“Is this about Othanos?” I reached over and covered Emma’s hand with mine. “We’re going to find him.”
Othanos had gotten away from us twice already. The first time, the demon had made a spectacle in Boulder at the outdoor mall. He’d slaughtered half a dozen people in the name of a ritual sacrifice to call forth his dark overlords. The second time, the demon tried to sacrifice a baby he’d stolen at the Denver Zoo from the giraffe exhibit. Both times, we were close enough to the scene that we could get there quickly. We managed to save the child and return him to his hysterical mother. I nearly had Othanos while Emma and the others got the bystanders to safety, but the demon repeatedly escaped.
Emma’s eyes met mine, fear radiating out of them. “The Ururu said Othanos was coming for me, to make the sacrifice.”
Krystan piped up. “What the hell is it with everyone trying to sacrifice you?”
Emma took back her hand to smooth her hair back in jerky, quick movements, preparing to put it back in a ponytail. It had gotten long, almost to the middle of her back. “I don’t know. You’d think some other lucky gal would get a chance at the position.”
“You were born the Propheros,” I said. “It’s in your blood, it can’t be helped.”
Emma's lips twisted with displeasure. “Well my mom was the Propheros until I came along, but no one is gunning to throw her into a volcano.” She looked away but was too late to hide the sadness that crept into her face. Diana had gone with us into the Stygian, but shortly after arriving back on our dimensional plane, she’d lost consciousness and had yet to wake up. Emma had been the only one with her when it happened. Emma said Diana had screamed as if she’d seen a ghost then passed out, nothing more. She was taken care of at the hospital, and we visited regularly hoping the sound of our voices might provoke her to wake up.
“When she comes around, perhaps we can ask her,” I said, reaching over and taking her hand into mine this time.
Emma’s eyes flicked up to mine, a grateful smile on her face.
“Okay, boy wonder, time to go.” Krystan said to Travis, pushing herself slowly off the stool. Her arms were bandaged now. “These two want to get freaky and we need to get home so you can rub my sexy swollen feet.” She paused. “Is that why you guys left? Is this all about having unlimited, loud, hot monkey sex on every possible surface?”
Emma and I met each other’s eyes then turned to Krystan and said in unison. “Yes.”
Krystan rubbed a pinky finger in her ear even as Travis tried to push her toward the door. “Keep lying to me. Maybe my powers will develop into some kind of mind control ability, and I'll force it out of you guys.”
Travis shut the door with a wave and a promise that we’d meet up the next day. Demonic activity had gone up since the start of spring and had worsened as the Colorado heat intensified.
I rounded the counter and came to stand next to Emma. “Do you think we should tell her?”
Emma shook her head. “If Travis hasn’t told her she has a problem, we sure as hell aren’t going to be the ones to do it.”
Wrapping my arms around Emma, I pulled her to her feet so I could kiss her. What I had intended to be a short, sweet kiss deepened. As I pulled her closer, liquid heat began to run through me. The taste of vanilla mixed with the uniqueness of her caused arousal to curl in my abdomen, then spread lower. I molded her body against my hardness, and instantly craved more. Even after months of being together without the world falling apart, I could sincerely say I was even more addicted to her than before. Her laugh, her intelligence, her body, and those sounds she made when I had her spread on our bed as I discovered even more ways to make her lose her mind.
Her nails scratched down my neck causing goosebumps to stiffen along my arms. That wasn’t the only thing that had stiffened.
Pulling back, Emma let out a contented sigh. “Sorry I'm being crazy. Things are better than they have ever been, and it must seem like I am trying to self-sabotage. Right before our wedding no less.”
I shook my head. “Someone taught me that you are going to feel however you going to feel. I cannot tell you to stop, my job is to ask you what you need from me while you go through it.” I would do anything to protect her, but there was little I could do against her sense of foreboding. The only other course of action I had was to track Othanos down and destroy him, and so far I'd had little luck in that endeavor.
She snorted. “Don’t use my own logic on me. You were the one brainwashed by a crazy secret Order, I should know better.”
I didn’t bother bringing up the point we both had been under the Luxis’s hold at different points. Instead, I lowered my lips until they were a hairsbreadth away. “You’re saying crazy things. Is that better?” I kissed her as she nodded and laughed.
Then gently pushing me away, Emma began to pace. "You’re right. I survived the Reckoning and used the powers to get us out of the Stygian and now I’m using those same powers to fight evil creatures on the job and protect people.”
It was prophesized by the Orders of Veritas that the Propheros must know the darkness in order to defeat it, which mean undergoing the Reckoning. I’d done everything in my power to keep her from that fate, but in the end, she’d chosen it herself.
She went on. “I just wish I knew how to control the magic. If this were anything else, I’d run out and buy a book, search for videos on Youtube. I'm completely in the dark here and blindly reaching around.”
I hated not being able to help. I couldn’t exactly stab or exorcise her fears, but there must be something I could do. I sat on the stool and folded my hands. “Do you want me to go approach some of the Orders and ask for assistance?”
Emma stopped in her tracks, her eyes rounded. “You would do that for me?”
Since we returned home, we’d made it clear to all the Orders, and our family members therein, that we were done with their doctrines and prophecies. We set boundaries and somehow, they held. Though I couldn’t help but feel some of them were biding their time until they could find a way to control us...
Ylang, my former Master, and leader of the Order of Luxis, was the first in my mind on that front. What he wouldn’t give to get me back under his thumb so I could do his bidding. He’d made it clear he thought we were wasted resources.
According to him, Emma and I could use our combined powers to wipe out the Stygian presence that had been running rampant on earth since last year. The catch was it would have to be under his guidance. I had to remind my adopted father that we weren’t resources, we were people. I was a civilian now and I got to choose how I fought. And I chose to do so with my friends at Whack A Ghoul.
The rest of the Orders approached us at different times, trying to force us to side with one of them in particular. Even my biological parents from the Order of Veritas had hinted that we should join their faction and combine forces. Emma made it clear she was done with the Orders, so I put a stop to that immediately.
