by RS Black
Clutching my middle, I turned toward Luc and Dean.
“It’s time.”
Asher was pleading at me with eyes so numb and broken that I not do this.
I didn’t have a choice and deep down, I suspected he knew that.
Wrath called to me, professing his undying love and devotion. Telling me I could have it all, by his side, forever.
My friends. My family. Most of them were dead; some of them wouldn’t last the night. The Zombie Queen was only God knows where, her puppets nothing but dismembered bodies now, and utterly useless. My berserker nephews were down and probably no longer capable of fighting.
They probably all hated me for the measures I’d taken, the things that I’d done, but I was still family to them. My blood ran through their veins and there wasn’t a damn thing they could do to stop me.
I stared at Dick’s head.
Demons always lie.
We never tell the truth.
The Triad had promised him the world, and yet there he lay. Dead. He’d served his purpose. To create the key. The Scarlet Woman that would be the genesis of the end. He’d done it.
I was she.
The abominable woman of legend and myth. It wasn’t supposed to end this way. I was supposed to be the one to have taken him down. I was supposed to make their world burn.
Maybe demons did lie, because now I’d never get that chance.
I laughed all the harder. Looking like a crazed fool, no doubt. I’d come so close, so very, very close, to fulfilling the Triad’s destiny for me.
“Never not have a plan,” I said on a wheeze, my gaze rolling toward Dean’s. His smile was sad.
I was done serving two masters.
“Luc, we need to end this.”
With a hard nod of his head, he moved slowly to his knees. Even now, even after all I’d done to Asher, I still heard him calling my name.
This time when Luc looked down at me his eyes shifted and my breath caught. He was so lovely. Through Luc’s eyes glowed each sin.
Gold.
Blue.
Green.
Red.
Amber.
Lavender.
And black.
“Pandora?” Asher’s voice quivered and I knew with all my heart and soul that my brilliant lover finally grasped the truth of it.
Why I’d done what I’d done.
Why Bubba had seemingly betrayed them all.
Why I’d attacked Luc. Attacked him.
Why I’d pushed them all away.
“Little demon, oh my God,” he whispered. “Don’t do this.”
I didn’t turn my eyes to his, I couldn’t. “My destiny was written all along, Ash,” I whispered to him. “I only had to open my eyes to see the truth.”
Dean sucked in a breath.
“I love you.” I said it to Vyxen, to Bubba, Luc, my berserker family, my allies, my friends, but most especially I said it to Asher. I filled every one of those three words with all the passion and soul that beat within me. Because I knew it would be the last time they ever heard me say it.
“I was never your enemy. Never.”
Evil always believed it would win in the end, but I knew the truth.
Though the path might seem dark now, in the end, the shadows always fled when the sun came out.
Wrath screamed behind me, understanding I wouldn’t be the key he’d crafted to be his release from Hell.
I was a creature fashioned of nightmares. A monster feared by all.
Love had saved me once. Love would save me again. Love for my family and friends. Knowing that to give them the hope of a better life, I needed to do this. I didn’t want to, but I needed to.
“Little demon,” Asher croaked with a voice grown hoarse, “don’t do this. You don’t have to do this.”
I snuggled into Luc’s arms, but turned my back into his chest so that I could gaze into the eyes of the one I loved most.
Devastation and misery were stamped across his forehead.
I smiled at him through my tears. “If I could, Ash, I would have had an eternity with you.”
“You’re powerful, you can fight anyone who comes your way. This is over now.”
But it wasn’t over. I still felt her. I had only minutes left before she took me, and once she did the choice would never be mine again.
I felt Dean’s hard eyes all over me. He waited with bated breath to hear my answer. As did everyone else who still breathed.
It killed me to see Asher looking so broken and bloodied.
But they were all wounds that could heal. Eventually.
Too bad I’d never get the chance to see it for myself.
“If it’s not the Triad it will always be someone else.”
“But you’re stronger than all of them, Pandora...please.”
The final please felt as though it’d been ripped from his soul.
“You almost make me think we could have made it, Ash.” I banded Luc’s arms about my waist, needing that bit of strength, even if only for a second. “But I’m tired of fighting the evil within me. I’m so, so tired. They’ve made me an abomination. This is my final chance at redemption. You have to let me go.”
“You’ll go to Hell, just like Kemen did,” he whispered, “that’s your curse, Pandora. How is that redemption? There is no light at the end of this tunnel. We’re demon bred; there is no hope for you if you do this. So please...don’t do this.”
Always thinking about me, even when he knew he shouldn’t. And this was why Bubba had been a necessary evil. I loved him, but Asher had always had one fatal flaw.
Me.
I smiled sadly, shivering hard as I felt the threads of my death draw near. “You’re right. I can’t be redeemed. But maybe if I die, the rest of you can. You can live in peace. That’s all I’ve ever wanted for you.”
Asher’s arms trembled as he pushed himself up to a sitting position. Blood gushed out of his leg. If he’d been a mere mortal he’d have died a long time ago. Losing his wings had weakened him, but he’d be safe now.
They’d all be safe.
I closed my eyes and turned my face to Luc’s chest, taking one final opportunity to roll his scent of through my lungs. I would miss them all so much. “Do it, Luc, while my courage is still strong.”
“No!” I heard Asher’s roar a second before Luc’s hand ripped through my chest.
I gasped, choking on the agonizing burn of so much pain. Then he yanked my heart from my chest.
I gasped, head bobbing and rolling, barely able to breathe.
Dean was by my side in an instant, gripping my hand, and I finally saw him for who he really was. His hand was bone, his face too, but he dazzled. He was so beautiful.
“It doesn’t hurt,” I said.
He smiled. “Not for you, it won’t.”
The roar of sound dimmed down to a mere pinprick of it. Luc’s warm hands were on my face and he was nuzzling my nose with his own. Tears burned my vision.
“I made a vow to you, my darkness,” he said. “I promised you I would do this. But I want you to know that what I do now, it isn’t done with violence. This is done with love.”
Then he kissed me gently. Just a feathering of our lips.
It was the last bit of tenderness I would ever know.
I nodded weakly as his fingers spread along the sides of my neck.
“It is over.” I breathed my last words as he tore my body in two.
Chapter 26
Asher
My mind was a blanket of horror as I gazed upon a sight I swore could never happen.
She was so strong. So honest and pure, my Pandora. My little demon. The flesh of my flesh and blood of my blood.
The beat of my soul died the moment Luc tore her head from her body.
The ultimate death.
The only true way to end a Nephilim.
She could never come back.
Pandora was lost to me forever.
I’d come to this field prepared to
take her life. To end her reign of madness and terror. But everyone knew—including her—that I could never have done it. I would never have done it.
My mind was nothing but numb as I crawled my way to her.
Luc held on to her body, cradling it in his arms as he sobbed into her chest, whispering his undying words of devotion to her.
Bubba stood staring on in shook, struck dumb same as I was. Dean hung his head, breathing hard and saying nothing.
I felt no pain as I clawed my way to her, my need to touch her, hold her, too great to focus on anything else.
I reached her head first and could only gaze upon it. Her eyes were closed, her lips tipped upward as if hiding a funny little secret. She looked peaceful. At rest. At ease. She’d never looked like that in life.
Turning my gaze from that sight, I looked at her body.
“Give her to me.” My voice was full of gravel.
Luc’s strange-colored eyes turned my way. Pandora had turned him into a monster as well. She’d made him strong enough to win this war.
But it hadn’t been him, not really. It’d always been her.
Luc handed her reverently over to me.
I couldn’t look at where her head should have been, so I kept my eyes firmly on her hands. I caressed her long fingers, rubbing her cooling flesh between my own.
Her nails were still claws, still sharp enough to rip through steel.
“You knew all along? It’s why she killed Cash, isn’t it? To make you her warrior?” I asked, never turning to look at him, my eyes only for the woman in my arms.
There was literally nothing in my head anymore other than idle curiosity about Pandora’s final days.
“Yes.” Luc nodded. “I knew the day the bars slammed down around us in that cell. When her claw pricked my soul, she opened a channel between us.”
“Why didn’t she ask me?” I don’t think I was really asking him that question, but then again, maybe I was.
I felt so dead inside.
“Because she knew I was the only one strong enough to...to kill her.”
I shuddered at the word, and brought her hand up to my mouth, placing a gentle kiss into the palm of it.
Pandora was gone from me forever.
Her smiles.
Her laughter.
The way she’d teased me.
Her fearlessness, how she’d always made me feel like I was more than who I was. Like I was her everything.
In all the universe, there’d only ever been her.
And now she was gone.
I trembled.
“Bubba,” I whispered, “I don’t hate you for what you did.”
“Thank you,” the blond giant grunted.
I nodded.
Until my wings grew back I could be killed, just like any other mortal. The leg wound hadn’t ended me because Pandora hadn’t required Bubba to rip my wings off completely.
The damn woman had meant for me to live.
“Don’t you get it?” I whispered, shaking my head at the body in my arms. “There is no me without you.”
“Asher,” Dean growled as I lowered myself upon Pandora’s body and moved her arms to envelope me from either side, sliding my fingers through hers.
I shook my head. “I know what I promised, Dean, but you’ve taken everything from me. I won’t be your soldier. I won’t be your anything.”
And closing my eyes, I shoved her claws through the nubs in my back, ripping them both out completely. The moment I’d divested myself fully of my wings, the wound in my leg exploded with blood, pumping out like a geyser.
Hands were on me. They were rough and large. But for a moment I could pretend they were gentle, tender hands. And that it wasn’t Dean’s gravelly voice snarling at me to hang on, but Pandora’s gentle whisper.
I wanted so much to believe that it was Pandora reaching out to me from the other side, but I knew—through no fault other than birth—my little demon was writhing in Hell, and soon, I’d be right there with her.
I smiled into the fog of lethargy as the final bit of my blood expelled from my body.
***
Dean
“Bloody Romeo and his Juliet.” I rolled my eyes.
“I hope you enjoy this mess!” War snapped, her eyes a fury of anger.
I ignored her. For once I took no delight in my win.
Planting my hands on my hips I stared at the mess around me. Bodies were strewn all over the place.
Come morning there’d be news crews, cops, and sightseers out and about in bloody masses.
I glanced up at the sky. “As you can see, the threat has been neutralized.”
A roll of thunder rocked the night and I nodded.
I turned to Luc. “One last bit of business to attend to.”
He held up his hand as I stepped toward him. “Pandora told me you would have to end me for taking on the demons.”
I nodded. “You’re too powerful, Luc. I’m sure Pandora knew that and likely talked to you of the risks. I won’t allow this to happen again and with you out free in the world, it could.”
“Yes, but I’m offering you a deal.”
I rubbed my jaw. “I’m listening.”
Luc glanced at Bubba. “When Pandora opened her mind to me, I learned of the deal Asher made with you. To become your emissary.”
“Yesss.” I dragged out the s slowly.
“I will take his place. You can’t deny that I’m powerful. Very powerful. You’ll own my soul, and so therefore you can contain my threat.”
I licked my front teeth, pretending to think it through, when in fact I’d come to the very same conclusion the moment I’d seen him.
A death priest was strong, but this thing Pandora had crafted was much, much more powerful.
“And in return you want what?” I pursed my lips. “Because there’s always a price, right?”
“Bring them back,” he said without flinching.
Tossing my head back I laughed. “They’re dead, Luc. Pandora can’t come back from that, and neither can Asher. We both know that.”
His eyes narrowed to thin slits and he took a step in close to me. I lifted a brow. Powerful as he was, he was nothing to me.
The closest I’d ever felt to a challenge had been Pandora, and now she was gone.
“You’re Death. You make the rules.”
I smirked, crossed my hands behind my back, and said, “I accept the deal.”
His eyes widened as if shocked. “You do?”
“Sure. Your soul for Asher’s.”
Then with a snap of my finger I called his soul to me. The blue pulse of it shot out of him like an arrow into my heart. It settled against the thousands of others I also controlled.
He dropped to a knee, grabbing onto his chest and wearing an anguished look upon his brow as if only just realizing what he’d done, the fealty he’d sworn to me, and what the ultimate cost of that would be.
Not my problem, though. I wasn’t here to baby anyone’s feelings. This was life. And sometimes life was messy.
“But just so you know, Lucas”—I waited until he looked at me—“I was going to bring them back anyway.”
He opened his mouth in protest. With a chuckle, I snapped my fingers and banished him, sending him immediately to his new assignment. Pandora would have laughed to know just where I’d sent him.
Though if all went according to plan, she’d learn it in due time.
Glancing over to a still-silent Bubba, I said, “You’re now in charge of”—I glanced around—“whatever’s left. Rebuild. Grow strong again. I’m sure I’ll come calling someday.”
Bubba’s red eyes glowed, then he left me to begin sifting through the bodies for the living. In the distance I could make out the shapes of Pandora’s berserker nephews. At least they’d survived.
But the same could not be said of the Queen. She lay surrounded by the corpses she’d loved so well. But a Zombie Queen could never truly die; her reign would live on. In the body of another, b
ut forever eternal, like the perpetual phoenix rising from the ashes.
I grasped the bodies of the lovers and traced into the nether region of neither here nor there. Dropping them both like sacks of potatoes at my feet, I shook my head.
“Going soft, Dean.” Chuckling, I cracked my knuckles and decided it was time to play one final game of chance.
~*~
Pandora
One second I’d been screaming, writhing in flames. Crying out as the voices of the condemned sang out like a hellish choir in my ears.
Then I was choking on the sweetness of fresh air, hacking and coughing, and holding on to a neck that was whole and firm again.
My vision was blurry at first. All I could make out was spots.
But I smelled Dean long before I saw him.
A black shadow danced before my eyes, then the gentle trace of fingers upon my cheeks had me gasping.
Just moments ago I’d been in a pit full of fire and brimstone. To feel the gentle, tender caress made tears instantly spring to my eyes.
“Dean?” I asked him with grit still coating my vocal chords.
He pushed tendrils of hair behind my ear. “You were magnificent, creature.”
I warmed to hear the appreciative tenor of his voice. The compliment he so seldom issued to any one soul.
“What?” I blinked violently as the lights began to waver and coalesce into order and form.
His unusual tricolored eyes glowing in the masculine perfection of his face caused me to sigh as it usually did. He wore a gentle smile and if he’d been anyone else, I would have even gone so far as to say there was a hint of tenderness to it.
“Fooled even me.” His fingers continued to gently rub my cheek. “I was set to end you, believing you had turned. When I met you, demon, I was so sure that you were just like the rest of them.”
I clutched at my chest, only just beginning to realize that I no longer felt like me. No longer felt bloated with the souls of hundreds.
I gasped as he nodded, his gentle strokes grounding me to the reality of this bizarre situation. I was really here; somehow, someway, Dean had yanked me out of Hell into a world beyond any I’d ever known.
We were in a land void of form or even color, and yet it exploded with life.
“What are you doing?” I shook my head, the fuzziness in my brain beginning to fade as my life slowly rolled like a movie reel through my mind. Birth all the way to death. “Why am I here, Dean?”