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The silence of the reaper realm engulfed me and I sighed. I’d blinked out of the carnage and now stood on the cold rock looking down at the endless drop. I needed a moment to collect my thoughts before I faced Julia. The shift in the air behind me clued me in on the fact the rest of the legion of reapers had arrived.
“Nick?” Julia’s voice drifted on the darkness.
I turned and met Julia's gaze. She stared and for the first time since I came out of my fighting trance, I glanced down at my clothing. Blood dipped from the fabric and I had a moment of doubt, but after taking a silent stock, I found nothing wrong except maybe a scratch or two.
“I'm okay,” I said and looked out over the quiet crowd.
She glanced down at the computer readout, her face paled and she turned it towards me. I crossed the distance and took the smartphone from her. The name made my chin fall to my chest and sorrow filled the center of my being. Another life close to me cut short.
“When?”
“An hour ago. The car went off the road and rolled. He died instantly.”
I met Julia's gaze. “Where is he now?”
She just stared at me.
“I gave him my word,” I said.
“You know where all the souls went.”
She was right. While we were ridding the earth of demons all the souls transitioned to the waiting area between Heaven and Hell. I glanced at Leviathan and the crew beyond. It was time to honor my word and then I had to go into the battlefield again.
“We stopped the demons. You are free to follow me or go onto your final...” I didn't know where they went so I just let it stand. “There are a lot of souls stuck in Purgatory and from what I’ve been told, it sounds like it’s an angel-demon battlefield there. If you choose to follow, bring your battle armor.”
I turned away from the masses and Julia stepped by my side, entwining her hand in mine.
“You’re not going,” I said and tried to pull out of her grip, but her hand clamped down on mine and the set of her jaw told me I had no control over this.
She leveled her most determined stare in my direction. “He was my friend, too.”
Instead of arguing, I glanced down at my clothing. “I should probably clean up,” I mumbled.
“No. Don’t,” she said. “You look more formidable drenched in demon blood,” she added and I raised a brow.
“You do,” Leviathan said, stepping next to me and staring down from his full height.
“Fine.” I looked toward the crevice. A certainty swept through me and I glanced back at Leviathan. “Do you want to go back, or do you want to stay with me?”
“You closed the portal,” he replied, his baritone voice dropping like it was a secret.
I smiled and glanced at the gorge in front of us. It served as a portal to anywhere I wished. My father hadn’t thought to bring me here before going to Purgatory. If he had, the demons wouldn’t have had a rip to go through.
“Yes. I closed the tear between the human realm and Purgatory. But I can go anywhere from here and I can bring you with me.”
He hesitated, cocking his head in thought.
“If you’re with me in the human realm, you need to be Levi,” I clarified. He needed to know all his options to make the choice that was right for him. “And no eating humans,” I added at the spark in his gaze.
“And in Purgatory?” he asked.
“You can feast on all the demons you want,” I said, knowing they had a tendency to escape through holes in the gates of hell into Leviathan’s territory.
Leviathan traded a glance with Julia and then looked over his shoulder at whoever still remained. When his gaze returned to mine, he said, “I choose to follow you.”
It was such a simple statement, but it humbled me to the core. I squeezed Julia’s hand for support and she squeezed back. I gave him a nod and then stepped toward the dark chasm. Leviathan joined us at the edge in the form of my German Shepherd.
Ben, Danny, and Lazarus stepped into the line with us and I gave them a nod. Grasping the scruff of Levi’s neck, I stepped forward, wishing us into the war zone.