The Serpentine Butterfly

by Addison Moore

  So maybe he doesn’t care about her so much.

  “You essentially have Gage, Chloe.” My voice softens as I wave to the gaping doors Wes just flew out of. “Why mess with me other than to hurt Skyla?”

  Chloe takes in a breath. She removes her coat and lets the crusted, singed garment fall to the floor as it cracks in two.

  “I do have Gage.” She mimics me by flailing her hand in that direction. “But he’s not my Gage. He’s Wesley Edinger. He loves Laken. Correction, he worships that nitwit. He makes love to me like I’m Chloe even if I look like the woman who has his balls in a vise grip.” She plops herself onto the dark velvet sofa, and a plume of dust rises like a nuclear cloud. “I have long suspected I was missing out on something. I thought about it, the way Gage—the real Gage makes love to Skyla.” Her eyes look past reality, straight into Gage and Skyla’s marriage bed. “I thought there must be this unbelievable passion they share.” Tears come to her eyes, and I don’t want to see them. Everything in me screams get the hell out, but my feet are nailed to the floor. “I wondered who would ever make love to me with that much passion. Gage was dead. My hormones were raging, and I needed to have it. Without Gage in this world”—she glances toward the ceiling— “that world—I figured why am I always so damn nice?”

  My chest bucks with a laugh, but I won’t give it. If Chloe is faking nice because Gage is on the planet, good God, that boy can never die.

  She rises to her feet and struts over, a lone tear still on display for all to see. “I thought why not go and get some of that good loving?” Her finger curves under my jaw as she slowly steps past me. “Who could love me so ferociously? And then, of course, I was sickened by the thought of you comforting Skyla with your incredibly ripped, hot body. So I beat her to the punch.” Her finger freezes on my lips. “And you know what?” Chloe smolders into me. Her eyes glaze over, and for the first time I see a shred of what I had seen all those nights—that electrified lust brewing in her. “You were fan-fucking-tastic.” Her tongue does a quick revolution over her lips. “You and I were explosive. The way you made love to me was insanity. The way you moved, the things you did with your body—that delicious tongue.” Her eyes widen. Her breathing is clipped. “Logan, I knew you loved Skyla, but I had no idea the level of intensity. It only makes me hate her more.” She takes a breath and blinks away the tears adhering to her lashes. “We were on fire. You can’t deny that. Make love to me again, Logan. I will be her for you every day of the week.”

  I shake my head. My entire body sags with anger, with pity. “None of that was for you, Chloe. It was all for her. In my heart, where it truly counts, I was making love to Skyla.”

  Chloe arches her head back and lets out a mighty roar. “When will you stop hating me?”

  I think about this, consider if it’s even a possibility.

  “I don’t hate you, Chloe. It’s too much energy for me at this point. I simply pity you.”

  And with that, I get the hell out of the Transfer.

  * * *

  With a long, lonely night ahead of me, I cruise down to Dudley’s and sit in the driveway. White Horse has become a wound—a place where my body betrayed Skyla instead of comforting her.

  Skyla.

  I close my eyes and let the burn penetrate my body. For one, small, selfish moment, I believed we had found our way back. I even believed that I would trade that shining miracle to have Gage back on this planet, and now that I do, my entire world seems to have unraveled. It’s easy to wish for something altruistic when you think you’ll never get it. But when it does come to pass, it doesn’t feel quite as good as you thought.

  I take a breath and jump out of my truck, letting the thick Paragon fog encapsulate me in its icy embrace. Skyla and Gage will be parents soon. Skyla has new life forming in her body—life that Gage himself placed there. And I’ll be damned if it’s not a beautiful, beautiful thing. I’m happy for them. Happy for Gage, especially since he almost missed this miracle. His child deserves to have him in his life. So does Skyla—so do I. And no matter how much it hurts to gift Skyla back to him, I’m glad he’s here to have her.

  It’s a slow walk to Dudley’s door. It’s unlocked, so I let myself in. The television is on in the living room obnoxiously loud, an action scene with lots of guns and the sound of a roaring engine. I’m betting either Liam or Ellis is at the helm of this dick-flick. I head over and confirm my theory. In fact, they’re both here, right along with the Sector himself.

  “You left me.” He frowns before shifting his attention back to the screen.

  “Gage is back,” I say mostly to Liam and Ellis, who both give a raucous shout just as a giant explosion takes over the screen.

  “They should have seen that coming,” Dudley chimes in, and I’m a bit surprised to see him in the testosterone trenches with the two stooges. He snaps off the television, and the room grows dim. “What is it you want?”

  “I’m just here.” I plop on the couch. “Hanging with my boys.”

  “Go hang with your other boy.” Dudley flips the TV back on just as Ellis tries to swipe the remote. “I’m sure an Oliver reunion is called for this evening.”

  “He’s right.” Liam smacks my leg. “Emma’s got a hell of a surprise headed in her direction. Dudley told me the good news. So, what happened?”

  “We don’t know. By the sound of it, he’s not aware of much.” I scowl at Dudley. “And I did not leave you. We had someplace to be. Skyla had some news she wanted to share.” My expression sours as I glare into the fire. I’m still happy for them—just pissed at myself in the interim.

  “So you know.” Dudley lifts his chin. Skyla mentioned he was aware of her big news before she shared it.

  “Yes, I know.” I glance to Liam and Ellis, who have disbanded to raid the refrigerator. “I thought it was mine.” I’m not sure what’s sponsoring this late-night confession. I don’t exactly consider Dudley to be anything more than my supervising spirit, certainly not a friend. “I thought I was comforting Skyla—turns out, it was Chloe.”

  “What?” Ellis squawks as he heads back into the room with a near beer in hand. “You fucked Bishop?” He belts out a laugh. “She’s not that great.” His affect changes on a dime. Chloe obliterated Ellis’s heart and ego in a one-two punch back in high school. Ellis has always carried a very real torch for the Queen of Mean, and I’ve wondered if his self-medicating began on the coattails of that heartbreak. Chloe has never inspired anything good in anyone.

  “Don’t go spreading rumors. And believe me, Giselle is the last person who needs to know.” I shoot a hard look to my brother. “Or God forbid Michelle.”

  “What doesn’t Michelle need to know?” a female voice chimes from the stairwell as Michelle herself glides on down.

  “Shit.” I grind my palm into my eye. Michelle Miller is Liam’s current house pet. She’s smitten with him, perhaps far more than she ever was with Dudley or me. Liam hasn’t quite settled on the fact if he’s committed to keeping her around, but for now she doesn’t seem to mind warming his bed.

  “Don’t worry, Logan,” she chirps. “I heard the whole thing, and my lips are sealed. I think it’s totally romantic that you were with Chloe because you desperately wanted to be with Skyla and couldn’t. So, what’s Skyla trying to keep classified? Is she secretly harboring boy parts? Come on, I won’t tell.” She falls into the seat next to me, her finger tracing out my jawline just the way Chloe did earlier. What’s with that anyway? Is that some maneuver they developed in the time of the bitch squad? I’ve actually never called them that. It was Skyla’s nickname for a few of the girls who happened to be in cheer with her. In truth, all of the girls on campus called them that. The bitch squad, which consisted of Michelle, Chloe, Emily Morgan, and Lexy Bakova, were infamous cheerleaders—basically, mean girls personified. High school feels like a million years ago, and here it was simply just one.

  “Skyla doesn’t have anything she’d like to share with any of you. That was my p
oint. And as for Gage—I guess I’ll head over to Barron’s in a bit. I’d hate to ruin the surprise, so I think I’ll drop by later.”

  “We’ll do the same.” Liam offers up a knuckle bump.

  Dudley gives a huff of a laugh, his dark nefarious humor bubbling to surface for no apparent reason. He heads toward the piano in the rear of the cavernous room, and I follow.

  “What the hell is so funny?”

  “You thought you were sleeping with Skyla. You didn’t know the difference. I’m sure Ms. Messenger was completely impressed with your lack of intuition.” Dudley pulls that haunted speculum forward and runs his hand over the border. The mirror itself was a gift to Dudley that acts as a portal. It mostly leads to haunted planes. It was a twisted revenge gift, seeing that Dudley gifted Demetri with a mirror resembling this one. Only that mirror, the Realm of Possibilities, was just that, a realm in which you can conjure your deepest fantasies and have them projected to reality once you step inside. It didn’t go over too well once Demetri realized his least favorite Sector offered him a world in which he could make believe the Fems were in charge. Demetri wants that control, and he wants it in this world. But the only way he can ever achieve dominion is through—

  “Shit.” I give Dudley a shove to the arm, and his gaze drifts to the place I tapped him as if I just lit his mother on fire. “Skyla’s child will give Demetri—”

  “Dominion, yes.” He glowers at his reflection as if it were Demetri himself. “I am more than aware.”

  “Crap. So this is pretty big.” As happy as an occasion this child’s birth will be, it will also be a blow for the Nephilim, particularly Celestra. “There’s a horrible irony in there.”

  “Isn’t there always a horrible irony when Candace is involved?” He pulls a handkerchief from his pocket and begins meticulously wiping down the mirror.

  “What are you doing? What’s this housekeeping bug that’s suddenly crawled up your pants? You have traveling plans, don’t you?”

  “This I do.” He shakes out his handkerchief in my face and settles it back into his pocket. “I’ve places to go and”—he gives a brief grimace—“unfortunate people to see.” Dudley offers me a hard look of disdain. “I’ve business to tend to that involves yours truly.”

  “What do you mean it involves me? Does this involve Skyla?”

  He glances to the mirror with an eerie look. “I’m not certain.”

  “You and I both know everything involves Skyla. She’s been her mother’s pawn long before she was ever born.”

  “Young Oliver”—he expels a deep sigh—“I’m beginning to think we all were.” A lavender fog pours from the speculum as the glass liquefies like mercury. He steps into the looking glass without so much as a goodbye, and I’m half-tempted to follow. “Open your palm,” his disembodied voice commands, and I do it. A flash of lightning streams from the mirror straight into my hand, and I stumble back from the sudden burst of energy.

  “What was that for?”

  “That, young Oliver, is a new game we’re going to play. Memorize it. Demand the current to come to you, and it will. It’s time you learn new powers—sharpen them like a spear. You will need them, sooner than you think.”

  And just like that, he and his rumbling voice vanish.

  “Logan!” Michelle calls from the living room, and I head over. “You’ve got a lady caller.”

  Great. Probably one of Dudley’s mid-century whores. More than a few have taken a liking to me. I give a smug half-smile for no particular reason. I suppose my ego needed the boost.

  “Tell her I’m—” Just before the lie can speed out of my mouth, I notice a familiar body clogging up the space before me. Turns out, the lady caller is none other than Lexy Bakova. Her hair is a bit shorter, a dark copper mold that cradles her jawline perfectly. She’s pretty in a cutthroat kind of way, but still not for me. “What’s up, Lex?”

  She speeds over and wraps her arms around me hard as if it were me who had just come back from the other side. Little does she know—no fanfare needed—I’m just plain dead.

  “It’s terrible, Logan. You won’t believe all the BS I just went through. Wesley has really lost his shit.”

  I pull back, peeling her off me while glancing to Ellis and Liam who look equally stumped.

  “What are you talking about? What’s Wes done now?”

  “You don’t know?” Her large brown eyes press into mine. “Wesley’s started a small army of super Nephs. He’s training in superpowers that have never been available before to our people.” She rolls her eyes at Michelle a moment. “Do you mind?” Miller leaves for the kitchen without even blinking. Michelle is the only one in the room without a drop of Nephilim blood in her. “I’m on his dream team, Logan.”

  “What’s he training you for?”

  “For the end. It’s almost here. It’s going to be game over for the rest of you. Only the Barricade survives. This is the big one, and there’s not a soul in heaven or down below who can save us—not even your precious little Skyla.”

  That baby brewing in her belly blinks through my mind.

  The enemy has us bound, surrounded.

  We need a hero. A savior.

  Just who is that going to be?

  Maybe—just maybe—it could be me.

  5

  Dominion Rising

  SKYLA

  The enemy lurks in the darkest places, sometimes in the open as an angel of light, and, sometimes, the enemy manages to plant themselves in the most unassuming place of all, right in the nexus of your being.

  Gage rubs my belly with his hand, skin on skin, the look of heartache and love all folded into one. Here he is, with his hair a little longer, dark scruff taking over his cheeks. His eyes glow, very much alive and sexy like my own personal jack-o-lantern.

  We’ve been standing outside of the Landon house for the better part of an hour—our eyes remain locked on one another. We’re unable to move, unable to look away. Gage and I are beyond words, content with the silence for now. We pour our love into one another through this deep, meaningful gaze. Gage bows down and lands his soft lips to mine, his tongue finds its home in my mouth, and we get lost in our magical kisses. We surrender what feels like hours to this very task.

  Gage pulls back, his eyes glittering with tears. “I’m so happy, Skyla.” He peppers my face with his precious lips. “Words aren’t enough to convey this.”

  “I am, too. I really am, Gage.” I cross my wrists behind his neck, pulling him closer. Gage wanted to come here first and shower before we head to his parents’ house. I’ve told him how worried they are—leaving out the screaming match I had with Emma. I suppose that’s in the past. “I know what you’re probably thinking.” I glance down at my stomach and press my lips together so hard it’s painful.

  “Dominion.” His jaw tightens as he gives a tiny nod.

  “I’m not afraid,” I whisper. “This is our child. Our love is greater than any wickedness in all creation. Our child won’t have an evil bone in its body. The Good Book says train a child up in the way he should go—and we will train this child to love our people.”

  “Yes.” He presses a hard kiss to my cheek. His stubble rubs me raw, and I love it. There are so many things I’ve missed about Gage—and his rough stubble, his greedy kisses were at the top of the carnal list.

  “This child has the power to change things.” I swallow hard, my hand covering his as he warms my stomach. “This is Celestra—Caelestis, united with a Fem.” My gut pinches. It’s the first time I’ve said it out loud. “Instead of giving into Demetri’s wicked scheme of gaining dominion, this child will be a symbol that unites all of the Nephilim races—and maybe then even the Sectors and the Fems can finally move forward as one.” I frown at the theory. “I suppose there’s no Sector in the mix, but nevertheless, I refuse to let this pan out the way Demetri wishes.”

  “He still gets dominion.” Gage blows out a hard breath that plumes to life, white as smoke. “But you’re right.
There’s no reason our child can’t channel the factions—the Fems away from their power-hungry ways, and bond us all as a united front.” He touches his finger to my nose with a veil of sadness lingering in his eyes. “That is a mighty big task for a tiny little baby. I say we let ’em be for a while.”

  “I second that.” I nod toward the house. “Let’s make this quick so we can get to your parents’ house. I’m dying to get you into bed.” I close my eyes a moment and cringe. “I’m so sorry that you thought I did those things with Logan—that you saw my likeness doing them. It was wicked of Chloe, but it was wicked of Demetri as well.”

  “They never give up, do they?”

  We head inside, and my mother drops a load of laundry in one hand and Misty loosens in her grip in the other.

  “Gage Oliver?” Her voice rings out like a bullhorn. “Is that really you?” She lunges at him. I narrowly escape having my head hacked off by her forearm and manage to swipe Misty to safety in the process. My hand glides over Misty’s bare arms in the event the baby Fem-slash-Count has anything she might like to reveal. She’s already babbling away a storm, and I assume in a few short weeks she’ll be speaking well enough for all to understand. But if there’s anything at all going on in that tiny little brain of hers, I would love to be apprised. It’s too young for normal human children to start spouting off, but she is her father’s daughter. Who knows what kind of maleficent thoughts might be circulating around in there?

  There’s your brother—and your uncle, I suppose. Aren’t you glad to see him? I take her hand and point over to where my mother is molesting the hell out of my husband. In truth, that’s the kind of homecoming I can’t wait to give him, with the exception that far more fondling will take place in far more intimate places.