Chapter 97
“Our dead are never dead to us until we have forgotten them.”
—GEORGE ELIOT
H ell was in shambles. We hadn’t lost as many demons as Yahweh had lost angels, but it was still a waste. Lilith fell quiet as we walked through the burning city and made our way back to the House of the Fallen. Shemhazai and Gabe fell silent, and Hypnos took in his new surroundings with the sort of quiet attention someone might bring to a funeral.
Once we were back in the manor, we found the surviving legions of our people already working to bring order back to the wreckage.
Lilith laced her fingers into my hand and tugged me toward our bedroom. My heart sank as I immediately understood why she wanted that to be her first stop.
“Lilith…” I warned, as we followed her to our room.
“Quick, maybe if we hurry, we can get her back to the kiln and save her too.” My little queen’s voice was so full of hope I almost didn’t have it in me to tell her it was too late.
Gabe had been able to repair my soul because I had fought tooth and nail against the natural call of the universe to disperse into nothingness.
Immortal souls did not reincarnate. We were unique, one-of-a-kind beings. Once we were gone, that was it… forever. I had been the exception, not the rule. The combination of Lilith’s blood magic and sheer fucking stubbornness on my part is what had made saving me possible. The moment Jezebel died, her soul had likely disintegrated into nothing. She was over. Finished. Nothing more than a memory.
We entered the bedroom, and Jezebel’s body was exactly where I had found it before I left for the Fountain of Death.
Lilith spun on her heel, her shroud of shadows curling around her feet. I exchanged a look with Hazai, who looked just as concerned as I was.
“Help me carry her back to Heaven,” Lilith begged, but Hazai pursed his lips.
“She’s gone, sweetheart. There’s no bringing her back.”
“We have to try,” she pleaded, her mossy eyes shining with tears. “Gabe can fix her. He can repair her soul, right Gabe?” She looked at the dark angel hopefully, but his face was taught with remorse. Hazai took a careful step forward and rubbed his knuckles gently over her flushed cheek.
“I’m sorry, Lil, but there’s nothing for Gabe to repair. Her soul isn’t here. She’s passed on to wherever it is demon souls go,” he whispered, and the tears in her eyes spilled forward, staining her little freckled cheeks. I felt my black heart crack in my chest. I was so sick of watching her cry.
“But… she was my friend…” Lilith whispered, and Shem rested his forehead against hers, wiping her tears away with his thumb.
“I know, sweetheart. I know she was.”
She buried her face in Shem’s chest, and I slipped up behind her. “We’ll bury her in the graveyard so you can say goodbye,” I murmured in her ear as she sobbed. “She risked her life to save you, and because of her sacrifice, no one else will ever be unmade at the hands of Yahweh again. We will make sure she is recognized for what she’s done for us.”
I met Hazai’s gaze over Lilith’s shoulder as we held her. We didn’t need words to understand what the other was thinking.
If it was up to us, Jezebel would be the last friend Lilith would ever lose.
We wrapped Jezebel’s body in shadows and took her to the graveyard where the sleeping gods had been buried.
Shemhazai grew quieter and quieter with each step. He seemed to be on high alert, and I knew it was because he was unsure of what to expect.
Roughly three hundred years ago, he had returned from one of his usual romps in the mortal realm uncharacteristically angry. Shemhazai would have never admitted it to me, but I had even suspected he might have been severely depressed. He had completely shut down for nearly a decade. After years of prodding, he had mentioned his relationship with Hecate to me briefly but refused to get into any of the details. Whenever I tried to bring her up, he tended to grow irritable, so I stopped asking about her over the centuries.
Gabe also seemed to be growing increasingly tense. He shuffled his wings in irritation as we walked and kept shooting Hazai dark looks. When we arrived at the graveyard, with Jezebel hovering before us on a bed of shadows, Hypnos cleared his throat.
“This is where I leave you,” he said, his voice already stronger. The wounds in his abdomen, chest, and throat nearly healed.
I eyed the God of Sleep curiously. His skin was bronze, and his navy hair had small golden flecks clinging to the strands. Upon closer inspection, I realized they were tiny golden stars and moons. It looked like he had sprinkled golden confetti in his hair, but when he ran his fingers through it, the glittering constellations didn’t move.
Lilith cocked her head to the side, her brow creasing in concern.
“Are you sure? Where will you go?”
“I must return to the dream realm and see if there is anything left of my home,” he said, eyeing the misty graveyard that loomed before us. “My magic will have worn off, and the other gods are likely awake,” he said, pursing his lips in concern.
“That’s a good thing, right? They were all displaced and trapped by Yahweh, but now things can return to the way they were,” Lilith said, but the God of Sleep gave her a solemn look.
“It will be an adjustment. Yahweh is not the first god to attempt to rise to power. I suggest you get your house in order and prepare to defend your domain. The others will be angry and vengeful.”
“They have no reason to seek vengeance against us,” Lilith said, frowning. “We saved them.”
Hypnos gave her a dark look. “Those consumed with anger rarely have room left for reason. I am grateful to you for releasing me, and I hope that you heed my warning, but this is where we must part ways. Good luck, Lilith, Goddess of Death and Decay. I wish peace and prosperity for you and your people.”
With that, the God of Sleep vanished into a burst of stardust, and I forced myself to school my reaction.
“Well… that was ominous,” Shem said, sounding bored. He rolled his eyes and turned on his heel, heading into the graveyard. We followed, floating Jezebel’s corpse along with us.
The normal rush of power that overcame visitors was not present, and I felt a chill crawl down my spine at how abnormally still everything was.
Hypnos had been right. The graveyard was empty. I glanced around at the closest graves and noted how the ground looked as if it had been clawed through. The gods and goddesses had been forced to dig themselves out of their own graves, only to find themselves in a realm they didn’t belong.
Shem shot me a furtive look, and I forced myself not to frown.
‘Let’s get Jezebel buried so Lilith can get closure, then we’ll look around,’ I said into his mind. His eyes flashed in annoyance at the hold-up, but he nodded.
We found an empty plot and lowered Jezebel into the grave. We buried her beneath the twisting nebula of Hell’s night sky, and Lilith used her magic to carve her name into an obsidian stone. She stood back when we were finished, and I read the inscription out loud.
‘Here lies Jezebel, the embodiment of Hell’s fury and a true friend of Death.
May she live on for eternity in our memory.’
“That’s beautiful, deathtrap,” I murmured, pulling her close and kissing her head. She trembled in my arms, and I tightened my hold on her.
“I’m tired,” she whispered, and I knew she was nearing her breaking point. I glanced at Hazai. Despite the fact that I could tell it was taking everything in him not to bolt off into the night in search of Hecate, he still managed to look concerned.
“Why don’t you take her back to the room? I’m going to stay to look around.”
I nodded, shooting a look at Gabriel, who seemed pissed off about something.
“You sure?” I asked, and Hazai nodded.
“Yeah. Go, take care of our girl.”
“Alright, be careful,” I said, and he shot me a dazzling grin.
“I’m always careful.”