“You’re my other half. My mate,” Jarod said. “I’ll always find you.”
Ash nodded, then let him go. They’d need their hands free for the upcoming fight, but that little bit of contact had bolstered her will and strengthened her resolve. “Okay. Let’s go kick some demon ass.”
Together, they strode through cracked and crumbling gravestones. Within minutes, they saw the black marble crypt on a small hill.
Ash cataloged her assets. Knives. Sig. Therianthrope. Tonight, she wore white jeans and a white T-shirt, which looked pretty good with her pink leather jacket. Nor was forever trying to get her to wear more colors, but he always went for out-there shades that made her flinch. Her heart squeezed. She wanted to see him with her own eyes—just to know he really was okay. She patted a zipped pocked on the inside of her jacket. It hid the snake necklace. The final piece of the puzzle.
Please, don’t let me be too late.
The black marble crypt was small—maybe ten feet wide and nearly as tall. They were approaching from the south side, so they couldn’t really see the front of it. The closer they got, the slower and quieter they became.
Two flashes of sparkling gold appeared to their left. She had her gun whipped out and aimed at the same time Jarod pointed his staff, crackling magic at the ready.
Lorcan and Patrick stood there, looking fearsome, especially with their fangs exposed. “We hear some demons need ass-kickin’,” said Patrick.
“You heard right.” Ash was glad for the back-up. Especially from two of the most powerful parakinds in Broken Heart. The twins were the sons of the first vampire ever made, Ruadon. And Lorcan had werewolf in him as well.
While, she hated being without Nor, she couldn’t have asked for two better men, along with Jarod, to back her up in this fight. Still, she missed Nor. She always felt better going into a hinky situation with him at her side. The man could throw a punch like Mike Tyson and pin bad guys with a well-placed stiletto. But Lilith wasn’t your average bad guy, and she’d already taken out Nor without lifting a finger.
The four of them hurried as a unit toward the slight incline. Just as they reached the south wall, the rain returned with a vengeance. Ash was soaked in seconds, but it didn’t matter. Her mind was focused on their goal. She scuttled along the wall, turned the corner, and slipped toward the doorway. She stopped at the edge of the entrance and peeked around it.
Candles offered dim light in the dark space. She saw the demon immediately. He was nearly seven feet tall, his obsidian skin as bumpy as a toad’s. His eyes glowed an awful red.
Ash’s heart jumped into her throat. She knew instinctively that was the creature who’d tried to kill her in that Las Vegas alleyway. Jarod gripped her shoulder. His touch, like magic, shed the terror from her like molting skin. She could see the demon for what he really was, another evil fuck-twit to vanquish from this plane of existence. She’d let fear cripple her for a moment, a testament to the demon queen’s power and reach.
But no more. It was time to focus on the task at hand.
Kicking Lilith’s ass.
Ash’s gaze shifted to the thin, trembling woman. Claire. An older version of the girl she once knew. Her old friend looked drained, her expression confused, her eyes glazed.
Ash scooted back and leaned toward the men. “Surprising that asshole is our only advantage.”
“We’ll take the demon,” said Jarod.
Relieved, she nodded. “I’ll get Claire and destroy the complete vessel.” She’d have to put the pieces together then destroy it before Lilith managed to kill Claire and use the statuary as a conduit to this world.
She slipped out a dagger from her left boot and then hurried into the crypt with Jarod and the two vampires right behind her.
Chapter Nine
WHEN THEY ENTERED the sanctum, Claire looked at them, her eyes wide and glazed. She huddled in the corner hugging her purse, her thin body quaking as tears tracked her cheeks. Pure fear lit her gaze.
Jarod, Patrick, and Lorcan headed toward the demon. Ash bee-lined to Claire. She bent down. “Claire? It’s Natasha. I’m here to help you.” She gestured to the altar that housed the lion’s body. “Do you have the owl?”
Claire nodded. Her fingers were embedded in the purse, and Ash wasn’t sure if she could pry it out of the woman’s hands.
“He tricked me,” she whispered.
“I know.” Ash sheathed her knives then slipped her hands under the purse and tugged it. “C’mon, honey. Let go.”
Claire’s fingers unclenched. Ash took the freed bag, unzipped it, and pawed through the contents. She found the owl head and pulled it out. Claire moaned in terror, covering her eyes with her hands. Ash put the purse next to Claire and patted her hand. The woman was in no condition to escape on her own. In fact, her breathing was too shallow and she was overly pale. “Hang on,” said Ash. “Just hang on.”
Ash dropped the bright red owl head on the marble floor. It instantly shattered. She grabbed the lion from the alcove and threw it hard, relishing the sound of its destruction. She withdrew the snake from her pocket and dropped it, stepping on it with her boot heel. Obliterating Lilith’s vessel wasn’t enough. Not for all the pain the demon had caused. Ash stomped the bits into dust.
Triumphantly, she turned toward Lilith’s demon flunky. It had fallen to its knees. Patrick and Lorcan held on to the monster’s arms, but it appeared to take some effort to keep him immobile. Jarod stood over him, silver balls of magic pulsed above his palms. The demon bared its teeth and growl. “I am the doorway for Lilith!”
“Sorry, buddy,” said Ash. “The door’s closed.”
The demon’s laughter echoed into the room. “My queen is more clever than you.” His red-eyed gaze dropped to the destroyed statue, and his toothy grin widened.
“What’s he talkin’ about?” asked Patrick.
Ash didn’t like that the demon was so unconcerned about the destruction of the statue. What else was there left to do?
“Natasha!” The alarm in Jarod’s voice had her looking at the ground.
The snake had not been destroyed.
It had come alive.
It wiggled up Ash’s body with supernatural speed. She grabbed at it, but it was like trying to capture smoke.
Jarod released his magic and rushed to his mate. He, too, tried to capture the little beast. “Fuck!”
The snake wrapped around her wrist. It pulsed hotly, glowing like a burning ember and started sinking into her skin.
“It’s you!” the demon shouted with glee. “It was you all along.”
Ash cried out as she attempted to break the snake’s hold on her wrist. Even with Jarod helping, the totem would not budge.
Jarod whirled toward the demon. “What have you done to her?”
“She is the vessel, fool,” cackled the demon. “Lilith will live in her and Ash the Destroyer will be no more.”
The snake embedded into Ash’s muscle. Spikes of pain caused her to cry out, and she regretted that small show of weakness.
“By your own hand the last sacrifice will be made, Ash the Destroyer, and in that act, you shall be destroyed. From your ashes, my queen shall be reborn.”
Hatred stabbed Ash with poisoned blades, but she couldn’t stop herself from raising the dagger clenched in her fist. She held it over the shaking body of her friend.
No! Not Claire. Not anybody. She thought of Nor, his life in her hands. And Jarod. He was her mate. She’d finally found love, and now, with a demon controlling her will, she would lose everything.
Pain radiated down her arm and throbbed in her shoulder, up her neck, right into her jaw.
“Natasha,” Claire said, her voice heavy. Her eyes closed. She whispered,“Where’s Henry?”
The darkness slithered inside Ash, and she knew it was only a fraction of the horror Lilith would unleash.
Ash used every ounce of her will to keep from plunging the blade into her friend’s heart. A difficult feat when everything inside her screamed to kil
l the sacrifice.
Ash struggled to regain control. She focused completely on her hand and arm, forcing her straining muscles away from Claire. It took a herculean effort to place the poisoned dagger against her own throat.
Time to end Lilith once and for all.
Chapter Ten
“NO!” JAROD GRABBED her wrist, but not even his animal strength could wrest the blade from her grip. “I won’t lose you.”
“It’s the only way,” Ash huffed. “If she completely possesses me, it’ll be over. For everyone.”
“Then fight, damn it.” He held on tightly. “Use my energy, my strength. You can defeat her.”
Ash took shuddering breaths. She accepted the power Jarod gave her, flowing silver light that fortified her, calmed her.
Inhaling a deep breath, Ash closed her eyes and delved into her psychic core. The hundreds of souls she’d consumed over the years appeared as long strands of pulsating color that twirled around, an endless rainbow of essences. Lilith’s slimy evil darkness swirled among those colors, a tattered black ribbon that oozed poison.
Ash wasn’t sure what to do. How was she supposed to fight a demon? True demons had no souls. Lilith could eat the ones here like Skittles to gain power and strength.
No. Ash had to conquer Lilith from within. She hadn’t sacrificed Claire, so Lilith’s hold wasn’t finite. She psychically reached for the black ribbon, shuddering as liquid hate soaked her.
Lilith’s essence clung to her like thick grease, and Ash found it difficult to get purchase. While she slipped and faltered, Lilith clung more tightly, digging spiky tendrils into Ash’s very heart. Kill Claire. Kill Claire. Kill Claire. The impulse felt insurmountable.
“Get her out of here,” Ash screamed, hoping someone, anyone would take Claire from her sight. She couldn’t fight Lilith while she fought the urge to murder her friend.
You can do this, Natasha, a different voice said. Jarod’s voice. Fight, babe. Fight.
She’d heard of mate bonds giving couple the ability to communicate through telepathy, and Jarod’s voice loving voice helped her drown out the homicidal one. Emboldened by Jarod’s courage, she grabbed onto Lilith’s ugly presence.
For a moment, Ash felt the demon’s rage, the sociopathic urges to destroy everything within reach returned. She was heartless. Soulless. Chaotic energy with only one purpose: Annihilate. Ash might be the destroyer of souls, but Lilith was the destroyer of worlds.
Jarod’s magic bolstered her again. She focused on escaping the demon queen’s hold on her will. Silver joined her white and blue magic, and like pythons they surrounded Lilith’s essence and squeezed.
The blade fell from Ash’s fierce grip as the demon raged and struggled. She held on tightly, Jarod working as one with her, until they’d completely smote the evil that had been named Lilith.
The inky blackness inside her exploded.
Searing pain slashed through Ash, ripping a scream from throat.
Ash fell to her knees, and Jarod was there, to hold her up.
Two beams of silvery-blue light shot out from Ash’s eyes, and encompassed Lilith’s demon henchman. Patrick and Lorcan wisely let go and stepped away, backing as far into the shadows as they could.
The demon screamed like a feral animal, unable to break free of Ash and Jarod’s combined magic.
The creature glared at her, his red eyes dimming as his life was drained. His body twitched. Black blood dribbled from his nose and mouth.
His eyes went glassy, and his body convulsed one last time.
Ash collapsed and Jarod caught her.
“Natasha?”
She inhaled a shaky breath. “I feel like Nor tap-danced on me in spiked heels.”
Jarod laughed, and kissed her. Ash had never felt so drained or exhausted.
Or loved.
“What happened to Lilith?” asked Lorcan.
“She’s gone.”
“Back t’ hell then?” Patrick’s silver gaze pinned hers.
“No,” said Ash. “She is no more.”
“That’s impossible,” Lorcan said. “Demons can’t be killed.”
“They can now.” When Jarod’s power had intertwined with her own, much as their fingers had, she’d been able to do what had, in the past, been an impossibility.
At that moment, as if to add emphasis to her new ability, the creature’s corpse dissolved into sulfuric black powder.
“How’s Claire?” she asked in a hoarse voice. She knew she’d pass out any minute, and probably sleep for a week.
Patrick and Lorcan checked on the human woman. “I’m sorry, Ash,” said Patrick softly. “She’s dead.”
“How?” Ash hadn’t killed her friend like Lilith wanted, so how had Claire died?
Lorcan placed his hand on the woman’s chest. “The demon weakened her too much. I think her heart just gave out.”
“She wanted to see Henry,” said Ash. She said a silent good-bye to her old friend. “I hope he’s waiting for her.
Ash leaned on Jarod, allowing him to take her weight. Her burden. “Please take care of her,” she whispered. She looked at Jarod, at the love and compassion shining in his eyes. “I’m gonna pass out now.”
And she did.
Chapter Eleven
Somewhere on the other side…
CLAIRE AWOKE IN a daze. The first thing she noticed was that she could see color. The glory of the green-leafed trees pitched against the cloudless blue sky dazzled her. Somehow, she’d gone from that dismal crypt to sitting on a wooden bench wearing her favorite yellow sundress and strappy sandals.
“Claire?”
She turned and saw Henry walking toward her. Behind him, she saw a well-worn path that led to the gleaming city in the distance.
With a cry of happiness, she leapt from the bench and threw herself into his arms. He hugged her tightly, and she wept, so thrilled to feel his embrace.
“Am I dreaming?” she asked.
“You died, Claire. You’re in the next world. I’ve been waiting for you.”
She took a moment to consider his words, and realized he spoke the truth. Relief was so palpable she could almost taste it. “How is this possible?”
“I had a little help from some friends.”
“Natasha?”
“Yes, and some other nice folks from a town called Broken Heart.”
She stared at the love of her life, memorizing every feature of his face from his chiseled jaw, the slight bump in his nose, the little scar that marked the left side of his chin, as if at any moment he’d suddenly be taken away again. “I missed you,” she said.
“I’m not going anywhere. This is our final destination, babe,” he said. “This is forever.”
“I couldn’t take it if I lost you again.”
“I have never left you, and I never will.”
Relief and unabashed happiness lightened Claire’s heart. “I love you, Henry.”
“And I you,” said Henry, his blue eyes twinkling and his familiar grin reassuring. He took her hand, and together they walked into eternity.
Chapter Twelve
Broken Heart, Oklahoma
“NO. FUCKING. WAY.” Nor examined the pair of sassy silver heels. “Ferragamos. In my size.” He looked in the second shoe box and squealed. “Jimmy Choo. And pink! Oh, honey, what did you do? Hold up an Orange County housewife at knife point?”
“I’m dating a billionaire,” said Ash.
Jarod put his arm around Ash and gave her smacking kiss. “She’s totally in love with me.”
Ash couldn’t stop the blush. “I barely like you.”
Jarod dipped his head down toward her ear. “Liar.”
She blushed harder.
“Oh. Em. Gee. Ash getting embarrassed?” Nor pretended to wipe away an imaginary tear. “Our little soul shifter is all grown up.”
“Ha, ha.” Ash pointed to the shoes. “Keep it up and I’ll return those.”
“Over my dead body.” Nor sat up, his plumped pillows fa
lling to the wayside. His Highness was shored up in a king-sized bed, waited on hand and foot. Even though he looked a helluva lot better than he had a week ago, he was still too pale. After Lilith was destroyed, Brigid had managed to break the demon curse and save him, but Nor wasn’t quite fully healed.
“So when’s the wedding?” asked Nor, his expression innocent.
“We’re leaving.” Ash grabbed Jarod by the arm and jerked him toward the door.
“I want to be maid of honor,” called out Nor. “I expect Prada, Jarod. Prada!”
Ash yanked Jarod out into the hallway of the Three Sisters Bed and Breakfast. She shut the door and blew out a relieved breath.
Jarod spun her around and took her into his arms. “Tell me you love me.”
“You love me.”
“Natasha…”
“Okay,” she said. She grabbed his face and pulled him down to hers. “I love you.”
She kissed him, putting her heart, and yes, her very own soul, into it. She pulled back, grinning like an idiot, and said, “I want my wedding dress to be made out of white leather.”
“Whatever you want, my love,” said Jarod. “Whatever you need.”
“You,” she said. “Just you.”
Keep Reading for a Sneak Peek of Broken Heart Forever!
Broken Heart Forever
Six novellas filled with love, laughter, and the antics of the Broken Heart citizenry.
If you’re a fan of the popular Broken Heart paranormal romance series from New York Times & USA Today bestselling author Michele Bardsley, you don’t want miss this final collection of supernatural chaos from your favorite paranormal crew!
Valentine’s Day Sucks
Chapter One
“I SHOT CUPID.”
“Mom?” I croaked into the cell phone. I cracked open an eye and rolled it toward the digital clock on my nightstand. “It’s barely 7 p.m.”
Your Lycan or Mine? Page 6