I could’ve screamed. If only I’d fed from Cade more often!

Just a few more times might have made al the difference in the world. But now it was too late.

“Let them go,” Bo spat through gritted teeth. “This is between you and me. They don’t have any part in this.”

“My son, you have no idea how wrong you are. These,”

Sebastian said, sweeping his arm around the semicircle,

“are the ingredients that I need to put an end to this once and for al .”

When Bo said nothing, Sebastian clucked his tongue.

“Don’t be a spoil sport. Did you real y think that God could use you and this puny excuse for a mate to kil me?”

I could see the muscle twitch in Bo’s jaw and I knew he was fuming.

“If you’re so powerful then why do you need humans to get rid of me? Why can’t you do it yourself, without them?”

“Unfortunately, God was able to create some...problems for me, but nothing that me, my wife and my brother here,”

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Sebastian said, tipping his head toward Heather, “couldn’t figure a way around.”

“Your brother?” Bo asked, verbalizing the question I knew we were al thinking.

“Yes, sweet Heather here was kind enough to host Heaven’s most beautiful fal en angel. He’s given her just the right amount of power and hatred for tonight’s performance.”

“Lucifer,” I whispered when understanding final y dawned.

Heather’s head snapped toward me, startling me. She looked at me and laughed, a sound that screeched like a thousand souls crying out al at once. It made my skin crawl as it ricocheted off the barn wal s.

“We found her when I was looking for the next place to stash my wayward son. We first thought she would be a good temporary mother for you, Boaz, but she failed to mention that she had a family of her own,” Sebastian said, sliding his sinister gaze to Savannah where she was held to my right. “Her pliable soul wasn’t a total waste, however.

Her ‘death’,” Sebastian said, raising his hands to show air quotes, “provided me with the very first of my necessary elements, the Bereaved Child, grief-stricken and betrayed.”

To my right, I heard Savannah’s gasp fol owed by a strangled sob as she learned the true fate of her mother. It was as if Sebastian hadn’t felt like her suffering was enough for his purposes. No, he felt the need to twist the knife just a bit more.

“She turned out to be more useful than I could have imagined. During my time away, she functioned as my eyes on you. The fateful night of the wreck, the wreck that forever turned the tables in my favor, she saw your reaction to young Ridley here. Heather ended up not only leading me to your mate, but she then helped me to turn her as wel , giving me the gift of my second element.”

When he didn’t continue, Bo asked.

“And which one was that?”

“The Doomed Key of course,” he said as if Bo should’ve known that. “She also introduced me to a fetal Lil y, the sweet child that would be the third element. It wasn’t long after that when al the other pieces began to fal into place. I knew I’d final y found the Place of Reckoning, the ideal situation that my lovely Iofiel wrote about. I knew it was in this town that I’d find the only way to thwart our Heavenly Father in His efforts.”

“Are you real y so arrogant that you think you can outwit God?” Bo sneered boldly.

Rather than getting angry, however, Sebastian laughed tolerantly.

“Dear boy, look around you. I already have.”

Sebastian left his post and walked slowly toward the semi-circle, to the person almost directly opposite Bo—

Annika.

“The One Not Chosen, turned bitter with envy,” he said, pointing to her. “She was so in love with you, so taken with your angel’s face, that it was like child’s play getting her to fol ow me to you. The truly sad thing is, she thought she found you on her own. She had no idea that I knew who she was.” Sebastian laughed, a mirthless sound that made me feel cold al over. “She couldn’t have been more wrong. I knew she would work just fine once Heather saw your reaction to dear Ridley. Annika would never be the one for you.”

Sebastian moved on to Devon. “The Reluctant Vampire, fol owed by death and yet refusing to succumb. I think that speaks for itself. The Bereaved Child, grief-stricken and betrayed,” he said as he moved on to stop in front of Savannah. He moved no further, only pointed to me and then to Lil y. “The Doomed Key and The Corrupted Child, born into evil.”

As Sebastian talked, Heather moved slowly to Bo’s left and stopped, staring at Sebastian with her strangely empty eyes. It was evident just in looking at her that she was now completely under the control of something else, some one else.

Bo tipped his head toward her.

“And I suppose she…or he…wil give his blood wil ingly?

The First Fal en One?”

Sebastian smiled.

“Now you’re catching on.”

“And then what?”

“And then I shal kil you and there wil not be a force on this earth that can harm me. After al , isn’t invincibility, true immortality what we al real y want?”

“No,” he answered honestly. “I’d give anything not to be like this, to just be normal and live a normal life.”

“Wel then, welcome to your lucky day. You see, my son, normal people die and I am here to grant you your final wish.

If normal is what you want, then it’s normal you shal have.”

With one sharp shake of his wide shoulders, enormous raven wings sprouted from Sebastian’s back, ripping his silky shirt into shreds that feel from his body. The appendages first stretched high above his head, as if reveling in their freedom, and then they folded to lie delicately against the smooth skin of his back.

I knew without looking that every eye was trained on the shiny feathers, for these were much more than mere shadows. These wings were very real, very tangible, and very intimidating.

I glanced at Bo when I heard his deep inhalation. His chest swel ed as if in reflection of his mental ral ying. I knew that he was preparing himself for the unknown, for the terrifying, for a truly immortal combat.

Quickly, his eyes darted to me and away again, only to return as if he’d seen something shocking. His eyes narrowed as he scanned my face.

I felt a tingly sensation, as if silky fingers were stroking my skin. The fingers moved as Bo’s eyes moved, as though they were touching every inch of skin that Bo gazed upon. I wondered if he was seeing the last of Iofiel’s letter.




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