Steal the Night (Thieves #5)(161)

“Well, I’m thrilled,” Oliver admitted. “Do you have any idea how many bets you just won me? I’m the man right now. Any assignment I want is mine for the taking. There isn’t an angel on the Heaven plane who isn’t thinking that Oliver Day is hot shit.”

Felicity shook her blonde head with an amused grin. “I wasn’t thinking that. Were you, Jude?”

“Not at all,” Jude replied.

“Well, you should be,” Oliver said, not letting his siblings bring him down. “I just pulled off something spectacular and all I had in my arsenal to work with was one obnoxious girl.”

I frowned, looking at Felicity. “You would think the man did everything himself. I did take part, you know.”

“You’ll have to forgive my brother,” she said as Oliver went into a fist pumping dance. “This really was a long shot. No one thought he could pull it off. You were his secret weapon, though he’ll never admit it. He’s actually quite fond of you. He won’t admit that, either.”

I turned and stared out the window. The balcony door was open and I saw the little bistro table where Albert served Dev and I our coffee when we woke up. We would sit out on the balcony in our robes with Danny and discuss what we needed to do that day. I wouldn’t do that ever again.

My eyes filled with tears and I thought about the promise I had made Dev that day not so long ago. I needed to find a way to wait for them. “What happens next?”

Oliver stopped his happy dance and regarded me seriously for the first time. “Well, Daniel begins the new Council. He takes his place on the throne, but he shares power with those around him. It’s going to be a time of change for the whole supernatural world. It’s very exciting.”

I was sure it would be an exciting time but that wasn’t what I meant. “What happens with me?”

Oliver’s handsome face became very serious and he caught his siblings’ eyes. They took a moment and I knew they were having some sort of internal discussion, probably an argument over how much to tell the little human. I just stood. There wasn’t an exit sign or something that pointed the way back to my body. I was stuck and there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about it.

They finally came to some sort of consensus.

“What happens next is up to you, Zoey,” Felicity said.

I perked up because I hadn’t been expecting that. “What do you mean?”

Oliver crossed his arms. “Well, we discussed it and we agree with you. It doesn’t seem particularly fair, given your unique nature, that you not be given a choice. Up until this point our whole endeavor has been dependent on the choices you made. You affected everyone around you with your decisions, and it seems wrong somehow to take that away from you at the end. It wasn’t like you wanted that vampire to shoot you a whole bunch of times and end up dying in a cesspool.”

“It wouldn’t have been my first choice, no.” I didn’t like to think of my ignominious death. Somehow I expected it to be cleaner.

Jude took over. “It occurs to us that your death would probably bring the other side an enormous amount of satisfaction. There are events coming up in the future that you would probably play an important part in if you survived.”

I didn’t have a whole bunch of fans on the Hell plane but I also knew that the Heaven plane tended to follow the rules to the letter.

Felicity read my mind. “We’re merely bending the rules, Zoey.”

Oliver laughed. “Oh, don’t be so understated, Felicity. We’re breaking the rules here, but they don’t play fair so why should we?”

“Tweaking is a more accurate term, brother,” Jude argued.

“Just freaking tell me what you mean.” They would argue semantics forever if I didn’t interrupt.

“Fine,” Oliver replied. “Let us say we’re taking a page from the other team’s playbook. Even now, Neil has discovered your body and taken it to Daniel. He’s attempting to revive you. Technically, you’re dead.”

I nodded. I was here so I got that. “And not technically?”

Felicity walked around the couch and put her arm around my shoulder. “Vampire blood can do amazing things, Zoey. Who’s to say he can’t bring you back? Who’s to say it wasn’t the vampire blood that brought you back rather than us?”

“We’re betting no one asks,” Jude said.

“Besides,” Oliver admitted with a grin. “If it’s not supposed to work then the big boss will stop us. We’ll get a stern lecture and be sent on our way. Despite what you humans think, he’s not big into punishment.”

My hopes were starting to soar. I was willing to go back into that broken body if it meant being with Danny and Dev again. “Okay, let’s get on with it.”

Oliver held up a hand. “Not so fast, Zoey. I said you have to make a choice. The Heaven plane is a nice place. It’s safe and you’ll never feel alone or have a moment’s worry again. When you join us, you’ll know everything. All those question you have will be answered. There’s peace and serenity and knowledge here. It isn’t something to be taken lightly.”

“If you go back,” Felicity began, “you will face more adversity and I can’t promise that it will all go well.”

“I’m willing to take that chance.” I bit my lip because I wasn’t sure I wanted the answer to my next question. That bullet had been awfully close to my pelvis. “Are my babies all right or did I lose them?”