The Mephisto Covenant (29 page)

Sasha was insanely beautiful today, her long, blond hair pulled back into some kind of apparatus so that it hung straight and silky to the middle of her back, and her slender body shown to perfection in a dress that wasn’t cut too low, but just enough to show the soft swell of her breasts. She positively glowed, and like a cluster of insects stupidly beating themselves up to get close to the light, his brothers constantly tried to one up each other in front of her.

Except Phoenix, Mr. I’m Above All of This.

Deacon was his usual stalwart, silent self, gliding around the table to serve coffee and juice, but once in a while he’d glance at Jax, silently communicating that yes, this was a debacle. Of course, he didn’t help the situation. He worked for the Mephisto to learn humility, but after eight hundred years, Deacon wasn’t humble. He was proud and considered himself above most everyone, especially the Mephisto. He never tired of lecturing, but today, he didn’t say a word.

Although Jax admitted it wouldn’t have done much good anyway. He and his brothers usually ignored Deacon’s dire warnings of the consequences of bad behavior. If he called down his brothers for acting like stooges in front of Sasha, they wouldn’t stop. As breakfast continued, they got louder and more obnoxious, and Sasha got quieter.

At one point, she turned to him and said, “Do you eat like this every day?”

“Not the huge selection, but Mathilda and Hans are good cooks. Do you like the squab?”

“It’s a little like chicken, but different. Delicious.” She ate another bite. “What is a squab, anyway?”

“Pigeon,” Key said before Jax could even take in a breath to answer. Then he launched off into the culinary history of pigeons. No sooner had he finished talking, than Ty said, “I have a dovecote with homing pigeons. Did you know homing pigeons orient themselves to where they’re hatched, and no matter where they are in the world, they’ll try to fly back to their home, even if it’s across the ocean? I bought some breeding pigeons from a guy in Brussels, but I have to k
eep them caged or they’d try to
fly back to Belgium.” “You know,” Denys said, “ther
e’s a bar in Brussels where the
drinks are all free.” He grinned. “But there’s a five-hundreddollar cover charge.”

“The best bar in the world is the Black Orchid in London,” Zee said. “Lots of bands got their start at the Orchid.”

“Did you know we have a greenhouse?” Key asked. “I grow orchids.” He went off about some of his experiments, how he’d developed several new varieties. Sasha kept eating, listening
as though everything they said
was the most interesting bit of information she’d ever heard. She was so not like him. She was patient and kind and considerate. He wanted to tell his brothe
rs to shut the hell up and stop
monopolizing her attention. He became more depre
ssed as breakfast wore on. Even
if by some miracle she decided to stay, how could she survive here, with a bunch of clueless guys, angry ghosts, and a job that entailed confronting evil souls, day in and day out? She’d be lonely, maybe, without any girls to hang out with, and who knew how many more years or centuries it might be before one of his brothers found another Anabo?

When everyone was almost done, Key said, “I’ve given this a lot of thought, and the best solution isn’t to guard Sasha from Brett, but to keep him away from her in the first place. We need something to threaten him with.”

“He killed Reilly,” Sasha said. “He would probably rather not be arrested and tried for murder, so if you could make him think you have some kind of evidence, he might back off.”

“I can get a picture,” Jax said, thinking this just might work. “I could say I was taking pictures of Devil’s Ridge with my phone, and happened to capture him shoving Reilly.”

“He’d want to know why you didn’t already take it to the police,” Key pointed out.

“The school gossip says I got kicked out of boarding school for smoking weed. I’ll say I don’t want the cops looking at me, so I won’t show them the picture if he’ll leave Sasha alone.” “Wait,” she said, “won’t he want to see the picture?”

“I’m sure he will, but M can get us a picture of anything that actually happened.”

Everyone agreed he should give it a try, and as he led Sasha out of the house and down the drive to the car Brody had pulled around, he hoped it would work.

He opened the door for her ,and she turned to look back at the house. “It’s so amazing, really like a castle: all the gray stone and the million chimneys, turrets, lead glass, and gargoyles.”

On the winding drive to the highway, she looked from side to side, asking questions. He told her the small stone houses were the Lumina cottages, the big stone building was an old dairy they’d converted to a gym, and the long low building made of pink granite was where everyone on the mountain attended tutoring sessions.

Farther down the mountain, they passed through the Kyanos mists, and her eyes were wide. “It’s like the fog in San Francisco, except blue.”

“If people who aren’t Mephisto or Luminas come up this road, it dead ends and all they see is more forest and mountains.” “What if they hiked far
ther up? Would they run into an
invisible building?” “No. It’s hard to explain, but it’s
as if it’s not there to anyone
but us.”

“Is that what Hell on Earth is like? Is that why no one knows it’s there, like scientists or people who drill oil wells?”

“Yes. Our home and Hell on Earth exist on another plane of reality that only a few can see. Heaven and Hell are in another dimension, one none of us sees until it’s time. I’ve never been to Hell, and I’ve never met Lucifer. M is our go-between.”

He parked the car in the school parking lot, killed the engine, and handed her an envelope. “This is your birth certificate. It shows that your mom is your natural parent, and that you were born in Moscow. There are also U.S. citizenship papers and a Social Security card. It’s all real, and recorded in the right files with the government.”

Feeling a huge weight lifted, she wanted to tell him this was awesomely romantic, but Brody was there, so she just smiled and said, “Thank you, Jax.”

thirteen

she was surprised to see brett in english. she assumed
he’d stay at the hospital by Tim’s deathbed all day, not because he was sad, but because it was a good excuse to skip school. It wasn’t like Brett had any feelings for Tim. He was a lost soul, so grief was no longer part of his makeup.

He glared at her when she came into the room, and shot such a look of hatred at Jax that Sasha felt sick to her stomach. Amanda, she saw with a sinking feeling, was sitting next to Brett. She avoided looking at Sasha, staring down at her book instead, toying with her necklace, which Sasha could see was the amethyst drop Brett had stolen from her drawer.

She remembered when her dad had brought it home to her; he’d said he’d bought it from a yak herder i
n Siberia, which she
knew was a made-up story, but she went along and wore it every day for a whole year.

Seeing it now, hanging around Amanda’s neck, and knowing how she had gotten it, Sasha was mad and sad, all at once. Amanda didn’t know. She thought it was a gift from a boy she liked, a boy she now viewed as some sort of underdog.

After they sat down, she heard Brett telling East and Julianne about Tim, laying on worry and fear with a heavy hand. Sasha knew just how that must sound to Amanda. Glancing back at her, she saw that she had sympathy written all over her face.

All through class, while different people read from The Metamorphosis, Sasha tried to think of a new plan, a new way to keep Amanda from joining the Ravens.

But when the bell rang, she had nothing.

The day marched on, until it was lunch, and the same group who’d been at the coffeehouse sat together, with a few additions, including a guy on the ski team who used to be best buds with Scott the Molester.

Mason and Rachel were funny together—he was so big and she was so tiny. Sasha could only guess what had happened between Thomas and Erin last night, but something, for sure. They were so into each other, they didn’t talk much to anyone else.

After lunch, before fourth period began, while Jax went to find Brett, to show him the picture M had sent to his phone, and to tell him his options, Sasha hung around his locker and nervously waited for him to come back. While she stood there biting her lip, Amanda walked up.

Trying to play it low key, trying extra hard not to stare at her necklace, Sasha smiled and said, “Hey, Amanda. How’s it going?” “I wanted you to know that Brett’s being supernice to me. I think he’s just really mixed up. Now, with his dad so sick, like

he might even . . . die, I feel like I need to give him a chance.” “I understand.” “You do?” She looked genuinely surprised. “I get why it’s cool to like a guy when he likes you back.” Amanda looked so relieved, i
t would be comical if it wasn’t
so tragic. “But seriously, Amanda, be carefu
l. You know I don’t like
him, and there’s a real good reason for it. Just don’t do what you have to do to join the Ravens. Lead him on about it if you have to, but don’t join.”

“It’s not that big of a deal, Sasha. I mean, yeah, it’s kinda strange, but it’s not like I have to be a member forever.”

“How do you know?” “Brett told me.” This was so frustrating. “
What if he’s lying? What if you say
you give up God and pledge to follow Eryx, and it’s real?” Amanda shrugged. “It’s not like I’m going to worship Satan or become a witch or a vampire or something wack like that. It’s just a club, like a secret society i
n college.” She looked down the
hall, and said, “There he is. I gotta go.”

Sasha slumped back against Jax’s locker and stared after Amanda, watched her go up to Brett, saw him put his arm around her shoulders. How could she not see what kind of guy he was? It seemed so obvious to her, and it wasn’t like she was alone. People were talking about the basketball game, and how he had acted like such a tool, shoving the coach, then storming off like a big baby. He was kicked off the team, of course, and rumor had it Coach Gill suspended him from the ski team as well. Brett’s popularity had crashed and burned in less than twenty-four hours, and he’d done it to himself. That Amanda could like him . . . it blew her mind.

“It’s a done deal,” Jax murmured from her left. She turned to look up at him. “Really?” He nodded. “Brett won’t bother you again. He freaked when

I showed him the picture.” He looked closer and said, “What’s wrong?”

She didn’t want to tell him, because he’d give her a lecture about free will and how pointless it was to interfere. So she straightened and smiled and said, “Nothing’s wrong. I was just worried about you and hoping it went okay.”

“It went even better than I imagined.” He glanced around at the still crowded hall. “We’ve got five more minutes until class. You wanna go under a cloak and make out?”

That sounded so much better than fretting about Amanda. “Only a lot.”

He grabbed her hand, they walked around the corner into an empty room, and disappeared.

Rose came during history and waved Sasha and Brett out of class. In the hall, she said quietly, “Mrs. Shriver called from the hospital and said Mr. Shriver’s taken a turn for the worse. She asked me to tell Brett, but I assumed she’d want you to know, too, Sasha.”

She’d assumed wrong, but Sasha didn’t say that. They followed her to the high school office and signed out for the day, then walked back out into the hall. Brett, she noticed, wouldn’t look directly at her. He said in a dull voice, “Do you want to go to the hospital?”

“Only for Chris. He doesn’t know what Tim did last night before he came home and smacked me around. He still thinks that’s his dad in that hospital bed, so I’ll go to be with him.” She walked away.

“Chris joined the Ravens about three hours ago.”

She stopped cold, turned quickly, and went back to him, shaking so hard, her voice came out in a weird warble. “You’re lying. He wouldn’t do that!”

“Mr. Bruno went to the hospital and told him he could save Dad’s life if he’d join.” He shook his head slowly, looking at her like he felt sorry for her. “When are you going to wake up and realize, Eryx always wins? He’s what people want.”

“Not everyone.” “Yes, everyone. People need thin
gs, want things, and you’re
kidding yourself if you think you can keep anyone from joining.” “I can try. I have to try.” “You might as well spit on a forest fire. No one’s immune.

No one. Even my dad, Dudley Do-Right. He ate until he was a whale, then worried he’d kick off and Mom would throw Chris out in the street. Bruno promised him he’d stay alive at least until Chris is old enough to live on his own.”

“Why does she hate Chris so much?”

“Dad had a girlfriend in Russia who died having Chris, so he brought him home and told Mom she had to raise him like he was hers. People screw things up, then they want it fixed, or they want something they can’t get on their own, so Eryx promises it to them. Chris pledged his soul to save Dad’s life because he knows if the old man croaks, he’ll be Dumpster diving for his next meal.” He got right in her face. “What have you got to offer people like Dad and Chris?”

“The truth.”

“You think that’ll help Chris? You think the truth will save Dad?”

“It would have if they’d known it before they pledged. Eryx’s promises are lies, sucker bets for desperate people.”

“Where you’re stupid is not realizing everyone’s desperate. All Eryx has to do is figure out why, what they want, and promise it. Wait and see how many of your new friends believe the truth is where it’s at.”

It was as if the roof of the school opened up and a lightning bolt of rage hit her out of the clear blue sky. Reaching for his neck, she shoved as hard as she could, and they flew toward the lockers. She held him there, choking the life out of him, ignoring his clawing hands, his desperate kicks. She wanted him to die, right now, so he couldn’t tell Eryx’s lies to anyone else.

---

When she didn’t return for her backpack, Jax got up and left the room, pretending he was about to hurl so Bruno wouldn’t question why he was leaving. As soon as he went into the hall, he looked toward the office and his heart stopped. Against the lockers, she had a choke hold on Brett, and he knew, like he knew his name and that the sun would set tonight, she’d crossed the line between Anabo and Mephisto. He’d known it was coming, that it was inevitable, but thought it would take longer. All those kisses from him had done this to her, and he waited to feel terrible, but it never came. Instead, he thought she was freaking glorious in her rage and determination.

Realizing he had mere seconds before someone came into the hall and saw them, he popped himself to where she was, pulled her off of Brett, and set her aside. “Be still.”

Unconscious, Brett slid to the floor, and Jax bent to settle his hands on him and heal the damage to his throat and larynx. Grabbing Sasha’s arm, he walked her away and took the first door he came to, which was the girls’ room, erasing Brett’s memory and waking him up as the door closed behind them. He’d be confused about how he wound up on the floor, but he’d get

over it. He’d collect his backpack, go to the hospital, and never remember how close he had come to death.

Jax threw the lock on the door and turned to look at her. In her red dress and black boots, she stood straight and tall, blue eyes flashing with righteous fury, breasts rising and falling rapidly. She had never looked more beautiful. “You almost killed him. You can’t do that. Do you understand?”

She nodded. “Tell me why you almost killed him.” In a low voice, she did. He wasn’t sure what sur
prised him more—that she wasn’t
crying, or that she wasn’t trying to get out the door and go after Brett to finish what she’d started.

“With Chris on the other side now, there’s no reason for you to go back to the Shrivers’. We’ll get your things and move you to the house, to an extra bedroom.”

“No. I’m staying there. I’m going to figure out Bruno’s plans from Melanie. If Tim’s gone, she’ll be with Bruno even more. She may even go with him on his trip.”

“I can’t let you do that, Sasha. If they find out you’re Anabo, it’s all over.”

“They won’t find out because they won’t be suspicious. I’m not afraid of Mr. Bruno. I’d like to kill him.”

“He’ll sense that as much as fear, and wonder why.”

“I’m going to find out where that meeting is, because once you know, you won’t need to keep Bruno around.”

“Then what? Are you still hell-bent to lose what you have of Mephisto and go back to how you were before?”

“I don’t know. I can’t think real well right now because it’s taking every bit of concentration not to shove you out of the way and go after Brett.”

He’d spent decades learning how to control the instinct to take the lost souls out. He realized he had a new problem with Sasha. “Go back to class, get your backpack, and leave. If he speaks to you, answer without looking at him and force yourself to think about anything but how much you hate him. Can you do that?”

“I think so.” “I’ll be waiting just outside the door.” He grabbed her hand and walked her back down the hall,

then waited while she went inside, hoping she could get out of there without attacking Bruno. She was incredibly strong, but no match for a Skia. As soon as she came out, he glanced around, saw no one, and hauled her into his arms. Five seconds later, they were in the war room.

“Why are we here?” “Everything’s changed, Sasha.” “By everything, you mean me, right?” “Yeah, pretty much.” He hit
the intercom, and within a min
ute, his brothers were all there, looking from him to Sasha. Key must have been in the greenhouse. He had soil on his hands and was brushing them toget
her while he gave Jax a serious
stare. “Talk now.” Jax explained what just h
appened, aware that Phoenix was
freaking more than anyone else. As soon as he finished, his clo
sest brother said to Sasha, “No
way are you going back to that house. It’d be like leaving a lamb in a lion’s den.”

“A lamb with teeth,” Key said with a funny smile, his eyes on Sasha. “So you tried to kill a lost soul. How do you feel right now? Still wishing you could finish him off? Or are you having some regret about wanting to kill someone?”

“No regret.” She looked toward Phoenix. “If I go back, it’s a possible way to find out where the Skia meeting will be.”

“We’re watching every move Bruno makes, and we can do the same to Melanie. Your going back is pointless, and isn’t gonna happen.”

“Don’t I get any say in this? What about free will?”

Phoenix came toward her, walking like he had to hold himself back. “If free will means you die, then to hell with free will. I’ll lock you up and sit on you if you try to go back.”

Without knowing she was stomping on the eggshells they’d tiptoed across for over a hundred years, she asked curiously, “Did Jane change like I’m changing? Did she try to kill somebody?”

He stopped in his tracks and swayed like she’d slapped him. Nobody said a word, waiting to hear what he would say. His face was chalky white. “Jane was . . .” He swallowed. “She couldn’t walk. I lied about her sister. She wasn’t sick. She was perfect in every way, until she pledged her soul because she was told it would heal Jane.”

Jax stared at Phoenix, incredulous. His brother had never told him Jane couldn’t walk. He glanced at his brothers and could see they were just as dumbfounded.

“When I found her, that night of the ball, she was in another room, with all the old ladies, sitting alone. I thought it was weird, but was so elated to find an Anabo, I didn’t think so much about it. Until I told her to stand up. Everyone was frozen but her and the Skia.”

“You can’t freeze Skia?”

He shook his head. “Or Anabo. Later, when I went to see her, I told her I could fix her legs, but she wouldn’t let me touch her, not for a long time. She was the daughter of an aristocrat, very proper, even with a guy alone in her room.”

“So you didn’t kiss her two hours after meeting her, like Jax did.”

“No, it was a long time later, several weeks. Not only was she freaked about the Mephisto, about Eryx and all the rest, she was terribly upset that I’d taken her twin to Hell on Earth. When she finally allowed me to heal her, it was bittersweet, because she saw her handicap as the reason she’d lost her sister. I wanted her to understand that yes, her sister had done it for her, but it was so she wouldn’t be something less than perfect, because they were so beautiful, made such a lovely pair. It was vanity that made her sister pledge, but Jane couldn’t se
e it. I wanted her to. I wanted
her to change, to be like me, so she’d understand. M told me I should kiss her, so I did, but like I said, it was a different time.”

“Not much spit?”

He shook his head. “She hardly changed at all. Then I hit on the brilliant idea that marking her would speed everything up, and she’d get it and stop being so ambivalent about me.”

“So she wouldn’t let you do more than give her a Honey-I’mhome peck on the lips, but she let you sleep with her?”

“There’s some of the story I’m leaving out. The point is, once that happened, she died, so the answer is no, she didn’t change like you, and she didn’t try to kill anyone. She didn’t live long enough to have a chance, to do what she was born to do. I’m not going to let that happen to you.”

Sasha looked around the room, then said to Jax, “You and your brothers didn’t know any of this, did you?”

Speechless, he shook his head.

She huffed out an impatient breath. “Guys. Sheesh.” She looked at Phoenix. “That was really hard, wasn’t it?”

“If it makes you understand why I won’t let you go back, it was worth it.”

“I understand.” She leaned against the wall and conceded defeat. “You’re right that it isn’t worth the risk, not to mention that it’d be miserable. And once they’re gone, I’d have to come here anyway. I have nowhere else to go.”

“We could take you to Russia, to be with your mother,” Key said. “You have papers now, and it might be hard to explain that to her, but you could think of something. You always have a choice. We obviously want you to stay with us, but not as a last resort.”

Ty’s cell rang, and he answered it quickly, nodding before he said, “Got it,” and hung up. He looked around the room at all of them. “Tim’s doppelganger is ready.”

Key said, “Everybody up on the plan, or do we need to review?”

They all said no. “Then let’s do it.” “What about Sasha?” Jax asked. His oldest brother gave her a look. “Until she’s all in, she can’t

be at a takedown.” “Then I’m taking her to the Shriver’ to get her stuff.” “We all go, or no one goes. You know that, Jax.” Yeah, he knew that. It bugged him to leave her right now, but

he didn’t have a choice. “I’ll meet you in the front hall,” he told Key, already reaching for Sasha with one hand and her backpack with the other. Two seconds later, they were in his room, but he didn’t let her go. Tossing her backpack aside, he pulled her into his
arms and kissed her. With lots
of spit.

When he stopped, she gazed up at him with bedroom eyes, until they widened, like she was surprised. “Jax, I just figured out Phoenix’s problem.”

“You were thinking about Phoenix while I was kissing you?” “I was thinking that you’re different, and I suddenly realized why he’s so miserable. It’s because he changed as much as Jane did, but when she died, he stopped. He couldn’t go back to how he was before, but he couldn’t move forward, either. He sees things differently, which is why he doesn’t go looking for anonymous sex, because it can’t be all about him anymore.” She studied his face, then said softly, “Last night, you asked me that question because you’re becoming like me as fast as I’m becoming like you.”

He knew she was right. What he didn’t know was if it was permanent. If she left and returned to how she was before, would he? Had Phoenix kept the changes because Jane died?

He thought about it and realized it made no difference. Even if his changes were forever, if he had to spend the rest of time more miserable than the past thousand years, he’d have no regrets. She was here now, and he would enjoy every minute until she wasn’t.

His brothers were waiting for him, but he bent his head to kiss her one more time.

---

Two hours later, Sasha was working on calculus when Jax called and said he was out front, in the car. “Let’s go get your stuff while the Shrivers are at the funeral home.”

“I’ll be right down.” After she slid into her coat, she left his room in search of the stairs, took a wrong turn, and wound up in a dead-end hallway.

He called again. “Where are you?”
“Lost.” “Close your eyes and imagine you’re out here, beside the car.” She stopped walking and
did what he said. Damn, what a
rush! When she opened her eyes, she was outside, but instead of being next to the old Mercedes, she was standing on the hood.

Hopping down to the snow-covered ground, she opened the passenger door to the sound of his laughter. She’d never heard him laugh like this, and it made her happy, made her smile, which totally killed any attempt to fake like she was mad at him for laughing at her. “I didn’t know I could do that. How did I do that?”

He only laughed harder. “Not very well. I said . . . beside the car.”

By the time he was halfway down the aspen-lined drive, he’d stopped laughing, but he was still grinning. “Until you become immortal, you can’t do it when you’re not on the mountain, or go anywhere off the mountain, but that’s not a bad thing.” He almost laughed again. “No telling what you might land on.”