Page 2 of Blaze of Our Lives

“Stop it,” Pandora shrieked. “NOW.”

“You want proof?” I ground out. “I’ll give you and the Demon world proof.”

Silently and with no fanfare, Candy Vargo, Abaddon and Fifi surrounded me for protection. Without a moment to lose, I closed my eyes and projected the demise of my mother by Pandora’s hand. The shitty whore was speechless as the holograms played out in front of her… and all of her people tuning into the Demon Network. I hated that Man-mom and Lilith were watching, but that was beyond my control. I could only hope they would turn off the feed.

Pandora could no longer refute that she’d thrown the massive fireball that had ended the Goddess Lilith’s Immortal life. Her flaming assholes grew uncomfortable and began to mutter amongst themselves. It was looking less and less like hand-to-hand combat was going to occur. That was a plus. Losing any of my friends because they were fighting my battles would devastate me.

“Attack,” Pandora commanded. “Kill them.”

Her flunkies didn’t move.

“I am your GODDESS,” she screamed. “Do my bidding, or you will die.”

They stood motionless. The flaming assholes were still dangerous, but their leader had screwed them over. I wasn’t sure if she was in more danger from them or if we were. One by one, they morphed back into a human-looking form. One by one, they turned their back on her as if to shun her existence. Her shriek of fury shook the building at its foundation. Pandora’s eyes turned black, and a thick haze of pure evil swirled around her. It was difficult to breathe. I took short, shallow breaths so I didn’t pass out. The depraved Goddess raised her hands over her head and created a massive fireball. As she threw it at the men she considered traitors, Candy Vargo flicked her pinky finger and dropped a shield around them. The fireball hit the barrier with a thunderous explosion, then the blast flew back at Pandora. She screamed in agony as her vicious magic backfired.

Note to self: Never ever get on Candy Vargo’s bad side.

As Pandora rolled around on the floor, trying to douse the flames, her eyes darted wildly around the set like a cornered animal. Her body convulsed as if she was having a seizure. It was difficult to feel compassion for the vile woman, but a small part of me did. It was clear her power was depleted. She’d have put out the flames and transported away if she’d had any real strength left.

If the Higher Power, whatever it actually was, had truly put the box inside her, her heinous behaviors were the result of that one tragic action. While it couldn’t excuse what she’d done over the millions of years she’d been alive, it was a piece of the catastrophic puzzle that had shaped her.

There needed to be two Goddesses of the Darkness to keep the balance. I was one, and sadly, she was the other. Letting her die wasn’t on the table. Retracting my swords, I waved my hands and doused the flames. Part of me wanted to watch her burn for her sins, but a bigger part of me couldn’t let it happen. Instead, I made the compassionate choice.

Slowly, I walked to her. I held up my hand when Abaddon and Candy Vargo tried to interfere. “I’ve got this.”

I could hear the tension in Abaddon’s voice. “As you wish.”

“Fuckin’ badass,” Candy Vargo said. “Real deal.”

I wanted to prove her correct. I would prove her correct.

Pandora lay in a pathetic heap on the cold cement floor. When she noticed my approach, she tried to crawl away.

The tides had changed. It was time to use the key.

“Don’t touch me,” she hissed with psychotic rage. “NO ONE TOUCHES ME. Ever. You are a lowly nothing—a piece of shit beneath my shoe. I am Pandora, Goddess of the Darkness. If you touch me, I will destroy you.”

I forced myself to remember that, at one time, she was good. There was very little evidence of that anymore, but if all of our findings were correct, hope still lived inside the wretched woman. If I could get to it, she might be free of the evil and chaos the Higher Power had gifted her. She would still pay for her sins, but it might afford her some peace.

“The truth can shift,” I said, speaking the key aloud. “In the Darkness, the seed of hope awaits. Behind every smile lies a dark secret. What you see is rarely what you get. Some bridges are meant to be burned. Embrace what is repugnant to discover the beauty that lies beneath. Often, the answer has been in front of you the entire time.”

“Stop it,” she snarled. “Rubbish. You know nothing of what you speak. Do not touch me. I will make you regret it.”

The key wasn’t supposed to be used to lock Pandora away in a box. The key had been meant to save her. The key was to open the box and let the hope seep out. It was to let the box out of Pandora and free her from the evil that had been her prison for so long. Both of the Goddesses had been tested horridly by the Higher Power. In the end, both had failed.

This test wasn’t the end for me. It was the beginning. I could create change by embracing the repugnant to discover the beauty that lies beneath. My gut told me the answer was in the embrace.

“Look at me,” I told her sternly.

She refused. It didn’t matter. She had ears. The Demon would hear what I had to say.

“The truth is shifting. Your people no longer have faith in you because you have committed the vilest sin a Goddess can commit. You killed Lilith.”

She raised her head and glared at me.

“Your smile belies the tragedy that lives inside you,” I said. “You are Pandora’s box. The box is you.”

She reached out, her fingers splayed in a move I’d seen her use when shooting electricity at her foes. With her power zapped, nothing happened, not even a piteous spark. In her frustration, the Demon Goddess spit in my direction.

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