Demon Born (Hellfire Academy Book 1)

by C. L. Coffey

  “No, but your father does.”

  My mouth fell open. “How do you know who my father is?” I stood. “I don’t even know who my father is.”

  “You think I would kill a human?”

  The patience in his voice was irritating me immensely. “You tried to kill me,” I said, loudly. “And then you kidnapped me and chained me to a bed.” When his expression remained neutral, something in me snapped. “Then Angel announces I’m a potential—whatever that is—and you’ve done something else to me, against my will. Then the man that thinks he’s an Angel of Death claims I’m now your ward? Of course, I think you would kill a human. You’re all insane.”

  Gabriel frowned slightly, cocking his head. “You really don’t know who your father is?”

  I let out a thoroughly exasperated grunt and stepped forward, shoving Gabriel as hard as I could. He stumbled backwards, and I took the opportunity to dart around him and run for the door. I managed to wrap my hand around the handle before he grabbed my arm, pulling me back.

  Next thing I knew, I was standing in the middle of an enormous driveway staring up at a building, which screamed money. The grounds were covered in deep snow drifts except for the driveway, which had been shoveled clear and salted. A backdrop of mountains and forests rose up behind the building, reaching for the gray, stormy sky.

  “What the hell?” I muttered before a sudden dizzy spell set over me. I could feel my balance being flipped upside down.

  Before I hit the ground, Gabriel’s strong arms were around me, and I fell against his chest. “Are you okay?”

  I took a few deep breathes and waited for the world to right itself before gazing upwards. Because I was so tall, I didn’t have so far to look, but I still had to tilt my head back. For half a moment, I forgot that he’d tried to kill me as I stared into his green eyes, now the color of moss.

  Safe. His arms felt safe and warm, like a blanket.

  He stared back, caught up in the moment with me. Then everything came flooding back, and I pulled myself away, glaring hard as I wrapped my arms around myself.

  “Where are we, and what the hell have you done?” It was freezing—the snow was the obvious evidence of that—and I was aware of the wind that seemed to find all the gaps in my clothes. Yet I stood in the middle of wherever we were, wearing a pair of ankle boots, cut-off jeans, a vest top, and a thin denim jacket, I couldn’t feel the cold.

  Gabriel wore black cargo pants and a fitted black T-shirt which hugged every line on his body—a body I was desperately trying my best to ignore—he also didn’t seem affected by the temperature. He took a deep breath and folded his arms.

  “We’re at your new home for the foreseeable future. This is Greenwood Preparatory University in Colorado.”

  My eyes almost popped out of my head. “Colorado? You just transported us a thousand miles in the blink of an eye?”

  “Seven hundred and seventy-eight.”

  “Holy shit.”

  He gave me a disapproving look. “Would you agree it’s fair to assume I’ve just successfully proven I am an archangel?”

  I nodded numbly.

  “How about we cut back on the blasphemy and the swearing?”

  “What am I doing here?” I asked, feeling weak.

  “This, Dora, is your second chance.”

  “How do you know my name?”

  Gabriel tilted his head. “I know more about you than you seem to know about yourself.”

  “Then you should know I don’t like Dora, and I go by Kennedy,” I snapped back, my false bravado beginning to weaken. I was being taken further and further from my comfort zone, and I didn’t like it. In reality, my name was the least important thing right now, despite it being the only anchor left to my sanity.

  Oh hell…

  I closed my eyes and sucked in a breath of icy air. A shudder ran down my back, but not from the cold.

  Was whatever my mom had hereditary? Was I suffering from the same delusions as her?

  Was I losing my mind too?

  “I’m not crazy,” I muttered.

  “You remember the car accident, don’t you?” Gabriel asked.

  My eyes flicked open, and I nodded.

  “You died. It was brief, but you still died.”

  I stared blankly at him. “I’m standing in the middle of a snow drift in Colorado.”

  “And yet, you’re not cold.” He pointed out.

  “So?”

  “There are few people on this planet who have the potential to become an angel. The number drops even lower when you consider that there’s only one moment in their lifetime when they can start that transition, and the chances become even lower still when you take into consideration an archangel must be there to ask.”

  “You didn’t ask.”

  “I should never have had the opportunity,” Gabriel told me. “You’re the offspring of a fallen angel. Once an angel falls, they lose their connection with Heaven. The fact they reproduce with a human is unthinkable. You shouldn’t exist. You certainly shouldn’t be able to have the opportunity to enter Heaven.”

  I’d spent a lot of time thinking about my father, wondering what had happened to him for me to be where I was today. I’d finally accepted that I was an unwanted pregnancy. But it was heartbreaking to have to accept that what my mother had spent the last eight years of my life telling me was true, and that I wasn’t a biproduct of deteriorating mental health.

  Gabriel’s words ripped through me. I’d spent all this time thinking my mom was ill, when in reality, she’d been telling the truth about what I was all along.

  Something wet ran down my face. Realizing it was a tear, I hurried to wipe it away.

  I wasn’t quick enough though. Gabriel was in front of me, brushing my tear away with the back of his fingers before I could blink.

  “A potential is someone worthy of Heaven who gets a second chance and the opportunity to become an angel. You died. If you were human, you should be earning your wings now. If you were just a nephilim, you would have been cast straight to Hell. But you were revived in the hospital. It’s like the opportunity reset. Angel thinks you should have the opportunity to prove yourself: you are half human. Heaven thinks you should be killed because you are half fallen angel.”

  “What do you think?” I whispered, certain that if I tried to make my voice any louder it would break.

  “We’re giving you a charge,” he told me softly, not answering my question. “He’s your age. Harrison Sinclair.”

  I looked over his shoulder at the college behind him. “So why am I here?”

  His eyebrow arched in amusement. “He’s your age, therefore he should be in college?” he suggested.

  “If he’s my age, he’s not going to be in any of my classes.” I glanced back at the building again. “But here? I only just got my GED. This doesn’t look like the kind of place that accepts someone with a GED. I can’t afford a place like this.”

  “Didn’t you say your dream was to go to college?”

  I ran a hand through my hair, continuing to stare at the building behind him. My gaze drifted to the snow, then to Gabriel.

  This was insane.

  “I can’t,” I told him. “I can’t leave my mom. She’s ill. Or maybe she’s not.” I shook my head, feeling the guilt creep in. “But she’s still my mom, and I need to look after her. She has no one else.”

  Once more, Gabriel seemed surprised by my response. He watched me carefully like a trained CIA agent looking for lies. “I will make sure your mother is taken care of.”

  He said he was an archangel, but if I was a nephilim as he suggested, was this the equivalent of making a deal with the devil?

  Maybe I was making a deal with the devil, but if I really was a nephilim, he knew who my father was. Ever since I turned thirteen, I spent my life running from a past I didn’t know about. Now was the chance to find out who I was.

  “Okay.”

  “Let’s go inside.” He didn’t wait for me as h
e walked towards the main doors.

  I blew out a long breath then followed behind him.

  What had I just agreed to?

  CHAPTER SIX

  We were met inside by a woman who somehow had been expecting us. Her dark brown hair laid immaculately on her shoulders, but her blue eyes were as cold as the snow outside. She wore a navy-blue suit and silk blouse, and despite the fact it was late afternoon, there wasn’t a wrinkle in sight.

  “Gabriel.” She welcomed him with an outstretched hand.

  He shook it. “Ursula.” He nodded before turning to let her have a full view of me. “This is Dora.” When I glowered at him, he sighed. “She prefers going by her surname. Kennedy, this is Dean Pinnosa.”

  Professor Pinnosa took one look at me and sighed. “Let’s get into my office.” She turned, and we followed her down the corridor. I couldn’t help but stare at the pieces of art on the wooden panel walls. This wasn’t a college; this was a freaking art gallery.

  Her office looked exactly as I expected it to. More wooden paneling, a deep, thick carpet, bookshelves full of various classics, and a large window overlooking the snowy driveway.

  She walked behind a large mahogany desk and indicated I should take one of the chairs opposite her. I did, perching on the edge, while Gabriel stood to one side.

  I stared at the framed photograph of the Dean hanging on the wall behind the desk of the woman in question. Given how much it differed from the woman in front of me, I was sure someone had put their Photoshop skills to the test with this one.

  The woman in the photograph seemed kind. Her eyes were warm, and her skin seemed to glow, like she had spent a small fortune on skincare products. The woman in front of me was beautiful, but she had cold, blue eyes, and a mouth I was certain had never smiled in her life.

  “Are you even listening to me, Dora?” she asked.

  “Kennedy.”

  I tried not to squirm, instead keeping my back straight and my posture upright.

  Dean Pinnosa watched me, her lips in a thin line. Eventually she exhaled deeply and pulled open a drawer. From it, she pulled out a file and dumped it on the desk in front of her. “Do you know what this is?” She tapped a manicured finger on the thick folder.

  “No, ma’am.”

  “This is your academic record.”

  My mouth dropped open; my poise ruined by my surprise. “How the hell did you get that?” The decision to come here had only been made an hour ago.

  “You’ve been on our radar for some time.” She raised an eyebrow as she started tapping her fingernails on the folder.

  “A college I’ve never heard of in a state I’ve never been to before has had me, a high school drop-out, on their radar?” I scoffed despite the fact the hairs on the back of my neck were standing on end. Again.

  “This isn’t an ordinary school, Dora. This is an exclusive academic institution that allows nephilim to attend.”

  I rubbed at my hairline. I was exhausted, and I needed sleep. All this information was almost too much for me to process. “You’re telling me this college is for nephilim. And there are so many nephilim that you needed to create a college just for them? So they can get a degree in torture and death?”

  Dean Pinnosa’s lips settled into a thin line. “This is a small, exclusive college of almost 200 students. From the freshman to senior class, there are approximately 20 nephilim in each level. I have spent the last decade seeking out nephilim and rescuing them from their parents’ influence so I might prove that although they are half fallen angel, they are still half human.”

  “And how’s that working out for you?” I spared a glance at the archangel in the room.

  “Three years with a hundred percent graduation rate as of last summer.” Dean Pinnoa’s chest swelled as she sat up straight, but the answer was delivered to Gabriel.

  I turned to him, narrowing my eyes. “The archangels know about this place?”

  “No.” Dean Pinnosa answered for him. “The only two archangels who know about this place are Angel and Gabriel, and both have sworn an oath to God not to reveal our location to anyone.”

  Sworn an oath? To God? Wow, that sounded secure and reliable …

  “Why am I here?”

  “Because I don’t know what else to do with you.” Gabriel answered with a nonchalant shrug. “I don’t know if you should live or die, but this will give me—and you—the opportunity to prove yourself.”

  “By going to college?” Call me skeptical, but I wasn’t convinced getting a degree would prove that.

  “It’s not just academic courses that we teach here,” Dean Pinnosa informed me, reaching for my file. “Although it seems you need a few additional lessons on that.”

  My heart sank. It wasn’t just the fact that I could never afford a place like this. It wasn’t that I had been bad in school. I’d liked school—mostly. I just didn’t have the best attendance with moving around so much. But I was never going to get an opportunity like this again. This was a dream being handed to me on a silver platter.

  The question was, how much poison had that platter been laced with? What was the real cost of accepting?

  “What’s the catch?”

  Pinnosa’s lips settled into a thin line once more as she tapped at the folder on her desk. “I have read your file, Ms. Kennedy, and I know exactly why you were thrown out of your last school.”

  “I didn’t get thrown out.” I corrected her.

  Pinnosa scoffed. “Leaving before you are thrown out is almost the same.”

  It wasn’t. And even if it was, I wasn’t about to be thrown out because of bad behavior—just that I had spotty attendance.

  The folder was flipped open, and Pinnosa flicked through it, her expression becoming darker with each page. In the end, she focused on Gabriel and ignored me. “The nephilim I allow to study here have good academic records.”

  “That seems like a contradiction,” Gabriel said. “You bring them here to get them to do good, but they’re nephilim.”

  “Nephilim are as much human as they are Fallen,” Pinnosa said. “They deserve a chance.”

  “Then why doesn’t Kennedy deserve the same chance? She’s been marked as a potential.”

  Pinnosa turned to me, her eyes bulging out of her head.

  Gabriel continued. “And she got her GED. She’s probably more suitable as a candidate than some of your other students.”

  “A college degree isn’t the same as passing your high school equivalency test.”

  “It’s the equivalent of getting my high school diploma.” I pointed out, feeling defensive. I may not have been able to graduate high school, but she was discounting all the hard work I’d put into getting my GED.

  Pinnosa’s head turned so slowly to face me that the hair framing her face barely moved. “You are the same age of most seniors. If you attend here, you will do so in the freshman class. It may already be the start of the second semester, Dora, but I expect you to pass your winter exams, as well as your summer exams. I also expect full attendance.”

  “Kennedy is going to keep up with her studies, and there certainly won’t be any more cutting classes,” Gabriel answered for me before I could ‘remind’ Pinnosa that I preferred Kennedy.

  The Dean wasn’t buying it. “She’s so far behind with the curriculum here, that she’s going to have to catch up before she can keep up.”

  “I will tutor her,” Gabriel told her.

  I nearly fell off my chair. Both of them ignored me.

  The folder was flipped closed. “I can’t have you here as a student or a visitor. If you stay, you will do so by joining the faculty. Will you be able to do that when you have your own House to run? What about your other duties?”

  “My House is in safe hands. The remaining duties I have can be arranged around my class schedule. As for Kennedy, I will tutor her in the evenings, along with training her during her free time.”

  “What about my free time?” I gave the pair an incredulous star
e, sitting back in the chair to look between them. I was willing to work, but I also needed time to relax.

  Pinnosa’s face tightened as she flashed me a hard smile. “You will have to catch up quickly then, won’t you?” She sat back in her chair, then with an irritated sigh, pulled open another drawer and pulled out a pamphlet. I recognized a photograph of the college on the front of it. “Very well. Against my better judgement, you can consider yourself part of this year’s freshman class. This packet outlines the school rules, but here are the highlights: class attendance is mandatory. Tardiness will not be tolerated. Smoking is not allowed, and if I find out you’ve been fighting, you will find yourself expelled.” She pushed the thin booklet towards me. “Have I made myself clear?”

  I was ready to object and explain that my academic history had been bad because of circumstances out of my control, but I caught Gabriel’s eye and the sharp shake of his head.

  So instead, I nodded and picked up the booklet. It was heavier than it looked.

  “Good,” Pinnosa declared, standing. “Gabriel, I will let you show Dora to her room.”

  Clutching at the booklet, I stood then started to follow Gabriel out.

  “Oh, and Dora,” Pinnosa called after me.

  I turned to look at her.

  “Please do not think that you will be able to easily pull the wool over my eyes. I am over sixteen hundred years old. I have seen it all.”

  My mouth was still hanging open as I followed Gabriel from the dean’s office. “She can’t be sixteen hundred years old, can she?”

  Gabriel shrugged. “I’m almost as old as the planet. Sixteen hundred years old is quite young by comparison.”

  I did actually stumble at that point. “You barely look old enough to drink.” Okay, maybe he looked old enough to drink, but he certainly would get ID’d to get served.

  He glanced back at me with a grin. “This vessel barely looks old enough to drink,” he corrected me as he led me up some stairs and along a corridor. “I shall explain this another time. For now, you can settle in. You will be sharing a room with a human called Leigh-Ann, so I suggest you use this evening to get to know her and have an early night. I expect to see you downstairs tomorrow morning at five, sharp.” He pointed at the door in front of us. “Welcome to your new home.”