Free Pandora's Box by Gracen Miller Page B

actual one-on-one meeting with one of Hell’s minions, proved more than she could’ve prepared for, or ever fathomed. She hadn’t possessed the good sense to be overly scared as the altercation happened. She guessed because she needed to keep a level head to get them out of the predicament. Now, she couldn’t stop thinking how close she’d come to dying. Or that Amos had identified the demon as his daddy.
    Micah. It couldn’t have been her husband and she refused to contemplate such insanity. But she couldn’t dismiss that the Mimicker said Micah planned to return and a few hours later she awoke to a demon in her bedroom. Called Daddy by Amos , her inner voice reminded.
    Blinking back tears, she dragged in a deep breath. It failed to settle her anxiety. She couldn’t get the putrid stench out of her nose. Worse, she still tasted his blood from when she bit his tongue. Madison doubted a bath in bleach would alleviate the smell or that brushing her teeth with acid would eliminate the taste.
    You better start repenting, Madison, or you’re going to spend an eternity with that rankness . A giggle bubbled to her lips at the horrific thought, forcing her to realize she hovered close to plunging off the cliff of sanity.
    “Madison?”
    She heard Phoenix call her name, but he sounded far, far away.
    Humming the tune to ‘Highway to Hell’, she rocked Amos in her arms. An appropriate song, because she figured she traveled ninety on Route 666, with every bend and turn in the road driving her closer to the pit.
    “Madison?” Phoenix snapped his fingers in her face and she continued to hum. He and his family should go away, leave her to the forces haunting them, before they were sucked into the abyss with her. The guilt of one of them being harmed wasn’t something she could live with.
    Phoenix kissed her, snapping her out of her dark thoughts. It wasn’t the take-all kiss of the demon ravaging her with force. No, his lips were warm, soft, yet firm enough she felt the passion he held in admirable check.
    “Phoenix,” she whispered against his mouth.
    Their breaths mingled, and he remained in her personal space. “It’s me, darlin’,” he muttered, rubbing the heel of his palm along her bare shoulder. His touch felt wicked and decadent, and suddenly she wanted his hands everywhere on her body. Once he had her attention, he moved away. “Let me have Amos.”
    She shook her head. “No.”
    “Madison—”
    “No!” She tightened her hold on Amos. “No, Phoenix. I can’t. That—that demon….” Her son had called that demon daddy for goodness sake! She shook her head. “Amos wasn’t afraid of the demon.”
    May Heaven damn her for the thought, but Amos and the demon seemed the best of buds. She knew Phoenix wouldn’t understand why she couldn’t give her son up. She didn’t understand. She just knew she wanted to keep him safely tucked in her grasp.
    Amos and that thing had shared some form of silent communication. That made her all sorts of terrified, sick to her stomach with dread. Taking a deep breath, she cleared her throat and changed the subject. “Demons actually exist, huh?”
    Phoenix sat on the arm of a chair, folded his arms across his chest, and nodded.
    “So, God’s as real as they are?”
    He couldn’t imagine the importance of his answer. After spending a lifetime rebelling against her father’s religion, to suddenly learn all of it might be real. Madison struggled with a fount of regret and anger spewing from her mind.
    “Yeah, I believe in God. Can’t have evil without good.”
    “Certain of that?” She’d have chewed on the inside of her cheek if it weren’t sliced in a gazillion pieces already.
    Phoenix stared at her, his green eyes stark and intense. His opinion shouldn’t matter. She wasn’t even sure she liked the man, yet she anxiously waited for his response.
    “I’m certain of two things, Madison. Death and Demons. The double Ds.” He chuckled, and a dreamy look