Should I? By all means tell Me if I should. My children betrayed Me, knowing the consequences. What are Your terms? The voice asked.
I’m sorry, what?
You are here to bargain for your soul, as you are half human. What are your terms?
Alice thought long and hard and she felt He knew what she would ask before the words left her lips, so to speak. Her life slowly flashed behind her eyes, all of the horrible memories and all of the good. As she spoke, her voice was strong yet laced with love, as if her soul itself was pleading for them all. She felt it in the warm light inside of her that her destiny was staring her in the face, waiting for her to reach out and accept it. Forgiveness, given to the Fallen who have proven worthy and the wives and children who have been sentenced to an eternity of hell in that horrid place I was drawn to my entire life. Stop the End of Days and the massacre of mankind.
Is that all? His voice laughed again. And what of your soul, Alice?
You can do what You want with my soul as long as my loved ones will be okay. Her eyes began to water and she quietly brushed her tears away with her arm, wishing He couldn’t see her breaking down. Until that moment she hadn’t known if she could cry in the strange space where she was trapped, or if she was a ghost or perhaps her soul was just wandering in its new home.
The Creator was quiet for a long moment and Alice remained respectfully quiet, waiting for His decision. It meant everything to her and so many others. I can feel all you have been through and that even if your destiny had not been written to end this way as it has been, you would have willingly sacrificed yourself for those you love. You defy Me and have waged a war against Me even if you were not the one to start it, but rather an overzealous Angel. His voice paused though she knew He had made His decision already. My decision is that I will send you all where you deserve to go.
What does that mean? Hello?
Have faith in Me, young Alice, as I have learned to have faith in you. The voice grew faint.
Alice began to panic as the light in her began to beam brightly once again until it was blinding her.
COLE STARED UP AT ALICE, as the light in her grew so bright it blinded everyone. Rogziel ran at her fiercely and just as his sword began to enter her flesh, her light burst from inside of her, blasting everyone around her onto their backs. When everyone began to stand, Cole searched for Alice’s body. “Alice!” He screamed in panic, grabbing at his side, feeling as if the sword had entered his flesh as well. As he searched the ground covered in bodies, he found her crumpled over a few Fallen bodies, her wings spread widely. Blinded by the light, he shielded his eyes as he scooped her into his arms. She was covered in blood, but her fingers laced together on the sword, and she slowly pulled it from her torso. Cole lifted her shirt trying to find the hole he knew was deep and had to have gone straight through her. The light within her blinded them all, until finally it began to dim. She opened her eyes, gasping for air and looking around frantically to find herself in Cole’s arms. Cole was still searching for the wound on her torso so he could place pressure over it.
“Cole?” she choked out.
“I’m here,” he said soothingly as their family gathered around them. “We have to stop the bleeding.”
“You see that, brother?” Kokabiel asked Penemue with tears in his eyes, pointing off into the distance.
“I do.” They grinned, glancing at each other and back off into the distance. “We’re home,” Penemue said, looking out at white sandy beaches surrounded by beautiful bright blue water. He nudged Briathos in a silent, look-at-where-we-are, motion.
“I-I can’t believe it,” Briathos stammered.
“I don’t understand,” Cole said, unable to find the wound from Rogziel’s sword.
“She did it, brother. She convinced God to allow us all to go home,” Jake said before leaning down and kissing Alice’s forehead. “I told you, you could do it.”
“I… would have preferred not to have died twice to do it.”
“Twice?” Cole asked with concern.
“I’ll tell you later. I have a lot to process at the moment, but I know one thing with absolute certainty, I love you.”
Cole’s body began to relax, “I love you too. So why does this place look like a beach resort?”
“Its preference, apparently, was Alice’s. I’m fond of it, myself,” Kokabiel offered.
Alice’s face grew sad as she realized she never got to say goodbye to Max, who was almost a father to her. She smiled at Cole but he felt the sadness in her heart. He hugged her, reassuring her that though Max would miss her, he would be all right and neither of them would forget each other or the father-daughter bond they shared.
“Aren’t you all a sight for sore eyes,” a familiar voice said.
“Sariel!” Alice said, jumping to her feet to hug her grandfather. “But how?”
“Must have been something you said,” he said with a wink. He pulled his granddaughter in for hug. He hadn’t let himself get overly attached but he was very fond of her and in this moment, he finally allowed himself to feel the love she shared with him. Alice looked off into the distance, puzzled.
“Cole?”
“What’s wrong, Alice?”
“Is that… are they our moms?” She was scared to say the words out loud, fearing that the faces she saw before her would vanish.
“Oh, my God,” Cole said. Penemue and Kokabiel turned to find Marie and Elizabeth walking toward them, absolutely glowing. Kokabiel scooped Elizabeth up and kissed her for the first time in twenty-something years. Penemue followed suit with his dearly loved Marie.
“I never thought I’d get to do that again,” Kokabiel breathed into her mouth.
“Neither did I,” she leaned around him. “Cole, my son?”
“Mom?” He barely got the words out before tears began to fall from his worried eyes. Alice ran to her mother and buried her head in her neck. Alice noticed Briathos’ face grow dreary.
“Briathos?”
“Don’t worry about me, I’ll be fine. I’m very happy for you. I am still glad I did not damn her soul.”
“She loved you, too, you know.”
“Yeah, I think I did.” Briathos walked away with sadness in his heart. All he wanted was to come home, but now a part of him felt empty, lost. She knew he needed time to adjust. As she expected to see many familiar faces when she turned around, she hadn’t expected to see a ghost from her past. She stood, jaw dropped, staring into the distance and began tugging on Jake’s shirt.
“Jake?”
“Yeah, Alice, what’s up?”
“I don’t want to freak you out right now but, your girlfriend’s here.” Jake’s smile turned to panic as he searched the beach to find Camille talking with another Angel. He walked toward her with purpose and when she locked eyes just before he got to her, he knew it was true, she was really there. He collected her face in his hands and kissed her as he had been longing to do for so long.
“How are you here?” Jake questioned.
“That gentleman was explaining to me that sirens and Nephilim were saved from damnation. Not exactly terminology I’m accustomed to but I’m getting used to it.”
“But that doesn’t make sense, unless I did damn you, but how did I?” He began pulling at his hair frantically.
“I’ve had a decent amount of time in that hell hole to find out what happened to me. I don’t blame you even if you should have told me,” she scolded him. “I’m here because, it seems, I was pregnant when I died.”
Jake fell to his knees. “I don’t deserve to be saved.”
“Jake?”
He turned to Alice looking like a beaten dog. ”I damned her.”
“If you didn’t you never would have seen her again. Now we get to be with one another forever. Right?”
“Right,” Penemue answered with his chin resting on Marie’s head. A war ensued inside of Jake; the battle wore on his face and in his eyes. Alice comforted the light inside of him and he t
ried to accept that, because of his foolish mistake, his eternity wouldn’t be spent alone. He turned back to Camille to find her smiling wildly at him. He felt her love and knew she did not blame him. The guilt he wore was from his own hand. He stood up, accepting Camille’s hand as he pulled her into an embrace he was afraid to ever stop.
Alice looked around at her family and the love of her existence. This may not be the way she thought she would be living, but she wouldn’t have wished for it to be any better. All that time she had spent furious with God, she wondered, had He felt it? Had He known? She saved them all but only because He had allowed her to. As Cole laced his fingers into hers, she looked up at his beaming smile. She leaned up and kissed him gently and felt the same electric surge race through them both. He smiled at her in reaction to it.
“So what do you want to do with our spare time around here?” he said just before he kissed her more feverishly.
“I think we can think of a few ways.” She laughed before returning to kiss him again.
“Alright, you two, get a room. I’m still your father and I don’t need to know that sort of thing,” Penemue said.
They all laughed at him and broke off into groups across the large beachfront where they had appeared, leaving Alice and Cole alone.
“This is the sort of love story I used to read about,” Alice said.
“What kind is that?”
“The kind that lives forever.” Alice was home and forever in his arms.
ALICE WOULD HAVE SAID IT had been weeks since she and God had saved them all, though time was slightly more difficult to tell where they were now. Often they all collected on the beach and reminisced about their lives, the battle and what their futures held for them. They were all pleased to hear that the seals had been closed and the End of Days halted, leaving mankind to clean up the horrible mess from their WWIII, but those that had survived were doing all that they could to make the world a better place. It wasn’t a happily ever after ending, but the Fallen were grateful that mankind had not been exterminated as they had personally grown to love humans more than any other may comprehend.
Alice sat on a beach lounger in jean shorts and a black beater, resting her eyes from the imaginary sun beaming down on her skin, never changing who she was to fit in. A beautiful blonde man walked up wearing white loose fitting pants and an unbuttoned white dress shirt. He walked up to Alice and sat next to her in another beach lounger chair. She didn’t recognize his face but something was familiar. “Do I know you?”
“I’d like to think you do. Brave thing you did taking on God, His Angels, the Fallen; to fight for the right of all entities to gain everlasting salvation. Any regrets?”
“Well, no, not really. I do wish that Briathos could have kept the human he fell in love with in his life or his existence.”
“Interesting. Always so concerned with the destinies of those in your life more than your own.”
“I’m not selfless, I just wanted to exist, have a family, love. Isn’t that what everyone wants?”
“I suppose that is true. I find you peculiar, your life and your destiny, and the fact that you were given the gift of God, though you were considered by every means, an abomination. Why do you think that was?”
“Wow, it’s been all of two seconds and you’re already going in for the kill. I don’t know.” She was getting flustered by the smirking Angel. “They say that God doesn’t give you more than you can handle, maybe He thought I could handle it. Maybe He did it as a cruel joke to make me suffer, I really have no idea. All I know is that we all deserved to be treated like His children and we were cast away by His rage. And that was fine, we lived in misery, sure, but we lived. Then Rogziel came down and started a war that may have killed humanity in its entirety because he was carrying out God’s orders. So, I don’t know why He decided to save us all, forgive us and allow His Fallen children and their ‘abominations’ to come home. I guess I don’t really need to know why; we’re here and for that, I’m thankful to Him.”
“Are you still angry with God?”
“You’re really something. Sure, a part of me is. There is a long span of years where I was angry with Him. I felt abandoned by everyone in my life, including Him. I felt as if I were being punished my entire life with no idea for the longest time, what I had done to deserve it. Yet, at this moment, in this place with those I love, how could I be angry with Him? He gave me all I ever wanted and all they ever deserved.”
“What you have endured, most could not forgive living such a life.”
“Was I angry? Damn straight I was. Am I now?” She looked down the beach at her Fallen family and the love of her life, happily engaged with one another. “Now, I’m grateful.”
“Interesting, why is that?”
“The cold angry God I grew up with was redeemed, found to have a heart, to have compassion. I didn’t let my past assessment of Him, based on my life, change the fact that I saw good in Him. Maybe that’s why I thought He could do the same with all of us.”
“I see. Do you now think differently of your gifts, that perhaps God wanted you to prove to Him you all deserved His forgiveness?”
Alice was apprehensive but found herself letting her guard down the more the mystery Angel pried. “The thought has crossed my mind. I wonder if it had to be me. Would I have preferred to be a bystander? No. As much pain as I have been through, I wouldn’t change a moment of my life. Where I’ve come from, what I’ve gone through, all of it shaped me into who I am now. These bizarre gifts, or curses, they helped me get to where I am. I never denied them or held any hatred of them. So, no, I don’t think differently about them. I embraced them from the beginning, though I may have questioned them. It’s impossible to know His motives, but a part of me does think He gave them to me to prove we deserved His forgiveness.”
“You are a very interesting creature, Alice. I would enjoy speaking with you at another time, but I know you have been waiting to be a family for a long time. I, too, have catching up to do.”
“Yeah, okay.” She was puzzled. What a strange angel. He smiled so enormously that his bright white teeth almost sparkled in the sunlight. She wondered if it was always daytime here, if they slept. She couldn’t remember. Time had passed by, but she didn’t really have any recollection of it since they had arrived. Paul walked up to Alice, nervously, in the Angel’s wake.
“So what did He say?” Paul asked.
“That guy? We just chatted about, well I talked, I suppose.” Alice stared at Paul and Kokabiel’s worried faces. “What is wrong with you?”
“That was Him,” Kokabiel whispered, clearing his throat.
“Him?” Alice asked.
“His form looks different to every person, but that was, in fact, God.” Alice’s hands shot to her mouth.
“Oh my…”
“Told you she didn’t know,” Jake said with a laugh. “You were talking shit, weren’t you?” Alice just nodded slowly.
“I worked so hard to get Him to forgive you and then I ran my mouth!” Alice was freaking out.
“Alice, look at me,” Cole said. “He chose to speak with you, and from what I’ve been told, God’s love is unlimited.”
“He has one hell of a sense of humor, too,” Jake added.
“He looked like that Eric guy from True Blood.” Alice was still in shock.
“Oh, he’s yummy” Camille said. Jake bumped her arm. “Sorry, babe, it’s the truth.” She laughed and kissed him. “You’re my number one.”
“I’m your only one,” Jake said, kissing her.
“You okay, Alice?” Cole asked. She took his hand and smiled, relaxing fully.
“I am now.” She kissed his lips with the same thirst she always had. He hungrily kissed her back. She pulled back, smiling and glancing over his shoulder to where He had been. She felt a warm reassuring hand on her shoulder and though she may have told the truth again, she knew in the end, God loved her. She returned her lips to Cole’s and let herself get lost in th
eir love, a love as eternal as they now were.
I’M ALWAYS TORN BETWEEN SADNESS and happiness when I reach the end of a series. I will miss writing these characters as they have become a part of me I will always cherish and never forget. I’m so thankful to all of those who helped me along the way make this series happen. To the wonderful Russ Turner, who made beautiful covers for me truly showcasing what my stories were all about. Natalie and Matt for portraying my characters exactly as I saw them in my mind. Deaette and Betsy. You all were so essential in making everything come together so amazingly. My family for being so incredibly supportive. My best friends for chomping at the bit, ready to read the final outcome. My son, who shows me everyday that anything is possible if you just believe and work hard. And lastly, my incredible fans. Thank you for taking this journey with me, supporting me and being swept away by my characters the way I was while writing them. You keep me writing, I will always cherish you.
ANDREA was born and raised in Michigan, where she resides with her son and min pin, Hershey. She has always had a passion for writing and for the entertainment arts. While she continues to chase all her dreams, she encourages everyone to do the same.
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