Grave Signs - Ivy Asher Page 0,179

the fuck out. It was just there, running at me. I panicked.”

Echo’s lips twitch, his shadows coming up to wrap around her waist. “We saw.” She grumbles but hides behind Crux when Todd comes bounding closer to us. “You can face the Ophidian and an army of demons, but alligators are too much for you, huh?”

Delta pinches him on the side until he laughs and backs away.

“Daddy!” Medley exclaims, bringing my attention back to her. She’s panting now, her hands on her hips as she glares at the alligator that still has her scythe in his mouth, and I swear, its tail is wagging.

“He just wants to play, honey girl!” Mr. Bell calls, looking at Todd like the alligator is some adorable puppy.

“How many times do I have to tell you? My scythe is a very dangerous Hell weapon, not a toy!” Medley tells him. “You’re lucky it ain’t activated, or he could do some serious harm!”

With complete serendipity at that moment, Todd suddenly hurtles forward, and the blades pop out on the scythe. My eyes widen when I see the squirrel he’s charging for, and quick as a whip, he turns his head, like he’s gone full Alligator-Annulus, and dusts it. Just like that. Poof.

Everyone stares in shock.

“Oh. My. God,” Medley gasps in complete horror as we all gape at the tiny pile of ash which confirms that we’re not imagining it, her scythe is, in fact, activated.

“Well...that ain’t good,” Mr. Bell says in the understatement of the year before he scratches his bushy chin in thought. “Hmm. I wondered why I saw that pile of ash next to the mailbox back at the trailer…”

I gape at him as he shoots off a quick, sharp whistle. Todd immediately whips his head around and comes bounding over to him like a Labrador bringing the stick to its owner to throw. All of my sisters’ and my mates practically book it back inside the house, shoving and pushing each other to get through first, not a single one of them risking being accidentally scythed by the alligator that’s just trying to play.

“Drop it,” Mr. Bell orders, and Todd instantly listens, letting the staff fall from his mouth as he looks up at him expectantly, light pink tongue flopping over razor sharp teeth. Wasting no time, Mr. Bell digs in his pocket and pulls out a loose piece of jerky and tosses it to him. Todd catches it effortlessly and starts munching on it while Medley sprints over and snatches her scythe up.

She grimaces at the staff before she rubs it over her cutoffs to get off whatever gator germs could possibly be on it. Delta, Medley, and I all just stare at each other for a beat, and then we crack up laughing, because we probably have a skewed sense of humor.

“Let’s...let’s not talk about this. Like, ever again,” Delta says as our laughter tapers off.

We quickly nod. “Yeah, that’s probably for the best,” Medley agrees.

The three of us tip our scythes together in an Annuli salute and raise our wings in our little triplet huddle. With our faces slightly purple from the sun shining through our feathers, Delta looks between us with a smile. “Huh. Look at that. We all got a happy ending.”

“Yep, and all we had to do was single-handedly save Hell,” I say with a wry grin.

“Hey, you had help!” Tazreel calls indignantly, and we look over to see him still dripping wet and scowling as he tries to stomp into the house. Mrs. Bell very quickly sends Pride right back out so that he can’t track mud and water all over the floors, and surprisingly, he listens.

“Come on, I’ll get you a plate and then show you how to fix a toaster,” Mr. Bell says to Taz, who nods and sits down as he impatiently waits for food, grumbling the whole time.

My sisters and I break into another fit of laughter and turn to start heading back into the house, and I pinch myself, just to be sure that this is all real as I face some realizations.

One, this is not a dream.

Two, this is not something I will ever let slip away.

Three, angels and demons really do exist.

Four, they’re shaping up to be the best family I could have ever hoped for.

And five, I’m going to enjoy my happy for as long as I live.

Because I’m whole and I’m home.

The End

Also by Ivy Asher & Raven Kennedy

Shifter Romantic Comedy Standalone

Conveniently Convicted

Dystopian Romantic Comedy Standalone

April’s Fools

Paranormal Romance

Grave Mistakes

Grave Consequences

Grave Decisions

Grave Signs

Also by Ivy Asher

The Sentinel World

The Lost Sentinel

The Lost and the Chosen

Awakened and Betrayed

The Marked and the Broken

Found and Forged

Shadowed Wings

The Hidden

The Avowed

The Reclamation

Grave Signs - Ivy Asher Page 0,179

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