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Preta had allowed a small ceremony for Ty, which only my coven, the Wildes coven, and two of Ty’s old demon hunter buddies had attended. In the end, Ty had done the right thing. It didn’t make him a hero or balance out all the lives lost thanks to his helping Andras, but I couldn’t let it go unheralded. He deserved a proper funeral, so we’d given him one.
I’d also gone back to the park and properly finished scattering my mother’s ashes, thanking her for helping me fight Ty.
“So…” Nimue grabbed me around the shoulders, steering me away from the thinning crowd. “Are you going to take Preta up on it?”
The DHA had undergone an organizational transformation. All agents had answered questions and sworn their loyalty with truth-seeker artifacts in hand. They had even punished some for the part they’d played in throwing other demon hunters into the infernal realm, letting their souls become trapped there.
Meanwhile, the power at the top of the DHA had shifted as well. Bao Preta had officially taken over as the Director of the entire agency, and he’d promoted Demetri Foster as his second in command as Deputy Director. Circe had moved up to Chief of Staff, taking Preta’s old position, and it had shocked me when Lan Wildes agreed to become her Deputy.
Nimue and Fox both refused higher ranking positions, though I’d heard Demetri had done his best to convince them. Other directors had moved around as well, but the most shocking thing was that they’d offered me the chance to become a Senior Special Agent, often given to agents in charge of a coven of special agents.
“Hudson’s my agent in charge,” I replied to Nimue but winked at him. “While I appreciate the offer to become a Senior Special Agent… We’ve already decided we’re needed elsewhere.”
Grins broke out on all my coven-mates’ faces. Nico wrapped an arm around Jax, squeezing him tight.
“Oh? Where’s that?” Nim asked.
“Somewhere out West, probably,” Jax told her. “Maybe in California. We’re going to look around before we settle down.”
“But it’ll be somewhere with a coven-house big enough for the four of us,” Hudson laughed.
“And a bigger bed,” Nico rumbled.
Nimue chuckled and looked at me. “That’s hard to pass up. I can see why you don’t want to stick around here for some stuffy desk job.”
I smiled. “I go where my coven goes.”
Her smile dropped as she pulled me in for a hug. “Don’t forget about us.”
“Never.” Squeezing her tight, I added, “Jax can teleport us back to visit anytime.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Mel
The day before we planned to leave Charlotte, I met Nim at the old containment wall before following her down to the blackened earth below. Nimue and I were accompanied by all three of my coven-mates and two of hers, Lan and Rye. And of course, Tempest, but she stayed out of sight in a backpack that looked incongruous on Nico’s broad shoulders. Fox was tied up with some artifact orders for the OIB, who’d recently contracted him.
I followed Nim as she strode hand-in-hand with Lan across the blackened ground. The incessant beeping of construction crew trucks echoed across the desolate landscape as they worked to rebuild West Boulevard and all the infrastructure that went with it.
We were inside the old containment walls, but outside the new ones, which went up less than a day after the battle ended. The new walls curved into a circle, with enough demon hunters on top that they each had multiple eyes on them if anything went wrong. No one was going to risk getting seduced by a devil this time.
Not a single one of them questioned us when we joined them at the top of the new wall. When the other demon hunters gave us space, Nimue shot us a grin.
“Looks like the four of you are officially famous now.”
Hudson chuckled. “Only in Charlotte, I’m sure.”
Which was exactly the point. We wanted a fresh start somewhere far from here. But first, I wanted to try seeing my mother one last time. I had a lot I needed to thank her for.
Nimue and I had both tried to contact the spirits of our mothers a few days ago on Samhain. The annual celebration had been really emotional. We knew they might not appear, even though they’d been set free. Still, we’d hoped to see them again, even if only for a few moments.
Nim’s coven-parents had shown themselves to her. But though I’d felt my mother’s presence, she didn’t appear. It didn’t surprise me — helping me in my time of need had likely taken a great deal of energy.
I knew Nim had found it very fulfilling to get the chance to talk to her mother and other coven-parent for the first time in decades. For me, I’d felt a sense of relief. That my mother had been strong enough to make her presence known so soon after was very reassuring, but I still wanted to see her, anyway. So I’d come here for one last attempt, at least until next Samhain.
We went to the parapet and gazed down at the now diminished portal. No longer was it an intimidating wall of smoke and shadows cutting across the world. Now it was more like a tear, an unnatural rip through our world into the infernal realm, still wide enough the four of us could stand shoulder to shoulder along its width. I had a feeling that if we stepped through that portal this time, we’d end up right on the edge of the fiery trench, the true separation between the infernal realm and ours.
The others waited, not looking at me, but patiently giving me a chance to do what I came here to do.
