Kelly Hashway - Face of Death

“Gone. Happy. All gone.”

My insides twisted at his broken speech. This place was turning him into a mindless soul. It wasn’t just his speech that was broken. He was broken. A shell of who he once was.

“Warmth. Light.”

Was he talking about before he died? Was he wondering why everything was so colorless and cold here? “You aren’t alive anymore, Matt. You…died. I’m so sorry.”

“Not here. Somewhere else. You.” Finally his eyes found mine—really connected. He was seeing me now. “Then gone. Now here.”

“Yes, Matt. I’m so sorry. We were in my backyard. You kissed me, and now…this is your afterlife.”

“No. Found happiness. Gone now.”

Alex had crept up on us, probably because he noticed Matt was actually talking to me—not that I was making any sense of what he was saying. He waved Tony over with a strange look on his face. Did he know what Matt was talking about? The two of them whispered for a moment before Tony approached Matt and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder.

“Matt, my name is Tony. I’m a friend of Jodi’s.”

“Jodi,” Matt said.

“Yes, that’s right. Can you tell me if you were somewhere else before you came here? Were you in another afterlife?”

Matt nodded. “Warm. Happy. Not here. Can’t find it.”

My throat closed. Matt was wandering in circles, looking for the Elysian Fields. I knew it. That was where he’d been when Hades brought him back to the cemetery that night. He’d ripped him out of his own version of Heaven, and when I killed Matt again, Hades had sent him here. It wasn’t fair. I had to fix this.

“Matt, I’m going to make this up to you. We’ll find your Heaven again. I promise.”

Tony shook his head at me. “Jodi, you can’t promise that. How do you intend to convince Hades to move Matt to the Elysian Fields? If he’s really using Matt to torture you more, he’ll never listen to reason.”

He was right, and I had no idea how to get to the Elysian Fields anyway. Every time we’d traveled from place to place down here, Hades had us covered in his swirl of black smoke or took control over our bodies, so we only went where he wanted and saw what he wanted. I didn’t even know which direction the Elysian Fields were in.

“I’m not leaving him here. I can’t. This is too much.” My blood boiled under my skin as it mixed in anticipation of using my powers. Only I had nothing to use my powers on. Did I? Then, it hit me. If I wanted Matt to get out of here, I was going to have to do it myself. I was going to have to raise him.

“Jodi, please calm down. I know this isn’t what you wanted, but we have enough to deal with right now. Matt isn’t hurting here.” Alex was trying to reason with me, but he was missing one key thing. Matt was hurting.

“He is, Alex. He’s in pain because he used to be in Heaven. He used to be happy. Hades took that away from him because of me. If I can’t get him back there, then I’ll get him out of here.”

Alex wrinkled his brow. “You’re talking in riddles.”

Great, a little trick I’d learned from all the Ophi prophecies about me, no doubt.

“Jodi.” Tony was trying to use kid gloves on me, talking slowly and keeping his voice gentle. “This is one thing you are just going to have to accept, to let go.”

“No.” My mind was made up. I wasn’t letting this go. I wasn’t going to accept this. Matt deserved better, and I was going to give it to him.

Alex took my face in his hands. “That part of your life is over. I know that hurts sometimes, but you have to move on.” His eyes pleaded with me. I knew how this looked to him. Like I was worrying about yet another guy who wasn’t him. I didn’t want him to feel that way. I loved Alex. He was everything to me. But Matt was in here because of me, and I had the power to do something about it. I couldn’t just ignore that to keep Alex from getting his feelings hurt. We were talking about eternity versus a moment of unhappiness. I wouldn’t damn Matt to this place for the rest of time to keep Alex from a little discomfort. It wasn’t fair.

“Tony, can I have a minute alone with Alex, please?”

He looked back and forth between us and then at Matt, who obviously had gotten tired of standing there and had wandered off again in his circular pattern. “I’ll be right over there if you need me.” I wasn’t sure who he was talking to. Did he think Alex would need help getting me to listen to reason?

As soon as he was out of earshot, I hugged Alex and said, “Do you trust me?”

He pulled away slightly. “Don’t make this into a trust thing.”

“When you hear what I have in mind, you’ll understand what I mean.”

“Let me do one thing before you tell me, because I have a feeling I’m going to get royally pissed, and I need to do something first.” He leaned down, pressing his lips to mine. My blood tingled throughout my body in response to him. I knew he didn’t need it, and I hoped he wouldn’t think I was using my blood to sway his opinion at all, but I allowed my power to transfer to him. He instantly deepened the kiss, pulling me closer.

I didn’t want him to stop, but I had to talk to him. I had to say this before I lost my nerve. When he kissed me like this, my mind became mush. All I could think about was him, and I could already feel thoughts of Matt slipping away.

I pulled my mouth from his. “Alex.” He tried to find my lips again, but I turned away. He found my neck instead, trailing his lips down to my collarbone. I couldn’t think straight. I shivered from the chills he was sending down my spine. My lips found his. The more he kissed me, the more power I sent him. It was my body’s natural reaction to the pleasure he was causing me.

I was losing this battle of wills. I forgot about Matt. I forgot about my plan to get us out of here. My fingers found Alex’s hair, weaving through his unruly and totally sexy dirty-blond locks. His lips found my neck, making me moan. The world stood still. I may have been in the underworld, but I was in Heaven with Alex.

Something bumped into me, and I turned slightly to see Matt. He’d broken his pattern and walked right into me. Alex continued to kiss any part of me his lips could find. I gently pushed him away.

“Alex.” He tried to pull me to him. “Alex.” I was firmer this time, but he still wasn’t stopping.

“Jodi,” Matt said. I nearly fainted. He’d said my name, without me talking to him first.

Alex stopped, jolted back to reality by the sound of my name coming from Matt. Alex looked at me, completely confused.

“He walked into us.” I felt my cheeks redden. Matt may not have been totally coherent, but having my ex-boyfriend walk into me kissing my new boyfriend still felt awkward as all hell.

“He recognized you again.” Alex wasn’t happy about this. Part of me wanted to go back to kissing him and make him forget about Matt and the way he held onto my memory. But if Matt was reaching out to me, it meant my plan might actually have a shot.

“I know. It’s weird, right? He isn’t like the others here. He remembers. I think it’s because he’s not supposed to be here.”

“Please, don’t start that again. I was hoping you’d forget whatever it was you were planning after—”

“You kissed me? Was that your plan, to make me forget Matt?” I wasn’t really mad at Alex. He was desperate. He’d already lost me once, and he was trying everything he could to keep it from happening again. I pressed my hand to his chest and sighed, letting him know I wasn’t angry. “I just wish you’d understand how much I love you.”

Alex lowered his eyes. “Loving you isn’t that easy. There’s always something or someone competing with me for your attention. I just want it to be you and me.”