Page 33 of Grave Revelations

Truth.

He stepped aside, and Rebecca, pale-faced and somber, moved past him, crushing Sophia in her arms.

He balanced on the balls of his feet, watching the creature.

Rebecca leaned back, releasing her friend. “I’m so sorry this happened to you. Did she turn all of you? What about Rhea?”

Sophia’s yellow eyes squinted in a wince. “Rebecca, I don’t know how to tell you…”

Rebecca stifled a sob, pressing her hand to her mouth. “No. She can’t be. Did she turn her? Is she like you? Elizabeth said she would turn her.” She released Sophia, wrapping her arms around herself. Azazel moved to stand behind her, and she leaned into him.

His arms flexed at his sides. The urge to wrap her in them, carry her away from the pain and death that would only continue, was a stubborn ache in his chest. But Rebecca didn’t want comfort from him, didn’t need his strength. She had a strength of her own.

“I’m sorry, Rebecca. She died on Grace Island.”

The dead humans meant nothing to him. In an eternity among them, it was as normal to watch them take their last breath as their first. But as Rebecca pressed her warmth into his hip, he understood it meant something toher,and a deep ache settled in his soul.

Rebecca’s shoulders shook, and he sensed more than heard the spinning thoughts that would send her into another spiral of shock.

“Are there any who live?”

His gaze moved between Sophia and Rebecca, and the creature seemed to understand what he was asking.

“My mother, Helena, Thalia, and several others were alive the last time I saw them. Trapped. They need our help.”

Rebecca wiped the back of her sleeve against her face. “You’re right. We have to save them.”

Sophia touched her fingers to her bruised neck. “If we go straight to them, we’ll be walking into a death trap. I have a plan, though.” She reached for Rebecca’s hand, lacing their fingers together. “Elizabeth is different in Sheol. There’s a woman with her. Sanura.”

Rebecca’s gaze shot to his.Sanura. The first necromancer? The one Ada trapped in Sheol? Not me. A lie. I’m not Ada.Her question and the thoughts that followed tumbled over one another in his mind.

Sophia continued, unaware of Rebecca’s silent questions to Azazel. “Elizabeth isn’t the same evil creature there. She’s different, and there’s something about the other woman. When I met her, it was as if I already knew her.”

Azazel crossed his arms over his chest. “Impossible.”

Sophia’s gaze darted to the wispy wings at his back before she returned her focus to Rebecca. “I think if I can keep them apart in Sheol, Elizabeth will stop harming our sisters here.”

Azazel’s wings twitched. “Sanura is Nephilim. Her magic works in Sheol. Yours doesn’t.” Rebecca pushed off his hip and turned to face him. “You would have better odds convincing Elizabeth to move on to her final rest.”

Rebecca searched his face. “If a Nephilim’s magic works in Sheol, then—”

“No.”

He grabbed Rebecca’s hand, pulled her close, and wrapped an arm around her. It soothed some of the terror shooting through him. “You would have to die to go there.”

“But if I’m the only one who can…”

“No.”

Rebecca struggled in his hold, and he reluctantly released her.

She backed up, putting space between them. “I’m dying anyway. Maybe this is what the prophecy really meant. Maybe it was never about me fighting in some battle on Earth but about one in Sheol.”

“Your visions are not a prophecy,” Azazel said. “They are glimpses of the apocalypse.”

Chapter 21

Rebecca

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