23. Pandora

23

PANDORA

S tirring beneath the comforter, I stretched out my limbs and turned to my side with a yawn.

Hunter’s bond buzzed with longing from him not sleeping over, but he had Demon Council duties that had come up last minute. Reed offered to stay, but apparently, the Demon Council duties included looking for his mom, so I insisted that he went with Hunter. As much as I hated it, this situation with Dark Veil involved him, too. I absolutely hated that the dark magic cult even knew about Reed. It made my skin crawl.

I missed both of them deep in my soul this morning. I’d become accustomed to having one of my mates to sleep next to, and it was something I loved.

As my eyes fluttered open, a dark magenta gem, one I believed was called dark maginite, rested on my other pillow on top of an envelope with a black triangular wax emblem sealing it.

A strong scent of sulfur and gore wafted from the seal. My gut churned. The gem pulsed with a dark glow that cast a dance of shadows over the pillow. There was a hum emanating from it that almost synced with my heartbeat.

Where had it come from?

If it were Hunter or Reed, they would’ve woken me up or stayed. Could it have been one of the other three?

I reached out and brushed my fingertips over the smooth, hot surface of the gem. There were several souls inside… tainted souls.

Cold terror gnawed at the base of my spine before my magic whirled out of control.

Black smoke billowed from my lips and surrounded the gem in a tight cocoon, devouring the several souls in one go.

My eyes widened, prickling with heat at the amount of dark-magic-tainted souls my powers consumed. Each soul was riddled with suffering and despair.

I let out a pained gasp as my dark smoke slipped back between my lips and bottomed out in my gut.

Tossing my blanket off, I rolled and fell onto the stone floor, doubling over as pain twisted my stomach. I convulsed violently, my muscles spasming as my nails dug into the sandstone.

“Pandora,” Nebula hissed from the nightstand. “It’s dark magic.”

“I—know—that!” I choked out.

My skin heated as if it were being scorched from the inside out. Sweat dripped off me as my stomach churned with a sickening roll.

The corrupted souls rebelled, and I clutched at my abdomen as if trying to contain them in my body.

Magic burst out from within my soul in a desperate plea, calling out to my mates—all five of them.

Sulfur and decay soaked the air around me, and each breath I struggled to fill my lungs with was laced with the foul odor. It was like the dark magic had formed a tangible miasma all around me. My magic fought the darkness swelling inside of me, threatening to poison my blood…my soul.

My mouth filled with a bitter, acrid flavor. I gagged and retched as a rush of dark tar burned up my throat like acid. It splashed onto the stone below, and the agony of my magic fighting the dark magic slowed.

“Get it out,” Nebula told me, his disembodied voice echoing through the room, rooting me back to the reality of what was happening. “The black sticky fluid is dead dark magic. Your magic killed it, and now, you need to get it out of you. Do you understand?”

“I didn’t puke…last time I consumed dark magic…” I choked on it, my throat burning.

“You expelled it a different way,” he murmured. “It’s like eating food. If you eat too much, you puke, but if you eat a normal amount, you expel it like regular food.”

I glanced up with watery eyes at Nebula. “Are you saying I shit out dead dark magic?”

“That’s exactly what I’m saying, Pandora.”

How was this even possible? How did I not notice that?

Each heave expelled the dead dark magic from my body.

I’d always wondered what the dark tar was, and now, I knew. But how did Nebula?

Another explosion of pain burst through me, and the room seemed to tremble around me just as Dex stepped through the shadows with Hemlock and Skel in tow.

Hunter’s bond pulsed with worry and haste, but I couldn’t sense anyone else’s emotions.

As the last of the dark magic left my body, I pushed back and fell into a warm, blood-scented chest.

Strong arms tattooed with shadows lifted me up and placed me back on the bed. “Fuck. What happened, trouble?”

“Why—” I wheezed as I caught my breath—“are you here?”

“You reached out to us with the bond,” Hemlock murmured, his red eyes wide in alarm.

“I never thought I’d ever feel anything so fucking scary.” Skel inhaled deeply on his pipe before blowing pretty rainbow smoke the other way.

My ragged breathing filled the silence as they stared at me.

The dark magic had very nearly consumed me instead of the other way around. My magical reserves overfilled with souls, and magic pumped through my veins at an alarming rate.

“Dark maginite.” Nebula’s voice rang out. “On her pillow. Filled with dark magic-infected souls.”

“How did it get here?” Dex barked.

“I don’t know,” Nebula answered. “I wasn’t manifested until Pandora woke up and started to consume the tainted souls.”

Sweat poured off me with every second that passed. “My reserves are too full,” I gasped. “I need…”

Hunter burst open the door with Reed behind him. “What happened?”

“Are you okay?” Reed asked.

My eyes rolled back as I fell onto the bed, and my magic pushed down the bonds to all five of my mates.

Every one of them stumbled, but Skel let out a pained cry.

My reserves were full, but not overfilled any more. I pushed back off the bed to see Skel on the ground, sucking the absolute crap out of his pipe.

Dripping shadows struck toward me, and the pain of a sting on my arm ripped my flesh open.

Fear coursed through me.

“Fuck, Skel!” Dex lifted finger guns at him before shooting several shadow bullets into Skel’s shoulder. A hole opened up and blood gushed out of it as the bullet dissipated back into the shadows.

My gaze widened, and I threw myself in front of Skel, ignoring Mother’s shadows. They were just an illusion.

Skel had lost control of his magic.

“Don’t!” I screamed.

The last bullet flew toward my face but changed direction and hurled back toward Dex, disappearing into the shadows around him.

“Trouble, don’t jump in front of fucking bullets!” Dex shouted at me.

“I’m okay, princess.” A hand tentatively rested on my back, and I turned to face Skel. His face was scrunched up in pain. “Dex causes me injuries so I can use up my magic to heal and not lose control. I need him to do it to maintain control. My reserves are too full.”

Blood soaked his arm, but the flesh had already healed from the bullet wounds.

“Isn’t there any other way?” I furrowed my brows at him.

“The fae pipe helps because it numbs my magic and body,” he admitted, taking another inhale of it. His lip ring hit the mouthpiece, making a noise as he smoked. “But when I’m this full of magic, no.”

Hunter kneeled down and pulled me against his chest. “Close your eyes, starlight.”

I kept my gaze locked on Skel’s, shaking my head.

Skel nodded. “Close them, princess.”

Biting my lip in frustration, I turned and covered my eyes into Hunter’s chest. Inhaling his sweet chocolate scent only calmed me a fraction as Skel’s blood pierced my nose again.

“Thanks,” Skel groaned.

“Any time,” Dex muttered.

“You can open your eyes,” Hunter whispered.

I looked back to see Dex clasping hands with Skel and pulling him to his feet.

“They do this all the time.” Hemlock’s gaze bore into me with worry and caution.

“Can you please tell us what happened?” Reed bent down and helped me and Hunter up. “The pain and fear that shot down the bond was intense, and we aren’t even bonded yet.”

“That’s why we’re here, too,” Dex added. “Nebula said she consumed tainted souls.”

“She did, but the dark magic was powerful,” Nebula added. “There was too much of it.”

I looked over at his kitten skull propped up on my nightstand. His soul manifestation was as black as the tar I’d puked up, but Nebula’s brimmed with magic.

His soul wasn’t tainted…but it was dark.

“How did you know I was puking up dead dark magic?” I asked him.

The guys’ all turned to look at Nebula.

“Your magic consumed all of it and killed it. That’s why it hurt. It was literally destroying the dark magic in your body, and there was so much of it, your body expelled it,” he explained.

“But how do you know that?” Hunter asked.

“I sense it.”

“There’s a letter on my pillow,” I croaked, moving away from Hunter and Reed and sitting back on my bed. “It was next to the gem.” I grabbed the letter, trying to ignore the magic sparking up my arm from touching it.

I slipped my finger under the top, breaking the seal and unfolding the letter. The script was elegant, but the words sent dread spiraling through me.

Pandora Bones,

You’ve earned your mother’s last name, finally. It seems you aren’t as worthless as she’d said. The time has come for you to fulfill your purpose to the Veil. We will have a very long and beneficial alliance. Do enjoy our gift to you.

—Dark Veil

“Oh, Fates. I’m going to puke again.” I tossed the letter back on the bed and started to pace, avoiding the dead dark magic I hurled up on the ground. “Please tell me that letter doesn’t say what I think it said.”

Hunter grabbed it first, scanning over it. The rest of the guys moved behind him and read it.

“It does,” Reed confirmed, his horns extending.

All five of them were in their demon forms, and the violent glimpse into their bond from a random spike in my powers told me they were all pissed. Dex, however, had a hint of fear in his heart that unnerved me.

“I want Daryl.” My voice broke with a heavy rasp.

“I’ll call him,” Hunter promised before stalking over to my tablet.

The edges of my vision blurred, and the blood rushed to my head with a deafening roar as I mulled over the letter.

Purpose to the Veil? I only followed the Fates’ purpose for me. Though, Mother had talked about the Veil before. I knew the Veil was supposedly where dark magic resided, but I knew it wasn’t meant for us. Even though Mother taught me otherwise.

How had I popped up on their radar?

My heart pounded against my rib cage, each thud reverberating through my entire body.

No. Memories of things Mother had said to me about Dark Veil flooded back with the lingering pain of her abuse. I’d always been on their radar.

Bones. I hadn’t known Mother’s last or first name my entire life. I was never a Bones. I would only ever recognize the name Gravesend.

Hunter’s hand rested on my shoulder, and I jolted as everything around me turned sharper. “He’s on his way. Dexter offered to shadow-travel him, but Death said he doesn’t trust him.”

The buzzing began to dim and the roar in my ears subsided into a dull hum. “Thank you.” I glanced between Dex and Hunter. “Since when do you call Dex, Dexter?”

“Since I asked him to stop using my last name,” Dex murmured, sweeping a hand through his hair. “I don’t like it.”

“You don’t?” Reed’s brows shot up.

Dex shook his head. “You can call me Dex, too. We share a mate.”

“Oh.” His violet eyes widened. “Yeah, well, in that case, call me Reed.”

Dex smirked, sliding his gray eyes to Hunter and giving him a puppy dog look. “Cool. I could officially be on first-name basis with all of my mate’s mates if Darkmore would allow me to call him by his.”

Hunter sighed, glancing at me for an answer.

I shrugged. “Your choice.”

“Fine, but if you fuck up, you’ll never call me by my first name again.” Hunter crossed his arms.

“Fuck, yes!” Dex fist bumped the air.

A sharp knock rapped on the door, and I froze.

“There’s no way your dad’s here already.” Hunter went over and grabbed the door knob, opening it to reveal Jenni sipping on a passion fruit lemonade.

“Is Pandora okay?” She slipped in, ignoring Hunter and beelining directly to me. “Why weren’t you in class? Why is everyone here? Is everything okay?”

“I got sick,” I muttered, glancing over at the spot that I’d puked. I didn’t even know what time it was.

Her nose scrunched up. “Uh, yeah. Yeah, you did. Gross.”

“Thanks.” I reached back and rubbed my neck.

“Oh! I don’t mean that in a bad way. It’s just…what the hell is it?” She squinted, taking a few steps back. “Are you even okay? Do you need to go to Sunstone Revive?”

“I’m okay. It’s dead dark magic,” I replied bitterly.

Jenni’s eyes widened, and the color drained from her face. She placed her lemonade on the dresser with a trembling hand. “Dark magic?”

I nodded. “It’s dead, though.”

“It can’t infect anyone?” Her voice broke. There was obvious fear in her blue-green eyes.

“No,” I assured her. “I do this weird thing where I eat dark magic and apparently kill it.”

“Why was dark magic around you in the first place?” Her shoulders shook as she stepped back again.

“I don’t know.” I frowned. “I woke up and a gem was on my pillow.”

“Maybe we shouldn’t tell just anyone about that,” Dex said with a cold edge to his tone.

“I agree,” Hunter added, and everyone else nodded.

“Jenni’s my friend,” I murmured. “I can trust her.”

“ Best friend,” she corrected, but the lightness didn’t reach her eyes. “Your special secret is safe with me, you know that. But I really can’t be around dark magic. It scares me. Dead or not. Do you mind if I…”

I shook my head. “I completely understand.”

Tears welled up in her eyes as she nodded. “Thanks for understanding, Pandora. I’ll talk to you later, okay?”

She fled from the room without her passion fruit lemonade, and I knew something was definitely wrong.

Was she okay? Why did dark magic make her want to cry? Was I a bad friend for giving her space? Should I have gone and comforted her?

“That wasn’t suspicious,” Hemlock muttered under his breath, but we all heard it.

“It’s not. It makes sense.” Hunter frowned. “Trust me.”

“Jenni cares about Pandora,” Reed snapped, standing up for her. “But she clearly has a thing against dark magic.”

“Don’t we all?” Dex snorted.

“She was afraid.” Skel puffed more on the pipe. “ Terrified . Dex?”

“Got it.” Dex shot another bullet through Skel’s shoulder.

I flinched as I watched blood ooze out as it healed.

“Fuck,” Skel said between puffs. “Thanks.”

“Yup.” Dex dropped his arm before dropping his gaze to Reed’s bag over his shoulder. “Is that an axolotl sticker on your tablet?”

“Yeah. Axolotls are awesome.” Reed crossed his arms, and his hair bounced with the movement. “And cute.”

“What’s an axolotl?” Skel whispered, his green eyes red-rimmed and heavy-looking. The fae drugs had him in a trance.

“A pink salamander fish thing with cool fins that lives in a tank,” Dex replied.

“I’ve only ever seen Reed’s, but Gumdrop’s pretty cool.” Hemlock shrugged. “I guess.”

Reed’s lips quirked into a smirk. “I knew you liked him.”

Hemlock’s cheeks tinged a rose color. “He listens when I ramble, but he’s also judgmental. I swear he looks at me like he’s going to find a way to drown me in his tank.”

Reed chuckled, and I hid my giggle behind my hand.

Everyone turned to me, and I felt heat rush to my cheeks. “Um, Daryl will be here soon. Could you guys head out first? I don’t know if I want to deal with Daryl having a moment over the fact that I have five mates right now. One thing to know, one thing to see.”

“Of course. Death would lose his shit if he saw all of us here,” Hunter said, swooping in and kissing my lips softly. “I’ll be over tonight.”

Reed stole a kiss right after. “I’ll come, too. If you need me, call.”

“I will,” I murmured.

Dex took a couple of strides to close the distance between us, and his metallic bloody scent filled my nose as he leaned down. “I’m not letting Dark Veil touch you, trouble.”

“T-Thank you,” I stuttered.

He straightened, nodding once. His gaze darted behind me to Hunter. “Can I talk to you?”

Hunter furrowed his brows before nodding. “Sure.”

Hemlock had his arm under Skel’s as he held him upright. “We all fucked up, but we’re still your mates…even if we won’t bond. We’ll do everything we can to protect you.”

“Anything,” Skel stated, blinking furiously. “We’ll do anything to protect you.”

Heat pumped through my veins at a rapid rate, and I bobbed my head in a nod.

Hunter opened the door, and Daryl was already standing there.

“Pandora.” His dark eyes met mine, and he pushed through the crowd of my mates to wrap his arms around me in a hug. “It’s going to be okay.” He glanced back at my mates with a low growl. “I’ll take it from here.”

The five of them filed out, and once the door clicked shut, Nebula’s voice rang out. “Interesting.”

“It is,” I agreed.

“What is?” Daryl asked, pulling away before sniffing the air a few times. “Is that passion fruit?”

“My friend left her passion fruit lemonade.” I gestured to the cup still on my dresser. “She barely drank it.”

“Oh, cool.” He let go and went over to pick up the cup, holding it up and staring at it with an odd expression. “Can I…have it?”

I furrowed my brows at him. “Um, sure.”

He took a few sips, staring at it with a strange look. “Darkmore explained everything. How is Dark Veil even aware of you?”

“That would be Mother’s doing.” I wrapped my arms around myself and went over to sit next to where Nebula was, carefully moving around the dead dark magic. “I don’t know how I forgot all of the times she’d specifically mentioned Dark Veil. But…I think they knew about me even before you found me.”

A low growl rumbled in his throat. “What do they know exactly? Hunter read me the letter over the tablet, but I hate that they know about whatever power it is you seem to have that kills dark magic.” He paused, glancing at Nebula and the dark magic puddle on the floor. “By the way, I still can’t believe you and your mates can hear it talk.”

“I’m a he not an it ,” Nebula hissed, but Daryl didn’t seem to notice.

“Can you really not hear him?” I extended my index finger toward his skull. “He doesn’t appreciate being called an it.”

“All I see is the skull of a kitten murdered far too soon. I can sense something that could be a soul, but Pandora, that’s it.” Daryl came over and sat next to me, sipping on Jenni’s lemonade like his life depended on it.

“You don’t see his soul manifesting?” I gestured toward his inky soul pouring from his eye sockets.

He shook his head. “No, and that concerns me.”

“I’m the least of your concerns,” Nebula scoffed before his soul rolled back inside his skull.

“He says he’s the least of your concerns, and then, he de-manifested,” I translated for him before the dark magic almost seemed to seep into the ground before disappearing completely. My eyes widened. “W—What just—did you see that?”

“Dark magic returns to the Veil after it dies for resurrection,” he muttered bitterly. “If it’s not contained in a relic, it gets recycled. That’s the theory, anyway. Nobody really knows for sure.”

“ Fates .” I ran my hand over the mark covering the entirety of my thigh, down to my knee.

Daryl followed the motion with a narrowed gaze. “Darkmore marked your thigh.”

“He did. It makes my scars bearable,” I whispered. “I can still feel how bad they are, but I don’t feel the need to hide them anymore.”

“You never had to hide them.” A hollow sucking sound came from the straw as he drank the rest of the lemonade, and he got up and tossed the cup in the trash. “I’m going to look into Dark Veil for you.”

“Thanks, Da-Daryl.” I winced. I think I almost called him Dad. “But what’s with your weird obsession with my friend’s lemonade?”

He smoothed his hand over his hair with an innocent chuckle. “I like passion fruit, apparently.”

“You and Jenni would get along great, then.” I smirked. “She has a crush on you. Has since she was a teenager, apparently.”

His head whipped toward me. “Your friend has a crush on me?”

I wasn’t able to hide my smile. “Yes. It’s odd, but she is genuine in her feelings.”

“Huh.” He grinned. “Your dad’s still got charm then.”

I rolled my eyes. “Oh, Fates, stop, please.”

He came back over and patted my head. “Fine, fine. Will you be okay alone?”

“Hunter and Reed are staying the night?—”

He held up his hand with a grimace. “Oh, Fates. Don’t tell me that. ”

Gasping, I glared at him and rested my hand on my chest. “Not like that! Just staying the night!”

“Great.” He scratched the back of his head with a nervous laugh. “I’ll go dig into what we know, then.”

“You should do that,” I agreed as he awkwardly made his way out of the door.

Before he shut it, he paused. “Lock this when I leave.”

“I will,” I promised, getting up as he clicked it shut.

I locked it, but something else caught my eye on the other nightstand that Nebula didn’t rest on.

I padded over to it, and an eerie chill zipped down my spine. How had I missed this?

Another letter sat on top of the nightstand with a raccoon skull on top of it. Spicy bourbon surrounded me as I lifted the skull up and grabbed the letter. Relief poured into me as I realized it wasn’t from Dark Veil but from Hemlock.

He must’ve left it for me when he was here.

Broken shards of whiskey sliced into my heart,

But redemption’s path hurts worse.

I’m giving you the space you asked for,

Because you deserve nothing less.

Skulls of the dead are what you like,

Raccoons and cats are similar, yes?

Fated but undeserving,

I am yours.

I’m so fucking sorry.

“Too bad you only like my skull.” Nebula’s voice surrounded me again.

“Now you manifest.” I giggled, gliding a finger down the skull. “I have to admit that you’re my favorite skull, but I’m rather fond of this one, too.”

“It doesn’t have a soul,” Nebula grumbled. “I do.”

“Yes,” I assured him as I picked up the raccoon skull and placed it on an empty floating shelf above my dresser. “Nebula’s superior, obviously, but Hemlock seems to be doing his best.”

“But is his best worth it?”

I bit down on my lip and went back to sit on the bed, the letter clutched in my hands. “I don’t know, but I think…I want to find out.”