Chapter 12 #2
The air pulsed behind me so sharply it made me flinch until I glanced back and found the archangel Uriel standing between us and where The Coven huddled together by the house.
Uriel stood tall and proud. The passion he carried shined through the Heavenly stream of power flying from his outstretched hands into Everest. Uriel’s long black hair flew around in the breeze.
His silver eyes were sharply focused. When I lived as Celina, the angels had not yet started to create their own Earthling bloodlines.
Only Jophiel had held that honor. But I’d learned recently that Uriel had been the second angel to do so, giving the realm Edward Proctor.
I glanced over his shoulder to Tennessee and found him staring at his ancestor—our ancestor.
I was a Proctor now, and I was proud to be descended from Uriel.
Everest lifted a few feet higher in the air, forcing his hand to pull out of mine.
Jackson Lancaster gasped, his eyes widening. I frowned and followed his stare only to find my own jaw dropping. The mother of the Lancaster line, the first angel to ever give birth to a mortal earthling . . . the mother of the very first arcana . . . Jophiel.
My breath caught in my throat. Fresh tears burned the backs of my eyes.
Everest’s entire body shimmered with golden light.
The archangels had joined us. They’d come to try and save him, to free him from the darkness within his soul.
He lifted high above our heads, his hands and feet dangling in the air while his long white hair swayed with the breeze.
Valathame, Jophiel, Uriel, and Gabriel stood at the four corners, blasting Heavenly magic into my soulmate without pause or hesitation. The magic from the rest of the angels knelt around me followed him up above our heads. Tears slid from the corners of my eyes as I tried to hold myself together.
I knew what they were trying to do. I just prayed they were strong enough to do it.
To overpower Lilith.
I was afraid to hope.
Please, please, please. Stay with me, Everest.
The ground trembled beneath my knees. The air grew thick and tense.
The energy pushing out of the ground and up through my body was sharp and hot.
My body began to shake. I squeezed my eyes shut.
No, no, no. Not Lilith. You’re strong enough to fight her hold on you, Everest. Do not buckle under her force.
The air cracked like lightning above us.
I cringed. I was too afraid to look. I had to stay strong for him.
And then everyone gasped in perfect unison.
Even the angels. My eyes flew open. I had to see what had just shocked all of them at the same time.
My gaze landed on Jophiel first, as she was in front of me.
The smile on her face and the shimmer in her blue and gold eyes made my heart skip beats.
She would only smile like that for . . .
For . . .
No, it can’t be. He wouldn’t, would he?
Slowly, I lifted my gaze. I was not proud of the sound of the broken sob that left my lips, but I was helpless to control the emotions inside me any longer.
Archangel Michael had come to save my soulmate.
The second angel ever created, second only to Lucifer himself, hovered in the air beside Everest. His hair fell in wild waves down to his shoulders, identical to his grandson’s behind me.
In fact, the only real difference in their appearance was the one eye.
Michael’s were mostly green with flecks of gold while his grandson had one royal blue eye he’d inherited from his father’s bloodline.
Part of me wanted to look back at Tennessee to compare the sight of them almost side-by-side, but I was frozen still.
Michael’s Heavenly magic burst from him.
It shined so bright it was like sunlight, too bright to look at directly and yet so captivating anyone would willingly go blind just to have a chance to witness it.
My heart was climbing up my throat with every second Michael blasted Everest with his power, a power unlike any other I’d witnessed.
Everest’s back arched. Every muscle in his body pulsed and twitched.
His eyes flew open and beams of glowing red shone like spotlights out of them.
My chest was so tight I could barely breathe, yet I refused to look away.
Michael’s magic was burning Lilith’s out of him. Lilith’s screams carried through the breeze. The air pulsed around him like that connection she held over my soulmate was desperate to hang on to him. But Michael was stronger. And he had the other angels’ power combined with his.
Heaven had rules.
They just didn’t apply to Michael.
I broke into a fit of sobs. Several hands held on to me, anchoring me in place.
I was shaking so bad my bones rattled together.
High above me, the angels’ power was burning the evil out of him, the parts of Everest that had always been buried deep, the parts of his true form he’d fought his whole life to keep locked away and untouched, the parts of him he’d always feared would be set free against his will.
Those parts of him burst from his body like a volcanic eruption. Black smoke and red mist poured out of him like an angry tide on the shore. I covered my mouth with my hands, feeling my tears splash onto my fingers. I sobbed.
Jophiel, Gabriel, Uriel, and Valathame lifted off the ground with their hands held high. The darkness Michael was forcing out of Everest rushed into their hands. Together, the four of them guided what was left of her out of this realm until her shrieks could no longer be heard in the wind.
Until there was only light in Everest’s soul.
Finally, he was free of her.