And when that law was violated, reality itself pushed back.
“Impossible,” Vinea whispered, his ancient eyes wide with something that might have been fear.Black, smoking blood poured from his wounds now and pooled at his feet.“This plane…the barriers between worlds…they’re not supposed to….”
His words cut off as silver flames began to race along his form, not the hellfire he commanded but something purer, brighter.The light was coming from the chamber itself, from the ley line network, from every person in the city whose psychic gifts had been sparked by the unbridled energy flowing around them.
“The portals,” Delia breathed as understanding struck.“We’re — we’re reversing them.”
Instead of allowing entities from Hell to cross over to Earth, the dimensional gateways had begun to pull in the opposite direction.And Vinea, as the primary architect of the network, was caught in the backflow.
“No!”The demon lord’s roar shook the entire chamber as his form began to fade despite his desperate struggles.“This isn’t over!I’ll return!I’ll — ”
His words were cut off when he vanished entirely, pulled back to Hell by the very network he’d created to escape it.
The chamber shuddered as the ancient stones began to crack and crumble in earnest now.With Vinea gone and the ritual framework completely sabotaged, the pocket dimension was collapsing, reality snapping back to normal.
“We need to get out of here,” Caleb said, his voice strained, and she could tell he was struggling to maintain control.The silver flames wreathing his body flickered dangerously.“This whole place is coming down.”
But even as he spoke, Delia could see the real problem.The energy Caleb had channeled earlier — and the power still flowing through him now — was threatening to complete the transformation.His human side couldn’t handle that much raw demonic essence indefinitely.
“Not without you,” she said firmly, then reached out through their bond to share not just her psychic abilities but her essential humanity — the core of herself that would always be mortal, grounded.
Real.
The effect was immediate.The silver flames that surrounded Caleb’s form began to fade as his dual nature found its balance again.He was still changed — she had a feeling the experience he’d just suffered through had awakened parts of his demon heritage that could never be put back to sleep — but he was still himself.
Still the man she loved.
Hand in hand, they ran through the collapsing chamber while chunks of meteorite and ancient basalt crashed down around them.The portal back to Angel’s Dream was still there, but it was shrinking rapidly as the dimensional anchor failed.
They dove through the shimmering gateway just as it snapped shut behind them, tumbling onto the floor of what was once again simply a wedding chapel.
Ty and Pru rushed over to help them up, both of them looking relieved…but also as if they weren’t quite sure what had just happened.
“Is it over?”Pru asked, the satchel that carried her laptop and other odds and ends threatening to slip off her shoulder.She yanked it back up with an impatient gesture, as if she couldn’t believe she had to waste time on something so trivial.
Caleb pushed himself to his feet, then helped Delia stand.The silver flames were gone, but she could still sense the change in him — power held in perfect balance, no longer fighting his dual nature but embracing it.
“It’s over,” he said, and his voice was his own again, warm and human and wonderfully familiar.
Through the chapel’s windows, Delia caught a glimpse of the city she loved returning to its normal, neon-lit self.The supernatural storm that had hovered overhead for more than a day was dissipating, ley line energy flowing back into its natural patterns.She could sense that the network of psychically sensitive individuals was still there, but it was no longer being drained or controlled by an outside force.
“What about Vinea?”Ty asked as he looked around the chapel, his angelic senses apparently still detecting residual traces of the demon lord’s presence.
“Banished,” Delia replied.“But not destroyed, unfortunately.I suppose he’ll probably try again at some point.”
“They generally do,” Ty remarked, his expression deadpan.
“Let him,” Caleb said, his arm slipping around Delia’s waist as if he never intended to let go of her again.“We’ll be ready.”
They walked out of Angel’s Dream Wedding Chapel and back into the normal world, and Delia pulled in a deep breath.She’d just been through something no ordinary human should ever experience, and yet she knew she needed to forget as much of it as possible, needed to find a way back to herself.
They walked Pru and Ty over to his truck, which was the sole vehicle in the chapel’s parking lot.
“Mine’s just down the street,” she told them.
“Maybe we should go with you,” Pru said, and Ty glanced up into the night sky, now free of clouds, with a glorious full moon shining down on the street.
“It’s safe,” he said, and Caleb nodded.
