Pandora's Box

by Miller, Gracen

  Nix’s heart plummeted to his gut. He knew the King’s human face. “Madison’s ex-husband,” he whispered, horrified at the man’s visage.

  “Correction…I remain Madison’s husband. Hell does not recognize human divorces.”

  Beliel and Micah—the same fucker.

  “How could you terrorize Madison the way you have?”

  “Tactics necessary to set her on the path she must take.”

  Nix closed his eyes. Madison would be sick to her stomach, knowing she followed her ex-husband’s designs.

  Beliel halted in front of Nix, gripped his chin, and jerked his head back to stare down at him. “Kill Gage.”

  A sound like knuckles popping hit his ears, and Nix didn’t need to see Gage to know his neck had been broken.

  Blinking back tears of frustration and despair, his sinuses burned from the effort. The boy he idolized in his misspent youth gone at the hands of Mads’s ex-husband. Dead. Gage represented everything Nix ever wanted to be, and he was dead.

  Nix went after Micah, intending to rip him apart with his bare hands and wallow in the King’s blood when he succeeded, but the pistol butt slammed against his temple brought him to his knees. Micah chuckled.

  “Fiesty. I like feisty.” Micah extended a claw from his index finger and picked at his teeth.

  “I promise I will fucking kill you.” Nix glared at him.

  “Boo hoo.” When Micah offered him a triumphant smirk, he knew more suffering would follow. “All this whimpering over mortal bones doesn’t suit you.” The King toed him in the ribs, and Nix scrambled to his feet to take another go at him.

  A punch to the demon’s jaw shattered the bones in Nix’s hand, or felt like it. The pistol-whipping demon collared him about the throat and brought him back to heel.

  “Finished with all the drama, Phoenix?” Micah asked. The demon’s eyebrows arched high on his forehead, and Nix dreaded whatever terror tactics would come next. “Although, I must say, your anger is amusing. Highly entertaining. Too bad James and Georgie aren’t here to add to the show.”

  “Just kill me and get it over with, you evil motherfucker!”

  Beliel gave him a victorious lopsided smirk. “I am a mother fucker. I fucked a mother, more than once. You want to know my favorite mother to fuck?”

  “Piss off.” He ground his teeth together.

  The King chuckled, a grating sound which slithered along Nix’s spine. “You got it bad for my wife, eh? Can’t say as I blame you; she’s a fine piece of ass. For the record, she’s mine. Never forget that.”

  He lifted his hand, placed his palm on Nix’s shoulder, and extended his claws, sinking them into his flesh. Groaning at the puncture wounds, Nix went to his knees as the demon applied pressure.

  “I like you, Phoenix,” he said, a devil-may-care kind of smile hitting his lips.

  God, I hate freaking demons!

  “I really do,” Micah continued. “You have spunk and the nerve to fight me for my wife. I admire greed and lust. Coveting another man’s wife, I can easily relate to as well. All attributes I find endearing in you mortals.” Micah extracted a gold coin from his pocket and held it at eye level. He retracted his claws and flicked the mintage to make it spin between his fingers before smacking the cold metal to Nix’s forehead.

  Nix held his tongue, wishing the son-of-a-bitch would quit his yapping and kill him already! The metal warmed against his skin to the point he couldn’t tell it remained there. Micah lowered his hand without the object between his fingers. The demon stared at his forehead and shifted between angel and man, alarming Nix with his obvious lack of control. Emotions running high over something? A scary concept, face-to-face with a demon’s unmatched power.

  “A mirror,” he told the baseborn demon behind him, and extended his hand. A moment later Micah held a small hand mirror in front of Nix’s face.

  Nix peered at his image. The outline of the coin indented his forehead, but grew wispy as it faded. Reminded of the encounter when Micah shoved Pandora’s Box into Mads, anger surged inside him.

  “What’d you do to me, you motherfucker?”

  “Nothing you weren’t destined for.” Micah tossed the mirror and it shattered. Nix hoped he suffered all seven years of bad luck. The King met Nix’s stare without blinking. “The coin proves you’re the Ark of Heaven. The first step to you becoming all you were intended to be.”

  What the hell was that? And what’d it mean?

  “You’re my nephew, Phoenix.”

  Nix hoped he lied, except his lie-radar wasn’t beeping.

  “You’re the sole heir of Jesus Christ.”

  Nix laughed. Either that or go crazy at an idea so insane he couldn’t accept it literally.

  “I’ll teach you how to resuscitate your cousin and his girl. All you need to do is accept my offer.”

  “Me resuscitate them?” His voice grew high-pitched. “I don’t have the power to bring people back to life. I’m just a human, you crazy fuck!”

  “Incorrect.”

  Nix turned his face aside. He couldn’t listen to any more of Micah’s psychotic ramblings.

  Micah smacked his cheek and yanked a handful of Nix’s hair to force him to face the fallen angel. “Listen to me, boy; this is important information. You have the power of the Messiah in your blood. You can perform many of his tricks. Giving life back to your family is only one of them.”

  Nix stared at the demon a long time. If he bought into the King’s mumbo-jumbo, ‘teaching’ him would no doubt come at a high price. Even giving his family life wouldn’t be worth whatever Beliel wanted in return. “Fuck you. I decline.”

  Micah released his hair. “I thought you might resist. Bring me Madison.”

  Nix sent a quick scan about the room, his heart ramming into his chest like a battering ram. As if on cue, the clicking of footsteps ticked against the concrete floor, growing louder as someone approached. A moment later Madison came into view, a handful of demons surrounding her.

  “Nix!” Mads said when she spied him. She kicked at a demon, but they restrained her with ease. Panting, she glared at the King. “Let him go, Micah. It’s me you want.”

  “I need him more, kitten.” Micah faced Nix. “Covenant your lineage with me, and I’ll spare Madison’s life.”

  “You wouldn’t kill her.” No way would the demon take Mads’s life.

  “I need you, Phoenix. I only want her.”

  His stared into the demon’s eyes and his lie-radar went crazy. “You’re lying.”

  Coolly Micah strode to Madison and ran his knuckles along her cheekbone. “My apologies, kitten.” He turned to face Nix as one of the demons wrapped an arm around Mads’s waist and clamped his hand over her mouth and nose. “Remember, you’re to blame for her death, Phoenix.” Mads gagged behind the demon’s hand, her eyes bulging as oxygen continued to be denied. She twisted to gain freedom, and Micah choked on the demonic command, “Ichnaday, Madison.” He cleared his throat. “You’re prohibited from moving.” A whimper of defeat, and she froze as tears surfaced.

  “Oh, God, don’t!” Nix breathed as Mads wheezed desperate gasps. “Whatever you want! Whatever you want, just stop.”

  “Too late,” Micah replied calmly, and the other demon added more pressure. A white line imprinted her skin around the edges of the demon’s palm. “You must comprehend the seriousness of the offer I extend to you. To gain what I need, I give up someone special to us both.”

  The sting of tears hit Nix’s eyes mere seconds before they rolled down his cheeks. Mads jerked in the demon’s arms and went limp. Another long minute elapsed while the demon held her in the same position, probably to ensure her death.

  “My beautiful Queen, dead, because of your stubbornness.” Micah extracted Mads from the other demon’s arm and traced her jaw with his finger. “What will Amos think when he learns of your guilt?” The King met his eyes and tears glittered in their fiery depths.

  “Promise your lineage to me, and I’ll teac
h you how to bring them back,” Micah offered once again. “Together we can accomplish great things.”

  Great things for whom? Not humankind.

  Blurry eyed, Nix stared at Mads. She hung limp in the King’s arms, eyes wide-open and glassy. Anger and pain burned in his belly. He wanted to kill Micah with a quick shot to his cold, dead heart and rip the other demon apart, but knew he would never be given the chance.

  He’d heard lots of legends about making deals with the devil. He never thought them actually possible. “You want me to sell you my soul?” he asked, voice scratchy from holding back the depth of his emotions.

  Beliel snorted. “No. Deals for souls are tacky. I propose a blood covenant with a King, and they’re seldom offered.”

  Deals and covenants were starkly different. Covenants were blood oaths. And a King of Hell wasn’t just a demon. A high level angel, refusing to bow to God’s human creation, he’d been thrown out of heaven with his fallen brothers, created Hell and cast lots for human souls ever since. A pact with a King wasn’t to be taken lightly. If one reneged, blood family would be haunted by severe ramifications, or so the rumor went.

  “Why?” What could Micah possibly gain by the offer?

  “I require the power of your lineage.”

  Micah believed Nix was the Messiah’s descendent? “What for?”

  The demon King shrugged. “I have my reasons.”

  A demon’s reasons couldn’t be good. But….

  “Refuse my deal, and the three of them remain dead.”

  Why would the demon King want him badly enough to coerce him into submission? Killing those he loved the most.

  Mads’s death had him second-guessing his initial response to Micah’s offer. How could he make any deal with a demon for another’s life or value her life more highly than his blood relative? Mads would be pissed if she found out he committed such a huge sacrifice for her. Taking her life wasn’t fair gamesmanship and he suspected Micah counted on it. Yet, how could he live, knowing he caused her death? The guilt would scar him emotionally.

  Did he have the nerve to take the offer? “You’ll show me how to bring them back?” Micah probably planned to do the resuscitating while pretending he taught Nix how to perform the trick. Either way, the outcome would be the same. Would it be enough?

  “Yes. The offer is part of the agreement.”

  “I want James and Georgie protected from demons, along with Gage and Zo once they’re back.”

  “I’ll give them more—a demon free pass for five years.”

  Micah wanted him pretty bad if he was willing to offer protection of such magnitude to a family of Sherlocks. Nix wanted Mads alive pretty fucking badly, too.

  “What exactly is required of me?”

  “You return to Hell with me for training.”

  Train me for what? “How long before I go into Hell?”

  “You’re mine now. Immediately.”

  Nix shook his head at the visuals scattering through his thoughts. Visions of what Hell might encompass. All of the scenes playing out too graphic for a horror flick. “I can’t go now. I need time to settle affairs. Six months and I’m yours.”

  “I didn’t realize you were important enough for affairs.”

  “I’m important enough that you murdered your wife to obtain me.”

  “Indeed.” Beliel smoothed his finger along his jaw. “I’m mildly impressed you dare to drive a bargain.” He tapped his chin. “I wouldn’t normally do this, but I can afford to be lenient.”

  He just bet he’d received a special deal. More like he was bent over, getting fucked up the ass!

  “I’ll give you three months. At the end of that time, you join me without today’s drama.”

  “I want protection for Mads once she’s revived, and Amos, too. No supernatural creature is allowed to come after them or harm them, even if she hunts them down.”

  Beliel laughed. “Agreed.”

  His agreement came much too fast. “Their protection is already one of your mandates, isn’t it?”

  “Of course. Madison is my wife, my Queen, and Amos my son. A demon wouldn’t dare cross me.”

  “How do I know you don’t plan to revive her regardless?” Nix demanded.

  “I can’t bring back to life what another demon kills.”

  His demon lying-radar remained silent.

  Nix felt sick to his stomach. “All right.” He took a deep breath. His heart hammering hard enough he feared a rib or two would break.

  “A few more bylaws.”

  “Let’s hear them.” Nix guessed Abraham felt a lot more excitement when God offered him a covenant.

  “You aren’t allowed in the presence of my wife at any time within the three month period or the delay is rescinded and I’ll come for you immediately. If you touch her, I’ll feed your heart and dick to my personal Neko, and reserve the lowest level of Hell for your punishment. I need you, but I won’t tolerate you coveting my wife any further.”

  “What is a Neko?”

  “Trust me, Phoenix, you don’t wish to know.” As he tapped a claw against Nix’s chest, Mads’s head lolled. “It’s the scariest fucking demon cat you will ever see.”

  A demonic cat? Hell was full of not-so-fun surprises. Nix wouldn’t let the idea of his dick being fed to a Neko ferment in any brain cells. Not that he planned to do anything with Mads anyway. He hadn’t touched her—not really—in the five years he’d known her. Starting now wouldn’t be fair, and he’d never thought of himself as that selfish anyway. He could avoid her without much effort. “Neither will be a problem.”

  “You are forbidden to tell anyone my real name.”

  Sneaky bastard. A name held power. And Beliel knew if Nix told his Sherlock family and friends his real name, they’d find a way to harm or kill him using it. He probably wished to keep his identity secret from Mads as well. The knowledge would give her too much leverage, and she might squeak past his demonic designs.

  “Anything else?”

  “Buck up, Phoenix, this is the start of a beautiful relationship.”

  “What happens when you discover you received a powerless lineage?”

  “Let me worry about the possibility.” Micah cracked his knuckles. “Do you understand the ramifications of reneging on a blood deal?”

  “Yeah. You seek revenge on my family.”

  “Partially. Those you’ve sought to protect with it will also suffer dire consequences. Along with your family, Madison will also endure the consequences.”

  Nix would do nothing to harm Mads, not ever. “You’ve got yourself a covenant.” He forced the words out, his tongue too thick with nerves to utter them without a lisp. Shame hit him like a sledgehammer to his vital organs. He’d taken the easy road, preferring his own death and misery over Mads, Gage, and Zo’s death. He couldn’t live knowing they died because a demon King bullied him. Nix realized the selfishness of his actions, but what choice did he have? None, as far as he could tell.

  No matter, too late to renege on the deal with the damning words already uttered. Taking them back would be impossible.

  Beliel smiled, and Nix shivered. Thanks to his bargain with the devil, he could save Mads, but he would never have the opportunity to tell her he loved her before he went to Hell.

  “Do you make this covenant with your own free will?”

  “Yes.”

  “Three months….” The King sliced his palm and placed it over the bleeding wounds on Nix’s shoulder. “As is the custom of all covenants, ours is sealed in blood. Twice to double bind us.”

  Micah licked blood off his fingers. Angelic blood beaded on the King’s finger, and he offered the black substance to Nix. He cringed at the idea of consuming the blood, yet knew it necessary to bind their agreement. He wouldn’t lick the hemoglobin off the digit, however. It would be too sexual in nature for Nix. He took a deep breath, swiped the fluid off Micah’s fingertip with the pad of his finger and, before he could lose his nerve, he sucked it into his mo
uth. The blood bloomed hot and sweet on his taste buds.

  Micah hissed and smoke rose from his shoulder. He tugged his shirt aside. “Now I wear the same marks at you. Visual proof of our bargain. Remember, in three months I’ll come for you. If you try and renege, they’ll all suffer.”

  “What the fuck ever!” Nix snarled, his shoulder tingling where their blood mixed. Like a drop of acid on his tongue, the demon blood made his head spin and created hallucinations. Invisible demons milled about the warehouse, colorful auras surrounding them all. An overall sense of well-being warred with his apprehension.

  The demon released him as Micah said, “I look forward to our partnership, Phoenix.”

  The King enjoyed hearing the sound of his voice too damn much. “Stop your useless yapping and show me how to save them!”

  Chapter Forty-Three

  “Which one shall we start with?” Micah asked.

  “Mads.”

  The King shoved Mads into the arms of the demon who had taken her life. “Wonder what your cousin would think, knowing you picked Madison over him or his girl?”

  Nix frowned at Micah’s rough treatment of her. He would expect Gage to choose Zo over him as well. “He will understand.”

  Beliel snapped his fingers in Mads’s face and her head lifted. She stretched out of the demon’s arms, shoved hair out of her face, and yawned.

  “Did he take the bait?” she asked, her voice groggy, as if coming out of a deep sleep.

  “Of course. You performed well, Celeste.”

  “Celeste?” This wasn’t Mads? His belly churned with the idea.

  “Phoenix, please meet Madison’s mother, Celeste.”

  “Oh, God,” Nix said, stumbling backward, horrified he never considered the possibility of such trickery. He’d just met her mother two months ago; he should have guessed. “You tricked me into the arrangement!”

  Micah shrugged. “I suspected you wouldn’t agree without significant coercion. You should know I would never allow anyone to take my Madison’s life. Not even for you or your lineage would I sacrifice her.”

  Of course he’d known, and that was why he asked about the angel reviving her afterward. He’d fallen for the oldest demon trick in the book.