Far worse than the centuries I spent being remade, time I now remember in excruciating detail.
Seraphiel kept me locked in a prison of my own body while he chipped away at my mind one memory at a time. Each one was precious to me, and though I’d been human for only weeks at that point, I remembered what it was to live. Until he took that as well.
Now, I will never live again. The descent to the Underworld is dizzying and faster than I anticipated. I hold Sin’s face in my mind—what is left of it anyway—for Thorn has had centuries of life lending him strength, where I have not even managed two years.
He struggles against my hold, cursing me, trying to tear my consciousness to shreds, but while whatever made me...me...will soon be gone, I was created for this purpose alone. I have the power to hold on long enough for the fires of Hell to surround us.
They’re getting closer now, and I marvel that I can feel them as if I still had a physical body. Opening my eyes, I gasp as I see that somehow, I do. In a way. We’re more like ghosts now. Echoes of what we once were. The first tongues of flames lick along our feet, and Thorn screams.
All around us, there’s nothing but endless suffering, and I can sense Lucifer’s presence looming just ahead. The devil laughs, almost gleeful. “How nice to see you again, you pathetic twat. You escaped right under my nose the last time, but now...you will be forever mine.“
“I freed myself once. I will do it again,” Thorn hisses, and I tighten my hold on his immortal soul.
“Not if I have anything to say about it,” I manage.
“You are nothing but a weak, pathetic human with a single touch of the divine, bitch.”
Lucifer chuckles again. “Hardly. She is a daughter of seraphim, and the bond she formed with you is unbreakable.”
Fiery shackles lock Thorn's ephemeral wrist to mine, and I take a small measure of joy—the last I’ll ever feel—from his scream.
The devil reaches for his pitchfork—I’d thought that was a myth until now—and stabs Thorn through the heart. The agony is like nothing I’ve ever felt, but I take solace from knowing that at least I saved the man I love.
Sin
“No! Zoe!”
Bureau agents stream into the facility, but I have eyes only for the woman I love. Her skin is ashen, her eyes open and staring, and when I pull her into my arms, I know.
She’s gone.
Her heart no longer beats, and it is little comfort knowing that Thorn died along with her. I kick his body out of the way so I can sit with her and plead with the Almighty to do something.
Fingers dig into my calf, and I tear my gaze from Zoe’s lifeless eyes. Dion is on her knees, tears glistening on her cheeks. “She knew she wouldn’t survive, Sin. She asked me to tell you...she loved you.”
Too weak to hold herself up any longer, Dion collapses, and Mad comes to her aid, helping her into the arms of one of the Bureau’s mages as I scan the room. The two human men are dead. As is Regina. I broke her neck when I batted her away, and whatever immortality she possessed must have been tied to Thorn. The other women on the dais are all still alive, though two of them are so far gone, they barely respond to the mages at all.
“Sinclair.” The commander stands over us, eyes glistening. “Tell me she isn’t dead.”
“She sacrificed herself to save the others,” I manage over the lump in my throat. “And to save me.”
“But how?”
Gabriel joins Eve, followed by Killian and Mad. I can’t look at any of them. Only Zoe. Her skin is cold now, her lips blue, and I cannot stop my tears from falling as I hold her close and tell her over and over again that I will love her until my last breath.
The archangel is saying something. Explaining, I think. But I care little. Until Mad claps his hand on my shoulder. “Sin. Did you hear what Killian said?”
Blinking hard so I can see the warlock’s face through my anguish, I shake my head.
“If Gabriel is correct—“
“Of course I’m correct. I’m a fucking angel, you British bastard.”
“Shut it,” Killian snaps before returning his focus to me. “Zoe bound her consciousness to that arse’s and descended into the Underworld, yeah?”
“Yes,” I say softly.
“And there are only two ways out