by Sadie Hobbes
“No!” Micah broke the spell as he fell from one of the obstacles. I dashed forward, knowing even at my fastest I was too far away.
Torr materialized under him and caught him before any damage could be done.
Donovan, who’d been working with Noel, stopped and stared in shock. “Torr?”
Torr lowered Micah to the floor with a grimace. “Yeah, hi.”
“What are you doing here?” Donovan demanded.
Graham spoke up from behind me. “It’s okay. I knew he was here. He’s been here since the first day.”
“What? You guys could have told me,” Donovan said.
“My call. Sorry about that,” Graham said.
“Man, you think you can trust a guy,” Donovan grumbled, turning back to Noel.
I looked back at Graham. “You’ve known?”
He smiled. “Well, Noel and Micah seem to be incredibly slow at getting through doorways. And ropes seem to magically swing whenever we come in here.”
I winced. “Yeah.”
“It really is okay. I think it’s best if he stays invisible, though, just in case anyone happens by.”
I stared up into his eyes. This man, this Angel Blessed, had changed the rules of the Seraph Force so they now patrolled both Sterling Peak and Blue Forks. He’d rushed to my family’s side when we’d been hurt and done everything in his power to help us heal and keep us safe. And good Lord, he looked like he’d been carved from granite. But I knew how warm that skin of his was. And now he was only a few inches away. One small step, and I would be pressed up against him.
“Look out!” Donovan yelled.
Graham grabbed me around the waist and pulled me to the floor. A spear flew over my head. I lay sprawled against his chest. I could feel every muscle underneath me, every breath that he took. I licked my lips and stared into his face. It was only an inch away. He reached up and tucked my hair behind my ear.
Noel ran up. “Oh my God, I’m so sorry. Are you two okay?”
Graham stared into my eyes with a smile of regret. I pushed myself off him and onto the floor with a thud, feeling a little light-headed. “Yup, I’m good. I think we need to work on your aim a little bit.”
“I know, I know.”
The door to the gym opened. Franklin stepped in. “Graham? The Camiels are waiting for you.”
He groaned as he sat up. He reached a hand down for me, pulling me to my feet. “Damn it. Forgot I had a meeting. If you’ll excuse me.”
I nodded, and he squeezed my hand before he headed toward Franklin.
I watched him walk across the gymnasium, his shirt stretched taut across his shoulders. Man, I was a sucker for his shoulders.
“You’re welcome,” Noel whispered next to me.
I pulled my gaze from Graham. “What?”
“Oh, come on. How bad a shot do you think I am? You two have been staring at one another for days.”
“What? No, he’s just helping us out.”
“Pretty sure he wants to help you with lots of things.”
My cheeks felt hot. “Um, I’m pretty sure this is not a conversation we should be having.”
Noel looped her arm through mine. “Life is short. It’s okay to have some fun in it.”
She kissed me on the cheek and headed back to Donovan after retrieving her spear. I glanced back at the doorway where Graham had disappeared. Maybe she was right.
Chapter 42
All in all, the days at Graham’s turned out to be some of the best ever. We’d all have breakfast in the room and go do some training. At night, board games, and sometimes we would sit out on the balcony and look up at the stars. Graham spent every minute with us when he wasn’t patrolling or involved in his Council or Seraph Force duties.
Whenever Graham spent time with us, he made a point of being right next to me. And our hands and arms always seemed to find a reason to touch. I wasn’t sure where this was going, but I was looking forward to finding out as soon as we had some time alone together.
And while most of the days followed the same schedule, today things were a little different. Marcus held a briefing with the Seven and a few dozen of the top Seraph Force in the country. Graham invited me to attend. Part of me worried about attending. With that many Seraph Force in Graham’s home, I felt I should stay by Torr, just in case.
But the other part of me was incredibly curious. Marcus had been squirreled away in his office, working for days on end. And if he finally learned something, I really didn’t want to wait to hear it.
“Okay, you three promise you will not leave this room?” I asked for the seventh time.
Noel rolled her eyes. “Yet again, we will not leave.”
“And, Torr, you’ll stay invisible the whole time?”
“Yes, no one will see me.”
Still, I stayed where I was.
Micah rolled the dice. “Addie, go. We’ll be fine.”
“You want to go, so go,” Noel said.
I did want to go, and not just because of the information Marcus would impart. I was beginning to think seriously about Graham’s offer. Being a member of the Seraph Force wouldn’t be so bad, especially if I could patrol over in Blue Forks. Plus the kids would be taken care of. And seeing Graham regularly? I was beginning to think that was going to be a necessity. Even the idea of going back to a time when I barely saw him created an uncomfortable ache in my chest.
The only problem was Torr. He would have to remain invisible almost all the time. But then again, he’d had to do the same over in Blue Forks, so maybe it wasn’t that different.
Finally, I nodded. “Okay, I’m going.”
The three kids barely glanced at me, completely focused on their Monopoly game. “Uh-huh,” Noel mumbled as she landed on Go.
Micah crossed his arms over his chest, his lips arranged in a pout. “Oh, come on. How come no one’s landing on Park Place? I have hotels and everything.”
Apparently none of them found me leaving as emotionally difficult as I felt it was.
“Leaving now,” I said again.
They all gave me a wave without looking.
“Hugs?”
Micah’s head jolted up, and he grinned. He bolted up from the floor and over to me, wrapping his arms around me. “Sorry. Have fun. We’ll be fine.”
Noel hugged me as well. Torr stood awkwardly behind her. I pulled him in for a hug too. He stiffened, and then his arms wrapped around me. “Keep an eye on them. And stay invisible.”
He nodded as he pulled away. “I will.”
With one last look at them, I headed out, a tingle of excitement running through me. I’d get to see Graham in action as Commander of the Seraph Force and hopefully learn what Marcus had been so focused on.
The meeting was being held in the training facility. As I stepped inside, I stopped short at the crowd. Chairs had been arranged in rows facing a small stage where Marcus was busy flipping through his notes.
Graham stood off the stage to the left, speaking with a group of three older Rangers and Donovan. Graham listened attentively and then replied. The men each had an air of confidence about them. Graham glanced over his shoulder at Marcus and then made another comment to the men, who then took their seats.
“Hey,” Tess said as she slipped in the door behind me. “Glad you came.”
“I think I am too.”
“Come on. We’ll sit at the back.” Tess moved toward the last row where Laura was already sitting with Mitch. I frowned as I took a seat between Laura and Tess. “Shouldn’t you guys be up front as part of the Seven?”
“Graham doesn’t believe in all that pomp and circumstance for this kind of thing. The public eats it up, but for meetings, we’re all on the same team. All these Rangers are our brothers- and sisters-in-arms. There’s no need to lord status over them.”
The Rangers in the room had all taken their seats when the back doors flung open. D’Angelo strutted in, a group of three men arranged behind him. One was Hunter Uriel, who was not a memb
er of the Seraph Force. “What’s he doing here?” I asked.
“I have no idea,” Tess mumbled.
D’Angelo strode down the aisle. His group of three moved off to the side.
“Where does he think he’s going? All the seat are taken up front.” Laura scowled.
Apparently I wasn’t the only one who wasn’t a fan of the man.
D’Angelo reached the front of room, and a man stood up from a seat smack dab in the middle of the front row. D’Angelo gave him a warm smile and then took his seat. The man hurried down the aisle and out the door.
“He had a seat saver?” Tess asked, her tone incredulous. “What a tool.”
I didn’t get a chance to reply because Graham stepped up to the edge of the stage and raised his hands. All the murmurs and restless movement died away.
Graham focused on the three men who’d accompanied D’Angelo. “You three need to leave. Now.”
The men cast nervous glances at D’Angelo. D’Angelo waved them away. With a quick bow, the men stepped out of the room.
Tess seethed next to me.
I frowned. “What did I just miss?”
“D’Angelo just made it look like Graham does not have control of his Rangers and his meetings. God, I hate that guy.”
But if Graham was bothered by the little interaction, it didn’t show. “Good morning. Thank you for joining me this morning. I know many of you traveled far to get here, and I assure you the travel was worth it.
“This is Professor Marcus Jeffries. Most of you have probably heard of him. He has some new information that he believes, and I agree, is important for all of us to hear.” Graham stepped back, moving to the edge of the stage, where he stood with his arms behind his back.
Marcus got up from his seat and moved to the lectern at the front. “Good morning. For the last three decades, I have studied the demon threat. During that time, my late wife and I learned about many facets of demonology. We know that they only appear in certain areas, not all areas of the world. We hypothesized that there may be some sort of door or portal that allows them through in those areas.
“Until recently, we believed they needed to return through the same portal. That is something we no longer believe to be true. While they need to access our world from the portal, they can return from anywhere.”
A stir rose through the crowd.
“But that is not why you were called here today. Five years ago, I learned about a book, written in Enochian, that allegedly contained many of the demons secrets. I managed to acquire that book just a few weeks ago.”
I pictured the ancient tome that Marcus had shown me in his office.
“It is taking time to translate, but I have learned a number of valuable insights. The first involves the missing. There has been a great deal of speculation about why the demon take some and kill others outright. I now believe that they take individuals with the hope and intent of turning them to demons themselves.”
“What?” Tess exclaimed next to me. And she wasn’t the only one. The crowd had burst into anxious conversations.
Graham stepped forward. “I know this is surprising information. But it tells us two things: one, why they would target stronger individuals when weaker ones would be easier to overcome, and second, it suggests the demons are trying to build their ranks.”
“To what end?” one of the Rangers in the front row called out.
Graham looked back to Marcus.
“I believe that we are coming to a time when the prophecy of the fight between the forces of good and evil will be realized. I believe the demon attacks and their increases in frequency have been conducted to test our defenses and to help increase their own ranks. And I believe these attacks will only further increase in frequency in the coming days or weeks until this final battle begins.”
More murmuring burst out across the room.
Graham once again took control. “We have trained for this. We are prepared for this. But we will all need to redouble our efforts, shore up the weaknesses in our newer recruits to get them ready in time. But make no mistake, when the final battle comes, we will be victorious!”
The Rangers jumped to their feet. I got to my own feet a little more slowly. I hoped that Marcus was wrong. I hoped the increase in attacks wasn’t a precursor to the final battle. But if he was right about this and about who I was, then when the final battle came, that meant I would be leading the charge.
Chapter 43
After the meeting, I quickly made my way back to my gang. I needed to see them. Being with them, I could pretend everything was normal and that the looming specter of a battle of good versus evil was something far off in the future.
But when I stepped in, my three had abandoned their Monopoly game. They sat by the cold fireplace, deep in conversation. All three heads jolted up at my arrival.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
“Someone stopped by the room,” Torr said quietly.
“What? Who?”
“None of us had seen him before,” Noel said. “He was probably in his twenties, with blond hair, brown eyes. He was kind of boring looking.”
Immediately I flashed on Hunter Uriel. He’d been here during the meeting. Had D’Angelo sent him to spy? From what I could gather about the man, information tended to be his weapon of choice. Had he heard Graham had hidden us away and just wanted to learn who we were?
“Were you invisible?” I asked Torr.
He nodded. “Yes.”
“But we were talking to him, the guy was listening at the door,” Micah said.
I took a breath, my worries about the upcoming final battles shoved aside by more immediate concerns.
“He opened the door and peered in at us,” Noel said. “I demanded to know who he was. Franklin appeared and escorted him out. But he had this look on his face, Addie. Like he’d just won something.”
I swallowed, not liking the sound of that. “But you were invisible the whole time, right?”
“Yes.”
I let out a breath. “Okay, that’s good. I’ll talk to Graham later. I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about.” I gave them a smile that I hoped was convincing.
Because deep down, I had a feeling that it was only a matter of time before this little paradise we’d created for ourselves was blown apart.
Chapter 44
I really wanted to talk to Graham about Hunter Uriel and D’Angelo and get his thoughts, but I didn’t see him or any of the Seraph Force for the rest of the day. They were all busy with the visiting Rangers.
Graham didn’t stop by the next morning either, for the same reason. So when I stepped into the training room the next day, my need to see him had only increased. I looked, but he was nowhere to be found.
Donovan dropped the weights he was lifting and walked over to us. He read my face and answered the question before I even had a chance to ask it. “Graham was called up to the Academy. There was some sort of problem.”
Concern shot through me. “Was it about what Marcus discussed yesterday?”
“No, nothing like that. Just some administrative stuff. He should be back soon. Look, I know what Marcus thinks about who you are, but there’s nothing to worry about, not yet.”
I considered telling him about Hunter but decided to hold off. I should tell Graham first, and hopefully I’d get a chance to soon.
But still, disappointment wafted through me. And not just because I needed to unburden myself. Training with Graham had been incredible. It was an excuse to spend time with him, to touch him. And every moment I spent near him I knew that what had maybe started as a little crush had bloomed into something much more. When I was near him, I simply felt more alive, more safe.
And I realized he really wasn’t like the other Angel Blessed. To be honest, the members of the Seraph Force I'd met were nothing like the Uriels or the other well-to-do Angel Blessed. Maybe it was because they were soldiers, which grounded them. Since coming to stay with Graham the barriers in my mind betw
een the Angel Blessed and Demon Cursed had blurred and now disappeared.
Society might still have those hang ups, but I didn't, not when it came to Donovan, Tess, Laura and a few of the others. And definitely not when it came to Graham.
All I knew was, when I was around Graham, I didn't feel like I was in this fight alone. I felt connected to him in a way I've never felt to anyone before.
I felt like I wasn’t alone.
And I had the feeling he felt the same way. Of course with him being constantly surrounded by people meant there hadn’t been a chance to really do anything about it. But one of these days, I’d make the time.
“You want to do a little sparring? One of the Seraph Force from the south brought some new staffs. I thought we could try them out.”
I grinned. “Sounds good.”
We’d been practicing for only about twenty minutes when movement outside on the lawn caught my eye. I ducked Donovan’s swipe with one hand and shoved him back. He stumbled as my head turned toward the doors. I frowned. “What’s going on out there?”
Donovan, who’d been getting ready to attack again, straightened, looking past me. “No idea.” He’d just stepped toward the doors when they flung open.
D’Angelo strode in, Hunter Uriel with him, and three dozen students from the Academy fanned out behind them. “Students” was a misnomer, suggesting all of them were fresh eyed and straight out of their parents’ homes. Most of them were hardened warriors who, after years of training on their own, had been allowed into the Rangers Academy.
I backed up, not sure if this was a threat or if they were simply here to train.
Donovan growled. “What do you think you’re doing, D’Angelo?”
Okay, so they weren’t here to train.
D’Angelo strode forward, his arrogance leading the way. “We’ve had some disturbing reports that Commander Graham is harboring a demon.”
Tess, who’d arrived only a few minutes earlier and had been working with Micah and Noel, strode across the room to stand at Donovan’s side. “You have no standing here, D’Angelo. How dare you break into the home of the Commander of the Seraph Force.”