"There was a Devil.
And her living room sucked.
Although the Holy Rollers hadn't gotten everything straight. Turn out Satan didn't have horns, or a tail; no pitchfork or cloven hooves, either. She was a bitch and a half, however, and she did wear red a lot."
Rapture is the fourth novel of the Fallen Angels series set in the same universe as The Black Dagger Brotherhood series. It follows Envy and precedes Possession.
Along with Black Dagger Legacy, Black Dagger Brotherhood: Prison Camp, and Lair of the Wolven, Fallen Angels is a spin-off from the main series Black Dagger Brotherhood. Unlike the other spin-offs, this is a stand-alone series and Black Dagger Brotherhood is not required in order to fully understand the lore, characters, and story-lines of Fallen Angels. Each book was published alternately with the main series, but chronologically the series more or less takes place at the same time as Lover Unleashed. Rapture was released after Lover Reborn and before Lover at Last.
Rapture continues the story of Jim Heron and his mission to prevent all of existence from being wiped out in the war of good and evil as a soul from a previous round is brought back into play.
Synopsis[]
Mels Carmichael, reporter for the Caldwell Courier Journal, gets the shock of her life when a man stumbles in front of her car outside the local cemetery. After the accident, his amnesia is just the kind of mystery she likes to solve, but she soon discovers they're in over their heads with his past. Over their heads with passion, too...
As shadows walk the line between reality and another realm, and her lover's memory begins to come back, the two of them learn that nothing is truly dead and buried. Especially when youre trapped in a no-holds-barred war between angels and demons. With a soul on the line, and Mels's heart at risk, what in Heaven - or in Hell - will it take to save them both?
Main Characters[]
Other Characters[]
- Adrian Vogel
- Bertie
- Byron
- Colin
- Dan
- Devina
- Dick
- Eddie Blackhawk
- Eric
- Helen Carmichael
- Jason Conneaut
- Jim Heron
- José de la Cruz
- Liza
- Monty
- Nigel
- Suraj
- Tony
Mentioned or non-Speaking Characters[]
- Alistair Childe
- Band of Bastards
- Beth
- Daniel Childe
- Dog
- Fritz
- Grier Childe
- Isaac Rothe
- Sissy
- Susan Barten
- Tarquin
- Thomas Carmichael
Plot[]
Warning[]
Reminder that this wiki contains spoilers so please proceed with caution.
Chapter 1[]
Matthias finds himself alive, naked, and atop Jim Heron's grave. Shaken after his stint in hell, he's full of regret, but first of all, he needs clothes and shelter because he assumes demons are going to come and drag him back.
Chapter 2[]
Mels Carmichael leaves the office late as she'd been working on an article about a gruesome mass murder. One her way home, she hits a man stumbling into the street.
Chapter 3[]
Devina has a session with her therapist over her anxiety concerning losing Matthias' soul and that her boss [the Creator] is making her and coworker [Jim] re-negotiate a contract with a client that's already been won.
Chapter 4[]
Mels is getting discharged from the ER and is distraught that she might have killed the person she hit so she goes to find and talk to him.
Chapter 5[]
Matthias wakes up to find Mels in his hospital room, but has no conscious memory of anything other than his name; although he does retain muscle memory. She starts crying and surprised that anyone would cry over him, Matthias takes her hand. Devina, disguised as a nurse, soon interrupts and politely kicks Mels out; before she leaves, she gives Matthias her business card. Although he doesn't recognize her given the memory loss, he wants to get away from her. She gives him strength and takes away the pain and tries to coax him down the wrong path as she gives him a sponge bath against his will.
Chapter 6[]
Adrian has an extremely realistic nightmare about Devina, but Eddie shows up in the dream to free him from her grasp.
Chapter 7[]
Acting mostly on instinct and without any idea of who he is or where he's going, Matthias checks out of the hospital AMA.
Adrian's nightmare wakes Jim up and he senses something's off and wrong, but fading. It doesn't take a genius to realize that Devina might have gotten into his head as he slept, which Adrian pretty much confirms when he tells Jim about the nightmare and suggests he ask Nigel for a different backup. Jim refuses because really the only other person he wants other than Eddie is Adrian, who's curled up in the shower and freaking out, convinced that Devina's inside him irrevocably.
Chapter 8[]
Mels dances around the topic of the car accident so as not to worry her mom, telling her that she went out with friends and left her car at their place rather than drive. The bruises are from falling in the shower.
Matthias goes to the address listed on the driver's license in his wallet to find that it's an unoccupied shell and without anywhere else to go, he goes to the Caldwell Courier Journal's office as listed on Mels' card. He asks her to look into the person listed on his ID, Matthias Hault, because even though it's his picture, it's not him.
Chapter 9[]
Mels assumes from Matthias' injuries and haunted look in his eyes that he's a vet, especially since he didn't feel safe at the hospital, which could be indicative of PTSD. She tells him she'll do some research at her desk and she'll met him at a diner nearby. Noticing he's self-conscious about his ruined eye and it's a bright, sunny day, she lends him her Ray-Bans.
At the diner, Mels tells Matthias that the Matthias Hault who lives at that address was 87 years old and died five weeks ago. Sensing that he needed a fake ID for nefarious purposes, Matthias warns her not to be alone with him. Even though she thinks he must be dangerous, she tells him that in his current condition she can easily take him because she has a black belt as well as a conceal carry license and never goes anywhere without her gun and a good knife.
Chapter 10[]
They decide to go back to the scene of the accident and try to retrace Matthias' steps. There, they find a scrap of cloth on the spikes of the fence of the cemetery as well as a bit of blood from when he climbed it. Wandering the cemetery to see if anything looks familiar, they find a grave marked James Heron and he recognizes the name and remembers that he woke up there naked. Matthias gets spooked and tells her to leave him. When she pushes back, he tells her that if she doesn't, she's going to die.
Chapter 11[]
An XOps operative's sent after Matthias and this one genuinely enjoys killing people.
Chapter 12[]
Matthias goes to a Starbucks and asks to use the landline to check with his buddy that he's supposed to be meeting there, which he uses to call 411 to look up Jim but no listing is found under that name. The barista overhears and asks if that's the construction worker who died two weeks ago; her uncle, who's in human resources, worked with him. Lying, Matthias tells her that his buddy's actually Jim's brother, the number was under his name, and he's worried about the brother dealing with Jim's death. Emphasizing the point with his cane, he says he served with Jim, which isn't technically a lie, and she plays good Samaritan by getting the number from her uncle.
Nigel drops in on Jim to tell him that Devina's been punished for her tactics outside the bounds set down by the Creator, but won't give him any details other than "it's been redressed." As they're talking, a cab pulls up.
Chapter 13[]
Getting out of the cab, Matthias recognizes Jim, who by all accounts should be dead and tells him to send the cab off. He found the address at the public library by cross-searching the phone number the barista gave him. He's shocked to see his old boss, but it makes sense if he's the "redress" Nigel referred to and the amnesia will work in Jim's favour. Matthias wants to know his own story, which Jim's disinclined to divulge all at once and risk tipping him towards evil again. He does tell Matthias he attempted to commit suicide via bomb, which was how he lost his eye and got his limp, because he hated the man he was becoming.
Chapter 14[]
In a motel room, a prostitute's getting paid to dye her hair blonde and blow dry it straight. She thinks the john just has a weird fetish and lets him brush her hair. He slits her throat and the last thing she sees is Devina's true face.
Chapter 15[]
Jim fills Adrian in on the situation with Matthias as Mels shows up, also having looked into Jim using her contacts as a reporter. Turning protective, Matthias warns Jim and Adrian not to touch her. Mels argues with Matthias, who doesn't want her involved for her safety, and Jim wipes her memory of him and his apartment. Matthias gets angry with Jim and draws a gun on him for putting her in a hypnotic state. He tells Matthias that she'll be fine and explains what he did because it will be easier all around if she doesn't have any knowledge of him. Jim has him take her to a hotel downtown where he's arranging for a room for the two of them and reminds Matthias that he's the only one with any real knowledge of Matthias's past.
As they pull away in Mels' borrowed car, Adrian questions the possibility of collateral damage if Matthias is downtown. Jim tells him that Devina will want to avoid another penalty and will want to avoid it.
Chapter 16[]
On the way to the hotel, Matthias thinks about how dangerous he must truly be to have pulled a gun on Jim without hesitation. He also has a lot to process like why he attempted suicide, how he feels vulnerable around Mels and is seriously attracted to her.
Chapter 17[]
Matthias and Mels get room service and get to know each other a little, but his impotence and sudden deluge of memories of meaningless sex with lots of women get in the way, despite his hunger for her. The worst of the faces he sees is a monstrous one as he's being taken like a piece of property to her dark lair, which naturally kills the mood even further. Then Mels gets a call from Dick to go cover a murder.
Chapter 18[]
Watching Mels leave, Jim asks Adrian to follow her and keep an eye on her because he thinks she's the key from the way Matthias looks at her. Adrian wants to keep watch over Matthias instead since Devina's most likely to go after him and not Mels, that way he has a shot at revenge. Jim reminds him that he has a choice between winning and screwing their chances.
Adrian hitches a ride with Mels to the crime scene where he senses Devina's residual energy. The dead woman's hair was dyed blonde shortly before her death and symbols are carved into her stomach in an obvious mimicry of Sissy's death as a way to get at Jim. To prevent Jim from finding out, Adrian heals over the runes.
Tired of being cooped up in the room, Matthias goes for a walk and Jim joins him. They pass six men in black leather walking in formation, all of them look like guys he and Matthias would try to recruit in their XOps days. Once the street's clear, a shooter fires at them and both Jim and Matthias take cover behind a van while Jim breaks into the service door in the back of the hotel. The operative follows and they have a gun fight, Jim protecting Matthias with his own body. Then Jim feels Devina enter the playing field.
Chapter 19[]
While getting information on the murdered prostitute at the crime scene, Mels feels like someone's watching her and wonders if Matthias' paranoia's rubbing off.
Jim and Matthias discover that someone slit the throat of the operative. Dealing with a dead body whose been murdered feels incredibly familiar to Matthias and knows that, that must have been a part of his life before. He gets another flash from the past and thinks that Jim was wrong, when he attempted to take his own life, it wasn't hate for what he'd become, he'd gotten exhausted. He also remembers shooting Jim in a morgue.
Chapter 20[]
Jim tries to shrug it off by telling him he was wearing a bulletproof vest at the time, but Matthias knows that he wasn't then, nor is he wearing one now and he has fresh bullet holes in his shirt. Plus, he recognizes the corpse and wants answers so Jim informs him that he used to be the operative's boss. Matthias has a feeling he was Jim's boss, too, and is frustrated that Jim's holding back on him. Annoyed, Jim says he's afraid that if he knows the whole story, he'll end up in hell, which Matthias takes to mean that Jim's a Jesus freak. Sirens approach so Jim throws Matthias over his shoulder and starts running. They work together almost seamlessly to evade the police, using their particular skill sets.
Mels is rattled and saddened by the murder and Adrian tries to comfort her with an existential conversation as if he was just a bystander. She still feels as if someone's watching her on her way home.
Chapter 21[]
In the morning, Matthias pushes Jim for more information, but Jim's worried he'll return to who he was. Learning what he did to the Childe family, Matthias is stunned to learn that he was evil. Jim also fills him in on their mutual past and he's helping him now because he needs him in his new job as an independent contractor.
When she picks him up on her way to work in the morning, Tony fills her in on the murder at the Marriott. Later that morning, she gets a call from Matthias and she asks him about the second murder, but he doesn't have any knowledge and says he wasn't the killer. He asks her to look up some names for him and she agrees. Afterwards, she asks her coworker who's covering the Marriott murder for details.
Chapter 22[]
In the hotel lobby, Matthias runs into the "nurse" who says to call her Dee, short for Devina, that she was supposed to meet her mom, whose plane was delayed. She suggests breakfast at the hotel restaurant and in spite of himself, Matthias agrees, feeling like he wants to get away from her the entire time.
Mels tries calling Matthias with what she's found, but there's no answer. She gets a call from her contact with the CCPD that he has a tip that the body was tampered with. On her way to meet him, she stops by the hotel and sees Matthias, still wearing her sunglasses, having breakfast with a gorgeous woman.
Chapter 23[]
Devina triggers a flashback for Matthias back to when he killed his father, which rattles him. He looks up, sees Mels and goes to talk to her, leaving Devina at the table alone. Mels confirms some of what Jim had said, but not Matthias' involvement in the death nor that it was deliberate since none of that's in the public record. "Dee" interrupts and Mels excuses herself, leaving them to their meal.
Monty, her contact, gives her copies of photos he took when he was the first on the scene which show the carvings in the prostitute's stomach. Then he gives her ones taken later by CSI that lack the runes. On top of that, he tells her that the body from the Marriott disappeared from the morgue.
Chapter 24[]
Devina starts plotting against Mels to prevent her from influencing Matthias further.
Matthias finds Mels at the CCJ office and confesses that he killed his father by provoking him into a heart attack. She thinks that to mean that he blames himself for it instead of a deliberate act. He tries to explain that remembering his motivation scared him, but she doesn't understand the cold calculation of it. He remembers his real name, but it doesn't matter because he hasn't been that person for a long time and he's leaving soon, anyway. In truth, he knows he's going to die soon.
Chapter 25[]
While kissing, Mels discovers his gun and recognizes it as the same calibre as the one that shot the John Doe at the Marriott. There's no ammo and considering Matthias had told her before not to get involved with him for her own safety, it doesn't take a genius to connect the dots. He tells her the truth that he didn't kill the man.
After he leaves, Mels works on her article and is frustrated over the lack of concrete evidence on the deceased woman so she's unhappy with the article.
Chapter 26[]
Invisible, Jim goes to the morgue, which is full of cops, and learns that XOps removed the body of their operative.
Mels talks to her coworker, Tony, about the photos that Monty gave her and he takes her to a friend of his who works at the morgue and has experience with photo analysis. While they're waiting, listening to the sounds of construction above, as he examines the photos, she discovers a bullet casing that she picked up at Jim's place mixed in with her spare change. Seeing it sparks flashes of memory that Jim had erased.
Chapter 27[]
Still invisible, Jim sees one of the morgue employees studying photographs of the murdered prostitute and recognizes the runes and blonde hair as a mockery of Sissy's death, just as Devina had intended. He follows the guy to listen in as he relates his findings to Tony and Mels while trying to talk over the noise of the construction when the ceiling caves in. Jim shoves Mels out of the way and takes a chunk of steel girder to his back, the pain breaking his concentration and he can't maintain the invisibility. The construction worker looks down from above and his eyes are solid black, an indication that he's possessed, before going unconscious and falling. Jim manages to catch the guy, then disappears in the ensuing crowd of people rushing to the accident. He's impressed that Mels is able to remain tight in the head and her discretion in describing Jim without using his name, even though she recognized him. In watching her, he realizes she's the key to saving Matthias.
While leaving the hospital, Mels sees Jim, or his "twin", and tells Tony to leave without her, she'll take a cab. Approaching Jim, she supposes she ought to thank him, but he tells her there's no reason to. Matthias, on the other hand, needs her and asks her to go with him to the hotel where Mathias is; not being an idiot, she's disinclined to go anywhere with a stranger, even if she doesn't think he poses a threat to her. Jim's an old friend of his and he wants to help since Matthias hasn't been right for awhile, but he knows that Mels can help save him.
Mels tries to put logic before emotion, telling him that she and Matthias barely know each other and if he's a danger to himself, then Jim should be getting proper help for him. Pulling out all the stops, Jim reminds her that he saved her life and wants her to help him save Matthias in return. Unable to say no to that, they take a cab to the hotel.
Chapter 28[]
Mels wakes Matthias from a nightmare of hell that he knows to be a memory and not his imagination. Mels tells him that Jim let her in and that she thinks he faked his death for some reason that Matthias probably knows; it's complicated and not his story to tell, but yes, Jim faked his death. Nothing's felt right for days, she asks him to talk to her and if he can't open up about his past or Jim, then at least explain why he's so rattled at the moment. He believes in hell as a reality, not a hypothetical, because he's been there and thinks he's been brought back for some temporary purpose.
Mels mentions that Jim saved her life and relates what happened at the hospital. Matthias confesses that he's impotent due to the accident and she reassures him that she doesn't need sex to be happy with him.
Chapter 29[]
As Matthias and Mels fool around, Adrian, invisible, leaves to give them some privacy and decides to find some action of his own with a waitress from the bar to bury his grief for Eddie.
Chapter 30[]
Jim's not only pissed about the cover-up job he did on the prostitute's body, but Adrian's having sex with a waitress instead of guarding Matthias. Watching them while invisible to the human triggers memories of what Devina did to him. When they're done and the girl's gone, Adrian reassures Jim that he laid a protection spell over Matthias' room. Jim asks him what Eddie would think of him leaving his post to get laid, which sets Adrian off until Jim takes him out with a punch that lands below the belt.
If Adrian withholds information again, then Jim will boot him permanently if he can't trust him. He points out that Devina did it to fuck with Jim's head and if she succeeds, then they'll have lost both Jim and Eddie. They argue even though Jim knows that Adrian has a point about his obsession with Sissy. Adrian promises not to do it again.
Mels asks Matthias not to leave without saying goodbye first and she knows she'll always miss him once he's gone.
Chapter 31[]
Possessing a hairdresser, Devina dyes a client's hair blonde then in a different disguise, she follows the customer outside to kill her like the prostitute in another mimicry of Sissy's death.
Chapter 32[]
In the bright light of day, Mels questions Matthias' sanity or whether he's looking for a higher purpose behind what's happened to him. At home, her mother was worried when she didn't come home last night and she tells her mom that she thinks she's falling in love with a man she hit with her car, which means she has to come clean that she didn't fall in the shower. She apologizes for scaring her and tells her that she'd like her to meet Matthias.
Feeling antsy about being in one place too long, Matthias gets ready to leave Caldwell when Jim offers to let him stay at his place, which Matthias takes him up on since it's as good an idea as any plus it'll help save cash. He figures he'll stay one more night in Caldwell, gear up, then go to Manhattan where he feels a need to go.
Chapter 33[]
Dick has Mels go to the library where the corpse of another blonde woman was dumped and Tony calls her about a guy he knows who can check out the ballistics on her shell casing.
Watching the news while eating lunch, Jim and Matthias watch the segment on Devina's latest victim, which sets off a flashback to hell for Matthias. He remembers Isaac Rothe killing him to protect Grier Childe from him and a blonde girl who didn't belong in hell with him.
Chapter 34[]
Mels meets with Tony's friend, Jason Conneaut, who warns her that if it matches the gun used in the Marriott shooting like she suspects then he'll have to disclose where he got it from. She tells him not only is that not a problem, she'll tell the cops exactly where she got it from. Afterwards, she realizes it's the third anniversary of her dad's death and goes to visit his grave where she has an existential moment.
Chapter 35[]
Matthias is shaken by his memories of hell and Jim uses the opportunity to tell him that he gets a second chance to make the right choice. He also realizes that the "nurse" was actually Devina and remembers what she'd done to Jim down below. If Matthias saw what she'd done, then Sissy had to have as well.
XOps interrupts by shooting Adrian, who finds it annoying more than anything; Matthias assumes it's a really good bulletproof vest. Then Devina joins the party and Adrian dematerializes in front of Matthias, which doesn't really rattle him any more than re-learning demons were real. He follows Adrian and Jim into the fight and Adrian gives him a glass dagger. After killing the operative, Jim goes to protect Mels.
Chapter 36[]
After the fight, Matthias has to strip quickly from the acidic blood of the demons eating through his street clothes and thanks Adrian for the "fun" before going to get a change of clothes. Adrian goes to take care of the XOps body, but Matthias takes over since demons are Adrian's expertise and dead bodies are his. That is, until he's hit by a cascade of memories
Chapter 37[]
Mels goes to meet her contact, Monty, at a local park, only it's not actually Monty. Startled, she slips and falls into the river and gets sucked down like there's a powerful riptide.
Jim arrives and not seeing Mels, throttles Devina. The struggle distracts Devina long enough to allow Mels to surface and taking advantage of Jim's slip of attention as he makes sure it's Mels, Devina dematerializes and attacks Jim in her incorporeal form in her escape.
Chapter 38[]
Adrian and Matthias find the operative's car and take it to dump it and the body in a remote lake. When Matthias asks how they're going to get back, Adrian points out his Harley nearby and when Matthias asks how his motorcycle happens to be at this isolated location, Adrian asks him if he really wants to start asking those kinds of questions after what they just fought. Matthias admits he has a point.
Mels calls Adrian's cell for help and Matthias answers, telling her that they're on their way.
Chapter 39[]
When Matthias arrives, he argues with Mels because he doesn't believe she just slipped and fell into the water and she doesn't like his hostile attitude. They take Jim, who's barely conscious, to the hotel and Mels is shocked that no one's staring at Jim who appears at best to be completely wasted. She draws no attention because she changed into a raincoat and a pair of flats she keeps in her huge purse and pinned up her wet hair.
Chapter 40[]
Adrian helps Jim into the bathroom so he can puke. In the room, Matthias apologizes, explaining that he was worried for her and felt like he let her down by not being there when she needed him. He respects that she can handle herself, but he'll still react primitively when she's hurt or in danger. She acknowledges the high tension of their situation means that emotions will run high from time to time. He urges her to wear a seat belt, which she doesn't do and has been a point of contention between them, and she tells him that his seat-belt contributed to her dad's death.
Chapter 41[]
With Jim resting in the bed, Adrian orders room service and waits out in the hall for it; Nigel gives Adrian a verbal slap upside the head and he starts thinking about how Eddie would handle the situation if their positions were reversed. Putting aside his own angst, Adrian pulls Matthias into the bathroom and casts a powerful spell that reverses the bomb damage, taking on Matthias' injuries himself.
Chapter 42[]
Once Jim's recovered, he returns to the boathouse and summons Devina, they fight and have angry sex.
Chapter 43[]
Matthias and Mels have non-angry sex.
Chapter 44[]
Devina claims that Mels isn't the key because Matthias is too far gone to be saved, but she says she'll leave her alone since Mels was just a backup plan. Jim feels gross and torn up about everything, especially Sissy.
Chapter 45[]
Mels wakes up to a voicemail from Tony's CSI friend who says that the casing is a match for the ones found at the Marriott murder scene, then she sees for the first time Matthias' back tattoo that matches the murder victim. Scared, she draws her gun on him and asks if he was the one who made the body disappear since they're obviously connected somehow because of the matching tattoos. Then, because his injuries and impotence are gone, she assumes that they were faked with lies and prosthetics until he either got lazy or just wanted to get laid.
Matthias doesn't blame her for her conclusions and feels it's his own fault. She leaves, warning him that she's calling the police immediately and disclosing everything she knows. When she's gone, his entire past comes screaming back into his skull and he remembers that he's evil through and through so he deserved what happened.
Chapter 46[]
Mels has an uncomfortable realization that she felt like she was obligated to take on her dad's role of taking care of her mother, something that she's finally seeing that she resents and that her mom didn't actually need. She has a heart to heart with her mom.
Chapter 47[]
Adrian and Jim catch up on what the other's been up to as well as the situation between Matthias and Mels. Jim goes to check on Mels and Matthias is getting ready to leave before the cops show up.
Chapter 48[]
In preparation for quitting her job and moving back to Manhattan, Mels gives Tony the research she's been doing on the high number of missing person cases in Caldwell.
Using an empty office in the hotel, Matthias logs into XOps and downloads a file he'd created for just such an emergency.
Chapter 49[]
Jim goes back to his apartment to feed Dog when the cops show up. Going invisible with Dog, he calls Adrian to make sure that the body of the operative they'd killed was taken care of. Adrian confirms and tells him that the bullet casing Mels picked up when she came over matches the ones from the Marriott. He also tells him what Matthias has been up to and Jim figures that he's going to hand over all of XOps' dirty secrets to Mels.
At a bookstore, Mels meets with her contact, Monty, who's actually himself this time and not Devina. He tells her that the second victim, Trisha Golding, found on the library steps had abdominal markings that matched his pictures of the first victim; both had their hair dyed blonde shortly before their death. Tired of being jerked around, she thinks that they're copycats of the body found in the quarry and suggests that Monty's the copycoat, photoshopping the prostitute's body to look mutilated and get attention. Naturally, he denies the accusation.
After turning on the feminine wiles in a false apology, Monty tells her about the bullet casing matching the Marriott's and that the owner's a dead guy named Jim Heron. Essentially, he tells her everything that she already knows.
Chapter 50[]
Matthias finds Mels to give her the thumbdrive of the files he downloaded and tells her that it contains the whole story, which she can independently verify. He tells her that he's always told her the truth. He'd set up XOps to go into self-destruct if the press ever got wind of what was doing, agents were to scatter and disappear.
At home, Mels looks at the files and is floored at the dossiers, assignments, contacts, bribes for officials, etc; she finds Jim Heron's name, which doesn't come as a surprise to her. She recognizes the picture of the dead operative from the Marriott, but she can't find Matthias anywhere and suspects that he's the head of the organization.
Chapter 51[]
Through the window, Matthias watches Mels at her computer from across the street. He knows that his disappearance is the best thing for her, but he doesn't want to leave her. Then Matthias realizes that his dossier in the file clearly marked him as deceased, which means that the operatives could only be after Jim since his death wasn't marked as confirmed.
Chapter 52[]
The cops finally leave Jim's place without having found anything, especially Eddie's body thanks to the spell Jim put over the crawlspace. Matthias shows up to warn Jim, which is completely out of character for the Matthias that Jim knew, because he owed Jim in return for saving his life and giving him a few days that were worth suffering in hell. He doesn't want Jim's death on his conscience.
Then Mels arrives to talk to Matthias, who confirms that he was the director of XOps. Morally, she's torn between the methods used and the end results and she's upset that he's going to be on the run for the rest of what's sure to be a short life. He tells her that he can't explain how his injuries were healed, but he wasn't faking them. He's just trying to make amends for the life he's lived and if it's the story that makes her career, then so much the better.
Matthias admits he loves her, but then shoves her out of the way just in time to miss a bullet. Once she's down, he throws himself in front of Jim and takes the second shot in the centre of his chest.
Chapter 53[]
Jim takes out the assassin, Mels is distraught over Matthias' body, and the crossroads is passed. In denial and angry that Jim refuses to call 911, Mels attacks him, but he subdues her and tells her to go and blow the story ASAP to protect herself. Promising to take care of Matthias' body, he has Adrian drive Mels home. As he goes to pick up the body, Matthias jerks to life and Jim drops him.
Chapter 54[]
Adrian tries to give Mels some comfort by telling her that Matthias and her dad are in the same place and OK and she'll see them again one day. Finally looking at him properly, she's astonished to see the exact scars and injuries Matthias had, had on Adrian's face.
Chapter 55[]
Jim hopes that Matthias isn't back for a third round and Matthias is annoyed that Jim dropped him on his head. He tells Jim that he knows "what" he is and that he met with the Maker, who asked Matthias to say hi to Jim for him and that he likes the turkey subs. He'd found himself at the entrance to the Manse of Souls, but he couldn't cross the moat because he knew that there would be no coming back. That was when the Creator showed up and as they talked, Matthias knew that Heaven for him is wherever Mels is. Jim's pissed off to hear this because his beloved dead, his mother and Sissy, didn't get second chances. The rage boiling in him is what makes him equally as bad as he is good.
Chapter 56[]
Adrian, Dog, Jim, and Matthias move to a new location to avoid the attention of the cops. After helping Jim move, they say their good-byes.
Devina's upset over her two losses: one playing by the rules and one not. Moreover, she feels betrayed by Jim, who she feels is her man. He comes to her and offers a victory flag in return for Sissy, which would make them even in terms of wins at two and two.
Epilogue[]
Three weeks later, Mels' nearly totalled Civic is repaired. She's in the process of moving to Manhattan, but ultimately handed over the intel to someone else at the New York Times because she didn't want to paint a target on her back and she would have felt like she'd used Matthias like he was nothing more than a source. It still landed her a job at the Times.
Back at her mother's place, she hears a scratching at the door and opens it to find Dog and Matthias, which is the first she's heard that he's still alive. He says that he was hoping she might see him now that the story's out. She tells him she loves him because she's convinced it's a dream and is afraid she'll wake up before she has a chance to say it. She goes on to explain that she now knows that "the angel" took care of his injuries so Matthias hadn't lied to her like she'd thought and she knows that he hadn't lied about his feelings either.
Over the past three weeks, Matthias had been staying at hotels in the area so he could keep an eye on Mels from a distance. Mels' mom walks in on them and Mels starts to think that maybe it's not a dream after all. He's a little thrown because he's never met a woman's mother before and she offers to grill burgers for everyone, including Dog.
Rather than dump the whole truth on Mels who's already having difficulty grasping the fact that he's not actually dead, he just tells her that he was saved and all he wanted was to come back to her. He warns her that he can't turn himself in because he'd just end up dead in prison, but promises he'll be honest from there on out even though he has no idea what he'll do for a living yet. She tells him that if he's at peace, then she is, too.
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