With a gentle laugh, Osamu darted away again, next to force Zophiel to a halt. His wound was already halfway healed, but as Allambee slammed into him and sent him careening through the air and across the ground, it tore open once again. Allambee closed the distance rapidly, lifting the shield and then slamming the bottom edge of it downward. Zophiel’s ribcage splintered, and there was a scream like telephone static and the splintering of souls, though it died away to silence soon enough. Allambee wrenched the bloodied shield out of the seraph’s chest.
Osamu darted away once again, weaving between Zaphkiel and Ophaniel.
“You’re having too much fun,” Regina accused quietly, as Osamu forced Zaphkiel to a halt just outside of arm’s reach and forced Ophaniel to launch high into the air.
“Should I feel bad for lending what aid I can?” he wondered, feigning innocence. “Especially given all that they have killed and the many more they planned to kill next.”
Zaphkiel broke the compulsion long enough to weave out of the way of Regina’s swing of the Bough, and nearly knocked her flat on the ground with a simultaneous beat of all six wings. Osamu caught her shoulder and propelled her toward Zaphkiel again, as the seraph once again was forced to a halt.
Regina swung the Bough of Eden in a horizontal arc in front of her, dragging the end of the blade across Zaphkiel’s throat. She ducked away from the spray of blood, and as Ophaniel came screaming toward her, she caught the hook on the other end of the Bough on one of his wings and launched him into the ground before she speared the blade through his chest.
If Osamu felt at all cheated that he hadn’t had a hand in Ophaniel’s demise, he didn’t get a chance to say anything about it, as Seraphiel hurled herself back into the fray, aiming herself straight at Osamu as she flew, her eyes narrowed in determination as she battled the compulsion of the glowing Apple.
She crashed into Osamu, and for a moment, they scuffled across the ground, until she curled both hands around his throat and squeezed.
There was a quiet, “Oh, dear,” just before Seraphiel’s hands sparked with light, and she threw Osamu with all of her might. He hit the ground and tumbled, the Apple of Eden falling from his hand. He lay motionless, and Seraphiel laughed quietly.
Seraphiel’s triumph lasted only a moment, though, before Harendra darted to Osamu’s side. He had remained largely on the sidelines up until then—the shepherd’s crook was not the most imposing of weapons—but he could recognize an opportunity when one was presented to him.
Seraphiel’s eyes widened in something like terror as Harendra simply tapped the end of the Serpent against the middle of Osamu’s chest. His eyes snapped open, and he reached out, his fingers closing around the Apple once again, though truly controlling her was no simple feat. Slowly, fighting the Apple’s compulsion, she began to struggle upward, each beat of her wings carrying her higher into the air.
And then, Dask’iya jumped into the air to join her.
Of the remaining seraphim, Seraphiel was the last to fall, her wings catching fire as Dask’iya set the Fang ablaze and plunged it through the seraph’s chest. She plummeted through the air, limp as a ragdoll, her eyes open but unseeing, their glow gone. She hit the ground with a reverberating impact, and then she burst into flames as bright as the sun. In a single moment, every other seraph burst into equally bright flames, and as they burned, Raphael and Oriphael rapidly winged their way back into the sky and vanished.
The seraphim burned for only a moment, and then there was nothing of them left. Not even any feathers.
Slowly, the Vampire Lords congregated together around the patch of blackened grass where Seraphiel had burned. Gradually, the other vampires followed them, joined by Gabriel after only a moment of hesitation.
Slowly, Siobhan wondered, “Is that it?”
Gabriel looked up, watching as Anael turned and left, vanishing into the distance. Finally, he looked down, confirming quietly, “They’re all gone.”
“So what now?” Siobhan asked, looking around at the almost unnerving lack of corpses, save for Michael’s, still partially dangling from the branches of the tree he had landed in.
“I suggest,” Regina began diplomatically, “that we make a hasty retreat before the sun comes up and we acquire even more of an audience than we already have. As it is, we’re going to be all over the news.”
“We probably already are,” Jack supplied helpfully.
‘Getting the fuck out of Dodge’ was a good plan, Siobhan figured. It was very good sense.
*
There was a memorial set up at the edge of Chambersburg. It had been there since shortly after the disaster. No one quite knew what to actually call whatever had happened there, or if it could be linked back to the video footage of the winged beings or the footage of the fight in Belleview.
Siobhan stood a few yards away, observing it. There were no grieving friends or family there just then—it was late, though the candles set up in front of the cross that had been cobbled together with beams pulled out of the wreckage lit it up as bright as day—but she had company despite that. Countless photographs stared back at her from the memorial, and Jack and Gabriel were quiet presences behind her.
“So, is it all over?” she wondered, idly running her a finger back and forth above the flame of one candle for a moment before she turned and stepped away, joining Jack and Gabriel at the caution tape. “Are we finally done with all of the angel nonsense?”
“I don’t know,” Gabriel answered honestly. “The hierarchy of Heaven goes further upward still, but I don’t know if there will be an attempt at retaliation or if things will simply be allowed to carry on.” He tipped his head to one side. “What will you do in the mean time?”
Siobhan shrugged. “Be ready for whatever comes next, I guess.”
“Take a load off for five minutes,” Jack added wryly.
“Pop in on my siblings,” Siobhan tacked on. “I know some great all-night diners.”
“Keep being Regina’s gofer, probably,” Jack mused, tapping his chin with one finger. “Presumably, she still won’t like running her own errands.”
“And you’ll still get cooped up if you’re locked in the manor for too long.” Siobhan patted his back with one hand.
“That, too,” he conceded easily.
“What about you?” Siobhan wondered, folding her arms and shifting her weight to one side as she looked at Gabriel expectantly. “What are you going to do? I mean, no one’s going to keep you at the manor anymore, and I doubt you really want to stay there just because.”
“I might visit, from time to time, but—“
“You’d better,” Siobhan threatened, her eyes narrowing slightly.
“But I think…I will try to find my remaining siblings,” he continued, as if she hadn’t interrupted him. “To see if I can convince any of them to change their minds. I will look for Anael first. If any of them are going to be receptive, it will be her, and the others will be more inclined to hear me out if she’s backing me.”
“Just remember to come say hi now and then,” Siobhan reiterated firmly. “As long as you do that, I wish you luck.”
“Sun’s going to be up soon,” Jack cautioned suddenly, looking at the clock on his phone and then to the eastern horizon line. “Are you good to head back yet?”
“…Almost. Hang on.”
Slowly, Siobhan turned and closed the distance to the memorial once again. She reached into her pocket and pulled out the shooting star, cleaned until it shined and looked as good as new, save for its tattered string and the fact that it wasn’t connected to the rest of its mobile.
Careful not to disturb anything, Siobhan crouched down in front of the candles and the cross, the flowers and the photographs, and she traced one finger along the edge of the shooting star. Finally, she set it down, propped up against a stone, bathed in the flickering light of a squat, half-burned votive candle. She took a moment to adjust it, making sure the star wouldn’t fall over, before she dusted h
er hands off on her pants and straightened back up.
Returning to the caution line, Siobhan held her hand out, and her fingers closed around Jack’s once he offered his in return.
“Now I’m ready,” she assured him quietly. “Let’s get going.”
* * *
Ready for the final part of the story?
Dear Reader,
I want to personally thank you for taking your time to read “The Vampire's Bond” I really hope you enjoyed it and you are hungry for the next part in the story.
This is the second book of the TRILOGY and you can get the final book at the link below. Discover how it all ends!
The Vampires Bond 3
See you in the next book :)
Samantha x x
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