by Sadie Hobbes
Besides, what I’d said about the differences between Blue Forks and Sterling Peak was completely true. The Angel Blessed had all of these resources at their disposal, and they used them to protect themselves to their fullest advantage. They’d even created a means of cutting off the bridge if a group of demons attacked.
Which meant they’d leave the demons in Blue Forks.
Meanwhile the people of Forks had to fend for themselves. And most of the time, people couldn’t fend very well. Take Manny. There was no one for him to go to for help besides me, and that was based on geography. I was his neighbor. There was no law enforcement body that he could ask to help him.
Even if it had been in daylight when Cecelia had gone missing, he wouldn’t have been able to go over to Sterling Peak and ask them for help, simply because they wouldn’t have given it to him. We were completely and totally on our own.
But while everything I said to Graham was accurate, it also wasn’t his fault. He hadn’t set up society like this. The beliefs that the Demon Cursed didn’t deserve any more than they currently had was ingrained in this world long before either he or I was born.
So while what I had said was true, and while my anger was justified, the target of my anger wasn’t. Graham had been nothing but completely decent since we met him. He didn’t have to come back with the professor and thank us for helping him. He could’ve simply sent a note with a basket of food and called it even. He’d taken it upon himself to come back and help.
And him and Donovan showing up at the beach had also helped. Without that distraction, Manny would be dead. And then they had escorted all of the kids home and made sure they were safe. They didn’t have to do that either.
I was beginning to think that maybe my view of the members of Sterling Peak was not entirely fair. Apparently I held some deep-seated rage toward the people who lived there. Until I’d spoken with Graham, I hadn’t even realized it.
But whatever I felt for Sterling Peak or Graham didn’t matter. Graham Michael was officially out of our lives. Although I really hoped that Donovan wasn’t, at least for Micah’s sake. He was so excited about that chess set. He’d be crushed if Donovan didn’t come over to play him at least once.
But in reality, it was probably better if he didn’t come back. Graham, Donovan, Marcus, none of them were part of their lives. And it would be better for everyone if they just made a clean break now.
Yup, that was definitely the best plan.
I crushed the pillow to my chest and crashed onto my side. I sighed. “Yup, that’s exactly what I want.”
Chapter 26
Graham
Graham walked slowly down the stairs of Addie's building her words ringing in his ears.
Angel Blessed don't think about the Demon Cursed. She was right.
He stepped outside onto quiet and glanced toward Sterling Peak. Most of its residents would still be sleeping while their Demon Cursed staffs cleaned and cooked for them. Graham shoved his hands in his pockets, finding for the first time a want to linger in Blue Forks. So instead of turning right towards Celestial Bridge, he turned left.
Graham walked around Blue Forks and looked at it with fresh eyes. The poverty was clear but for the first time he really took a deep look at what that actually meant. The homes were shabby and in disrepair. The missing glass panes of windows were often replaced with spare bits of plastic or just cloth to keep out the cold. Someone didn’t even have that much.
There weren’t many people out. He only saw about five, each gave him a nod of respect as they passed.
Without conscious intent, he found himself walking past the Blue Forks one and only school, the place where Noel and Micah spent most of their day. Before the Angel War, the crumbling brick building had been an elementary school housing hundreds of kids between the ages of five and nine. Now, it housed students up to grade twelve.
He knew though that by the time the twelfth grade rolled around, most kids would have already stopped going. They’d need to get jobs to help support their families.
Half of the front stone steps had been roped off to avoid anyone using them. An old handicap ramp was missing along with half of its ramp and all of its railing. Like a lot of the houses, glass panes were missing from the windows, which meant when it rained the water would get inside.
He didn’t want to distract anyone by going inside because he knew the commander of the Seraph Force would cause a stir. But he wanted to see inside. His policies affected people through the nation and yet he had never seen inside a school only a few miles from his home.
He walked quietly along the side of the building, realizing that across the bridge, he would never get this close to the school without being stopped by security. But there didn’t appear to be any security here.
Careful to stay out of sight, he peered inside. Children a little younger than Micah sat on the floor as a teacher stood at the front of the room giving a lecture. The kids each had a small notebook and one pencil, although he saw a few of them sharing a pencil. He walked past and peered into the next classroom, which had chairs for the kids. But this time the teacher sat up at the desk resting her head on it while the students read from old tattered textbooks.
He glanced into three more classrooms and saw similar scenes: not enough equipment and definitely nothing that a child should be happy to attend each day.
And yet the kids didn't look at the unhappy. He saw more than a few smiling with friends, whispering quietly to one another. The school was horrible, but it gave the kids a chance to socialize.
And he realized he never heard of the kids in Blue Forks having a place to gather. There were no clubs like there were over Sterling Peak. There was no recreation area either. The kids in Blue Forks went to school and then they went home and they worked. No wonder those teenagers had taken a chance to go to the beach that night. It was one of the few places available to them where they could just hangout.
He turned and headed towards the bridge. He made it there quickly, or maybe it took a while. He wasn't really sure as his mind was lost in thought. Bypassing the line, he received a nod from the guard on duty as he slipped beyond the barrier. He stopped in at the security shed. The guard on duty jumped to his feet. "Commander Graham. It’s an honor, sir."
Graham waved the man back down as he stepped inside. "I need you to contact the Seven and have them meet me at the Academy this afternoon."
The man reached for the phone on his desk. "Of course sir. Is everything all right?"
Graham shook his head. "No, but it will be."
Chapter 27
The Council meeting had been painful, brutally painful at least this meeting was being held during the day. Graham naively thought maybe they’d get some work done.
But yet again the Council meetings had devolved into an excuse to drink, eat, and show off the host’s latest acquisition. Today, Angelica Rafael, D’Angelo’s mother, had shown off her complete mastodon skeleton that she had purchased for an exorbitant sum.
As Graham stared at it he couldn’t help but wonder how many of those busted windows in Forks could have been fixed for the same amount. It made him more than a little testy.
Which is partly why the Council had not been receptive to his suggestion of increasing protection of Blue Forks. Dion Raguel had the gall to suggest the meeting had gone on long enough and that they could discuss it next time. Then he’d gone into a long-winded diatribe about the inferior fruit he felt was being sold in the market.
It had taken everything in Graham not to flip the table over on the man.
I am not meant to a politician.
He’d known it for years. And with Brock designated the heir, he didn’t need to be. And no one had bothered to teach him how, for which he was actually grateful. The last thing he needed was his father’s lesson on how to get through life.
But as a soldier under Brock, he had learned how to follow orders . . . and how to follow the letter of them and not the spirit if he didn’t agre
e with the morality behind them.
So while the Council had droned on, he’d fine-tuned his plan.
Now Graham tucked his head, leaning into the hill as he made his way quickly toward the Academy. The Academy was where all the Seraph forces in the nation trained. Sterling Peaks wasn't a large city. There were many much larger cities across the nation. Yet, this had been the headquarters for the archangels during the Angel War. As a result, it seemed only right to build the Seraph Force headquarters here.
On his way to the academy, Graham passed mansion after mansion, all of them growing grotesquely larger the higher he climbed. By the time he was a half way up the hill, most could easily fit at least half of the homes down in Blue Forks within their walls.
Angel Blessed don’t think about the Demon Cursed.
He knew the people of Blue Forks had a tougher road but he never really thought about it the way Addie had made him think about it.
But it wasn’t just her. The truth of the matter was that he'd been thinking about protection for Blue Forks for a while. But he hadn't really made it a priority. In part because the masked avenger was protecting people of Blue Forks at night. Since the Avenger had shown up, the number of missing in Blue Forks had dropped precipitously.
Now that he knew that was Addie out there protecting the citizens of Blue Forks, though, he felt a greater urgency to help. Because something settled uncomfortably in his gut at the thought of her being out there alone.
The gates of the Seraph Force headquarters came into view. The headquarters had been brought over brick by brick from England. But unlike the buildings down in Blue Forks, the headquarters had been well maintained over the years. The heavy gray bricks were solid and forbidding to anyone who would think of causing harm. Heavy thick doors had wide rock slabs steps leading towards it.
Graham nodded at the guard at the gate and again at the one by the door. But they didn't hold the door open for him. At the headquarters Graham wanted the Rangers to focus on their tasks. They weren't glorified doorman.
He stepped into a massive foyer with a stone staircase directly in front of him that split into two against the far wall. There were four floors, the top two were available to Rangers who had completed training and would be stationed inside Sterling Peak. Three of his Seven had also taken advantage of the offer not wanting to live with their wealthy relatives in town.
He couldn’t blame them.
The second floor contained classrooms that were used to discuss battle strategy, the Angel War, demon anatomy and lore.
To the right of the front foyer was a long hallway. Old tapestries draped the walls depicting scenes from the Angel War. On the right of the hallway was a museum of artifacts from the Seraph Force history. Then to left was a library. A copy of every known tome on the Angel War and demon was inside.
But neither of those places was Graham’s destination. He turned left. His footsteps echoed off the stone tiles as he made his way to the end of the hall. There only thirty-six Rangers in residence at the moment. Another hundred would arrive within the week to begin the new semester. The students were housed in barracks out back. The time in between semesters, Graham enjoyed, when the headquarters was quiet.
He bypassed the main office and made his way to the lounge at the very end of the hall. That's where he preferred to meet with the Seven.
The Seven were the top Seraph force officers from each ruling family. They decided on the direction the training should take and the assignments for the Seraph Force nationwide. Graham was the final decider, but he listened to the other six carefully weighing their opinions. He respected their opinions. As he opened the door to lounge, he caught sight of D'Angelo on the other side of the room fixing his hair in the mirror.
Well, he respected almost all of their opinions.
All of the Seven had the rank of major. When they retired they would have the rank of Major General and take on the running of one of the other academies across the nation. Along the back wall, Major Tess Uriel took aim and released one of her knives at the dartboard against the far wall, just as Graham entered. It landed just off center.
Donovan laughed from where he stood leaning against the wall near her. "Ha. You missed."
With her dark red hair pulled back and pale brown eyes flashing, she turned around and scowled. "That’s because the commander came in and distracted me."
She gave Graham a mock glare.
Graham held up his hands. "I think it's only fair she gets to throw again."
Tess grinned and pulled another knife from her belt. Without waiting for Donovan's reply, she released it. It flew straight and hit right at the center of the bull's-eye.
She let out a whoop. "Pay up, Gabriel."
Donovan pushed away from the wall. "Whatever."
"Looks like we’re last," Major Laura Raguel walked in with Major Mitch Sasquael right behind her. Laura had once again shaved her head, leaving only a dark brown peach fuzz covering it. Coiled muscles in her arm that showed why she was victorious in all push-up contests. Mitch was more slender but fast, incredibly fast, when it came to hand-to-hand.
With the exception of D'Angelo, they were all principled people. People who while from the leading families hadn’t actually been tarnished by that association. Tess was wealthier than almost all of them except for Graham. Yet she lived in one of the rooms on the third floor. She didn't like the trappings of wealth.
But after last semester, Tess had been looking into getting a place for her, Laura, and Mitch. Apparently the grooming habits of some of the last batch of Rangers had been a little too much even for his battle hardened majors. Laura and Mitch had the rooms on either side of her. None of them put too much stock into the wealth they all had at their fingertips.
With the exception of course of D'Angelo, yet again. He used his wealth and connections every chance he got. But he was a talented fighter. And he followed orders. So there was nothing Graham could do about removing him from the Seven.
He waved all of them over. "Glad you guys could make it."
They all took seats on the three couches that had been set up in the middle of the room. Brock had had the Seven meet in the conference room down the hall. He also made sure that there was a full course meal for every meeting. Graham preferred a much more casual approach when possible.
Tess took a seat next to Donovan hitting him on the leg to get him to move over. "So what's going on?"
Graham looked at the faces in front of him trying to gage what their reaction would be. "I've decided to start a new pilot project. We’re going to be patrolling Blue Forks in addition to Sterling Peak at night."
Laura's eyes grew wide. "The Council approved?"
Graham shook his head. "No. I decided we’re going to make the program voluntary for now. Only people who choose to be part of it will be. It will not be required of anyone."
"Why exactly are we going to be patrolling Blue Forks?" D'Angelo asked as he lounged back in his chair rather than sitting on a couch with the rest of them. The choice of seats spoke volumes about how well he belonged with the group.
"Because we have been derelict in our duty to the people of Blue Forks. They can't protect themselves. And it looks like the demon threat is increasing."
Tess leaned forward. "Increasing how?”
Graham took a deep breath. "There was a large demon attack on the beach in Blue Forks yesterday. And people in Blue Forks are ill-prepared to protect themselves against it."
"But why should we bear that responsibility? I mean, we already give them jobs. I'm not sure why we also need to protect them," D'Angelo said.
Graham clenched his fist trying not to lash out at the man. This was what residents of Blue Forks expected of people of Sterling Peaks: derision, arrogance. "Like I said, it's voluntary. You are not required to take part D'Angelo. But we are going to patrol Blue Forks."
Tess grinned. "I'm game. And I'm off duty tonight so I'll take a shift."
Graham smiled at her. "Good.
You can make a rotation so everybody knows who's on duty."
Donovan stood up. "I'll help. I’ll speak with the Rangers and see who's interested in signing up."
Graham was glad Donovan volunteered. He would have asked him to gather the names anyway. Donovan had a way of being able to make people do things that they didn't actually want to do. "Good. That's good. Okay. That's everything. Let’s make it happen."
Everyone stood and started to file out of the room with D'Angelo going first. Donovan held back. "So I guess this is all the result of a conversation with a certain lady with incredible blue eyes?"
“I guess you could say that."
"So how did it go this morning? Did you sweep her off her feet?"
Graham winced. "Yeah, I can most definitely say that did not happen."
Chapter 28
Addie
Torr, Noel, and Micah arrived a little after three. Torr slipped in behind them just before Noel closed the door. After all this time, he’d really learned to time it perfectly.
Micah smiled at me, his eyes bright. “Is Donovan here?”
“No, sweetie.”
His smile didn’t dim. “That’s okay. I need to practice anyway. Noel, do you want to play?”
She nodded. “Why don’t you set up in your room? I’ll be there in a minute.”
Micah practically ran down the hall with his bag, where he’d placed the chess set before going to school this morning.
I turned my gaze from Micah to Noel, who stood with her arms crossed, looking at me. “What’s wrong?”
“What? Nothing. How was school?”
“It was good,” she said, not taking her gaze from me. “Now what’s wrong?”
I sighed, slumping down onto the couch, giving up the pretense. “I don’t know.”