Descend (Celestial Academy Book 2): A Reverse Harem Romance

by Maya Nicole

  It was possible the prophecy wasn't even true and all of my worrying was for nothing. It did seem a bit ridiculous on second thought, but archangels didn't make shit up. Tobias confirmed that Michael had, in fact, said that Lilith and Lucifer were the creator's biggest regrets.

  What did that make me then? A double regret?

  I lowered to my knees on the floor next to the bed and lay my chin on crossed arms. Lucifer's file would be the easiest to start with. He was an angel, of that I was sure.

  I pulled the folder towards me and opened it, revealing a simple document.

  Name: Lucifer

  Alias: Michael Deville

  Blood type: Nonhuman; Celestial 100%

  Date of birth: Unknown

  Under his vital information was a paragraph explaining his blood's reactions to introduced antigens and substances. Most of what was listed was written in code. There was one that had a plus sign next to it but the series of letters and numbers didn't reveal what it was.

  How John even got a sample of my father's blood was beyond me. My dad guarded his blood like the Queen's Guard guards Buckingham Palace.

  I closed the file and set it to the side. I grabbed my mother's file next and stared at it. What if she was human and died a normal death during childbirth? What if she wasn't even my mother and she had baby-snatched me from a real human and implanted me into her womb?

  Now, that was a Syfy movie waiting to happen.

  Name: Lilith

  Alias: Lilith Judith Gardner

  Blood type: Nonhuman; Demonoid 100%

  Date of birth: Unknown

  Alias DOB: April 30, 1975

  The first paper in the file was similar to Lucifer's, several codes for antigens were listed. One had a plus sign next to it. I wish I knew what it meant.

  I stared at the page for a long time before turning to the next where an autopsy report done by Doctor Adamson detailed the date of death and the unknown cause of massive blood loss during a routine cesarean section.

  I shut the folder and sat it on top of my father's. My chin trembled and tears blurred my vision. My father had been duped into loving a demon.

  I sucked in a breath of air and let it out slowly. My file was staring back at me. It had more than just two papers in it.

  How could this even happen? How could my mother be a demon?

  I opened the file.

  Name: Danica Marie Deville

  Blood type: Nonhuman; Inconclusive Celestial, Inconclusive Demonoid

  Date of birth: January 20, 2001

  The same tests were run on my blood, with several having plus signs. I flipped the page to a detailed list of tests run on my blood to determine the percentages of my lineage, but every test repeated the same word "inconclusive." It figured that even my blood couldn't pass a test.

  I grumbled in frustration. Leaving the folder open on my bed, I made my way downstairs again to watch television. My brain couldn't handle anymore digging into my mother or into what I was. My brain certainly didn't want to let go of the fact that I might be half demon though.

  Is that why I didn't have angel wings?

  Is that why I was such a fuck up at everything I did?

  I fell asleep on the couch, my nightmares worse than ever. When I woke, I didn't feel rested. In fact, I felt like I hadn't slept at all, and my breast hurt and my nose throbbed.

  I trudged upstairs, my feet dragging on the ground and hopped in the shower. The hot water did little to ease my mind or the aches from being beaten. There was a weariness that came with the exhaustion that had slowly been building in my body over the past few weeks.

  I should have been happy. I should have been excited for this next phase in my life with my three angels. Instead, I was petrified that I would sprout horns or go ape-shit and kill someone. Demons were not the soft and cuddly type. What if it was like in the movies with werewolves and one day I just woke up growly and lusting after blood?

  I had so many questions that I didn't know who to ask. Lucifer would probably know a lot of the answers, but how could I tell him that Lily was Lilith? At least, that's what all signs were pointing to.

  Hell, maybe he already knew.

  I threw on my purple terry cloth robe and opened the bathroom door. I nearly jumped out of my skin seeing my father sitting on the side of my bed looking through the papers I had left there. He was lucky I hadn't decided to walk out of my bathroom naked.

  "Dad, what are you doing here?" I asked, rushing over to the bed and starting to gather the papers and folders.

  He didn't look up from the papers he was examining. He just sat there and stared at them in his hand in silence. I gathered what he didn't have in his hands and plopped next to him. I didn't know if I was more anxious about him seeing the papers or seeing the bruises that covered my face. At least he couldn't see the ones covering my torso.

  "Please say something." My hands were shaking and I felt my eyes burning.

  This was not how I wanted to tell him that Lily might have been a lie. Had she even loved him? He didn't talk about her often, but when he did it was evident he had loved her so damn much. When he did talk to me about her, he always had a wistful look in his eyes, which was always odd to see on his typically stoic face.

  The possibility of her deceiving him was inconceivable. It would break his heart all over again. How do you mend the devil's heart? It was impossible. It would ruin him.

  "Oliver called me last night. He wanted to know if on the last night in Hawaii I would be okay with them coming to join us. He said they wanted it to be a surprise. Why did you tell your boyfriends that you’re in Hawaii? They're supposed to protect you. How can they protect you when you're putting your nose in places it doesn't belong?" He lifted his head to look at me then, his expression changing immediately from sad to angry.

  He lifted his hand to my face and ran his fingers along my swollen nose, busted lip, and the dark bruise around my eye. I looked down at my hands as a tear slid down my cheek.

  "Who did this to you?" His voice held a note of violence. He was pissed and he hadn't even seen the rest of my body.

  "Just let it be. It's done and over with." I stood, wincing at the pain in my side with the quick movement. "It's my own fault."

  I made my way to my bag that Ava had kindly placed on my desk and dug out some comfortable clothes. I went into the bathroom and changed, coming back out in pajama pants and one of Asher's T-shirts.

  "Let me see your stomach." Lucifer was still sitting on my bed, papers in his hand. He must have remained in that same position while I changed.

  I twisted my mouth in concern. He paid too much attention. Of course he would know that my face was not the only thing that had been beaten to a pulp.

  I sighed and stood in front of him, lifting my shirt to reveal my stomach. He took a sharp inhale of breath and my head swam as the room filled with anger. He was going to murder John, I was sure of it. Maybe he deserved it.

  "Danica Marie. I'm going to ask you again, who did this?" The initial swell of his anger receded a bit and he stared up at me.

  I pulled my shirt back down and gingerly sat back down next to him. All the movement was starting to make me feel stiff. Instead of telling him directly who had beaten the shit out of me, I changed the subject back to the files.

  "I needed to do this on my own," I said gesturing to the files on the bed. "I had to know, to confirm it. Did you know?"

  He placed the papers he had been holding for an eternity behind him and then ran a hand through his hair. "I did not. How did you get these files? Is that how you were beaten?"

  "I broke into John Adamson's office while John Junior was having his annual Spring break party." I played with the hem of my shirt. "Are you mad?"

  "I'm not mad. I'm disappointed in you. You should've told me this sooner. How long have you known?" He stood from the bed and walked over to my dresser, flipping open my jewelry box.

  "About three weeks. Michael told Tobias that we couldn't tell
you. Something about it might make you go crazy," I said softly. It had seemed like logical reasoning at the time, but now I wasn't so sure.

  He made an annoyed noise in his throat. He and Michael weren't the best of friends.

  He returned to sit next to me with a necklace in his hand. It was a pendant necklace he had given my mother that had a lily encrusted with the tiniest of diamonds. He gazed down at it in the palm of his hand as if he were trudging through a memory.

  "The papers in my file say I'm angel and demon but then say it's all inconclusive. What does that mean?" My voice was shaking.

  "It means nothing. You're still you. Just because you know this new information about yourself doesn't change who you are in your heart. Does it?" He held out the necklace and I opened my palm for him to drop it into. I wrapped my fist around it, my knuckles turning white, the pendant digging into my skin.

  My tears were falling freely now. My dad pulled me into a hug as gently as possible, his hand rubbing my back. I hadn't wanted it to happen this way, him finding out about Lilith. Now I was glad it had because it was just us. The both of us would deal with the deceit together.

  After several minutes of silence, he finally spoke. "What should I tell your boyfriends? I told Oliver I'd get back to him. If you won't tell me who beat you up, maybe you'll tell them."

  Shit. I almost forgot about that. What was I going to tell them? Now there was no hiding the fact that Hawaii had been a fabrication. Maybe my dad could heal my bruises. They would never have to know. I was too scared to ask him to add to the lie.

  "I should just let you take care of it. Anything else going on that I should know about?" He raised his eyebrows.

  "Well, now that you mention it, Ava got arrested for breaking into a house." A small smile turned up the corners of Lucifer's lips. "She told me she was at home and she felt the overwhelming urge to go there, but doesn't really remember much."

  Lucifer's face fell and he stood abruptly. "I need to go."

  "What is it? Is it that demon that was in our kitchen three weeks ago? Ava thought she was in love with him. What kind of demon is he?" I spewed my questions out in quick succession, already sensing he was about to take off.

  Whatever it was, it wasn't good. He seemed panicked.

  He grabbed the stack of papers and folders, and without another word, he vanished. I wished he would have healed me before he left.

  They say honesty is the best policy, but I'm not so sure about that. Did I really need to tell them that I lied to them or what I had found out? Maybe I'd just tell them some of the truth. I didn't plan on telling them I was half demon. I could barely tell myself.

  I took a deep breath and pressed the green call button on Olly's contact information. He'd probably take the news the best. He could have the honor of telling the other two.

  "Dani! How's paradise?" Olly answered, his voice full of excitement.

  Now I really felt like my demon blood was at work inside of me. Why did I think going all secret agent was a good idea? I was fine, up until Olly's cheerful voice smacked me back to reality, and the fact that they were angels and I wasn't hit me across the face.

  Fuck. I needed a drink. Maybe ten drinks.

  "Hey there. What are you up to?" I laid back on my bed and stared at the ceiling fan as it slowly spun round and round.

  My stomach muscles pulled tight and I twisted my face to keep a sound from escaping. I needed to go get my ice packs out of the freezer. The hopes of my dad coming back and healing me were diminishing. My calls and texts to him sat unanswered.

  "Just up here on the roof with Tobias, helping Asher with his garden. Here, let me put you on speaker." Before I could object, I heard fumbling. "I've never planted anything before. It's pretty neat, but dirty."

  "I'll show you dirty," I heard Asher say in the background. "Hey, Danica! Where are those bikini pics? Ow!" He grunted like he had been hit.

  "Excuse him, he has no respect. How are you doing? Getting lots of rest I hope." Tobias, always the concerned one. He had good reasons to always be concerned about me. I acted first, thought later. Story of my life.

  "I want to preface this conversation by saying that I'm sorry. Lucifer told me Olly called." I pulled up my shirt as I spoke and looked at the bruises.

  "Damn. Who would have thought the devil wouldn't be able to keep a secret," Olly said.

  "I'm not in Hawaii." I flinched before I could even hear their reactions.

  In my mind, I could see them react. Tobias would stop whatever he was doing and stare at the phone in disbelief before putting his hands on his hips. He'd then give the phone his 'teacher' look. The one that sends chills to the very depths of souls.

  Asher would hesitate for a second before continuing whatever he was doing, avoiding the anxiety a confrontation might bring.

  Olly, well he was the wildcard of the group, more of a Switzerland type. That was the reason I had called him and not the other two.

  "Where are you then?" Olly asked, uncertainty in his voice.

  "My house. There was never a Hawaii trip." Silence. Complete silence. "There was something I needed to take care of."

  "You lied to us? Why would you do that?" I was surprised that Olly was the one who spoke, hurt evident in his voice. He was supposed to be my Switzerland.

  I let out a sigh and winced as I sat up against my headboard, the bruises on my torso protesting. "I couldn't exactly take three angels to a high school party, could I? Plus if John saw Asher, he might have known I was up to something."

  "What do you mean if John saw me? What did you do?" Asher was closer to the phone now, his voice coming through the speaker loud and clear.

  "I think the more important question is why she lied just to go to a high school party by herself," Tobias said.

  "I broke into John Senior's office and helped myself to some medical files." I bit my lip and held the phone slightly away from my ear, already knowing by now that I was going to get a reaction.

  "You did what?" Tobias’s raised voice sounded like he was about to have a heart attack. "I thought we had all agreed to wait for Michael to give us directions on our next steps."

  "Plans change," I mumbled into the phone. My life had certainly changed.

  "We're coming," Tobias said and then the line went dead before I could protest.

  My heart thudded in my chest, making my bruises ache even more. John didn't kill me, but I was pretty sure I was about to die at the hands of Tobias.

  Twenty minutes later, they knocked on the door. Having angel wings had its perks, like lightning fast travel.

  I slid off the barstool I had been waiting on and walked to the door like I was marching to my reckoning. Or more like hobbling towards it.

  When I opened the door, they stood there with bags in hand. I met their gazes head on, because there was no hiding my swollen nose and the bruised flesh on my face.

  They didn't look happy to begin with, and as they took in my face, their eyes widened. The frowns on their faces grew deeper the longer they stared.

  I moved out of the way and they walked in without a word.

  I shut the door behind them, then made my way to the couch and sat down gingerly. I felt like I had done one thousand sit-ups. Maybe if I had, I would have had abs of steel and John would have been the one in pain.

  Their silence was killing me. Asher sat on my left and Olly on my right. Tobias sat in the armchair.

  "What the hell happened?" Tobias finally asked. It was hard to tell what he was feeling. My guess was that there was anger simmering under the surface, along with concern.

  "To make a long story short, this was three months in the making," I said, gesturing to my face with a sigh. I looked at the coffee table in front of me, wishing it was a portal away from the scrutinizing gazes.

  Olly brought his hands to my face and they began to glow. Warmness spread across my cheeks, nose, and around my eyes. The dull ache that had settled across it slowly ebbed and my face was left feeling like I h
ad just had a relaxing facial at a spa.

  "Did that John kid do this?" Asher asked, balling his fists in his lap.

  His eyes kept darting around the room, as if he was looking for something. The last thing I needed was for any of them to kill John. We all knew that killing a human without an order would mean falling as an angel.

  I nodded. "You don't need to go and defend my honor."

  I lifted my shirt and Asher's eyes widened. He clenched his jaw. Olly frowned down at me and placed his hands over my bruised ribs, healing them. I bit my lip and raised my shirt to expose my breast.

  "I'm going to kill that motherfucker." Asher stood and walked out of the house, slamming the door behind him. I didn't know where he thought he was going; it wasn’t like he knew where John lived.

  I looked back at the door. I hadn't meant to set off Asher. He had been doing so well lately. Just another fuck up to add to my ever-growing list.

  Tobias moved to the couch next to me, taking my hand. Olly healed the bruise on my breast before placing a kiss on it. Thank God it was healed; it had been the worst of them all.

  "I'll go make sure he's all right," Olly said, standing and walking out the door.

  "He could've killed you, and for what? Was risking your life really worth what you were after?" Tobias's eyes searched mine as if trying to understand me and my less than stellar choices.

  Sometimes I didn't even understand my choices, and I was the one who made them.

  I leaned back on the cushions and shut my eyes. Was it worth it to reveal myself? It was, but it wasn't. I was torn into a million little pieces. I was inconclusive, whatever that meant.

  "My dad took the files." I left it at that. No need to get into specifics until I knew more.

  I felt Tobias shift next to me and then he pulled me towards him. I kept my eyes shut because I didn't want to see the disappointment on his face. He ran his fingers through my hair and kissed my forehead.