Divine Descent

Chapter Twenty-Four

"I can eat here?"

"Demons are very opulent creatures. When you're not on earth, you will live here. You will live in wealth, and eat, drink, fuck who you like. There aren't many rules here."

"Sounds like heaven, doesn't it?"

"To some, yes."

He leans into the table, smiling gently. "Come on. You aren't slightly tempted to stay? I mean, if the apocalypse is truly meant to happen, Elijah will be here and you can remove him from Hell like you did with me."

"And make him a demon? You think Elijah wants to be a demon?"

We both know he doesn't.

"All vampires are destined for Hell, Cassandra. He will eventually be sent there whether or not you go back and when he does, you'll want to be near to spare him from the torment, whether he understands that or not. If you don't take up Samael's offer, you will become human, you will die human, and you will be unable to influence his fate."

He's naming points I've already considered.

"I get the logistics of it all. It's all I've thought about since I got here. Of course some part of me wants to stay. I feel the guilt of that every day. I want to be a god. I want to keep my power. I like it... but I don't want to give him up. Not even for a second."

Akan smiles. "Well, I'll be sad to see you go. You're my only friend here."

"That won't be the case for long. You're insanely good-looking."

"Right."

"I can't read minds here, but I can tell you, they want to fuck you."

He laughs at my bluntness, plucking the grape into his mouth hesitantly. He makes a face as if he's expecting it to taste like cardboard, but once he chews, his eyes light up like Christmas.

"Damn, it's been a long time."

I smile, grabbing onto the pitcher of wine. "Just wait till you try this again."

My grip on the handle loosens unstably as an unknown source of pain, pure relentless pain, rushes through me like a whiff of poison. It seizes my limbs, making them contract to the point that I lose my balance, and forget even that I had something in my hand.

The pitcher crashes and shatters against the ground, spilling shards of glass and wine onto our clothes and feet. I grab onto the table frantically, frightened by my sudden loss of control.

Akan drops down beside me. "Cassandra!"

The pain was strong enough to knock me off my feet, but what keeps me down is what follows immediately after. A gut-wrenching amount of sorrow. Unable to care about the glass or stains that seep into the dress, I settle on the floor, finding it tasking to even lift my head when Akan begs me to.

"What's wrong? What's happening?"

"Elijah," I gasp, flinging my hand from something sturdy to pull myself up. "It's Elijah."

"What do you mean?"

"He's hurt. He's calling out to me. I... I have to get upstairs."

"For what?"

"The mirror. I need the mirror."

There's movement by the door. "Cassandra, Nicola is looking to get your measurements for—"

My eyes close when Samael's smile fades, observing the current situation. He rushes into the room with Grey, shooting a frightening glare in Akan's direction.