Genesis (The Legend of Glory Book 3) (25 page)

“Yeah, not so much,” she said and shook me off.

“Dad and Mom will be so happy. They always loved you best. I did too.”

“Stop it, Glory.”

Stop what?
Treading water, I finally found purchase and remembered what was happening. “I’m so scared. Please help me.”

The merc stood up out of kicking range. “Let’s get her to the car.”

I was able to read Erica’s heart and felt compassion. “She’s in the middle of having a damn baby. Let her finish.”

“Who made you the boss of me?” He aimed his gun at her. “I’m so sick of you. They told me you were expendable.”

I tried to yank her out of the way of his bullet, so it didn’t hit where aimed. However, the strike was close enough.

She collapsed onto my chest, and her eyes searched mine. The fear in her heart matched my own.

I stroked her hair. “Hold on, Erica. You’re home now. Don’t leave again.”

But she did anyway.

Gen tore at my insides. I screamed, and another gunshot rang out. The merc’s brain splattered, and Raven gave me a shaky thumbs-up.

Then I saw that Jesse had finally made it through the wards. He threw his arms open wide and Lailah sailed across the room in one direction, while Sasha went the other way. He looked at me and smiled. It was pure evil.

)o(       )o(       )o(

Rory pulled a syringe from her pocket and managed to sneak up from behind on one of the vamps Zane was fighting. She plunged it into him, he doubled over, and threw up. Then her machete took off his head.

Proud of herself, she looked up from her kill just in time to see Bo’s blade cut deep into Zane’s throat.

Horror seized her. “No!”

Bo raised his fist in triumph as Zane slumped to the ground.

Dominic used the opportunity of Bo’s gloat to swing his bloody machete like a bat, and it was game over.

*          *          *

Jesse said, “I’d rather see you dead than lose.” As he raised his hand and started to snap his fingers, a beautiful blonde woman appeared in a blaze of light. Through the fog of my pain and terror, it took me a moment to realize it was Michael.

“Lucifer, you’ll have to fight me first,” she said.

He turned to her. “Not now. Not over this.”

“Then go.”

I watched as a shadow detached from Jesse’s body. Both it and Michael left.

Jesse’s cold eyes met mine. “This doesn’t change anything.”

“It changes everything,” Lailah said.

Lailah and Sasha teamed up to vanquish Jesse. Right before their light consumed him, he looked at me again and this time his eyes reflected the old Jesse. My Jesse. I gasped as my heart broke.

†          †          †

Rory cradled Zane’s head in her lap and Dominic grasped his hand. Despite deepening shadows, Zane saw the compassion in Dominic’s eyes and tears in Rory’s. As his life rapidly drained, time slowed, and he remembered.

Zane tamed Hope’s wild heart and offered arms to hold her, hands to stroke her, and dreams made holy with sacred kisses. He stripped her of white satin, lace, and a crown of flowers, then, as the black velvet night rose to embrace them he whispered, “I love you.”

“Polish those words with your tongue,” Hope said. “Make them last longer than the stars and shine brighter than the moon.”

“I love you,” he repeated, polishing the words that would be hers forever.

*          *          *

I heard Gen’s first cries and my heart rejoiced.

“Glory’s lost too much blood,” Sasha said.

If I died, the price was worth the prize.

†          †          †

Zane watched helplessly as Hope sacrificed her life to save their son. As she lay dying, she whispered to him, “Drink my blood, I don’t need it anymore.”

He drank, and her strength became his.

Zane’s mind hopscotched through time, and he witnessed decades of seeking comfort in Jinx’s arms, scenes of watching family from afar, nightmares of wandering in darkness wrangling monsters, and the agony of his heart longing for love again. Then he remembered Rumi’s words.

The minute I heard my first love story,

I started looking for you

not knowing how blind that was.

Lovers don’t finally meet somewhere.

They’re in each other all along.

*          *          *

As Sasha healed me, I felt Zane dying. I prayed his faith would finally break through to God, and that grace would descend to end his anguish.

†          †          †

Zane made love to Glory high on a cliff under the sky bright with a pregnant moon and shooting stars. He moved slowly, making every precious second count—their time together was almost over. Softly he said, “Whatever happens, Glory, you’ll carry a part of me into the future.” When he finally surrendered, a falling star fell from the sky and light filled her body.

Zane heard the baby’s lusty cry announcing her arrival and Rory said to him, “Genesis—born of such a great big love—is gonna save the world, sweetie. The honorable way you lived your life saved us all.” Her voice broke. “You’re a real good man, Zane.”

Sacred light fell from the sky and filled his body.

“I have never forsaken you,” a familiar voice told him. “You never lost your soul. You’ve made me so very proud. It’s time to come home now.”

His soul leapt when he realized whose voice it was.

Then he remembered something Jade had said to him.
“In the end, the only thing that matters is how much you loved.”

Zane surrendered to the light, and he finally went home.

*          *          *

I feel you leave. Alone with my heartbeats and those of our child. Unbearable loss. Unbearable sorrow.

The world is forever changed.

SPRING

*          *          *

At dawn on Easter, Gen, Hallie, and I walked to the graveyard to honor the fallen.

Genesis’
DNA
, Mom’s vampire virus cure, and angelic assistance performed the hoped-for miracle of undoing the worldwide genetic damage the New World Order’s efforts had caused. Thanks to Evan, the
NWO
itself—at least the faction responsible for the attempted genocide—had been undone. However, because of their Blue Beam project, all hell had broken loose among world religions, and chaos still reigned.

Mom was living at home now and working with Professor Greenberg in scientific studies to benefit humanity. They were searching for a cure for
AIDS
.

Lailah left for her next mission, while Sasha remained behind to look out for us.

Rory went home to Savannah, but after discovering we were family, our relationship transformed into one of the heart.

Raven lived in Dad’s old art studio now, and Dominic had returned to his own house. Soon, Gen and I would be joining him there.

It was cool and foggy, and I carried my daughter cradled against my chest in a warm sling. Her bright blue eyes stared up at my face, and their resemblance to Zane’s never failed to amaze me. I was eager to discover what kind of person she would grow up to be. I felt she’d be rebellious and passionate, with the capacity for big love.

As we neared our family plot, Hallie growled, and I stopped short.

Jinx stepped out of the mist. “Tell your dog to stand down.”

My heart stuttered. I hadn’t seen Jinx since she had rescued me from Hell. It took a moment for me to find my voice. “She doesn’t like vampires.”

“Control your dog, Glory.”

This was between Jinx and me. I couldn’t let Hallie get hurt over whatever this was. “Hallie, be like a cat.”

Hallie whined, but she obeyed the command Dad had taught her. She lay down and grew quiet.

Jinx moved closer, I could see streaks of bloody tears on her face, and a shiver of fear shook me. I wrapped my arms protectively around Gen.

“I let my passions get out of control and was horrible to Zane,” she said. “I’ll never forgive myself.”

I considered her words. “I don’t know what happened, but I would guess that he’d want you to forgive yourself.”

She walked up to us and stared down at Gen for a long time.

My mind raced to figure out what I could do to protect her.

Then Jinx grabbed me behind the neck and pulled my lips to hers in a brief, but fierce, kiss. “That is my oath that if you or his daughter ever need me, I’ll be there.” She turned away and disappeared into the fog.

It took a few minutes until my breath steadied and I could move on.

We visited Dad’s grave first. Mom had come yesterday and left Easter lilies, which perfumed the damp air. His gravestone, mysteriously engraved by supernatural forces following the pandemic, read,

† MARK TEMPLETON †

He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat. Glory, glory, hallelujah!

I lifted Gen to face the stone cross. “Dad, this is your granddaughter. Her name is Genesis Dillon, and I call her Gen. You might have recently met her father, Zane? If ever any souls were destined for Heaven, it was you two.” I paused to choke back my grief. “I’m going to marry Dominic Michaels this summer. You’d like him. He’s smart, kind, and makes me incredibly happy.”

Before I totally lost it, I moved on to Erica’s grave. Her gravestone said,

~ AMERICA TEMPLETON ~

LOST AND THEN FOUND

I thought about how I had succumbed to Stockholm syndrome during my relatively short captivity in Hell and considered the twelve years Erica lived in her hell. I couldn’t judge her for what she had become. I struggled to say something. “I have good memories of our childhood, Erica. I promise to raise Gen with only those stories of her aunt.”

I hesitated a moment before approaching Jesse’s memorial. Dominic had carved the stone. To preserve Jesse’s privacy and prevent desecration by those whom he had harmed, it simply read,

~ J.J. REBEL ~

LOST BUT NOT FORGOTTEN

Lailah told me that his soul had been destroyed, and I struggled with that. I simply couldn’t comprehend a universe in which he didn’t exist. However, he would always live in my heart and mind, and I chose to remember him protecting Belle Starr from drunks, making a bold statement about bullies, feeding the hungry, and fighting off the demon inside him who had wanted to rape me.

When Mom planted flowers at the graves, I knew she wouldn’t have left Jesse any—she had been unable to find forgiveness for him. So, I brought a handful of wildflowers to remember my friend’s wild spirit and scattered them. Knowing there was no soul to hear, words completely failed me.

Finally, I steeled myself and approached Zane’s grave. We had given him an impressive giant stone cross with the inscription:

† ZANE DILLON †

A VERY GOOD MAN

I rested my forehead on it, and my heart spoke to him.

In our fleeting moments together

throughout the veils of time and space

our universe flipped,

and we were changed eternally.

We danced passionately in the arms of time

like no one had before.

Forever together, forever apart.

Forever reaching, yearning.

Loving you gave me courage.

Being loved by you gave me strength.

That love will outlast stars

and shine brighter than the moon.

Then I sobbed until my soul ached. When there were no tears left to shed, I sank to my knees, and a frantic Hallie whined and licked my face.

Suddenly, the Caretaker Davina appeared out of the mist. She knelt down, her hand touched me, and the fire of my agony became embers.

“You fought a good fight.”

I struggled to catch my breath. When I could finally speak, I asked, “Will there be more battles?”

“You chose the path of a warrior. That’s forever, Glory. The mission never ends.”

“Will the light ever defeat the darkness?”

“That depends on courageous souls like you.”

I considered the truth of her words, and in my heart I knew I was ready for whatever challenges were yet to come.