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“Explain.”
“She is strong. She’ll survive. The world will go on for her as it will for everyone else.”
“Does this mean it's really over? The Apocalypse truly prevented?”
“For now, yes. But the game never really ends. For others, it’s only just beginning.”
“So why are you here, then? You gave me a task. I failed. Leave me in peace.”
“Failed? No. It’s as I said. You’re to be rewarded.”
“But I didn’t...” I shuddered at the mere thought of the original terms of the angel’s bargain.
Gabriel raised his brow. “Didn’t you? Choices, Caleb. They all matter. They all have consequences. And despite what I led you to believe, the one you made just so happened to be the right one.”
“And?”
“As you can see, I returned your soul. If I hadn’t, you certainly wouldn’t be here. But that’s not the choice I speak of now. Today I have a different offer for you.”
“What choice are you asking me to make?”
He cocked one brow and stared at the scene before us as it morphed into Sunday weeping alone in a cemetery.
It hurt to see her so desperately sad. “Why are you showing me this?”
“You don’t have to stay here. You could return to her.”
“Yes.”
“There are conditions attached to this bargain, Caleb. You have to decide. Stay in heaven, filled with certainty, and not a day will pass where you feel pain or sorrow. Just as it was before I lifted the veil and came to you. Or, go back to Sunday, to being a vampire as you were when you died. Never again feel the kiss of sunlight on your face, hunger for blood over all else, live as the monster you hated. But the pain will be worse because your soul has been returned. You will feel everything more deeply. Walk with the guilt of your past.”
“I’ve borne the guilt of my sins with every breath.”
“Not like this.”
“Guilt is nothing new. I’m not afraid of pain. Not if I can have her. Them.” My thoughts were immediately on Sunday and Eden. “The life I have here, that’s what you’re offering me? Only lived in the dark?”
“Perhaps. I cannot control where life takes you. We don’t manifest your reality on Earth, Caleb. That’s something we reserve for up here.”
I swallowed through a tight throat as my decision crystalized. I stared at him, my resolve strong. “Then you already know there’s only one choice it could be.”
ChapterFifty
SUNDAY
“On your knees for me again, Miss Fallon?”
My stomach lurched at the sound of him, the scent of incense and spice floating on the breeze, thefeelof Caleb’s domineering presence. I didn’t let myself think it was a fantasy. I couldn’t. Snapping my head up, I blinked at the man standing at the mouth of the cemetery, his body bathed in moonlight.
“Ca-Caleb?” I scrambled to my feet and was up and running before my brain fully realized it had made the decision. I didn’t hug him as much as collide with him.
He let out a muffled oomph as he caught me in his arms, holding me tight. “I take it you’re glad to see me, then?”
“Shut up and kiss me.”
“Now who’s being boss—”
I shut him up with my mouth, our kiss tasting like tears and redemption. But almost as soon as it started, I broke us apart, remembering what had passed between Gabriel and me.
