Duality (Cordelia Kelly #1): Empath Urban Fantasy (14 page)

“Do you remember how you begged me to unleash myself upon you?”

Pandora shivered, and a slow smile spread across her face. “Do you wish me to please you here in her blood, Sol? Do you want me to fall back and spread my long legs wide so you can take pleasure from what only I can give you? Like we used to do.”

Sol crouched down, nuzzled her neck, and I glanced away. Her wrists still anchored to the ground by the ghostly grey chains. “Yes, Pandy,” he cooed to her. “Lie back as I take my pleasure.”

As I watched her lie back, a Cheshire smile crossed her face, and the misty cuffs moved along the ground with her. They allowed her to lie down on the stark, damp concrete. She let her legs fall open, her red dress surrounding her like a pool of fresh blood in the dark night.

Sol stripped out of his shirt and pants and said, “Your face may have been beautiful in life, but your soul will be both beautiful and useful in death.”

Pandora’s head snapped up, and she glared at Sol. “What?”

More ghostly grey chains rose around her body and locked her ankles to the ground. A thick mist draped over her stomach and anchored her to the cold pavement. A serpent like mist stretched up and over her neck and fastened down on her other side.

She thrashed under the eerie chains. “What is this? What are you doing? You know who my parents are, you bastard. You can’t hurt me. They’ll kill you and feast on your bones.”

“I could care less about your lineage. So what, your parents are full-blooded dark royals. I’m going to finally do what you asked for. I’m not going to hold back this time. I’m going to devour you.”

“What about our bond?” Pandora whispered, and real tears leaked from the corners of her eyes. “I only did it because I love you.”

I watched as he crawled over her body on hands and knees. I wanted to look away. I didn’t want to see him fuck her. I squeezed my eyes shut and turned my head away from the mirror, only to peek through my fingers.

“Our bond is weak and was permanently damaged a long time ago, Pandora. But this, this betrayal is the worst,” Sol said as he gestured to my prone body.

“Did you tell her yet? Did you tell her how you’ve been fucking me all along? Does she know?” Pandora glanced my way and I swear her eyes twinkled.

Sol looked away, and the truth hit me hard. My mouth formed an O, but no words escaped, only a low keening crack.

I turned away and locked my emotions up tight. I balled my fists and dug my nails deep into my palm. My mind said, “You knew he had someone else,” but my heart and gut still wrenched.

Sol leaned down and shook his head. “I haven’t touched you in months, Pandora. I left you at a hotel in Nevada—left you to your own devices. To finally clean up after yourself. The other night was an aberration. A mistake, and one I will never make again.”

She screeched and the last remaining lights blew out with sharp cracks. "Do you think she will forgive you?" Pandora laughed. "She won't. I guess it doesn't matter though as she's pretty much dead."

"I may have spent the night in your presence, but we did not have sex the other night, Pandora. No matter how hard you tried. I didn't want you, and you know it."

She whispered. "Why do you think I came to kill her? Other than the reasons I gave you as you rambled on and on about how much you cared for her. I've never seen you in such dire straights. Love made you weak, and now look at you. Look at her." Her eyes looked towards my body. "You have nothing left."

There was a lot of grunting and a straining sound.

My gram said, “Cordelia, open your eyes and watch. You need to see this.”

I cringed and told myself I had to watch to know the situation and because I seemed to have developed a masochistic streak.

The mirror showed him still crouched over her, but long horns spouted from his head and curled down his back. His body doubled in size, and his skin had a blackish grey pallor. He turned his head, and his eyes were coal black and rimmed with fire and brimstone. Thankfully, he wasn’t having sex with her. He was poised over her body. The grunting was from his transformation.

“Shut the fu--iddlesticks up. He shifts?”

Behind me, I felt my gram nod against my back. “Indeed, he does.”

The scene played out like a grotesque horror movie. The angles zoomed in and out, showing us different snippets. Sol pawed the ground near her head, and the scraping of his nails on the concrete made me squeeze my eyes and cover my ears. The sound was worse than nails on a chalkboard; the gouging reminded me of a pack of hellhounds pounding up and down the sidewalk with razor sharp claws, scrapping and tearing everything in their path. The animal side of him was trying to intimidate her into talking.

The chuffed exhale of a deep breath made me cringe. Then Sol’s voice swept across time. “Tell me what you know, Pandora.”

“Lean down more, so I can whisper my secrets in your ear, my heart.” She mocked unafraid.

Sol hesitated, but complied.

Her callous whisper drifted to me with the slow slide of heated glass. “I killed her grandmother. And now, I’ve killed her too.” She beamed up at him, her hair plastered to the ground like a macabre sunburst against the onslaught of darkness. She was more a dichotomy than I was, and I truly hated her. I wanted to tear her apart. I wanted to hold her bloody heart within my hands, raise the offering to the sky, and scream in furious victory.

Then what she said registered.
She’d killed my grandmother
. A violence rose inside me I never knew existed, and I spun to face the woman who loved me. My skin burned, my heart palpitated in my chest in an uneven cadence, and the horrid taste of the South African succulent shrub Aloe vryheidensis ran down the back of my throat. I couldn’t speak.

She enfolded me in her arms, holding me tight and trying to break into my aura. Her sweet apple scent, combined with her slow moving companionable honey auric shields, drifted over my skin and banked some of my blackened demeanor.

The mirror rose in front of me once again, forcing my attention, and I stared at Sol. The night screamed and fell into blackness. Sol’s skin radiated infrared heat, and steam rose all around his new form. A mass of warm, moist air swiftly covered the pavement and caused advection fog to swirl and seep over everything in its ghostly wake. The world lay covered in patches of gray like a huge crocheted blanket. He moved away from her, backpedaling as fast as he could, then he stood up on two clawed feet and towered over her body.

My grandmother turned to me and said, “Hate is a terrible emotion for an empath; the poison will consume. You have to learn to release or channel the venom into something else, or you will wither away and become bitter. We don’t have to let hate in; you can resist the temptation. Don’t give in to the dark side of your nature. Try to work together, to find peace in the storm.”

I faced the mirror again even though I didn’t want too. Each time another piece unraveled, I cracked a bit more under the strain.

Sol asked Pandora, “Who are you working for?”

She laughed with a hollow, yet sinister tone. “You know who I work for. You know who wants her dead.” She choked around the ghost chains still holding her down.

Sol closed his eyes and shook his head. “I should have known Carol would come after her.”

The last of the truth uttered, and more pain lodged in my throat. My stomach rolled, and I beat the tears back. “Carol?” I gasped.

Behind me, my Grandmother rested her head against my back as she held me tighter. “Yes.”

The truth was so painful sometimes.

It was during those rare moments of quiet when a shocking revelation hit you out of the blue. It was like you knew, but you didn’t know. Things fall into place, little pieces of the story, and then bam. You’re punched in the jaw, kicked in the groin, and doubled over because you didn’t see the end coming. You can’t breath around the destruction.

Yeah—the situation was like that.

The saddest part was things would never, ever be the same. They couldn’t be. Once knowledge was known, the words couldn’t be forgotten.

Carol was my dad’s mom—my other grandmother from the dark side.

I stared around the eerie, yet beautiful forest with the calm waters and bountiful flowers, the odd and disturbing news pinging around my head.

I licked my lips and tried to run spit down my coarse throat. “My grandmother wants me dead?”

“Yes. She doesn’t want you to unite the empaths. She wants darkness to reign. She cares nothing for humans, life, or meaning. She only cares about power and herself.”

“I don’t want to rule.”

“You have to stop running, Cordelia. Be who you were meant to be. You are the heir to the throne. Accept the challenge and be yourself.”

“I don’t want to.”

“I know you don’t, but it’s your destiny. I suppose you could give up and stay here with me, but then he would die in vain.”

Her words permeated the despairing fog swirling around in my head, and I said, “What? Who will die?”

She turned to the two-way glass and merely pointed and nodded her head once.

His back was to me as he stood between my living body and Pandora. She tilted her head and said, “You have to choose, Sol. You can’t sustain this for long. You can’t hold me and save her at the same time.” She smiled with delight and at present, I wanted her dead more than anything.

“Just kill her and leave me be,” I said to him even though he couldn’t hear me. As the words left my mouth, a strange pain radiated up my spine and crippled me, doubling me over at the waist as I nearly threw up in shame. I didn’t want to die, but I didn’t want him to die either.

“You have to go back, sweetie. You can’t stay here.”

I turned and stared into her cornflower blue eyes. The windows to her soul reminded me of summer, oceans, love, and harmony. “I know, Gram, but it’s peaceful here, and I feel good. I don’t fight with myself constantly. The only other time I’ve felt this way is when I’ve been with…”

Gram’s gaze riveted on my face, and a little light danced in her eyes. “Say the words, child.”

“Sol,” I croaked. “Sol makes me feel whole.”

I glanced back to him, my heart at war with my mind, then at my grandmother once more before I closed my eyes and let the tears fall where they may.

I’d run long enough.

Dorothy from the wizard of Oz deserved more credit. Traveling from a dream world or the world in-between back into the living world hurt like a motherfucker. Or maybe the misery was from the gaping hole in my chest and the labor to breathe. Either way, the pain choked me, and my eyes fluttered open, but no sound escaped my mouth.

I wanted to tell him to let me go and to save himself. Kill Pandora for the world and move on with his life. He didn’t need me to find his light. His light resided inside himself, always had, he just forgot how to see.

The world blinked into focus, and the night steamed with menace and violence. Everything seemed darker and harsher here in the living realm than in the space between where there was light and hope. As I tried to inhale, the fear and despair clogged my throat. Then Sol’s face appeared in my sights.

His new form was huge and grotesque in a beautiful way. I wanted to reach up and run my fingers down his leathery grey skin and kiss his lips. A sense of panic wafted over me, and I knew the angst wasn’t mine, but his. Fear that I couldn’t accept this part of him.

Nothing existed in that moment, but him. Not the world, not the streets, nor the pain. Just he and I staring at each other and I needed him to understand I loved him. All of him, no matter what form he wore or shape he took. We belonged together.

My arms lay flat by my sides, and I attempted to lift one up to touch him. Unfortunately, my body seemed paralyzed, and I remained immobile. My eyes must have conveyed my intention for he bent down and nuzzled his face into my hand. The jolt was instant, and I focused on harnessing my feelings and thoughts into energy and sent them to him through my hand.

The moment my energy hit him he relaxed and swayed on his paws, nuzzling his head harder into my hand as he searched for more. I gave him all I had left, and my body shuddered. I was utterly depleted.

Above me, he wailed and launched up into the air then came crashing down on the ground ten feet from me. He ran and smashed dumpsters, garbage cans, and walls. Beside me, I heard Pandora cackle. Sol’s mystic chains still held her bound.

“This is the most fun I’ve had in ages. I’ve never seen him so enraged. Too bad you aren’t worth his downfall. You were easy to beat.”

I turned my head to meet her stare and let her see just how her words affected me. I showed her how badly I wanted to kill her.

She laughed. “You’re already dead; he just doesn’t realize how dire the twist to this play is yet. I saw what you did. What you gave him. I will relish his pain when he figures it out. So I suppose I should thank you. Carol will be pleased.”

The clawing tirade came closer, and Sol’s heavy breathing evened out as he lay beside me, content Pandora was contained, and I was breathing. Pandora was right though. He didn’t realize I only had a few moments left. I wanted him to kill her, to avenge my grandmother, and for his own sake.

The words tumbled out of my mouth. “I’m sorry, Sol. I didn’t fight hard enough. I was too weak to beat her. But you—you have your whole life ahead of you. I want you to hold my light within your hands and know true peace and happiness. I want you to feel all the love I held inside for you forever. Don’t ever let go. Keep me with you and remember me. Please.”

He hurled up onto all fours, and the magic he possessed swirled along his skin. There was a faint sizzle and pop. His horns receded, and he became a man in one blink to the next. He panted next to me and whispered, “Cordelia? Cordelia, what did you do?”

“What I had to. For you.”

Beside us, Pandora’s high-pitched laugh rendered me speechless. The shrill sound laced its way up my body, and my vision blurred. “She’ll be dead in a few minutes.” She cackled with glee. “She gave you her lock and key. What a fool.”

Sol glanced from her back to me and the look in his eyes confused me. I found myself unable to decipher him. He’d bottled his emotions. “Why? Why did you do this?”

My heartbeat slowed, and my body relaxed despite my will. My strength waned and I knew I didn’t have much longer. “Because I love you. Because I knew you needed my light. From the first time we met, you pulled me, anchored me, and gave me peace. I wanted to give the comfort and joy back to you.”

My breath stalled and I gagged. I tried to spit out the blood that was trying to drown me, but the sludge overwhelmed me. “Let my love guide you,” I whispered.

“No!” He slammed his hands together and chanted. “No, Cordelia. I’m not going to lose you. Don’t do this!” His innate magic ran along his skin, the grey mists dancing together and snaking their way up to his hands where he spun them together, creating a new energy ball—one unlike the previous.

The colors ranged from red to pink, purples and blues. He stole energy from the water around us, the slush, the rain. He harnessed it all and he awed me. He was magnificent. He called to everything around us: earth, wind, water, and fire. He became a black hole for his magic, but he couldn’t hold Pandora down too.

In my peripheral vision, I saw her chains vanish, and I watched in horror as she rose to her feet. I tried to warn Sol with my eyes, but in a flash, I realized he already knew.

He stared down at me with such fierce love what was left of my heart broke and the last tears leaked from my eyes. “You belong with me,” he said as he brought his hands down to hurl the magic at me.

I braced myself and began to shut my eyes for the pain I knew was coming. As I looked up at him one last time, I saw Pandora behind him with her claws out and a cruel, demented smile on her face. As he let the energy go, her claws pierced through his back and he screamed.

His life energy consumed me, and the force devoured me from the inside out.

★★
★

They say time stops when you’re in love. That distance, age, race—none of those issues matter when you find the one you’ve searched for.

I knew this was true now.

There was nothing but blackness around me, with twinkling lights and sweet music. The calm and peace before death soothed the beast within me, and I’d never felt more alive. My nerves raced with electricity; my blood steamed in my skin. Everywhere fire laced, a frozen chill replaced the agony in seconds. I allowed myself to follow the paths, to see inside myself and watch.

My toes tingled as I became aware of their presence. I flowed up my calves, my thighs into my stomach. I inhaled and the energy coursed into my soul. I lurched as the exaction and pressure crocheted in and out of the tear I’d always sensed but never saw. The red strands of fate wove through and out, through and out, and before long the hole mended. For the first time in my existence, I breathed as one.

His love healed every hole, every rip, and I sighed with contentment as my body relaxed once more.

If I stayed here, in this empty, beautiful space for much longer, I knew I would simply meet our maker and be free. Free from the pressures, the harsh realities, and the truth. But I was no longer afraid, and I had to save Sol.

Sol.

I opened my eyes and a whole new world met me. The scents and sounds overwhelmed my senses, and I stole a breath to gather the calm needed for what I was about to do.

To my left, Pandora and Sol were locked in battle. Sol’s bloody body called to me, and I was compelled to answer. Before I realized what happened, I was on my feet and racing across the dirty, wet pavement. As I reached their battle, Sol caught sight of me and dropped to his knees, leaving himself open to Pandora’s onslaught. She wasted no time and raked her claws down his chest and bit into his neck with her razor sharp teeth, pulling a huge chunk of skin and grizzle with her. She spit and licked her lips as Sol fell to the ground in a heap at her feet.

She turned and planted her feet, gearing to battle, and so I did the same. Only something else urged me. I raised both my hands, palms out, and pointed one towards Sol and the other to Pandora.

“Pandora, for the crime of killing my grandmother, and attempting to kill me—I sentence you to death.”

She openly laughed. “Who do you think you are, little girl? You can’t kill me.”

Sol barely breathed on my left, and time became my enemy as his life’s blood spilled onto the damp concrete.

“I can and will. You are expendable. Did you really think Carol sent you here because she thought you’d win? You’re a dunce. A joke. Yes, you ambushed my grandmother, but in the end—you’re the one who’s going to die. Not me.”

From deep within me, a force rose, and I unlocked myself. My right palm shot laser-like black energy to Pandora, hoisting her up into the air and locking her to me. My left palm sent sanative waves of white light to Sol, encasing his body and holding him steady in my heart.

Pandora screamed as my spirit invaded her aura, and I grasped her life within my hands. I opened my shields and absorbed her life into me, the vileness of her being filtered by my lighter half and sent as healing into Sol. I’d become a conduit between life and death. In this instance, I used her life—her blacked soul—and harvested her power and energy for the greater good.

Her toxic venom fermented inside me, and I convulsed under the enormity of all the horrific atrocities she’d committed. I stood strong and bore witness to her crimes, allowing them to enter into me then leave in judgment.

Her body jerked and shriveled as I sent electric pulses through the strands of darkness I wove around her body and aura. Her skin oozed and bubbled as I watched in fascinated horror at what I was now capable of.

“Finish her, Cordelia. Don’t make her suffer; it’s not who you are,” Sol’s weakened voice whispered to me. He broke through my anger and rage, his cadence singing to me in a way I’d never known before.

I glanced over at him as he sat up, his cuts and bruises healing, the hole in his neck mending. His eyes beseeched and snared me. He was still in my protective bubble, and I sent him more love and peace.

I closed my eyes and concentrated on my right side. There was no longer Delia and Cordy. There was only me, and I controlled my light and dark nature. In my mind’s eye, I pictured Pandora bursting into flame, exploding from within without pain. She’d be gone from this world and unable to come back to hurt me, Sol, or my family again.

I sent my intent along the vines that tied her to me then let go and cut them off at my fingertips. As I opened my eyes, I watched as the flames sped down the line and into her, and her eyes widened for a mere second before a super sonic boom bounced off the buildings and an orb of white-hot light flashed before our eyes.

When the sparkles left and sound returned, there was nothing left of Pandora but a tattered piece from her red dress billowing on the wind.

I dropped to my hands and knees sobbing, unable to move from the spot, though, I desperately wanted Sol’s arms around me. The tears formed and slid down my cheeks, but instead of flash floods and huge storms, a light warm mist fell from the sky.

His scent reached me before his arms banded around my waist, and I was pulled back into his warm lap. “You’re okay, baby. I got you.”

I sank into the heat of Sol, the love and affection bringing us closer to joy in the wake of such despair. My dry lips and parched throat made talking difficult, but I needed to say something.

He pressed me tighter, my head resting on his shoulder, my legs across his lap. He stroked my hair, my shoulder, and kissed my forehead.

“I love you, my Sol, and I’m never letting you go.”

Though I couldn’t see his face, his smile warmed my soul. “I love you too, Cordelia. You belong with me. Let’s go home and make it official.” He wagged his eyebrows, and though his face was filthy and blood crusted, he was the most beautiful man to me.

I reached up, caressed his cheek, and leaned up to kiss his lips lightly. “Okay.”

“Oh, and by the way, we’ll talk about the little stunt you pulled later.”

“Oh, yeah?”

“Yes. Don’t ever do that again.”

“Well, I’ve got a bone to pick with you too, mister.”

Sol arched a brow at me. “And what would that be?”

“You left me! You didn’t answer my calls, texts, messages, emails. I worried about you.” I took a breath and it kind of hurt to breathe. “If I had enough strength, I’d punch you right now. And I’m mad about
Chrissie
,” I said with a little bit of hurt and a lot of snark. “And don’t get me started on
her
, either,” I said, knowing he’d know who I’d meant.

He sobered for an instant, then chuckled as he stood up, still holding me in his arms and walked down the street now streaked with dawn’s early morning rays. “We’ll talk about where I was after we’ve had a bath, dinner, and some love making, okay?”

"Oh, and why the hell did you take Zach?"

He opened his mouth to speak but my phone rang.

Sol snapped into attention mode and said, “Who could that be at this hour?”

I shrugged and patted my pockets as I removed my phone, answering in a sleepy voice, “Hello?”

“Ms. Kelly? Ms. Kelly, I think he’s dead,” said a slurred hysterical female voice.

“What? Who is this?” I pulled the phone away from my ear and glanced at the number on the caller ID.