Pandora's Box

by Miller, Gracen

  Her confusing attraction to him had caused her to bolt that morning. Her mother walked up to him, placed her hand on his shoulder, and spoke to him. Dear God, he was there to check me out. To see if I’d grown into all he hoped for.

  Madison’s stomach churned over the total management of her life. Her mother probably lived somewhere, enjoying her demonic, succubus life, leaving her daughter to fight the manipulation of a King.

  She couldn’t deny Micah had given her all the things her heart desired. He’d spoiled her with a nice house, cars, clothes, jewelry, and money still fattening her bank account. She loved him, worshipped him, doted on him, and would have walked straight into Hell with him if he’d stayed with her.

  All the time, his plan had been to corrupt her soul.

  The reality made her sob harder, and her stomach pitched again. Only his leaving turned her into a woman with a backbone. She should be thankful for his sudden exit. She was thankful for it.

  Enough crying! No more tears over a man unworthy of her love and devotion. Squaring her shoulders, she stood and stared at her reflection in the mirror. Pale face, pale hair, and wide, blue eyes glistening with tears. She turned on the tap, splashed water on her face, and peered at the mirror again.

  “Micah will not win,” she vowed. From somewhere deep inside, a woman with a new level of strength and determination was born. Drying her face, she decided she wouldn’t tell Nix about the writing on her thigh. He’d just blame himself again, and she couldn’t take the guilt.

  ***

  Madison winced as her hand accidentally brushed against her thigh. The memory of the previous night still shook her foundation. It also made her ponder the need for change. Before she could fight her husband in the ultimate battle, she required preparation. Nix refused to bring her into the Sherlock lifestyle. She’d begun to think she and Amos should strike out alone.

  Demons wouldn’t harm either of them, wouldn’t dare touch Amos, and if she believed Micah, another demon couldn’t harm her son anyway. The knowledge fed her a level of safety.

  “You plan on telling Nix about last night’s visit?”

  Madison jerked and glanced at Georgie, surprised by her question. “No,” she told the other woman. “I think it’s best not to worry him.”

  Georgie nodded. Madison couldn’t tell if the woman agreed or not.

  “I’m thinking of leaving.” She watched Nix and Amos, horseplaying like a couple of boys. The only positive father figure Amos had, it’d be hard to separate him from Nix. “Do you think I’m wrong?”

  “Every choice you make leads to your future.”

  Madison twisted her lips. In other words, Georgie knew she’d been thinking of leaving before Madison uttered the words. What else did the woman know?

  “For good or bad?” she asked, foreboding settling into her limbs again. A feeling she sensed often, because she feared even the best of intentions would lead her to the dark path. Take Anakin Skywalker’s road to becoming Darth Vader. All his decisions were made for the right reasons, they just led to the wrong outcome. Would she make the same mistakes? She hoped not.

  “Yes,” Georgie agreed. “Your future isn’t set. Every choice you make leads to a different outcome.”

  “I hope I make the right decisions.”

  “Where will you go?” She could feel Georgie’s eyes on her.

  Madison shrugged. “Hit the road, travel.” She faced the psychic. “Find some demons to practice killing.”

  “That could be dangerous.”

  “Sitting here waiting is dangerous.” Amos’s squeals of laughter drew her attention, and she smiled as Nix tossed him over his shoulder and pretended to run from the police. “Georgie, can I ask you something about Nix?”

  “I don’t promise to answer.”

  Smiling, she turned back to the psychic, admitting she liked the woman’s loyalty. “Will Nix ever find a woman for himself?”

  Georgie stared at her for a long time, and Madison began to think she wouldn’t answer. “Why do you ask?” the older woman finally said.

  “He’s jaded and thinks his life will be short and end bloody.”

  Georgie nodded at Madison’s words. Did the woman agree with Nix’s assessment? She didn’t have the nerve to ask. “He’s a good man, and he’s lonely. He deserves someone to share his life.”

  A half-tilted smile touched Georgie’s lips. “Nix has many roads to travel, none of them easy. All of them will lead to the woman intended for him.”

  Nodding, Madison felt the sting of tears hit her eyes. Blinking them back, both jealousy and happiness surging inside, she was satisfied he would eventually have someone. She watched Nix and Amos slink behind a tree, jump out, and shoot with their pretend hand guns. Nix took numerous make-believe bullets to his chest, jerking with each imaginary slug, and died valiantly, worthy of cinematic mention.

  The more she observed him goof around with her son, the sexier he became because he recognized Amos craved fatherly attention and did something about it. He needed his own son one day, even if it would be unfair for a child to grow up in the middle of Nix’s precarious line of work.

  “Will she be in the Sherlock business, or will he get out of the business?”

  “She’s in the business.” Georgie sipped at her homemade lemonade. “She’s a strong woman, brave, and not without her own inner turmoil.”

  Madison chuckled when Amos came to Nix’s aid, doing dramatic CPR, to which Nix entertained him by coming back to life, zombie style.

  “I hope I live long enough to meet her.”

  “You will.”

  Good. She wanted to meet the woman special enough to claim Nix as her own. “Georgie, I want to leave Nix some money.” She felt Georgie’s acute attention and turned to face the woman. “I know you all struggle on the road, and they came here to help me, asking nothing in return. Could you help me set up an account in his name? Give him the documents when I’m gone?”

  The psychic elevated a dark eyebrow. “You don’t wish to give it to him yourself?”

  Madison shook her head and reached for her glass of lemonade. “He won’t take it from me. I’ve offered. Before I leave, I want to know all you Birminghams are taken care of.”

  Georgie nodded. “You’re a generous woman, Madison.”

  “I can afford to be generous.” The money had become a sour pill in the pit of her stomach.

  “You’re nothing like Micah.”

  “If I ever do become like him, Georgie, promise me you’ll put me down.”

  The other woman smiled. “We’ll see.”

  “I don’t know what Micah’s plans are. I just know they’re not good. I would feel better knowing I have someone I trust willing to put me down when the time comes.”

  “If,” Georgie said. “If the time ever comes, I’ll think about it. And that’s as good a promise as you’re ever going to get from me.”

  Madison sat back with a heavy sigh. Strange how the psychic kept her opinions to herself, when she normally espoused prophecy and suggestions like a normal person breathed. Georgie made no attempts to talk Madison out of leaving. She gave only the impression Madison should follow her own path. Making her own choices would produce whatever outcome fate intended for her and Amos.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  A month of nothing left Nix antsy. Not even a twinge of demonic activity, which meant everything would blow to hell soon. James, Gage, and Zoe all came and went. Although Mads’s problems were unresolved, there were still other supernatural complications in the world.

  Nix remained, refusing to vacate without a resolution. A week before, Georgie had departed. Her final words still bothered him. She pinched his chin, held his eyes hostage, and said with all the sternness of a fierce matriarch, “One month, Nix. You’ve got one month, and then I want you gone from here.”

  “I can’t leave her until I know she’s safe.”

  “It’ll be many years before either of them is even close to safe.” She patted his
cheek. “They can’t make their fate with you by their side. Together they will grow stronger, leaning on each other, building a bond to surpass normal parent-child boundaries. For now, your paths will stray, coming together at odd times, but there’ll come a time….” She ruffled his hair, and Nix got the idea she resisted divulging too much. “I know your feelings run deep, but you’re a long way from being ready to make the final leap.”

  Nix gaped at her, afraid she could see past his collected veneer and read his attraction for Mads. So, he responded with irritation. “What the hell leap are you talking about? I promised to protect them. I can’t do that if I’m not here.”

  “Such a little boy still.” She shook her head. Nix frowned. “They don’t need your protection. For now, the boy knows how to hide them from the King.”

  First Crow spoke riddles, and now Georgie added her own. He wished someone would just speak cold, hard facts without shrouding them in brainteasers which created massive headaches.

  Reluctant to leave Mads until her problems were resolved, he figured no one could force him out the door except her. She wasn’t asking him to leave. At least not yet.

  “Nix!”

  Jarred from his contemplation, Nix bolted into the backyard at Mads’s panicked cry. Two steps onto the back porch, he stuttered to a stop and gaped. In the middle of the backyard, animals surrounded Amos—squirrels, chipmunks, birds, snakes, coyotes, foxes, dogs, cats, rodents, wild and tame.

  “Very…disturbing,” he said, stroking his nape, unable to believe what he witnessed. How could one make the leap from demon child to Noah’s successor practically overnight? Odd. Bizarre. A lot unnatural. Possibly apocalyptic. He jerked out of his trance and shoved Madison out of harm’s way as a rattlesnake struck at her, missing her leg by less than an inch.

  She failed to appreciate that he saved her life. She barely spared him a glance as she demanded, “Do something!”

  “What?”

  “You’re the pro.”

  “At hunting ghosts and monsters, not Noah’s successor.”

  She gave him a blank stare. “Noah’s—ha ha…freaking funny, Nix.”

  A large wolfhound nuzzled Amos’s hand, and the boy dropped to his knees to snuggle his face in the thick fur of the animal’s neck.

  “That,” she nodded toward the animal and Amos, “scares me more than Micah.”

  They knew what her demon ex wanted, Madison and Amos. This…this could only be biblical.

  “Send them home,” Nix told the boy, fear for the mother and child’s future vibrating through his body.

  Amos shooed them away, and the creatures obeyed.

  ***

  Madison packed two suitcases, desperate to get out of town. Each day she grew more melancholy. Darkness settled like a thick ball in the pit of her belly. She couldn’t shake it off. The frantic urge to leave Alabama stalked her constantly. Micah visited every night, leaving small telltale signs of his presence. It had begun with writing ‘wife’ on her thigh. Another evening he wrote ‘mine’ on the top of her foot. Other small things only she would notice occurred as well. A chocolate Kiss left on her pillow. Before he departed for business trips, he’d always left her the silver-wrapped candy. At the time, she’d thought it romantic, now she wanted to suffocate him in melted chocolate. A tiara left on her vanity, reminding her he planned for her to become his Queen. The kitchen door open after she knew she had twisted the deadbolt before retiring, along with the taunting note taped to the door: No one can keep me away from my wife and son.

  Living in close quarters with Nix, she couldn’t keep hiding the visits from him.

  Time to leave. Time to take a road trip, and embrace a life adventure which would lead to her unknown future. Amos had talked about a man trapped in a cave who needed to be freed. Each time he talked about the ‘cave man’, Crow’s words filtered through her memory: “Trust in the goodness you’ve instilled in your son, and a formidable alliance will be forged, one to defeat a second King.”

  Could they be the same man? Probably not. Most likely not. She would never know, unless she started trusting him. The more Kings of Hell she could kill, the better off this world would be. Priority one on her list of Kings to kill…Micah.

  “Let me go with you,” Nix said, as she walked back in the house after placing the suitcases in her Land Rover.

  “No.” She shook her head. “We’ve got to do this alone.”

  He lanced agitated fingers through his hair, the messier style suited him. “Who will protect you? And Amos?”

  She walked to him, feeling a bit awkward. Unsure how to say goodbye to someone so integral to her life. Touching his face with her palm, she memorized the lines of his face, his hard-chiseled chin, the span of his wide, sexy lips that kissed in a way to madden her, and the green of his eyes. He caught her hand, rubbing his stubbly cheek against her palm.

  “Trust me. We have to do this, Nix. You know we have to do this,”

  He knew she spoke true, or he’d be throwing a fit, threatening her and attempting to force her to stay. Because he remained calm, she guessed he realized she followed the path fate set for her. She could probably thank Georgie for easing the situation.

  “I’ll miss you, Nix. As long as I have a home, you’ll always have a home. And as long as I have money, you’ll have money.”

  Nix snatched her into his arms and hugged her tight. Tears burned her eyes. She would miss him. Nothing could’ve prepared her for the emotions churning inside her. Not even knowing this day would eventually come.

  She would always think of him as a nomad and wanderer in the wrong century, bent on saving everyone except himself. At one time, she thought he’d be the one to leave, not the other way around. She breathed deeply, committing his scent and the hard line of the man against her to memory.

  “If you or Amos ever need me, Mads, you call, and I’ll be on my way.” He kissed the top of her head.

  “We’ll be fine,” she mumbled against his chest. She tilted her head back to imbibe one last glimpse of him. “You should say goodbye to Amos.”

  He nodded, his face sad and sweet, filled with regret, making her wonder if he had more to say. He remained silent.

  She caught his face and kissed him on the lips, lingering for a moment, her heart breaking. She slipped out of his arms and walked out of the room.

  Nix stood on the lawn, watching her back out of the garage. He lifted a hand and offered a sad smile as she drove out of his life.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  A year of learning how to hunt down evil bastards, and all of their successes could be placed at Amos’s feet. Madison simply pulled up a computer-generated map, put it in front of Amos, and he would point and click on the exact location of evil. Ghosts, vampires, shifters—both cat and wolf breeds—and, of course, all races of demons.

  Easy as pie, sending them back to Hell!

  Sometimes thoughts from Pandora’s Box leaked free. Horrified by what it wanted—power, world domination, mass murder—she struggled every day to keep the lid locked tight.

  Worrying about keeping Amos on the side of good kept her awake at night, not the mutterings of Pandora’s Box.

  Amos feared nothing in their new life. Madison was petrified of everything. Most of all, she dreaded the final battle with Micah. Surviving the fight wasn’t the biggest of her worries, rather, not bowing to Micah’s demonic ambition. Would she be strong enough to resist the temptation he would offer? Would she be strong enough to resist what he offered, if Amos ultimately turned as well?

  These questions barraged her at night, when she couldn’t escape the actual act of thinking. Knowing there wouldn’t be answers until the final showdown didn’t make them any easier to bear.

  Now, after two months of collecting all the necessary spelunking equipment, they’d driven to the Naica region near Chihuahua, Mexico and descended into the Cave of Crystal Giants. More than one local referred to the cave as the Highway to Hell because of the oppressive heat, temperat
ures in excess of one hundred twenty degrees Fahrenheit, and humidity at one-hundred percent. No human could withstand the environment of the cave without special equipment, and even then only for very short periods of time.

  She and Amos were extraordinary, or so he said. They wouldn’t need the special equipment to withstand the furnace of the Cave of Crystal Giants. They would only need to get into the cave undetected, equipped with good sets of hiking boots and helmets with lights, and they’d be set. Thankfully, rappelling wouldn’t be required. Vertical drops weren’t Madison’s thing.

  It had been necessary to wait until evening after the last of the scientists exited the cave. Once inside and beyond the ‘Do Not Cross’ boundary, the heat of the cave hit her like a blast of swirling air from a newly-opened oven. This heat could blister the skin and clog the lungs with excessive moisture. That much moisture would suffocate a ‘normal’ person. Thanks to their genetic makeup, she and Amos would forever be abnormal. Their easy acclimation to the environment proved—at least in her mind—their kinship with Hell.

  They squeezed through a two-foot wide opening at the very back of the cave to go where Amos indicated. No easy feat for a five-foot-nine and a half-inch woman. She managed, scraping her arms on the crystal though that seemed the least of her concerns the deeper they descended.

  Shifting from foot to foot, Amos’s hiking boots creaked as he waited for her to squeeze through the crack. No time to waste, she caught up to him at the back of the tiny cave, the walls and crystals bearing down on them in such tight confines it felt like a stifling coffin.

  “Lead the way,” she said, rubbing at the stinging scratch on her arm.

  For an hour, they descended deeper into the earth, going into holes no mortal likely ever ventured through. Their headgear provided insufficient illumination to aid their adventure, but a plethora of phosphorescent plants brightened the underground cavern and grew thicker the further they penetrated, easing their passage.