“One final chance, demon.”
Darrak’s fists clenched. “Blow me.”
“No, thanks.” Theo shrugged. “Okay, I asked three times. You answered three times. It is decided. For the record, I think you should feel really good about yourself. Go you! Buh-bye now.”
The Void’s grip tightened like an iron fist, pulling Darrak backward. He fell to the ground and clawed at the cement. The very edge of the cliff face pushed against his shoe before it broke away, and then he was hanging on to the side of the Void by only his hands, his feet dangling over endless darkness.
So this is how it ends, he thought. Awesome.
Was this really it? Was he willing to give up?
Something kept him holding on. Something with as much of a grip on him as the damn Void had. He couldn’t let go. Not yet.
“Theo! Get back here!” he yelled, calling the name of the friend he’d already lost. The entity using Theo’s face didn’t reappear. He was gone, his job was done, and Darrak was alone to face his chosen fate.
No rewards in Hell for making the selfless decision, that was for damn sure.
This wasn’t a huge surprise.
It felt as if they’d been walking forever when a voice echoed off the dark brick buildings surrounding them.
“Theo! Get back here!”
Eden gasped. “That’s Darrak! It’s him!”
“I think you’re right!”
Andy started running then, although it wasn’t without effort. Whatever was in the air around here was starting to cause him some pain.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
“Watch out!”
A hand clamped down on her shoulder. She spun to see who it was and was shocked to see the face of Theo, Darrak’s demonic BFF who’d been destroyed two weeks ago.
He didn’t exist. Not anymore. And yet here he was.
“You shouldn’t be here,” Theo said.
“Let go of me.” She tried to summon her magic, but it fizzled in her hand before she could get even a spark going.
“It’s too late, Eden. Let him go.”
She glared at him. “Never!”
She turned and ran, racing around the corner up ahead and then skidded to a halt, shocked at what she saw stretching out before her. There was a huge crater in the ground that reminded her of the Grand Canyon. She’d been there once as a kid; her mom had taken the day away from the tables to take Eden on a helicopter ride above the canyon. It seemed so big and vast and expansive. A world wonder. At the time it had filled her with awe.
This, on the other hand, filled her with fear because she knew what it was.
The Void.
And Darrak was nowhere to be seen.
Theo was right. It was too late.
No, damn it, it wasn’t! She’d just heard him. She couldn’t have missed him by mere seconds. Life wasn’t that unfair.
“Darrak!” she yelled. “Where are you? Answer me!”
TWENTY-ONE
The sound of her voice brought Darrak’s memories back so forcefully it almost made him lose his already shaky grip on the side of the cliff.
The redhead.
Eden.
Terrific. Now he was hallucinating. In his last moments of existence, he thought of her. Not a huge surprise, really. After all, she was the only thing in the universe he cared about.
She’d be proud he’d made the right decision about the kids. So selfless. So unlike him. It almost made him smile.
Demon-angel, the wraiths called him.
This, too, came back to him now at the end of everything. He’d thought there was some hidden meaning, but it was exactly as they’d said. The wraiths sensed both demon and angel in him because that was exactly what he was.
It was his angel side, the annoyingly do-gooder side, that had shifted his morals enough to make his final decision — sacrifice himself rather than take a job that would force him to hurt others.
He didn’t want to hurt anyone. Now he wanted to help them.
The demon side of him thought this was all kinds of lame.
Darrak was the ultimate teeter-totter of good and evil. Black and white. He’d fought it from the beginning. He refused to accept that he’d been tainted with humanity, let alone celestial energy. The two sides of himself had remained apart like oil and water. It was what had caused him the tearing pain when Eden had shifted those parts of him a bit too close together. They hadn’t wanted that.
He hadn’t wanted that.
It was clear to him now: The decision had always been in his hands. The pain resulted from his failure to accept that he’d changed.
But he had. And that the change had come because of Eden — well, that made it a good change as far as he was concerned. He could accept this now at the end of his existence. He was a demon-angel, filled with equal parts light and dark.
So be it.
He felt something fill him then, easing his tense muscles and relaxing his mind. The peace of accepting who he was, once and for all. Even if it was just for a moment before he ceased to exist.
Embrace your inner freak, Darrak thought. For better or for worse.
At the moment, it looked like it was for the worse. The Void wasn’t going anywhere but down. And down.
He’d thought Eden had destroyed him by giving him her celestial energy, but she hadn’t destroyed him. Instead she had made him better than he was before.
If only he’d realized this sooner.
“There you go, Eden,” he whispered. “You did make me a better man after all. Thank you for that.”
An animal howled in the distance. Great.
Well, any hellbeast sniffing around for scraps would be out of luck very soon. Nothing to see here. Move along.
“Where are you?” Eden’s apparition yelled again. “Darrak! Say something! Say anything!”
He already missed her so much. “Good-bye, Eden.”
Some of the cement fell away as his grip loosened. Only seconds now.
But then a hand reached down and grabbed tightly onto his wrist. With surprise, he looked up into the most beautiful face he’d ever seen.
Her green eyes were filled with tears and she smiled down at him. “There you are, you jerk!”
He guessed he’d memorized her face perfectly because this apparition was as real as they came. Or maybe it was her angel side coming to visit him in his last moments. He almost expected to see white fluffy wings stretch out behind her.
Sharp nails dug into his skin. “Darrak! Snap out of it!”
He blinked. “Wait a minute, you — you’re not an angelic apparition?”
“Not the last time I checked. What the hell do you think you’re doing right now?”
“Oh, you know.” He glanced at the bottomless drop below him. “Just hanging around.”
Determination filled her gaze. “I won’t let you fall.”
He snorted. “You’re going to pull me out of the mouth of the Void.”
“That was my general plan, yes.”
This earned a full laugh. “I’m imagining you right now. Or maybe that damn entity is using your face to mess with me some more.”
Eden’s fingers dug hard into his arm as she grappled for a tighter hold on him, but he slipped a few inches farther down. “Darrak, I’m really here. I came to the Netherworld to find you before it was too late. What you see is what you get.”
This was impossible. “Tell me something to make this real. It can’t be real.”
She hissed out a breath of frustration, but then locked gazes with him. “I’m here because losing you made me realize I don’t want to live without you. Ever. I love you more than anything, Darrak, and I want to be with you forever, no matter what the future brings. Now pull your ass out of that goddamned Void right now!”