Kissing Fate, page 3
“I’m Death,” he says with an arrogant puff of his chest that makes me want to take him down a few pegs.
Both Mandy and I burst out laughing, and irritation blooms in the tight set of his lips.
“You are not a fighter,” I say when I finally wind down.
“I bested you, didn’t I?”
“You got lucky. You can’t do it again.”
He hands Missy the scythe and steps forward until he towers over me. “If you didn’t have that touch curse...” His head cocks and his eyes narrow.
I can almost see his brain working, assessing the last few minutes at the house. The hug I shared with Faith, and the fact he still has a soul.
Then he blinks and his mouth pops open. “It’s gone?”
I do not want to give him the satisfaction of being the reason the curse was lifted. The fact he wasn’t here for ten years still burns deep. But the way he is looking at me makes me shift and nod.
The edge of his lips curve into a cocky smile.
“Finish what you were going to say,” I snap up at him.
“I’d kick your ass.”
I grab the edges of his shirt and pull him toward me, kicking out my hip as I roll him over it into a flip that slams his back onto the ground. He blinks at the sky and then meets my gaze. “You had the benefit of your Death touch before, now you don’t.” I point at him. “And I’m still pissed at you for so many reasons, but this time I won’t let my emotions drive me to be stupid like I did in Papa’s basement.”
I turn to walk away, and my feet are swept from underneath me. I land on the dirt and roll, but he’s fast and on top of me, pinning my wrists to the ground next to my head. The muscles in his arms bulge in the shirt, nearly tearing the fabric, and his wrist still weeps blood where I cut through the angel’s sigil. I can’t help the arousal that flares in me, but I stuff it back into the dark corner of my soul where it belongs.
“I’m not as incompetent as you think I am,” he actually growls down at me.
The flash of anger in his eyes gets my aggravation itching my skin like a flea attack. “Well, I wasn’t useless either, but you made the damn choice to take the scythe from me and what did that get us? A hell of a lot more dead people than if you had just let me handle the angels without being such a chauvinistic asshole.”
“I took the scythe to save you.”
“Bullshit. You just wanted to be the hero of your own damn story.”
He closes his eyes and takes a breath. “I wasn’t trying to be a hero. I was making sure I didn’t lose you. Stopping the angels from hurting you was part of it, but those bastards will never stop. They reduced me to nothing, all to make sure I delivered your dead body to them. Same with the Ryans.” His eyes open and he searches my gaze. “You holding both the roles of Death and Fate had nothing to do with their vendetta.”
“They killed my father, and you killed my mother.” I will not mention Kylee or Gabriel being slaughtered in Papa’s basement. Both of them were casualties of his angel-controlled wrath. At least he didn’t kill Kylee’s kids. If he had, there would be no forgiving him.
He nods. “I did.” He doesn’t make excuses, and that warms a part of my furious heart. “They have your father, though.”
His weight settles on me and that rightness I remember when I was near him fills me. I shake it off as I try to wiggle out of his hold, but his hands are like vises. The same vises that strangled me to death.
“Where?” I say through clenched teeth and attempt to twist my wrist.
“The Other. At least that’s what they called it.” A dimple appears in his cheek as I continue to struggle against his grip. “Are you having issues?”
He has no idea what I am capable of, not with some of Papa’s power running through me. And now that I have my body, I still have that angelic juice mixed in my veins. I imagine being as hot as a stove burner set on high.
His cocky smile slips, and he hisses and rolls away from me, shaking his hands as if they are on fire. “Damn it,” he mutters and glances at me with wide eyes.
I climb to my feet and brush the dirt off my backside. “I’m not having issues at all.”
Zane stares at his reddened hands and then glances at Mandy.
“She’s more of a force now than she was when she held both positions, so if I were you, I wouldn’t get on her bad side,” Mandy says. “Although, with what you did back there, I’d say you were pretty well entrenched on her shit list.”
I am not ready to disclose my new and exceptional arsenal of gifts. Not until I am positive he can’t slip back under the control of the angels. Until then, I need to keep him at arm’s length—even though my body definitely has other thoughts.
“Where is the Other?” I ask because I can’t seem to pull any information out of any memories of Death or Fate that are embedded in my mind. The Other is a black hole with no references.
“I don’t know. I thought it was Hell. Especially because they employed my father to beat me to death over and over and over, like a sick version of Groundhog Day.” He lets out a sarcastic laugh. “Maybe that was the bastard’s idea of Heaven.” Zane shrugs and we both glance at Mandy.
The color in her cheeks fades. “The Other isn’t something any of us have ever seen. I thought it was a myth.”
“It isn’t. Missy’s dad seemed to understand what it was. But I was totally blind unless the angel allowed light in.”
The more I hear of his time away from me in the Other, the more fury laces my blood and the more I want the angels to feel my wrath. I shake the thoughts out of my head and glance over my shoulder at where they have Leviathan caged.
“We need to get him out of there, but we only have a small window to get to him before the griffin circles back to the front. It’s literally less than a minute between when he disappears behind the building and when he reappears on the other side.” I glance at Mandy’s arm. “You should hang back.” I point at her.
“No, sir.” She hands Zane the scythe and crosses her arms. “I’m not letting you get near that thing without me by your side to protect you.”
“I’ll go get him out,” Zane says, like a macho idiot.
“We do this together.” I glare at him. “Or you sit on the sideline.”
“You can’t make me sit this one out.”
I bark a short laugh. “I can order you to stand down.” I point at him. “Remember, I am your boss. So, do I need to issue an order?”
The frown that forms and the rounding of his shoulders announces his displeasure, but he shakes his head. “What’s the plan?” he grumbles and kicks at the dirt.
I turn toward the target. “If we can’t get him out in the time we have, we need to kill that thing.”
Zane slowly smiles. It seems he’s gotten the taste of killing and he likes it.
I shiver. The only life I enjoyed taking was Zane’s father, but killing him after I stripped him of his soul made it possible for the angels to intervene on his final destination. That was on me. I glance at the griffin in the distance and that same righteous justification fills me.
“Or at least subdue it until we can free Levi. I think our friend will want the honors of ending that thing.” In my heart, I know Levi wants his chance to set things right.
“It’s Heaven’s lapdog,” Zane says.
“Yes. And Levi gets to destroy it. Not us.” I point at him. “Do you understand?”
“Fine.” He rolls his eyes. “Let’s get on with this.”
Zane takes the position on my right and Mandy steps to my left, and we start toward what could be another disastrous decision.
Kissing Fate Chapter 5
THERE IS TOO MUCH space between us and the prison gate that holds Levi. Walking will put us in the griffin’s cross hairs. I stop and take Zane’s hand in mine. He glances at the connection and then meets my gaze.
When I take Mandy’s, I stop and wait until the griffin has rounded the nearest back corner and then close my eyes, wishing us all in front of the gate holding Levi in. Wind blows through my hair and when it settles, I open my eyes. The three of us stand in front of the gate.
Levi turns his head in our direction and my heart squeezes at the condition he is in. Ten years of lockdown and angel wrath has left him nothing more than a husk of himself. The monster I remember has been replaced by a blackened creature, and I am stunned into inaction.
Zane stands next to me with the same sorrow-filled, open-mouthed gape as I have, and I snap my mouth closed.
Levi’s gaze goes to the scythe in Zane’s hand and then snaps back to mine.
“A lot has happened since you were locked away,” I whisper.
And then the flap of wings fills our world.
We all spin with our backs to Levi’s prison.
The griffin opens his beak, and a high-pitched squeak that reminds me of a mouse comes forth. It’s such a disappointing sound from such a frightening beast. At least a lion’s roar would have done it more justice. Even a blackbird’s caw is more ominous.
Even so, his talons and back claws are deadly. It flaps its wings above us and the wind it produces plasters us against the bars.
I force my arm out straight, with my palm facing him, and yell a spell that Raven had taught me. “Vel prohivere non morieris!” It is supposed to stop a person from attacking me. Of course, the temporary spell only lasts a few minutes, enough time to get far enough away from the assaulter. Although it was meant for rapist or muggers, I thought it might be enough to at least stun the griffin.
Unfortunately, all it does is infuriate the beast, so I tap into my more potent powers. I yank my arms down and the griffin falls from the sky as if an invisible rope had hog-tied the thing.
“Use the scythe on the lock. I can’t hold him forever,” I snap, straining to hold the griffin in an imaginary noose. Each time the thing claws at my invisible binding, I have to grit my teeth. It’s as if his claws are tearing my flesh.
Metal meets metal with a scream behind me. I can’t take my eyes off the bird thing as I listen to Zane’s attempts. When a creak breaks through the reverb of metal, I step to the side, still holding the griffin fast.
The growl that comes from the cage has even me shivering, but the griffin stiffens, and its eyes grow wide. Leviathan’s beastly snarls are what a magical monster is supposed to sound like, not the delicately small squeak of the griffin.
A streak of reptilian skin darts past me, with jaws wide. I hold tight because I don’t want the griffin to lay one filthy claw on my Levi. As Zane said, this was the angels’ pet, and I wanted it in pieces. Feathers fly, followed by fur.
When I’m sure there is very little fight left in the bird, I loosen the tight reins, but I don’t let go altogether because I want to feel its departure from this realm. I want Heaven to know their pet protector has been torn to pieces.
If I had my druthers, I would have just launched Heaven’s blade at the bugger, but that tool was on lockdown and I would only grab it if there were no other way to win. With Levi gleefully devouring the griffin, I didn’t need to make a grand show of terminating the monster.
My Book of Fates charm dings and I close my eyes, pulling forth the information in case there is something else that needs my attention. The bell tolls for the griffin. I smile and fully release my hold.
“Leave something for them to find,” I say, and Levi looks back at me with a maw full of dripping feathers and fur as if I’m spoiling his fun. “Seriously, I want them to know.”
He growls, but drops what’s left of the mangled body and approaches us. He sniffs Zane and lets out a low warning growl, showing his ferocious teeth. In his natural form, he looks like some weird combination of Godzilla and a dragon. His jaws are powerful enough to snap the strongest steel. And yet when he turns his snout to me, that growl ceases.
“I need you in dog form.” I place my hand on his snout.
His head tilts into my touch and shrinks into my trusty German shepherd, who immediately tackles me and laps my face. It’s as though he truly is a dog and not an epic monster. I wrap my arms around him and squeeze, hugging him with everything I have.
“I missed you, too, but we have to get back to the lake house before something happens to the rest of my family.”
Kissing Fate Chapter 6
WITH ONE HAND AROUND Levi’s collar and the other clasped in Zane’s hand, I look to Mandy on the other side of Levi. “Can you get us to the lake house?” The cottage by Mirror Lake in Brooksfield, New Hampshire, is our family’s designated emergency spot. It’s also the place where I met Mandy for the first time and gave the reapers human forms.
Although Papa owns it on paper, it has always been Steve and Jennifer Williams’s home in the sticks. And since Papa sold their penthouse in New York City after Faith took out Lucifer, it was the only place left for Steve and Jennifer to live since I brought them back to life ten years ago.
“Yes.” Mandy nods, but she looks at Zane. “You cannot touch anyone but the three of us, understand?” She points at him with her metal finger. “You are toxic until you can figure out how to protect them. And I don’t mean you’ll make them sick—I’m talking with even a brush against someone, you kill.”
“No shit.” He chews his bottom lip. “It seems the only real power I have is killing.”
I refrain from rolling my eyes. “There’s likely to be some backlash for what happened at Papa’s.” I’m not sure if Michael Andreas will be of the right mind not to attack Zane. And Damian and Naomi may very well be in the same court of anguish.
His frown deepens, and he nods. But I don’t have time to deal with his guilty conscience right now. Instead, I focus on Mandy and when she closes her eyes; I feel the pull.
This is the first time I’ve consciously transitioned from the afterlife to Earth and it makes my entire form tingle before I free-fall through the realms. It’s like flying and I smile with the exhilaration until I land on my feet, jarring my body back into existence.
The sun just breaks over the mountains, lighting the frost-covered lawn and making the yard look silver-coated. I look up into the big picture window of the cottage. The soft glow of the light inside illuminates a full-length breakfast table and a few of the early risers sitting with their back to us.
I turn to Zane. “You might want to go into the woods and wait while I go inside. Mandy, you can go with him and make sure he doesn’t get into trouble.” I point toward where Paradise Cove used to be. The only known portal to Heaven existed on this property until Faith Ryan closed it when she learned the angels were gunning for me.
Now it’s just an overgrown cove with crunchy moss. It’d be the last place any celestial would look for Death.
I glance down at Levi. “Make sure they are safe.” I nod toward Mandy and Zane. He looks dejected, and I pat his head. “I’ll be back. I promise.” I crouch down, giving my favorite monster a hug.
“You might want to change before you go in. You smell hideous.” Levi turns his snout away.
I glance down at myself and blink in disgust. My pants are soiled and my shirt is marred with blood. One glance at Zane, and I realize why. Back here in the land of the living, we still have the gore of the dead splashed all over us. I close my eyes and let my conjuring magic swell, cleaning both of us until we are left with pristine clothes. I even clean the scythe until it gleams.
But I leave Zane’s white shirt unbuttoned. I quite like the view of his ripped chest. I realize I’m objectifying him, but right now, I need something that reminds me of what I am fighting for, and what better view than the body I’ve dreamed of against mine for the last ten years? I want him to remember what he is fighting for, too, just in case Heaven gets their grubby hands back on him. I take a deep breath, debating. And then the perfect memory surfaces: the way he looked at me when I came back from my showdown with the reapers.
I close my eyes, envisioning the way the leather fit on my body, the cut of the bodice, the flare of the duster skirt and the thigh-high slits. He sucks in air between his teeth, and I open my eyes to that hungry spark in his eyes that I remember. I can almost hear the expletive falling from his lips as he scans me.
His eyebrow raises, and I shrug in response, allowing a ghost of a smile to form.
“Any chance you could teach me how to stow this somewhere so I’m not carrying it like some horror movie reject?” He glances at his scythe. “I don’t want a charm bracelet, though.” Although the symbolism of the scythe is necessary, for Death to always have that staff in his hand is a ridiculous standard. He can’t put it down. Not without putting his livelihood in jeopardy, not to mention his existence.
“All you need to do is will it to be so,” I say. “But you have to be able to make it appear in your hand again. It’s all mental will and imagining it happening.”
He closes his eyes and creases of concentration appear on his forehead, but nothing happens.
I’m thinking he really has no powers besides being Death.
His eyes open to the staff still in his hand and he glances at me. “I suck at this.”
I close my eyes and imagine a miniature scythe hanging from a golden chain around his neck. That cool rush of air flows through me, and I am pleased when I open my eyes. A golden-linked chain hangs around his neck with the silver scythe hanging on a loop. The way it sits on his chest stirs a deep need.
“Better?” I look away from him, dousing the heat centering in my belly at his intense gaze.
“Much!” Levi says and trots toward the entrance to the woods, as if I had asked him instead of Zane.
“Go on,” I say to him as I shoo him toward Levi.
His smile falters as he plays with the charm on his necklace. “I, um. I’d rather not.” He glances over his shoulder at the path that Levi stands on, waiting, and shifts from side to side. “I don’t want to lose sight of you right now.” He sucks in his lower lip and avoids my gaze.
I tense until he finally looks at me. His green eyes shimmer as he glances around.
