Forever (Fallen 3)

I let her go and then ran to my brother, hugging him tightly.

“I’m fine, squirt,” Aiden assured me. “You don’t have to squeeze me so tight.”

“Yes, I do,” I cried. “Adam’s dead, isn’t he?”

“He and my sister went down together,” Vivian interrupted. “I watched it happen…they didn’t suffer.”

My lower lip trembled.

It was one thing to believe my brother was dead; it was another to hear it. But I couldn’t let myself dwell on his death right now, there would be time for that later. Right now, I needed to see who was still alive.

I spotted Gabriel and surprised him by launching myself into his arms.

“Whoa,” he hugged me back awkwardly, “what’s this for?”

“For helping me get my daughter back,” I kissed his cheek. “Without you, we would’ve never been able to do this.”

“I don’t know about that,” he smiled sheepishly.

“You know I’m right,” I smiled back.

“I was pretty helpful,” he chuckled. Sobering, he said, “Still, I wish no one had to die.”

“This was a war,” I finally said, “and a war has casualties.”

“Spoken like a true soldier,” He winked. Winked! I still wasn’t used to this new and improved Gabriel.

I made my way back to Jonathon.

Patrick, Danny, Mason, and Joseph were all there with him. But Diana was nowhere to be seen.

“Where’s Diana?” I asked, looking behind them as if she would magically appear. “Where is she?”

“Gone,” Danny answered.

I crumbled the ground as a scream tore through my chest.

Adam.

Vivian.

Colton.

Diana.

And countless others were dead. My chest constricted painfully. Had all those deaths been worth it?

The answer was yes, maybe that made me a sick twisted person, but I’d go through it all again if it meant getting my daughter back. I would miss them all, for the rest of my existence, their presence would never be filled.

Gabriel called over his shoulder, “We need to get out of here. In case you’ve forgotten, there’s still Guarde members alive.”

Oh, crap. I had forgotten about that.

The lights flickered.

“We need to hurry,” Gabriel’s voice was urgent, “or the battle won’t be over quite yet.”

We all started running.