Ascend - A Reverse Harem Romance (Celestial Academy Book 1)

by Maya Nicole

  Brooklyn was missing and the rest of us were asked not to leave campus. Olly, Tobias, and I were sitting around Tobias's table.

  "Do you think Levi is lying?" Tobias had concerned look on his face. He knew both Brooklyn and Levi, but not enough to make any determination as to their character.

  Olly shrugged. "He might be. You think he has something to do with her missing?"

  "I don't know but we can't just keep sitting here acting like she's not out there somewhere. She's not here on campus, so why aren't we out there looking for her?" I stood and walked to the window, pulling the curtain aside to look out. "Maybe Levi was a dick and left her in the city and she can't get back. What the hell?" I squinted through the window that had a reflection from the light in the room and then opened it so I could get a better view.

  "What is it?" Tobias came up behind me and looked in the direction I was staring.

  The same hooded figure I had seen before was sneaking towards the tree line before disappearing from view.

  "I think that's the same person I saw the other night sneaking off." I let the curtain fall and turned back to the room, putting my hand on Tobias chest. "We need to go to the city and look for her. We can call Asher to help."

  "That guy scares me," Olly piped up, seriousness in his voice. He had only met Asher once and it had not been under the best circumstances.

  I rolled my eyes. "Seriously?" I crossed my arms over my chest. "If you plan on hanging out anymore you are going to have to get used to him."

  Tobias raised his eyebrows. "I thought he wasn't answering your texts."

  With all the worry over Brooklyn, I hadn't had the time to talk to Tobias about Asher. "I went over there last night."

  There. The Band-Aid was ripped off. Now I was officially dating two men at once. At least they already knew each other, although their relationship was strained.

  "You went to the city? You know that we're supposed to-" Olly started.

  "It's not like I was walking around. Besides, Asher clearly can kick ass. I'd be more worried about going to the city with just you two," I stated, smiling at them both.

  "What's that supposed to mean?" Olly looked offended. He's the one that almost got himself abducted and there were two of them.

  "She thinks we are weak because all she's seen us do so far is academics. I'll have you know that before Asher fell, I used to be right out there with him. I can throw a punch. I can kick some ass. Maybe if you're lucky, I'll kick Asher's ass so you can see just how skilled I am." He looked smug, but I was doubtful. I had seen Asher fight before. "So you and Asher are what now exactly?"

  I perched on the side of his bed and looked up at him. "I guess he's my boyfriend. And you're my other boyfriend. Is that going to be a problem?"

  "You're wrong. I'm your boyfriend and he's your other boyfriend. And no it's not a problem, we talked about that already. I can't say I have any experience sharing a woman, but we probably need to all have a conversation at some point."

  "Two boyfriends, is that normal?" Olly stood and stretched, a small sliver of skin showing between his pants and shirt. I licked my lips because good lord was he attractive. It's like heaven decided to create the most beautiful male specimen to illicit impure thoughts.

  "Normal depends on who you ask. It's not conventional, but I'm not a conventional gal, now am I?"

  "Oliver, you were included in that conversation too." Tobias smirked as he watched me pick at a loose string on his quilt. It was old, I probably shouldn't be picking at it.

  "I was?" He sounded very excited over the prospect. I could feel his eyes on me. "You want to go on a date with me?"

  I shrugged. "I'm drawn to you for whatever reason. There has to be some weird supernatural phenomenon going on, right? Or I'm just one horny woman, makes sense considering my dad's the devil."

  Tobias laughed at my joke, but the reference to the devil having horns went straight over Oliver's head, at least I think it did because he didn't laugh.

  "I would have asked about it when we were in heaven, but your dad was right there and I really didn't want to get on his bad side. Remember, he likes me." Tobias almost sounded childish as he made reference to the breakfast from hell.

  "At least I'm not her teacher." Olly mumbled it so quietly that I barely heard it, but it was out there none the less.

  Tobias practically flew across the room, grabbed him by the throat, and shoved him against the door. "Listen you little fucker, you don't get to judge people after the shit you've pulled. Or have you forgotten the reason you're here in the first place?" Tobias shoved into him one last time and then let him go. He dropped like a sack of flour to the floor.

  "Care to elaborate on that?" I was standing now, ready to separate the two from ripping each other apart if necessary.

  "Oliver, do you want to tell her or shall I?"

  Olly sat against the wall and put his head in his hands looking dejected. It couldn't be worse than the shit I've pulled over the years, but then again it probably did take a lot to get kicked out of heaven.

  "It can't be that bad can it? Just tell me. Remember who you are talking to here. No judgement from me."

  "Oh but this is so much more epic than any of the crap you got in trouble for," Tobias said.

  "Shut up Tobias. Olly, what is it?" I squatted next to him and tried to pull his hands away from his face.

  He sighed and dropped his hands. "I broke into the artifact room and took the Holy Grail."

  I bit my lip to keep from laughing. I didn't know much about religious artifacts, but I was pretty sure the Holy Grail was a big deal. "And why would you do that Olly?"

  He looked at the floor and mumbled something.

  "What was that?" I felt like I was a mother talking to her four-year old who just broke a vase and wanted to blame it on the cat.

  "I was bored and there was this rumor that it turned water to wine and I just wanted to test it out. I was tired of just flitting around up there doing nothing. So I took it, snuck to Earth to get some water and it slipped out of my grasp. I couldn't find it." He let out a shaky sigh. "They told me I was such an idiot and needed to wise up, so they sent me here to teach me a lesson."

  "Wait, wait, wait." I stood from my squat and looked down at him. "You're telling me you lost the Holy Grail? How does that even happen?" Tobias was laughing now but was trying to cover it by covering his mouth. "Where were you trying to get water from?"

  He looked to Tobias with a pleading look in his eyes, which only made him laugh harder. He rubbed his hands over his eyes and then looked at me again. "The Pacific Ocean."

  "Don't stop there Olly boy, tell her the whole thing," Tobias choked out between laughs. I had never seen him laugh so hard. He had clearly heard this story before, but probably never heard it from Oliver's lips.

  "Near Hawaii, I swooped down to scoop and a wave knocked me in. I dove after it but it sank so quickly and none of us could find it. It's lost forever. I don't know why they got so mad about it. I told them they can just go to the store and buy wine now, they don't need a cup that makes it."

  I joined in the laughing now. "There are probably a lot of people that would love to get ahold of a cup that turns water into wine. I wonder if the ocean will eventually turn to wine."

  "There is a bright side to my punishment though. At least here I get to talk to people and have fun. Plus I get to talk about sex with you." He looked at me and then looked at Tobias and smirked. Maybe Olly wasn't completely oblivious after all.

  Tobias stopped laughing. "You probably don't even know what hole to stick it in."

  "Tobias! Seriously, how old are you, twelve?" I stood and pulled out my phone. "I'm calling Asher, he at least doesn't act like a child."

  Tobias snorted. "Hate to break it to you, but Asher is ten times worse, you think his foul mouth is bad, wait until all three of us are vying for your attention at once."

  I raised my eyebrows and then shrugged. If they wanted to act like petulant children around
each other that was their own business.

  We pulled up outside of Asher's place and I really just wanted to get out of the car. Maybe it was the stress of everything over the past several weeks, but my irritation was at an all-time high. Their bickering started the second we got to my car and Olly called shotgun. The entire drive I wanted to throttle them both. But then I also kept imagining myself ripping their clothes off and letting them both have their way with me.

  I should have taken them up on their offer to fly me to Asher's but considering I was scared of heights, I declined. Instead I was stuck in a not-so-large car with two testosterone filled males who were displaying their feathers like damn peacocks. Although I suppose I was more of the peacock since I essentially had a harem and they were territorial like peahens.

  "Is it safe to be here? It looks like one of those creepy buildings in a movie just before the heroine gets murdered with a giant knife," Olly commented as he slid out of the car. "Don't worry Dani, I will protect you."

  "What the hell have you been watching? You know that all that crap is only partially based on reality, don't you?" Tobias retorted, slamming the door of my car shut which made me scowl at him. "You can't protect her, you'd probably slip and drop her."

  "Can you two just knock it off?" I stomped up the stairs and banged on the door with my fist. I would normally find their banter funny and join in, but Brooklyn was missing and who knew how many other angels we hadn't been told about.

  Asher opened the door with a confused look, probably at why I was banging instead of knocking. He looked behind me and then seemed to comprehend the reason and pulled me to him, kissing me on the lips. I let out a surprised squeal and leaned into his chest. Tobias cleared his throat.

  "Oh hey guys, didn't see you there. Come on in," Asher said moving out of the way. Great, this was a really great idea.

  Olly walked in behind me and looked around wide eyed like he was a kid in a candy store. I wondered if he had ever been in a candy store. We needed to start a list. "This place is awesome!"

  There was an awkward moment between Asher and Tobias as Tobias entered. They hesitated before Asher stuck out his hand and they shook. They were totally thinking about hugging.

  "You brought the idiot from the other night?" Asher asked, watching Olly move into the place like he owned it. He picked up a wood carving off an accent table and examined it before Asher snatched it from his hands and put it back.

  "Asher, be nice," Tobias warned. Funny words coming from someone who hadn't been so nice himself.

  Olly took a step away from Asher and held up his hands in mock surrender before angling his body towards me. "Great, now both of your boyfriends are going to gang up on me. Maybe you and I should just ditch them and ride off into the sunset together, what do you say?"

  "You can all either get along with each other or-" I bit my cheek to stop myself.

  "Or what Danica?" Tobias raised his eyebrows.

  What I really wanted to say was that I would spank them, but held it in. For once I didn't want to add fuel to the fire. We had shit to do, and saying something about spanking probably would not help. Instead I said, "Let's just get this over with. Where are we going to start?"

  "The Fallen have been operating in places where there aren't a lot of people around. Park after nightfall, empty parking garage, empty alley. I doubt they'll go to the same place twice, at least not so soon afterward," Asher said, moving across the room and grabbing a laptop off his desk. He moved to the kitchen table with it. While it powered on he stood and went to the refrigerator to offer us drinks.

  After pouring himself a glass of whiskey, he sat back down at his laptop and paused his fingers over his keyboard. He looked over his shoulder at Tobias, then turned to face him. "So I need to tell you about something I did a few years ago before you see my background."

  Tobias looked confused, but it was Olly who spoke. "It's okay if you have naked girls on your background, or hey, even naked men. You do you. You should see my computer background."

  Asher's eyes snapped to Olly and narrowed slightly before moving back to Tobias. "As you know, as a Fallen no one really keeps an eye on what I do if I stay out of trouble, so I took a little trip to Philly when I heard that Margie died."

  Tobias's hand gripped his beer bottle tighter, high knuckles turning white, and I hoped it wasn't going to break. Or that he wasn't about to hit Asher over the head with it. I looked between the two men wondering if they were going to come to blows again. Olly noticed the tension radiating off of Tobias too and backed up a few steps. Tobias always had an air of calmness about him, so to see his hackles bristling was off-putting. It had become more and more frequent lately.

  "She was ninety-nine, died in her sleep. Anyway, I approached Jeffrey and told him my great grandfather served with you."

  Tobias took a really long gulp of beer, at least half the bottle. "Why are you just now telling me all of this?"

  "Didn't quite know how to tell you. We got to talking and he said that Margie had given them a box of pictures shortly before she passed. He let me borrow them and I got them scanned. I have been waiting for a good time to contact you about them."

  "You had no right to do that," Tobias ground out between gritted teeth. He walked to the kitchen window and looked out. "So what, you have my family plastered as your background?"

  Asher typed in his password and logged in. "There were quite a few pictures of our platoon in the box. I did scan all of the photos though, I'll share the folder if you want."

  Tobias walked back over to the table and I pulled Olly away to sit on the couch to give them privacy. There would be time later for us to look at pictures, but the two men needed a moment. Tobias was visibly tense, but then his shoulders dropped as Asher said something and they both laughed. After a few minutes of hushed talking, Tobias turned with shining eyes and waved us over.

  We gathered around Asher and watched as he pulled up a map. He zoomed in so that a mile radius was showing and pointed to the three known points of abduction.

  "Why are the Fallen even taking angels?" Olly asked, then turned to me. "We should ask your dad, maybe he might know something."

  "You think my dad has something to do with this?"

  "Well.. he is the OG Fallen angel."

  If he hadn't been talking about my father, I would have laughed.

  "I think what Olly is trying to say is that at one point in time the Fallen thought they were meant to be his army, and since they are using demon blood, maybe there's something he might shed light on," Tobias said. "It's worth a try."

  I stepped away from them and pulled up FaceTime on my phone. If I was going to ask him if he was kidnapping angels or supplying demon blood to the Fallen, I would at least do it to his face.

  He answered without video and the first thing we heard was screaming. "Just a second." He put us on hold, the phone going silent.

  "Was that seriously just a scream?" Olly looked at me with wide eyes. "Is he in hell right now torturing someone?"

  "Don't freak out so much. He usually still answers even if he's in the middle of something." I shrugged because it wasn't that big of a deal. Well, maybe it was a little bit of a big deal.

  "And you're okay with him torturing souls?" Olly seemed really concerned so I put a hand on his forearm. He looked down at it and then back at me.

  "It's his job."

  "His job was to let the souls exist in the afterworld in isolation, not torture them."

  "Not entirely my fault, boy," my father said. He must have come back on the line mid-conversation. "Danica, please tell me you aren't in trouble again. I'm getting too old for this."

  I snorted back a laugh. "I'm not. My friend Brooklyn is missing and we are trying to figure out what the Fallen would want with angels and how they are getting demon blood."

  "Who is there with you?" He asked and I told him. "So there are three men now? Is there a fourth? Figures Michael was only seventy-five percent accurate. The archangels are
investigating this, you need to stay out of it, especially if Oliver is involved."

  What. Did. He. Mean. "Wait, a fourth? What do you mean Michael was right? You hate Michael. And what about Oliver?"

  "Hate is a strong word, it's more of a strong aversion to him. Oliver isn't just a regular angel. He didn't ascend, he just is. Like me, Han, Ham, Michael. Any of us would probably be a major win for whatever they are up to. If they get their hands on him, that probably wouldn't go very well for him."

  We all looked at each other. They almost had gotten their hands on him.

  "What are they doing with angels dad?"

  "We can't be sure, but we think they are using their blood. It only makes sense that's what they're doing. An angel's blood is a powerful catalyst for creation."

  "What do you think they are creating?" Tobias asked.

  "Whatever it is, it isn't good. I am still interrogating all of my surface demons to see if they know where the demon blood is coming from. Demon blood has the opposite effect as angel blood."

  "Wait, you have demons here on Earth? Isn't that against some kind of law?" Olly said, not realizing that he was continuing to dig himself into a hole with my father. If he wasn't careful he was going to end up at the same level of disdain as Michael.

  My father laughed. "Son, if I didn't have demons dealing punishments on Earth, I'd end up with a whole hell of a lot more souls down here. When the guardians can't help the soul, I step in. I'm assuming they don't teach you that, now do they?"

  "You don't have anything to do with this, do you?" I asked it slowly, cautiously.

  "Danica, I have angel blood myself. If I needed angel blood, I'd just use my own. Please just... be careful. You yourself have always had a faint angel aura about you and we don't know the composition of your blood, but it has to have some angel quality to it. If they took you and then found out you were mine..."

  We ended the call after that saying our goodbyes and I stared at the phone for a moment before looking at three sets of inquiring eyes. "We've never had my blood tested and I've never been to a regular doctor. He's paranoid they'd somehow find a way to take me and experiment. My dad pays for a private doctor or he just heals me himself."