Strife: Hidden Book Four (31 page)

“I wasn’t the only one. Asclepias and your dad were freaking the fuck out too. Your body was there with us, and nobody could feel you, at all. I wasn’t even sure I could feel you, but I kept telling myself there was something there. Asclepias said it was like you were stuck somewhere between death and resurrection.”

“Limbo?”

He shrugged. “Something like that. He didn’t really understand it either. He said you guys live or you die. And that
you
just live. If there’s a body, we should feel you coming back right away. That’s how it works. There is no in between. Except with you, there was.”

“Well. I’m grateful for it, then,” I said.

“Me too. Do you remember anything?”

I shook my head. We sat in silence, holding each other, the only sound in the room the clock on the nightstand ticking the seconds.

“I’m surprised Bash and Dahael aren’t in here,” I said after a while. I was feeling sleepy again, my head resting on his shoulder, my body close to his.

“It’s weird. They haven’t been around. None of them have. Maybe they’re hunting Strife for you,” Nain said.

“Maybe.” I ran my hands over his shoulders. “You look exhausted. Sleep with me.” We settled back into the bed, and he pulled the blankets up over us.

He kissed me. “I love you, Molly.”

“I love you more.”

“Not even possible, woman,” he said, kissing me again, groaning when I sucked and nibbled his lips.

He held me, and I felt myself start dozing off again. “I gotta get up soon. Nether—”

“Isn’t going anywhere. She doesn’t even have a body yet. Asclepias figures we’ve got a couple months.”

“And Strife is fucking dead,” I muttered as my eyelids got heavier.

“Rest, Molly. You have the rest of eternity to kick ass,” he said, and I started to fall asleep again, comforted by his arms, his breath on my neck.

We stayed in bed, both of us slipping in and out of sleep, for at least another day. And eventually, I felt like myself.

Actually. I felt better than myself. I felt new. Whole. A lot of it had to do with Nain, who still looked drawn and pale after spending so much time worrying, so much of his power, his essence, feeding me as I’d healed. I’d never taken enough from him to affect him in any way, so I felt guilty about it and when I’d tried to tell him that, he’d given me one of his Nain glares and kissed me hard and told me he was mine.

So, I’d shut up and told him to go back to sleep. And then I got up and took a shower, got dressed. My wings were all screwed up from being in bed so long, the feathers skewed and kind of flattened. In general, my wings don’t require a whole lot of care. I’m not a bird. I don’t have to preen (thank god. I am not the preening type.) But this did require some fluffing with my fingers, straightening errant feathers with my fingertips.

I went back into the bedroom, where Nain was snoring in our bed. I leaned down and kissed his bare shoulder, and he tried to pull me back into bed with him.

“Sleep,” I told him. “I’m going to go talk to my mom. Where’s my armband, babe?”

“Don’t go kicking any ass yet,” he said.

“I have to. I got this.”

He sighed. “There’s a loose floorboard in the closet of my office. There’s a safe under that.” He told me the combination.

“Thanks. Go back to sleep,” I said, leaning down and kissing his cheek.

He brought my hand to his lips, kissed my wrist. “You are in so much trouble when I get my energy back,” he murmured sleepily.

“I am looking forward to it, husband.”

He smiled a little, then closed his eyes and drifted back to sleep. I watched him for a few minutes. I wanted to claim him, as I’d done with Brennan. That would have helped him get his strength back faster. But I didn’t want to do it without telling him first. I didn’t want to do it behind his back, the way I’d done it with Brennan.

This was my husband. My heart. My partner in life, death, and everything else. There would be no more lies between us. No more secrets. I watched him for a few moments longer, then I left the room, closing the door behind me.

The loft was more crowded than I’d ever seen it. Nain’s team, my team, several of the immortals who were on our side. Jamie and a few of the shifters from the chief’s pack. Ronan and a few vampires. They all stared at me when I walked out of our bedroom.

“Hey,” I said, and was immediately surrounded by people. My teammates were hugging me. The only one I didn’t see was Brennan, and I figured he was out on patrol. Ada kissed me on the cheek, and Stone pulled me into a one-armed bear hug, his other arm in a cast and sling. I answered questions, accepted hugs and kisses and congratulations on not dying. I looked around for Shanti, who was sitting in the corner of the living room with a man I didn’t recognize.

He was holding her hand. Watching the room as if he was ready to hurt anyone who bothered Shanti.

I liked him. I could feel his adoration for the vampire, his protectiveness of her.

I walked toward Shanti, and she watched me. She was sad. She felt guilty. Confused.

I knelt down in front of her and took her hands.

“Are you all right?” I asked her. And she nodded, even as blood-tinged tears came to her eyes. Her eyes met mine, and I could see the pain there. The guilt. Levitt.

Tears came to my eyes, too, remembering the loyal demon. The way he’d never, ever let me down. The way he’d been grateful every day that I’d spared his life and given him another chance.

“We lost a good man,” I said, and she nodded, crying harder now. “And you knew him better than anyone. He never let any of us get close to him. Except for you.”

She nodded again, lips trembling. “And I turned him away. I hurt him.”

I squeezed her hands. I was impressed by the man beside her, who listened to her words and didn’t become angry or jealous. He rubbed her back, and I felt her calm a little at his touch.

“Sometimes, things just don’t work out. It doesn’t mean you didn’t care for him. It doesn’t mean the things you shared together are any less meaningful. You showed him something he’s probably never had. You cared about him, and you stayed friends through it all. He appreciated that. I know he did,” I said softly. “Don’t feel guilty for living the life you want, Shanti. He’s worth remembering fondly, and, as much of a demon as he was, he still wouldn’t want you to hurt every time you remembered him.”

“I know,” she said, taking a deep breath to steady herself. “We did a little ceremony thing while you were recovering. We were going to wait, but…”

“But you needed it, and so did everyone else who knew him. I’m glad you had it. I will say goodbye in my own way.”

Shanti leaned forward and hugged me. “I am so glad you’re back. Stop doing shit like that.”

I hugged her back. “I’ll try.”

“Liar,” she said, smiling as she released me. “This is Zero, by the way.”

I chatted with Shanti and Zero for a few moments, and then asked where my parents were. Shanti pointed to the room that had always been considered “the vampire room.” I hugged her again and then headed up the stairs, listening to the din of conversation in the loft. All of the various teams, our allies, had bonded over our grief, over the experience of going into battle together. And based on the news reports, we weren’t done. Supernaturals still fought in the streets, though it was much more random now. Even as I’d talked to Shanti, about half of the team, including Jamie and Ronan, had left to patrol and try to fight back the chaos.

So much to do, I thought to myself as I walked up the stairs.

I reached the room and knocked. “Come in,” my father said, and I opened the door, ducked into the room.

The scene in here was similar to the way it was in the room I shared with Nain. My mom laid in the bed, dozing. My father was in the twin bed beside her, arm around her body, lending her his strength. I sat on the small chair, looked at my mom for a few moments. She looked healthy, but I could feel that she was still weak.

“How is she?” I asked Hades.

“She is alive. Thanks to you.”

“She was nearly dead because of me.”

“Because of Nether. Do not even start this nonsense, daughter,” Hades said sternly.

“I should have controlled her better,” I said, shaking my head.

“You did everything you could. Tis and I talked about all of it a lot after Asclepias saw you that day. We both had a feeling it was only a matter of time. You have too many powerful enemies, and hiding and playing it safe just isn’t in you.”

I tried to sense for him, to see if he harbored some anger toward me. I didn’t feel anything other than typical demonic/Nether rage.

“We’re proud of you, Mollis,” he said. “And you saved your mother’s life and I should be sorry for asking so much of you. When I saw what it did to you…” he trailed off, shook his head, guilt rolling off of him. “I can’t choose you or her. I want you both in my life. And I was willing to risk you, to risk Nether’s prison, to save her. I knew you’d come back, though you did give us all a fright there for a while. I’m only sorry it hurt you so much.”

“She’ll be okay, right?” I asked, looking at my mom again.

“She will be fine. I think we started giving her our blood just in time. There was only the tiniest speck of life left in her when we started.”

I sensed for my father. My mother.

“What about Tartarus?” I asked him, remembering the insanity with the realms of the immortals.

He watched me. “Something is happening. None of us can get back into the Nether since it kicked us out that day.”

“Maybe the Nether doesn’t exist, because Nether is free now?” I asked, and he shook his head.

“No. The gateway is there. It’s just not letting anyone through. I have never seen anything like it.”

“Weird,” I said, thinking.

“Yes. But I’ll take it. I am not leaving her side until she’s back to normal.”

I watched my father for a few seconds. “You love her.”

He didn’t answer.

“You loved Persephone too.”

He looked at me from his place beside my mother. “If it hadn’t been for that stupid, nonsensical prophecy, Tis and I would have been together immediately. There has always been something between us. Always. And we did our best to avoid it, to avoid one another as much as our roles would allow, because for our entire existence, the Fates and everyone else were warning us that we would destroy everything. We reached a point where we could barely be in the same room together, the tension between us was so high. And then one day, I was out in the woods in the Nether, and she was there, and no one was around. I don’t think either of us had a second thought. Being with her was like coming home. Everything was right. And we parted ways after we’d exhausted one another, and swore we’d try to forget.”

His eyes had a faraway look, as if he was remembering.

“But I’ve never forgotten. You can’t forget the feel of the body of someone who was absolutely made to be yours. You can’t forget the way it feels when two souls fit together so perfectly you can’t sense where one begins and the other ends. Can you?” he asked me, meeting my eyes.

I shook my head, thinking of my husband, who had given me his energy the same way Hades was doing with my mother.

“You always were much more of romantic than anyone has given you credit for,” my mother said, and Hades smiled and took her hand. Their fingers entwined, and my mom looked at me. “Hello, my beautiful girl.”

“Hi mom,” I said, trying to fight back tears of relief.

She released my father’s hand and took mine. “Thank you, my love. You didn’t have to do that. I knew what I was doing.”

“Why on earth did you do it?” I asked her.

She smiled. “You are eternal, Mollis. You never, ever would have forgiven yourself if Nether had killed the shifter. I am made of stronger stuff than he is. And I was fine with dying if it meant saving you from that.”

“I don’t love you any less than I loved him,” I said.

“I know that. And, as I said, I figured I had a better chance of surviving than he would.” She shrugged a thin shoulder. “You certainly pack a punch, kiddo,” she said, grinning.

“I’m sorry, mom,” I said again, and she let out a weak laugh.

“Considering what you went through to save me, and that it wasn’t your fault in the first place, you have absolutely nothing to apologize for. I love you, my darling girl. I am more proud of you every single day. Do you know that?”

I blinked tears back from my eyes. “Thank you.”

She squeezed my hand again, then pulled it back, and Hades held it in his.

“I’ll take a look at the gateway and see if anything had changed,” I said to them, and Hades nodded. “And then I’m going to hunt down Strife and Nether.”

“Nether will be impossible to find until she generates a body. She is nothing more than energy now, floating around in the world,” Hades said. “That takes several weeks in mortal time.”

I nodded. “Strife will be easy,” I said.

My mom watched me. “How do you figure that? She’s been eluding you for months.”

“Thanks for that vote of confidence, mom,” I said, and she laughed. “That last moment, before she killed me, she looked into my eyes and was talking to Nether. She told her to come and find her when she was ready. And she was excited, and the dumb bitch projected exactly where she’d be. Good thing I have a decent memory,” I finished, and I could feel my energy rising, my lust for battle, for the blood of my enemy, making it soar. And now, I felt stronger, more in control than I ever had been.

“She is wily, daughter. Be careful. She will be surrounded by her minions. You know this.”

“Oh, I know,” I said. “I just don’t care.”

They both watched me.

“She is a thing of beauty, isn’t she?” Hades finally said to my mom.

My mom smiled, nodded in agreement.

I shook my head, couldn’t help the smile that spread across my face. “I should go. I’m glad you guys are staying with us.”

My mom nodded. “The demon figured you would feel better if we were here. Though I think at least part of his intent was to have your father here in case you needed more rage to complete your recovery.’

I smiled. “I’m sure it was. He’s very practical, my husband.”