J.R. Ward: Rapture

Mels allowed Jim to lead her over to the car she’d arrived in, and after he opened the passenger-side door, he settled her in the seat. Given her docile act, it was pretty damn clear that shock had taken over—so they had to move quick, before she snapped out of it and put up another fight.

Before he shut her in, he leaned down. “There’s someone you need to talk to. Isaac Rothe—he’s one of us. You can find him through Childe with an E in Boston. Tell him that Jim Heron sent you, okay?”

She nodded, but he wasn’t sure she’d really heard him.

Except suddenly she reached out and squeezed his hand. “Please don’t…leave him somewhere anonymous. I mean…”

“I’ll take care of him properly. I swear to you.”

Looking into her eyes, Jim passed a hand over her face, sending her some peace to comfort her in her sadness.

Oh, man…he could feel the love she had for Matthias, and he ached for her. Was grateful for her, too. After all, what was the old adage? The love of a good woman…

It made all the difference, didn’t it.

He had been right: Matthias had been the soul, but she had been the key.

“I swear to you,” he said again. “Now go and do what’s right.”

Shutting the door, he banged on the roof and Ad backed the car out, doing a K-turn at the end of the drive and heading off.

Left alone, Jim pivoted around and looked for Nigel, but the archangel was nowhere to be seen or sensed. There was just the forest…and the two dead bodies on the gravel.

Matthias had gone to Heaven.

Wonder if the fucker was surprised? Then again, he’d made everything right on his way to the exit, and he’d done the ultimate—sacrificed himself for someone else.

On the scales of justice, he had a lot to make up for, but mere moments ago, he had given it all for another….

As Jim went over to his old boss’s body, he couldn’t believe how far the man had come. Then again, Hell was clearly a transformative experience. And so was love.

Kneeling down, Jim said softly, “If you had told me we’d be here…I never would have believed it.”

Truth really was stranger than fiction.

Jim rubbed his face and let himself fall back until he was sitting on his ass beside the man who had defined things for him for so long. In the silence, he became acutely aware of his breathing, of the way the air entered his nose cool, and came out his mouth warm.

He passed his palm over his face once more. Did it another time.

Overhead, the moon made another appearance, light raining down on the scene until he had to shut his eyes. For some reason, he didn’t want to see anything of this moment, just couldn’t bear it.

He had won the round, sure—but Matthias was still gone, and that struck him as a loss, and resonated deep.

And Adrian was still suffering. And Eddie was still gone. And him?

He was empty. So very empty—as if those orgasms he’d had with Devina had flushed the last part of his soul out.

Except he needed to pull it together—he had to get rid of the bodies.

Glancing over at the operative, he didn’t give a shit where he stuffed the remains. His old boss, on the other hand, gave him a brain cramp. Where could he take Matthias? After all, it was a gift to the departed to treat what they had left behind with dignity—even as their souls soared free, it was important. And the man had saved his life…at least as far as Matthias had known.

Guess they were even—

Abruptly, a summoning came from up above, Nigel and his band of dandies calling him heavenward so he could see the flag he’d earned fly at the top of the great wall—along with the other two.

No, he thought. He wasn’t going.

Fuck them and the game.

Shutting down the draw, he kept himself stuck on terra firma —to hell with the archangels, to hell with Devina, to hell with the Maker.

He wasn’t playing right now. Maybe in a minute, an hour, a day, he would come back online, but at this moment? Fuck ’em all.

He was going to take care of his dead in the only way he could. That was all he knew.

With a curse, he forced himself to shift to the side and push his arms under Matthias’s knees and shoulders. As he began to lift, Jim felt as dead as the other man—and knew it made no sense. He was now three up in the war. One more win and he could close this bizarre chapter in his life down and move along.

He should have been celebrating—

Matthias jerked wildly and drew in a huge breath of air.

“What the fuck!” Jim hollered.

And dropped the man like a bag of mulch.

After her “chauffeur” parked her mother’s car in the garage, Mels just sat in the passenger seat, staring straight ahead at the garden tools that had dust on them. “You can go now,” she heard herself say.

She didn’t look at the man, and prayed he left fast.

When he didn’t move, she stated calmly, “If you don’t get out of this car right now, I’m going to scream until I shatter the windshield. And I don’t think either of us needs to go through that sort of thing. Do you?”

“He was a good guy.”

Mels closed her eyes and slowly curled her arms around herself. She had thought that losing her father would be the greatest pain she would ever have to endure.

Maybe this just seemed worse because it was fresh?

“Matthias is going to be okay,” the guy said.

“He’s dead.”

“And he’s all right.”

God, Mels really wanted to cry, just weep like crazy. But she felt frozen inside.

“Look at me,” the man said. When she didn’t, he put a gentle finger under her chin and shifted her head around—even as she refused to meet his eyes. “I’m not supposed to share certain kinds of intel, but I think you need something to keep you going tonight. Believe me, I know how that is.”

“There’s nothing you can say—”

“Your father’s in the place where Matthias’s going. They’re both okay—”

“How can you be so cruel—”

“—where they are—”

“Pine Grove Cemetery is not okay!”

He just shook his head. “They’re at eternal rest, and it’s got nothing to do with where their bodies are buried. And you’ll see them again, but not for a long while.”

Finally meeting his stare, she—

With a gasp, Mels focused on his eyes…especially the one that looked as Matthias’s had. Precisely as Matthias’s had. And there were scars on his face he hadn’t had before—right where Matthias had had them.

It was as if the man had lifted all of the injuries directly out of Matthias’s flesh.

With a trembling hand, Mels reached up to touch his face, but he inched back, keeping away from the contact.

“It was true,” she mumbled. “Matthias didn’t fake the healing or the damage.”

“Be at peace,” the man said in a warping voice that seemed to be in her mind instead of coming through her ears. “You don’t need to worry about either of them. They’re safe.”

At that moment, she knew in her heart what he was.

What Jim Heron was, too.

She had seen the truth in the mirror at the Marriott, and she was seeing it again now.

“You’re an angel,” she whispered in awe.

Her words seemed to snap him out of the connection, and he pulled away sharply. “Nah, just someone passing through your life.”

Bullshit, she thought.

Abruptly, the man got out, shut the driver’s-side door, and initiated the garage door to close…and then between one blink and the next, he was gone.

Mels wrenched her head over her shoulder, searching behind the car as the panels were trundling shut. Jumping out, she went to call his name. Except…