The demon that had taken me from the Sepulchre lifted his head and bleated, and then led a charge into the street.

Bex and Claire stood to the side, watching hundreds of demons surge past them, casting off wind like a freight train barreling through the room. The clash outside between Heaven and Hell was audible, like nothing I’d ever heard before, and then at once, it was silent, crossing planes.

Jared grabbed each side of my face with a broad smile. “We did it, Nina! Heaven will protect her!”

I sighed with relief and hugged my daughter to my chest. The quiet we shared was frozen in time. The end of the war around us was instantaneous. Bex, Ryan, Claire and Jared all looked in wonder at my little girl. She lay still, peering around with her big, round, cloudy eyes, blinking at the bright light.

Jared kneeled before me, still breathing hard, his face red and marked with shades of blood and dirt from his fight to reach us. Ryan and Claire crowded around us, their worried expressions softened by the sight of the child wrapped in my arms.

“You’re amazing,” Jared said. His voice cracked an infinitesimal amount as he spoke, but I couldn’t look away to see his expression. The little girl in my arms was breathtaking.

Claire took a few silent steps until she was next to me. She rubbed her palm on her jeans and then reached out her small hand, extending her index finger to touch the baby’s pinky. “She’s…here,” she whispered, in awe.

“You did it,” Ryan said with a half-smile.

Jared crawled to the opposite side of Claire, tenderly putting one arm behind my neck, the other touching his daughter’s cheek with his thumb. He kissed my hair and leaned in to whisper in my ear. “I didn’t think I could love you more than I already did.”

I looked into his eyes and smiled. “You did it, Jared. You saved us.”

Jared’s blue-grey eyes glossed over, and he pulled me closer, the three of us in a tender embrace.

After a few quiet moments, Jared’s arms tensed, and he looked to the doorway. Claire flipped around, her hands balled into fists at her side. Bex stood in front of my makeshift bed, crouched in a defensive stance.

Ryan quickly cocked his gun and aimed at the door, ready for whatever the Hybrids were bracing for. “What now?” he said, his eyes focused at the same point as the others.

Claire shoved Ryan against the wall and then pointed at him. “Stay there,” she said firmly. “Don’t. Move.”

Ryan lowered his weapon, and waited.