usual and let him tell her. There’s something . . .” Jax stopped and sighed. “He looked like he might cry. Whatever he already learned about Mariah, it’s bad.”
I hadn’t imagined that Key was close to tears. Jesus. What was so bad that it would make Kyros cry? Maybe Mariah did take guys home with her. For money. Was she so destitute, she’d turned to whoring herself?
That overwhelming feeling of helpless rage washed over me and I focused on the world map hoping to make it subside. My eyes were drawn to Romania. Where Mariah was from; where Eryx lived. It was a strange coincidence, and not a happy one.
He was extremely active at the moment. He’d convinced a lot of big dogs in Washington to trade their souls to him, and unless my takedown plan was a success, control of the United States was within his reach. Except he was tripping himself up like he always did, a victim of his own dark soul. He still had some human tendencies, just as we did, but he was missing a key ingredient all humanity needed to achieve success in anything – hope. What made people, including us, keep going, even in the face of defeat, was a deep-seated need to maintain self-respect. We were all sons of Hell, but all of us except Eryx kept the part of our mother that was hope and dignity.
Eryx lost that when he died and crossed into immortality , extinguishing all light in his soul. It was why I didn’t believe he would ever succeed in his grand plan to take out Lucifer and rule Hell.
It was why, after h is scheme to convert the president through coercion by kidnapping Jordan backfired on him, he hadn’t stayed the course and gone after other powerful people in Washington. Instead, once he realized she was Anabo and had become immortal, he became less interested in controlling the U.S. and more obsessed with Jordan. Unlike Jane, who he’d murdered so she could never become immortal or Mephisto, who he’d never once considered keeping, he wanted Jordan to live with him, do what he did, and bear his sons.
But, then, Jordan was the complete opposite of Jane. Self-assured, assertive, and outspoken, she was the product of her background. Growing up as the only child of the man who became president of the U.S. gave her an edge on leadership abilities. And the wherewithal to stand up to Kyros.
Jane had grown up extremely sheltered, in a different era, where women were much less forthright. But all that aside, if they switched places, Jane would always be quiet and reserved and Jordan couldn’t not be a natural leader. It was the strength in her that attracted Eryx. He knew she was now immortal and becoming Mephisto, but he was fanatical and wouldn’t give up trying to figure out a way to get her away from Kyros.
He wouldn’t want Mariah to stay with him. She wasn’t like Jordan. She wasn’t like Jane, either, but she wouldn’t appeal to him as Jordan did. He would see her as leverage to get at Jordan, then . . .
My mind went straight down the rabbit hole, despite all my attempts to stop it. Thoughts of Eryx and Jane and Jordan and Mariah led to one final, horrible conclusion: he’d kill her. He’d wait until I arrived to rescue her, then slit her throat. It would be exactly as it had been with Jane.
Mariah’s only hope was if I stayed away from her. If she wasn’t marked, Eryx couldn’t sense her existence, couldn’t find her, would never know she was Anabo. She’d live the rest of her life until she was very old and die like all humans and go to Heaven because she was Anabo. And I’d lose all hope of ever waking up with someone beside me in my bed, of having someone to talk to, a woman whose body and soul could bring me any measure of peace, because this was the way it had to be. This was what I deserved. This was my penance for Jane.
Sweet, gentle Jane . Her death was a vulgar horror. And it was my fault. Like a movie on repeat, I relived her death in my head yet again, remembered the look of desperation in her perfect
I hadn’t imagined that Key was close to tears. Jesus. What was so bad that it would make Kyros cry? Maybe Mariah did take guys home with her. For money. Was she so destitute, she’d turned to whoring herself?
That overwhelming feeling of helpless rage washed over me and I focused on the world map hoping to make it subside. My eyes were drawn to Romania. Where Mariah was from; where Eryx lived. It was a strange coincidence, and not a happy one.
He was extremely active at the moment. He’d convinced a lot of big dogs in Washington to trade their souls to him, and unless my takedown plan was a success, control of the United States was within his reach. Except he was tripping himself up like he always did, a victim of his own dark soul. He still had some human tendencies, just as we did, but he was missing a key ingredient all humanity needed to achieve success in anything – hope. What made people, including us, keep going, even in the face of defeat, was a deep-seated need to maintain self-respect. We were all sons of Hell, but all of us except Eryx kept the part of our mother that was hope and dignity.
Eryx lost that when he died and crossed into immortality , extinguishing all light in his soul. It was why I didn’t believe he would ever succeed in his grand plan to take out Lucifer and rule Hell.
It was why, after h is scheme to convert the president through coercion by kidnapping Jordan backfired on him, he hadn’t stayed the course and gone after other powerful people in Washington. Instead, once he realized she was Anabo and had become immortal, he became less interested in controlling the U.S. and more obsessed with Jordan. Unlike Jane, who he’d murdered so she could never become immortal or Mephisto, who he’d never once considered keeping, he wanted Jordan to live with him, do what he did, and bear his sons.
But, then, Jordan was the complete opposite of Jane. Self-assured, assertive, and outspoken, she was the product of her background. Growing up as the only child of the man who became president of the U.S. gave her an edge on leadership abilities. And the wherewithal to stand up to Kyros.
Jane had grown up extremely sheltered, in a different era, where women were much less forthright. But all that aside, if they switched places, Jane would always be quiet and reserved and Jordan couldn’t not be a natural leader. It was the strength in her that attracted Eryx. He knew she was now immortal and becoming Mephisto, but he was fanatical and wouldn’t give up trying to figure out a way to get her away from Kyros.
He wouldn’t want Mariah to stay with him. She wasn’t like Jordan. She wasn’t like Jane, either, but she wouldn’t appeal to him as Jordan did. He would see her as leverage to get at Jordan, then . . .
My mind went straight down the rabbit hole, despite all my attempts to stop it. Thoughts of Eryx and Jane and Jordan and Mariah led to one final, horrible conclusion: he’d kill her. He’d wait until I arrived to rescue her, then slit her throat. It would be exactly as it had been with Jane.
Mariah’s only hope was if I stayed away from her. If she wasn’t marked, Eryx couldn’t sense her existence, couldn’t find her, would never know she was Anabo. She’d live the rest of her life until she was very old and die like all humans and go to Heaven because she was Anabo. And I’d lose all hope of ever waking up with someone beside me in my bed, of having someone to talk to, a woman whose body and soul could bring me any measure of peace, because this was the way it had to be. This was what I deserved. This was my penance for Jane.
Sweet, gentle Jane . Her death was a vulgar horror. And it was my fault. Like a movie on repeat, I relived her death in my head yet again, remembered the look of desperation in her perfect
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