Gluttony

by Katie May

  Behind him, holding what appeared to be an elephant’s tusk, was Axel,

  the old assassin. The lines on his face were hard and unforgiving as he

  glanced from the fallen monster to me.

  “A Basilisk can only be killed by an elephant’s tusk dipped in unicorn

  blood,” he admitted nonchalantly, removing the weapon from the creature’s

  body. He wiped the black blood on the hem of his shirt before finally meeting

  my eyes. “Now, are you going to grab his scales before they completely

  decompose, or do I have to do that too?”

  “What?” Now that the adrenaline had worn off, I collapsed back to my

  knees. Devlin was there in a second, one arm wrapped around my waist as his

  hand hovered anxiously over my body as he helped me lie down on the

  ground.

  Axel sighed heavily as if I was purposefully being dense.

  “A scale,” he repeated, rolling his dark eyes. “It’s the only known cure

  for the poison.”

  “How the fuck do you know that?” Bash demanded, moving to stand in

  front of both me and Killian. Lupe remained in his Bear form, growling

  threateningly. I knew he was only seconds away from slicing open Axel’s

  throat with his paw.

  When I tried to confront Axel, blood erupted from my mouth.

  Was I dying?

  Fuck, I wasn’t ready to die. Not yet. I hadn’t reached my orgasm quota

  yet.

  “Does it matter?” Devlin hissed, but his voice was muffled as if I was

  hearing it through earplugs. My Genie stomped forward, magic crackling

  around his skin like a purple mist, and removed a dagger from his waistband.

  “This better fucking work!”

  “It will,” Axel replied lazily as Devlin sliced at the Basilisk’s scales.

  “No, Killian...” I murmured as Devlin knelt before me. Killian first.

  Killian. First.

  But the pain was excruciating, sweeping over my body like lightning, and

  I was barely holding on to consciousness. I dragged in a lungful of air and

  pushed myself onto my hands and knees. I had been broken and reborn in

  pain my entire life. I knew it as intimately as an old friend. Pain? We went

  way back. Exchanged Christmas cards and everything.

  Devlin gently—but forcefully—opened my mouth and shoved the scale

  inside. I only had a second to pray that it had been motherfucking sanitized

  before darkness consumed me.

  I WAS BACK inside the grimy cell, heart thundering as I took in my

  surroundings.

  Like before, there was only a single candle illuminating the gray walls

  and compressed dirt floor. This time, however, Jax wasn’t hunched over in

  the corner of the room.

  Instead, he hung suspended from the wall. His arms and legs were tied to

  wooden posts in an uncomfortable X position. Blood coated his chest and

  arms like a second skin, the wound I had noticed before haphazardly

  bandaged. His head lolled against his chest as he released crazed spurts of

  laughter.

  “Come back for more, bitch?” he hissed, fangs poking his bottom lip.

  On closer inspection, I saw that he was naked, and horror filled me at the

  sight. What had been done to him? I wanted to murder everyone who’d

  played a hand in his torture. No, not just murder. Maim. I wanted to fucking

  maim them all.

  “Jax,” I cried in horror, immediately running to him. His wrists and

  ankles were tied with rope, but my knife did quick work on releasing him.

  “Who the hell did this to you? Do you know where you are? We’re coming

  for you.”

  He scoffed, collapsing to the ground when the final rope was cut. “Do

  you expect me to believe you, Z ?” He said my name as if he didn’t believe it,

  as if it was a dirty curse word. “Your illusions don’t work on me.”

  “What illusions?” I begged, dropping to my knees before him. He

  continued to eye me with obvious aversion and fear. Panic flitted through me

  at the thought that my mate didn’t recognize me. “I’m Z, and you’re Jax.

  You’re my mate.” Hesitantly, I reached forward to place my hand on his

  chest, just above his heart. He flinched at the contact but didn’t immediately

  pull away. Good. That was good. “You can feel me, can’t you?” I grabbed

  his bloody hand and placed it over my own chest.

  Silence engulfed us as our hearts beat as one.

  His lower lip began to tremble as tears filled his eyes. Wonder and awe

  brightened his haggard features. His hand shook as he moved it up my chest

  and to my cheek. His palm was calloused and rough as he stroked patterns.

  Heat exploded from where he touched me, traveling to the tips of my fingers

  and the soles of my feet.

  “Z?” he whispered. “Is that really you?”

  I covered his hand with my own. “Of course, Vamp,” I said with a wobbly

  smile. “And I’m going to bust you out of here.”

  “You shouldn’t be here,” Jax continued. “It’s not safe.”

  “Don’t worry about me,” I whispered, stroking his light brown hair with

  my free hand. “I’m safe.”

  He released a choked sob, body shaking, as he crawled onto my lap. I

  was stunned into silence as he cuddled against me, his body shockingly cold

  against my overheated one.

  “Please don’t leave me,” he sobbed, clutching at my shirt. I stroked a

  hand down his bare back, being extra careful not to touch the lacerations

  zigzagging across his skin. Acid formed in my throat as I thought about all he

  had endured and all he would continue to endure.

  I had to get to him. Now.

  There was no other alternative.

  “I won’t leave you,” I vowed, kissing his forehead.

  But karma was a twisted bitch who liked to fuck me in the asshole with no

  lube.

  Just as the promise left my lips, the cell around me began to

  dematerialize. My surroundings became fuzzy and warped as if I was seeing

  them through modified glasses.

  The last thing I saw was Jax’s horrified, betrayed face and his lips

  opened in an anguished cry.

  I tried to run back to him, tried to hold him, but soon, he disappeared

  from view too.

  The last thing I heard was his agonized scream.

  FOURTEEN

  DEVLIN

  Z shifted in the plush bed, allaying some of my worries and

  fears. I’d been restless the past hour—unable to sleep, eat, or

  even function until I knew she was alright. Axel had assured me

  that the scale would work, but I needed to see it for myself before I could

  believe it.

  Fuck, I had almost lost her. We had almost lost her.

  My eyes drifted to Killian lying beside her, his face serene in sleep. My

  heart splintered down the center. Fissures cracked the organ open until it was

  almost unrecognizable.

  We had almost lost him too.

  His face had been nearly gray before we had fed him the scale, but he still

  managed to murmur Z’s name like a prayer.

  “Thank you,” Lupe murmured softly behind me, extending a large hand

  to the assassin. Axel eyed it cautiously, almost curiously, before accepting it.

  The man didn’t smile. He didn’t even blink. His eyes were apathetic, hard

  chips of
stone.

  “They’ll be unconscious for the next hour or two,” he stated gruffly. He

  folded his arms over his chest, turning away from the Shifter. His penetrating

  gaze landed on Z, but I wasn’t able to read the expression in his eyes. He was

  a blank fucking book, which only made me more uneasy. “We leave in the

  morning.” With that declaration, he stomped out of the room.

  “Did you hear the prick?” Bash snarled. He sat beside the bed, idly

  playing with Z’s limp fingers. “He’s not the fucking boss.”

  “I don’t trust him,” I said immediately, swallowing around the walnut-

  sized lump in my throat.

  “Me neither,” Lupe added. He moved to stand directly beside me,

  scrubbing at his face. To Bash, he asked, “Can you do anything to speed up

  the healing?”

  Bash’s lips pushed out as an unreadable emotion flitted across his face.

  His hand tightened over Z’s, veins popping, before he slowly relaxed.

  “Did you know that I’m able to see an entire human body when I heal

  someone?” Bash queried, almost conversationally. Despite his nonchalant

  tone, I could hear an undercurrent of... of something. I couldn’t put my finger

  on what.

  “Huh?” Lupe asked, quirking a brow.

  “I can see their organs, their blood. If they have a heart murmur, I can

  sense that. If they have elevated white blood cells, I can sense that. If they

  have been poisoned, I can sense that.” Bash trailed off, scrubbing his hand

  through his blond hair. “Fuck, don’t listen to an old man’s...errr...young

  man’s ramblings. I’m just stressed.”

  I stared at my brother curiously but didn’t press. We all handled our

  emotions differently. I bottled them in, sealed them, protected them from the

  world. Bash, on the other hand, allowed them to run rampant, each word a

  dagger hurling towards its target. Before Z, he would often hide his pain

  behind booze and girls. Now, his pain, anger, and fear would emerge as

  verbal assaults.

  “I’m going to look over the map,” I murmured, unable to sit here and do

  nothing. Fuck, I needed my girl and my brother to open their damn eyes

  before I lost my mind.

  Knowing that Lupe and Bash would look after them, I moved briskly to

  the adjacent room. The door was still open from when we had all raced out.

  I froze, staring at the hallway with unseeing eyes. My mind was

  elsewhere, an hour back in time, when we had first stumbled onto the scene.

  That... that creature had been threatening my mate, our mate. He would’ve

  killed Killian and taken Z.

  My mind swarmed with everything I knew about Aaliyah. Which was,

  admittedly, nothing at all.

  I knew that she was after my mate for reasons unknown. I knew that she

  had an army at her disposal, tattoos etched on their shoulder blades

  designating them as loyal followers.

  But why? None of it made sense. Z worked for the Alphabet Resistance,

  sure, but so did hundreds of other people. What made her the target?

  I hadn’t told Z my theory: that Aaliyah was somehow behind Jax’s

  disappearance. It was too much of a coincidence for me to think otherwise.

  Jax disappeared...at the same time Z was being attacked by extinct

  supernatural creatures. First the Fae, then the Ghoul, then the Gorgon, then

  the Kraken, and now the Basilisk.

  When will it end?

  I moved into my room on quiet feet, eyes immediately fixating on my

  golden lamp peeking through my backpack.

  Lamps were the symbols of all Genies. As a descendant of Greed, we

  relied religiously on deals and contracts. A person had three wishes... but

  there was always a cost.

  Usually, your soul.

  A lamp was, essentially, a cage for trapped souls.

  My own lamp was a color that was somewhere between yellow and gold.

  Amber, almost, with a black bottom. Unlike a lot of other Genies, I had no

  jewels encrusted on the sides. Instead, I kept it plain and simple.

  The lamp wasn’t something I was proud of.

  I had made a deal with a fellow Genie, Laurel, in exchange for my

  previously missing lamp. A deal I still had yet to pay. If I failed to uphold my

  end of the bargain, she would own my soul.

  But, fuck, how could I do what she asked of me?

  My heart hammered in my chest as I stared at the lamp. Despite being

  tucked away in my pack, it seemed to glimmer with its own personal sheen.

  Before I could change my mind, I grabbed the lamp and held it tenderly

  to my chest.

  As I did every day, I rubbed my hand down the side of it. I’d only

  collected one soul in all my years of life. One soul trapped in a cage for all of

  eternity. One soul who failed to uphold his end of the bargain. I hadn’t had a

  choice.

  I didn’t make the contract, and I consciously didn’t enforce it.

  I scrubbed the sides erratically, but I knew no soul would make an

  appearance. When Laurel had given me my lamp, she had failed to retrieve

  the soul inside of it. Or—and this was the most likely scenario—someone had

  stolen the soul.

  I didn’t know how it could be done—hell, I didn’t think it had ever been

  done before—but that was the only explanation I could come up with. What

  else could explain the mysterious disappearance of first my lamp and then the

  soul inside of it?

  Someone wanted what was mine.

  “You need to tell her.”

  Ryland’s voice caused me to jump a foot in the air.

  “Dammit it, Ry, wear a bell or something,” I snapped, immediately

  shoving the lamp behind my back. The Shadow was always eerily quiet,

  gliding across the room with inaudible footsteps. Normally, I didn’t mind his

  voyeuristic tendencies, but I didn’t want him to see what I was doing.

  However, I should’ve known not to underestimate Ryland. He always

  knew more than the average person. Maybe because he saw everyone while

  no one saw him.

  “You need to tell her,” he repeated, the shadows curling around his body.

  Despite the darkness obscuring his scarred features, I knew he would be

  staring pointedly at the lamp.

  “I... I don’t know what you mean,” I lied, tone scathing, as I bent down

  and shoved the lamp back into my backpack.

  Ryland continued to watch me, a silent, unwavering presence, and I

  didn’t know if I wanted to punch him or...

  Really, the only option was to punch him.

  “You need to tell her,” he said one last time before he turned on his heel,

  disappearing into the room next door.

  I waited until he was completely gone before opening my mouth and

  refilling my air supply. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Ryland knew.

  But how could I tell Z?

  How could I tell my mate, the love of my life, that I had the soul of her

  ex-lover, S? That I had him... and then lost him?

  FIFTEEN

  JAX

  S he left me. Again. After she promised she wouldn’t. There was

  a fissure in my heart that was steadily growing and growing until

  it encompassed an entire ocean. Pain obliterated my defenses until

  I was nothing but a crying, weak man.

  She.

&n
bsp; Left.

  Me.

  Alone.

  So alone.

  Always alone.

  My mind conjured up images of Sasha.

  She was twelve when I last saw her, a lanky human with a sheet of

  auburn hair and thick, hipster glasses. I remembered that day almost vividly.

  That dreadful, horrible day...

  “Truth or dare, Lupe,” Maggie giggled, grabbing her cup of blood and

  taking a long sip. She was a Vampire, like myself, with brunette ringlets and

  a pretty smile.

  I had a little crush on her, though I would never admit that to my

  brothers. Besides, Maggie had a crush on Lupe, and I heard rumors he was

  planning on giving her a box of chocolates. Damn him.

  Lupe, even at ten, was a large boy. Looking at him, you knew he was

  going to grow to be a real beast of a man. Heck, even his muscles had

  muscles. Jealousy momentarily speared me at the smitten look Maggie was

  giving him.

  “Dare,” Lupe answered, flexing his muscles. Maggie chortled once more,

  tapping her chin contemplatively.

  “I dare you to...” She glanced around the circle with growing

  amusement. There were a few other girls in attendance along with the rest of

  my brothers. The oldest was Sasha at twelve, and the youngest was Atta.

  “Kiss Killian.”

  The entire circle broke into giggles as my Shifter brother glanced at the

  Incubus. Killian had yet to grow into his powers. He was the smallest of all of

  us with long limbs, tangled red hair, and glasses that continually slipped off

  his nose.

  “Ew, no,” Lupe grunted as Killian gave him a wide-eyed stare.

  “Are you scared?” Maggie taunted wickedly.

  “He’s practically my brother,” Lupe huffed.

  Maggie frowned, lips pursing delicately, before she crossed her small

  arms over her chest. “Fine. Be lame. Hmmm. I dare you to interrupt the

  Kings’ meeting.”

  At this, all of us froze. I exchanged an anxious look with Bash, who was

  sitting directly beside me, before focusing on Lupe. The boy was pathetic,

  especially when it came to females. He probably thought Maggie would hold

  his hand if he agreed to her dare.

  “Fine,” he snapped, getting to his feet and brushing dirt off his slacks.

  “Before I leave, Jax, truth or dare?”

  “Do you even have to ask?” I questioned, lips curling upwards. I had

  always been the daredevil of my brothers. It was why Ryland and I were thick