Pandora's Box
Page 27
His world coalesced into a rat-a-tat of heartbeats in his ears, drowning out everything for a long minute. He kicked himself mentally; no bigger fool could’ve been born. He should have suspected. Instead, he’d let emotions rule, leading him to a devastating outcome. “Coercion must eliminate our covenant.”
“Incorrect, Phoenix—it was made of your own free will. Our transaction holds true. Now….” He nodded toward Gage and Zo. “Which of them do you revive first?”
Nix stared at his cousin, his throat slashed down the side and his head slanted at an odd angle. Zo’s throat had been cut so deep, her spine was visible.
“Zoe,” he whispered. Mads’s husband had fucked him royally. He couldn’t think of his predicament now, though. Reviving his family was paramount. Nix knelt beside Zo and brushed hair out of her face. “Do your demonic mojo shit, Micah.”
“I told you, I cannot bring back what another demon killed. It is all on you now, Phoenix.” Micah’s satisfied mien was like an abrasive touch to his exposed flesh, pebbling his skin to irritated attention.
“You don’t expect me to believe that bullshit, do you?” Enough of the games! The motherfucker owned him like he’d bought a dog. The need for games had ended.
The King cocked his head to the side as if considering the seriousness of Nix’s disbelief. “Not all angels have the ability to return breath. I can give breath to those I kill. My brother, Jesus Christ, possessed the magic to return breath regardless of how one died.” Micah went to one knee across from Nix. He rested his forearm along his thigh. “I’m counting on you having the same Messianic power.”
“Counting on it?” Nix turned his head away and spelled out Mads’s name three times before facing the demon again. The tactic failed to alleviate his anger. “You killed my family without proof of my parentage. And even if I’m what you claim, you have no verification I can do what you want. You son-of-a-bitch, I’ll find a way to kill you!”
“Phoenix, we’re wasting time. You have three months to settle your affairs, and other matters require my attention. I’ll give you the CliffsNotes version, so listen up. The Jesus Totem I pressed to your forehead proves your parentage. No other could absorb it.” Micah held up his hand when Nix would’ve asked for an explanation about the ‘Jesus Totem.’ He could only speculate as to the meaning of the unfamiliar term. “You will have all your answers soon enough. If you trust nothing I say, do not doubt me when I tell you that you are a direct descendant of the Messiah. All his other offspring have possessed the ability to return breath. First, you must tap into your inner Messiah. The Jesus Totem prepared you for your acceptance of it.”
Nix dragged a hand through his hair. If what Micah said were remotely true, he’d just given a demon unlimited use of Messiah power through a covenant. Nix had not only fucked himself, but the world. Options were required to get out of this arrangement, an alternative which couldn’t be used against Mads and his family.
“What if I die before the three months?”
“Don’t try and renege, Phoenix.” The demon smirked. “Tap your power just this once, and if you die, you’ll rise again in three days. Nothing but God and the Messiah can call you home. If they do, you entered into a deal with me. In case you haven’t put the puzzle pieces together yet, that means you’ll come directly to me and bypass Heaven.”
Feeling sick to his stomach at the magnitude of his fuck up, Nix closed his eyes. “How long will you require access to my lineage?” He opened his eyes to glare with hatred at the demon King.
“Undetermined.”
Which meant forever. What a scary prospect!
Nix rubbed his eyes, wishing he could rewind time. He would have three months to worry about his predicament. Right now, he needed to focus on getting Zoe and Gage back. “Tell me what to do.”
“Close your eyes.” Nix closed his eyes. “Focus on finding the gold and shiny inner light.” Nix tried to focus as directed. All he could think about was how disappointed Mads would be in him. How disappointed he was in himself. He couldn’t even expect his family to feel differently, and they loved him.
An image of Mads flickered into his mind’s eye. She would always be the ‘gold and shiny light’ in his life. The one person worth living for, the one person he never wanted to fail. He would lose Mads’s respect for his reckless actions.
A starlight pattern overrode Mads’s image—blinding, yet pure in its intensity. Warmth and acceptance flooded his body in liquid heat. His fingertips turned cold, then went icy hot, before fading into a mixture of tingly vibrations. His breathing grew shallower. A sense of empowerment and knowledge invaded his soul.
Eyes closed, he moved to Zoe and placed his hands over her heart. The imprint of a white body hit his mind, and the injuries followed next, with red splashed against the achromatic backdrop. He perceived no understanding of how he channeled the power, yet he projected it into Zoe’s body. Against the alabaster canvas of her body’s outline, he watched as something gold spread through her, eliminating her injuries.
Her heart burst into a rhythmic pattern beneath his palms, and Zoe gasped. Nix opened his eyes. Zoe’s head rolled against the concrete and her eyes flicked open, confused and dazed. He sat back on his ass, astounded by the miracle he’d performed.
“Nix!” Zoe flung herself into his arms and almost toppled them over. Nix squeezed her tight as she said, “You wouldn’t believe the weird dream I had.”
I might.
“I dreamed I was dead and you—”
“I’m impressed by your learning curve, nephew,” Micah interrupted Zoe. “I expected it to be slower.”
Against him Zoe stiffened. “Not a dream?” She pulled back enough to meet his gaze, her brown eyes dark with worry.
Nix swallowed past the hard lump in his throat. “No, Zo, not a dream.”
Zoe clasped his face between her hands and touched her forehead to his as tears rolled down her cheeks. “Nix, what have you done?”
“Fucked up,” he choked out.
Chapter Forty-Four
Two weeks to Hell
Flaming mad, Madison struggled to contain her tears. If she released them, she might never stop crying. Fear grappled with anger, fighting to take control of her emotions. Nix was going to Hell because of an agreement with a demon. How stupid could he be?
Oh, God…. Her hands trembled and the phone tumbled from her numb fingers, to shatter against the tile floor, ejecting the battery across the kitchen.
Bile rose fast to the back of her throat. Madison ran to the sink and vomited. She turned the faucet on, washed the evidence of her despondency away, and wet a washcloth to wipe her mouth.
How could Nix have done such a thing? What drove a man to such a desperate commitment? What could a King plan to gain from a pact with Nix? A mortal man with nothing but his soul to offer? Yet, a covenant bartered for more than a soul, usually something of value to the demon.
Zoe had wept while explaining what she witnessed, splicing together the events with the little information Nix provided—the demon setting a trap, she and Gage dying, and their subsequent Lazarus resurrection. Only to discover Nix had entered a partnership of some sort with one of God’s former angels. In two weeks, Nix would join Hell to fulfill his end of the bargain. What that end could possibly be, Madison couldn’t imagine.
Stupid, selfish man!
No one’s life should be worth the eternal alliance of another. What had he been thinking? He would know Gage and Zoe preferred death to this sort of sacrifice. Something more must have been at stake to force him to accept such a ridiculous offer.
Steeling her spine, she determined to find out!
Zen and Amos were playing chess when she walked into the living room with her purse slung over her shoulder and her keys dangling from her fingers. Petra lounged on the sofa, flipping through a fashion magazine.
“Can you stay with Amos? I’ve got something to take care of.”
“Don’t go, Momma,” Amos said, moving a che
ss piece. “You shouldn’t go.”
“Save it, Amos. I may be a couple of days, Zen.”
“Do what you need to do. We’ll be fine.” Zen moved his Rook. “Checkmate.”
Amos’s eyes rounded and his glare whipped about the chess set. “Aw! No fair, Zen! You can’t always win.”
“I can. You might beat me one day.”
Madison kissed the side of Amos’s head and left them to another match. Zen always won. Amos always lost. What tumbled through her head, though, wasn’t the trivialities of a board game, rather Crow’s warning. “Nix, if you continue to squander and push aside what you desire the most, you’ll fall to a partnership of your own making. A pact with a devil in a hell you cannot fathom…. The anguish of lost regrets will force you to submit to his satisfaction, become the monster he desires, the tool for his entrance into a Kingdom not of his making. There’s hope. Allies will come to your aid, and a new Phoenix, battle hardened by heinous exploits, and shame, may rise from the ashes.”
An awful prediction she must stop.
***
“Mads!” Nix opened the hotel room door. Eagerly drinking in the sight of her, he gulped back a hard swallow at the realization of his imminent doom. “How’d you know where I—”
She slapped him. His head snapped sideways hard enough to crack at least one vertebra in his neck. With her arrival, broken bones became the least of his worries. Unless Beliel’s heart suddenly grew from its current two sizes too small, Mads just guaranteed he was Hell-bound two weeks sooner than expected.
Working the ache out of his jaw with his thumb and finger pressed to his chin, he turned back to face her.
She was a lefty. “I’d hate to see your left hook if that’s your right slap.”
She slapped him again. With her goddamn left hand!
Shit! Pain burst into his eye, his cheek burned, the inside of his mouth shredded from his teeth. Reminder to self—don’t piss Mads off!
“Goddamn it!” He stomped his foot.
She attacked, pounding his chest with closed fists. She shoved him and whacked him again and again, each blow to his chest, thankfully.
Nix grabbed her arms, dragged her against his chest, and trapped her there to eliminate any further hits. Her choppy breaths testified to her anger.
Two simple rules not to break, and he’d broken both in less than thirty seconds. Not to be in Madison’s presence—beyond his control. And not to touch her—well within his control to resist. Damned. Anytime now he would be collected. His heart and family jewels fed to the monster-Neko-cat Micah warned him about.
He shuddered at the thought and pushed it aside fast.
“Who told you?” Easy enough to figure out what angered her. But who ratted him out? He stared down at her, kicking the door closed with his bare toes. His heart broke at the anger, fear, and defeat shining out of her gorgeous blue eyes. Nix never expected that reaction from her. He expected Mads to go about her daily routine, running from Micah and gaining the skills necessary to defeat him. She might have remembered him fondly on occasion, but he’d never expected so much emotion.
“Zoe.” The word wasn’t much more than a breathless whisper that wavered on the last syllable making him think she struggled to hold it together.
Zo refused to speak to him because of her anger. No big surprise she’d called reinforcements when he refused to discuss a way out of his covenant.
“Why, Nix? Why?”
Anguish and guilt hit him hard. “I couldn’t let…Gage or Zo die.” He stumbled over adding her name to the mix, wishing to spare her any erroneous guilt. “They were dead because of me. My conscience couldn’t take it.”
“They were dead because y’all face death everyday when you go up against the paranormal world. They know the risks, Nix.”
He’d been the target, and his love for her used against him. He let her believe as she wished and said nothing.
She scanned the dingy hotel room over his shoulder, and he knew the minute her eyes touched on the two empty liquor bottles. “The drinking won’t erase your stupidity.”
“You gotta understand I—”
“I understand you’re going to Hell!” she yelled. “How are any of us supposed to live knowing you’re suffering there—and you can bet your ass, demons will be lining up to have a go at you.”
“I’ll be a partner of…Hell.” He couldn’t tell her Beliel’s name, and he wouldn’t give her Micah’s name either. “There’ll be no suffering.” The statement sounded as stupid as he felt.
“Don’t be naïve, Nix. You’re too old for that. You’ll suffer because it’s not where you belong. And if you think the demons you sent back to Hell won’t make sneaky attacks at you regardless of your freaking arrangement, then you’re….” She stared at him a long moment. “I don’t have a word to express how stupid you are if you believe that.” Her eyes traveled across his face as if memorizing his features. “How can we do nothing? How can you expect me, a Queen of Hell, to do nothing?”
Nix expected her to do just that…nada! He knew better than to respond. She couldn’t be appeased. He settled for staring at her, feeling broken and defeated.
“I’m furious at you, Nix. I can’t decide who’s more selfish, you for accepting the deal or the demon who issued it.”
He carefully released her arms. They remained on his chest, and she curled the fingers of both hands in his shirt. He rubbed a thick swath of hair between his fingers and vaguely wondered if other women’s hair compared to the soft texture of hers. He’d never concerned himself with the details of women much, his main focus finding release from the crazy world inside a warm, willing body and letting his worries melt away. With Mads, everything felt new and exciting, all his emotions a tangled mess of want and protectiveness.
“I didn’t do it to hurt you.” Hurting her never hit his bucket list. He’d give anything to have a do over, to change the night he damned himself. Choosing a different path and ignoring the signs leading to his doom might change everything or it might not. Nothing, however, could convince him to alter his agreement with Micah, if it remained the only option to save Gage and Zo…and Mads.
“I am hurt. You should have come to me, Nix. Let me help you figure out a way to change everything.” She jerked on his shirt, knocking him off balance so he crashed into her. They stumbled, her back hit the door, and Nix caught himself with his palm beside her head. “You big moron.”
Shifting his other hand to brace against the door, he trapped her between his arms and bit the corner of his mouth. Such an adorable curse.
“You helped me. You should have let me try to help you. I have power in Hell, you know.”
“I….” He closed his eyes and shook his head. “I thought you were dead, too.”
He opened his eyes as her forehead wrinkled in confusion. He pondered how she’d react if he licked her quivering bottom lip.
“I wasn’t there, Nix.”
“I thought you were.” She stared into his eyes. “Your mom played your part. Convincingly, I might add.”
“Dear God.”
“You were all dead, Mads.” He wouldn’t confess she was the final death necessary to change his ‘fuck you’ stance. “A demon willing to kill the wife he needs for whatever fucked up plan he has…I was given a choice. I knew neither Amos nor your crystal genie—”
“Not my crystal genie,” she said sullenly.
“—could save any of you. I was the only salvation for all of you.” If only he could tell her how much of a savior he’d become.
Catching sight of her flesh at her shirt collar, he moved his hand and watched his fingers traipse across her collarbone. Her breath quickened noticeably. Rules broken, he contemplated breaking them further.
“You’re such a fool, Nix.”
He agreed.
“You don’t belong in Hell. My God, consorting with a demon because of…me?” Her voice broke on the final word. “I’d rather be dead than know I caused the decision.”
“I should slap you again for the apology.” He would let her, too. “Maybe I’ll make my own deal to save you from your fucked-up one.”
His palm tightened on her shoulder, even as he casually noted how sexy she sounded when she cursed.
“Don’t. Even. Consider. It.” Fury at the thought of Mads in Hell for any reason hit him hard in the gut. He managed to soften his voice even though he gritted his teeth, “Don’t give the Sherlocks more of a reason to hunt you and Amos down.”
God have mercy, he wouldn’t be here to protect her if they came for her. And Sherlocks were worse than a demon after prey.
“Nix…” Her breath stuttered, and his focus jerked to her face. Shiny prisms of tears flooded her blue eyes. “My worst days were bearable only because I knew you were out there making the world safer.” The tears spilled over and hit her cheeks. Nix moved in closer, wedging her body against the door with his weight. “I’m selfish. I want to know you’re there when I need you. Even if it is only through a telephone line. I can’t bear this life…this journey…knowing my best friend resides in Hell, serving the whims of demons with a grudge against him.” She couldn’t imagine how big a grudge this demon held against him. Or how much it involved her. “I’ll miss you terribly.”
She thought that selfish? Nix could teach her lessons on self-centeredness. Her idea of it sounded like she cared a little more than she should, definitely more than he deserved.
“Is that all I am to you?” He cinched her wrists with his thumbs and forefingers and pulled her arms above her head. Anchoring them against the door with one hand, he slithered the knuckles of his other down her arm, admiring the smooth, soft texture of her flesh, until they came to rest at her hips. Turning his palm over, he gripped her hip. The thinness of her black yoga pants clung to every curve of her delectable body. They’d be easy to remove, even less restrictive to push a hand inside.