Magical Redemption

by Nicola E. Sheridan

  Omar stepped forward threateningly, again. “You’ve been warned, demon spawn.”

  “Jinx,” Lucian growled, changing tack. “What’s going on?”

  Jinx rested a small hand on his arm and pulled him to face her.

  “Don’t worry about me,” she said, trying to sound bright. “Just let Antigone try and remove the pledge. That’s what we came here for.”

  Lucian shrugged off her hand. “You’re hiding something,” he snarled. “Tell me why Antigone can’t remove your curse.”

  His words sounded like more than a command. They were steeped in the demonic powers holding her captive to him.

  “Oh, Lucian,” Jinx groaned. “I did it to save your life. I couldn’t have done it, otherwise...”

  “What did you do?” His eyes were blazing red, now. Jinx was dimly aware that Antigone, Omar, Phil, and Lugh had retreated

  “I can’t tell you. You’ll hate me,” she cried.

  “I’ll hate you more if you don’t,” he snarled. He snaked his arms around her and dragged her to his chest. His body was screamingly hot. Lucian angled her face to meet his. “Tell me why she can’t free you.” Jinx felt the humidity of his breath against her face. She bit her lip and stood rigid against him, willing herself with every fiber of her being not to divulge the truth...but she couldn’t. His power and mastery over her were too strong.

  “I gave my lamp away,” she cried out.

  “You what?” Lucian thundered. His arms bit into her biceps. Jinx winced but was compelled to answer.

  “I gave it away to save your life. I had to. You were so sick. There wasn’t anything else I could do.” Her voice was weak, and tears coursed down her cheeks.

  So much for a master never seeing her cry.

  “How?” he snarled.

  “You were dying. I had to do it to save your life.”

  He ignored her explanation. “Who did you give it to?” Dawning understanding dimmed his eyes. “Not...him,” he whispered.

  Lucian released Jinx. She staggered back with her head low. She covered her face in her hands, unable and unwilling to see his face.

  “Tell me you didn’t give your lamp to that bomoh,” he roared.

  She felt his confused betrayal as acutely as a knife.

  “I’m sorry,” Jinx wailed. “I had to save you; you’re my master.”

  “I was trying to protect you,” Lucian yelled, thundering back toward her and grabbing her, again. His eyes were the reddest she’d ever seen. She cringed away. His white teeth flashed as though his canines lengthened. “I didn’t want him to have you. I would have done anything to prevent that creature getting his hands on you. You’ve betrayed me,” he howled and staggered back, gripping his temples.

  “I had to do something.” Jinx wept. Her sobs caught in her throat as she saw through his splayed fingers something erupting from his temples.

  What was happening? She stared with mounting horror as two coiled, ruby red horns curled out from beneath his hair.

  “You betrayed me,” Lucian screamed, again. His skin, usually gorgeous honey, was getting redder.

  “He’s turning demonic,” yelled the manticore as he lurched into action.

  “I didn’t betray you. I saved you,” Jinx whimpered to no one in particular as Phil, Lugh, and Omar surrounded him.

  Lucian gave a pained growl.

  “Yasmina,” Lucian groaned, “what have you done?” He stared down at his reddish hands as black claws sprouted from the fingertips. His shirt stretched and tore over his growing muscles as his height grew. He roared a primal, bestial cry. Jinx covered her ears with her hands and fell to her knees. She could almost feel his pain, confusion, and anger.

  “I’ve got a safe room in the house where we can put him until he calms down.” Omar barked. “Antigone, get inside!”

  Lucian wrestled with Lugh and Phil. Even with the help of Omar’s magic, it was difficult to placate him.

  “I suggest you go away for a while, Jinx,” Omar said softly, but Lucian heard.

  “She goes nowhere without me, nowhere,” he howled. Lucian looked around wildly and spied Jinx cowering. “Come with me,” he growled. His elongated upper and lower canines shone through his terrifying and red visage. Despite her horror, Jinx felt her loins loosen. She’d follow him to the ends of the Earth―whether he made her or not.

  Subdued somewhat by Omar’s magic, Jinx followed Lucian into the house. She was unable to absorb her surroundings until she found Lucian pushed into Omar’s safe room. Carpeted from floor to ceiling, the room was windowless with a small bed pushed against the far wall.

  “Lucian,” Jinx said as he walked numbly to the bed. It creaked as he sat down. His muscles, so much larger than before, twitched beneath his torn shirt. The ruby horns glistened in the dull florescence of the light.

  He stared at her, his face so familiar but so gruesomely alien. “How could you betray me?” he growled, his voice octaves lower.

  “I didn’t betray you. I did it to save your life,” Jinx whimpered, tears stinging her eyes. Lucian lolled his head back and crashed onto the bed, unconscious.

  “I’ve sedated him,” Omar said. “He’ll come around in a few hours. Even my spells will not be effective on demon spawn for long.”

  Jinx felt someone take her shoulders and steer her firmly from the room. Lucian’s door clicked shut. She heard Omar warding the door closed and smelled the gentle aroma of his magic.

  Tears stung her eyes again as she turned to face Antigone, whose beautiful face was creased with deep sympathy.

  “What has happened to him?” Jinx whispered as a tear ran a scorching path down her cheek.

  “Come, have something to eat. I’ll explain a few things about demon spawn.” Antigone ushered her into a sitting room. Jinx didn’t pause to take in the surroundings, not even when in a shimmer of magic a cup of black coffee appeared in her hand.

  “What has happened? Why has he turned into...into...” She gulped the painful lump out of her throat. “Into that thing?”

  Antigone’s blue eyes were gentle. “He’s gone demonic. When a demon or its spawn feel that their kin or loved ones are under threat, they turn demonic. Their form changes, and their strength increases, enabling them to defend those they love.” Antigone’s voice faded.

  Those they love? Jinx thought dumbly. “Me?” she croaked.

  Omar shuffled awkwardly. Lugh and Phil swept from the room.

  “He loves me?”

  “It appears he most certainly does,” Antigone murmured softly.

  “How do you know this?” Jinx croaked, again. “You could be lying.”

  Antigone snorted in an unladylike fashion. “I’ve...” She paused. “I’ve done some research since I became free.” Jinx didn’t miss the anger blaze again in Omar’s eyes.

  “Will he change back?” Jinx asked.

  Antigone shrugged. “It has been said that the demonic state remains until the danger has passed.”

  Jinx bit her lip hard enough to bleed. Poor Lucian. She wanted to cry, again.

  “Can you still remove his pledge?” Jinx asked, a sickening feeling growing within her.

  Antigone’s face creased with sympathy. She shook her head. “I’m sorry,” she whispered.

  “Why not?” Jinx asked sharply. “You said you could.”

  Antigone sighed heavily.

  “Removing the pledge would have been difficult even in his natural form.” She inhaled then took a sip of coffee. “In his demonic state, with his body’s defenses heightened and strengthened, getting anywhere near the pledge would be near impossible.”

  “Would the Mafia still be able to hurt him through the pledge?” Jinx asked weakly.

  “The pledge itself has not changed. I don’t imagine its strength
has diminished even though the body around it is stronger. There is a chance that any damage exerted on him through the pledge would be lessened by his demonic state, but…” She shook her head. “I don’t know. A pledge to the Mafia is like a benign or cancerous lump. If the Pater Rex has turned that pledge toxic―from what I understand of your panic, he has― there is a high probability that despite Lucian’s new form it still is.”

  A small cry squelched out of Jinx’s tight throat. “So, we’re screwed?” She stared at an ornate clock on the wall, realizing that the hours to the deadline were flying by.

  They were silent for a long time while the manticore and Tuatha stood guard at Lucian’s door. Only the hum of the air conditioner broke the silence. Jinx finally broke the quiet. Despite everything, there was something she still wanted to know.

  “What happened the day Lucian let you both escape?”

  * * * *

  Both Omar and Antigone stiffened. The air hung still for an awkward moment.

  Jinx kept her gaze steady on Omar. His face was a mask. It was as if refusing to show emotion he was refusing to remember.

  Antigone sighed and squeezed Omar’s hand. The hard lines around his eyes softened.

  “It was a horrible day.” Antigone chuckled. “It was a very horrible couple of months, actually.”

  The lines tightened in Omar’s face, again.

  “I was poisoned,” Omar said stiffly. He briefly flashed his teeth. “The Pater Rex and his wife Devika had made a point of me. I’d not conformed to the Family’s requirement. They poisoned me to prove a point. When Antigone found me in that state…” His voice trailed off as he gazed into space.

  Antigone’s face collapsed into a frown. “He was so sick. Black lines of poison ran up his veins. He could barely move or speak without pain.” She shuddered. “I think I went a little crazy.”

  “You went crazy?” Jinx couldn’t help but repeat.

  “I’m a Nephilim. I can see, touch, and take souls as you know. When I saw what they did to Omar, it was just wrong. I was so angry that I started to take souls from everyone I could reach. I told the Pater Rex I’d destroy every one of them unless they gave Omar the antidote to the poison.

  “She took the Pater Rex’s wife’s soul,” Omar interjected with a gentle note of pride humming in his tone.

  “She’s a bitch,” Antigone spat with sudden venom. “She deserved it.”

  “I don’t doubt it.” Jinx nodded. “Then, what did you do with it?”

  “I got the antidote and gave it to Omar, but we knew they’d never let us go. We knew they’d kill me.” Antigone shuddered. “So, when it came down to it, I shoved Devika’s soul into the Pater Rex’s body.”

  There was a silence.

  “You can do that?” Jinx was horrified as well as amazed.

  Antigone nodded dumbly.

  “Then, we escaped,” Omar added.

  “But…how did Lucian help you in all this?” Jinx asked, confused.

  Antigone put her hand on her décolletage. Jinx noticed for the first time the faint, pink scars mottling her otherwise flawless skin.

  “Lucian came to help the Pater Rex with his Hellcats. We were attacked.”

  “They attacked you?” Jinx breathed in the horror, somehow unable to believe that Hester and Fess would attack innocent people. They were nothing but gentle with her.

  “It was his job. I understand that,” Antigone muttered. Omar said nothing, allowing his silence to speak for him. “When Lucian realized I was going to die, he called off the Hellcats and gave us time to escape. We’ve been here ever since.” She glanced up and beamed quickly at Omar.

  Jinx looked away, unable to share their evident joy. “What happened to the souls of the Pater Rex and his wife?”

  Antigone shrugged. “I have no idea. The last I remember, he was a bumbling, convulsing mess.”

  “He doesn’t seem to bumble, anymore,” Jinx said softly. He does still convulse, she mused.

  “I had hoped forcing the two souls into the same body might kill them both,” Antigone said. “It seems I was wrong.”

  “He’s not exactly hale and hearty,” Jinx replied.

  “He’s not?”

  “No,” she confirmed.

  They all fell silent.

  Jinx picked weakly at the proffered food, waiting for Lucian to awake. Then, what would happen?

  Chapter Fifteen

  Lucian awoke in a strange, carpeted room with very little recollection of how he got there.

  “Jinx?” he growled and pulled himself into a sitting position. A headache sat screaming in his temples. He raised a hand to rub them. Instead of skin, his fingers found hot, hard horns curling up through his hairline. “Agh!” He pulled his hands away and stared at them. Black clawed fingers and red skin stared back.

  Confusion screamed through him.

  What has happened?

  I’ve gone demonic.

  How is that possible?

  “Jinx,” he bellowed, but his yell was absorbed by the revolting, orange carpet covering the walls and ceiling. “Jinx,” he cried, again. Where the hell was she?

  Then, he remembered.

  Images of her pained little face flashed through his mind. She gave her lamp to the bomoh, to protect him. Rage boiled through his body and spilled through his veins like acid. He roared, “No!” She sacrificed herself for him. She should never have done it. As angry as he was with her, he was furious with himself. He hadn’t kept her safe. Whether he loved her or she loved him didn’t matter. The bomoh had her lamp, and he couldn’t get it back. Soon, the Pater Rex would come for him, and they would be separated, forever.

  Lucian howled again and smashed against the door.

  “Jinx,” he cried. “Yasmina!”

  * * * *

  Jinx heard him from the other room. Her heart thundered in the confines of her ribcage. She automatically stood up.

  Antigone grabbed her wrist. “Be careful. He’ll be angry.”

  Jinx looked at her blankly. “So am I.” She wiped crystallized tears from her face and walked toward his roar.

  With a careless wave of his hand, Omar opened the door, and Lucian rushed from the room like a hurricane. His red eyes were wild as he scoured the room until he saw Jinx. He was huge with red skin bulging beneath his torn shirt, and his ruby horns glistening as if coated in fresh blood. As he opened his wide mouth to speak, Jinx caught a glimpse of the wickedly sharp upper and lower canines. She tore her stare away and bit her lip.

  “Look at me,” Lucian growled.

  Jinx suddenly felt her chin gripped by his massive, black-clawed hand. His scalding touch made her gasp.

  He towered above her and forced her gaze to meet his. The heat from his body burned through her clothes. His eyes were multifaceted crimson and burgundy and beautiful in an unearthly way. She gazed searchingly into them, desperate to see the love she wanted. The narrowed, cat-like pupils were alien. A sob grew in her throat as she tugged her face from him.

  “Look at me,” he hissed again, his voice like icy gravel. He forced her to look at him.

  The initial shock faded as she stared at him.

  “Look what has happened. Is this what you wanted to save when you gave your lamp away? I’m a monster.”

  Jinx said nothing.

  “Did you truly want to save me? I’m demon spawn, Jinx. Look!”

  At the use of her nickname, the dam of tears broke and slipped silently down her cheeks.

  Lucian’s demonic face crumpled with sorrow. “Oh, Yasmina.” He lightened his grip on her chin and stroked a tear away.

  “I tried to protect you,” he murmured. “I tried to keep you away from...” He gestured to his chest. “This.”

  More tears. Jinx felt her heart w
anting to break. She was nearly choking with the pain. “I’m so sorry,” she sobbed. “I’m so, so sorry. I’ve ruined everything.”

  Lucian closed his eyes for a moment. Jinx watched his long, dark lashes rest on the high, angular planes of his cheekbones.

  He was monstrous but still beautiful.

  He opened his eyes after a moment and stared at her.

  “Will you change back?” Jinx whispered. “When I’m...gone?”

  His face hardened. “I don’t know,” he said and looked away.

  They were alone in the corridor. Lucian’s presence dominated the small space and made her feel like choking, crying, running or something.

  Jinx licked her lips, determined not to look away from his demonic face. “Antigone said that demon spawn only turn demonic when their loved ones are being threatened.” Her breath hitched in her throat. “Does that mean…” She swallowed. “Do you love me?”

  Lucian glared down at her and was silent.

  “I need to know. I deserve to know.”

  “You deserve to know?” He snorted and rubbed a hand over his hair. “Do you want this beast to love you? Could you ever love it back?”

  “I…I do love it,” she whispered, searching his distorted features for the face she wanted to see.

  In the deep crimson of his eyes, she saw a flash of brown and chewed her lip. What would he do? What would he say? Could she love Lucian as this demonic beast?

  Yes. Yes, and I do. I love him more for turning demonic to protect me.

  “Oh, Yasmina,” Lucian groaned. He hiked her up into his chest with his massive hands. He crushed her to him in a massive bear hug so tight, she lost her breath. She instinctively wrapped her legs around his waist and clung to him as he kissed her on the neck with his hot lips.

  Heat and lust was growing within her. Lucian wasn’t just her addiction; he was her demon.

  He pulled back, his muscles bunching. Jinx slipped back to the ground.

  “What?” she asked.

  “We shouldn’t do this.” He gestured between them.