Shadrach barked out a laugh. Julian scowled indignantly until the leviathan spoke. “When Isaac ran back to the guild, I was beside myself. I couldn’t focus. Couldn’tthink. Nobody here is going to think less of you for feeling what we’ve all felt. Being apart from our person is torture—foranylength of time.”
“Really?” Julian asked. “You all feel it, too?”
A round of affirmative nods followed.
“Why is it like this?”
Talon chuckled. “We’ve all asked that question. Some more angrily than others.”
“I think it’s meant to happen,” Ira said sagely. “I think we’re meant to be a bridge between the sides.”
The sides, Julian thought, frowning. Human and demon? That didn’t sound right. If the humans here were the bridge, what was the other side? Heaven? He’d never heard any of them talk about it before. Valac had confirmed its existence and Purgatory’s, but what did that really mean?
“Whatisthe other side?” he asked. “Are there… angels?”
Isaac scoffed. Most of the demons looked doubtful or dismissive. Luke, Alex, and Nathan looked thoughtful.
“I hope so,” Nathan said.
“I think so,” Ira added.
“Where are they, then?” Isaac asked. “Why are they letting us do all the hard work down here? If they exist, why are we the ones fighting off the monsters?”
“I don’t know,” Ira said. “You know I can’t see everything. It’s just a feeling I have.”
“Feelings aren’t prophecies,” Isaac drawled.
Ira scowled. “I’m well aware.”
“You don’t believe in Heaven?” Julian asked Isaac. That seemed counterintuitive to everything they’d been taught.
“No, I don’t,” he said, then took a deep breath and let it out, like the words were refreshing to say. “I could never say that in the guild, but I always felt it. I believe in what I can see. Demons, monsters, those exist. I mean, we just saw a demon walk through a portal to go to Hell. I know those things are real. But Heaven? Angels? Even God?” He shrugged one shoulder. “I’m not convinced.”
“I’ve never seen proof that angels are real,” Talon added. “And I’ve been around for a very long time.”
“You don’t seriously think there would be a Hell and not a Heaven?” Ira said, looking between them. “What kind of balance would that be? Where do the good souls go?”
“Maybe they just disappear,” Isaac said.
Julian said, “Valac said damned souls can find peace. They aren’t tortured in Hell for all eternity. I assume that means they get to go to Heaven once they repent for their wrongdoings.”
Nathan smiled. “I like that.”
“But he’s never seen Heaven,” Isaac pointed out.
“Well, no.”
“So he doesn’t know for sure.”
Julian huffed halfheartedly. “No, I guess not.”
Isaac raised one hand into the air. “I’m just not convinced, that’s all I’m saying.”
Shadrach, his dark eyes heavy-lidded, slid his fingers into the back of Isaac’s hair with a moan. “Ah, I love it when you’re blasphemous.”
Isaac tried to hide his grin and the accompanying flush that spread across his face.
“Food is on its way,” Alex said, setting his phone aside. “I either need coffee or alcohol if we’re going to continue this discussion.”
