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My father spared me of the vision, but he couldn’t buffer me from her screams or the choked gags that alternated. I struggled to get out of my father’s grip but he clamped down.
“Trust me,” he said in a tone that forced me to look at him.
“Let go,” I whispered, my voice shaking and raw.
He gave me the saddest smile and shook his head. “You’ll know if he succeeds,” he said and tears blurred my vision again.
I didn’t want Valerie to die and come to this benign place. She had a life, one I didn’t want Lucifer to steal. One I wanted to share and I buried my face in his chest. The shakes took hold and I think he was the only thing that was holding together what was left of me.
After what seemed like forever, the screams cut off and I stiffened, pulling my face away from the wet fabric and glancing over my shoulder at the sunny fields expecting to see Valerie standing and gazing around with the same level of confusion I had.
I stepped closer to the pool and my fists clenched along with my teeth. Lucifer had one hand around her throat and his other hand in that familiar claw-like formation over her heart. She was still conscious but her face was borderline purple as he cut off both her airway and the blood flow to her brain. Her body sported bruises and cuts from the demons having their way with her, and now Lucifer was following through on the final promise he made to me.
His hips slammed her in the fast pace of a building climax and I covered my mouth in horror. A sound like an air puff rose above the rattle of the chains and I blinked at the dart embed in Lucifer’s bare ass. His motion slowed and both hands dropped to his side before he slid down her body and crumbled on the ground.
A whirlwind circled around the warehouse, torching every last demon shadow and finally the chains holding Valerie disappeared in a puff of smoke. She dropped to her knees, unable to support herself after the abuse she endured. I couldn’t see outside the warehouse, but the flap of wings gave me an indication of who had just saved her ass.
When Tom dropped to the warehouse floor with a tranquilizer gun slung over his shoulder, my hand dropped from my mouth and I turned my gaze to my father. He was watching as well, his expression one of fierce pride in the way his younger son took fearless action.
Tom crossed, peeling off his coat as he approached Valerie. He wrapped her in the fabric and picked her up, heading toward the car. I was so focused on her that I didn’t even take note of where Damian was.
Valerie’s eyes widened. “Don’t!” she yelled over Tom’s shoulder and he spun back toward where Lucifer lay unconscious. My gaze followed.
Damian stood over the prone figure of Lucifer with a sword poised to sheer off Lucifer’s head. His face altered from the furious intensity of the kill to shock as he glanced up at her. Snow fell over them and I realized Damian had leveled the place, leaving only Valerie, Tom, and Lucifer alive.
Tom shook his head.
“Tom says we have to bring him to Paradise Cove, it’s the only chance we have to get Chris back.”
“You two saw what we did to him. There’s no way he survived and I’m not letting this bastard have another go at any of us,” Damian said, lifting the blade.
“No,” Valerie growled with such ferocity that Damian paused again, but this time his muscles strained against the invisible force holding the blade at bay. “If it was Naomi, you would try everything under the sun.”
The trembling in his arms stopped and he closed his eyes. Lowering the sword to his side and straightening up. He inhaled and glared at her.
“If it doesn’t work, I get to destroy him,” he said and both Tom and Valerie nodded.
My hands relaxed the tight grip on the edge of rock surrounding the pool. I hadn’t realized I had the stone so tightly clamped, but with the relief came the loosening of tension and I glanced at my father.
“What now?” I asked as they packed my body in the trunk of the car, where every sigil known to Damian was scribed on the interior so if Lucifer awakened, he would be temporarily pinned in place.
“We figure out a way to get you back,” he said.
“I may have an idea on that,” a voice pulled both of us around. Michael was only a few steps behind us. I hadn’t heard him approach, but from the stoic expression on his face, and the fire blazing in his eyes, he had seen enough of the details to spark a fair amount of fury.
After all, Valerie was his descendant, and they had a special bond. Knowing Lucifer violated Valerie in every manner possible set me ablaze, I couldn’t imagine what it did to her great grandfather.
“He must be stopped,” Michael said through clenched teeth. “But, as Uriel pointed out, a trinity without grace is as good as dead going up against Lucifer.” His gaze slid from me to my father. “Even with grace, he’s going to need a little help.”
“You don’t have grace to give,” I said, crossing my arms in an effort to steady the shake that remained in my ethereal limbs.
“No, but I do.”
I glanced up at the top of the cliff. Uriel looked down at us and then hopped off, gently gliding down on wings that sparked in the sun. He landed next to me. The same righteous anger present in Michael reflected in the tense set of Uriel’s jaw.
“You saw?” I whispered, blinking the sudden mist covering my eyes away.
He gave a single nod.
My gaze dropped to the sand at my feet and I closed my eyes against the tears dripping into my lashes. I didn’t have time for the devastation pummeling my heart but it was relentless. Instead of wallowing, I focused on what was involved with taking Uriel’s grace, shaking the sadness away before looking up at him.
“I don’t really want to eat your heart,” I said.
Uriel’s face transformed and then a chuckle erupted. Standing side by side with my father, I saw the resemblance in their smiles.
“What?” I asked, wiping at my face.
“That’s the only way to steal an angel’s grace,” he said through his sputtering laugh. “Operative word there is ‘steal’. Giving grace does not include the ingestion of an angel heart.”
I cracked a smile. “That’s good to know.”
Uriel put his hand over his heart and closed his eyes, letting a slow exhale out as he pulled his hand away. Inside his palm a rainbow of moving light formed a ball like a miniature sun. He opened his eyes, holding the essence of his grace. Without it, his features aged from the vital man who looked no older than I to that of a man in his fifties, like my father.
His wings withered away and falling feathers covered the sand. Uriel gave me a soft smile and pulled me close with his free hand.
“When I’m done with it, can I give it back to you?” I asked with my gaze locked on the swirling lights, mesmerized.
“No. The gift cannot be returned.”
I looked up in surprise. “Then... why?”
“I’ve been granted a view of my own,” he said and his expression turned serious. “Sometimes things don’t go according to plan and there is a need for extremes to set things right. This is one of those times.”
Uriel pressed the light to my chest before I could push for more details and the light penetrated every cell of my spirit. Even though I’d carried the power of complete annihilation in my form all my life, it didn’t compare to this and it rendered me speechless.
The light eventually settled and then Uriel looked at my father.
“But it cannot be done without sacrifice.”