by Unknown
Malachi stepped toward Brogan and stopped when he felt Jolie’s energy floating toward him. “We might be convinced to let you live, Detective, if you joined us. We could use your loyalty. Once they’re dead, you would survive, your soul returning to your body. I could use that soul. In fact, you could come to our bed and share it with us.”
Brogan wanted to vomit at that idea. First, because losing them would kill him, and two, he couldn’t believe they thought him that shallow. He wouldn’t betray his family. If he had a choice, he’d rather die.
“No. I won’t help you. I belong with them,” he said pointing at his mates. “They’re mine, and I love them. If you’re going to kill them, you might as well take me out first. I go where they go.” He glared at Lily, accepting his fate.
Malachi weighed the situation very carefully, looking back and forth at all three of them. He obviously came to a decision quickly, because a sick smile crossed his face.
“Very well, Detective, you have chosen your fate.” He moved so fast that Brogan couldn’t move out of the dagger’s trajectory. It careened toward his heart, signaling his doom.
Unlike Flynn, Jolie knew what old school guardians were prone to do. In a fight, Jacques often had a knife handy. Since Malachi was from the same school of thought, she was ready for it. When he let it go, she was too far from Flynn to push him out of the way, so that meant one thing.
Jolie did the only thing she could to protect him from harm. She stepped in front of the dagger and took it straight in the heart. She gasped, hands clasping the hilt as it stuck out of her chest.
“NO!” bellowed Flynn, as he watched it hit its mark and take her to her knees. He dropped beside her, catching her falling body in his arms.
Lily stared openmouthed.
“My God,” said Brogan, ignoring the woman pointing the gun at his chest. “She’s going to die for me, Lily. How much more damn proof do you need?” He pushed energy into her body from his hand on her bare breast, and called for their other mate. “Jolie, baby, don’t you leave me!”
Things moved so fast at that point for Lily, she saw Jacques sit up in bed, and she knew she had to help her partner.
This was all wrong.
Jolie had traded her life for a human.
Maybe everything Malachi had said wasn’t true about her. It was time to fix their sins and clear her conscious before death. With the howl from the vampyre mate, she doubted they’d get out of there alive.
She pulled the trigger of her gun, pumping three rounds into her mate to buy Jacques the time he needed to get to him. The vampyre was off the bed so fast and at Malachi’s throat, that Lily had no time to feel anything happen as she fell to the floor. When Malachi’s heart was ripped from his chest, Lily’s soul slammed back into her body, aging her.
She knew she was dead the minute it reconnected with her portion. She glanced over at Brogan, holding Jolie in his arms, and said the only thing that came to her mind.
“Sorry.”
Then, she was dust.
Flynn didn’t care, since his partner was the last person on his mind, “Jolie, please,” begged Brogan, as he stroked her hair. “Jacques, she’s dying!” he said, as his mate moved to stand over them. He reached for the family, beckoning everyone to their quarters. They would need to feed and fight to keep her alive.
“We need to get her to the bed,” said Jacques, searching deep inside Jolie. He could feel her beginning to slide into the darkness.
“She needs blood!” he said, as he looked at Brogan. “I haven’t fed yet.”
“I’ll feed her and you.” Brogan handed Jacques his wrist and knew what must be done. “Do it!”
Jacques stared into Brogan’s eyes as his teeth ripped into the man’s wrist. Brogan didn’t even flinch. He moved his wrist to Jolie’s mouth as Jacques forced the blood into her body. He reached for her mind and searched for her.
“Jolie, stay with us.”
No reply
“We love you, please don’t leave us.”
Still there was nothing.
Panic welled up as her life began ebbing away. Once she reached the darkness, nothing this side of heaven or hell could pull her back.
“I need to feed. She’s leaving us.”
The family began arriving but stayed off to the side. They watched the two men frantically do anything to save her.
Brogan tipped his head as he held onto Jolie tightly. “Drink!” When Jacques ripped viciously into his neck, he understood the urgency and didn’t care.
When Jacques had fed enough, he pulled away and put both hands on Jolie’s chest, connecting the three of them. When she didn’t respond to Brogan’s blood and his energy, he felt the panic well up inside him that she may be gone forever.
“I can’t reach her. She’s gone.”
Jolie laid in the darkness and felt the warmth envelope her. She was finally at peace. There would be no more fighting and no more struggles. It would be nice to stay in the calm and remain at peace forever.
Off in the distance, she faintly heard Flynn and Jacques pleading with her, but she just wanted to sleep. It did her heart good to know she saved her human. He wouldn’t die, and she didn’t have to watch him leave.
The child killers were eradicated, and Genevieve would find out that Jolie was gone and leave them alone.
Everyone was safe.
Energy flowed into her body, and she wrapped herself in it as she sank deeper into the abyss. This felt different from the death that overcame her at dawn.
It was warm and inviting.
Jolie could float like this forever.
Forever?
She heard weeping, and she was compelled to focus on it. Who was that? Why were they crying? She was comfortable and at peace, so there should be no sadness. Jolie listened to the appeals draped in tears and moved toward it.
Why did it sound so familiar?
She listened and tried to focus on the words. It took a second, but finally she heard their masculine voices. Her mates were weeping.
Why were they crying for her? She was comfortable and at peace after eight hundred years of fighting battles. This was her reward, right?
Then, the word slid through her mind again.
Forever.
Oh God! She was dying! Jolie was being lulled into death’s grip and was willingly going. She heard icy laughter as the tendrils of comfort slowly turned cold and wrapped around her energy. It began pulling her just out of her mates’ reach for all eternity.
NO!
Jolie decided to fight to get back to them. Struggling to the surface, she fought death with every ounce of power left in her body. She screamed into the darkness, begging to be released to return to life.
Death laughed coldly, pulling her away from the light. Her last thought was to send words of apology to the men she loved, hoping it reached them. Jolie prayed someone would offer them comfort.
“I’m sorry! I fought as long as I could. I’ll find you again!”
She felt the darkness fall around her, and she saw all the centuries flash before her. Ironically, the only moments that mattered were the last few weeks while she was with them.
The rest she would trade away in a heartbeat.
Jolie bid them adieu and fell into the darkness alone. The rest of her journey would be without them by her side.
Mistress Harcourte, like so many before her, died alone.
The two men screamed as they felt her lose the fight. They were both unable to believe that she was really gone. Instinctually, they climbed next to her body, curling around her as the last ounce of life slipped away. Together, they felt the final spark extinguish deep within her.
The entire family fell and began to weep.
Chloe stood there helpless, and Mina sobbed hysterically. The entire room wept at the loss of their Primus-the light of their existence. Jacques and Flynn kissed her on the lips one last time as they prepared to watch her turn to ash. Already, her body was going gray from death.
Flynn physically flinched as Jolie’s portion of his soul returned, slamming into his body as a reminder she was gone forever.
It was over.
They stayed beside her, each taking a bloody hand in theirs, refusing to move. If she was gone, they’d wait beside her for their time too.
Suddenly, the door swung open, and Mambo rushed into the room. She raced to the bed pushing past Jacques and Flynn.
“Reach into her and hold onto her. We can’t let her leave us yet! There are things she has yet to do.”
Both men looked up through their tears as Mambo began tossing herbs on Jolie’s blood covered body. The chanting followed as they struggled to do as she asked.
“We have to immediately call her back.” She pulled Jolie from the bed and the men’s grasps to lay her on the floor. She started lighting candles and walking a circle around her body chanting. She paused to glance over at the men. “I need your blood,” she said to them, holding out a bowl, “If you wish to bind her back to this realm and your lives.”
Jacques took it from her, spilling his own blood with a silver dagger. He stared over at his mate, giving him the choice to decide.
Without thought, Flynn held his wrist over the bowl for Jacques to slice it open. His life poured out, mixing with his friend’s. Handing it back to Mambo, they let her get down to business.
When it came to Jolie, they’d let this woman try all her hocus pocus just for the chance to get her back.
Mambo knelt beside Jolie and dipped her finger into the bloody mix. Already her flesh was beginning to change, and she knew there was little time left. Without hesitation, she smeared symbols on Jolie’s pale cold flesh.
“What are you doing?” asked Brogan, still holding Jolie’s hand, unwilling to release her.
“I’m raising the dead with a zombie spell,” said Mambo, as she walked around Jolie’s body backward.
“A zombie spell?” asked Jacques incredulously. “What if that goes horribly wrong?”
“Then, she won’t return to you,” she answered cautiously.
“What if she returns, and it’s not Jolie?” asked Brogan.
“Then, we will have to return her to death. No harm done. For now, we need to bargain with death for her body and essence.”
Brogan glanced over at Jacques.
“I don’t like this at all.”
“I don’t either, but we have to try. This is all we have. Look at her skin, she’s going to dust.” Those words killed him.
“What if it doesn’t work?”
“I can’t live without her, Flynn. If this doesn’t work, I need you to end my life, so I can be with her.”
Brogan just stared at his friend and felt the loss pouring off his body, vowing to not let him go either.
Okay, this had to work, or he was losing both of them. “Mambo, work your magick!”
“Jolie, come back to us,” she chanted, as she began dancing around her body. “You are needed here, you must return. I call on the spirits and call you back to us. NOW!”
She stopped to draw more symbols on her arms.
“Jolie, return to us. Death, return her to us, NOW!” There were more words spoken that no one understood. Vows were spoken, deals woven, and promises made, all in an effort to barter with death. Mambo began walking as she continued sprinkling Jacques and Brogan’s blood around the circle.
Everyone watched Jolie’s body for some reaction. When nothing happened, Mambo dropped to her knees and poured the blood in the bowl into Jolie’s mouth. “Drink, Jolie! Fight the death for us and return.”
The room went still as something dark rolled through, touching them all. The family stepped back in fear of what was coming. Something was happening. The spell had called a dark presence to the room.
Only Jacques and Flynn remained close to their lost love.
Mambo tipped her head back and began chanting in a foreign tongue, splashing the remaining blood onto Jolie’s prone body.
A collective gasp went through everyone as the darkness, which had touched them, slammed into Jolie.
Jolie’s body began to convulse and shake as life fought its way back into her. When she bowed and a scream was ripped from her mouth, all the glass in the room cracked.
Lights flickered.
Candles wavered in an invisible breeze.
Then, it happened.
Jolie opened her eyes and rolled to her feet. Staring around her, she took in her surroundings.
It wasn’t missed by any of them that her movements were slow and reminiscent of a zombie.
Both men watched her, unsure if they should celebrate or mourn more. Her normally purple eyes were blank and black. They were void of everything. It was like staring into an abyss.
A soulless, empty abyss.
When she stopped moving, the room remained silent. Jolie, or whatever this was, stared blindly ahead like a dead doll.
Mambo touched her arm. “Jolie, girl, are you in there?” At first, she received no response, and then slowly Jolie turned toward her.
For the briefest moment, there was recognition, then nothing more. Mambo began to panic.
Jolie lumbered forward, her movements stiff as if she was just relearning how to walk.
“Don’t leave the circle,” ordered Mambo, stepping away from Jolie and out of her reach. “With the circle intact, we’re safe from her and whatever is controlling her.”
“What’s wrong?” asked Jacques, feeling the flesh on his arms ripple, as she looked first to him, and then Brogan. When her head tipped to the side, his heart skipped.
He’d never seen her do that before.
Ever.
“I don’t think it worked,” said Mambo. “I’m sorry, but she’s not who she once was. I can feel it now. We must send her back to death.”
“Shit!” said Brogan, drawing Jolie’s attention to him. He froze as she focused on him, moving to the edge of the circle. He had to wonder if he would be able to make the kill shot to put her down, now that the spell had gone horribly awry.
They all watched as she turned her head, scanning the family in her room. When her lip curled, baring her fangs, they all gasped again.
Flynn wanted to be sick. The Jolie they loved and knew was replaced by something so dark.
When she looked down at the circle, which kept her away from them, and then back to her mates, there was a collective breath as she crossed it.
It held no power against her.
Mambo gasped, moving away from Jacques and Flynn as Jolie moved toward them. Who knew what kind of creature had been sent back?
“What do we do?” asked Brogan, watching Jolie come toward him.
“We need to kill her and send her back. This isn't the woman you once loved. She’s not well,” said Mambo. She watched as the woman stiffly walked toward her mates.
Brogan didn't know if he could do it. He picked up his gun and stared at it. How could he point and pull the trigger?
“Wait, Flynn,” whispered Jacques. He patiently observed Jolie, and her motions. He couldn’t lose her again if there was a chance she was back. “Give her the benefit of the doubt.”
Brogan stood by his mate and both men opened to her mind, hoping she was indeed inside waiting for them.
“Are you well, my love?” asked Jacques hopefully.
Silence.
“Jolie baby, are you here?” Brogan asked hesitating.
“How did I get back?” she asked softly. “Jacques, Flynn, am I really alive? I’m afraid this isn’t real. I don’t feel so well. How long was I gone?”
They both opened their arms to her.
“Come to us. We will take the fear away.”
Everyone gasped as Jolie rushed toward the two men. Once there, she buried her face against their bodies. They moved around her, effectively closing her between them. The minute she came into contact with Flynn, he felt the part of his soul that was once Jolie’s leave his body again.
It was indeed her.
&n
bsp; “Jolie?” whispered Brogan, not believing their luck. It seemed to have worked. They had her back, and he was once again her soul.
When the little flicker returned, deep within her body, she glanced up at the two men holding her. “I love you both so much,” she whispered, holding them close to her. “Please don’t let me go!”
When the entire family rushed forward to touch her, she jumped, nearly climbing into the men’s bodies for protection.
“NO!” she bellowed, burrowing into her mates’ bodies. “Please don’t touch me! I’m not ready yet.”
“Please. She needs a moment,” Flynn warned, placing himself protectively in front of her.
The family backed up, bowing their heads as they headed for the door.
Jacques spoke, “Mambo, please stay.”
The woman nodded warily, taking in the vampyre she called back. Had the woman not had more to do here in life, she never would have messed with death.
There were rules.
Jacques lifted Jolie into his arms to carry her to the bathroom. Immediately, the water turned on. “Come on, mon amour. We’ll bathe and clean you up.” He kissed her on the lips before reaching into both hers and Flynn’s minds.
“We thought we lost you.”
“You did, and it wasn’t a good place, Jacques.” Her body shook. “You never want to go there.”
“I never want to experience that again, Jolie,” added Brogan. “Please don’t ever let go again.”
“I won’t,” she promised.
Jacques stepped into the large tub, which was filling with hot water, and held Jolie on his lap.
“Flynn,” she said, holding out her hand, not wanting to be away from either one of them.
Without hesitation, he dropped his blood covered boxers and stepped into the water. Jolie leaned against both of them, clinging to them for dear life.
“We have you,” Flynn reassured, stroking her leg beneath the water.
They were both incredibly thankful for this miracle.
Mambo reached for the bottle of fragrant bath oil to pour some into the water, so it would foam up around them. She watched Jolie curl into her mates. “How are you feeling, Jolie?”
