CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Ash pulled at the knot on his tie again. “Stop it,” Elizabeth told him. “You’re going to make it crooked.”
“I hate this thing,” he said as he allowed her to fix it again.
“I don’t care. Leanne said wear it and you are gonna wear it.” Elizabeth turned around so that her back was to him. “Now, finish zipping me up,” she said.
Ash’s brain shorted out for a moment when he saw the expanse of skin on his mate’s back. Her dress was blood red, with a deep V back that stopped at her hips. He reached over and pulled the zipper up the last inch until it was securely in place. “You look beautiful,” he told her. And she did. Her dark hair was twisted on top of her head with little curls hanging down to framed her face. She was wearing minimal makeup, just enough to accent her eyes. Little teardrop diamond earrings hung from her ears and a matching necklace graced her chest. The little diamond charm sat just above her cleavage. He, on the other hand, was stuck in the standard wedding penguin suit. “You would make any female vampire jealous.”
“Smooth talker,” she said with a playful swat at him. “Come on, it’s almost time.”
They went into the room where Leanne was waiting for them. Ash’s breath caught when he saw his sister in her new wedding dress. This one was pristine white, without tears or bloodstains. Would he ever get the sight of her that day out of his head? He doubted it, but seeing her like this was a good start. “Lele,” he breathed. “I can’t believe it. You’re all grown up.”
Elizabeth sneaked out silently as Ash entered the room.
Leanne smiled at Ash. “I’ve been grown for a while now,” she reminded him. “You’re not very observant.”
“Tell me about it,” he grumbled. “You sure about this?” he asked her.
Leanne stood from her stool and took both of Ash’s hands into hers. “Yes. I want you to know something, Big Brother.”
He smiled down at her. “What’s that?”
“I know what you did for me,” she said. Ash raised a brow at her and she continued. “When we were kids. I remember. I saw it too. You saved me back then. I never really knew the price you paid for me until just recently, but I wanted you to know that I knew it.” She fidgeted with his tie. “I don’t really understand what happened between you and Elizabeth, and I won’t ask, but I am so glad you finally found each other.”
Ash had hoped his sister would never know his life. His real life. His heart sank that she would have to know that kind of evil really existed in the world. He had always hoped that she was too young when their parents were killed to remember it. He had been wrong. He had been wrong about so many things.
“No,” she said, laying her hand on his chest and stopping his pity party. “You protected me and you saved me. Twice. I love the life that you have given me and I want you to know that I am going to live it. I am going to live it every day and I am going to do it in a way that would make you proud of me.”
“I am already proud of you,” he croaked. He was not going to cry. The freaking leader of Hell did not cry. Damn it. He looked down into his sister’s eyes and felt the pride swell his chest. He couldn’t be more proud of her if he tried. Not only was she kind, caring, and beautiful on the inside and out, but she was strong. She had witnessed the horrific death of their parents and had been kidnapped and beaten, but here she was, smiling and ready to take her life by the reins and live it. He was truly blessed to have her in his life.
“Now, let’s get me married.” Leanne took his elbow. “Pastor McCoy cancelled at the last minute so we had to get someone new,” she told him. “I don’t know his name though.”
“I’m sure he will do fine,” Ash told his sister as they walked through the church. They stopped at the heavy doors leading into the sanctuary.
“You ready?” the usher asked.
Leanne nodded and Ash gripped her tighter. The ushers opened the doors as the music played. He had to will his feet to move with her, but when he saw the pastor waiting at the altar, he grinned from ear to ear.
The pastor was a lean, blonde man, with clear blue eyes that spoke of centuries of wisdom and love. When He looked directly at Ash and asked, “Who gives this woman to be wed today?” Ash had no qualms about handing his sister over. “I do,” he said confidently. He smiled at James and saw the happiness in the man’s face. The same look Ash knew he wore every day with Elizabeth. Some things, he thought, are just meant to be.
He looked around and noticed that one of the groomsmen was in fact, Jake, The Flame. Ash shook his head with a smile when he saw the man making googly eyes at one of the bridesmaids. Antonio was sitting in the back, grinning like the idiot he was. Ash, of course, did give him back his wings and his hair. The sight of him with no hair and the pink tutu was enough to keep Ash smiling for the next six months, he thought.
He returned to his seat, next to his mate in the front row, and watched as his sister’s union was blessed in the best way he could imagine. The “pastor” even gave Ash a covert wink when the ceremony was over. He took Elizabeth’s hand and squeezed it in his own.
Yes, some things were just meant to be.
Ash was happier than he had ever been. He was on cloud nine, so when the explosion tore through the building, he never saw it coming. The foundation rocked as the church exploded, burying everyone and everything under its rubble. No one even had a chance to run.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Jake felt the rumble under his feet just before everything went to hell. He had been lucky enough to be standing away from the heavy beams that supported the roof of the church. He got to his feet and tried to shake the ringing from his ears. He finally got his eyes to work and saw what had become of the church. Smoke was everywhere. Fire was chewing up the insides and there were people trying to get to their feet.
He heard a small cry of pain from behind him. Jake trudged through the rubble and found the source. A small girl was trapped under part of a pew that had blown to pieces. Jake knew he shouldn’t move her, but one look over his shoulder at the fire that was growing in intensity quickly changed his mind. He grabbed the heavy wooden bench and lifted it off her. Then, he scooped up her small body in his arms and ran her to the door. Or at least, where the door used to be. He took her a safe distance from the disaster and handed her to a man on the street. “Here, get her some help,” he demanded before running back in.
***
“Why can’t we help?” Ash demanded. Elizabeth was holding his arm as they watched the catastrophe unfold in front of them.
“Because it is what is meant to be,” God told them. “We must allow the events to unfold as they are meant to.”
“I don’t like it,” Ash grumbled.
“I know, my son,” God told him. “I have faith in you.” Then, He disappeared.
Ash watched in horror as people milled out of the ruins. He needed so badly to go and get his sister and her husband out of the mess, but neither Elizabeth nor Antonio would allow him. He watched as one body after another was pulled from the rubble.
Then, finally, Leanne walked out. She was dirty and limping, but otherwise seemed to be unharmed. Ash hated that he couldn’t let her see him. He wanted her to know that they were ok. She looked in his direction and nodded once. Did she see him?
“She does,” Antonio answered his unspoken question. “She knows more than you think.”
Ash nodded and saw James coming out as well. He was helping a woman that looked a little like him out of the building. They watched as people came out and relief started to spread through Ash. It was short lived, though. His mind was running a hundred miles a minute. Who would do this? And why?
His concern was quickly replaced with anger. He could feel his skin vibrating with the need to get to the bottom of all this. Elizabeth’s hand on his arm calmed him, though.
“We will get to that,” she promised. “For now, let’s just make sure everyone is ok.”
Ash saw his fireman walking out
yet another victim and then head right back into what was left of the building. It was on fire good and proper now, with black smoke was billowing up into the sky and blocking out the sun.
He was momentarily glad that as long as Elizabeth was with him, she was safe from the sun. Her new vampire status didn’t allow for much tanning anymore, but he could protect her if she needed to be outside. He could also make her invisible so long as she was touching him.
Ash knew that there would be casualties, but all the people he cared about were accounted for. He watched as those that made it were helped out of the building, while others were carried out. He saw Jake run back into the burning building one more time before the whole thing collapsed.
***
Jake knew there was one more person inside the church. He took several deep breaths of clean air before running back into the fire. He really missed his gear right about now. He could hear the sirens in the distance, but he also knew he didn’t have time to wait for them. He knew the man inside didn’t have that kind of time.
He leapt over a heap of burning debris and found the man by listening for his coughs. When he finally got a visual on him, Jake knew it was now or never. The man’s face was turning grey, and not from soot. He couldn’t breathe. Jake settled his feet at shoulder width and lifted the concrete slab covering the man’s body. He strained so hard to get it off the man that he knew he was gonna bust a vessel or something. He felt the pull in his groin, and he was sure that his shoulder popped out of socket, but there was no going back now. If he let go of the slab, it would surely crush the man to death.
Jake put all of his strength into hefting the slab up and over, finally allowing it to fall to the side of the man. As he let it go, the last of the clean air in his lungs left him. “Come on,” he said, taking the man’s arm and pulling him up. “Gotta go,” he said. He wished that he could lift the man over his shoulder, but he didn’t have the strength anymore. His arms and legs felt like jelly, and it was all he could do to walk.
A burning beam fell just in front of them and Jake was forced to move himself and the man back from it. He could hear cracking overhead and he looked. The ceiling that had been holding up was giving way. It was going to fall right on top of them.
With all the strength he had left, Jake lifted the man by his waist and tossed him over the burning beam. “Go!” he shouted breathlessly. “Get out of here!”
Jake didn’t see whether or not the man got out of the building. He didn’t see the pair of angels watching him. Hell, he didn’t even actually see the ceiling fall. One second he was yelling at the man to go and the next second everything was black.
Epilogue
Jake knew he was dead. First, there was the fire and the collapse. But even if that wasn’t a sign, the fact that his body was being hurtled down a freaking tunnel that never seemed to end was a great big flashing neon light.
Then, there was a light at the end. Just like so many people claimed to have seen, he was floating very quickly down the preverbal tunnel. Jake felt himself smile and allowed the tunnel to take him to it. The faster he traveled, the better he felt. Until he actually started getting closer to the end. He could see where the light came from, and it wasn’t heaven. Not unless heaven’s gates were made of fire.
He was going to Hell. All the things he had done in his life were finally coming back to haunt him, and it would be for all eternity. His fighting for money to feed his gambling addiction had cost him so much more than that happy marriage he originally thought. It had cost him his soul.
As he approached the flames, he tried to fight it. He tried to turn around and run back to his life, where he could make changes. He tried, but it was no use. Hell had a proper hold on him and that was where he was going, whether he wanted to or not.
As he hurtled through the end of the tunnel, Jake landed on his ass on a hot, concrete floor. He took in his surroundings, only to find that it wasn’t really a floor, but a cave. And there was a huge ass wall of fire in front of him. He crab walked backward away from the flames until his back hit a wall. Maybe it wasn’t too late. Maybe he could run. He got to his feet to do just that when he heard it.
“I hear that’s one hell of a ride,” a man said.
Jake turned to see the man who spoke to him. He was tall, with short black hair and deep blue eyes. On his back was a huge pair of black wings that twitched as the man studied Jake.
Jake’s heart stopped in his chest before thundering back to life. Wait, wasn’t he dead? Didn’t the heart stop in the afterlife?
“Yes, you are dead,” the winged man said. “Your heart still beats with your soul. You have a choice to make and I suggest you consider all your options first.”
“What choice?” Jake asked.
“You can go on about your destiny, go to Heaven or Hell, I am not privy to which, or you can work for me,” the man said.
“I don’t think making a deal with a demon is a good way to save my soul,” Jake told him.
The man rolled his eyes. “I am not a freaking demon,” he growled. “I am an angel. A-N-G-E-L. See the wings? Demons don’t have wings like this.”
“Oh,” Jake said. What the fuck else was he supposed to say? “What do you want from me?”
“I need an Elite Guard to help me protect things down here and up there too sometimes,” the angel said.
“And if I don’t?” Jake asked.
The angel shrugged. “I guess you go wherever you’re supposed to go.”
Jake thought of all the things he had done in his life. He was surely going to Hell, one way or the other. The question was; would it be as an employee, or as a resident. It really was a no brainer. This may be his only chance at redemption.
“I don’t think I really have a choice,” Jake answered.
“There is always a choice,” the angel replied.
Jake considered his options again. No, there really wasn’t a choice he was going to make. “At your service,” he finally said, sticking his hand out for a shake.
The angel took his hand and pumped it twice before letting go. “Name’s Ash. Welcome to Hell.”
Salvation (The Keepers of Hell Book 2) Page 12