With tears in her eyes, Flint tore open a rift in time and knew that when she returned, Grace would be long gone.
75
Flint
It wasn’t easy trying to think of a place to meet the world’s most wanted Nephilim that would be free of Triad lackeys and yet also be far enough away from Cain that even if he got a hit on Flint’s location, he wouldn’t be able to reach her in time.
Flint knew that at some point he’d go looking for her, and once he discovered her gone, he’d go into a panic.
Keeping these secrets had been a necessary evil, and she only hoped he would understand that someday.
Screwing up her courage, she rolled up her left sleeve and stared at the lambent luminosity of her pale flesh.
The night was thick with fog and the air rich with the sweet scent of night-blooming honeysuckle. Bullfrogs croaked and Spanish moss waved long viny fingers through the air.
Flint had come to North Carolina years ago with one of her family’s traveling circuses. The lush scenery and slow-talking Southerners had always appealed to her.
She stood in a graveyard full of Civil War casualties, staring at headstone after headstone of one fallen solider after another. How quickly life could end.
It struck her then that what she was doing now was more than just keeping a secret from Cain. This was about something much bigger than him, or even herself.
Once the United States had nearly destroyed itself, brother fighting brother, families divided and allegiances torn. It’d been a crippling time in US history, but after the war, healing had come.
And now this place, this hallowed ground she stood on, was nothing more than a memory of destruction. A remembrance of a time past. What she did right now, it could change the whole outcome of the world.
That was a heavy thought, and a powerful burden to bear.
Cain had begged her to keep her distance from Pandora, and he’d been right to worry.
But if Grace trusted her, then Flint could do nothing other than believe her grandmother knew what she was doing when she ordered Flint out here.
Clamping her teeth on her bottom lip, she shoved a rosebud claw through her wrist. A bright bead of black blood welled up.
Summoning demons had never been high on Flint’s bucket list; in fact, it’d never even ranked. But here she was, turning her wrist over to the ground and watching as her blood soaked into the consecrated earth.
“Ya-El,” she intoned, calling Pandora by her true name. The one hidden from time and all memory save for a select few.
Just saying that name made Flint’s mouth feel full, like she’d just swallowed a nuke.
Her head tingled as the demon stirred to the sound of its name.
Flint’s eyes widened. “Holy crap, it worked.”
She wasn’t sure that was a good thing. Terrified out of her mind, she realized that though Pandora had heard her call, she didn’t seem to want to come.
Raising her eyes to the sky, she shook her head. “Grams, if she eats me, I’m going to hold you personally responsible for my death.”
Muttering, she tore her claw through her wound, causing even more blood to well up, and watched as a thicker puddle of it spilled to the ground and was soaked up hungrily.
“Ya-El, come.” She shoved power into that command. The trees shook, coming alive for her.
Vines crawled out of her flesh, covering her, giving her the strength she needed not to turn on her heels and run far and fast away. This was about the stupidest thing Flint had ever done in her entire life.
And if she were smart, she’d leave. That’s what Cain would be telling her to do. Leave and never come back. Pretend like she hadn’t done this, hadn’t summoned a freaking demon.
“Oh God.” She grabbed her knotted stomach. Maybe Pandora had decided not to come, or maybe she was just ignoring her, or maybe she was already here…
Eyes widening at that thought, Flint glanced over her shoulder and grimaced, swearing that each swath of shadow hid a monster more terrifying than any she’d ever known before.
The buzzing in her head suddenly coalesced into words and it whispered to her: Wait. I’m coming.
Flint’s heart slammed against her rib cage and she could only whisper back in the timeless words of Scooby-Doo, “Ruh-roh.”
Poking fun at a time like this was really the only way to survive the nerves. At least that’s what she told herself.
Realizing Cain’s Nephilim aunt could appear at any moment, she made a quick change, bending the light around her so that she appeared as nothing more than a normal, harmless human.
If for any reason she had to fight, she wanted to keep the advantage of surprise on her side.
Flint could handle herself, but she’d never had to take on a demon, especially not one like Pandora whose skill in battle was well-known. Stepping into a thick patch of shadow, Flint watched and waited.
Cain’s aunt appeared not even a minute later, dressed all in black leather and strapped to the nines with guns and knives. Flint could make out the nearly untraceable outlines of at least four on her hips and thighs.
Holy crap, she wasn’t ready for this.
Cicada song suddenly buzzed furiously, as though they too were aware of the danger that stalked the night around them.
Danger wrapped in elegance. Pandora might be a walking death dealer, but she was still as gorgeous as Flint remembered her being.
Her hair was shorter than before and no longer bore a purple streak. But her skin was pale perfection, her face was a thing of stunning Renaissance beauty, and her body was built not just for sex but also for danger.
It was a wonder that Cain had ever even noticed her with the types of genetics that ran through his family tree. Which was really such a stupid notion to think about right now, especially when said ballerina of death was currently leaning nonchalantly against a headstone. Flint wasn’t fooled though—she knew Pandora could turn into a tsunami of death at the slightest provocation.
It wasn’t easy working up her nerves to talk to the woman. Unlike Cain and Abel, who’d known Pandora nearly all their lives, Flint had only ever seen the woman in passing.
This was the woman destined to throw open the gates of Hell, destined to bring about the End of Days. How exactly was she supposed to strike up this conversation?
Grace would have known what to do. Flint wrapped one arm across her middle as she hugged her other arm tight.
“Who are you to call to me?” she asked in a deep voice.
And Flint jerked, startled, though she really shouldn’t have been. Because obviously Pandora had known she was here.
She swallowed the ball of cotton in her mouth. Then she felt a prod in her brain.
Literally like someone had reached inside and was sifting around. Flint shook her head, stepping partially out into the moonlight though not yet brave enough to leave the safety of shadow completely.
It was very odd to have someone messing around inside her head. Wrinkling her nose, Flint stuttered, “Please… please don’t turn around.”
And then she wanted to die. She hadn’t just said that. Oh God, Pandora was gonna kill her now for sure.
The poking around in her brain intensified until Flint winced and reached up to her skull, desperate that Pandora stop whatever the heck it was that she was doing.
“You’re human, and yet you’re a monster. So what are you exactly, girl?”
A venomous smile dripped off her words, and Flint gulped. This was so not going the way she’d hoped. Like, at all.
And then the prodding increased, like Pandora was trying to rip through the shell of her mind, trying to expose her completely and fully, and Flint trembled, latching her hands onto both sides of her head. The demon was running amok through her mind.
She was literally reading Flint’s life like a book, taking one memory out after another. The day she’d watched her mother die. The day Frank had pointed to Whispering Bluff on the map.
“Wha-
what are you doing to me?” Flint asked with tears streaming from her eyes, unable to think of anything else other than the horrible sensation of being picked apart.
Pandora laughed, the sound chilled Flint’s blood. “Since you don’t seem to be in a talking mood, I’m simply trying to figure out why it is you’ve summoned me. And how it is that a non-demon such as yourself should even know to do such a thing. Who gave you my true name, girl?”
The brain assault continued. One memory getting plucked out after another after another. Driving up to Carnival Diabolique. Walking the tightrope after the first time in years. Cain’s glowing red eyes. His gruff words when he’d caught her after she fell.
His kiss.
His touch.
I love you, Flint…
“Don’t hurt me,” was all Flint could manage to squeeze out as her insides literally felt like they were being ripped and stolen from out of her.
Cain was going to kill her when he found out how she died.
Pandora gasped and twirled around. “Flint DeLuca?”
There was real shock in her voice and on her features. Flint shook her head as the onslaught immediately ceased.
Exhaustion leaked from every pore as her lungs sucked in air like a bellows. She let her hair shield her face, needing a moment to gather her wits again, but she couldn’t stop the tremors that ripped down her spine.
Knowing Pandora would become the embodiment of pure evil and actually getting to feel the depth of her power were two totally different things. No longer was Flint sure that Grace’s trust in this woman was warranted.
But Pandora was literally all they had to make it out of this situation alive.
“Where’s Adam? Abel? Cain? Are they okay?” Pandora asked in a violent rush of words, and Flint could hear the sincerity in them.
Pandora was immensely powerful and definitely toeing the line between good and evil now, but Flint knew it was a good sign that she obviously seemed to care about her family.
She still scared the crap out of Flint, but she’d come here to do Grace’s final bidding and she wasn’t leaving until she finished the job. Notching her chin higher, she gathered whatever scraps of courage still left to her and said, “They don’t know about this. In fact, Cain would probably kill me if he knew I called you to me this way, but something was discovered last night and I was told by a reliable source that you needed to know this too.”
“Who, Adam?” she practically barked.
Flint shook her head.
Pandora narrowed her eyes, and it was easy enough to tell she was mentally going through the possible list of names, of which there were clearly only a few.
She looked back up and Flint wasn’t gonna lie, she was half tempted to pee her pants.
“So what makes you think you can trust me?” she snapped, taking a half step closer.
Flint wanted to beg her to please go back to her corner of the room and play nice, but she didn’t.
“Trust is a game demons don’t do well. Surely you know that by now, girl.” Pandora was looking Flint up and down, as though trying to take her measure.
It was so, so tempting to cower, or rub one foot on top of the other, and definitely to call out her vines and wrap them around her like a safety blankie, but one thing Flint knew from spending so much time with her guys was that you only got one chance to make a good impression.
When she’d thought herself only human, she’d not backed down from Cain’s bark even when she sensed deep down that he wasn’t entirely human. And she wasn’t about to start now, despite the fact that a part of her desperately wanted to.
This was bigger than her fears…
“It was Grace,” she finally admitted, not sure why she’d tried to keep her grandmother’s name out of it in the first place.
Grace was used to dealing with monsters. Heck, she’d talked to Death like he was nothing other than an annoying neighbor she was forced to put up with on occasion.
The thought almost brought a smile to her lips.
Pandora snorted and mumbled something under her breath that sounded a lot like Dean must not know if she sent you to me.
But it was hard to make out, and Flint could have jumbled it all up.
“Did she?” She cleared her throat. “And is she still alive?”
Her voice sounded scratchy, and if Flint wasn’t mistaken the demon’s eyes suddenly shimmered. Was it possible that this terrifying creature could have cared for her grandmother the way Grace had so obviously cared for her?
It seemed impossible to believe, but demons didn’t cry, and yet this one looked very much on the verge of it.
She thought back to her last minute with Grace and how Dean had come out of the shadows. Her heart sank all over again. Death had definitely come for her grandma tonight. But Flint wasn’t sure telling Pandora that was for the best either.
So she squared her shoulders and shook her head. “She was in a panic for me to leave before he came. It’s all she told me.”
And for a second the most miraculous thing happened—Pandora showed a sliver of humanity then. Her face fell, and she looked completely shattered.
But then that implacable mask fell over her features once more. Sniffing, she turned her face to the side and Flint understood the woman needed privacy.
Whatever Grace had been to Pandora, it’d gone soul deep.
And finally, finally Flint knew that her grandmother’s trust was valid. Somehow, someway, Flint knew that Pandora would win. Because she was strong enough to.
With a swift shake of her head, Pandora sighed. “What did she want?” she asked with steel in her words.
But her act didn’t fool Flint. Feeling more confident than she had in the beginning, she nodded. Her stomach still swirled with nerves because now it was time to drop the bombshell and she wasn’t sure how Pandora was going to take it.
Hopefully there would be no more scrambling of her brains. That’d sucked. And hurt. Bad.
Taking a deep breath, she gathered the hem of her shirt in her hands and bunched it. Gone was the promise not to fidget. She so did not want to be the bearer of bad news, but… “There’s something I think you need to know.”
And just as she was about to blurt the news, she thought about all the Triad spies that hid in plain sight and knew these words were for Pandora’s ears alone.
Screwing up her bravery, which was pitifully thin at the moment, she stepped in as close as possible to Pandora, who only looked at Flint with a tad bit of shock and a fair bit of respect. Reaching up, she tugged Pandora’s shoulders down so that she could lean into the tall woman’s ear.
“Keltsie and Cash are moles.”
And Flint prayed to God that that actually meant something to Pandora, because it still confused the crap out of her.
Hissing, Pandora leaned back, looking at Flint with wide and, dare she think it, dazed eyes.
Clearly this had meant more than just a little something to Pandora.
“This changes everything.”
Flint could have sighed her relief was so palpable. But instead, she nodded. “She thought it would.”
Reaching out a hand, Pandora gently squeezed Flint’s shoulder, and it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that the vines practically hissed under her flesh with anticipatory nerves.
But the demon was not attacking. In fact, she seemed composed and steady.
“Go home, girl. And tell no one of this night.”
Well, she wasn’t promising that. Because she was going to have to tell Cain what’d happened. But Flint nodded and was never more happy to open up a rift in time than now.
Stepping through, she raced for home.
Time to pay her pound of flesh.
She just hoped Cain was in a forgiving mood.
76
Cain
Flint was gone.
He’d gone to the bathroom to find her, but before ever even arriving there he’d felt her departure. She’d left and in a hurry.
Everyone was gathered in Grace’s room. Adam sat beside her on the bed, holding her hand. Her eyes were closed. She was gone.
Death had left long ago.
In moments he felt the shiver of displaced air and knew without turning that Flint had returned.
He looked up to watch her. And though sadness lingered in her eyes, she did not appear surprised by her grandmother’s passing.
They all looked at her, even Adam. But it was Cain who spoke up.
“It’s time you tell us what’s going on, Flint.” He’d tried so hard to deny the truth, but he couldn’t, not anymore.
She didn’t even bother trying to pretend she didn’t know what he was talking about. Looking up at them, she nodded meekly.
Flint was never meek.
She was still dressed in the clothes she’d fought in earlier. Her excuse of having to bathe had been a lie, like so many others she’d told recently.
It killed Cain that she would hide from him in this way.
Adam shoved his fingers through his hair before finally setting Grace’s hand down beside her on the bed.
“With her gone, our hope of learning where the gates are is gone too.”
Flint closed her eyes, squeezed her fingers together, and sighed deeply.
“No, it’s not.”
She looked at Cain, but he felt raw and furious and couldn’t look back even though he felt her eyes dance all over his face.
Her words quivered when she spoke. “For months I’ve been keeping secrets, from all of you.”
He hissed, finally looking up, knowing that she had directed those words to him specifically.
“There was a reason.” She nodded slowly.
“Then I think you’d better fess up, girl, and now,” Adam growled, and even as furious as Cain was at Flint, there was no way in hell he’d let anyone talk to her that way.
Standing, he maneuvered himself in front of her and eyed Adam furiously.
Adam’s nostrils flared as the room grew thick with the sudden tension of berserker and Nephilim rage. No one moved, all of them sensing Cain and Adam were just a spark away from exploding.
The Complete Tempted Series Page 84
