Petra nodded and hurried to Alessa.
“Is everything under control?” Zen asked, as Petra opened a portal to Hell and Alessa went through.
“Uh huh.” Amos waited for Georgie to call him out for the lie. Petra hadn’t let on.
Zen placed his fingers beneath Amos’s chin and forced him to meet his penetrating silver eyes. “Don’t prevaricate, Amos.”
Amos released a pent-up breath and jerked his chin free. He should’ve known the ancient would hear his lies in his head. A ten-year-old should be able to lie on occasion!
“Momma’s in control right now.”
Petra flinched as if Amos struck her, but she didn’t share the truth of what she’d seen with him. At least he could count her loyal to him.
“But?” Zen persisted.
Amos shrugged. “I don’t know what’s gonna happen.”
“No visions, Amos?” Georgie prodded, rubbing her forehead.
“None. Momma’s future is mixed. Nix…he’ll come out.”
Zen crossed his arms over his chest. “That’s not the outcome Georgie saw for Phoenix.”
“Georgie’s wrong. Nix will come out of Hell. I don’t know about Momma.”
Chapter Thirty
The words Micah had longed to hear for almost a decade were delivered with honesty shining from Madison’s face. As she was intelligent enough to fool him, more than once, he struggled to trust her sincerity. “Will you anchor yourself to Hell and to me?”
“Is that part of our new commitment to one another?”
“No.” A demon being anchored to Hell gave it more power to draw from. “It’s a ceremony where you ingest the blood and seraph of all four Kings.”
“I’ll do it, but only on one condition.”
Micah braced himself. “What condition?”
Phoenix wore a perpetual frown. The Ark’s emotions over Madison’s future meant little to Micah. The Lynx inside her would be a powerhouse. The only question remaining, would it benefit Hell, or humanity?
“I want ownership of Nix’s covenant.”
“No.”
“Then no deal, husband.”
“Madison, this trickery—”
“How important is it for me to be anchored to Hell?”
The ramifications of a demon as powerful as she not being bonded to Hell could be catastrophic. Not just for him and his plans, but for Hell’s continued existence, too.
“By the expression on your face, I’d say it’s pretty damn important.” Madison shifted out of his embrace and snuggled against Phoenix, who, of course, did not resist her proximity. Using a fingertip, she traced a path along Phoenix’s jaw and peered at Micah through her lashes. “You would ask something monumental of me, but refuse to return the favor? That’s not very husbandly of you.”
Micah stared at her, intrigued.
A sharp intake of breath escaped Madison as Phoenix tried to shift his fingers through her blood-matted hair. “Sorry, baby.” Phoenix massaged her scalp. “If you owned my covenant, what would you request from me?”
No hesitation from her. “Your complete loyalty to me.”
“I like the idea of being submissive to your domination,” Phoenix teased, a grin exposing his dimples.
Micah stepped closer to her. “And to whom will your loyalty be pledged, kitten?”
“I thought we already established that.” Their gazes touched and held. “I would be anchored to Hell.”
“It doesn’t mean your loyalties would lie in Hell.”
Madison hooked two fingers inside the waistband of Micah’s pants and his eyes widened in surprise at her shamelessness. She tugged him against her until she was flanked by both men.
“My loyalty will be to you, Micah. Always to you.” Her fingers moved and the button on his jeans slid free. “Where else would you have it lie?”
“If you’re lying, I’ll find out when I give you my seraph.”
“Then give it already.”
He caught her wrist when she attempted to slide her hand lower into his pants. “Not yet, kitten. Not until I know with certainty you’re not attempting to distract me.”
She nipped at his chin. “Distrust is such a damn turn-on.”
“Stop cursing.”
“Stop procrastinating.”
Micah chuckled. “I want us naked for the transaction.”
“Whatever you want, Micah,” she said sweetly. “Let’s do that shower now, shall we?”
Chapter Thirty-one
Micah led them through a maze of halls while Madison’s belly churned. She’d bolt and claw her way out of Hell if not for Nix at her back. She gave no credence to the title Ark of Heaven, rather it was the man who claimed the label who’d earned her devotion. To save him, she would be forced to claim her genetics and accept a future she’d resisted. Surviving Hell hadn’t been expected, so she’d venture down the demonic side-road and count on Zen to end it all.
Nix tried to take her hand more than once, but she avoided his grasp. Comfort came from his touch. Her fragile psyche couldn’t tolerate reassurance from him, not when she planned to embrace her DNA and commit herself to Micah.
When she got to that shower and Micah gave her his seraph, she would lose her humanity. She was prepared for that outcome, hoping all the while she could sustain her human focus long enough to get Nix out of Hell.
An arm shot outward from the wall and she slammed to a halt. Nix bumped into her, but caught her shoulders and kept her footing steady. Madison gaped at the wall and a face emerged. A silent scream rounded the soul’s mouth and then a pitiful, whispered, “Help me,” trickled across her mind.
All the walls were made of the same gyrating bodies. The flooring was the same throughout as well, human skin stitched together, offering a squishy, elastic type of stride. With each step they took, the mortal floor screamed for deliverance.
“Xea.” Die, Madison said in Xapil to the soul seeking mercy.
“No!” Micah shouted and spun around. “You granted the damned redemption.”
The soul smiled and vanished in a flicker of rust-colored dust. “Redemption as in heaven?”
“No.” He gripped her arm. “As in ceases to exist completely. Hell can be worse than not existing.”
“When you say things like that, it makes me wonder how I could’ve ever fallen for you. Why I’m agreeing to anything with you right now. How can I love a man who enjoys torturing souls?”
A slow, satisfied smile greeted her, and she tried to decide what she’d said that pleased him so much. He didn’t make her wait long.
“You still love me.” His thumb whisked across her jaw. “Good to know with what’s to come.”
“I didn’t—”
Micah held up his hand and she fell silent. “A slip of the tongue, maybe, but there’s enough truth in your words to satisfy me. We torture souls because they believe they deserve it. In return, I eventually grant them a newfound life, by creating new breeds of demons loyal to me.”
“You enjoy all this screaming and sobbing? It doesn’t bother you in the least?”
“It may have in the beginning.” He shrugged. “That’s been too long for me to recall. The anguish is necessary for the dynasty we Kings have built and continue to erect. A legacy crafted for you and Amos. If I could omit their hardship, I would expedite them into their improved afterlife. Souls have proven time and again they need the pain or they fail to adjust to their new state of existence.”
Was he a monster or a savior of souls? If God rejected them, were the Kings giving them something better in the vast wasteland of eternity? Where would they go without Hell?
“I see the truth has failed to appease you.” He rubbed a lock of her matted hair between his fingers. “Come, you’ll understand all with my seraph.”
Feeling like the proverbial lamb being led to the slaughter, she followed him with a numb acceptance of what she would soon do, what she would become.
His bathroom was seriously fucked up. The floorin
g was the same as everywhere, but a human skull served as a showerhead and water sprayed from the mouth, eyes, and nose. The pipe disappearing into the wall looked like a human spine.
Gruesome.
Awe-inspiring, Lynx disagreed with pride.
“Is all this real? Skulls for showers? Skin as floors? Walls that come to life with moving body parts?”
“It’s real, an accurate view of Hell.” His fingers trailed down her arm. “A little, unknown secret about Hell, kitten. It’s created from magic, just like Heaven. And it takes a lot of magic to hold it all together.”
“You don’t really get the bodies, just the souls, so…how?” She motioned at the room in general.
“We get the bodies. What’s left behind for the mortal world is a manifestation of the person’s former self. Most of them have bought into the idea that Hell is nonstop agony. Few realize they could have more joy and pleasure here than they ever could in Heaven.”
“Amen to that, lover,” Nix agreed.
Blasphemous words to her Christian father.
Madison shivered. “And the pool of blood? Real or a hellish hallucination?”
“Very real. And when it is stripped from the soul, it’s very powerful.”
The energy in the sanguine fluid Nix thrust them into had been evident the moment it closed over her head in the pool.
Madison studied the brand on her arm. It ached, but not as much as the Lynx inside her. Her demon called for more power, more food. Pandora had grown mute and cowered inside her box.
We can take Pandora’s power as our own, wipe her from us completely. And the ancient parasitic entity recognized that reality. As her succubus spoke, Pandora quivered so hard the box she crouched within rattled. When Micah gives us his seraph, we use it to suck Pandora dry. Claim her power as ours! Ingest all of her and we’ll be able to defeat Micah. Beat him at his game. The chuckle of anticipation coming from Lynx scuttled up her spine. Her demon would never cringe over making the undesirable choices.
Okay, Madison agreed. Let’s go hardcore. What is my demon name?
Usha.
There’d been a time when the extra voice in her head would’ve frightened her, or she might have believed she suffered from schizophrenia. No longer.
Madison gave her demon a mental smile. In moments, we become one.
“I want Nix out of here.”
“He stays and watches.” Micah tucked matted hair behind her ears, and brushed wads of it over her shoulders to tangle in a bloody heap down her back. “It’s not like he’s never seen you naked.”
“He hasn’t. His hand was down my pants in the hotel room.” She looked up at him and fought the flush that threatened to creep up her neck and into her cheeks.
Micah shrugged, but smiled a grin of supreme satisfaction. “Then he’ll see all in a moment.”
Madison suspected stripping would be inconsequential to what the seraph would accomplish.
She met Micah’s eyes as his fingers curled around the edge of her blood-coated blouse. Slowly, he peeled her garment upward, his knuckles skimming her flesh. Nix slammed his hand down on Micah’s wrist and halted the progress of her disrobing.
The men stared at one another and some strange energy vibrated between them. Very visible energy. She guessed a silent, unnecessary testosterone war ensued.
Nix watched her. “Is this what you want, Mads?”
Biting back a laugh wasn’t easy, but she managed. When had she ever wanted what Micah planned for her? Every action she took in Hell was for Nix and not for her own good. But admitting that would hinder saving him.
She focused on Nix’s eyes and settled for the other truth. “I want his seraph.”
Nix’s hand shifted from Micah’s wrist and wrapped around her throat, high enough to tilt her head backward. Silence—except for the unending agony of souls—shifted among the trio. The Ark of Heaven peered at her as if he could discern the truth of her words.
“Do you wish for him to undress you?” Nix demanded.
“You go too far, Phoenix.”
Madison chuckled and shoved Micah’s hands off her clothing. She wrapped her fingers around Nix’s wrist, applied pressure and twisted until he grunted, but gained freedom from his hold.
“Do I wish for Micah to undress me?” She laughed again and took several steps backward. “I don’t give a fuck who undresses me, so long as I receive his seraph.” With a quick tug, she yanked her shirt over her head. “You wanna see me naked, Nix, baby?” She tilted her head to the side and shifted her gaze to Micah. “How about you, sweetheart? Naked, so you can stuff me full of your angel juice.”
She placed a finger beneath the catch on the front of her bra. With a twist, the hook gave free. She tossed the lace aside and resisted the urge to cover her breasts. Submitting to Micah’s slow perusal was a feat in self-control. She averted her focus from Nix. She didn’t want to know if he ogled her the way Micah did. After shimmying out of her panties, she stepped backward into the shower stall.
Before she gave much thought about what she touched, she grabbed the finger bone and twisted the handle to hot. Water turned to scalding burst and rained from the skull head, dousing her in a clear, cleansing stream.
“You’ve lost a few pounds.” Micah entered the shower behind her. “You’re gorgeous as always, kitten.”
“I’ve been training to defeat you.” She ignored the compliment on purpose.
He smiled and with the tip of his finger circled her belly button. “How’d that work out for you, kitten?”
She shivered back the surge of arousal his soft touch elicited.
Nix joined them and she refused to look above his chin or below his throat. A tic in his cheek indicated his jaw was locked tight and he was probably grinding his teeth.
Micah’s tongue flicked over a nipple, yanking her attention back to him. With a gasp, she jerked his head back by his hair.
“I’m not playing your sexual games. Give me your seraph now.”
“Eventually you will.” He smiled and the certainty she read on his face had her looking away. But meeting Nix’s hooded eyes was worse.
Micah discarded his clothing slowly while she watched. And she took in every detail, admiring the clean, masculine lines of her husband. Muscles an underwear model would envy. Her inspection slid across his rippled abs as he released his jeans, shoved them down. His flaccid penis lay in a bed of blood-covered blond hair. On her honeymoon, she’d been awed and frightened by his erection. She was no longer impressed. For the first time she realized he had no hair anywhere except on his head and at the base of his dick.
“I want your angel.”
“Beg your pardon?” Micah kicked his jeans aside.
“I want you in your angel form while you feed me.”
He answered her with an unblinking stare. She gave a mental shrug and turned into the hot spray of water. The substance slid over her body like liquid fingers.
Dear God, if she got out of this alive, she’d never be able to look Nix in the eye again. Not even one day’s passage in Hell and she was already humiliated. No telling what Nix had endured these last four months.
Micah touched the tattoo on her lower back. “Interesting tattoo choice. What is its importance?”
She’d forgotten about it and stiffened. “No significance.”
“It’s a dragon. Do you realize dragons were once practiced by dark magic?”
“So?”
“Wondered if you knew?”
“Why should I know that? I’ve been running, not dabbling in mythology.”
“Not mythology, kitten.” His smile softened his features. “We’re going to watch Phoenix bathe first. You want to help him, kitten?”
“No.” And she wouldn’t watch him bathe either.
Micah leaned against the wall, crossed his arms over his rippled chest, and met her stony gaze. “Watch.”
“No.”
“You don’t wish to see the body of the man who just had his fingers
inside you? Had his messian inside you?”
The visual those words evoked was too erotic to contemplate for long. She shook her head and whispered, “No.”
“Phoenix, at your leisure.” Micah surprised her by not pushing the issue, but he watched her, stoic, as if contemplating his next move. “Our turn,” he said a moment later, much too soon.
Nix couldn’t have bathed properly in that short amount of time.
“You go ahead. I’ll wait until you’re finished.” Madison folded her arms over her breasts, hiding her nipples. A crooked grin suggested he suspected she affected the posture to hide her nudity. She glared at him, daring him to start a war with her stance.
Instead of getting the fight she anticipated, Micah shrugged and began to soap up his body. Madison turned away and he chuckled at her reticence.
He took longer to wash the blood away. Thank God for small, hellish favors. But when he finished, his arm circled her waist and dragged her into the spray, her back against his chest. Hot water hit her head and coursed down her body as her sights landed on Nix standing in front of her, a few feet away.
Tattoos flanked his right arm and the dragon head rested over his right shoulder. Where was that damn dragon that was supposed to save his life? Asleep on the job?
Finally she got to see the ink that’d fascinated her for so long. His nipples were erect and—she snatched her focus back to his face. She wouldn’t disgrace him by looking further without his permission.
Realizing she’d become docile, she tried to twist in Micah’s hold, but he clenched her shoulders and held her steady. She remained facing Nix. She got the feeling Micah wanted Nix to see all of her nudity.
Micah spoke low against her ear. “I’m going to bathe you. Is Phoenix going to watch or help? Your choice.”
Holding Nix’s stare, she remained mute, her belly trembling at the very idea of Nix helping.
“I’ll watch,” Nix answered for her, but his fingers turned into fists at his sides.
“Your loss.” Micah lathered her hair and scrubbed her scalp, relaxing her with his touch. “When I thought Zennyo Ryuo murdered you, I was devastated.” He reached over his head and pulled a long length of spine out of the wall to wash away the shampoo. Surreal. “Losing the woman I love is not something I wish to experience again.”
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