Page 20 of Grave Revelations

As she peered at the expansive sky, it spun, settling on a wholly different constellation pattern. She sat up, rubbing her eyes. It had grown colder, somehow, but the chill air no longer bit her skin.

She was impervious to it.

Rebecca tossed her blanket to the bed, striding to the hole in the wall, and stepped over it onto snowy earth. Instead of being on the side of a mountain in some foreign land, she was on her estate, in her family’s plot at the back of the property.

Tombstones dotted her path, glinting silver gargoyles visible high atop the walls in the distance. She stretched her head back, peering up at the crescent moon, knowing what came next.

Orange and red orbs rained from the sky. Balls of flame crashed to the ground, scorching patches of snow where they fell. Far above, glowing white shapes flung their flames at the monsters scouring the earth—night-creatures. All around her, they screamed and cried out, no match for the army descending from the Heavens.

She sparedthe raging battle only a glance before settling her focus on the creature before her. Made of shadow, the girl slid between headstones, stopping when she reached Rebecca.

She raised her arms, and a wicked smile split her face.

“Welcome, sister,” she said. “I had wondered if you might never discover me.”

Rebecca lifted a hand, suffusing it in blue flame.

The girl across from her cackled. “You can’t harm me.”

“Perhaps not, but he can.” She tossed her flame to the shadow at her back.

He caught it, soaring high above, before he dove, slamming blue-wreathed palms into the girl’s shadow. Her unearthly screams rent the earth, and skeletal arms broke free from the soil, stretching for their maker.

Despite the streaks of orange and red continuously smashing into the surrounding earth, Rebecca kept her eyes trained on the being before her. As fire consumed the girl, she screamed for her shadow to save her.

A dark beast rose, chuckling with malice as its eyes lit with red flame.

“I am unstoppable. I am eternal!”

Rebecca gasped, her eyes flying wide open.

A cool hand caressed her cheek.

“You stayed.”

It wasn’t a question; it was a plea.

Her entire being responded. She wrapped her arms around Azazel, squeezing her eyes shut. It was the same dream she’d had so many times, yet it was new.

“Did you dream of the end?” His soft words caressed her ear.

“I don’t want to talk about it.” Her breath caught in her throat as she stifled a sob. It couldn’t be the end of their world. It couldn’t be that the battle she’d fought wasn’t the one from her dreams.

Azazel stroked her hair.

She tightened her hold, tears escaping her lashes and sliding down her cheeks. She tried to control her breathing—hold it in—but it wouldn’t be contained. The world was ending, her friends might be dead. Simonmight be gone forever.

A damn broke, some invisible hold over her emotions shattering as everything she’d been holding back spilled free. Her lungs burned as she heaved in lungfuls of frigid air through her sobs.

Through it all, he held her.

Were they all dead? Rhea, Sophia, the witches who had taken her in? She might truly be alone in this world.

“You’ve never been alone, Light.”

She pressed back, gazing up at him. “You haven’t been here. I was alone for over a hundred years. I only ever had Simon, and now he’s gone, too.”

“He’s not gone,” Azazel said. “I found him.”

---