Bad Blessed Boys Read online

  Bad Blessed Boys

  Shadowlight Hunters Academy #3

  kailin gow

  Bad Blessed Boys: Shadowlight Hunters Academy #3

  Published by Romance on the Go

  Romance on the Go is an imprint of Sparklesoup Inc.

  Copyright © 2020 Kailin Gow

  All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage or retrieval system, without the permission in writing from the publisher except in case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. Do NOT post on websites or share this book without permission from copyright holder. We take piracy seriously.

  All characters and storyline is an invention from Kailin Gow. Any resemblance to people alive or dead is purely coincidence.

  For information, please contact:

  Sparklesoup.com

  DEDICATION

  To my teachers and friends at Sacred Heart School for filling my head with a lifetime of great gothic private school experiences.

  Chapter 1

  Lux sat in the elegant living room of Brax’s mansion, a cup of hot cocoa between her hands. She was tired and cold, but her fascination with the beautiful woman seated in the plush leather recliner across from her kept her riveted. There was a sense of awe, but also a simmering sense of betrayal…abandonment.

  “Are you angry with me, dear?” the woman said.

  Realizing that she’d been frowning, Lux pressed a tight, unsure smile. “No,” she said. “I…” She looked at the woman, but no words came.

  “I know this must be a bit of a shock,” the woman said. “I mean, I just came out of nowhere, and poof, here I am…your biological mother after 18 years.”

  “I saw you… in Vegas that night at the portal…” Lux said, remembering the whirlwind of activity that night.

  “Yes.”

  “But you’d been in a coma,” Lux added.

  “I had.” The woman shrugged. “I guess I sensed your distress and felt the need to come to you.”

  Lux nodded, still unsure how she felt about the woman.

  “I see that you’ve surrounded yourself with a strong band of men, Lux,” the beautiful woman said, easing some of the growing tension. “Reminds me of my younger days.”

  Lux smiled at her. “I have so many questions to ask,” she said. “It’s been such a long and exhausting day. I’d hate to impose.”

  “Please, dear. Impose. I’m only too happy to answer any questions you may have.”

  “Thank you, um… ma’am.”

  The older woman chuckled. “Ida,” she said. “You can call me Ida.”

  Lux nodded. “How did I come to live, to grow up with the parents that I’ve known and loved all these years? I mean, John had told me his version, but now that you’re here and not in a coma…I’d like to hear it from you.”

  “I am an angel hybrid,” Ida said. “When I was about your age, I had a small army of good men around me, men who’d lay down their lives for me. Kingsley, who was Brax’s uncle, Gordon, Marcus and John…your father. They were all strong, smart, and good-hearted.” She looked at the men seated around Lux.

  “I guess we know how to pick ‘em,” Lux said with a playful smile.

  “Indeed,” Ida said, leaning back and taking a sip of her herbal tea. “But in the end, it’s John who won my heart.”

  “But he’s human,” Lux said, glancing at her father.

  “Yes,” Ida said. “Initially that was a problem. Well, not so much a problem…but I was a strong-willed woman, even then,” Ida said. “And I wanted what I wanted. Although I loved all the men on my team, it was John who I fell for hard. We fell in love,” Ida went on. “Not long after, I found myself with child.”

  Lux swallowed the ball of emotions in her throat. “I was that child?” she said. A part of her knew the answer, suspected the answer… rejected the answer. But she wanted to hear it from the woman’s lips.

  “Yes, dear,” Ida said. “I carried you in my womb. I took great pains to protect my unborn child. I went out to only a few minor battles with demons when I first learned of the precious cargo I was carrying. As my circumstance became more visible, as my movements become more limited, and as my love for this small unborn being became strong, I declined more and more assignments.”

  Lux stared at her, taking in every word and storing them in a special place. She felt like her world was turning upside-down. Her parents, David and Laurie Collins, the ones who had adopted her, had done so much for her. For as long as she could remember, they’d understood her special calling, even when she didn’t fully understand it. They knew that she was meant to be a slayer. They supported her and even helped her to understand parts of her personality that she couldn’t comprehend. They relocated, buying a new home and changing jobs… and all for her.

  “Once you were born,” Ida went on, “I couldn’t put my responsibilities aside any longer.” She fell silent, licked her lips and quietly looked into her teacup. “All my life,” she said softly, “I’ve known that I had this strange calling. Slaying demons wasn’t a choice that I made; it was simply who I was. It was what I was destined to do.”

  Ida looked up to Lux, her eyes moist with tears. “I’m good at what I do,” she said, strength returning to her voice. “I’m damn good, but I couldn’t put you in danger as a baby. And what we do…it’s always dangerous.”

  Lux smiled. “I think I know what you mean.”

  Nodding, Ida set her teacup down on the coffee table and sat back, clasping her hands over her belly. “The dangers that surround me are many. Not a day goes by that I don’t feel the calling, that I don’t detect a threat. It was impossible to even consider the idea of keeping you with us… with me. I couldn’t put you in such danger.”

  Lux nodded her understanding, but deep in her heart, it was hard to fathom. The thought of giving up her child seemed impossible to her. She looked at the woman hoping she would never have to make that decision.

  “We had to find you a safe loving home for you. It had to be with people that we could trust. People that we knew would do right by you. We also wanted you to be with people who would allow us to have a connection to you, even if that connection was very long distance, and for the most part, unknown to you.”

  “So, how did you find my parents? How could you be sure they’d understand the peculiarities of your situation?”

  “We gave you to the only people we knew we could trust; John’s brother and his wife, David and Laurie.”

  “They are my aunt and uncle,” Lux said to herself.

  “For years they’d been trying to have a baby,” Ida said. “We knew they were a strong and loving couple. We knew that they were stable and level-headed. Lux, we knew that they’d be perfect for you.”

  “They are perfect,” Lux said. “I’d never known more perfect parents than Mom and Dad. Asher can attest to that.” She glanced over at Asher.

  “Yes, your mom is the best!” Asher said smiling. “If it wasn’t for her and you, I wouldn’t have known what real family life would be like. The dinners she would invite me over to, and even the holidays. I felt like I’ve been adopted by the Collins, too!”

  “Yeah, Mom took to you like a second child. I almost had to talk her out of adopting you, since you do have real parents you know,” Lux said.

  “Parents who’d rather travel the world without me while sticking me in a large house with help while I live on my own,” Asher said.

  Brax chimed in, “I know how that feels like. David and Laurie were always there when Lux needed them. When she was hospitalized after a brutal attack by a succubus named Shayne…Moore’s sister, the
y were at the hospital right away.”

  “I still can’t forgive Shayne for attacking Lux,” Moore said. “It’s amazing how forgiving David and Laurie was to have me around Lux although my sister pretty much tried to kill them, too…and Lux.”

  “Yeah, Mom and Dad… now that I know for sure, coming from your mouth that I was not their biological child, are pretty special parents, especially since they adopted me.”

  Ida nodded, her lips tight and her eyes cast down. “I know that this is a lot to take in, and I’m glad everyone agrees they’ve been such good parents to you. I’m glad you found out though about them, and also of your real parents, John and I.”

  Lux chuckled. “I really don’t think you do. Tell me, if I hadn’t accidently found my father,” she said, looking to John, “would I have ever learned about my relation to you?”

  They remained silent.

  “When I discovered that trail to the Shadowlighters.” Lux looked to Ida. “That is what your band of slayers are known as, right? They are the Shadowlighters?”

  “Yes,” Ida said. “That’s right.”

  “I found John living in some monastery in Italy. It was right after Moore’s sister, Shayne, killed Dr. Kingsley. I was distraught. I was lost, and I needed to get my bearings, and there John was in an Italian monastery.”

  “You’re being unfairly hard on us, Lux,” Ida said.

  “Well, of course,” Lux said. “You were in a coma. I guess you had a good excuse.”

  “It wasn’t an excuse, and John not telling you about your heritage as a slayer with angelic blood, had his reasons. If you knew, you would be a target for all the succubus who would harm you like Shayne did. You haven’t lived a lie,” Ida said. “You’ve lived exactly the life that you were meant to. Don’t think that I was in a coma for my amusement, Lux. I’d battled for hours and hours, but the demons kept coming, bigger and stronger until one who almost killed me but instead, left me barely alive and in a coma.”

  Lux sat back down on the sofa and pulled in a long, deep breath. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I’m just in shocked about finally seeing you and talking to you in person, after all these years.”

  “I understand,” Ida said.

  Feeling a little calmer, Lux looked to her mother, her biological mother. “I guess all that remains to discover now is, why now? What are you doing back in my life now? And why did you get Brax?”

  Chapter 2

  Ida stood and picked up her cup of tea. “I think I need…”

  “I’ll get that for you,” Brax quickly said as he stood. He took her cup. “Does anyone else need anything?”

  While the guys shook their heads, Lux looked into her empty cup.

  “Want more hot cocoa, Lux?” Brax said.

  She nodded. “Would be nice. I think I still feel a chill deep down in my bones.” She handed him her cup.

  Ida looked up to Brax as he headed to the kitchen. Once gone, she turned her gaze to Sully and Lucas, then to Moore, Asher and Romeo.

  “Yes,” she said thoughtfully. “You have a very interesting group here.”

  “I’m glad you approve,” Lux said. But there was something in her mother’s gaze that indicated that there was more to her comment. She looked at them with a curious degree of familiarity, as if she knew them. As if she’d always known them.

  Brax returned and handed Ida her cup of tea then gave Lux her mug of hot cocoa.

  “Thank you,” Ida said.

  “Thanks,” Lux said.

  “Why do you think we all find ourselves here tonight?” Ida said.

  Lux shrugged. “We’ve had a very trying ordeal.”

  Ida glanced at Brax. “This handsome young man is Kingsley’s legacy.” She turned to look more directly at him. “Your uncle was a brilliant and brave man. He had immense faith in you. He trusted your instinct and knew that you had the high moral conviction to do what was right.”

  “Thank you,” Brax said. “I knew he had faith in me, but not to that degree.”

  Ida turned back to Lux. “Unfortunately, for all his talent, it is Dr. Kingsley’s portal that allowed Obsidian to enter this human world.”

  Lux looked at Ida with disbelief. Dr. Kingsley had always been so thorough, so careful. How could he allow any demon through?

  “Obsidian is the demon who ultimately put me in a coma,” Ida went on. She paused and let that sink in. “He is also the very same demon who turned Brax’s parents into demons.”

  “For real?” Asher said.

  “And, as if that weren’t enough,” Ida went on. “He is also the one who killed Lux.”

  “That’s one busy demon,” Moore said, cocking his eyebrow.

  “Busy and powerful,” Ida said. She took a sip of tea and looked at Brax. “With your uncle gone, you, young man, are in charge of that portal now. You have the key to close it.”

  She pointed to Asher. “And Angel Guardian, it’s a good thing that you are here. It is as it should be. Lux needs a guardian. She also needs a warrior, someone who’ll have her back no matter what. She needs you to continue to show her all the intricacies of her angel powers. She needs more training on her angelic powers and someone who will be there for her, to protect her, to guide her.”

  Asher nodded. “I’ll always be there for you, Lux.” His eyes gaze at her with love and passion.

  “Moore,” Ida went on. “Your sister may have fallen to the dark side. I know that she’s responsible for the good doctor’s untimely death. That’s unfortunate, but I do not hold it against you. I know that you are a man of your word, a man of honor and a man of stupendous powers. It is no wonder that you find yourself as part of Lux’s army. In addition to all your strengths, you have that special poison that is all so potent. You understand the weaknesses and strengths of the underworld since you had just come from there. You will give Lux knowledge from the inside.”

  Lucas looked up expectantly as Ida turned her eyes to him.

  Ida set her empty teacup on the table. “You, so stoic and solemn. You are a brilliant one, aren’t you?”

  Lucas pressed a shy smile.

  “And amazingly humble all the same. Yes,” Ida went on. “You have a strategic mind. You have a creative mind. A genius in many areas, you are a remarkable human. Slayers everywhere can be helped by your special way of seeing things. You can show them strategies they never even imagined, and I know of the amazing tools you’ve created over the years. I’ve even used a few myself these couple of months.”

  Lucas nodded. “I’m flattered.”

  “On top of all that, you are truly an amazing slayer, quick, smart and fearless. As a human being, you have a lot to show all slayers, human or not.”

  Standing to attention with a silly grin on his lips, Sully looked at Ida. “What about me? Do you know anything good about me?”

  Ida chuckled. “Yes, my impatient one.”

  “I’m quick and I can seal portals in the blink of an eye.”

  “Indeed, you can,” Ida said with a smile. “You are surely one of the more athletic slayers around. And, yes, I’ve heard of your amazing ability to seal portals more quickly than anyone I know. Your capacity to call out Latin commands is legendary.”

  “And I know how to fight,” Sully added, showing off his biceps.

  “I’ve heard of your fighting abilities as well.”

  “What about Romeo?” Lux said. She finished her cocoa and put her mug on the floor beside her.

  Ida looked at her daughter with a puzzled gaze. “I’m not sure about him. That one is a bit of an enigma. I know that he knew Obsidian. In fact, I believe he knew him quite well. But why he’s here? That I couldn’t tell you for the moment. It remains to be seen.”

  “Do you know about everyone in the slayer world?” Asher said.

  “Not all, but many.” Ida turned a loving gaze to her daughter. “But I’ve taken particular pains to learn as much as I could about everyone my smart daughter has chosen to surround herself with.”

  “
You could just as easily have forgotten all about me,” Lux said.

  “Never,” Ida said. “I may have been far away, and true, sometimes the wars, the battles, the fights were so hard, so long and so painful, that I had little energy left to think about much of anything. But, you must know… you have to know, that you have always been in my heart. You have always been in my thoughts.”

  Lux nodded, wanting to be comforted by her words, but not quite succeeding. While on a logical level she understood what motivated her parents to give her away, but on an emotional level, she could let go of the sense of abandonment.

  “Your adoptive parents did a wonderful job of raising you from what I could see and hear,” Ida said. “But, now that you are older, now that you are to become a slayer among slayers, I hope you’ll accept having me at your side.”

  “I hate to break this very emotional moment,” Lucas said. “But if you were in a coma for so long, what finally brought you to come back?”

  “Yeah,” Sully added. “You said you sensed her danger, but how? From whom?”

  Ida looked at them then back at Lux. “In my heart I knew that your very soul was in peril. You were on the verge of losing your soul for good.” She pushed a lock of hair from Lux’s brow. “It is your first guardian, Lothario. He is the one who came to me, who told me of your situation. He also let me know of the army that demon was building, hoping to destroy everything, especially your soul.” Ida turned to look at everyone in the room. “This demon is determined to destroy absolutely everything. He’ll destroy the human world, but he’ll also seek to destroy anyone close to Lux.” She looked at her daughter. “And ultimately, my girl, he wants to destroy you. He wanted to make sure there was no coming back for you at all.”

  Chapter 3

  After a restless night, Lux got up and headed downstairs. Even from the top of the stairs, she could hear the guys talking and as she arrived at the main floor, she found she was the last one out of bed.