She’s . . . praying? That’s not at all the tactic I was expecting, but each word sends a tingle down my spine. I’m not the only one who feels it. Others around us look up.
Through the fighting I see my father again. He’s staring at Anna. For a moment I imagine that the look of shock on his face means something different, like perhaps he’s having an epiphany, and I feel a lightness of hope. And then his eyes burn red and he opens his mouth with a war cry. All hope vanishes when I see the bloodlust in his eyes—his hatred of her and what she’s trying to do. He backhands Jezebet, who drops the knife and grabs her bleeding nose. Father charges. I raise my arm to stop him, knife up.
Belial rushes from the side and tackles him with a forearm to the throat. His head slams against the floor. Father is large in his new body, but Belial is massive and holds him down while I crouch at his side.
He struggles against Belial, his face furious, and I shake my head. “It’s too late, Father. This is your opportunity to make amends.”
It would be stupid to harbor a grain of hope at this point. And yet, I am still disappointed in his response.
“I will not grovel at His feet!”
Belial shakes his head and mumbles, “You gonna be groveling in hell, brother.”
Father tries to spit at him, but it ends up on his own chin. I look up at Anna, nodding for her to continue.
Her voice is clear. “I pray forgiveness, for the souls who once betrayed you and have reconciled. Return them to their rightful home, and let those spirits who still harbor hatred be returned to hell. . . .”
The dark room begins to glow, as if night-lights have been switched on. Whisperers circle and spin above us. Belial grins at me.
“It’s working!” I say to Anna. “Keep going!”
Her eyes are closed and her face is luminescent. She stands with her feet apart, the sword still blazing in her hands, and says the magic words: “Banish all the demons from earth!”
I’m racked with a sudden bout of dizzying vertigo, but when I look around I see I’m not alone. Everyone’s eyes have gone round as they’re staring at the floor. Blake’s eyes lock with mine across the room. I skate my gaze to the twins, Kope, and Z.
What is happening? It feels like a bloody earthquake. Are we all going to be killed? Will we all be taken tonight?
The fear that threatens to rise up is suddenly snuffed out by a glorious warmth that envelops me and sends an absolute hush over the room.
Anna belts out the last of her prayer. “I ask with all my heart that the demon stains be washed from the souls of all Nephilim, both here on earth and those who came before us. Please allow us a chance at redemption!”
The ground cracks open with a shattering boom, throwing the room off balance. Anna stumbles and drops the sword. It rolls straight into the depths of the crack. I grab her and pull her aside as tables slide past and chairs fall over. I look toward the side door, not twenty feet away. We have to make it there.
The room stills again.
One by one, the souls of the Dukes are sucked from their bodies. One by one the dark souls are siphoned into the crack, returning to hell for good. I watch with more sadness than I want to admit as Father’s soul lifts and his hand reaches for me before it goes lifeless. And then his soul is spiraling away. Down, down, down.
Gone.
Now angels appear from above, a whole slew of them lighting up the room, and I want to say, Bit late, aren’t you? But then I have to smile, because we handled it without them—with Anna leading the way.
With the angels comes that warm feeling again. Belial closes his eyes and lifts his face. Something alive is in the room. Something I can’t see, but I can feel. It’s like the warm joy I get when I’m with Anna, and when I saw her mother, but even purer. Even stronger. It’s all-encompassing.
It’s a feeling of love.
“It is well,” says a soothing whisper in my ear like the wind. My heart is beating too fast. I remember what I’d said that day at the