Hell's Phoenix (8 page)

“I was about to when Alessa’s call came in. But it was something you had to face and nothing I had any business stopping.”

Madison nodded, unsure how he could know that, but she could do without a confrontation with her son.

“You smell different, Momma.”

“That would be my succubus.” Madison put her palm in between her breasts. Her chest ached. “Apparently, it’s been roused.”

“How?”

“Nix healed me with his new power.” She braced a hand on the bed. Her palm hit something hard. Power arced from the item. Adjusting her position, she glanced at the object and discovered there were several stones, all etched with various symbols. Four of the marks represented earth’s natural forces—air, wind, water, and fire. There were some she didn’t recognize.

My son is dabbling with his power
. Terror gripped her in a chokehold at the possibility.

On the periphery of her vision, Amos stood and tossed his controller aside. As she inspected the multi-colored stones, his hand shot out to nab the items, making it obvious he hadn’t wanted her to find them. She caught his wrist and shifted her focus to him.

“Ten power sources.” Each vibrated a little different than the next one. “For what purpose, Amos?”

Amos blanked his expression, but she recognized the mutiny in the jut of his chin. “I haven’t used them yet.”

“Don’t lie to me. I had a relationship built on lies with your daddy. I won’t tolerate one with you.” Amos winced and she realized she squeezed his wrist too hard. Releasing him, she scooped up the stones and dropped them into her lap. “Fess up. Whatever you’ve done—good or bad—just tell me.”

“So you can fix me?”

Where had this rebellion come from?

“No.” Madison shook her head. “I’m sorry if I gave you the impression you needed fixing. I have certainly never believed that you did.”

“Now who’s lying? You forbid me to use my power, Momma. Except to heal you. I know you think it’s bad.”

“They’re dangerous, not bad, and you don’t know how to utilize them. I was trying to protect you.” Maybe not a good decision to keep his wings clipped so tight. And definitely not wise to exploit those they needed, but not the others. When would she stop failing him as a mother?

He snatched a stone off the bed she hadn’t realized she missed. A bloodstone, dark green mottled with red, known as the martyr’s stone in the paranormal community because Christians once believed Christ’s blood created it as the liquid dripped to the earth from the cross. Its other known mystical uses were to assist the movement of energy and to remove spiritual blocks.

The side facing her was engraved with the emblem for
Om
, Sanskrit letters that represented the eminence of all incantations. A powerful totem, if he knew how to use it, one that often regulated dream-walking. Astral projection should be taken seriously and never harnessed by the untrained. Madison wouldn’t pretend to understand the craft, but her son had no business playing with it.

He flipped the bloodstone over so she could see the other side.

My sigil engraved on the back
!

Her attention flew to his face. Amos answered her unspoken question, “I use it to keep me grounded when I”—he shrugged—“dabble.”

Dear God, he plays with his magic without anyone to help if something goes wrong. Astral projecting without someone to guide him back if he got lost
!

Madison didn’t push because she wanted answers, not to alienate him. She motioned with her hand. “Give it here.”

“Momma! Please….”

“I’ll give it back.” Disbelief scrunched the corners of his eyes and his bottom lip vibrated with anger. “Angel, that stone can ground you only so much. Allow me to feed
my
power into it and it’ll stabilize you better.”

His eyes widened. “You would do that?”

“Yes.”
Anything to protect you, angel
. And she recognized the determination in his features, the hard set to his jaw, and the frown forking his brow. Mother’s intuition screamed he needed to practice his magic. “I wish you would talk to me, explain why you’re testing your magic without telling me.”

Amos dropped the bloodstone into her palm and she curled her fingers around the cool surface. As she stripped away the enchantment in a swift, easy mental smack, he shifted from one foot to the other. She hoped he contemplated telling her what he’d been doing.

Taking a deep mental breath, she rolled the stone between both of her hands as she might a set of dice. A shimmer in her mind surfaced, near to blinding, but haloed with a red haze. She recognized it as the center of her devilry and infused strands of it into the pebble.

“I promise not to freak out,” she said, reminding him she’d asked a question. She promised not to freak out openly, but she didn’t vow to remain levelheaded out of his presence. The stone grew warm in her palm as she energized it; Amos gawked as he concentrated on her hands. “Can you see my magic?”

He nodded, which proved his demon mojo was stronger than she’d known. A small grin surfaced as he peeked at her. “Yours is kinda pretty, Momma.”

Her power materialized as a rosy glow, interlaced with gold and bright streamers of pink. She wouldn’t exactly call those ‘boy’ colors. One side of her mouth quirked. “Kinda pretty, huh?”

He nodded and teased, “For a girl.”

She laughed and extended her arm. Palm up, the stone rested in her hand. “Take it and tell me what it feels like?”

Joy crinkled the corners of his eyes and stretched his mouth into a full-blown grin. Amos ran his fingertip across the pebble before plucking it from her palm. He clenched the stone in a fist so tight his knuckles turned white.

“Momma!” He threw his arms around her neck. “Thank you.”

She squeezed him tight but couldn’t speak for the sudden knot clogging her throat. One small personal gift of herself pleased him more than any gift she’d ever bought him.

He withdrew from her embrace and relaxed his fingers to peer at the bloodstone. The grin still captured his face. “You taste spicy like peppers on my tongue.”
Interesting
, but he would divulge more. “Kinda wild and rebellious, too, but a sugary sweetness that makes me think of thirst instead of candy.”

It made sense that he associated thirst with her succubus. “Wanna tell me what you’ve been up to now?”

The stones knocked together, creating a tinkling sound, as she dipped them off her lap and dropped them back on the bed by her hip. He shuffled his feet and looked everywhere but at her.

“Promise not to get mad?”

Oh, this is bad
. The bad news kept piling up today.

“I swear.” She crossed her ankles and watched him tuck the bloodstone into his pocket.

“I’m curious about it. The magic’s always there, a constant tug to play with. I try to ignore it, but sometimes I ache in my teeth to use it. When I focus some of it out of me, the pain goes away.” He shrugged and her heart broke for him. “I knew you wouldn’t approve.”

“You didn’t trust me enough to find out if I’d approve or not.” Hurting him never hit her agenda. She understood temptation and curiosity, but she couldn’t relate to it, since she’d never ached to use her alchemy.

“How’d you feed the sorcery into the stones?”

“I didn’t. Petra gave them to me for my last birthday.” Madison would kill Petra first chance she got. Amos went on, thankfully not realizing her volatile emotions. “She said they were Azura stones, and they’ll only work for the person they were intended for.”

She’d never heard of Azura stones, but there were many things she held no knowledge of in the paranormal world.

“We have to make our trip to Hell in the next day or two, Amos, but after”—she cleared her clogged throat—“I return, we’ll work on your magic together.”
If
she came out and
if
she wasn’t screwed up when she exited the fiery locale.

“Seriously?” His voice came out high-pitched with excitement.

“Yeah, seriously.” Madison smiled. Maybe they’d bond testing his limits. “We’ll practice as often as you like, so long as there is no solo practicing. Zen or I must be with you at all times. Deal?”

“You’re the coolest mom in the whole world!” He kissed her cheek and took off for the door. “I’m gonna go tell Petra.” At the door he stopped. “Momma?”

“Yes, angel?”

“I used to see one clear future. Now, there are two distinct futures. I don’t know which one I prefer.”

Her mouth grew gritty, as if the windswept sands of a desert had relocated inside. She swallowed twice to replace the moisture, but it only helped a fraction. “And?”

“I’m trying to let you decide the road we take, trusting you to make the right one. But it’s getting harder to do every day.” His hand moved in his jean pocket, she guessed fiddling with the bloodstone. “I—I—feel a pull to the side you don’t want.”

Amos fled the room before she could ask more questions. Unprepared for the level of his honesty, she slumped against the bed. She needed a break from her complicated life. That wouldn’t be happening. Micah must be neutralized soon. Her son’s soul was at stake and his confession proved he suspected it.

Chapter Ten

Micah bellowed when Madison and Zennyo Ryuo vanished moments after the floorboards of the bar exploded. A low hum of excited chatter came from the Sherlocks.

“Chill, Micah.” Phoenix tapped his cheek and nipped Micah’s chin. Any other time, his playfulness would’ve aroused Micah and he’d have taken Messiah’s heir to the floor and buried his cock inside him. Now, he only wanted to bury the world in cinders until he relocated Madison.

“Fuck you, Phoenix! Madison’s gone, so don’t tell me to fucking chill!” Anger sped through his system and unable to control his emotions, Micah shifted from man to angel and back again.

“Oh, ye of little faith.” Phoenix clucked his tongue and Micah glared at him. “I can track her.” Phoenix ran his thumb along Micah’s jaw and tangled the fingers of his other hand in the fine hairs of his nape. “I was just inside her and she’s all over me right now. I wish you could experience her the way I can. It’s such a fucking turn-on. Allow me to use your power to take us to her whereabouts.”

Through his jeans, Micah could feel Phoenix’s arousal pressing against him. “What about the Sherlocks? Don’t you wish to dispose of them?”

“We’ll come back for them once we locate our woman.”

He grabbed Messiah’s heir by the back of the head and forced him to meet his eyes. “If you can find her as you claim, I’ll share her willingly.”

Phoenix grinned. Micah’s spine tingled as the Ark of Heaven tapped into his angelic gifts. Ten seconds later they stood in a driveway in the middle of nowhere, high in the mountains. The way Phoenix could harness and utilize the talents of others constituted grave business. The Ark could be a danger to all of them if he ever failed to ask permission first. Not for the first time, he wondered if his brother, Jesus, could manipulate the magic of others the same way.

“Mads is inside that home.” Phoenix released him, pointed toward the two-story brick house at the end of the dirt drive.

Micah inspected the older home and twisted his wedding band on his finger. “Here?” Phoenix nodded. “I left her enough money she could afford better than this.”

“Don’t be a snob. She’s holed up in worse places running from you.” He knelt and shifted dirt and blades of grass through his fingers. “She’s definitely inside.”

Touching the earth somehow assisted Phoenix’s abilities. Micah didn’t pretend to understand the nature of how they worked. He just accepted they were starkly superior to most creatures he came in contact with. And he sensed they hadn’t begun to tap into all of Phoenix’s talents.

Being a former Sherlock, many demons wanted to hurt Phoenix. The protection Madison had given him just before his descent into Hell hung around him like a thick cloud, an odd mixture of red, pink, and gold. Her magical shield afforded him a wide demonic berth. It pleased Micah that demons recognized her imprint and her station in Hell.

Madison was obviously displeased by Phoenix’s transformation, but Micah savored his new creation. Phoenix proved a better student than he’d ever imagined possible, learning quickly, not dodging anything he asked of him. He didn’t even flinch when he killed innocent humans, those he’d sworn to protect as a mortal man. He hadn’t balked over the orgies with males, females, and demons alike, but embraced them with gusto. Neither had he recoiled when Micah invited him to his bed. The former Sherlock especially pleased him sexually.

How would Madison feel about his and Phoenix’s intimate relationship? He scuffed his fingers through his hair. She’d responded to his kiss tonight. She’d been overwhelmed by his embrace before, but she’d been a confused teen then and eager to ditch the control of her father. As a woman, she’d never fully responded to him. Until tonight. Hope for their future surged anew. He would be victorious.

“We should send Elias to retrieve her.”

Phoenix’s statement startled Micah. “Why would you suggest that? Madison and Elias hold no love for one another.”

“I know.” Phoenix peered at him from his crouched position. “Elias has a smash-and-grab kind of style. He won’t allow Zen to intimidate him and if you grant him control over her, he can command her into submission.”

Fuck
! Micah hadn’t once commanded her to lower her weapon when she threatened suicide. He’d been too freaked by the possibility of her death. Phoenix spoke true; they’d failed to handle the situation properly.

“Why don’t we just go in and snatch her now? Why wait?”

Phoenix stood. “You can try, but I’m guessing Zen’s ready for that. Plus you’ve got Amos inside, and he’ll be more than capable of manhandling you.” Micah shot him a glare. “Maybe not in powers, Micah, but your emotions are a fucked-up mess where Mads and Amos are concerned. Let’s not forget Petra is inside as well, ready to lend her talents to keeping them safe. Besides…” Phoenix swiped his thumb along his bottom lip. “Forcing her out of there with Amos as a witness will hinder your relationship with him. We have to go about this delicately.”