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“I love you,” Gabriel breathed, his eyes roaming over my face.
I pressed my fingers into his gorgeous face. I’d known it was under there, and looking at it felt like seeing someone I’d known my whole life. I was meant to meet this man, and I would know him, skeleton or not. I would always know him.
“I love you too,” I replied.
22
GABRIEL
After we adjusted our clothes and each made an attempt to run our fingers through the other’s messy hair, we walked hand in hand out of the ruined office. The wind was gone, and the sounds of the battle had died down. In front of the remains of the vineyard’s gazebo stood the Order. Around them were the slain bodies of Lysandra’s army. The zombies had been corralled, though they weren’t zombies anymore. They were weary-looking and weak, sure, but now they resembled their former selves thanks to the restoration of their souls. Among them were a few soul stealers like me, who had been bound to the spider woman. Marnie and I had freed them all.
“Where is she?” I said sternly, looking around at the devastation.
“She is no longer,” one of the Order said stiffly. He motioned to a bit of the vineyard’s iron fencing, where Lysandra’s head was now impaled as a warning. She and the others would not reanimate. Unlike other times when you ‘died’ in Hell, death from the Order was permanent.
“Eww.” Marnie grimaced. She cleared her throat, then did her best to make her voice sound even and firm. “And the souls… They get to be rejudged like you promised, right?”
“Yes,” all four guardians said, bowing their heads.
Marnie pulled my hand tighter to her side, her fingers white-knuckling against mine. “And Gabriel? He… can be judged as well?”
“Gabriel Randall has already been judged,” a voice rang out above us.
Suddenly, a white light blinded me, and both Marnie and I shielded our eyes from its assault. When it faded, the fabled seraph, the Guardian of the Gate, stood in front of us. At his feet, looking smaller than ever compared to the imposing creature, was…
My mother.
“Momma,” I whispered, looking at her with adoring eyes. “I’m… I’m so sorry for everything… that happened to you and…” I sucked in a deep breath, even now unwilling to let myself shed a tear in front of anyone. Even with a soul, I’d been trained to hide so much weakness.
She reached out to me, and I quickly ran into her arms. I forgot about the seraph, the Order, the chaos. For a second, I almost felt like the little boy I had once been. I felt briefly like the sweet, innocent creature I could have been before life made me hard and bitter.
“My boy,” she murmured, her voice muffled against me. I was so much taller than her. How had I forgotten that? How had I forgotten the shade of her hair or her cozy smell? “My brave, beautiful boy.”
“What will happen to them?” Marnie asked behind me. “Can they both be in Heaven?”
“What do you desire, child?” the seraph boomed, directing its attention to Marnie.
“I want Gabe to be happy, to have what he deserves,” she said.
I pulled away from my mother gently. “Marnie, if I go to Heaven—”
She shook her head. “Even if you stay in Hell… What do we do? I’m still alive.”
“As always,” the seraph said, “what do you desire, child?”
“Choose wisely,” a member of the Order said gravely. “Word your favor carefully. We will grant you one for helping us.” He turned toward me. “And you, be assured you are forgiven. We apologize for the destruction that has been wrought.”
“Things will be righted,” the seraph said. Its many eyes blinked, and its wings flapped impatiently. “There is much work to be done.”
“Are you sure this is what you want? M-Me, I mean?” Marnie stammered. “It’s not every day militant angels give you a get-out-of-jail-free card.”
I smiled at her. “I’d stay in Hell if it meant we could be together… but—”
Marnie sucked in a breath, squared back her shoulders, and stared up at the seraph. Her gaze was unflinching, ready to demand what she wanted from one of the most powerful cosmic beings. She was incredible.
“I want to be with Gabriel… and I want to be here,” she said. A few of the souls who could understand the drama unfolding around her gasped. My heart tripped over itself at her words. What was she trying to say?
“Hell needs guidance,” she continued. “And Limbo needs to be cleaned up. Souls deserve more when they pass on. I want to make a life with Gabriel. I want him to understand the beauty of Earth and to live the life he was meant to. I want to live the life I was meant to, with my soulmate. But knowing what I know, a simple earthly life is impossible.”
