Chapter 18
CHAPTER 18
Endor
“Are you sure your intel is right?” I asked, crossing my arms.
“Of course, I’m right. Just because you don’t see him, doesn’t mean he isn’t here,” Valory nipped.
“Fucking angels. Always overconfident. Never can admit when you’re wrong,” I said, though my voice wasn’t bitter.
Valory rolled her eyes. “You did not seem to mind my overconfidence last night.”
I grabbed her by the waist, pulling her to me as she reached the door of the cafe. I pulled her out of the way as some customers exited the shop. She fell into me with ease. One brush of my lips along her neck made her squirm.
“Endor!” She shoved me, smiting energy tickling my nipples through my shirt.
“Who’s overconfident now?” she said, placing her hand on her hip.
I wiped my thumb over my mouth, knowing just how it drove her crazy. “You will be eating those words later.”
She dismissed me with a wave as she opened the door. “We have work to do. This division doesn’t run itself, you know.”
It was my turn to roll my eyes. “We are the division, Val.” I caught up to her quickly.
She shook her head. “Exactly, and we have a quota to meet.”
“Don’t I know it,” I said as I scanned the room for our target.
A lost soul.
I still could not believe that the powers that be divined us to be a team.
Considering my actions, I’d expected to be killed for my blatant ‘fuck you’ to celestial law, but Roche said the powers that be were impressed by my actions, and wanted to offer me a promotion.
A position that would put me on the surface alongside the contractor demons and the reapers.
As an agent of lost souls.
A harbinger, if you will.
I’d been beside myself, thinking perhaps I truly had died and in my dust-ridden state, I was eternally dreaming of what could have been...
But no, as luck would have it, I was being blessed with the chance to guide souls.
And Valory?
Her actions landed her a promotion, too.
Not only had we ferried Mercy to her body, but we had saved Miles, too.
Two souls for the price of one wasn’t a bad deal to our bosses. Or their bosses, I guess.
Though Matthew was a grade A angel dick and reminded us that as liaison agents from differing departments, “fraternizing” was frowned upon.
Roche kindly handed his ass to him and reminded him that there was no law against angel-demon relations, and that as long as we did our job, no one gave a shit what we did on our own time.
Which was all the permission I needed to engage my angel every chance I got.
I would spend the rest of my eternities finding ways to make my angel use her smiting powers, and she would spend the rest of her eternities driving me up a fucking wall.
Heaven, indeed.
“What makes you think he’s here?” I asked, looking around the room. I felt the strangest sensation in my chest. Like a ripple.
A call to action.
But as I glanced around the room, I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary.
“Call it a hunch,” she said.
“So, we wait,” I said.
She nodded as she headed to the corner, taking a seat. “We wait.”
I groaned but took my seat next to her.
And that’s when I saw him.
Miles sat in a chair by the fireplace, scrolling on his phone. His metal knee glinted, and I felt a sense of pride.
Because of him, I was saved.
Because of him... and Mercy... I got to do something I loved.
I got to hold life in the palm of my hand and watch it grow, like a flower sprouting from darkness.
And I got to do it with the woman I loved.
I grabbed Valory’s hand on the table and squeezed it. “Well, well. Look who it is.”
She followed my nod, gasping in surprise.
“Miles...”
The door opened, and my heart skipped a beat. I’d know that messenger bag anywhere.
“Mercy...”
She looked around, her eyebrows furrowed.
Miles spotted her immediately, and when he called her name, she lit up.
“Look at her...” Valory said.
I watched as she headed for Miles, as he got up and wrapped his arms around her.
Their embrace warmed my heart. They smiled, they laughed.
They lived.
And because of them, so did we.
“There...” Valory turned in the direction of the back of the room.
A young boy sat in the corner, his sullen eyes and shivering body out of place. Golden light surrounded him, but it flickered.
“There is our lost soul...” she said. “Do you want to take this one... or...”
“Sure,” I said, knowing she wanted to stay and watch Mercy.
I couldn’t fault her for that. We were a team, after all.
Besides, the boy looked full of pain and guilt, and I knew those emotions all too well.
I approached him, but he was skittish. He took one look at me and ran.
I groaned. I did not expect a chase, but that was part of the job.
I caught up to Valory, who was headed toward the door, her gaze settled on our target, but she was nearly knocked over by Miles.
The world stopped, frozen for just a moment as Mercy apologized. She looked directly at Val.
She could see us.
Fuck, she could see us.
My heart skipped a beat.
“It’s okay, sweetheart, you’re good,” Val said as I found my place beside her, settling my hand on her waist.
“Watch where you’re going,” I said, catching Miles’s gaze.
He looked at me with a sincere expression, offering me a smile. “Will do. Come on, Mercy,” he said.
Mercy’s gaze found mine and she smiled brightly at me. “Have a good day,” she said. It was polite, sweet.
To them we were strangers in a cafe, a fleeting moment that they would forget after we left.
But perhaps that was the beauty of life. Never understanding just how we touched one another. How we were all connected.
“Come on, Angel, we have a job to do,” I reminded Valory with the gentlest touch on her back. My wings unfurled once we hit the sidewalk, hers echoing the motion, shielding us both from sight.
She nodded, her smile genuine. “Right.”
We found our mark, kneeling behind a car, trembling.
“Go away,” he cried. “I don’t want to die!”
I knelt before him and Valory did the same.
“We’re not here to reap your soul, kid,” I told him.
“We’re here to save it,” Valory said as she offered him her hand.
He looked between us, clearly confused about the angel and demon before him.
“I know he looks big and scary, but I promise you, he’s a big teddy bear.”
I scoffed at her. “I am not a stuffed animal,” I bit.
She giggled. .
The kid looked at both of us. “How do I know I can trust you?”
I offered him my hand. “You don’t. You just have to have faith.”
He took my hand and I pulled him up.
Valory pulled him into our proximity, her wings meeting mine to form the safest circle around our charge.
He looked at us with tired, weary eyes.
“Are you ready to go home, kid?” I asked.
He nodded.
“Let’s get you home, then,” Valory said.
And as our souls embraced, I knew there was no greater gift than life itself.
Finding his body wasn’t difficult, and neither was assimilating. As the months went on, it got easier.
I didn’t think I’d ever tire of watching a soul be returned to its rightful home.
Valory leaned her head on my shoulder, letting out a soft sigh.
“We make a good team,” she said softly.
I pulled her close, planting a kiss in her hair. “Yes, we do,” I said. I looked down at her with a raised eyebrow. “Tacos?”
She grinned. “Strawberry margaritas?”
I nodded before leaning down to capture her sweet lips in my own victory. “Sounds perfect.”
She kissed me softly, her fingers grazing my jaw.
If you had told me mere months ago that a pain in the ass angel and a restless demon would be the start of a brand-new liaison division, I would never have believed you.
But if the last six months had taught me anything, it was that life—and death—were full of unforeseen miracles.
And as I kissed my angel beneath the chili pepper lights on the deck of El Dorado, I reveled in the truth that somehow we made our own heaven, together.
Valory broke away, gazing up at me through her lashes.
“We should get some rest,” she said, a gleam of mischief in her eyes.
I knew we would have to report to Matthew and Roche—our supervisors of the LSD—but the sun was still shining. We had plenty of time for reports and quotas.
“There is no rest for the wicked,” I answered, giving her a devilish smirk.
“I was hoping you’d say that,” she said, biting her bottom lip, and I thought perhaps she was right.
There would be no rest for either of us tonight, that was for sure.
And as I chased my angel outside into the perfect night sky, as we tangled together all legs and wings, and hands in hair, and wicked tongues, bathed in the moonlight and our combined ethereal glow, I felt at peace.
Because I knew that my soul was finally home.
Thank you for reading Mercy Reunited, the last book in the Lost Souls series.
If you enjoyed this book, please return to your favorite retailer and leave a review. Even a few words could mean the world to an author.