Chapter 12

12

T he Library of Purgatory was a grand structure made of rough stone, its walls reaching to the heavens. It was ten stories high and took up an entire block. Some people found it daunting, but Jinx never had.

She had been drawn to the library since she was a child, mesmerised by the promise of knowledge and secrets buried within the walls. It had books and comfy chairs and was warm and cosy. And best of all, it lacked her drug-addicted, negligent parents. Her parents had placed no value on things like education or fun, so she’d been left to discover them for herself.

“You okay?”

Jinx looked at Eric and saw his concerned expression. She had stopped halfway up the stairs, staring into space. She smiled, promising, “I’m fine. Just lost in thought. This place brings back a lot of memories.”

“For you, too?” Eric linked his elbow with hers as they climbed the last few steps to the huge double doors. He pushed inside, holding the doors open for her.

“Yep. It’s open to the public seven days a week and closed for only six hours daily, from midnight to 6am,” Jinx said. “It’s the perfect place to hide from parents addicted to Hype and gambling.”

Eric grumbled under his breath, cursing her parents. “Where are they now?” he asked with a frown.

“My parents?” Jinx waited for Eric to nod before saying bluntly, “Sabre killed them.” Eric made a strangled sound in his throat, and she patted his back. “She doesn’t think I know. But I do. She knew they sold me to Asmodeus. There was no way she’d let that go.”

“And you’re okay with that?” Eric questioned curiously.

Jinx nodded, feeling nothing but a twinge of pain and acceptance when she thought about her parents. “I've come to terms with it. It's just another part of my past that I can’t change.”

“I’m glad they’re dead. Sounds like they needed a good murdering,” Eric commented.

Jinx was relieved when she could grin at Eric. “That they did.”

As they made their way through the library to the elevator, Eric pointed out various areas where he used to hide or play as a child. “I always found ways to escape the chaos and danger of Purgatory,” he said with a wistful smile. “And being surrounded by books was a nice little bonus.”

Jinx squeezed his hand. She was so damn proud of him. Despite everything he had been through, he still managed to find joy in the little things. “I can’t believe we never ran into each other here.”

“Maybe it wasn’t the right time,” Eric suggested with a shoulder bump.

Jinx smiled at his whimsy. “Maybe.”

“Top floor?” Eric asked, finger hovering over the elevator button.

“Yep. Draven said the historical documents of Purgatory, including stuff about the founding families, are in the archives. That’s the top floor,” Jinx said.

Eric pressed the button, and they waited patiently for the elevator to make its way down to the ground floor. When the doors swished open thirty seconds later, Jinx hissed. Carrick, of all people, was inside.

“Hello to you too,” Carrick said snidely.

Jinx tugged Eric to the side, giving Carrick a wide berth as he exited. Then she hopped inside the lift, quickly pressing the top floor button. Just before the doors closed, she shot Carrick the finger, flashing a sharp canine at him. The fae’s disgruntled look gave her great satisfaction.

“Who was that?” Eric asked, frowning. He gestured to her face. “He made you sprout pointy teeth.”

Jinx took a deep breath, calming her tiger. “He’s no one. Just a douche I’ve had the displeasure of running into a few times.”

“Is he giving you a hard time? Do I need to enlist a brutal assassin to give him a talking to?”

“Not at all,” Jinx promised as the elevator doors slid open with a soft chime, revealing a vast, dimly lit space that seemed to stretch endlessly in all directions.

She inhaled deeply. The air was heavy with the musty scent of aged paper and leather bindings, a fragrance that spoke of centuries of accumulated knowledge. Towering shelves of dark, gleaming wood stretched upward, their tops disappearing into shadows cast by ornate wrought-iron chandeliers suspended from the vaulted ceiling. Each shelf was laden with an array of tomes, scrolls, and folios, their spines a symphony of faded colours and gilded lettering. Narrow aisles between the shelves beckoned, promising untold secrets and forgotten tales.

Jinx hummed happily. “Why have I never been up here before? This place is awesome.”

“I’ve never been to this level before, either,” Eric said, his eyes wide as he took in the huge space. “There’s sure to be something useful here.”

She sure hoped so. “But where do we start?”

“Computer search?” Eric suggested, nodding to a row of three desktop computers.

Jinx grinned, reaching over to squeeze his cheeks. “Not just a pretty face.” She skipped over to the computers, typing in Founding Fathers as Eric tried other word combinations.

Two minutes later, they each had a list of a dozen books and scrolls and split up to search. Jinx ran her fingers along cracked leather spines, hunting for the books she needed, and found herself relaxing into the task. She'd been tense with her fated mate business, thoughts of her parents, and then running into Carrick.

After gathering a handful of books, she took them back to a large table in a cute little corner next to a tall window. Eric met her there minutes later. The thud from setting his huge stack down was loud in the otherwise unoccupied space.

“Shit,” Eric exclaimed, looking around sheepishly and making Jinx laugh.

“Are you sure you got enough books?” she asked sarcastically.

Eric shrugged. “Can you ever have too many books?”

“Touché,” she said with a nod. She eyed the daunting pile in front of them before reaching for one randomly. “Well, let’s see what we can find.”

Two hours later, Jinx was ready to call it quits. She’d skimmed multiple books and found nothing relevant. There was a lot of information about the history of all four realms and details about the abilities of each species in Purgatory. But nothing to shed light on Z’s possible motives or a link to the Founding Fathers.

Suddenly, Eric whistled from beside her. “Wow.”

“Did you find something? What does it say?” she asked eagerly, peering over his shoulder.

“It's about demonic possession,” Eric replied, flipping through the pages of a large, black tome. “Did you know that’s a thing on Earth? Possession?”

Jinx frowned, studying the disturbing images in front of her. “No. I didn’t. Demons from Purgatory?”

Eric shook his head. “Can’t be. How would demons take over a human body? Demons already have their own bodies. I think it’s something different. It mentions sorcery.”

“As in magic?” Jinx asked curiously. She’d never heard of such a thing.

“Yep. Magic-users like witches, warlocks, and wizards,” Eric supplied. “Cool.”

“It’s interesting, I’ll give you that. But I don’t think it’s relevant to Zagan’s evil plan,” Jinx said. “But maybe it’s worth running it past the others—and Lucifer.”

Eric nodded. “We’ll do that.” He set the book aside, his fingers trailing along the pile until they found another ancient text. “How about this one? Chronicles of the Purgatorial Lines . That sounds promising.”

As he pulled it free from the stack, a cloud of dust erupted, making them both cough. Jinx waved her hand, dispersing the particles, and leaned in to examine the cover. Intricate etchings depicted all the realms—swirling vortexes, floating islands, and creatures of nightmare and wonder.

“I’m feeling lucky,” she murmured, carefully opening the fragile pages.

The book was divided into four sections, one for each realm. Each section was then further divided into multiple parts. Purgatory had the most parts by far, with pages upon pages of pedigrees from each species. Thumbing through the thick sheets, she paused when she found the royal seal of Cerberus. Seeing the multiple rows of three offspring did something funny to her insides. For the first time, she wondered what it would be like if she and Mikhail gave in to biology.

Triplets. There would be triplets in my future, Jinx thought silently. Warmth spread through her chest, surprising in its intensity.

“Did you find something?”

She snapped her head up. “Huh?”

“You were really lost in thought. I figured you found something,” Eric explained, looking at her curiously.

“Oh, no. Well, I don’t know. Maybe.” She turned the book around so Eric could see. “Royal family pedigree.”

Eric studied the page in silence for a moment before he looked at her knowingly. “Look at all these triplets. Wild, huh?”

“Yeah. Wild,” Jinx agreed, her fingers tracing over Mikhail’s name. “You know,” she began, her voice barely above a whisper. “I never had much of a childhood myself. And it’s not like I had a good role model for a mother, but …” She trailed off, old pain flickering through her body before she pushed it aside.

“But …?” Eric pressed gently.

She closed her eyes, allowing herself to picture three small faces, their eyes bright with wonder and laughter. In her mind's eye, she saw tiny hands reaching for her, soft and trusting. “I think I would have liked nurturing three babies. Giving them everything I never had.”

“You can still have that. There’s no need for wishes or what ifs.”

Jinx shook her head vehemently. “No. Because those three babies come with a royal father. I don’t know why I’m suddenly thinking about this now. It's pointless.”

“We can’t always turn our thoughts and feelings off,” Eric reminded her, patting her arm. “Besides, I’d say you have cause. I mean, it's not every day you find out you're meant to have three royal babies—at the same time!”

Jinx smiled. She could feel the weight of her unborn children, children destined to stay that way, pressing against her heart. Trying to shake the feeling, she smirked at Eric. “It’s for the best. What would three demon-tiger-shifter hybrids even look like? Sounds like a recipe for disaster.”

“I think three stripey, demonic babies sound absolutely adorable, personally,” Eric said, making Jinx laugh.

Shaking off the fantastical thoughts, she turned the page only to frown. “Damn. The pages have been ripped out.”

“For real?!” Eric gasped, grabbing the book and flicking through the next few pages. Sure enough, there were about ten pages missing. “These pages would have held the identities of the earliest generations. As well as all the extended family members.”

“Right,” Jinx agreed. “All the historical information that’s likely to have been forgotten, including all the off-shoots.” She flipped to the fae section, finding a pedigree updated to about fifty years ago and going back two hundred years, just like the demon line. But anything further back was missing. She looked at Eric. “It’s gone, too. Want to bet Z stole these pages?”

Eric snorted, turning page after page and finding more missing chapters. “That’s a losing bet.”

Jinx sat back, closing her eyes. “So, Z knows the identities of all the descendants of the Founding Fathers.”

“And he’s been at this for years. Who knows how many random distant cousins he’s managed to kill? It wouldn’t have drawn attention because their connection to the original line wasn’t widely known,” Eric pointed out.

“And the significance of that connection wasn’t known. It still isn’t.” She was getting seriously frustrated and empathised with how Mikhail, Brax, and Sabre must be feeling, given they had been trying to figure it all out for years. When Eric remained silent, she opened her eyes. “Eric?”

Eric’s grey eyes were wide, and he looked suddenly pale. “Umm, maybe it is.”

Jinx leaned over, speed-reading the page Eric was pointing at. She was about to ask why he was so worried when two words caught her attention. Soul foundation . The pair of them read on in silence, the gravity of the information seeming to suck all the air from the vast space.

Eventually, they looked at each other. “We’re fucked,” Jinx said succinctly.

“So fucked,” Eric agreed. He fumbled with his phone in his pocket. “I’m messaging Sabre. Oh, wait, she just sent me a message one minute ago. It says …”

Jinx wasn’t paying attention, too focused on the implications of what they had just discovered. But she did hear his loud, resigned sigh and what she thought was a quick apology.

Presently, he flashed her a roguish grin. “Find anything else, gorgeous?”

She scrunched up her nose, repeating, “Gorgeous? Are you feeling okay?”

Eric laughed. It sounded a little strained. “How could I be anything but perfect when I’m with you?”

She was worried he was having a stroke or something, so she pushed the book away, giving him her full attention. “Are you practising your pathetic pickup lines or something? Is now really the time for that?”

“You wound me, darling,” Eric clutched at his chest in mock pain. “Besides, what's wrong with multitasking?” He leaned in close to peer over her shoulder, his chest pressed against her back. His breath tickled her neck as he whispered, “I think I found something.”

Jinx pushed him away with a laugh. “What’s gotten into you?”

“What if I said you?” Eric murmured, his voice deeper than usual.

Jinx grabbed his face, her palms flat against his cheeks. “What was in that message? Was it a spell that causes psychosis?” She could feel his cheeks heating beneath her hands.

“Sorry,” Eric whispered. His eyes flicked behind her. “It wasn’t my idea.”

“What are you talking about?” She found herself snatched up in strong arms before Eric could answer. “The fuck?!” she snarled.

“Hey guys,” Sabre said cheerfully, popping up in front of Jinx.

“Sabre?” Jinx’s mouth fell open in shock when she looked up, finding Mikhail’s gorgeous face close to hers. “Mikhail?”

“We were in the neighbourhood,” Sabre volunteered, looking smug.

Mikhail ignored her, his gaze locked on Jinx. “Can I talk to you?”

Jinx had no idea what was happening, but Mikhail’s arms around her felt sublime. “Uh … sure.”

Mikhail strode across the room, depositing her on her feet only when a bookshelf obscured them. Jinx steadied herself against the stacks, her legs feeling weak. “What is happening here?”

Mikhail spoke swiftly. “I know I have no right to make demands of you, but please don’t fuck the vampire.”

“Fuck the …?” Jinx tugged on her ears, hoping it would help her understand what she was hearing. “Are you talking about Eric? Why would I fuck Eric?”

“Because now that I’ve made it clear I’m not interested, maybe Eric thinks he has a chance with you,” Mikhail said, his green eyes looking a little wild.

She was so confused. “You think Eric is interested in me?”

Mikhail’s hands fisted by his side, his jaw clenched in anger. “I don’t know what to think anymore, to be honest. But I know I can’t stand seeing him all over you.”

Jinx shook her head, her eyes wide with disbelief. “Eric has never been all over me. That’s crazy. He and I are just friends. Nothing more.”

Mikhail let out a frustrated growl, running a hand through his hair. “But that could change, couldn’t it?”

“No. It really couldn’t,” Jinx asserted, eyeballing the anxiety-riddled man before her.

He’s jealous, she decided, and she couldn’t deny the thrill of excitement that shot through her. She’d never made anyone jealous before. He paced away, mumbling under his breath. She watched avidly as his butt cheeks flexed beneath the taut fabric of his slacks, quickly averting her gaze when he spun to face her.

“I know what we agreed. And I haven’t changed my mind. But the thought of losing you to someone else makes me feel possessive.”

Mikhail, as a demon, was territorial. He couldn’t help it any more than she could help recognising him as her mate. But they could help their choices. And they’d made them. “You can’t lose what you never had, Mikhail.” The reminder was gentle yet firm.

Mikhail stilled for a moment before smiling small. “Touché.” He groaned and dropped his head, his chin resting on his chest. “I am so freaking embarrassed. And so very sorry. I don’t know what came over me.”

She was about to empathise with him when her sensitive ears picked up on the hushed conversation between Sabre and Eric. Sabre was congratulating Eric on a job well done, and Eric was whimpering like a baby. “I think I know,” Jinx said drolly, waving at her friends.

Mikhail frowned, peering through the gap in the shelves. His expression swiftly morphed from shame to awareness. “ Sabre! ” he hissed. “That sneaky angel.”

“She’s the best assassin in Purgatory for a reason,” Jinx reminded him.

“That doesn’t make my ego feel any better,” Mikhail admitted a little sheepishly. He sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m sorry for overreacting. It’s just …”

“I know,” Jinx interrupted sympathetically. “It will get easier.” I hope, she added silently. They stared at one another for a tense moment before she suggested, “Want to go kill the two idiots?”

Mikhail grinned, his dimples flashing. “More than anything else in the world.”

Jinx was relieved when she could laugh. They walked back to the table together, where Sabre and Eric looked at them expectantly. “Good try,” Jinx said mildly. She moved on before either could comment. “We found something. Something big.”

Sabre looked down at Mikhail’s crotch, her face scrunching in disgust. “I did not need to know that.”

Jinx picked up the heavy volume, slamming it down on the table. She really did not want to think about what Mikhail was packing between his manly thighs. Her night had already been spent dreaming about it, and it was too tempting to drop to her knees and find out if her dreams were accurate. “We, as in Eric and I.” She explained about the missing pages before revealing, “The Founding Fathers aren’t just the progenitors of the seven races physically . They’re also the wellspring of the souls .”

“I don’t understand,” Sabre said, studying the book intently. She juggled what looked like a giant pearl between her hands. Jinx had no idea what that was about and didn’t intend to ask.

“For each species to continue, a blooded relative of the forebearer must live. The bloodline links them directly to the soul source,” Jinx clarified. “No more bloodline means no more souls.”

“The soul has a body, not the other way around,” Mikhail breathed before swearing ripely. “Fucking Loki!”

“Loki told you about this?” Eric asked hopefully. “The Heavens are helping?”

Mikhail shook his head. “No. Loki was ambiguous, confusing, and maddening as always. But I do believe this is what he was alluding to.”

“I’m still not following,” Sabre conceded, looking peeved.

Jinx turned the page back, pointing to the first paragraph. “This book basically says that souls are finite. They need an origin point, which is the Founding Fathers. And they need an anchor, which is the descendants. Without both of those things, a soul simply ceases to exist. No more going to Heaven. No more pit stops in Hell. No more reincarnation or second chances. Just … nothing.”

“So, if all the dragons are killed from the original line, for example,” Sabre said slowly, “no new dragons will be born because there will be no new dragon souls . Dragons would just become extinct?”

Jinx nodded fervently, her pulse pounding once again with the implications. “Yes. And not just dragons. Every other being in Purgatory. Not to mention the humans on Earth. They sprouted from the Forefathers as well.”

“We’re fucked,” Sabre proclaimed loudly.

Jinx shared an amused look with Eric. “That’s what we said.”

“Why would Z want to eradicate all supernatural beings? And humans? If he did that, who would he rule?” Mikhail asked. The poor man looked devastated.

“I haven’t figured that part out yet,” Jinx said, closing the book decisively. “But I will.” Her tiger had the scent, and there would be no stopping her now.