Chapter Twenty-One
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Prophet
Three weeks after theseal is reforged, I stand on a ridge overlooking the territory and feel heaven’s song change.
It’s subtle at first, a dissonance in the harmonics that normally flow through me as naturally as breathing.But as I close my eyes and trulylisten, the wrongness becomes undeniable.The celestial choir that’s been my constant companion for millennia is fracturing, notes turning sour, the melody transforming into something that sounds uncomfortably close to judgment.
They know what I did.
Of course they know.Heaven sees everything, knows everything, records everything in books of light that chronicle every choice made by every being under their watch.
And I rewrote a prophecy.
Changed the ritual mid-casting, altered the fundamental structure of an ancient binding, and allowed two mortals, well, one mortal and one vampire, to become living anchors instead of following the prescribed sacrifice.
Tessa was supposed to die.
That was the prophecy.That was heaven’s plan.One warden’s death to seal away a primordial threat for another thousand years.Clean.Simple.Ordained.
But I looked into her eyes, looked into Vex’s eyes, and I couldn’t do it.
Couldn’t watch another good soul die for a prophecy written by beings who’ve never walked among humanity, who’ve never loved or laughed or bled.Who’ve never understood that sometimes the right choice isn’t the ordained one.
So, I changed it.
And heaven isnotpleased.
I spread my wings, gossamer and light, the physical manifestation of grace I’ve carried since my creation, and let the wind catch them.The sensation of flight is one of the few remaining pleasures that connects me to what I was before I fell.Before I chose earth over paradise, mortality over eternity, the Kings over the Host.
The sun is warm on my face as I rise, climbing higher into the crystalline Alaskan sky.Below, the territory stretches out in shades of white and green.I can see the clubhouse, small from this height but still radiating the warmth of family and brotherhood.Can see the seal site, power pulsing from it in waves only supernatural eyes can perceive.
Vex and Tessa’s bond holds strong.The Khorvath remains trapped.The rewritten seal functions perfectly.
By every practical measure, I succeeded.
But heaven doesn’t measure success by practical outcomes.They measure it by obedience.By adherence to the divine plan.By following orders without question, without deviation, without the sin of independent thought.
And I disobeyed.
The song shifts again, and this time there’s no mistaking it for anything but what it is, a summons.Or perhaps a sentence.The distinction seems academic at this point.
I should have told the brothers.Should have warned Blade this was coming.But what would I say?That heaven might punish me for saving Tessa’s life?That my interference could have consequences I can’t predict?
They would have tried to protect me.Would have stood against heaven itself if they thought it would help.
And that would only make things worse.
I climb higher, wings catching thermals, reveling in the freedom of flight.
