already.”
Jake turned to me, his eyes wild with panic.
I stood numb with confusion and a penetrating fear. First he had instructed me not to speak and now he wanted me to react. What did he think I could do?
Lucifer stood in one fluid movement. “I’m sorry, Arakiel, but this plan of yours has been very poorly executed. From the moment she descended into Hades you knew it would come to this. Never love that which you cannot keep. Your angel was always condemned to die.”
Suddenly an idea came into my head. “It won’t work,” I stammered. “I can’t die here. Those are the rules. Killing me will only send me back to Heaven.”
“No, my dear.” Lucifer shook his head. “Your death on earth would send you back to Heaven. It’s a whole different ball game down here. Hellfire is strong enough to annihilate an angel for good.”
“What if she agrees to convert,” Jake said desperately. “What if she becomes one of us?”
“Highly unlikely,” Lucifer said languidly, inspecting his manicured nails. It was evident he was bored with the whole discussion. “She’s shackled to the A-Team, I can tell.”
“At least offer her the choice.”
Lucifer gave a heavy sigh. “My dear Bethany, would you like to consider the option of renouncing Heaven and using your powers to assist us?”
“No,” I said. “A thousand times no.”
“Satisfied?” Lucifer said to Jake.
“Father.” One of the unfamiliar Originals stepped forward. It was a woman with coils of glossy raven hair that fell to her waist, ruby lips, and brilliant hazel eyes. She had a face like a porcelain doll’s and her skin was so milky pale she looked as though she had never seen the sun. Maybe she hadn’t, I thought absently. I wondered why I wasn’t filled with panic, why I wasn’t crying or begging for leniency. I felt like time had stopped, the seconds were crawling by and my emotions seemed to have shut down as if someone had pulled out a plug. The female demon continued, “I think we could make an example of her.”
“How so, my lovely Sorath?” Lucifer asked.
“If we are to undo her influence and restore the balance of power we must show the people that we mean business,” Sorath swiveled her swanlike neck to look me in the eye. “We must punish her publicly.”
Lucifer tapped his chin and looked pensive. “Interesting idea. What do you suggest?” He smiled at the seven demons like an indulgent parent. “I will let you decide the method.”
I watched in silent dismay as the Originals scampered out of their seats like a swarm of vultures to form a huddle. They conversed together in hushed voices. Diego and Nash cast sly glances in my direction and Asia looked smugger than a cat that had just stumbled upon a saucer of cream. Lucifer waited patiently while Jake paced compulsively, looking like he wanted to say something. He kept opening and closing his mouth, the perfect argument eluding him. Eventually, Sorath stepped out of the circle.
“We have decided,” she said with a satisfied grin.
“And you are all agreed?” Lucifer sounded almost disappointed. “There’s no need for lively debate?”
“No, Father,” she said.
“Then by all means, declare your verdict!”
Sorath turned to face me and the others slunk forward to flank her. Her eyes gleamed like blades and her lips pulled back into a smile of delight.
“Burn her,” she purred.
Lucifer clapped his hands in approval. From behind me, I heard Jake let out an agonized moan.
22
Vigil
I stood helplessly as the demons filed out of the warehouse. Now that my fate had been decided, they didn’t deem me interesting enough to acknowledge. Only Asia paused, long enough to mockingly blow me a kiss as she sashayed past.
“Arakiel, at dawn you will surrender your angel to us,” Lucifer called nonchalantly over his shoulder. “You have what is left of tonight to say your good-byes. Can’t say I’m not bighearted.”
I knew the enormity of what had just happened hadn’t sunk in because I was so calm. Jake was saying something reassuring to me, but I barely heard him.
“You’re in shock,” he said, guiding me to the chair Lucifer had occupied. “Sit down here. I’m going after my father to try and talk him out of this madness.”
I knew Jake was wasting his time. The decision was irrevocable and nothing Jake said was going to change it. I didn’t want to waste time pleading or bargaining. I had one thought and one thought only. If Lucifer was right (and there was no reason to doubt him), I only had a few hours of existence left and I had no intention of spending them with Jake. It was his selfishness that had gotten me into this fix to begin with. I had to make it back to Venus Cove one last time to say good-bye to Xavier and my family.
I knew that if I saw Xavier once more whatever happened to me in the morning would be a lot easier to bear. But I wasn’t going back just for me. Somehow I had to let Xavier know that it was okay for him to go on with his life, give him my blessing to move on. There was no way I was going to try and tell him what lay in store for me. I’d never want to cause him that much pain. I wanted Xavier to accept that I wasn’t coming home and stop searching for answers. I knew from my time in the Kingdom that people never really got over the loss of a loved one, but their lives did continue, eventually offering them new joys to compensate for their losses.
I didn’t know how long Jake would be, but I figured negotiating with Lucifer was bound to take a while. I’d never attempted projection from anywhere other than my room before, but it was easier than I expected because this time I didn’t care who found out.
I found Xavier in his room sitting on the edge of his bed. He looked distracted and a little disheveled from lack of sleep. A half-packed gym bag lay open beside him. His gaze was fixed on the feather sitting on his bedside table. It was the one he’d found on the seat of his Chevy after our first date. He picked it up, lightly brushed his fingertips across it and inhaled its rainy scent. I watched him place it between the folds of a pressed shirt in the sports bag. Then he reconsidered and returned it to its place on top of the leather Bible on his bedside table. I knelt in front of him and saw him shiver as if from a draft. Goose bumps appeared on his arms, but he continued to sit very still.
“Xavier?” I knew he couldn’t hear me, but the expression on his face changed to one of concentration. Could he sense my presence? Could he also sense how wrong things were? He leaned forward as if to catch a sound in the air. I thought about making contact with him the way I had that day on the beach, but somehow it didn’t feel right anymore. And I wasn’t sure I could pull it off in my current state of mind.
“Hey, baby,” I began tentatively. “I’ve come to say good-bye. Something’s happened and I’m pretty sure it means I won’t be able to come and see you again. So I wanted to come one last time to tell you not to worry about me anymore. You look so tired. Don’t go to Tennessee — there’s no point now. Try to forget you ever met me. I want you to have an amazing life. You need to focus on what’s ahead of you now and let go of the past. I wouldn’t take back a single second of the time we had, but …”
“Beth,” Xavier spoke suddenly, interrupting my train of thought. “I know you’re here. I can feel you. What are you trying to tell me?” He waited a moment and then added, “Can you give me a sign like last time?”
He looked so hopeful that an idea popped into my head. I had a way of telling Xavier exactly what I wanted him to know without the need for words. The room was in semidarkness. I focused my energy and used it to throw open the drapes and saw Xavier blink as the room flooded with light.
“Good one, Beth,” he said. I drew closer to the window and blew hard on it so that a patch of glass fogged up. Then I stretched out a ghostly finger and used it to draw a heart on the windowpane. In it I simply wrote, X + B.
Xavier smiled at my handiwork.
