Edge of the Darkness (Hell on Earth Book 4)

by Brenda K. Davies

  Some of the terror left my sister’s face, but her lower lip trembled when she smiled at him.

  “But Heaven is your home,” Raphael said.

  “Heaven was my home, Hell was never my home, and Earth is where I belong. I’m happy here. I miss my brothers and sisters, but I could never be truly happy with them again.”

  River crept closer to her uncles as she gazed between the angels with an expression of sorrow and joy. “I thought you couldn't go home.”

  “The Being is willing to make an allowance for me and has forgiven Caim,” Raphael replied.

  “I do not want or need forgiveness,” Caim said. “I chose the right path.”

  “But—”

  “I choose the right path, Raphael,” Caim interrupted. “And the fact you and the others will never understand that is another reason why I cannot return. I love you all, but I am far different than all of you. I can’t return to the golden angel I once was or the fallen angel I became. I am happy with who I am.”

  “And who is that?” I inquired.

  Caim’s eyes twinkled when they met mine. “Caim the redeemed. Hero of the downtrodden, savior of the palitons who would have been lost without me, and one hell of a good-looking guy.”

  Wrath laughed while everyone else glared at the fallen angel.

  “Savior, my ass,” I muttered.

  “Can I kill him?” Lix inquired as he placed the porkpie hat one of the other skelleins had given him on his head.

  “Not if I get to him first,” Kobal muttered.

  “I’m also an angel in love.” Caim ignored the rest of us as he held out his hand to Fiora. When she took it, he drew her close and kissed her. “And I will not give that up.”

  Some of Raphael’s joy vanished as he glanced between Caim and the sky. Then he looked at all of us.

  “You are all my family too,” Raphael said.

  It had taken a long time to get to know and like the golden angel, but I never thought that he looked at us as friends or family. He was always so standoffish and often seemed annoyed by us. But maybe that was the way of the golden angels; they all acted like they had sticks shoved up their asses.

  “I cannot leave you here alone, brother,” Raphael said to Caim.

  “Yes, you can.” Caim clasped Raphael’s arm once more. “If you want to go home, then go. I never expected to have you or any of the other angels above as siblings again, but I was granted that gift, and I will cherish it forever. You will always be my family, but I have a new family here too, and I have Fiora. I love her, brother. I cannot and will not leave her.”

  He looked to Fiora before glancing at all of us and grinning. “And honestly, they need someone like me around to liven things up a bit. These demons are a rather uptight bunch.”

  I barely managed to keep my jaw from dropping. We were uptight? Before today, I couldn’t recall the last time I saw Raphael crack a smile; although, Caim was free with his.

  “Hey, Caim, don’t stay on our account,” Corson called out, and the others chuckled, but I knew we would all miss him if he left.

  Caim grinned at Raphael. “See, they’re a bunch of grumps.” Then he grew solemn again. “Go home, brother. You do not belong here. You know it, I know it, and everyone in Heaven and on Earth knows it. We also know I don’t belong in Heaven anymore. We went our separate ways before, and we found each other again. Now we will go our separate ways once more, but this time it will be with our love and friendship intact.”

  Raphael’s head bowed. “You’re right; I do not belong here.”

  “No. You are far more honorable than any of us, especially Michael.”

  Caim had changed a lot in the time I knew him. His relationship with Raphael had gone from adversarial to loving again. His relationship with all of us had changed from distrustful and sometimes hostile to the annoying friend you contemplated stabbing as often as you laughed with him.

  However, his bitterness toward Michael hadn’t lessened since he learned Michael fathered a child on Earth. Caim may have gotten over his hostility toward his other brothers and sisters in Heaven, but I suspected that if he ever saw Michael again, he might try to kill him. I didn’t blame him one bit.

  “I will miss you,” Raphael said.

  “I will miss you too.”

  For a second, I believed that was the end of it, but Raphael pulled Caim close and embraced him. They slapped each other’s backs and held on to each other for a few minutes before reluctantly parting.

  “I will watch over you, brother,” Raphael said.

  “I know. When you see me look to the heavens, know I am looking to you and missing you.”

  They embraced again before releasing each other. Raphael stepped back, and River moved forward to hug him.

  “Thank you for everything you’ve done,” River said as Raphael patted her on the back.

  “Take care of yourself and that beautiful baby boy, niece. We will all watch over you and your family.”

  “And you will see me waving to you.”

  Slowly, the rest of us moved forward to say goodbye to Raphael. He’d driven me crazy, there were more than a few times I didn’t understand his righteous behavior, and we all enjoyed tormenting him by having him fly back and forth to the wall, but I would miss him. He was my friend, and though I hadn’t realized it, he was family.

  I shook his hand and held it in mine for a few seconds. “I hope you’ll teach them to laugh a little more when you go back up there.”

  Raphael smiled at me. “I will do my best.”

  When Gage finished hugging Raphael, Bailey rushed forward and adhered to his legs. Raphael pried him away and lifted him. They hugged for a while before River stepped forward to take her brother from the angel’s arms. When she did, Raphael plucked a feather and handed it to the child.

  “So you’ll always have a part of me,” Raphael said.

  Tears glistened in Bailey’s eyes as he hugged the feather against his chest.

  “Thank you,” River said to Raphael.

  He smiled at her, and everyone moved away from the golden angel when his head tipped back and he closed his eyes. A blinding flash of white light illuminated the field. When it was gone, so was Raphael.

  I wasn’t expecting the rush of sorrow that swept me as I stared at the empty spot where my friend once stood. However, it hung like a lead weight in my chest and clogged my throat. For a while, no one spoke.

  Finally, Kobal said, “It’s time to return to the wall. We have many things to celebrate tonight.”

  Caim wiped the tears from his eyes before embracing my sister. I didn’t hear what he said to her as his wings encased them, but I felt their love. When I looked up at Wrath, his blue eyes twinkled before he kissed my forehead.

  Tonight we would celebrate the end of the millennia-long war as well as Shax and Raphael. We would toast to all those we loved and lost, recall our stories with them, laugh over their antics, and embrace the life we had forged here.

  We had lost so many friends and family during our battles with Lucifer, the fallen angels, and the horsemen. We had just lost another, but we’d also gained so much since coming to Earth. I had never expected to find the friendships and love I had on this realm, but I couldn’t imagine my life without them, and I was never going to give them up.

  Epilogue

  Wrath

  Five years later

  I stood beside Kobal on the wall and gazed out at the vast field below. The field was quiet, but the small breeze stirring the air caused the tents on the hill to ripple. Bale and I had settled into one of those tents almost a year ago and claimed it as our home.

  It was still strange to have a home; even in Hell, I was more of a nomad before being sealed away. But I had a home, a Chosen, and as I spotted our tent amongst the others, I smiled as happiness rose inside me.

  Yes, this life I’d found was still so strange, but it was amazing, and I wouldn’t trade one precious second of it for anything.

  For the fir
st four years after the last of the horsemen were killed, Bale and I, and the others, made frequent trips into the Wilds to make sure no uprisings formed. However, after our last journey into the Wilds, it became clear that things were peaceful and few enemies remained.

  A group of palitons still went out every couple of months to keep a presence in the Wilds and an eye on things, but Bale and I hadn’t returned.

  Some palitons had moved into the Wilds. They felt more comfortable in that peaceful yet less human world, and they often sent back word on what was happening there, as well as eradicated any problems.

  No demons had chosen to go back to Hell. Earth was now a land of humans and demons, and we were all content to live together. Other than the human soldiers at the wall and some Wilders, no humans had moved beyond the wall, and I didn’t think they ever would. The cries of demons and Hell creatures that sometimes echoed through the day and night would keep them away.

  Bale enjoyed the peace at the wall, but she sometimes got bored. We all did.

  Kobal’s trips through Hell and over to the other side of the world every three or four months interrupted that boredom. I’d taken to going with him on those so we could make sure things remained stable there. We returned from our last journey last week.

  While everything on the other side remained calm, Hell was still a cesspool of fighting demons looking to destroy everything they saw. It was those demons, and the fights they instigated, that gave us the release from our boredom and provided us with some entertainment.

  Since it would be centuries, if ever, before Hell stabilized again, we would continue to enjoy those trips for many years to come. Tomorrow, we would start Kobal’s yearly journey around the wall, where he checked on the other encampments stationed along it.

  This would be my first time on that journey, and I wanted to remain, but Bale insisted on going. It was pointless to argue with her. No matter how reasonable my arguments were for us to stay here, the stubborn woman refused to listen. I expected nothing less from her.

  Turning away from the field, I walked to the other side of the wall to study the houses and people in the town below. The humans down there stopped to talk with each other as they went about their daily lives. Their laughter floated on the air and drifted up the massive, concrete structure I stood on.

  I still didn’t know what to make of the humans. They were often a clueless, bumbling bunch, but they could be a lot of fun. Since settling at the wall, I’d grown more accustomed to their strange ways. I especially liked their showers and often preferred their method of cleaning themselves to ours.

  “Daddy!” a young child squealed a second before the Kobal’s son, Braxas, threw himself into the king’s arms.

  Kobal scooped him up, and their foreheads rested against each other before they both turned to look across the field. I studied Kobal while he pointed things out to his child. I would never get over my years of imprisonment behind the seal. Unlike much of my life, memories of that time would haunt me forever, but I no longer blamed Kobal for what happened to me.

  I became a monster who was locked away to keep others safe. That was my fault, and it was a different varcolac who put me there, but it was not Kobal. Over the years, Kobal had kept his word. Those who didn’t cause problems here remained free while we destroyed those who did. No one was locked away and forgotten anymore.

  It had taken me a few years to come to terms with my resentment over my past. During that time, I realized I talked with Kobal more and more every time we returned to the wall. When we decided to live here, I started to become friends with him.

  And now, just as Bale had stood by his side, I did too. I’d stopped considering him the varcolac or an enemy. He also wasn’t my king. I wasn’t one to follow others, and he understood this. However, over time, I had come to consider him an ally and a friend.

  I’d never expected to be in this position in my life; never expected the man I would become, but I embraced the changes in me. It had taken almost a year, but I was back at full strength now, and I was no longer the angry, revenge-filled, ruthless monster I once was.

  I was still ruthless, but I had a purpose now, a home, friends, and love. Those were four things I’d never experienced before, and I would do everything to keep them.

  Laughter from the stairway drew my attention as Bale, Erin, and River appeared on top of the wall. River held the hand of her two-year-old daughter. She tilted her head back and waved at the sky before continuing forward.

  Beside her, Bale’s hand rested on the swell of her round belly. With her size and as far along as she was, I suspected she was having twins, but she refused to accept the possibility. She wasn’t due for another four months, and we should be home by then, but she would also be a lot rounder and probably find it more difficult to ride Zorn.

  However, I refused to argue with her about staying anymore. She hadn’t gone through Hell with us this time, and she needed this trip and a change of scenery. When it was over, we would return home to have our children and raise our family.

  Erin held the hand of her son, who released her and ran past me. I turned as the boy threw himself into the arms of Erin’s husband, Vargas, who stood twenty feet away. Vargas laughed as he lifted the boy into the air. Standing beside Vargas, Corson reached over to ruffle the boy’s hair.

  Beyond them, Hawk and Aisling perched on the edge of the wall as they talked with Amalia and Magnus. Caim landed on the wall beside them and set Fiora carefully down before waving to the sky and hopping down to stand by her side. Lix made a beeline for Erin.

  “My dear,” Lix greeted with an elegant bow.

  “Lix,” Erin said and curtseyed back to him.

  “May I give you a riddle?” Lix asked as he held out his arm for Erin.

  She hooked her arm through his. “Of course.”

  “You have me today, tomorrow you'll have more. As your time passes, I'm not easy to store. I don't take up space, but I'm only in one place. I am what you saw, but not what you see. What am I?”

  Erin tapped her chin before stopping beside her husband to kiss him. Then she turned and smiled at Lix. “Memories.”

  Lix laughed and jumped into the air to kick his feet together. “I will get you tomorrow!”

  Everyone laughed at that, but I couldn’t help thinking about the riddle and the answer. There were so many memories I’d forgotten over the years, but none of them were worth keeping. Now, I reminded myself every day how lucky I was as I worked to commit as much of my time with Bale into my memories as possible. I never wanted to forget a single moment with her.

  I’d never expected my life to take the turn it had, and I’d never expected to be this happy, but I was so very happy. For so much of my life, I had no one. Now, I had a large family that would fight to the death for me and all those they loved.

  My heart swelled with love as I opened my arms to my Chosen and clasped her against me. She was the most wondrous thing that ever happened to me, and I would cherish every second of our lives together.

  I was looking forward to the wonderful future we would give our children, and all the other children, who would live in peace on Earth.

  Turn the page for a sneak peek of Eternally Bound, book 1 of the Alliance Series.

  Sneak Peek

  Eternally Bound, The Alliance Series Book 1

  Standing on the balcony, Ronan’s eyes scanned the bodies writhing below him. The only thing he found enticing about the vast amount of flesh on display was breaking the necks of every person in the club. He tried to shake the impulse off, but his fangs throbbed in his gums at the thought, and it dug deeper into him with every passing second.

  His entire existence had revolved around one mission: protect the innocents of this world whether they be human or vampire. It was a mission he’d followed for over a thousand years, but with every passing day, the bloodlust growing within him dragged him closer to the edge he’d seen so many other vampires plummet over.

  Some of those other v
ampires he’d believed to be far better and stronger than him, yet they’d given into their more sinister impulses. And somehow, he remained and now stood as the oldest vampire in existence, not just within his close-knit group of men, but throughout all the vampires.

  Every day he woke, he questioned if that day would be the day he fell too and became the thing he despised the most, a Savage. He didn’t try to tell himself that he would never give in. He’d done that for many years, but this past year he’d come to realize it may be inevitable that he succumbed to the bloodlust beckoning him. If he didn’t kill himself before that happened, he would start to kill the innocents he protected.

  It was the killing himself first part that would be tricky. Savage vampires thrived on the blood of innocents, but they weren’t stupid or lost to the madness of the death they delivered. No, many of them remained intelligent and calculating, and they didn’t want to die. A vampire who gave himself over to their inhumanity simply saw nothing wrong with what they were doing. The blood they consumed warped them into believing a vampire’s true nature was to kill and they were only living the way vampires were supposed to live.

  No matter how much he despised Savages, if he gave in, he would most likely come to believe that too.

  Perhaps they were right, but Ronan refused to believe vampires were meant to be little more than animals who ruthlessly slaughtered the weaker masses.

  However, it didn’t matter what he believed or what he didn’t, he was teetering toward the Savage side. When he went over, would his men, or even multiple vampires, be capable of taking him out as he had taken out so many of those who had fallen before him?

  That was a question he dreaded he would find out the answer to soon. The fine line he walked became thinner with every passing day, and with every death he delivered to the Savages amongst his kind. The thrill of killing the vampires he hunted had once satisfied him, but that was centuries ago. Now, it barely kept the demon part of him at bay.