by Stone, Leia
“Paris!” Luke squealed like a tween. “Ohmygod, tell me we can go there.”
Laughter bubbled out of me. “Maybe one day.”
“How many are there? Paris, LA, and…?” Chloe looked enamored.
“There is also New York, Toronto, and Zurich,” I answered, leaning forward, and enjoying the gossip fest a little too much.
Luke gasped. “What! Like… what? I heard New York was the first to fall, that it’s all a shelled-out war zone.”
My ponytail swayed as I shook my head. I’d asked Lincoln about a thousand questions the night he told me about the other Fallen Academy campuses. “It’s smaller, underground, but they still operate to help students who are angel blessed in the area. Gabriel heads New York and Toronto. Uriel heads Paris and Zurich, and Michael tries to help out whenever he isn’t here.”
Luke’s chest heaved up and down as he registered the news, while Chloe looked dumbfounded. “Why don’t they tell us?” Luke asked.
Lincoln had made me promise I would only tell those I trusted with my life, those who were loyal to the Fallen Army. “Because if it was widely known and the demons found out…”
“Oh.” Luke frowned. “But… Paris!”
A grin tugged at my lips. “He said Catia, the girl he knows there, might come visit on a supply run. Maybe you guys can meet her and ask her all about it.”
Reaching out, Luke grasped my arm, gripping it tightly. “Yes! She can teach us French!”
We all laughed at that, and I chose that moment to bite into my bliss donut. I’d had so few of them in my lifetime, that I could count them all on one hand. Yet, one thing always remained the same—Shea was there every time. The second the sugary center of the donut spilled into my mouth, ecstasy bloomed in my gut, causing me to break out in ridiculous laughter.
I rolled over onto Luke’s shoulder, giggling incessantly as he went for his second donut.
“I missed this. I missed you guys,” I confessed as oxytocin, and God knew what else, flooded my system.
The bear shifter reached up and patted my head. “You have no idea how much we missed you. How long we looked for you. How hard it was to let you go.”
A somber feeling settled across the trailer, and Shea snickered. “Luke ate a melancholy donut.”
That caused us all to cackle in laughter, and I’d truly never felt happier, and at home than in that moment. Maybe some of it was a side effect of the fading bliss donut, but most of it was being home with my friends and family.
The night progressed as we talked, laughed, and ate donuts until we all felt sick. After everyone left, Shea and I snuggled up in Lincoln’s and my bed. We lay there, in silence, just staring at each other for a few long moments.
“What are you going to do when he comes for you?” Shea finally spoke, and her voice shook a little, showing her vulnerability. I could see now that she was as terrified as Lincoln that I would get taken again.
Holding her hand, I squeezed. I didn’t want to lie to my best friend.
“I don’t know.”
I was going to try my hardest to resist him… and pray for a miracle.
It was a long time before I could fall asleep, though it might have been the rope tied around my ankle.
Apparently, Shea hadn’t been kidding.
Three
The last few weeks of my third year passed quickly. I was exempt from the testing, which Tiffany bitched about to no end, and was automatically entered into the fourth year. Emberly had gone on a short staycation with her parents, but assured me our lessons would resume over the summer.
It was now the first week of summer vacation, and the entire Fallen Army had been bumped to full-time duty. Even me. Raph was having me train first years who had failed the gauntlet. For the first time in history, he was going to give them a second chance after my summer course. We needed numbers that badly.
Shea was my teaching assistant. Ready to help with any Mage-related issues, as we stood on the field behind the school, to start my first lesson.
I could play this two ways. Mean “drill sergeant teacher” like Lincoln, and tough-love the shit out of them, or be a softy and try to get to know each one individually, helping them where they needed it, while supporting them.
“I’m really sorry you all failed the gauntlet,” I began my speech, having decided to be a nice teacher. The world had enough assholes.
“But you better sack up if you want to survive year two!” Shea roared from her place at my side.
I growled. So much for having a nice first impression. “I got this. No need to bring the heat,” I whispered to my bestie.
She just glared at the poor group of eleven students with a glean in her eye that said, ‘I might kill you.’
“Shea is right,” I continued. “You will need to toughen up. Demons kill the weak.” At my words, one little blonde girl looked like she might faint. “But that’s what I’m here for,” I added.
“Yeah!” Shea shouted. “By the end of this summer course, you will be kicking ass and taking names.”
A grin pulled at the corners of my mouth. Shea and I were teachers. What the hell was Raph thinking when he made that happen?
“Is it true you’ve killed like a thousand demons?” a girl with short brown hair asked me. Her expression looked tough, but she was scrawny as hell, and the shortest person in the class. I’d have to get her lifting weights.
My gaze flicked to her name tag—Tiny.
I chuckled. “Not even close. No.”
“But you have killed some?” an eighteen-year-old male model looking guy asked. His outfit and hair looked way too pristine for the battlefield. I was going to have to teach him to get dirty and lose the hair gel. There was only room for one Noah in this school.
“Yes, I’ve killed a lot,” I replied awkwardly.
“Is it also true that you made a pact with the Devil? To, like, go to Heaven and kill God and all the angels there?” a new girl asked, eyes wide.
What the hell? Is that what the rumor mill is churning out these days?
“Geez! Where are your manners, you little shits? This is your professor! Of course, she didn’t agree to that! Drop and give me ten push-ups. Now!” Shea roared and charged the group with an animalistic growl in her throat.
The students paled, dropping their notebooks and pens, and falling to the ground to do Shea’s bidding.
I schooled my features, trying not to let the girl’s comment get to me, but it was clear the rumor mill was in full effect. How the hell did they even hear about it? My mom had a saying: ‘Tell more than three people a secret, and it becomes a widespread rumor.’ I guess too many people knew. All I could do now was try to control it.
The students were face-down, doing push-ups when I decided to let the rumor go. Nothing I said right now would change anything. They would believe what they wanted, and I didn’t really care either way.
“I spent a year in Hell!” I shouted, deciding to switch to a mix of nice teacher, mean teacher. Technically it was only a few months in Hell from my point of view, but a year sounded more badass. “I am going to teach you what I learned down there about demons, and how to kill them. If you fail the gauntlet a second time, I will take it as a personal attack on my teaching. So, listen the hell up, and do as you’re told,” I boomed.
Shea gave me a grin from where she stood, looming over a first year who was struggling with her push-ups. Now I understood why Lincoln was hard on all of us. It made us better fighters. If I wanted these kids to pass, I was going to have to be their teacher, not their friend.
After making the students do jumping jacks, running sprints, and some random sixty-second planks—where Shea tried to hold in her laughter at how many of them fell over—I stopped the lesson.
“Today was a physical fitness assessment,” I informed them, writing notes next to each name.
“You all pretty much failed by the way. You need to strengthen your muscles,” Shea added, and I cut a glare her way.
<
br /> “Tomorrow will be a magical assessment, where I will take a look at your gifts, and see how you can use them to fight in the Fallen Army. Class dismissed,” I commanded.
The eleven students, sweaty and panting, sulked off toward the dorms as Shea turned to me. “Oh my God, there is no way they can serve in the Fallen Army. No wonder they failed the gauntlet. That tiny girl couldn’t even do one push-up. One.”
I groaned. “Tiny just needs weight training. She’s got a fighting spirit.”
Shea laughed, hooking her arm with mine as we walked back toward campus. “A fighting spirit won’t do shit against an Abrus demon.”
A frown pulled at the corners of my lips, and I looked at my best friend. She’d matured since we started here. Her body was leaner and packed with more muscle, but there was a sadness to her eyes that wasn’t there before, a sadness that said she’d lived through some shit. I imagined I had the same. And on her finger—both of our fingers, actually—were rings. We’d grown up.
“Raph believes in them, and I do too. I can get them in fighting shape. They just need extra attention,” I informed her.
Shea grinned. “You will never change. Always believing the best in people.”
I would get these eleven students in fighting shape in the next eight weeks, even if it killed me. Raph thought I had what it took, and I was going to prove him right.
“I’ve got to drop off my training notes with Raph, and then I have my Emberly lesson,” I reminded, detaching from Shea, and beginning to make my way toward Raphael’s office.
“I’ll have Lincoln, or someone meet you outside the gym after your lesson!” she called out, heading in the opposite direction.
I swear Shea and Lincoln had some unspoken rule. If I wasn’t with someone powerful like Raph, Emberly, or a professor, they made sure one of the two of them was there to escort me places. It was maddening, but I understood it made them feel calm and in control, so I allowed it without complaint.
I had just reached Raph’s door when I heard a low female voice. She sounded angry.
“Humans aren’t as weak as you think they are, Raphael. It’s time we prepared them for the legacy we’re leaving them,” the female argued.
There was silence.
“I don’t think they’re weak, but I’d rather the Fallen Academy students protect humans, and fight the demons like we have for years.”
She scoffed. “And what about when there aren’t any more Fallen students? What then? You have a few more graduating classes, and then all the angel blessed who survived the Fallen War will be grown. Everyone under eighteen will be human. It’s time to pass the torch!” She sounded furious, and I was dying to know who she was.
“Come in, Brielle,” Raphael called out, and I stiffened.
Shit. Freaking mind reader!
Swallowing hard, I opened the door and took in the scene.
Raph was sitting behind his desk, wings fanned out as he pinched the bridge of his nose. In front of him, was some badass female with knee-high, black leather boots, a sword on one hip, and a gun on the other. She loomed over Raphael, and looked to be in her late thirties. The moment she spun to face me, I knew who she was, because she looked exactly like Emberly. Her stern face softened when she saw me, and a radiant smile lit up her features.
“Brielle! I’ve been dying to meet you. I’m Emberly’s mom, Grace.”
My eyebrows popped up in surprise a little at her name. It was so delicate and fitting for the wife of an angel.
“Hello,” I offered shyly.
Grace stepped closer to me. “May I walk you to your lesson?” Her hair was like a long sheet of white silk. It didn’t glow because she was human, but it almost did. She was absolutely stunning, and I couldn’t take my eyes off her.
Raphael looked relieved that she was offering to leave his office, so I nodded to her, finally gathering my wits and set the notes about my students on his desk.
“We aren’t even close to being done with this conversation, Raphael. See you at dinner this Saturday?” She looked over her shoulder.
Raph groaned. “Yes. I’ll be there.”
Grace nodded. “Good. Bring a lady friend, or I’m inviting one of mine to keep you company. You need to get out more.”
I chewed on the inside of my cheeks to keep from grinning at Raphael’s shocked expression, then left the office with Grace.
As we walked to the gym, I glanced at her gear. This lady was totally ready for battle.
“Are you in the army?” I asked her. She looked ready to throw down.
“God, no!” she scoffed. “They wouldn’t dare recruit a weak human.” The sarcasm dripped from her words as she walked in long, confident strides, and I found myself grinning at her sarcastic personality.
“I think it’s a great idea,” I told her. “That you want to train humans to fight the demons, I mean.”
She gave me a quizzical side glance. “Thank you. Raphael was open to the idea too, but the more we get into logistics, I can see he’s afraid they’ll get hurt. He treats us as if we’re so fragile.”
Humans were the most fragile among all of Earth’s inhabitants, but I didn’t think she wanted to hear that. “With the right weapons and training, I think humans would be valuable members of the Fallen Army,” I offered instead.
She stopped and faced me, a seriousness coming over her expression. “Next year is the last year of Awakening ceremonies, the last year of first year candidates. Everyone who was small during the Fallen War will be grown up, and I think this school could be put to better use as a Demon Hunter Academy. Humans only.”
Her words sent a thrill through me, though I couldn’t say why. It was shocking to hear that the next year would be the last of the first years. The generations to come after us would be mere humans. Yet, there would still be demons for them to fight, and no new students to replenish the numbers we lost in the war.
“You’re right.”
The door opened behind me suddenly, and I jumped slightly before turning.
Emberly poked her head out then. “Oh my God, Mom, don’t be so embarrassing. Brielle doesn’t care about your Demon Hunter Academy idea.”
Did she have super hearing or something? This was the second time she’d done something like this.
Grace raised one eyebrow at her daughter. “Well, I hope she cares, because I hope to convince her to become a teacher after she graduates.”
My heart knocked against my chest. A teacher? For humans? Something clicked inside of me, a knowing, like I’d been waiting my whole life to figure out what I wanted to do with it. Was I a healer because I had Raphael powers, or a fighter because of Michael? Should I slay demons or heal the wounded? How could I make the most impact in the war with the demons?
There had always been this confliction in me, but now… now joy spread through my limbs at the thought of teaching others. Like I did today.
“I’d love to,” I answered immediately.
Grace poked her tongue out at her daughter. “See?”
Emberly just groaned in response, but I couldn’t wipe the grin off my face.
A teacher. I wanted to be a teacher.
Maybe Raphael had seen this coming and was preparing me for my future. I wouldn’t put it past him.
Four
“What happened?” I screamed at Lincoln, who’d just walked into our trailer, cradling a bloodied and bandaged arm.
He was sweating, probably from the pain. “The war zone has intensified. Lucifer is putting out a new breed of demon every week. Today I got mauled by some animalistic-looking thing. Like a zebra and a Brimstone demon had a baby.”
I cringed. Lincoln had only been back at work for two months, and already he’d been injured three times. He came to sit at the dining table and just like that I had a flashback—being in Hell, helping Lucy create a demon. That cold sterile table, all of his jars. It was the same office where Sera was being held.
Before I realized it, a sob formed in my throat an
d my hands started to shake. Adrenaline rushed through my body, making me feel dizzy as nausea rolled into me.
I was having a panic attack.
“Oh shit, Bri. I’m sorry.” Lincoln shot up from the table and came around to comfort me, pulling me to him with his good arm.
The moment he tucked me into his side, I felt the symptoms subside a little. My heart slowed, and I tried to control my breathing. I felt so stupid for reacting that way; it was always the little things that brought my time down there rushing back—a smell of sulfur, talk about Lucy. I’d been okay with it when I first got back, but the attacks were starting to get worse.
Lincoln’s warm lips pressed to my forehead. “Maybe you should talk to someone. Maybe keeping it in is doing something to you, making it worse.”
I swallowed hard. It wasn’t that I had PTSD, or that I was holding anything back. It was that each time I was reminded of Sera and Raksha down there, I had a physical response. My fight-or-flight system kicked in, and I just couldn’t comprehend why I hadn’t gone down there to search for them yet. Yet, the answer was right in front of me.
Lincoln.
He still had nightmares every now and then where he would toss and turn, whimpering my name. My leaving had nearly broken him, and I couldn’t risk that again.
Sera would understand. Wouldn’t she? But Raksha… there was no excuse for leaving her behind down there. She had a child waiting for her to come home.
“Brielle?”
Crap. Lincoln was talking to me and I’d totally spaced. His deep blue eyes bored into mine and my heart picked up again.
“You can tell me anything,” he declared.
I need to go after Sera! I need to break Raksha out, and reunite her with her wife and son! I wanted to scream.
“I’ll be fine. Let me look at your shoulder.” Averting my eyes from his intense gaze, I started to pull the bandage back.
He watched me for a few minutes, and I thought he would bring it up again, but thankfully, he didn’t. Lincoln was good like that; he didn’t press me when he knew I was on the edge. The wound on his shoulder had been nicely stitched together, but it didn’t look like a healer had looked at it yet.