Chapter Thirty-four
Aaliyah
“ I s that so, daughter of mine?”
I jump at the sound of Nadia’s voice, spinning to find her stepping out of the wall. Except, it’s not a wall, is it? There’s a door I wouldn’t have noticed if she hadn’t just exited it.
Like Rashid, Nadia looks just as I remember her. Neither of them has aged a single day since I was sent on my way. It’s not really surprising, given that we’re immortal—or practically immortal.
Nadia’s smoke is dragging something behind her, but it’s not until she comes to a stop beside Rashid that I get a good look at it. No, not it. A body. The body of someone I love.
“Naomi,” the whisper is barely audible as I stare at her, unable to tell if she’s even breathing. My heart drops into my stomach as I stare at her, willing her chest to rise and fall, but it doesn’t. “What did you do?”
Nadia grins, placing a hand on Rashid’s shoulder. “What had to be done. What’s wrong? Did you care for that one?”
“You fucking bitch.” Jumping to my feet, I’m ready to tear her apart limb by limb.
Before I can even take a step toward her, Archer appears at her back. He releases an anguished roar before he shoves his hand through her chest. I stare at the hand sticking out of Nadia’s chest, holding her heart before crushing it.
I almost can’t believe my eyes as Archer shoves away the body of the woman who birthed me before throwing himself across the small space to wrap Naomi in his arms. Tears fill my eyes as he clutches her to his chest, sobs pouring out of him as he screams for her to wake up.
Grief threatens to overwhelm me, but I can’t allow it to. Nadia might be dead, but Rashid is still alive and kicking. Of the two, he’s always been the more dangerous. He needs to be put down just like she was.
Steeling myself, I turn away from Archer and face Rashid. Blocking out Archer’s cries isn’t easy, and neither is the pain I feel over losing someone I love, but until this is over, I have no choice.
“You’ve brought enough death and destruction to this world, Rashid. Nadia’s met the end she deserves and now it’s your turn.”
He jumps to his feet, snarling at me as I stalk toward him. “And how do you think that’s going to happen? You’re nothing. You can’t kill me.”
I scoff. “I’m the only one who can, and listening to one of my men losing his mind over the loss of someone we both love? It’s all the motivation I need to make sure you can’t cause pain like that for anyone else.”
I reach inside of me to the pool of godly magic, feeling it as it surrounds me as I pull on it more and more.
Rashid’s eyes go wide. “No. How? There’s no way…”
Smiling, I take another step toward him, and then another. I shouldn’t relish in the way he stumbles backward, unbelieving of what’s happening right before his eyes.
“If you had chosen another path in life, then maybe I wouldn’t have these powers,” I say, my voice resonating as he tries to call on his own measly powers. “I understand why I have them now. They were gifted to me so I could kill you—making the world a better place. That’s what it means to be a god, Rashid. What you are is a villain, and it’s time for your mercurial rule to end.”
He tries to dash away, but there’s no escaping me. Reaching out, I grab ahold of the back of his neck, nails digging into his skin and going deeper—through tendons and muscles until I hit bone. Closing my free hand over his shoulder, I pull on the spine, hearing the snap that tells me it’s detached.
With a grin, I yank on the spine. Blood sprays into my face, with bits of skin, tendons, and muscle hitting me as the spine detaches with a spectacular symphony of cracks. He groans in pain, just as I’d hoped. I want this to be as painful as possible. I want him to hurt as much as I am right now—as much as Archer is.
Shoving him forward, I watch as he falls onto his face. I have to pull a little harder to detach the spine from the pelvis, but once I’ve finished, I’m holding it in my hand. I’m sure I look like the monster he is as I grin down at him. There’s a gaping hole where I’ve ripped out his spine, through which I can see some of his organs.
If I wasn’t so angry, so hurt, then I might be grossed out. Right now, it just brings me a partial sense of relief. My job here might not be done, but it’s started and soon, it’ll all be over.
Pulling his spine from his body won’t kill him. It would take hundreds of years, but he’d eventually be able to regenerate until he was whole again. There are only two ways to make sure a supe—or, in this case, a god—can’t heal from an injury.
The first is to crush their heart as Archer did with Nadia or to destroy their brain—which is why beheading and setting the head on fire is a go-to method. Since Archer already did the heart thing, I’m going to go after Rashid’s brain. Only I won’t be detaching his head and burning it. I have a much better idea.
Allowing the spine to fall to the floor, I drop to my knees beside Rashid and reach into the hole I just made in the neck. Pushing aside anything that gets in my way, until I reach the bottom of his skull.
“What are you doing?” he croaks out.
“Killing you, just like I said I would. Just in the most painful way I can think of. I don’t think you’ll get nearly the enjoyment out of this that I will.”
I snap the bottom of the skull enough so I can reach my hand inside. Wrinkling my nose as my hand finds his brain, I’m surprised that it’s…squishy. Pushing my fingers into it, I’m definitely grossed out by how it gives way so easily. It’s wet and pliable, like clumps of snot.
Pulling out the handful of brains, I’m surprised by the amount of fluid running down my arm. Not to mention coursing through the hole in his neck. Tossing it aside, I reach back inside his skull, more prepared for what I’ll encounter. With each pass, more and more of his brain makes it from inside him to the floor.
When I reach in and find it empty, I’m surprised. Settling back onto my heels, I stare down at the unblinking eyes of the man who called himself my father, but was anything but. I see streaks of fluid on his face from his ears and nose, surprising me.
I guess there are a lot of things I don’t really know about the human—and god—body.
“Aaliyah?”
Turning my head toward the voice, I see my five remaining loves surrounding Naomi. Tears stream down their cheeks, shoulders hunched as they grieve what we’ve lost. Staring at her, I can’t feel the pain at the moment, but I know it’s coming.
“Aaliyah,” the voice says more firmly.
Tilting my head, it takes me longer than it should to realize it’s River. She’s holding her hand out to me, wanting me to join them. I stare at her hand for a moment longer before moving over to take it with my non-gore-covered hand.
Unable to stop myself, I run my free hand over Naomi’s face. I leave behind a trail of blood and brain matter on her cheek. I didn’t mean to mar her skin, so I attempt to lift my hand but can’t seem to make myself as it continues to travel down her body until I reach the center of her chest.
Power courses from my center and into my arm before crashing into Naomi’s body. I seize up as the power I never sent back into the pool overwhelms me and travels into her.
Someone tries to pull me away, but they can’t. All they get for their troubles is a blast of power that sends them flying across the room.
I can’t breathe. I can barely think as more power than I knew I held inside of me makes itself known.
Only, it feels different. This isn’t just my power. Rashid’s godly powers seem to have attached themselves to me, and now, they’re trying to bring Naomi back to life.
It’s like this knowledge is all I needed in order to be in control of myself once more. The others’ faces are staring at me in varying stages of awe, confusion, and fear. I try not to let the last one bother me, only guessing what I might look like right now.
Turning my attention to Naomi, I see that the power has repaired her injuries and her heart is beating once more, but there’s something missing.
Naomi is missing. Her soul no longer resides in her body.
Head on a swivel, I look around the room, seeing on a different level. I find Rashid’s and Nadia’s souls go at one another and have to fight back a grin. It looks like the two of them will be driving one another crazy, even in the afterlife.
But they’re not who I’m looking for.
There.
Sitting at Archer and River’s backs, a hand on each of their shoulders is Naomi. Tears slide down her cheeks as her eyes move around the group, and I see her mouth moving but can only hear the faintest of whispers as she speaks. I try to focus on the sound, but it continues to slip out of my grasp.
Until her eyes lock with mine.
“Aaliyah, I love you, and please don’t blame yourself—“
“I certainly won’t,” I cut her off. “As long as you get your ass back in your body.”
Her mouth drops open as she blinks at me. “You can see me?”
“I can, and I plan to see you for a long time. I don’t know how long I can channel this power into your body. You need to return your soul to it.”
She shakes her head. “I’ve tried. I can’t. A dead body has no need for a soul.”
If my hands weren’t busy, I would shake this woman. “Listen to me, Naomi. Your body is healed and living, but without a soul, the only thing keeping it that way is my power. You need to get back in your body now. ”
It’s like my words finally sink in as she leans forward and basically falls into her body. As soon as I’m sure her soul is settled, I release the flow of power. The power that used to be Rashid’s flows out of me and into the air, traveling around me before shooting off.
I blink, my view of the other plane of existence disappearing as my power settles back inside me.
“What just happened?” Hayes asks from my other side, and I give him a soft smile.
Before I can answer, Naomi’s eyes open as she jolts upright. “Holy shit, that’s trippy as hell.”
Everyone throws themselves at her, hugs and kisses exchanged, but I hang back. Not because I’m not happy she’s alive, or because I don’t want to kiss her and hold her close. No, it’s because I’m covered in all sorts of gross things that I’d rather not think about right now.
“Aaliyah?” Naomi calls. “Come give me a kiss?”
I snort, shaking my head. “I need a shower or ten before I touch anyone else.”
Naomi huffs. “Get your ass over and kiss me. I’m a demon, remember? Some blood and gore isn’t going to keep me from kissing my girl after coming back from the dead.”
That’s a request I can’t refuse because she’s right. It doesn’t matter what’s on me right now. What matters is showing her just how happy I am that she’s alive—that I was able to save her.
The others move out of the way to keep clear of my mess, except Archer, who refuses to release his hold on Naomi. Pressing my lips to hers, he holds both of us as tears begin to roll down my cheeks.
When I pull back, I frown. “Wait. When and how did the rest of you get up here? Tyson, did you find your sister? Were there more prisoners? Was the lab destroyed?”
“Whoa, killer,” Tyson says with a grin. “Slow your roll. All you need to know is that the mission was a success. We need to head home so some of us can clean up, and then we’ll talk.”
“Yeah, okay. I can deal with that.” Pushing to my feet, I wrinkle my nose in disgust as I stare down at the state I’m in. “This is why I kill with poisons. Killing like this is just too damn messy.”
Laughter fills the room, and I head for the door with a smile on my face.
My parents are dead, and everyone I love is still alive. Now, we can live the life we deserve.