“She’s been trying to pass that job off for years.” He laughed. “Does that mean we would have real cream-filled doughnuts and, oh my clouds! Coconut cake.”
She nodded. “With peppermint filling.”
“I love you, heartling,” he said.
“I love you, too.”
He turned more serious again. “But, can’t you see, if I go after Zeb, if Michael gives his approval, I would already be sealing your fate? Instant death for you, or centuries of living alone knowing I am living in an exile of torture. An impossible situation!”
Andrea gasped. “And those are the only choices?”
He hesitated, then nodded. “Nothing has been decided yet. We can always pray.” He was half kidding.
“For Zeb?”
“Well, yes, but for us, too.”
They got the news a short time later when Andrea got her first view of a real live (or dead, depending on your perspective) archangel. And he was spectacular. There seemed to be a glow about him. A full body halo? His face was grim as he told the vangels, along with Andrea and Alex, “Zebulan the Hebrew is gone.”
“Gone? What does that mean?” Cnut demanded to know.
The archangel gave Cnut a steely glare. “His fate is in another’s hands. Satan’s. Thy efforts would be in vain.”
Cries of horror went around the room and not a little weeping. In fact, there were tears in the archangel’s eyes.
“I still think I should try to—” Cnut started to say.
“Enough!” Michael made a chopping motion with his hand. “You are to stop making this a personal vendetta, Cnut. Jasper would have taken any one of you brothers. The fact that you happened to be in Zebulan’s vicinity at a certain moment has no particular significance. Are you suggesting that all seven of you are equally responsible for Zeb’s fate?”
“No, but . . .”
“You are not to mention his name again.”
And that was final. Andrea could see that on the faces of everyone in the room.
This was the best and worst day of Andrea’s life. She presumably could have Cnut now, but Zeb was gone.
“Let us pray for Zebulan, wherever he may be,” Michael said then, mirroring Cnut’s earlier suggestion.
And they all said, “Amen!”
Epilogue
A happy ending, somewhat . . .
Despite the dark cloud of Zeb hanging over them, Andrea and Cnut were married two weeks later before a priest at a small chapel in Philadelphia. The only people present were Cecilia Stewart, the maid of honor, and Vikar Sigurdsson, the best man. Also present were Andrea’s parents and her boss/friend Sonja, along with Vikar and his wife, Alex, and their two children, Gunnar and Gunnora. The bridal couple had decided that they could take no chances of Andrea’s family being at the Transylvania castle among all the vangels, and keeping the secret.
But later that day, they were married again in true Viking style in the gazebo, which was adorned with roses and officiated by a priest who strongly resembled—in fact, was—Michael the Archangel, who was heard to mutter, “Thank God there are no more VIKs to plague me with this lifemate nonsense.” But at the same time, he smiled adoringly at the little boy being held by the firm hand of Gabrielle, Ivak’s wife. The boy was Mikey, named after none other!
At the earlier ceremony, Andrea had worn a white dress with a gold belt and white high heels, and Cnut a dark suit with a pretty blue tie that matched his eyes, but now she wore the emerald gown and the amber pendant with a circlet of flowers on her head, and Cnut, at her request, was in Viking attire. Which amused the huge crowd at the castle who considered themselves modern Vikings, and were dressed accordingly. As in black tie and cocktail dresses.
Andrea was surprised to see so many children about but they were Dr. Sig’s adopted daughter, Izzie, and Mordr’s adopted family of five children. Not to mention Gunnar, Gunnora, and Mikey.
At the end of the marriage ceremony, they all said a silent prayer in remembrance of the demon who almost became a vangel. Michael left soon after, warning the vangels that their mission for the foreseeable future was to destroy ISIS. Then he was heard murmuring something about the Pearly Gates falling down, again, as he disappeared into the skies.
After that it was a wild Viking party. Rock music provided by a vangel band. The newly recovered Armod showing that he could still do a credible moonwalk. The seven VIK doing an amazing Michael dance to “Chains, Chains, Chains.”
The food was plentiful and the beer flowed. Holding center place was a five-tiered cake that Andrea had baked herself in the Transylvania kitchen with Lizzie’s help. It was a white cake, covered with coconut and peppermint sprinkles. Everyone said it was fabulous.