The Demon Academy: The Complete Collection

by G. Bailey

  “We need to make a plan and get out of this castle,” Javier interrupts. “I’m sorry, but the family drama does need to wait.”

  “Not without me. You are not going anywhere with my bride,” Lucifer casually comments, stepping into the room. None of us can move quickly enough to stop him as he clicks his fingers, making spheres of red light appear around each of us, pushing Nick away from me. I slam my hands across the sphere which does nothing more than amuse Lucifer. Lucifer clicks his tongue, walking over to the sphere of red light Lilith is held in, and she has crawled back as far as away as she can, fear gleaming in her eyes. I hardly hear the shouts from Nick, Claus or Javier as I stare, frozen, at Lilith and Lucifer.

  He once loved her, and he made her like this…fearful of him. Scared. Alone.

  Lucifer’s eyes never stray from her. “Lilith, have you been getting into trouble, dear?”

  “Fuck you,” she spits out. A big part of me wants to jump in front of her, to protect her even though she has been a lying little cat.

  “Back to kitty form you go. This time, you can learn to shut up, as all that talking doesn’t do you any good,” Lucifer growls, placing his hand on the sphere which disappears with Lilith. Dammit, I’m worried about her now. Why would my parents trust her to be so close to me?

  “As for you three, you can wait in the royal prison with the rest of the fun creatures I lock up down there. Good luck surviving.”

  “NO!” Claus shouts, but before I can even blink, their spheres are gone with them, leaving me alone once again with Lucifer. He clicks his fingers, and my sphere disappears into red embers that float around me, and I gently land on the floor.

  “Let them go, Lucifer,” I ask him. “They only came here to save me, but they don’t deserve to die for that.”

  “I brought you something,” he answers with a cruel smile. Lucifer steps out of the room and comes back with a long white dress. A fucking stunning wedding dress that I want to burn into millions of pieces.

  As I take a step back, my voice is far shakier than I want it to be. “I’m not wearing that.”

  “Tomorrow morning, we are getting married and you will wear this. I now have three prizes to kill if you dare betray me,” he warns.

  “You wouldn’t kill Claus and Nikoli. They are your children,” I say.

  He tuts as he walks to the bed, laying the dress down almost lovingly. “My sons betrayed me, and I no longer care for their existence. Besides, our children will be far more loyal.”

  “You’re insane. I’d rather stab myself than marry you,” I spit out.

  “I don’t care about your opinion, and you won’t get close enough to a weapon for that to be an issue. Sleep well, my beautiful bride. Tomorrow is a big day.”

  Lucifer disappears in red smoke, taking the passed-out guard with him, and the doors slam themselves shut on cue a second later.

  I walk to the bed and pick the dress up. Using my holy fire, I set it on fire and watch as it burns on the bed for a moment before the magic material just fixes itself, putting out the fire. I scream as I throw it across the room, and I fall to my knees, a sob escaping my lips, because I can’t pretend I’m strong anymore. I’m trapped.

  I’m never going to be able to escape this.

  Once the wedding is over, I can do one thing that will make sure Lucifer doesn’t win.

  I will find a way to die.

  Chapter 61

  Challenge accepted

  “Don’t say I don’t get you presents, my bride.” I don’t turn to look at Lucifer as I stare at myself in the mirror, the white dress fitting me almost too perfectly. The dress is a classic style with a sweetheart neckline and layers of satin that fall to the ground. As I stare at myself on my wedding day, for the first time ever, I’m thankful my parents aren’t here. I wouldn’t want my mum to see me like this, in this dress. I remember a conversation I had with her once about what I would wear on my wedding day in the future, and I jokingly said I’d wear a black dress and make my man wear white instead. She chuckled and held my hand, telling me that no matter what I wore, I’d be beautiful because I’d be happy.

  But right now, I don’t think I look beautiful, I look broken and beaten. Trying to distract myself from feeling Lucifer’s eyes on me, I glance at my straight, long locks of brown hair. I’ve left my hair down, though I miss my normal appearance and less of my demon one. My demon has all but disappeared from my mind, but she feels like she is with me, dreading our fate as much as I am.

  “You are pretty in that shit dress, though your hair is messy.” I turn around to see Amethyst—wait, Lilith—sitting on my bed in her cat form. Her appearance is somewhat comforting to see until I remember who she is and how she has betrayed me. I look to the door, which is held open by Hellers, and Lucifer is gone.

  After today, I will be lucky to ever get rid of him.

  “Want to help me jump off this castle?” I ask.

  Amethyst lifts her paw and starts licking it. It’s super weird to watch now I know she is a person. She is basically licking her arm in front of me. “Dying won’t let you escape here. The healers can fix anything, so we need a better plan.” Tugging my dress skirt up in my hands, I walk to the door and just pause in the doorframe.

  “You betrayed me,” I whisper.

  “No, I stayed with you, and I’ve always been here. If I told you who I was, there is no way you would have trusted me,” she adds in. “Little lies and one big lie about who I am kept you safe.”

  I cross my arms and turn my head back, eying her carefully. “I don’t trust you.”

  “Your mum and dad did,” she purrs.

  “Don’t bring them up to me! I can’t believe a word you say, and I don’t trust you to tell me the truth!” I blurt out. “I’ve always seen you as family, my last bit of family left that hell and Lucifer hasn’t taken from me, but it turns out you were nothing but more hell to start with!”

  “You’re right, Alexandria. I’m from hell, but so were your parents and they made mistakes. We all have made mistakes somewhere along the line. I just want you to trust me to protect you and my sons. That is all I want. I see you as a daughter, whether you like it or not,” she all but shouts in my head. “Now I can’t shift back or speak out loud, and only those with my blood can hear my thoughts. Before you ask, your mum gave you my blood to help me teach you some control when you lost your temper. I guess it’s back to the good old days where I talk to you in your mind and you pretend you don’t hear me.” I’m not sure which emotion wins, disgust or shock. Either way, I just can deal with her anymore.

  “The good old days included me cleaning up your hairballs. Why did you have to cough them up on my bed?” I ask, needing to know that answer.

  Amethyst lifts her head, making her eyes all wide and cute. “Because you didn’t feed me. In my cat form, I’m always hungry.”

  I purse my lips, dropping my arms. “I don’t know what to say to you.”

  “King Lucifer is waiting,” a Heller snaps, standing in the middle of the doorway. Amethyst hisses at him as she jumps off the bed, and he looks a tiny bit scared for a second.

  “The Hellers here are rude, do ignore them, or I can kill them for you if you want.” I stare at her, not totally sure if she’s kidding or not. “You have a wedding from hell to attend.”

  Shaking my hands out, I try to stay strong. “I can’t do this.”

  “It’s a bond, nothing more. I won’t let you forget yourself, Lexi,” Amethyst tells me.

  “Forgetting your Claus and Nikoli’s mum sounds nice right about now,” I reply.

  “Maybe I’ll forget to remind you of that. I do love your belly rubs,” she purrs as I step forward, and my lips tilt up for a brief second before the fear creeps back in.

  My palms sweat as I follow the Heller out of my room and down the corridor to the stairs. We go up the stairs, one by one, as I try to focus on them and not the fact I’m walking to my doom. Jumping off the castle sounds more and more appealing wit
h every step I take. The stairs head right up to the roof of the castle that is so high it almost touches the fire covered ceiling, and I can feel the heat from it as I look around the garden up here. The roof is covered in flowers, dozens of different kinds in rows, except for the path in front of me that leads to where Lucifer is standing in a white suit.

  Acting all innocent, the crazy asshole.

  Next to him is a Heller, at least I think it’s a Heller, in a white cloak that almost shines. His hands are the only part of him not covered, I notice as I walk over and stand opposite Lucifer.

  Brushing her body against my legs, Amethyst purrs before hissing at Lucifer as she walks to the side, whispering to me. “Remember something, Alexandria, he will be weaker when he is linked to you. This bond is one of blood, and it is eternal. One day, this will make it possible to kill him.”

  A tear runs down my cheek as I look down at Amethyst, just for a moment. “And me.”

  “Are you ready, my love?” Lucifer asks, reaching out and grabbing my wrist just as the whole castle shakes. I fall to the ground, rolling into the flowers as I try to stop myself. The shaking quickly comes to a stop, and I pull myself up as do Lucifer and Amethyst. Lucifer takes one step towards me, but someone else’s voice stops him.

  “Alexandria Cameron belongs to me, and as a fallen angel, I challenge the king of hell for his title.”

  Chapter 62

  DA is going to hell

  There is utter silence as I turn to see Morgan standing at the top of the stairs. His black hair is wild, falling all over his face, and under his locks, I can see his bright forest green eyes as they call to me. His shirt is gone as red energy burns from every groove and muscle of his chest.

  He looks out of control.

  And my crazy heart demands I run to him. Before I get a chance, Lucifer’s hand wraps around my wrist, tight enough to hurt. Tight enough his nails dig into my skin as I instantly try to fight him. In less than two moves, he has my other wrist in his grip, and he is holding me against his chest, his heavy breath moving strands of hair across my cheek. “Tut, tut. I never said you could leave.”

  “Give her to me.” Morgan’s statement is cold, empty of any emotions and oh so angry. I shiver as I try to find the right words to say to him, to tell him I’m okay even when I’m not. Seeing Morgan alive, even like this, fills me with a hope I didn’t have until this second.

  “Remind Lucifer that it is a rule of hell, literally written on the walls of the soul pit, that any fallen angel can challenge the king of hell for his title. There is a fighting ceremony that must take place,” Amethyst quickly tells me as Lucifer and Morgan stare each other down.

  “I will kick you out of hell, you damn fucking cat, if you say another word into her head,” Lucifer roars, and Amethyst quickly moves closer to Morgan who doesn’t look her way.

  “She is right, though. You have to accept Morgan’s challenge, and that means you can’t take me as your queen. I promised to marry the king of hell, as I’m meant to be the queen of hell, and until we know who will be king, you don’t get me,” I all but growl at Lucifer, pulling my wrists out of his grip, even though I’m aware he is letting me go. The second I’m free, I run to Morgan, only pausing when I’m near as he looks at me. “Morgan?” I nervously ask, and he holds his hand out for me. I don’t hesitate as I slide my hand in his, and the red glow slowly disappears, though his eyes still don’t seem to know who I am. Fear creeps into me as I stare at Morgan, a fear of who and what is going on in his soul. Did becoming fallen change him somehow?

  “Fine. Hell has been boring for a long time now. A challenge is just what the demons need,” Lucifer says, acting like he came up with this whole idea. “We might as well make this a family and mutt reunion.” Lucifer closes his eyes, and three spheres appear over the flowers before disappearing, dropping Claus, Nick and Javier down to the ground. They all get up at once, covered in dirt and green stuff that looks like blood, and each of them seem ready for a fight before they see Morgan and me.

  “Hey, guys. Turns out there is a battle for hell and the title of king on the order,” I say, filling them in as best I can. Nick’s eyebrows rise as he looks at Morgan, Claus just laughs, and Javier doesn’t seem to have a clue what is going on.

  “Right...” Nick drily comments, looking between his father and Morgan. “And the winner gets you?”

  “Yeah,” I answer, and even though he doesn’t look impressed by it, it’s a better solution than his father.

  “I have another idea to make this occasion so much more. Just watch,” Lucifer says with an all-knowing smile, but in a fucking creepy way, before closing his eyes and floating into the air as he glows red. It feels like the entire world shakes, knocking us all over, even though Morgan holds onto me this time as we slam into the metal gates of the staircase. I bury my head in his chest as loud banging noises fill our ears, and the sound of metal screeching cuts my ears. When it stops a long time later, dust burns my eyes as Morgan helps me stand up with him, and I trace my gaze around to check on Claus, Nick, Javier and Amethyst who all seem to be fine. Even the Hellers are standing up like nothing happened. What the fuck was that? We walk forward, right to the edge of the roof where Lucifer is standing, the others walking over to stand next to us.

  “The Demon Academy has come to hell!” Lucifer claps as he shouts, like that’s the best thing since sliced bread. But the sound of screaming cuts into the silence, and then there is more screaming until I feel like it will never end.

  “Who is screaming?” I ask no one in particular. Morgan pulls me away from the edge, holding me to his chest.

  “Don’t look,” Claus softly warns me. “Some things you can forget and others you cannot.”

  “Young demons, it’s a shame not all of them can handle being in hell. Better they die now than later, that’s what I say,” Lucifer says, filling me in on why Morgan has pulled me away and why Claus said I shouldn’t look.

  Lifting my head, trying to block out the sounds of screaming, I meet Lucifer’s gaze. “You’re a fucking monster.”

  “Go and take your temporary freedom, Alexandria. Don’t push my tolerance of your guests here, or I will kill them all,” he warns me. “I do not need a teenager to tell me who I am and who I am not.”

  “Father—” Nick starts.

  “Get out of my castle and go live in the academy. You can tell everyone there how they are going to be witnesses to the greatest battle hell has ever seen.”

  Morgan turns me away before I can say anything else to him, and my list is ever growing.

  “We will kill him one day,” Javier growls as he gets to my side. I look back at Claus and Nick as they walk after us, Amethyst following right behind.

  I don’t know how we could kill him here...but one thing is for sure. I won’t let him kill Morgan or anyone I love ever again.

  Chapter 63

  I want my angel back

  I stare up at the tall towers of the academy, and how they just miss the top of this level of hell, grazing across the stone and fire up there. The fire flickers across the towers, making them almost seem like they are on fire, but it’s just the light. The glass once held inside them has shattered into pieces, along with a few dozen doors that have fallen off the hinges, and the entire castle doesn’t look quite level over the trees and flowers it crushed. The glass has fallen all around the academy, smothering the once beautiful garden into nothing more than a mess. Right by the door is the reason we have all stopped in our tracks, and none of us has yet to figure out what to say.

  There is a pile of student bodies, some covered in blood, some half changed into their demon forms—and it didn’t work. Some have clearly died from the glass falling or something hurting them as Lucifer moved the academy to hell. Mr. Bisgaard suddenly appears in the doorway, fully shifted into his demon form with large white horns that curl around his ears, but the rest of him looks pretty much the same as he did, down to his teacher uniform. Mr. Bisgaard drags another t
wo bodies out and dumps them on the pile before going back inside, never once looking back at us.

  “This is my fault,” Morgan whispers, sounding so broken and lost that it hurts me to even hear him speak for the first time since we left the roof. I sharply turn to him at my side, wondering what exactly the best words are to say. I’ve never been good at talking, especially not about emotions. I couldn’t even talk about losing my parents, and to this day, I haven’t really accepted that they aren’t going to come back into my life. I certainly haven’t accepted Morgan nearly killed himself to try and save me, and he might be killed by Lucifer because of his claim to a throne I know he doesn’t really want. That neither of us wants. Add in the denial over my cat being my mates’ actual mother, and I suck at deep conversations and talking about emotions. Morgan doesn’t give me a chance before he walks off into the academy, and no one knows what to do. Amethyst doesn’t care as she runs off into the academy, likely to hide somewhere, as right now she is a problem we don’t want to talk about.

  “We are going to bury the bodies, Lex,” Nikoli finally says, stroking my hand with his. “And then get a shower or something.” Looking up at him, I sadly smile as he leans down, making sure his words can’t be heard. “You should go after Morgan. He needs a level head to fight this, and we can all talk about a plan later tonight.”

  Looking at both Claus and Javier, who is undoing the buttons on his shirt oddly enough, I ask, “Are you sure you can do this without me? I’m happy to help.”