The Roses Academy- the Entire Collection

by Tara Brown

  I love his voice. He’s cocky and reminds me of the person I miss the most in the empty world I am stuck in. “I need your help.”

  He starts to do his madman laugh but Lorelei stalks in, looking beautiful as always. She scowls at him and smiles at me. “Why hello there, darling.” Her Southern accent kills me. “From your first response to allllllll my texts, I have to assume y’all are ready to start helping out around here with the world ending and all?” She sounds a bit pissed.

  “Helping with what?”

  She offers me a hand. I know what she wants, and I don't want to do it but I have no choice. I walk to her and drape my hand across hers. I close my eyes and prepare for whatever she wants me to see.

  But nothing I do can prepare me for what she shows me.

  It is horrid. It is chaos and pain and I don't understand. The world is on fire. It literally is on fire. I pull back, confused. “I don't understand.”

  Lorelei nods. “I gathered. Y’all have been a royal pain in my ass since Lorri changed you. Ain’t nobody answering no texts and no phone calls. I try talking to any one of y’all and I get a blank stare. I don't know what the hell is going on, but this has to change. We are losing the war.”

  “Henry? Have you found him?”

  She shakes her head. “The minute he left here, I lost the ability to track him down. I want to send them to the garden.” She motions toward the Nephilim children. “I need to find him but I don't know how to tell him that.”

  “They are the answer, apparently. We will need them before all is over.”

  Her eyes light up. “They’re kids and I ain’t using kids to win a war against demons and hellfire, and whatever else Lillith plans on using.” She holds her phone up, flashing me the headlines of the world around us. “There’s a plague in Europe. The population is decreased by at least half. It came over from Asia. They didn't fair any better than we did. India is a mess. The Middle East is blown to bits. Everyone over there is gone, either fled or dead. Africa is also a mess. The bombing and wars have been particularly bad. South America is a pit of sin and debauchery. The cartels are running everything, killing everyone. I dare say, there ain’t a single person alive that's worth saving, and yet here we are needing to save them anyway.”

  I swallow hard. “I haven’t seen this. Are you sure? I was in Miami yesterday.”

  “Oh, you guys and your memories.” She chuckles. “I doubt you’ve been there in six months, Aimee. Miami is flooded. The whole of the South is underwater and the North is dry and dying from drought. Lillith is winning. She is killing us, using everything she has at her disposal. My team, apart from a couple of people, is dead. The Asian Roses are gone completely. But y’all are intact and drinking mai tais by the pool. So long as you don't notice the pool is filled with sludge and your drink contains the blood of innocents.”

  “Well, shit.” I slump into the chair behind me, mouth agape and heart pounding. “When did this all happen?”

  “It’s been years, Aimee. This didn't happen overnight. It happened while y’all were drinking and dancing and having fun in the dens of sin. I don't blame you. Your generation is a hot mess as you kids say. I always did think making a bunch of teenaged cell-phone kids angels was a stupid plan, but Lorri was dead and gone before I could complain. But it’s time now; we are in the last hour. Things must change. You have to wake up and smell the puddle of shit you’re knee-deep in.” Lorelei covers her lips and glances back at the kids. They don't even notice. They’ve spent years with Marcus.

  “Well, I’m awake now. But it’s only Shane, Giselle, Blake, and me. The others are locked in whatever kind of spell Lillith cast on us.”

  She scowls. “What?”

  “I swear Lillith has cast something on the Earth or the angels. I can’t be sure. Most of the fallen and most of us are under the spell. They don't see time or feel it. It’s fluid and blended, and they have no guilt. There are no consequences and humans are next to nothing to them. I’ve felt all of it. I can’t remember yesterday, apart from a few events that stick out like they happened recently, but now I’m afraid they didn't. We are distracted by love, drinking, and dancing. She has us acting like the world is our buffet.”

  Her jaw drops. “Of course. Wicked bitch! That’s why the others have always been such a waste of skin. I wondered why Lorri picked y’all. A bunch of men acting like children, more like meat sacks than angels. Each of y’all is corrupted. But now that makes perfect sense. Lillith don't even have to fight you. She only needs to throw a bit of ass around and a good dancing beat, and y’all are stuck stupid on it. Happy as a dead pig in sunshine.” I narrow my gaze but she points at me. “Don't even. Picking little brats like y’all was a mistake. Your generation is so focused on taking selfies, you don't even know the world is falling apart.”

  I drum my fingers against my legs, contemplating it all. I send a text, summoning the one person who will think the right way.

  Blake winks into the room. “I was busy.”

  I roll my eyes. “Stalking Alise isn’t busy, psycho.”

  He lifts his middle finger. “Look, I brought you something.”

  Danny laughs and waves. “Hey, Blake!”

  “Hey, Danny. How’s that new game treating you?”

  Danny rolls his eyes too. “Puh-lease. I beat that the first day. I got a new game now. Zombies! I figure why not practice killing them since the apocalypse is coming anyway.”

  Blake chuckles and strolls over to Lorelei and me. She grabs his head, flashing everything we just discussed into his brain. He steps back, gagging. “Oh my God. Ask before you attack like that. What the shit was that? Did that all happen? Is that real?” He gives me a pale-faced look of horror. “How the shit did we miss that?”

  Lorelei swats him. “Language.”

  He swallows hard. “Aimes, tell me the bumpkin has it wrong and we haven’t been stuck in a dreamland like Odysseus’ men with the Lotus-eaters?”

  “We have.”

  He covers his eyes. “Why? How?”

  “Lillith has done something to us. She’s made it so angels get lost in the beauty and pleasure around them.”

  “But Lorri and Dorian never got lost.”

  Lorelei snickers. “Oh, Dorian got lost plenty. You should have seen him the first time he saw this one here.” She nods at me.

  “What? You were there?”

  She smiles. “I was. He was stuck the minute he saw you. You were only sixteen, maybe seventeen. You were reading contradicting books in the library. We was searching for Aleks’ daddy but we didn't find him. Only you. The moment Dorian’s eyes met your face, he was a goner.”

  Blake waves a hand in front of her face. “No one cares about Dorian! He’s dead.” His words make me flinch but he shakes his head. “Sorry, Aimes. But it’s true. He’s dead and we’re alive, and we need to know what the hell is going on.” He starts tapping his lips and pacing. “Why would she occupy us with frivolity?”

  Lorelei looks like she might say something and interrupt his pacing, but I shake my head. “Just let the magic work.”

  She scowls, but watches Blake pace and work it out aloud.

  “Why didn't you use magic on us if you knew we were acting crazy?”

  She folds her arms across her chest. “I have been using everything I can think of on you all. I didn't think magic worked on you. None of you seemed able to respond to the spells I used to make you focus.”

  I narrow my gaze, recalling things. “It was probably your spells that helped us stay focused, even the little bit that we have. It might not seem like it, but me, Blake, Shane, and Giselle are actually not doing too badly. Well, not as badly as you think and way worse than I thought we were doing.”

  Marcus comes strolling over, eyes tapered and mouth fixed. Lorelei’s gaze doesn't leave Blake’s face but her hand slips up and covers Marcus’ mouth. He grins from behind her slim fingers. I can see the smug, shitty smile in his eyes.

  Blake pauses, thinking aloud,
“Distracting us gives her what? I mean it could be that she wants to mock God and show him that his mighty force of angels is nothing compared to her. But that's boastful and doesn't give her anything but satisfaction. I don't think she cares about that level of gratification. She’s gone all this time, trying to make her name vanish into the whispers of history. Why boast now?”

  I shrug but Marcus mutters from behind the hand, “Time, you idiot. She’s doing something that requires time. She’s occupying you morons to make certain you don't find her before it’s time.”

  “The antichrist. She’s making the antichrist,” Blake blurts it out. “Holy shit. She’s making the thing that is predicted to end the world as we know it.”

  “What?” Lorelei scowls. “She’s a beautiful creature made of God’s love. How the heck is she going to go about making some devil?”

  Marcus’ face loses its smugness and color. “By lying with the devil.”

  “But Lorri was the devil?” I am totally lost. “And she’s a girl and she can’t make babies that way. Or can she?”

  “She was never THE devil.” Marcus rolls his beautiful dark-blue eyes. “Only the devil to idiots. She isn’t the only devil. She’s the fallen angel who came to save humanity from the wanker angels. There is a force of evil that isn’t Lorri. I mean, she was awfully sassy when she was angry, and quite ornery when she wasn't angry, but that doesn't make her evil.”

  “What is the force of evil? Why hasn't this been discussed before?”

  Marcus shakes his head. “I’m not sure what it is. But I’m certain it’s there. Lorri always feared something in the shadows. I think she worried Jonathan might get to it.”

  I cover my eyes and moan, “Friggin’ Adam. If he had just kept his dick in his trousers we’d be in a whole other situation. I might have actually graduated from college and be loving my life. Instead of worrying about the unknown evil that even Lorri was scared of.”

  When I lower my hands, all of their faces have lost color, even Shane’s. Blake swallows hard. “That’s it. Lillith has found a way to repay Adam, and God, for everything. She has found someone to impregnate her with a child who she will make the antichrist. She has found someone with strong enough magic that the child will be born with more than any of us.”

  The thought dawns on me and lands in my stomach with a thud. Considering the powers of the half angels in the room, I can’t help but dread a child who is more than any of the ones we’ve met. The ones here have tons of ability for being so young. “Who would she have used to father such a child?”

  Lorelei’s face twists. “My grandpa would be a good start. He’s more powerful than anything.”

  “Is he the last of his kind?”

  She shakes her head. “I don't really know. But he’s related to her and totally above having relations with her. I hope.”

  Blake wrinkles his nose. “Uh, ewww. Why do all our conversations turn to something ugly like incest?”

  Marcus cocks an eyebrow like he might add something nasty about incest but Lorelei shakes her head. “No, don't say whatever foul thing is sitting on that tongue of yours.” She glances back at me. “Whatever it is Lillith has done, hasn't really affected the human side of y’all. For that reason she is focused on the ones who were special already. She never thought Lorri would turn you into angels, and I bet she doesn't know that Lorri’s power resets all your powers. So whatever you were when you were born is what you are as an angel.”

  Blake’s eyes narrow as his thinking face creeps up. “Wait—so Ari, Lucas, Aleks, Ben, Sam, and Hanna might all be able to go back to what they were, or at least reach what they were if it’s still inside them?”

  Lorelei seems confused but I agree. “In theory. If whatever they are is still in them, they should be able to reach it.”

  “If we can make Lucas and Ben turn wolfie, maybe we can fix them.”

  I bite my lips. “What’s gonna fix Hanna, making her rage?”

  He nods. “And Ari would need to push and Sam would need Hanna’s siren smell again.”

  Lorelei gives me a hopeful smile. “Maybe you could try loving Aleks. You love him and he loves you, deep down, right?”

  My insides turn and when I don't answer her face drops. She lowers her gaze to the magical locket on my neck. “Oh. Well, maybe there is something else that can trigger him.”

  Marcus rolls his eyes. “This is all incredibly dull. I don't particularly care if they fix themselves or not. Debauchery Aleks is a great deal more fun, for the record. He’s become a bit like how Dorian was in the early years.”

  His comment stings but I don't have to scold him or mock him. Lorelei gives him a disapproving glare. “Go find somewhere else to be rude.”

  He blows her a kiss and saunters back to game with Danny.

  Blake’s eyes focus that way. He pauses and tilts his head. “What do we know about the kids?”

  I shake my head. “They have random Nephilim parents.”

  “Hmm.” He sounds intrigued.

  I don't know where he’s going with it. I don't even care right now. I’m exhausted and crabby.

  Realizing we have completely failed at whatever mission Lorri gave us is making me spicy. It feels unfair to be tested and found lacking so early on. But the truth is, it isn't early on. We have been doing nothing for a considerably long time. Lillith has won before the war has even started.

  Blake nods at me. “What’s our next move?”

  I give Lorelei a look. “Contain Ari and the others so they can’t hinder our attempts to stop Lillith or hurt anyone else with their detachment from humanity.”

  “Sounds like a start,” she says with a smile.

  I offer her my best smile. It’s strained and half-hearted but it’s better than nothing. “Thanks for not giving up on us and continuing to try magic on us.”

  She shakes her head. “That's the point, right? Lorri picked those of us who would never quit. We are a team. Now I have to text Gwen and get her and Shulster, her partner, to help us out. Brandon Green should be able to as well.”

  I grimace, recalling something. “Brandon Green is dead.”

  Her jaw drops. “What? Why didn't nobody tell me? How? When?”

  I shake my head, not recalling details, only the fact he’s gone. “I don't know. But what about the rest of the wolves?”

  “That just breaks my heart.” She shakes her head at me. “Forget about the other wolves. They won’t participate. Not since Ben and Lucas changed to angels. They feel like Lorri betrayed them.”

  “We’re all on the same page then?” I scoff.

  “You know she wouldn't have done that.”

  “Yeah, but she might have screwed up by accident.” I glance at Blake. “We are the first ones she ever made. She might not have realized how bad it all would get.”

  “It’s not so bad, so long as you have a focal point. It’s like spinning. So long as I can see or hear Alise, I don't get dizzy. But the minute I’m out of sight of Alise, my thoughts and clarity start to fade away.” He points at my pocket. “Like you and the feather, I assume?”

  I nod, lifting my hand to the locket.

  Lorelei’s eyes narrow. “So you love those people and they keep you grounded? Dorian is dead, and yet his love is able to ground you?”

  “I suppose.”

  She turns and motions toward Shane. “What’s grounding him and Giselle then?”

  Blake’s lips curl into a grin. “Each other.”

  My jaw drops. “What about Ben and Giselle? I thought that was a lifelong thing.”

  He shakes his head. “No. Ben, Lucas, and Ari have been so screwed up lately. Shane and Giselle have been hanging out a ton. They seem to get on.”

  “She’s a diva. That doesn't even make sense.”

  He tilts his head. “Says the girl who made me watch every Murder She Wrote when we were sixteen and is now pining over a dead angel with the meanest sense of humor I ever encountered.”

  Lorelei cackles. “He
has a point. Opposites attract.” She glances back at Marcus. “Trust me.” He winks at her, making us grin. She shakes her head, lost in some aspect of his smile.

  Blake rolls his eyes. “Let’s get this over with. Finding Lillith can’t happen until we have the team of reckless angels behind bars.

  Lorelei nods. “You two go and find them and I’ll get Marcus motivated.”

  I take Blake’s hand and wink, knowing full well where at least two members are.

  Chapter 4

  A peeping Blake

  Finding Hanna and Aleks was easy. They haven’t left nor changed. Now they’re making out like they’re being paid too and seeing it is awkward as ass.

  Lorelei texts as I walk over to the house. I frown at the screen. Blake looks up from his phone, clearly baffled. “Momma Holt?”

  I shudder. “If that's what she says, then that's what we do.”

  Aleks lifts his head, grinning at us as though we’ve interrupted a meal and he’s about to ask us to join. “Hey, guys, what are you doing here?”

  Blake forces a fake smile. “Blood brothel. We need some help.” He sounds unconvinced of what he’s saying.

  Hanna turns her head sharply. “What?”

  “You heard him. We need some help.”

  She rolls her eyes, obviously annoyed at the interruption. “Why can’t you just do it?”

  Blake’s voice is completely deadpan, “We desperately need your brand of expertise.”

  She stands, winking away to return in seconds with proper ‘leaving the house’ clothes on. She tosses a sweater at Aleks, the beige one I love. He shrugs it on over his broad chest and smiles at us, oblivious to the power of the spell corrupting his innocence.

  I hold a hand out for them, being the only one who knows where we’re going.

  I wink, hating the weight of the guilt over the deceptive way we are luring them into a trap. As we land in the mud by the Blackwater Bayou, I step back and Blake shoves them both into the murky water. Lorelei is there, calling something in a way that I can’t understand her words. Wind shoots down on us, making a funnel around Hanna and Aleks. The water creeps up their legs, dragging them down into it. Somewhere in the commotion and noise I hear a scream from one of them.