Epilogue
Many Underworld years later…
Somewhere in the depth of madness—a place where evil and wicked grew more than anything else, a demon took a human there. Not to hurt her, you see, but to love her for a long time.
And what did this human do? Well… she was the one that asked him to, and a soul reaper who had so much control, had so little when it came to her. So he stole her away from her life and brought her into his.
I could tell you about how long it took her to adjust. How weird it was for her to see all these different kinds of demons. I could tell you how much their love failed or how much it soared, but instead I’ll tell you this…
The human woman rubbed her round belly each night, and the soul reaper kissed it. She sang for the demons and devils. Whether it was with a smile, did you really have to ask?
“Mom!” Addy blew through her nose and crossed her arms in bed. “Why do you always end it like that? If the soul reaper took her to the Underworld and away from everything she had known, we should at least get to know if she was happy or not.” I smiled as I kissed her cheek. “I don’t want to be a soul reaper. They sound horrible.”
“Now, Addy, hush. My two favorite people in this world are soul reapers.”
She smiled and brought her blanket up to her mouth. “Me and daddy?”
I nodded. “Right.” I looked at the clock on the wall and kissed her once more. “Mommy’s going to go sing. Lars will be here with you.”
“Does daddy fall in love with you all over again every time you sing?” she asked.
I laughed. “I don’t know. You’ll have to ask him.”
I grabbed the portal chip off the drawer and ported to the bar Amit bought for me so that I could sing. My crowd was smaller and very different from what I was used to, but I adapted quickly. I found I rather liked it down here. My fans down here were all different. Some looked human. Some looked very not-human—that was a nice way of putting it. Some were hairy. Some were green, purple, red, or blue. Some were feline. Some had tentacles. It was interesting to say the least.
With no sign of my husband, my soulmate, I went on stage. I swayed as I sang to my heart’s content. The very demon that delivered Addy bounced her head around to my words and held her glass up when our eyes met. She was a friend, one of many I found down here.
My childhood, my loneliness, and the isolation I felt most of my life suddenly made sense when coming here. It was like I spent my entire life waiting to be here. Amit gave me half of his own life—a soul reaper’s bond every time he touched me, which might as well mean immortality. Even now, his soul would wilt flowers if he spent too much time away from me.
He was still cold and aloof—that I adored. It was a must sometimes down here, and I understood why he was the way he was. But when we were alone in our home with our daughter, his harshness dwindled to nothing and the only thing he gave was hugs and kisses.
I spotted his reaping form off to the right of the stage. His crimson eyes tracked me as I walked across the stage. I would never escape the intensity in the way he watched me, and I didn’t want to. We lived off one another—literally. His soul worshipped mine just the way he did me.
He swooped me up as I stepped off the stage. The world went black around us—everything faded away as he ported us. Then we were in our bedroom. Still in his reaping form, Amit played with my soul. I fell back on the bed as he kissed and touched my soul with his. This was something he didn’t do with me right away. He waited until I was more used to this side of him. It always brought tears to my eyes when he did. Something about the way our souls yearned for one another when he let them collide was pure. He shared with me what they felt. Their thoughts didn’t come in words, but feelings and he later explained that was the way he knew the difference between different types of souls. Good ones, wicked ones, cruel ones, and pure ones… He read them all.
When he finished letting our souls communicate, he changed forms. He stripped me down and whispered. “Everything beautiful and wonderful resides in you.” I cupped his face and smiled. “And now our daughter.”
I nodded and leaned up and kissed him. “Soul reaper.”
He met my eyes. “Soul food.”
Words that once hurt me were a defining moment in our journey. I loved my unconventional love and the weird life he had given me.
THE END