Hell's Phoenix Deleted Scene

This deleted scene came about right after Madison came out of Hell. In the original storyline, Cael was half-dragon and half-vampire and he saved Alessa by turning her into a vampire rather than Nix saving her when they returned from Hell. Here's the scene after she's been turned and Madison's reaction. 

Disclaimer: This scene is unedited and was removed from the book prior to submitting Hell's Phoenix to my publisher, Decadent Publishing.

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Madison knocked on the bedroom door and Alessa bid her to enter. Thick drapes were drawn tight. Not an ounce of sunlight filtered through the windows. A single lamp burned beside the bed.

Alessa met Madison in the center of the room, her expression overflowing with anxiety. In the darkness, Madison detected red rimmed eyes, bloody lips and a faint red stain to the outer edges of her aura.

“Oh, God,” Madison whispered, horrified by the extent of Alessa’s altercation. “He turned you into a vampire?”

“Let me explain,” Alessa said, but Madison didn’t care to listen. 

Whipping around, she found the vampire-dragon and marched to him. Cael held his ground, watching her approach with a guarded gaze. She grabbed him, pressed her thumb into the pressure point on his wrist and he dropped to his knees.

“Unfurl those wings and I’ll whack them off,” she promised. “Blow fire or smoke in my direction and I will drop you.”

“You already dropped me,” Cael said mildly, peering up at her without fear.

At his snarky bravado, Madison whipped out the only weapon remaining in her possession, the dragon blade. She placed the tip against the pulsing vein in his neck.

The bedroom door opened and closed quietly. Madison didn’t look to see who entered. In the murky shadows of the room, it was unlikely she could discern the visitor anyway.

“Mads!” Alessa clutched her arm. “I wanted this. He gave me a choice and I’d have died without him.”

“You’re dead now, Alessa.” Madison held Cael in her glare. “You don’t breathe, your heart doesn’t beat and your pulse is nonexistent. That makes you dead. Dead!” She yelled the final word. “I told you to return her to me unharmed.”

Nix placed his hand on Madison’s wrist, the one trapping Cael. She shuddered at the touch, her succubus recognizing him on a physical level without having to look at him. She didn’t lift her glower off the vampire-dragon.

“Stop bullying him. She asked for this, Mads.”

Tearing her gaze off the shifter, she faced Nix. “You accept this?”

How could he? This was the woman he loved, the woman Georgie spoke about.

“I don’t like it. The Sherlock in me is spitting-mad, but it’s what she wanted. For that reason, I accept it.”

Madison looked between the two men. Releasing Cael with a shove, she shook her head and closed her eyes. She felt him move away from her.

Madison ran her hands down her face. She’d gotten Alessa into this mess. This was her fault. She’d killed hundreds of thousands of people in an earthquake and ultimately her friend too, a woman she thought of as her sister. All of them dead because of her. She deserved to die. She deserved the torment of Hell.

She thought about half of her soul shoved into her pocket, the one she’d snatched off Micah as she killed him. If she crushed it, would she die? Or would she need both halves?

“Please don’t hate me, Mads,” Alessa spoke into the darkness.

Madison blinked and turned to face her. “I could never hate you.” She hugged the other woman. “You’re the sister I never had. I didn’t wish this for you.” Pulling back, she captured Alessa’s hands in both of hers. “I should be asking you for forgiveness. I dragged you into this mess.”

“You’re not to blame.” Nothing Alessa said would negate the guilt Madison endured. “I didn’t have to agree. I could have walked away and you wouldn’t have blamed me, but saving Nix is worth this new life.”

Madison glanced at Alessa’s soul shining on her wrist. “You should take this back now.”

“No,” Alessa shook her head and patted her soul on Madison’s wrist. “I don’t have this vampire urge under control. Blood is like an elixir. Strangely I don’t crave yours, but Nix smells pretty damn good right now.” Alessa dragged in a rough breath as Madison deliberated over the fact that Nix always smelled pretty damn good to her. “I need to know someone has control of my life if I can’t get control of my urges.”

“You’re shaking,” Madison said to change the subject because she didn’t like the idea of what Alessa implied.

“I’m starving.”

“I need to feed her.” Cael draped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her against his side. Alessa looked tiny and fragile up against Cael.

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