The world around them was deserted.
Layla stopped before Enoch, her body so much smaller, her skin a shade of rose gold that glittered in the gray, frozen square. “You vow not to touch St. John Evernight, by thought, power, or physical reach?”
Enoch sliced his wrist open with a claw. His blood was the color of garnets, nearly black in the fading light. He held his wound aloft. “Your vow, Layla Starling, daughter of Melaina, that your soul will be mine.”
An obsidian blade appeared in her hand. She sliced her wrist and blood the color of her rose gold skin welled up. “I vow that our souls will remain together.”
“Good enough.”
Sin’s heart pounded so hard he thought it might just fly free of his chest. His body clenched tight. He had to trust her. Trust. He’d never given that to anyone but her. Not fully. God. He could not lose her.
But his woman did not look back at him. She raised her wrist and pressed it to Enoch’s. Their blood combined with a smoking sizzle of sound, and Sin’s body swayed as if hit.
He choked on his rage when Enoch hauled Layla to him and kissed her, his dirty hands grabbing her bottom and squeezing as if he owned her.
And she went willingly, rising up on her toes, her mouth opening to his.
Sin’s vision went red even as his heart ripped in two. A sound tore through the square, one of shock and pain. Was it him? He took a breath, blinked.
Layla held onto Enoch with a grip that bowed her body. Sin took a step closer as Enoch’s larger body started to twitch. The demon writhed in Layla’s grip, black lines of his veins suddenly visible against his red flesh.
The devil?
And then it hit him; she was sucking out Enoch’s soul.
Sin rushed forward just as Enoch’s eyes opened wide, glowing yellow one moment then leaching of color the next.
“Take it all,” he shouted, as Layla bent over Enoch’s sagging frame.
A shudder went through her and then, with a gasp, she let go, her lips leaving the demon’s with a loud pop. Sin grabbed her arm, yanked her back and, with a whip of lightning, sliced Enoch’s head from his body.
Absolute Damnation shattered like glass before disappearing in a puff of white smoke.
Sin stared at the spot for a long moment before wheeling around.
Layla swayed on her feet, taking long, deep breaths. Her flesh rippled, her eyes flickered black, yellow, brown, silver, gold, as if her body could not pick a color. Sin longed to hold her but she was too unstable.
“Let it ride out,” he whispered, trying to soothe, for he suspected she was experiencing much the same power surge as he had. “It will settle, love. Do not fight it.”
With a cry, her body went rod-straight, a strange dark light shooting from her eyes, and she crumpled. Sin scooped her up before she could hit the ground. He cradled her body in his arms, drawing his wings around them.
In the cocoon of darkness he held her, murmuring nonsense words of comfort, telling her how very brave he thought her, how much he loved her. He did not know how much time passed; all that mattered was that she was in his arms. They were together, and they would always be. That he knew to the marrow of his bones.
A soft sigh left her and she stirred. Her thick lashes lifted, and Sin found himself staring at eyes the color of old gold. “Sin?”
“Here, love.” He cupped her cheek with a clumsy hand. “Right here, little bird.”
She struggled to sit and he helped her, still keeping her within the circle of his arms. Lowering his wings so she could see the square, Sin peered down at her. “All right, then, love?”
She shuddered and leaned closer. “Yes. All right. Strange but I do not hurt.”
He kissed her, a soft touch of lips to lips. “I suspect you shall feel that way for a bit.”
Layla really looked at him then, her gaze moving over his face and body. “You are final Judgment now.”
“And you?” He kissed her again because he could. “Are Absolute Damnation, are you not?”
Slowly she smiled, and it was brilliant. “It worked.”
“How did you know?” If he thought about what happened too hard, he’d start to shake once more. It was nothing he ever wanted to experience again.
“Augustus said that Damnation had the ability to eat a soul and, in doing so, would take on the other’s power.”
Gently he stroked a lock of her tangled hair back from her face. “But how did you know you could overpower Enoch?”
Layla leaned into his palm. “I am the daughter of Final Judgment and Lena, the most cunning Damnation to have lived. How could I fail?”
A chuckle rumbled in his chest and he gathered her close. “So you are.”
Her lips found his neck and she pressed little kisses along his skin. “I am sorry I gave you a fright. But I could hardly explain myself then.”
“I heard you,” he said, closing his eyes and resting his cheek to the top of her head. “You asked for trust.”
She pulled back and her eyes glowed a soft gold. “And you gave it to me.”
“I give you that and more, Layla. I give you my heart, my soul.”
Layla cupped his jaw, her touch so tender it made him ache. “And I promise to keep you well. I love you, St. John.”
Happiness bloomed over him, warming the air between them. Something tickled his ankle, and they both looked down to find themselves sitting on a bed of grass dotted with bluebells. That was new. Layla laughed, delighted, and he joined her, pulling her down upon it. “I love you too, little bird. Forevermore.”
Epilogue
In the small hours of the night, when the sky hovered between ink black and dove gray, Sin stood upon the narrow terrace of St. Paul’s golden gallery.
Archer came up alongside Sin. In silence, they stared down at the city spread out before them—at the twinkling lights of the gas lamps, dotted here and there by brighter electric lights that had popped up more and more in recent years, at the black smoke drifting from the countless chimneys, and at the always-moving waters of the Thames.
All was quiet now. But it would not remain. Humans had seen the truth of their world, and nothing would ever be the same. Sin saw the future stretch out in a vast maw of unrest and adjustment. Wars would be fought, civilization rearranged. It was not pretty. But he also saw peace, and he saw the love his family would have in their lives.
“I cannot get past the strangeness of seeing myself this way,” Archer said quietly. He held out his hand, now crystal clear, reflecting the moonlight. “It brings back old memories.” Behind his back enormous wings spread wide. Sin knew it would take some time for Archer to control his appearance.
“When I was first turned,” Sin said, “I stared in the mirror for two weeks straight.”
Archer snorted. “I stared in the mirror for a hundred years, wondering what the bloody hell I was becoming.”
“Yes, but now you know better.”
Archer glanced at him. Truthfully it was odd to see another of his kind. They were a sight, appearing as living crystal. It was hard to focus on Archer’s clear eyes.
“And you?” Archer asked. “How do you feel? Is holding Augustus’s old power any different from what you were before?”
Sin knew Archer asked because the scientist in him would always question, always want to know the hows and whys of things.
“Be grateful you are simply Judgment.”
Archer’s crystalline face frowned. “That bad, eh?”
Sin chuckled. “You must remember those early days when you struggled not to tear the knobs off doors or to keep from tearing your trousers when you tried to step into them. Imagine that to the tenth power.”
Archer made a sound of amusement. “Remember them? My dear boy, I’m living them over again. This morning, Miranda and I . . . Well, never mind that.”
“We all heard the bed break,” Sin muttered. “And thank you for that lovely moment. Truly.”
Archer laughed then, a great roll o
f sound that echoed over London. At the booming sound, Archer immediately reined it in, grimacing as though chagrined. “Pardon.”
Sin smiled. “I’ll teach you how to control it.”
“I suspect you will. I am sorry, however, that Augustus is not here to teach you this new state of being.”
Sin shrugged. “That is the nature of the beast. If he were here, I would not be final Judgment.”
Sin heard a soft rustle, and a moment later Layla landed beside him. He wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her near. “Hello, little bird.”
Layla kissed his shoulder, which was as high as she could reach without tugging him down, and then said hello to Archer. “What are you two doing up here?”
“Flight practice,” Sin said with a kiss to her head.
The night before, Layla had begun to sing Puccini’s “O’Mio Babbino Caro” in notes so clear, so powerful, she’d made dour Poppy weep and drawn a crowd to the gates of Evernight House.
“What changed?” Sin had asked Layla afterward.
“I suppose I did,” had been her reply. “I’m fully turned now. Mother said my singing would come back, and she was right.”
“Did you feel this change? Is that why you sang?”
She had smiled at him then, her face incandescent and so beautiful it had taken his breath away. “No, Saint. I simply felt joy. Singing was the only way to properly express it.”
Joy. It was an addictive emotion. And one Sin was still growing accustomed to feeling. At the moment, it filled him as he held Layla close. “Where is my dear sister?” he asked while nuzzling the soft skin on her neck.
“Here.” Miranda’s face peeked out from over the curve of the dome.
“Bloody hell, woman,” Archer groused. “Must you crawl along the very edge of the place?”
“It isn’t as though I’ll fall,” she said with a cheeky grin. The wind picked up, lifting the long strands of her crystal clear hair. It was an odd effect but beautiful. “Are we flying or not?”
“Flying,” Sin said. “Remember, use the air currents to your advantage.”
And as they took to the night, Sin had to grin. A strange new world indeed.
Also by Kristen Callihan
Firelight
Ember (short story)
Moonglow
Winterblaze
Entwined (short story)
Shadowdance
Evernight
Soulbound
Copyright
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
Copyright © 2016 by Kristen Callihan
Cover design by Christine Foltzer
Cover illustration by Gene Mollica
Cover copyright © 2016 by Hachette Book Group, Inc.
All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publisher constitute unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), prior written permission must be obtained by contacting the publisher at [email protected]. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.
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First edition: June 2016
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ISBN 978-1-4555-8169-6 (ebook edition)
ISBN 978-1-4555-8170-2 (mass market edition)
Table of Contents
Dedication
Acknowledgments
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Epilogue
Also by Kristen Callihan
Copyright
Forevermore Page 27
