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  A Demon’s Soul

  Dark Lullabies Book 3

  E.C. Land

  Contents

  Acknowledgments

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Epilogue

  Author’s Note

  Prologue

  A Demon’s Soul

  This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are all products of the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblances to persons, organizations, events, or locales are entirely coincidental.

  A Demon’s Soul. Copyright © 2020 by E.C. Land. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the author, except in the case of brief quotations used in articles or reviews. For information, contact E.C. Land.

  https://www.facebook.com/e.c.landauthor

  Publisher: Knox Publishing

  Cover Design by Charli Childs, Cosmic Letterz Cover Design

  Editing by Kim Lubbers, Knox Publishing

  Formatting by E.C. Land, Knox Publishing

  Proofreading by Jackie Ziegler, Knox Publishing

  Created with Vellum

  Available Now

  By E.C. Land

  Devil’s Riot MC Series

  Horse’s Bride

  Thorn’s Revenge

  Twister’s Survival

  Reclaimed (Devil’s Riot MC Boxset Bks 1-3)

  Cleo’s Rage

  Connors’ Devils

  Hades Pain

  Badger’s Claim

  Burner’s Absolution

  Redeemed Boxset 4-6

  Devil’s Riot MC Originals

  Stoney’s Property

  Owning Victoria

  Blaze’s Mark

  Taming Coyote

  Inferno’s Clutch MC

  Chains’ Trust

  Breaker’s Fuse

  Dark Lullabies

  A Demon’s Bliss

  A Demon’s Harmony

  A Demon’s Soul

  Royal Bastards MC (Elizabeth City Charter)

  Cyclone of Chaos

  Anthologies

  Rocked to the Core

  Twisted Steel

  Coming Soon

  By E.C. Land

  Devil’s Riot MC Originals

  Luna’s Shadow

  Choosing Nerd

  Ranger’s Fury

  Carrying Blaze’s Mark

  Neo’s Strength

  Cane’s Dominance

  Venom’s Prize

  Dark Lullabies

  A Demon’s Song

  Inferno’s Clutch MC Series

  Ryder’s Rush

  Axel’s Promise

  Fated for Pitch Black

  Tiny’s Hope

  Nora’s Outrage

  Royal Bastards MC (Elizabeth City Charter)

  Spiral of Chaos

  Anthologies

  Romanticizing the Gods By: Corrine Falls

  Remembering Ryan

  The Elites

  Twisted Steel: Second Edition

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  Author Page

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  To those who know and have felt the depths of abuse in their lives.

  Whether it be yourself or someone you know.

  Physical, Mental, Sexual, Domestic, etc.

  They all leave the same marks deep in our souls that can never be completely healed.

  Acknowledgments

  My Family – I’ll always be thankful toward my husband as he continues to show his support in my writing. No matter how annoying I become he lets me ramble on and on with the different things I come up with. Even sends me music when I need encouragement. My kids now are a huge part of this as I show them you can follow your dreams and shoot for the moon if you put your mind to it.

  My Betas – You guys rock! Thank you all for being the first to read the stories as they come alive. It means the world to me. Especially when you all start to get mad. That’s when I know I’m doing something right. And in doing so pushing me to keep going with all the different plots that form in my head. I’m thankful to you all for being ready and willing to read and give your input.

  My Knox Publishing People – I don’t know what I’d do without you all. You’re all wonderful in your own right and I wouldn’t have it any other way. From encouraging me to keep going when I feel like giving up to kicking my ass when it needs it. The best thing I’m grateful for is when you listen to the different plots and scenarios I come up with. As well as the family you all have become to me.

  Liz – If not for you, I don’t know if I’d ever be where I am today with my writing. Thank you for always pushing me and encouraging me. Even on my worst day. You’re more than just my Publisher/Boss, you’re my best friend. My sister from another mister.

  Diane – I couldn’t be more grateful to you. You help me so much with all you take care of and have become one of my good friends. I don’t know what I’d do without you considering all that you do.

  Kim and Jackie – Thank you both for agreeing to work with me on all of my books. You guys are a blessing. I love the fact that I get to work with you guys. If not for you both, I’d be lost considering you both show me what I miss and what I need to remember.

  In The Air Tonight – Nonpoint

  Save My Soul – Jacob Bryant

  Love the Way You Hate Me – Like A Storm

  Hold on and Let Go – Sam Riggs

  Limits – Bad Omens

  Look Out – Hard Target

  Can’t Go to Church – Mitchell Tenpenny

  Far Away – Breaking Benjamin

  Grave of the Fireflies – The Raven Age

  Gone Away – Whiskey Myers

  I Fell In Love With The Devil – Avril Lavigne

  Neverland – Zendaya

  This content is intended for mature audiences only. It contains material that may be viewed as offensive to some readers, including graphic language, dangerous and sexual situations, murder, rape, and extreme violence.

  Proceed with caution. This book does entail several scenes that may very well be a trigger to some.

  Also, tissues are a must with other scenes.

  Not for the faint at heart.

  If you don’t like violence and can’t handle certain subjects, then this is not a book you’ll want to read.

  Tears of A Demon

  A tear weeps from my soul

  It rolls down my cheek

  The depths of despair consume me

  I’ll make a deal to save my soul

  And the one it belongs to

  My demons can chase me

  I’ll never back down

  Protecting you is all I want

  Even if it tears my heart out

  Despair is all I know in this life

  But if it keeps you safe

  Then it’s worth every bit of pain

  And every tear I shed

  Not once will I regret my choices

  My demons will scream at me

  Drive me to the brink of madness

  But in the end long as your sage

  Every bit of pain is worth the tear
s of a demon

  ~ E.C. Land

  Prologue

  Lex

  Age 14

  The burial for my parents was held this afternoon. I could barely get through it due to the pain in my chest. Unfortunately, I have a little sister to stay strong for. I can’t break. Not now at least because if I do, no one will be there for Anabelle to lean on. She’s just six years old and needs someone to take care of her.

  Being that I’m fourteen that person is me at least until they figure out who we’re going to go stay with. There’s a fight going on for who gets custody of us. My mom’s best friend, Lisa, and her husband, Nick, are our godparents, they want us to come live with them. Our uncle Justin on the other hand, demands we come live with him.

  Lisa hates my uncle Justin and I’m not a huge fan of him either. Something about him has never felt right to me.

  Social services has had to step in, at first I’d told them I wanted Anabelle and I to live with Lisa and her husband Nick. But then Uncle Justin cornered me and said I either live with them or he’d make life hell for Lisa and her family, especially their daughter, Mackenzie, who is also my sister’s best friend. I’d seen the way he’d leer at her and my sister. So, I’d made a deal with him to leave them both alone and I’d tell the social worker we wanted to live with him.

  Lisa didn’t like it and neither did the lady who worked our case. But in front of the eyes of the judge they wanted us with family before anyone else.

  Tonight’s supposed to be the first night we stay at Uncle Justin’s and I’m dreading it.

  “Bubba, I’m cold, can we go home now?” Anabelle asks.

  Home?

  Neither of us have a home anymore. Never will again.

  “We’re going to Uncle Justin’s house,” I mutter.

  “Okay, bubba,” she says none the wiser on what our life is about to be like. And I intend to keep it that way. My sister and Mackenzie, I hope neither of them ever go through anything that takes the innocence out of their eyes.

  “Alexander,” Uncle Justin sneers out my name as I walk into the house.

  “Yes, sir,” I mutter though I really just want to hit him.

  “Come here,” he commands.

  Doing what he demands, I move toward him. When he points to the seat across from him, I sit.

  “Now that you made the smart choice in choosing to stay with me, there are a few things you and I are going to go over. And you will agree to these terms otherwise, I will do as I please.” My gut tightens at the sheer thought of what his words might mean. No wonder my aunt, Lenna, left him taking my cousin, Finley, with her.

  “From here on out you will do as I say when I say it. All the life insurance money is mine and the checks that come each month for you and your sister are also mine. When you turn eighteen, you will make sure to continue to pay me every dime I want, otherwise I will take what I want from your sister and that brat of Lisa’s. When Anabelle reaches eighteen, we will reconvene this discussion. I’m thinking at that point I’ll take what I want from one or the other. As of right now, you either pay me or I again will take what I want. Am I understood?” Uncle Justin snarks.

  He’s the devil in disguise and I have to agree to this deal of his in order to protect my sister and Mackenzie for the time being.

  “Oh, and let me clarify one thing. You speak a word about this arrangement and I will not only take what I want from both those girls I will take it from you as well and then kill the lot of you and that bitch, Lisa.”

  “I understand,” I mutter through clenched teeth.

  “Good, now get the fuck out of my sight,” he snaps.

  Standing from my chair, I walk to the room that would be my prison for the next four years. At least I know he won’t do anything to Anabelle or Mackenzie as long as I’m around. And after that I have until they’re both eighteen. After that I’ll have to find another way to save them from Lucifer himself.

  Anabelle may be my sister, but Mackenzie holds a special place in my heart.

  She’s my Starlight.

  The one who keeps the light in my darkening soul.

  Chapter One

  Lex

  Present day

  “When Anabelle reaches eighteen, we will reconvene this discussion. I’m thinking at that point I’ll take what I want from one or the other.”

  My body jerks awake from the nightmare I’d been in the throes of. Today is one of the days I’d been dreading for god knows how long.

  Anabelle and Mackenzie turn eighteen. It’s ironic really that they share a birthday. But evidently my mom and her best friend, Lisa, who’s Mackenzie’s mom, ended up pregnant at the same time. They had even gone into labor within hours of each other.

  After I’d moved out, Uncle Justin had agreed to let Anabelle move in with Lisa long as I continued to pay him. He was fine with this since my band and I all made quite a bit. Considering we have over a million subscribers on the internet and are frequently putting new songs out, we all live comfortably.

  Well, Chaz, Tanner, and Hunter do. I on the other hand pinch every little dollar in order to keep my sister and Mackenzie safe. Now that deal is out the window and I have to find out what my uncle will want this time around.

  The four years I spent in his house were brutal. No one, not even the men I consider my brothers, know what I endured.

  Fuck, I don’t even want to think of those nights I had to do horrendous things. Some of them are worse than others. Like beating a man near to death for not paying his debt to my uncle. Evidently, as I learned early on in living with him, Justin was a loan shark who also ran poker tables every night in his bar ‘Lounge’.

  If it wasn’t for the fact the bar was a cover for the tables he ran and the other shit he handled, my uncle would be out of business because the place wasn’t that popular. Then again, it’s meant for the seedier people in the area. Like the men who run the drugs he created.

  Those nights were nothing compared to the ones when he demanded I do shit for him where I had to get on my fuckin’ knees. It was either that or have the bullet put in my brain from the gun he held to my head.

  I’m not proud of what I did, none of it, and I’ll never let another soul know what’s darkened mine.

  There is barely any light shining through my black heart. Hell, the only reason I laugh and joke around people is to cover up the darkness that is me.

  Letting out a deep breath, I run a hand through my hair. There’s no way I’m getting back to sleep now. Clenching the comforter in my hand I throw it off of me and get up. Strolling across my room, I head for my en suite bathroom and step directly in the shower. Since I was already naked, I didn’t have to take anything off.

  After years of having to make sure I wore as much clothing as I could in my sleep, I now sleep in the nude. It’s a freeing moment for me. The confines of the blankets don’t feel suffocating in the least bit.

  With the water running as hot as I can take it, I scrub my body the way I do every time the nightmares come to me. Some are like the one I had last night about the dreaded day that today is. Others are about what he’d made me do in the dark of night. Then there were the ones where I’d beat someone up. The worse was the face of the man he’d forced me to kill.

  I didn’t even know his name, only that he’d borrowed five hundred dollars from Justin, and he hadn’t been able to pay it back on time. I’d been forced to watch my uncle and two of his men rape the man’s wife before putting a bullet through her head while I held the man down. After the woman fell to the floor my uncle turned the gun on me. “Time for you to show your loyalty, Alexander. Kill him,” he said. The unspoken words in that statement screamed in my head. Do this or I’ll take what I want with your sister and her friend.

  “Fuck,” I mutter to myself as I try to get my head to stop bringing up images of this shit.

  Shutting off the water, I step out of the shower and grab a towel. I dry off as I move back into my room and grab a pair of sweatpants to put
on.

  Once I have those on, I slip a hand through my hair and grab a hair tie to pull it out of my face. I was never allowed to have more than an inch of hair on my head in Justin’s house. After escaping, I grew it out. Now I keep it long up top and have an undercut.

  Needing to clear my head of the demons, I head to the one room that always does that for me.

  My music room.

  Although Chaz, Tanner, Hunter, and I live together in our house, we all have our own space. Which works great since Chaz has his daughter, Melody, and now his fiancée, Bethany, who’s carrying his kid. Then there’s Tanner and Alexis, which I might add, is also pregnant. Having two women pregnant at the same time under one roof brings out some protective instincts in us all. Everyone in our house is my family and I’d do anything for them the same as I’ve been doing for Anabelle and Mackenzie.

  Since we all have our own space, one of the rooms in my section is a music room for all my instruments. Granted when the guys and I rehearse or record, I’m behind my drum set but I do play other instruments. My second favorite to my drums, is the keyboard.

  Opening the door to my music room, I don’t bother closing the door since I’ll be putting on my headphones that are plugged into the back of my keyboard. I sit on the stool and run my fingers along the keys before putting the muffs over my ears.