Born Sinner (Se7en Sinners #1)

  Bit by bit, he’s been showing me who he truly is, and I’ve been too occupied with fighting against him to see it. So whatever this Blood Oath is to him, I’ll stand beside him. It’s the very least I can do, considering all he’s done for me.

  Considering all that he means to me.

  I dress quickly and step into the hallway. Legion rests against the door across from the infirmary—the door Phenex said was storage.

  “Ready?”

  I muster up a nervous smile and shrug. “As I’ll ever be.”

  He opens the door, and the first thing that hits me is the smell. Scorched earth, burning wood and some kind of incense. The only things that light the vast space are a multitude of tall candles, casting a golden glow from different points in the room. At the center of the room, the other members of the Se7en stand in a semi-circle where they await their leader. Legion gives me a nod, leaving me near the entrance before striding over to complete the loop around a large star etched into the floor. A pentagram. Holy shit, this is a satanic ritual.

  “It’s not what you think,” Legion says, reading the trepidation on my face.

  I nod but don’t dare take a step closer. Now that my eyes have had a chance to adjust to the dim light, I take a beat to look around the room. High tech workout equipment stands on one side, complete with heavy bags suspended from the ceiling. On the other side, there’s what appears to be targets, some pelted with holes. They have their own gun range in here.

  How? I mean, yeah, the room is huge, at least twice the size of the shared bedrooms. But how can people not hear the shooting from the street?

  The same reason why screaming was futile when I first arrived.

  Everything is soundproof. Hell, I wouldn’t be surprised if there is some type of spell that binds the noise.

  “Let’s begin,” Legion calls out. I feel the others’ eyes on me, questioning my presence. I don’t doubt Cain is seething. But Legion ignores them, instead walking over to a small pillar off to the side. A red, ornate pillow rests upon it, and on top of that, a dagger.

  Legion picks up the dagger, cradling it carefully in his palms with a sense of reverence. Its hilt is adorned with gleaming red jewels that seem to glow with his touch. He walks over to his spot between Phenex and Cain.

  “The Blood Oath signifies the unity of the Se7en,” Legion says, his voice adopting an ancient tone. “In this, we are one, for our purpose is singular. Our blood sacrifice represents the lives we must take in order to save those who cannot save themselves from iniquity. It strengthens our bond and our resolve. Within this circle, we are of one entity.”

  With that, he takes the blade in one hand and slices his palm open, causing thick blood to drop onto the floor. He hands the dagger to Phenex who does same, then the two join bloody hands. Beside Phenex stands Lilith. She takes the knife and not only slashes her hand, but Phenex’s too, before placing their severed palms together.

  It goes on like that until the dagger makes its way around the circle. When it reaches Legion again, Cain does the honors and cuts both their palms before returning it to the pillow. He returns to take his leader’s hand, blood trailing at his feet.

  And then shit gets really weird.

  Their blood…moves. To the center of the star. It literally slithers together, creating a large pool of deep red. The Se7en begin to chant—a language unlike any I’ve ever known to exist—all in unison. It starts as a low murmur at first before their timbres increase in volume and speed. Shouted words of myth and magic conjure a violent, cold wind that stirs my hair and creates goosebumps to prick my skin. I back up as far as I can go, until I hit the brick wall. The chanting reaches its apex, and with a wild, animalistic screech—maybe from me or some other unknown source—the candles blow out.

  It’s quiet. The kind of quiet that only exists in death.

  Suddenly, fire roars around the room, the candles exploding with vicious flames. And what their light reveals terrifies the fuck out of me. I no longer see the Se7en. I see evil. Standing in their places are the heads of beasts. Monsters. Horned, red-skinned creatures with glowing eyes that scratch their way into nightmares and haunt your waking hours. They flicker in and out, as if the scenes are mere flashes of ghosts, trying to gain a foothold onto this plane. Still, nothing I’ve ever seen is more horrifying, ripping screams from my lungs that are foreign even to my ears.

  My cries go unheard as the chants begin again, this time in gravely, inhuman voices. The monster heads continue to flicker, giving me glimpses of terrifying evil. I can’t quite take it all in or blink them away, so I crouch into a ball, hiding my face in my knees. My jeans are wet with tears, my body seized in fright. I couldn’t run even if I tried.

  I thought I had known fear before as a poor, troubled kid born and raised in the wrong part of Chicago.

  I was wrong.

  Minutes, maybe hours, later, I think it stops, but I can’t be sure. I’m too afraid to lift my head. What if they’re still there, standing solid in their true forms, looking for a human to feast on?

  A warm hand touches my shoulder, and I scream, arms flailing wildly. Legion easily captures my hands and pulls me into his chest.

  “Shhh. It’s me, firecracker. It’s me.”

  I don’t stop fighting him, because I know it’s him. And what he is…is really Hell on earth. But he doesn’t stop holding me, doesn’t stop soothing me with his words. He has shown me who he truly is, and I can’t handle it. I can’t see that strong, stoic, beautiful warrior in him anymore. I can accept the killer wrapped in legend and secrecy. But I don’t know if I’m strong enough to accept this. And that is the real reason for my tears.

  He holds me to his chest until my cries turn to whimpers and I sag into his body, no longer pushing him away but pulling him closer.

  “I’m so sorry,” he whispers into my hair, kissing the wind-whipped strands. “I didn’t mean to frighten you.”

  “Then why?” My voice is hoarse from screaming.

  Legion lifts my chin to meet his gaze. His eyes churn with contained power that I never could imagine in my darkest nightmares. I force myself not to look away.

  “I wanted you to see me and all my demons. Just as I see yours. You want the man, but can you want the monster inside too?”

  I don’t answer him.

  I don’t have an answer to give.

  Exhaustion is the first cousin of fear, and as soon as my tears dry, it seems like I can’t keep my eyelids open. Legion still has Se7en business to attend to, and while I find it impossible to imagine sleeping after the night I’ve had, I manage to drift off as soon as I hit the bed.

  However, exhaustion does nothing to stave off the nightmares. And considering what I’ve just seen—what I’ve just felt—the scene that manifests seems to be more vivid than ever.

  “Sweet Sister,” I purr, raking my bloodied fingers through her tight ringlets. “It will all be over soon, you know. Just say the words and it all goes away.”

  “Why are you doing this?” she cries. “Why are you hurting all these innocent people?”

  “Hurting them?” I bark out a laugh. “I’m not hurting anyone, Sister. You are. You all are.”

  “No,” she shakes her head furiously, tears streaming down her blood-streaked cheeks. “You know what you’re doing. How could you be so evil?”

  “Evil?” Again, a sinister laugh erupts from my throat. I tighten my hand into a fist around the hair at her scalp and pull sharply, bringing my face close to hers. She struggles in my grip, but she’s at the full mercy of my wrath. I bear my teeth as I seethe with contempt, just centimeters from her ear, “You haven’t even seen fucking evil. Not yet.”

  On cue, I hear his footsteps enter the room, causing a pool of wetness to collect between my naked thighs. I let a soiled hand slide down my belly to tease myself.

  “Mmmmm. Just in time for the finale.”

  I climb to my feet, giving him full view of my backside. I burn for him, my breath escaping in excit
ed, short pants. When he presses against me, a small whimper vibrates my heavy swollen breasts.

  “Are we having fun yet?” he croons, grazing my shoulder with the barest tips of his fingers. I shiver, feeling his touch all over my body like a thousand, spindly spiders.

  “Yes, Master,” I respond breathlessly.

  “Good. Continue.” He strides across the dank room and leans against the gray cement wall.

  I train my vicious gaze on the lovely woman with skin the color of toasted marshmallow and dark, corkscrew curls. Sister. “Bite her.”

  Sister looks at the bleeding girl beside her. The girl I’ve forced her to beat and cut and burn and sodomize for the past hour. It’s a wonder she’s still conscious, although she is…just barely. The human will is such a beautiful thing. Strong, yet extremely pliant. Especially when it’s been broken.

  “Please,” she begs, sobbing uncontrollably. “Please don’t make me.”

  “Bite her breast until you taste blood,” I command. “Then do the same to the other. And while you’re biting her, finger her. She’ll like that. Use your entire hand.”

  Like a sad, blubbering puppet, Sister leans forward and attaches her mouth to the girl’s left breast. She can’t be older than eighteen, but she has a spectacular body. A body I’ve enjoyed maiming.

  The young girl cries out in excruciating pain as Sister’s teeth tear through skin and tissue at the same time that she rams her fingers into her brutalized vagina. She should be thanking me. It’s better than the splintered broomstick I had Sister use on her earlier.

  They both cry and scream in agony, but I don’t hear them over the sounds of my own maniacal laughter. And when my master approaches and pushes me to my knees, I can do nothing more than moan as he unsheathes his thick cock and roughly shoves it down my throat…

  There’s a siren going off in the dark bedroom, and I’m afraid.

  Blackness and heat encompass my trembling frame, smearing the fright of my dream into my disjointed reality. The siren sounds like my hoarse voice, and the moment I take a ragged breath, it stops. I paw at my damp face, trying to scrub off all the blood, but there isn’t any. Tears. I’m crying.

  And the heat that cradles me is him.

  “I’ve got you, Eden. It’s just a dream, baby. You’re alright.”

  Legion.

  His arms are like anchors, tethering me to the safety and security of his bed. His words are like a balm, soothing my ravaged psyche. I crush my body to his, hoping he can absorb my trepidation. In response, he rolls me over so I am draped over his chest, my legs on either side of his torso beneath the sheets. I feel so small, so frail, on top of his massive frame. Yet, the way those silver eyes gleam for me under the veil of moonlight, he seems vulnerable and timid. So I lower my face to his and covet his kiss in an act of lust-filled madness.

  He kisses me back as if the world will shatter against my lips, soft and gentle and urgent. Strong hands grip my backside, my long sleep tee covering hardly anything in this position. I’m glad for it. I need to feel his unshakable strength. I need to know that he won’t slip between my fingers like everything else. Like everyone else.

  My fingertips caress the hard, chiseled planes of his bare chest and abs before trailing a path down to his thin pajama bottoms. I don’t stop this time. I keep going, grazing the patch of downy hair at his thick base. A tremor racks his entire frame, but he keeps kissing me, his tongue delving even deeper.

  The heat of his body, and the need to feel more of his is too much to bear, so I pull away, only to whip off my shirt. His hands go to my breasts, and the memory of them in his mouth causes a small whimper to pass my lips. He remembers too, and sits up just far enough to suck a pert nipple into his wet mouth. I moan loudly, longing to feel that mouth all over my quivering skin.

  I can’t wait another second. I need his ache inside me. I need to tremble with something other than fear and anger. I need to erase those dreadful nightmares with the fullness of him.

  I yank down his pants to his knees, unsheathing his proud, thick hardness. The sheer size of him is daunting, but I crave it. I want him to tear me apart, bit-by-bit. Maybe it’s exactly what will make me better. Maybe I need the strings of my fragile sanity to be pulled, unraveled and be laid bare for him. Maybe he’ll see the beauty behind my chaos.

  I told myself I needed to taste him, but right now, with him hot and pulsing in my palm, I can’t imagine not taking him inside the part of me that burns for him. I lift up just enough to place him at my entrance, not wanting to lose the connection of his tongue and teeth on my nipples. Those starlit eyes meet mine.

  “Are you certain?”

  I nod. “More certain than I’ve been about anything for a very long time. Are you?”

  A flash of emotion darkens his gaze for just a half a second before he nods. “Yes. I’ve waited so long—too long—for you.”

  And with that, he sucks in a harsh breath and rips my panties to shreds, then flexes his hips upwards. And with his hands on my waist to push me down, he slides inside me.

  We both gasp at the sensation, the feeling unlike anything I’ve ever felt before. My body hungrily sucks at the scorching intrusion, begging to swallow him whole. It takes a few shallow thrusts before he’s fully fitted inside me. I could just sit right here and find release. I wouldn’t even need to move. Just the sheer euphoria of his body connected to mine in the most intimately intense way would be enough.

  But where Legion was hesitant—almost reluctant—before, he makes up for in exuberance. His hands gripping my hips, he pumps inside me, slow and deep and sinuous, in time to a hedonistic beat. His movements are fluid and erotic, positioning each thrust to hit every sensitive spot inside me. It’s as if he’s dancing, rotating his hips, flexing his ass, creating delicious friction against my swollen mound. And just as the first prickle of orgasm begins to snake up my spine, he flips me over onto my back in one swift move without breaking his rhythm.

  He hoists my leg over his shoulder, allowing him to dig deeper into my core. I break apart in a thousand jagged pieces, the pressure in my womb releasing in a flash flood that seeps between us. It had been a long time for me, but shit…he’s been abstaining for a century. Yet, he’s still going. Still pumping towards an orgasm that will surely move Heaven and Earth. And when the base of his spine finally tightens and he throbs and swells inside me, heated little daggers stabbing his flexed thighs, he roars unto the moon, and fills me to the brim with every ounce of his violent beauty.

  “Oh. My. God,” I pant, staring up at him in wonder.

  A sinister smile snakes onto his lips. “Even He can’t save you now.”

  I’m flipped onto my stomach faster than I can catch my breath, and Legion is thrusting inside me. His fingers roughly dig into the flesh of my ass, kneading the skin with every hard stroke. I feel his chest against my sweat-slickened back as he lies on top of me, holding me hostage with his body.

  “This is what you wanted, right?” he grits, his lips on my ear. “To see my darkness. To feel it spreading inside you, violating you. You want my sin, Eden? Now you have it.”

  I can’t breathe through my muffled cries, let alone respond. I bite the pillow to keep from screaming out.

  “What’s wrong?” he purrs like a deadly jungle cat. Teeth graze the nape of my neck, my jawline, my neck. I squirm underneath him. “Don’t you like my brand of evil? I told you, firecracker. I’ve waited a long time for you. I have no intention of letting you go.”

  And while I should be afraid at his dark tone, like any rational thinking woman would be, it only encourages my body to wrap tighter around him, clasping onto his wickedness and begging for more.

  “Yes, that’s it,” he groans for me. “Hold me. Feel me. I want to live and die deep inside you.”

  I hold on as long as I can, relishing in the sensation of his fire burning bright between my thighs. But every stroke is like a kiss of death, and the harder I fight against it, the closer I come to completion.
His weight, his size…it crushes me, yet makes me whole. I’ve never felt so solid in his arms, so strong. Even though I know he’s destroying me from the inside out.

  “Legion,” I beg, feeling an orgasm crawling up my legs. He speeds up his rhythm, coaxing it from my body like a snake charmer.

  “Don’t fight me,” he whispers. “The chase only makes me want it more.”

  His taunting words are like an erotic elixir. I feel drunk, lightheaded with lust, yet there’s something more that lies between our damp, panting bodies. Something deeper than anything I’ve ever felt. And every time he pushes inside of me, that feeling digs deeper, tying itself to my flesh and tainting my blood. Attaching itself to my heart.

  I don’t want to feel it, but the more I buck against him, the deeper I feel him infecting my soul. I quiver from head to toe, calling out for mercy. Legion hears my cries and raises me up to my knees, parting my legs to spread me even wider. When he thrusts to the hilt with enough force to split me in two, I cry out, shaking uncontrollably. His hand snakes between my thighs to prolong my orgasm, sending me soaring through a storm of sinuous pleasure. I am wetness and warmth. I am bliss and pain. I am Heaven. I am Hell.

  He comes again soon after I do, purging his sweet sin while his fingers tangle in my hair. We both collapse onto the bed of twisted sheets and strewn pillows, our breaths ragged. Silence falls on us like morning dew.

  Legion turns to me just as I roll onto my side to face him. And in the shade of afterglow, we smile.

  “What is it?” he asks, his voice husky, yet amused.

  “Nothing. Is it so hard to believe that I’m smiling because I might be happy?”

  “It is, actually. Not that I’m complaining.”

  “Mmmm. My body might be later, but right now, I’m just…amazed.”

  “By what?”

  I watch a bead of sweat slide down his bicep before catching it with my finger. “That you’re here with me. That after more than 100 years, you let someone in. You let me in.”

  “I guess I could say the same thing about you.” He brushes a wayward lock of hair from my forehead. “Aside from the hundred years part.”