All The Demons: A Paranormal Academy Reverse Harem Romance (Angel Academy Book 3)

by Riley London

  “By who?” Trinity asked. “Who demanded that you bring this girl to trial? Who demanded that you tie her to a stake and watch her perish? If you’re willing to give me a name, then I’m willing to back down from the fight.”

  “…By me,” Gabrielle replied, her voice soft and low. “I was the main contributor to the girl’s trial. If you need someone to sacrifice for this crime, you should take my head.”

  Trinity let out one of her familiar cackles, before she crossed her arms over her chest. “You are the head of the Council, are you not? Wouldn’t that make you Heaven’s right-hand? Why should I accept you as a sacrifice, when you are so aligned with Heaven’s wants and needs?”

  “Please,” Gabrielle begged. “Please, we did not mean to engage in any act of war—”

  “You angels never mean to do anything.” Trinity’s response was cold. “Come on, sister. We need to get back to our home.”

  Home?

  I wanted to ask where the hell Trinity was taking me, since it wasn’t like we’d ever shared a home together before. But honestly, I was just too exhausted from the chains and the stake to even formulate that kind of question right now.

  Instead, I just let Trinity throw her arm around my shoulders as she quietly led us out of the arena, and off to God-knows-where.

  Chapter 17

  “They betrayed you. Angels always do,” Trinity said to me as she poured me a glass of warm tea. “It’s a lesson our parents taught me early on.”

  We were in Trinity’s apartment in France, and I was curled up on her couch. She’d managed to get the chains off my wrists as soon as we’d gotten to her home, and now it felt like all of the angelic electricity and all of the darkness was returning to my veins.

  “They didn’t betray me,” I explained as I turned to give her a look. “Zachary stayed with me, nearly the whole time, but he wasn’t able to handle the idea of watching me die.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because he’s already seen enough death, enough people he loved met some pretty brutal ends,” I replied. “I understood why he didn’t want to see me go out the same way.”

  “That’s an excuse,” Trinity scoffed. “And it’s weak as well. Is he an angel or a butterfly? Is his constitution so soft that he couldn’t stand by your side in your hour of most need?”

  “Trinity. Drop it. I said they didn’t betray me. Why isn’t that enough for you?”

  “Because I don’t know what I would’ve done if I’d arrived only a few minutes later, after the Council had watched you die.” Trinity handed me the mug filled with tea. “How do you expect me to feel, sister? I could’ve lost you today.”

  “Yeah, but it’s not like we’re super close or anything.” I took a sip of tea, before I sighed. “You couldn’t have missed me that much.”

  “Oh. I would’ve missed you, more than you know.” Trinity sat beside me on her couch as her eyes seemingly focused on the view outside of her window. “It’s a lonely thing being the child of Lucifer and Lilith. And you are the only other person on the surface who could ever understand how I feel.”

  “That’s true enough.” I shrugged. “But it still doesn’t make us close.”

  “What makes us close if not our blood?” Trinity lightly chuckled. “There is no other bond that lasts as long. We will be with each other until the day we die.”

  “Yeah. I guess so.” I took another sip of my tea. “But hey, thank you for saving me. I wasn’t really in the mood to die tonight anyway.”

  “You’re very welcome.” Trinity shifted closer to me on the couch. “But you do know that a war has been declared between Heaven and Hell now, don’t you?”

  “Honestly, I’m not sure what that means, Trinity,” I replied. “All I know is that the angels probably don’t want me on their side.”

  “They don’t.” Trinity’s response was quick. “Which means, sister, that you and I are now behind the same battle line.”

  “I’m not going to fight for Hell either.”

  “You’re not going to fight for our home? For our parents?” Trinity seemed suspicious. “You’re not going to fight for Charlie?”

  “What do you mean? What do you know about Charlie?”

  “I know that he fights for Hell now,” Trinity answered. “Which means that if he were to go into battle with an angel, they’d have every right to strike him down. Is that what you want? You want for Charlie to perish? You don’t wish to protect him at all?”

  “And you’re saying that if I want to protect him, then I need to join your side,” I scoffed. “How fucking convenient.”

  “I’m not saying that you need to join my side. I’m saying that you need to wake up and realize that you’ve always been on my side, our side. Even with all that angel blood flowing through you, you were never meant to be an angel,” Trinity continued. “You and I were always meant to be something much greater than that.”

  “Greater than an angel?”

  “Yes.” Trinity’s eyes lit up as she spoke. “You and I, Celeste, were born to be Gods.”

  Epilogue

  I’d spent the summer at Trinity’s place, letting her teach me how to tap into the side of my bloodline that belonged to Lilith, how to start and stop a potion or a curse. And even though magic didn’t seem to take to me as well as it did to Trinity, it was still fascinating to learn about the process.

  Learning about magic wasn’t something that ever would’ve happened at the academy for me. Mostly because I would’ve been the only student there who had the ability to perform any spells, but also because learning about anything even slightly demonic seemed as if it was expressly forbidden.

  Unless of course, it revolved around killing demonic things, then I’d learned all about it at the academy.

  We came back inside after a failed attempt to collect enough lizard’s breath for a spell that Trinity wanted to try, and I was exhausted from the effort. I plopped down on her couch, bringing my hands up towards my face with a groan.

  “What the hell? Why are lizards so goddamn fast?” I complained.

  “They’re something unnatural, those lizards,” Trinity said under her breath. “But next time, I assure you that we’ll be able to pick up a few by the hand.”

  “Next time?” I chuckled. “Yeah, maybe if we’re able to figure out how to run at the speed of light.”

  “Ooh, that should be our next spell.” Trinity grinned. “We should learn how to increase our natural talents, you with your sword fighting, and me with my potions.”

  “That would be kind of fun,” I admitted, letting out a loud sigh. “Have you heard anything from the angels yet? Anything about some upcoming war?”

  “Why is that always on the forefront of your mind?” Trinity shook her head. “I’ve told you several times that the first strike is not up to us.”

  “Then who’s it up to?”

  “Abaddon,” Trinity explained. “And he will move when he is ready to move. As for now, he is not ready to move.”

  Trinity seemed irritated as she took a seat at a table a few feet away from her couch. “Let’s discuss something else. How about your love life?”

  “Oh, my nonexistent love life?” I chuckled again.

  “There was that boy at the night market, a month or so ago. Didn’t he ask you for your number?”

  “Yeah, but I gave him a fake one.” I shrugged. “I’m not interested in meeting new people right now, especially those with a romantic interest.”

  “Because you’re still nursing your broken heart from Charlie and those angels?”

  “Yep.” I nodded. “I’m not going to pretend like I’m okay, like everything’s okay, just because I happened to survive certain death. I’m still…I still…”

  “You love them.” Trinity hummed. “Despite how they’ve deserted you.”

  “We’ve talked about this a billion times.” I rolled my eyes. “That’s just not what happened.”

  “What did you do with the sword?” Trinity leaned t
owards me, her tone lined with curiosity. “The one you brought to me all those months ago?”

  “Michael’s sword?”

  Trinity nodded in response. “The one you promised me after you vanquished the Princes of Hell.”

  “I left it in my dorm room,” I replied. “I didn’t take it to Mr. Nash’s funeral because I didn’t see anyone else grabbing a weapon either, so I just left mine at home too.”

  “At home…yes…” Trinity’s words trailed off. “But it’s not just your home, is it? Doesn’t Zachary still live with you?”

  “Lived. Past tense. Sure.” I shrugged. “Why?”

  “Because that’s who has the sword,” Trinity answered. “And when it comes time to find it again, we’ll start there. We’ll start with him.”

  “Okay,” I casually agreed, finishing up my tea, even though the thought of seeing Zachary again made me so nervous that I almost wanted to throw up.

  “And what about your love life?” I asked Trinity as we walked through Hell. She’d determined that we needed to pay our parents a visit even though she hadn’t been forthcoming about why.

  “I don’t have a love life.” Trinity smiled. “My time is spent in books and spells and potions. I’ve never had much interest in anything outside of that.”

  “So what? You’ve never had a crush on a guy? Or a girl?”

  “No.” Trinity sounded quite content. “At least not yet. I guess it’s possible that no one has caught my eye. I’d like to think that when I do latch onto a love story of my own, it’ll be like our parents, the way our dad was so taken with our mother that he couldn’t imagine being with another woman ever again.”

  “That sounds lovely.” I sighed. “Too bad relationships on the surface are way too messy for something as simple as that.”

  “I believe relationships are just what you make of them.” Trinity smiled again. “Although, I realize my advice isn’t too useful. It’s much like a man who’s never ridden a horse giving you pointers on horseback riding.”

  “Yeah. Kind of.” I chuckled. “But everyone has a right to their opinion.”

  When we reached our parent’s home, I knocked on their door.

  But Trinity shook her head, pushing the door right open. “We’re their children. We do not need permission to enter their home.”

  “She’s right, you know.” Lilith was already beaming at the both of us, her arms held wide open. “Oh, my girls! It’s so wonderful to see you both together at last.”

  I shamelessly ran into my mother’s arms, before a sob broke free from my chest. “Mom.”

  “What’s happened to you, my love?” Lilith held me close. “What have they done to you?”

  “They were going to kill her,” Trinity answered for me.

  “Who? Who was going to bring harm to my baby?”

  “The Council,” Trinity continued. “They’d determined that she committed sedition and they were going to have her die for her crime.”

  “Sedition?” Lilith laughed, the sound reminding me of a harp, light and lilting. “They wanted to punish you for the same crime as your father? Do they now know that you were born of Lucifer and me?”

  “Yes.” I nodded against Lilith’s shoulder. “And they wouldn’t even listen to me when I tried to tell them that I was innocent.”

  “Ah, Heaven doesn’t care about innocence,” Lilith continued. “If that were the case, I would still be in the Garden with Adam, picking fruit of my own choosing and consorting with better company than a man who believed he owned me from head to toe.”

  “I tried to tell her, Mother,” Trinity contributed to the conversation. “But she had to figure it out for herself. Angels are the true betrayers.”

  “And Heaven is nothing more than a lie.” Lilith grabbed me by the chin, forcing me to look her in the face. “Do you understand now, daughter? Are you certain of who has your best interest at heart?”

  No.

  “Yes,” I lied. “I understand now.”

  “Good.” Lilith beamed, placing a quick kiss on my forehead. “Then welcome home, my love. Welcome home.”

  “Sedition?” My father laughed at the phrase. “My God. How things always come back around.”

  “The sins of the father…” Lilith’s words trailed off. “But even so, you’d think that the angels would have more sense than to attempt the murder of royalty.”

  “Well, we are not so much royalty anymore. More like figureheads as long as Abaddon sits on the throne,” my father scowled.

  “How’s, uh, how’s that been working out?” I felt awkward at the table with my family, but then it dawned on me that I probably felt so out of place because I’d never done anything like this with them before. Sure, I’d hung out with my parents, but my sister was never at the table with us too.

  And that’s what was making this so goddamn weird.

  I had a family.

  Not a chosen family. Not a found family.

  The kind of family that most people seemed to have, bonded by blood and spending their free time with each other, having conversations over plates of food that I knew neither my mother nor my father had any interest in touching.

  The food was for Trinity and me, the surface-dwellers who’d gotten used to eating. My parents had told me before that the longer I stayed in Hell, the less I’d have cravings for food and water and such, eventually just subsisting on demonic energy alone.

  Since I had no interest in living off demonic energy, I made sure to down a full plate of food as the conversation continued around me.

  “Poorly,” my father answered my question. “Abaddon has little to no control over his own subjects. I watch as the Princes of Hell come and go as they please.”

  “Except for the ones who’ve been bound,” my mother suggested.

  “Yes, there is the curious case of that,” my father replied. “In fact, I heard it rumored that you, Celeste, were responsible for the binding?”

  I nodded, chewing through another bite. “Yeah. Back when I thought I was supposed to be the new Michael.”

  “That’s incredible.” My mother gently patted me on the shoulder. “You are incredible, child. Do you know the strength it takes to bind a Prince of Hell?”

  “I do.” I nodded again. “But the good news is that it looks like all of that is behind me, right? I’m not supposed to be binding them anymore anyway, if I’m going to be on the right side of history and all.”

  “Celeste is done giving her talents to angels who want her dead.” Trinity smiled. “And I’ve been training her all throughout the summer in how to use the magical side of her blood as well.”

  “And how are you taking to magic, my love?” my mother asked.

  “Not as well as Trinity,” I admitted. “I think I’m better with fighting, maybe? Working with prayers?”

  “Because you have more of your father in you than you do of me.” Lilith grinned. “Even though we both gave you the same amount.”

  “There is nothing wrong with preferring parrying to potions.” My father grinned too. “Anyway, Celeste will have a varied skillset if she were to combine her talents—”

  “Hey! Sorry, I’m late.” Charlie came through my parents’ door, with a bright expression on his face. “I tried to make dessert, but you’d be surprised at how impossible it is to find vegan ingredients down here. By the way people talk about going vegan on the surface, you would think Hell would be nothing but vegan stuff—”

  “Charlie?” I could hardly believe my eyes. “What are you doing here?”

  “Celeste?” Charlie smiled right at me. “Oh my God. Oh my God! You’re here! You’re actually here!”

  I jumped up from my seat at the table, excitedly running into Charlie’s arms. He held me there for quite some time, his grip tightening around my waist.

  “You’re okay,” I whispered with an excited tone. “Thank God. You’re okay.”

  “I think it had less to do with God, and more to do with your mom and dad.” Charlie chuc
kled.

  “How did you end up with them anyway?” I moved away from him, just far enough to make direct eye contact. “I thought you were some pawn for Ashmedai, some weapon of war that he pulled out whenever he felt like making a statement or causing a scene.”

  “I am.” Charlie sighed. “But I’m also just a regular guy who had to find a way to spend his free time, which led me to your parents’ place. I remembered the way, from the last time I beamed down from the surface and once I told them about our relationship, they were more than happy to help me out.”

  “We like this one. A lot.” Lilith smiled.

  “But if he breaks your heart, we’ll murder him all the same,” Lucifer replied.

  “Charlie…” I brought my hands to his face, unable to help the crazed expression on my face. I didn’t waste another moment as I leaned towards him for a kiss, happy as hell to feel him against me once again.

  “I love you. Fuck. I love you so much,” I confessed. “You have no idea what it’s been like without you. You have no idea what my year has been like without you.”

  “Hmm. I think I have some idea.” Charlie gently chuckled. “I’ve spent my year without you too, Celeste, and it really fucking sucked.”

  “A year apart from each other?” My mother made a sympathetic noise. “Charlie, if you’d like, you can spend the night. We have a private bedroom available, near the back of our home.”

  “You are encouraging this union.” My father grimaced. “And I am not sure if this is the man who I wish to have grandchildren by.”

  “It’s not up to you, my love,” my mother replied. “And you should know just as well as I that you cannot keep two lovers apart. Not if their love is true.”

  “No, not if their love is true.” My father sighed, almost as if he was giving up the fight. “All right, Charlie. You may stay the night.”

  “Do you remember killing Benjie’s dad?” My question came out as a murmur as I lay beside Charlie in the bed. “Do you remember trying to kill me?”