Page 123 of Grave Revelations

Light. Light! Don’t leave me!

Rebecca brought the lance down hard and slumped back, her hand falling off the side of the table to hang over its edge.

A new pain, one more terrible than any physical wound, sliced so deep it struck bone. It wrenched at his core, tore at the very fabric of his being. His other half was gone. Truly, completely.

Erased.

Chapter 79

Rebecca

There was no time. No time to form a plan to save Azazel from Samael or save herself. The devil had his glossy black talons buried deep in her soulmate’s neck, and he was going to end him. Azazel would die, and there would be no one to stop Samael from using her to bring Sanura back.

The war would be lost, and Samael would rule whatever remained of the mortal plane.

Rebecca wrapped both fingers around the lance, plunging the bone into her chest. A tear ran down her cheek as their gazes locked on one another in that final moment, and the light left Azazel’s eyes, his vibrant orbs dulling to pale blue as her world went dark.

A burst of excruciating pain, both physical and in her heart, seared into her, and she knew this would be the last time for both of them.

Then, weightlessness, as if she were floating, drifting on a phantom wind. It carried her through the dark recesses of her mind, replaying the moments of her life.

Like an old film, some images were grainy and distorted, while others were clear and bright. Memories of her childhood, her sisters, and even her father. Memories from each of her lives and Simon, there for every one of them. Simon walking beside her in her orchard, holding a jar of fireflies while she laughed at Sarah,racing to catch more of them; Simon teaching her to drive, sitting with her on the couch while they watched old kung fu movies, her mother’s favorite.

Then, memories of a different kind filtered in. The moment she had died in her first life—Gabriel beside her, taking her hand and shutting out the pain as he gently stroked her hair.

In her second, as she took her last breath under the old oak tree, Gabriel’s arms wrapped her in a warm embrace, softly whispering that he was there. She was not alone.

In her fourth—always disorienting to remember as it had been divided between two people—they exhaled in unison, and Gabriel had been there, lifting them to his chest as he hugged them close and wrapped his wings around them to shield them as he hadn’t been able to in life.

The night on the gymnasium floor when she lay dying, killed by her father’s demon, and Gabriel had appeared beside her, unwilling to lose her again. He dropped to the floor, cradling her head in his hands.

“I’m so sorry,” he breathed.

Jophiel touched his arm. “Gabriel. I stand by whatever decision you make. I owe you that much.”

“I know why you did it, Dina. It had to be done. Had they not hidden her from me so long, I might have stopped this needless suffering before it ever began.”

Jophiel looked down at the broken body on the floor. “We have her now; we can protect her.”

“I have no way of reaching her in Sheol. Ifshewaits for her to return, there will be nothing I can do.”

As they raised their arms, pulling her soul from her dying body, some part of Rebecca’s remaining consciousness snagged on one word.Sheol.

Rebecca sat up, glancing around the dimly lit space. She had hoped there would be nothing at the end of true death. Nothing but silence, stillness. A place where memories of the light leaving Azazel’s eyes wouldn’t haunt her for eternity.

Instead, the images rushed back to her in agonizing clarity: sharp nails digging into flesh, golden blood spilling over bare skin, wings that drooped behind him as his body slumped against the wall, his eyes dimming.

Those final moments of clarity in them, as he realized what she had done before he, too, was ended.

She wrapped wet arms around her knees and hugged herself, praying for a reprieve from the images searing themselves into her retinas.

A chill shuddered through Rebecca as she came out of her daze. In the murky darkness, she could make out the outline of the shallow stream she sat in.

She stood unsteadily, noting the lightness of her step. It was as if she were almost weightless in this void. She stepped out of the river onto dry, cracked earth and wandered aimlessly over a barren landscape.

Her mind replayed the scene over and over, watching Azazel’s eyes dim. She’d tried to distract Samael, hoping he would release Azazel to stop her and give him the time he needed to end him, but she had acted too slowly and only succeeded in getting them both killed. What an idiot she’d been. Thinking she could be smarter, more clever than the devil.

Something glinted in the distance, catching her eye. It was white, whatever it was, standing out starkly against a backdrop of muted grays.

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