Soul Reborn (Key to the Cursed Book 1) (25 page)

Asar dove to the
left, barely missing the attackers’ swords. Four soldiers, plus the War god. He
would have to relinquish as much control to his inner beast as possible without
losing himself completely.

As the source of Asar’s
strength, the beast fought to control him. For so many centuries, he had
consumed souls of those he judged to keep the beast silenced. With Kepi’s
betrayal and the loss of his soul, the beast clawed its way to the surface,
demanding he consume the lives of innocents. He tried to hunt humans that led
less than honorable lives, but that did not relieve the guilt that weighed
heavy in the back of his mind.

He was not a
murderer, but Kepi had driven him close.

He never wanted to
go back to that life. Lilly offered him the freedom to live without guilt. Her
energy sated the beast, but now the beast demanded more of him and of her. He
had made hard love to her in the dark warrior village. The beast urged him to
taste her, lengthening his fangs and demanding him to do so, as if he could not
live without it. Despite his fears, Lilly accepted all of him, even his darker
nature.

Releasing control
to the beast left him on the edge of insanity, craving killing and death. He
never quite felt comfortable in this state, terrified he would never recover,
but Lilly waited for him in Aaru, and that thought alone gave him the strength
to maintain control.

Transformed under
the beast’s control, his muscles tingled with Lilly’s energy coursing throughout
his body and boosting his power. The ground shook far and wide. His fangs and
claws punched through and lengthened into weapons at his disposal. His dark
energy blasted outward and knocked two soldiers to the ground. He swung his
blades down and beheaded the fallen. The third soldier hit him square in the
back, slicing a large wound from one shoulder to the other. Asar growled and
swung his blades around, cutting the soldier across the chest. Despite the
mortal wound, the bull soldier grasped him around the shoulders and began
crushing him.

Asar pushed his
arms up trying to break the vice on his chest. Before he succeeded, a white energy
bolt ripped through the air, knocking them all to the ground. The white force
penetrated his chest. His heart thumped against the inside of his ribcage and
the sweet taste of sugar infused his taste buds. The taste of it was all too
familiar. Asar struggled to right himself. “Lilly.”

Menthu pushed
himself up off the ground. The War god sneered and licked his lips. “Look who
joined our party. Mmm, that, I must say, was delicious. I could use a bit more.”

It would be the
last words he would ever say to Asar. The beast devoured his last reserves of
control. His vision flooded with red.
Blood. Death.
The beast hissed in
his head. Lilly’s energy blasted his system into an unstable state of savage protectiveness.

The minuscule
control Asar had over himself evaporated. The only thing that mattered was
Lilly's life. He would kill everything and anything that stood between him and
his mate. Asar roared and tore into the soldier lying next to him, ripping open
his chest and devouring his soul. With blood dripping from his fanged mouth, the
beast wanted more. Asar turned his raging glare onto the War god.

Menthu retreated a
few steps and raised his weapons. Despite the razor sharp blades in War god’s hands,
the beast knew no fear, hurling Asar’s body directly toward the god and certain
injury.

The taste of the Menthu’s
blood filled his mouth. Flashes of red crossed his vision, which he assumed was
even more blood. His or his enemy’s, he didn’t know. His body had gone numb
except for the taste of blood, the screams of those he devoured, and the smell
of his sweet Lilly.

A roar erupted from
his lungs with the distant sense of pain in his side. He pulled away from
Menthu and reeled around striking at the attacker. He wrapped his claws around
a thin throat and stifled the screams of a woman with blonde hair and green
eyes.

Lilly!

Blinking to clear
his vision, Asar loosened his grip on her neck. His eyes gravitated to her hand
holding a dagger painted bright crimson. His blood dripped freely from the tip.
Despite her closeness, his heart lay still in his chest and no warmth bled into
his skin. Stunned by the feeling of emptiness, he stood unmoving even as she
raised the blade. He only wanted to protect her.

“Lilly?”

A heavy wave of dark
energy passed straight through Lilly’s soul. Her head swam and her heart ached
for a brief second. The three gods waivered.

A large animal
bellowed in the distance breaking the sound of battle, followed by absolute
silence. Pain seared through her chest like a knife and sent her to her knees.
She looked down. No blood, no knife, but the pain was excruciating. It could
only mean one thing. “Asar.” She gasped and struggled to stand.

The three Creation
gods moved in on her, but stopped. Their once smug looks replaced by anxiety
and fear. They exchanged meaningful glances. A burst of chill shot down Lilly’s
back. A strong cold hand grabbed her and lifted her up off her knees.

“Bomani?” Pain pulsed
through her body. She gripped at the leather of her vest. His severe eyes
looked at her with a mix of pain and sympathy. “Goddess Lilly, we need to get
you to safety.”

“What? No! Something
is wrong. I need to find him.”

He gripped her arm
painfully tight and eyed the three Creation gods. “I do not have time to
explain, but understand, you are the Lord’s most valued treasure. It is my
place to protect you.”

She yanked against
his grasp. “Asar can defeat him. I just need to get to him.” Another hallowed
howl pierced the night air shaking the ground beneath them. Bomani’s grip
tightened.

“We must leave
now.”

“No, I won’t. He
needs me. Let go!” She struggled against his restraint. His energy shifted,
heralding her eminent transport to Aaru whether she wanted to go or not. Before
he completed the shift of molecular matter, the Nehebkau’s chopper raced over
head, kicking up a dust cloud.

She seized the
opportunity to release the power that was steadily building in her system. With
little control on the trajectory of the energy, it raced out her arm through
the air. The white energy hit Bomani in the chest and threw him backward. Her
arm slipped from his grasp. The electric current pulsed creating a sonic wave
that sent the chopper into a tailspin and forced it to make a hasty landing. Lilly
seized her opportunity and sprinted in the direction of Asar’s last known
location.

Lilly hurdled the
last broken wall and landed on moist ground. The sand, now bathed in blood and
body parts, squished under her feet. She looked down a path of dead bodies. Bile
raced up her throat. Based on the destruction, she would have believed a bomb
detonated.

Where was Asar?
With her katana in her hand, she followed the trail of residual power hanging
in the air. Three signatures in all. Kepi had found Asar before Lilly could get
to him.

She covered her
mouth to stave off the nausea. Amputated limbs and crushed bones littered the
trail. Fire rolled through her body like nuclear reaction. Fine beads of sweat
covered her skin, her body’s feeble attempt to cool the raging inferno. Her
heart slammed against her chest.
Don’t let me be too late.

A dark figure charged
from the shadows. She countered sharply, but her movement was too late. The
mottled dark mass hit her with such force she flew through the air. Her back
slammed into the decaying stone wall. She grunted. Several bones cracked under
the impact. The burn of her healing powers overshadowed the pain of the
fractures. She scrambled to her feet with her katana in hand, only to have it
kicked away. A heavy fist struck her in the face. Stars burst into her field of
vision and her world tilted on end. She rolled to the side, barely missing a
kick to her abdomen.

The shadows
concealed her attacker’s face. She kicked her leg out and connected with a wall
of solid muscle. Only then did she truly appreciate her enemy’s build. He
outmatched her in weight, size, and speed.

For all her swiftness
and agility, she couldn’t shake her attacker. The last hit took her breath
away. She rolled on the ground in agony, only to be ripped up by her hair. She
stared straight into the eyes of a monster. Half of his face had been ripped
away, leaving bone and muscle exposed on one side. A collage of black and pale
skin covered the arm that held her in a death grip.

The creature's
mutilated mouth lifted into a grotesque smile, exposing his torn gums and long
curved fangs. She clawed at the enormous fingers wrapped around her throat. He
lifted off the ground by the neck. She delivered several precise kicks to the
god’s abdomen and connected with a large wound on his side. He grunted and retaliated
by slamming her back into the stone wall.

“Do that again and
I will tear you to pieces,” the creature hissed in her face. Despite his
strength, he was in bad shape.

“Menthu?” Lilly
gasped. It had to be him. The threat Asar wanted to protect her from.

“That is right.” His
fangs grazed her cheek and spilled a small trickle of blood. Her skin burned as
it healed. His eyes bore into her. “Healer,” he hissed. “Kepi told me you had
several of Mother Goddess’ powers, but I didn’t expect them to be so strong.”

“Looks as if you
could use a bit of healing, you sick fuck.” She struck at the War god’s thick
forearms holding her tightly in place. If Menthu was this strong even injured,
she couldn’t imagine the power Asar harnessed. She called upon the white energy
smoldering in her chest, but it failed her when she needed it most.

Without warning
Menthu plunged his razor sharp fangs into her neck. She screamed out. She was
going to die before even getting to Asar. Where in the heavens was he? The War
god swallowed her blood with savage glee. Lilly grabbed the Mevt dagger at her
waist and plunged it into the War god’s side. He wrenched back with his fangs
still attached at her neck. His back slammed into the ground. His hold broke. She
rolled off the large god and scrambled to her feet, only to stumble and fall
flat on her face.

He had taken too
much blood. Unable to stand she crawled on her hands and knees away from him. The
god had recovered and was coming for her. Her strike was far from the kill
shot, but it spilled his blood, her blood he’d just consumed.

She cried out.
“Asar!”

Menthu stalked over
and grabbed her by the back of the neck. He threw her across the hard sand. In
her weakened state, she wasn’t healing as quickly. His wounds were slowly
closing, but not as fast since she cut him with the death dagger.

“Asar is no longer.”
He removed the Mevt dagger from his side, not giving it a second glance, and
threw it to the ground. “You will be coming with me. I have plans for you, and
I’m going to enjoy every minute of it.”

She gauged her
chances of actually recovering the weapon and plunging it into his heart. She
lunged and grabbed the dagger, but weakness prohibited her ability to wield it.
He pinned her to the ground with his body before she could get a good grip on
the blade.

“A fighter. I like
it.” He pressed his hardened cock into her pelvic bone. “Keep it up, and I just
might fuck you right here.” He grabbed her breast and squeezed so hard it
brought tears to her eyes. “I’m sure you like it rough if you are Asar’s mate.
I’ll be sure not to disappoint you.”

“Get off of me!” She
yelled and struggled under his weight.

A deep growl
vibrated through the ground. Menthu grew still, and scanned the shadows. He shot
to his feet and yanked her up like a rag doll. With his grip on the back of her
neck, he pushed her in front of him like a shield.

“Keep your fucking
mouth shut,” he hissed, moving quickly through the columns toward the temple.

She lost her
balance and stumbled, only to be righted roughly by her captor. Her vision
blurred and equilibrium shifted erratically under the blood loss. “Asar,” she pleaded.
He couldn’t be dead. She still felt him deep within her soul and the ache in
her chest absent. “Help me.”

Her prayers went unanswered.
Menthu continued to push over the decapitated bodies of revens. She sensed more
of them moving about, but there was something dark and wild tracking them. She
dared raise her eyes to scan the shadows.

Menthu seemed to
sense the same foreboding darkness and came to a halt and drew his sword.
“Impossible.”

An enormous, dark
shape danced in the dark shadows ahead of them. A loud bellow vibrated through
the air, hurting her sensitive eardrums. Menthu’s grip stiffened and he thrust
her several yards in front of him. She slid to a stop a foot from the dark
energy.

While the War god
made his escape, the dark energy trained on her. She looked up into glowing red
eyes filled with malice and blood lust. She had very little left to bargain
with, not that she could bargain with the beast.

Lilly slowly rose on
hands and knees with her eyes downcast. The last thing she wanted to do was
challenge him. She slowly backed away, trying to buy time before he struck. She
could not outrun him, not in her current state.

The beast rushed,
clasping her with its sharp talons, penetrating her skin. The sharp points dug
into her chest. She gasped for breath. She confronted the man she loved— or at
least, the shell of him. Face contorted into vicious expression of death. A mouth
full of serrated daggers. His face and body covered in blood.

Lilly put her hands
out to defend herself against the impending attack. Her palms contacted Asar’s
hulking chest muscle that was riddled with savage blade marks over his heart.
The beast hissed when her hot palms touch his cold skin.

“Oh, god. What did
they do to you?” The multiple punctures were wielded with unadulterated rage.
No doubt inflicted by Kepi with the Mevt dagger. The once radiant glow of his
soul was now black and empty. The fact that some part of him still lived was
shocking. But what part?

“No.” Placing her
palm over his soulless chest, she choked on her sorrow. She was too late. “Come
back to me,” she whispered. “I need you. Feel me. Taste me. I am real.” She
summoned the last bit of her energy and fed it to him.

* * *

Asar felt the shock
of heat and the strong smell of Lilly in his comatose state. It seemed so
distant, but near all the same. He wandered aimless in a sea of black. A slow
form of torture, he thought. A pain beyond anything he had envisioned. The
flash of blonde hair and green eyes racked his system, but he had been fooled
once before. Kepi had cleverly disguised herself. His momentary hesitation was
a fatal mistake. The lacerations in his chest were the consequence of his
inaction.

His skin burned
under her touch and her warmth rippled across his body. A small glimmer of
white energy formed in his consciousness, similar to the bright light that lead
the dead into the afterlife. The hot press of her lips sent a thousand volts of
electrical current through his system. He drew closer to its source. The light
pulsed brighter and warmer. A warm sweetness bathed his tongue, a taste so
delectable it could only come from his bonded mate.

“Lilly,” the beast
growled, drawing in more of her taste and energy. Weak arms pressed against his
chest. The cloud of darkness dissipated in favor of the slow, distant beat of
his heart, something that only happened in her presence.

The white light
enveloped him and he stepped clearly out of the darkness. He leaned over his
mate’s half hooded eyes. Her chest rose slowly with each shallow breath. She
was alive. His dead soul absorbed the energy of life from the shear contact
with her, but it had taken a serious toll on her powers. His senses returned
with each beat of his healing heart. He gathered her up in his arms and wrapped
her protectively within his talons. He rocked on his heels in his crouched
position, comforting her.

With the ache in
his chest a faint memory, he coveted the most important thing in his life. His
plots for revenge paled in comparison to the compulsion he had for this woman.
All those years he prayed for some relief from his curse—the Mother Goddess had
answered him, sending the most beautiful human into his life.

More of his
consciousness filtered to the surface. The rage and blood lust subsided. She
was his tonic.

“Lilly,” he said,
desperately. He scanned her body, finding bite marks along her neck and bruises
on just about every area of exposed skin. In a voice he did not even recognize,
he growled, “Menthu.”

She was paler than
usual, and her healing abilities had all but ceased. Still part human, she
could die or at least part of her. A side he was not willing to give up.
“Lilly,” he coaxed. “Feed from me, sweetheart. You need to restore your
energy.”

She smiled weakly.
“You’re back.” She focused on the pale burnt skin of his arms and chest. “I’m
hurting you.”

The pain did not
register inside his numb body. He did not care how much it hurt later, he was not
letting her go. He guided her mouth to his neck. “Take what you need.”

Warm lips pressed
against his skin, followed by the sting of venom from her fangs. His body
shuddered with the draw of her mouth against him, and he hardened instantly. Dark
energy flooded her system, and her body shook with the sexual high. Stronger
with each swallow, she shifted her position to straddle him and pawed at his
back.

He groaned and
ground his hardened cock against the heat that developed between her legs. If
he was not careful, they could be overcome by lust the blood inflicted on their
bodies, leaving them vulnerable to an enemy attack. Although the beast gave him
resistance, Asar pulled her mouth away. Her green glowing eyes swirled black.

With much
reluctance, he slid Lilly off his lap and onto her knees. His blood still coated
her lips. Before he could stop himself, he clasped her behind the neck and
kissed her hard, even with a mouth full of fangs. She purred beneath his lips,
a sound he just could not seem to get enough of.

Breaking away he
pressed his forehead to hers. “I guess I should be very grateful for your
stubbornness.”

Lilly snorted. “You
should know by now not to leave me behind.”

“I only wanted to
keep you safe. I am sorry if I caused you pain. The thought of someone hurting
you or taking you away, it was just too much for me to risk.”

She covered her
palm over his heart, and his punctured flesh healed to its former smooth state.
“If it is one thing I know, we’re meant to be together and if that means facing
death with you, then I’ll be here. I don’t want to be anywhere else. ”

He clasped her face
and kissed her again. “At least I know the owner of the Underworld, I am sure I
can get us in.” He smiled. “I
am
sorry.”

“You pick a strange
time to make an apology.”

He pulled her in
tight to his chest. “I meant what I said before, you
are
my world. I
would give up my soul for you.”

“You’ve already
done that twice.”

“True. I guess you
could say I am a man of my word.” Asar raised his head and sniff the air. “We
better get moving. Menthu is close.”

Still a little
unstable, he yanked her off the ground a little too roughly and dragged her by
the hand. He followed Menthu’s scent which was getting stronger with each step.
He heard her protests, but continued to push forward.

“Asar, stop,” she
said. Her voice was filled with pain. He followed her gaze to her hand, which
was crushed between his talons and bleeding. The beast faltered, and slowly
released her from his grasp. She immediately retracted her hand and pulled it
against her, shaking it several times.

If he could read
anything in her face, it was wariness. He was sure it was because of his beastly
appearance, the side of him he wanted to keep secret and hidden away. He shook
his head to clear the cloudiness.

“I need my katana.
The revens are coming.”

If he was thinking
straight, he would have known better than to drag her into a battle without even
a single blade in her hand.

“Come,” she said,
and grabbed one of his curled talons.

The beast followed
her obediently. They came to an opening where the smell of her blood was
strongest. This had to be where Menthu fed from her.

His skin prickled
with the dark power smoldering within him, waiting for a release. Small images
replayed in his mind, possibly residual memories floating in the aroma of her
blood. The threat— the pain. She walked over and picked up her katana and
returned to his side. “I need to find Kepi. Be careful. Menthu has my ability
to heal.” She started to walk off in the opposite direction.

Asar partially
heard what Lilly said, but his thoughts were driven by the beast—a mix of lust
and the desire to taste Menthu’s blood.

In a flash, he had
a shear moment of clarity. His curse, his beast, was very similar to the curse
that afflicted humans, changing them into revens. Could it be any coincidence
that he thirsted for the same things, blood and flesh? The thought evaporated
when he realized she was no longer at his side.

“Wait! If we do
this, we do it together.”

She stopped to look
back at him. “If we split up, we can stop both of them.”

He shook his head.
Although he would like nothing more than to rip Menthu’s head off, he would not
leave Lilly. Kepi needed to be captured. She controlled the curse over the
revens and his son. He stepped up beside Lilly and brushed his thumb over her
cheek. “Together. As mates.”

She smiled warmly
under his touch. “Together, then.”

He headed straight
for the source with Lilly just a few steps behind him, covering his back. He
stopped. She pulled up next to him. “Are you okay?” she asked cautiously. She
glanced at his chest, no doubt assessing his soul.

Asar turned to her,
his vision clear and inner beast tamed. “Kepi looked just like you. I was not
in control when I grabbed you.” His hand brushed against the healing cuts to
her chest. Pain constricted his throat and his voice faltered.

“Despite what you
might think, you would never hurt me.” She gently touched his face . “You need
to believe that.”

The cloud of rage
lifted the longer she was in proximity to him. For the first time in his long
life, he felt unified with the beast. Two foes, now at peace.

He remembered the
words of the Nehebkau Mother. Not only was she the key to his heart and soul,
but the cure for
his
curse. Lilly’s essence overrode his system. He had prayed
so long to be relieved of his curse, and the Mother Goddess had answered him.
The beast would always be there, yes. He would not be the same man without it.
He was the beast and the beast was him. Opening his mouth to say as much, Lilly
placed her finger over his lips.

“Hold that thought. We
have company.” She placed the Mevt dagger in his palm. He tightened his hand around
the hilt. As he turned to confront their enemies, his dark energy surged with
renewed power.