Page 4 of Blaze of Our Lives

“Let me out,” Pandora begged in a weak and haggard voice.

I whipped around and produced my fire swords. Abaddon followed suit. His expression was confused, but he was ready for a fight.

I didn’t see Pandora anywhere.

“What’s wrong?” Abaddon asked. “Did you see something?”

I shook my head. “Didn’t you hear her?”

“Hear what?” he asked, scanning the room.

“It was Pandora,” I told him. “She said, let me out.”

His brow dipped as his gaze met mine. “I didn’t hear anything.”

“Neither did I,” Candy Vargo said, looking concerned. “But I believe you. I can still feel the shitty whore close by. Try answering her.”

I swallowed the knot of anxiety in my throat and then asked, “Pandora?”

“Yes.” The relief in her voice was palpable. “You can hear me. Good. Now, let me the hell out!”

I had no idea what she was talking about. I kept looking around the stage to see if I could pinpoint where her voice was coming from, but to no avail. “Where are you?”

“I warned you, and you wouldn’t listen,” she hissed. “Now, you have to find a way to let me out or else.”

I looked at Candy and Abaddon for help. They both still looked bemused. “Don’t you hear her?”

Both shook their heads.

I glanced around the room at the other Demons. “Did any of you hear her?”

The answer was no. No one heard her except me.

“You shouldn’t have touched me,” she said in a flat tone. “I warned you, and now you have to pay.”

My breathing came in rapid, jerky spurts as realization hit me like a ton of bricks thrown at my head. Hard. My knees gave out, and I dropped to the floor. Abaddon squatted down beside me and gently pushed my wild hair out of my face.

“I know where she is,” I choked out raggedly.

He waited.

I clutched at my chest. “She’s in me.” I shook my head in denial even as the truth consumed me. “I’m Pandora’s box.”

Abaddon stood up, slashed his hands through the air, and blew up the far end of the sound stage. “Motherfucker,” he bellowed.

I turned to the Keeper of Fate. “What do I do?”

She inhaled slowly and blew it out on a loud woosh. “We’re gonna have to make a trip to the Higher Power and get this shit worked out once and for all.”

I’d gone from being an unemployed actress to a Goddess who had another Goddess stuck inside her. I’d found my mother. I’d found the love of my life. I was accepted by my people. It looked like I’d be acquiring some of Pandora’s people. I had a shitload to live for.

I extended my hand to Abaddon. He was red in the face and still fuming. If I was going to meet the Higher Power, I wanted him by my side. “Will you come with me?”

He nodded jerkily and clasped my hand in his. “There is no place in the Universe I’d rather be than with you. I’ll be by your side until the end of time.”

“I love you,” I whispered.

“I love you more.”

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