaction to what I say next. “From here, you can travel to a vast majority of the worlds in our reality with a single touch. God took him to almost every planet He made when it was just the two of them in Heaven. After his fall, Lucifer traveled back to the planets and left permanent phase trails open to the ones that he visited.”

  “Why would he want to keep them open?”

  “He used to send some of his little minions to other planets on missions. It was more for his convenience than anything else. He didn’t want to have to come down here every time he ordered them to go somewhere for him. The silly fool tried to use it to find the other princes of Hell when God scattered them throughout the universe. He soon figured out that his father wouldn’t let him find them until the time was right and that they would only be returned through the Tear.”

  “Have you gone to any of these worlds?”

  I shake my head. “Not yet. I’ve been a bit preoccupied with things on Earth, but I have a little free time now and thought you might like to go with me to look at some of them.”

  He turns his attention away from the Nexus to look back at me.

  “Are you asking me out on a date?” he teases me with a roguish grin.

  “If you want to think of it in such a provincial way, I suppose it could be termed that. I would rather call it an adventure.” I walk up and hold my hand out to him. “Will you travel through the universe with me, Cade?”

  Without hesitation, he places his hand into mine.

  “Do we have to journey back through Lucifer’s phase trail to leave the planets, or can we just phase back here?” he asks.

  “We can just phase ourselves back here, and after we visit a world, we’ll always have a phase point there.”

  “Phase back to this spot in the Nexus?” he asks, looking confused. “Then why did we come here through the entrance if you could have just phased us directly here?”

  “I thought you might like the drama of it all,” I say with a small shrug. “Anyway, where should we go first?”

  “You choose,” he tells me excitedly. “I’m sure you know a little something about each of them from Lucifer’s memories. You can probably make a better choice than I can.”

  Cade’s newfound eagerness and enthusiasm to roam distant worlds with me is infectious. I feel another genuine smile threaten to reveal itself, but I stifle it before it has a chance to take root. I don’t want Cade to get too cocky about his ability to make me happy. The last thing I need is for him to think he can influence my emotions so easily.

  This little adventure of ours is something I’ve been meaning to do for quite some time now. In fact, ever since I became corporeal I’ve wanted to trek through the universe and see in person the places Lucifer could only share with me through his memories. I know why I resisted the urge to make this trip: I didn’t want to go to these different worlds alone. I wanted someone to share them with, and now that I have Cade by my side, I feel as though it’s time to traipse through the cosmos to see what else it has to offer me.

  I look around at the multitude of worlds we can travel to and faintly wonder if Cade would be so eager to use the Nexus if he knew that the energy required to keep Lucifer’s old phase trails open came from the torture of souls in my domain.

  I’m sure his enthusiasm would wane if he were privy to that piece of information, which is exactly why I decide to keep it to myself.

  I tighten my grip on his hand and reach out toward a lavender-hued planet a few solar systems away from our own.

  “Here we go,” I warn, lightly touching the planet with the tip of my index finger.

  We’re instantly transported to a world with a purple-hued sky and puffy gray storm clouds. Streaks of white lightning illuminate the atmosphere with flashes of their brilliance. The sun for this world can be seen on the horizon, but its footprint in the firmament is far less than that of the Earth’s sun. I assume its distance from this world is the primary contributing fact
or to the chill in the air and the less-than-hospitable barren terrain. I see no visible signs of sentient life or vegetation.

  “Is this world unpopulated?” Cade asks me as he studies the rocky terrain we’re standing on.

  “Not all life lives on the surface of each planet,” I explain. “I thought you would know that already.”

  “I do,” he replies, meeting my gaze with his, looking a bit perplexed. “I guess I just assumed you would take us to a planet that was a little more hospitable for our first date.”

  “Taking you to a world halfway across the galaxy isn’t impressive enough for you? What were you expecting? That I would wine and dine you in some fancy off-world restaurant?” I ask, finding his expectations for our first date amusing. Cade shivers slightly as a brisk gust of wind rushes past us. Since he’s still shirtless and only dressed in his black leather pants and boots, I can literally see how the cold is affecting his body.

  “Frankly,” he says, briefly glancing away from me and surveying our surroundings with a critical eye before giving his answer, “I thought you would choose something that was at least more scenic. I mean, I understand that you’ve never been to these worlds before, but surely Lucifer shared his memories of them with you. Isn’t there at least one with more beauty in it than this?”

  I quickly phase us back to the Nexus to erase Cade’s disappointment in the first planet I chose.

  “Follow me,” I tell him as I begin to walk toward a world I remember quite well from Lucifer’s travels.

  The planet looks more brown than green from this godly perspective due to the number of mountains crisscrossing its landscape. From what I can remember of this world, each city is built within a lush green valley surrounded by snowcapped mountains. The physical barrier helps protect each city-state against foreign sovereignties. The percentage of its surface covered in water is about half of that found on Earth. After I touch the planet, Cade and I are instantly transported to its surface.

  We find ourselves standing on a gravel path located on the side of a hill. Lush green grass borders each side of the trail, which overlooks the city built within the valley of this particular mountain set. The metropolis laid out before us contrasts greatly against the natural backdrop of the snowcapped mountains.

  “What planet is this?” Cade asks, taking in the sight of the city and surrounding mountain range with a great deal of interest.

  “They call it Sierra,” I inform him. “I suppose because fifty percent of its surface is composed of mountains.”

  “Does the city have a name?”

  “If memory serves me correctly, I believe this one is named Arcas. Would you like to go down and take a closer look at it?”

  “Absolutely,” he says eagerly.

  When he looks away from the city and back at me, my heart involuntarily skips an entire beat. It’s amazing how an emotion can change the aura of a person so instantly. Cade practically glows with joy, making me wonder what it must feel like to experience true happiness. The closest I’ve ever come to that emotion was the first time I left Hell and walked across the Earth’s surface. I felt like the shackles of what I am were finally loosened, allowing me the freedom to find out who I want to become. I’m still working toward figuring out that riddle, but I feel as though I’m getting closer to discovering my true destiny.

  “Come on,” I tell him, tightening my grip on his hand. “I think I might actually know a person who can help us have a good time here.”

  Cade peers at me quizzically. “I thought you said you hadn’t been to any of the planets yet.”

  “I haven’t,” I confirm as we begin to walk down the path toward the city. “Lucifer sent some rebellion angels here a very long time ago to gain a foothold on this planet. I know where at least one of them is because she came to Hell when she heard Lucifer was allowed back into Heaven. I suppose she didn’t believe the rumor and had to see for herself that he was gone. She certainly wasn’t very happy about that. Not many of them were.”

  “Don’t they realize that if Lucifer can earn redemption it means that they can too?”

  I let out a small derisive laugh. “Most of them have given up on the possibility of such a miracle for themselves. It’s a bit funny really. Out of all of them, Lucifer was the only one who kept his hope of returning to Heaven alive. He never would have admitted that fact to any of the others, but his thoughts were always an open book to me. I can’t say I blame him. Heaven is quite nice. He was a fool to give it up so readily.”

  Cade comes to a complete standstill, forcing me to stop walking as well.

  “You said that like you’ve been to Heaven and experienced it for yourself,” he says, looking at me in complete confusion. “Or are you just going by what you’ve seen in others’ memories?”

  “Ohhh,” I say, smiling as I realize something. “That’s right. You don’t know what happened in that alternate reality. Your father extended an invitation to me to enter into His hallowed realm while I was there. Apparently, He wanted to have a little heart to heart with me.”

  “And how did that go?” Cade asks, looking skeptical that such a meeting of the minds would end on a friendly note.

  “About as well as you would expect,” I reply, not intending to tell him what God showed me while I was there. The possibility of Cade and me having a happy life and a child together is a completely ludicrous notion. I don’t want to get his hopes up by telling him what God showed me. He doesn’t need to know, and I have no intention of blindly believing that the fantasy world God concocted could actually come to fruition. “I would rather not talk about that part of my trip, but I will tell you what else transpired there.”

  As we continue to walk hand in hand to Arcas, I fill Cade in on everything that occurred during my time on alternate Earth. I can tell by the look in his eyes that he wants a better description from me about my experience in Heaven, but I wisely choose to ignore his sideways glances and deftly steer the subject toward Lucas. I have to admit, the kid amused me more than once with his blunt honesty. I truly hope he keeps that trait as he matures. Humans have a tendency to rein in their true thoughts and feelings about others due to their need to appear kind and accepting. Sometimes the better course of action is just to say exactly what’s on your mind. Who knows? The person you’re talking to might just take the time to look in the mirror and choose to become better than they are.

  By the time we reach the bustling city streets of Arcas, Cade’s attention becomes absorbed by the sights, sounds, and smells of this strange new world I’ve brought him to. Sierra isn’t as far along as Earth in its technological advancements. If I had to place it within Earth’s timeline, I would say it is somewhere between the years 2050 and 2100 in comparison. The city is filled with geometrically shaped skyscrapers made out of glass, steel, and stone, and the paved streets are filled with sleek, colorful automobiles. There doesn’t seem to be a consensus among the populous as far as fashion is concerned. People simply wear whatever they want to, even if that means eating from a sidewalk food vendor in a couture gown or getting married in shorts and a crop top. Instead of dressing the way society expects them to, each person here has their own sense of style and stays true to that no matter where they go.

  As we pass a sidewalk hotdog vendor, I can’t prevent the deep rumble that emanates from my stomach when I smell the delectable scent of slow-roasted meat. Surprisingly, even over the sounds of the city, Cade hears my body’s cry for sustenance.

  “I don’t suppose you have any money for food?” he questions me, looking doubtful I will give him a positive answer.

  “No,” I admit disappointedly. “I don’t have any currency on me, but we don’t need it.”

  Cade narrows his eyes and asks, “Are you planning to steal some food?”

  “No,” I say unequivocally, “we won’t have to stoop to that level. As I said earlier, I know someone here who can provide us with what we need. Just follow me. Her establishment isn’t too far away.”
/>   Cade remains by my side as I walk him through the city toward our destination.

  “Who is this rebellion angel we’re going to see anyway?” he asks as we walk. “Do I know her?”

  “In Heaven her name was Jaoel, but here she’s known as Evelyn.”

  “I don’t remember her,” he admits with a frown.

  “Of course you don’t. It’s not as if you had time to ask every rebellion angel’s name during a battle. You were made to kill them, not befriend them,” I reason.

  I hear Cade sigh deeply as his gaze lowers to the cement street we’re walking down.

  “You have nothing to feel guilty about,” I declare, knowing his code of ethics is warring with the purpose he was made for. “God made you to kill and win the war. You did your job. Feel proud of that fact.”

  Cade turns his head and looks at me. “You should never feel prideful about anything, much less killing.”

  “Death is just a part of life,” I say dismissively, wishing for the hundredth time he would get over his own guilt complex and move on already. “Besides, you didn’t kill by choice. It was what you were created to do. You were just a weapon used by God to make sure Lucifer never had a chance of winning. If you want to lay the blame for what you did on anyone, it should be your father.”

  Cade sighs heavily again and says, “Can we change the subject? I would rather not talk about this with you, not right now at least. From what I’ve been told, you’re supposed to have a good time on dates.”

  I shrug one shoulder. “Whatever you want. I would much rather have a good time too, which is exactly why I’m taking you to Evelyn’s establishment.”

  “What type of place does she operate here?”

  “It’s right over there,” I say, turning my head slightly to look down and across the street at one of the few black stone buildings in the city. From what I remember from Lucifer’s memories, the building was once a courthouse in this world before Evelyn bought it and transformed the interior into her nightclub. Its austere façade gives the place a sense of grandeur, telling those who are allowed entry that they are special.