Chapter 5
My arm stretched over my head as high as I could get it, my hand was open wide with Great-Grandma Cleo’s pendant, and my Rainbow Moonstone in my palm. I’d done the only thing I could, considering I was the one who opened the Hellmouth, and I was the one…
“Who doesn’t know how to close it?”
“Yeah, Lydia, thanks,” I scoffed. “I got that part.”
“Did you? ‘Cause it kinda seems like you did what you always do.”
“And what, pray tell, do I always do?”
“Jump in feet first without a clue, and pray I know how to get you out.”
“Pray you know how to help me?” I snorted a sarcastic chuckle. “Not even in your wildest dreams would I ever…”
"brOOOOP!"
“The Hellmouth!” Lydia and I screamed in unison.
A sound, like a pregnant elephant sat on thirty-seven bagpipes shot from the Gateway to the Underworld that a heat-seeking missile aimed at my ears.
The high-pitched, discordant, grating shriek seemed to go on forever, followed by a visceral, primeval howl that had every hair on my body standing on end with extreme prejudice.
Something was coming out of the Hellmouth I created, the Hellmouth that should have been a five-by-five square in the sand that I could use like a window to speak to the Spirits in the Underworld and find my mom.
It wasn’t supposed to be like this. Nothing I’d studied said it would be like this.
The Nexxus of those two Ley Lines was supposed to have been tapped centuries ago.
There shouldn’t have been this much of the Earth’s Energy, this much Mysticism, this much… everything.
“Okay, Lydia, time to earn your keep.”
“Time to what?”
“You heard me,” I sassed right back. “Time to get to work. Put your money where your mouth is.”
“Why, I never.”
“Oh, puhlease, shut up, and listen.” Without giving her a chance to interrupt me again, I gave directions like a Drill Sergeant.
“You’re gonna hold the pendant and the Moonstone, my Nucleus of the Containment Spell, right here.
You are not going to let it move even a centimeter.
You are gonna continue to draw from the positive side of the Nexxus of the Ley Lines and keep all of Hell’s critters docile and contained while I figure out who or what in all that is most definitely not holy is coming now. ”
“Would you like a latte?”
“No, I would like to do what I asked without being a pain in my ass.”
“Yeah, okay, I can do that.”
For a split second, I thought I might have lost my mind.
Lydia, the bane of my existence since I saw my first Recently Deceased Spirit, was actually, in her own way, being nice to me.
I knew Hell hadn’t frozen over because, well, there was a gaping hole about ten feet from me that said the flames were still scorching, sizzling, and ready to devour everything in their path.
Taking advantage of what I was sure was a once-in-a-lifetime miracle, I said, “Thank you, Lydia,” and got to work.
Dropping my arm, I breathed a sigh of relief when my Nucleus stayed where it was. My inner Necromancer was doing her job. Give that girl a gold star.
Running to the sizzling, smoking edge of the Hellmouth, the toe of my boot was about a foot from the brimstone when out of the flames rose an absolutely ginormous, golden throne.
Wolf heads with large ruby eyes were the only décor– aside from the Demon Prince smugly sitting on the overstuffed, red velvet seat.
Although I’d never met him in person, I knew the handsome, suave Fiend hiding behind the subtly menacing humanoid figure on sight.
It didn’t matter that he was dressed in a perfectly tailored Stuart Hughes, charcoal gray wool suit that cost damned near a million dollars.
Nor did his perfectly coifed, shoulder-length, wavy, ebony tresses detract from his yellow eyes with their red, elliptical pupils.
He was the personification of Greed, and I knew in a heartbeat that he was the reason all of this had happened.
“Mammom,” I spat.
“But, of course.” The smug grin on his beautiful face set my nerves on edge, then he sniffed, “And of it isn’t, Bernadette Elizabeth Fogarty, Princess and heir to the Heatherton Magic, and… my bride.”
“The hell you say!”
The bellowed roar had me spinning to the right as if I hadn’t ditched ballet class halfway through my first lesson. Blinking my eyes, I was sure I had a concussion and was most likely hallucinating, because in that very moment, there was none other than a ten-foot Warrior Dragon speeding toward me.
My eyes opened so wide I was sure they were going to pop out of my head, then my jaw dropped.
With every thundering step, the chaos I’d created fell to the background, and all I could see was him.
Hell, I even forgot that the fifth Prince of Hell, the Demon of Greed, Mammon, was less than a football field away and had just said I was his bride.
Yep, I was shocked right out of my bobby socks, lost the ability to speak, and, in that moment, there was no other way I wanted to be. Looking into the Dragon, my Dragon’s warm, hazel eyes I could see my forever, and damn, it looked good.
Without hesitation and with one hundred percent confidence, which was new for me, I knew without a doubt that he was my Mate. He was the man made for me by the Universe. And under all those lovely bronze scales, he was one hunka-hunka-burning love.
Six-foot-four, with broad shoulders, pecs for days, and a six pack that made my mouth water, he was gorgeous with a capital G, and my hands itched with the need to touch every inch of him and run my fingers through his chocolate brown curls.
The missing piece of my soul clicked into place, our minds connected, the Mating Bond in the depths of my soul connected with his, and that was when the real Magic happened.
In less than a heartbeat, I saw everything- and I do mean everything. I witnessed the day my Dragon, my Mate, the man made for me by the Universe, Guy Alexander MacAllen, was born, his childhood, his first shift, his life as a Warrior, and everything in between, even….
“Son of a bitch!” I spat.
I even saw the day that Fogarty entrapped him, set him up, and sentenced him to a hundred years in Arrhythmia. Oh, that asshole was going to pay. I would make sure of…
“Be gone, Dragon!” Mammon bellowed. “Bernadette is promised to me. She is the price to be paid.”
But my man was having none of that.
Without missing a beat, he slid to a stop beside me, wrapped his hand around my waist, and, as one, we turned toward Mammon, the bastard Demon Prince, morphed into a Lon Chaney, Jr.- like version of the Wolfman.
Launching himself into the air with way too much confidence and ease, he landed about ten feet behind us, and he wasn’t alone.
Spinning as one, my Dragon and I stood tall as we faced the Demon prince. Standing at least eleven feet tall, he was flanked by two Hellhounds on either side, and all five of them were spoiling for a fight. The air became electrified. It bit at my arms and pulled at my hair.
Mammon was putting on a show. He was trying to intimidate us, scare us, make us relent.
“Fat chance.” I jumped as Guy’s voice floated through my mind, then grabbed on tight to the reassuring, comforting knowledge that we were one in everything.
Fat chance was right.
Guy’s hand tightened at my waist, grounding me. He was so confident, so steady, so sure, and all mine. His Dragon King, Anluan– Lou– poured so much of their supreme Dragon Magic into our Mating Bond that I experienced the feeling of gleaming bronze scales flowing down my spine.
“Stay behind me,” Guy gently warned.
“Like hell, Dragon Man,” I snorted
Before he could argue, Mammon lunged.
The Demon Prince moved faster than something that size should have been able to.
The long, sharp talons jutting from the ends of his mammoth paws flashed in the glow of the light of my Containment Spell as he came straight for Guy.
The Hellhounds followed, snarling and snapping, their jaws dripped black ichor that hissed when it hit the sand.
Guy shoved me back a step. A flash of Magic clapped over his head.
In a blaze of light and heat, my Mate transformed.
The buzzsaw wings at his side snapped open with a thunderous crack that sent sand and debris flying.
Ten feet of Warrior Dragon became fifteen in a blink.
The long, thick claws protruding from his feet dug into the earth as he roared.
The sound was so ancient and powerful it rattled my teeth and made the Hellhounds falter.
“Mine,” Guy snarled, his voice a beautifully mysterious mixture of man and Ancient King. “You do not touch what is mine.”
Mammon laughed, a deep, guttural sound that made me shiver despite my conviction to remain unmoving. “Bold words from a creature who doesn’t belong here.”
Then he charged.
Guy met him head-on.
Claws slammed into fur and flesh. Demon strength collided with Dragon Might in a violent clash that sent shockwaves rippling across the desert. One Hellhound went flying as Guy’s right wing whipped around, smashing it into the sand hard enough to leave a crater.
The other lunged for me.
“Oh, hell no, asshole.” Raising my hands, I let the Necromantic Magic flow. The Heatherton Enchantment, fueled by the ley lines and the bond blazing between Guy and me, was a sight to behold.
“Sit.” The word flew from my lips, cracking like a whip.
Lavender and silver energy crashed into the Hellhound, slamming it flat against the ground as Spectral chains erupted from the sand, wrapping tightly around its limbs and throat. It howled, struggling, but the Heatherton Enchantment held firm. My Ancestral Magic was steady and fierce.
“Bernie,” Lydia shouted, “You’ve got about thirty seconds before this Containment Spell is blown all to Hell… literally!”
“Perfect,” I called back.
Mammon broke free of Guy’s grasp. Claws raked across bronze scales as he leapt backward, his eyes blazing a murky gold.
“You think love makes you strong?” He sneered.
“You think your Powers That Be have saved you with your little Necromancer? You think Fate can’t be denied?
” Throwing back his head, he howled in laughter before dropping his chin, glaring at Guy and seething, “It all makes you weak.”
Mammon struck. Moving quicker than my eyes could track, he reached for me.
Big mistake.
The Mating Bond is shared with Guy and King Lou, flared to life. White-hot and incandescent, it was a sight to behold. Guy moved faster than I ever imagined possible. Dragon Fire erupted from his jaws, not red or orange, but brilliant molten silver, slamming into Mammon mid-reach.
The Demon Prince screamed. He howled in fury, not in pain.
I stepped forward. Power roared through me. My eyes locked on Mammon’s. “You don’t get to claim me,” I coldly spat. “You don’t get to rewrite my Fate.”
Dropping to my knees, I slammed my palm into the ground.
The runes I hadn’t known Lydia had carved into the desert until seconds before ignited, blazing to life as the Ley Lines surged.
The Light of the Nexxus swelled. The Hellmouth shuddered, roaring in protest as I ripped all control from Mammon’s grasp.
“By blood and bone,” I shouted, voice echoing with something ancient and absolute. “By the right of the Heatherton Magic and the will of the Universe, I revoke your claim.”
Mammon howled as the chains of the Underworld erupted from the Hellmouth itself, wrapping around his limbs, his torso, and his throat.
“No!” he bellowed. “You are mine! Fogarty gave you to me. It is a debt I intend to collect!”
Guy’s massive head lowered beside me, eyes blazing with lethal promise. “She was never Fogarty’s to promise.”
With one final surge of Dragon Fire and Necromancy, and as one, my Mate and I shoved Mammon backward. The arms of his golden throne elongated. Spindly, skeletal fingers wrapped around his ankles, and the Hellmouth dragged him down.
Torturous screams tore at the Fabric of Time and Space. The flames roared. Furious and thwarted, they licked at the edges of the Gate to the Underworld, trying and failing to gain purchase in the sand.
The Nexxus surged again. Gleaming crystalline light erupted from the circumference of the Hellmouth, enveloped and then dismissed the Containment Spell I had created, and enclosed the Hellmouth.
Turning toward my Dragon, I opened my mouth to speak when Mammon’s voice echoed from the Pit, “Your mother is still alive. Whether she stays that way is up to you.”
With the last word still hanging in the air, silence crashed down over the desert.
Tears streamed down my face. Suddenly exhausted, my knees started to give way, but Guy was there to catch me. Strong arms wrapped around me, pulling me into the haven of his arms.
Shifting back to the sexiest cowboy I’d ever seen in a rush of heat and light, he held me tight as if letting go was no longer an option. Damn, I don’t know when it happened, and I didn’t care. All that mattered was that I loved him with all my heart and trusted him with my life.
“Hey,” he murmured, sliding the side of his index finger under my chin and lifting until my eyes met his. “I’ve got you. And we’ll find your momma.”
I smiled weakly. “Where have you been all my life?”
His laugh was soft, reverent. “Waiting for you.”
From her corner of my soul, Lydia cleared her throat. “Well. That was… dramatic.”
I closed my eyes, curling into my Mate’s chest as the last of the Magic settled. “Yeah, well, thanks for everything.”
“Right back atcha,” she chuckled, sliding her mental walls in place.
“Should I have said hello?” Guy siftly asked.
“No, not yet,” I halfway chuckled. “Lydia is an acquired taste that takes about a century to get used to.”
“Thank the Heavens we have forever.”
“Yeah,” I smiled. “Fate got it right.”
“Yeah,” Guy smirked. “Well, just don’t tell Her. She tends to get a big head.”