“I choose to do it gladly, too, for now I can go to my Maker with neither shame nor regret, and my final sight and thought will be precious ones.”
I knotted my fingers into Rome’s shirt, and his arm tightened around me as we watched Hinge’s fingers crumble one by one. His hand went next, then his wrist, his arm, hisshoulder. Finally, only his skull remained. Kerry held it against the little girl’s cheek as the purple lights flickered in their dark eye sockets, then winked out for the last time.
“Lilassss…”
His jaw unhinged, his skull turned to powder, and Albert Grenville Chesterton laid down the burden of life.
#
Kerry
’Course it wasn’t that easy. Nothing ever is.
For one, the front door was gone. Granted, the apartment took up the whole floor, so there shouldn’t be any curious rubberneckers walking by, but a gaping hole in the wall was hardly secure.
For another, Hinge’s soul was floating around after his bones dissolved. It’d be a few minutes before it formed up enough for us to find. Unlike other dead nephilim, whose souls slept until the Second Coming, Hinge’s had been bound to his bones. Now that they were gone, he had no anchor, and would need a little help.
For a third, there was an almighty mess we’d have to clean up. I didn’t wanna leave any of the dust that had been Hinge’s bones, since someone like a necromancer could use it to raise or bind him. I wasn’t sure if that would work without a body, but I didn’t wanna risk it.
Finally, there was Lilas. Mira led the girl into the other room to try to calm her down. She’d called Lilas inconsolable, which Rome told me meant nothing would comfort her. Being familiar with the feeling, I sympathized.
While Rome began to destroy all the bone dust, I turned my eyes “on” and watched a pearly cloud shimmer into being in the center of the room.
“He’s forming up.” I stared as the cloud began to take on details. “Good night, Hinge! What are you wearing?”
“What?” Hinge’s voice was far, far away. He’d need another minute or two. “I don’t know. What I died in, I guess.”
“You look like that sick kid in AChristmas Carol.” I snickered. “Tiny Tom or something.”
“TinyTim,” said Rome, who was on his way over with a pyx. “Tiny Tim Cratchit.”
“Whatever. Hinge, I didn’t tell Lilas anything about this part. I’m pretty sure it woulda hurt her more than helped her.”
“Yes, she might like me hanging around for a while, but when I get eaten, she’ll lose her mind.”
“Nothing’s gonna eat you.” I rolled my eyes at Rome. “We’re gonna make you safe, then pass you off to an angel for a free ride home.”
“Sounds good. Let’s do it. Sooner, the better, right?”
“Yeah.” I took a deep breath. “I’m gonna miss you, you creepy lil monster.”
“I’ll miss you, too, Kerry.”
“That was very brave, Hinge,” Rome said.
“No, not brave.” He shook his head. “Selfish. How could I live with myself if she died because I didn’t save her?”
“Not selfish, then.” Rome smiled a little. “Selfless.”
Suddenly, white light filled the room at the same time searing pain shot through my heart. Driven to my knees, I gasped as the taint tore up my chest with razor-claws.
My sight dimmed and a voice filled my mind, but the pain made it impossible to understand. I raised my head and through streaming eyes saw something I never, ever thought I would.
#
Rome
The malakim’s appearance shocked me, but it did something far worse to Kerry. He dropped to his knees and wrapped his arms around his middle, his whole body shuddering. Thank God it was only a malakim, one of the lower angels who guarded mortals. An archangel’s presence might have killed him.
