“I’m sure you have a ton of questions.”
Jax was the very definition of darkness in that moment. I’d seen him bend and twist, failing countless times to control his anger, yet now, there was an eerie peace. The calm before the storm. Like those few minutes right before hell broke loose when the trees were still and the water was like glass. “How long?”
“All my life—same as you.”
“That’s impossible.”
“It’s not. Just ask my link.” Chase laughed again and gave my arm a good shake.
Jax gritted his teeth and took a deep breath. “So why not kill me sooner? If you’ve had the demon all your life, same as me, why wait?”
“I had to be sure I’d win. The demons inside don’t really reach their full potential until they’ve festered in a human for twenty years.” He clapped his hands together. “We’re aged up nice and good now, bro. Time to settle up.”
Jax paled.
“Seriously, if you hadn’t spent the last three years of your life brewing in your own pity party, you would have seen the truth.”
“And what truth might that be?”
“That this isn’t a curse. It’s a gift.” He let go of my arm and commanded, “Stay.” To his brother, he said, “The demon is power, Jax. Unbelievable power.”
Jax was quiet for a minute. Underneath the darkness in his expression I could see the pain. He’d always been at war with Chase in one way or another, but he loved his brother. Loved him so much that to keep him safe, he’d given up everything. When Jax spoke again, there was an air of determination in his tone. “I don’t know how this happened, but we can figure it out. Take back control. We don’t have to go at each other. Not like this.”
Chase laughed. A horrible sound that made me want to cover my ears. Not human. Not demon. “Take control? I never lost it! Unlike you, I embraced my destiny. My demon and I are in perfect sync.” He nodded over his shoulder and said, “While you were running away from your true nature, I embraced my calling with open arms. I guess it just comes down to the fact that I’m simply stronger. Always have been.”
“Stronger?” Jax’s eyes darted from his brother to me, then back again. “You mean weaker. Strength would have been to resist. To fight. You caved like a little bitch.”
“Aren’t you the happy little hypocrite. You’ve got blood on those digits, same as me, bro. Don’t pretend otherwise.”
“I’m no saint,” Jax agreed. The pain in his voice almost destroyed me. “But I don’t—never have and never will—kill.”
“News flash for you, Jax. You will. You’ll have to, because in our particular situation, it’s kill or be killed.”
“What situation might that be?”
Chase grinned. The expression that used to make me smile now made me sick. “We’re at war. We’re bound to these weak, pathetic human bodies until one of us makes the other bleed. You and me, man? We’re the key to it all.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Jax
I tensed as Azirak raged like never before. The demon kept showing that single phrase, You and me, man? We’re the key to it all. Over and over like a skipping CD. I had no fucking clue what it was supposed to mean.
Next came the images of that blood-soaked, barren field in his visions. Two impossibly tall figures faced off under a burning gray sky. The demon was annoyed, but I didn’t understand what it was trying to get across. A message. A clue. Something I needed to know. I felt its frustration humming through every inch of my body.
“You’ve known Sammy almost your whole life, Chase. You don’t want to hurt her. You’d rather hurt me, right?” Another step. We were a foot apart now. Possibly two.
Chase jerked Sam close, then ran a finger down the side of her face. Azirak went wild. “Hurting her hurts you, and that’s my lot in life. I don’t like it, but it is what it is.” He licked his finger and sighed, then ran his tongue along the line of her jaw. “Besides, she tastes amazing. Can’t argue that, can ya?”
Azirak roared, and all my muscles convulsed as the demon fought for control. I had to maintain control. It was enraged and there was always a chance it wouldn’t show restraint. With Sam linked to my brother, if he went down, so did she.
“I walked away from her, remember? She’s a fun distraction while I’m in town, but that’s about it.”
“Your stink is all over her, Jax. Nice try.” He grabbed a handful of Sam’s hair and tilted her head. A small noise escaped her lips and a rush of gray bled into the air. “Then again, so is mine. Just between us brothers, you fed from her too, right? Just a little? Good stuff, no?”
My jaw tightened. The demon pushed harder.
Chase laughed. “Go ahead. I know you want to take me out. Give it your best shot. But keep in mind it won’t end well for her.”
Jax held his breath and stood his ground. Poker face. This had to go down smooth. “So?”
Chase was silent. He smiled and stepped to the table where the pen sat. Grabbing it, he positioned the point at the hollow of Sam’s throat. “You can’t bluff me, Jax. We both know you can’t touch me without touching her—and there’s no way you’re willing to do that. You don’t have the balls to make that kind of sacrifice.”
Chase winked and, before I could blink, he pulled the pen away from Sam’s throat and jammed it into his forearm. She gasped and shuddered as blood began to drip from her own arm—not his. “Oh my God,” she breathed, clutching her bleeding limb close.
“I think I made my point,” he said with a grin. He threw the pen at my feet and started to back away, dragging Sam with him. “And I think it’s time to finally end this thing.”
The intention was to lunge forward and somehow get Sam away from my brother, but like a baseball bat to the gut, the breath left my lungs and in an instant staying upright became impossible. Thankfully, I wasn’t the only one. Beside Sam, Chase also dropped to the ground.
“Sam,” Heckle’s voice boomed from the doorway. His eyes were closed while his hands made odd gestures. Air traffic control or magic. I didn’t know, and didn’t care—as long as it gave Sam a chance to run. “Come over here. Bring Jax with you.”
Small arms slid beneath mine and lifted. I tried to help her, but the energy had left my body. It took several tries, but Sam finally managed to drag me to the door.
Chase, still crumpled on the floor by the couch, lifted his head to glare at Heckle. “You can’t kill me. It’s against the rules.”
“But I don’t have to let you kill them, either.”
Chase chuckled. “You think that’s going to change the outcome of this? I’ll just get the fucker tomorrow.”
Heckle shrugged. “Maybe. But you won’t get him tonight.”
“We need answers.” We were back at the Inferno, Heckle’s bar. I felt better, but had yet to get a straight answer as to what the fuck happened at the house. “What the hell was that whammy you hit us with?”
“Just a little something I picked up along the way.”
“Magic?” Sam asked. Her eyes were wide.
Heckle laughed. “I suppose by the human definition, you might consider it that.”
Sam rested her injured arm against the bar. Heckle had cleaned and dressed the wound, but from the way she kept wincing, I knew she was in pain. “What about breaking the link? Did you find an alternative?”
“Other than what we already know? Nope,” Heckle said. He put a glass down in front of himself, and then another in front of me. Leaning across the counter, he winked. “Sorry. None for you, girly.”
Sam slammed her fist against the bar. “There has to be something we can do.”