Page 2 of Indecent

Her long curls were dusted with strands of gray, and her kind brown eyes, so much like Nicolas’s, met his with a smile.

“Hola, mijo,” she said warmly. She was the only one who’d ever spoken Spanish to him and Nicolas. Dad had insisted on English only, since that was all that was taught at the guild. “You shouldn’t be here.”

“Where is ‘here’? I don’t understand what’s happening.” He stepped closer but stopped when she gestured to his right. When he turned his head, a light in the distance appeared, golden and beaming. He couldn’t make out what it was through the fog. A town? Headlights?

“All things come to an end,” Mom said kindly. “Yours has come now.”

Fear sang through him. “My… My end? I’m dead?”

Her face softened with sympathy. “I’m sorry, mijo.”

Daniel turned to stare at the golden light. That was Heaven? What would happen if he went over there? Would he disappear? Find peace? How could he do that when he didn’t remember what happened on Earth? Nicolas still needed him.

“What about… What about Nic? And the Alvarez kids? The Sentinels? We’re going to war. I can’t just be dead. I’m not done! I’m supposed to help them.”

“You cannot stay here,” she said. “This place isn’t for you.”

He looked around again at the blank, gray world around them. Any idiot knew what he was supposed to do next. “I’m supposed to go to the light.”

She smiled. “Yes.”

His eyes burned. He didn’t want this. It wasn’t supposed to happen like this. He’d left Nicolas alone. He’d left their fight unfinished. His breath rushed in and out, hard and too fast.

“I can’t,” he panted. “I can’t go yet. I’m not ready. I wasn’t done.”

“All things happen when they’re supposed to,” Mom said calmly. She made no move to come closer or comfort him, and he hadn’t longed for his mother’s hug so much since he was seven.

He hugged his elbows tightly and shook his head. “No, no, no. I can’t, Mom. I left him all alone.”

She held out her hand. “Come with me. I’ve been waiting for you for so long. Don’t leave me alone again.”

Before he could speak, a sound in the distance caught his attention. Approaching quickly, it sounded like the flap of huge, powerful wings. Whoosh, whoosh. A winged shadow appeared through the fog, landing on the ground not far from them. It looked vaguely humanoid—upright on two legs, but bigger—and its shape changed as it walked toward them. When it was near enough to see through the haze, it looked like a regular man.

Shirtless and wearing black jeans that looked painted on, his dark eyes flitted from Daniel to his mom and back, like his dead mother was an afterthought. His raven black hair was shaved on the sides and longer on top—and unruly, sticking up and giving him a windswept look.

“That’s not your mother,” he said.

“Who the fuck are you?” Daniel asked. He was going to get whiplash from everything happening so quickly.

The stranger gestured to his mom. “Look again. She’s not your mother. She’s lying to you.”

Daniel looked. Mom wasn’t looking at him. She was glaring at the stranger, her face cold in a way he’d never seen before. It was only when she looked at him that she seemed to return to normal, smiling warmly. It didn’t look real this time, like her warmth was just a veneer to hide the ice underneath.

“If you’re not my mom, what are you?”

“She’s a reaper,” the stranger said. “Their job is to usher lost souls out of Purgatory. Easiest way to do that is by appearing as someone you’d want to go with.”

He could barely wrap his mind around it all. “And you? Who are you?”

“Enough of this,” Not-Mom said. “Go into the light, human. Leave Purgatory and find rest.”

“What if I don’t want to?” he asked.

“Then wander for eternity until your soul withers to nothing.”

A shudder rolled down his spine. He didn’t want to be trapped here, but he didn’t want to go into the light either. Nic still needed him. But was wandering Purgatory for eternity really any better? With his demon lover’s blood, Nicolas could live forever. If Daniel stayed here and Nicolas stayed with Ashmedai, they would never see each other again. Maybe his mom really was on the other side, somewhere in that distant light. If he didn’t go, she would be alone.

“Yes,” the reaper said like she could hear his thoughts, looking so much like Mom that he ached. “Go into the light. See your mother.”