“In Colorado, on the Mephisto Mountain. It’s lovely here, isn’t it?”
“Who are you?”
Petite, with long, curling dark hair, olive skin, and the bluest eyes, wearing holey jeans and a faded Woodstock T-shirt, the woman was divinely beautiful. “I’m the angel, Mary Michael. I’ve been visiting you in your dreams all of your life, but you don’t remember me after you wake up. I’m something of an adviser.”
“Like a guardian angel?”
“There’s no such thing as guardian angels. I was chosen to visit the Anabo, to help them navigate life. It’s difficult to be pure of spirit in a world cast in darkness.”
“But I didn’t know I was Anabo until a few hours ago.”
“You knew, in some secret part of your soul, just as others knew there was something irresistible about you. As attractive as you are to humanity, you’re like oxygen to the Mephisto.” Mary Michael smiled. “What you have to decide right now is if you’ll accept immortality and walk the Earth until Eryx has been defeated, or until there is no humanity, whichever comes first.”
“I guess the alternative is Hell?”
Mary Michael looked puzzled. “Why would you think so?”
“I saw a raven coming for me, and I’m certain it was from Hell.”
Mary Michael’s reaction was bizarre. She began to cry, turning her face away to stare out at the snow-covered mountains.
Jordan wasn’t sure what to say—how did one offer comfort to an angel?—so she said nothing.
After a while, the angel appeared to pull herself together and gave her a watery smile. “Ravens live in the forests of the world, so it’s not unusual that you saw one before you died. As Anabo, you were destined for Heaven from the day you were born. If you choose not to become immortal, I’ll take you back with me.”
Jordan narrowed her eyes. “What are you not telling me?”
Looking away from her again, Mary Michael said quietly, “The raven was Mephistopheles. He was there to protect you, but Eryx must have seen him and shot you before the raven could interfere.”
“Why would Mephistopheles want to protect me?”
“Because death means you can never go back to humanity. It makes things difficult.”
“And this makes you cry because …?”
“I … I don’t know. I apologize. This is about you, not me, so you need to make a decision. Will you accept immortality?”
“I’m not really clear why I would. What would happen to me? Where would I go? Wouldn’t it be discovered, considering I’d never grow old?”
“Your time in the real world would be limited and for specific reasons. Most of the time you’d live on this mountain and help the Mephisto in their quest to find Eryx’s followers. Others are here, good people who exchange mortality to become Luminas and help the Mephisto. If you stay, you’ll be educated further and encouraged to find a job that suits your talents. Everyone on the Mephisto Mountain works.”
“So what you said about my being oxygen to the Mephisto, is this what you meant? If I become a Lumina, I can help them?”
Again, Mary Michael looked away. “No, that’s not what I meant.”
“What, then? Why am I so important to them?”
Obviously trying hard not to cry again, Mary Michael said in a soft voice, “They’ve been alive over a thousand years, but forever eighteen. They’re immortal, with certain abilities, but human in most every other way. They crave friendship, love, and affection. A companion. A soul mate. Because of what they are, humans are frightened of them, so they have only one another.”
“What about the Luminas?”
“They’re not afraid, but what they are precludes them from the ability to accept a Mephisto as a mate. Even though they’re living angels, they still harbor a dark side. Minimal, for sure, but it’s there. It’s in the souls of all mankind, within the spirits of the angels. How do you think Lucifer fell from grace? He gave in to his dark side. Only the Anabo are free of temptation. Only an Anabo can find it within herself to love a child of Hell, to be close with him and not feel the pull of the dark. Unfortunately, there’ve been only a handful born in the past thousand years.”
Understanding dawned, and she thought of Key, how he had looked at her as if she was amazing. Like he was in awe of her. In life, others wanted to be with her because she was the president’s daughter. In death, the Mephisto wanted to be with her because she was Anabo. The only people who liked her just because they liked her were Matthew and Tessa. “So if I become immortal, I’ll have six guys wanting to be with me?”
“Only one. It was part of the bargain Lucifer struck with God when the Mephisto were created. If an Anabo could be claimed by any of them, the fight that would follow among them would cause a rift no one could ever heal. What makes them strong enough to fight Eryx is their unity. So God insisted they would know which of them is intended for an Anabo.”
The idea fascinated and repelled her at the same time. “How do they know?”
“By scent.”
Remembering the scent of evergreen clinging to Key, Jordan said, “It’s Key, isn’t it?”
“Yes, but you have a choice. If you don’t like him, if it doesn’t work out, you don’t have to accept him. You can find someone among the Luminas, and he’ll wait for another Anabo.” Her smile was soft. “But he won’t give up on you easily. Just so you know.”
“What if … I mean, wow, this is so weird.” After a long pause, she asked, “What if he doesn’t like me?”
“Everyone likes you, Jordan.”
“Evidently, just because of the Anabo thing.”
“I suspect Key will like a lot more about you than the circumstances of your birth. He’s very serious, a loner, more so than his brothers, and he experiences things the others don’t. You have what he values above all else, even if he’s not fully aware of it.” Mary Michael reached out and touched her hair. “Kyros leads the Mephisto. Every decision, every immortal life on this mountain, every move made is ultimately his responsibility. He can’t be with a girl who’s not equal to his strengths. You’re what he needs.”
“But maybe not what he wants?”
“He thinks he wants a pretty girl who’ll admire, respect, and listen to him, appreciate his greenhouse, and stay out of his way when he’s doing his leader-of-the-Mephisto thing. Kyros takes alpha male to extremes.”
“This sounds about as romantic as cold oatmeal.”
“Don’t trip over romance, Jordan. I’m talking about deep, selfless love. Even though he can’t fathom what it means to love a girl more than anything or anyone else, including himself, he longs for something he can’t even name. It drives everything he does. Because of the events of the past several hours, everything for him has changed. He has something he never had before.”
Jordan cocked a questioning brow.
Mary Michael whispered, “Hope.”
“Do whatever it takes to stay alive.” No wonder he was so adamant that she promise. But did she ever say it? Did she promise? “He was shot. Eryx shot him.”
“He’s recovered, and right now, he’s struggling to bring you back to life.”
“What about Eryx? If I go back, he’s still a threat, right?”
“Yes, but he can’t get to you on this mountain, and even if he could, he can’t force you to have his child. An immortal Anabo can conceive only when she wants to.”
The angel rose to her feet, bare in the snow on the boulder, and held out her hands. “Time’s up, Jordan. Will you live forever and join the Mephisto in their fight against Eryx? Or do you choose to end your time on Earth and go with me to Heaven?”
“If I choose Heaven, will I see my mother?”
Mary Michael nodded.
“And Matthew?”
The angel’s smile faded, and she dropped her hands.
Turning her face to the snowy sky, Jordan couldn’t believe it. “He’s all that’s good, everything people are supposed to be. How could Matthew not be in Heave
n?”
“Because he’s not dead.”
“What?”
“He lingers, Jordan.” Mary Michael came close and bent to look into her eyes. “But it makes no difference. Don’t make this decision based on anything but your own feelings. Even if Matthew lives, if he recovers, you can never be with him again. He’s human, and, if you return, you’ll be an immortal. It’s forbidden for immortals to go out among the humans unless it’s necessary.” She straightened and looked toward the mountains. “You have to leave Matthew, your father, and your human life behind. Tell me you understand.”
“I understand.” But it didn’t change that she was elated. Matthew was alive!
Standing, Jordan looked at the mountains all around, at the snow falling softly. It was breathtakingly beautiful, but could she spend the rest of eternity here? She watched a raven as it flew to the branch of a fir tree. The wind picked up, and within the whispers of the evergreens, she heard Key’s voice, calling her name.
She went completely still, listening.
He was more than mournful.
He was desolate.
Turning her head, she looked to the angel.
With fresh tears in her incredible blue eyes, Mary Michael began to fade. “Now, Jordan. Make your decision now …”
FIVE
CLUTCHING JORDAN TO HIS CHEST, KEY TRIED TO BLANK HIS mind of anything except sharing his life force with her, but it was next to impossible to stop himself from replaying her death. He’d caught up to her just in time to see Eryx fire a shot through her heart, sending her to the ground. She had died instantly, and Key hadn’t let a nanosecond pass before he was on Eryx with his switchblade. His brother thought Key was down, giving him the element of surprise. He cut Eryx’s throat, then restrained him until he bled out, staring down into his flat, dead eyes until they closed, never letting go of the image of Jordan hitting the ground.
Half an hour later, she was still unmoving. Why wouldn’t she come back? How could he convince her to wake from death to immortality? His energy continued to deplete, but he couldn’t give up, wouldn’t stop trying. “Don’t go,” he whispered into her soft, dark hair. “Not like this. Give me a chance and I swear you won’t regret it.”
He stilled when he heard her say, “What if I do regret it? Will you let me go?”
Her arms slipped around his neck, and she was there, with him, life coursing through her small body, surrounding him with the scent of bluebells. He wrapped his arms more tightly around her. “You came back,” he whispered into her silky hair.
“I promised to stay alive. Remember?”
He held her tighter against him, and for the first time in his life, he knew what it felt like to be happy.
“Eryx?” she asked.
“I took him down.”
“But I thought—”
“We’re immortal, but we can be taken out temporarily. He thought I was down.” He loosened his hold on her enough to reach inside his coat and withdraw the rabbit. “I don’t know how, because its stuffing is so thin, but this took most of the bullets. I was barely hit.” He looked into her wide eyes and could see she was shocked. Then he looked at the rabbit and mumbled, “I’ll get you another one.” Mister Bunny was in pieces.
“It’s okay, Key. I don’t want another one. It wouldn’t be the same. He’s all I had from before I was adopted. I was carrying him when I was left at the orphanage in Bucharest.” She looked up at him. “He changed everything, didn’t he?”
If Eryx had been the one to bring her back, he wouldn’t have wasted a minute before marking her, and her immortality would have made the mark permanent. Even if Key and the Mephisto had managed to rescue her again, she’d have lived the rest of eternity with Eryx’s mark. She could never become Mephisto, and no Lumina would touch her. As a pure spirit, she’d be tormented by the existence of his evil within her body.
Feeling light-headed, Key nodded slowly. “Everything.” Instead of tossing the old thing away, he shoved the ragged pieces back in his pocket, then stood, still holding her in his arms. He swayed with the effort.
“Are you okay?”
He slowly set her on her feet and reached into his pocket for an energy bar. “I’m drained,” he told her as he unwrapped it and ate it in two bites. Swallowing, he waited for a spike in energy, but it was way too little to get them over the fence and back to Colorado.
She was staring at him with a weird look on her face. “You’re very pale.”
“I gave you the bigger part of my humanity to bring you back. As soon as I get more food, I’ll be good.” And maybe twelve hours of sleep. He couldn’t remember ever being this exhausted. “How about you? Feeling okay?”
“Mentally, you don’t wanna know, but physically, never better.” She reached for his hand and started walking toward the fence. “Can you take us to Colorado if I can get us to the other side?”
He hoped so, but it was taking all his effort just to follow her through Eryx’s forest. With his free hand, he pulled out his cell and cursed when he saw there was no service, even though this was the middle of the Carpathian Mountains and it made perfect sense that there would be no service.
She saw him replace the phone in his pocket. “Can you get to your home, to one of your brothers, if you don’t have to carry me?”
“I think so, but no way I’m leaving you here alone.”
“Sure you are. Go home and tell one of the other Mephisto to come get me. Easy.”
“Eryx will wake up, probably in another half hour. It wasn’t easy to rescue you, but if he gets you again, it’ll be …” He didn’t finish, didn’t tell her exactly how much jeopardy she’d be in if Eryx recaptured her. No matter what cost to himself, he had to get her out of here. “I can’t leave you, Jordan. I’ll figure something out.”
“Key, you’ve got no choice. If you don’t have the energy to carry me to Colorado, that means we’re both stuck here.”
He wanted to argue, but he didn’t have the strength. The thought of leaving her here was screwing with his mind, making him lose focus. He tightened his hand around hers.
They reached the fence, eight feet of wrought-iron spikes with only three crossbars, which meant throwing a leg over and climbing down the other side was impossible without impaling themselves. They’d have to scale the top three feet, get a foothold between the spikes, and jump. Key eyed it, wearily thinking it’d be just as easy to scale Everest.
“You can do this,” she said, already lifting herself up to the second crossbar.
“You can’t jump to the ground without breaking something. Wait for me to get over so I can catch you.”
Ignoring him, she grasped the topmost bar, walked herself up, and, with zero hesitation, launched herself into the air. She bent her knees at just the right moment, and the thick carpet of forest needles cushioned her landing. On her feet. No tuck and roll.
Key was incredulous. And way impressed.
She grinned at him. “When I was twelve, I was convinced I could be an Olympic gymnast. No way I was that good, but I did practice a lot.” She came toward the fence. “Your turn, Kyros.”
He grabbed onto the top crossbar and tried to heave himself up, but didn’t make it. Sliding back to the ground, he stared at her through the fence. “This is humiliating.”
“Like I’m judging you? You just brought me back to life. Come on, Key. Concentrate.”
It took three more tries before he made the top of the fence, and his landing on the other side was way less nimble than hers. He crumpled into a bundle of exhaustion at her feet. While he forced himself to a sit, she knelt before him and said in a low voice, “I hear something. Go to Colorado now, and I’m going to climb a tree and hide.”
Blinking away unconsciousness, Key admitted defeat and replied, “Climb the tree. Then I’ll go for help.”
Without another word, she stood, turned, and ran away from him. She took a huge leap and just made the lowest branch of a maple tree, then swung herself up to another
and climbed until she was very high off the ground. Without leaves, the tree didn’t hide her, but she was high enough that no one would notice her unless he looked up. Eryx wouldn’t. He’d look ahead.
Despising the weakness forcing him to leave her, Key closed his eyes and transported to the Mephisto house. He fell in a heap on the onyx M in the front hall, rolled to his back, and used the last burst of energy in his body to yell, “Phoenix! Can you hear me? Phoenix!”
His brother materialized next to him, took one look at his face, and dropped to his knees. “Where is she?”
“A mile and a half from Erinýes, outside the east fence, in a maple tree. Eryx is after her.” He drew in a breath and saw Jax appear next to Phoenix. “He shot her, and I brought her back.”
Phoenix nodded and disappeared.
Key fought to sit up, but couldn’t. He heard Jax shouting but was incapable of a coherent response, and in spite of his iron will to remain conscious, he slipped into darkness.
From her perch high in the tree, Jordan watched Eryx materialize on this side of the fence. He looked bad, white as a ghost, covered in blood, but his voice was strong and loud, echoing through the forest. “I know you’re out here, Jordan. Key is in Colorado, but you’re not. He was too weak to carry you, wasn’t he?” He walked away from the fence, away from her tree, talking as he went. “If you don’t come out, surrender yourself, and agree to stay with me, the price you pay will be very dear.”
What could he do to her? He couldn’t kill her. She was already dead and resurrected. Mary Michael said he couldn’t make her have his baby. She told herself she wasn’t afraid, but the quiver in her belly made her a liar. She was scared out of her mind.
“The Mephisto will come for you, and if you go with them, those you left behind in your human life will suffer. Think about your father, the boy Matthew, and your friend Tessa.”
He knew about Tessa? Did he know every nook and cranny of her life?
“Stay with me and they’ll live the life God intended for them. Leave and I’ll ensure they each belong to me before they die. Never underestimate my ability to persuade humans to follow me.”
The Mephisto Kiss (The Redemption Of Kyros) Page 6
