[Nix 03.0] Rise of a Phoenix

by Shannon Mayer

  Killian’s eyes were closed, but he lifted a hand and placed it on Bear’s head, and Bear reached up and placed his hand on top, hanging onto him. I turned to see Rooster staring at the scene. No, I didn’t need to say anything. The love and care Killian had for me and Bear was clear to the naked eye.

  Rooster turned and walked away.

  “Goodbye, Justin,” I said softly. I could never truly hate him, even knowing that he’d become Simon and killed Zee. He’d given me Bear. And that was worth every other shitty thing he’d done.

  I sat beside Bear and put a hand on his side, feeling the rise and fall of his chest under my fingers. The time ticked by and I let my body rest, though my mind was anything but still.

  This battle for our freedom was not over yet, and I had to do everything I could to keep these two safe. We’d lost Abe, we’d lost Eleanor. I put a hand on Dinah and stood.

  “What is it?” she whispered.

  “We have to talk,” I said softly.

  “You have a plan?”

  I sighed and slipped her out of her holster. “Yes, but no one is going to like it.”

  She laughed. “Sounds like my kind of plan.”

  *_*_*_*

  Ireland was as green as Killian’s eyes. We landed on a strip that was deep in the countryside and there was only a single vehicle waiting for us. A dark green van with a lift on it.

  “I radioed ahead that we need a healer.” Easter stomped out of the cockpit and glanced at Killian. “Is he still alive?”

  “Aye,” he whispered. “Though, I wish right now I had a stiff glass of whiskey.”

  “Later,” I said.

  We moved him with the help of the van attendant. Rooster said nothing as I directed him once more to stay with Killian. My heart hammered in my throat as I made sure Killian was settled. The healer, a young man with bright blue eyes, got to work on him right away, muttering under his breath in what I thought was Gaelic.

  “Killian,” I leaned over him and pressed my mouth to his ear, “thank you.”

  “Still can’t say it?” he asked.

  “No, not till this is done.” I brushed a hand over his, then took a step back and turned.

  Bear stood there, watching me, watching us. “You want me to stay with them, don’t you?”

  I went to one knee and he rushed into my arms. I didn’t try to hold the tears back because I knew this was likely the last time I would ever see him. God, I had to let him go again and again. Would it ever be enough? Would I ever be allowed to just have a life with my son? The only hope that remained was that if I faced down Bazixal, that this would be the last time we were separated.

  “Listen to me, Bear. I want you to take Dinah.” I slipped off my holster and adjusted it as small as I could, sliding it over his shoulders and tightening it around his waist. He looked down. “Who is she?”

  God, he was too smart for his own good.

  “I’m your auntie,” Dinah said. “And I won’t let anyone hurt you, kid.”

  His eyes flooded with tears and he shook his head. A child. He was just a child and I was asking him to be a man. “I don’t want you to go, Mom. Please.”

  “I don’t want to go either,” I managed to speak around the tears. “But I have to. I have to face this demon and I have to stop him from hurting us.”

  “Then you should take Dinah. You need her.” He fumbled to get her out of the holster.

  I put my hand over his. “No. You need to keep her with you. She won’t be able to damage a demon.”

  Sobs rattled his body and he leaned toward me, pressing his forehead to my shoulder. I hugged him as tightly as I could, breathing him in. “I love you, Bear.”

  “I love you too,” he whispered back. “Please don’t die.”

  I stroked a hand over his head. “I’ll do my best.”

  I didn’t have to tell him that Killian would look out for him, or that Rooster would stick around at least to make sure they were safe.

  “We’re fueled up,” Easter called to me. “We should go.”

  I kissed Bear on the forehead, stood and walked away. Walked away from the boy I’d fought so hard to find, that I’d killed to protect.

  One more time. One last time. One way or another, I would end this.

  27

  Bear

  I stood there watching the cargo plane take off in a burst of speed that swept my mother away from me again. Tears tracked down my cheeks but I didn’t bother to wipe them. I understood why she was going. I understood why she left me behind. But my worry was that without me there, something would go wrong. I couldn’t even place why that feeling wrapped around me, but it was persistent enough that my feet took me in the direction of the plane before I could stop them.

  “She’s strong enough,” Dinah said. “She’ll take care of the demon and then this will be all over.”

  “I think she needs me there,” I said. “I think without me, she won’t be able to kill him.”

  Dinah sighed. “She’d only worry if you were there.”

  “No, it’s not that.” I rubbed a hand across my cheeks. “I can’t explain it. I need to be there.”

  “It’s too late now,” she said. “You stay here, we’ll make sure Killian is safe.”

  Dinah was right, it was too late, but I couldn’t dodge the feeling that I should have gone with her. For right or for wrong, my gut feeling was pushing me to find a way to stand with my mother.

  I bit my lower lip, turned and hurried to the back of the van. As I stepped around the corner, the healer pulled a piece of knife from Killian’s belly. He flicked it behind him and it spun, end over end. Hooked and split in several places, blood dripped through it as it flung through the air.

  “That be that, lad.” The healer bent over him. “You look familiar, do I know you?”

  Killian had said the people here didn’t like him.

  “He can’t speak,” I said.

  The healer shot a look at me. “I heard him speak to his lady friend.”

  Killian groaned and pressed a hand to the wounds. “I’m from here, but it’s been years. Mayhap you know a cousin or two of mine? Think you can finish the job now?”

  The healer nodded. “In a minute.”

  I twisted around to see where Rooster had gone. He stood about twenty feet away speaking to someone. I frowned and narrowed my eyes. It was hard to see past Rooster, to see who he was speaking to because he was such a large guy. I took a step to the left and sucked in a sharp breath.

  I hurried to Killian’s side. “We have to go. Noah is here.”

  Killian groaned. “Fuck.” I tried to help him sit up while the healer yelled at him to lie down.

  Everything was happening so fast. I twisted around to see Noah push Rooster out of the way and start toward us. I only knew that he was with my grandfather, that he was working for him. I put a hand on Dinah.

  “Dinah, what do I do?”

  “Pull me out,” she whispered. “I’ll protect you.”

  I did as she said and pointed her at Noah as he strode toward us. He slowed and held up his hands.

  “Bear, I’m your friend. Why don’t you put that down?”

  “No. You aren’t my friend,” I said. “You were working for my grandfather.”

  Noah shrugged. “Yes and no. I work for a lot of people.”

  I clutched at Dinah’s grip with both hands. She was heavier than I expected. “I don’t want to shoot you.”

  “But I kind of do,” Dinah said and she went off in my hands, sending me backward right onto my butt.

  The concussion filled my ears, and for a moment, I didn’t hear anything. And then Noah grabbed me by the arm and put Dinah back into my holster. I wanted to find my fire but I couldn’t any more than I could reach for Dinah. It wasn’t there.

  “Don’t you hurt him!” Dinah screeched. “Strike, don’t you hurt him!”

  He ignored her. “You were right, kid,” Noah said, his words trickling through to me. “You are meant to be
with your mother right now, and I’m going to make sure of it.”

  I fought him, I did, and I saw Killian fall off the bed and crawl toward us but I knew it was already too late. Noah snapped his fingers and Rooster was there, as if he were a trained dog and the pieces fit together. They’d been in on this together all along.

  And then my world went black.

  Phoenix

  The flight back to the States was remarkably quiet except for the rumble of the cargo plane’s engines and the occasional mutter from Easter and her co-pilot. She’d agreed to circle around NOLA and I would take a parachute and jump. Not ideal, but I understood her not wanting to land when I was going in to face a demon. I’d explained that much to her.

  “You’re shitting me.” She stared at me like I’d lost my mind.

  “When you have a child, or someone worth fighting for, you’ll understand,” I said. On me, I had only a few weapons left, knives mostly. I felt naked without Dinah and Eleanor.

  Eleanor, I still had, but she was quiet, of course. Dead. I sat in the back of the plane with the parachute on, holding the remnants of my gun. Of my mother. I snorted softly and ran my fingers over the broken pieces. A brush of cool air brought my head up. “Martin, I thought I’d lost you somewhere back there.”

  No. But my journey ends here. I found my woman.

  I chuckled. “Easter?”

  Yes, she is a myst maker from an old line . . . I’ve been searching for her.

  I nodded. “Then go with my thanks, Martin.”

  There is one last thing I wish to tell you. Her soul is within the gun still.

  The cool breeze brushed down my arm and over my hand holding the gun.

  If you fix what is broken, she may come back.

  He said nothing else and I felt him move away from me, toward the cockpit. I didn’t want to hope for something that was likely not going to happen. I knew that facing Bazixal was going to be deadlier than anything else I’d ever done. No job, no hit, no kill was going to come close to the danger I was willingly putting myself in. I heated up my hands with my fire and smoothed it over the metal, bending some of it back into place. But it was far from healed. “Brikoff, I’ll get Brikoff to fix this, Eleanor,” I said softly.

  “We’re here,” Easter called out to me. “I’m going to open the ramp and circle around. Choose carefully, don’t forget this is bayou country.”

  I glanced back at her. “You’ve helped me when you didn’t need to.”

  “I have a feeling we’re going to meet again, Phoenix. I’d rather be on your good side.” She grinned and saluted.

  I blew out a breath and turned toward the opening ramp and the wind rushing in around my legs. There would be no good way to do this. The mansion where my father had made the deal with Bazixal had been on the north side of New Orleans proper. I waited for the plane to head that direction and then ran down the ramp and leapt off the edge.

  The wind caught me, tugging tears from my eyes as I fell. From not only the wind, but from everything . . . for Bear and Killian, for Abe and Eleanor, for Zee, for Dinah . . . even for Tommy and Daniel. So much pain and destruction because of one man’s lust for power.

  Now, it was up to me to try to make it right. To fix this mess.

  I pulled the cord on the parachute and I was snapped out of my freefall. My trajectory was good as I was headed for a clump of trees over what looked like solid ground.

  My parachute tangled in the trees and I was snapped through the branches. I closed my eyes as I was slapped in the face and my body swung hard against the tree trunk. The wind was knocked out of me and I hung there a moment struggling to get it back. Finally, a breath swept in and I opened my eyes.

  “I know I’m supposed to be lucky, but this is fucking ridiculous.” I stared at the mansion that was across an expanse of water from me. The mansion that this had all started in and where Romano was supposed to end it. I looked into the sky, to see the crescent moon hanging directly over the mansion. Luck, this was crazy luck.

  I grabbed a knife and cut away the cords so I dropped to the ground. Only it wasn’t ground but sloppy mud that sucked all the way up to my knees. The sounds of the bayou hummed in my ears, the frogs and the birds, the splash of water. I took a step and then another and another. There was no point in taking my time now.

  If Bazixal didn’t know I was coming, I’d have been shocked. I made it across the chunk of mushy bayou with only one encounter with a large snake that really had no interest in me at all.

  Stepping out of the muck and onto solid ground, I stood there for a moment and gathered myself. I reached for my fire and felt it humming under my skin, waiting for me to use it. That was all I had, and yet . . . I knew it was right. Dinah would have done no damage to a demon like Bazixal.

  She was better off protecting my boy.

  I blew out a breath, anxiety rolling through me for the first time in a long time. This was not my kind of fight. I had no idea exactly what I was going into, or just what Bazixal would try to do to me. What he might try and trick me into signing or doing.

  I swallowed hard, my mouth dry, fear chasing me.

  The walk to the door was over far too fast. I didn’t knock on the big double doors, I just pushed them open and let myself in. I strode through the house leaving a trail of mud and water behind.

  All the way to the main eating hall, I went. The same table was set up, and all the chairs were as before. I glanced to my left at the fireplace but it was just a place for a fire. For now.

  A squeaking grind snapped my eyes around to the head of the table. The chair turned and I expected a monster. What I got was Mancini.

  “What the fuck are you doing here?” I barked the words at him, throwing them out before I thought better of them. Before I thought at all.

  He smiled at me, those jigging and dancing eyes bobbing away. “You can’t guess?”

  “You wanted Romano dead. He’s dead. But that doesn’t explain . . .” I trailed off as I stared at him, at his eyes. Different than the demon’s eyes but . . . close enough. My heart began to hammer out of control as he stood.

  “You see, I am bound by rules I do not like.” He trailed his fingers on the table as he worked his way toward me. “Demons must always be bound by rules. Mine were that I could not directly interfere with Romano’s failure. I could help him succeed but I could not actively work to kill him and end the deal.”

  I struggled to find enough moisture in my mouth to speak properly. “It was you pushing me all along then.”

  “It was. I needed you to be strong enough.” He smiled at me, his teeth not pointed but blunt, squared off. “You see, two of my guardians were coming to the end of their punishment with me. Their time was up. You killed them, which meant they lost their souls to me.” He tipped his head at me as if thanking me.

  I continued to stare at him while the words poured from his mouth. Like he was proud of himself for his deception.

  “I knew you would be an Ascendant from the time you were born. I tried to take your mother, but she slipped away from me with your sister’s help. So, I waited for you to come of age, whispering to your father that you would make an excellent killer. That you would want to prove yourself. And then I helped to set you free of him.”

  “Why?” I couldn’t help the one-word question.

  He held up a finger. “Because there is no better driving force than that of a mother’s love. Did you know that? I did. I’ve seen it in action before. Seen mothers throw themselves off cliffs to save their children, seen them throw themselves into a raging fire, seen them lie, steal, beg, kill and fight for their children. You were strong before, but I knew if you had a child, you would be a force like no other.”

  I was shaking. I couldn’t stop. “You used me from the beginning.”

  “Well, to be fair, I used your father. He was nothing but a tool. His life and death were and are nothing. You will be my guardian now. You will be my finest creation.”

  I gripped the
edge of the table, only realizing then that I had moved with him, keeping it between us. “No. You have no hold on me.”

  “Your blood is on that contract.” He smiled. “Your father helped me out there.”

  “That contract is null and void. He’s dead.” I snarled the words. The fire in me began to flicker upward, curling around my body. Mancini—no, Bazixal—grinned and shrugged his shoulders. The image of Mancini fell away from him as if he’d brushed off a coat. His body elongated, growing and stretching into the demon I remembered from that night so long ago.

  “Shall we compare flames then?” He grinned and the skin on his face tightened, his eyes enlarged and the dancing in them . . . I knew what it was now.

  Souls. He had souls in his eyes and I do not mean his own.

  I gripped the edge of the table and stared him down.

  He laughed. “No different than before. I like that about you, Phoenix. You are stronger than you even know. But you are a killer. Your soul is tattered and torn, and I want it.”

  He snapped his teeth at me and they cracked like boulders being smashed together.

  I pulled the diary out from under my shirt and peeled it open until the deal was in my hands.

  “It won’t burn.” He smiled at me. “You cannot burn it. And with it still intact, you have a tie to me. There is on that paper a demand of a certain number of souls. I have two of the three.”

  He snapped his fingers and Noah slid into the room. He handed Bazixal the ruby ring. “Ah, Tommy and Luca. Lovely.”

  He closed his eyes and tipped his head back, then popped the ruby into his mouth. Horror slashed through me as I watched his throat bob and dance. When he opened his eyes again, I could have sworn that there were more objects in his left eye.

  The fire in me rose higher, my fear driving it. Bazixal tipped his head. “Your soul, or your son’s?”

  I opened my mouth to deny him both.