Sins of the Fallen

by Daniele Lanzarotta

  “Meet me at the gym in a few minutes,” he said.

  I headed for the gym and he went in another direction.

  At the gym, I got my dagger out and I was ready. Ever since this one was given to me, I felt like I should be carrying it around everywhere I went. It felt like it was part of me.

  While I waited for Samael, I contemplated leaving and going back to my room, but I just couldn’t. Benjamin was not kidding around and I needed the training.

  Minutes later, Samael walked in with a girl who seemed a little older than me. I gave him a puzzled look. I knew that she was a succubus; yet, they walked in side-by-side as if they were best friends. There were no wards keeping her contained. Even though she would never be able to leave the academy, I couldn’t understand why she didn’t just take off and try it anyway.

  As they got closer to me, I got cold and angry. I held my dagger where they could see it.

  “Slow down, Kayla. She’s not here to attack you. We have a deal and she’s willingly going to help with your training.”

  I stayed where I was, and still held the dagger where they could see it.

  The girl stood there and looked at me as if she was bored.

  Samael started to walk in circles around us.

  “Kayla, did you know that if a succubus wants to, she can try to seduce you just like she would do with a guy? You being a Nephilim makes you even more appealing to them.”

  Crap. I didn’t know that, I thought.

  “By the way, you just tensed, which leads me to believe that you didn’t know that. You should also know that they pay more attention to your body language then any human would. You need to start controlling what you allow them to know about yourself.”

  I could hear Samael talking, but I was watching her the entire time and she just shook her head as if she was thinking I didn’t stand a chance, and that made me even angrier.

  Samael was right next to me now. He leaned down and whispered in my ear, “Remember to protect yourself by using wards. Just focus. I know you can do it.”

  I gave him a confused look.

  He shook his head. I hated when people did that. Might as well just call me stupid right to my face.

  “Center yourself, control your breathing, and ward yourself as if you were warding a building. Your brother can do it; your human sister can do it! It’s in your blood!”

  “So I just focus and then what? A magic barrier protects me?”

  “You’d be amazed with what your mind will do when you put it to work. Trust me!”

  I didn’t.

  “You have about a second to do so.” He paused and faced the succubus. “Theodora, it’s show time.”

  Was he kidding? How could I even center myself in a second! I resorted for what I could do.

  She took a step closer and I took a step back, tightened my grip around my dagger, and pointed it toward her.

  She slowly moved forward. “Kayla,” she said in a seductive tone.

  I didn’t even want to know where that was heading. I knew she was trying to do something with my mind. I felt a pull and quickly interrupted that feeling by launching forward with the dagger coming inches away from her. She was so fast I could barely see her leg coming up and hitting me right on my wrist, making me drop the dagger.

  I looked toward Samael.

  “Pretend I’m not here!” he yelled.

  Crap!

  She moved forward and this time, she slapped me across the face and I fell to the floor. She was fast, and strong.

  “Stupid Nephilim,” she said, “you don’t stand a chance!”

  She gave me time to get up. My spotted my dagger a little further away. I couldn’t go for it without getting hit. I knew I had to rely on something else. She approached me and I moved back. I needed time to breathe. I needed time to attempt using the wards.

  “I smell the immortal on you,” she said.

  I knew she was talking about Hunter and I hated that Samael gave her what she needed to distract me.

  I attempted to ignore her.

  “Tap into her head, Kayla. Anticipate her moves.”

  I knew THAT I could do.

  Okay, maybe I was wrong. Every other time when I did that, I had to close my eyes right before so that I could focus. I couldn’t exactly do that now.

  The succubus laughed. Surprisingly, anger made me focus.

  I kept thinking about what she was and about how many human lives she must have destroyed. I was able to anticipate when she launched toward me. I moved to my right, ducked down, and went for my dagger.

  By the time I turned to face her, she was very close to me. Way too close. I couldn’t think fast enough to anticipate her move and ended up getting punched on my stomach. I moved my dagger toward her, but I missed.

  “Focus, Kayla! Think about what she is. Think about what you need to do to protect other humans from her.”

  I focused. I moved forward, she stepped back. Each time, I moved my dagger toward her. We moved like that until her back was against the wall and somehow, at that point I managed to move even faster, and the tip of my dagger was right against her chest.

  She smiled and nodded in approval and that just seemed so human! I started to move away to let her go.

  “DO NOT MOVE!” said Samael.

  We both looked at him but neither of us moved. In my mind, regardless to what she was, she made a deal with him to help me train and she had done her part without even once trying to get away.

  Something about her expression changed as soon as she heard his words, and I could feel wards around her, trapping her at that very spot. I knew she hadn’t expected it and was trying to fight it while giving Samael a look that gave me chills. There was no longer anything human about her eyes.

  “Finish her off!” he ordered.

  I drew my dagger away and stared at him. “Why? I thought she was helping. You said that you had a deal with her.”

  The girl looked from him to me and instead of wasting time trying to talk to him, she left that up to me and kept trying to get out.

  That didn’t phase Samael at all.

  “You need to do this because of what she is, Kayla! You are a Nephilim. NEVER hesitate in destroying your enemy. Our deal was that if she helped me, I would help her get out of this place. You know we can’t let that happen. Can we, Kayla?”

  “That’s your deal, not mine.”

  “But you see, this is about to become personal for you. Theodora is the one who drained your boyfriend.”

  I looked at her and she froze. Her eyes were wide open and she looked truly scared. I felt an urge to do what I was meant to do, but if there was one thing I hated was to be played, and that was what Samael was trying to do to me now.

  I just looked at him and didn’t move.

  “I’m letting her wards down, Kayla. You’ll have to defend yourself and I’ll just stand here and watch until one of you finish the other.”

  He wasn’t kidding. He let the wards down. I was facing her this time. I hated her for what she was, but Samael manipulated her just as he was trying to do to me now. I hated her, but I hated him even more. This whole succubus thing with Hunter was Samael’s fault too. I knew that if this was Hannah I would be able to finish what I was meant to.

  He was so sure she was going to go after me. Honestly, I was too, which is the reason why I still held my dagger.

  She looked at me and once she saw that I was standing there, ready to defend myself, but not willing to be the one to make the first move, she ran the other way.

  I heard Samael cuss, get his dagger out, and run after her.

  I don’t know what I expected, but she was weak because of the wards. He caught up with her, turned her around, pierced her chest with the dagger, and she was gone.

  Samael turned to face me and he looked furious.

  Well, I was even more furious. I walked past him and toward the door.

  “You failed and you’ll continue to fail for as long as you priorit
ize what is important to you. We train tomorrow morning with the others. At night, I expect you to sneak out and be here to train again. I’ll get another one of the succubi, and even if this one didn’t get to your boyfriend, you still need to finish your job!”

  Even though my back was to him and I was walking away, I heard every word. Maybe he was right, but I wasn’t going to do this on his terms.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  It was close to two in the morning when I got back to my room. I was bruised and tired, but I wanted to see Hunter and I knew that with training the next day, I had to do it now. I took a quick shower and headed for the infirmary. The entire Academy, infirmary included, was quiet. I snuck into Hunter’s room without anyone seeing me. He was sleeping and I didn’t want to wake him up. I just curled up on the recliner in the room, closed my eyes, and fell asleep.

  I was so tired! If I dreamt, I didn’t remember.

  The next morning, Hunter woke me up by brushing his fingers on my cheek. I opened my eyes to find him sitting on the edge of the recliner.

  "I don't think you should be out of the bed," I said.

  He shrugged and smiled. "I'm better."

  He leaned down to give me a hug, and pain shot through my entire body. I flinched.

  "What's wrong?"

  "I don't know. I guess I slept wrong." At the time I really thought that was the case. I completely blocked last night’s training from my mind. It didn't take me long to remember that I had bruises all over my stomach and sides. I left that alone though.

  If Hunter found out he would never allow this training to continue and I wasn't sure whether I thought it was a good idea either, but I wanted to decide for myself.

  "Shouldn't you be getting ready to go to training?" he asked.

  I honestly wasn't ready to look at Samael. "I don't think I want to train this morning. Maybe later."

  Hunter gave me a puzzled look.

  "I’m feeling lazy today," I said. I really was. All I wanted to do was to spend time with Hunter... alone.

  The alarm sounded. I absolutely hated that sound. A message followed the alarm saying that everyone should stay where they were until further notice.

  I smiled at Hunter. "I'm certainly not complaining"

  I barely had the chance to stand up and almost got knocked down when Ethan barged in the room. So much for alone time…

  He sighed. "Good! You’re both here."

  "What’s going on?" asked Hunter.

  Ethan hesitated.

  "I just ran into Clarissa on my way to the gym to meet you and Samael."

  "And?" I was getting impatient.

  "Well, you know how they trap demons in the basement? Xavier noticed there were demons missing this morning."

  Crap, I thought to myself. I bet Samael didn't count on them noticing her missing.

  I caught Ethan studying my reaction.

  "Wait a minute. Did you say Demons, as in more than one?!"

  Ethan nodded. "Three succubi."

  I was going to kill Samael.

  I faced Ethan and I'm not even sure how I did all of this, but I was in his head and I spoke so only he would listen, "Make sure Hunter doesn't leave the room."

  "Kayla?" he said confused.

  I knew he wouldn't. He and Hunter would leave the room and come after me. Something surged through me. I knew I had to protect them. I was already by the door, which Ethan had left open. I rushed toward it and before they could even respond, I got out, slammed the door behind me and warded the room so that they couldn't leave.

  I didn't have to go far to find Samael. He was waiting for me outside of the infirmary.

  “What the hell did you do?”

  He shrugged. “When I didn’t see you this morning, I got the feeling that you wouldn’t show up for training and I’m pretty sure you won’t be back for night time trainings, so I brought the training to you.”

  “So the lost succubi are your fault? I can’t believe you’d actually be this stupid! You need to find them and get them back.”

  “Oh, I have no control over that.”

  “Clarissa is going to kill you.”

  “She won’t. She needs me to train you and that’s what I’m doing. The only difference is that I’m doing this on my own terms.”

  I turned around to go back into the infirmary. “You made the mess. You clean it up.”

  His tone stopped me, “I’m pretty sure they saw Hunter in that basement before. How long do you think it’ll be before they find him?”

  I was furious. I turned around and I swear it took a lot for me to not punch him on the face.

  He smirked and pulled a dagger from his belt. It wasn’t just any dagger… it was my dagger. I was so tired that I ended up leaving it in my room the night before.

  I was still mad, but I took it.

  “Time to go hunting,” he said.

  “Where exactly do we start?” I asked in a frustrated tone.

  “You tell me. You are a Nephilim. You should be able to sense them, to get a general idea of where they are, and once they are visible to you, use what you know to anticipate their moves.

  Honestly, I was too mad to focus on anything, but I didn’t need to. I saw a commotion coming from a few buildings down and I knew that some of the fallen ones found and were trying to capture at least one of them. I started to go in that direction, but Samael stopped me. “Your battle strategy clearly needs work. They obviously got at least one of them. They can handle her. You need to go after the other.”

  I started to walk in the opposite direction, not because I thought the other demon was there but because I wanted to get away from Samael. I knew he was following me, but he was smart enough to keep his distance.

  After a few minutes, my anger was vanishing… a little, but it was enough to clear my head, and that was when I got this feeling something was watching me. I stopped and tightened my grip on the dagger as I frantically looked around. I saw no one but Samael, and he looked as focused as I was. There were no signs of his usual arrogance. We walked for another couple of minutes going toward the back of the Academy. There was no one but us there, and then I saw someone and I knew right away what she was. I couldn’t explain how I knew it. Of course, she didn’t have wings, but I knew that she wasn’t human either. Something about her was all wrong. She smiled before she turned around and ran in between two buildings. I didn’t even think. I ran after her. She was really fast. I knew there was no way I would be able to stop her, so I used wards to block her before she got to the other side. I wanted to hear what Samael had to say about strategy now. I couldn’t afford to look or think about him now, though. Just to be on the safe side, I extended the wards around her, but they didn’t stay up. Unfortunately, something was off and I couldn’t see that it didn’t work until it was too late. She sprinted toward me and reached for my neck, pinning me against the wall. I moved my hand up with the dagger, but she used her other hand to block it and proceeded to take the dagger away from me. I wouldn’t have let it go except I couldn’t breathe. Her hand was so tight around my neck I couldn’t even turn around to look for Samael. I knew why he wasn’t stopping her. Somewhere in his demented mind, he was doing this on purpose so that I would fight back.

  I tried but there was no use.

  “Josephine, that is enough,” said Samael.

  She smiled at me and started to let go of her grip a little, then she hesitated.

  “She won’t harm you, Josephine. Just let her go and give her dagger back.”

  “And then what, Samael? I know that our deal will be broken. I’m not stupid. I know this place is warded and you won’t help me leave. You meant for this Nephilim to kill me.”

  “Josephine, let her go. You know I can trap you right now. I’m just giving you the courtesy of letting her go and walk away with some dignity.”

  She laughed and whispered so that only I could hear her. “Only if demons craved dignity.” She shook her head. “Fine, you want me to give her dagger ba
ck and let her go, I will.”

  I couldn’t see Samael, but I felt the relief in his voice. “I thought you would.”

  He was wrong… so wrong… Well, technically, she did give me the dagger back and let me go. She smiled one more time before driving the dagger into the side of my stomach and letting me go. I fell to the floor. There was so much pain… too much pain! I couldn’t even hold up the wards in Hunter’s room, which as far as I knew, I had kept up this entire time.

  I could see her run away as Samael ran toward me.

  He was cussing and completely freaking out.

  “You need to keep her away from Hunter.”

  He gave me a puzzled look.

  “You freaking owe it to me!”

  He seemed lost for a second then he shook his head.

  “Just stop talking, okay?” He took his shirt off and put in around the dagger, putting pressure to keep even more blood from sipping out of my body. The only problem was that the pressure caused even more pain. I now fought to keep my eyes open.

  “Shit!” he said. “I should probably not be moving the dagger away or moving you at all, but… Ugh! Close your eyes.”

  I closed my eyes and he pulled the dagger out, causing me to scream my head off. He put the dagger on his belt, and moved his shirt to where the dagger had been and he asked me to try to keep pressure on it. He picked me up, which caused me to scream in pain once again, and ran.

  I’m not even sure how I survived that short run to the infirmary, but I did. As soon as we walked in, he started to yell that he needed healers. I heard Jennifer’s voice and then, I couldn’t feel anything else.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  Hunter

  I honestly couldn't say who was more pissed off, Ethan or I. He tried and tried to take down the wards that Kayla had put up, but there was no use. She was getting stronger every day.

  Her strength should have made me feel better about this whole thing, but it didn't. What Kayla had just done was exactly what worried me about us going to the academy. Kayla did what she wanted to do and she would do whatever she needed to keep some of us safe.

  After a while, Ethan and I gave up and went toward the window. We couldn't even open it, but we could see outside. I wasn’t sure if that was better or worse than just sitting around.