“I’d do anything for you, Viorica. You know that. But I can’t see how I can help.” I couldn’t tell her about the Mephisto plans. She’d tell Eryx, I was sure of it.
“I’m certain Kyros will come after me, but he doesn’t know that Eryx is aware. He’s waiting, and all those Skia are here because he plans to capture Key and hold him hostage.”
She had to be lying. The Skia were drunk and stoned, laughing and dancing, partying with abandon. They weren’t anticipating a Mephisto arrival. “I don’t know what they plan to do. They may do nothing. You’re lost to them, so why would they risk coming here to get you?” Key would risk it because he loved her, but I didn’t say that.
She came closer. “You live with them now. You’re immortal and marked. You’re fully Mephisto. Why don’t you know their plans?”
“It’s complicated. They don’t know I’m here. I came to see you because I had to, one last time.”
“So you never intended to stay?”
“How can I stay and be who I am?” I stood and went to the window. “I love you, will always love you, no matter what, but I have to go.”
“Take me with you!”
“I can’t.”
She rushed toward me and threw her arms around me, crying into my shoulder. “I’m so sorry. So . . . sorry.”
Returning her embrace, I wished there was some way I could let her know she wasn’t doomed to be here for all time, but it wasn’t a chance I could take. I couldn’t trust her any more than I could trust Eryx. As much as anything, that broke my heart.
“The only place he can’t go,” she mumbled into my shoulder, “is Hell on Earth. If I could go there, just for a little while, I’d have time to think, time to make a plan.”
“It’s a horrible place and you’d be miserable.”
“But I’d be safe from him, and I’d do anything to get away. He’s scary, Mariah. I wish so much that I hadn’t believed him. He’s so sincere, such a master at faking people out.” She cried harder and clung to me and I was overcome with grief. “He keeps talking about sex, and what he’s going to do to me. It’s . . . unnatural. I don’t want it, I don’t want to do it. I’m so afraid.”
I remembered his speech about rape, that he thought it was disgusting. “He won’t make you do anything you don’t want to do. I’m sure of it.”
“Are you joking?” She pulled away and stared at me with wide eyes. “This is Eryx we’re talking about. He’s evil worse than Lucifer. He has no conscience, no light, no clue what it is to be afraid. He loves to instill fear in others, but he doesn’t know what it’s like.” Her face crumpled. “What am I going to do, Mariah?”
“Just be patient and tell him you want to wait, and you can think of something.”
“I could ask Lucifer for help. Do you think he would help me? God can’t hear me anymore, but Lucifer can. He knows.” She brightened. “That’s the answer, I’m sure of it. I’ll ask Lucifer.”
I didn’t think Lucifer could hear her any more than God, but I didn’t say so. “He may take you to Hell, Viorica.”
“Wouldn’t that be better than this?”
“I don’t know. I have no concept of Hell or what it might be like.”
“I know from what Key told me that it’s not like Hell on Earth, and it’s not like it is with Eryx. Lucifer is balance, and he’s not about inflicting evil. He would help me, I know he would. Please, Mariah, take me to Hell on Earth. That’ll get his attention. He’ll come there and talk to me.”
“Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t take you. I can’t leave Erinýes unless I walk out.”
“You never know until you try. Maybe Hell on Earth is different.”
“Viorica, you’ve got to understand, there’s nothing I can do to help you. It’s not as if I talk to Lucifer. Why do you think he’ll hear you there any more than he will here?”
The door opened and Eryx stood there, scowling at Viorica. “You said you’d be right back. What goes on here?” He came in and closed the door, advancing toward us with a thunderous look of rage on his handsome face. “You’re not trying to leave, are you?”
I wasn’t sure if he was talking to me, or my sister, but all my protective instincts came screaming forward and I stepped in front of her. “What is wrong with you? Can’t you see she’s afraid?”
“Of course I see. I’m not blind. Now step aside.”
“No.”
He grasped my arms and shoved me, than grabbed Viorica and kissed her. She fought to get away, but he held her fast and pulled the neckline of her dress below her breasts, squeezing them so hard, she cried out against his mouth.
Furious, I launched myself at him and pushed with all my strength, gratified when he stumbled backward, clearly shocked. I didn’t wait around to see what he’d do. Taking my sister’s arm, hoping it worked, I closed my eyes and imagined I was on that narrow ledge within Hell on Earth. I knew the instant heat consumed me that we were there.
I opened my eyes and saw Viorica smiling at me as she tugged her dress up to cover her breasts. “You did it! You really did it! I didn’t think you would. I said you weren’t this gullible, but he knew. He’s so smart, knows exactly how to get people to do what he wants. You really fell for it and brought me here.” Her face was perspiring.
So they had tricked me. They’d used my love for her and my horror of rape to make me do what they wanted. “Why?”
“To get rid of you, of course.”
“If he wanted to be rid of me, why did he bring me back to immortality? Why didn’t he just let me stay dead?”
“For me. He wanted you to be there for me. He didn’t realize that I couldn’t care less, but once he understood, he knew he’d need to dispose of you, so you can’t be any help to the Mephisto. Eryx can visit here, but he can’t bring anyone with him, and he can’t take anyone out. He was delighted when you said you were brought here while you were dead. Even as a newly made immortal Mephisto, you can transport to places you’ve been. But Hell on Earth is like Erinýes, on permanent lockdown. You can come here, but you can’t leave.”
“And you can?”
“It’s part of what Eryx gave me when he kissed me. I’ll be with him always, and grow in strength as he does, and someday, we’ll own the world.”
“Why would you want to?”
“Because it’s power. Everything in the universe belongs to those with power. I realize now, all pleasure comes from power. Your whole life, you’ve been a powerless nonentity, so I don’t expect you to understand.”
I couldn’t breathe because of the heat and the lack of oxygen, and yet I didn’t die. Agony and no death. Hell on Earth. The shuffling crowd had stopped moving and were shouting and screaming at us. “I love you, Viorica.”
Her expression went from ecstatic to disgusted in a nanosecond. “My name is Jordan. I haven’t been Viorica since I was a baby, but you just can’t let go, can you? You should have gotten a life. Instead, all you’ve ever done is sit and wait for life to happen to you. You love people and hope they’ll love you back, but nobody loves an invisible girl. You hated Emilian, but it turns out, he’s the only one who ever cared anything at all about you. At least he noticed you exist.” She stepped back. “Goodbye, Mariah. Enjoy eternity here.”
“You’re a clever one,” I said with a smile. “I always knew you were the smartest of us, the brightest and prettiest. I wish you well, Viorica, and hope you find your way back to God, someday.”
That made her angry. Turning to look down at the sea of raging faces, she shouted, “Silence!” When they quieted, she said, “Meet Mariah, the newest Mephisto!”
The rage became hysteria, all of them surging forward to shake their fists and scream at me, call me filthy names and hurl threats.
I leaned close and kissed Viorica’s sweaty cheek just before she disappeared and I was alone. Again. I tried to transport and wasn’t at all surprised that I couldn’t.
I didn’t hate her for this. She was like him now, without a conscien
ce, without compassion.
I began to pray, even though I felt certain God couldn’t hear me. This was Lucifer’s domain, a place to keep Eryx’s followers from recruiting others. God didn’t live here in any way.
I began to pray to Lucifer. I prayed to Mephistopheles. I prayed to Mary Michael.
Time passed and nothing happened.
The Skia were insane with fury, trying to climb the stone wall to the ledge where I stood. They’d find a way, eventually, and take me down and tear me to bits. They’d rape and torture me and I’d owe it all to my baby sister, who loved me until Eryx poisoned her soul.
I’d taken off my jacket, had lost my scarf, and now I pulled off my sweater, then my jeans, until all I wore was a bra and panties. I sat on my jacket and labored to breathe while I watched my skin turn red and blister. I wondered what Phoenix was doing, if he’d discovered I was missing yet? Would he be able to mentally search for me and find me here?
I closed my eyes and thought of him, trying to do my own mental search, but I came up with nothing and didn’t know if it was because I didn’t know how, or if a mental search wouldn’t work in Hell on Earth.
What difference did it make anyway? He couldn’t come here to get me for the same reason I couldn’t leave. I was stuck here and no amount of wishing and praying and hoping would make a damn bit of difference.
I had no concept of time, but eventually I grew hungry. I pulled one of the energy bars from my jacket pocket and turned to face the wall while I ate it. There were three more, hardly enough to last forever. I was destined to be hungry, skeletal and desperate. Would I look forward to a lost soul landing in this cave because it would mean food?
Unable to help it, I threw up the energy bar all over my sweater.
That’s when I noticed the Skia were louder, closer, more enraged. They knew I had food. I saw a hand on the ledge just before one of them, a man, slid up beside me, then another, and another. They were climbing on top of one another to reach me. I tried to kick them away, but the weight on the ledge was too much and it gave way, sending me hurtling into the middle of the mob.
Chapter 19
~~ Phoenix ~~
For maximum energy, in a long-standing pre-takedown ritual, we ate as much as possible, and today, as fast as possible, then convened around the onyx M in the front hall. Each of us held a box of plastic explosives, and Jax held the detonators. He grimly looked around the circle. “Is everyone completely clear on what you’re to do?”
We all nodded, except Zee, who said, “I still think it’s dicey to blow up Erinýes. There’s no reason to do it other than revenge, and it’s going to take time, which means more opportunities to be discovered by Eryx’s Skia. If he realizes we’re there before we’re ready for him to know, he’ll take Jordan somewhere else and we’ll have to start all over.” He looked at Key. “Time is all important, and what you plan to do won’t make any difference if she’s already crossed the line. No way she’s getting into Heaven if she’s helped him take a soul.”
“She’s been with him ten hours, at the most,” Sasha said, “and they haven’t left Erinýes, I know, because I’ve been holding on to my mental search ever since I found out what happened. It’s not like he’s going to go hunt down a convert when he just got her there.”
Zee said, “There’s also the possibility he’ll try to mark her, which may or may not be possible, but once she’s taken that step, getting her back to God might be a lost cause.”
Hands gripping his box, Key looked close to losing it again. “This will work, Zee, and it’s not just about revenge. You saw the text he sent me. He’s so pleased with himself for having the ability to trick an Anabo, comparing it to Lucifer’s temptation of Eve, he’s certain he’s close to being powerful enough to confront Lucifer. He has to know that he’s not. We have to show him he’s nowhere close, because if he openly declares war, it’ll be chaos and anarchy of Biblical magnitude. Humanity will suffer because he’s still tied to the world, and the only way he can draw Lucifer out is by trying to destroy it.”
“And you think blowing up his castle is the way to show him he’s not ready to take on Lucifer?”
“It’s that we can, Zee. You went there and saw for yourself that he’s allowing everyone in the castle to slack off. He’s so cocky right now, he thinks we can’t touch him. He thinks we’re afraid of him. We have to make it real clear that he’s not as powerful as he believes, and he won’t win if he calls Lucifer out. Stealing Jordan and blowing up Erinýes will do that.”
Zee shifted the box he held and said, “I wish to God what she tried to do had worked.”
“We all do,” Ty said, his voice hard. “But it didn’t, and we owe it to her to get her out of there, to save her from what she’s become.”
Jax began a count.
On three, we transported to Romania, to Erinýes. I materialized in the main bedroom corridor, the one with modern bathrooms, the one with Eryx’s at the end. I went in the first room and quickly set the plastic, affixed the charge, then moved across the hall to the next bedroom and set another one. Most of the Skia were in the great hall, dancing to hip-hop tunes and getting crazy drunk, but one occasionally came my way and I remained inside a bedroom as they passed. I stealthily worked my way down the hall, avoiding rooms with Skia, and set the last charge in the room closest to Eryx’s, this one with the most plastic to ensure his room was destroyed.
Back in the hall, I saw a couple leaving a bedroom I’d skipped, so I went back to set a charge in there. When I opened the door, I caught the faint scent of heather. I worked the plastic, thinking of Mariah, of how difficult it would be for her to get past losing Jordan. She hadn’t come downstairs to the war room, I assumed because it was too much for her. How could she plan her own sister’s death?
I’d essentially planned my brother’s, but for me, it wasn’t quite the same. Mariah had given up so much for Jordan. To see it all end like this had to be worse than devastating.
I couldn’t think about that. Not now. Not yet. We did this for Jordan, and for Kyros, because he loved her. So much, he would die for her.
I noticed a scarf on the chair and thought it looked familiar, but there was no time to look and see if it was Mariah’s, if she’d maybe left it here when Eryx brought her.
I could hear gunfire. We had started.
I slipped a mask across my face, reached into my pocket to retrieve a switchblade, then swung the assault rifle around from where it’d been riding my back.
In the hall, I moved through quickly; any Skia who wasn’t already passed out from inhaling the canister gas Zee and Sasha were dropping across the castle I shot. If one came at me before I could get off a shot, I stabbed them. Some of them rallied enough to get pistols and rifles, but I made it to the other side of the castle without wounds.
My objective was the wing of rooms where Eryx’s resident Skia worked, where they had computer banks and records similar to ours. Zee would have already taken hard drives and flash drives, but we wanted to make sure when Eryx came back, there was nothing left of his operation. He would have to start from scratch.
I found the hall, set the charges without incident because the Skia were all unconscious, then ran back to the front of the castle, leaping over the bodies littering the floor, running through the open doors and down the steps to the grocery truck Ty had commandeered from the village ten miles away. I was last, and as soon as I leapt for the truck, Ty sped away.
Fifty yards from the castle, he stopped and we all jumped to the ground. Jordan was unconscious. Key laid her across a stack of boxes inside the truck, then joined the rest of us.
Jax handed each of us a detonator. “On three.”
We punched the remotes and felt the ground shake while we watched Eryx’s castle explode, blasting everyone inside to bits. They were immortal, so they’d be back, but it would be a while. It took several weeks to come back from being blown to pieces. And it would take months, even years, for Eryx to rebuild and replace
what he’d lost. When he came back, he’d know the Mephisto had won this round. He’d know he wasn’t ready to take on Lucifer.
We climbed into the back of the truck, and Key sat on a cabbage crate, settling Jordan in his lap, holding her against his chest. I watched him and wished with all my heart and soul this could be different. I’d alternately hated and loved him, all of my life, but no matter what, he was always there, always solid and strong. I would miss him like I’d miss my arm or my leg. I’d survive, but I’d always feel handicapped, a part of me gone forever.
Another five minutes and the truck passed through the gates that marked the edge of Eryx’s land, freeing us to transport again. As we slowed, Key looked across at me and I solemnly looked back at him. I didn’t say anything. He believed if I’d had the choice with Jane that he now had with Jordan, I’d have done it. But would I? It was a question I didn’t think I’d ever have an answer for. All I’d felt for Jane had been bastardized over a century, until it was so wrapped up in guilt and shame, it bore no resemblance to reality.
Key looked at Sasha, who was crying, then at Denys, who said, “I’m glad you’re my brother.” His gaze moved to Zee, who lunged across the space between them to hold Key’s face in his hands and kiss his forehead. “I love you,” he whispered before he disappeared.
He looked to where Ty was standing behind the truck. Our tallest brother swallowed hard and said, simply, “Good-bye, Kyros.”
Finally, he looked at Jax. “You’ll make sure Mariah is safe?”
I wasn’t angry that he said it. I understood. Nothing I’d done about Mariah had been right – none of it had been in her best interests. Key was asking Jax to make sure I didn’t screw it up worse than I had already. Even now, he was looking out for the Mephisto.
The Mephisto Mark: The Redemption of Phoenix Page 32
