Pure Redemption (Tainted Legacy) (37 page)

She took a resolute step back from the brilliance of the light shining through.

Without warning, like a hand shooting out through the darkness, a feeling of such intense warmth and longing gripped her with a desire to move
toward the light again
. It was a presence that she didn’t know and yet paradoxically knew implicitly.

She began to rush forward, down the aisle and toward the blinding, glowing light.

Grier’s grip around her wrist stopped her. “Ava. You need to think this through.
You must be sure of your decision.
Once you cross over, there is no
coming
back.”

Ava’s gaze swung from Grier’s solemn face to the figure she knew was there but she couldn’t see. Not with her eyes at least. She felt her mother, saw her with her soul. She was standing direct
ly on the other side
.

“My birth mother is waiting for me? Isn’t she?”

“Yes.”

It was in that precise moment that Ava felt her heart distinctly split in two. She loved Daniel and Leah St. Clair wholly and completely. But she had always ached to know the mother who had been taken from her.

But she desperately loved Gabe, too.

“I…I…” she faltered as her eyes tried to take in the blinding glare. It was too much to look at and she had to look away.
“Mom?” she whispered as s
he closed her eyes
. She
let her mind and her soul see what her eyes could not. Her breath caught in her throat as she felt her mother’s love wrap around her. She stood silently for a moment, taking it in, absorbing it and trying as best as she could to return it. Then she slowly released the breath she’d been holding and opened her eyes. She once again looked longingly toward the light but she felt different now. As if the presence was giving her permission to go back. No,
urging
her to go back.

“What happens if I go back?” she asked
in a trembling voice as her eyes continued to flit between the light and the angel
. “Will I be able to be with Gabe?”

“I cannot tell you what your future holds. I can tell you that if I were to escort you back, Gabe is waiting for you. What the two of you make of your future is in your hands. I will tell you it will not be easy. Although Gabe has been granted
salvation
, while he has been forgiven for the reprehensible choices he made at one time, he is still Nephilim. He is not
the same as he was, as you know. He is a
Nephilim
unlike any other that has ever walked the earth
. Angelic blood, now pure and untainted, remains in his veins. His life will never be that of someone simply human,” Grier explained.

“We thought, perhaps, he was no longer Nephilim.”

“He is different, true, but
what he is cannot be changed.
It is only what he does with it that can change.
He will always struggle with the choices he makes. More so than someone who is simply human.”

“Then he needs me there to help him.” With those words, Ava realized that the light behind her
began to fade.

“He will always have mystical abilities that will set him apart.”

“Why can he see souls? When he couldn’t before?” Ava pointed out.

“Before, he could read emotions, which made it easy for him to manipulate people. Seeing souls is that ability in a purer form. It simply tells him with a glance what kind of person someone is overall. It doesn’t give him the resources to manipulate them in the moment,” Grier explained. “As for his scars…The scars on his back were symbolic of his old life. The scar over his heart is symbolic of the new life that he chose.”

Ava nodded, oddly, it made sense to her.

“I want to go back,” she whispered.

With that, the light behind her faded completely, she felt it as much as she saw it. She knew that her decision was made and that she had made the right choice. She would still meet her birth mother one day, when the time was right. But that time was not now.

Still, she felt a shadow of sadness close around her even though she knew her
birthmother understood
. She more than understood. Ava felt that, too, down to her soul. Her mother wanted her to return to her life, to live it out as happily as she could.

“He will never get his memory back.” And there it was; the one thing that Ava had wanted the answer to more than anything.

“Why is that?” she wanted to know.

Grier looked at her solemnly in the way only Grier could. “It was his choice. His memories tormented him. Over time, they could have eaten away at him, haunted him, worn him down and possibly pulled him back into the life he so desperately wanted to escape. When he was given the chance to return to his old life, I offered to help him return to it with a clean slate. He had been granted pure redemption. It seemed only right that he not suffer the agony of his past demons.”

“He
chose
this?” Ava asked, not able to hide her disbelief.

“He did. He chose it because of you. He wanted to be with you with a clear conscience. You told him once to have faith. He has taken that advice more than once. He followed your lead and had faith that he could cage Azael. He took another leap of faith and trusted that he would find his way back to you. Even without his memory to guide him. It appears to me that he did not fail.”

“He said that sometimes, he feels like he could remember if he tried hard enough.”

Grier nodded. “Yes, if he tried hard enough. And yet, there is always something, some part of him that stops that from happening. That will always be the case because that is how it was meant to be.”

Ava glanced around the church, at the door that was now there, replacing the light. She had made her decision, just as Gabe had made his. “How do I go back?”

“I will guide you,” Grier said as she took her hand. An emotion flickered across her face. Ava thought it looked suspiciously like a shadow of a smile. “
This information was
given
to
you to
help you make your decision. Nothing more.
It is not yours to keep and you will remember none of it once you leave here. But it has served its purpose and you have made the choice you were always meant to make.
”

***

“Oh, Gabriel,” the soft voice beside him sighed. “We have, once again, quite the mess to clean up, do we not?”

His head snapped up at the sound of Grier’s voice
and his breath caught in his throat
. Though he didn’t necessarily remember her, he knew exactly who she was. Ava had spoken of her at great length. His breath lodged in his throat when he saw Ava’s ethereal form standing beside this angel. It was Ava; he could see her soul as it glowed brightly around her. Yet, he could see
through
her.

She was not looking at him. She was looking at herself. He glanced down at the body in his arms and tried to reconcile what this meant.

“Go,” he heard Grier urge. She gave Ava’s form a nudge and it exploded into golden sparks that rained down upon her lifeless form. He instantly felt the life that flowed back through her. Her soul was firmly in place—golden, glowing, vibrant—and her eyes fluttered open.

“Gabe?” she whispered.

Even with blood smeared across her face
, twigs and leaves in her hair,
and her eyes glossy and confused, he knew she’d never looked more beautiful. His heart, which had been shattered only moments before surged with love and gratitude and relief.

“Everything’s okay,” he said as he buried her in a hug.

“Molly?” she asked. Her voice was stronger now, and quite a bit more frantic. “Grier?!” She bolted upright in Gabe’s arms at the sight of the angel. Her eyes scanned the room and her body stiffened as the last moments played out in her memory. Her gaze rested on the two lifeless bodies and then darted back to the all-too-still form of her friend.

“I think she’s here to help,” Gabe told her, trying to reassure her of Grier’s presence.

“I killed your brother,” Ava whispered, wide-eyed.

“You killed Cam, yes, because he had every intention of killing me. But I don’t consider him my brother. If I did, that would make him my family. And as far as I’m concerned, you’re the only family I’ve ever had,” Gabe told her as he pulled her in closer.

“And Rafe…” Ava began as her body started to tremble in Gabe’s arms. She curled into his chest and his arms wrapped tightly around her. “He killed me? Was I
dead
?”

“Rafe’s gone. You’re here with me,” Gabe said soothingly. “That’s all that matters.”

They sat back and watched as Grier neared the bodies of his brothers. She held out her hands and the air shimmered as their bodies disappeared.

Next, she turned to the ring of fire that still blazed.

“Is Molly…?” Ava sniffled against Gabe’s shoulder.

“She’s alive,” he assured her. “But just barely.” He could make out only the faintest glow of orange.

Grier walked through the fire and knelt at Molly’s side. When her hands rested on Molly’s body, it began to glow in a beautiful, breathtaking blend of orange and gold.

Ava heard Molly’s sharp intake of breath. With it, the fire died out and the gold faded away. Gabe noted only the orange remained, just as it should be.

“She’s asleep,” Grier announced. “She’ll awaken shortly. She’ll be fine. Furious, I am sure, but fine.” She eyed up the girl who had once tried to befriend her and both Gabe and Ava correctly assumed that it was Grier’s choice that Molly remained asleep for a while longer.

She strode over to them.

“I am fully aware that Rafael meant to set Azael free. You both fought to keep that from happening. Rafe is gone but no one will question the reason. I will make sure of it.” She knelt down next to Ava and Gabe. “I am proud of you both,” she said in a very uncharacteristic manner. “Ava, I believe you made the right decision. You will never regret it.”

With that, she was gone.

Ava blinked at Gabe in the darkness of the church. Little time had passed on earth and the sun, while low, hadn’t fully set. Even still, now that the fire had died, the church was quite dark.

“What choice did I make?” she asked him.

“I’m not entirely sure,” he admitted.

“Ava?” Molly’s drowsy voice floated through the chilly gloom. “
Please get me out of here.”

Epilogue

The last day of August was hot and steamy. It could’ve been utterly miserable if it weren’t for the constantly running air conditioner.

“I can’t believe he’s never had a birthday party. That’s just so, so sad,” Molly proclaimed as she placed a pitcher of iced tea on the table.

They were having the party at the St. Clair
’
s because not only was the cabin too small, it was much too warm.

“I know. That’s why I wanted to surprise him with this one,” Ava said as she placed a pan of chicken Parmigiana next to the tea. Julia followed with the salad and Leah with a
basket of breadsticks
.

“Your dad just let me know they should be here any minute,” Leah warned.

Molly grabbed Julia and tugged her toward the living room. “Let’s go let the guys know.”

Oliver had gladly accepted Molly’s tearful apology and they had been spending more time together than ever.
Actually, a whole lot of triple-dating had been going on with the group of friends.

After surviving the terrifying ordeal of being held against her will by a Nephilim, Julia had decided life was too short to worry so much about nonsensical things like germs and toxic substances in foods. She’d begun eating onion rings and deep fried chicken whenever she felt like it.

Furthermore, when Dawson finally got up the nerve to ask her out, she’d been brave enough to accept with Ava’s complete and very firm blessing. However, after two awkward dates, Julia decided that even with Ava’s blessing, she still felt as though she were violating some unspoken code of friendship and there was no third date.

When she ran into Mitch Allard in the parking lot of the Gas and Go, she
’d
decided it was an act of Divine Intervention. And while the romanticism of Divine Intervention left a lot to be desired, she
’d taken
full advantage of the situation.
Now that they had graduated she
hadn’t been
sure if she’d see him again if she let him walk away. So s
he
’d
poured her heart out to Mitch right there in the parking lot, b
etween the gas pumping stations.
She
had
let him know she’d had a crush on him since the day he’d walked into their algebra class as a transfer student sophomore year. She
’d
told him she regretted never asking him out. Lastly, she admitted that the day he landed on top of her in front of the trophy case was probably a day she would remember until the day she died.