Thank you to JoVersify for prereading this chapter :)
Garden, III
Edvardiel gave her a squeeze. "I don't trust you one bit."
Issa grinned at him and his eyes darted down to her lips, lingering before he glowed once more. "I'm not used to this," he said. "The things you make me feel. Human emotions have always been unpleasant for me. But meeting you changed everything. You make me enjoy being human."
He looked at her with so much affection that her chest felt tight. She wished he'd met someone better. Someone who could show him the best parts of being human.
She tossed her hair. "Good to know," she said. "Though, if you wanted to kiss me again, all you have to do is ask."
Edvardiel didn't glow this time. His gaze softened and he brushed a strand of hair back from her face. "May I kiss you?"
Issa's breath caught. She wanted, very badly, to do more than just kiss him. She'd wanted to do it for a long, long time. Now that she knew part of him was earthly, she felt less inhibited.
She leaned in and saw his pupils dilate. Before she could close the distance completely, he tilted his head, skimming her cheek before capturing her lips.
This kiss wasn't frantic. It was gentle and deliberate, and Issa gasped at the sensations it unleashed in her body. Her self-control snapped. She pushed him down, thighs on either side of his body, clutching him to her as though he were her anchor.
Fiery heat radiated through Edvardiel's clothes and his skin shone. Issa ground needily against him and he groaned into her mouth. She tugged at his pullover, about to tear it open when he caught her hands, pressing reverent kisses to her knuckles.
His emotions were a storm. Desire, anticipation and something else, something tender and sweet. Warmth swirled through their bond, cradling her ravaged monster heart like a safety blanket, and Issa stiffened. As she looked down at his dishevelled hair, blood thundering in her ears, she paused. It was his first time and she'd been about to throw herself at him like an animal.
Taking several deep breaths to cool her raging lust, she pulled back. Then she kissed him once, twice, before sliding off. Her inner Acolyte howled in protest but she drew the iron bars tightly shut. "Yes," she managed to say. "That was a yes."
Edvardiel blinked several times, his skin still luminescent.
Issa held out a hand to help him up but he didn't take it. "Why don't you go ahead? I'll catch up." Embarrassment crept through their bond and she realised she'd given him a little problem. Or a big one, by the glimpse of it.
"I'll wait for you down there." She turned to hide her smirk and climbed down from the rocks.
It was about ten minutes before Edvardiel appeared, descending so rapidly from the cliff that he looked like he was soaring.
"Human problem?" she asked innocently and he shot her a sideways look.
"If that was purely a human problem, I don't think I would exist."
Issa turned pensive. "I wonder how many of you there are." Her thoughts turned back to Jacob's dismay. "Do you think Jacob…"
"Yes," Edvardiel agreed. "I have a feeling he's one too." He shook his head. "All this time… I should've known there were more of us. I wonder why I didn't end up on Earth like the rest." There was more frustration than vulnerability in their bond—his shame and his hurt were fading away and a feeling of injustice was taking their place.
Something he said in the void returned to her.
How can such a thing have wings? How did it enter heaven?
"You said wings are the key to heaven," she said slowly. "Maybe you were the only one with wings."
Edvardiel sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Those wings were more trouble than they were worth." He stiffened and pressed his lips together. "My back is itching worse than ever."
He was right. She could feel the insane itchiness through their bond. "Should I take a look?"
"And make it even itchier than before? No."
"You're welcome for trying to help," she said, miffed, and one corner of his lips tugged upwards.
"Thank you," he said, his eyes earnest as he took her hand in his warm ones. "I mean it."
It was basic decency. She pulled her hand away awkwardly. "I was just kidding. Anyone would do it."
"You were the first to do it for me."
Once more, she couldn't help but feel he deserved much better than the cards he'd been dealt. He should've been on Earth, loved and wanted, making human friends without an Apocalypse.
"Hopefully I won't be the last," she said. "We should head back."
"Are you going to try the gates?" Edvardiel asked.
Issa shook her head. "It's too risky with Lilith's poison. But if Jacob makes it through, you should go ahead. I'll wait for you outside."
"I won't go without you."
"Don't be silly," Issa said. "Pop in real quick, see if there's anything in there that can help us, then pop out. I'll be right outside."
Reluctance rippled through their bond.
"I've kept myself safe for a hundred years," she reminded him. "If we don't stop the Apocalypse it'll be the end of all of us."
Edvardiel nodded and pulled her into a hug. Issa squirmed. He was so transparent that she felt the need to reign it in for both of them. "Knock it off, seraph. It's not like we're going to war."
"I'm about to leave you alone in the middle of an Apocalypse."
She placed her hands on his chest, giving him a half-hearted push. "Don't worry," she said. "I'll try not to murder anyone."
Edvardiel shook his head as they left the forest of rotting trees to find Jacob standing stock-still in front of the gates, gazing at the upside-down sword.
"Three percent," Jacob muttered. "Three percent is nothing. I could survive without three percent of me."
Paul glanced back at them as they approached. "He's been talking nonsense for a while now. Are either of you going first?"
Edvardiel looked like he was about to volunteer but Issa took a firm hold of his arm.
"Nope," she said.
Paul shot them an amused look and then back at Jacob. "Jacob, man, if you don't want to do it, we can just turn back, you know? No need for anyone to get burned."
"I'm doing it," Jacob called back, his jaw set in a stubborn line. "Here goes nothing." Taking a deep breath, he stuck out his hand and pressed his palm against the sharp point of the blade, grimacing as it sliced his skin open.
They held their breaths as blood dripped onto the golden heart.
It caught fire.
"Fuck!" Jacob gasped. He began to stumble back, but within a few seconds, the fire died and the heart turned red. Mechanisms within the gates whirred and light bathed Jacob's skin. He looked up, eyes wide and Issa clenched her fists, half-expecting to see lightning and Jacob burned to a crisp, but then Jacob simply… vanished.
One second he was there, and the next, he wasn't.
Paul leapt up. "Jacob!" He ran forward. "Jacob!"
Edvardiel and Issa ran after him, staring at the spot where Jacob had vanished.
"I'm fine. I'm here!"
Jacob waved at them from inside the gates. He reached to touch the gates but his hands went through them as though there was nothing there. Jacob walked through the gates, and then back inside. "Um… this is kind of weird," he said. "I feel like a character in one of those old X-Men movies."
He walked out again and laughed shakily. "I swear, I nearly shat my pants when that heart caught fire."
"I thought you were going to get struck by lightning," Issa admitted.
"Me too, honestly," Jacob said. "I thought the burning heart was a decoy and fireballs were going to start hitting me." He looked at her. "Well, you know you'll be safe now."
Issa crossed her arms. Jacob thought she was the one with angel in her because of the cherry tree and she wasn't about to correct him.
"Yeah," Paul said obliviously. "Man, you're the best." He clapped Jacob on the shoulder and then went ahead. When his blood dripped onto the golden heart, it turned red immediately. The same light bathed his skin, and in a flash, he was on the other side of the gates. He walked out too, watching in fascination as his hand went through the gates as though it were made of shadow.
"This is crazy," Paul said. He smiled, relief written all over his face. "It didn't even catch fire this time."
Issa rubbed her neck, putting the pieces together slowly. Jacob had angel in him—which was why he'd been muttering about three percent—but Paul didn't. That was why the heart had caught fire initially when Jacob's blood had touched it. Edvardiel was half-angel, did that mean the fire would be bigger for him? How much angel did the gates accept?
"This is it, then," Edvardiel said softly, looking at her.
Issa hesitated. Then she remembered that if Jacob was right, Eden was half-angel herself. That would mean Edvardiel was safe. She nodded, stepping back.
Edvardiel ran a finger down the slender sword, looking at it curiously before letting it slide against his skin. His flesh split open like butter, his blood flowing freely onto the heart. Like before, it caught fire.
A second passed, two, and the fire exploded outwards. Jacob and Paul cried out, tripping backwards. Enormous wings of fire had risen from the heart like a phoenix, each wing spanning about three times the height of a human.
She caught a glimpse of Edvardiel's face—more astonished than afraid—before the wings folded themselves around him.
Issa's ears rang.
It was the cathedral all over again.
She heard the explosion, and the tinkling glass, as though she were back in Cologne.
It was waking up in the ruined city of Haiphong. All over again.
Alone, living on and on, while everything and everyone around her died.
Except this time, no Keeper was holding her back. She did what she'd dreamt of doing a thousand times—leaping in after, never experiencing the bitter, earth-shattering grief she'd been forced to bury.
Issa dove into the flames, feeling heat lick against her skin.
But there was no pain.
Edvardiel stood in the centre of the flames, still unhurt, his eyes widening when he saw her soaring towards him. He caught her, her momentum causing him to swing her around like a lover in an airport.
She wasn't falling. Soon he was hanging off her as they floated up and up.
The wall of flames seemed endless but she pressed on, her determination unwavering as she held onto him. Mist splashed against her face as they skyrocketed through what felt like clouds.
"You're flying!" Edvardiel's eyes were bright, exhilarated, and the glory in them seemed even brighter with the flames dancing all around them.
She couldn't believe he was talking about her flight right now. He didn't look afraid at all. Her own heart felt as though it were about to leap out of her chest.
"Aren't you scared?"
"If it was going to burn us, it wouldn't be circling us like this," Edvardiel said, looking around. He seemed strangely at peace. "This feels… different."
Issa looked around at the tornado of fire, which barely touched them as it shot into the skies, and realised he was right. The fire wasn't threatening, the warmth more pleasant than uncomfortable. This wasn't an attack. It was a beacon.
Who was it calling?
If this caught the attention of the demons while she was stuck outside...
The distraction made her lose focus.
"Issa!" Edvardiel's warning came too late. Her tenuous hold on his glory slipped and they plummeted down.
"Shit, shit, shit!" She panicked.
Edvardiel was shouting something, but she couldn't hear him over the wind in her ears.
They were falling from god knew how high, leaving human-shaped holes through several clouds. The ground was coming closer at breakneck speed and she thought they might catch fire.
In the last second, Edvardiel gripped her shoulders, pulling her ear close to his mouth.
"FLY!" he yelled.
Glory burned in her blood but she was fighting against the momentum of falling. The other whispering power burst through her heart, and she grappled with it blindly, feeling it shoot out of her in directionless spurts.
They hit something on the way down, toppling through leaves and branches before landing in a tangle of limbs on the ground.
Her skin was still glowing, her hands curled around Edvardiel's forearms in a death grip. She was shaking. They'd been so close to breaking every bone in their body. With some effort, she unclenched her fists and he rolled onto his back, white in the face.
"Sorry," she panted.
Edvardiel was also gasping for breath, leaves dangling from his long hair. "We're fine now," he said, colour slowly returning to his face. "Everything's fine…" His expression changed as he stared at the branches above them. "Issa… is that the Tree of Life?"
She barely had time to look when the fire around them receded and a mighty shake rumbled through the earth. The imposing gates of Eden's Garden swung open.
Dozens of people had gathered at its entrance. Issa rose to her feet, her defensive instincts screaming, but Edvardiel put a restraining hand on her shoulder.
A man stepped forward, tears in his eyes.
"Eden's son has returned home."