Page 6 of Blaze of Our Lives

In a blast of dazzling magic, the others arrived. The gathering of Immortals was a surprise and at the same time it wasn’t. It was going to take a lot to surprise me at this point.

Gideon, my uncle, who was also the Grim Reaper, appeared first along with his better-half, Daisy, the Angel of Mercy. Gideon was somewhat terrifying. Although, he had been the one who helped me control my magic. Point to the scary Demon. He was my mother’s brother, but I was fairly certain they weren’t close. I reserved my opinion on how much I could trust the gazillion year old Demon until a future date. He was technically one of my people, but he seemed more like a loner who made his own rules. Daisy, on the other hand, was open, kind and a badass in her own right. She also had some sort of gift for helping the dead. The first time we’d met, she’d been sweet to my dearly departed Uncle Joe. My gut told me she was to be trusted.

Tim, who was dressed in a postal uniform, materialized right next to them. He was the Courier between the Darkness and the Light. I wasn’t sure what he did, but he’d been really friendly when I’d first met him. If his smile was anything to go by, he was still on my nice list. The man was tall and thin. He looked to be around forty-five which I was aware was misleading. Immortals could choose their age. In this room, right now, there was several billions of years- worth of living. It was difficult to wrap my mind around, so I didn’t. I couldn’t quite tell if Tim was an Angel or a Demon. My guess was that he was simply an Immortal like Candy Vargo.

The next to arrive was a woman named Heather. She was the Arbitrator between the Darkness and the Light. Again, no clue what the job entailed. Heather had a unique gift that was as mesmerizing as it was weird. When her power spiked, her skin danced with shimmering tattoos in every color of the rainbow. She gave me a tight smile and moved to stand next to Daisy. I nodded politely.

Even when one was about to have a mental breakdown, one could still have manners.

Charlie, the Enforcer, came into view after Heather in a mist of icy silver magic. His eyes were a shocking vivid blue, and his power was evident. I had to breathe in short, shallow gasps so I wouldn’t faint. Sometimes he looked sixty. Sometimes he looked thirty. At either age he was insanely powerful. Today he looked sixtyish.

“Tamp that fuckin’ shit back, Charlie,” Candy Vargo griped, flipping the man off.

I winced at her language, but Charlie didn’t seem bothered. He simply nodded and did as he was requested.

“My apologies,” he said to me with a wink and a twinkle in his bright eyes. “I tend to overdo it when under duress.”

“No worries,” I said with a forced smile as I sucked some magic-free oxygen into my air-deprived lungs. I felt like I was having an out-of-body experience or that I’d accidently chowed down on a bunch of my brother’s Devil’s Lettuce gummies. “I get it.” My voice was high pitched and tinny. I should have stopped there, but somehow my mouth didn’t get the memo. “I’d love to step outside and blow up all the houses on my street. After that, I’d be down for peeling all the skin off my body and flying. The last time I flew—which was twenty years ago—I knocked a few teeth out and got a face-full of stitches. Honestly, I’d settle for draining the ocean with an explosion or three, but I’d feel bad for the fish. Fish are cute… and I’m a big fan of sushi.”

The perplexed and alarmed expressions of my uninvited company made me quickly review what I’d just said. If I could have melted into the ground like the Wicked Witch of the West, I would have happily done it. I closed my eyes, slapped both hands over my mouth and pretended for the briefest of moments that if I couldn’t see the people gathered in my living room, they couldn’t see me.

It didn’t work.

Opening my eyes, I sighed and gave an apologetic smile that I hoped didn’t look like a pained grimace. “Sorry about that,” I said. “I have a lot going on.”

“Underfuckingstatement,” Candy Vargo agreed. “Let’s get these fuckers up to speed.”

So, we did. Between Abaddon, Candy and me, we retold the unbelievable truth. Questions were asked. Questions were answered. It took two hours and ten minutes to wade through the shitshow of a story. The tension in the room was thick. I was worried the story was so far-fetched, no one would believe it. Not to worry. Far-fetched was the norm for Immortals.

“Can she hear you?” Tim whispered.

I shrugged.

“YES,” Pandora shouted, making me jump. Her nasty voice seemed to linger like an echo bouncing in my brain.

No one else jumped or flinched. Apparently, I was the only one who could hear the Stinky Whore. Lucky me. Grabbing a pad of paper and a pen from the coffee table, I quickly let the Immortals in the room know what she’d said.

Glances were exchanged. Abaddon, Gideon, Tim and Candy Vargo huddled together on the far side of the room. They whispered so quietly I couldn’t hear them. I was in a room filled with people I really didn’t know, except for Abaddon and Candy Vargo. Blind trust wasn’t my usual modus operandi. Even though I knew Candy wouldn’t bring people in who weren’t on my team, I couldn’t shake the feeling of being outnumbered and outmatched. It didn’t help that I was housing my arch enemy who could hear what I heard and what I said.

Charlie quickly walked over to me and began to sing. I didn’t get it until I did. He was masking any chance that Pandora could overhear the Destroyer, the Grim Reaper, the Courier and the Keeper of Fate. His choice of song made me laugh. It was nuts that I could laugh amidst the chaos I called my life, but Charlie for the win. Hearing Old McDonald Had a Farm come from the lips of the man who made it almost impossible to breathe when he went all badass was bizarre.

Daisy giggled and Heather grinned.

“He has grandkids,” Daisy told me as she joined in with Charlie.

“A bunch,” Heather added as she sang along with her cohorts.

When in Crazy Town it was polite to go crazy. I was polite. When they got to the verse about the cows, I moo-mooed like my life depended on it. It occurred to me that it might. The ridiculousness of the moment was almost as cathartic as blowing shit up. Almost… but almost was good enough right now.

A quick, sharp and cool burst of crystal white magic made me sigh with relief. Cher had arrived with a cooler filled with alcohol and the crappiest makeup job I’d see to date. My talent agent was an Angel, literally. The woman was twelve million years old, but looked to be in her mid-sixties. Her teeth were bleached along with her bottle-blonde hair. The tiny gal had a well-done boob job, a nose job that wasn’t as well-done and a lip job that she could have sued her plastic surgeon for… and won. However, she was gorgeous to me—even with those lips lined in navy-blue or lime green. She also had someone with her.

The sight of my mother made my eyes fill.

I might be forty. I might be the newly crowned Goddess of the Darkness. I might have more power in my pinky finger than should be legal. But right now, I needed my mom.

“Cecily,” Lilith cried out as she crossed the room and took me into her arms. “This will be okay. We can get through it. I will be with you.”

Her words were comforting even if they weren’t true. My mother was no longer the Goddess of the Darkness. The title became mine the day Pandora killed her. She was now Lilith the human. She wouldn’t live forever, but she would live out the rest of her days with my dad who loved her with all of his heart.

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