Somewhat safely back in the proper world, the feeling of being pulled by an invisible string had vanished, and Regina could just barely hear her trial keeper reminding her, We have done what we can, but do remember that it won’t be long before he can return, and all will have been for naught.
The Metatron glowed, shining a brilliant golden light so brightly that his actual facial features were entirely indistinct. Just about everything about the way he looked was impossible to tell, save for the fact that he appeared to be nearly eight feet tall and roughly shaped like a human, with a head, a torso, two arms, and two legs.
Siobhan sort of expected him to have many wings. After all, with the lesser angels, the stronger they got, the more wings they had. Instead, he had only two. Only a single pair. But they were enormous, stretching nearly forty feet from one tip to the other, glowing an even more brilliant gold than the rest of him. It was as if the sun had taken a humanoid form and been pulled down to Earth, and it was not happy about it.
As soon as he appeared, the signal erupted like a volcano, louder and more violent than it had ever been before. Nearly as one, Siobhan, Gabriel, Anael, Samael, and Raphael dropped to the ground, huddling in on themselves in agony as it suddenly felt like a particularly vindictive toddler had taken a hammer to the insides of their skulls.
As Siobhan whimpered pitifully, Jack dropped to his knees at her side and Barton stepped in front of her defensively, whining in distress once he realized there was nothing he could do. Jack wrapped an arm around her, and she slowly levered herself back to some semblance of upright by latching onto his shoulders. She couldn’t hear past the buzz in her head and the ringing in her ears, tears were streaming from her eyes, and blood was leaking steadily from her nose. Despite all that, she was going to see what happened next with her own eyes.
Slowly, the angels stirred, laboriously propping themselves up. They were in no better shape than Siobhan, but much like her, they were going to see how this ended.
For his part, the Metatron seemed… confused. As if he had always known that there was another world outside of Heaven, but it hadn’t occurred to him that this was what it might look like. He looked around slowly, and then his wings spread wide behind him, large enough that there was a noticeable breeze as they stretched.
He was speaking still, though he had stopped shouting. Instead his voice was a low rumble, like thunder across the plains, as if he could shake the manor and its grounds and everyone there into pieces with nothing but his voice. (Perhaps he could at full strength, but just then, at the very least, that did not seem to be the case.) He sounded unimpressed, but his actual words were incomprehensible. If he realized that or even cared, there was no way to tell.
He hesitated before doing anything, unsure of what a world other than his own had in store for him. No one gave him time to find his bearings. Instead, Dask’iya simply lunged at him, her fists knitted together as she swung them at him like a club. The first strike hit him squarely in the chin and sent him stumbling, but after that, he was more prepared, and Dask’iya’s next attempt only grazed his shoulder, and the strike after that went wide. The Metatron hooked an arm around her and threw her out of the way.
Regina caught her before she could hit the ground and carve a trench on it, and by the time she set Dask’iya back on her feet, Allambee was rushing at the Metatron like a bullet train… only to duck out of the way at the last second. The Metatron drew up short, staring at the space where Allambee had been just a split second before, until Harendra collided with him from behind and sent him sprawling face first into the grass. It lasted for only a brief moment, though, before the Metatron flapped his wings, hurling Harendra off of his back and propelling himself back to his feet. He reached out, one hand closing around Harendra’s throat just as Harendra got back to his feet. With a squeeze, the Metatron had him wheezing, and likely would have snapped his neck right then and there, were it not for the ball of fire that Dask’iya shaped in her hands and hurled at the Metatron like a stone. It dissipated as soon as it struck him, but it did at least startle him into dropping Harendra.
Allambee ducked back into range, one fist landing against the Metatron’s ribs and then the other, giving Harendra time to stumble out of the way and figure out how to breathe again.
Allambee ducked under one massive wing before it could smash the side of his head in, only to be knocked into the grass when his legs were swept out from beneath him. He landed with a grunt and tumbled aside as the Metatron screamed something that sounded incredibly angry at him.
Unperturbed by the Metatron’s outrage, Allambee scrambled out of the way, clearing the path so he wouldn’t get trampled a moment later. With a running start and a jump, Osamu kicked the Metatron squarely in the side of the head, and when the Metatron grabbed him by the ankle, Osamu bent forward over his leg, latching onto the Metatron’s wrist just as the Metatron tried to throw him like a discus. The result was that they both landed in the grass in a graceless heap.
Osamu and the Metatron scuffled across the grass for a moment, though it seemed to consist mostly of Osamu blocking and squirming to keep himself from being beaten soundly about the head. Harendra darted closer, both hands curling around the bend in one wing, and he hauled back with all of his strength. Though the Metatron was not moved particularly far, he was moved just far enough that when Osamu slammed a knee into his ribs, he could squirm out from beneath him. Skirting around the Metatron’s side after that, Osamu grabbed the second wing and pulled, wrenching the Metatron back a step. He struggled against both of them, until Allambee darted into range, strolling between the wings so he could wrap his hands around their bases, pushing downwards until the Metatron could hardly even flap them anymore.
With a placid look on her face, Regina approached, placing one foot carefully in front of the other, her hands swaying casually at her sides until she was standing right in front of him.
Regina reached up, fisting a hand in the Metatron’s hair and dragging downwards, forcing him to stoop to her height. She clasped one hand tightly around his chin and wrapped her other arm around his neck. Nearly as one, Harendra, Osamu, and Allambee let him go and backed up.
With a smile that was nearly savage, Regina tightened her hold on the Metatron’s neck and chin, and then she twisted. There was a crack like rocks tumbling down a mountain side and he went limp, sagging to his knees until Regina released him, and he dropped into an ungainly heap in the grass, where he did not move again. Regina backed away as Dask’iya slowly approached.
The Metatron’s body lay sprawled inelegantly in the grass until, with a wave of her hands, Dask’iya set it alight and watched it burn, the flames magnesium bright and stretching towards the clouds like greedy fingers. She watched intently, observing calmly until little remained, save for a few errant feathers, and then those caught on fire and burned away as well.
The wind carried away the smell of cooking meat, and the buzz in the air that his very presence had caused gradually began to ease, and then it stopped all at once, as if a harp’s string had been plucked and allowed to slow, until a finger was pressed to it to silence its note. Silence hovered in the air, heavy and profound, and nothing happened.
For one long, drawn-out moment, it was as if all the world was still and silent, holding its breath and not daring to make a sound.
For just a second, there was a vague impression that the trial keepers were watching, and that they approved. And then that second ended, and as if the Vampire Lords had never even spoken with the trial keepers before, the connections between the Lords and the trial keepers snapped, like a rubber band being stretched until it could take no more, and it frayed apart and split in two.
*
Afterwards, when the Metatron was little more than a burned-up smear across the ground, no one was quite sure what to do or how to react. One by one, the Vampire Lords relaxed, slumping to the ground to catch their breath once they were sure that the Metatron wasn’t going to suddenly rise fr
om the dead again, but everyone else was left simply staring at the burned grass where he had been standing.
Cautiously, Siobhan and the archangels began to straighten back up. They didn’t get up off the ground immediately, but ‘sitting up’ was at least an improvement over huddling on the ground in the fetal position and wishing for it to stop.
The buzzing had stopped. The feeling like someone was trying to crush Siobhan’s skull inward and explode it outwards simultaneously had eased, leaving only a dwindling phantom pain in its wake. Slowly she got to her feet, moving cautiously, as if her legs were going to buckle at any moment. Though she supposed it wasn’t much of a concern, as Jack grabbed her elbow.
“Everything good?” he asked, his voice low.
Siobhan looked around, watching the Vampire Lords for a moment as they looked more mortal than she had ever seen them, watching as Gabriel helped Anael up and as Samael and Raphael picked themselves up off the ground, watching everyone else slowly slink closer to the Vampire Lords once they were sure that the fight was well and truly over.
“Yeah,” she answered, her voice slow and faint, and she reached across herself, fingers curling around the hand still holding her elbow protectively. “Yeah, I think everything’s good.”
*
It was a little surreal after that. The angelic threat had been the biggest thing on everyone’s mind for weeks. For it to just suddenly be a non-issue left everyone reeling. Gradually, though, they all found their feet again and life began to return to normal. Or at least as normal as it could get for vampires and a ragtag gaggle of semi-homeless archangels.
For the time being, at least, all five Vampire Lords would be staying awake. They would give leading by committee a try and see how that worked. None of them especially wanted to go back into hibernation, and Regina had gotten too used to having the company to insist on it. If it proved problematic later on, well, it could be dealt with later on.
Gradually, the temporary residents of the manor began to leave until, once again, only a handful of people lived there, other than the Lords. The archangels, too, began to leave. Raphael took his leave first, surprising no one, followed only a day and a half later by Samael. Gabriel and Anael lingered a few days longer, but they too took their leave eventually, with a promise to Siobhan that she would see them again shortly. She waved a finger in Gabriel’s face and informed him that she would hold him to that, though she wasn’t sure how she was going to go about doing that. She supposed the actual details were less important than the intent, given the circumstances.
The end result was a manor that felt far too large and far too empty, with only a handful of people and a dog wandering through the rooms. Siobhan was convinced that if she shouted, her voice would echo, though she suspected the Lords would object if she actually tried it, and Alistair would probably throw mop water on her again.
*
“You could leave,” Gabriel pointed out on his first return visit, sitting on a tree branch as Siobhan dangled upside down from a neighboring branch. “If the manor isn’t comfortable anymore, I don’t think anyone would object to you leaving. Considering everything you’ve done for them.” He shrugged. “It’s not as if you couldn’t decide to come back later.”
Siobhan snorted and let her arms dangle loosely towards the ground. “I guess, but the prospect of asking any of the Lords for something as selfish as ‘I’m bored, can I go?’ doesn’t really seem that appealing.” She stretched, fingers spreading and reaching towards the patchy grass for a moment, before she drew them closer to cross her arms. “I feel like they might object. And just doing it without asking also seems like a really bad idea.”
Gabriel offered her a look that seemed faintly unimpressed, though it was a bit hard to tell while hanging upside down by her knees. “I find your reasoning lacking,” he informed her blandly, and he offered approximately no reaction when she flipped him off, which was a little anticlimactic.
With a groan, she threw her arms… up? down? towards the ground, as she exclaimed with exasperation, “Yeah, alright, I’ll think about it for a while. Okay? Are you happy now?”
“I’m never happy,” he informed her, his tone a deadpan.
Rolling her eyes, Siobhan folded her arms once again. “That is such a crock of shit, and you know it,” she returned, scowling at him. “Who taught you to tell such filthy lies?” she demanded. “It’s rude. Scandalous. Inappropriate.”
Before she could add any other adjectives, Gabriel flapped his wings once, launching dust, fallen leaves, and twigs at her. A moment later, he lifted a hand to cover his mouth as he snorted out a laugh, and with a mighty pout, Siobhan began trying to pluck the twigs and leaves and blades of grass out of her hair, all without toppling down from her upside down perch.
“I don’t like you,” she informed him primly, though she was fighting a smile herself.
“I’m sure I’ll muddle onwards,” he assured her dryly, folding his wings to his back once again.
Their initial conversation seemed to have been largely forgotten after that, and that was alright with Siobhan for the moment.
*
Siobhan was familiar with the route from the manor to her old cabin in the woods. She had only been back to her cabin once since becoming a vampire, but it was a very recognizable route for various reasons, not the least of all being how close to her heart it was.
So Siobhan was expecting it when Jack turned his truck down the long driveway that led to the cabin. It didn’t come as a surprise, but she found herself grinning all the same. She loved her cabin.
“Are we on vacation?” she wondered wryly as the truck pulled to a halt beside her old car. It hadn’t been used in a few months and was starting to rust slightly in a few spots from inattention, but she felt a sudden urge to try to fix it up again.
“Sort of,” Jack answered evasively as he let Barton out of the truck. The mutt immediately bounded towards the cabin door, barking. Before he could forget himself and his own strength, Jack jogged to catch up with him and opened the door without even needing to use a key.
Bemused, Siobhan followed after them, and found Sinead and Sean standing in her cabin. Sinead was gesturing broadly to Sean and speaking hurried, only to come to an abrupt halt as Jack strolled in with both Barton and Siobhan on his heels.
“You were supposed to be a bit later,” Sinead observed flatly. “We aren’t done cleaning yet.” Even so, the layer of dust had that built up in Siobhan’s absence was gone, everything had been cleaned in the kitchen portion of the room, and everything in the living room portion of the room was perfectly in order.
Siobhan blinked slowly, looking from Sinead to Sean to Jack, before she wondered, “What’s going on?”
Jack cleared his throat. “Regina agreed that we deserve some space to ourselves, after everything we’ve done.” He lifted a hand and gestured around at the cabin. “So… welcome home.”
Siobhan stared at him for a moment. “You mean to stay?” she clarified slowly. “Both of us?”
Jack nodded once. “That’s the general idea, yeah,” he confirmed. He didn’t get a chance to say anything else, as Siobhan threw herself at him. Her arms wound around his neck, and she crushed their lips together. The kiss was clumsy at first, as Jack laughed against her lips before he could help it, while Sinead and Sean hooted encouragingly from the kitchen.
Siobhan had had enough excitement for one lifetime. Even a lifetime as long as hers was likely to be. The mess with the angels was over and finally she could stop fighting. She knew Gabriel would visit. She wasn’t worried about that. She had her forest and her cabin, and she had her boyfriend and her dog and her siblings. Be it ever so humble, there was no place like home, and she was glad to be back.
THANKS FOR READING!
***
Dear Reader,
Thank you so much for reading all the way to the end.
If you enjoyed the final book then it then it would mean so much to me if you could leave a revie
w on Amazon. Even just a sentence would be amazing!
This would be a review of the whole series and it would be a big help if it was left on the amazon page for book 1 so others can discover the series too :)
YES, I WILL RATE THE BONDED SERIES!
Thanks in advance and if you want to see more of my work, just head over to my author page (link below)
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Thanks for reading and making “the bonded series” a bestselling series on Amazon.com!
See you in the next book
Samantha x x
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The Vampire's Bond Trilogy: The Complete Vampire Romance Series Page 49