“The stone does not have the power to vanquish me, Samantha Merrick. Nothing does.”
Gone were Jax’s beautiful stormy gray eyes, replaced once again with the soulless black of the demon’s. “I thought maybe…” I backed away and fought the lump threatening to choke me. The stone, still in my hand, had gone cold.
“Your persistence and fortitude in the face of impossibility never fails to amaze me,” Azi replied, all traces of humor gone. “These traits are so rare among your kind.”
I shook my head, refusing to comprehend the words coming from his lips. My gaze fell to the stone in my hands, and in that moment, all I wanted to do was throw it. Smash it. Bury it beneath ten tons of concrete. It was useless. A stupid rock.
“So that’s it then? There’s nothing at all I—” A soft sob escaped me, and I crumpled to my knees. I was vaguely aware that the stone had slipped from my hand and rolled a few feet to my left. “Is he gone?”
Azi knelt down and lifted my chin so that we were eye to eye. “He is not, but there is little time left. Moments—maybe less—so please be silent and listen.” It took a deep breath. I watched as Jax’s shoulders shifted and his chest heaved, almost as though in pain. “You must be strong. The power that resides within you is a potent call to creatures of all alliances. You must destroy the Brim Stone and ensure that it never again becomes whole. This world is not ready for such power.”
“Destroy the stone? First of all, how the hell am I supposed to do that? And second—”
“I would not have taken things much farther,” it said, Jax’s voice barely above a whisper. “At my cabin. I would not have engaged in consummation with you through trickery.” Jax’s lips lifted with a smile. “This should prove to you that I am a rarity among my kind as well. That I am…changed. That you, Samantha Merrick, have changed me.”
Jax’s lips met mine in a bruising kiss that stole the air from my lungs and scrambled my brain just enough to have me kissing back. Azi wrapped Jax’s arms tight around me and squeezed, and just when I thought my lungs might actually pop, it eased up and pulled away enough to let his lips linger at my ear. “I love you, Samantha Merrick. Not as humans love, but as demons do—with ferocious intensity and sacrifice.” It pulled away farther. “I wish you happiness, Sammy. Live long and live well. Enjoy your mortal life with him and perhaps we will meet again.”
My mouth fell open, but I couldn’t say a word. Jax’s head snapped back, and a tremor ran through his body. I stumbled up and staggered away as he began to shake. He clawed at his neck, and a terrible noise spilled from his lips, an awful keening mixed with the sounds of choking.
The demon fell forward and braced itself against the floor with Jax’s hands. The area around his body seemed to darken, almost as though Jax’s body was on fire and the smoke from that blaze was bleeding into the air around him. A fierce growl filled the cavern, and the smoke grew thicker, enveloping Jax’s entire body for a moment before rising to hover just above his head.
At first it was nothing more than a collection of blackish smoke. An undulating clump of nondescript fog. But as I stared, it began to come into focus. It began to take shape.
The shape of a man.
“This…has never been done,” a voice said from somewhere inside the churning mass. Azi. This was Azi!
I wanted Jax with all my heart and soul, but a part of me felt…something…for Azi. “What will happen to you?”
The smoke convulsed, breaking form for a moment before solidifying slightly. “I suppose I will die after a time. If I conserve my energy, I may linger for a bit.”
Tears gathered in the corners of my eyes and spilled over. Their warmth left twin trails of liquid fire across my skin. I swallowed back a sob, unable to fathom the reality of what was happening. A demon, a boogeyman straight from nightmares, was sacrificing itself to spare two humans pain. It was unfathomable. Beautiful.
It gave me hope… “I—”
A soft noise pulled me from my reverie. I looked down at Jax, at his eyes. They were the gray of violent summer storms.
And they were the most amazing thing I’d ever seen.
Everything else faded away. I threw myself forward and dropped to the ground. “Please,” I whispered, and buried my face in the crook of his neck. I wound my arms around him and held on tighter than I ever had before. “Tell me it isn’t my imagination. Tell me this is real.”
He returned the embrace, just as fiercely, and looked up. The collection of dark smoke was still there, lingering above his head, but had no detail. It had already begun to thin. “The demon is gone, Sammy. It’s just me now. Just us.”
I pulled away and grabbed his face to kiss him, but he shook his head. “The stone.” He nodded to the ground a few feet away where the red rock lay. “You have to destroy it.”