Face of Death

Chapter 24

My throat constricted, squeezing the air out of me. My best friend hated me. Thought I was some killer or psycho necromancer. Nothing I said was going to change her mind. Maybe she was right. Maybe I did deserve what I was getting.

“I’ll take you to the Fields of Asphodel.” I didn’t look at her. I just started walking again, hoping she’d follow. If she didn’t, Chase or even Hades might show up, and they’d make her pay for being disobedient. Even if she hated me, Melodie didn’t deserve any of this. She wasn’t supposed to die yet. This was my fault. I glanced behind me to make sure she was following. She kept her eyes glued to the ground, and I thought I saw a tear drip down her cheek. Was she crying because she knew she wasn’t supposed to be here? Was she scared? Or did she feel bad about the way things between us were ending?

Alex’s figure came into view, and his face lit up when he saw me. I wondered if he always reacted to me this way. When I was focused on my human soul, I couldn’t tell what was happening here. How many times had I disappointed Alex by coming up to him without really being here? It seemed like I was disappointing everyone these days.

Arianna reached for Melodie’s hand, not paying much attention to me, probably because she didn’t know I was fully here. “Thanks, Ari.”

She did a double take before throwing her arms around me. “It’s so good to see you. Are you okay? Is everything going all right up there?” She looked up, not that we could see anything but black sky.

“I’m fine. Things are going slowly, but I’m meeting Mason again soon.” How soon? How long had I been down here? “I need to get back there so I don’t miss our appointment.”

“Can you stay for a minute?” Alex asked.

Arianna released her grip on me and put her arm around Melodie. “Come, dear. I’ll show you where you’re supposed to be.”

“That’s just it, Ari. She shouldn’t be here.” I turned to Alex. “Do you remember Melodie?”

He nodded. “Hades.” The word said it all. Alex knew he’d taken Melodie.

“It’s so unfair. I don’t know what to do to make this stop.”

A gust of wind blew all around us. We shielded our eyes as it stirred up the ashes that paved the way to the Fields. Without opening my eyes, I knew Hades was here.

“Did I hear you say you don’t know how to make this stop?” He touched down in front of me, and his swirling black smoke performed a trick I hadn’t seen yet. It didn’t just dissolve. It became a black suit jacket.

“You’re all dressed up with nowhere to go.” I wasn’t in the mood for niceties. I was majorly pissed.

“On the contrary. I’m dressed for dear Melodie’s funeral.” His hand grazed Melodie’s cheek, and she pulled away. Her face was bright red where he’d touched her, where he’d burned her.

“Don’t touch her!” I stepped toward him, grabbing Melodie and pulling her behind me. “You killed her. She wasn’t supposed to die. Are you so pathetic that you have to stoop to killing innocent people to lure me back here?”

He smirked and leaned down so he was right in my face. “Are you so inhuman that you are willing to allow me to kill so many of your former loved ones while you continue to plot against me? Why don’t you tell Melodie how the lives of the Ophi mean more to you than hers?”

Melodie gasped behind me.

“Don’t listen to him, Mel. He’s just trying to make you hate me. Remember, he’s the one who killed you. This is his sick game.”

“No, Jodi Marshall. It’s yours. You started it when you raised your human soul.” He walked around Alex, invading his personal space and running his fingers across Alex’s shoulder and back, finally resting on his other shoulder. He clamped down, and his hand burst into flame. Alex collapsed under the pain, falling to his knees.

“Stop!” I reached for Hades, willing my blood to mix. When our hands met, the heat was intensified. Hades let go of Alex and laced his fingers through mine.

“You have some fire power of your own, I see.” My hand burned against his. Most of the heat was coming from him, but he was right. I could make myself hot to the touch when I mixed my blood. “Very interesting.” The flames on his hand doubled, and I yanked out of his grip. “Still no match for me, though.” He blew on his hand, extinguishing it.

I held my hand, palm up, examining the blisters on my skin. Damn, that hurt.

“Tell me, Jodi Marshall. Will you choose to stay in exchange for Melodie’s life?” He turned and held his hand out like he was asking me if I wanted the prize behind door number one. “Or do I need to kill your mother next?”

“Don’t touch my mother!” My blood hadn’t even simmered down before it was raging once again.

“If that’s what you wish, then simply release the human half of your soul, and your mother will remain safe.” He walked over to Melodie. “But I think, because of your outburst, I’ll keep this soul for myself.” He gently patted Melodie’s hair.

“You’re always changing the rules, and you make sure every deal you make has you come out the winner, no matter what.”

He held his hands behind his back, looking totally at ease. “When you made the deal with me that night in the cemetery, you thought you’d outsmarted me. And if you want to be technical, you were the one who breached that deal. You raised souls that were off-limits to you.”

“I didn’t mean to. My powers were out of control thanks to you and Chase. You sent him after me. How was that playing by the rules?”

“Easy,” Alex whispered, standing at my side, still holding his burned shoulder.

“I never said I wouldn’t try to tempt you with more power.” He said it so matter-of-factly, like he believed he’d done nothing wrong. Maybe that was the problem. Hades was unaccountable for his actions. He didn’t answer to anyone.

“You’re basing your argument on a technicality? Is that the best you can do?” I stopped mixing my blood. Instead, I pushed all the poisoned blood to one corner of my body and focused on the life-restoring part of my power. I touched Alex’s shoulder. At first, his face scrunched in pain, but then it eased. He smiled at me.

“Thanks.” I’d healed his burn. I did the same thing to my left hand, healing the blisters.

“Impressive. I was under the impression only Medusa could heal the Ophi.” Something in those words made my brain spin into overdrive. Medusa. Hades hated that we had her soul. She was so powerful, and when she died, that power should’ve been turned over to him. Only we kept it, with her soul, locked in the statue. The statue. I was right. Medusa had the answers I needed. She was the answer.

“I’m a lot like Medusa. But you already know that, don’t you?” I narrowed my eyes at him. “That’s why you’ve been gunning for me. After we made our initial deal, you found out about my special connection to Medusa. You realized that I could give you what she never did. That’s the real reason you want me here. To drain my powers and keep them for yourself.”

“And the prize goes to…” He laughed. “Just because you figured out why I want you dead doesn’t mean you can stop me from getting what I want.” He waved his hand, and Melodie shot backward. The gate to the Fields of Asphodel flew open, and she was hurled inside. It was terrible to watch, but even worse to hear. Instead of screaming, she yelled my name. She wanted me to help her, but I just watched her go.

“You know, Jodi Marshall, I could make this worth your while.” Hades circled me, stopping directly behind me on the second time around. With a wave of his hand, Matt’s image appeared next to Alex. Hades leaned toward my right ear and whispered. “Which one of them do you truly love? Are you happy with Matt right now?” His hot breath sent chills down my neck and spine. “I could make Matt human again in his own body, and you could stay human, too. All you’d need to do is relinquish your Ophi soul to me. This would all end. No more torture. You’d have the normal life you’ve always wanted.”

I did want a normal life. I wanted the pain and suffering to end. This war with Hades couldn’t go on. We’d all end up dead. I’d already lost so much. My blood tingled in my veins, almost as if it was speaking to me, begging me not to give in to Hades, to what was easy.

“I’ll give you until tomorrow night to decide. After that, it’s all-out war.” He walked around me so we were face to face again. “I’ve been going easy on you, but if you don’t agree to this offer, you’ll see a different side of me. And rest assured, I will get what I want, one way or another.” He waved his hand, and his suit jacket once again swirled around him in a cloud of smoke until he was gone. Matt’s image was also gone.

Alex rushed to me, taking my hands. “What did he whisper to you? And what was with the image of Matt?”

“He wants to make a deal with me.”

Alex’s eyebrows rose. “Another deal?”

“I know. I’m getting really sick of them.”

Alex’s face hardened as he pieced together what the deal was. “He wants you to choose Matt and stay human.” He nodded. “Maybe you should do it.”

“What? No!” I cupped his face in my hands. “Alex, I won’t leave you here.”

“You do know that’s not the same as telling me you love me.” He was questioning my feelings for him. He thought my human emotions had taken control of me. That I wanted Matt now.

Arianna turned away, giving us a little privacy.

“I do love you. Nothing is going to change that.” Change it, no, but it wasn’t exactly that simple, either. I’d been kissing Matt before I came here. I couldn’t deny I had feelings for him. Even though it was my human soul acting on those emotions, I’d still technically cheated on Alex. After the whole thing with Chase, I didn’t know if Alex could handle this too.

“Alex, there’s something I have to tell you. It’s been eating me up inside.” I wasn’t sure which shook more, my voice or my hands. Alex laced his fingers through mine, giving me the strength to continue. “When I’m focused on my human soul, it’s like I’m a different person. The person I would’ve been if I hadn’t come into my powers.”

He stared at me, letting me get this out in my own time.

I felt my blood bubbling under my skin. God, how could I ever give up that feeling? The power? Alex? All of this? “I’m like two people. When I’m here with you, I want nothing but you. I want to be Ophi for the rest of my life.” Tears trickled down my cheek, and Alex raised our hands to wipe them away. “But when I’m human, I can’t help having human emotions. I feel what I felt before all this happened.”

“You feel what you felt for Matt.” His voice was soft and full of hurt.

He knew? “How did you—?”

“Tony told me. He said all your feelings for Matt would resurface. That the longer you two were together, the more you’d remember how you used to love him. And when he saw you with Matt’s sister…”

“I didn’t love him, at least not like that. I think I could have. No. I know I could have if I hadn’t met you. But I did meet you, and I love you, Alex.”

“It’s okay, Jodi. I’m not mad. That’s not who you are anymore. This is you. Right here, with me.” He leaned forward and pressed his lips to mine. I melted into him. This was what I wanted. I deepened the kiss, wanting to lose myself in him.

He gently pulled away, looking off into the distance. “Unless you want to take Hades up on his offer. You’d be free from all of this. He’d leave you alone.”

“No. I don’t ever want to be free from you. Not having you would be worse than being in Hell.”

He pulled me to him again, wrapping his arms around me. “You’re running out of time. The longer you’re away, the more pissed-off Hades gets.”

“I know. I’m going to Mason and then straight to Medusa. I’ll have an answer tonight.” I had to. Otherwise, Mom was dead. Hades would take her, and I’d be parentless.

“I wish there was something I could do to help you. Do you think there’s any way you could raise me? I mean, I’ve died before.”

“No way. It would probably kill you, and in a way I wouldn’t be able to fix.” I rubbed his arms. “I refuse to lose you, too.”

“I can’t imagine Matt’s really been a help to you.”

No, it was more like I was helping him, and he was confusing the hell out of me. “He’s trying to get used to being human in someone else’s body. While I’m waiting to hear back from Mason, I’m getting Matt set up for his new life.”

“Does he understand you won’t be in it?” That was the million-dollar question.

I lowered my eyes. I couldn’t lie to him.

“That’s what I thought. Even the nice guy can become that guy when the girl he loves is on the line.” He sighed, trying to stay calm.

“He feels lost right now. He’s scared, and I understand that. He’s going to outlive everyone around him. It’s depressing. I can’t help wondering if I made a mistake bringing him back. Maybe he doesn’t want this for himself. Maybe I’m just torturing him more.”

Guilt welled up inside me. Here I was in the underworld, where Alex and my friends—no, my family—were suffering. They were in real pain, and I was worried about making my former human boyfriend immortal.

Alex didn’t say anything. He was trying to handle my feelings for Matt the best he could, but it was tearing him up inside. Once again, I was hurting him.

I leaned into him and pressed my cheek to his chest. “This will all be over soon, and then we’ll be together again.”

I wasn’t sure if he believed me. He didn’t agree or disagree. He didn’t stroke my hair or try to kiss me.

I stepped back, studying his face, trying to judge what he was feeling.

He nodded over my shoulder. “Chase is coming this way with a soul. You should go.”

I knew he meant back to my human soul. Tune out everything here and return to my plan to free us all. Of course, that meant returning to Matt and all those feelings, too.