Page 26

26

PANDORA

T he Supernatural Council’s headquarters gleamed . As if every inch of it was designed to remind visitors of the power held within these walls. The marble floors were polished to a mirror shine, and the intricate gold-veined patterns caught the light of the sun splashing in from the windows. Towering columns framed the hall, each one carved with sigils that pulsed with faint, steady magic.

As we entered the meeting room, a long obsidian table stretched across the chamber, where council members were already seated.

My mates and I followed Jesper’s lead and sat at the table.

Dad, Joel, and Gloria were already seated on the Demon Council. Sabine, Rowan, Wren, Damien, and Jesper were the ones on the Supernatural Council’s side that were present.

Sabine’s green eyes were sharp as she scanned the room. “Jesper briefed us on a call, so we are aware the mission was successful. Great job.”

We nodded our heads in acknowledgment.

“We need to discuss Bram’s father.” Dad’s voice cut through the room like a blade. “We were told he was the serial killer that we’ve been searching for.”

“Unfortunately, he is.” Bram tensed beside me. The weight of his resurfaced memories flooded our bond. The father who had abused him for years was the same serial killer the Demon Council had been hunting for decades. It was no wonder Bram had seen me as a threat at first because I was a noble. He’d been conditioned to think that way.

I reached for his hand under the table.

Rowan spoke up, “We already sent agents for him. We’ll apprehend him before he has the chance to disappear.”

“Thanks.” Dad nodded at him. “There’s a reason we haven’t caught him yet. Let them know to be alert.”

Bram’s fingers tightened around mine. He didn’t say anything, but I could feel his pain through our bond.

“Will do,” Rowan stated. “Anything regarding our agents and their missions is Sabine’s business, but as the Council Head, I should be around more for the severity of this threat. I do apologize for not being as active with these missions as I’d like to. However, there happens to be a horde of drakes that have come out of hiding in Blezen that need my attention at the moment.”

“We understand.” Dad tapped his fingers against the table. “Sabine has been very helpful.”

“I intend to continue to be. The next site to sabotage is in Sandstone Springs,” Sabine informed us, scanning her notes on the tablet in front of her. “The cult has moved up the timeline, according to our intel. The ritual is scheduled to take place in two days. That means you need to carry this out tomorrow.”

A ripple of unease passed through the room.

Tomorrow?

Sabine folded her hands together in front of her on the table. “This site is different from the others. The cult has been fixated on it for years. They consider it crucial for their advancement—much more so than the others. Hence why they moved up the ritual date. There will be more agents accompanying you because we expect more pushback from the cult. They’ll be expecting us now. I’m sure they know of the spy, but it seems they aren’t sure which cultist is a spy. That works in our favor.”

Dad dropped the dark magic siphoning artifact on the table with an audible thud. “I will not let my daughter be the sole vessel for the dark magic at the site,” he stated. “This relic will share the workload. I want to ease her burden. Killing dark magic isn’t easy for her.”

“I’ll take the relic and make sure it doesn’t all land on your daughter to take care of,” Jesper offered, glancing at Sabine, who nodded in agreement.

“See to it that she’s not having to do it all herself.” Dad slid it over to him before moving his gaze toward me. “You don’t have to go on this mission, Pandora.”

Silence stretched through the rest of the members as they looked between me and Dad. The idea of sitting back and letting the supernatural agents fight a battle meant for me, made my stomach twist.

I met Dad’s gaze with pure determination. Vengeance magic sparked through my veins. “I want to go.”

Dad sighed. “I figured, but I wanted to at least give you the option not to.”

Rowan nodded, his usual intense expression softening. “Thank you for everything you’ve done to help the agents in this matter, Gravesend.”

I swallowed down the lump in my throat. “It’s my purpose. The Fates blessed me with the power for a reason. This has to be it.”

Hunter’s hand found my thigh, and Bram squeezed my hand tighter.

“Speaking of the Fates…” Rowan shifted, glancing toward the far end of the room. “I have someone who needs to speak with you.”

“Who?” I asked as the doors opened.

“Blair. She’s the seer the Supernatural Council has always confided in,” he explained as a figure in a midnight-black cloak walked in.

Her heels clicked on the marble as she approached, and her presence was intense. I couldn’t sense much of her soul, though. It was there, but there was almost no emotion or want for anything within it. The sheer weight of her magical essence pressing down on her soul left little room for anything else.

“Pandora Gravesend, you are essential in preventing the dark magic plague from consuming all demons,” she stated simply, her glowing white eyes latched on me. “If the demons are lost to dark magic, soon Kalista will be ruled by the Veil.”

My breath hitched. They were nothing like Hunter’s white eyes, which had a gray ring around them. No, hers were completely white. It felt like she could see everything—my past, my fears, my dreams…

“You have achieved a lot, but there is more. There will be a cost, of course,” she continued. “One you must come to terms with.”

My mates bristled around me.

Dad’s hand twitched on the desk. “No, Blair. You know I respect you, but damn it. You have to know what she’s been through. She’s given enough.”

“I know.” Blair sighed as she stood at the front of the room. “Unfortunately, she’s fated to give even more. I’m sorry, Death. The Fates have spoken.”

All of my mates let out low growls.

“Give what?” A low growl erupted from Hunter’s chest as he pushed back against the table and stared at her.

Blair waved her hand to dismiss him. “That is not your concern, Hunter Darkmore. It is hers and hers alone. You five— ” She pointed at each one of my mates. “You will have to pick up the pieces of her heart when it’s fractured again. That is all I can tell you.”

My pulse hammered, echoing in my skull. “What do you mean?”

“Soon, you will have to make a devastating sacrifice, but it’s a necessity for everyone in Kalista,” Blair said cryptically, but her voice softened as she trained her focus on me again.

“Can’t you be more specific?” Dex growled out, his fist slamming against the table as his shadows slithered up his arm.

“She’s our mate,” Skel pleaded, his green eyes shining with raw fear. “We should be able to save her from sacrifices.”

“We want to help her,” Reed added softly, violet gaze locked on the seer.

“Please,” Bram muttered, raking a hand through his dark hair. “Tell us how we can prevent any more sacrifices from Pandora.”

“You cannot stop this sacrifice,” she stated calmly to my mates, not taking her eyes off me. “It’s something that must happen. You cannot protect her from it.”

“It’s okay, Pandora,” Nebula murmured. “Blair is a very strong seer. She knows what she’s talking about. Just listen to her.”

“I’m tired of being a pawn,” I rasped, meeting Blair’s gaze.

She let out a melodic laugh, shaking her head as if my statement truly amused her. “You are no pawn. You’re a queen, and queens must sacrifice their pawns...even if they love them.” Her white eyes flicked to Nebula, who was tucked in my palms. “You know, don’t you?”

“I do,” he hissed out.

She bowed her head slightly at him. “You are what familiars strive to be.”

Nebula chuckled weakly. “Maybe when I was alive.”

“You may not be meant to be alive, but you are living, Nebula,” she addressed him.

“You can hear him?” I gaped at her.

“I’m powerful. I can do many things, and we met long ago.” She shrugged, turning around and walking toward the door with her cloak billowing behind her. Her hand gripped the door as she paused. “Think of what I’ve said today.”

Rowan cleared his throat, drawing attention to him as Blair shut the door behind her. “I apologize for her crass nature.”

“It’s okay. I like how up front she is.” I shook my head, feeling the panic in each of my matebonds from what she’d told us. I couldn’t even wrap my mind around what sacrifice she was talking about.

“How are you doing with everything?” Wren leaned forward, her brows pulled together in concern as her long white hair cascaded over her.

I hesitated, moving my thumbs over Nebula’s skull in a soothing motion. How was I doing? There was a dark magic cult bent on my demise, my mate’s dad was a serial killer, my other mate’s dad was hunting me down, my best friend was Sybil Shaw’s familiar, and I was apparently fated to make a devastating sacrifice. But there was also some good in this. I’d fully mated all five of my mates, broken a dark magic curse, and I’d overcome my fear of shadow magic.

In retrospect, things could’ve been a lot worse.

“I’m okay. I’m alive, I’ve sealed my matebonds, and I’ve finally seemed to get my shadow magic from Dex under control,” I answered her with a soft smile.

“That’s amazing,” Wren told me with an encouraging smile. “I know firsthand how difficult shadow tendrils are to control.” A shadow tendril came from out the top of her shirt and wiggled around before slipping back to where her mark was. “When I was first learning, my shadow always impaled Damien.”

I gasped. “That’s horrible!”

“It was.” She nodded in agreement.

“Aw, but little bird,” Damien pouted, grabbing her face with one hand and turning her head to meet his glowing silver gaze. “I miss that. I loved the feeling of it piercing my flesh when I was inside of you.”

She batted his hand away as a blush fell over her face. “Damien!”

“That’s right, little bird. I love when you say my name,” he purred.

“Damien, stop embarrassing our mate,” Rowan sighed.

I let out a small giggle before the weight of what Blair told me settled into my bones. I turned my attention toward my mates. “I’m scared of what I have to sacrifice.”

“The sacrifice will be worth the world, Pandora,” Nebula assured me in a way that had my heart splintering.

* * *

Nebula’s tiny kitten skull was cradled in my hands as I sat cross-legged on the bed. “What did you mean by my sacrifice being worth the world, Nebula? You seemed to know exactly what Blair was talking about.”

He sighed, the sound rattling through the air. “Do you know what Sybil Shaw’s greatest power and weakness is?”

“It’s not dark magic?” Dex frowned, sitting behind me, playing with my hair.

“No. It’s me ,” he admitted.

“What do you mean?” Reed asked, walking over from Gumdrop’s tank to sit down next to Hunter on the edge of the bed.

“Sybil’s greatest source of strength is me. It’s why she sealed my soul to my skull, so that she could siphon power boosts from me.”

Ice trickled through my veins. “What?”

“The more she uses my power, the less I can manifest. I’ve been fighting it, but lately, it’s been all the time. I’m struggling to stay manifested this long.”

“How much power does she gain from you?” Hunter asked, sadness pooling in our bond for my best friend.

“My soul and magical essence boosts her power by double,” he said, his soul thick and heavy in my palms.

I sucked in a sharp breath. “Nebula, why are you telling me this now?”

He stayed silent for a few moments. “Pandora, you know why. I won’t make it through your fight with Sybil.”

My breath stalled in my lungs, and I had to force myself to breathe.

“No.” I shook my head violently. “You said you’d always be there for me, Nebula. You can’t leave me.”

Agony tore through me as the realization of Blair’s warning struck like a cruel blade.

The sacrifice.

Nebula would be the sacrifice.

His voice softened. “The way I’m existing isn’t right, Pandora. You know that. I deserve to pass on properly. You…you’re the only one who can set me free.”

Tears burned down my cheeks. “No.”

“You have to eat my soul,” he told me, his voice barely above a whisper. “You have to purge it of the dark magic and let me pass on. It’s the only way we can weaken Sybil enough to stop her from destroying the Demon Capital and demons as a whole.”

Sobs wracked my chest. “Please, don’t make me do this. You promised me. ”

Skel rubbed a soothing line up and down my thigh from where he sat next to me, and Bram’s gaze met mine from over Nebula’s skull.

All five of my mates could feel the pain in my soul from this revelation.

Nebula’s dark magic soul flickered. His magic was weakening. “If you don’t, Sybil will win. Blair told us as much. I won’t let Sybil win, Pandora. You won’t either.”

“Why does she have to do it?” Bram asked, his voice slicing through the heaviness in the air.

“She’s the only one who can,” Nebula stated. “She’s the only one capable of destroying the dark magic covering my soul and purging it as well as eating my soul to break this curse attaching me to my skull so I can pass over.”

Hunter’s growl rumbled through the room. “There has to be another way.”

“There isn’t. Blair’s visit proved that much. You need to catch Sybil weak, off guard. I’m the best way to do it, and you know I’m right. The only way you will catch her off guard is by taking me out of the equation just before her plans come to fruition—before she can even think about using a back-up plan.” Nebula’s sigh was heavy, filling the space around us. “My life has been better with you than it ever was with her, Pandora. But I’m tired of this. I want to pass on to the Fates.”

I clutched his skull tightly against my chest, my whole body shaking. Tears flooded down my cheeks as my throat burned.

The dark magic sucked back into the skull as he de-manifested, his power pulled away from what I now knew to be Sybil’s cruel grasp.

A raspy, quiet scream pulled from my throat as I choked on my sobs.

My mates surrounded me, murmuring words of comfort, but I couldn’t hear them past the roar of my own anguish.

He promised to always be there for me, but now…

Thousands of fractures splintered my heart.

Because I knew.

No matter how much I fought it, no matter how much it hurt?—

Nebula was going to die.

And I was going to be the one to kill him.