Life after Death

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Back at the Nexus, Rosalia/Catalina's Residence...

Rosalia was keyed up, her mind racing a mile a minute since she last sent the demon-blood-stained roses to Hezekiah Chamblee as a subtle threat to stay away from her chosen lover Chance Dalton. Part of her believed that the young man- Hezekiah, that is- had gotten the message and decided to head to a different area of the Nexus where he would find someone else to be sweet. But the more dogmatic and hedonistic side of her thought that something must've happened while she was lost in her mental preparations  and that Hezekiah had somehow seduced Chance away from her.

Even as she was casually walking home from running errands in Axis,  she knew that the time of playing the enigmatic diva named Catalina Slade was over and it was time for her to finally dispose of the lower-level peon for good while also arranging for Chance to become her husband. With the Convergence set to begin, she had little to no time to waste with the waiting games. If the archangels and arch-demons discovered her true identity, it would be game over before she got a chance.

Just as she was placing the last of her essentials and groceries away, the doorbell rang. "Come in, it's open," she hollered from her kitchen as she patted her small curly Afro while slipping into her Catalina persona.

She heard the front door open and close followed by some heavy footsteps. "Miss Slade?" came the voice of an older man as he emerged from the main foyer into the kitchen area, he dressed in pastels as he brandished a small envelope to her. "Special message came just for you."

"Who could this be from?" Catalina asked, taking the envelope from the man and opening it to find a small folded note.

Catalina, the note began.
Meet me at the town square's small park at twilight tonight as I have decided to make you my wife.
Hezekiah and I are never meant to be. He and I ended on good terms. You are my one true love.
Say you'll be mine and I will give you all that you ask of me. You own my heart as I will soon own yours.
-Chance.

How thrilled she was when she finished reading the note. "Yes," she trilled, handing the man a few dollar bills. "Thank you so much, sir. Oh, this has made my day."

The man smiled faintly. "I bet it did. I must be off."

After seeing the messenger man out, Catalina headed to her bedroom and began preparing herself for the night she hoped to remember for the rest of her eternity in the Nexus. "Now that Hezekiah finally got the message and backed off, it won't be long until Chance and I say 'I do' and I'm here for good," she purred. "Chamblee made the right choice. Smart kid."

Little did she know was that the messenger man was none other than Landon McMurray in disguise who was hired by Lucifer himself to set up the ploy of Rosalia Domingue's demise.

*****************

Later that evening, in the town square...

The sun was about to set over downtown Axis soon arrived as Rosalia, now dressed in her simple bridal gown, arrived with a small bouquet of fresh-cut roses in hand. Saying hello to a few onlookers as she made her way to the town square, her eyes lit up to find Chance waiting for her at a gazebo with Louis, Alvin, and Eva joining him. "Oh, wow," she breathed as she approached her groom. "Chance, love, you didn't have to do all of this. The two of us and Louis would've done just fine."

"Hey, Eva and Alvin insisted of being witnesses to this event," Chance, dressed in an all-white tuxedo, commented as he took her hand. "They wanted to see us be happy even after I let go of Hezekiah."

"Are you sure he didn't mind letting you go?" she asked, giving him an Oscar-worthy performance with pseudo-sincerity. "I'd hate to break his heart and go on bad terms with him." And make him see that I  can be a total bitch in the Nexus if push goes to shove, she added to herself.

"Babe, Hezekiah knew that you owned my heart and wished nothing but the best for me and you," he replied. "He and I are still good friends, but will remain that way. But enough about him. Let's get married."

"You said nothing but the right words," Catalina purred. To Louis, "Let's go, Chico."

The gatekeeper cleared his throat. "Right then," he said. "I'll just go straight to the point. Do you, Catalina, take Chance as your husband?"

"I do," she crooned.

"Do you, Chance, take Catalina as your wife?"

"You bet I do," the groom commented as he took out a small ring box to reveal a wedding band that featured a dark-red gem. "A token of love for my Brazilian bride."

Catalina bit back a shiver as she felt the circle of gold being slipped on her ring finger.

"Guess there's nothing else to say but...what the heck. Lock lips, kids!"

Chance grinned widely. "I'll do one even better," he replied, snapping his fingers...as he transformed himself to Lucifer while Eva and Alvin became Abaddon and Azrael respectively.

"What the hell?!" Catalina spluttered in surprise. "Where's Chance, Satan?! This isn't funny!"

"Oh, but it is, Rosalia Domingue," the leader of the underworld drawled delightfully. "You didn't really think that Chance was going to marry you for real, were you? Like that'll happen since he's already married to Hezekiah by my brother."

"WHAT?!!" Rosalia screeched, ignoring the slight pain in her body as the ring on her finger glowed red.

"That's right, my dear. And unfortunately for you, your time here in the Nexus is at its end. The Convergence is underway as you're being sent to my realm for all eternity. But don't worry, my dear, you'll make plenty of friends in the lake of fire- a lot of screaming and burning with the boy's treacherous family all rotten to the core save for one Cameron Chamblee who's going to join my brother in his realm, even though that won't happen for a while yet. Nonetheless, your time is up."

Rosalia hadn't had a chance to scream or curse just as a cloud of red smoke transported her to the lake of fire in hell where she would spend her eternity burning and screaming with the other condemned souls.

"That's that, boss," Abaddon said as he, his brother, and Lucifer stood with Louis at the gazebo to take in the setting sun. "All is well here in the Nexus and the two soulmates are enjoying their honeymoon."

"But there's still one thing that I don't understand," Louis said. "The fortune-telling gypsy who predicted Hezekiah's fate, how did she know of his arrival here?"

Lucifer grinned widely as he pointed to a colorfully-dressed woman, her hair covered in a red scarf as she walked along the sidewalk. She caught his stare and waved hello before ducking inside the movie theater. "How else does she know about him in the first place?"

"Wow," Azrael said, shaking his head. "Boss, you never fail to amaze us."

"And don't you forget it, boys."

And just like that, readers, all was made well.

Cumulative word-count so far: 33,564 words.

We're closer and closer to the grand finale, fine friends. Now that Catalina/Rosalia is gone and Hezekiah's crude family members (save for Cameron since he's a sweetheart) are out of the picture, Hezekiah and Chance are at peace with themselves. And speaking of which, we're taking one last look of Hezekiah's past while Chance tells him of their future in the Nexus together in the next chapter. You're going to love how it all plays out in the end, folks. I guarantee it.

Dedication: apwwrites.

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