“What about our other parents?” Marcus asks. “Raphael? Uriel? Gabriel?”
Bastien shakes his head. “No. We can’t trust anyone except ourselves.”
“Jonah was right when he said it’s too powerful for any Archangel or Archdemon to possess,” Araceli says. “Especially now that we know Azrael is working with the Order too.”
“He’s Grace’s father,” Kassiel says. “She’s able to use the Staff because she has his blood, and she was doing all this to prove herself to him, so he would publicly acknowledge her as his child.”
I nearly spit out my coffee at this revelation. “That explains a lot, and if Azrael is working with the Order, there is nowhere that is safe for the Staff. We have to destroy it.”
“Are you sure that’s what you wish to do?” Eveanna asks.
I nod, my mouth set in a grim line. “It’s the only way things will ever be truly safe for both demons and angels. If one side has it, the other side will always be at risk. Lucifer and Michael tried to leave it with the fae, but that only lasted so long. The Staff must be destroyed.”
“But…how?” Jonah asks. “Fae relics are nearly impossible to destroy.”
I touch the remains of the necklace on my chest. I’m still wearing it, even though its power is gone. “There must be a way.”
“Oh, Liv, what happened?” Araceli asks, leaning forward to look at the damage. “Your mother’s necklace is ruined.”
“Grace shot me with a bolt of light right in the chest, and I think the necklace absorbed the blow.”
“I’m sorry,” Marcus says, reaching across the table to take my hand. “I know that necklace meant a lot to you.”
“What’s done is done,” I say with a sigh. “But it shows that fae relics can be destroyed. Including the Staff.”
Once we’re done eating, we continue flying back to Angel Peak, but we stop in the middle of the hot, dry Nevada desert to perform our tests on the Staff. There’s no one around us for hundreds of miles, and nothing but empty, flat land and a couple tumbleweeds.
We prop the Staff up between some rocks and then stand back. Way back.
“I’ll try light,” Callan says, rubbing his hands together. He throws up one of his golden Archangel shields, and it shimmers in the air in front of us. “Everyone stay behind the shield.”
Callan steps forward and spreads his hands, which begin to glow so brightly I have to look away. With a mighty yell, he claps his hands together, and an enormous bolt of burning light flies at the Staff. I watch while holding my breath, ready to spread my wings and fly away, poised for the impact.
The Staff glows bright white as the blast hits it, but then it seems to absorb the power. The Staff’s orb continues swirling and shifting colors between the white and black wings, as if nothing happened.
Walking closer, Callan studies the Staff, which looks no different than it did a second ago. “Let me try again. I think I can get it a little stronger.”
“Don’t burn yourself out,” Marcus cautions.
“Yeah, right.” Callan snorts in reply.
Cocky bastard.
He does the same thing as before, but this time he clenches his hands into fists. This time I notice how the large muscles in his arms bulge. As irritating as he can be, he has nice arms. Very nice.
His yell is more guttural this time as he claps and sends an even bigger beam of light at the Staff. Again, I prepare for impact.
Nothing.
“Let me try,” Kassiel says. “I don’t have my full strength, but I have enough to tell if it’s going to absorb my power.”
He holds his hands in front of him, palm to palm, with about two inches distance between them. Inky black smoke appears and grows into a thick tar-like ball, and he shoves it toward the Staff.
The Staff flares with darkness this time, and again absorbs the power.
“Maybe we should stop,” Tanwen says. “For all we know, you two just made it stronger.”
I let out a long sigh. “You’re right, this is getting us nowhere.”
“This is one of the most powerful relics in all history,” Eveanna says. “Created by the great Culann himself and imbued with the essence of the strongest of demons and angels. It can’t be destroyed with simple magic or violence.”
“So what do we do with it?” Jonah asks.
“We’ll have to hide it,” I say.
“Where?” Kassiel asks.
There’s only one place. “The bell tower. No one goes up there but us. We’ll shove it in a closet and Eveanna can glamour it to look like a broom or something. Hide it in plain sight.”
“Azrael or Grace might come looking for it,” Bastien says.
“We can create a diversion,” Marcus says. “Make it seem like Eveanna took the Staff to Faerie or something.”
“I can spread some rumors among the Valkyries along those lines,” Tanwen says. “I’d bet a million bucks at least one of them is in the Order.”
“We can make sure Jeremy overhears us talking about it too,” Araceli adds.
“It’s decided then,” I say. “We’ll each take turns hanging out in the bell tower to make sure the Staff is never unguarded for long, while we research how to destroy it. There must be something in Seraphim’s library that can help us.”
Or so I hope.
Chapter Twenty-One
Olivia
The next morning, Eveanna packs all her things, informs Uriel she is returning to Faerie, and disappears from campus. In truth, she’s moved into a guest room in Marcus and Callan’s house while glamouring herself to look like an angel, but the trick works. Tanwen helps spread the rumor that Eveanna’s returned to Faerie, and Jonah and I chat about how we miss her loudly during Human Studies to make sure Jeremy overhears. No one ambushes me and interrogates me on where the Staff is, so I assume the Order believes the ruse.
But we know the con won’t last forever. Eventually the Order will realize the Staff is still on Earth. We need to destroy it before they come looking for it.
Weeks pass, and none of us find anything, and every day I get more frustrated. I’ve spent much of my free time in the library, pouring through books on fae relics, but there’s little information on the Staff. The others aren’t having any luck either. Kassiel’s returned to Lucifer to give him a report and to see if he could learn anything that would help us, but hasn’t returned yet. Bastien’s scoured Uriel’s private library, to no avail. Callan went to visit his mother for a weekend under the guise of speaking to her about his career prospects, while trying to get information from her on the Order or the Staff. When he returned, he refused to talk about it, so I assume it didn’t go well.
After another unproductive session in the library, I return to my dorm to work on an essay for Immortal Ethics, but as soon as I open the door I freeze. There are two women inside I don’t recognize, just sitting on my couch. They both glance over and smile when I enter, and I quickly yank out my daggers. Has the Order come for me?
“Who are you? What do you want?” I ask.
Both girls laugh. “It’s us,” one of them says, and then her form shimmers and fades away, until all I see is Araceli. “Eveanna’s been teaching me how to glamour myself.”
Eveanna’s glamour fades away too, and soon I’m looking at her pointed ears and green hair again. “Araceli is a fast learner. Though all fae can do a few paltry glamours, very few can change their appearance so quickly and thoroughly.”
“I have a good teacher,” Araceli says.
“That’s really great,” I tell them. I’m so glad Araceli can embrace her fae side and learn these things from Eveanna. She’s been a lot happier this year, and I think this is a big reason why.
The other reason seems to be my brother, but I try to ignore that.
They try changing themselves to look like men next, and I head into my room to work on my paper. Simiel insists on making us write these ten-page essays on ethics every couple weeks and they’re such a drag, especially when I hav
e more important things to worry about at the moment.
I throw my bag into my desk chair and turn toward my closet to change into some comfier clothes, but then I spot a brown paper bag on my bed. Instantly apprehensive, I approach slowly and knock the bag over. When nothing comes shooting out of it, I grab it between my fingers and carefully open it.
Inside is a bag of my favorite coffee from Angel Peak, along with a note. From Callan.
Hope you enjoy the coffee.
I crumple the note up into a ball and hurl it into the trash. How dare he sneak into my room again! My blood boils at the thought of him in here, poking around like he did when he trashed the place two years ago. He should know better than to come in here without my permission. After his speech about how he was trying to change and be better, he’s still doing shit like this, and just thinks it’s okay?
Hell no.
I toss the bag of coffee on the bed, throw open my sliding doors, and launch off my balcony while going invisible. A few minutes later I land on the porch of Callan’s house, then bang on the door as hard as I can. I already know Marcus is gone—he’s in Arizona visiting his mom and brother—so I’m sure Callan will be the one to answer. When he does, I’ll have a lot of words for him.
Callan jerks the door open with a murderous look on his face, wearing nothing but a towel. Water drips down his chest. His very large, sculpted chest. Oh, damn it.
When he sees it’s me, his expression softens a little. “Hey. Is everything okay?”
I tear my gaze away from his amazing, muscular body, and shoot daggers at him with my eyes. “Who do you think you are? Leaving something like that in my dorm room?”
“Come inside.” He holds open the door so I can step into the house. As soon as it’s closed, he faces me down with annoyance in his voice. “Excuse me for trying to get you a gift. I thought you would like the coffee.”
“Yes, I like it! But I don’t like you going in my room without my permission!”
He gives a casual shrug, making the hard muscles roll in a way that is very difficult to ignore. “I figured you wouldn’t want to see me, so I dropped it off. I know you love the coffee at that shop in Angel Peak, so I got you some to show I was thinking of you. Remind me never to do something nice for you again.”
I blow out a long breath and try to keep my voice even as I explain. “I appreciate the gift, but if you were truly thinking of me, you would’ve considered how it would feel to have you invade my space again, after you destroyed it last time.”
“I did think about that,” he snaps. “But I thought you were over it. You got me back for that. You forgave me. We were past all that.”
“Obviously not!”
He walks into the kitchen as he shakes his head. “What do you want me to do? I admitted to making mistakes in the past. I told you I’m trying to do better. I gave you a gift to show I care. Tell me what else I can do!”
“I don’t know!” I yell back as I follow him. “I get that you’re trying, but your gifts and apologies are meaningless. You’re still never going to say the word ‘sorry.’ I’m not sure you’ll ever be able to share me with Kassiel. Has anything between us really changed?”
He lets out a frustrated growl and yanks me toward him, then slants his mouth over mine. I dig my fingers into his massive shoulders as I kiss him back, unable to help myself. We haven’t touched in months, and now that we’ve started, we can’t seem to stop. My hands roam his strong chest, his hard back, his perfect hips, while his fingers tangle in my hair, moving my head so he can get a better angle to devour my mouth. And hot damn, does he devour it.
His mouth leaves mine as he presses his towel-covered hips against me. “Admit it. You want me as much as I want you.”
I push against his chest, but his hands tighten in my hair, which only turns me on even more. I glare up at him. “I hate you.”
“You know what they say about that thin line.” He pulls my head back and presses his lips to my neck. I practically melt against him. My body explodes with desire, but my brain is offended that I’m so turned on. Blame it on my succubus hormones. Not because I need Callan so badly I can’t think straight. Or because I might actually care about him. No way.
I tell myself hate-sex with Callan is probably a good thing, anyway. I slept with Kassiel after he was healed up, but otherwise I’ve been relying too much on Bastien and Marcus. I don’t want to hurt them. I need to bang someone else, fast.
Yes. This is my excuse.
“We both know you just wanted a reason to come over here,” Callan says, against my neck. It’s like he can’t help but try to piss me off.
“You wish.”
He takes my chin in his strong grip and looks me in the eyes, challenging me as always. “Tell me to stop and I will.”
I grab the towel and yank it off his hips. “Don’t you dare fucking stop.”
He lets out a throaty, arrogant laugh and steps back so I can get a good, long look at his naked body. That muscular chest. Those defined hips. That hard cock.
Then, when I’ve practically drooled all over myself, he grabs my waist and yanks me against him, pressing that irresistible body against me. He claims me with a burning hot kiss and I reach down to grab his cock, squeezing it tight.
“Put this inside me already,” I demand.
“So fucking bossy.” He spins me around and bends me face-down over the island, then yanks my skirt up. “Don’t you know I’m in charge around here?”
“Never.” Except I secretly love how he takes control in the bedroom.
His large fingers rip my panties off, and then he’s reaching between my legs, feeling how soaked I am for him. He lets out a low, masculine sound of approval, and then he forces my legs wider and moves behind me. With one hard thrust, he fills me up, hips flush against my ass, his body caging me against the countertop.
“That what you want?” he asks, as he pulls out and then slams back into me.
I lift up a little and turn to glare at him. “Shut up and fuck me.”
“Maybe I want to take my time.” He kneads my butt cheeks, the tip of his dick still inside me. “Damn, I could look at this perfect ass all day.”
Impatient, I push my hips back, making him fill me up again. He gets the hint, and with his hands on my ass he begins a steady glide, in and out, back and forth, give and take. Our bodies move together in perfect harmony, in a way that only happens when we’re having sex.
Then I feel his large finger tracing my back entrance, sending all new feelings through me. He bends over my back, his lips on my ear, as he probes me from behind. “One day, I’m going to put my cock in here. You want that, don’t you?”
I can’t speak, not with him pumping into me so hard I’m moving back and forth along the countertop, but my moans must be enough for him. He slides his finger into my ass, thrusting into me in time with his cock. The sensations that shoot through me are almost overwhelming.
I always knew he was an ass man.
His other hand reaches between us and finds my clit, taking the pleasure to another level. He controls my body like it belongs to him, and maybe it does, at least at this moment. Another finger enters me from behind. His pressure on my clit increases. His thrusts grow harder and faster. He’s pushing me to the edge, but I’m not falling without him.
An orgasm explodes like fireworks through my body. I moan even louder and throw my head back, my hips moving in time with Callan’s cock and fingers, taking everything he can give me. I feel his energy slam into me like a freight train as he climaxes too. Fuck, I forgot how strong he is. His powerful light fills me up until it’s practically spilling out of me. Damn, I missed this.
I missed him.
Callan gives my ass a tender squeeze as he pulls out of me. I regret the loss of connection immediately. I could do this all night long and never get enough of him. I spin around and face him with challenge in my eyes, but then he kisses me, softer this time. Almost…tenderly.
The front d
oor slams shut, and we freeze. Marcus walks into the kitchen and raises his eyebrows, a bemused expression on his face. “Well, it’s about time you two made up.”
I realize what this must look like. “We did not make up.”
Callan, still naked and glistening with sweat and sex, bends over and grabs his towel. “Isn’t that what we just did?”
I yank my skirt down and pick up my ruined panties. “You’ve got a lot to learn.”
Without another word, I stalk out of the kitchen.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Olivia
Two days later, I arrive back at my dorm and find a bouquet of red roses with a note that says, Better? I sigh and throw the note away but set the roses on prominent display on the dining table. At least Callan got the hint.
We’re no closer to finding out how to destroy the Staff and I’m starting to get antsy, but I have a new plan. If Seraphim Academy’s library doesn’t have anything, maybe Hellspawn Academy’s will. Baal invited me there over a year ago and I turned him down, but I assume the offer still stands. Besides, I’d like to embrace my demon side even more.
The opportunity comes at the first sporting event this year, which is being held at Hellspawn Academy. The sport this year is basketball, and since I’m not friends with anyone on the team I couldn’t care less about the game, but a free ride to Hellspawn Academy is exactly what I need right now.
The guys are against it, of course, but do they control me? No, they do not.
It isn’t too hard to convince Uriel to let me go, since there have been no Duskhunter attacks all year, but he did give me one condition: I had to take someone with me for protection. I grumbled and asked my brother, who wanted to go anyway since he loves sports.
So here we are, joining the basketball team and their guests as we head out into the forest. I have no idea where we’re going, but excitement makes my blood race. I’ve always been curious about Hellspawn Academy and now I finally get to visit it.
Seraphim Academy 3: Fallen Kings Page 10