“That’s just it.” He sighed heavily and sat so he faced me. “I knew exactly what my beast was doing. I just couldn’t stop him.”
Under the shelter of the Tree, the rain ceased and the flood vanished.
Everything was so clear to me, but neither male angel seemed to get it. “That’s why you have me. Because I can control him. I can help you control him. He’s not a beast any more than you are, or the angels who followed us into battle, or the humans who sin and do terrible things to each other. Sin is not a dragon living inside us, separate from our essence. The dragon is simply part of our nature. The duality of good and evil, faith and doubt, love and fear.”
As I spoke, the fire-scorched, rain-soaked earth sprouted green shoots of grass. New saplings sprang out of fallen trees. The Tree of Knowledge burgeoned with more leaves and ivy wound its way around the trunk, tickling my backside.
The circle of fire quieted to a slow burn. In the distance I heard a song. Not angels…birdsong. I took Luc’s hand and squeezed. “One cannot exist without the other and we must embrace that. We must love ourselves, the good and the bad, if we’re ever to find true redemption. True peace.”
Zayfeer sat a few feet away. He snorted. “Kill me now.”
I snatched up his sword, lying next to me, and launched it at his heart. It struck home and he flew back and hit the dirt, finally speechless. “That,” I said, “can be arranged.”
From his spot on the ground, he sputtered and raised a hand to the heavens. “She tried to kill me. Did you see that?”
Pushing to my feet, I walked over, grabbed the sword and yanked it out. “You’re an angel, and as you just told me, you can’t die. Unfortunately.”
He clapped his hands over his wound, which was already healing, and sat up. “Consider yourself excommunicated from my Christmas card list.”
Bending down in front of him, I shoved the point of the sword under his chin. “I may not be able to kill you, but if you try to kidnap me again and take me to Heaven, I’ll cut off your balls. We clear?”
“This is my new purgatory, isn’t it? To be stuck here with you and lover boy for eternity.”
“Luc and I aren’t stuck here.” I jammed his sword in the ground. “Only you.”
He glanced at Luc, who shrugged, and looked back at me. “What are you talking about?”
“Luc has his magic back. And…” I rubbed my lower belly and smiled. “The sacred union has been achieved.”
Luc and Zayfeer both looked confused.
“The sacred union .” I pointed at Luc and the Tree. “You, me, the Tree of Knowledge. Good and evil and all knowledge of both, merged into one being.”
Again, the men looked at me with blank faces.
Rolling my eyes, I huffed a little. Then I walked over to Luc and put his hand on my stomach. “I’m pregnant. With your baby. And if this all goes according to plan, she’s going to bring Heaven to Earth.”
Chapter Twenty-nine – God For A Day…At Least In Purgatory
I’d never seen Lucifer speechless.
His mouth opened, shut. Opened again. “You…I…” He wiggled a finger back and forth between us. “We, uh…huh. I see.”
But apparently he didn’t. He shook his head. “How is that possible?”
“Anything’s possible with love.” Yeesh, I sounded like Keisha. “The Tree showed me the truth about everything, Luc. I’m afraid Zayfeer was right about this one. Our baby is quite possibly the one entity in the entire universe that can reunite the Fallen with Heaven, if they wish to be redeemed.”
Me, I was digging my life on Earth. I hoped Lucifer was digging it with me.
He looked away, blinked a couple times. When his gaze returned to mine, it was filled with trepidation.
My heart fell. I turned sharply and put my back to him so he wouldn’t see the tears welling in my eyes.
This was a shock, obviously, but I’d been sure he’d be happy about it. I forced my voice to sound normal. “Hell will continue to exist, as will purgatory. Balance must be maintained, blah, blah, blah, so you’ll be free to stay where you are, if that’s what you want.”
As the silence stretched, I looked toward the City of Lost Angels. The last of the clouds had left, revealing a beautiful full moon in purgatory. What once was sand separating the forest from the city, was now a lush meadow.
In the distance, the church glowed. Moonlight illuminated the figurehead of Lucifer, the statue casting its arms wide over the trapped angels. Beyond the city, a sea rose and the faint smell of salt water carried on the air. The air held the faint color of pink.