Page 81 of Jackal's Pride
“We’re fine. We were blown to bits but we’re fine.” I turned to August limping toward us. I cringed a little at his face. One of his eyeballs was still forming. I’d rather see any of them in full skeletal form than to see that odd deformity.
“He’s right.” Dad ran his fingers through his dark hair before shifting into Grim Reaper form. “Bloody hell! We made sure to keep the witches separated during the fight so that the explosion we foresaw with our senses didn’t come to pass. So, what the hell was that?” Dad asked as he leaned away from Payne. His voice was thicker, more powerful and vibrant when in this form.
“It wasn’t witches. Just one witch,” August muttered darkly.
“So they have an Isabella on their side?” Sebastian came up behind me. “That’s all kinds of bad news.”
Dad clasped his hand on Payne’s shoulder. “We could have lost you if you had shown up any sooner.” Then Dad turned to Sebastian. “You didn’t bring Isabella, did you?”
“No, she wasn’t with me when I got the warning. Thank fate. She’s with her coven.”
“There are no survivors.” Barron was utterly still as he spoke, but his rippling red essence flared around him. The longer we let him simmer, the worse he’d get. I drifted over to him and placed my hand on his back, communicating with my touch that I understood. No, we didn’t encounter his rage, but we all felt the helplessness. His gaze sharpened then came up to my neck. “What the fuck happened? Explain this?”
He tugged at the collar I had forgotten about. I reached around and unlatched it, letting it fall to the ground with a heavy clink. “It’s over. I killed him.” I gave my brother a pat and then peered around. “We have so much more to worry about.”
“Jack hasn’t glued back together yet?” August was searching around as he asked.
“Jack was here?” I let go of Barron with a small thread of hope. I wiped my forehead with a laugh. I was sort of shaking with that news. Newt had lied. Relief spread through me. I thought of my mark on his chest, briefly linking myself to him. I found him, but he wasn’t here. He was back at the cave I’d found him in. Strange. I thought he’d be here with me.For me. Some sort of trepidation threaded through my heart, but I ignored it.
“The witch did something to him before I got a chance to stop her.” August waved his hand and snorted. “Not that I was even prepared for her to say fucking ‘Boom’ and blow everything up.”
“Look at all of them,” Joy stumbled along the wreckage and fire beneath our feet as she stared around at all the lost souls waiting for us to send away. Several were watching us, and I was pretty sure I heard one of them asking Prudence if he was going to Hell with tears in his eyes. “What do we tell them?”
“Nothing we say will be what they already don’t know,” August elaborated with his hands. “Half of the city is gone.”
“That’s what she means.” Sebastian gave him a glare. “It’s shitty all around.” He turned to Joy. “But there’s no need to comfort them. Who knows if they even remember this life on the other side?”
“That’s heartbreaking,” Joy said lowly. She was the first to open up the passage and began guiding them into the light.
“It’s not sad when you don’t even know the meaning of the word. All your hurts and pains… All your troubles are gone.” Prudence’s voice was monotone as she ushered the souls into the passage, but her words weren’t. “They’ll know peace which we’ll never know, not even in our dreams.”
“I don’t want to forget my troubles, not even pain. I am what I am because of everything I’ve been given. I wouldn’t trade my memories for any amount of peace.” Kitty bit off a piece of whatever snack she held, slapping a soul on his butt. “How about you?” she asked him.
“As long as I’m not going to Hell, I’ll say good riddance. I was deep up my ass in debt.” He covered his mouth. “Shit, am I allowed to say that? Shit!” he said again.
She shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know. You must not be too bad, he’s letting you in.” She gestured toward the passage he was closing in on.
He clasped his hands together. “Thank, God!”
“You do that,” she told him, trying to swat at his translucent jean-clad ass again but he was already gone.
Joy gave her a disbelieving scowl. “Am I the only one that has any finesse when dealing with the dead?”
“Crying with and for them isn’t exactly what I’d call finesse,” Payne told her.
Joy’s cheeks lit up, but she said nothing. And that was how the next couple of hours went. There was constant teasing and bickering among us, but deep down we were nothing but sullen—broken with our failure to save the lives that hadn’t meant to die today.
When we were finished with the last of the souls, there was nothing else we could do. The humans were stuck with the wreckage. They would tend to the ones wounded from the outskirts of the explosion. They’d mend and repair, like they always did. As for everyone that had been in the perimeter of the explosion, Barron was right, no one survived. Not that they could.
When everyone started heading out, I was afraid to move. My feet suddenly felt like lead. Jack slipped through my consciousness almost constantly in an irritating cycle. I could ignore his empty presence no longer. “He hasn’t shown up,” I finally said with a clipped tone. I didn’t even know who I was talking to.
It was Barron that answered, “He was here with us. I couldn’t imagine he just left.” He kicked a flame with his boot. “Check the rubble. Maybe he takes longer to regenerate than we do.”
“He’s not here.” I pushed my hair off the nape of my neck. “I feel him through the mark. He’s at the cave in which I found him.”
Barron paused, studied my expression. “You’re not saying something.” I felt the heat of his stare on the side of my face where he stood next to me. “Jesus, Maureen! Are you crying?”
I touched my cheeks as the tears slid down.