Chapter Twenty-One
Melinda Thymes
Get up, I ordered my limbs, even as they trembled beneath me.
It amazed me—truly amazed me—how Kitty had fought through that mob of monsters with her body already broken. Her shirt hung off one shoulder, revealing a white bra, and what remained of her pants clung to blistered skin and blood-soaked wounds. She looked like she’d already survived death once.
But when I felt her powers vanish—felt them—I knew. My greatest fear was no longer a future possibility. It had become a present reality.
Would her fate play out exactly as I saw in the vision?
Her eyes widened, filled with silent shock, right before Harvest struck her.
The hilt of his sword slammed into the back of her skull.
She crumpled.
The urgency I’d felt before surged again, stronger. I forced myself to my knees, wheezing as the charred remains of my clothes dragged against my skin. Every blister felt like it split open.
“We don’t have to take her hostage anymore,” Harvest said. His voice made my blood curdle.
He knew.
“She’s mortal now. Feel that?”
His pale skin gleamed beneath the chaos of flame curling upward from his head, the fire crackling like it lived for violence. He gripped a fistful of her hair and yanked—a brutal, unnecessary gesture. My stomach churned at the sound of it, her weight dragging from his grasp.
His flames rose even higher, flickering wildly above him as if celebrating.
The way he held her…like a trophy.
But this wasn’t the vision. Not quite. She hadn’t screamed.
That scream—Kara's cry of death—hadn’t happened yet.
But it was coming.
I’d altered the future simply by being here.
And still…the vision was upon me.
Kara hung limp in Harvest’s grasp, unconscious.
He frowned. Then slapped her.
“I would’ve enjoyed this more if you were awake,” he muttered. “But your death will rattle everyone all the same.”
He suddenly jerked, glancing behind him. Something shifted. Urgency bled into his movements, his arms twitching, shoulders tight. Whether it was desperation or madness, it possessed him entirely.
With a snarl, he raised his sword high above Kitty’s still body.
This was it.
There was no more thinking.
I lifted my head. The words came without hesitation, chanted through the fire in my throat, my heart pounding like war drums in my ears. But then—something sharper. Not pounding.
Failing.
The agony bloomed in my chest, white-hot and searing. I sucked in a breath, but it wasn’t air that filled me—it was fire. I felt myself slipping. My head dropped, arms shaking as I reached the end.
With the last of my strength, I lifted my chin just enough.
Just enough to see the smile fall off Harvest’s face.
He looked down—not at Kara—but at me.
It was my body that dangled from his sword.
“What?” The word came out more like a roar than a question, ripping from Harvest’s throat.
“Not today. Not ever—”
He didn’t let me finish. He threw me off his sword mid-sentence.
I screamed as my body hit the ground, vision dimming from the impact. Pain exploded through me, but I forced myself to roll onto my side, straining to see Kara.
She was crumpled on the ground where I had stood only seconds ago—still unconscious.
Harvest turned toward her.
Terror replaced pain.
No. No. No.
Would her mortal body withstand even a few more blows in this state? Would she survive the next few steps it took him to reach her?
My trade didn’t matter if the Devil hadn’t arrived on time.
I gave my life for her, and Harvest would kill her anyway.
A thunderous growl split the air behind me, rumbling deep from the center of the earth.
I didn’t need to turn.
I knew who it was.
The ground vibrated beneath me. My head dropped back with a thud, and my eyes fluttered.
Everything blurred, smeared with pain and blood.
But then—gold.
Warmth spread through my body like balm. My gaze cleared, just for a moment.
Home.
Golden trees. Golden skies. The glint of Heaven’s light, dancing like a welcome.
I blinked, and tears threatened as peace washed over me.
Finally.
But it didn’t last.
The golden land rippled like a wave, distorting…then shattering like a mirage. My stomach lurched.
No—please.
Reality came crashing back in a surge of agony.
The massacre was everywhere. Corpses piled high. Blood steaming on stone.
And in the center of it all—Harvest lay pinned beneath the Devil’s boots, snarling.
The Devil’s voice, low and merciless, cut through the chaos.
“I’ve let you roam too long. Given breath to your ideas by doing nothing—and it’s made you a fool.” His claws flexed, his voice dripping with venom. “Do you think I can’t turn you back into what you were? Nothing.”
Harvest reappeared several feet away, stumbling back before catching his balance. He glared at his creator, chest rising and falling with rage.
“You made me eternal. I want the same things you do. It’s my right!”
The Devil’s voice was absolute venom. “You are the worst part of me.” His glowing eyes narrowed, claws twitching. “This is the last time you’ll touch her. Whether you wanted my attention or thought you could harm me—”
His voice dropped, rumbling like thunder. “I’m here. And I’ll send you back where you belong.”
One step forward from the Devil—and Harvest paled.
His limbs trembled. The flames atop his skull flickered low, like wind had snuffed their pride. His eyes flicked from the Devil to Kara’s bloodied, unconscious form, then back.
“Are you sure you should be worried about me?” he asked, but his voice cracked under the weight of false bravado. “She’s mortal now…and she won’t last much longer.”
The Devil’s body pulsed.
His entire frame tensed, vibrating like a cord pulled too tight. His gaze dropped to Kara—half-clothed, battered, bleeding—and something primal cracked behind his eyes.
In that moment, he didn’t look like the Devil. He looked like a beast about to destroy the world.
My vision swam. Warmth curled around me again, but this time, I didn’t fight it.
Maybe it was death. Maybe it was mercy.
I gave in, and the pain evaporated.
Gold.
I smiled as it enveloped me, as if Heaven itself had lifted me from the battlefield. My chest no longer ached. My skin was no longer on fire.
I turned and saw him—Lucifer, my brother, standing at the well again. Still and silent, entranced. As he always had been in this memory.
But this time, I understood. There was something I hadn’t seen before. Something I needed to see before I passed on.
I stepped to the well.
Peering over the edge, I gasped. My mouth parted in silent wonder. And then—I smiled.
“This is why?” I whispered, though he couldn’t hear me. He was just a memory, flickering like candlelight against time’s surface.
And just like that, the image rippled.
Gone.
I blinked back into reality.
Harvest had vanished.
And there—Lucifer stood cradling Kara against his chest.
He didn’t speak. Didn’t move to leave.
He only stood there, as if the act of holding her had become the only thing tethering him to sanity.
She was limp in his arms, her hair tangled, stained with blood. He shifted her carefully, gently—so very gently—and slipped a clawed hand through her golden strands. Long, wicked talons combed through her hair, his face impassive, yet…haunted.
I wanted to touch my chest, but I couldn’t lift my arm.
I blinked slowly, each breath a little harder than the last.
Pain returned in quiet waves, subtle but growing.
Still, I watched him—Lucifer, the Devil, the fallen angel—standing in the ruins, stroking the hair of the girl who was never meant to be his.
And I thought: this was never about power. Not truly. It was always about her.
The warmth lit me up as if Heaven itself had reached down to cradle me.
“Is Kitty okay?” My voice came out like a croak.
Lucifer’s head swiveled toward me, and for a heartbeat, he was not the Devil—he was the angel who fell.
“Kara’s fine,” he said softly. “Her powers have returned.”
Kara. He called her by name.
I coughed, and blood pooled in my mouth.
Lucifer dropped to one knee beside me, clutching her with one arm. “You’re dying.”
“I’m not meant for this world,” I whispered. “I’m ready. But you…” My gaze blurred. “You belong here, Lucifer.”
Something flickered in his eyes—pain, maybe recognition. He flinched, jaw tightening.
“Hell calling you back?” I asked as his arms rippled. “Go.”
“You being here can only mean one thing.” He glanced down at Kara, throat moving with a heavy swallow.
“Glad you understand,” I murmured. “Because that’s the only time I can protect her. What happens from here is on you.”
But he stood and turned from me as if my words were a weight he couldn’t carry.
I forced my eyes open. My breaths came shallow, ragged. “Before you go… Tell me about the scrying glass. The well.”
His eyes brightened. “The well?”
“Back then.”
“That was long ago.”
“And yet you know exactly what I’m talking about,” I rasped. “You don’t remember, do you?”
His tail twitched erratically.
Would it be terrible to intervene one last time? Maybe he wasn’t meant to recall what he saw. But meddling had always been my flaw, and I smiled anyway.
“You didn’t fall from Heaven for yourself. You fell for her.” My eyes slid to Kara in his arms.
Lucifer’s brows drew together. “Make sense, Faye. You’re dying, and I don’t want this on my mind for centuries.”
I’d laugh if I could. “The thing you forgot—the reason behind your change—is the very thing you were given back the day you touched Kara as a babe.”
His tail stopped moving.
“Oh, Lucifer,” I whispered, “you let the same vision consume you twice.”
“Open your eyes.” His voice was distant yet stern. “Faye.”
I had nothing left. Tranquility folded over me. My wound no longer hurt. I was ready to leave. Even if I couldn’t return home, I’d made my choice.
“Look!” he shouted, the sound giving me one last spark of strength.
I saw three great flashes of light moving closer. Somehow, one last sound escaped my lips—a gasp—and inside, I wept tears of joy.
“Looks like you get the cavalry to send you home,” Lucifer murmured. “Three angels entering the Underworld to fetch you.”
And within the light, as if Heaven itself wanted me to see it, hung a small coin hanging at the angel’s neck.
Oh, oh.
That day was meant for goodbyes and reunions.
I wasn’t the only one returning home.
What a lovely day to die.