Epilogue
Emily
Supernatural sex was insane. I never got tired, and neither did he. I was worried Asha would know we’d christened several places in their Dracula castle when she got back. More than anything, I didn’t want to be the focus of her endless taunts.
It’d been over a week of banging Zelus’s brains out. A week where talking was the last thing on either of our minds. But I’d dragged myself out of the lustful fog and wandered around the castle again to clear my head.
Zelus was never far. The bastard followed me everywhere. Well-meant stalking as per usual. I couldn’t go anywhere but this castle, yet he didn’t trust me wandering around on my own. And normally it drove me crazy to be hovered over by a possessive asshole, but I didn’t mind it as much with Zelus.
His arm dropped around my shoulders as I searched for the weird bird humanoid to get some food. I wasn’t hungry, but Asha was right—one of the many pleasures of the afterlife was the food her bird minions made.
“Are you going to tell me why I have scales and fangs now?” I demanded when Zelus moseyed beside me and beamed a smile full of satisfaction.
He huffed a little laugh. “Curious, love?”
Smug asshole.
I’d given him a particularly awesome blowjob right before sneaking away.
It was obnoxious he didn’t sleep, so finding time to explore always ended up with us fucking somewhere.
I’d talked him out of fucking in the room I suspected was Asha and Thanatos’s, but barely.
He’d taken me right outside the door instead.
I complained, but I was having just as much fun as he was.
It was amazing how I didn’t have to fuss with being tired or hungry or needing to use the bathroom.
Showering and bathing were other pleasures that I did out of habit.
And it wasn’t as if I couldn’t sleep, but it seemed like a waste when I could be doing other things.
Mostly Zelus.
“Is it what happened to Asha? She got Death powers after she died.”
I’d been testing the waters when given a moment, and that wispy disappearing act he pulled all the time I hadn’t quite figured out yet. I still appeared in random places.
Another thing I learned about Zelus was that he had control over shadow snakes and spiders.
Unlike some girls, I wasn’t creeped out by them.
They were badass beauties, and I enjoyed playing around with them.
Sometimes so much so that it made Zelus jealous.
Which was all the more reason to do it. I got a kick out of giving him hell.
“Am I the Spicy Pestilence version now?”
His amusement reached his eyes as we wandered through another corridor, barely paying attention to where we were going. “Spicy Pestilence. I like that, love. It suits you.”
But I was thinking about how to stop the apocalypse. “What if all the Counter Souls can become this way? You know, with their respective Horseman.” I snuck a glance at him. “Or Horsewoman.”
His eyes dashed over to mine. “Are you suggesting we kill the other ones, then?”
I smacked his shoulder and snarled. “No. Obviously. We’re not even sure that’s the reason it’s worked, but it’s something to think about. Have they gone after Asha since she became the bride of Death?”
Zelus slowed and then stared down at me in open curiosity. “No, not that Dead’s mentioned.” My clever asshole’s wheels were turning. “You think this might be the design?”
I shrugged, not totally sure what I thought. “I think it’s worth exploring if we’re really trying to stop the world from ending.”
“But why bother when Lucifer can’t touch you now that you’ve become my bride?”
I gawked at him. “I’ve become your what?”
“You said it yourself—”
“Excuse you, no I didn’t. I said Asha was a bride, and she likes all that bullshit. All her romances end in it. I don’t want that life. I’m my own damn woman. You be the fucking bride,” I rambled, pulse kicking up at the thought of binding myself to him forever.
I mean, in a way, I already had.
I was now Spicy Pestilence.
Ugh, I hated how into him I was. It was seriously crazy how easily it all happened after years of finding men worthless outside of their dicks, but it really seemed like I’d fallen for Zelus against my better judgment.
Not that I ever planned to tell him. My bestie wasn’t helping by egging it on any chance she got. He’d tried to kill her, but it was as if she’d forgotten it ever happened.
Zelus’s smile pulled me out of my head. “Oh, there’s a thought, pet. I’d look proper fit in a wedding dress.” He tapped his chin. “Yes, I accept. I’ll be your bride, Viper. Let’s get hitched.”
I closed my eyes and prayed for patience. When that didn’t work, I smacked him and ignored his happy giggles as I stomped off again. “Don’t distract me. I’m onto something, and I want to have it figured out by the time those two get back.”
I was swept off my feet into his arms before I could fight him over it. Zelus’s mouth crashed into mine, and like always, I leaned into his aggressive touch and kissed him back. Then my head reminded me I was trying to do something.
Pushing, I scrambled and disappeared, only to reappear behind him. I could work with that. With a hard kick to his ass, I sent the asshole sprawling out. But as always, he laughed and laid out over the floor like he’d fallen on purpose.
I opened my mouth, ready to spiral into theories and insults in equal measure, but Asha appeared just feet from Zelus with Thanatos. Her eyes dropped to him on the floor and then me, standing over him with my arms crossed.
“Are we interrupting?” Her smirk was as devilish as Zelus’s.
I walked over the jerk on the ground and hugged her. “Not at all. Welcome home, you sexy bitch.”
When I pulled away, Thanatos was staring at me, another pensive look on his face. “That mark…”
I touched the weird symbols that wrapped around my throat like a choker and the act sent a ripple of scales washing across my skin.
Asha’s eyes widened and then snapped over to Thanatos. “Is she—”
“Pestilence?” His stare tracked the scales, then lifted to where my fangs had sharpened. “Your soul has changed, much like Asha’s did. I no longer need to tether you here.”
Having the confirmation was a breath of fresh air. Zelus was already grabbing me around the waist and tucking me in close, beaming in pride. Thanatos stared at me as if I was a puzzle he intended to figure out, but I’d already drawn several conclusions.
“I think this has something to do with being a Counter Soul,” I said to him. “It might be the answer to stopping the apocalypse.”
Asha touched my scales in awe, but Thanatos and Zelus shared a weighted glance.
“It’ll be a little harder to test right away. Limos and Ares have disappeared,” Thanatos started, eyeing the two of us with an apathetic expression. “And I think Michael has something to do with it.”