Page 52 of Signed in Blood

She is mine forever.

Epilogue

Lucifer

* * *

The winter night air is still crisp, but spring is just around the corner. The cycles will continue, not changing for a single soul. The crows caw in the midnight sky as I sit with her in the same spot it all began.

The carved wooden offering altar and the ropes used to tie her down burn in a gorgeous fire before us.

I hold her in my arms as she lays against my chest in my lap. Small and vulnerable and all mine. Forevermore.

“I control the crows, but my gift to you, my love, is the ravens,” I tell Lilith as I pour another glass of dark red wine, a blend from centuries ago, into her goblet. Her dark eyes brighten ever so slightly as she looks up.

“They’re the larger ones; close your eyes,” I tell her and she does as she’s told.

I know she can feel them, the warmth of their feathers, the sharpness of their beaks, and she can see what they see. She can live through them all she wishes. By merely willing it so.

Her lips part for a gentle gasp as the fluttering of birds flying above us joins the ravens’ caws. As I watch the black birds in the winter sky, I know she’s so fucking powerful, but with time, my Lilith will stand beside me just as powerful as me. She’s fucking earned it. Facing the darkness in herself and still finding balance and humanity.

“Drink more, Lilith,” I tell her, wanting to be sure the end of this moment is quick and the deal complete.

It’s the way she wanted this to end. She chose this. A toast in front of the fire, leaving the nightmare of how we came to be turned to ash.

“Can I tell you something?” she asks me just as the wood splinters with a violent spark of fire. It crackles in front of us, destroying the last piece of evidence.

“You can tell me anything,” I tell her.

“I want to honor our deal, but I’m afraid to leave her.” She looks down at her glass, which is nearly empty. “I know I’ve…I know I’ve drank it, but I don’t know that I can truly die without saying goodbye to her,” she whispers.

“Your other love,” I comment and take a gulp of wine. It strikes me as the smooth alcohol warms my throat that I don’t feel an ounce of jealousy. Not an ounce of anger.

“Just I…” she says with wine-stained lips, but it’s already too late.

“My love, the wine… You’ve already taken the poison.”

“I know,” she says simply as her eyes go glassy. “It feels so cruel to not at least say goodbye to her. With what she did for me…what she was willing to do…”

It’s her last moments of life and I know the feeling. The grief of never having closure. If I could go back, and hold my family once more, I’d never let go.

I kiss her gently atop her head and know exactly how she feels. Some pain though, I can’t take away because it’s bred from love.

I stare down at the wine, wishing I’d been able to watch my family grow, to watch them live. Wishing there was some other way. If she’d said something an hour ago, perhaps the inevitable could have been prolonged. I imagine it’s only the drug leading her to reminisce.

She whispers in the dark night as her soft body huddles against me. I’ll hold her until the end of her time here. She doesn’t let go of her thoughts of Sabrina, though. In her last moments, she must be remembering her life and the friend who held her hand along the way. “I miss her. She’s a side of me I want to keep.”

“Neither of you are the same person,” I tell her, although guilt slowly seeps in. Perhaps…perhaps.

“You made me stronger,” she tells me, and when she tilts her head up to kiss me, a single tear falls down her cheeks.

“And you made me proud,” I tell her firmly and add, “You're my good girl.” She blushes ever so slightly.

“I love you,” she murmurs with those gorgeous plump lips, and I have to lean in, sucking on the bottom lip and dragging my teeth across it just enough to make her moan.

“I love you more,” I murmur against her lips as I pull away. My little piece of heaven. When I pull back, her eyes are still closed. I knew the moment I saw her, she was the little piece of heaven I’d been missing. The part of a soul that lets your heart beat. She literally made my heart beat again. And here I am, holding her as it beats for the last time.

The life nearly gone from her. She’s perfect. She’s everything I’ve ever wanted. But I’m not anything she could have ever imagined, and it’s all too obvious that something is missing. I know exactly what gift I can offer her next so that her heart is whole like it’s supposed to be.