Pandora's Box

by Miller, Gracen

  “I didn’t get it,” he grumbled as Mads placed a pitcher of iced tea on the table. “So, I’m guessing Georgie knows you’re here?”

  “Of course. I talked to her two days ago.” Mads settled clear crystal cups beside the jug. “If I don’t check in with her every week, the woman becomes a texting fool.”

  “Georgie can’t text.” Nix snorted at the comical idea. “I’ve watched her try. It’s painful. I’m embarrassed for her.”

  Mads laughed, placed pots and pans on the stove. “Nix, she’s got you three bamboozled big time. Georgie can text, and my cell phone proves it.”

  “I think we’ve been bamboozled more than once.” Zo peered at Gage.

  Nix watched Mads turn to face them. He wanted to cross the kitchen and touch her, to prove she wasn’t a dream or a hallucination. God, he’d envisioned seeing her again so many times. None of the scenarios he’d played out in his head prepared him for this moment.

  Not a week ago, he’d told Georgie he would hunt Mads down and put his fears to rest if he received no word from her soon. She insisted Mads and Amos were okay. Now, he knew Georgie instigated this meeting just for him. God, he loved that woman!

  One glimpse of Mads, just to know she was okay, safe, and happy. It was all he needed. Maybe this one encounter would be enough for him to survive another two years without her.

  “Georgie is a manipulator,” Mads agreed, whipping up a batch of cornbread mix. She poured it in a cast iron skillet and placed it on the top rack of the oven. “And she finesses you four a lot more than you realize. But, she cares about each of you, too. You’re her family. Never think anything she does isn’t for your benefit.”

  “How do you know this, Mads?” Nix helped himself to a glass of tea.

  Mads shrugged, rinsed the cutting board, and placed it in the drying rack on the counter beside the sink. “She and I talk.” She battered the pork chops. “Regardless of what Gage and Zoe think, she put them together. She has other plans for them, too.” She grinned over her shoulder. “Something along the lines of church bells.”

  Zo groaned. “I love that woman, but sometimes I want to kill her. She knows how I feel about marriage.”

  Gage blew Zo a kiss. “I’ll take the ball and chain, as long as she agrees to obey.”

  “Those are fighting words.” Nix chuckled. “Ow!” He jerked hard enough to rattle the table and glared at Zo. “That was my shin you kicked!”

  “Sorry, you were an unfortunate victim.” Zo stuck her tongue out at him.

  He couldn’t keep his eyes off Mads, and caught her laughing as she carefully settled the pork chops into a fryer. Watching her cook calmed him, had him feeling like he was finally home.

  “No kicking,” Mads warned Zo, with a cheeky grin. Mads crammed fresh turnip greens into a pot, shook salt over them, and topped them with a lid. The corn wasn’t fresh, but of the frozen tube variety. It went into a clear baking dish, along with salt and a stick of butter. She checked the frying pork chops and adjusted the temperature before sitting at the table with them. Seated beside him, Amos navigated a high-speed turn on his handheld, video-racing game.

  “What does Georgie want for my future?” Nix asked, drinking in the sight of her. Her eyes lifted and held his, and awareness as sharp and acute as electricity sparked. A strong attraction still lay between them.

  “She’s tight lipped about your future, more than anyone’s.” Mads poured a glass of tea. “I know she wants you to be happy, but….” She shook her head. “Never mind.”

  About to ask her to finish what she started to say, he was sidetracked when Amos took his hand and asked him to play a round of Call of Duty on the Xbox 360. He couldn’t refuse the boy’s request, especially not when he recognized the eagerness in his eyes.

  “Be warned, Nix,” Mads said, as they left the kitchen. “Amos kicks ass on those games.”

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  While Mads tucked Amos into bed, Nix flipped through a dozen channels on the television set. Bored, he shut the TV off and went outside for a breath of air.

  He wanted to know how severe Georgie’s manipulation techniques were. The only mother figure in his life, he couldn’t bring himself to be mad at her, but he worried her interference affected the choices he made.

  The house Mads currently rented lacked the southern charm of her permanent residence, and he missed its front porch. The small backyard would be enough for a miniature animal. He shoved his hands deep into his pockets and moved toward the back of the property. Shivering in the stinging, fall night air, he was surprised to see Mads sitting on the swing as he approached. The chains creaked as the swing swayed to and fro, strands of her hair shifting on the breezy night air.

  “I thought you were putting Amos to bed?”

  She rose from her perch, and his eyes were drawn to the seductive roll of her hips. “I already have,” she said, voice low and throaty.

  He frowned. He’d thought a story and hug would take longer. Of course, he had limited experience with bedtime rituals for small children. “It’s cold out tonight.” He blew into his hands, suddenly nervous to find himself alone with her.

  “Nix, do you ever think about the day we kissed on my porch?”

  All the fucking time. He swallowed the words down. “Yeah. Sometimes.” He shrugged, hoping his casual dismissal would fool her.

  Mads grasped his hand, surprising him. A sharp nail scratched his wrist, drew blood.

  “Ow!” Yanking his hand back, he stared at her and rubbed his thumb over the nick. “What the hell was that for?”

  She lifted her finger, and a small dab of his blood flamed dark in the dimness. “This.” She stuck the tip into her mouth, sucking until her cheeks hollowed. That was how she’d look sucking on his dick; the visual would haunt him on dark, sleepless nights, when she was far away.

  He could define her actions one of two ways: odd, or the biggest fucking turn on ever!

  Her hands touched his stomach and slid up his chest, his flesh humming beneath her palms, his libido spiking into overdrive. “Oh, God!” His dick grew instantly thick and aggressive. For her. Always for her. He must have her. Now. Here. In the backyard, and fuck the bitter cold.

  She kissed the center of his chest. “I think about our kiss all the time.” She brushed her lips against his. “I should have never let you leave me.”

  “Me leave you? Um…I don’t—”

  Her mouth slanted across his. Oh, God, this was what heaven tasted like!

  “I want you to do something for me,” she whispered against his mouth.

  “Anything.” He leveled his mouth on hers, slid his tongue between her parted lips.

  “I need you to kill someone.”

  “Anything for you,” he said, between kisses.

  She purred her satisfaction, a husky hum, deep in her throat. He resisted the urge to strip her bare, to take her on the cold, hard earth.

  Mads’s hand cupped his crotch and his eyes snapped open.

  Everything went to hell. Fast. And not the way he wanted.

  ***

  Madison palmed the dagger and inched closer to Nix and the succubus. She’d lied about the demon she’d been chasing. Not because she thought they wouldn’t help. She knew they would, but this job had become personal.

  An experienced succubus could take on the appearance of anyone, just like a Mimicker. Madison didn’t think she’d ever possess that particular ability. Not having tried it, she couldn’t be sure. She could enthrall a man. Easy as pie. And nothing she performed lightly. Or often.

  Ooooo…irritation cycled through her system. The nerve, using her appearance as bait to lure Nix into a risky situation. Killing a Birmingham would be a huge coup for the succubus. Nix wouldn’t die while on Madison’s watch. Tonight this FINK—Fucker In Need of Killing—would die.

  After months of chasing the succubus, tonight would be the whorish bitch’s final mistake. She’d make sure this particular demon never got the chance to harm another
man again. Zen should be here, she thought, moving into position. Back in Kansas he’d found his immortality to be no guard against this particular demon, nearly killing Madison while under her evil influence. It had been a narrow escape, and he would want to be here for the kill.

  She crept up to Nix, and his eyes opened as she raised the blade. At the sight of her, his gaze registered surprise. The FINK must have sensed something different in his kiss because she spun, a victorious grin curling her lips. Madison dropped to her knees, slashed at the creature’s Achilles tendon and rolled backward, thankful she’d caught the telltale sign of the succubus’s shoulders tensing and suspected it planned an attack.

  FINK hissed in pain, her balance leaning heavily to the left—Madison’s left, FINK’s right–not that it mattered. They glared at one another as Madison rose slow and steady to her feet, adjusting her grip on the handle of the blade. Zen’s knife lessons were paying off in spades.

  “Nix, get back.” Madison tensed as he headed for the succubus, eyes glassy and adoring. “Shit!” she muttered, and vaulted after him.

  FINK smirked over her successful coercion. The expression would be less creepy if she weren’t Madison’s mirror image.

  Madison tangled her feet with Nix’s, and went down with him. She landed with a heavy grunt. Heavier than he appeared, his weight pinned her, and she struggled to break free. The demon’s nasty laugh slithered across her spine. Good thing she’d wounded the creature, or they’d be in serious trouble. Or maybe not. She spotted Zen on the periphery of her vision. Instead of abandoning her, he appeared determined to let her handle this alone, unless she and Nix couldn’t take the creature.

  “Kill her, Nix,” the creature instructed, smiling sweetly.

  Shit! They’d just hit serious trouble with three words. Zen moved toward Mads, but she wasn’t ready to give up. She shook her head hard at him and yelled, “No!”

  “Yes.” The succubus smiled toothily, as if Madison spoke to her.

  Madison got enough footing to crawl about two feet away from Nix and rose to her feet. He snagged her ankle and tugged. Hitting the ground with an oomph expelling from her lungs, she dug her blade into the compacted earth. It slid through the soil as Nix pulled her toward him.

  “I can’t kill you, but he can,” FINK taunted. “He’s all mine, Madison.”

  Damn succubus!

  “He’s not yours for long,” Madison said with a grunt, twisting onto her back. She went limp and let Nix drag her to him. As he reached for her, she scratched his arm hard enough to draw blood.

  “Son-of-a-bitch!” Nix broke from the spell as instantly as it had been set in motion. His attention snapped to Madison, before shooting back to the succubus who still looked like her. Clarity filled his features. He vaulted to his feet and yanked his gun from his belt, leveling it on the succubus a full five seconds before shifting his aim on Madison.

  Great! Freaking great!

  Madison spilling Nix’s blood released him from the FINK’s spell. However, the dilemma of the creature’s appearance remained.

  “Kill the bitch, Nix.” Madison jumped to her feet. She flipped the knife, blade first.

  “I…I….” He glanced between them.

  He handled a gun well, could take either of their heads off without much effort.

  “I don’t know which one is the real you.”

  “You know it’s me, Nix. I knew about the porch kiss. How I worried about enthralling you,” the succubus said, her voice so like Madison’s it gave her chills.

  Nix’s lips seamed into a line of determination, and he trained the gun on Madison.

  “The bitch got those memories from you when she ingested your blood. She’s a succubus, not a Mimicker. She ingested your blood, right?” Madison held his gaze as his eyebrows drew together in confusion and his gun lowered.

  “Keep the gun up, Nix.” She breathed a sigh of relief as he complied without comment. “You’ve got one shot to take her down. She’s too fast for you to get another. The one taste of your blood gave her all the ammunition she needs to use against you. But she doesn’t know everything about us. Ask me something personal, something only you and I would know.”

  “She’s lying.” The succubus stared him straight in the eye as she lied. “She’s trying to trick you into thinking she’s me. I’m your friend. It’s me, Madison!”

  “I’m Mads to you, Nix, not Madison,” Madison contradicted.

  She saw the confusion evaporate from his eyes and lucidity take its place. He fired the weapon on the succubus. The creature ducked to the side, and the bullet grazed the side of her head, carving a ghastly chunk of hair and flesh from her scalp. Screeching the most inhuman noise, she glared between them both, limping from the slash to her Achilles heel as she moved back a step.

  “Get out of here, Mads, before you get hurt.” Nix shot her a quick glance.

  “Uh uh.”

  “Damn it, Mads, don’t—”

  “Shut up!” She stayed where she was; the succubus remained her focal point. She wished the succubus would shift into another image. “Help me kill the thing, and you can bitch me out all you want.”

  Nix grumbled under his breath, and she thought she caught the word ‘stubborn.’ No matter, his argument subsided. The three of them circled the backyard. Madison expected FINK to bolt now that she’d been found out and her human slave was no longer enthralled.

  “Here, kitty-kitty,” she taunted, and FINK whipped a fast glance around. The creature’s fear appeared to make her balance shaky. Cats and silver could end this standoff. Succubi were deadly allergic to both. Although she came from the same genetic material, Madison didn’t suffer the allergies.

  “What the hell?” Nix shot her a hard glare. “Mads, focus!”

  She laughed and heard the hissing of real live cats skulk into the backyard. FINK shrieked, and Madison flung her silver blade. End over end, the knife flew through the air. The succubus lobbed to the right a second before the blade would have sunk into her throat. Thanks to the last, desperate move, the tip of the blade thwacked into the creature’s left shoulder.

  “Nice throw!”

  “I aimed for her damn throat.” Madison went after the creature, implementing the skills Zen taught her. A round kick met thin air, her foot a scant millimeter from the succubus’s head, the miss a result of the demon’s supernatural reflexes.

  FINK smirked and cast a cautious glance at the encroaching kitties. A cat growled and sparked similar sounds from the other felines. Some rangy and in need of a good home, others well nourished. The fur on all stood on end. When Zen went out earlier to handle some things, his sole purpose had been to acquire cats in preparation for when the demon attacked. They had planned the mission before Nix’s arrival. Releasing them now was perfect timing.

  “You gotta do better than that, half breed,” the bitch taunted, kicking a cat back.

  “Hmm…yeah, I guess I do.” Madison executed a side kick and caught the demon entity in the gut, a satisfying umph exiting her lungs. “That better?” She received a glare for her sarcasm. Madison followed the move with the heel of her palm to the demon’s nose and a roundhouse kick to the side of her head.

  The demon wobbled. A cat hissed and swiped a paw at the succubus’s leg. The demon emitted a high-pitched squeal and kicked at two felines.

  “Get down,” Nix said, and Madison dropped. The FINK’s head jerked to the side hard enough to crack her neck when Nix’s first bullet struck. He squeezed off another round, capping the succubus between the eyes. The FINK stumbled from the force of the shot and the raw silver circulating through her system.

  Madison plucked the second blade from the case strapped to her ankle and pitched it, catching their enemy in the throat with a strong thwack.

  “Holy damn!” Nix kept his weapon raised and leveled on the demon, just in case he needed to plug her again. “Great throw, Mads.”

  “I’ve been practicing.” Madison could lay her success at the feet of her
amazing instructor. Zen taught her everything, from the best kill point on the various demons to fighting with knives, throwing ninja stars, and his own stylized form of hand-to-hand combat. None of the human martial arts were good enough for him.

  A hideous gurgle seeped from the creature. Instead of dislodging the blade, she swatted at the encroaching cats. A Persian launched from the roof of the gazebo onto the succubus’s head. The demon attempted to hurl the cat off, as a black and white speckled feline jumped on her left shoulder. She stumbled in a circle, swiping at the attacking animals. She collapsed to her knees on the frozen soil.

  Giving up on the cats, the succubus wrapped her fingers around the hilt of the blade in her throat.

  “Ichnay,” Madison murmured the demonic command, a language she hadn’t known until Micah’s reappearance. Blood ran in stark rivulets along the demon’s pale face from the cat scratches and where the blade jutted from her throat. The succubus’s eyes rounded at the word Madison uttered. Hands shaking as hard as a jackhammer, the demon lowered her hands to her sides, defeat trembling on her bottom lip.

  The command forced all demons to submit to her will. Defeating them using the language served as icing on the cake. Madison suspected the tongue was either angelic or a royal demon dialect.

  “What’d you say?” Nix walked up beside her, where she stood over the downed succubus.

  “Nothing you want to know.” Madison wrapped her fingers around the hilt of the blade. She met the succubus’s gaze. Eerie, staring at her own appearance and associating the sight with demonic evil. “Tell all your friends in Hell, Madison Wescott isn’t to be screwed with. While you’re at it, tell Micah to go fuck himself.” She jerked the blade sidewise, leaving the head half-severed.

  FINK twitched a final time and dropped face first into the grass. The feline aggressors swarmed the creature.

  “So long, FINK.” She nudged her latest victim with her foot, the hissing animals tearing at the body with shredding claws.

  “Mads?” Nix secured his gun in the waistband of his jeans.