Page 86 of Grave Revelations

“But I thought necromancers could only create night-beings,” Rebecca continued. “How did she put my soul in a new body?”

Azazel’s brow dipped as he set Rebecca down on the ground. She stumbled into him, still unsteady as she processed all the new information he’d shared.

“I have theories, but no answers.”

“Azazel, Rebecca, come inside. You need to see this.” Jophiel’s words cut through the air, bringing a strong sense of foreboding with them.

Chapter 54

Azazel

Rebecca leaned into Azazel’s arm, trailing Dina to the TV room on the second floor. He searched her thoughts for signs of distress—an impending panic attack—but found only a tumble of new questions.

He could have told her what she’d wanted to know rather than showing her, but something in him wanted to share the memories he carried of the happiest time in his existence—the moments carved out for only the two of them.

The moments he had so selfishly wasted when he believed they might have forever.

Some dark part of him wished Gabriel had been selfish enough to tell her who she was when she’d awoken as Rebecca, but he didn’t fool himself for one second into believing the girl clinging to his arm would have been as forgiving of the angel he once was.

The thought burrowed into his mind, taking root. Was this always their path?

Dina’s words, from long ago, came to him. “Father gives us only what we can handle. He presents challenges meant to strengthen us to become better versions of ourselves. Only you were strong enough to wait for your perfect match. Only you could survive an eternity alone and still find it in himself to accept that he was worthy when the time was right.”

Though he desperately wished it were true, a world in which he had a happy ending seemed the least likely outcome.

Dina sat, patting the spot beside her, and Rebecca joined. Azazel stood, leaning against the doorframe, watching as Dina found the remote, flipping the TV to a news station.

Rebecca glanced back, meeting his gaze, but she didn’t push, didn’t ask him to join them. Once, he would have taken that as a sign she didn’t want him in her life. He would have left, too afraid of being hurt by her judgment or rejection. Now he knew the truth. Nothing would ever hurt more than losing her. He would take ten thousand lifetimes of her seething looks and fiery-tempered anger if it meant she lived.

How things had changed for him.

A nasal voice blared to life as images filled the television. A woman asked the audience to prepare themselves for what was sure to be a traumatic scene as the screen behind her flashed to an aerial view of dirt and debris and, below it, a gaping chasm zigzagging along the ground.

“We take you first to Kathmandu, Nepal, and what was once the Himalayas, formed over fifty million years ago.”

Azazel pushed off the frame of the door, stepping into the room. He came around the couch, finding Rebecca’s hand and lacing her fingers in his. Beyond the fractured earth, the remains of buildings, cracked, jutting bridges, bits of highway, and an endless sea of debris stretched as far as the eye could see.

Fires littered the ground in pockets, clogging the air with thick, dark smoke. The trio watched in silence as the camera continued to pan, showing no end to the damage.

“In a city of one-point-four million, we’re told we will be lucky to find any survivors.” As the woman spoke, the camera zoomed in on two buildings tipped sideways where they met midair and were frozen. “Early reports are estimating the largest earthquake ever recorded. Today, we have made history. We go next to Khabul. I must warn you—these scenes may be graphic.”

As the reporter paused, Rebecca looked up at Azazel, eyes wide.

The end?

Yes.

The screen changed, and they were met with a new city, more densely populated. The sight was enough to turn even Azazel’s stomach. The screen panned, refocusing on the news reporter in the studio.

“Hold on, folks. We have an urgent update.” The woman’s face paled as she listened to something in her ear. “Breaking news.” She swallowed, looking at someone behind the camera. “We’ve just received word that San Francisco is gone.”

Dina sucked in a breath.

“Yes. We’ll now take you to live footage of the event. Please consider carefully before watching.”

The anchor disappeared as a new image flashed on screen, and Rebecca squeezed Azazel’s hand. Azazel struggled for a moment to make sense of the scene before the camera panned out, and he saw that the northwest coastline of the United States was buried beneath a wall of slowly receding water so littered with rubble and dark masses that it was impossible to make out any real detail.

“What you’re seeing now is the tidal wave that rocked San Francisco less than thirty minutes ago. We’re receiving word the wave came in at over twenty-seven hundred feet. We’re still waiting for more details on how something like this could have happened with no warning. We’ll keep you updated as we learn more.”

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