The Demon Academy: The Complete Collection

by G. Bailey

“Then why would you tell me that I am your true mate? Why would the stone say I am the queen like it did when we first met?”

  “I told you that to mess with my sons. I can see mates, and I know who yours are, and the stone was correct in some sense. You are my sons’ true mate, and that does make you royalty and a queen as they are the princes of hell. I know Nikoli saw through my lie, but Claus was always the stupid one,” he says with a slight chuckle that sets off everything protective in me.

  “Claus is not stupid, he just loves you, or at least he did before this,” I bite out, but Lucifer only finds it funny.

  “Anyone who loves me when I beat them regularly is stupid, Alexandria. Now, I know how Nikoli has taken you as his mate, but do not worry, part of our wedding ceremony will mean cutting your previous matings from your soul,” he states, and it takes a few seconds for me to cut through my angry haze and realise what he just implied.

  “No,” I shake my head, stepping back. He reaches out, wrapping his hands around my shoulders, and pulls me closer to him. His sickly sweet breath brushes against my cheek as he leans in.

  “Don’t worry, Alexandria. Losing your mate will make you go insane, and in your insanity, I will be your only saviour, your only link to your mind. You won’t even remember Nikoli’s name,” he all but whispers.

  “You’re insane,” I gasp.

  “Then you’re joining the club soon. Won’t that be fun?” He lets me go, and I force myself to hold my head high as he stares down at me. “I do like how strong you are. It’s very alluring, like a breath of fresh air. Ah, if the gods were kinder, you would have been my soul mate instead of that silly demon.”

  “Where is Morgan?” I demand, needing to change the subject, needing to see Morgan and know he is okay more than anything in this world right now.

  Lucifer stares at me for a long moment, and only then do I notice how deathly silent it is in here. There isn’t an animal making a noise, there isn’t a drift of wind. There is just silence, and I know I hate it already. “Come.” I jog to catch up with Lucifer as he walks to the doors of the castle, which are held open by four of the red Hellers, or that’s what I’m calling them. They are like zombies as we pass them to enter a giant dome of a room. Other than a spiral staircase in the centre of the room, it is just glass walls in a circle with a few glass doors heading off down corridors that I can see through the glass. Lucifer doesn’t give me a second to really look around as he walks to the staircase and starts heading up. I follow him up, passing three levels before he steps off the staircase, and I freeze as I get to the top.

  “Morgan,” my voice cracks as I stare at the angel I’m in love with, or what is left of him. Morgan floats in the middle of the room, red energy slowly snaking its way into his soul like beams of red light. The beams cover him, soaking into his skin, and he is completely out of it. Before I can step forward, Lucifer places his hand on my shoulder, and I itch to shove him away. “Don’t touch, it will kill you.”

  “His name is Morgan,” I bite out. “And he will never, ever hurt me.”

  “I don’t care. In a few days, he will finish his entrance to hell and wake up to find me standing over him, a dagger in his heart,” Lucifer so carelessly explains as my knees feel weak and my heart beats so loudly in my chest I’m scared it’s going to smack its way out of my chest.

  I can’t lose Morgan…not like this. Never.

  “NO!” I scream, pushing Lucifer’s hand away and trying to run to him. I don’t get far before Lucifer wraps his arms around me, feeling impossibly strong as he grips my throat, cutting off my air supply. I try to scream and fight as I feel myself passing out, but seconds later my body gives up, even when my mind and heart only want to fight.

  Chapter 59

  A cat and angel are unlikely friends…

  Claus

  I watch as Amethyst—aka our mother—jumps from rock to rock on the cliff as the sea sprays water across my cheek, and the air is bitterly cold as she comes to a sudden stop. With The Demon Academy towering in the distance, the night making the sky look like an endless field of stars, and the moonlight casting the only real light over us like a blanket, it’s hard not to hope to see Lexi soon.

  I have to save her, if not for the idiot I was for months when my father came back, if not for the fact Lexi deserves a million times better mate than me, then for the pure fact I’m completely in love with her. I close my eyes just briefly, long enough to tug an image of her into my head. Long, silky brown hair cascading down her back as her bright blue eyes lock onto mine, her hands resting on her hips as her bow-shaped lips tilt up. I want to reach out and kiss her, like I want to every second I’m with Lexi. But soon the image snaps away like a photo disappearing into my memories, and I’m back on the cliff, waiting for an angel to help us save Lexi.

  “You best not be betraying us, Mother,” Nick coldly warns, and at this point, I don’t blame him. Lexi is gone, and we are all fucking idiots because we should have protected her and, at the end of the day, we didn’t. Our father is going to make her his mate as soon as possible, and it’s not that simple. Nick and I know our father won’t want to share Lexi, so he will sever the bonds Lexi has already made with Nick and Javier.

  And that will destroy her so there is no one left to save. I know my evil as hell father wants that, but my bat shit crazy mother? I’m not sure what she wants. No one matter what she is doing here and how she is helping us, she is still the woman who, in a pure jealous rage, killed the parents who brought us up. I won’t ever forgive her for that, no matter what her reasoning might have been. I can see she has been good to Lexi, and that is the only reason I haven’t tried to kill her.

  She is still the woman who left us with humans in the first place. What kind of mother does that and then kills the people she trusted with her babies? It doesn’t make an ounce of sense, and it never has.

  I sense the angel before he appears in a blast of white, pure light that knocks all of us onto our asses. Damn light angels and their protective light barrier shit. I grip the cold mossy rock under me as I pick myself up and turn to the angel who is almost floating in the air even though his wings are down.

  He must be old and extremely powerful; figures Mother knows him.

  “Morgan is fallen, is he not?” the angel questions, and to my surprise, there is pain in his voice, more pain than what comes from just losing a random angel to hell. No, this angel was Morgan’s friend, which doesn’t make a lot of sense, considering Morgan was punished by his kind to work at DA. I always assumed he had no angel friends and no interest in the world that literally threw him away for whatever reason. I look between Javier and Nick as they pick themselves up, all of us not expecting him to have known that yet, and the surprise is clear on our faces.

  “You know Morgan fell into hell for Lexi?” Nick questions. “How is that possible?”

  “I am old enough to sense great changes in the magic of the world, and a fallen angel is a great change indeed. I did warn Morgan that his mate would send him to hell, but he did not listen.” He pauses and clears his throat. “The above worlds have lost a great angel, but perhaps hell has gained a real king for once in its many, many years. My name is Master Gabriel, one of the original ten angels of The Angel Academy, and I believe you need my help if our cat friend is right.”

  “Wait a second,” Nick grumbles. “Mate?”

  “Yes, Alexandria is Morgan’s true mate, and Morgan is well aware of it and has been for a long time. As you all know, Alexandria is angel blessed, and if she died, she might become a type of angel never seen before,” he explains to us. Fuck, this is more complicated than any of us have gotten our heads around. “Death would not be a kindness to Alexandria. You three must protect her from it.”

  “Lexi isn’t dead, she is in hell with Morgan. We need to get there, and that’s why we need your help.” Javier is the first one to get his head around this all. I think Nick and I need a second to realise we are stuck with the angel as well as the
wolf.

  “I am aware of why you need me here, wolf. It seems Alexandria Cameron has made not only two princes of hell give up their title to fight their father, but she has also made an angel fall to hell and an alpha wolf happily give up his pack,” Gabriel muses. “Isn’t love a strange but powerful tool in a world full of magic?”

  Tilting my lips up, I almost laugh. “And I’m fairly sure I can speak for everyone here when I say we would give up the world for Lexi. The whole fucking world.”

  “So are you going to help us?” Javier asks, his tone colder than I’ve ever heard it. “Or are you going to stand in our way and find out what happens to those that do?”

  “Of course I will help you, you need not threaten me. Alexandria wants you three, and you are her chosen. It does not matter my opinion on such.” He holds his head up. “The two other wolves must stay on earth; one is too weak to travel, and the other is an alpha whose pack needs him alive, or there will be chaos.”

  “They are staying here,” Javier agrees, glancing back across the rocks and up to the academy where Eike and Serafin are standing on a balcony, watching. Sera wanted to come with us, but Javier convinced her it wouldn’t be safe, and Lexi needs us all focused on her instead of protecting Sera. Eike wasn’t about to let her go anyway. I’m nearly certain that he is in love with Javier’s sister…and Javier doesn’t have a fucking clue. Fingers crossed I’m there to see that disaster waiting to happen play out.

  “I ask a favour from you,” Gabriel states. Of course his help comes with a catch.

  “Sure, you are doing something for us,” I answer.

  “I need you to warn Alexandria of the truth,” he tells us, and he lowers his head. “When angel blessed enter hell, they can never leave for the mark will take their soul. Alexandria can never leave hell now, or it will be a true death for her.”

  “There must be a loophole around that—” I start off, but he stops me by holding his hand up.

  “I have seen three angel blessed leave hell, and every one has known a death so painful that they wished they never did. The light above does not give second chances, and the same fate will meet Morgan if he leaves. They are forever trapped there, I am sorry,” he tells us. Fuck.

  “Thank you for the warning,” Mother says, and the angel bows his head at her.

  “The debt I owed you, consort of hell, is paid.” The angel moves his gaze from her to us. “Are you ready?” The angel holds his hand out at his side, facing the cliff. A hole burns into existence, opening a portal to hell that is begging us to jump in. Nick and Javier don’t wait, jumping into the portal with only a wave at the angel. Mother jumps in next, and I move to the portal edge, looking back at the angel.

  “Thank you,” I tell him.

  “Do not thank me for such a simple request. If Alexandria and Morgan want redemption, it can be found in the light. Remember that, prince of hell, and go.” I nod, his words floating around my head as I jump into the portal and fall into hell.

  Chapter 60

  FML, there is an indestructible wedding dress

  Stretching my fingers out, I feel the satin sheets under my hands as I blink my eyes open a few times to the dimly lit room. Right in front of me is a large stained glass window, the red glass painted into the shape of angel wings that are held in the middle of the sky full of clouds and stars behind them. I’ve been trapped in here for two days, only seeing random red Hellers as they bring me food, which I’ve thrown back at them. God knows where Lucifer has disappeared to, but I have a bad feeling he is planning a wedding.

  Our wedding.

  I’d rather die than marry that asshole, but I’m clueless on how I’m going to escape here first, as right now it is looking impossible. Sitting up, I rub my dry eyes that don’t have any more tears left to fall as I stare at the glass still. It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve seen in this castle, reminding me that even in our most desperate times, the beauty of the world doesn’t fall away as if it is nothing. But I can’t save Morgan in here, and I’m worried nothing can. What if all that power makes Morgan as insane as Lucifer?

  What if Lucifer was once just a normal angel until he walked into hell? And hell itself made Lucifer a total monster? Shaking my head because these thoughts are not going to do anything good for me, I get off the stupidly large bed and walk to the window, peeking out through the glass to the gardens outside.

  It really is beautiful here. But no matter how pretty it is, I need to escape here sooner rather than later. Maybe if I can just get Morgan out of hell, he might be alright? Hopefully, anyway. I don’t have another plan in mind. As I stare out the window, I wonder again if this is the room Claus and Nikoli were born in. It certainly must be the castle. I miss them and Javier and Sera almost as much as I miss my parents. I rub my chest as even thinking of them cuts so deep, hurting me because I know their souls are down here, and I need to say goodbye to them.

  That’s the only good thing that will come of this place. I will get much needed closure with my parents and kill the monster responsible for their deaths.

  I glance back at my new bedroom. The king-sized bed with deep red satin sheets takes up the most space. There is a dresser filled with red silk gowns that I’m never wearing, and I’m sticking to my school uniform even though it’s beginning to smell. There is a fireplace that I tried to climb up and out of, but it’s too narrow to climb. Other than the bathroom across the hall, which I’m escorted to, there isn’t much to help me escape. I’ve tried blasting the door with holy fire, and it’s done little other than make a burn mark.

  Suddenly, I hear something smack into the door, and I uncross my arms, walking over just as the door opens and a red Heller’s body smacks onto the floor. I look up, and for a second, I don’t believe my eyes as Javier, Nick, Claus and a woman I don’t know quickly rush into the room. Covered in ash and dust and their clothes slightly burnt, they couldn’t look better to me. My heart pounds as we stare at each other, none of us knowing who exactly should speak first or if words will fix anything at all.

  “Get the guard in before someone sees us,” the softly spoken woman demands, and I drag my eyes from my guys to look at her. Bright purple eyes watch me as she tucks her wavy black hair behind her ears. She has a choker collar on with a strange green gem in the middle that almost glows, and she is very beautiful and, I suspect, around our age. I know she is a demon, but there is something different about her. My guys clearly trust her as they soon get to work. Javier drags the guard into the room before Nick shuts the door, and they all look at me once more. I don’t know which one of us moves first, but in seconds, I’m in Nick’s arms before I’m passed to Claus and then Javier.

  “Are you okay?” Javier asks, cupping my cheeks with his hands for a second. Nick’s hand rests on the small of my back, and Claus pushes Javier’s right arm away so he can stand right next to me. Javier growls a little, but to my surprise, he doesn’t tell Claus to fuck off as he lowers his hand and smiles at me.

  “Define okay. Wait, who is this?” I ask, waving a hand to the woman in a very revealing tight black dress. I stare at her bright purple eyes, her long black hair and perfect features again. Oddly, she looks like my cat.

  “My full name is Lilith Amethyst, consort of the king of hell, and we have been friends a long time, Lexi,” she tells me. My world seems to spin for a brief second as I realise who she is and how I’ve been betrayed. No. No. No.

  “No,” I mutter a few times out loud when I meant to say them in my head, stepping back, but Nick wraps his arm around my back, holding me in place.

  “It’s going to be okay,” he whispers to me. But how in hell can it be?

  My cat is a fucking person? I got undressed in front of her a million times and fed her. Oh my actual god. I cleaned a person’s hairballs up off my bed and let her in the bathroom when I’ve been showering.

  I’ve even taken her to the vets where they took her temperature in a really fucked-up way, and now I know she is a person.


  Oh my actual god, this can’t be happening.

  “I couldn’t tell you who I was, but your parents knew. They knew because they asked me to watch over you when you began to come of demon age,” she tells me. “I also was around a lot in my human form when you were a child and kept taking people’s souls by accident. Your parents used to drug you to stop it happening, but then I helped them. My link to Lucifer means I can slightly control soul touching gifts into not working for a short time, but it was enough to stop a ten-year-old who didn’t know what they were doing. Your mum wiped your memories with a vampire’s help, and then eventually you needed me around a lot more to help you control it all.”

  “A vampire?” Javier mutters. “I thought they were extinct.”

  “Not when you know exactly where to look,” Amethyst replies. “And Leo Cameron had a very good vampire friend who helped for a little money.”

  “Your mum was my cat?” I ask Nick and Claus, though there are a million different questions I want to ask right now.

  “It’s all kinds of fucked up, I know,” Nick mutters. “But this is why we never saw her at the academy. She hid because her sons would recognise her in a heartbeat.”

  “You lied to me. You used me, and what did you want?” I snap at Amethyst.

  “To keep you safe. I promise that’s all—” she pleads, holding her hands up.

  “Don’t believe a word she says. You know what she did to our human parents, and we have not forgotten,” Claus adds in. “I wouldn’t believe a word she comes up with.”

  “I didn’t hurt them! It was your father’s doing! Ask him what actually happened that day!” Amethyst shouts, the hurt in her voice makes me question the truth a little bit.

  “Father wouldn’t have killed them, and you were there! It couldn’t have been him!” Nick growls.

  “Like your father didn’t tie me up in chains and take my newborns without me even getting to say goodbye?” she humourlessly laughs. “You don’t know how truly evil your father is. I’m his true mate, and he broke me in a million pieces, but I am not an ounce of how messed up he is. I swear on my life, I did not kill your human parents, and I never would have done. Ask your father what happened to them and then decide who is the liar.”