The Demon Academy: The Complete Collection

by G. Bailey

  They might give your soul to hell and smile as they wave goodbye.

  Funny enough, I think mine belongs there anyway.

  That is if Lucifer has anything to do with it...

  RH Dark Academy Romance. 18+

  Prologue

  Lilith (Royal Consort of the King of Hell)

  18 years ago…

  “Please. Please don’t take them!” I scream at the beautiful monster standing over me, holding my sweet little boys in his arms. I should have known not to trust him. I should have run away when they were still in my belly, when they were safe. Their dark curly hair is all I can see as he hides them in the woven white blankets I made for them. My boys. My sweet princes. Thick tears fall off my cheeks as I pull against the chains on my wrists and ankles, feeling more frantic and desperate than ever before in my long life. “Please. I’m their mother!”

  “And I am their father. It is my choice, and they are not welcome in hell any longer,” he replies, his voice void of any emotion. I stare into his eyes, remembering the angel who fell into hell for me all those thousands of years ago.

  The angel I would have happily died for.

  The angel who is now stealing my baby boys.

  “They will not challenge you. Please, Lucifer. Please.” My pleas are nothing to him, and we both know it. Many people have pleaded for their lives or their loved ones’ lives, at his feet, and he has never once given them what they wanted.

  I am no different.

  My beautiful boys are no more than a few months old, and already I sense such power in them. Every moment they spend in hell, the stronger they become. If they were brought up here, then they could rival their father in power.

  Lucifer will never allow that. He will never allow a fallen angel to live in hell, to challenge his power. My sweet boys are fallen, their births here made that choice.

  Even a half fallen angel is a threat to Lucifer.

  And Lucifer knows it. My boys cry as Lucifer stands ever so still, fire curling up around him as he starts to take them away. I will never see them again, and the pain of that thought nearly stops my heart altogether.

  “Please let me say goodbye. Please.” I need to tell them their mother loves them. That I will find a way to go to earth and be in their lives. I will find a way. I just need to tell—

  “You are bound to hell, my precious demon consort. This is your price for luring me here all those years ago. Break it, and we both know the price you will pay.” He disappears with my children as my heart breaks into a million pieces, and I scream so loudly even earth can hear me all the way from hell.

  Chapter 28

  Knocking on the door of hell

  “The King of Hell requests your presence.” The Heller’s words are spoken so calmly and almost normally, even though the actual words incite nothing other than fear from me. My mouth is dry as I eye the three Hellers standing behind the one who spoke outside my room, and it is very clear that they will make me go and see him if I refuse. My hand shakes as I nod, gripping the cold doorknob in my hand as I pull my front door closed, and the Hellers circle themselves around me, like they expect me to make a run for it.

  If I were leaving, I would have flipping sure as hell gone a lot sooner. I wipe my tired eyes, pushing away the few tears gathered there as we walk through the empty academy. There is utter silence, which is a good change from the screams of wolves I’ve listened to all night as I ran around the academy, getting any wolves I could find to go to Claus and Nikoli’s room.

  They promised to get them out. I just have to believe they are true to their word, even though I’m not their mate like they thought.

  Why does it hurt so much I’m not their mate?

  I’m not sure I ever wanted it to begin with. I still shake from the events of last night; I still can’t stop picturing it all like a bad movie. Over and over again. Never stopping, never giving me a break.

  It’s all real. I’m meant to be the Queen of Hell and rule at Lucifer’s side.

  Over my dead body is that happening any time soon. We walk past the statue, the one I stop and stare at. I know why it’s familiar now. It was him all along, ever since I met him in that restaurant.

  I had a date with the devil, and I didn’t even know it.

  “Move!” the Heller on my right shouts at me, and I cross my arms, pressing them against the satin dress I’m still wearing. I somewhat hate it now as it only serves to remind me of that awful night. It is torn in places, and I have no doubt my hair looks in a similar state, as I’ve been running around the academy. The Heller goes to grab my arm, and I curl my fist as I dodge him, knowing if he touches me, I’m going to punch him.

  “I will take Miss Cameron from here.” Mr. Morganach’s statement makes me feel like I can breathe for the first time in hours, his voice pulling me into a sense of safety. The Hellers all turn to look at Morgan as he walks to us, his white shirt crisp and perfect, his hair wavy and styled to the right, and his black trousers tightly fitted. Morgan doesn’t look at me as he stares down the nervous Hellers, who don’t bother arguing with him before they run off together, and I try to take in every bit of Morgan. Everything from his green eyes that look like uncut emeralds that people would pay thousands to just touch, to his strong jawline, to his beckoning lips. Mr. Morganach is what any woman could ever want in a man on the outside, but on the inside, he is all kinds of fucked up. He knows it, which makes it worse, and I know it, which makes me crazy for falling for him.

  Morgan is addictive, that is all there is to it. He makes you want to find out more, makes you want to understand and fix his fucked-up heart. If that is even possible. I like to think I stand a chance. I’m falling for my teacher, how messed up is that?

  Morgan inclines his head towards the lift, and we walk over, meeting side by side in front of the closed lift. I step closer to Mr. Morganach’s side, almost naturally, as he presses the button for the lift. I try not to look directly at him as we wait for the lift, but it’s a losing fight as I look, meeting his green eyes, finding him staring right at me.

  He looks furious.

  And I never want to look away. I should be scared; anyone in their right mind would be utterly terrified of Morgan right in this moment.

  Not me and my stupid heart. We like it.

  My heart beats fast as the lift doors open, and we go inside, silent as the doors softly close. The second they do, Morgan’s hands cup my cheeks as he steps in front of me.

  “Are you alright, baby?” he demands.

  “Define alright?” I counter, and he smirks for a second until that second is over and the situation we are in comes crashing back. Both of us are silent because the truth is, nothing is alright anymore. One second we were dancing and Morgan was admitting real feelings for me, and the next, our world was blown up.

  Now we have to admit that it’s not just him and me anymore. We have the flipping devil in the way.

  “Whatever this fucking asshole tells you, don’t believe it. Don’t trust him,” he tells me, each word firmer than the last. “And you are not his. No way is that happening. I’d rather see you with his messed-up sons than Lucifer.”

  “I’m not going to trust the devil, Morgan,” I softly tell him, knowing he needs to calm down before he blows up in this elevator. He steps away from me, his hands curled into fists and his wings fluttering almost angrily behind him. I slam my hand on the emergency stop button on the wall, making the lift stop and the lights flicker as Morgan looks at me. I step forward and gently place my hands on his shoulders. He doesn’t move. He closes his eyes as I stroke my hands up over his shoulders and to his wings. Running my hands over the ridges and feathers, I’m surprised that they are far softer than I thought they would be.

  “Do you trust me?” Morgan asks me as I continue to touch his wings, knowing Morgan is asking something else at the same time. It’s not just trust, it’s love.

  Not that he would ever ask me that directly. Not that he loves me anyway. I’m not
sure he knows how to love someone after all these years of only loving himself.

  “Not in the same way, I suspect,” I tell him, and he opens his eyes, and for almost a full second, he looks on the edge of saying something more before he is serious again. The change of his features is hard to miss when you know him like I do. “We could leave right now. I will take you somewhere safe.”

  “I can’t. My parents need me, and I will not leave them to their deaths without a witness,” I tell him, moving my hands away and stepping back. Morgan all but glowers at me.

  “You said you don’t remember anything. You can’t help them if Lucifer kills you,” he warns me. I might not remember what they need me to, but I can tell the demon leaders how they are good people and how they would never kill five friends and take their souls.

  “Lucifer doesn’t want me dead. He wants something far worse,” I remind Morgan.

  “Then use that to stay alive while I make a plan to get us out of here. Play his game and fucking win it,” he firmly tells me, his voice thick with overprotectiveness and an urge to get me the hell out of here. “And I will always be around the corner. You just call for me, and I will be there.”

  “Does anyone ever win a game against the devil, Morgan?” I enquire as Morgan slams the emergency button and the lift starts going up once again.

  “The devil is just an angel who fell into hell. A fallen angel, nothing more,” Morgan reminds me. “He may have broken the rules, he may have gone where no angel ever should have, but that does not make him a king. The only reason he is king is because no one has ever gone to hell and killed him.”

  “So he was like you once,” I muse. “Does falling into hell make angels more powerful?”

  “Once,” Morgan answers as the lift stops. “We lose our wings for power the second we step into hell. I never understood why anyone would fly into hell knowing you would lose your wings. It would be like losing a part of yourself.” The doors open the moment Morgan stops speaking, not giving me a chance to reply. I don’t understand why Lucifer flew into hell all those years ago. I believe he did it for the twins’ mum, a demon he was in love with.

  Is love a reason to jump into hell? Even knowing the price?

  We step out onto a floor I haven’t been on before, where there is nothing more than smooth white tiles and a pair of large glossy red doors with three Hellers in front of it. These Hellers are a little different as they have red star pentagrams on their cloak arms in lines from the shoulder down to the wrist, and the swords catching the light under their cloaks look deadly. Morgan walks out of the elevator with me, each one of our footsteps on the tiles seeming like it echoes. It’s frightening. We get to the doors, where we stop in front of them, and I look up at Morgan just once. Once is enough.

  “The King of Hell will see you now.”

  Flipping great.

  Chapter 29

  Is there a return label for Lucifer?

  It takes the King of Hell a long time to open the damn door, considering he invited us here, and the Hellers seem to think he wants to see us now, but they won’t let us walk in. In the time we wait in silence, I think about whether it would be worth it to go back to my room as he can’t be bothered to answer the door.

  Would it be worth running away and hoping he can never find me rather than making it easy for him?

  Then the door suddenly opens, and I god damn wish it didn’t. Lucifer stands holding the door open, literally naked as the day he was born, I suspect. I don’t look down past his neck, focusing on his stupidly handsome face and wavy, damp blond hair. He looks like the twins; I see it so clearly now where I never did before.

  The twins are more handsome, more real. Lucifer looks like the Ken doll my mum bought me so my Barbie could have a boyfriend. I never liked the Ken doll, and neither did Barbie. She liked having her Barbie mansion all to herself.

  Same can be said of The Demon Academy and me. I don’t want Lucifer here.

  “Are clothes not a fashion in hell?” I sarcastically ask before I can make myself shut up. Lucifer laughs, a deep, throaty laugh that makes me tense up. I doubt that is the reaction he gets from any other girl.

  “My mate is amusing. I was just in the shower. Do come in, Alexandria,” he suggests, stepping back and holding the door open for me. I take a deep breath before stepping into the hallway, and I spin around to see Lucifer stand between Morgan and me.

  “Mr. Morganach, the angel I’ve heard of who is working here as punishment?” Lucifer asks, eyeing Morgan, and Morgan stares right back. The room becomes so thick with tension that every single little noise seems amplified. Everything from the water dropping off Lucifer onto the tiles, to the heavy breathing of one of the Hellers. I can hear the rain outside, the stormy weather that never leaves us.

  “Correct,” Morgan angrily utters, making the room even more tense.

  “Why are you escorting my mate?” Lucifer demands. Morgan moves his gaze to me, leisurely running his eyes over my body before back to Lucifer.

  I’m sure that made things less tense.

  “The Hellers are shit at protecting anything, let alone the soon to be Queen of Hell. I am much better,” Morgan smoothly replies. “I am her teacher and personal trainer after all.”

  “Interesting,” Lucifer comments, looking briefly at me, and I quickly hide my emotions, making them as neutral as I can get them when Morgan is around. “Mr. Morganach, come and see me in a few hours. As for now, you are not needed, and thank you for protecting my mate from the dangers of…a lift,” he adds, amused.

  “Have a good day, Lucifer,” Morgan replies, turning around without another word.

  “King Lucifer, angel. Remember that,” Lucifer shouts after him, making Morgan pause. He looks back with a smirk on his lips.

  “Of course,” Morgan replies, though he does not call him the title like he is meant to. If anything, he sounds as sarcastic as I do. I kinda like it. It makes me smile as Morgan walks away, and Lucifer sees it when I look back at him. His eyes narrow on me for a moment, and fear makes my lips dry as I look at the devil himself getting angry.

  “Mr. Morganach, do not forget to see me later. I want to hear your story of how you killed another angel, your best friend, if I’m not mistaken. It was gossip even the ears of hell heard.” My heart beats so loudly as Morgan tenses and turns his head back, nodding once but his eyes trying to find mine.

  He killed an angel. His best friend? Why the fuck would he do that? Maybe Mr. Morganach isn’t the good guy, but sure as fuck, the fallen angel I’m in the room with is no better. Lucifer slams the door shut and walks past me down the corridor, leaving me nothing to do but follow him, trying to put thoughts of Morgan in the back of my mind. I can ask him about it all later. I pause when I see Lucifer’s back and the two long scars where wings must have once been. Almost like he senses me looking, he stops by the door and turns back to me.

  “There is a price for being fallen,” he tells me, almost sounding human with real emotions until I see his eyes. How I ever thought they were handsome, I don’t know.

  I see nothing but empty pits of darkness now. Empty and cold. Just like his soul that clearly was the price as much as his wings were. It makes me wonder who ripped them out or if they just fell off. “Wait for me in the living room. I am going to dress.” I don’t reply, keeping my eyes on his shoulders as he walks through a door and leaves it open for me to follow. I clasp my clammy hands together as I walk into the large dome-shaped room. It is pretty similar to the room I have, the same style kitchen on the one side and the same sofas facing a glass wall. I walk to the glass, looking out at the almost calm sea. How can it be so calm when my emotions are anything but?

  I think this is the most still I have ever seen the sea since I came to the academy, though rain still falls down on us. I look down and regret it the moment I do. Standing on the edge of the cliff are four Hellers and a pile of bodies. Some wolves, some who did not shift, and each one of the bodies is smothered in blood.
The Hellers pick body after body up and throw them into the sea, like they are nothing more than a fish that escaped the water. I gasp as sickness fills my throat, and I turn around, rushing to the kitchen sink before throwing up. Not much comes up as I shakily turn on the tap and slide down to the floor, wrapping my arms around my legs and pressing my forehead into them, wishing I could erase this whole evil fucking academy.

  “Alexandria, how depressing it is to see you like this,” Lucifer states as he squats down in front of me.

  “You killed them all for fucking sport, and I’m depressing!” I scream at him as I raise my head and meet his green eyes that are the perfect shade of moss. They remind me so much of Morgan’s eyes, but there is a big, big difference. I see nothing good in Lucifer’s eyes, nothing but cold contempt for the world he sees as his.

  “Death is a blessing for creatures like them. Don’t you see that?” he asks me, tilting his head to the side like I’m an interesting creature. He holds a hand out, and he has to be fucking crazy if he thinks I’m going to take it. After a long pause, he seems to finally get the memo and crosses his arms as he stands up. “Fine, if it pleases you, I promise not to harm another wolf in this academy until we leave.”

  “Leave?” I ask.

  “When we are mated, we will not live here. I do detest this place,” he remarks so casually. “I want your demon to appear, and being around me as well as going to hell will give her more power. She is my mate after all.”

  “I’m not ever going to be your mate, Lucifer,” I spit out, feeling a sharp pain in my head as he goes blurry for a second.

  “Ah, I see your demon is closer than I thought,” Lucifer comments. “We will not be waiting for your eighteenth birthday or going to hell after all. You are stronger than expected.”