One week later...

We sit in Cupid's living room, pizza takeout boxes strewn across the rugs and coffee table.

"Ewww, who ordered the pizza with anchovies?" says Charlie cross-legged on the floor, looking at the floppy slice in her hand in disgust. Cal leans down from the couch and snatches it from her. His eyes flash irritably.

"That would be me," he says.

"I'm with Charlie, brother," says Cupid behind me on the armchair; he folds his arms protectively around me as I sit on his lap - his legs sprawled casually over the chair arm toward the fireplace. "Fish on a pizza?" I lean my head back to look at him and he pulls a face at me. "Gross..."

I grin then turn back to the others.

"Better than your ridiculously spicy pizza," says Crystal.

She's sat on the couch beside Cal looking more relaxed than I've ever seen her. She's ditched her usual fashion sense for a pink onesie, and my lip tugs upward slightly as I recall Cal's comment earlier that she looks like a giant marshmallow. She stretches out her legs, resting her fluffy cartoon like rabbit slippers on Cal's lap. He flashes them a distasteful look but he doesn't push her away.

Cupid shrugs, and I feel the hard muscles of his stomach move beneath me as he does.

"Well, you know what they say? You are what you eat...!"

"What? A jalapeno?" I say.

"No. Hot!" I turn and he beams at me – pleased with his terrible joke. "Obviously...!"

I groan – as does everyone else in the room except for Mino; he looks up from the book he's been browsing through to give an appreciative chuckle. I push myself up to my feet and Cupid clings to my stomach, pulling me back.

"Where you going?! It wasn't that bad a joke!" he says.

I prize his fingers apart then turn to look at him – rolling my eyes. He's wanted to be close to me constantly since the battle – I think a part of him feels bad that he couldn't fight with me at the end.

"I know. I just need some air. I feel like we've been in here for hours."

"We have," says Charlie. "Maybe we should go out...do something?"

"Haven't we done enough these past couple of months?" says Crystal, raising her head, a pained expression on her face. Cal again surveys the pink bunny ears of her slippers with a confused expression in his face.

"Hmmm...let me see...fought a zombie army, defeated Valentine, got back Cal's life thread, and sent Venus to the underworld," says Cupid. "What you think, lovebug?"

I grin.

"Yeah...I think we've done enough." Charlie gives me an accusing look but her eyes are bright with amusement. "Sorry, Charlie!"

I look down at Cupid. "Still getting some air though."

He nods, giving me a kind smile, and I head out of the living room – hearing Charlie's joking moans follow me into the corridor.

"I should have left with Cassie an hour ago when I had the chance. It smells like socks in here..."

I make my way upstairs, past Cupid's room, and out onto the balcony. I breathe in the cool night air as I walk across, stopping at the edge and gripping the black, twisty iron fence. I look out onto Cupid's grounds – softly lit by the pool lights.

And I release a heavy sigh.

I let a sense of calmness wash over me. It's not that I wasn't enjoying everyone's company – but since everything happened some part of me just wants to be alone. Something inside me feels different, changed. Dark.

Maybe it's the memory of Valentine's eyes, the tear slipping down his cheek, as I plunged the arrow into his heart.

Killing him felt different to killing Venus.

We have an understanding between us, don't we?

His words come back to me, penetrating through my mind. I blink hard, forcing him away.

Yet still the darkness seems to grow inside me, twisting around my heart and soul.

"Lila?"

I flinch, then turn. And I'm brought back into the light. Cal stands in the doorway, his blonde hair sticking up in places. I smile.

"You have sofa hair," I tell him.

He awkwardly smooths it down then comes to stand beside me.

"You OK?" he says.

I nod.

He shoots me a sideways look, a skeptical look on his face. I sigh.

"I can't explain it. I feel...different. And a part of me almost feels..."

"Bad?" he says.

He looks away from me and out onto Cupid's grounds.

"Yeah..." I say, finally admitting it.

"Lila, you did what had to be done. You saved my life. And more importantly you saved your own life. He would have killed you. You know that."

I think of the way Valentine looked at me. The way he didn't really seem to fight that hard when I thrust it into his chest. I think of his face when he saw Cupid unconscious against the cliff– how I'd prayed that he didn't notice the Finis was no longer jutting out of his chest. But how could he not have noticed?

I frown.

"Logically I know that. It's just...a part of me..."

"What?" he says.

A part of me doesn't believe he was going to hurt me.

A part of me thinks it was too easy to kill him.

A part of me doesn't think this is over.

I can't say it aloud. It's stupid.

He's gone.

"Nothing," I say. I search for a change of subject. "Has anyone managed to track the Fates down?"

Cal shakes his head – a dark look flickering across his face.

"Crystal's sent word out to all the Matchmaking Service branches – telling them to be wary –" he says, "but not much work has been done this week, to be honest. We lost some good agents in the battle, and everyone has been exhausted after the hell Valentine has put us all through." He sighs. "I just hope that with Venus and Valentine gone, this'll be the end of it. I think it will be. They don't involve themselves with humanity, I don't think they can. There must have just been a way for them to tip the balance slightly with Valentine. And he's gone now."

He looks contemplative a moment, the moonlight reflecting off his pale face, and we both fall into silence – staring out into the night. It's one of the things I like about Cal – he's good at being quiet.

"Hope I'm not interrupting!"

My lip tugs upward at Cupid's voice coming from the open door. He bounds over to stand on my other side, slipping his arm around my waist. I lean my head against his shoulder and he kisses my forehead.

"Soooo...what we looking at?" he says, following me and Cal's gaze into the night.

"We're just standing and being contemplative," I say.

"Quietly..." adds Cal pointedly.

I look up at Cupid and see the amusement on his face. He raises an eyebrow.

"OK," he whispers. "I get the message."

He kisses my head again, and then turns to look outward with us, his arm still protective around my waist. We stand in silence for a while – and Cupid's face becomes serious.

"I was so worried I was going to lose you," he says suddenly. "I mean – for that brief moment when I wasn't unconscious, anyway..." His words are light, but I can hear the pain behind them.

I turn to him – lightly touching his arm.

"There's nothing you could have done," I say. "I think it was always going to end up me against Valentine."

He nods but his expression is still dark.

"I keep thinking about Cassie's prophecy; not all will survive," he says.

I'd been thinking about that too.

"Valentine didn't survive," I say quietly.

He nods – his face a little brighter.

"Yeah – you're right. That must be what she meant."

We all turn back to look outwards – Cal on one side, Cupid on the other. As we're looking out into the night's sky, Charlie, Crystal, and Mino burst out onto the terrace – proclaiming they needed to get away from the smell of cheese.

I find myself laughing along with them – the darkness I'd been feeling temporarily shifting – as Charlie and Crystal poke fun at Cal, and Cupid pulls me closer to his body.

We're all here. We survived.

And whatever is thrown at us next – we'll face it together.

>>>Read my author note in the next chapter!!!!>>>