“And you waited to tell me until right now?” Jinx demanded.
“Yes. Because if you had time, you’d insist on a viable alternative.”
“What’s wrong with that?”
“There’s not one,” Jez said sadly. “I’m the viable alternative to your brother doing this. After what happened the other night, things are only going to get worse. Fast. Once I get the hellhounds and monsters to follow me, they’ll be gone—no more haunting for you, except your ghosts, of course.” He paused. “I don’t think it will help Rogue’s hell problem, though.”
“Why would you do this? Did you always know, the way you knew I’d open purgatory?”
“Yes. I’d hoped there was another way but I was prepared for there not to be.”
Jinx couldn’t blame him.
“You have to let Gillian help you. Let her ease some of your burden. She wants to. It’s what her wolf is telling her to do. Don’t protect her so much that you smother her,” Jez told him.
“What are you, the Oprah of vampires?”
“I prefer Dr. Phil. He looks . . . tasty.”
“For the love of Odin—TMI,” Jinx muttered.
“Listen to me, wolf—”
“I’ve spent my life listening. Doing the right thing. Doing what I was born to do. Guess what? What I was born to do was open purgatory.”
“And free my brothers. My family,” Jez pointed out.
“And that’s a good thing?”
“Yes, it is,” Jez said quietly. “Rebellion isn’t always wrong. Rebellion brings change. But you can’t change the fact that you see ghosts any more than you can stop your love for Gillian. If it’s freedom you’re looking for, well, maybe Rifter will give it to you without the snarling and the snapping.”
“I don’t snap. Poodles snap,” Jinx huffed. “Jez, you just got your family back.”
“They sacrificed. They paid. And they’ll help you while I’m gone. Your legacy was to lead the monsters out of purgatory and free my brothers and mine was to lead the monsters back into hell.”
“Why didn’t you say something earlier?”
“I wanted there to be another way,” Jez admitted.
“Jez, there has to be.”
“You’ve got to promise you’re not going to try to get me out. You have to promise me.”
“I can’t do that.”
“I can’t let you fuck with it. Not you or Rogue. You’re too tied to it—too many things can go terribly wrong.” Jez touched his shoulder. “I appreciate you wanting to do that, especially when you wanted to kill me a few short weeks ago.”
“Not kill. Maybe maim a little.” Jinx forced a smile. “We have to find another way.”
“I haven’t seen a way around this from day one. I’m not sure how much longer we can let those things roam.”
Jinx knew he was right. But to have to give the undead that kind of death sentence was unthinkable to him. Jez was stoic, but not exactly happy.
“Rifter knows about this—I went to him first, out of respect for your kind,” Jez explained. “Please go to him. Make peace while I’m still here to see it. It will give me comfort to know you’re with your pack again.”
Jinx pushed the tears back and nodded. Reached out and embraced the vampire, who hugged him back and then pulled away fast, as if afraid he’d never let go.
“Go, Jinx,” he urged and Jinx went to Rifter.
“Rifter, I’m—”
Rifter shook his head and reached out to trace the scars he’d left along the bottom of Jinx’s neck. “
“Ah, Rift.” The wolves embraced and it was like they were young wolves again, surviving the Extinction.
When they pulled apart, Rifter said, “Please come back to the mansion. You and Gillian. I realize you’ve mated and might want to spend time alone and that’s fine. But I’d like the mansion to always be open to you.”
“I’d like that,” Jinx said and Gillian was next to him, her hand in his. The other wolves looked relieved but troubled at what was about to happen to Jez. They’d all grown fond of the vampire.
“I can’t believe . . . he’s watched out for me and now . . .” He trailed off and Rifter said, “Let Jez have his honor.”
Jinx could only nod.
“It’s time, Jinx,” Jez told him. Jinx turned to see that the vampire’s fangs had elongated, his eyes black as polished marble and he walked backward, watching them all.
Jinx swore he noted a slight tremble in the vamp’s body, but then Jez straightened and whistled. The hellhounds shook the ground as Jez circled them.
“Dammit,” Rogue swore from behind him.
“I know. There’s no other way,” Jinx said, his voice breaking. He looked behind him and saw that the other Dires were there—for solidarity. He and Rogue and Jez were the keys here. Kate had sprinkled a heavy salt circle around them and they all stood inside of it and watched.
Gillian gripped his hand tightly and Jez walked into the middle of the cemetery and called for the hellhounds. They came at a rapid pace and the monsters followed as well.
“He’s got a job for you—listen to him,” Jinx forced himself to call out. The words nearly died in his throat but the look Jez gave him made him play his role.
Once he’d said it, Jez gave a smile, almost angelic and that was something to see on a vampire.
From the safety of the circle, Jinx and Rogue joined hands and began to chant the ancient prayer Jez had given them. They’d memorized it in case the wind picked up and ripped it out of their hands. At first, getting the words out was hard, because it seemed as though there was an outside force working against them. But they persevered and repeated it three times, and halfway through the fourth time, it began to happen.
Jez fell to the ground, as did the hellhounds. The smoke seemed to scream into the night and everyone covered their ears against the sound. The ground beneath their feet shook like a great earthquake had come, and then there was a blast of blinding red light. Jez screamed then, like he was burning alive and the smoke attacked him.
Jinx moved to leave the circle, to help his friend, but Rogue held him back. “No, Jinx. Don’t you dare.”
Jinx struggled as Jez continued to yell. In a matter of seconds, all of it—the smoke, the hellhounds, the vampire, were absorbed into the hot flashes of light and then there was nothing at all.
Chapter 39
Vice scented Liam before he saw him. Vice was in the living room, lying in a daze on the couch because the kid seemed to work on little to no sleep and still wouldn’t stay with anyone for long periods of time without fussing. Now, he was asleep on Vice’s bare chest as Vice flicked through the millions of channels and found nothing to watch.
“He’s asleep,” Vice offered when Liam edged in, hands stuffed in the pockets of his cargo pants. Liam nodded and slid into a seat that let him look at Vice but not get any closer. Vice pulled the blanket over the kid a little higher. “I know this is hard as hell for you.”
“Yeah.” Liam looked lost.
“You need my help with something? I can call Gwen.”
“I need your help, but you don’t need to call Gwen.” Liam clenched his jaw and said, “I know I can’t ask this, that I’ve asked too much already. But if I keep him . . . I don’t know if I can ever fully accept him into my pack. But if he’s yours, Vice . . . if he’s yours . . .”
“You will accept him.” Vice stared down at the innocent charge on his chest and maybe for once in his long life, he was speechless. It was the last thing he’d expected to hear from the young king, the Were he’d saved months earlier, the one he’d been training nearly nonstop.
