Heaven Sent

Chapter Twenty-One

                                         Cassandra

To feel this kind of security, the kind that moves through someone like a current, an energy pulsating deep to the drum of my reassured heartbeat, there can be no adapt vocabulary to describe it. Even at my happiest, there were always doubts-doubts on whether we'd see a gratifying end, on whether we could actually save each other or rearrange fate. Apprehension naturally came with loving an immortal man, on trusting in something as life-altering as him for the first time in my life.

And then the darkness came in and swallowed me whole. I could control it when our love was new, when I hadn't bared Elijah's death, hadn't sacrificed all to see him in front of me again. Something within Samael and what he offered began to supersede what Elijah tried so desperately to sustain within me. Gradually, over time, I realized what that was. The light, something I knew he carried ten-fold despite the burdens of eternal damnation. I had no idea how much good he was made up of until I was in the grasp of someone very different.

It hits me here, lying in his arms, that while I no longer possess deific qualities, we both will one day know what divinity tastes like. How it powers from an unknown source, the universe, and grants you the ability of seeing beneath the layers of time and space.

I'm in the arms of a demi-god. A god who will give himself to the light when it is time.

I know he will not struggle as I did to accept my fate. He will embrace the light, and it will be glorious. I have already seen a glimpse of it-of him-with skin that glows with warmth, natural blue eyes that melt the soul, hands that have the ability to cradle the possibilities of our dreams. Whatever my own outcome, I can only hope to be witness to him in that form.

I wonder from now on where my own story will lead, how it varies with his.

If we exist as closely as we are now, I will be glad.

Cool fingers follow the vertebrae of my spine, from the nape of my neck to my tailbone. He's followed that course for some time, appreciating the silence as I do. Between us, no limitations exist. We are wide open, with no obstacles set between us.

I've been lying on his chest for hours, trying my best to remain still. Moving only ignites my sensitized nerves, nerves that are spent after a night of in intense attention. Elijah could be hard. He could also be incredibly gentle. Tonight, he bathed me with desire, bringing to life parts of me that I thought had gone dormant. I can still feel his lips on the backs of my knees, his hands digging into my hips, grounding me into the bedding. He left no place untouched, erasing the residual traumas my skin has experienced over the years without him... without love.

Outside the room, the rage of the party has dissipated, although a few hushed noises arise every so often from the creatures here who live at all hours of the day. I'm forcing my eyelids to open, wanting to make this moment last. Sleep seems wasteful. As the weight of fatigue becomes harder to bear, I open my mouth, uttering the first thing that comes to mind, hoping it will keep me awake.

"So, what now?"

Despite the hours of silence, his voice is clear. "Regarding?"

"We have no instructions on what to do next. Only this necklace." I lift my heavy head to glance down at the large jewel weighing down my neck. We both gaze at the necklace for some time before he answers.

"I'm sure all will be revealed in due time. Jehovah clearly has a plan in motion." He touches the citrine, carefully observing the different sides. "The scorpion represents protection, no?"

I nod, watching him interpret this object handed to me by my parents, of all people. "Yes. The firefly on the other side represents light. Inner light."