A/N: Thank you for reading guys. I appreciate all of the support you've given me through this story and I am happy that I got to write this for all of you lovely people. I stayed up till almost 6am writing this for you so I hope it doesn't suck. If it does, I'll edit it later when I wake up. I am dying with exhaustion. Side note, don't forget to check out Michael's story "Marked in Silver" it will have more action than this one and it will be paranormal as well. Thanks again for reading. Enjoy!
___________________________________________________
Final Chapter.
"Did you really think that you could hide from me? Come on Lucas, you know better than that," Darion's green eyes had lost their human appearance. Now they looked slitted, like snake eyes, almost glowing.
"I was hoping you would give up once you realized it was too much work," Luke said with a shrug. He looked calm and unpreoccupied on the surface, but in reality there was a storm raging inside of him. He was afraid. Not for himself, but for Gabrielle. He was inconspicuously watching the two Sluaghs behind Darion, mentally going through the odds of him finding a way to beat them while keeping Darion as far away as he possibly could from Elle. Needless to say, the odds weren't very promising.
"Well, I'm sorry to inform you that you misplaced your hopes on an absurd idea. I would scour the entire Earth to find her, even if I have to go through you," the demon said.
At the words uttered by Darion, lines wrinkled Luke's forehead as he frowned.
"Why are you so interested in her particularly? I can't see you going through so much trouble with every single person that has signed one of your contracts but wants out of it," Luke voiced aloud his troubling thoughts with a bad feeling rising on his skin in the form of goosebumps.
"Oh why Luke, I want her for the same reason you do; for her soul".
Suddenly Luke found that it was hard to breathe. Nothing was restricting him from doing so, nothing physical at least. It was fear.
"What does he mean?" Luke heard Elle ask from behind. He couldn't face her again, so he kept his gaze on Darion.
"Why are you both so interested in my soul?" Elle pressed the matter, because she was done being out of the loop, especially when it concerned her.
Taking a deep breath, Luke prepared to tell her the truth, but Darion beat him to it.
"Because you are his soul mate," he said.
Luke froze as the demon said the words. He had planned on telling her. He had thought about telling her for weeks. But he kept waiting for the right time and the right time never came.
He had known from the very start, since that first night when she walked into the parlor, with sad eyes and a broken heart. He had known from the very same instant that he looked into those stormy blue eyes of hers. But he had ignored it. He ignored that feeling in his chest, like a missing fragment of his whole being had returned to him after being long lost. It was like his soul had released a sigh of relief. But he pretended it wasn't important. He fooled himself into believing it was his imagination. Except the connection between them was instantaneous and so natural, that he found himself letting his guard down at a rapid pace. Before long, he was so caught up in her that he knew he was screwed. But at that point he no longer cared, he was way past wanting to stay away. She was a part of him all along and she was his home, where his heart now resided.
"Luke-" whatever Elle was going to say was cut off by Luke's words.
"You're my soul mate," he confirmed, "And I've known it for a very long time".
Then there was silence. The deafening type that people often described as being louder than words.
"So... why does that make me so important?" Elle's words were soft and shaky. Luke wanted so bad to turn and look at her, but he refrained from doing so, keeping his eyes on the enemies.
Darion spoke first, "You are an angel's soul mate".
"Former angel," Luke corrected. Darion rolled his eyes and waved off his words.
"Technicalities," he said, "Anyways, you are a former angel's soul mate. That means you share a part of the same soul".
"So what?" this time her voice was annoyed.
Luke sighed, "So your soul is very powerful. If a demon takes possession of it, it will provide him with so much power, that they will rise in status from other lesser demons down in hell," he explained.
Elle stayed quiet as she processed this bit of information. It was too much. It was all too much. Granted, she felt an undeniable attraction to Luke since she first met him. It was like she was drawn to him in a deep level. But soul mates? She wasn't sure if she even believed in angels or God until like half an hour ago when she found out about Luke. And even seeing him and hearing him tell his story, she felt some doubts about the whole thing.
"Elle-" Luke was cut off by Darion.
"This has taken too long, dear Lucas. Please just hand her over and I'll let you go on your merry way unscathed".
Luke chuckled, but he wasn't feeling very humorous.
"You'll have to kill me if you want to her soul," he countered.
"Hey, I was just trying to be cool about this. If you want to die, that's fine by me. More power to steal for myself," Darion was half smiling as he said this. Luke had no time to reply before he saw the demon pulling a long steel sword from thin air. This was a disadvantage for Luke, for he had no actual weapon and there were still two ghosts that he had no idea how to take care of.
The fallen angel surveyed his surroundings in a quick manner, before he saw metal pipes connected to the roof of the old building. He swiftly headed towards them and with a strong kick, the metal gave to the force and a large piece of pipe fell off. Luke grabbed this and faced Darion with his new improvised weapon.
"You want her, come and get her," he said with a smile and a determined look in his blue eyes.
Darion charged forward with sword in hand, raising the steel weapon before attacking Luke. But Luke had more to lose, so he met sword with pipe and didn't even flinch when sparks flew from the force. After the first blow, everything was almost in fast forward. Darion kept trying to find an entry big enough to slid his sword into Luke enough to wound him or kill him, whichever came first, but Luke was as good with that pipe as he had been with swords once when he served God as one of his soldiers.
The battle went on for another ten minutes; until Darion realized that it was pointless for him to beat Luke in a fair match. So he called to his Sluaghs, and they joined the battlefield. Now outnumbered one to three, Luke struggled in keeping the enemy at a safe distance. Beads of sweat shone on his forehead, before they trailed a short path down to his chin. It wasn't long until he started tiring and his ragged breath gave him away. Darion knew it was a matter of time, so he kept slashing away with his sword, and the Sluaghs kept trying to steal Luke's soul; distracting him enough for a mistake to be made. This happened in a millisecond, he was trying to force one of the Sluaghs back, because he didn't want to leave an opening for them to reach Elle, but as he momentarily put all of his attention and focus on the soul-stealing ghost, Darion took the opportunity to embed his sword into Elle's chest. Luke hadn't realized that seeing him struggle with the enemies, Elle decide that she wanted to help, so she found another piece of pipe and charged in to aid him. Unfortunately she wasn't trained in swordsmanship or trained to battle, and Darion knowing this, struck first. Now she laid on the floor, fatally wounded, with a hole on her chest and blood rapidly soaking her clothes.
Luke didn't see it happen, for he was distracted. But he felt it. It was almost as if someone had stabbed him as well. That's how it had felt like and the pain was so strong that he looked down at himself to make sure that no one had gotten him in his moment of distraction. Seeing no wound on his chest, but still feeling the pain in that place, he turned around to find Elle laying on the ground. The pain in his chest doubled at the sight and ignoring the Sluaghs, he ran towards Darion, who was watching Elle with a smirk on his face. He heard Luke running to him, but was too late reacting to stop his attack. Luke struck Darion's head with the pipe, and his sword fell from his hands. Luke, with the speed of lightning, maneuvered his way to the ground to pick up the sword and swiftly gave a 360 degree turn that gave him the momentum to slash the disoriented demon's head off.
With their master dead, the Sluaghs no longer had orders to follow, so they slowly and silently floated away, becoming one with the shadows and disappearing into the night.
Luke waited until they were gone before falling to his knees beside Elle. Her blue eyes were bluer than ever, even though he could see her life fading from them.
He didn't bother keeping the tears from falling. The pain in his chest was unbearable.
Elle, too fatally wounded to feel any pain anymore, smiled up at Luke. His vision was clouded with tears that kept forming in the corner of his eyes. Knowing there was nothing he could do but talk to her in her last few moments, he forced himself to smile down at her as well, ignoring the pool of blood surrounding her body.
"Do you know what my favorite thing about you is?" Luke asked Elle, in a tone that he hoped was unconcerned.
"No. What is it?" Elle asked in return, her voice weak and fading.
Luke smiles warmly at her with all the love that he felt and then places his hand on her pale and cold cheek.
"Your eyes," he replied simply.
Elle waited for him to elaborate and he did, "you know how they say eyes are the windows to our souls?" She nods in response. "Well, I didn't see it when we first met. And I looked at your eyes and I thought they were beautiful, but I couldn't see your soul. It came with time though. As we got to know each other, as you started to trust me, I would look in your eyes and see a shimmer of light. Now I can see all of it, every time you look at me. You let me see your soul and that's how I know you love me and that's why your eyes are my favorite thing in this world".
"I do love you," she says simply. And he wishes there was more time and wishes he could have done more, but he doesn't wish she said anything else. These simple words are all he needs to hear. And it breaks his heart. It really does. Because he has lived a long life and he never loved someone besides God, as he loved her. And he will never look at anyone as he looked at her. And no one will make him feel the way she does. And he knows his thoughts are selfish, but he won't stop thinking them. Because it wasn't fair, that he found her and he was losing her already. It wasn't fair, even if he knew he didn't deserve her.
As he saw the light of her eyes dimming, he leaned down to press his mouth to hers in one last kiss. She took her last breath against his lips.
Then he wept and the sky wept along with him. Rain poured down incessantly and Luke continued to cry as the drops mingled with his tears and they became one. He cried as his head rested on Gabrielle's lifeless body. Then he screamed, and the sound was like thunder. The sky screamed with him. He looked up at the heavens with pain in his gaze and sadness weighing down his heart.
"I'm sorry," he told the sky above him. "I deserve this pain and so much more. But God of the heavens and the Earth and all of its inhabitants, why should you punish her for my wrongdoings? If someone needs to be punished, please let it be me instead. She had her whole life before her to live and to love and to live some more. I have lived far longer than any creature roaming this Earth and I don't need another century of misery in this place. Mind me, I love it here. I love humans as you once asked me to love them. I love humans and I love this girl who died for sharing a soul with me. I'm sorry that I did not know back then, what you saw in these beautifully flawed creatures. I see it now, the light of hope shining inside of them, their saving grace waiting to happen. You've always known best and I'm still learning, I beg of you please give her whatever is left of me for I no longer want to live in a world where she doesn't exist".
His words shook the world around him but he was blinded by his pain. He begged and begged to God, to bring his love back to life. He begged until his voice turned hoarse and his throat hurt. He begged until his tears dried and sunrise came upon. He begged until there was no more voice left to beg.
And as he found more tears that needed to be shed, the skies opened up above him. Light streamed down to shine on him and he found himself being lifted up into the air by a celestial force that he could never fight. So he let his body be carried by this force, as he looked down at her body laying on that dirty old rooftop where no one would find her until it was too late.
Then he was up there, and he was wearing white clothes that went with everything else in his surroundings. White was the color of the heavens and the people in it.
Confused and disoriented by grief, Luke glanced around, not knowing what to do. It had been so long since he had been up there. He couldn't understand what he was doing there in the first place. Surely it was some sort of mistake, he didn't belong in that place.
When he stumbles over his own feet, a warm hand on his shoulder startles him enough to fall. Quickly gathering his bearings he picks himself up and turns, ready to scowl at the person, but his heart almost jumps out of his chest when he sees her.
"Elle!" he cries. She's smiling at him and the smile is so brilliant. She looks more beautiful than he has ever seen her. He hair is more golden than pale yellow. Her fair skin had more color to it. Her eyes were deep and alive.
Luke rushed to her, gathering her in his arms as he buried his head in her hair. She smelled like strawberries.
"How could this be?" he murmurs. Elle pushes him back slightly, just enough to look at his face.
"We're in heaven," she replies, a smile still adorning her lips. The sight of her is too much for Luke to handle, and fresh tears gather in his eyes. Without warning he kisses her, long and deep.
"I'm not supposed to be here," he says quietly against her lips. Her hand is on his cheek and her eyes connected to his.
"The word around here is that you learned your lesson," she said.
"What?" Luke is having trouble understanding what was going on.
"God thinks you learned your lesson. Leaving you down on Earth was never a punishment, Luke. It was always meant to be a lesson. So that you learned to love humans, for what they were or for that they could be. And you did. Because you loved them, and then you loved me".
Luke touched her face, her skin was soft under his fingertips. He still felt like he was dreaming. He was back in heaven and Elle was there with him.
"How could I not love you? I found my home with you," Luke's words had Elle smiling softly.
"You didn't need a home. You belong here. You always did," she says gently.
Luke shook his head
"No, sweetheart. We share two parts of one soul. I belong with you and I always will".
The End