by Hanna Peach
After Tobias’s death, Cleo’s mansion didn’t seem like much of a community anymore, so most others relocated. Only a few FreeThinkers including Marin, Dianne and Vix returned to Cleo’s mansion. As did Jordan, hoping to see Cleo. But she would not see him, not yet anyway.
As for Lukas and Ana…well, that’s a story that doesn’t fit on these pages.
Dianne took Mini as her own and began to raise her. She threaded copies of her own memories into the girl so she could more easily adapt to Seraphim life, like how to eat with knife and fork, how to tie up a shoelace, and how to speak.
After picking up Piki from Cleo’s mansion, Sparrow went with the Elder to his home in China, where Vix and Xiang would visit him often. It would take a few days for Piki to forgive him, but he did. He always did. Sparrow later found the Amulet in his pocket that Alyx had slipped him. He wasn’t sure what should be done with it; he was still a boy, after all. But he knew instinctively that he shouldn’t tell anyone about it; he hadn’t quite learned to trust the Elder completely yet. He broke it up into its three pieces and hid them apart from each other hoping that no one ever decided to look for them.
The bodies of Alyx and Israel were buried side by side in the Dades Valley. Two tree shoots would grow from their graves and twist together as they climbed to the sky. Eventually the sand would cover the destroyed mosque and the Gate underneath it. But to this day, parts of the Dades Valley in Morocco remain blood red.
Once the pain of losing Alyx and Israel had subsided, they were remembered fondly by the ones who knew them personally. Songs were written about them both and of their fated love. They became forever part of Seraphim legend. To this day, across the world, books and legends speak of a love so great, it held back the apocalypse.
More famous is the legend of a great man, a son of God they called him, who sacrificed his life to save an entire race.
Epilogue
Somewhere on Earth, two souls, made of the same ethereal substance, were pulled into two separate soon-to-be mothers. Later they would be born, one a girl, the other a boy.
They would have no memory of who they were and who they had been on Earth. They would have no idea of the angels that would sometimes come to their window at night to watch them as they slept. They would not see anything of the supernatural world that they both came from. They would not know how their sacrifice saved an entire people. But on quiet nights they would find themselves staring up into the vast sky and feel the pull of something greater out there, and they would feel that they were inextricably part of it.
One day, if they waited, they would find each other again and part of their souls would recognize each other. They would get one chance, one lifetime to love each other and to love each other well.
THE END
Or maybe it’s just another beginning…
Dedication:
Dearest Josip, moj sve,
Because of you I understand why people would start wars for love, kill for love, and die for love. All these things Alyx does in this book for Israel.
This book, in fact this whole life of mine, is dedicated to you.
I love you. In this life and the next.
Author’s Note
Thank you all for riding this big crazy ride with Alyx and Israel. I started writing this series over six years ago, so they grew up as I did. I sit here with a bittersweet feeling in my heart and tears in my eyes as I write the words “The End.”
There are a few threads − relationships in particular − that I left untied. I didn’t have the time or space to do them justice in this book. It was, after all, Alyx and Israel’s story. They are coming, I promise…
I wasn’t going to write an Alyx & Israel reunion story. At first I didn’t know how it would even work. I mean, they’re mortal now. How could I possibly make their reunion a fantasy? But I received so many emails from you, begging me for it. Then I figured out how it could work. And so, only because you guys asked for it…
Afterlife (Dark Angel #6)
Hanna Peach
Once upon a lifetime, Alyx & Israel lost each other...
In their new mortal lives, Alyx & Israel don't remember anything about their past. And they have never crossed paths. Until some old friends decide to secretly nudge destiny along. Their efforts almost destroy everything…
Now Alyx’s life lies in the balance, trapped in a coma deep within a DreamScape maze city. The only one who can help her escape is Israel, a man she doesn't remember. They need to find a mysterious Mapmaker and solve his riddle. But is this Mapmaker hiding something?
Chapter 1
Twenty-five years later…
“Alyx is engaged.”
“She’s what?” Vix blinked rapidly at Balthazar, the blue-skinned demon sitting across from her in a private booth in Purgatory, the supernatural neutral zone set out as a bar. She wasn’t a fan of this place, a dimly lit den of exposed brick, burbling jazz floating through the mist that seemed to hang just under the steel beams and exposed ceiling. Even with the enchantment over Purgatory that prevented violence of any kind, demons made her nervous, especially this demon sitting across from Jordan and her. But she wasn’t about to let Jordan come here on his own when Balthazar had sent him a message tied to the prickly legs of a large black hell-beetle.
“She’s getting married,” Balthazar repeated. “You know, the mortal tradition where the woman lies about being a virgin by wearing a white dress, the couple then lie to each other by agreeing to a list of promises read out to them by a guy dressed in a robe, sometimes wearing a funny hat, and swap round circles of metal that they wear on a finger.” Balthazar shook his head, making the downlight from above shimmer across the streaks of small iridescent scales highlighting his cheekbones. “So odd. Where I come from if we want to show an eternal commitment we just swap blood and lick each other’s—”
“Stop!” Vix cringed. “We don’t need to know.”
“So she’s getting married,” said Jordan, leaning his wide muscular frame back into the creaky leather. As usual his long honey and wheat hair was tied back in a messy ponytail, and his strong jaw was shadowed by the beginning of stubble, something that the ladies always seemed to love. Not Vix, mind you. He was not her type. “Didn’t we expect that from them though?”
Balthazar raised an eyebrow studded with tiny horns and gave Jordan a weighted stare, his thin black slits centered in large navy irises unblinking. He finally blinked, then again with his second eyelids. “Let me rephrase that: Alyx is getting married to someone who isn’t Israel.”
The light went on behind Jordan’s pale jade eyes, the rim of his thick lashes forming twin O’s as they went wide. He slammed forward, his palms slapping the top of the thick wooden table, causing a few otherworldly patrons of Purgatory to glance over with mild curiosity. “It can’t be.”
“It can and it is. I heard it from a reliable source of mine.”
“Been keeping tabs on her all these years, have you?” Vix said, unable to hide her sneer.
“Don’t tell me,” Balthazar pointed a long, thin, blue-clawed finger at her, “you haven’t.”
She flinched, then cursed herself internally for letting that slip of emotion get through. She had been keeping tabs on Alyx. She’d known about this boyfriend like she’d known about the one before, but she didn’t pay him too much attention. She thought he’d just fade out of her life as the previous one had done, because he wasn’t the right one. “I didn’t think I’d see the day when you’d care about something that didn’t benefit you.”
Balthazar shifted in his chair to face Vix head-on, an indignant look on his face, his tail making an agitated whipping sound across the floor. “I’m shocked you’d say such a thing.”
“Name one time you’ve helped us where you didn’t have a hidden agenda.”
His eyes narrowed and the top of his lip pulled up, flashing a row of very white, very sharp, very pointy teeth. “I don’t remember inviting you here.”
Vix leane
d forward in her seat and Balthazar mirrored her aggression until they were almost nose to nose. “I don’t remember inviting you to poke your nose into our business.”
“I don’t need an invitation to care about old friends. You not being one of them.”
“I don’t need an invitation to punch you in the face.”
“Go on and try it. See how far you get.”
“Guys, settle down.” Jordan pushed them both back into their seats. “You can settle this pissing contest later. We’re going off topic.” His voice was cool and steady, having regained most of his former composure. “Alyx isn’t one of us anymore. She’s mortal, remember? She made her choice all those winters ago. She left the supernatural world. She chose him.”
Vix could hear the slight strain of bitterness in Jordan’s voice. She knew Jordan wasn’t still carrying a torch for Alyx; he was very happy and very much in love now, but it still had hurt that she had given all of them up when she gave up her immortal life.
Vix felt this same thread of bitterness herself. But she understood. If it had been her, and she had to decide between Xiang, the love of her life, and everyone else, she’d choose Xiang. Her heart panged when she thought about Xiang, a mortal, getting older day by day while she would never age, which meant one day…
She shoved that thought away into the very depths of her. Today was not about her problems.
“Ironic, isn’t it?” said Balthazar. “Now Alyx’s sacrifice will mean nothing.”
Vix shook her head. “We can’t let it happen. We need to do something.”
Jordan snorted and pushed back a wayward strand of hair. “What are we going to do? We can’t exactly show up at their wedding, kidnap her and take her to Israel, wherever he ended up.”
“Saint Joseph,” Vix and Balthazar said together.
Jordan gave her a look. “Now who’s been keeping tabs?” He frowned. “Wait, so they’ve both been living in Saint Joseph and they haven’t met yet? Not in almost twenty-five years?”
“No,” said Vix.
“Have you wondered why?”
“Maybe fate isn’t ready yet.”
“Or maybe they’re not supposed to meet.”
Vix recoiled, her breath sucking in through her teeth. “How can you say that?”
He shrugged. “If fate wanted them together, wouldn’t she have brought them together?”
“Well, fate has been slacking off. But we won’t. We can’t let her marry this guy, this…” she looked at Balthazar for help.
“The fiancé’s name is Daniel Hotham,” he said.
“Daniel Hotham.” Vix couldn’t help wrinkling her nose. “He sounds like an Englishman.”
“Worse. He’s an accountant.”
“Alyx is marrying an accountant? Our Alyx? Our sword-wielding, world-saving, kickass lightwarrior Alyx…marrying a suit?”
“She’s not ours anymore, remember?” said Jordan, his voice low and tight. “She’s not a sword-wielding, world-saving, kickass lightwarrior anymore. She won’t have remembered anything about who she was. Or us.”
“It doesn’t matter if she’s not wielding swords, she’s still Alyx. She can’t marry this…Daniel Hotherfaffle guy.”
“He might be a nice guy, Vix.”
“I don’t care if he’s the Pope. She can’t marry him.”
“I have the perfect solution,” Balthazar said.
“Which is?”
“Kill the fiancé.” He beamed at them both. “Problem solved.”
Vix rolled her eyes. “We can’t just kill him.”
Balthazar frowned. “Why not? I could make it look like an accident. A little height, a little slipperty-boo. Splat. Gone. Easy.” He dusted his hands together.
“Because…” Vix glanced over to Jordan with what she hoped was a help me out here look.
He shrugged and sent back a look that she translated as this is your argument, you figure it out.
“Because,” she tried again, “we don’t just go around killing people just ’cause we don’t like them.”
“Demons do it all the time.”
“Yes, but Alyx lives in the mortal world, and in the mortal world we play by mortal rules. No killing.”
Balthazar huffed. “What about a little maiming then?”
“No maiming.”
“You’re no fun.”
“Besides, getting rid of the fiancé still doesn’t get Alyx and Israel together. We just need to get them to meet…” And there were plenty of ways to get that to happen without revealing that they were behind it.
Jordan stared at her. “Oh no.”
“What?” asked Balthazar.
“I recognize that look.”
“What look?”
“She’s concocting.”
Balthazar turned to Vix with concern on his face. “Does it hurt?”
“Vix,” said Jordan, “whatever you’re thinking, don’t.”
“You don’t know what I’m—”
“You can’t mess with fate. It’s a bad idea.”
“I wouldn’t have picked you for a superstitious one, Jordan,” said Balthazar.
Jordan crossed his arms. “I’m not getting dragged into this.”
Vix grinned slyly at him. “You know, you still owe me that favor.”
He shook his head. “No.”
“Aww, come on. I need you for this diabolical scheme to work.”
“Schemes. I love schemes!” said Balthazar. “And I’m so good at them, too. I’m in.”
“Who invited you?” asked Vix.
Balthazar snorted. “Puh-lease. If the plan is diabolical then you need someone who is versed in all manners of diabolicaliness.”
“And you think you’d be any help?” she scoffed.
“I am the Master of Disaster. The Schemin’ Demon. I have a Ph.D. in diabology.”
“Sorry, no, you can’t sit at the big kids’ table.”
“You need me.”
“I need you like I need a pair of horns coming out my—”
“Vix,” warned Jordan.
“Pleeeeeease, Jordan.” Vix fluttered her eyelashes at him.
“Yeah, Jordan,” chimed in Balthazar, fluttering his own eyelashes. “We need you to keep her out of any real trouble.”
Vix glared daggers at him. “I’ll show you trouble.”
Jordan rolled his eyes and muttered, “You need me to stop you two from killing each other.” He sighed and Vix knew she had him. “Fine. But I don’t like this. Not one little bit.”
Chapter 2
“You’re getting married?” Elysia squealed in a pitch that was just a tad too high for Alyx’s eardrums to handle, her light brown curls bobbing around her head as she vibrated with shock.
“Yup.” Alyx rubbed at her ears. Hopefully there wasn’t any permanent damage. “Getting married.”
Elysia’s deep-set eyes fixed on Alyx, who suddenly felt like she was about to be dissected. “You’re getting married.”
“That’s what I said.”
“To Daniel.”
Alyx snorted. “The last time I checked, he was my boyfriend of over a year.”
Elysia’s mouth gapped open as if she wanted to say something, actually lots of things, but she just kept closing then opening it.
Why was everyone having this reaction?
Alyx let out a huff and leaned against the wall, her legs outstretched across her mattress. They were both sitting on her bed in their shared apartment in the West End area of Saint Joseph. West End had once been a mass of industrial warehouses but it had gone through a gentrification in the last twenty-odd years, new apartments sprouting up among the old buildings like snowdrops among gravestones.
Her bedroom was furnished simply, the aged wallpaper of pale roses now peeling in places, dating the room, but she liked it. She liked anything old. Opposite her bed was a large bookcase filled with books that took up an entire wall. Her study desk sat under her casement window. Across another wall was a series of posters all show
ing various medieval swords and daggers with intricate handles and bejeweled sheaths. A light warm breeze wafted in through the window causing her wind chime to tinkle, promising a lovely summer to come.
Elysia’s voice finally cut through. “Are you…sure you want to marry him? I mean, he’s nice and all but…”
Alyx stared at the replica eighteenth century Chinese saber she had mounted along the back of her desk. How much easier life would be if she could just fight her way out of everything rather than having to justify herself? “Why can’t you just be happy for me?”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to come across that way.” Elysia scooted closer to her. “It’s just… Are you sure you’ll be happy marrying…him?”
“Why wouldn’t I be happy?”
“Alyx,” she said softly, “we’ve been friends since middle school. I understand how hard it’s been for you since—”
“You don’t know anything.” Anger flared though her body.
Elysia’s face fell and the hurt was clear in her glossy gray eyes. “I’m just trying to be your friend.”
Alyx squeezed her lids shut and cursed herself for lashing out. “Sorry,” she muttered. “It still hurts, you know…”
“I just don’t want you to do something you’re not sure of, that’s all.” Elysia leaned her head against Alyx’s shoulder. The familiar touch was a small comfort. She wanted to lean back into Elysia, to pull Elysia in for a hug, but she didn’t.
“Well, I’m sure. I’m marrying him, okay? I already said yes.”
“You just…don’t seem very excited.”
“I’m excited,” she protested. But even she couldn’t deny that her excitement was a thinly worn veil. She sighed. “Why does it have to be about the excitement? All that stuff fades anyway, right? Daniel is smart and kind, he has a stable job, makes good money and comes from a good family. He doesn’t have any major issues or skeletons in his closet or—”
