Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Fifteen

Lilith

“You’re both idiots.” Danu laughs and starts dragging me across the dirt. I see a body next to me that I assume is either the star or Tarek.

“Where are we?” I ask.

She rolls her eyes. “Where else? I’m going to feed on you, then feed you to the Fallen Angels in the Euphrates. They get quite hungry. Heard a rumor that even Medusa is down there, just sucking a Fallen Angel dry. Must be Hell for him, over and over again.”

I can’t move.

I’m strong but weak. By the looks of the blood on her lips, she’s probably already fed. I feel half-dead and can’t even save Tarek.

“What did you do with him?” I plead. “Is he okay?”

Danu laughs. “He’s currently enjoying time on the dirt, looking up at the stupid star he called, probably wondering in his death if he did the right thing. But, spoiler alert, all that did was make it so you got superhyped on star blood, which in turn just gave me more power. Some people are just idiots, and you slept with one. I hope you make a better choice the next time I wake you up for two days. Because, wow.”

It doesn’t make sense. The star should have given me unlimited power for at least a few hours. Did she already drain it?

Frowning, I touch my forehead. Why is it wet?

Wait. Her blood.

My skin’s hot to the touch. Danu isn’t paying attention since she’s busy dragging me through dirt and water.

I touch it again, and my fingertip burns.

My body is covered in dust and water as she tosses me toward the cave’s dark entrance.

This is it.

We failed.

And she’s going to survive again and again.

I have no knife.

I have no way of hurting her.

And my curse continues.

I press my hands against the earth and pause as rocks start shaking.

The power of the Earth. The power of a prince of the Earth. The star. I look up and grin. “Bet you weren’t expecting this.”

I slam my hands down so hard the earth beneath us begins to crack, causing an earthquake so loud and big that Danu starts screaming as it gives way beneath her feet.

“You’ll free him!” she yells. “You’ll free them both. Stop!”

I look up at her and grin, keeping my hands planted on the ground. “I heard he’s the worst Fallen Angel of them all. I heard Medusa hates you. And I heard they have three more chained beneath this very soil. Try to survive the Ancients. I dare you.” Rage burns in my soul. This is what she deserves. And if I’m ended, what better way to go than with the goddess who wields what should have never been hers to control?

Danu jumps on me. My body burns where she touches. She rips my hands from the dirt, rolling me over onto my back. Her eyes are black with fury, her weight so heavy across my chest that it’s hard to breathe. I suck in a sharp breath. It really is the end. How tragic that I was the beginning, and now this is how my story reaches its completion—being killed by someone who, by all measures, should be weaker than me. “I will live forever. You are going to die right now. I’m putting you out of your misery. Isn’t that what you wanted, dearest Lilith? I can feed off another being. I’ll make it slow and painful. I mean, I wanted you every year, but now you’ve just become a nuisance. So, what are your last words?” Black claws extend from her fingertips toward my neck. “Before I slit your throat.”

I smile as tears run down my dirty face—at least they’re warm, at least I know how it all ends, right? Should I be thankful? I look up at the stars. They’re so pretty. Creation always has taken after the Creator. I want to reach for them; instead, I just smile. “My last words? Sometimes, the world doesn’t need a hero. It needs a sacrifice.“

I look away from her and at the stars again. “Thank you…for choosing to fall for someone like me.”

They shine.

And all I can think again is, how pretty .

How very pretty.

I open my mouth to say “ thank you ” when the earth trembles a second time. But I’m no longer touching it.

Footsteps slam loudly against the ground, shaking Danu right off me. Slowly, I get up while she screams.

It’s the Council.

With all their wives by their sides.

Cassius is in front with Timber and Horus. They join hands as something gold flickers between what they touch. In an instant, they kneel.

Why are they suddenly kneeling?

Everyone lowers themselves behind them as if they weren’t just trying to go to war.

“Uriel,” Cassius calls out. “Danu has the apple. Send them down!”

The stars shine so brightly that it’s hard to focus. When I look to my right, I see the golden apple—what started the Fall, the war—Danu has it in her hand.

I use all my strength to reach for it but can’t quite get close enough. Then, another hand grabs it.

“Tarek!” I yell.

He looks like he just fought seven wars but snatches the apple out of her hands and then stumbles toward the cave.

“Tarek, no!”

“Yes.” He falls to his knees. “What was once Fallen must be restored. The star said so in her last moments. We have to restore the Fallen, the beginning, you, the end.”

He throws the apple into the dark cave.

And as he does, the stars light up above us to the point where I can’t see anything anymore. But I can hear. I hear it all.

A rumbling so loud you’d think the world was ending.

Danu starts screaming, covering her ears. Maybe that’s what happens when monsters meet their maker.

Then, all at once, what looks like ten thousand angels descend to the ground, all covered in full red armor. The sound is like rumbling thunder hitting the earth. Silence no longer exists.

There’s only them.

I look to the right and watch as swords plunge into the ground. They’re black and sharp and stay there, causing the earth to rumble even more—no, not rumble, it groans as they stand. Nobody moves. Nobody breathes. They’re like statues waiting for something.

They look toward the cave as if expecting a miracle to occur, when I know, sadly, curses are more common. Yet I look along with them as Danu continues screaming in alarm like she can’t handle what’s going on around her. Is it the supernatural? Is it the fact that the swords went into the earth? I have no clue. I’m probably just as clueless as the goddess is at this point, and so delirious I think I’m seeing things.

For the first time, I realize that the rumors are true as Bannik and Medusa walk out into the stars beneath the moon, standing tall.

Medusa is gorgeous, her red and black hair falling in dreadlocks to her waist. Her eyes are closed.

Bannik grabs her hand, and I’ve never seen a man so tall.

He’s truly a Fallen Angel, one of the first, not from the Garden but from being a Watcher. From becoming what he should have never been.

He locks eyes with me and then turns toward Horus. “Did you find my star?”

Horus walks forward, and it’s like everything moves in slow motion. “I promised I’d make a star.”

“That you did.” Bannik’s reddish-black hair is braided down his back. “And did you keep your promise?” A tear runs down his cheek.

Horus nods and looks at Timber, who looks at Cassius. They all walk forward. I have no idea what’s going on, but Danu is suddenly paralyzed next to me, her eyes following the movement of everything.

I slowly get up and wait.

I really have no idea what’s going on.

The angels wait, the army still with their swords in the soil. Then they shock the crap out of me and bow over their weapons.

“Ah,” Cassius says. “This was a long time coming, Archangel.” He kneels—the King of the Immortals on Earth, an Archangel in his own right, kneeling in front of Bannik, the worst of them all. He spreads his arms wide. “What better way to welcome you back than to bring you the stars?”

In a sudden motion, several fall to the Earth next to the angels. They stand and bow, and then...

They start to sing.

I don’t know the language.

I don’t know what’s even happening.

“Welcome.” Cassius stands. “Dear brother…you can hear them again.”

Was it the apple that released him that he needed all this time? The very first Fallen?

Bannik jerks his head to me. “And you.”

This can’t be good.

He smiles. “Not you.” He nods. “You’re safe. But you …” He grabs Danu by the neck and throws her against the ground. “Taking advantage of something so pure, something so new. You were there with us in the beginning, but you know the best part?” Danu shrieks and flails as he leans down and whispers, “We know your end. We always have. Timing is, after all, everything.”

It’s over in seconds. He flicks his wrist, and the apple appears again. He slams it against her mouth, shoves it in tightly, and whispers. “Fall.”

I expect something weird, but I don’t expect the actual ground beneath her to disintegrate as she does, indeed, fall into a fiery pit, only to be covered up seconds later.

Bannik stands.

Cassius walks over to him, joined by Horus, and finally Timber. They watch the earth heal. Mason follows and stands behind them.

And Tarek?

He crawls.

He moves toward the immortals. “Thank you.”

“Thank the stars.” Bannik looks down. “Must I sacrifice myself again to save another immortal? When will my turmoil be done? Hmm?”

I know he sacrificed himself to save Horus earlier, but does he even possess enough power to do it again?

“No need.” A female voice sounds as Medusa leans over Tarek. “Look at me.”

“It’s a curse!” I yell. “She’ll turn you into stone.”

Medusa’s eyes are closed, but she turns in my direction. “My dear sister, it’s only a curse if I make it so. Now, open your eyes, Tarek. Let me give you what you need.”

Tarek pants on the ground, dirt covering his face. “And what is that?”

“To see death and stay alive.” She cups his cheeks. “Open your eyes. Open them, son of Enoch. You have years of life in you, but if you do not accept death, you cannot accept life. So, watch me. Watch me and accept it. Only then can you live.”

My chest hurts. I start crawling toward him as much as I can, but I’m too weak to make it very far.

Cassius runs over and picks me up, then whispers in my ear, “Trust us.”

I shake my head. “He’s mine.”

“So let him choose,” he says right back. “Just like the stars. And just like you did so many centuries ago.”

I can’t watch, so I turn my head when Tarek opens his eyes and locks gazes with Medusa.

I’m too afraid to look.

Cassius sets me down. A hand grabs mine, and I glance left. It’s Genesis. She smiles and squeezes my fingers. “Remember, fear is not welcome here.”

“Not welcome,” Stephanie adds.

“Never,” Hope agrees.

Before I know what’s happening, all the women walk with me toward Tarek, and I see him stand, completely alive and whole.

I run toward him.

But something stops me.

“You,” a childlike voice says, “and I need to talk.”

My entire body freezes as I turn and look at the Creator. “Are you here to end me?”

“Why would I end the beginning?” He smiles and holds out his hand. He looks maybe sixteen, then changes into a man in his thirties of Arabic descent, then an Indigenous person, then a woman of Jewish ancestry. “Why would I ever end my Creation?”