Page 19 of Salvation
“You assume you know your future and what fate has in store for you. I can assure you, those who cast your fate knew exactly what they were doing.” Ashley took a step back and flared her wings out. “I must go but follow your instinct and you will never fail.”
She folded those beautiful black wings around her body and simply faded away.
“Well, hell.” She was left with more questions than answers.
* * *
She was alive.He was elated and torn at the same time. The guilt he experienced daily for not saving her morphed. It seemed he had saved her but also condemned her at the same time. She was a vampire, and he had sired her. An act he couldn’t even recall. No wonder she wanted nothing to do with him.
“Your guilt does you no good.”
He turned to face the Angel of Death. “It reminds me what’s at stake and at the moment, I feel like I am failing all of them.”
“You have gotten them this far.”
He laughed. “I would have them to Kentucky now if not for my vampires flaming in the fucking sun. Think you can fix that?”
“I cannot, but I will do this for you. You need to get Luna out of here, and Aurora can help you.”
He would laugh even harder, except her statement wasn’t funny in the least. “No offense, but you have been sniffing too much Sulphur because I failed Aurora as her sire. I failed her as her lover, and now it looks like we are both fated to others. Not to mention I have a baby on the way. How can you expect her to deal with all of that?”
She narrowed her gaze at him. “I expect you to act as a sire should no matter the circumstances. In case you haven’t noticed, your world has changed. It’s fight to survive or give up and die. That choice belongs to every living being left alive. They chose you for a reason, and being a vampire gives you an edge a human could never have. Use the tools given to you and trust fate.”
She took a step closer and looked around, as if expecting someone to be listening in. “Your child is in danger here. Luna does not have nine months to carry that baby to term.”
“What the fuck does that mean?”
“Demons carry for six months instead of nine, and since this child is a vampire, it will come to term sooner rather than later.”
“Fuck! Why did your father not tell me that?”
“I’m sure it never occurred to him. After all, I spend a lot more time with demons than he does.”
“Anything else you wish to share?”
“I’ve already told you more than I should.”
He fisted his hands. “And while I appreciate it, it’s still not enough.”
“It’s all I can give. Now, I must continue my roundup of Hell’s worst while you figure out how to save humanity.” Then she disappeared.
What a mess this was. First thing he did was snap back into Seal mode. She was right; he had been tasked with an assignment, and failure was never an option for him. He’d come back to Aurora later. Right now, he needed to tell Luna what he had learned. She deserved to know not only about the baby but about his past with Aurora, because it looked like Aurora was going to become part of the team.
Taking off on a run, he made record time in getting back to the hotel where everyone seemed to go about their daily duties as usual. As he walked into the hotel, he linked with Xavier.
Did you get brought up to speed on the situation?
I did. Angel kicking some demon ass. Love it.
Great. I’m off to see Luna. Meet me at nightfall in the lobby.
Ten-four.
They severed the connection just as Wolfe tapped on Luna’s door. After a moment, it swung open, and he was greeted with her sigh of relief.
“Thank god! I was beginning to think you torched yourself.” She stepped aside, and he strode past her, regret weighing heavy on his shoulders because this was not a conversation he desired to have.
“Did you find out what was going on?”
