Sins of the Immortal

by Jamie McGuire

  “Didn’t you hear me? Using Gehenna disturbs The Balance,” I said. “I’ll be expected to punish Levi. I won’t let him do it.”

  “Levi,” Ramiel said, “this was their only request for helping us get your mother and me through the gates.”

  My gaze locked with Levi’s. “No.” I shook my head. “Don’t you dare do that to me. I don’t care what they’ve done for you. You can’t put me in that position.”

  “You’ll see after this is all over that you have nothing to fear. There will be no more chances. No alternatives. This is the way it’s meant to be. When you died,” Abel said, “it set all of this in motion.”

  “What do you mean?” I asked.

  “The course of events. Levi looking for you, the fight with his brothers, falling out of favor, the development of your powers, Petra escaping Satan, resulting in him renouncing Levi, and that would leave him open to be assassinated by anyone in Hell. It’s the perfect storm and positions you perfectly for what you were born to do.”

  “You mean keep the balance? How so?”

  Since I could remember, I’d known my place in the universe. Other than protecting my family and training, I’d never really had a chance to balance anything. My title had always been something said and not experienced, and now that my powers had been amplified, my purpose was even more puzzling.

  “You’ll know when it’s time,” he said.

  I wasn’t impressed. “So you know, and you’re not going to tell me.”

  “Trust me, it’s better this way,” Eve said.

  The outer doors crashed open with a boom, sending wind and flames toward us. We all held up our arms to shield our faces from the heat.

  “Levi?” Ramiel called.

  Levi looked to me. “What do we do?”

  I frowned and then looked to Ramiel. “If you betray us, if anything said just now isn’t absolute truth, I’ll come for you. I’ll come for you, and I’ll rip you out of Heaven myself. On my mother’s life, if anything happens to Levi, I won’t care about the consequences.”

  “Understood.” He pulled out his sword, took a breath, and ran toward the entrance.

  Eve hugged her son Abel, who held on a little longer than we had time. Then she kissed his cheek and did the same with Cain. Abel kissed his brother’s cheek as well.

  “I’m sorry, my brother,” Cain said.

  “I’m sorry, too,” Abel said with a heavy expression. “I didn’t want this for you.”

  Cain nodded, and Eve wrapped her arms around her son’s, pressing her cheek against his.

  “Levi,” Eve said, squeezing her eyes tight.

  Levi positioned himself with Gehenna. “You’re sure?”

  “We’ve been waiting for this a long time,” Eve said.

  Cain began chanting something in his father’s tongue.

  Levi raised his sword, hesitating just long enough for Eve to press her lips against her son’s cheek one last time. Gehenna cut through the air, and then through their necks. Before their heads hit the dirt, their bodies turned to ash and disappeared in the wind being pushed from the entrance. I turned away, despite there being nothing left.

  Levi breathed hard, balancing himself with Gehenna’s tip dug into the ground.

  Immediately a dark feeling came over me. “Levi?”

  Abel spoke, but we couldn’t understand him without his mother or Ramiel to translate. I hadn’t been taught that language, and neither had Levi. Abel resorted to body language, waving for us to pass through the round door.

  Demonic shrieking grew louder, as did the millions of feet barreling toward us. The walls shook with the weight of what was coming.

  Ramiel’s war cries soon became screaming, harmonizing with the shredding of his skin and the separation of his joints.

  I took one step to help him before Abel and Levi grabbed my arms. “He’s in pain!” I said. “Let me end it for him!”

  Levi shook his head. “That’s not how it works, Eden, and you know that. It’s what he wants.”

  I stepped back inside, feeling defeated.

  Abel pulled the heavy door closed behind us, gesturing toward another doorway. I had to shield my eyes from the intense white light that poured from it.

  “This is the way home?” Levi asked, bearing his weight on my shoulder.

  Abel nodded.

  “Something’s not right,” I said, feeling equally repelled and drawn to Levi in a way I hadn’t felt before. Whatever it was, it wasn’t pleasant.

  We stepped through, and in the next moment, I felt the coolness of my mattress beneath me. I sat up, breathing hard and coughing.

  Levi was struggling to pull in a sufficient breath, too, but he reached for me.

  I pushed him away, then covered my eyes, sobbing.

  “Eden?” Levi said, sitting up.

  “What?” Dad said, pushing open the door.

  Mom had just began running up the stairs, but soon she was there, too, her eyes wide. “Eden? What is it?”

  “Ramiel!” I cried.

  “Eden, c’mere,” Levi said, reaching for me again. I scrambled off the bed.

  “Please don’t,” I said. His touched created a new feeling inside of me that I couldn’t explain.

  “Don’t what? Touch you?” he asked, confused. He stood but kept his distance.

  “Ramiel?” Dad asked.

  “We went under,” Levi explained.

  “That explains the smell,” Mom said, covering her nose while still trying to comfort me with her free hand on my forearm. “Eden, honey? Are you okay?”

  “We did something awful,” I said, unable to stop the tears. I shook my head. “It’s bad. It changes everything.”

  “I feel it, too,” Bex said, stepping inside my room.

  “Let’s get you cleaned up,” Mom said, trying to guide me to the bathroom.

  “I’m okay,” I said, sucking in a staggered breath. I let my hand fall, wiping my wet cheeks. “There was nothing I could do. I couldn’t save him, or Petra, or Eve, or Cain… All because of the damn rules!” I said, raking my hair back with my fingers. “What good are my powers? What good is Heaven and Hell and everything in between with so much death and sacrifice and torture and evil?”

  “Tell me,” Mom said, touching my cheek. “What happened?”

  “Ramiel sacrificed himself for us. He did it to get back to Lizeth. He said it had to do with me keeping The Balance. I don’t even know what that means! What the hell am I keeping? Why is it such a mystery?”

  Mom turned to Dad.

  For the first time, my father didn’t have an answer, and he looked helpless.

  “We’ll figure it out,” Dad said, hugging me and Mom to him.

  “It shouldn’t be that way,” I said, feeling more tears come. Before I died, my human side didn’t seem like such a weakness.

  “Eden,” Mom said, touching my cheeks. “You’re so young yet, and you’ve been through so much already. It’s okay to be unsure, to be frustrated. It means you care. Don’t worry, my love. It will all be okay. We’ll make it so.”

  She took me into her arms, and I realized I’d just come back from the dead. She probably had to fight every maternal instinct she had not to hover.

  “Are you okay?” I blurted out.

  She blinked. “Am I…” She trailed off, thinking.

  “I died right in front of you, and now that I’m back I’ve been wrapped up in this sword and Bex, Levi, and Ramiel. Are you? Okay?”

  Her eyes glossed over, and a single tear fell from her eye. “What matters is that you’re back. You do whatever you need to do, just…” Her expression crumbled.

  “You don’t have to be strong for me, Mom.”

  “Just … stay. Okay? I can’t lose you again.” Her bottom lip trembled. “I can’t.”

  I wrapped both of my arms around her, careful not to squeeze too tight. I didn’t have to hold back with Levi, my dad, Uncle Bex, or Aunt C
laire, but Mom, Ryan, and Allison were different. Even more so now. Still, it made our embraces even sweeter.

  With my cheek pressed against hers, I whispered, “I’ll never leave you again.”

  Mom squeezed me tighter, her shoulders trembling.

  Dad kissed my forehead. “And Ramiel? He’s with Lizeth?” Dad asked.

  “He must be,” Bex said, walking into the room. Allison was with him, but she hovered in the doorway. “I can’t sense him anymore,” he said.

  “He crossed through the Eighth Pearl,” Eli said from the corner. “But you’re all causing quite a stir up top.”

  We all turned to face him. He was wearing a fresh new shirt, one without a tear from Lucifer’s blade.

  “Really? You’d think Satan kabobbing you with his sword would’ve pissed someone off,” Levi said with a smirk.

  “His temper isn’t exactly a surprise, but it’s been taken care of,” Eli said in his typical unaffected tone.

  “How?” Dad asked.

  “That’s between Lucifer and The Almighty.” He shrugged. “And you’ll find out soon enough.” Eli stepped forward from the dark corner, still in rolled khaki chinos and sandals. Even in the moonlight pouring in from the window, his skin was nearly glowing tan as if he’d just returned from a sunny holiday. He put his hands in his pockets and shrugged. “The plan.”

  I wiped my cheek. “What about it?”

  He arched an eyebrow. “So you admit it? Making deals with one side behind the scenes? Not becoming of The Keeper of the Balance.”

  “It wasn’t her plan,” Levi said, coming to my defense. “She had no idea. Neither did I, until we arrived in Ramiel’s Oubliette.”

  “And yet you’re part of it,” Eli said.

  “What’s going on?” Mom asked. “What is he talking about?”

  I rubbed the back of my neck, already feeling her anxiety. “My death set off a chain reaction.”

  “Well, that’s Lucifer’s problem,” Mom said.

  Her answer took me by surprise. She usually wanted more information than that.

  Mom held me tight to her side, pausing for a moment at the circulating smell of Sulphur, but soon glared at Eli. “You know as well as anyone it’s a process. She’s learning so many things. She didn’t ask for any of this, Eli. Tell Him she deserves a learning curve. She’s still half human.”

  Eli glanced at me.

  “What?” Mom asked, catching the motion. She’d been left in the dark so often she was hyper aware of any signs of secrecy.

  I wiped my eyes again. “You have all the subtleness of a napalm suppository.”

  Eli chucked, and even Dad had to suppress an unexpected guffaw, but the tone quickly became serious again.

  “Eden, am I witnessing your denial of any part of Ramiel’s agreement with Cain and Abel?”

  I nodded, waiting. This wasn’t a friendly check-in. Eli was investigating. I’d been accused.

  Levi sensed it as I did and took a protective stance in front of me; the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end, his muscles tensed, and his hands balled into fists.

  Eli grinned, touched by Levi’s diminutive but powerful gesture. “She’s safe, Levi. I’ve only been sent to corroborate the stories of Ramiel, Cain, and Abel, and it all seems to check out.”

  Levi reached back, grabbing my hand tight. Something far more potent than déjà vu paused the world around me. We’d been there before, accused and separated for more than a few lifetimes. The agony only flashed through my soul for a moment, but it was enough to nearly incapacitate me. I grabbed Levi’s middle with my free hand, pulling him to my chest.

  He held my hand tighter.

  “Levi, however,” Eli began. “I don’t have to tell you he disturbed The Balance. He’s done enough in the past twenty-four hours to warrant a tribunal.”

  “You know it’s what they wanted,” I said.

  “Do you feel that?” Eli asked. “The difference in how he feels so close to you? He feels like an enemy now. You’re aware of his offenses. Just because you’ve found a loophole doesn’t mean it’s excused. Eve and Cain have long been sentenced by God. Levi superseded that sentence. He’s absolved of any involvement in Ramiel’s transfer, but no, he’s not with Lizeth.”

  “What? Why?” My voice was higher and louder than I’d meant for it to be.

  “Eden,” Eli said. For the first time, he seemed frustrated. “You can’t fool The Almighty, and it’s dangerously near blasphemy that you tried. Ramiel is being held. Lizeth is allowed to visit until his release.”

  “But he’ll be released,” I prodded.

  “One day,” Eli said. “Abel has been detained for a time as well. But your choice has forced Heaven’s hand, Eden.”

  “To punish Levi,” I said.

  “You’re to exile him,” Eli said. “I’m sorry I didn’t have better news.”

  “To where?”

  Eli didn’t have to answer. I already knew.

  “I’m not sending him back to Hell,” I said, my voice firm.

  Eli remained stoic.

  “Eli!” I begged. I locked eyes with my father, then Mom, then Uncle Bex, pleading with them to help me.

  “And he must return Gehenna to The Temple,” Eli said. “His Cambion status will return, and he will be protected … by Bex.”

  “What?” I cried.

  Bex’s mouth fell open. He was speechless.

  “Wait a second,” Dad began.

  “What did I just hear?” Claire asked, rounding the corner into my room from the stairway and passing Allison. Ryan was right behind her. “Tell me I heard him wrong,” she said, tears already filling her eyes. She was shaking to hold back her rage.

  “I’m … exiled with Levi? I don’t understand,” Bex said. He was in total disbelief.

  “No!” Allison screamed from the door.

  Our entire family exploded with emotion, screaming and crying and arguing with Eli.

  “It’s the only way to stop Lucifer’s sons from breaching this plane. We’re avoiding a war, and…” Eli said, pausing, “Levi is dying.”

  The room grew quiet. “No,” I said, shaking my head. “No, he’s just losing the powers his father granted him.”

  “Those are long gone,” Eli said, strolling across the room. “Lucifer has turned his back on him. Levi is a man without a country. He’s fully human now, and his body is struggling to navigate his actual age. His cells are breaking down. If Levi and Bex don’t accept this sentence, they’ll die anyway.”

  Bex grabbed Allison just as her knees went out from under her. She covered her mouth and sobbed. Saying no over and over was all she could manage.

  I sat on the edge of my mattress, stunned.

  “One thing before I go,” Eli said. “I’m saying this as a friend. The Balance was disturbed before you were born, Eden. As impossible as it seems, it’s never too late to fix what was broken. It’s never too late to go back, even if it could change everything. You were given the most extraordinary powers. More than you even you know. Use them wisely and take it all back.”

  I looked up at him, defeated. He was speaking in riddles as usual, but I was too emotionally overwhelmed to decrypt his divine comfort.

  “You have twenty-four hours to say goodbye,” Eli said. He looked me in the eyes. “Your mother can help. Your grandmothers can help.” He appeared next to me, whispering in my ear with a soft voice and compassion in his eyes. “So say your goodbyes.” He disappeared, and the wailing began again.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Levi

  After an hour, the cries subsided, reduced to the occasional whimpers from Allison. The Ryels were in full planning mode, trying to figure out how to reverse the damage we’d done.

  Eden was still sitting on the edge of the bed, unable to move, but Lillian and Cynthia had posted themselves on each side of her, holding her hands. She stared at nothing, her eyes rimmed red. “I don’t know how, but I’m
going to kill him. I’m going to find a way into Heaven, and I’m going to make Ramiel wish he were back in Hell.”

  I kneeled in front of her, but she looked away.

  “I can’t do this,” she whispered. “Please don’t make me do this,” she squeaked. She sucked in a quick, staggered breath.

  I didn’t answer. It wasn’t me she was begging.

  “Well, it explains why I feel like I’ve been run over by the flu,” I said with a half-ass laugh. My grin faded. “Eden, look at me. We’ll figure this out. We always do.”

  She shook her head.

  “Hey,” I said, using my finger to turn her to meet my gaze. “You giving up on me?”

  A single tear overflowed and streamed down her cheek. “I … I don’t know how to fix this. How do I fix this?”

  “That’s what we’re doing,” Cynthia said, patting Eden’s hand. “We will all fix it. Together.”

  “We could force a tribunal,” Dad said. “We plead our case to every friend we have up there and convince Him that we can satisfy Eden and Levi’s mistake another way. They were betrayed. God has a soft spot for betrayal. He’s experienced it himself.”

  “Eli wouldn’t have come here and told Eden how to punish Levi if there were another way,” Claire said. She swallowed down another sob. “But they’re not taking him. They’re not taking our brother, Jared. I’ll fight to the death, and I’ll die for him a hundred times if I have to.”

  “No, you won’t,” Bex said, holding Allison. “Levi and I will go, and you’ll keep thinking. We all will. But you’re not getting yourself killed. We’ll be fine until you bring us back.”

  Claire shook her head, uncrossing her arms long enough to quickly wipe another tear from her cheek.

  “Mom?” Bex said, looking to Lillian. “Tell them it will be okay.” He could barely form the words around the tightening of his throat.

  Lillian looked at her family with glossed eyes. She blew out a sigh to steady her voice, and then she lifted her chin. “We haven’t lost yet, my loves, and we’re not starting today. This isn’t over.”

  “We have lost,” Nina said. “We’ve lost more than most.”

  “Your mother can help,” Allison said quietly. “Your grandmothers.” She looked up at Bex. “What did Eli mean by that?”