Thank you so much for commenting on the previous chapter, I adore you guys! I have to go cook food for my next 24h shift but I promise to reply reviews as soon as I can. Also, this girl has finally gotten her driving license this week lol. Feeling too old to really celebrate it but I am happy I can finally drive. Will still put off owning a car for as long as I can since I prefer to bike. Anyway, enough random rambles, hope you enjoy the chappie! Take care.
The first feather will seal your growth, the second your strength, and the third your memories.
"Lucifer," Issa said.
Her ears buzzed.
The fourth will free you when the time is right.
"Lucifer might know something."
She was back in the stone chamber. Lucifer's angelfire roared before her vision—his two remaining feathers spinning sluggishly around and around.
Remember the feathers that were meant to hide your daughter, Eve? They will only release her power when she meets Eden's son.
"He can't… He's…" Jacob's pained voice sounded like it came from underwater. "He gave you his Essence."
Issa blinked as the feathers swam in and out of her vision. She was feeling sick again and she didn't know whether it was from the Edenium or the stench in the dungeons.
"He can't come," Jacob mumbled. "Eve must've taught you how to close Hell's gates." He seemed to drift in and out of consciousness, and as he turned his face to reveal gory, eyeless sockets, Issa realised the demons had done more than ruin his eyes and fingers. "It must… it must be somewhere in your memories."
BOOM!
Issa started.
They couldn't still be fighting up there—not after the demon attack. Or could they?
BOOM!
Several large rocks came loose from the ruined ceiling, one teetering above Jacob. Issa moved, but Edvardiel was closer. He shoved Jacob out of the way. Lightning crackled in his palm—
And died.
"EDVARDIEL!"
Issa pivoted for him, but she was too slow. The Edenium in her veins weighed her limbs down like lead. She watched as Edvardiel tried to roll out of the way—as the rock neared him.
And then crushed him.
She stared in disbelief.
It couldn't be. He'd survived Edenium, Lilith, the demons. A rock couldn't have…
She tried to push the rock away but it didn't move an inch. She knelt down beside it, her hands trembling as she searched for his body. "Edvardiel?" She dug through the dust and debris until she found her angel's pale, blood-covered face.
He was still breathing.
She dug more frantically, finding a wing, a shoulder, and then his chest. Her hands fluttered over the endless wounds on his body, not knowing which of the bleeding to stop first. "Edvardiel, please."
Underneath all the blood, the vivid blue glow on his skin was fading. His feathers were withering.
"Jacob, how do we…"
But Jacob had passed out.
Issa looked around in despair. Part of the ceiling had fallen in front of the door, blocking their way to Rosalie and the others. As she scanned the wreckage, she saw the dead clearly for the first time. The bodies littering the ground weren't all demons. About half were Acolytes.
I take away their favourite toy.
Issa heard the sound of tinkling glass. She was back at the cathedral, unable to move as she watched Yassper die. She was back at the ruins in the moonlight, holding his pulpy, disfigured face between her bloodied hands amidst the broken shards of painted saints.
The room spun.
Issa swallowed down the bile in the back of her throat and held her angel close to her chest.
She couldn't spiral down now. Not right now. Her angel was still breathing.
He was still alive.
"What do I do?" she whispered. "What do I do…"
She couldn't call upon her glory. Lucifer couldn't answer her summons. Everyone else was dead or dying.
And then she lifted her head.
There was someone else.
She remembered the first time she learned her father's name.
Her mother had spat out the word like it was a curse. When Issa had been younger, she'd called him again and again. He'd always come. The first time he'd tried to kill her. Then he tried to teach her. Then he tried to kill her again. After the incident at Heaven's gates, after he'd healed her, he'd never answered her again.
She remembered the warmth seeping through the burn in her arm. Michael had healed her once. He'd dragged Heaven closer to the sun for her. He'd taught her glory.
Once you are ready, seek me out and I shall grant you a place in Heaven.
She didn't have wings, but Edvardiel did. Edvardiel had glory. Two glories, even.
Maybe her father would see it fit to heal him and take him to Heaven.
"Michael," she whispered now, amidst the ashes and the corpses on the cold dungeon floors. She'd never felt more desperate. "Michael… Father, I need you. Please."
She waited, hardly daring to breathe as she cradled her angel close. The pieces of whatever was left of her heart stirred with something that felt like hope.
A second passed.
A minute.
An eternity.
BOOM!
The earth shook again but Issa barely felt it.
If Michael could hear her, he didn't answer her call. He'd never come for her in Hell. He'd left her before Heaven's gates.
She'd waited and waited, hoped and hoped until her fingers were numb from clutching the gates but he hadn't come out to get her. Back then, she'd been a child and her heart had been full of hope so strong it was unshakeable. Now, she knew better.
Her father wasn't coming.
And he never would.
Her angel was almost dead.
Issa exhaled a cloud of mist. The iron tang of blood was sharp in the air, sharp enough that she felt it slide between her ribs and into her heart. She hugged Edvardiel closer, not ready to let him go.
"Please. Somebody, please…"
Was it worth living in a world devoid of everyone she—
BOOM!
As Issa shielded her dying angel from more falling rocks, she felt suddenly furious. Was this damn world even worth saving? They'd hurt her angel, they'd—
Child. What's wrong?
The voice was so quiet at first that Issa thought she imagined it.
Child. Answer me. Where are you?
Louder now, more demanding.
Had her father truly answered her? Issa sat up straighter, listening hard. "We're in Eden," she said. "The Apocalypse is here. Please, we need help."
A brief curse, and this time, Issa recognised Lucifer's voice. I cannot come to you. Did the demons not withdraw? We destroyed the talisman.
"Edvardiel's dying." Her angel was deathly pale and his breathing was so faint now that she could barely feel it.
Silence.
"Just tell me what to do." Her heart clenched. "I'll do anything. I'll…I'll trade my life for his. Just, please, what do I do?"
Child, give me a moment—you're not the only one being overrun by demons.
"He's dying, Lucifer, your son's fucking dying—"
Give him my Essence, Lucifer said. One drop will heal him. One drop and not more. He needs his humanity or Lilith will claim him.
"But we killed Lilith," she said, frantically searching her angel dress for the vial.
You of all people should have realised that Lilith's true body remains in Hell. Lucifer chided. Angels and demons cannot stay on Earth. Our bodies will decay.
Issa was barely listening as she found the vial and uncorked it. Very carefully, she tilted a tiny drop into Edvardiel's mouth. Her angel's body glowed, his wounds closing rapidly. Colour returned to his face but the demon blue glowed more brightly as well, crawling past the protective blood markings on his skin.
"Lilith's poison is spreading," she said.
It cannot be helped. My Essence makes him more angel, and that is the part of him Hell can claim.
Issa looked at Jacob. He'd stopped bleeding but... "Can I… Can I give the others your Essence too?"
Child, it is a gift. Use it as you wish.
"Edvardiel said we were supposed to keep it safe for you."
Lucifer laughed, the sound surprisingly warm. He truly is Eden's son. No, that is not my intention. Use the Essence as you wish but keep in mind it will only help those who have enough angelblood to heal on their own.
"Can it get the Edenium out of my blood?" she asked. "And how do I close Hell's gates?"
A pause, and she could've sworn she heard something that sounded like a scuffle.
Do I look like God to you, child? Lucifer snapped.
"It's your feathers blocking my memories," she shot back.
Meet me at Hell's last open portal.
"Where's that?"
Koprivnica. The voids are the mouths to Hell.
Another pause and this time, she was sure she didn't imagine the demon screech.
Do not take the Essence while your blood is full of Edenium. Unless you wish to be paralysed.
"Wait, Lucifer, how do I heal the others?"
You have the power of Life, child. That heals more effectively than any glory.
Issa was flabbergasted. "Really? Why didn't you tell me that earlier?"
I told you not to rush me. He sounded irate. Besides, we were pressed for time. The power of Life is unpredictable.
Before she could speak, he did the mental equivalent of slamming down the phone.
BOOM!
Issa leapt to cover her angel but there was a sharp crack of lightning and the rock shattered. Edvardiel was on his feet, dragging both her and Jacob away from the raining rocks. He was entirely healed but the demon blue had spread to cover the entirety of one leg, his chest and an elbow. Silver scales covered half of his neck.
"Edvardiel!" She didn't care about the rocks, the demons, Lilith or the dead bodies as she threw her arms around him.
He staggered and the great Nephilim who'd chased out Lilith and her army of demons toppled over in a heap of limbs.
She kissed him everywhere she could reach.
His arms came around her. "Are you all right?"
"I should be asking you that!" she said, beside herself. "You nearly died!"
He looked sheepish. "I'm sor—"
"I told you to stop apologising." She hugged him fiercely.
"I'm—" He closed his mouth, and then smirked. "I'm not sorry, then."
"I hate you."
"I love you too, little lion." His voice was unbearably gentle, and as he smoothed down her electrified hair, it felt as though he was holding the entirety of her fragile heart in the palm of his hand.
"Don't you ever do that to me again."
BOOM!
They both straightened.
"We should help the others," she said.
Edvardiel nodded, his gait slightly awkward as he made his way to the blocked dungeon door, and she realised that having one wing was throwing him off balance. The soft clinking of chains reminded them both that he still had Edenium shackles around his wrists and ankles.
He followed her gaze and a sharp crack of lightning blasted the shackles apart.
"Do we have a plan?" he asked.
"We're going to meet your father," she said. "And then we're going to close Hell's gates forever."
