The Daughter Trilogy Bundle Read online

  "Yeah. Where are we?" I ask with a hint of agitation for the unfamiliar scenery.

  "We're heading to a safe house. You need some time to digest all this, and you need to be somewhere you can't hurt anyone."

  "Hurt anyone? What are you talking about?" I ask, starting to annoy my own self with the same, redundant phrase.

  "Do you remember anything at all about the alley or my apartment?"

  A few blurry memories pop into my head, and I shrug at what seems to be an impossible dream.

  "Vaguely. There was a storm and some crazy guys," I lie.

  I remember more - much more - but I just want to go home and pretend none of this happened. This can't be real, and I feel crazy for considering the possibility it is.

  "You're not very good at lying, for the record. I know you have some questions, and we've got questions too. Go ahead and ask me anything you want to before we get there."

  I frown slightly at my inability to hold a strong poker face. I shrug in defeat and fight the tears back as I breathe in loudly.

  "What did you do to me?" I whimper.

  His eyes soften and rattle with guilt.

  "I didn't do this to you," he breathes.

  "You kept calling me infected, and now I've seen lightning crashing because I'm pissed. Don't tell me this has nothing to do with you because I was perfectly normal until I met you."

  The back of his hand strokes my cheek, and against my will, the unrelenting fire starts to surge. Kry's voice rings out to caution him.

  "Easy, Devin. The car's starting to shake. I think we now know what caused your engine to blow up,” he mumbles.

  My eyes widen in panic as I look to Devin for answers.

  "He thinks I did that? How? Why?"

  Devin sighs loudly. "You and I were… I'm not really sure what we were doing, but it was getting hot in the car before the engine went out. I can't see you doing anything at all except with my own eyes in real time."

  "You can see the future," I mumble sarcastically, as if that's the most unrealistic part of this whole thing.

  "Yes, well, most of the time. It's how I know when to enter a business deal. I never saw that engine blowing up. The first time I met you, I never saw you coming. I blamed it on the fact I was distracted. I planned on taking a glimpse of your future just to see what you were going to do, and I couldn't see anything - not even a blur.

  "It was completely blank with not even a fragment of information to grasp a hold of. That's never happened before. It forced me to go to the window in that club and physically watch you. Nothing has ever made me feel as alive as watching you with my own eyes.

  "I had to know more. I watched you turning away one fool after another, and it was enough to push me over the edge. You were beautiful, carefree, brave, and this soft glow of sadness barely tainted you enough to arouse my curiosity even more. One touch was all it took to know I was never going to escape you no matter how hard I tried. I had to have you. I've never heard of such an instant obsession," he murmurs. "I still don't know what's going on."

  "There's that word again, 'obsession,' why do you keep using it?"

  "Because if an immortal gets too close, loves too much, or needs to vigorously, the mortal object of the immortal's desire becomes infected. The obsession will devour one or both - depending on the details - and eventually the immortal always forgets how strong they are and how fragile their mortal is.

  "It can make their mortal sick to feel such a strong connection. I broke it off when I thought I had infected you, and I watched you from across the street to see if I was right or not. If infected, you'll radiate symptoms of some immortal attributes, and you'll experience more pain and suffering than anyone in the world thought possible.

  "I saw the men chasing you. I saw the multitudes of flowers. I saw the damage you did to your apartment-"

  "So in short you acted like a peeping Tom watching me self-destruct and not doing anything about it? Great. Good to know," I snap in interruption.

  "Adisia, I didn't watch you fall apart because I liked it. I felt responsible, and it was killing me to-"

  "So how do I get this infection out of me?" I interrupt again.

  He frowns and looks down.

  "It's not an infection. It never was. You're one of us, and we have to find out as much about you as we can very quickly before you get stirred up again. I've never seen someone's powers come out the way yours did."

  "Okay. Now my head hurts. Powers, immortals, crazy guys trying to break me like a piece of glass," I mumble, and he winces at the last part. I take a deep breath and continue, "What am I?"

  He tightens his lips as he prepares to deliver a speech he has apparently been apprehensive about, given his rigid posture and averting eyes.

  "An immortal, at least now you are. There are many mortals that never reach their immortal destiny - meaning they never find their triggers. Sometimes their powers lie dormant and never get provoked."

  I sigh out, trying to take in all the crazy, and gather my thoughts for the next thing burdening my mind.

  "Define immortals, please," I request quietly.

  "Immortals are embodiments of energy, originally created by the earth to keep all the excess energy from ripping it apart. The embodiments corporealized and became the first wave of immortals, many of the mortals referred to them as the titans.

  "They were discreet and docile. The energy became too much for this group to harness, so a second string of embodiments were formed, and they took a more famed approach. The mortals revered them as gods, and the ones they worshipped were forming at a larger pace daily."

  "Whoa, whoa. So you're saying we're gods or titans formed from the earth?"

  Kry starts laughing, and I feel my cheeks blush. I shouldn't feel embarrassed for asking a question, I should feel embarrassed for believing the answers.

  Devin smiles so sweetly as if he's enjoying the fact I'm listening to all of this.

  "No. We're descendents of those embodiments, and we embody the same energy they were created from."

  "So, you're saying… we're from people like Zeus or Apollo?"

  I expect a few more chuckles, but I get nothing. Kry is concentrated on the road, but he answers me.

  "Most of us are from less reputable ones. Boy Wonder is from Poseidon though."

  My eyes widen in disbelief. Oh this is so crazy.

  "I'm so confused right now."

  Devin takes my hand in his and starts to kiss the back of it. Kry's eyes narrow in the rearview mirror and Devin smirks before he lowers it.

  "I know. It's a lot to take in. Most all forms of energy had numerous outlets. Many different beings were created to take the load off of one when it became too much. Forget every twisted thing you've ever read about the gods, every juvenile detail you've ever heard, and don't refer to them as anything other than immortals, because that's what they were. That's what we are."

  "If they were immortal then they should still be alive," I grumble.

  Kry laughs at that, and Devin smiles again.

  "Immortal doesn't necessarily mean invincible. You can kill immortals; we just don't die too easily."

  This time he does kiss the back of my hand, but I rip it free and cross my arms.

  This is too much. How can I possibly digest all of this?

  Devin frowns a little as he looks at me with worried eyes.

  “So those guys who tried to break me, who were they?" I mumble.

  Kry's laughter ceases instantly, and Devin's eyes swirl more prominently than I've seen them before. The freaking ocean really is in there, and it's so gloriously hot right now. I feel my fever returning as sweat forms on my chest above my ferociously pounding heart.

  "We don't know. They've come about in the last few centuries or so. We've been fighting them, but they're not too easy to find.

  "They're usually the ones finding us. They infect mortals in a different way than we've ever seen. These mortals take on severe mutations, allowing them to fig
ht like an immortal for a while. After the infection, their life span is usually no more than two years from what we can tell. You need to stay with me so I can keep you safe."

  "My family," I gasp.

  "They're safe. I have a team of men watching them, but I don't think they know who you are, or they would have come to your place instead of risking mine. They’re scared of us, but they need us dead for whatever they're planning."

  "Why?"

  Kry answers before Devin can.

  "Because Theia can reverse any damage they do. Her powers are hard to control, and there's a chance it could kill more than it saves if she rewinds time, but she can do it if the need arises."

  "Rewind time?" I ask. "Theia?"

  "My mother," Devin answers. "She's a titan."

  "You mean a descendent of a titan?"

  He shakes his head. "No. I mean one of the last true titans in existence. There are only two. She and our Emperian, Deidra, are the soul survivors of their kind. If Mom is alive, they'll never be able to do as they want. If she uses her power, the side effects can be grave. She once rewound time to save my life, and a deadly epidemic killed thousands. Her power is not without consequence, but they won't chance her undoing what they're planning to do."

  That's too crazy to even touch. I'm not asking about the Em…peri… whatever. Subject changing time.

  "They called me Alexius Smith. They don't know my name yet," I murmur.

  Devin and Kry both breathe out in relief. Devin pulls my hand back in his and nods.

  "That's good news."

  Tears fill my eyes as I start choking on guilt.

  "They killed a bunch of girls with that name while trying to find me," I sob.

  "Shh," he coos gently while pulling me into his arms. "It's not your fault. These people will kill just to be killing. Don't blame any of this on yourself," he comforts.

  My tears feel like lava burning against my cheeks. I can feel a storm inside of me brewing, and the car begins to shake as the wind outside strikes against it.

  "Easy, Dev," Kry whispers. "Calm her down before this gets bad."

  I look outside to see the trees bending under the force of the wind, and my eyes widen.

  "I'm doing this?" I ask in disbelief.

  Devin tightens his lips. "Yes," he murmurs hesitantly.

  The panic inside of me stirs violently, and the sky turns completely black as the dark clouds overcome the lighter ones in a hostile takeover. Rain starts pounding down vigorously against the car as it begs to break in and soothe me. Small, spiraling clouds begin to descend by the tens.

  "Oh fuck," Kry yelps.

  The twisting clouds begin ripping up the ground and charging toward us, but I don't know how to make this nightmare stop.

  "Calm her down!" Kry screams, but one of the twisting beasts grabs up the SUV like it's a stray weed and launches us into the air.

  I fly through the vehicle as the powerful winds flip us from side to side. I feel my body falling, shattering the glass of the front windshield, and then I'm spiraling with the strong winds.

  I scream in vain, for the storm only worsens in response.

  Calm down. Calm down. How the fuck am I supposed to calm down right now?

  Suddenly I'm falling too fast, and the clouds begin to thunder and crackle in response to my panic as I bounce against the ground with a heavy thump, but it doesn't hurt the way I expected it to. In fact, I barely felt it at all. Devin and Kry slap the ground, both landing on their feet.

  Graceful assholes.

  Devin stalks toward me and grabs me up from the ground. His lips cover mine, devour me, and bring me to a whole new level of mind.

  The winds around us disappear from my mind, and the drunken state returns with an extreme burn. The storm inside of me begins to change, and my body leans into his. The light burns in my eyes again, but I can't stop myself from loving his touch. I need him right now, and my madness only grows.

  My hands twist in his hair, and I can feel the weight of the world lifting from my shoulders. His hands grip me tighter, pulling me into the kiss. I'm too weak and wanton to fight this right now. His tongue plays against mine, and I feel something stronger in me burning, as if it's singeing against our bodies.

  "Okay. You have to stop. The first storm is gone, but now a new one is stirring," Kry warns.

  Devin's hands don't release me though. His lips stay on mine, and he pulls me up to meet his kiss more passionately. I can feel that new storm inside me beginning to brew stronger as a needy throbbing erupts from deep within.

  I rip his shirt off, and his hands start burning up my sides under my shirt.

  Kry rips Devin off of me and yells at him.

  "Stop!"

  My drunken state of mind has taken over me, and Kry just pissed me off. The winds around him stir, and his eyes widen as they launch him through five trees, and several massive boulders shatter from the impact of his body.

  Devin's eyes widen, too, as he notices my newly acquired state of mind. He yells to Kry.

  "Stay back. Don't touch me or her. She'll fucking kill you right now."

  Kry mumbles back, "Yeah, kind of figured that out on my own. Calm her the fuck down, please."

  I slowly strut toward Devin with a sexy saunter, and he takes my hands in his. His eyes meet mine, and the power inside of me burns to get out.

  "Kiss me," an odd, hollow tone sounds out from my mouth.

  "Please stop, baby. Calm down. Come back to me," he pleads.

  I feel my body shaking, trembling, and weakening beneath his pleading tone. The clouds shift, lighten, and almost disappear slowly to reveal the brighter sky. My eyes roll back in my head to offer me nothing more than darkness as I collapse into gentle arms.

  My eyes stay closed as I feel the soft bed beneath me. Fluffy, heavenly covers embrace me, offering me comfort. My head is supported by the most incredible pillow I've ever felt. My eyes finally dare to open and inspect my new surroundings.

  The room is massive, white, and strategically placed items decorate it. Obviously this is Devin's place, but where am I?

  I stand and walk over to the gallant window stretching wide across the room, and I see the beauty of a glistening lake just in front of me. There's a long, wooden dock with several speedboats attached.

  I look out to see two more ridiculously large houses beside of us, identical in comparison. I idly wonder if this house looks just the same from the outside.

  I look down to see I'm wearing a satin pajama set, similar to the one I left behind in the crumpled SUV when the engine blew up.

  I've destroyed two vehicles now. Perfect.

  I quickly try to think about anything other than the crazy. I can't get upset. I lose myself when I'm upset, and I don't know who comes out in my place. I can't control myself.

  I walk to the doorway, and I hear the whispers from voices that are trying to stay hidden from my ears.

  "She's way too strong for a beginner. What do we know exactly?

  "Well I know I barely touched Devin, and she actually tried to kill me," Kry gripes.

  "If she had wanted you dead, I don't think you'd be standing," Theia says softly. "It sounds as if she's in love with my son. He shouldn't be her trigger though. He shouldn't be able to control her either. Triggers don't have that sort of influence. What does he know about her family?"

  In love? No. I'm not in love.

  I want to be done with him. No second chances. I just can't seem to keep my body in check around him because of this freaky… whatever it is going on with me. I'm not in love.

  "He's pretty bound by her too. He can't stop himself around her. He kissed her to calm the storm, but he came close to sparking a new one when he couldn't withdraw. If she hadn't passed out, he'd still be lost in her while the storms ripped apart the lands. This is all new to me," Kry exasperates.

  "Have you seen what color her eyes burn yet?" Theia interjects.

  "No. That's another pain in the ass conundrum. Her eyes sho
uld be showing before her power. What is going on?" Kry whines.

  "I don't know that I've ever seen anything like it to be honest. It's possible her eyes just haven't learned to shift yet. Now, her family?" she prompts.

  "Devin doesn't know anything," Ther interjects. "The only thing Adisia knows is that her mother abandoned her twice."

  I swallow hard to fight the demons of that statement. I might need to quit eavesdropping before I rip the house to shreds.

  "And her personal history?" Theia asks.

  It sucks. Point blank.

  "None to share really. He knows very little about her. Apparently they haven't done too much talking in the short time they've known each other," Ther says far too casually without any respect for the situation.

  Really? You don't tell that shit to a mother, you jackass.

  The wind outside begins to howl, and they all shut up in unison. Theia sighs loudly.

  "Would you like to join us, Adisia?"

  Stupid, traitorous wind. Thanks for selling me out.

  I stand up with begrudged acceptance for my failed spying attempt and lightly make my way down the staircase.

  "Sorry. Just trying to figure out what's going on with me since everyone talks about me and not to me," I explain, as if I need an excuse to listen to a conversation about me.

  "It's fine, dear. We just need to be careful what we say in front of you," Theia murmurs.

  "I know. I wish I knew who I was. I would tell you if I did."

  "Tell us what you do know," she requests.

  "My birthmother left me in the basement of a hospital when I was five. They didn't find me for five days, and I should have died. They nursed me back to health, and she walked in and walked back out with me in her arms. Then, she dumped me at the orphanage and collected her check. The Titan's, as ironic as that is, adopted me."

  She rubs her chin and nods.

  "The Titan's? That is ironic, but it could have been the universe's way of trying to get someone's attention. Perhaps, we should have given it better attention in the beginning."

  I look over at Kry who's pouring a glass of a dark alcohol.

  "I'm sorry about earlier. I didn't mean to… It just happened, and I don't know why I did it. That scares me the most."