This time, when I opened my eyes, I knew I was home. My real home. I glanced around at the quaint little English room and out the window at the clouds that had turned the entire world into soft shades of gray, smiling when the little bundle that was Mr. Whiskerson cuddled up against my cheek. Somehow, I was back in Lilith’s house. The last thing I remembered was throwing the biggest fireballs I’d ever seen in my life, and then passing out like an idiot. I had no idea if my fireballs even hit their mark, though I was guessing they must have, if I were here. That said…

“Aha, there she is,” Lizzie’s bright voice said from my side.

I twisted my head to see that practically everyone was standing by my bed. Lizzie and Isaac, Lilith and Rourke, and my four breathtaking fallen angels, of course. They were all here. We had all survived. Somehow.

“What the hell happened?” My voice barely got out the words.

Uriel took my hand in his and beamed down at me. “You saved us, that’s what happened.”

My heart warmed at the contact, but I felt myself instinctively glance toward Ramiel, expecting him to put a stop to the display of affection. But he didn’t. Instead, he shot me a soft smile. My heart flickered. I wanted to reach out toward him and pull him close, to breathe in his scent. We’d had that horrible argument. I’d been so mad at him. And then I’d thought he was dead. I’d thought all of them were dead. If only I could spend the next few hours wrapped up in their arms…But I didn’t know how to ask them for that. I didn’t know how to start that conversation. Hell, Ramiel might still believe we should keep some distance between us. If he did, after everything we’d been through…it might truly break my heart.

“Your training finally came through,” Sam said, pride beaming from his voice. “Your fireballs hit their mark. They engulfed Asmodeus within seconds. At that point…”

“That asshole burned to a crisp,” Rourke said, crossing his arms over his thick chest. “Good riddance. You did damn good, Erela.”

My heart skipped a beat. I couldn’t believe I’d done it. I couldn’t believe I’d actually mastered my powers. Of course, the effort had obviously been too much for me at this point in time, and I’d passed out, but that didn’t matter. Somehow, it had all worked out in the end.

“You’re probably wondering how we all got out of the cages,” Lizzie asked, perching on the bed before giggling. I arched an eyebrow. “Apparently, the creature Asmodeus had with him was so grateful that you killed his master and freed him that he’s now your loyal friend for the rest of your days.”

I blinked at her, and then gazed around at the rest of my friends (and lovers). “What’s Lizzie talking about? Maybe I hit my head too hard because I could have sworn she said something about a flying demon creature coming to my aide?”

Harry popped his balding head around the door and let out a grunt of irritation. “You didn’t hit your head too hard, though I wished you had. Your new friend is outside in the garden, making a wreck of my flowers.”

“Leave it to you to adopt another creature when you’re trying to battle a demon,” Az said, though his tone held more affection than irritation.

“I, for one, am not at all surprised.” Ramiel moved closer, his eyes soft and full of adoration. He took my hand tightly between his. He gazed down at me, so many emotions flickering across his usually stoic face. “Erela, there’s so much I need to speak with you about. There’s so much I want to say. I hate how we left things. I hate how much I kept from you.”

And there was so much I wanted to say to him. And do with him. Preferably with all of our clothes on the floor. My cheeks heated, and my entire body warmed up several degrees. A little flame might have even sprouted up on the tip of my nose.

Lilith tutted and shoved her way between us, gently taking my hand away from Ramiel’s. “Oh, shoo. You’ll have plenty of time to talk to her later. She needs to rest now. That means no more of that flame business for now, so all four of you need to give her a little space until she recovers. We need to make sure she gets her strength back up as soon as possible. The state of the world and all that.”

My ears pricked up. That didn’t sound good.

“What are you talking about?” I asked, voice still rough. “Don’t tell me the state of the world has gotten worse while I’ve been unconscious.”

She turned back around, gave me a sad smile. “We managed to close the portal, but it hasn’t done the world much good. The demons have gotten organized. They’re planning coordinated attacks, to cause the last of the human civilizations to fall. And then there are the Archangels. They’ve found out what you are. Michael fled Celestia, but they’re out for blood. Word on the street is that they’re going to head to earth next. To here. We need to find a more secure base than this one.”

She paused as Mr. Whiskerson snuggled closer against my cheek, his little whiskers twitching with nervous energy, and then continued. “They want to destroy the Nephilim.”

* * *

Thank you for reading Nebulous, book 2 in the Order of the Fallen series. Want to read about Erela’s adventures when they found the Old Enochian book? You can grab Infernal (for free!), a novella that takes place between books 1 and 2.

And, you can find Ravenous, the third and final book in the series, ! Thanks for reading!