Laken and I are relentless in our grief.
Cooper Flanders is gone, and I vow from this moment on to live for his memory.
“I won’t let your death be for nothing,” I say as I look to his lifeless body, my voice strangled with grief.
Ezrina takes his arms and lays them over his chest, the dead man’s pose, just before she lifts the sheet to cover him from the world once and for all. Those red blotches over his flesh are annunciated even with the blood caked on him, and something in me quickens.
“Stop,” I shout before Ezrina completes the task. “Cooper,” I pant. “He’s the key.”
Skyla runs her fingers over Cooper’s distorted flesh as she looks up and nods.
And now we all know what we have to do.
26
A Glorious Ending
Candace
Ahava forms around us as I wipe away Cooper’s bitter tears.
“Cooper,” I say his name gently, the first call of paradise. “Welcome home. Yours is a righteous death that will live on with fame and glory. You are a hero and shall forever be hailed as one. You fought the good fight. And I shall escort you to the Master myself.”
I take his hand and fly us to the throne room.
“Go on.” I nod to the fierce steed by my side. “If it wasn’t Logan, it would have been you.”
A laugh curdles in his chest. “It was best this way. I had Laken.”
“And you will again,” I assure him. “For all eternity. Now go forth, let the Savior comfort you in His loving arms. Then come back to Ahava. More waits for you. I promise, you will hold your love, your children once again. Just a little while and they will all populate the heavenlies right along with us.”
He nods my way before making his way to the holy of holies.
All at once his ancestors surround him and I make my way back to Ahava, back to where the water reflects the countenance of God, and the air we breathe enlivens us with His Holy Spirit.
And just as I’m about to revel in the victory at hand, I spot two handsome creatures stalking in this direction, one filled with light, one filled with darkness.
“Sector Marshall.” I smile his way. “Demetri,” I growl his name out like a threat. “Are you here to cede so early?” I ask as I appraise his sodden spirit. “Don’t bother,” I say. “My daughter is about to stomp you and those pigs you herd with the heel of her foot. Did you think this was a war you could win?”
Demetri growls right back, “This isn’t over, Candace. You belong to me.”
My eyes flash with fire as my gaze meets with his. “I belong to Him and Him alone. The end is nigh, our time will never come again. Go on.” I flick him away with my fingers. “Go get what’s coming to you in full—delivered by my own flesh. Yours has already abandoned you. I’ll see you soon enough.” I hold my hand up and a cloud of darkness envelops him, and as soon as he’s evicted from my presence a cry rips from me.
“Your Grace.” Sector Marshall steps forward, and I can see the anguish in his eyes. “You truly love him, don’t you?”
I turn my face to the lake as sure as if he struck me.
But I don’t dare answer.
After all, there is no room for lies in Ahava.
27
Skyla
There are some mysteries in life that simply remain. Then there are some mysteries in life that eventually, ultimately resolve in a blaze of glory.
It was that way that day in the lab when Wesley looked down at Cooper Flanders’ battered flesh. Poor Coop had been walking around Paragon all but diseased from that serum we were filling him with, when all along history, our future was being written out over his skin, a blatant road map that not one of us could see. I would like to think we would have seen it even if he didn’t leave us that day. But the horrible truth is, we drained his body within a half an hour. I commanded Heathcliff to take Laken away, but she wouldn’t have it. She stayed and watched the entire grisly show. She said she wanted to. She said Cooper was her hero, and now she could witness him being that for all of our Nephilim brothers and sisters.
