Jace Black Heart

Cash was passed out on the bed, arms hanging over the side and his legs cocked open with his feet hanging off on the opposite side. We’d fought about my trip, him insisting he needed to go with me and me insisting right back that I was a big boy and could handle a work trip on my own. It wasn’t like I hadn’t done it a few thousand times before. 

Fighting led to fucking. Post-coital conversation brought us back to arguing… which only ended up with more fucking which was probably why Cash looked like he could sleep the day away. I, however, has to slip out and make it to the airport by 4 AM to catch my flight.

It was a quick trip, the flight took just a couple hours with no delays with the early flight. I’d managed to squeeze in all my meetings, some via phone while driving from one office to the next. It was nearly midnight when I was making my way back to the airport to fly home.

I’d sent half a dozen texts to Cash but got nothing back. I hoped that meant he was busy and not giving me the silent treatment for having left without him. Dropping my rental off at the airport, I grabbed my bag out of the backseat and called my husband. 

Voicemail.Fuck.

“Hey, babe. I’m at the airport now, heading in. Flight should be…” I glanced up out of habit and saw the list of delays and cancellations and let out a weary sigh. “Shit. I’ll do what I can to find a flight out soon. Otherwise, I’ll drive my ass home. Miss you. Love you. I’ll text when I know more.”

Message left, I headed to the ticket counter to see what I could do about finding my way home sooner rather than later.

With a layover in Louisiana, I worked out a flight to get me home. Downside was, it was a three hour wait at the layover point. Three hours to walk around… and that’s how I ended up renting a car and driving the rest of the way home, but not before making a pit stop at a podunk little gas station in the middle of the bayou.

Inside, trying to find someone to pay, I couldn’t help but look at the shelves. They were covered in dust, trinkets of every shape and size carved from what looked like bone. I saw a stack of books, faded orange price stickers on the spines. Picking the top one up, I flipped it open to a random page and skimmed over the paragraphs. Bits and pieces, names and some other tidbits of information managed to stick in my mind. I was a sucker for learning and I had to tamp down the urge to read more as I set the book back down and moved on, glancing around for signs of life in the little stuffy shop.

When I heard someone clear their throat behind me, I nearly jumped out of my skin. Despite this weird excitement that had crept over me while looking at everything, I couldn’t help but feel like I was walking into some kind of trap, like something was watching and laying in wait for me to make the right (or wrong) move.

“Need to pay for my gas.”

I gestured to the tiny blue car out at the only pump by way of explanation. The old woman nodded, ringing up the sale. But before she took my money, she reached over and slid a book towards me. The cover was glistening, like she’d just pulled it out of plastic wrap or something. 

“For you. Don’t know why, but it is.”

I frowned, picking the book up to read the title. Spells For the Empowerment Of Untapped Energies. I shook my head no, intending on handing it back but she was gone already. I don’t know why, but I didn’t drop the book on the counter and leave. Instead, I tucked it under my arm, slipped my sunglasses back on, and headed out to the car to get on my way.

—-

When I finally got home, I arrived to a very pissed-off husband. Cash gave me the third degree, fuming over me leaving. It wasn’t like I could argue. The man was right, I did everything he accused me off. 

“You’re right! Everything you said. Everything. You’re right. It was a coward move to leave while you were asleep. All I can do is apologize. I can’t take it back. I can’t change it.”

Cash stormed off, the sound of his truck’s tires skidding on the gravel the only form of goodbye I got. 

All I could do was unpack my bag and clean up, shower and shave, mundane tasks to keep me upright and moving rather than do anything else stupid. Cash would come home. Eventually. And we’d work things out. I had to let him blow off some steam, do what he needed to do before we came back together. 

Hours slipped by, day creeping by at a snail’s pace. Waiting was torture, I’m sure cash knew it and was doing it on purpose. The only thing I could bring myself to do was plop my ass on the couch and clip through the book I’d gotten at that little gas station. 

I let the world fade away, absorbed by what I was reading. The first few chapters were a typical introduction, basic Do’s and Don’t’s of the spell work to be found later in the book. Then there were ingredient breakdowns, methodologies, and descriptions of different things that had my mind blown.

By the time Cash finally walked through the front door, the sun had long since slipped past the horizon and Halloween night had come. I’d already finished my book, even spent some time sketching diagrams and practicing the sigils the book had provided. I had a surprise waiting for him outside, something I was hoping he’d get a kick out of and might lighten the mood and break the awkwardness between us.

“Hey,” I smiled at him, rising to my feet to meet him. “I set up a bonfire outside for us to celebrate Halloween. We can roast marshmallows and enjoy the night?”

I had taken one of the spells out of the book and managed to use our firewood and branches to recreate the design. It was a spell that was supposed to bring lovers together, to ease negativity and bad airs in a marriage. It had definitely called to me, Cash’s chastisements still ringing in my ears. I still wasn’t sure I believed in this spell stuff, but I thought it was worth a try. Like the fates had somehow managed to conspire to make this happen once I’d been on my way home from Florida.

When we walked outside, the wind had kicked up. The sky was clear, the moon shining bright overhead. It wasn’t full, but it was still a stunning scene.

“I’ve got all the fixings for s’mores on the table.”

I gestured towards the set up, grabbing up my lighter before approaching the bonfire setup. I could hear Cash behind me, he’d even turned on some music to fill the silence of the night. The sound of plastic rustling, paper and foil tearing as he got the chocolate, graham crackers, and marshmallows ready faded on the wind as I crouched down beside the laid-out wood. I recited the spell with a low voice, the flame of my lighter igniting a small twig that I lowered to the rest of the wood. 

As the flame slowly spread, the outline of the sigil design flared to life. 

Little did I know that the wind had shifted some of the wood, creating a whole new design that would have nowhere near the intended outcome. 

---

Clouds seemed to appear out of nowhere, blocking out the once-clear sky and the moon. The only light we had was that of the growing fire, flames licking up higher and higher in the sky. The wind kicked up, a sudden gale that had sand flying, the flames whipping to and fro. Cash moved closer to me, trying to pull me back and away from the fire.

“Get away! Ja--” 

Cash’s words were cut off when a sudden blast seemed to come from the fire, knocking us both back off our feet. I crashed into the table where the s’mores fixings had been and Cash was tossed onto one of the lounge chairs, falling backward end over end. The blast was over as quick as it had begun, the winds gone with a sudden calm that settled over everything.

The air was no longer comfortable. It was thick and heavy, making it hard to take a deep breath as I climbed to my feet. I had a sharp pain in my back from where I’d landed on the table. I reached back, not expecting to find anything in particular but, instead, pulling one of the marshmallow skewers out of my back. A single drop of blood dripped from the sharp tip, landing with a fat plop at my feet only to disappear as if it were simply a raindrop.

My brows furrowed in confusion at that but I couldn’t dwell on it. Instead, I glanced over to where Cash lay on the ground. My heart sunk, he was too still. The only words that swam around my mind were that I had killed my husband. I dropped the marshmallow skewer without a second thought and rushed over to Cash’s side, tossing the lounge chair off and away from us. Kneeling beside his body, I ran my hands down and back up his legs, his hips, over his chest and shoulders, arms… feeling for any breaks or signs of injury that could tell me why he was still unconscious. 

A deep, resonating voice boomed out, from the fire I assumed and looked that way. I was suddenly scared absolutely shitless, wondering what the fuck I’d just done or caused.

“The deal has been made and the blood offering accepted,” the voice felt like it was making my very bones vibrate.

“What deal?!”

I was met with silence, the flames of the fire growing smaller and smaller within mere seconds until it was out, a wisp of smoke rising back up to the once-again clear sky. I couldn’t focus on that right now, turning my attention back down to where Cash was still lay before me.

“Cash… baby? Please, wake up.”

I practically sobbed, cupping his cheek after giving him a none-too-gentle pat. I shook his head, thumb cupping down and around his chin. His muscles were loose, making me fear the worst. I pulled out my phone to call 9-1-1 when I felt the air change around me, felt the stirring of Cash’s body. I dropped the phone and leaned down closer to peer into my husband’s eyes in the moonlight.

“Cash…”

Those weren’t Cash’s eyes. They were black as sin, from corner to corner, and there was a sinister smirk on those lips I’d kissed countless times.

___

I stood staring at the grave, memories flooding my mind over what had happened during the past several months. The night the demon consumed Cash from the inside, leaving a shell of the man I’d given my heart and soul to, would be the night I truly remembered as the last night I had with my husband and not the months of chasing the demon, discovering how to send it back in the attempt to save Cash.

In the end, it had been a Goddess who’d stepped in to help me. Aphrodite, no less. She’d heard the sounds of my plight, of my heart crying out. It came down to a decision that only the strongest could make.

“The only way to save his soul, Jace, is to make the ultimate sacrifice. You have to choose to walk away, to give the demon nothing to hold over Cash’s soul.”

Walk away. From my husband. To save him and rid him of the demon that I, foolishly, had stuck him with. Punishing myself for my idiocy would bring Cash back.

I remember Aphrodite’s sad smile as she uttered those final words, “Cash can never come back, Jace Black Heart. You can only save his soul. The demon has already destroyed the body and there’s no way I or any other god I know of, including Hades, could rectify that. But your sacrifice will bring his soul back to the light and allow him to enter the Elysian Fields.”

My mind snapped back to the present, the sensation of my thumb absently spinning my wedding ring on my finger grounding me as I forced myself to remember how to breathe all over again. 

I had to face it. Cash was gone and it was my fault, but at least I could rest easy in knowing he wasn’t suffering in the afterlife. 

I took a deep breath and held my right hand up so I could stare at my ring - the one that he’d bought me that had unknowingly been identical to the one I’d bought him, Fate making it obvious we were meant for each other.

“Until we meet again, Cash. Always.”

I choked up, refusing to let any more tears fall. Slipping off my ring, I held it to my lips to press a long, lingering kiss to the warm metal. When I managed to let a breath out once more, I stepped forward and laid the ring on the tombstone. I turned to walk away, my gaze drifting over the obnoxiously green grass that had grown over the grave. I somehow expected colors to be muted given how I felt and the brightness of them still holding on hurt. Hurt my eyes, hurt my heart, hurt my soul.

I heard a loud pop behind me, like a smaller version of a lightning strike. I even felt the rush of electricity run up my legs, my spine, down my arms, leaving all the hair on my body standing up straight. I turned around to look at the tombstone like it might have come to life or something…

… the ring was gone and in its place was a scorched mark.

I gave a small smile at that and left the cemetery behind, insisting to myself that I would move on and figure out how to live the rest of my life.