“Please, like I would harm her. She’s my family, too.”
“You’d enjoy humiliating her, though.” Phoenix glared at Elias.
“Humiliating her isn’t allowed,” Micah clarified.
“She’s your weakness, zkihtak.”
“She’s my bride and my future.”
“She’s our future,” Phoenix said. “You’re just jealous she’s ours and not yours, Elias.”
Elias snorted. “I’ve watched them copulate.” He motioned to Micah. “She fucks like a pampered princess, boring and stiff. I am not jealous of the cold bed either of you will suffer.”
Micah should’ve never allowed Elias to watch that one occasion. Not that Madison knew he’d been present. But Elias had pleaded since their marriage. They’d shared so many women in the past; he understood Elias’s curiosity. On a defeated whim, Micah had allowed the voyeurism. On that particular occasion, she’d lain impassive beneath him, her eyes clamped tightly shut with her fingers curled in the sheets as if the marital act disgusted her. He’d tried coaxing her into enjoying the act, but she’d cringed as he touched her and remained dry as he fingered her. Having grown angry by her lack of desire—he’d wanted her to perform for Elias, not that she’d ever performed for him—he drove his cock so deep with the first thrust she’d whimpered in pain.
She’d bled afterward from his brutality. Another regret he lived with. But he had an eternity to make up for his errors.
He’d wondered a million times what he did wrong, why he couldn’t cajole her into responding physically to him. He had no problems with any other female, demon or human. She’d come to him a virgin—a requirement of his deal with Madison’s mother—but he’d been so excited about claiming her, he hadn’t been anywhere near as gentle as she needed for her first time. For months afterward, he’d taken it slowly, but she still hadn’t responded. Oral sex appalled her. Determined to prove it wasn’t immoral, he’d forced it upon her and she’d cried the entire way through it. He’d given up after several attempts.
He’d fucked up royally hand-picking her father. He’d chosen the man as a slap in the face to his Father. Instead, he had suffered a harder slap with Madison’s bias against her kin.
“Allowing you to watch me make love to my wife was a privilege, brother, and not something to scoff at later.”
Elias grunted his disagreement. “Felt like I watched a fucking funeral.”
“My experience, she was neither boring nor stiff. I could’ve made love to her without a single complaint from her.” Phoenix wrapped his arm around Micah’s shoulders. “She responded to Micah’s kiss as well.”
“I hope you’re both right. I still think she acts like a snotty princess. Maybe you should think about giving her a tiara to showcase her inner diva.”
A tiara, huh? Micah liked the idea of her wearing nothing but a tiara while he slid his cock inside her body. He’d have to remember that one when the time came. He grinned at the delightful fantasy, and by the gleam in Phoenix’s eyes, he guessed he liked the idea as well.
Elias cleared his throat. “I think I should make a showy entrance. Prove to her, and that goddamn immortal, she can hide for only so long before she’s called to her rightful place. It’ll send a powerful message, don’t you think?”
“Perfect message,” he agreed with his brother.
“I’ll enjoy watching the shit she feeds you both once she’s in Hell’s custody. It should prove entertaining.”
“With Phoenix’s help, we’ll break her easy enough.”
His brother chuckled. “An optimistic demon. How vulgar.”
“Fuck off.” Micah grinned. “Go bring our girl home. Whatever necessary to get her here.” He couldn’t wait to hold her and give her the world. Literally the world on its knees worshiping her as much as he did, as much as Phoenix did.
“And Petralegija? Does she return home as well?”
“No.” Micah shook his head. “Phoenix is granted that privilege.”
Elias clapped Phoenix on the shoulder. “She’ll fucking eat you alive.”
Phoenix didn’t rise to the bait, but said, “We’ll see.”
“Yes, we’ll see.” A cocky grin curled Elias’s mouth as Phoenix watched him, unblinking. Micah had yet to see anything cow the mortal. “I’ll bring our girl home, Micah, and then we’ll focus on Amos.”
Once they had Madison, Amos would join them soon afterward. Of that, he had no doubt.
Chapter Thirteen
“You didn’t answer my question about doing Nix if he gave you a real orgasm.” Petra wouldn’t give up.
“I don’t plan on answering your question.” Madison sucked the ice cream off the spoon.
“Without an answer, I’ll interpret it as an admission that you would fuck him.”
“Interpret it however you please.”
“I find it odd you’d risk your life for a man you wouldn’t have sex with.”
“Just like I find it odd you’d risk your station in Hell to help Amos and me?”
Petra quirked her lips. “Aren’t you in a cheeky mood tonight?”
Yeah, she is, Pandora agreed with a mental sulk.
“I came out here to tell you about the Scroll of Cursed Souls.”
The what?
“With it, you can control an army of a million demons. It could prove beneficial against Daddy.”
More ancient objects designed to harness dark power.
Dear forces that be, could my life just get back to normal already? Or maybe let me wake up from this really bizarre nightmare?
“You know where we can get one of these scroll thingies?”
“You bet I do, Mommie Dearest.”
Uncertain how she felt about commanding a demon army, Madison recognized the benefits of having one. “Does this object have to be forcibly shoved into my body like Pandora’s Box? Because if so, no thank you.”
“It’s a good idea, Madison.” Not having heard Zen’s approach, Madison flinched and jerked in her chair. “And no, it doesn’t require being shoved into your body. Although it will adhere to you, but it’ll be painless. Mostly.” The mostly part failed to reassure her. “There are five pieces of it. They’re each recipes for commanding certain demonic factions of Hell. They’re small pieces of filmy scrollwork. Place it on your body and it absorbs into your skin and will look like a tattoo.”
“Let me guess, you have one of these scrolls?”
“Yes.”
Of course he did. The immortal had all the fun ancient devices that divvied up power. In his ancient non-monster hunting life, he’d probably been the life of the party with all his cool contraptions.
“Do you know where a second piece is located, Petra?” Madison asked.
“No, but I knew Zen had one. He stole it from Daddy back in the day.”
“Eight hundred and twenty one years ago.” Zen clarified what ‘back in the day’ meant. “I can get it just before you enter Hell.”
“Once it’s on my body is it permanent? Because I don’t want to become even less human, Zen.” Assuming she came out of Hell.
He scanned their midnight setting. “No, I can remove it. Although that part may be a tad—or a lot—painful.”
Madison sighed. Pain could be ignored. She would risk everything for Nix and possibly damn herself and her son, too. Dear God, she hated the person she’d become.
“What will happen to it if I don’t make it out, Zen?”
“If that happens, I’m going to crush your soul into oblivion and both Pandora’s Box and the Scroll of Cursed Souls will revert to the one who takes your life.” Madison shivered at the casual way Zen discussed murdering her. “It’s a balancing mechanism of both pieces to retreat to the one with the most power.”
She set her bucket of ice cream on the ground, suddenly sick to her stomach. She rubbed her face and gave a mental groan. It disturbed her that they discussed killing her so easily, as if life wasn’t valuable.
More than once she’d wondered
about leaving Amos behind. But her journey into Hell couldn’t be dismissed. Even Amos’s prophecies said as much. Either way, a good mother would find another way.
“Why are you so melancholy, Madison?” Zen touched her hand. His intense silver eyes brightened the night as he channeled power to help her. A second later his magic corkscrewed into her, bringing with it the scent of the ocean and warm winds.
“I’m about to own Alessa’s soul, which means I’m about to fully embrace all of my demonic side.” Without going full-blown demon. Yet. Because she doubted she’d be able to resist her genetics. “It…it’s not something I ever wanted to do.”
“Accepting your demon doesn’t make you evil. It’s what you do with it or don’t do with it that brings about evil.”
Madison bit back a bitter laugh. He was being naïve.
She pulled her hand out of his. Her head throbbed, but her grip on Pandora had never been more secure. “If I can’t control Pandora now, how much harder do you think it’ll be in Hell without you there to help, Zen?” He stared at her withdrawn hand, a nasty frown crinkling his forehead. “I need to learn to control her as much as possible.” Because she would have only herself to count on in Hell. “Look what I realized I can do today.” Madison held up her hand, palm up, and jagged sparks popped between her fingers. “Think that’s good for pissing off and hurting some demons?”
Zen didn’t cage the horror that hit his features. Always stoic, any reaction from him bothered her.
“Goddamn!” Petra leapt from her chair to ogle Madison’s hand. “A succubus cannot do that.”
“It’s not Pandora magic either.”
“Then that means it’s related to the unknown pink eyes.” Thank you, Nix, for really awakening my demon. Something Micah had only dreamed about.
Madison sighed. She was so fucking doomed.
Chapter Fourteen
“Eeny, meeny, miny, you…” Petra licked her teeth, and laughed at the cowering female trapped in the ring of fire.
“What are you doing?” Madison attempted to ask, but her voice squeaked out as if thawing from a frozen wasteland.
Dream!
Nothing else to do but ride with it….
Petra’s hands and face were speckled with the blood of corpses littering the glen. At her feet a mentally fucked-up teenage girl trembled and sobbed, her fractured human psyche scenting the air with sweet bliss.
No! Not bliss. Those had to be Petra’s thoughts leaking into Madison’s subconscious.
“Money can’t buy entertainment like this, Petralegija.” Micah morphed into the dream and Madison held her breath, fearing the dream would turn into reality.
“Next.” Petra winked and the teenager screamed as Petralegija extended her demon claws one finger at a time.
When the last nail dawned, her victim pleaded, “Please…please…please!” The girl wrapped her arms around Petra’s legs and shook so violently she stumbled, but balanced her footing with a wider stance.
“Boohoo.” She licked blood off a talon. “Keep begging and maybe I’ll let you live.”
Thick and pungent, fear scented the air with the metallic tang of blood.
Petra carved a gash in the girl’s leg with one razor-sharp claw. Tears streaked the girl’s dirty face and she panted. Blood welled from the wound and spilled over Petra’s fingers, leaving dark droplets on the ground.
“I’ll sell you my soul!” The girl sobbed, shoulders shaking. “I’ll sell my soul to you!”
Those desperate words ensnared Petra’s attention and Micah laughed. She cocked her head and studied the teenager at her feet.
“Turning the girl against her Sherlock brethren would be the best mind-fuck job ever!” The delight tingeing Micah’s voice sickened Madison. This was her husband. The father of her son.
Score another winning round for the demons. Bitter disgust burned the back of her throat.
The bullet that entered Petra’s shoulder surprised Madison. Her step-daughter jerked forward into the ring of fire. Petra fought back with the blaze, rolling quickly to face her attackers and threw a ball of flame at them.
There were two Sherlocks. They each dodged her first volcanic toss, but she nailed one of them with the second. He went down with a cry and the other one leapt to the fallen mortal’s side.
Petra elevated to her feet with a graceful leap. She stood at the center of the flames, with the Sherlock teenager at her feet, and useless hope lit the girl’s eyes.
“An offer was made,” Petra said to the young woman. “And I accept.”
The mortal gasped, her mouth rounding with dismay. Petra cut her palm and slapped it against the blood weeping from the human’s leg. The official way to seal a deal required the dealmakers to swap blood, while a covenant demanded consumption.
The girl sobbed at having damned herself.
Petra turned toward the Sherlocks. “The wonder twins.” Her lip curled with disdain.
Madison whipped her head about and sucked in a ragged breath at the sight of Gage and Nix, a lot younger-looking than when she’d met them five years ago.
Where’d Micah go? Being a dream, there was no telling.
“Are you okay, Jessie?” Nix directed his question to the teenager at Petra’s feet. When the girl nodded, he commanded, “Release her, you demonic bitch.”
Petra smirked. “Make me.”
Gage chanted a Gregorian exorcism. This time in their life obviously came before they knew who Petra was and that she couldn’t be evicted from her body.
Petra laughed a sinister trill. “Try again. Something with a little more punch this time.”
The cousins shared a glance. Nix spoke. “Who are you?”
“Petralegija.” She yanked the girl to her feet and she wobbled, but Petra steadied her footing with an arm around her waist.
“Who?” Nix frowned, his voice was a mixed tango of gruffness and sexiness.
Madison grinned at his attempt to hit Petra’s ego, but by the slight widening of his eyes he gave himself away. He recognized the name Petralegija.
“I’m not playing your game today, Sherlock.” Petra opened a portal to Hell and stepped through it with the girl in her arms.
Chapter Fifteen
Madison jerked awake and came off the bed ready to fight.
“It’s me.” Zen flipped the lights.
Flinching from the glare, she squinted. “My God, Zen. That wasn’t a dream, was it?”
“No and yes. You were dream-walking through memories.”
“How?” She pushed back the covers and threw her legs over the edge of the bed.
He shrugged, paced toward her in his feral way. “I attempted to stop it, but it wasn’t mine to control. I shook you and couldn’t wake you either.”
Not cool!
“I don’t have the power to dream-walk and I don’t want it!” She rubbed her forehead with her fingertips. She could still smell the stench of Hell, as though the malodor clung to the inside of her nostrils. “Wait, do you have that type of power?”
“No. It was an external hit.”
“Micah?”
“Maybe, I don’t know. It didn’t feel calculated toward you, but you got dragged along somehow.”
“I think I can answer a few of those questions.” Petra spoke from the doorway of Madison’s bedroom. Zen turned to face the demon as Amos rushed through the door and tackled her in a hug.
“I’m okay, angel.” She returned his hug with a tight squeeze and rubbed his back.
“It had to be a calculated strike at me.” Petra stepped into the room and shut the door behind her. “A ploy to jog my memory maybe.”
“One thing that bothers me,” Zen said. “Micah couldn’t get beyond the Angel Locks to initiate the attack.”
“I did it by accident.” Amos twisted his hands, refusing to meet anyone’s gaze.
Just as one misplaced card would crack the foundation of a house of them, Amos’s growing magic—accidental or not—could be the one misla
id action to send their tenuous world tumbling around them.
He went on, either not noticing her sudden distress or wanting to confess before he lost the nerve. “I was sleeping and I tapped into Petra’s memories somehow. I had your bloodstone with me, Momma.”
Which explained why the memories latched onto her as well, but she could live with being dragged along if it helped keep him grounded to her.
“Amos, you can’t be so careless!” Petra struck him on the arm. “What would’ve happened had it been Daddy you latched onto? He wouldn’t release you. You’d be in a zombie state here until you joined him or he released you.”
Amos’s eyes glittered with tears. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to, Petra.”
“Sorry’s not good enough, kiddo! Sorry doesn’t keep you safe and sorry—”
“Petra, cool it.” Madison squeezed Amos’s hand, hoping he understood she didn’t blame him. Her step-daughter glared at her a long moment before huffing and flouncing across the room. “Amos, we’ll figure something out.” She tugged him down to sit beside her on the bed.
“Amos?” Zen waited until he had Amos’s full attention. “Are you certain this was an accident?”
“I swear! I promised Momma I wouldn’t do anything without you or her with me.”
Zen nodded and ruffled Amos’s hair. “I can cast a spell that will hinder any accidental dream-walking.”
“I’m so scared, Momma.” Amos gripped her in a sudden hug.
“Why, angel?” Tears blurred her vision.
“I can’t tell if you’ll come back. I know you gotta go. I saw that. But Daddy wants you so bad….”
He trembled in her arms. A bone-weary sigh escaped. Too much had been thrust upon his shoulders and he dealt with it like an adult. She tended to forget he remained very much a child.
I am so proud of him. Faced with a verbally abusive father and a disinterested mother, Madison hadn’t been this strong as a child.
I will take care of him, Madison, Zen said telepathically. Petra came up behind Amos and placed her hand on his shoulder. An immortal and a succubus demon would protect her son. The irony.
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