Epilogue

Epilogue 3.28

---Comma---

     The angel folds her radiant wings behind her back. She hovers a few inches above the ground, her white gown billowing in the wind. Her shimmering violet hair cascades down her shoulders in ringlets; her irises sparkle in an orgy of colours, many of which I've never seen before.

     She projects an aura that soothes me and unnerves me all at once. Everything seems less real in her presence; the air is tasteless and the cold loses its bite. But to look upon her fills me with a dread like none I've ever experienced—an acidic churning in the pit of my hollow soul.

     "Bloody angels," says Rex, spitting on the ground at her feet. "What's the matter? Too uppity to sully your holy feet by stepping on the ground? Somebody ought to knock you down a peg."

     "Silence, demon." The angel waves her hand, and Rex starts squealing. I glance back at him over my shoulder, just in time to see his lips melt together, sealing up his mouth. He buries his face in the snow, further dampening his muffled shrieks.

     This spirit energy... it's not even in the same league as a terrestrial. The angel's aura overwhelms me with such force that I'd wager she could will Eloise out of existence with a blink of her eye.

     Taryn and Aiden lie on the ground, waiting for my blood to work its magic and heal their wounds. They're in no condition to run, should worse come to worse. Not that there's anywhere we could possibly run from an angel.

     "Here to spoil our fun?" Selina asks, resting her hand on her hip as she stares the angel down. Not even a divine presence is enough to rattle her—she really has plummeted off the deep-end, hasn't she?

     "His Divinity Aiebdel has sent me to deliver retribution," says the angel.

     Selina scoffs. "Retribution?"

     "Yes, retribution. You have interfered with His plans by spilling the blood of not just this vrahgnan but of dozens of others just like him. The two of you are a disgrace to your people. To think that an alpen could sink this low, much less two of them."

     Wait a minute. She's here for me, too? Of course she is. Selina would never have succeeded in killing so many god candidates without my help. This is our long-awaited day of reckoning. The universes have finally decided to put me out of my misery.

     But I no longer want to die.

     I ready my chakram. Before I can even think about an attack strategy, Selina whistles. The shaggy-haired immortal lunges at the angel. She doesn't even turn around. She snaps her fingers. And the so-called immortal crumbles away into a pile of salt.

     My chakram slips from my fingers. I drop to my knees. I was right: she can literally end us with a snap of her fingers. This battle is already lost. With the immortal slain, the imprisoned terrestrial is free; she goes and hovers over the abyss, where she can observe from a safe distance. I don't blame her.

     "Well, come on then," says Rex, assuming a fighting stance. My brain tells me not to find out how he managed to work around having his mouth sealed shut, but my eyes glide over to him all the same. The scaly skin over his mouth dangles in tattered strips of flesh where he used his fangs to bite through it. I think I'm going to hurl.

     The solemn expression doesn't lift from the angel's face. "Does your insolence know no bounds, demon?"

     "Does yours? I'm a bloody kravlar! Give us some respect, yeah?"