1. Mayhem

1

MAYHEM

M y soul, my life, my reason for being lay limp in my arms, her stillness carving a crater in my chest and hollowing my stomach until nothing but blind rage remained inside me.

Rage I could not contain.

“Is she…?” A tear slid down Ash’s cheek as I moved Ember from my lap to hers.

“She’s alive. Barely.” I rose to my feet, my eyes heating, my irises undulating as the fury built. “I wouldn’t be here otherwise.”

“Mile—” She choked on a sob and rested the back of her fingers on her sister’s forehead. “Give me my satchel.”

Ember was in expert hands with Ash and the others, which allowed me to focus on the Formorian dangling from my brother’s clutches…the reason my beloved barely clung to a frayed thread of existence.

“You will return her life force to her body, Donal .” I spoke the culpable creature’s name with such force, he flinched.

The vile beast kicked, flailing his arms and legs. My brother squeezed his throat harder, yet Donal did not obey. He was a son of Balor, after all. When his race ran rampant, his power matched my own. Even using his name, he was difficult to control.

My fury boiled over, hellfire heating every inch of my skin and threatening to erupt.

“She’s not breathing.” Ash laid Ember on the floor and blew into her mouth, making her chest rise and fall. “How is she alive if she’s not breathing?” Her voice took on an edge of shrillness as she placed her hands over Ember’s heart and repeatedly compressed her chest.

“Alive, alive for the time.” Donal grasped Chaos’s arm with both hands. “Let me go, and I’ll send her home.”

My brother lowered him to the floor but kept a firm grip on the beast’s throat. “You will not disappear, Donal. You will do exactly as we say.”

“You want me to send her home, yes?” His voice was thin, his breath barely escaping his compressed throat.

“Yes,” Chaos growled.

“Release me, and it’s done.” Donal patted his hand. “Let go, big guy, and I’ll send her on high.”

“No! He’s a trickster.” I grabbed the creature’s arm, wrenching it behind his back as my brother released him. “You will not send her on high , Donal. You will return her life force to her body.”

He strained, the grinding of his teeth audible as he fought my command. “We should be equals. Tell me your name since I’ve done the same.”

“You didn’t tell us anything.” I twisted his arm up his back, wrenching it harder. “And we will never be equals, you sniveling, rhyming imp. Now, return my witch’s life force.”

He hissed through his teeth. “Father needs it.”

“Ember needs it.” Grabbing the back of his neck, I swung him toward my witch and shoved him to his knees. “Give it back to her, Donal.”

“Do it, Donal,” Chaos said.

Ash stood, allowing Miles to continue breathing for Ember, sparks gathering on her fingertips as she loomed over the vile beast. “Donal, you better do it right now before I beat you to a pulp and burn you beyond recognition.”

He groaned, his body tensing as he ground out, “No.”

A fireball formed in Ash’s hand, and she hurled it at his chest, setting his shirt ablaze. The Formorian squealed and writhed in my grasp, but I held him firmly, forcing him to feel Ash’s wrath.

“If you want her to stop, you will do as we say.” I twisted his arm again, and his shoulder dislodged from its socket with a pop .

“Enough.” Chaos placed a hand on Ash’s shoulder.

“Don’t you dare try to calm me down.” She shrugged him off and grabbed a handful of Donal’s hair, angling his head upward and forcing him to look at her. “Do. It. Now.”

Smoke rose from her fist, the stench of burning hair joining the reek of charred flesh.

“Okay, okay! Make the burning stop!” Tears streamed down his face, rolling around his snotty pig snout before dripping onto the floor.

Ash called her fire back and released his hair. The Formorian’s shirt had turned to ash, but his burns healed in seconds. He blew out a hard breath, his body slumping into my grasp.

“My arm hurts. Let me go, and I’ll do the work.”

My eyes narrowed, and I cut my gaze toward Chaos and Ash. They nodded, and Ash moved to my right, the three of us flanking the creature while Miles poured a potion into Ember’s mouth.

“Do not disappear, Donal.” I loosened my grip, allowing him to lean toward Ember.

“My arm, please.”

I let go, and he gripped his dislocated shoulder, forcing it back into place before resting both hands on the floor and crawling toward my witch. He paused and whispered something in the Formorian tongue. Before I could react, he grabbed a handful of ashes, flinging them into our faces and scrambling away.

I blinked against the grit in my eyes and gave chase. Our command that he not disappear remained, but the order to return Ember’s life force had never taken hold. He threw clothing racks and toppled display cases as he darted for the storage room door.

I leaped over the obstacles, plowing toward him. My new ostrich boots—the only items of clothing remaining on my demon form—caught on a tangle of western shirts, making me stumble.

I kicked off the offending shoes, and my hooves clomped on the linoleum as I lunged for the door, catching it before it could close. “Donal, you sorry excuse for a lifeform, return Ember’s energy immediately.”

“Never will I ever. Father needs it.” He darted around a corner as Chaos entered the room.

My brother gripped my shoulder. “Balor is here.”

“Whatever gave you that idea?” I stormed forward, stopping short of the corner as a wave of dizziness washed over me. My fingers and nose tingled, purple smoke escaping the undersides of my talons.

Chaos’s brow slammed down, his irises rippling. “We’re losing her…and you.”

“Thank you for pointing out the obvious.” I pressed forward, though it felt like I was moving through a tarpit. My muscles screamed, the fabric of my being shredding from the inside out as the Underworld called me home.

“Grab him,” Ash shouted from behind me. “I know an extraction spell. We’ll force Ember’s energy from his body.”

One foot in front of the other, I rounded the corner, the force of each step ricocheting through my body, threatening to shatter my bones the moment my hoof hit the floor.

Donal sat on his knees, his hands on the floor, straddling a lump of rotting flesh. “This is a strong one, Father.”

He opened his mouth, and glittering gold energy—the essence of Ember’s being—crossed his lips, spiraling into the creature beneath him.

The pain in my body ceased, the instinct to save the woman I loved taking complete control and rendering me numb to everything except my purpose. I lunged for Donal, hauling him up by his neck and clutching his throat.

“Balor, Balor, I have valor,” he squeaked. “Look what I brought you, Father.”

“Give it to me,” the lump on the floor wheezed. “Or you’re worth less than a sneeze.”

“I’ve had enough of your rhyming, imbecile.” I squeezed his neck, my talons digging into his skin and making him bleed. “Last chance. Return Ember’s life force.”

“Hold him still.” Ash dumped a jar of herbs onto the floor.

“Never.” He opened his mouth, and Ember’s energy shot toward Balor.

My stomach lurched. I tightened my grip, jerking my hand and snapping his neck. The wretched bastard screamed, but my witch’s energy continued to flow. Ash lit the herbs ablaze and began reciting an incantation, but I barely heard her words. Purple smoke rose from my skin. My body, once solid, wavered, my corporeal form trying to skate away as Ember’s hold on the thread of life slipped.

I could wait no longer.

With the Formorian still dangling from my grasp, I plunged my talons into his chest. His ribs cracked and splintered as I reached for his heart.

“Mayhem, no!” Ash’s voice echoed somewhere in the distance.

Twisting and ripping, I dislodged the organ from his veins, yanking it out and tossing Donal’s corpse onto the floor.

The heart beat three times in my hand before crumbling to dust along with his body.

Ember’s energy rose from the pile, gathering into a ball of light before drifting toward the ceiling. A pricking sensation formed on my skin, and more purple smoke—my essence—seeped from my pores.

I looked at my brother and then at Ash. “I’m fading.”

“No shit.” Her brown furrowed. “I had an extraction spell ready, but this…” She gestured to the beautiful ball of sparkling light. “I need to mix a containment spell before she crosses over.”

A sob rolled up from my chest, but I caught it in my throat and reached a hand into the light. My witch’s essence, her energy, her life danced across my waning skin, making my stomach clench. Ember had a kind, pure soul. She would not be damned to my realm.

Which meant I would never see her again.

I squared my gaze on Ash. “You have to save her.”

“And you have to quit trying to solve every situation with violence.” She swiped a mixture of herbs around the lip of a small container. “Light of life, avoiding strife. Don’t go far; enter this jar. As I will it, so mote it be.”

The light shimmered. It spread across the ceiling, casting the room in shades of gold and silver as if both the sun and the moon were working together to illuminate the mess I had made.

“No. It’s mine.” Balor blew out a breath and inhaled deeply. Ember’s energy shimmied, drifting toward the king of the Formorians.

“Ash…” My legs weakened. The low vibration of the Underworld called me home, but I fought it. Home was not in the pits of Hell. Not anymore. Home was no longer a place…it was a person.

Home was Ember.

Ash recited the spell again. Still, Ember’s light flowed toward Balor.

No. No, this was not happening. I would not return to Hell. I refused to let Ember die.

Dropping to my knees, I shoved my talons into Balor’s chest. His bones had not hardened, so my claws passed through easily, even in my weakened state. I fisted my hand where his heart should have been, but his insides were nothing but gelatinous sludge.

How could I vanquish the vile beast if he had no heart?

He let out a pained mewl as I swirled my hand inside his chest, stirring his insides like soup. I hoped it was the most excruciating agony he had ever felt.

Ember’s light stilled. Then, it vibrated. It dimmed and pulsed, shimmying between Balor and Ash.

“Balor, I demand you release her.” I plunged my talons upward, toward his throat, the tips protruding from the base of his neck. His eyes bulged, and he wheezed.

Ash spoke the incantation a third time. Ember’s light flashed twice and soared toward the jar Ash held. It flowed into the container, sparkling like a thousand fireflies danced within the glass.

“Come on. Chaos will watch him.” She closed the jar and grasped my arm, tugging me away from the beast. “We need to save Ember.”

I followed her into the store. Miles held Ember’s head in his lap. When he looked up, a tear slid down his cheek. “I don’t know what else to do,” he said.

“She’s not gone yet.” Shade adjusted his position, wincing and pressing a hand to his injured stomach. “But, dude, you’re smoking.”

I dropped to the floor and pulled my witch into my lap, brushing the matted hair from her forehead. Ash lowered to her knees and opened the jar, holding it toward Ember’s face. As her light rose from the container, my smoke swirled around it, creating a protective cocoon.

I could feel her in my soul, lighting the darkness inside me, making me whole.

“Let it go,” Ash said. “Her energy can’t return while you’re holding it hostage.”

“I can’t.” I tried. I tried to call my smoke into my corporeal form, but this body was merely a vessel about to sink. My soul refused to let her go.

Ash grabbed my wrist. “You have to, or she’ll die.”

More smoke rose from my skin, my body becoming translucent as Ember slipped further and further into the ether. “Take her. Save her.”

Ash pulled Ember into her lap, and I crawled away, my legs too weak to carry me. As I moved, my smoke followed, still attached to my semi-solid form. A trail extended to Ember’s light, the once-invisible tether holding her tightly in this realm.

Ash looked at me, tilting her head and silently reminding me I had to let her go to save her.

I backed away, dragging myself across the floor and willing the Underworld to let me remain. My soul released her, the agony that followed unbearable. A rift opened above me. My essence flowed toward it.

“Come on, Em. Take it back.” Ash fanned the light toward her sister’s face.

I could not fight the pull. My arms dissipated into smoke and flowed into the rift. My legs followed, the disintegration inching its way toward my torso until darkness closed in around me.