Part 24 (2/2)

”I'm sure if you really needed me He would bring me to you again.”

”Then I won't say goodbye,” I tell her.

What daughter doesn't need her mother?

When I wake up, G.o.d is standing above me.

”Thank you,” I tell him.

”You're welcome.”

I sit up feeling like a weight has been lifted from my heart. Seeing my mother again helped fill in a part of my past, finally allowing me to close that chapter of my life. My mother loves me. That's all I ever wanted to know.

When I look over at G.o.d standing a few feet away from me now, I see a troubled frown on his face.

”What's wrong?” I ask him.

”I feel I should help prepare you for something.” He pauses and I'm not sure he's going to finish his thought until he says, ”In your final confrontation with Lucifer a sacrifice will have to be made.”

”What kind of sacrifice?”

”That will be revealed to you soon.”

”Are you seriously going to just leave me with that answer?” I ask in disbelief.

”I have to be careful with my words,” G.o.d says. ”I hope I haven't said too much as it is.”

”So will I get a warning about this sacrifice or is it just going to be a surprise?”

”There will be a warning. One of the archangels you have yet to find will be able to show you more.”

I sit there stunned and, I'll admit, slightly p.i.s.sed. He drops a sacrifice bombsh.e.l.l on me and doesn't say anything else? Ugh...

”Also,” G.o.d says, ”tell Mason I would be happy to do what he asked.”

”What did he ask?”

”I believe he wants to tell you that himself.”

”Ok,” I say, not having a clue what Mason would have asked G.o.d to do for him but apparently I was involved in it in someway.

”I should go now,” G.o.d says to me. ”Lucifer is coming.”

”Do I offer him the crown now?”

”You will know when the time is right.”

G.o.d phases just as I hear the rhythmic movement of the rocking chair on the porch.

Chapter 16.

I have no idea when I'm supposed to offer Lucifer the crown but I feel certain it isn't today. I run to my bathroom and grab a white towel to wrap it in. I go back to the living room and hide it inside one of the cabinets in my entertainment center. I grab my coat and walk out to the front porch.

”So what was all the commotion in your backyard about last night?” Lucifer asks me when I come to stand in front of him.

”Were you here?” I ask, certain I would have noticed the devil in my backyard.

”Yes but I didn't see you, just your neighbors.”

”Mason and I must have left by then.”

Lucifer looks at me expectantly, waiting for an answer to his original question.

”I asked Mason to marry me last night.”

Lucifer grunts. ”Guess I should have seen that coming,” he says derisively. ”Did he not have enough gumption to ask you himself? Needed a woman to do the job for him did he?”

”Don't talk about him like that in front of me. If you can't speak civilly about the man I plan to share my life with, don't say anything at all or better yet leave.”

”At least he's not human,” Lucifer s.h.i.+vers, completely seeming to ignore my ultimatum. ”I would have to seriously reconsider your intelligence if you had chosen a monkey to mate with.”

”But in your eyes I'm a monkey,” I remind him.

”Only partially. You have the soul of a Guardian. That puts you above a normal human in my estimation.”

I suppose that's how he's rationalizing his feeling for me now. If I have part of the soul of an angel, I'm not completely human so he's not degrading himself by being friends with one.

”Tomato, tamato,” I say to him.

Lucifer looks confused. ”What?”

”A tomato is a tomato even if you try to make it sound fancier. It's what you're trying to do by saying I'm above a regular human because part of my soul comes from a Guardian. You need to face the fact that I'm just a human, Lucifer. You're friends with a human.”

Lucifer grunts again but doesn't say anything.

”I suppose he said yes,” Lucifer says, changing the subject. ”Is that the biggest ring he could find?”

I look at my diamond. It sparkles even in the shade of the porch, trapping the ambient light within is mult.i.tude of facets and causing a dazzling s.h.i.+mmer.

”Big enough for me,” I say.

”Well I would hope so. A 10carat diamond doesn't come cheap in your world.”

I hadn't even thought about how much it cost.

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