She just nodded, still looking at the ground. She wouldn’t even meet my gaze.

A sob formed in my throat, and it took a great effort to control it. He’d broken her, broken her strong and feisty spirit. The spirit that told me to fight and stay alive down there.

The gun dug into the back of my head. “Go inside.”

He pushed me toward the portal, but I planted my feet. Should I yell for Lincoln? Should I try to create a shield around Raksha and me right now, maybe get the case from him and—

The gun cocked.

“One,” he counted.

I didn’t move.

“Two.” He pushed the gun harder into my scalp.

I knew he needed me to open the gate, but I also knew he was a psycho who could probably find my soul after I died, and still force me to do his bidding. He was the Devil, after all.

Raksha looked up then for a split second, and met my gaze, holding it firmly before looking down once more. That was my old mentor, telling me to cooperate, and do whatever I had to in order to survive. Maybe she wasn’t completely broken after all.

I stepped into the portal, and an immense feeling of love washed over me. At least if I was going to die, this was the place to do it.

Fourteen

There are no earthly words to describe the feeling that came over me when I stepped into the spiritual plane. Every single worry I had was lifted until there was just… a blankness that I realized was complete and utter peace. My mind wasn’t running through anxious scenarios as it normally was; I was just existing, breathing in and out.

I’d stepped out into what looked like a hundred-acre flower garden that went on for miles. In the distance, I could hear the trickling of water, and see a castle-type structure. Closer in the foreground was a large golden arch that looked like a gate without bars. The inside of the arch had a shimmering shield, similar to the one I made for myself. These were the heavenly gates, I knew it. That soft golden glow bathed everything, even me. The light was glorious as it warmed and tingled over my skin.

Spinning around, I saw Lucifer and Raksha had stepped through as well, closing the portal behind them.

“Now, let the others through while Brielle works on the gate,” Lucifer snapped to Raksha, who quickly nodded.

Did he feel it? The peacefulness? His features looked less stern, but I had no way of knowing how this place affected him.

Raksha began to open another portal, and this one I recognized immediately. It was to his brick-walled underground castle in Hell. So, he was going to let his army through? I would open this gate, and then his men would file into the garden of flowers and storm the castle?

A hand clamped down on my shoulder, and I winced at the grip. Lucy was impatient today, forcing me to walk forward.

I could see a shimmering wall that stretched out on either side of the golden arch-gate. It was reminiscent of the protection dome I could throw over myself, but this one seemed to encompass all of Heaven. The closer we got, I could make out more buildings in the distance and… angels. There were angels flying all over the sky atop the buildings. It was breathtaking, but I couldn’t enjoy it; I felt sick to my stomach, and my mind was racing with what the hell I was going to do.

We reached the golden archway that encased the city, or garden, or whatever it was. Inside the arch, the shield was thick and moved as if it were alive.

“This is the entrance to Heaven. The nearly departed, angels, and the like can pass through it with ease, but our kind needs a little help.” Kneeling down, Lucy set the black case that held Sera on the grassy ground, and my breathing stopped.

He was going to take her out of it.

With his fingers poised on the levers to unlock it, he looked up at me. “Remember your vow, Brielle?” he asked, and suddenly I felt pressure on the back of my head. I went with it, allowing him to nod my head for me.

He grinned. “Good girl.”

As he opened the box, something gold and shimmery pulled at my peripheral vision.

Slowly, I turned my head to the side, peering inside Heaven.

Bernie.

My old friend and guardian angel walked along the rows and rows of rose bushes toward me, and he was completely made of light. Free of his body, he floated, long golden angel wings shimmering out of his back.

‘I’m so proud of you,’ he confessed into my mind, and I had to force myself not to cry.

There was nothing to be proud of yet.

‘He expects me to cut an opening in the gate. What do I do?’ I was frantic now, mere seconds from being tasked with bringing a war to Heaven.

Behind Bernie, those angels I’d seen flying above the buildings were now coming this way.

‘You must try with all of your abilities to keep that from happening. It could change so much about your world, including time itself.’

My eyes bugged out at Bernie’s declaration.

Time? Had he said it could change time itself?

‘He did. So don’t mess this up.’ Sera’s words did nothing to quell the panic that had reached my chest and was crawling up my throat, making me want to scream.

Suddenly, the Dark Prince stood next to me, and I turned my attention toward him. He was holding Sera, but she was covered in all the black stuff, the dark magical spell Lucifer had placed on her.

The Devil’s attention became riveted on Bernie. “Is that your guardian angel?”

I swallowed hard and nodded.

“How sweet.” His voice dripped with acid. “And it looks like my old friends have come to play. Perfect.”

The angels were flying fast toward us, and I remembered Michael’s words to me.

‘Don’t fear. Lucy feeds off fear, and it allows him to control you…’

Energy vacuums and all that shit.

Don’t fear. Breathe. Don’t open Heaven and be the asshole who ends the world.

My gaze flicked quickly over my shoulder to the small army flooding in through the portal Raksha had created, and my stomach sank. Demons, hundreds upon hundreds of them, were filling the small valley.

‘Just breathe. No matter what, everyone simply expects you to do your best,’ Bernie assured me.

Everyone? Like all those angels? Were they all counting on me?

Breathe. Just breathe, I told myself again, taking in a deep breath to calm myself.

Lucifer held one hand over Sera, and the moving, oily black mass fell away, allowing her bright energy to shine off the blade.

‘I’m free!’ she yelled.

It was motherfucking showtime.

In a matter of seconds, I yanked Sera’s energy, pulling the blade out of Lucifer’s grasp and into mine. At the same time, I erected an energy shield around myself, leaving Lucifer stunned.

How’s that for multitasking?

The second Sera was in my hand, a multitude of emotions coursed through me, but I had to tamp them down and act fast. Pivoting with the gate to my back, I stretched my shield over Sera and me, large enough to cover the entire gate’s entrance.

Lucifer’s ears started to spew black smoke then, and I knew if he got to me, he would kill me for this betrayal. I’d never seen him look so angry in all my time with him. His entire being shook with barely contained rage.

Suddenly, I felt a bone-crushing tightness all over my body.

“Drop. Your. Shield,” Lucifer commanded, hands outstretched. He was nearly frothing at the mouth, and controlling my fear was becoming more and more difficult.

I resisted, staying calm, and reminding myself that I wasn’t afraid of him. Not anymore. I used to run from him, feared him finding me. I used to feel like a hunted animal, but now I was the hunter. I had Sera, I’d married Lincoln, and I was about to get Raksha back. I was the winner here.

I was the one who would have the happy ending.

“No,” I gritted out viciously.

Black wings snapped out of Lucy’s back and he stepped closer to me, arms rising higher. The veins in his neck were bulging. “You will drop the shield and open the gate this second!” he roared, black smoke not only coming from his ears now, but his mouth too.

Holy mother of nightmares.

‘Tell him to stick it where the sun don’t shine!’ Sera cried in my head, and suddenly her blade glowed with a deep golden light.

The pressure on my skin was increasing, making it hard to breathe. Lucifer was pushing everything he had onto my shield, and it felt like I was holding up a five-hundred-pound weight.

“You can do this, Brielle,” Bernie said behind me, aloud that time.

I risked a glance over my shoulder, my mouth popping open in shock at the line of angels that had come to stand guard at the gate. There must have been a hundred of them, wings all touching so they formed a line. A barrier to protect Heaven. They were all clad in the same armor Michael and Raphael wore, and they looked fiercely at Lucifer, swords raised. One of them, a giant of a man with long dark wavy hair and piercing green eyes, met my gaze and nodded.

I gulped.

No pressure.

“Brielle!” Lucifer screamed, completely coming unhinged.

When I spun to face him, I nearly pissed myself. Black ink was crawling up his skin, slithering around his body like a dozen snakes. His eyes were solid black, and there were oily black veins growing up his neck and swirling around his face. I was about to see the full wrath of the Devil. What he’d shown me before was merely child’s play. I had messed up his little redemption plan, and he. Was. Pissed.

“Eat shit!” I shouted. All I had left was my anger and a huge amount of semi-fake confidence. Best to play that hand until it was taken from me.

At my words, two black pointy shards grew from his palms, and I knew he was going to attempt to shred my protection dome. Instinctively, I began to layer more and more energy into it, making it thicker and stronger just like Raphael taught me. Sera’s golden light even pushed out onto the wall, helping me reinforce it.

‘He might break through it,’ I told my dagger.

Her reply was swift and fierce. ‘Let him. I’ve been ready for this day since he took us.’ Her light pulsed then, like a strobe light, and I felt ready too. If I died defending the gates of Heaven from the Devil, it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.