The Society Series Box Set 2

by Mason Sabre

  It had taken him a year to heal from all of that. He didn’t walk the same anymore. He wasn’t the same.

  “I do,” she admitted, raising her eyes to meet Jas’. “I didn’t mean to …”

  “Aboas doesn’t care what you mean to do.” Jas’ brown eyes bored into hers. Not like a husband telling his wife off, but like a man concerned about the woman he loved. He knew she had her own mind. She loved that about him. He never spoke to her like he was the man. But she couldn’t help feeling the rush of shame in her cheeks at the disappointment across his face. She had let him down … and herself.

  “Arioch escaped. I thought I could get him back on my own.”

  Jas pulled her to him, wrapping his wings around her and holding her there in a protective embrace. She hated to admit how much she had needed that, but she let herself hold onto him, too, pressing her face against his chest and inhaling the scent of familiarity. “My Nina … always doing it your own way. Sometimes you have to trust me and tell me these things.”

  “I know.” She sighed. “How long do I have left?” Aboas had probably sent Jas to say goodbye. Not for her, but for him. It wasn’t Jas’ fault that his partner was a fuck up. Plus, Aboas liked Jas. It would be best to keep him onside. But Roman would be here soon. He wasn’t the kind of angel who liked to be kept waiting. He loved nothing more than a good slaughter. It made Nina wonder sometimes, if he really was an angel inside.

  “Well …” Jas began and Nina clenched her eyes closed against him, tightening her grip around his waist. If there was a medal for screwing up royally, Nina would win it, no competition. She bit her bottom lip, her emotions welling up inside her—the Human emotions that came from being on the Earthen plane for too long. Jas leaned down, his face on the top of her head. He kissed her and held her tight for a second before letting her go again. “You’re damn lucky Darius is a nosy bastard. He knew something was wrong.”

  “Darius?” She felt the relief rush through her, pausing to hope that what Jas was saying was right. “Really?” Darius wouldn’t tell his father. He wasn’t exactly loyal to him. Not that many knew that, of course—just his friends. Darius did not agree with many of Aboas and Roman’s actions. But he also knew his father wouldn’t end him … unless there was absolutely no choice. There were always exceptions. “Did he …”

  “Tell anyone? No.” Jas shook his head. “Just me. He knew something was weird with you when he saw you in the halls. You lit up the radar like a damn beacon about ten seconds later. Darius covered it pretty quickly.” Jas grabbed Nina’s hand, freeing her from the grasp of his wings as they swept back magnificently behind him. He walked her away from the shifters. “So, do you want to tell me?”

  Nina swept her gaze across the injured creatures. “Not really.”

  “Tell me anyway. Tell me why it is that you have risked your life for a demon? Why didn’t you alert us that one had escaped?”

  Nina’s heart sank with a mixture of sadness and embarrassment. When he said it like that, he made it sound so damn easy. Just tell someone. Give it to someone else to deal with. “And how would that have looked? I can’t even guard a bunch of rocks without one of them getting out. How would that have looked for you?”

  “You think that this would have affected me?” Jas stopped when they were a good enough distance from the moans of the shifters on the ground.

  “I think it would have made you look like an idiot.” Although she was feeling like one herself right now. In her head, it had all sounded right, but right now, facing Jas, she felt like a complete moron. Maybe she should have told him. “It doesn’t matter now. It’s done.”

  Jas grabbed Nina by the arms and turned her so that she could face him. “Do you really think so low of me that I measure your worth by what job you have?”

  “I failed,” she said weakly. “I failed both of us.”

  Jas scoffed. “Do you know how many demons got out when Darius was watching over them? He was worse at that job than you can ever imagine.” Darius had watched the stones, not because he was of lower class, but because his father thought he needed to experience every rank if he was one day going to lead them all.

  “They got out on his watch?” Nina would have never imagined it.

  “More than you ever realise.” Jas sighed. “You should have told me, or told Darius. That was it earlier, wasn’t it? In our room. You being all coy?”

  “I thought you would be disappointed in me.”

  “It would take more than a demon to do that. I …” He stopped mid whatever it was he was going to say.

  “Wh—“ He held up his hand in front of Nina to silence her. He faced upwards, and although they couldn’t listen to each other’s thoughts, unless granted permission, she knew that he was listening to something.

  “Is something wrong?” she dared to ask.

  “Darius.” Jas lowered his voice. “I need to get back.”

  “You’re not staying?” She hated the way her voice sounded whiney, but she thought he would stay and help her.

  “I can’t. You know how Roman scans the channels. If he finds me and you gone.” He paused. “I can cover you from up there.”

  She knew that, too. It would be too risky for them both to stay.

  “I will stay if you want me to. He is just a demon.”

  Oh, how she wished to say yes. But like he said, it was too risky. “No. It’s okay.” Just a demon … he was a slippery bastard, and she needed to get a hold on herself and then on him. “I will grab him and be home.”

  Of course, Jas was expecting that Nina was using her powers, which she would have done if she wasn’t so damn afraid of getting caught. She would have caught him by now.

  “I’ll catch him.”

  Jas stared at her, his mind racing.

  “Go”, she said, before she asked him to stay and made him feel bad. She would do this without him. Without anyone. She’d got into this mess alone. She forced herself to push away from him. “I’ll be back soon. Tell Darius thank you.”

  She raced off before she could change her mind. She ran the way Arioch had gone. God knows where he would be now. The bastard had got one hell of a head start.

  ***

  Or maybe not … She ran the path out of the gardens and at the gate … a fucking lottery ticket. The shifter Arioch had possessed was sitting leaning against the post, head down. He was alive, but like the others, groaning. Shit. She kneeled next to him, and a low growl reverberated deep in his throat as the demon blood mixed with his.

  “I’ll fix this,” she promised. “I’ll get that demon.”

  She realised it had grown light. The sun had come up at some point when she had been standing with Jas, and she hadn’t noticed. Time was slipping away.

  It worked differently for her. What felt like a second was sometimes much longer. Nina stood, leaving the shifter behind. There was nothing she could do for him. Someone would call the DSA when he was found. Maybe the Humans would put him out and end it for him. Both problems solved in one swoop.

  The thing with demons was that they wouldn’t go very far if they didn’t have a body to roam around in. They needed a body fast or they would be claimed back to hell, or caught easily by the heavens. Arioch would not risk that. His new vessel had to be close.

  The sound of sirens shot into the air suddenly, shooting past her fast and then gone again. Another and another blared, coming from different directions. This was big … really big. Only Arioch would raise so many alarms. He had to feed his chaos.

  She ran along the road, heading in the direction of the sirens. Henry and Yvette would be back home now. She was well and truly alone. But she could do this. She would do this, she told herself as she ran. The roads were filling with cars, people, families, Humans going about their everyday life. She had to put her wings back, cover them or make them all stand and stare and think that an angel running around the streets had something to do with whatever it was that was happening not so far away.

  She
rounded a corner about ten minutes later, smacking into a massive crowd of onlookers. Yep. That would be the demon.

  Emergency vehicles lined the sides, the emergency services standing around. Shit. What the hell had he done? She pushed herself through the throng of people. Please don’t let it be him.

  It took so much from her to stand amongst the people. She had to let her shields down enough so that she could mentally search the crowd but keep the balance with them so they wouldn’t know she was there. She needed to find that one mind that was a black hole—a thing that she could easily sink into if she wasn’t careful.

  She pushed herself through the mob, finding her way to a fence and leaning on it. Her head swam with the effort of dividing her powers in such a manner. She felt the warm trickle across her top lip as her nose began to bleed, but still, she spread her mind out across the crowd … an invisible wave they wouldn’t see and only sense in such a way that they wouldn’t give much notice to it.

  She couldn’t sense blood or death—there had been no killing here.

  Yet.

  If this was Arioch, she could stop him before he did something. More police arrived. More people—all these minds coming into the place and shaking her resolve.

  Nina let herself slide back through the crowd. She couldn’t handle all the people and all the sounds. She pushed until she was free of them. So many people had come to see … but, what had they come to see?

  Then she saw it. Everyone’s eyes were on a young teenager standing at the top of the school on the edge of the roof. It had to be Arioch. Oh God, of all the vessels to take, he had to go take a young boy.

  He stared out at the crowd below him, looking like he was ready to jump.

  Shit. If he did, then he could just take another body for himself. An entire crowd of new vessels awaited him.

  The boy leaned over the edge, sending the people below into a frenzy. If Nina had anything to do with it, he wouldn’t be jumping anywhere.

  She slipped out of the way, out of sight of the Humans. One advantage of all these minds was that Arioch wouldn’t be able to track her.

  A slow smile spread across her face as she ducked into the school yard.

  Chapter 7

  As long as the crowd remained, and no one noticed Nina slipping into the school, she would be safe. Let them focus on the poor soul about to throw himself to his miserable death in front of them. It was so Human to come and watch—even when it was a teenager like the boy standing up there, readying to end his life. Not a single one of them had tried to talk him down, yet.

  “The doors are rigged,” he called out to the people below. “Try to come inside, and they will blow.” Now that might explain a little why no one was up attempting to talk him down. But where were the experts? Someone would have come by now to disarm the doors.

  Nina pressed her hand to the plastic double door at the back. There was no bomb. She shook her head. Idiots. No one would have tried, either, just in case. The door was locked, though, or rather, it was blocked to make it hard to open. Nina pushed against it, gritting her teeth and cringing when the sound of whatever was behind it scraped along the floor with an almighty screech.

  Yeah, real slick there, Nina.

  She stopped a moment and leaned back so she could get a view of the boy. He was still standing and talking. Maybe he hadn't noticed.

  She pushed the door open enough so she could squeeze through it, which was hard considering her wings. She pressed them painfully close, staining the wall with angel dust. Great. If Aboas came to find her, she was leaving him one great breadcrumb trail.

  The school had that smell to it, the one that was unique to schools—cleaning solution, rubber, adolescent sweat and cheap teachers’ perfume. The warmth of it blasted Nina in the face like a hot blanket of air threatening to suffocate her. She sniffed … there was something else mingled with it …

  Sulphur.

  Demon.

  In front of her was a large staircase that doubled in on itself. But at the bottom of it, there was a mark—something thick and black that coated the steps. When Nina tilted her head to have a better look, she realised that the Humans wouldn’t see this. The boy wasn’t lying about the area being rigged, just not with what they would be assuming. No bombs and chemicals. No. This was much worse ... much, much worse.

  Demon dust.

  Just like angels, demons had their own dust. Demons and angels—the polar opposites of the world. So far apart and yet so much the same. No one but an angel or a demon would see the dust, but whoever stepped in it, would be stuck. He’d set his own little mousetraps.

  Nina grabbed the handrail and peered under it to make sure it was just the steps. She had to step carefully around the dust so she didn’t disturb it. Oh, she was sure it would alert Arioch of someone entering the place. Ironic. Angels hunted demons. One would think evolution would have made that harder … would have found a way to disguise the dusts from each other. Just as Nina could see Arioch’s, Arioch would be able to see the shimmer on the wall and know it was her. It wouldn’t hurt anyone who came into contact with it. It wouldn’t trap them like Arioch’s, but it would affect them … making their minds lighter, free. Angel dust was an expensive thing on the black market. The best drug money could buy.

  Once she had got up the first set of stairs, she was careful to dodge the turn in the middle that was covered, too. Like glittery coal dust, it shimmered as she moved. The bastard had spread it everywhere. If Arioch wouldn’t sense it, Nina would have considered just transporting herself up the stairs, but he’d notice that like a blaring alarm. She lifted her wings and readied herself for an annoying trapeze act to get herself to the top. She grabbed the handrail, resting her head against it, her limbs heavy. She’d be lucky if she got the rest of the way up the stairs this time. Being on this plane sucked all the energy from her.

  A wave of dizziness hit her, making her head swim. She held on tight, letting it pass over. Holding herself perfectly still, she let her arms fall to either side, her head bowed. She was careful not to lower herself too much—just enough so she wouldn’t touch the dust. Her back ached from the effort, her head pounded, and the world threatened to slip in and out. It she wasn’t careful, she would end up back home because her body would take her out at the sign of her failing.

  Dying in angel form was not an option.

  It was a relief when she reached the very top. The demon dust ended there—Arioch so sure of himself that he had only blocked the stairs. He would have covered every entrance, though. Arioch was cocky, but he wasn’t an idiot.

  As she stepped out into the corridor, her heart plummeted. The corridor went in three directions, and she didn’t have a damn clue which one would lead her to the stairs to get onto the roof.

  “Right first,” she murmured to herself, deciding before she agonised over it too long. The doors on the right just led to another corridor, on either side of which were more doors. Each door led to a classroom—all of them bright, filled with desks and things on the wall. It was meant to be a happy place—a place that stimulated young, learning minds. Except now, as Nina walked and checked each door, it felt very far from the happy home the Humans had tried to create.

  She walked as quietly as possible, letting her wings drag behind her, the tips of them touching the floor and leaving their own mark.

  As she opened another set of doors at the end of this corridor and stepped out, a big, loud boom resounded, the sound echoing off the walls. Pain erupted in her wing. Bits of feather and bone shattered and blood splattered the wall behind her. She yelped as she fell backwards, her back slamming onto the hard floor.

  Wrapping her wings around herself, she rolled out of the way.

  Another boom, another blast of pain, sending her shoulder into searing agony, making her cry out. The floor was slick as she crawled in her own trail of blood and feathers. She held her hands out, trying to see through the fogginess of her mind who was there.

  Another bang, bu
t this time she rolled, grabbing a door and shoving it open. She fell into the room, seeking a moment of solace from whatever and whoever was attacking her. She muttered under her breath, slamming her hand against the door and pushing angel dust along the edges so that her assailant would struggle to get in. She curled herself up behind it, out of sight.

  Oh my God, she’d been shot … twice. There was blood everywhere. It oozed out of the first wound. Stretching her wing out painfully, she pulled it around so she could see. The beautiful white and gold feathers gave way to a blackened hole—burn marks around the edges. Thick dark blood dripped from the wound, clumping the delicate strands of feather together. She touched a hand to it and gasped as electrifying agony bit through her wings and lanced into her body. “Jesus Christ.” She crawled onto her front, her mind threatening to take her back, her body screaming to go home where she would heal much faster.

  The door rattled, the handle turning as whoever it was came for another go. It wasn’t Arioch. She could still hear him loud and clear outside, standing above the crowd, enjoying every piece of delicious chaos that came to him from the fear and glory of the crowd below. It travelled in waves so big that Nina herself swore she could feel it. Shit, she could probably ride it like a damn surf it was so thick. A woman yelled on the outside, begging him not to hurt himself, crying. The Humans had probably called the boy’s mother—Arioch would love that one.

  “Who are you?” Nina called out to the person on the other side of the door as they kicked it in frustration.

  “It makes no difference who I am,” a young, male voice called back. It still held the slight squeak to it, like his voice hadn't quite broken properly. That put him at about fifteen—unless he was a late developer.

  The summoner—it had to be. There was no other reason Arioch would go for this big finish. He’d need something like this to free him.