Chapter 30

THIRTY

Willow

Gabriel—my angel—his great, white wings stained with blood, but very much whole—locks his gaze onto mine.

He mouthes, "I love you," before he crashes to the ground. I can hear his bones shatter. One last, final breath rattles in his lungs.

"Gabriel! No!"

His power coils within me. It's eating me alive. Pushing. Pulsing. Desperate to find its home. Hannah spins me around, one hand over my heart, the other tangled in the chain around my throat.

"Give it to me," she growls. "All of it. You cannot resist me, Willow. The Whisper Keeper is only a conduit. She cannot take the power for herself. You will never be an angel. I will."

The chain burns my skin. She's in my head. Whispering. "Give it to me. You want to. You need to."

The void races closer. Gabriel's power resists, keeping me on the knife's edge of nothingness and unending agony. I have to let it go.

Hannah's will consumes me. Willow fades away. Smaller and smaller until I'm only a speck of dust in my own mind. All of Gabriel's angelic power rushes from my body in a blaze of pure, white light.

It knocks us apart. We're suspended in time, tethered by magic, until blood red wings burst through her white dress, ripping the delicate fabric.

For a breath, she closes her eyes, then her wings start to beat. "The power! I can feel everything!"

My magic releases the last of Gabriel's life force, and I collapse in a heap on the floor. He's gone. My angel is truly gone. Sobs wrack my body. The last few broken bones haven't fully healed, and each tremor brings more pain.

Gabriel tried to save me. He did save me. Not my life. Hannah will kill me. Or I'll find a way to meet my own end. But maybe…just maybe…he saved enough of my soul for me to see him in the afterlife.

Gabriel

I walk through an endless world of white. My robes are loose around my ankles. My wings flutter in a gentle breeze.

An overwhelming sense of peace settles in my soul. I…am home. Back in the celestial realm where I belong.

No. Pain flashes behind my eyes. I belong…

"Did you really think you could make a grand gesture like that and just… die?"

Whirling around, I come face to face with Azrael. His tailored black suit is still perfectly pressed, but in his hand…

"Is that a slice of pizza?" I ask.

His sheepish smile should anger me. But here, I cannot muster the emotion.

"Did you enjoy it?"

"Thoroughly. Have you tried bagels?" he asks and clasps my arm. "Sea salt are my favorite. With blueberry cream cheese. Though Everything bagels have a certain appeal as well."

His breath reeks, and I wave my hand in front of my face. "I should have warned you, Az. If you consume more than trace amounts of garlic, you must brush your teeth soon after. Your breath is…vile."

He cups his hands in front of his mouth, exhales, and his eyes widen. "Fuck. Noted."

"Why are you here? With pizza, no less." We walk along the path to the Sea of Redemption. Azrael finishes his last bite of what I think was double pepperoni and swipes a napkin over his mouth.

The sea sparkles like diamonds, despite a complete lack of wind. There is no sun in the celestial realm. Only the never-ending light that touches everything here.

He stops on the edge of the shore, turns to me, and rests his hands on my shoulders. "You're dying, Gabriel. I'm here to carry your soul to eternal rest."

"Oh. Well, get on with it, then."

"Get…on with it?" Azrael shakes me, and when I do not react, arches a brow and punches me in the face.

"What the fuck was that for? Do you treat all your souls in this manner?" In the celestial realm, we cannot be injured. There is no pain. Only the shock of my brother's strike. He hits me again. Harder this time.

"Haven't you forgotten something down there?" He jabs his finger in the vague direction of the earthen realm. "Or… someone ?"

I have no idea what he's talking about, but before I can say a word, he looses his massive black wings, tosses me over his shoulder, and takes to the air.

Azrael is not only my brother. He is the closest thing to a friend I have in the celestial realm. So I let him see this through—whatever this is. He sets me down on top of a wall in the middle of the night. Frigid air swirls around us, and the sounds of war are everywhere.

Bullets whiz by a few feet away. A woman screams. The voice is familiar. But before I can figure out why, another angel with sleek, black wings soars over the wall of the building, circles once, and dives into a lake.

A moment later, he bursts from the depths with a dagger in his hand. I know this weapon. My chest aches. I stare down to see a bright red stain spreading over my robes.

"Maddox! I have the Blade. Find Lucifer's axe!" he shouts.

"Oh, I've found it," another angel—Maddox, I assume—replies. "But you're not going to like where it ended up." I follow Maddox's gaze.

Three vampires battle against a woman with jet black hair and crimson lips. Her hands are in constant motion, sending massive chunks of the crumbling walls hurtling for the bloodsuckers. Lucifer's axe lies behind them.

"You look, but you don't see." Azrael points to the center of the building.

Blood red wings beat the air. The woman glows with power. The ache in my chest turns to searing pain. At her feet, another human screams. She clutches my body, sobbing, my name on her lips. My heart rends in two.

"Willow…"

In an instant, all my memories return. Holding her that first night in the cathedral. Marveling at her beauty. Breathing in her scent. Saving her from the vampire-fae abomination. Showing her my damaged wings. Feeling her fingers sift through the devastation with such tender care…

Making love to her.

Losing her.

Hannah grabs Willow by the throat and throws her against the wall. My love tries to get to her hands and knees, but collapses with a whimper.

"Your friends cannot save you, Whisper Keeper." Hannah advances on Willow, her wings outstretched, fangs glistening. "Nor will they ever find you again. Calista, get the Blade. Now!"

The witch turns, sending a burst of magic at Sinclair. His wings simply…stop…and he plummets to the ground. Bones break. One of his wing bends at an unnatural angle, and he screams in pain. Calista flicks her wrist, sending the Blade flying across the building until it comes to rest in front of Willow.

"Pick. It. Up," Hannah commands.

Willow's strength—her will to resist—is almost gone. "Please, no. I killed the man I love. You can't take more from me!"

"I can take whatever I want. You are mine, Whisper Keeper. Mine to command. Mine to control." Hannah disappears, and an instant later, has Kàra held fast in her arms. "You will take this one's power next. She is the strongest of them. Ancient. A goddess among Valkyrie, I believe."

Willow screams as her fingers wrap around the hilt of the Blade. "Kàra…Fight her. Please!"

I turn to Azrael. "Why are you torturing me with this? I died , brother. Is that not enough?"

The Angel of Death holds up his hand. Time stops. There is no sound, no movement. I sweep my gaze around the building. Killian is frozen in mid-spell. The magic arcs from his hand in a magnificent burst of blue light. Maddox dives toward his brother. Calista sends a steel rod hurtling for Ewan, while Mist is pinned by a pile of rubble.

"You are hovering on the precipice of death, Gabriel. In seconds, I will have no choice but to release your soul to the afterlife."

"Then do it!" I grab him by his lapels, ready to beg if I must. "I cannot watch the woman I love lose anything more."

"Then don't," he says, a hint of a smile playing over his lips. "Get down there and save her."

"My heart no longer beats. My soul is here , tethered to the Angel of Death until he releases it to the afterlife. I cannot simply choose to live any more than you can choose to let me. Seraphiel would take your wings."

Azrael scoffs. "You are an archangel. One of the chosen. A celestial. You have the power to weave the very fabric of the universe. Surely your heart is not so difficult to mend. And Seraphiel is about to learn the true meaning of the phrase ‘fuck around and find out.' Don't worry about me. I can take care of myself."

I press my hands to my chest. The wound is so deep. Can I really do this? Willow's cry echoes in my mind.

"I…I love you, Gabriel. I'm sorry!"

Azrael rests his hand on my shoulder. "I've given you all the time I can, brother. Are you ready to come with me or not?"

Shaking off his hold, I draw up to my full height. "Az? I love Willow with all that I am. I'm going to live. You can fuck right off."

My wings unfold, beating with a purpose I have never felt in all of my existence. I rise into the air, leaving Azrael standing alone. He nods once, and as my consciousness—my soul—dives for my body, all Hell breaks loose.