Page 91 of All's Hell That Ends Well

I landed on a stretch of lawn a couple of yards away from the play structures that were being swarmed by about a dozen children ranging in age from toddlers to older elementary school kids. The sun was glinting off drops of water left from the recent rain shower, the air rife with the damp smell of wet earth and cut grass. Parents sat on benches near the play structures, chatting with each other or shouting something at their kids.

Haniel touched down next to me, and like me, he folded his wings away—after stretching them wide for a moment. Yeah, all that flying sure was hard on our muscles. Up above, the shadows of my entourage flitted across the sky, some higher, some a bit lower. Shemyaza landed on the other side of the playground and immediately scanned the area for any threats.

Like the rest of my guards, she took her job of protecting me quite seriously. We hadn’t seen any signs of anyone following us, and except for the occasional angel or demon flying about in the distance, we hadn’t run into anyone else either.

Still, they were all vigilant.

A tabby cat trotted over to me and rubbed itself around my legs, and with a smile, I bent down to pet it. Fascinating how most animals were able to see us even in our hidden form, when we escaped the notice of humans. Cats were the most adept at this.

It had to look strange for the people here that this cat was winding its body around nothing?—

Ping.

My heart stuttered. My breath caught in my throat.

Whipping my head up, I stared straight ahead, at the playground…where a gentle pulse of energy came from.

It couldn’t be.

Could it?

The cat forgotten, I slowly moved forward, each step measured while I listened to that soft thread of sensation in my chest and gauged the direction it came from. My breaths shallow, I adjusted my route every few seconds when I thought the feeling got stronger or weaker. I navigated through parked strollers, evaded running children, my eyes roaming the area as if the source of the energy might be visible through some spark or glow.

Peripherally, I was aware of Haniel following me at a respectable distance, of Shemyaza taking note of my behavior.

It wasn’t a strong pull, not like a magnet, or as if someone yanked on a rope tied to my spine. More like a gentle knowing, a subtle sense of belonging, a familiarity that drew me. I knew this energy. Had felt it before. I’d carried a part of it inside me for eight years now.

I came to a stop in front of a large play structure with a twisted slide and knotted ropes leading to the upper platforms. And there, underneath the roof of the structure, a few feet above me, stood a girl.

I held my breath.

I was so bad at guessing kids’ ages, but I thought she was six, maybe seven, years old. Dressed in a pink and violet combo of pants and a T-shirt embellished with glittering sequins displaying a unicorn, she brushed a strand of her sleek black hair behind her ear, her slender brows drawing together in a frown. Her brown eyes, slightly tilted upward at the corners, roved over the spot where I stood, without seeing me, and then she rubbed one hand over her breastbone…as if she, too, felt a pull there.

My lips parted, and I sucked in a breath.

“Lilith,” I whispered.

The girl twitched as if she’d heard me. She examined the area even more thoroughly where I lingered invisible, and then she tilted her head.

Her image blurred, hot tears filling my eyes.

This was it. This washer. It was really Lilith, reborn in a new body, a new life, but her soul was the same. Ifeltit.

My throat closed up as I stared at her through the veil of my tears, my chest drawing so tight. I couldn’t even parse all the different layers of emotion that choked me. I only knew that it was enough to make me sway on my feet.

It was real. It had actually worked. I’d found her. All the things Lucifer had said, his stalwart belief that this would come to pass, it had all turned out to be true. Here she was, standing in front of me, the continuation of that kind and gentle soul that had been my friend. She wasn’t truly gone; her essence lived on, not entirely erased from this world.

Deep, bittersweet happiness tinged with sadness swept over me. Despite the relief I felt at having found her, I understood that this wasn’t the Lilith I’d known—would never again be the friend I’d lost. Even if she did remember at some point, this girl in front of me was her own person, with experiences that had and would continue to shape her in a different way than the woman she’d been in her previous life.

Tangled within that net of joy and grief was the sudden rush of excitement and anxiety at the thought of what this meant for Lucifer. Of how this would change things. Of the chain reaction of events this would trigger as soon as I told him.

I felt like quoting Gandalf when he said that things were now in motion that couldn’t be undone.

“Is this her?”

Haniel’s quiet question yanked me out of my thought spiral. I sucked in air, blinked my tears away, and nodded.

He loosed a breath and then went down on one knee and bent his head. Bowing before the girl that carried Lilith’s essence.

---