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Issa had pushed her body far past its limits.
The rain had softened to a drizzle, hissing against dying embers. Smoke, blood, and damp earth tangled in the air, but Issa only breathed in Edvardiel. His scent. His warmth. She curled her wings around them both, shielding his still body from the world. The rough edges of his scaled neck scratched her cheek, but she didn't care. She pressed her face into the crook of his shoulder, shaking.
"I'm sorry," she sobbed.
Edvardiel didn't stir.
She'd been too weak to close the gates alone. She'd failed to break his thread. And because of her weakness, he was—
A phantom echo of his voice brushed against her mind. Issa. His voice was as gentle as it had always been. You've done enough.
"No," she said, her tears mixing with the rain. "No, I haven't."
Nothing she did was ever enough.
Not battling the demons.
Not closing Hell's gates.
Not even poisoning her beloved angel.
She swayed where she knelt, forcing herself to stay awake. I have to keep him down. I have to help the others. I have to…
Her thoughts unravelled. The world dimmed at the edges.
Then—footsteps. A voice, low and wry.
"That was very close, Guardian."
She blinked blearily. Lucifer stood over her, his silhouette blurred against the firelit haze.
"It's almost like you wanted him to hit me," he mused.
A soft laugh. "Is it my fault that you were a bad distraction?"
Issa struggled to lift her head. Alice stood beside Lucifer, the rain catching in her hair. She looked less like a child and more like something ancient forged by Heaven.
Lucifer scoffed. "Cunning little bastards, you Guardians are." He shifted his weight and winced. "Human bodies are so frail."
Alice's tone was placid. "My maman—"
"Yes, yes, I know," Lucifer muttered, his voice laced with irritation. "I'll help your feeble humans first."
"Good," Alice said sweetly. "I'll wait here. Hurry up, Lucie."
Issa's head lolled forward, her grip on Edvardiel weakening. The world wavered, the voices around her bleeding into static.
I still can't believe we're working with you.
A distant voice. Familiar.
Maman! Thank you, Lucie!
If you hadn't insisted on calling them out here, I wouldn't have needed to heal them.
"You barely managed with our help—you'd have been dead without us." The voice sharpened and grew closer.
Rosalie.
She was alive.
"Alice, did you seriously run off and put yourself in danger to help a seraph?"
Alice hummed. "Lucie's nice."
"He broke the talisman." A new voice. Jacob. "That's why Lilith couldn't fight back while they were closing the gates. Alice was helping him with that."
Issa tried to focus, but the words drifted away like smoke.
Her body was failing her.
Someone pried her limp fingers off Edvardiel. No—she had to hold on.
She forced her eyes open.
Lucifer bent over his son, his gaze tracing every wound, every bruise, his expression unreadable. Then, with a tenderness she never thought him capable of, he gathered Edvardiel into his arms.
Issa's breath caught. This was it. Lucifer could help him.
"Save him." The word was barely a whisper. "Take what you need."
She had nothing left to give, but if it meant saving Edvardiel, she'd find a way. Blood, glory—her soul. Whatever it took.
Lucifer's gaze flicked to hers. Assessing. Calculating.
Then the darkness surged forward, swallowing her before she could see if he would. The sound of pattering rain softened, then vanished entirely.
There were no dreams. No memories. No pain. This darkness was blissfully silent, luring her with the promise of rest. She floated forth, feeling wonderfully at peace.
Are you sure it's all right to leave him here?
Humans, you've already seen that Edenium doesn't hold him. The Guardian will keep him asleep. I ask you to leave us.
But—
I sense Death coming for her. Unless you want Hell's gates to crumble and the Apocalypse to return, get out.
A door slammed.
Lucie, did you say Death? But there's Life within her.
Well, Guardian, if we're both right, there's no time to waste.
A warm little hand pressed against Issa's cheek. "Angel, you can't go to sleep." The voice was soft, childlike but vibrated with a power that pierced through her numbing fog. A blinding glow lit up Issa's darkness. "It's not time."
Issa shied back from the light. The light was filled with pain.
"We need you. Edvardiel needs you."
The name stirred something in her mind.
It was an important name.
A blurry face. Gentle hands and eyes filled with warmth.
We're back to forgetting my name, huh?
I could never forget your name, she'd said.
Suddenly, it all came flooding back.
I love you. More than anything in this world.
My little lion.
My glory is yours, Issa. Take it.
I would never hurt you.
Sorry.
I'm so sorry.
Edvardiel.
Of course.
Of course she remembered her angel.
She struggled against the impossible heaviness.
Alice's voice grew even softer. "The little angels need you too."
Issa's eyes snapped open.
Lucifer and Alice were bending over her, Alice's eyes shining with joy and Lucifer grim-faced.
Issa's vision grew hazy again almost instantly. Her limbs were lead and she felt as though she were swimming in a fog.
Lucifer pushed past Alice. "Your part is over, Guardian."
Alice frowned. "Lucie—"
"Out of the way," Lucifer said, as he turned Issa to her side and placed a hand between her shoulder blades.
With a sharp motion, he pulled.
Agony seared through Issa's body. It tore through her insides, like hooks buried deep in her bones and yanked without mercy. Her ribs felt as if they were caving in, her spine threatening to snap under the pressure.
What was he doing?
The screaming pain receded to a bearable throbbing.
"Heal yourself," Lucifer ordered.
Was that even possible?
But then she felt it—a spark of glory. It flickered to life within her, barely a whisper, but the relief of its warmth was so great she almost wept.
The power trickled through her veins, slow and feeble.
Lucifer gave her only a few seconds of respite.
Then he ripped into her again. Commanded her to heal herself again.
Each time, she didn't question him—all attention focused on channelling whatever she could find. Either he was taking her up on her offer to help Edvardiel or…
Or he was healing her.
The more he continued, the more she felt her strength returning.
She was sitting up towards the end, panting, her limbs and head strangely light.
The weight of the poison was fading.
Lucifer was ripping the Edenium out of her—and it felt like he was taking pieces of her body with it.
He probably was.
But this was nothing she hadn't endured before.
Not as bad as Hellfire.
Not as bad as her deformed wings clawing out through her back.
As more poison left her body, a memory returned to her.
Heal yourself.
He'd said this to her before. Many times. The memory that resurfaced was from a time when she'd lived in the Garden. A time when she'd decided she hated weapons, glory and anything heavenly.
She was kneeling down in a wide expanse of green. The skies above were a vivid azure.
"Up, child."
Her muscles ached fiercely as she watched him step towards her.
Everything about the seraph grated on her nerves. They'd been at this for as long as she could remember—and all for what? She still had no wings and his ridiculous earthly ones couldn't open Heaven's gates.
Issa crossed her arms. "No." She glared. "I'm sick of this. I'm sick of you. You can take that sword and shove it up your—"
Lucifer looked neither amused nor irritated. He simply lit her dress on fire.
She leapt up in shock.
"Pick up your sword," he said.
"I hate you! I told you I don't want to—"
The words barely left her mouth when Lucifer's blade whistled, opening a gash in her left shoulder. Issa jerked back before he opened another wound, blood running down her arm.
"You should have picked up your sword."
Lucifer gave her no quarter, forcing her back with swing after swing. He streaked upwards, his wings spread and she stumbled. Her back hit a tree but he didn't stop. She ducked.
"Cut it out!" she yelled, hiding behind the thick trunk. "I'm not in the mood for your stupid lesson today. What can you teach me anyway? You're fucking Fallen!"
Lucifer was unprovoked. "What do you do when you have no weapon?"
"Get lost, seraph!"
Angelfire circled them, trapping her between him and the tree.
"Where's your glory?" he asked.
She'd had enough.
"Why don't you just stab me?" she said sarcastically.
She should've known better than to challenge a seraph.
He rammed the longsword through her chest. She was too stunned to scream and when she did find her voice, she could only gurgle.
"The blade isn't Edenium," Lucifer said. "It won't kill you." His cool gaze flickered to the blood blooming through her dress. "Not unless you bleed out." He pushed it harder so that he'd pinned her to the tree with it.
Issa stared down at herself, horrified.
Lucifer looked at her expectantly—for what, she had no idea. She couldn't think. She couldn't breathe. Tears of agony trickled down her face.
"Are you going to stand there all day?" He arched his brows. "I gave you a weapon, child. Have you learned nothing at all?" Exasperation flitted across his face—it was the most human he'd looked all day. "Heal yourself and use it."
God, she hated him. She had half a mind to die just to spite him.
Lucifer tilted his head. "Do as I say, and I'll give you those wings you want so badly."
Issa stared.
He'd never lied to her before.
With trembling hands, she wrenched the sword free, almost blacking out from the pain.
Seraphs can heal themselves.
Seraphs can heal themselves.
She gasped and struggled, and struggled some more, but she did as the damn seraph said.
"Very good," he said.
"The wings?" she choked out.
Lucifer gave her one of his unexpectedly human smiles. "I didn't say I would give them to you today. Retrieve my son. If by then you haven't gotten your wings, I'll give them to you myself."
The memory warped and faded, and another took its place.
Lucifer kneeling down and holding out a glowing vial.
"Consider it my wedding gift."
His Essence—he'd meant it for her.
Issa opened her eyes.
In the present, Lucifer removed his hand and stepped back.
She was drenched in sweat and everything hurt. But she'd never felt stronger.
Glory roared through her veins, mingling with the power of Life. As her surroundings slowly came into view, she saw Edvardiel beside her on the makeshift bed, his eyes closed, his breathing deep and even. His skin was still patchy with Hell's blue poison and silver scales, but the Edenium burns on his arms were gone. She reached out and touched his face, her heart squeezing.
Then she rose. Lush grass spread from beneath her feet, vibrant green carpeting the wooden floor. Her wings flamed.
Issa turned to face Lucifer.
"Why didn't you tell me what the vial was for?"
Lucifer leaned against a chair, his voice slightly strained. "If you weren't clever enough to figure it out, then did you really deserve it?"
"Oh, just admit it already." Alice stared at Lucifer sulkily from near the door, and Issa realised that he'd barricaded her away with angelfire.
Lucifer ignored her.
"Besides," Lucifer's gaze fell on her fiery wings, his lips curving into something resembling a smile. "You never needed it."
His knuckles tightened around the chair as though trying to steady himself, and that was when Issa saw it. Lines of shining gold running up the back of his hands. Edenium crawled through the veins of his arms, his throat, even his eyes. He was holding himself a little too rigidly, and his wings were stiff.
Issa's eyes widened.
"Lucifer…" she breathed, stunned. "Did you… did you take the poison for me?"
His angelfire crackled and then dimmed slightly.
"Why?" Her mind spun. "Why would you—"
Lucifer's brows rose.
"Is that not a task of a parent?" he replied, his words devoid of much emotion, save for the faintest flare of irritation.
Issa's world fell away.
It was as though she were watching her memories through a new set of eyes.
How had she missed it all this time?
He was her parent. Not by blood, but he had been the one who stayed.
He had been the one to save her every time—when Michael tried to end her life, when Michael abandoned her at Heaven's gates. He'd kept her warm when the cold would've killed her. He'd helped them close Hell's gates. He'd always been there—irritable, rude, impatient, but always there.
Speechless, she stared at him, and his irritation deepened.
"My body is human now. Edenium won't kill me," he said. "Also, someone has to clean up your mess. I told you about the poison, but you, my child, are far too distractible and slow—"
There it was again.
My child.
Issa's heart clenched.
"Thank you," she interrupted.
He stopped mid-rant, his alien eyes fixing on her with what might have been confusion.
She had never, ever thanked him. She had held onto the single time Michael healed her like a precious treasure, but with Lucifer, she'd fought tooth and nail. She'd bitten him, cursed him, and if Eden was right, she'd even blown a hole in him. Because she'd never been afraid of him. Never feared that he might abandon her.
Reaching out, she hugged him.
It felt strange, awkward even, but she did it anyway.
Lucifer didn't return the gesture, but he didn't stiffen either. He blinked several times, as though wondering if she'd been possessed.
"Thank you," she said again. "You're the nicest angel I know."
That made him grin—an unnerving, almost terrifying, seraph-like grin—but he looked pleased with himself.
"I told you," he said, "I'm always nice."
His angelfire faded away and Alice fluttered over to hug Issa around the neck, shooting Lucifer doleful looks all the while. "If you were really that nice, you'd have given her a warning before doing what you did."
Lucifer's gaze glinted.
"Well, Guardian. I warned you to stay back—did that work?"
Alice scowled, muttering something about mean seraphs and singed wings under her breath.
"She was at Death's door," Lucifer said smoothly. "It's not my fault you weren't fast enough."
Hope you enjoyed reading this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it! Would be lovely to hear comments. Till next time :)