by G. Bailey
“Sit, sit, young demon,” Gabriel suggests, waving a hand at the chair near him. I look to Morgan who nods, and I know I have to trust Morgan on this guy. I’m here; there’s no going back now. I sit in the chair, and Gabriel looks to Morgan, who leans against the desk.
“You said a demon was angel-blessed, but you failed to mention which demon was, lad,” Gabriel says, eyeing me very curiously. “You are the image of your mother, demon.”
“I only knew who she was a few days ago. Alexandria didn’t even know,” he explains. “It is news to us all. News that makes this whole situation more dangerous than we could have known.”
“Did your parents not tell you that you are born to be the Queen of Hell, lass?” Gabriel asks.
“My parents know?” I question, and Gabriel clicks his tongue, his eyes holding sadness as he pulls a chair over and places it in front of me before sitting down.
“Let me tell you a story, young Alexandria,” he starts off, clasping his hands together in his lap. “Every week on a Sunday, I would go to a church just outside the city of Edinburgh because this church was where I was born, hundreds if not nearly a thousand years ago. I would help the homeless who went there, and give back to the church who looked after me for many years. My mother passed on soon after my birth, and the nuns of Church Augustine brought me up. They were good lasses.”
“That’s the church me and my family lived in. Is that the one you are talking about?” I ask in surprise. I’ve read some history of the church in the old books there, and I know it has been around for a very long time and that the nuns did indeed look after young infants left to their care.
“Aye, it is,” he tells me. “See, one day two demons came into the church. The very fact they could step onto holy ground proved to me that they were not as evil as most of their kind. Evil actions mark the soul, you see. Demons are not born evil as the world believes; evil has to be chosen. The woman held a small baby, and she begged for my help, for my knowledge of the mark on her baby’s thigh…an angel blessing on a demon. Something that should never have existed, because it breaks all the rules we have ever known.”
“Me. My parents asked you about me,” I fill in.
“You never told me any of this, Gabriel,” Morgan interrupts.
“Letters are not safe means of transporting information, lad. Aye, I promised to keep Alexandria’s secrets many years ago, and I have never broken a promise,” he firmly replies. “Much as I kept your own, lad. If you will remember?”
“What does her mark mean? Will she die and become an angel, if that is even possible?” Morgan asks, changing the subject quickly.
“I’ve spent nearly eighteen years researching and finding a way this could be at all possible, and it wasn’t until this year I found my answer. I’m afraid I owe you an apology, Miss Alexandria,” he says, reaching his hand out and placing it on my shoulder.
“Why?” I ask, almost not wanting the answer in case it is bad.
“I came and saw your parents, and it is likely my visit to them that revealed their hiding place,” he tells me. “It was foolish, and I am deeply sorry. Your parents are good demons, with souls made of light. They do not deserve the life they have been forced into.”
“You weren’t the only one there. Lucifer was there before they were captured, he might have given us all away,” I gently say. “Either way, you helped my parents, and they clearly trusted you. Do not feel bad for a mistake.”
“What did you find out?” Morgan interrupts. “We do not have much time before Alexandria needs to be back at The Demon Academy.”
“Nothing good, I’m afraid,” he tells me. “I found a book written before there was an Angel or Demon Academy, before there was anything but rumours of magic in the air. When the earth had just been created by who knows who and humans made wars for the right to own their land. This book should not have existed in such a time, but it’s impossibility is not important, only what it foreshadows.”
“I saw you once…with Lucifer. You were his friend,” I blurt out, needing to see his reaction.
“Are you accusing me of being on the wrong side, Miss Alexandria?” he asks, and I don’t answer.
“I trust Gabriel with my life. Whatever past he has with Lucifer, it is the past,” Morgan tells me.
“Would it help you, lass, to know the church was my hiding place, one I willingly gave to your parents to keep you safe? I surely am more invested in your safety than one should admit,” Gabriel reminds me. “In fact, helping you and your parents breaks every rule in the truce between angels and demons—it could mean war.”
“I’m sorry. I don’t know who to trust anymore,” I admit.
“You made a correct choice in trusting this angel. Of all my students in the many, many years I have taught here at the academy, Morgan is more loyal and braver than them all. I have deep respect for the lad,” he tells me. “Always trust him.”
“You’re going to make me blush, old man,” Morgan comments.
“Call me old again, and I will remind you of the time my old butt beat yours in training,” Gabriel warns, and Morgan grins, a real smile that is almost playful. It’s something rare to see on Morgan’s face, and I find myself staring for a moment too long. Long enough for Gabriel to clear his throat, and I quickly look back, schooling my expression. Gabriel is too smart, he saw it. My red cheeks likely don’t help matters either.
“What did you find, Gabriel?” Morgan reminds him, the serious tone back.
“There was but one sentence, just one sentence, and I know in my soul, it is a warning only for you, Alexandria,” he tells me. “I feel like I am meant to tell you it; it is a higher calling, if you will.”
“Tell me, please,” I ask.
“She who walks to death alone, marked with a silver scar and angel blessing, will fall with the world at her feet.”
“What is that meant to mean?” I ask, knowing it means me. The wolf blessing is the silver scar, and I have an angel blessing. But why would I walk to death alone?
“That you must never choose to walk to death, Alexandria. No matter the cost, you must not choose that path. You will lose far, far more than the price you want,” he tells me. “Some things are too great for any of us to deal with.”
“I don’t understand,” I admit.
“Understanding comes in time. Greater forces are controlling this story,” he tells me. “I wish I could tell you more, but poets, a race of beings who could tell the future, are dead. There is only the past now.”
“Well, whoever is writing this story is crazy! Why can’t they just write me a happy ending or something simple?” I demand, standing up.
“Alexandria.” Morgan gently touches my arm, and I pause, taking a deep breath to calm myself down. I’m scared…more scared than I have ever been at the academy, because I know death is promised to everyone, everywhere. How can I ever escape it? “Wait for me by the door. I won’t be long.” I shakily nod to him, looking back at Gabriel before I walk away.
“Thank you for helping me now and all those years ago. Thank you for giving me the safe and happy years with my parents that I couldn’t have had otherwise,” I tell him. “I will always owe you, Gabriel.”
“It was an honour to be called to help you, Miss Alexandria. Be blessed and safe in your travels,” he replies. I bow my head, feeling like it’s the correct thing to do before turning around and walking to the door, resting my back against the stone wall as Morgan talks quietly with Gabriel.
I can hear them, so should you. My demon’s voice fills my head as suddenly the room amplifies with sound, and their conversation is so loud it’s like they are right next to me.
“You should tell her, Morgan. It’s unfair she is in the dark,” Gabriel warns.
“I will,” Morgan replies, and I see him place his hand on Gabriel’s shoulder. Gabriel covers it with his own and pats it a few times. “Thank you for all you have done for me. I was a fucked-up mess in this place and worse afterwards. Withou
t your guidance, I would not be here today and found what I have. I owe you debts I’m not sure I will ever be able to pay back.”
“Debts are not owed from you to me, lad. I saw great potential in you from the first day we met, and that has not changed to this day. We all have our own destinies, our own stories. So I ask you this, why are you standing here talking to an old man like me when a beautiful woman is waiting for you over there?” I can almost see Morgan’s smile as he says goodbye and walks over to me, his hand resting on my back as he opens the door, looking out first before we walk out to the garden.
“Any chance we don’t have to fly back home?” I ask.
“Unless you know how to use holy fire to travel already…which I doubt, then yes,” he replies.
“Can you teach me how to use holy fire?” I ask.
“That was our next lesson, tomorrow morning,” he tells me.
“Lucifer is taking me to the wolf pack tomorrow,” I say, and he looks at me with burning anger. “I can’t say no; he threatened my parents.” A small part of me is happy to go to the pack, just so I can see Javier again. And Sera. I miss them every day. Not that I’m going to tell Javier that. I’m still angry at him; that hasn’t changed.
“How long until the trial?” he asks me.
“A week,” I tell him.
“Then after the trial, your parents will be safe, and we can get you away from him,” he tells me, placing his hand around my hip.
“He thinks I’m his mate, Morgan. There isn’t anywhere he won’t look,” I remind him.
“No problem,” Morgan coldly replies. “If he comes after you, I’m going to kill him myself.”
I have no doubt Morgan is telling me the truth, but what if he loses? What if the devil can’t be killed?
Chapter 9
A long drive with Satan. Heaven save me please
Sitting in a limo with the devil is more awkward and uncomfortable than I could have ever imagined. Especially as he just stares at me, making me want to open the limo door and throw myself out into the road. Better that than this long drive with Satan himself dressed in an expensive suit with staring issues.
“Do you ever speak? Or are you mad at me?” he muses, stretching his arms out across the seat as I sit on the other side of the limo, as far away from him as possible.
“You murdered hundreds of wolves. People. You killed people with real emotions and real lives that you took away for nothing more than sport. We will never be friends, Lucifer,” I tell him, because it’s true. Even if he didn’t do that, he is way too late to try and steal my heart. It’s already shared between his two sons, both of who are giant assholes, a wolf who literally used me, and an angel who has dark, possibly terrifying secrets.
Lucifer doesn’t stand a chance.
“Good thing I do not wish to be your friend, Alexandria,” he smoothly replies, trying to be charming, I suspect. It doesn’t work on me, and from the anger in his gaze, he knows it.
“How long until we arrive?” I ask, getting the feeling it has been at least an hour of driving so far. We are heading far inland, well away from the academy on the edge of the cliff. It’s strange to know the island is this big and somehow the rest of the world doesn’t know of its existence.
“The pack lands are on the other side of the island, and it will be no longer than another ten minutes until we hit the treeline that marks their border,” he tells me. “The angels in the skies above, the demons on a cliff, fairy tales on a tiny island nearby, and wolves hiding in the forest. What fun lands these are!”
“You aren’t going to go on a mass killing spree here, are you?” I question, ignoring his not so funny joke.
“Would you betray me and tell if I said yes?” he asks, leaning forward and clasping his hands together.
“Yes,” I automatically answer, and he laughs, which I don’t join in.
“So sweetly honest you are, Alexandria. Perhaps we are closer to being true mates than I thought,” he says, and I really think he believes himself. The only thing we are both closer to doing is me finding a way to kill him before Morgan tries to do it for me. Who would have thought I’d have an angel defending me like he likes me and kissing me like he hates me?
“My sons will be coming here tomorrow for the celebrations. They care little for politics, or they would be here today,” he tells me, likely to fill in the silence and see my reaction.
“And why do you need me here then?” I ask.
“Where you walk, so shall I, my mate,” he says.
“I’m not your mate,” I snap. “Stop calling me that.”
“Saying that does not make it less real; you are promised for me,” he tells me, and I shake my head, knowing there is no point reasoning with the insane lunatic I’m stuck in a limo with. I look out the window, seeing the incredibly tall trees of the forest line we are getting close to. The trees are so closely packed together with big green leaves, so much that when we are under them, it suddenly becomes dark. The trees blur as the limo drives down a bumpy road and comes to a stop, jolting me nearly out of my seat. I sit back up as Lucifer only smiles and pushes the car door open, climbing out far more smoothly than I can manage. I hit my head two times, once on the roof and once on the actual door as I get out and straighten up, pausing at the sight of the massive steel gates we have stopped in front of. The steel looks like woven fabric, and on the top of the gates are wolves made out of steel, frozen perfectly in the act of running after each other. Lucifer stands in front of the limo as the gates open ever so slowly, revealing five rows of wolves waiting on the other side. The wolves stand in perfect lines, row after row, and they are still as statues even as the wind blows dirt around on the ground below their feet. The wolves are mostly black or brown, with a few gray wolves dotted around. I can count at least fifty wolves waiting here, and no one says anything. Suddenly three wolves jump out of literally nowhere, stopping in the middle of the open gates. Two of the wolves I don’t recognise, but the one on the left, I would know anywhere.
Javier.
“I don’t speak mutt,” Lucifer comments with a tsk of his tongue. The wolves growl loudly and lowly in response, and I don’t blame them. I try to keep my eyes off Javier as I look at the two wolves at his side. The one in the middle has a similar brown colour coat like Javier’s, though it is a little darker, and the one on the right is all black and so much smaller that it makes me think it’s a female. With one last growl, the wolf in the middle runs to the side of the gate, and the sounds of bones clicking and snapping fills the air before there is silence once more. I risk a glance at Javier’s wolf as my hand goes to my arm, covering the scratches there automatically.
I still feel embarrassed and disappointed in him. And I still want to see him. What is wrong with me?
“You stink of wolf death. How many souls did you take, Lucifer?” a deep, roughly spoken voice demands as a man walks out in a deep green cloak, his arms crossed.
This must be the alpha…Javier and Sera’s father. They have the same curly black hair, the same deeply tanned skin, and some similar facial features. Mostly it’s the eyes that are different between Javier and the alpha though. His father has Sera’s eyes, the same rich brown, not the gray stormy eyes Javier has.
“Souls that belong to me can be taken by me at any time, Alpha Trnald Luque. Your grandfather agreed to such a deal many years ago,” Lucifer replies, and no one talks for a long while, just a never-ending pause as Trnald stares down Lucifer, and Lucifer stares right back. “Shall I introduce you to my mate, Miss Alexandria Cameron?” Lucifer finally speaks, and I wish he flipping didn’t. Javier growls lowly, and everyone looks at him as I step forward, knowing I need to get the attention away from Javier really quickly. Even though I know I shouldn’t want to help the bastard that tricked me by pretending to have feelings for me and then left me and the wolves to our own fate.
I tell myself I’m doing it for Sera. Sera loves her brother, and because of that, I can’t get Javier in trouble.<
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“We have not had the pleasure of meeting,” Trnald replies, offering me a hand to shake. I walk forward and shake his hand, even though he almost hurts me with how tightly he shakes my hand back.
“It is lovely to meet you, Alpha Trnald. I heard there is a celebration to be held,” I say.
“Yes, there is. My only son, and soon to be alpha, is choosing a mate from a fine collection of wolves from all packs,” he tells me.
“I do like a party,” Lucifer replies. “But first, we must talk. Perhaps someone can show my mate around the pack as she is uninterested in politics.”
“I never said that,” I say, because I would like to be there. I want to know what shit storm Lucifer is trying to cook up. “I’m not a stupid girl. I want to be in the meeting to hear and voice my opinion.”
“We will talk about it in the limo, dear mate,” Lucifer replies, his jaw twitching ever so much that I know I’ve pissed him off. Oh well, the bastard has at least one emotion even if it is anger.
Empathy is clearly not something the devil wins awards in.
“I will send someone to your quarters within the hour. Follow the wolf; he will lead you to your guest quarters,” Trnald states, bowing his head respectfully.
“Understood,” Lucifer replies, grabbing my wrist as he passes me and pulls me back to the limo. I get in first, and he shuts the door behind me before grabbing me roughly and slamming me onto the floor of the limo, his eyes turning into pits of fire as my demon replies in response, taking over. I lash my claws across his face, and he slaps me back just as hard, cutting my lip before he wraps his hands around my throat and holds me down with his body covering mine.
“If you ever, EVER, embarrass me in company again, mate, I will punish you in ways you could never think of!” he shouts at me. “Do you understand?”
“I am not yours,” I bite out, and he tightens his hand, and fear crawls up my throat as I struggle to breathe. My demon pushes in my mind, wanting to attack him, but I know we can’t win alone. She knows it too, but she takes over nonetheless, fighting him off to no avail.