Deliah stood up. “Maybe we should get home, dear, before you try to insult any more demonic royalty.”
“That’s probably a good idea.”
Chapter Sixteen
FAITH
When Amadi found me, I was curled up on one of Deliah’s sofas, hastily scribbling notes from a large, leatherbound book onto a lined, refill pad like I used to use in school. He approached so quietly I didn’t know he was there until he sat down next to me and reached for my notepad. I gasped and jumped several inches off the sofa cushion.
“Now that’s an interesting sight. I didn’t take you for the bookish type. Alex will be over the moon.” He grinned as he looked down at me, and I glared at him.
“Remind me to hang a bell around your neck. Do demons not make noise?”
He laughed, revealing his white teeth which were slightly sharper than your average human’s. “Not the demons who are trained in stealth.”
“You were trained in stealth? Why? By whom?”
He ignored me, leaning over to look at my scribbling. “What are you making notes on? Trancework? Really? That’s all she has you working on? I thought you’d be throwing fireballs by now.”
I shrugged, ignoring the fact he’d dodged my question. For now. “She thinks if I have more control over my mind, it’ll help with the nightmares. I might be able to take control of my subconscious and control the dream.”
He passed the notebook back. “Well, anything that’ll help. They sound awful.”
I looked down at the book in my hands. “They are. The fear and the pain are just... but the worst thing is how powerless I feel. And I’m used to feeling that way in my dreams, but now, in real life, I’m just as powerless.”
He reached over and took my hand, rubbing his thumb gently over my knuckles. I noticed how the swirl of his tattoos danced over his fingers. I was about to ask him about them, but he leaned forward and tenderly brushed his lips against mine. “You are a strong person, Faith. Your whole world has been rocked, and not just by your mother’s disappearance, but all of this on top of that. However, you aren’t powerless.” I nodded, not quite daring to look him in the eyes. “Come on.” He stood up suddenly and pulled me with him.
“What? Where are we going?”
He pulled me towards the door. “To my office.”
Five minutes later, we stood in Concordia’s basement. I looked around the room. “Nice office,” I commented with a smile.
It was perfect for Amadi, but as far from Deliah’s office as you could get. Three walls were completely mirrored, and the floor was covered with firm pads that would cushion a hard landing. One wall was taken up with weight machines, but there were several cross trainers and treadmills as well. The wall that wasn’t covered with mirrors had punching bags suspended a couple of metres from it, and the rest of the room was a large open space that was obviously utilised for various activities. Amadi slipped his hoodie over his head and draped it over a nearby machine, revealing his beautifully sculpted arms displayed to perfection by a black, sleeveless T-shirt.
He glanced about the room and nodded. “Thank you, I like it. Now strip.”
I blinked. “What?”
He grinned. “You heard me. I’m going to put you through your paces, and it’s going to get hot in here, so strip.”
I stared at him, realising he was serious. He was still grinning at me, and it occurred to me he didn’t think I would. Keeping my eyes on his, I slipped my jacket off and placed it on top of his hoodie. His grin faded slightly as I unlaced my boots and slid my jeans down and off my legs, and as I stood up to face him, I could feel his eyes moving over my bare skin. Pulling the hair tie from my wrist, I pushed my locks up into a high ponytail, pretending not to notice how his gaze lifted to my breasts as I raised my arms above my head.
“So what do you want me to do?” I asked.
“Huh?” His eyes flicked up to mine.
“What do you want me to do?”
He blinked a couple of times and stepped back. “Oh, um... yes... well, seeing as you mentioned you liked to train and workout, I thought that might be something you’d be interested in doing? Bit of stress relief? Cas said you used to have weapons training as a kid, so I thought you might like to refresh your memory.”
“Sparring? Sure. Though I might be a bit rusty, it’s been a while.”
He turned and pushed against one of the large mirrors on the wall. It opened with a click, and he slid it to the side, revealing an impressive display of weaponry. For the two of us, though, he selected wooden training swords, which although couldn’t exactly kill you, could still deliver a nasty bruise if you didn’t move fast enough. He threw one to me as he turned, but I was expecting him to, so I caught the hilt as it reached me.
“Okay, if you’re rusty, we’ll start with some training drills then move on to sparring patterns. You okay with that?”
“Sure, let’s go.” I twirled the sword in my hand. It was weighty, but feeling the hilt in my hand brought back a rush of familiarity, and I remembered how much I’d enjoyed this part when I was younger. He came at me in a basic attack, and I fell back on muscle memory to react. I was right. I was rusty, and not only that, but my fitness level seemed to have dropped considerably, as I was sweating like crazy twenty minutes in. I guessed dancing hadn’t really maintained my fitness level like I’d thought. Making a mental note to start working out more, I tried to keep pace with Amadi, concentrating on the weight of the sword in my hand rather than the developing ache across my shoulders.
“You never said where you trained for stealth.” I brought the sword forward in a low strike to the left and then the right, keeping my wrists flexible.
“I was in the military.” He blocked me easily.
“Really? When? For how long?” I dropped back into a guard position.
“Oh, it was a while ago, can’t remember how long exactly. I was in for a few centuries, not that long really.”
I stared at him. “Amadi... which military were you in?”
He paused and looked at me. “The Tears. I made lieutenant colonel, but it wasn’t really for me. Too many rules, and the food was awful.”
I shifted my grip on the sword, leaning the blade back on my shoulder. “What are the Tears? Normal human upbringing here, remember?”
He smiled. “Right, sorry. The Order of Tears is the formal military force of Sheol.”
I frowned. “Is Sheol in the Middle East?”
“Not exactly. Sheol is what the locals call Hell.” He leaned on his sword and watched my reaction. I forced myself to respond with only polite interest rather than the holy fuck that was actually going through my mind.
“Okay, but I thought it was called Pandaemonium?”
He shook his head. “Pandaemonium is only one city. Think of Sheol as the continent.”
“Oh, yes, that’s what Deliah said. So there are other places in Hell... Sheol?” He nodded then beckoned me to follow him. Opening another mirrored door, he revealed a fridge underneath a wooden bench. Opening it, he passed me a bottle of water and took one for himself as well. I tipped it up, trying not to drink as fast as I wanted, and ignored the droplets of water escaping down my throat and into my cleavage. I lowered the bottle, noticing Amadi was well aware of the track the escaped water had taken.
He saw he’d be caught staring and grinned. “Sheol is a vast place. It wasn’t always though. Originally, it was just supposed to be a prison for one archangel.”
I nodded. “Lucifer.”
Amadi laughed. “Ah, humans. No, way before Lucifer there was an archangel called Samael. He was condemned to live alone in Sheol, but then the War of Heaven broke out and it had to be made bigger.”
He sank down to the floor, resting his back against the wall, and I did the same. “I thought only a few angels rebelled?”
“Well, ‘a few’ is relative. I think it was about three million.”
I gaped at him, open-mouthed. “Three million?”
&nbs
p; He nodded. “So I’ve heard, but I wasn’t there. Anyway, after that came the watchers. You’ve heard of them, right? Okay, so there was a whole other section built for them, and Samael wouldn’t have it anywhere near the cities, so Sheol became even bigger.”
“So there are more cities? And a prison? But you said Sheol was a prison for Samael.”
Amadi sighed. “Yeah, I’m really not the person you should be asking about this. There’s another city called Dis. That’s where I’m from. The watchers’ prison is called Tartarus. They are the only beings imprisoned there. Samael, that’s a long story, but he’s basically one of the four rulers of Hell. The others are Mahazael, Azrael, and Amaimon.” I sat up at the mention of Mahazael, but Amadi didn’t seem to notice. He took another drink and continued, “Azrael—that’s the guy you know as Lucifer or Satan—is the Commander of the Order of Tears. Hell’s army.”
“And you were part of it.”
He shrugged. “For a while, yes.”
I cocked my head and regarded him. “Why did you leave?”
He was silent for a few moments, staring off into space, and I wondered if he’d even heard me. “It’s not like a human army. Well, not in Britain anyway. Soldiers also act as palace guards and police. There are a lot of powerful demons in Sheol, and some of them have their own private armies. Although, technically, the four princes rule all of Sheol, they need to keep the archdemons happy, keep them subdued. An uprising could be catastrophic. It just got so political, and no one knew who to trust. Eventually, I quit. I bounced around a bit, managed to work my way earthside, and then I met Alex.”
I smiled, watching his whole face soften at the mention of the handsome Russian. “He means a lot to you, doesn’t he?”
Amadi took a breath. “Yes, he does.”
I took a breath myself. “And it doesn’t bother him that you’re a…”
“Demon? No, it doesn’t bother him.” Amadi smiled then glanced down at his watch. “We’d better get going. I think we could both do with a shower when we get in, and then we can catch a ride back with Alex if we’re quick.”
I got dressed swiftly, grimacing as I pulled my jeans on. There was definitely a shower in my near future. Between my little interlude in the car with Alex that morning and training with Amadi this afternoon, I was concerned about the car ride home. I pulled my jacket on and felt a strong pair of arms circle my waist. Amadi’s breath tickled my ear, and I could smell his exotic, spicy scent as he pulled me back against his hard body.
“We all have pasts, Faith. Some much, much longer than others, and things aren’t always as black and white as they are for humans. I don’t open up about mine much. I’m not sorry I told you, but it might take the others longer to trust you with theirs.”
I relaxed back against him and turned my head to meet his gaze. “Thank you for trusting me,” I whispered, and pulled his mouth down to mine.
*
I stared down at the symbol I’d drawn in the sand between my outstretched legs, trying to work out where I was going wrong. Deliah had given me a list and asked me to practice at home so I could memorise them. Each sequence could invoke the elements or summon demons, so I was only allowed to draw one symbol at a time, making sure I erased it completely before drawing the next. Summoning a horde of water demons on a freezing beach in Northumberland was not something I was quite ready to do. However much my sparring skills and general fitness had increased in the last couple of weeks, my magical abilities still seemed mediocre at best. As for memorising things... I traced back over the symbol with my finger. The others I’d drawn correctly had all glowed faintly as I completed them, but this one hadn’t.
“Hey, Faith, you fancy a spar?” Amadi yelled from slightly farther up the beach where he was putting Cas through his paces. These guys trained hard, getting up at five every morning to put in a couple of hours before work and spending most of their free time making sure their fighting skills were the best they could be. I shivered. After some of the stories I’d heard over the last couple of weeks, I wasn’t surprised they worked so hard, knowing what they could be up against. It had definitely inspired me to return to my own training regime. I tried not to think about all the fights I’d had with my mother over having to train when other kids were out hanging around the cinema or having sleepovers. I really wished I’d kept it up during the years since I’d moved out, but I was determined to make up for lost time.
Just come back, Mum. Whatever there was between us, we can work it out.
I turned to look over my shoulder at the two guys behind me and shouted, “No, I’m good, thanks. I really need to learn this lot by tomorrow for Deliah.”
Amadi nodded and turned back to Cas. I watched them for a minute as they circled each other, waiting for a chance to slip in and deliver a well-aimed punch or kick. They didn’t hold back. If the other wasn’t quick enough to get out the way, it was his own faul—or so Amadi had told me after Cas had walked in one night sporting a black eye. They weren’t as cutthroat with me, though my skin did bear several bruises from them when I made daft mistakes. Amadi had continued to train me, both with the sword and mixed martial arts, and I had completely forgotten the peace I’d gain from practicing the patterns and drills, almost like a dance or a meditation. It had definitely helped with the anxiety that was increasing every day as Hargreaves’ agents repeatedly came back with no new information about Rose.
To my surprise, Cas had offered to help train me as well, both in martial arts and firearms, though our sessions were not as fun as the ones with Amadi, which usually had us mucking around and making each other laugh, and often ending with a steamy encounter in the mini sauna. Cas was professional and to the point with very little small talk, for which I was grateful. I had no intention of getting friendly with him, despite how he’d acted when I first came to stay with them, but it was hard not to appreciate his physical form right now.
Both men had stripped to the waist, and I was definitely enjoying the sight. Cas was taller by at least six inches, with broad shoulders tapering down to a slender waist. His tats covered his arms, shoulders, and back. Large, black angel wings hung down on either side of his spine. Rather fitting, now that I knew what he was. Between them, a dragon crawled up the centre of his back. His arms bore a large wolf and a lion, then they were filled with entwined animals, birds, and plants. Looking at them now, they reminded me of the tapestries depicting paradise hanging in my mother’s secret temple to Asherah. He’d bound his dreads up to keep them from swinging into his face as he fought, and I could see the gorgeous muscles along his shoulders. Guys might fall between liking breasts or bums on girls, but I was an arms and shoulders woman all the way.
I moved my gaze to Amadi, who was similarly stripped to the waist. His tribal tats covered every inch of his body, but were barely visible on his dark skin. I had seen the ones on his face and arms glow on the night I watched him and Alex, and I really wanted to see if they did that all over his body. His muscles were just as defined as Cas’s, and I ran my tongue over my lower lip. A thought danced through my mind that if Alex and Amadi were willing to share, Cas might be too, and I knew from experience just how good he was between the sheets. The memory jarred me back to reality. Sex god or not, he was still the cruel, cold sack of shit that had abandoned me all those years ago. It would be a cold day in hell before I ended up in bed with him again.
I looked back down at the sand, pushing Cas out of my mind in place of demon summoning sigils. Where was I going wrong? One line down, crossed by two others. A crescent underneath and another line intersecting that and... oh, that was it. I traced a small line intersecting the end of the crescent on the left, and the symbol glowed red. I grinned. Nailed it. The glowing symbol sizzled suddenly, and steam rose from it. I frowned. That wasn’t supposed to happen. A drop of icy water landed on my head, and I gasped and looked up. Sam was leaning over me, regarding the symbol with interest.
“Ah, Adramalech. Hmmm... nasty.”
I
hastily scrubbed out the symbol with my foot. The glow disappeared, and I turned to eye the blond hunk behind me. “Nasty? Why?”
“Aside from the fact he’s a demon?” Sam raised his eyebrows.
“But Amadi’s a demon. I thought they were mainly good.”
Sam shrugged. “Some are. Some are downright evil. Like humans, really, and angels.”
“How can angels be evil? You mean fallen angels?” I glanced over to Cas.
“No, angels can be pretty cruel and heartless. A lot of them are... well, imagine fundamentalist humans. Now imagine them with evidence that proves certain things about their beliefs with immortality and a major holier-than-thou complex.”
I cringed, remembering Euriel. “Yeah, I can see where you’re going with that. But what’s so bad about Adramalech?” I glanced back down at the sand where I’d drawn the symbol, all kinds of horrible possibilities flooding through my warped mind.
Sam wrinkled his nose. “He’s just... well, I don’t know how to put this really. He’s just such a little bitch. He loves spreading gossip, and Satan forbid you wear a Hawaiian shirt.”
I stared at him. “So you’re telling me this demon is nasty because he hates your style?”
“Exactly. Who wouldn’t love my style?” He shook his head, and a spray of water droplets flew all over me.
I squealed. “That’s cold!”
He grinned, grabbing the towel he’d left next to me, and dried his hair. “Nah, it’s not that cold. It’s October. That’s when the sea’s at its warmest. You should come in with me.”
I glanced out at the rolling waves and shuddered. “No, thanks. I’ll pass.”
“Right, you and deep water. Sorry. Maybe we should try to beat this fear of yours before it really starts affecting your life? This would be an ideal time.”
I looked at him incredulously. “So my mother has been kidnapped, I find out she’s a witch and the entire world is not what I thought it was, I’m living with an evil ex who just so happens to be a fallen angel, plus a demon, a werewolf, and a computer geek, and I’m trying to learn how to summon demons, and you think this is a great time to try to defeat a fear I’ve had for over ten years?”
Nephilim the Awakening (Wrath of the Fallen Book 1) Page 16