We meet. We always meet, somehow we're always thrown together, no matter where I go, no matter how I try to distance myself from you. It never matters. You always find me.

Molly slapped the lid back down then pushed past Luce into the foyer stumbling over Shelby in her path. �Excuse you � they said gruffly at the same time eyeing each other suspiciously. �Oh good. � Gabbe leaned in to give Luce a hug. �Molly'�s made a friend.�

Because she was seventeen, and still alive, against thousands of years' worth of odds.Because she knew enough to fear what the future would bring.

Daniel took Luce’s hands in his. He closed his eyes, inhaled, and let his massive white wings unfurl. Fully extended , they would have filled the entire kitchen , but Daniel reined them in, close to his body. They shimmered and glowed and looked altogether too beautiful. Luce reached out and touched them with both hands. Warm and satin smooth on the outside, but inside, full of power. She could feel it coursing through Daniel, into her. She felt so close to him, understood him completely—As If they had become one.

Luce: "But what about all those other times, when I die before we kiss, before--" Bill: "Before you even have a chance to see how toxic your relationship might become?

And while Luce dreamed below of the most glorious wings unfurling-the likes of which she'd never seen before-two angels in the rafters shook hands.

She would not stop until she beat the devil.