Chapter 73
The sad truth was I wasn’t completely devastated over Vadon’s death.
I felt sadness, but also relief. I knew Birdie and I were safer and better off.
His apology would never make up for everything he’d done, and I knew the only reason he felt remorse in the first place was because he was under his Reaper’s mercy, confessing his acts.
The fact that he would rather die than live with the shame said a lot.
How would I explain this to Birdie? I had no idea. I stood over Vadon’s lifeless body. The blood seeping out of his airways and his eyes still open in terror. I bent down to close his lifeless eyes.
The foundation of the building began to shake and the floor started to divide. I stepped back, trying to place my footing so I wouldn’t fall to my death. Jax’s shadows whipped around my wrist and pulled me to a safe distance. I clung onto him for dear life, not understanding what was happening.
A mysterious figure ascended from the cracked foundation in fire and ash.
His skeletal form was bound with the most beautiful Indigenous feathers, his crown made of bones.
The feathers on the crown stood straight to the sky.
Lightening struck as the clouds swarmed in and gathered, creating a treacherous storm.
“Nobody will be touching my nina.” The entity struck the pebbled floor, marking his presence on earth.
El Micta charged at Jaxon, but he blocked the hit. I knew he was refusing to fight back.
“No! Leave him be!” I rushed to El Micta.
“Faye, stay back!” Jax pleaded with me.
El Micta surrounded him like a vulture ready to devour his prey. Drumming thundered from the ground, making the vibrations crack the foundation further and letting in more inferno from the depths below.
“Come,” is all he said when he called to me as his telekinetic grip overpowered me. His eyes were as white as milk.
“Let him go!” He may claim to be my father, but to me he’s a stranger hurting someone I loved. My eyes shifted to white as my breath faltered from his grip.
“You can’t have him, he’s mine!” Odin descended from the clouds as he swarmed in, knocking El Micta off his feet.
They snarled at one another as they circled each other in predator-like movements. Jax got up and released his dark shadows before me, wrapping me protectively with them.
“He won’t hurt me, Jax, you have to let me go.” I held his Reaper face, Death present in his eyes.
“I can’t trust it.” Jax refused to give in. His shadows swarmed our bodies and held us up in the air in a shadowed cocoon.
“Trust me.” I gave him a gentle kiss. I could hear the battle beneath us.
The sounds of gods lost in fury covered the earth. Jax kissed my forehead in surrender, knowing this wasn’t his fight. His shadows placed us beyond the rubble yet again.
“You witch!” Odin seethed at me in crossness.
His long, silver beard nearly touched the ground, his crown sitting heavily on top of his white-covered head, his muscles stretching his old royal seams. “You’ve nearly cost me my best hunter.
I shall have you enslaved in Valhalla, kissing at my feet, for this! ” Odin pointed at me in fury.
“Over my dead fucking body!” Jax roared. Odin’s laugh echoed manically into the thunderous cloudy sky
“Cállense (shutup), you fools!” El Micta’s voice vibrated from his throat made of bones.
“Nobody asked you to speak!” Odin howled, the clouds and lightning bursting in the gloomy night sky.
El Micta laughed, entertained. “I do not fear you, for you hold no power here.”
The ground shook again, making the fire and embers seep up from the cracks below..
“Enough with the pissing contest!” I shouted, knocking them both off their feet, my eyes white as snow.
“I am La Sibila.” I shifted into the air as it pulled me in seamlessly.
“I am made of both light and darkness. Fire and air.” Fumes ignited from my palms. “You!” I casted my finger to El Micta.
“How dare you show your face after abandoning me, thinking you have a say in my life!” I hoped he could feel the hate that seeped from my bones.
“I’ve had enough of these family affairs,” Odin interrupted. “I came here and I won’t leave without a reward, something worthy of my time.” Odin looked to Jaxon, a bashful smile spreading across his ancient rugged face.
“Twin souls.” El Micta shook his head, smugly. “Mirrors.” He surrounded both Jaxon and I, pointing between one another.
Jax guarded me like a rabid dog.
“You think I’d hurt my own hija?” He looked between us curiously.
“I don’t know what you’re capable of.” Jax fixed with a lethal gaze.
“I’m only a god of the underworld, willing to sacrifice his soul to Mictlan to protect what I helped procreate.” El Micta looked between us both.
“Wow, great fucking speech, father of the year!” I snarled at him from behind Jax.
“My Reapers are nobody’s guard dogs. But these twin flames you speak of…
” Odin came closer to us, standing behind El Micta as he cynically laughed.
“Of course, a Reaper: a bearer of death, and a daughter of the underworld: the infamous ‘La Sibila’, one of the most powerful spell binders of all—a soul made of both darkness and light,” he spat, angry at the realization.
“What are you saying?” I was running out of patience. I shouted at them both.
“Same soul, two bodies, two hearts—twin flames,” El Micta exclaimed, surrounding us in circles.
Jax looked back at me. The words sank into my bloodstream as we tore into each other with a gaze of enlightenment.
“Twin souls— after they have merged, they cannot be away from each other for too long,” Odin remarked, displeased with this reality. He sucked his rotten teeth.
“All those years, the dreams,” Jax said, thinking out loud, almost stunned, as if he said it while we both thought it. “We had the same dreams, longing for one another for so long, missing our counterpart.”
“A soul tie,” El Micta said, as I wiped at the single tear that betrayed me. “Do not cry, mi linda. Luckily for you, this means your novio (boyfriend) can’t be touched,” he huffed, displeased.
“Lucky me,” Jax commented, mocking the God of Mictlan.
“Doesn’t this just enchant your heart?” Odin harrumphed, seemingly exhausted from the conversation.
“I am not leaving here until I make it worthy of my time.” He pointed at me as if commanding.
“You, little witch, shall come back to Valhalla with me. Where you shall guide the souls to Hades after the Reapers choose their sacrifices.”
“You won’t take mi hija (my daughter) anywhere!” El Micta ignited into raging flames, ready to attack with his ancient swords.
“You said we could not be away from each other for long,” Jax confirmed with El Micta.
“This is true,” Odin pondered. “You two have merged, it seems.” His annoyance was evident.
“Succumbing to each other’s shadows, the pain, the lessons, ascending both of your gifts— twin flames are a strong bind not to be trifled with.
For even their flames can be cast upon the depths of hell.
You both have reached enlightenment and alchemy.
True divine souls, marked and made for one another. It goes beyond even a Reaper’s bond.”
“What’s the time limit for separation?” I ask, entranced.
“Four months before the souls start catastrophic wars ending all realms. Just to be where the souls belong reunited,” El Micta huffed.
Tears blurred my vision. The dreams, the chemistry, the passion and longing. It was more than love, it was a soul tie.
“Take me.” Jax kneeled to Odin.
“No!” I begged him, trying to lift him from the floor. “Please, Jax. Please don’t do this.”
“I won’t have you in Valhalla, Faye.” He held my hands and kissed them. “I will be back. I love you. Till death, my little light. Everything will be alright. I promise, baby.” Jax grabbed my face as I shook my head ‘no’, begging him with everything in me.
I wailed from my broken heart. I knew there was nothing that could talk him out of the decision he’s made without me.
“Take care of our little girl.” My heart split and my breath was nowhere to be found.
“I need you. Please, please don’t leave me, everyone leaves me!” I begged him, as if it was the last thing I could ever do on this Earth.
“Very well,” Odin cut in, watching excitedly at the show. “Every winter solstice you will bring me your twin soul, or it will be you paying the price.” His smile was calculating.
“Don’t threaten my daughter, viejo (old man). I should have your head!” El Micta charged after Odin.
“Father, enough!” The words surprised me as they came out.
“It’s a small price to pay for love,” I whispered, shaking as the truth tore me apart.
“Every winter, I will bring you your Reaper. If you think I’m afraid of Valhalla you are gravely mistaken, Odin.
But it’s not me that you want, it’s Jaxon, because of his rank.
He reaps more souls than any other Reaper, making him a prized possession to you, a weapon. ”
Odin’s thick eyebrow lifted in shock, that I read him to filth.
“Perhaps you are right. I could give a fuck less about a little witch. I want doomed souls to enslave as they are punished into oblivion. It brings me great joy.” Odin picked food from his teeth with his fingernail.
“So, what will it be then?” I could see his patience wearing thin.
“Jaxon is not yours, he is mine.” My milky eyes challenged him.
“The stars have spoken, Odin, against our will.” El Micta stepped between me and Odin.
“You get four months in total, but two months with Jaxon and two months with me, that’s final!” I could see Odin’s displeasure by this offer.
“Fuck no, Faye, no!” Jax refused this agreement.
“Shut it, cowboy!” I bound Jax’s lips shut.
El Micta snickered at the action.
“Blasphemy!” Odin shouted.