Edvardiel held her throat between his sharp claws.
All the while, his thumb brushed her cheek gently, lovingly. His calm, steady gaze alternated between her face and her wings, drinking in her every reaction.
Issa turned to stone.
She didn't blink, didn't breathe.
Finally, she said the only thing she could. "I'll open the gates for you."
At that, his expression softened. Tenderness returned to his glowing eyes, and he lifted her weak, Edenium-poisoned body into his arms.
"I love you," he said.
She couldn't help herself—she wrapped her arms around his neck. If she closed her eyes, she could almost pretend that he was still her angel.
"Edvardiel," she whispered. "What are you going to do in the Garden?"
He stroked her hair as he stepped towards the gates. "The Garden was my mother's," he said. "It's all I have of her." Grief flickered over his face.
The emotion was genuine.
It was something he'd hidden in the depths of his heart—something she knew he'd never reveal with such carelessness, not without Hell dragging it out of him.
Issa reached up to touch his discoloured cheek. She loved him so much that it ached. "It's all you have of your mother," she agreed, caressing his roughened skin. Her eyes brimmed with tears. "That's why I can't let you destroy it."
With a burst of energy, she twisted out of his arms.
The earth answered her call. A deep rumble vibrated beneath her as great ivies shot up from the ground, their thick vines wrapping around Edvardiel, yanking him back. The roots coiled tighter, locking him in place, and swallowing him from view.
Issa fell to her hands and knees, gasping for breath.
"Now!" someone cried.
Winded, Issa looked up to see Jacob and Mike charging forward with Edenium chains, wrapping them around the constricting ivies.
"We need the chains on him, Issa, your plants aren't going to hol—" Jacob began.
Angelfire tore through the wood, the savage red eating her ivies like paper. The vines curled into blackened husks, ash floating away in the wind.
Edvardiel stepped out of the ashes.
Jacob and Mike yanked the chains sharply, circling so that they wrapped around him like a coiling snake. He stood in their centre, immobilised, and the Edenium smoked gruesomely where they touched his skin.
Issa caught a motion in the bushes. Rosalie crouched down, her expression grim as she aimed a bazooka at Edvardiel.
Issa's stomach turned to ice.
They were supposed to save him, not kill him.
She lunged forward to throw herself in its path, but someone tackled her.
"Are you insane?" Paul screamed. "He's going to kill us all!"
Rosalie pulled the trigger, heedless of her cries. The missile whistled—
Edvardiel barely turned.
The missile exploded behind him, sending Rosalie flying. He glanced down at the Edenium cutting into his skin, locking his arms at his sides.
Crack.
For a second, Issa thought they'd broken his bones until she saw Jacob and Mike unconscious on the ground. Her hair drifted forward and she realised the Edenium chains were thrumming with static. Edvardiel had electrocuted them with his lightning.
Issa's ears rang.
Beside her, Paul was shaking so badly his sweaty hand slipped from her arm.
Before she could react, a flurry of golden flames blasted down towards Edvardiel. It was Lucifer and he descended upon his son with another flurry of flames.
He wasn't holding back, but he didn't need to.
Scarlet flames rose to meet the golden ones. They clashed, and Issa thought she saw a bizarre flash of pink. Despite the Edenium bindings shackling Edvardiel from shoulder to waist, he barely looked like he was trying.
Issa's heart hammered.
"Get out of here," she told Paul. "Get back in the Garden."
"But—"
"Go!"
She'd given Lucifer a human body.
She didn't know what he'd been doing all this time, but his robes were stained with dried brown blood and he was favouring his left side. As he circled them above, Issa noticed that his attacks were erratic—his angelfire more distracting than truly destructive. What was his plan?
Edvardiel gazed up at Lucifer with a cool, assessing calm.
"Finally come to finish off your embarrassment, Father?" he said suddenly.
For the briefest second, Lucifer faltered.
It was enough.
Lightning struck, hurling his body to the ground. His wings twitched and smouldered, the scent of burnt feathers thick in the air as blood spread in a dark pool beneath him.
Weakly, he tried to push himself up with a hand, and Issa saw a glint of gold on his finger. Lucifer wore not one wedding band but two.
He'd met Eden.
His bloodied lips moved, as though trying to tell her something—
Issa didn't have time to help him. Didn't have time to think. The Edenium chains around Edvardiel's body glowed, growing red and heated with his glory. In a single motion, he shattered them.
The air glittered with golden dust.
And there he stood.
Unharmed.
Unshaken.
His eyes locked onto her, void of warmth.
Issa scrambled backwards and threw out a hand. The land answered again—a great tiger rose from the mud, shaking the wet earth from its fur. It let out a ground-shaking roar and lunged.
Edvardiel didn't blink.
The moment the beast was upon him, it writhed in agony as his angelfire ate it alive.
He advanced on her without pause.
Issa backed away clumsily, her dress dragging through the mud, conjuring everything she could—roots, beasts, a wall of thorns—all of it burned away in an instant.
Edvardiel wielded his power with brutal precision—each strike calculated, not a breath or movement wasted.
Issa's body shook with exhaustion and she could taste the sharp tang of blood in her mouth.
Her back hit the gates.
She gazed up at her angel, her heart pounding.
I hear her, he'd said. And when I do, I don't see or hear anything else.
Calling out to him was no use.
I would never hurt you. If I ever try… if I ever… you know that's not me anymore.
Issa clenched her fists.
He'd had every chance to kill her.
She used the gates to pull herself upright, her legs trembling beneath her. Her wings flared. "You want the Garden?" she rasped out. "You'll have to get past me first."
Edvardiel's gaze flickered from her eyes to her wings.
And then, ever so slightly—he smiled.
A slow, patient thing.
Almost admiring.
He already knew she would fight.
"Magnificent," he murmured. "You always were."
He closed the distance between them and she gripped the gates so tightly that her hands felt numb.
He wasn't the only one holding back.
She could've aimed the thorns at his heart.
She could've commanded the earth to swallow him down.
Even now, she could throw him into Hell.
There was raw hunger in his eyes, and his face was so close to hers. He smelled the same. Sounded the same. Her body responded to him the same way. Issa remained still as a statue as his gaze dropped to her lips, her heart thundering in her chest.
He was standing before her wild, living gates, without any angelfire, his heart and his silver throat exposed.
It was a challenge.
A test.
He wanted to see how far she would go.
Her hand trembled, but she couldn't bring herself to hurt him.
Despite his eerie eyes, despite his scales, despite everything he'd done, she couldn't see him as anything but her angel. Because she still loved him. She still ached for him.
She drew a deep, unsteady breath, inhaling more of his familiar, comforting scent.
And she gave in.
She tilted her face upwards and kissed him. Her lips moved against his, soft where he was hard, tender where he was cruel. When his teeth found her lip, she gasped, but pressed closer, surrendering herself with abandon.
The taste of her blood bloomed between them, metallic and bitter, and he pulled back violently, awareness flashing in his eyes.
He gripped his head, gasping as he fell to his knees.
"Edvardiel?" She reached for him but he flinched away.
"Don't," he struggled. "Don't come close."
The bitterness in her blood was Edenium.
Gently, she took his face in her hands.
A faint ring of glory flickered in his eyes, a brief glimpse of something pure and soft. His breath shuddered against her lips and he let her kiss him. He let her poison him.
"Sorry," he murmured against her lips. More of her blood mingled in their mouths and his voice shook. "I'm so sorry."
"I've got you." She caressed his cheek, brushing away the dampness there, holding him as he had once held her. "I'm going to take care of you, my angel."
He had so much angel in him. How much Edenium could he survive?
Before she could decide to pull back, there was a soft flutter of wings.
A small hand pressed against his forehead.
Issa barely had time to look up before Edvardiel's body went limp in her arms.
Alice stood beside them, her tiny fingers still resting against his temple, her pale pink wings beating solemnly.
Issa swallowed hard. Her arms tightened around Edvardiel's unconscious form as she sank to her knees, cradling him against her chest.
She had won yet another hollow victory.
Special thanks to JoVersify for all her help from scenes to sentences to agonizing over single words.
Hope you like it, would make my day if you leave a comment :)