Bittersweet Seraphim (33 page)

After God’s command, Lucifer flew, and God simply rematerialized on Earth. God’s presence brought all to their knees, even those no longer forced to be there.

After a few moments Emma felt God’s attention and lifted her eyes. He motioned for her and she pulled Jack along as she came. She didn’t use her wings, not wanting to add insult to injury for all the angels around her that were without.

“My sweet. So you’re the Devil Seraph now? That’s quite a title.” God smiled a bit.

Emma shrugged, unsure what to say. Lucifer looked fairly tame, and the minions were back where they belonged—well, most of them anyway—but there were a lot of loose ends to tie up before God left.

“Children, I’ve already interfered too much,” He said. “I can’t choose your destinies without restricting your free will. I leave you to settle your differences. Know that I love you.”

God was gone so quickly, it was as if all the air had been sucked right out of the atmosphere.

Jack instantly furious. “
Now
he leaves? For crap’s sake. That solves nothing. No fucking thing. Come back! Come back!” He shouted into the dark night.

Emma touched his arm. “Hey, it’s okay. It’ll work out.” The peace she’d been given in the pause with God still encircled her.

“Really? What about the angels’ wings? And Nero and Violent? And big ol’ Lucy here?” Jack held out a hand to Emma. “Fuck it. We’re blowing this joint. I’m not hanging around.” He was insistent.

But Lucifer’s voice stopped Jack. “I’m not in charge of Hell—yet,” he said. “I do believe I have to lay a challenge at the feet of the current Devil.”

“No. You’re the ultimate Devil,” Jack snapped. “The position is yours whenever you want it.” Jack pulled Emma behind him.

Then Lucifer’s voice became a million men screaming at once again. “I groveled at God’s feet, and yet I have to
earn
my role as the leader of the worst place. That’s the rule, right? And unless something’s changed, that starts with your girlfriend. I do believe I’ll tear her apart.”

Emma felt the ice-cold IV drip of fear slide through her veins. God left? How could He leave her now when she was so close to happiness? This couldn’t happen. Not here. Maybe Lucifer didn’t know what power she had in this maybe-transitional phase. Who was she, anyway?

She used the seconds before the fight as best she could. “Half-breeds and remaining minions, I command you to run as fast as your legs can carry you. Angels wings, return. Fly to Heaven.” She watched as a swarm of bodies that included Dean, Violent, Seriana, Jason, Kate, and Nero—all those she’d come to care about—bolted from the scene as the angels took off for Heaven.

Her next command, for Jack to leave as well, was swept away with her breath as Lucifer grabbed her wings and swung her into the sky. It was disorienting to see the stars and Earth twirling so violently. When she was finally righted, she was face to face with the first fallen angel. She gulped down her tremendous fear. Lucifer’s eyes danced with flame, and his red skin pulsated with thick veins just beneath the surface. Almost everything about him conveyed movement, unease, unrest. The power within him was a hurricane, trapped and barely contained. And as he reached for her, Emma realized that compared to what lay ahead, her tussle with Everett had been like parlor tricks. Facing off with Lucifer would be like trying to push over a skyscraper, but she had no choice. She’d go down fighting no matter how brief the battle. She owed it to Jack and to God. And to herself.

Chapter 36

Jack was alone and screaming when he saw Emma’s life begin to be squeezed from her. Something had gone incredibly wrong. Horribly wrong. Jack looked around, but there was no one. No angels, no half-breeds, no friends. He screamed for the dragon, he screamed for God, but before his eyes Emma went limp. He still had hope, even when her head lolled at an impossible angle. Even when Lucifer let go and Emma fell.

Jack rushed to get underneath her. He could catch her. But she was going so fast. Emma transformed into what looked like a falling star before she got to his arms, and Jack was impossibly stunned when instead of an armful of angel, he felt pieces of white-hot rainbow scatter around him. Some fell on his outstretched arms, and Jack hugged the pieces to him. They scorched his chest, burning his tattoo of her name.

Lucifer landed with a thud, seething.

Jack stood and raised reluctant eyes to the massive killing machine. “What changed?”

The synchronized chant bled from the Devil’s mouth. “I told God I’d run Hell. I needed to make sure my path was clear. That foolish girl could never have lived that life. It was a gift to her.”

Jack swayed as Lucifer brushed past him, and his leather jacket caught fire. He didn’t brush at the flames. He let them engulf him. Before Lucifer could crawl back into his home, Jack uttered the only sentence he could think of: “I formally challenge you to a battle to the death.” Things had happened fast, but Jack’s heart told him unequivocally that it should only beat when Emma was around. “This is a winner’s crusade to become the Devil.”

He looked at his feet as he felt the flames reach his back. Without her, there was nothing. He would be nothing. There was no point. As Lucifer stalked over to end him, Jack closed his eyes and let his energy dissipate out into the universe.

Violent stood in the shadows, watching as Jack ceased to exist. He didn’t even fight, and she didn’t blame him. Having the love you’d been reunited with so briefly disappear into thin air made a being numb.

She knew this firsthand. Giovanni had been in her arms and then just…gone. She watched, disheartened, as Lucifer stalked back to his hole. He hadn’t seemed joyful or triumphant when he killed Emma and Jack. And the magnificent dragon that had bravely fought for them was surely dead as well.

Once Lucifer disappeared, the exits to Hell sealed. The ground repaired itself as if there’d never been great burrowed holes in the soil. It was oddly quiet. No noises from the wildlife, who were surely scared and far flung. Like the half-breeds. Like the angels.

She looked to her left and saw Nero, the other minion so briefly reunited with his love. She sighed and he met her eyes. “Would you want her here again?” Violet’s voice was a whisper, but it seemed to jolt him.

Finally Nero shook his head sadly. “Holding her was…” He tightened his mouth into a line.

“I know.” She didn’t know what to do. She certainly didn’t want to go home.

Nero and Violent stood separately, their hearts dreaming of people in Heaven.

Part 3

Earth, 2032

Chapter 37

Jason felt warm, inside and out, as he sat in his house with Kate and the rest of his family. He hadn’t asked her to marry him yet, but she was part of him. It was Christmas Eve, and he’d found yet another tree in the woods—this time not to cheer his siblings, but to celebrate love redeemed, love found.

Trimming the tree was a riot of laughter and music. Mine had finally learned to navigate furniture, rather than plowing right over it, and after copying Seriana’s movements for so long, he had almost a feminine walk, which Dean and Jason loved to tease him about on occasion—such as now when he pranced back and forth carrying ornaments. Rebecca, finally healthy again, glowed in the center of her children’s joy. She seemed to soak it all up. It wasn’t until they unwrapped the angel for the top of the tree that the room got quiet.

In that instant, the news that Emma was gone punched them all again. It had been twenty years since Violent and Nero tracked them down to tell them: Jack and Emma had perished. But at least they had answers to their questions. They’d searched for them to no avail until the minions came to their door.

Kate’s father was going to stop by again tomorrow. He made regular appearances to be part of Kate’s life, sometimes with Violent, sometimes without, and they’d mourned the loss of Jenny again and again. Jason often wondered if the glimpse of their loved one had been more of a punishment. But Kate told him it gave her peace to know her mother wasn’t in Hell and her father had finally stopped shoveling. Nero and Violent wouldn’t speak about what they did between visits, or where they stayed. They certainly didn’t act like a couple.

Tonight as the silvery decoration angel topped the tree, Jason felt thankful he didn’t remember his relationship with Emma. Just the loss of what he’d come to know of her was deeply sad. She’d brought all of them together so many years ago. In a way, they owed her everything.

Nero could never stop wanting Jenny, but he and Violent had forged a partnership after the big battle. They were in a similar position: their loved ones were angels, although Nero rejoiced that he still had Kate to visit, and Violent saw Dean occasionally. She referred to him as her “walking photograph” of Giovanni, but he didn’t really ease her loss, and she’d thankfully stopped trying to make him Giovanni’s replacement. Nero and Violent had made their home base her house, telling no one where to find them. They didn’t converse much, but he’d been happy to help her in her gardens with anything but shoveling. It had taken about a year to decide what to do.

A comment from Kate had sparked Nero’s first semblance of a plan. “Dad, you’re an angel to me, even if you don’t have history on your side,” she’d said one night as she hugged him. He’d believed she was right. Yet when he mentioned his idea to Violent, she thought for weeks before responding.

Finally, one clear night, Violent nodded after spending quite some time petting a tree. “Yes,” she said. “We need to make more history so the balance will tilt in an angelic direction.”

Nero had cleared his throat. “That could take a very long time, at least for me.”

“For me as well,” she said. “I’ve corrupted a whole species. But we
have
a very long time either way. Even if it’s delusional, it’s better than the alternative.” She knelt and brushed her hand over the grass.

“I can’t go back to Hell, and living here is full of wanting anyway.” He made fists out of his hands.

“At least we’ll have something to live for.” Violent stood and held out her hand.

Nero had gripped it firmly, and they shook.

Since their pact that evening, they’d gone out every night looking to better the world. Her focus was, of course, nature. She tried to sniff out toxins and eliminate whatever polluted the natural world she loved.

Nero had focused on people. He found the evil ones and used his strength to intimidate them into a better life, hoping they’d seek good and continue down a better road on their own. He’d stopped muggings, robberies, and rapes. The saved victims’ gratitude felt worthy of his Jenny. He wore his scrap of her nightgown around his throat and lifted it to his lips after each night.