Last Rite (29 page)

“No! Stop, Rhenorian!” I yell as he lifts his free arm to backhand Ed out of the way. I skid to a stop a few feet from Ed. “If you want Frannie to help you, killing her grandfather would likely be counterproductive.”

He lowers his arm and glares death at me. “I’m done being nice.”

I sidle closer, trying to find an angle into Frannie. “Do you even know what that word means, Rhen?”

The ground rumbles and a banshee scream rips from behind me as a sickening wet ripping sound fills the air. I spin to see Lilith wielding the knife that I thoughtlessly left lodged in her leg. She holds it overhead in both hands as she rushes headlong toward Frannie, where she’s hanging helplessly over Rhenorian’s shoulder. I lunge for Lilith as Rhenorian drops Frannie and lifts a glowing fist in our direction. But I see him hesitate, torn between directives. He needs to protect his king’s interests at all costs, but no one touches Lilith—other than Lucifer. To harm her would be the equivalent of suicide.

Next to him Frannie drops into a crouch and throws her hands in the air. White lightning crackles over the palm of her left hand as bursts of red energy surge over her right fist. Both hands are targeting Lilith.

I don’t know what any of this means, but in that instant I register that this is still Lilith. Killing her human host, whether it be with a knife, celestial lightning, or Hellfire would likely reverse Frannie’s tag … if that even applies anymore.

On instinct I launch myself at her, but Lilith has a head start. “Frannie! No!” I yell.

Her expression shifts from fury to utter shock as her hands drop to her side and her questioning eyes find me.

But I have no answers.

Knowing I can’t reach her in time, I dive for Lilith’s ankles at the same instant as a blast of Hellfire slams into her. Lilith has just enough time to shriek before she’s reduced to a pile of crackling, electrified ashes. I look up and Rhenorian stands, slack-jawed, his glowing fist still poised for attack, staring.

Because it wasn’t his blast that took Lilith down.

I wheel to locate the origin of the lethal discharge and find Lucifer leaning against the maple tree in the back corner of the yard. “I’m sorry for that. She was becoming a nuisance,” He says, brushing His hands together and shrugging away from the tree. He slinks slowly toward us, like a panther approaching its prey, His eyes trained on Frannie. He stops a few feet from her. “That was magnificent.”

I glance to Frannie, who looks terrified. But I don’t believe her terror is directed at Lucifer, as it should be. She’s staring at her own hands.

Rhen steps toward her, but Lucifer holds up His hand. “Leave her,” he says, and Rhen instantly backs off. Lucifer’s eyes turn to Frannie. “Are you injured?”

She shakes off her daze and looks up at Him. “Um … no. I’m…” But then she seems to register who it is she’s talking to, because she backs away a step, then turns to where Maggie is huddled in her grandfather’s arms. “Take Maggie inside, Grandpa,” she says.

“You come with us.” He looks between Lucifer, Rhenorian, and me.

She nods. “We’ll be right there.” She starts to herd them toward the back door, but the next instant Marchosias is standing between them and the house.

“Marc?” Maggie gasps, as Frannie pulls her grandfather back.

Marchosias leers at Maggie and surveys the gathered crowd. A lethal smile twitches at the corners of his mouth, and his eyes blaze. “Why am I just finding out now that the party’s already started?”

“It’s a testament to your popularity, Marc,” I say, gliding to Frannie’s side and grasping her arm.

His gaze falls to the blood seeping from the wound in my shoulder and an icy grin splits his face. “I see you’re still rocking the flesh.”

“Jealousy looks good on you, Marc,” I answer. “Green is your color.”

His eyebrow arches as his eyes slide over Frannie, devouring her. “There may be some truth in that.”

“Enough!” King Lucifer’s voice shakes the ground, and His glare is fixed on Marc. “Feel free to leave unless you have something meaningful to offer.”

At that, Marc does turn an interesting shade of green as the smugness leaves his face.

Rhenorian snorts and Lucifer’s appraising eye turns on him.

Frannie pulls out of my grip. “Speaking of offering things, you promised you’d keep your minions away from my family.”

“For that,” He says with a wave of His hand at the pile of Lilith’s still crackling ashes, “I’m truly sorry. Lilith is sometimes unpredictable, and the fact that she’s not demon makes her hard to control.”

Frannie swallows hard. “You also promised me Matt.”

Lucifer’s face softens as He gazes down at Frannie. “Soon, my queen.”

My stomach twists. “Your
what
?”

Lucifer’s eyes shoot to me, and in them I see the ruthless king I’ve always known.

Daniel rounds the corner into the backyard in his pajamas, a newspaper in his hand. “Frannie!” He runs to her and folds her into his arms. “I thought I heard you back here. Where have you been?”

“Dad,” she says, her voice shaking. She pulls herself out of his embrace and starts to push him back the way he came. “Go back inside. Please.”

Daniel lifts his eyes and takes in the rest of the scene playing out in the yard. “Holy Father above,” he gasps just as both Marc and Rhen turn their glowing fists on him.

FRANNIE

I wrap myself around Dad. “No!” I yell, as the yard shimmers out of focus and reality falls away.

I feel Luc press into me from behind, squeezing so tight that I can barely breath. But I don’t want him to let go.

I feel all wrong. Like I don’t belong in my skin. I don’t know what happened just now with Lilith. She was gonna hurt Luc, and with all my soul I didn’t want her to. I wanted to protect him. It wasn’t till he called out to me that I realized there was lightning … inside me. Then I saw it on my hands.

Everything around us goes sepia, the colors fading to brown as the life drains from the grass and the trees. At first, I think it’s ’cause I’m about to pass out, but when I hear Maggie’s shaky “What’s happening?” I know it’s not just me.

It feels surreal, as if I’ve stepped into the beginning of
The Wizard of Oz.
The sky above, that had been intense cobalt, now swirls with grays and blacks, like boiling ink soup. Everything is shrouded in heavy, low fog, except the fog flickers with an internal electrical storm making all the hair on my body stand on end.

Grandpa, Dad, and Maggie huddle together as the earth under our feet rumbles and then begins to shake violently. I look up to see Mom, Grace, and Kate stagger out of the house onto the back lawn. They run to the huddled group just as there’s a metallic groaning sound. I turn in time to watch my house collapse on itself as an earthquake rips a ginormous hole in the ground under it. The group stumbles back from the edge of the growing chasm, and the entire house and most of the yard disappear into it.

And suddenly the sharp sting of brimstone cuts through the air.

I can’t see beyond the yard ’cause of the fog, but here there is nothing but silent, lifeless devastation, as if this was ground zero for a nuclear blast.

Luc pulls me tight to his chest and I try to focus on the beat of his heart, but I can’t block out Lucifer’s words.
My queen
. They echo deep inside me as the Udjat pulses under my shirt. I don’t remember putting it on this morning, but it’s there and it’s like every cell of my body is hardwired to Him somehow.

I don’t understand what’s happening to me. I feel energy pulsing through me, wanting to burst out of me. I’m shaking as I pull my face from Luc’s chest and open my eyes.

He’s there, Lucifer, my green-eyed angel. Terrible and beautiful. He seems forever away across a cavernous gorge where the house used to be, but impossibly close all at the same time. As I stare, shadowy black forms streak from the chasm and take up position behind Lucifer. Winged creatures, black and leathery, lift from the gorge, wings spread, and circle over His head. But I’m so transfixed by Him that I hardly register any of it. A shiver rips through me at the memory of His touch, His dark thoughts, and the Udjat pulses against my chest with His energy. I pull away from Luc and feel my feet start to move my body forward, but a hand on my shoulder stops my progress. Luc’s voice is in my ear. “Do you see Him now for what He is?”

I’ve rarely heard this combination of fear and pain in Luc’s voice, and it jolts me from my trance. I look back over my shoulder at him, and, as his eyes lock on mine, the love I see there makes me question everything. I look behind Luc, to where my entire family stands, clutching each other.

I’m completely torn. I want to go to Lucifer. I feel as though I
need
to go to Him. But my heart is screaming at me to stay here with Luc and my family.

“You asked for something from me and I have it for you.” Lucifer stands at the edge of the gorge, looking across at me, His arm raised, beckoning me.

I step closer to the edge, grasping Luc’s hand tightly. My eyes connect with Lucifer’s and His pendant burns my skin.

“Accept my peace offering. Come to me.” He sweeps an arm to the side and bows His head as Matt is lead through the black figures behind Him, beaten and broken. He drops to his hands and knees at Lucifer’s feet, then tumbles onto his side, motionless.

At the sight of Matt, something in me explodes like a hand grenade, leaving my insides in shreds. “No!” I lift my gaze to see Lucifer’s arms reaching for me. I glare across the gorge. “What did you do to him?”

Lucifer steps forward, up to the lip of the gorge and raises His eyebrows, chagrin twisting His beautiful face. “Not me, my queen. You can’t believe I’d hurt someone you love.”

I feel Luc’s hand on my arm, but I pull away. “Then who?”

“Bring him forward,” Lucifer commands. The blackness behind Him opens and a winged form is pushed through. Hellhounds snap at his heels as Marc jabs him forward. He staggers and Marc gives him a final shove that sends him sprawling to the ground in a bloody heap next to Matt.

Crimson streaks mar the perfect white of his wings, and they lay on his back at an awkward angle. At first, I think someone splashed them with red paint, until he lifts his head and stares at me from under caked blood.

“Gabe,” I whisper, sinking to my knees. My insides turn to cold stone and stars flash in my eyes as all the blood drains from my head. “Oh, God.”

A blinding bolt of white lightning rips through the cavern and strikes at my knees. Suddenly, I’m shrouded in cool mist. It feels just like when I was a kid and we went on a boat ride under Niagara Falls. The mist is so thick that I can’t see anything, but I grasp tighter to Luc’s hand as I feel it start to slip from mine.

The mist starts to lift into a shimmer of incandescent colors, and I find myself kneeling on the floor in Grandpa’s family room with Luc at my side.

“You’ve been quite busy.”

I’m dizzy and disoriented as the horror of the scene at the gorge is replaced by the warm familiarity of Grandpa’s house. The wonderfully comforting, lilting voice lifts my pounding heart, and when I look across and see Grandma sitting on the couch I’m sure I must be dead. The white streaks in her sandy hair appear to glow, veiling her beautiful face in a misty sheen, and a warm smile crinkles the corners of her sapphire eyes.

“Grandma!” I’m off the floor and onto the couch in a flash, wrapping my arms around her neck.

She hugs me back and she feels exactly how I remember her, warm, soft, and smelling a sweet mix of peaches and Grandpa’s pipe smoke.

“Oh, my child,” she says pulling away. “Tell me everything.”

I sit close to her. “Am I dead? How are you here?”

“No, child. You’re not dead. I’m here because you called me.”

“I…” But then I think about that. My cry “Oh, God” was a plea. I lift my head and look her in the eye. “I need to speak to … God.” I feel a little stupid saying it out loud and my cheeks burn. When I glance to Luc for encouragement, I find him still on his knee, head bowed, which does nothing for my courage.

Her knowing smile shines like the sun, warming me right down to my aching heart. “So speak.”

“Can you tell Him—”

She lifts a hand, laying it gently on my face and suddenly it’s Gabe times a thousand. I close my eyes and throw my head back as the same sensation of peace that I’ve always craved from him floods me. But what I also feel is that this is the source of it. It’s amazingly intense but incredibly soft all at the same time.

Heaven
.

“Oh my…” I open my eyes and look at Grandma. “…
God?
”

23

Oh My God

FRANNIE

She winks at me and Her eyes beam, alive with compassion, love, hope, as She nods.

“My grandma is
God
?” I ask again in disbelief.

“I take the form of your choosing, child. So what is it that we need to discuss?”

I just stare blindly at the wall for a moment, looking for words. “My grandma is God,” I repeat, trying to wrap my mind around this.

“Everyone’s grandmas are God,” She replies.

I breathe deep and try to remember what I was gonna say. “I … can’t think,” I say, blinking as I look at Her again.

“Would you rather I took a different form? I’ll be anything of your choosing.”

“No!” I shout, not wanting Grandma to leave.

She chuckles the way She used to when I was little and would close my eyes to sneak spoonfuls of cookie dough figuring, if I couldn’t see, then She couldn’t either. She reaches for my hand, holding it in both of Hers. “You needed something from me, child.”

I close my eyes to calm my whirring thoughts, then open them and start in on the words I’d rehearsed so carefully. “What if Lucifer wanted to come back to Heaven?”

“That’s a big ‘what if,’” She answers, Her face neutral.