False Start

Damien’s POV

We kept our flight to return to town so that we could go home for a bit and regroup. Joel reached out to Pat about this flower and she was going to look for a book that has some information on it.

We walked into the house and it just felt lonely without Rose. Oh Rose, I really hope that we can get this situated soon. I miss you and I miss my children.

“Chin up, bro, we’ll get these trials done quickly. There’s multiple men so that increases our chances in my opinion.” Brent told me. I tried to listen to his reassurances but I couldn’t control how I feel.

“Come on Patricia, why are you taking so long?” Joel griped while trying to call her again.

After a few more hours and her not showing up, we decided to go to her house and check on her.

Upon arriving, I could tell that something was off. The door was ajar and when we entered, the place was a wreck. It looked like someone tore through all her books and smashed her jars of potion ingredients.

“What the fuck happened here?” Max roared. I noticed there was a trail of blood leading from the bookcase to a room. I followed the trail and opened the door the trail led to. Upon entering, I was shocked. Patricia was lying in her bed, surrounded by her blood, and a knife stabbed through the heart.

Joel walked in behind me and yelled. “Fuck!” He ran his hand through his hair and stormed off. My eyes were glued to the lifeless figure in front of me. Why would someone kill her? Is it related to us? The conspiracies were swirling around in my brain.

“Damn it! What are we supposed to do now?” Brent exclaimed when he saw her lying on the bed.

“I don’t know. But it seems like the perpetrator was looking for something. I’m thinking maybe it has to do with the information on this flower. It’s too convenient that she died when she was on her way to deliver the information.” I said. Everyone else seemed to agree. We searched the place top to bottom but couldn’t find anything that seemed to relate to this damn flower.

I walked back in the room that Pat was lying in and closed her eyes for her. I noticed that she was tensed up with her hands in fists. I tried to relax her body for her but it was difficult. Finally I got her hands to relax and a crumpled piece of paper fell out of one of her fists.

I opened it up and saw it was titled properties of moondrop flowers.

“I found something!” I yelled out to the others. My eyes scanned the paper and it was essentially a way to grow the flower!

“Guess what, we can grow the fucking thing!” I laughed out loud.

“Well shit, let’s get the shit we need from either here or another witch and grown the damn thing.” Brent said with a large grin.

We searched for the ingredients used to make the special soil that the flower grows in and found almost everything.

“Looks like we need virgin blood again to speed up the process.” I glanced over at Garrett and he growled lowly.

“Hey man, I’m personally glad you never got your dick wet.” Brent laughed as he slapped his back.

We left Patricia’s house and headed home. Joel had to call her nephew to give him the news that she was murmured.

“I assure you, we will have justice.” He said on the phone before hanging up.

“This is one of the few things that I hate about being the alpha.” He sighed. I patted his shoulder before entering our house.

Rose’s POV

I was awaiting the results of the pregnancy test. I peed on the stupid stick and had to wait 2 minutes. When the two minutes were up I exited the bathroom with the stick in hand.

“Not pregnant!” I yelled to Asmodeus. A grin seemed to be playing at the corners of his mouth.

“Congratulations. That means you are available to impregnate, right?” He joked. At least I think he was joking.

“No way. The baby factory is closed right now. I need to focus on getting my babies back. I miss Jarren and Maddie so much!” I started to cry, thinking about them. Asmodeus approached me and gave me a hug. “You’ll get them back, even if I have to take care of Lucifer myself.” He said.

“I hope that my mates are able to get these trials done. Do you have any more information about them?” I asked. He hummed.

“What is it? You know something, I can tell by your reaction.” I said.

“Well, it’s not that I really know anything about them besides no one has completed them. Some people think that they’re fake, a joke played by the angels.” He said.

I gasped, a joke? A fucking joke? My mates were possibly risking their lives over something that may be a joke?

“How do you summon an angel?” I asked him. I suddenly had an idea that I couldn’t get out of my head.

“I don’t know. I’ve never tried to. Maybe pray?” He chuckled. I smacked his chest and huffed.

“Can’t we just take Jarren and Maddie back by force?” I asked.

Asmodeus laughed, “you’d need an army to do so.”

“Aren’t you a prince of Hell? You mean to tell me you don’t have an army of demons on hand?” I asked incredulously.

“That’s a misconception. I have servants and peons that do my bidding but I don’t have enough to make an army.” He said.

“What about any other brothers?” I asked.

“Well I suppose I could call Belphegor. Besides we will need backup in case Merihem shows up here.” He said.

“Call him up then! What are you doing wasting time?” I urged him.

He pulled out his phone and looked like he was typing out a text before he put his phone away.

“Now missy, what am I getting in return for all this help I’m giving you?” He whispered seductively.

“What could you want?” I asked him.

I felt like an idiot even asking when he answered. “Let me get you pregnant of course, that’s the only thing to entice me to go up against my big brother.”

“Fine.” I said.

He looked at me in shock. “Seriously?” He said.

“Seriously. I would do anything for my babies. If it means that my men and my children will all be safe then I’ll do it. But don’t think I’m having sex with you. I will do that procedure they do with you as a sperm donor.” He skipped towards me and picked me up, smashing his lips against mine. He’s really got to stop doing that.

“But I’ll only do it if YOU are the one who gets my babies and mates home to me safe.” I emphasized. He nodded, agreeing to my terms.

“Well let’s get started on that army, shall we?” He looked at me with a boyish grin.

Brent’s POV

After going to a local hardware store and picking up planting products, we set to work on getting this flower planted. We combined the store bought soil with the witchy ingredients and then made sure to pour some of Garrett’s blood over top of it. I sat there, staring but nothing was happening.

“So what do we do now?” I asked.

Max just shrugged. “We can’t expect it to sprout immediately. There’s no telling how much time it will need to sprout.”

“I feel like a couple of us need to stay here with the plant to take care of it while a few of us go to Stonehenge and see if we could find more clues. I can’t stand the idea of standing around waiting. I feel like I need to be doing something.” I told them. We decided to split up into groups. Max and Colten were going to stay with the plant and Joel, Garrett, Damien and I were going to head back to Stonehenge.

After a long flight, we checked into the hotel, again.

“You notice reception giving us weird looks?” Damien asked.

“Yeah but who gives a shit.” Joel retorted.

We set our bags down and made the trek to the stones. Tonight seemed to be a full moon and everything was completely visible, even in the dead of night.

“Something tonight is giving me the creeps.” I admitted.

Garrett produced a small knife and cut his palm, letting the blood drip on the grass.

Today instead of the the usual hole opening up one of the stone began to crack. It shifted and rumbled until it shifted several feet over, revealing a different hole. Freaky.

“Let’s check it out.” Joel urged. We followed along and entered the new hole. Inside, the layout was essentially the same except for what this podium said.

“Now let the real trials begin.”