by G. Bailey
“Our dad did this, we should fix it,” Claus answers, disgust leaking out of every word before he clears his throat. “And Morgan needs you, and we need Morgan to keep you safe.”
Javier smiles as he drops his shirt to the ground, and I try not to stare. Try. I mean he is ridiculously attractive with a shirt, and without? Yeah, it’s hard not to stare at my mate. “My wolf is a damn good digger. Together, it shouldn’t take us long.”
“Is Sera okay?” I ask him, walking over, and he tugs me closer, wrapping his arms around me. I feel Nick’s and Claus’s eyes on us as Javier kisses me softly, still somehow making me weak in the knees in the blink of an eye.
Pulling back, he smirks at my no doubt red cheeks. “Sera wrote you a letter, and she is okay. You saved her life...I don’t know how to thank you for it.” He pulls out a folded letter from his pocket and slides it into my hand.
“Sera doesn’t deserve to die; it was an easy choice,” I say as he lets me go, and I itch to just go back into his arms.
“Still, you saved my sister.” The sentence hangs between us. “And we can talk about this all in a bit. Find that angel before he does something stupid.”
“Thanks,” I say. Claus kisses my cheek before I walk away, and I only look back once just in time to see Javier shift into his large brown wolf. The twins talk to the wolf like they’ve known each other years while they likely make a plan for the bodies. I try not to look at the students as I pass by, but I can’t help it. My heart pangs with guilt and sorrow as I recognise a lot of my class members and realise how their lives have been cut short before their time. Anger almost consumes me as I shake, just endlessly glancing from one face to another, knowing their souls are trapped in hell with Lucifer as the one who took them.
“I’m so sorry for your loss, and I hope your souls have found peace,” I whisper, feeling tears trickling down my cheeks.
“Just kill the bastard that did this,” Maggie whispers, stepping out to stand at my side. Turning my head, I see that Maggie has shifted into her demon form, and it really suits her. Long black horns stretch out of her head, mixing with her curly blonde hair that falls in waves down to her stomach. Her glowing red eyes lock onto mine with a passion as she pulls something out of her pocket and hands a familiar red glowing necklace in front of me.
“How did you get that?” I ask, accepting it from her. The second I touch it, I feel like a bucket of cold water is chucked over me, and I gasp, shaking from it as I notice my hands have returned to normal. I reach up and feel my hair, seeing that it’s the same.
“Lucky you, you can keep your human form down here with that. It won’t interrupt your powers either. If anything, it will help keep your control. Now go and do your magic alluring shit with Morgan as he looks broken, and I don’t like seeing my friend that way,” she instructs me.
“Friend?” I ask.
“Just don’t hurt him, or I will personally rip you to shreds,” she warns me. “I’m not stupid anymore. Life is too short, and in our world, stupid people in love with someone who doesn’t love them are going to die. I want someone who will jump into hell for me, just like Morgan did for you.”
“I won’t hurt him, I can’t,” I admit to her, placing my hand on her arm for just a second. “And believe it or not, I can be a friend to you if you want, and you do deserve a man who would do anything for you.”
“Friends with the soon to be the queen bitch of hell.” She smiles. “I like it.” I chuckle as she walks off to help Claus, Nikoli and Javier as they continue to dig holes for the bodies. Turning away, I head inside the academy to find my angel.
After searching all our rooms for Morgan and quickly getting changed, I decide to check the library next before checking the other classrooms. Heading up the stairs, I shouldn’t be surprised when I feel him near just before I step into the library where he is sitting on the floor, his head bowed with his hair completely covering his eyes. I carefully step over the books littered everywhere and make my way to sit opposite him, reminding me of our many lessons in this room.
“Talk to me,” I softly ask, hoping he will tell me anything, anything at all, so I can find a way to comfort him. He doesn’t reply after a long pause, and I reach out, gently holding my hand over his joined ones. “Thank you for jumping into hell for me. Thank you isn’t a big enough thing to say, but it’s all I have...you lost your wings for me.”
“I lost my wings for my soul mate, which is you, Alexandria Cameron. I knew it from the second I looked into your eyes, but I couldn’t admit it to myself. In another world, you would have been an angel, and then you would have known exactly who I was to you. In this world, you’re a demon and angel blessed and everything else that makes you complicated. I do not regret falling into hell for you, because I know something you don’t,” he whispers to me and finally lifts his head to meet my eyes. “Angel blessed can never leave hell, and I will never live in a world without you in it.”
“What?” I whisper, tears pricking my eyes at how damn romantic he can be without even trying. “I can’t leave. Ever?”
“Ever. We are both immortal and stuck here. I can only leave if you do, and you can’t. It’s a situation we will have to find a way to deal with, but it’s not the worst part,” he warns me.
“What’s worse?” I almost chuckle. Laughing about being trapped in hell is much better than crying about it. I’m going to miss earth and all the little things that make it so amazing. I can’t see how hell could ever compare.
“The power streaming through my body, feeding me from this place. I understand why Lucifer has lost his mind now,” he all but whispers. “Death, pain and cruelty is itching at my soul far worse than it ever did when I was a dark angel.”
“Can we stop the power?” I ask. I refuse to let him go.
“The power comes from the trapped souls here. Many years ago, souls used to travel through hell and then up to the sky where they could find peace. Only the souls who truly sinned would find themselves stuck here to live out a payment for their sins. Lucifer caged the souls up, forever collecting them and gaining untold power which I am now tapping into,” he pauses. “And it’s going to destroy everything about me, making me just like him.”
Anger fills me as I reach forward and cup Morgan’s face with my hands, forcing him to really look at me.
“Morgan, I will never let that happen. I will find a way to release the souls—I can touch them, remember? We will figure out a way to save you and then a way to get out of hell. We are not ever giving up,” I firmly tell him. “Now where the fuck is my teacher, my Morgan who damn well is stronger than Lucifer? Find him, I miss him, and then get him to fight with me. We do not give up, you taught me that.”
“Then we won’t give up.” He looks up, and for a second, I see the real Morgan. My Morgan.
“Never,” I whisper before I kiss him. He holds me close to him on his lap, kissing me softly as we try to forget where we are, try to forget everything but each other.
Morgan is my soul mate, and I won’t let his soul go.
Chapter 64
Time to go book hunting
“How is he?” Claus asks as I step out of my apartment, where I left Morgan sleeping on my bed before I took a much-needed shower. Somehow, no doubt because of magic, everything in the academy is working as usual when I suspected it wouldn’t. I smooth down my clean uniform, feeling somewhat odd for wearing it, as Claus steps closer, wrapping his arms around me. I hold him tightly, smelling his fresh cotton shirt and feeling how his hair is still damp from his shower like me.
“Not good. We need to have a group meeting,” I admit, rolling my hands up his chest.
“I do hope I am invited,” my uncle comments, and I turn to see him standing at the end of the corridor, half covered by the shadows. Claus keeps me close to him as we walk over, and Uncle Harry softly smiles my way. “I see my necklace has come in use, but every other warning I gave did not. Have you realised falling into hell was the death of your dem
on side yet?”
“Warnings do little to protect me against Lucifer and no, I didn’t know that. Do you have an angel killing sword as my next gift, by any chance?” I ask. Worth asking, I think.
“Angels die like any other creature. I find stabbing or removing their hearts is the trick,” he replies, surprising me. I didn’t ever think of my uncle as a fighter, let alone someone who actually could make jokes. I hope he is joking, anyway. I stare at him for a long second until I realise why I’m staring. He looks like my mum, and damn does that hurt.
“As much as this conversation is interesting, we should take it somewhere private,” Claus gently suggests, his hand rubbing my back ever so softly.
“Agreed. You mate is a smart one,” Uncle Harry comments, and I grin at Claus, who looks mighty proud. I notice how he isn’t in his demon form either, but I don’t see any kind of jewellery on him to stop the change. I wonder if it’s his half angel side that gives him more control.
“I will go and find the others. Why don’t you take your uncle to your apartment, and I will bring everyone here?” Claus suggests.
I lean up, kissing him softly. “Okay.”
Claus heads off, and I turn around, walking down the corridor and opening my door. I head inside, and Uncle Harry follows, closing the door behind him. We both go and sit on the sofa and chair, a strange and a little awkward silence hanging over us until Amethyst strolls into the room. She jumps on my lap, like I don’t remember who it actually is, and has the cheek to innocently purr.
Uncle Harry smiles at Amethyst, with almost a guilty glint in his eyes. “Uncle Harry, have you met Lilith?” I enquire.
“Yes, we are well acquainted,” Uncle Harry murmurs.
“You knew?” I ask. “And never once did you think to tell me?”
“Well, yes, but she is nothing but another layer of protection for you. Protection your parents wanted, and I am not one to judge their choices,” he replies.
“Told you so,” Amethyst purrs.
“Is there anything else you’ve forgotten to tell me?” I ask while we are discussing secrets.
“Not that I can think of in this second,” he muses.
“Lucky for you, I need your help, so I can’t be mad at you,” I mutter.
“You can be mad and still need my help, Alexandria,” Uncle Harry all but chuckles. “Would you like a drink? I could sure use one.”
“No, thanks,” I answer as he gets up and heads to the kitchen.
“Your uncle is one fine demon, with one fine—” Amethyst starts off.
“Enough. I’m already scarred for life by my memories of treating you like a cat, I don’t need to be scarred by your love interests either,” I warn her. “And also, do not walk in on my mates in the shower ever again. I will be seriously pissed if you do that again.”
“I am part cat, you know that. My soul and the cat’s are the same, yes, but when I am like this, I feel more animal than demon,” she tells me. “But I will admit that the view in the shower was perfect.”
“Good for you, you crazy cat,” I mutter, knowing it is not worth arguing with her right in this second.
“I’m sure your sexy wolf feels the same,” she tells me, and I try not to talk to her anymore, wishing she would get up off my lap as she settles down and curls up in a ball. I have my mates’ mother on my lap...sleeping. This is just so weird. Thankfully, the door opens as Uncle Harry comes to sit back down, and in walk Claus, Nick and Javier. Their presence makes me instantly more relaxed as they come into the room and sit around me. Claus and Nick sit on either side of me, eying their mother on my lap like I’m holding a snake. Javier rests against the arm of the sofa, next to Nick, and all of them turn to look at Uncle Harry at the same time I do.
“What is it you need, Alexandria? I will help you however I can,” he states.
“Morgan is tapped into the power of the souls of hell. The souls Lucifer has trapped here to gain power and make him as strong as he is. I want to know how I can free them so that not only is Morgan safe but Lucifer is vulnerable,” I explain, and there is silence following my statement. I want to add in that I’m not joking when Uncle Harry looks at me like I’ve just said some all-time big joke.
“Free the souls of hell?” Uncle Harry all but coughs out. “Free the souls?”
“Wow, you certainly chose a big mission,” Nick states. “We can’t free them until Morgan battles Lucifer for the title, because then Lucifer would beat Morgan. Morgan needs the power to win, and then we can do your plan.”
“Is it even possible? Everyone knows the souls are forever trapped here and belong to Lucifer,” Claus adds in to no one in particular before looking at me. “But if it’s not possible, we will figure out a way. You know I’m on your team, no matter if the team has an impossible mission that might—wait, will—get us all killed.”
“In reality, it might be possible, but the gate around the souls is a fortress of magic and curses. To touch it would be a death sentence,” Uncle Harry explains. “And the entrance section above it has more Hellers than anywhere else. All of the Hellers are trained to protect the gate of souls with their lives, and it will be a bloodbath.”
“We can take you to the final level of hell, but we can’t break the spell on the gates. Lucifer doesn’t let anyone near the souls, and he doesn’t go in there himself,” Nick adds. “As for the Hellers, spiking their drinks will knock them out. The idiots all drink from the same water source, and I know a hell fairy that will make us a nice potion.”
“A hell fairy?” I eye Nick, wondering if he just made that up as I’ve never heard of it.
“Hell fairies are tiny little bugs that live in the fires above the city. They do not talk to anyone they don’t want to, and they make many drugs,” Nick shares.
“Drugs that are fun for parties, with nearly zero side effects. You could say me and Nick were their best customers a few years back,” Claus mutters. “Until father decided we couldn’t stay in hell anymore and kicked us out.”
Not knowing what to say to that, I look to Uncle Harry who still seems very interested in the hell fairy thing. Clearing my throat, I get Uncle Harry to finally snap out of it and look at me before he asks, “What can we do then to get the souls free?”
“I won’t let Morgan die or go crazy because of the souls. If I can get inside, I can touch the souls and release them,” I say, knowing I can do it if I can just get close enough. I feel like it’s the right thing to do, or it might get me killed. Either way, it’s a risk only I can take because I’m the only one like Lucifer that we know of. I glance at Javier, who is silent in all this, always observing though. I wonder what he is thinking about.
“You don’t understand how many souls are in there. Touching all those souls at once to release them would kill you, Lexi,” Claus gently tells me. “We would have to do it slowly, a few hundred at a time.”
“And Lucifer might notice that,” Javier finally talks, “and then kill us and lock her up. We can give him a big distraction,” Javier comments with a wolfly grin.
“Fine, we have a plan once the gate is down. Do you remember your parents talked about a book that you should find? The one with answers?” Uncle Harry asks.
“In the letter they left me, sure,” I reply, leaning forward.
“Right, well I found out that the book belongs to the Tales people, a race of fairy tale descendants, but I do not know how we can contact them,” Uncle Harry claims. “I do know that your parents spent their entire lives researching a way to protect you from this power or a way to control the way you connect with souls. The book has to be important, I am sure of it. My sister said it held all the answers we ever sought about you, but she didn’t have time to find the tales in the end.”
“I know,” Amethyst all but smugly claims. “They live on a protected island not far from where The Demon Academy’s island is. You should travel north, give or take, and I have a charm that will take you through their magical barrier. Why don’t you tell
my sons? I’m certain Lucifer has made it so my blood spell doesn’t work on them. They can’t hear me, or they are ignoring me.” I stare open mouthed at her before I realise not everyone can hear her anymore.
“Amethyst knows where to find them, but Lucifer made it so she can’t speak,” I explain.
“I thought it was a bit too quiet,” Claus replies.
“I have a fix for that!” Uncle Harry proudly comments and starts searching his pockets. After a long pause, he pulls out a silver chain and walks over to Amethyst, sliding it around her neck and hooking the end through the loop.
“Thank you, Harry. You always were a kind demon friend,” Amethyst says out loud this time and then explains her information to everyone.
“I want to know what this book says. We should go,” Nick states.
“I can’t leave, ever, and I can’t ask any of you to go,” I remind them, after filling them in on the whole trapped in hell information that apparently they already knew because Gabriel told them.
“But we need this book, and I’m good with people. I will go and take Sera and Eike with me. The three of us should be able to talk them out of killing us on sight,” Javier interrupts. “The twins can protect you with Morgan when he is up and about until I’m back.” Nick and Claus look like they want to say something sarcastic, but I give them a look that suggests they don’t.
“Thank you,” I tell Javier, and it reminds me I haven’t opened Sera’s letter yet.
“If you get them to help, then use this,” Uncle Harry comments, pulling out two identical silver rings with a black stone embedded in it. “They are like projectors, allowing anyone to see each other no matter where.”
“You’re like the jewellery demon. Where do you even get this stuff?” Nick asks as Javier takes one of the rings, and I take the other.
“I literally own a magical jewellery shop down here in hell. You should come and see. Family discount will be applied, of course,” he says, smiling at me.