by Elise Marion
The sudden shock of it jolted her to her senses. While it felt amazing, this wasn’t right … it wasn’t what she wanted. Was it?
They could both be yours.
The sudden thought shocked her, and shame flushed her cheeks, even as Micah jerked her shirt off over her head and Jack eased her jeans down over her legs.
Yes, she could have them both. The power of manipulation lay within her, and she’d already experimented with altering people’s memories. This way, she wouldn’t have to choose. She wouldn’t have to hurt either of them by choosing the other. No one had to suffer.
Except her.
What am I doing?
This was not who she was.
“Tell me you love me,” Jack murmured, kissing the inside of one of her thighs.
She parted her lips to say the word, but Micah’s hand around her throat reminded her that he was still there. His thumb traced her hammering pulse, then skimmed the line of her jaw.
“Say you need me, cher,” he groaned into her ear. “Say it.”
“I … I …” she mumbled, fighting to regain control of the situation.
It became very clear that she was not the one in control as Jack lifted his head and came to a sitting position on the bed, pinning Micah with a glare that could have cut through steel.
“Back off,” he growled, reaching for Addison and pulling her away from Micah and toward him on the bed.
Micah caught her ankle and jerked, wrestling her away from Jack. “You back off. She’s mine.”
Addison frowned at the timbre of Micah’s voice. The tone of it, the deep, gravelly resonance … it didn’t belong to him. The whites of Jack’s eyes flashed red just before he released a deep, guttural roar, his hand grasping her wrist. Panic welled up inside, turning her heartbeat into a staccato drum cadence as she realized Micah had undergone the same transformation. Their faces morphed until becoming unrecognizable—contorted masks of rage and ferocity.
“Stop!” she cried as they continued playing tug-of-war with her while swiping at each other with claws that suddenly sprouted from their hands.
As it was, she felt as if they would rip her in two, so unyielding were both their hands on her. Finding the light turned out to be hard in this situation, but she did it with a great deal of effort. She surrounded herself with it, gritting her teeth as the strength of the inner light caused her chest to burn. She couldn’t contain the scream that ripped from her chest as it burst outward like a firework, the flash blinding.
The two males screeched with unearthly voices, the sound not unlike nails against a chalkboard, as they were forced away from her, thrown to opposite sides of the room by the flash.
Addison struggled to her feet, ignoring the fatigue sapping her strength. The burst of light had taken a lot out of her, but there was no time to recover, as both Micah and Jack crouched down on all fours, then lunged at her like a couple of jungle cats.
She stumbled away from them, taken aback that they’d turned their anger away from each other and onto her. Despite her fatigue, she pulled on the light again, this time using it to create a barrier between her and them. Jack bashed against it, snarling and snapping teeth that had grown into jagged fangs, saliva dripping from their tips.
Micah grasped his shirt collar and flung him away, advancing on her, his chest heaving as he snarled his rage.
She went vertical, hovering over his head, then higher, hoping the position would give her an advantage. Gazing down at them, she watched as the two demonic versions of Micah and Jack paced in circles beneath her, red eyes flashing, veins bulging and pulsating beneath their skin. The sound of something else slamming into her shield caused her to yelp, startled. Biting back a strangled gasp, she descended to avoid the grasping hands of the angels, which weren’t painted on, after all. They rested against the ceiling as if the laws of gravity did not apply to them, their arms reaching out, fingers grasping. Despite their serene faces, something in her warned this spelled danger.
Sure enough, the closest one hissed at her, its eyes going black from corner to corner. Soulless gazes burning into her, they circled above her in a cyclone of black orbits and white garments like a cyclone, while Jack and Micah waited below for them to force her back down.
Swallowing her fear, Addison focused on the most present danger. Extending her hands toward the swirling mass of angels bearing down on her, she released the light in favor of darkness. The edges of her vision grew shadowed as she thrust the force of her power through the center of their vortex like a sword. She could feel each of them as if they were attached to her, their dark, black souls grating against her light while feeding her darkness in a startling muddle.
Gritting her teeth against the scream burning in her throat, she closed her opened palms, releasing the maelstrom brewing inside her in one powerful rush. They burst into flames, their cries of agony melting away as they disintegrated into thin air, raining down in a shower of black ash.
“Now for you two,” she muttered, swiveling in midair to glare down at the two men-turned-creatures.
They snarled and snapped at each other, hissing and snorting like animals fighting over a carcass. If she didn’t do something soon, that carcass would be her.
Spying the jagged rock formations hanging in clusters on various parts of the ceiling, she grabbed one in her hands and pulled it free with a forceful yank. Bits of rock and dust fell from the fissure she’d created as she turned and raced downward, picking up speed as she went. Bracing for the impact, she aimed herself at the strongest of the two.
Micah roared in fury and anguish as the spiked edge of the stalactite pierced his chest before coming out through his back. She drove him to his back on the ground, grunting and giving the spike another forceful nudge, pinning him to the floor. Thrashing and moaning, he attempted to pry it loose, but her Naphil side proved stronger than him—the earthen stake could not be pulled free.
While he lay bleeding on the ground, she turned just as Jack struck. He tackled her, taking her down beside Micah. Reaching up, she took his throat in a tight grasp just as he went for hers with his teeth. Straightening her arm, she held him off, despite his snapping jaws and the strength of ten men that seemed to empower him. She curled her opposite hand into a fist, slamming it into his jaw and throwing him off her. Standing before he could recover, she lifted her leg, delivering a roundhouse kick to his middle. The strength in this blow sent him flying back against the opposite wall, creating a crater in the stone.
Not willing to give him another chance to attack her, she leapt across the space separating them using her forearm to pin him against the wall by his throat. He reached up to attempt to dislodge her arm, but it proved futile. Blind rage had increased her strength. Her anger was directed as much toward Lilith for using Micah and Jack against her as toward herself for falling for it. The feelings coaxed to the surface by these demons’ manipulations had tricked her into being unable to discern the line between reality and dream. A mistake she would not make in the next test.
The red glow faded from demon-Jack’s eyes, and his face morphed back to the one she knew and loved. Still, despite the very real feeling of being in his presence that washed over her, Addison did not give in.
“Please … Addie …” he managed as he fought for air against her arm. “Why are you doing this?”
“Cut the bullshit!” she spat, applying even more pressure to his throat. “You are not my Jack.”
She grasped his head in one hand and his shoulder with the other. With the kind of strength she’d never allowed herself to use, she ripped his head from his shoulders, tossing it aside in a gory spray of black blood. With a burst of flames, the separated parts of his body disappeared altogether.
Turning back to demon-Micah’s prone form, she knelt beside him. His open, unseeing eyes told her he was dead, but she needed to be sure. With the same motion and amount of strength, she ripped the creature’s head from its shoulders and threw it as far from the body as she coul
d.
Only after the body had burned away did Addison turn to retrieve her clothes. Once dressed, she wiped her bloody hands on her pant legs with a grimace.
A sudden noise in the silence of the room startled her. Pressing a hand to her chest, she turned to find a portion of the stone wall had rolled open, a red light guiding her forward.
Breathing slow to calm her racing heart, she stepped through the opening. As she moved from one space to the next, she realized she had successfully passed the first test.
When the stone slab closed her in, she leaned against it, breathing a sigh of relief. It hadn’t been what she’d expected. The assault of her memories mixed with sexual fantasy had caught her off-guard. The sights, sounds, and smells had been all-too real, causing her to almost forget where she was. A trick she’d be prepared for in the next test.
A noise like a rushing wind sounded, just before a round portal opened up in thin air before her. A body fell through it as if pushed, tumbling to her feet. She recognized Antoine, the large Creole with the powers of an Oracle.
Standing, he faced her with wide eyes. “Addison, you came!”
She nodded, giving him a wry smile. “Of course I did. I couldn’t leave my team to face Hell alone, could I?”
Reaching out to grasp her shoulders, he gazed down at her from his towering height with concern. “What are they doing to you? What are you sacrificing for our freedom?”
“Just my sanity,” she replied with a shrug. “Lilith is putting me through the paces. Four tests, each one will free someone. If I fail the final test …”
Antoine nodded in understanding. “You will not fail.”
“Did one of your visions show you that?” she asked, unable to help a feeling of hope that someone might be able to predict what her fate might be.
He sighed. “Unfortunately, the environment of Hell has hampered my abilities. I haven’t had a vision since we were brought here.”
Another portal opened in place of the first, this one revealing what looked like a bedroom—Antoine’s bedroom.
“Well, that’s your ride home,” she said. “Don’t worry, I’ll get Derek out of here.”
Backing toward the portal, he lifted one eyebrow and pursed his lips. “What about Alice?”
She pretended to think it over, one finger braced against her chin. “Hmm… I guess her, too.”
Antoine chuckled. It was no secret that she and Alice weren’t exactly friends. If anything, Alice seemed jealous of her, probably because she and Micah had indulged in a fling once. Hindsight told her Alice had likely noticed Micah’s attraction to her before she’d even been aware of it.
“Good luck, Addison,” he said, before disappearing into the portal.
It closed to swallow him up, casting her back into darkness. Sighing, she took the rubber band from her wrist and secured her hair into a ponytail at the back of her head as another chunk of stone slid aside to admit her to the next test.
“I have a feeling luck won’t help me down here,” she murmured, not hesitating to step through the opening.
Chapter Three: Offspring
Jack braced his elbows on his knees and stared at the scrawny kid seated in his parents’ living room. Despite the absence of physical restraints, the Naphil had been rendered unable to move thanks to their across-the-street neighbor and family friend Carmen Rodriguez. A powerful Oracle, she’d placed invisible shackles that kept their prisoner docile. Joining him, Carmen, and Micah in the living room were his father and stepmother, as well as Reniel. Each group had just finished relaying the events of the past few days, bringing everyone up to speed. If his father’s suspicions turned out to be true, then the glowering redhead seated across from him was Addison’s little brother.
Despite having different mothers and a hideous demon for a father, the resemblance couldn’t be ignored. Rail-thin and tall, the boy possessed a shock of red hair that stuck out from the top of his head in a tousled mess. A light sprinkling of freckles stained the bridge of his nose and cheekbones, a reddish-brown splash against pale skin. Dark circles gave him a haggard appearance, his bloodshot, hazel eyes only exacerbating the effect.
“Do you think they all look so much like her?” Micah asked, studying Addison’s Naphil sibling with naked curiosity. “That’s just creepy.”
Jack rolled his eyes. “Of course not. Natural redheads only account for a tiny portion of the world’s population.”
“Less than two percent,” Reniel confirmed from his corner of the living room, where he sat with an entire extra-large pizza box in his lap.
“Right,” Jack replied as the angel went back to scarfing down his pizza. “It isn’t plausible that all of Eligos’ children are redheads. This is just a coincidence.”
“An uncanny one,” Sarah muttered, eyeing the demon’s spawn as she would a snake.
Jack couldn’t blame her. After hearing about how this guy had broken into his parents’ house, held a gun to his little sister’s head, and attempted to kill his dad, he was feeling less than charitable.
Jackson, Sr., no worse for wear, sighed and ran a hand over his close-shaven hair.
“You might as well start talking, kid,” he said, addressing the Naphil. “I’m a patient man, but my son and his partner are young … they lack my restraint. Besides, my Oracle friend has some interesting techniques that have gotten your kind talking in the past.”
Slouching in his chair, the young man scoffed. “You guys are on the angel squad. You don’t torture people.”
Raising his eyebrows, Jackson, Sr. pursed his lips. “The only person here who would stop us is that angel in the corner.”
“An angel who is in the middle of lunch, and cannot be bothered with anything else at the moment,” Reniel muttered, pointedly not giving the boy so much as a glance.
“See here, boy,” Micah murmured. “You’ve got yourself in a bit of a mal pris. You’re sittin’ in a room full-a some of the only folks who can get you out of it. But first … you better separate your lower lip from your upper and get to flappin’ them gums. Quick like, before I lose what’s left of my patience.”
The boy moved as if to lunge toward them, but Carmen’s invisible barrier impeded him, the air around him crackling like lightning before slamming him back into the chair. Circling around to stand in front of him, Carmen folded her arms over her chest and scowled.
“Don’t try that again,” she admonished, her voice thick with a Puerto Rican accent. “Next time, it won’t be so gentle.”
“Let’s start with a name,” Jack offered. “I’m Jack Bennett. Who are you?”
The boy hesitated for a moment, his gaze darting to Reniel, then back to Jack. He seemed to realize he was outnumbered without a single ally or a way out.
“Drew,” he replied.
Now they were getting somewhere.
“Okay, Drew,” Jack said. “We already know why you were here.”
The young man sneered. “You don’t know shit about me, man.”
Addison’s turbulent eyes flashed across his mind, and he frowned. He didn’t know this kid’s story, but his half-sister wrote the book on misery and pain. Jack felt certain he’d gained some insight because of her.
“I know you’re alone in the world,” he said. “No father, single mother who tried her best, but it just wasn’t good enough. Seems like her problems made her incapable of being a good parent to you. A lifetime of feeling like the world is taking a dump on you, and never knowing when or if it’ll ever end. Dark thoughts and impulses you can’t control … you want to act on them but know you shouldn’t. And for the most part you don’t, because your human side won’t allow it. But every now and then, you lose the battle and do something you’ll come to regret later. Any of this sound familiar?”
Drew didn’t answer, but Jack had clearly struck a nerve. The boy’s hands shook in his lap while his jaw clenched and unclenched several times, the sound of his grinding teeth discernable in the quiet room.
“We k
now you been recruited to fight Eligos’ battle for him,” Micah added. “So long as you haven’t pledged your soul to him, there’s a way out. We can help you, but you need to get smart, and quick. The offer might not come again.”
Drew lowered his gaze, shaking his head. “I don’t care what happens to me … and don’t pretend you do, either. My father told me you’d try to turn me against him with lies. I know what you people really think of my kind.”
“What if I told you, one of the best people I know is one of you?” Jack offered. “Your sister, to be precise. I’ve come to know and care about her, and I can tell you, I like her better than most people. Relationships between us and the Nephilim are complicated because of how fluid you guys are. But, this new fight against Eligos means we need to come together. If not, the war between him and Lucifer is going to spill over into this world, and the burden of fighting will fall on us. If we aren’t united, when the attacks come, we’ll fold like a deck of cards. If you think the world is shitty now, wait until Eligos becomes its ruler.”
Drew’s smile held no warmth or humor, chilling Jack to the core. “Why shouldn’t he rule it? As far as I can tell, your so-called God doesn’t exactly have things under control. Besides, He’s never done anything for me. Eligos has.”
Micah scoffed. “Name one thing Eligos has given you other than empty promises.”
Lifting his chin in defiance, Drew shifted his gaze to Micah. “Family. He’s bringing his children together, and giving us what we’re due as his offspring. When he wins this war, we will rule at his side.”
“You don’t know much about demons if you think Eligos will share power with thousands of his children,” Jackson, Sr. said. “He’s not known as the Great Duke of Hell for no reason. Anything he promises you is simply bait to reel you in. The only thing you’re gaining if you pledge your soul to him is an eternity in Hell.”
“The family you want can still be yours,” Sarah added. “All across the world, Guardians, Oracles, and Angels are recruiting your siblings and the other Nephilim to our side. If you join us, you’ll be surrounded by family, and fighting for the right side.”