I ask shortly. “What is your suggestion for this?”
“Not for me to say. Just know that if you do end up growing old and dying, you will be leaving her, thus hurting her. You aren’t all in unless you make a real choice, Doc.” He vanishes the same way he arrived, leaving me indignant, but with a lot to think about. Does she really want me to become a Demon so that I’ll be immortal? What kind of Demon? A Vampire? That seems the easiest choice. A quick bite and I’m done. I think. Unless the movies have it wrong. I’ll still be me, but with fangs.
I gulp as I realize I will have to live on blood for the rest of eternity.
I sigh and sit heavily on the bed. Devlin is right. I have a real choice to make and I have to make it sooner rather than later.
Chapter 4
Shax
I stare at the box in front of me and then I look at Shadow. She shrugs, leaving this whole situation to me. I don’t blame her. What Vazna is asking of me is…it’s unfathomable.
I sigh and look back at the box.
Then, with an annoyed huff, I turn around and stalk off to the side of the cloud and look down over the Earth.
I’m not in Heaven. More like a pit stop on the way to Heaven. I glare down at the blue and green ball and wish that I was standing on it with Shadow, doing what I set out to do, not standing on a fucking cloud miles up in the sky with Sophie’s fucking Choice on my hands.
“Hey,” Shadow says, coming up behind me. “What is your first instinct telling you to do?”
“Take the box to Annabelle,” I reply without even thinking.
I breathe in and look down at her.
“Then do it.”
“That simple?”
“Yes, it is, Shax. You hold all the power here. Luc gave you all the power. He knew you would do the right thing.”
“And what if the right thing turns out to be the wrong thing?” I ask earnestly.
She giggles. “Never met a creature of Hell that worried about that,” she says lightly.
“That’s the problem though, isn’t it? Am I a creature of Hell or not?”
“You’ve just proved that your loyalty lies with your sister. Ask yourself what that means,” she says, standing up on her tiptoes to kiss me softly on the mouth.
I return it, flicking my tongue against her lips until she opens up. I kiss her deeply, finding solace in her embrace. It is the only thing that gives me this feeling but as much as I want to continue, I have to make a decision and soon. All of this pissing about is annoying me.
I pull back and regard her yellow eyes, searching for the answer in them. Is she right? Does my gut instinct prove that I belong in Hell with Annabelle or does it just prove that I will side with my sister, my twin? Further, does it only prove that I’m no one without her and that I need her to make a decision for me?
I growl, getting more and more pissed off as the seconds tick by.
Shadow stays silent, seeing that the struggle is real. Then she speaks, breaking the silence.
“If you do what Vazna wants you to do, you will be betraying your sister. If you don’t do what he asks, then you will be setting free Lucifer to potentially demand his rule back from Annabelle and possibly hurt her in the process. I don’t know much about relationships, but I do know that you love your sister more than anything. Both of these options might hurt her, but ask yourself which one will hurt her less?”
I glower at her.
“I don’t know anything about Annabelle as your sister, but I do know our Queen. She will kick your ass from Hell to the Wastelands and back if you betray her.”
I can’t help snickering. It’s true. She would.
I sigh.
“Vazna says that I am the only one who can open this box or destroy it with my blood. Inside is both Luc and Lucifer, along with Luc’s father. Three generations of the Devil that are all still alive, in some respect, that will change the balance of the fucking universe if they are all set free.”
“Luc wanted you to destroy it,” Shadow points out gently. “But I know you can’t do that to your sister. If you kill her father…”
“I know. But Luc knew. He knew I was the