An Eternity of Dead Sun (An Eternity of Eclipse Novel Book 2)

  San’s body began to levitate in the air as Eclipse’s fury became more potent.

  “Whoever your master is, they will have to fight me,” continued Eclipse, watching as San thrashed in pain. “And as you will see in a few moments, even in my dimmed state, I am not easy to overpower.” His aquamarine eyes turned colder. Nothing but rage and the need for vengeance cloaked his face. He spared a glance at me before turning his attention to the Demons suspended in the air. “I told you not to touch her, and you did. Now you, your minions, and your new regime will know my wrath.”

  What occurred next was astronomical.

  Boom!

  The force field that had been acting as a second roof for us broke apart, allowing the storm to come hurtling into the room. As the once peaceful world fell apart all around us, a big chunk of glass from the ceiling flew down towards Eclipse, cutting his arm and leaving a big gash. Despite how painful it looked, Eclipse did not even deign to acknowledge it, for his focus was completely on the ones he wanted to punish.

  A humming sound began to vibrate in our ears. I clasped a hand over my chest, suddenly finding it hard to breathe. I could feel my own body begin to tremble in agony.

  What . . . what was happening to me?

  “Ahhhhh!”

  From behind me, Phix and Demon Girl started to scream, their voices chorusing after the blood-curling screams of the Demons who hung above us. Those Demons rose higher into the air, now hanging above the dark sky in all different directions. The one who hung lowest was San, whose earsplitting screams rivaled the thunderstorms.

  “Ahhhhhhhhh!”

  Streaks of lightning began to infiltrate the sky, lighting the world above with blue lights. Another monstrous roar of thunder boomed over us before lightning bolts struck all the Demons at the same time.

  Boom!

  As if on cue, all the Demons above me convulsed profusely, their once black eyes burned out by a stream of blue fire. The wrath of Eclipse was undeniable. It was so powerful that even though I wasn’t the object of his rage, I still felt the brunt of his anger.

  I felt like I was being microwaved alive.

  I clutched onto my stomach and began to cough nonstop. Shaking from pain, I wiped my hand across my mouth when something gushed out of it.

  “Oh God . . .”

  I gasped after I realized that I had coughed out blood. As the Demons’ screams surrounded me, I felt something burst within the confines of my ears. I touched my ears, nearly blacking out as my eardrums popped. Terror struck me when I saw ribbons of blood on my fingers. I peered at my reflection in one of the full-length mirrors in the room and I almost screamed when I saw that there was blood pouring out of my eyes, mouth, and ears.

  Eclipse’s previous warnings about his lethal powers circulated in my mind. This was why he had to dim himself around me. And to think that this was only a portion of his true powers. I couldn’t imagine how my body would react if I were exposed to the entirety of his strength. I was sure that I would be nothing but a speck of dust. I swallowed past my pain as the screams from the Demons amplified.

  Eclipse was killing them slowly, painfully, and ruthlessly.

  As the grand finale of his rage, the blood-curdling screams rose to the highest of decibels. And when I felt more blood pour from me, I knew it was all over for them.

  “Ahhhhhh!”

  All at once, the streak of blue fire completely burned out their eye sockets. With hollowed eyes that were on the verge of death, their bodies were burned in a ball of blue fire before being ripped apart as if they were fabric. Before I knew it, all of the Demons were gone. They became nothing but ashes as their remains fell back down.

  Peacefulness returned to the world when Eclipse brought his hand down and closed his eyes. I had stopped bleeding and Phix and Demon Girl had stopped screaming. We had survived his wrath. When he lifted his eyelids, the aquamarine hue that once saturated his eyes was gone. All that was left were his chocolate brown eyes. His gaze ran over the storm-ravaged room before locking eyes with mine. Worry struck him when he saw my bloodied state.

  Relinquishing the last of his fury, Eclipse rushed over to me.

  “Gracie.”

  A flurry of air rolled over me before I was pulled against him. His concerned eyes raked over me. He carefully used the towel he was holding and began to clean my bloodied face.

  “Hey,” he said gently, placing a hand over my cheek. Though his own arm was bleeding profusely, his only concern was for me. “You okay, Teacup?”

  All I could manage to do was nod as my response. I could still taste the blood in my mouth. I was so tired.

  Eclipse took a second to pull me closer to him before his focus maneuvered onto the two remaining Demons behind me. Darkness dripped into his eyes when he noted they were still alive.

  Well aware that their lives were on borrowed time, the two Demons crawled out from the side and immediately kneeled before him.

  “Your Dark Majesty!” the two cried out before Phix continued by himself. “Forgive us! We did not know it was you. If we had known it was you when we first met, then we would’ve prevented all of this from happening!”

  “Who are you?!” Eclipse roared at them. “Why are you immune to my powers?!”

  “We’ve been waiting for you, your Dark Majesty!” Phix fearfully answered. “We’ve been sent here for you.”

  “Who sent you?”

  “We’re a gift!” Phix answered again without catching his breath. “A gift from your Elder—Sloth. His Dark Majesty sent us to aid you in your journey to convert the Source.”

  Eclipse blinked at them in stupefaction.

  He took in my bloodied state and the demolished room around us. After a weighted second of silence, he judgmentally gazed back at them.

  “Some fucking gift the two of you are,” he remarked, voicing what I was thinking.

  How could a gift sent to aid us screw up this much?

  With an authoritative tone that rippled with impatience, Eclipse commandingly said, “Clean up this mess, go find us another room, and then start explaining yourselves.”

  “And let it all fall to ashes.”

  05: A Tree Falls

  “Ow! That hurts, you jerk!”

  I was on the verge of tears, whimpering just like OinkOink would whenever I ruthlessly threw him into the tub for a shower. We were sitting on the bathroom floor, my arms hung over the bathtub while Demon Girl applied some rubbing alcohol over the open wounds on my back.

  “Mmm! Mmm!”

  “Stop being such a crybaby!” Demon Girl chastised, chiding me into a mortifying silence. “I’m almost done.”

  Quivering, I had to gnaw on a towel to keep from screaming.

  Demon Girl applied a bit more pressure onto the final cuts before bandaging the last wound.

  “Done,” she announced.

  I sighed in relief and used the bathtub as a prop to stand up. I turned to Demon Girl after she tossed the alcohol swabs into the trash. She turned on the faucet and began to wash her hands.

  “Th – thank you,” I said meekly, genuinely meaning it.

  She glowered at me, and I suspected it was because I was using my sweet voice as opposed to my abrasive one. I was a brat during the tending process because I was in pain, so I hoped she wouldn’t be too mad at me. I legitimately wanted to thank her for helping me. I tried to smile even more, to perhaps mend whatever hostility she harbored towards me. Before I could even raise the corner of my lips, she threw a white bathrobe at my face and marched out. Eclipse had assigned her to clean me up and tend to my wounds. Now that she was done, she was voluntarily excusing herself from my company.

  I wrinkled my nose in bitterness. That glaring hyena, I thought immaturely. I didn’t understand her. I was honestly trying to be the bigger person by being friendly. Why was she making it so difficult? Was she mad at me because I punched her earlier in the night? If so, what right did she have to be angry with me when she was the one who attacked me first? I w
as willing to put it all behind me, so why couldn’t she?

  I agitatedly shook my head and wrapped the white bathrobe around myself. I winced at the aches the simple movement elicited. While knotting the bathrobe belt around my waist, I decided to make peace with Demon Girl by simply moving on. Whatever her problem was, it was hers to deal with. I had more pressing matters to worry about and she was at the bottom of that endless totem pole.

  “Bloody fucking hell!” Eclipse thundered the second I walked into the bedroom.

  Terror surged up inside me. Worried about Eclipse, I sped forward to see him sitting on the edge of the bed with Phix standing at his side. Phix had finished tending to most of the wounds on Eclipse’s body and was now stitching up the biggest wound of all—the enormous gash from the glass.

  Nausea gripped me as I watched Phix stick the needle in and out of Eclipse’s muscled arm. After a lengthy period, Phix finally cut the string for the stitches.

  Eclipse freed a tense breath and loosened his strained muscles. He lifted his arm up and inspected the black stitches that weaved in and out of his flesh. Releasing another sharp hiss, he lowered his arm and grumpily said, “Being a Dimmed Demon sucks.”

  The fatigue in Eclipse’s eyes dissolved the moment he rested his attention on me.

  “Teacup,” he greeted, his voice brightening. His head motioned for me to sit beside him. “How are you doing?”

  “Okay,” I replied, complying with his wishes. I swept across the room and sat on the edge of the bed beside him. Though I felt uneasy given everything that had taken place, I tried to play it off.

  “How’s your arm?” he went on to ask, straightening up to sit closer to me.

  “It’s okay,” I said honestly. I glimpsed at his stitches. “Not as bad as yours.” I spared a look at Phix and Demon Girl before curiously tilting my head. “Why don’t you have them use their powers to heal you?”

  “Using demonic powers would leave traces behind,” he explained coolly. “Given the amount of power I exerted, it is best to cease any supernatural force for the time being. We do not need to bring more attention to ourselves.”

  I inhaled deeply, understanding his reasoning. Regardless, I was still worried about his injury. “Shouldn’t you at least go to a hospital for that? It looks really serious.”

  Eclipse shook his head in disapproval. “No. I may be a Dimmed Demon, but I’ll still heal like a regular Demon. It will just take a little while longer.” He smiled reassuringly. “This wound should heal within twenty-four hours, if not less.”

  I nodded distractedly, feeling exceptionally uncomfortable talking to him. I couldn’t stop reliving what I had experienced earlier. I couldn’t stop thinking about how I nearly died in his presence.

  Eclipse’s watchful gaze evaluated my demeanor. The way his tantalizing brown eyes ran over my body made me feel as though he had stripped me naked and saw through the façade I was putting up. True to his straightforward nature, Eclipse did not deem it necessary to ignore the obvious.

  “You’re afraid of me,” he stated knowingly.

  Desperate to hold onto some semblance of a façade, I performed my due diligence and shook my head to lie to him.

  Eclipse smiled warily, seeing straight through my act. “We may not have known each other for very long, but I know when you’re uncomfortable around me, Gracie. Judging by how stiff you are, you could rival a steel rod for its job.” His gentle eyes peered down at me, urging me to be upfront. “You’re afraid of me and what took place tonight.”

  “A little,” I finally admitted. There was no point in avoiding the truth when he was so adamant on confronting it. I shifted fearfully before saying, “I . . . I’ve had a man three times my size nearly choke me to death when I was six. I’ve had a man twice my size stab me over and over again a couple of days ago, but none of that can equate to the pain I experienced when I felt my body dying. That’s really scary to me. It’s terrifying to know how fragile I am when compared to someone of your . . . caliber.”

  “I get that,” Eclipse whispered, his eyes expressing empathy. A shadow of confliction flittered across his face. For a Prince who was accustomed to millions kneeling before him in fear, I could see that he didn’t fully understand why my fear affected him so much. Frustrated muscles tensed in his body. After another moment of gently appraising me, he quietly added, “Do not be afraid of me. I could wipe out an entire city with the blink of an eye and drown a nation at my will, but the last person I’ll ever hurt is you.”

  I smiled hesitantly, numbly accepting his words. I was his “soul mate.” His existence was dependent upon mine; of course I was the last person he would hurt.

  “I know. I’ll be fine,” I assured, truly meaning it. Once I slept through it, I would be fine. I had experienced worse in my little over twenty years of existence. This near-death episode with Eclipse was simply another impediment that I would overcome.

  Upon hearing this, Eclipse smirked dryly to himself. He glanced down at me as only a child would when he realized that his playtime with his favorite toy was about to become more limited.

  “From now on it’s going to be even harder to get you to fool around with me, isn’t it?”

  I peered up at him, and for the first time that night, I cracked a genuine smile. It was difficult to be melodramatic, especially when you had a sexually charged Demon sitting next to you, more concerned about “fooling around” with you rather than his own injury.

  “I made a pact with myself to resist you at all costs,” I admitted to him in a matter-of-fact tone.

  His eyes widened disbelievingly.

  “Bloody hell,” he breathed out, his handsome face taut with outraged misery. He had the expression of someone contemplating suicide. “I was doing such a good job of warming you up and prepping you for our future marathon too.”

  My cheeks turned beet red at his frank words. There was sexual frustration undulating in every word he spoke, and it was enough to conjure up inappropriate images in my mind. Paralyzed with speechlessness, I just gaped at him with a reddening face.

  “Awkward . . .” commented two terribly uncomfortable voices a few seconds later.

  Eclipse and I turned from one another and faced Phix and Demon Girl. They were staring uneasily at us, no doubt feeling uncomfortable that we were having such an open conversation in front of them. My face reddened even further. I wanted to kill myself. I couldn’t believe two Demons had witnessed our dysfunctional and sexually frustrated relationship. This was so embarrassing.

  Relinquishing his focus from me and his newly foiled plan to “warm me up,” Eclipse rested his now embittered attention on the two Demons. Although they had been very helpful in mending our wounds, they had yet to explain themselves. And in Eclipse’s world, this was never tolerable.

  “Ah yes,” Eclipse began gravely. Despite being shirtless with stitches in his arm, he still looked like the most authoritative entity in the room. “You two.”

  At the grim tone of his voice, Phix and Demon Girl immediately fell to the floor and kneeled before him, “Yes, your Dark Majesty . . .”

  “Thank you both for taking care of us tonight,” Eclipse started diplomatically. “However, since the reason we’re hurt is because of your apparent failed duties, it would be advantageous on your part to give me a very good reason as to why I shouldn’t kill you.” His steel-like eyes locked on them without mercy. “Start from the beginning.”

  Fearing for their lives, Phix and Demon Girl did as they were instructed: they started to explain everything to us from the beginning.

  “It began when his Dark Majesty came to me several nights back,” Phix began quietly, referring to Sloth. “His Dark Majesty came back to Hell and instructed me to go to the human world on a highly covert assignment to aid a Dark Majesty. I asked him what my mission was, but he merely said that it was to help his brother—that when I met you in South Korea, I’d know what my duties were.”

  “Didn’t you at least know what Eclipse
looks like?” I asked from the side.

  “Unless you’re part of a Dark Majesty’s immediate royal court, there is no way you’d know what a Prince looks like,” Eclipse answered for Phix before stoically motioning for the Demon to go on.

  Phix swallowed nervously and continued with his story. “Since I was a bit—pardon my language—screwed in terms of not knowing what the youngest Prince looked like and what my duty was, I set out with my friend here and embarked on the blindest mission I could have possibly been given. We meandered through the country and eventually stumbled upon the Demons at the inn.” Phix took in a strained breath. “In an effort to not endanger ourselves or give away that we were sent on a task to aid a Dark Majesty—I mean, it was obvious that these Demons were working against the established monarchy—we lied and told them that we were just wandering Demons.”

  “Do you know anything about those Demons?” asked Eclipse.

  “The Demons at the inn have been wandering around this area for a while. They are very big on recruiting new Demons by taking advantage of lost souls who were unfortunate enough to stumble into the area they preside over. Long story short, we were forced into joining the colony. As our initiation, we had to prove ourselves by taking part in the recruiting process. We had been ‘working’ with these Demons for several days, trying to figure out how to escape when we met the two of you.”

  Phix peered at Eclipse with apologetic eyes. “When I met you at check-in, there was something about you that made me fear you instantly. I really thought you were the Dark Majesty I was sent here to aid, but since there was nothing about you that indicated you were a Demon, I vetoed that thought.” He eyed me with warm eyes. “I thought you were a cool girl, especially when we spoke at the vending machine. I didn’t want to hurt the two of you, which was unusual because I couldn’t care less about the other humans. However, because we were being watched by the other Demons, we had to bring you to them.”