WE FOUND him only minutes later, still banging on the church doors protecting my sister and her last few guards.
Jacamoe said I needed to kill him, but I would be damned. He said he was unsaveable without a soul. But I did have his soul. His soul was in me, keeping me sane. But it was not mine to keep, not anymore.
I just had to figure out a way to return it to him without completely losing myself in the process and going batshite crazy on Hatter when I was without a soul.
Taking my hand in his, Hatter led me toward another trail, one we’d already walked through. He made sure to keep our steps precisely where they’d been before so that we didn’t leave a new trail.
Once we no longer heard any rustling, he stopped and crouched, pulling me down with him. “I know what we need to do. I know what to do, Elle. Do you trust me?”
“With all my heart and whatever’s left of my soul.” I breathed the truth to life, deciding that I could open myself fully to him. I could let go of the armor I’d carved for myself so long ago. I could be weak with him, because being with him wasn’t actually a weakness. It never had been. Being with Hatter made me stronger. And I made him stronger too. Together, we were whole.
He framed my face with his large palm. His words were low and hushed, but I heard them just fine. “Then I need you to let me carve Hook’s soul out of you.”
“What?” I frowned. “Y-You can’t do that. Only a— ”
He closed his eyes. “You’ve known for a long time that I’m not human, Elle.” When next he looked at me, the fire that sometimes danced around his skin burned brightly in his eyes.
I swallowed hard, realizing that I was finally about to learn who Hatter really was. And for the first time, I was ready. “Angel?” I guessed. All those times I’d seen him around demons, how they reacted to him, the fire that burned brightly around him like holy flame made me think he had to be an angel.
He snorted. “I wish. I’m no angel, Elle. What I am is high caste.”
I sucked in a shaky breath. Instinct had me snatching my hand from out of his, staring at him in wide-eyed wonder. “How high caste?” My voice wavered for just a second.
His jaw stiffened, and I caught sight of his fists clenching.
“How high, Maddox!”
“All the way,” he barked back. “I’m a king.” He flinched, casting his eyes to the side. Shame and regret were so prominent on his face that it almost hurt me to look at him.
Vertigo stole over me, and I had to slam my hand against the hedgerow beside me to brace myself.
He was a king. There were only two Kings of Hells—one ruled Hel and the other Hell. They were brothers, and with tempers so bad that rumor had it they’d once been responsible for the ruination and subsequent destruction of one of our most ancient peoples of Grimm for nothing other than petty jealousy and spite.
I knew very little of the kings because no one sane traveled through either of the hells at all, unless under very specific circumstances, like Midas’ ball. I gasped, my gaze finding his. “Which kingdom is yours?” I asked, trying to prove my hunch correct. “One L or two?”
He glanced off to the side, frowning as he scanned the horizon for any sight of Hook. “This isn’t the time for this, Elle.”
I slashed my hand through the air, shutting him up. “I know it’s not. And yet, when is it ever the time for us, Maddox? You drop a bomb on me and expect me not to have questions? Well, I have them. And lots of them. Which hell?”
He growled low. “One L. And before you ask, yes, I granted Midas use of it for his ridiculous ball.”
“That’s why that demon acted so strange around you. Isn’t it? Because you’re his king? But if you’re his king, why did you almost die? You’re immortal. You’re a god. You’re death. I don’t understand how— ”
He squeezed his eyes shut, and I knew our time was running out and that I should shut down my line of questioning and try to save us rather than interrogate him. But for so long, I’d had questions he’d always refused to answer.
“I have been transformed!” He growled angrily beneath his breath, inching in toward me. And though he was a demon king and I would do well to run away in fright from him and brand him an enemy as surely as Jacamoe had become to me, I couldn’t. Because though I was confused and angry about his continued deceptions, I would have liked to think I was generally a good judge of character. And I’d seen his heart countless times—I’d seen him with me and with others, how desperately he fought to help those in need, and how badly he felt at the death of innocent life.
“By whom?”
“My brother, of course. Who else?”
I bit my lip, worrying it. Time was running out. It was just not the time for this discussion. But gods, I had a thousand questions. Why is the angel tattooed on his arm? Why is he cursed in the first place? And when will he return? Because if he is the King of Hel, he’ll have to return to rule eventually. Won’t he?
I thought suddenly about his golden soul and how godlike it had felt. That had been my first real clue that whatever Maddox was, it’d been far greater than I’d ever imagined.
There had been so many times I’d likened his face to the beauty of a demon lord, little knowing that he was the father of many of them. And then I thought about his child, his Mariposa, and the terrible pain I heard in his voice whenever he spoke of her.
Finding out my partner was literally a beautiful monster crawled out from the bowels of Hel had been shocking. But as the dust settled, I knew for certain that I’d always been safe with Maddox before, and his nature hadn’t changed. Knowing who he was didn’t have to change things between us unless I made it that way.
“I have a hundred questions,” I whispered.
He shuddered. “Elle, I— ”
I held up my hand, because if he showed me a shred of kindness in this moment, I might actually have broken. After everything I’d been through down here, I was just barely hanging on. “Don’t,” I whispered. “Just don’t. Not right now.”
He wrapped his large hand around my delicate wrist. So big. So strong. So much power lived and breathed within that man, a man I’d held, a man I’d been falling in love with—did love. I mentally corrected myself. There was no sense in lying about it anymore.
“Later? I need you to answer all my questions later. Can you do that? Can you trust me enough to do that?”
He flinched, and his dark eyes looked haunted. I wondered if he’d ever had the conversation with Alice. Maybe things hadn’t worked out for them because she’d allowed her fear of his true nature to overcome the love she’d once had for him.
Loving a being like him was a doomed effort. At least, that’s what I might have thought before, but I’d suspected for a long time that Hatter was much more than what he’d first appeared to be. His powers and his looks hinted at that.
If I was being honest with myself, on some level I’d known. How often had I thought of him as a demon? How often had I subconsciously made those comparisons? Constantly. Of course, I’d known.
Be brave . I placed my palm against his whiskered cheek. His mouth formed a tiny O, and his nostrils flared. Hope burned like a flame in his dark eyes.
I didn’t understand how any of it was possible. I knew I played with fire. The man wasn’t just godlike—he truly was one of them. So I couldn’t figure out why he was here and why he couldn’t just snap his fingers and make all of it end, immediately.
His free hand curved over mine, trapping my hand against his cheek. “Elle.” He breathed my name like a benediction.
Finally, I heard the approaching footsteps of Hook’s shuffling gait. He’d been shot to hells and stabbed, and one arm had been torn off. Nothing had stopped him. Still, he came, a cursed soldier who knew no pain and no fear, nothing other than his insatiable thirst to kill.
My sisters were all safe indoors. My power, which had felt depleted earlier, was a spark in my chest once more. If I made it through, the first thing I would do when I got b
ack to Grimm was study. Hard.
“Do you trust me?” he whispered with a note of hope and longing in his voice.
The answer was simple. Since the shock was gone, I knew the answer to that question. I’d always known it—I’d just been scared to completely let go again. I’d let go once, and the loss of Hook had nearly driven me mad.
But life couldn’t be lived in fear. Because then that was no life at all.
So I answered him truthfully, but not with words. I leaned forward and kissed him. It was just a whisper of lips on lips, just a touch of our two souls, but I hoped he would recognize it for what it truly was.
His arm wrapped tightly around my waist, and he trembled.
A demon king, trembling in my arms. The beast of all beasts, and he seemed undone by one simple kiss. I pressed our foreheads together and breathed him in, as he did me.
“I can take out his soul, Elle, with my claw. But it will hurt like hells.”
I squeezed my eyes shut. “Hook needs his soul back if we’re to wake him from his golem state. I understand, Maddox.” It was my turn to shake. Without a soul, I would become the monster. “You have to promise me,” I whispered, “that when I… turn, you won’t hesitate. You’re a demon king, so I probably can’t kill you— ”
“I can be killed in this form, Elle. You almost saw it happen once.”
He was referring to the time, of course, when Hook had stabbed him with a poison-tipped blade. He’d said “this form,” and I wondered what his true form—his true face—was. Gods, I had so many questions.
I shook my head. It wasn’t the time for that. “Don’t let me hurt anyone. Promise me, Hatter.”
“You’re a witch now too, Elle. You may not need a soul.”
“I’ll become my mother!” I hissed in a violent whisper, even as the shuffling feet drew closer and closer. “Just because witches can survive without them doesn’t mean they’re better for it. You’ll kill me. Promise.”
“No.” His jaw tightened. “No. Never. I won’t lose you. I told you, I will always find you. Because you are mine. You are my promise. You are the hope I’ve waited for all of my eternal life. I love you, Elle. Where you go. I go. Trust me. That’s all you need to do. Let me handle the rest this time.”
The shuffling drew closer and closer, and then I saw his shadow before he turned the corner. He was a terrible and macabre sight. Crowley had done a number on him, ripping off one arm, mangling the toes of his opposite foot. His guts were out and trailing behind him, leaving long bloody smears in his wake.
His face, once so beautiful, was deformed, missing its nose and part of his lower lip. I knew that if we could just get him topside to the fae doctors of Grimm Central, he could be saved. Maybe he would never be whole again, but he could be saved. Hook was a survivor, no matter what curveballs were thrown at him. Like a cat, he always seemed to land on his feet.
And yet, I had my doubts. I rubbed at my chest. No matter what we threw at his golem form, he could manipulate it and throw it back to us tenfold. Fighting him was no longer an option if I had any hope of him and us surviving the night.
I looked at Hatter and smiled softly even as a heated tear gathered in the corner of my right eye. I had a giant lump in my throat as he reached up and wiped the tear away with the pad of his thumb.
“You ready?”
I didn’t need to ask him how much it would hurt, because I knew it would. “Always,” I whispered.
He sniffed then set his jaw with grim determination, and I felt the scrap of an elongated black talon curve along the side of my cheekbone, where’d he’d just wiped the tear away.
“I love you, Elle,” he whispered hoarsely. “So damn much.”
Then he reared back, and I stiffened my spine, but no amount of bracing could have saved me from the fiery torture of having his bladed fingers tear through the soft meat of my stomach.
I screamed, no longer bothering for stealth. Fire poured down my throat. Screams sounded in my ears. Dry bones raked at my flesh. I was being flayed alive by the very demons he ruled.
And then I began to convulse. The colors of night began to fade away. I spasmed, feeling myself starting to choke on my own bile, seizing violently as those sharpened talons moved up, up, up, sliding against my organs. I screamed, but nothing came out. The veins in my neck were stretched to their bursting point.
I heard Hook drawing ever and ever closer.
“Hang on, dark heart.” Hatter’s whispers were harsh and demanding, but they sounded so far away, as if I heard them through water. I knew what that meant. I was losing my grip on reality, and I would pass out soon. And if I did that, if I lost control of who I was, I didn’t know what I would become.
“Just hang on,” he commanded, “just a little bit more. You’re doing so good. So good, Elle. I’m so proud of you.” Hatter whispered a running litany that sounded like a dirge in my ears.
Blood was pouring out of my nose and the sides of my mouth. My eyes were starting to roll. And then I finally felt it, the soft tug and pull of Hook’s soul.
The scream that came out of me then was like that of an animal being brutally tortured. It was raw and visceral and real. The waters rolled. The earth beneath our feet heaved.
I felt the flood of siren’s magick rise up. The witch had told me she’d stolen it all from me, but she’d only wounded me. She hadn’t stripped me completely. I felt it, a dark and twisted violence that wanted to consume everything and everyone in its path.
My own fingers grew talons. My skin rippled, turning a ghastly bluish-black. The bottomless wellspring of a siren’s unnatural hunger rose up like a flood in me.
I sank my claws into Hatter’s shoulders, dug them in deeply, chortling as I scented his gods blood.
“I love you, Elle,” was the last thing I remembered before he pulled Hook’s soul out of me.
The world turned black, and I remembered no more.
Hatter
SHE WAS A TRUE MONSTER. Her flesh was black, and she had scales running down her legs. Elle had become a twisted amalgamation of two different species. I gently ran my blood-soaked hand along the sharpened curve of her cheek. Her breathing was shallow. She wouldn’t last much longer.
I’d felt her latent siren magick as I’d searched for Hook’s soul. She was right to fear losing her soul completely, as she was a creature that would put even my own demons to shame.
I heard the grunt, and I shot quickly to my feet, forced to release my hold on her. She would rise as a monster once the shock wore off, but I wouldn’t allow it. Elle’s suffering was at an end.
I turned, looking at the battered face of the male who’d come before me. His eyes were nothing but empty sockets, and his soul orb rested in the palm of my hand, but it was different than a normal human soul should be. There was power trapped in it, time itself. His soul hadn’t seemed to alter Elle, maybe because she was more powerful than even she realized. I wondered what it would it do to a human like Hook, but I had no way of knowing and no time to figure it out.
Hook reached for me. He would never stop. That’s what Jacamoe did to him. He’d stripped him of all autonomy and made him little more than a machine that existed solely to kill, just as had been done by his previous mistress.
A part of me knew that I should hate Hook, because he still owned Elle’s heart, no matter how much her words and actions tried to deny it. But I didn’t. All I felt for him was pity. He’d been used for ill ever since his first death. My only hope was that by returning him his soul, all that torture might finally come to an end. And whatever happened from there, Elle would undoubtedly figure it out. My job would be to support her decision, no matter which way she chose to go with things.
I could let Hook die, and she would not blame me for it. It would be too easy to believe that he’d been so far gone that there was no coming back for him this time. But I could not do that.
And it wasn’t for me, for I’d done worse in my time. I’d learned a lesson by being with Al
ice, though: no relationship could survive without truth between us. So I did not do the thing for me, but rather for Elle’s soft heart.
No matter what she told me, I knew that Elle would always love him. He would always come first, and I was okay with that. I needed her, but that didn’t mean I needed every part of her, not unless she wished to give it to me.
I’d seen the devastation in her eyes when Crowley had fallen, and I wondered if she even knew how she felt for him. How I’d suspected for some time that she’d truly felt for him. They’d been trapped together in Undine, with only each other to lean on for support. I knew their dynamic had shifted, and possibly for good. But those were bridges that would be crossed later. Much later.
I pressed my lips into a thin line. “For her,” I whispered, and then I struck, shoving my fist through a ready-made cavity in Hook’s chest.
I wasn’t sure if returning Hook’s soul would snap him out of his rage killing, but it was his last chance. If it didn’t stop him, then I would do what I had to do. At least then I could honestly say I’d tried everything I could to save him. I would be damned before I let him kill her. Death could not have her. Ever.
“Awake!” I roared, thrusting my powers into that command. The blue mortal light washed through him, casting out a glow that made him seem to burn like fire.
In the next second, he gave a hard grunt then collapsed, and black smoke curled out of him, gathering and coalescing into a fiery whole. It wailed like the souls of ten thousand damned were trapped within it. The shadow ball throbbed with power, pulsing harder and harder and harder until it exploded in a shower of ebony sparks.
The last of Jacamoe’s magick was finally extinguished. Hook landed with a heavy thud on the ground, his broken body oozing and seeping blood and gore from the countless exposed wounds.
I knew his reign of terror was finally at an end. I turned and looked at Elle, beautiful even in her monstrous form. My heart was full with longing and with sadness for what I had to do.
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