“It won’t go bad, will it?” I asked quietly, with a sideways glance at Fiona.
“If they set foot on the demon realms, it’s possible they might end up like you, Devi, and you too, Fiona.”
“Oh,” I said. “You mean, upgrading? Uh, I don’t know if the humans want that.”
“It’s their choice,” said Fiona. “But if they do, I said we might have to step in and help. I’m fine with that, but I wasn’t sure if you were.”
“You mean supervise?” I asked. “Of course I’m fine with it. If it’s what the humans want.” The most important thing was that they had a choice in the matter. “How’s heaven, anyway, Clover? Has it changed?”
“Somewhat,” she said. “Yet not at all.”
“Cryptic, much?” I said. “I heard it’s… falling apart. That’s what Abyss said, anyway.”
“The heavens have been falling apart for centuries,” she said. “When they do, they’ll split like the demon realms, and become many realms. I’m sure that’ll cause a great deal of grief to the Divinities, but it’s of no concern to Earth.”
“As long as the Divine Agents didn’t survive,” I said.
“No,” she said. “They did not.”
Her aura brightened and her wings briefly appeared, before she vanished in a flash of light.
“I didn’t think it was possible for her to get any more dramatic. I think being divine has gone to her head.”
Fiona lowered her phone. “I nearly got a picture of her this time.”
“Would she like you doing that?” I asked.
“I did ask her first,” she said. “If anything, she enjoys the attention.”
“Not as much as the Wingless Warlock,” I said. “Who apparently wants to meet me at the warlocks’ summit tonight, so…”
“You don’t have to come,” Nikolas said from behind me.
“Oh, I’ll be there. Since I’m the unofficial celestial demon ambassador for Earth.” I smiled at him, spotting Zadok and Rachel approaching. “Relax, nobody declared war.”
“That makes a change,” Nikolas said. “Can you all try not to make trouble while I take Devi with me for Babylon for a few minutes?”
“What, now?” I said.
“If it’s not an issue.”
“No, I just… why?”
“I’ll explain on the other side.”
Zadok put on his most charming smile. “I would never dream of making trouble, dear brother.”
“You nearly started a riot in the Harpy’s Nest the other day.”
“If vampires touch me without permission, I can’t be blamed if my magic reacts in self-defence.”
I rolled my eyes. “Zadok, you turned the place into a shadowy ice rink.”
“Frankly, I found it an improvement.” He shrugged. “I’ll forgive you for not inviting me with you to Babylon. I have a few more things I want to do on Earth.”
“Like…?” I said warily.
“I’m taking him to the shopping centre,” Rachel said, with a grin. “He’s going to help me pick out some new shoes.”
“I can hardly wait,” Zadok said.
“You won’t be able to wear that armour, though,” Fiona added. “It’s too conspicuous.”
“Lucky we’re around to give you fashion advice,” Rachel said, beaming.
“What?” Zadok said in tones of disbelief. “I am not in need of—
In a flash of shadow, we were gone, reappearing on the darkened ground of Babylon.
Nikolas’s hair gleamed dark red under the moonlight. “They’’ll be at it for a while.”
“You think it’s safe to leave them like that?” I asked.
“My brother has a lifetime of Earth experiences to catch up on. I’m not too worried.” He slipped an arm around my waist and kissed me on the lips. “And I have some non-Earthly experiences I’d like to have with you.”
“I’m assuming you mean in the non-apocalyptic sense.” I kissed him back, wrapping my arms around him.
“You said you wanted to fly with me?” he asked.
“You bet.”
My wings appeared at my command, and I took his hand as he left the ground. Babylon’s wasteland spread below, bathed in starlight. Once, cities and towns had filled the space beneath us, the land had been fertile and filled with life, and heaven’s angels had lived alongside hell’s demons. Maybe not in harmony, but as close as possible.
Maybe one day, the same would be possible again.
For a moment, we flew, and I tilted my head back, enjoying the sensation of the wind in my hair. “You didn’t just call me here to fly, right?”
“No.” Nikolas changed direction, heading for the dark shape of the castle beneath the moon.
“Oh—you rebuilt it?”
He halted, wings beating, directly above the castle’s sprawling form. “To my own design, yes. I thought you might want your own room here. And lab.”
“Really?” I turned to look at him, his face lit under the starry sky. “You’re not asking me to pick one world over the other?”
“No,” he said. “You do seem to like those wings, though.”
“Yes, I do.” I gave a loop-the-loop on the spot, the wind deliciously cool on my face. “You never said if the council were nice enough to grant your request for a holiday. Is that what this is about?”
“Yes. Surprisingly, they didn’t object to me taking a few weeks off,” he said. “You pick the destination.”
“Honestly?” I grinned at him. “Anywhere that isn’t heaven or hell.”
He grinned back. “Done.”
We took flight again, soaring over Babylon. After everything I’d fought for, everything I’d sacrificed, I’d finally found my paradise.
Thank you for reading!
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I hope you enjoyed Celestial Storm. If you have a minute to spare, then I’d really appreciate a short review. For independent authors, reviews help more readers discover our books, so if you’d like to see more of Devi’s world in future stories, let me know what you thought!
Other books by Emma L. Adams
If you’re interested in meeting another fierce and tough urban fantasy heroine, you might like Faerie Blood, the first book in the Changeling Chronicles series.
When faerie-killer Ivy is hired to find a missing child, replaced with a changeling, she’s forced to team up with the seductively dangerous Mage Lord, at the risk of exposing her own dark history with the faeries—and this time, running won’t save her.
Find out more!
If dragon shifters sound like your thing, try Alight, Book 1 in the Legacy of Flames series. Dragon shifter Ember must risk it all to rescue her sister from the supernatural-hunting Orion League, even if it means kidnapping a lethal ex-hunter who'd like nothing better than to add her name to his kill list.
Find out more!
About the Author
Emma is the New York Times and USA Today Bestselling author of the Changeling Chronicles urban fantasy series.
Emma spent her childhood creating imaginary worlds to compensate for a disappointingly average reality, so it was probably inevitable that she ended up writing fantasy novels. When she's not immersed in her own fictional universes, Emma can be found with her head in a book or wandering around the world in search of adventure.
Find out more about Emma’s books at www.emmaladams.com.
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