by Leia Stone
“Brielle, I presume?” he asked, in a smooth whisky-coated voice, his eyes gazing lustily at my wings.
“Yeah. I gotta get to work or Master Burdock will kill me.” I giggled nervously, and tried to pass him.
“Oh, I don’t think he’ll mind. I’ve been waiting for you to arrive.” He grinned, showing every single one of his pearl-white straight teeth. He looked hungry, and I felt like the main course.
“Waiting for me?” I ran a nervous hand through my hair to keep it from shaking.
He nodded, glancing from my tattoos to my messenger bag. “Did you get your infinity weapon today?”
My face must’ve registered complete shock because he smiled. “You know about that?” I rubbed my arms anxiously.
He nodded and eyed my bag. “Is it with you?”
My heart was hammering so loud, I was pretty sure he could hear it. “No, gotta leave them in Angel City.” I hoped to Heaven he wasn’t one of those demons who could smell a lie. He didn’t seem to, because he nodded.
“What did you choose?” he asked indifferently. His eyes held anything but indifference.
I knew in my gut that I shouldn’t say what I really chose, so I told him the first thing that came to mind. “Arrows of truth.”
He looked a bit surprised but then seemed pleased. “That could be useful.”
I shifted on my feet nervously. “Sir, I, uh, really gotta get to work.”
He nodded. “See you at the full moon.”
Anyone living in Demon City knew what the current moon cycle was, because it was posted everywhere there was a clock or calendar. Full moon was in six days.
“Oh?” I almost didn’t want to ask.
He grinned. Reaching out, he stroked my feathered wing, and sent a repulsive shiver down my spine.
“That’s when I’ll be buying your contract, and you will then be working for me. Be sure to bring your arrows of truth to the contract signing. You won’t be going back to Fallen Academy.” His words hung in the air menacingly.
Leaning forward, he brought the pungent stench of sulfur and tar with him. “I know what you are,” he whispered in my ear, as I internally revolted. With that, he left.
I know what you are. I know what you are. I know what you are. That sentence replayed in my head over and over. I stood there for a full three minutes trying to talk myself out of panicking.
What am I?
I decided to email Lincoln before going in to start my shift.
To: [email protected]
My master just sold my contract to an Abrus demon. It’s final by this full moon. He’s taking me out of the academy. Maybe I shouldn’t bother coming in the morning.
Sincerely,
Girl you don’t trust, who definitely does yoga all the time.
I didn’t see his reply until after my shift.
From: [email protected]
Come tomorrow. 6 am. Pack your personal belongings.
Sincerely,
Someone who has actually done yoga.
I was so bent out of shape, I barely remembered eating dinner or talking to Shea.
I know what you are.
Pack your personal belongings.
That night I laid in bed facing Shea’s back. We’d both been pretty silent at dinner, each in our own drama, but when she flipped over and I saw the tears lining her eyes, my gut clenched.
“I can’t do this much longer. I’m going dark, I feel it,” she confessed, each word sending agony into my heart.
Then she turned back around, and faced the wall.
It was a long time before sleep took me.
Chapter Eight
That morning when I got to school, Lincoln wasn’t there, and Noah, Blake and Darren were acting really weird at my training. Noah brought Sera, and they’d done basic drills with me on how to hold her, lunges, and other things I already knew from growing up in Demon City with a bunch of Hell spawn.
When I’d asked where Lincoln was, they just said an important meeting. Now, I was in weapons class with Mr. Claymore, and he was having Luke and me practice with each other. The Mage came up behind me and I tightened my grip on Sera.
“She speaks to you, doesn’t she?” he asked, eyeing the gold and crystalline hilt. I simply nodded as Luke’s eyes bugged out of his head. “She’ll be a wise teacher if you can learn to open yourself to her.”
Right. Open myself to a knife. Shall I take her on a date?
‘I’ve never been fond of human sarcasm.’ Sera announced, quite sarcastically.
“And how would I do that?” I asked Mr. Claymore, ignoring her comment.
The professor stepped before me and placed both hands on my shoulders, peering down at me with wise, cloudy white eyes. “A seraph blade is no regular infinity weapon. It’s a soul weapon. Open yourself to her. Show her your fears, hopes, and dreams, and she’ll fight for them. She contains extremely rare magic.”
Nerves churned in my gut at his words.
‘You hear that, Sera? I’m afraid of being an archdemon, and I want to win the lottery. Can you make that happen?’ I asked her.
Before she could reply, the professor’s voice rose up. “All right now, I want you all to practice protection drills. We’ll split off into groups of three. One person is the protector, one is the victim and one is the attacker. These drills will prepare you for the final test of the year, when you’ll go into The Gauntlet in an effort to graduate.”
The Gauntlet. Sounded scary. Good thing I wouldn’t be there to go through it.
I didn’t have the heart to tell Luke yet. He was fast becoming a good friend, and I didn’t want that to end when he heard my time was limited.
The back door opened and Noah stepped in, much to the pleasure of every female in the class. Tiffany absolutely purred.
“I want this to feel real,” the professor stated. “It’s the only way to activate your weapons. Don’t try to hurt anyone seriously, but if a small cut or something happens, we have a healer on hand.” He gestured to Noah, who winked. Of course.
Mr. Claymore rapidly grouped us together, and when I saw who our third wheel was, I tried to hold in my groan.
Bitchany.
“Hey, Archie,” she whispered to me. “Archdemon, Archie. Get it?” She grinned.
‘We should cut her,’ Sera said, making me smile, and causing Tiffany to look at me confused.
‘You can’t just go around cutting students,’ I enlightened my talking blade.
‘I’ll make it look like an accident.’
I actually laughed out loud at that point. Luke raised an eyebrow, and I tried too late to turn my laugh into a cough. I probably looked like a lunatic.
“Okay, for our first group, let’s have Brielle be the protector. I want to see what that seraph blade can do.” He told me. “Tiffany, you be the attacker, and Luke will be the victim.”
And just like that, my worst-case scenario of how this class could play out came to life. Not only was I chosen first for this little charade, but I was pitted against the class bully. I missed Shea. She would have some foulmouthed, witty comeback for every time Tiffany opened her mouth.
The professor reached into his coat, and pulled out a jar of salt. Going around the room, he poured out a big circle.
“If the attacker can get the victim out of the circle, they win,” he declared, then gently nudged Luke and me inside it.
Pulling Sera out, I took my defensive stance in front of Luke. To make the odds of her being able to reach Luke even harder, I brought out my wings. Just that morning, with Blake’s gentle guidance and help, I’d mastered pulling them out and putting them back in.
Take that, Lincoln.
Tiffany’s jaw popped open as my black wings formed a barrier in front of Luke. “Can she do that?” she asked the professor.
He shrugged. “Don’t see why not.”
With a growl, she unsheathed her blade.
“Please protect me. I’m legit scared of her,” Luke c
onfessed loudly behind me, making the entire class bust up laughing.
I just kept my eyes pinned on her face, her arms in my peripheral vision. The boys had told me that morning that I had tons of magic at my disposal, but we would ease into my powers one by one. So for the time being, my wings and dagger were my magic.
“Lux,” Tiffany breathed, and her weapon flared to life, emitting a bright white light.
Mr. Claymore circled us. “Ah, I see someone has been practicing at home with her parents.”
Tiffany’s cheeks reddened, but when she lunged for me, I was ready. Squinting to avoid being blinded by the light, I dodged her thrust, and smacked her gigantic sword down with my dagger. When the two weapons crashed together, her light went out and mine sent beams of blue lasers into her face. She recoiled, shrieking, her arm flying up to cover her eyes, and I grinned.
‘Take that, you bully,’ Sera gloated.
Tiffany gave me a death glare, and charged with a battle cry. Shit. She was going to cut my head off at that speed.
I crouched, placing my dagger between us, but instead of using her weapon as I’d expected, she kicked me in the chin. Hard.
I fell to one knee wincing and she pivoted to the side, grabbing Luke’s suit by the collar. If she made it out of the circle, I lost.
I am not a loser.
I burst up from my position, and instinctively grabbed her arm. I knew I couldn’t really cut her, not like I wanted to, but Sera sent me a mental picture of me pressing the flat part of my blade to her arm. I did just that, and it flared red-hot.
With a shriek, Tiffany released Luke and stumbled back, ripping out of my grasp.
“Okay, that’s enough. Well done, both of you. A strong start to learning from your weapons,” the teacher called out.
There was an angry red welt on the side of Tiffany’s arm and she was glaring at me, imagining removing my head with her big-ass sword no doubt.
“Allow me to help,” Noah cooed, sending Tiffany from red-hot murderer, to mushy flirt in a nanosecond.
The professor paired up the next group, as Luke slipped in beside me. “You’re my woman crush Wednesday. I’ll never in a thousand years forget the sound of her shriek. It was like a thousand dying cats.”
I chuckled. “Thanks.” But honestly, all the credit went to Sera.
‘Thanks for that. You’re kind of a badass,’ I told her. Having a dagger send you a mental picture was cool. And also slightly terrifying.
‘I am an extension of you, child. That makes you a badass too,’ she replied.
I wasn’t sure how to respond to that, so I just stayed quiet and watched the next fight.
For a small moment there, I felt proud of myself, and got a glimpse of what it might be like to join the Fallen Army and protect the innocent. But that would never happen, and that thought made all of my hopes come crashing down.
I was staring at my lunch, sick to my stomach about going back to Demon City. Lincoln had told me to pack my personal belongings, and for what? He wasn’t even there! I’d kind of hoped he’d had Raphael talk to Burdock and they’d work out something, like maybe Raphael would buy my contract instead, and outbid the Abrus demon, or something. It was a stupid, hopeless thought, and now I was staring at a yummy turkey sandwich I didn’t have the appetite for anymore.
“Hey. Brielle, right?”
A petite redhead slid in beside me. I’d seen her in a few of my classes, a Nightblood. She wore a cloak over her hair, only one chunk of red popping out. Her hands were gloved as well, even though the windows in the cafeteria were “UV-coated to the extreme”—Luke’s wording—so she and other Nightbloods could join us.
“Hey, yeah,” I replied awkwardly. Making new friends was my least favorite thing.
She grinned, showcasing her fanged teeth. “I’m Chloe. We all thought what you did to Tiffany in weapons’ class was badass.” She nodded to her friends, who stood behind her. They nodded back with encouraging smiles.
“Oh… thanks.” It wasn’t really me, just my weapon, but if it made me more friends, I would take the compliment.
“Anyway.” She slid a purple flyer across the table. “My dad owns the Third Eye Moon. It’s this underground nightclub. He’s letting me rent it out for my nineteenth birthday, and I want you to come. Bring any of your friends if you want.” She smiled at Luke and Angela.
Wow. I’d never really been invited to a big club party before. My heart sank as I scanned the flyer. It was that Friday night. At ten.
I scratched my neck nervously. “I… uh… don’t live here.” I pointed to my forehead to drive it home.
She shrugged. “So what? You could get past the border guards by showing your school ID. Say you have night class or something.”
I could hide Shea in the back seat. I wanted to go so bad. “All right, I’ll try my best,” I told her with a smile.
She nodded. “Cool. See you later.” Then she left, taking her Nightblood friends with her.
Luke watched her leave and gave me an impressed look. “Chloe Brisbane is like Nightblood royalty. Her entire family are Nightbloods. Rumor has it that two demons crashed into their living room the night of The Falling, so they all got the same magic. Her dad is like the mafia leader of them all or something.”
Sounded like a big fat rumor. “But she’s cool, right?” I didn’t want to get in with the wrong crowd. The bullies and assholes could keep to themselves.
He nodded. “Totally. Her older brother is a senior officer in the Fallen Army. He’s so frickin’ hot I can’t even breathe around him. He’s in Lincoln’s brigade.”
Lincoln.
I’d almost forgotten about him and the key to his trailer, which was burning a hole in my pocket. I needed to drop my weapon there and then get back to work.
“Cool. I gotta get going. See you tomorrow?” I told Luke, standing up. I wouldn’t tell him I was on borrowed time until the last day.
He nodded and then eyed the flyer. “Yeah, see you tomorrow. Hey, what are you doing Friday night?” He gave me big puppy dog eyes.
I laughed, pulled out my phone and snapped a picture of the flyer so I’d have the address. “You and Angela are totally coming with. I’ll bring my best friend Shea, so you can meet her. She’s a Mage.”
They brightened and gave me enthusiastic nods.
Racing out of the cafeteria, I pulled out my car keys. I was kind of dying to see what Lincoln’s house looked like. It probably smelled like sweaty boy and was a mess. He’d said not to snoop, but I was totally going to be tempted.
I was just passing the double doors to Raphael’s office when they opened and I smashed into someone’s chest.
“Ommph!” The breath came out of me, as strong arms wrapped gently around my biceps to steady me. I looked up to see Lincoln’s dark hair messed over his forehead, stormy blue eyes assessed me with great care.
As the door was closing, I peeked inside. All four archangels were standing there, looking at me with unreadable blank gazes.
“Lincoln, I….” I didn’t know what to say. I was still smashed against his rock-hard body, which was a teensy bit distracting.
He looked down at me. “Go put your seraph blade away in my house, and I’ll meet you at your car, okay?”
I frowned. “What’s going on?” He’d previously said all four archangels only got together for special occasions, so why where they all back?
“I’ll tell you on the ride to your work,” he said, and my mouth popped open.
“You’re coming to work with me?” Maybe Raphael was going to buy my contract.
He simply nodded.
Why does he look nervous? And why is he looking at me so… differently?
“But—”
“Please, for once in your life, do as I say. This is important.”
“Okay.” I frowned.
Walking to his trailer, I looked behind me, but he was nowhere to be seen. When I got to the silver Airstream, I eyed the motorcycle next to it. With a bit of
nervousness, I put the key in the lock, and popped the door open. A waft of fresh linen, and something spicy and manlike hit me. Two small steps led up to an open kitchen and eating area, everything was clean and modern, with a red-and-black theme. My eyes went to the dining table, an acoustic guitar and a small bowl of picks lay on top.
He plays guitar. He drives a motorcycle.
I never would’ve guessed that… though I guess I didn’t know what to expect from him. An Asshole of the Year award gracing his dining table, maybe. It smelled good in there too, dammit. Again, not what I’d expected.
Bending down to peek out the window, I made sure he wasn’t watching me, then walked back to the open bedroom at the very end of the trailer. There was a large bed with a messy dark blue blanket, a book of classic poetry atop it. I grinned, knowing I was so going to use that against him one day.
Quick strides brought me back to the dining room table and I started to unhook my leg sheath.
‘Take me with you. I have a bad feeling about this,’ Sera said, spooking me.
‘Bad feeling about what? I’m not allowed to take you into Demon City,’ I told her.
‘Why is he coming with you?’ she asked.
With a shrug, I placed her on the table. ‘Maybe to buy my demon contract.’
‘That could be done over the phone, and with a wire transfer. Take. Me. With. You.’
I frowned. Why exactly was Lincoln going with me to my work? He’d said it pained him to even be in Demon City, after all.
‘You need to trust me. I have a feeling. Take me with you,’ Sera added, in a voice of finality.
A growl escaped me. If I got caught or she was stolen, Lincoln would have my ass. Sighing, I laid the empty sheath on the table, then slipped Sera into my boot. I’d never forgive myself if something happened and I hadn’t heeded her advice.