Where Demons Fear to Tread (28 page)

Oh, God, no.
She knew what lay inside the house. She did not want to go in. But something compelled her to reach forward and push open the door. Time slowed to a crawl. A team of paramedics knelt on the floor, performing chest compressions on a man whose blue eyes, the same eyes she had inherited, stared blankly at the ceiling.

One of the paramedics turned to look up at her. His amber gaze burned into hers. The rest of the figures froze, their movements suspended in midair. Corbin stood and walked toward her. “He made a deal with me,” said the demon, latching on to her arm with a grip that was terrifyingly strong. “You’d never guess what kinds of things he traded away.”

“That’s not true!” Serena shouted. “My father was a good man. You have no hold over him, and no hold over me!”

“You’re close to becoming a demon yourself, girl,” he snarled.

“You couldn’t be further from the truth.” She stared right back into his eyes, concentrating on the phrase Arielle had said to her.
You are a fully enlightened being.

You are a fully enlightened being.

She thought of all things good. Of waves crashing on Carmel Beach. Of the mother and the little girls she’d saved, safe and happy together. Of Meredith’s crazy potions and late-night advice. Of lying in Julian’s arms, the synchronized rise and fall of breathing, their bodies twining in divine union. She imagined light pouring from her heart, into the dark abyss of this hell to which Corbin had brought her, willing happiness to every being that existed inside of it and out. The scene around them flickered, shimmering like a background image projected onto a life-size screen.

Words tumbled from her lips, the most powerful invocation she knew:
Lumen de lumine. Deum de deo. Deum verum de deo vero
. She chanted the words again, in Latin and English both:
Lumen de lumine. Deum de deo. Deum verum de deo vero. Light of light. God of God. True God of true God.

It was then that she truly realized that Corbin had no power over her. His demonic abilities extended exactly as far as her willingness to believe that he could harm her. She had always known that nothing was as powerful as the divine light—that the balance between good and evil was the biggest misunderstanding plaguing mankind. But she had never understood that more fully than now.

“Hell can’t hold me. I don’t believe in it,” she said, shaking off the demon’s hold for the last time.

Summoning white light to herself, she concentrated hard, willing the energy into a compact ball that she directed straight toward the demon. That radiance flashed in the space between them, elongating and wavering for an instant before she streamed it right into the center of his forehead. He stumbled away, clutching his head and uttering a high-pitched shriek that threatened to pierce her eardrums. His bony body seemed to shrivel before her eyes, wilting into a heap of decomposing remains.

Over the horrible noise of his screaming, Serena shouted, “You stay here and rot, Corbin. I’m going back for Julian.”

She gathered the bright shield of light around her once again, protecting herself. Held in her heart the knowledge that nothing and no one could harm her. That she truly was a fully enlightened being. Then she set the scene in her mind, willing herself back into the sickroom of Julian’s nightmare.

Gabriel blinked, smiling. “You’ve come into your power, little Guardian. And you’ve learned to dematerialize.”

So she had. She had no idea what had become of Corbin. Wherever he had gone, he wasn’t here. She knew, beyond all sign of a doubt, that if she ever met him again, she would prevail. She was strong enough now that she could overcome him through the sheer power of her faith, the strength of her hope, her belief in love.

But there was no time to waste. They must get Julian out of this place immediately, she knew. She knelt by Julian’s bed, untying the bonds that held his wrists to the decaying wood. She spoke quietly as she worked at the knots. “Hell only exists because you believe it exists. It’s an illusion. Julian, you have the ability to walk out of here. The demons have no authority over you. All you have to do is believe.”

He looked up at her with such suffering in his eyes that she almost stopped right then, weighed down by the pain of it. “Believe in what?” he asked.

She forced herself to hold the thought in her mind,
You are a fully enlightened being. You are a fully enlightened being.
“Believe in love, my dearest.”

He shut his eyes, turned his head away. “But I need to atone for the things I’ve done. For the lives I’ve ruined. I deserve to suffer.”

“What’s done is in the past. Your suffering isn’t going to help anyone, not even those people whose lives you ruined. The only thing you can do is let go of the past, and go forward with a pure heart. You’ve learned your lesson. Repair what you’ve done, if possible, and start helping others instead of hurting them.”

“I deserve to suffer for what I did to you.”

“You did nothing to me. I learned the true nature of love. And I’m not giving up on you. The only one holding you here is yourself.”

“I’m beyond redemption,” he said. His voice was so mournful that for an instant, she wavered, wondering if he really was lost.

Behind her, she felt the radiance of Gabriel’s energy, emanating into her and through her, the force of him so powerful it illuminated this place that seemed forsaken by God. She looked deep into Julian’s eyes, sapphire shot with emerald, beautiful even in his suffering. And she said, “Nobody is beyond redemption. Divine love is universal and unconditional. I love you, Julian. All you have to do is believe.”

I love you.
Since his mother had died, countless women had said that to him. Most of them in the throes of sex. He had heard it thousands of times, but never once had it rung true before. It did now, coming from the lips of this little angel who had braved hell to rescue him.

How could she be right? It was not possible to end suffering just by believing it could end. Was it? And if so, what exactly was he supposed to believe? Believe that he was worthy of being released? That some good might come out of his existence if he tried to help others? The thought was ridiculous. Impossible.

There was a rustling of wings.
Archangel.
Julian had never seen him before, but through his feverish stupor, he knew what he saw. In the dank room, the magnificent angel shone. It seemed as though Serena, too, had grown brighter. She was no longer a frightened little fledgling. She had learned to fly.

Chapter Eighteen

B
ack to earth. Back to the safety of Serena’s comfortable apartment. Back to something Julian had not experienced in centuries.

Peace.

“What am I, if not a demon?” Julian asked Gabriel, once they had finally returned.

The Archangel smiled, benevolence shining from his face, brighter even than the sunlight streaming into Serena’s living room. “Perhaps you never realized it, but your true nature is angelic. That’s what demons are. Fallen angels. Redemption is within the reach of every last one of you.”

“But I don’t know how to be…good,” Julian protested, glumly thinking about the weight of his past, its temptations, its transgressions. Its sins.

“You have Serena to guide you. And you’ve already been protecting
her.
From now on, that will be your task. You are each other’s Guardians. You must also know that your mother is always keeping vigil for you,” the Archangel said. “Your father, too, will one day find his way back to enlightenment and remember his soul’s true nature. You will all be reunited. I promise you that.”

Julian realized that, even when he’d been in the depths of damnation, some small part of that
had
always known that his mother had always been watching over him. He’d never truly been alone. “What about
my
father?” Serena asked, her forehead creasing into a worry as deep as Julian had ever seen it. “I saw him in hell. Corbin said…he told me my father had made a pact with him.”

“All will be revealed in time, child,” the Archangel answered.

“I will help you find the truth,” Julian vowed. “There must be some way to uncover what really happened to your father. Corbin isn’t to be trusted. He’s full of lies.”

“I know.”

“And you’ve got to help me, too.”

“With what?”

“I’m going to live the life I wanted to live two hundred years ago. I’m going to use my power for good instead of evil. The profits from the clubs will be used to help the poor. I’m going to bring joy into people’s lives, instead of misery.”

In the end, even Julian himself was stunned at how quickly that happened, and how easily it was to accomplish. He appointed Harry to redesign the clubs, and in the weeks that followed, Angel’s Ecstasy was a bigger success than Julian ever imagined. The new Vegas club was an instant hit, even though its doors had remained closed for a week before reopening under the new name.

On the night of its second debut, Julian and Serena stood on the upper level, looking down over the dance floor, the masses of sinewy limbs below moving with joyous abandon. “This is how it should be,” he shouted over the surging beat of the music. “No crime, no drugs, no prostitution.”

Next to him, she grooved to the rhythm, her blond hair shining under the disco lights. “But pure fun. Even angels are entitled to a bit of that,” she called back, winding her arms around his neck and pulling him into the beat.

He had no idea what the future would hold. He had no idea whether he could live up to the expectations she had of him, or that he had set for himself. He had no idea whether he would be able to resist life’s temptations for the rest of his days. The only thing he knew was that he wanted to be with her forever.

Taking her hand, he descended the stairs to merge onto the dance floor. Together, they found the pulse of the music, their bodies moving in sync as they danced late into the night among the crowd of exuberant souls.

Exactly one year had passed since Serena’s human death, and on that day, she brought Julian back to her hometown. Back to Carmel. Results of her subsequent attempts to dematerialize had proven unpredictable, so they opted to take the Maserati. This time, she drove.

They cruised along the Cabrillo Freeway, curving their way up the winding coastline with its dramatic crash of waves. “One year ago today, I was driving home on this very road. I stopped to help at the scene of an accident and I died.”

As she drove, she reminded herself of the differences. That day last year had not been a day like today, clear and sunny. Toward evening, the colors of the sunset had not blended into amber and pink, as they did right now. But as they veered along the highway, emotions warred within her. Sorrow. Fear. Doubt.

The sun disappeared into the ocean, vanishing out of view by the time she finally worked through the lump in her throat. “I saw a part of your human life that was very personal. I brought you here because I wanted to show you a part of my human life, too,” she said, reminding herself of the reason they’d come. “I want you to know me as intimately as I know you, Julian.”

As they neared the crash site, worry washed over her thoughts and panic threatened to capsize her. She wanted to turn the car around. To drive back to L.A. She had not counted on the feelings that flooded through her as she traveled this stretch of road again.

Mercifully, they arrived.

Without the rain and the crush of metal, it was simply a spot on the road, unremarkable but for the small wooden plaque that bore her name and Meredith’s, along with a few bouquets of flowers to mark the occasion of their passing.

Yet, this was not what Serena had brought him here to see. She took Julian’s hand and guided him into the forest, lighting their way with a flashlight. She knew where they were headed, the ground beneath her as familiar as her own backyard. They walked in silence, all the familiar scents and sounds from childhood coming back to her. The fresh, pungent smell of the pines and cypress trees around them. The rhythm of any waves growing louder as they hiked toward the ocean. Overhead, stars cluttered the night sky, their shine unhindered by the competing glow of city lights.

She lifted a finger to her lips. Led him clambering up a large rock, pulled him to peer over its edge. She whispered, “Look.”

They stood on a cliff, looking down at a crowd that had gathered on the craggy shoreline of Point Lobos. Where a hundred points of light illuminated the shoreline, sending light back to the stars above.

She had brought him home to witness her one-year memorial. She had brought him to help her say goodbye. She had brought him with her, willed here by the silent wishes of her family and friends. By their hopes and their tears, beneath the glitter of stars and the flicker of candles. The group gathered was small in comparison to the thousands Nick’s death had drawn. But during her life, they had loved her well. She pitied Nick, wherever he was, closed her eyes and said a silent prayer for his soul. One day, she would find him.

Just as one day she would find her father.

Tonight, she was here. Watching over the people who had come to pay tribute to her human life. Her mother stood at the front of the crowd. In the warm breeze, Serena stood absolutely still, quiet as possible to hear the faint resonance of Muriel’s words rising up to reach Serena.

“It’s been a year of firsts for us,” she said. “Our first Thanksgiving without her, our first Christmas. Her twenty-fourth birthday, the Fourth of July. Life has been a little emptier without her. A little quieter. But I still feel her with us, watching over us. Sweetheart, we love you.”

Andrew came to stand by their mother, putting his arm around her to comfort her. A few people wiped away tears. Serena wanted to cry, too.

I love you, too
.
And I’m so much closer than you’ll ever know.

Muriel turned to look up at Serena. Her mother could sense her standing there on the cliff—Serena was sure of it. She sent love down to all of them. It still made her intensely sad to know that she would never be able to comfort her family and friends physically, to put her arms around them. But in her absence, they would comfort each other. And she would never be too far away to watch over them.

Her human life may have ended. But she understood now that her time on earth was just beginning.

She had the Company now. And she had Julian by her side.

In these past few weeks with him, despite the trials they’d undergone together, or perhaps because of them, she finally understood the true nature of romantic love. With him, she felt whole, as though whatever had broken in her during her human life had finally healed. Whatever was missing, she’d finally found. The little voice inside her was finally at peace, no longer whispering of bitterness or resentment.

Behind them, a noise sounded, the faintest brush of movement, too quiet to be human. They both turned at the same time, to see Arielle making her way up the rock toward them. Serena’s heart felt as though it had cracked open and a warm glow spread over her. In that instant, all of time seemed to collapse into one single moment, and all beings seemed connected by a single unifying force: love.

Nearby, under the dense cover of foliage, a pair of green eyes as verdant as the cedar trees glinted in the night. Luciana hid, watching, and fingered the vial of poison that still dangled from her neck. She tilted her face upward in the cool night air, gazing up at the stars through the canopy of forest overhead. And gave thanks. Sent gratitude to the dark forces that had helped her to escape, once again.

Her run-in with the Company had been a setback, and it had drained her energy, to be sure. But she was free. And just as Serena had come home, so Luciana would return home, to a city on the shore of another ocean.

Home to Venice.

To recuperate. To recover. And to plan her revenge.