The Fallen Queen: (Gods & Monsters Book 2) (The Gods & Monsters Trilogy)

by Janie Marie

  Jane cried, shaking her head again.

  David began rubbing her back. “Jason, Melody is a very gifted vampire. There was no way you could have resisted her. If she got close enough to speak to you, that is all she needed to enchant you. As far as we have ever known, only Jane and I have been able to resist her charms. You may have initially fallen under her spell, but we can all say you are the second man to resist her magic.”

  Jason’s fingers barely moved on her cheek, but she could tell he was trying to soothe her. “I heard you laughing. And then I saw your face. You were laughing and telling me to stop. Do you remember the park we used to go to?”

  Jane smiled, turning her face to kiss his palm. “The one with the merry-go-round?”

  “Yes,” Jason said, taking a shaky breath. “I was spinning you on it, and you got dizzy. I saw that day, and I remembered how much I loved you. And I saw how much you loved me. I should have never taken you for granted. When I did, I forgot what our love felt like. I forgot you . . . I forgot me. I loved you so much, Jane, and I let myself forget because I put myself before you.”

  “You didn’t,” Jane said, kissing his palm again.

  A pained look appeared in his eyes. “I did, Jane. I see what I did now. I’m sorry, and I hope you can forgive me someday because it was really you who broke her spell. Your smile pulled me out of it.”

  “I forgive you, Jason.” She felt a fire igniting within her heart. “Please don’t leave me. I can’t lose anyone else. Please just keep fighting. I’ll find a way to make you better.”

  Jason let out a relieved sounding breath. “Thank you for forgiving me—but you know I can’t. I accepted my fate when I provoked her into attacking me so she would leave Nathan alone. I’m sorry he got hurt, but he’s being a big boy—he knows I’m proud of him and sorry. You know how he’s so attuned to you—I think I finally got that with him. He told me it was okay to go.”

  Jane sobbed, her body shaking as David kept her from falling on Jason. “It’s not okay.”

  “It will be, babe. David will take care of all of you. He’s good with them.”

  “No, Jason.” Jane sobbed, shaking her head. She couldn’t believe this was really happening.

  “Don’t cry,” Jason whispered, his breathing growing shallower. “You’re in good hands. David is good for you. I know he’ll love you and take care of you and our kids. I’ve seen the way he looks at them—it’s almost as powerful as the way he looks at you.”

  “Don’t, Jason. I need you. They need you.” She lowered her head, her whole body shaking as that fire started to destroy her from the inside.

  “Give her Dr. Pepper,” Jason said suddenly, confusing Jane.

  She looked at his face again, but he was staring at David.

  “She likes Dr. Pepper. She doesn’t drink alcohol of any kind, but she calls that her hard stuff.” Jason laughed, but it was full of pain. “I guess she won’t be getting sick anymore, but she always wanted a Dr. Pepper and a chocolate shake after she had a headache all day. She used to get so sick. I should have tried harder to make her feel better; she always told me what helped her. She’d ask me to rub her neck and back or get her a cold cloth, but I told her she had the massager I bought. She’d tear up, but I would ignore her because I didn’t want to see her that way. I tried to make up for it with getting her a Dr. Pepper or shake. I’d get fries if I was feeling extra guilty.”

  David chuckled, but Jane couldn’t stop crying. She didn’t know Jason thought about all this.

  “If she’s ever mad at you, you can win her over with a hamburger and fries too. Just don’t expect her to share.”

  “I have already learned that she doesn’t share food,” David said, chuckling. “Especially her fries.”

  Jason let go of Jane’s face to hold out his shaky hand to David. “Thank you for saving her and for bringing her home. You could have left us, but you were willing to give her up so she could be with us.”

  David shook his hand. “You’re welcome. Thank you for showing her the love she needed from you.”

  Jason gave the tiniest of nods. “Keep them safe. Don’t let them go.”

  “I give you my word, Jason; I will protect them with my life.”

  Alarms started going off on the machines hooked up to Jason.

  Jason released David’s hand and closed his eyes. “Never stop showing her how much you love her. I did that. Don’t be like me.”

  “No, Jason,” Jane cried, hysterical. “Please don’t leave me. I’ll do anything! Just please don’t leave.”

  “Oh, my beautiful wife. I love you so much.” Jason raised his hand to her cheek again.

  “Stop, Jason!” she screamed at him and shoved David away from her, glancing around the room as she desperately hoped some answer would present itself. When she met David’s worried stare, the answer came, and she smiled, looking back at Jason. “I can change you!”

  “No, baby,” David said, trying to move back to her.

  She bared her fangs at him. “I can change him!”

  “Babe, I don’t want to be a vampire,” Jason said, pulling her frantic gaze to him.

  “Why?” She started breathing fast. “Jason, I can change you. You can live with me.”

  Jason shook his head. “Babe, I don’t want to be a vampire.”

  Arthur approached Jason’s other side. “Jane, even if you changed him, you would damn both of you to Hell.”

  “But we get to have one Other,” she said, panicking.

  Arthur smiled sadly. “David is your Other, Jane. You do not get to make a separate immortal without damning yourself. Jason was not destined for this life. Do not do this to him or yourself.”

  “I don’t want that life, Jane,” Jason said again, making her look back at him.

  She was devastated. “Please! I don’t care what it does to me.”

  “But I do,” he argued with her. “I’m ready, Jane. I know you’re safe and loved. I know our kids will be taken care of. Don’t be afraid. Everyone has to die. It’s my time.”

  Jane started crying uncontrollably. Jason’s monitors continued to set off alarms, which Bedivere kept silencing. It was getting close.

  David attempted to approach her again, but she tried to push him away. “Leave me alone!”

  He ignored her and wrapped his arms around her as she bawled like a baby. “Breathe, my love.”

  “I can’t!” She cried, shaking so hard David had to squeeze her tight so she wouldn’t fall off the bed.

  A shift in the atmosphere and a tingle across her cheek made her scream. “NO!” She knew who was there. “Please not now. I’ll do anything.”

  “There’s nothing to be done, Sweet Jane.”

  Jane sobbed, grabbing Jason’s hand as if that would keep him safe from the Angel of Death. “Please. Please.” She could barely make out Jason’s face through her tears. “Please don’t take him.” She was able to tell the moment Jason saw him, though.

  Jason’s eyes grew wide. “That’s why you knew her. You’re him.”

  “I am,” Death said.

  Jane had missed the sound of his powerful voice so much. It was so deep but smooth at the same time. Now it filled her with dread and sorrow.

  “Yes. I met her when she was a young girl—when she was dying. This is how she sees me. And now, so do you.”

  “No wonder she always looked up when a man in leather passed her,” Jason said.

  Death chuckled. “I blocked her memories before, but I think a part of her was unable to forget me.”

  “Death, please don’t do this,” Jane begged, still unable to turn to look at him. For so long she had prayed for him to come to her—to comfort and protect her, but she had been left in the dark. Now he decided to come, but it was to take someone she loved. Again. “You can’t do this to me.”

  “It’s his time, baby girl,” Death said. “I am not doing this to hurt you. You know I love you, angel.”

  Jane felt it happening—the peace his pr
esence gave someone before they died. “STOP!”

  “Baby.” David tried to console her.

  “I can save you,” Jane said, gripping Jason’s hand. “If you won’t let me turn you—give me time to figure out how to heal you. I can do it with my powers. I just have to figure out how.”

  Death spoke before Jason could respond. “You will not be successful, Sweet Jane. It’s his time now. This has always been his time.”

  Jane kept her eyes on Jason. “Please just let me figure out how to heal him.”

  “You can only save those who are meant to be saved by you, Sweet Jane. He is not.”

  “You knew he would die?” She tightened her hand on Jason’s when it began to go limp. “You knew he would die, and you didn’t tell me.”

  “I tell no one, Jane. This is how it is meant to be. I did not know how he would come to this moment, but I knew when I would have to come. I am here because I love you. I wanted you to have the goodbye you did not have with the others.”

  Jane lowered Jason’s oxygen mask. She could see his relaxed state settling in. Death was giving him peace. She cupped his cheeks, crying at the sight of the damage to his face. “I love you, Jason. I love you, always.” She pressed her lips to his, trying to make sure he knew how much she loved him. “Forgive me for this.”

  “Jane?” David called, walking back to her, but she shoved him back with her powers.

  They all stumbled back, and she made two barriers. One kept David and the others back while the other separated Death from her. She needed him closer for what she was about to do.

  She turned, crying when David’s panicked gaze stared into hers. “I’m sorry.”

  “Baby, what are you doing?” he asked, pressing his hand against the barrier as he frantically glanced between her and Death.

  Jane looked away from him without answering his question to finally see her angel. Her lips trembled as she stared at his beautiful face. “I will save him. You can’t stop me.”

  Death’s expression didn’t change. “It’s his time. You do not have a say in that.”

  Her tears fell onto her skin as she held out her scarred forearm. She glanced at Jason’s bandaged arm, nodding to herself. “If I fix him, you don’t get to take him.”

  “It doesn’t work like that,” Death said, his voice the only one she could hear as the others frantically talked to each other about what to do.

  Jane focused on her arm while still managing to hold the two separate barriers. She wouldn’t fail. “Then make it like that!”

  He shook his head. “If you mend his wounds, he will still die. I did not show myself to hurt you. Calm down and take what I am giving you: a chance to say goodbye.”

  She glared at him. “You’ve watched me suffer; I know you have. If that’s all you are seeking, you could have stayed the coward you are and kept up your veil.”

  “Drop the barrier and say goodbye to your husband, Jane.” He glanced at her hand hovering over her forearm. “Don’t.”

  She smiled as she cried. “If I can’t figure it out, she can. And I will let her if that’s what it takes to save him. Make your choice.”

  He stared her in the eye but said nothing, so she returned her focus to her arm.

  “Baby, whatever you’re thinking of doing, don’t.” David said as she started sobbing. “She’s not the answer.”

  The skin suddenly began melting from Jane’s arm. Everyone in the room started yelling for her to stop, but she kept trying to heal her scars. If she could figure it out, she could figure out how to fix Jason.

  She screamed, her entire body shaking as the flesh from her arm fell to the floor.

  “JANE!” David punched the barrier when her blood started pouring onto the floor. “Death, stop her! Oh, God. Baby, please!”

  She wailed as she watched the skin melt and fuse, but it never got better. She was making it worse. “I have to save him!”

  “Jane, stop,” Jason tried to yell, but his voice was drowned out by the shouts and terrified cries from the wives who had come into the room.

  Her tears fell to the floor, mixing with her blood and flesh that had landed there. “I can’t lose him!” Jane screamed when she saw her own bones and veins. “I CAN’T LOSE HIM! HE’S THEIR DADDY! HE’S THEIR DADDY!”

  Death didn’t move a muscle. He only watched her.

  “I called for you every night,” she yelled, looking up to see those beautiful emerald eyes. “Was it because of David that you didn’t show yourself?”

  Death flicked his emerald gaze to David and the two stared each other down for a while before he returned his attention to Jane. She couldn’t read the expression on his face, but she felt their bond strengthening again, making her feel his frustration and torn thoughts.

  “No,” Death said. “It wasn’t because of him.”

  Jane wailed as she peered over her shoulder at Jason. “He doesn’t deserve this. This is my fault. I should have never brought them with me. They should have never known me.” Jason looked so sad now, but she could see his pain was gone. He was only there because Death was allowing it. “I’ll do anything to keep him alive, Death. Either help me, or watch me let her out.”

  Death stayed quiet and observed her while David began punching the barrier as hard as he could.

  The pain became so unbearable she felt her vision slipping, so she stopped trying to mend her arm. If she passed out, she would drop her barriers.

  “Oh, thank God,” David said, watching as she did when her arm began to heal.

  Jane looked at Death again. “Promise you will let him live or I will surrender to her.”

  Death still didn’t say a word, but he was staring at Jason now. “I cannot make that promise, Jane. His time ends now.”

  She felt blood dripping from her nose, so she dropped the barrier separating her from Death, sobbing when he approached her.

  “Oh, my beautiful girl,” he said, raising a hand to hold her cheek.

  Those tingles she’d ached for sparked across her skin, making her cry again. “I’ll go with you. If you promise to let him live, I’ll be yours. You can win. Take me in his place. Do whatever you want with me.”

  Death stared her in the eye as the room grew silent.

  “Baby,” David said, his voice heartbroken. “Don’t do this, baby. I love you. Please stop and think about what you’re saying.”

  “I’m saying I want my children to have their father!” she shouted, not looking away from Death’s emotionless stare. He may not have been showing it, but she felt his desire to have her.

  Death shifted his gaze to David. They held each other’s gazes for a long time, but Death didn’t move or even blink, so Jane took matters into her own desperate hands. She tugged Death’s arm so she could grab his face, and kissed him.

  “JANE!” David yelled, making her heart break.

  Death didn’t respond, and she was prepared to ask for her demon to come if only she promised everyone would be safe, but Death grabbed the back of her head and kissed back. He tugged her to him, tilting her face up more so they were as close as possible. Those little shocks and tingles danced over her skin before sinking deep into her pores.

  “Don’t you fucking do this, Death!” David shouted.

  Jane cried, but she didn’t let go of Death. She knew this ended everything she and David had, but she had to save Jason. She was the only thing Death wanted. Ever. She was ready to give her life so her family could truly have the one they deserved.

  Death deepened the kiss, pushing her mouth open, sighing when his tongue touched hers. It sent an explosion of fire and ice to her belly before it began searching for something inside her. He rubbed her tears with his thumbs, and she sobbed when he ended their kiss.

  “Please, Death,” she whispered, clasping her hands on his wrists. “You can have me. However you want me, you can have me. You can take me wherever you want. Just please don’t take him.”

  Death looked at Jason, but he didn’t speak.


  Jason did, though, and he smiled at her. “I love you, Jane. Be happy.”

  “I love you, too, Jason.” She glanced at David. She told him with her eyes, and her heart lit on fire when he spoke.

  “I love you, too, baby.”

  She couldn’t hold back anymore, so she told him what she’d wanted to for weeks. “I love you, David. So much, baby. I’m so sorry.” She cried again, her eyes actually feeling like they were burning along with her throat, but she blurted it out again as she wrapped her arms around Death’s waist. “I love you. Please forgive me.”

  David’s eyes widened, and he punched the barrier over and over again. “JANE!”

  Death held her tighter. “I’m sorry, David.”

  David’s yells were the last thing she heard before the floor dropped out from under her, and all the air was ripped from her lungs.

  Pain exploded throughout her entire body. Jane couldn’t scream or speak. She could only hold on to Death as he transported them through the darkness, which didn’t last very long. It was as if they’d come out of a tunnel and there was suddenly light. So much light. It blinded her, forced her to squeeze her eyes shut. Well, as much as she could possibly try to keep them shut. It was hard to not open them considering that it felt like she was being dragged through nothingness at an unthinkable speed while her body was crushed.

  Then, everything stopped. It was over.

  “Breathe, it will pass.” Death caressed her cheek.

  Jane finally opened her eyes, her breathing still heavy even though the crushing sensation had instantly faded. She glanced around the dark room, quickly realizing it was a bedroom, before looking at him. She could feel his frustration and worry from their strengthening bond, but a complete sense of peace kept her from unleashing her own feelings onto him. “Where are we?”

  He lifted her into his arms and carried her to a bed. “My realm.”

  Jane glanced at the black curtain taking up an entire wall. There was no way to see what was outside, but she could see various shades of reds, greens, purples, and blues flickering around the edge of the curtain. “What’s making the light?”