by ERIN BEDFORD
“What?” I griped my purse to me tightly. “No. I’m not going—”
“Get in the car now.” He grabbed me and shoved me behind him as Azazel opened her side of the car.
The sound of wings beating against the ground drew my attention, and I struggled to see around my dad. Of all the things I’d seen and experienced in my life, nothing prepared me for what stood before us. The menacing looking handsome man with wings expanding six feet on either side with a glowing sword in hand and golden armor coating his body wasn’t anything like anyone I’d ever seen before.
It was then I realized that for the first time in my life, I was looking at an honest to God angel.
“Batariel, I should have known it would be you protecting the abomination,” the man sneered at my dad, who to his credit, didn’t flinch.
“Michael.” My dad snorted, his hand going to the side. A curved blade appeared in his hand out of thin air. “You’ve fallen so far out of His grace, He’s having you run errands?”
“Dad...” I went to put my hand on his shoulder, but large black wings popped out of his back, blocking me from touching him as well as seeing the angel.
“Azazel,” my dad ordered from the other side of the wings. “Get her out of here.”
Sharp nails bit into my arm, and I was shoved into the passenger side of the car before I knew what was happening.
“Wait.” I tried to open the door, but it was locked. Glaring at Azazel, I growled, “Let me out. We can’t leave him there.”
Azazel didn’t even spare me a glance, putting the car into gear and speeding off as something crashed and shook the ground. “Your father can handle it. My job is to keep you safe.”
Twisting in my seat, I tried to see what was happening behind us, but we had gotten too far away already to make anything out. Flashings of light in the distance were the only sign that anything was going on.
“Do you have a death wish, girl?” Azazel switched gears violently as we pulled into the gates of the academy. “You’d think that someone with your abilities wouldn’t put themselves in unnecessary danger.”
One would think.
A KNOCK ON my bedroom door woke me up from my usual dream. This time, the shadows were closing in on me, whispering, “We’ve found you, at last.”
I didn’t want to think too much into what it meant. It was too conveniently associated with my recent angel encounter to be a coincidence.
The persistent knocking continued as I rolled over and shoved my pillow over my head, trying to block it out. My dad still hadn’t come back from fighting with Michael. Normally, I would attest his missing person to Bart being Bart, but under the circumstances, it could be bad. Very bad.
The knocking turned into a pounding.
“Motherfucker,” I grunted, turning over and climbing—well falling—out of the bed. I tripped over my shoes and barely caught myself on the doorknob. “Who put those there?” I shot daggers at my favorite boots, shoving my hair out of my face and unlocking the door. Pulling it open with a scowl, I prepared to give whoever interrupted my sleep a piece of my mind.
“What do you...want?” My mouth fell open at Dex standing on the other side of my door.
His masculine arms were crossed over his chest, and his dark gaze was skimming over my pajamas, which consisted of a tank top and short shorts.
“Uh...what are you doing here?” I shifted slightly behind the door, hoping to hide the fact that I wasn’t wearing a bra right now.
Dex stared hard at me, lingering on my bare legs.
“Hey!” I snapped, snapping my fingers in his face. “Eyes up here, buddy.”
Blinking rapidly, Dex cleared his throat and turned his face to the side. “Get dressed. You’re late for breakfast.”
I stared at him dumbly. “So?”
“So,” Dex began, pushing into my room without permission. “Your little stunt last night has consequences.” He found my discarded uniform and tossed it at me without looking.
“That doesn’t explain what you’re doing here.”
Dex grabbed my books and shoved them into a bag. “I’m your babysitter.”
I pulled the skirt over my shorts, not bothering to take them off. I pushed around Dex and grabbed my bra from last night. “I’m too old for a babysitter.”
Dex stared hard at the hot pink bra I was shaking at him. “Obviously, not.” He shook his head and took a firm stance. “Azazel has assigned me to make sure you go to classes and actually integrate with the other students.”
“Why?”
“Because maybe you’ll stop trying to get yourself killed if you actually want to be here.”
I snorted. “Azazel took my cell phone so it’s not like I can get out, even if I wanted to.” Nikki was probably going crazy when she didn’t hear from me again. Not that Azazel cared about some silly human.
Dex moved to the door and waited. “Get dressed. I’m not leaving until you do. Don’t make me come back in here.”
“Or what?” I arched a brow, laughing at how serious he was taking this all. “You’ll spank me?”
Dex’s dark eyes heated, and his jaw clenched, making me feel even more naked than my skimpy pajamas already did. “Don’t tempt me.”
“That’s not what I—” I cut myself off with a shake of my head. “Forget it.” I shut the door in his face, sinking my hot face into my hands.
What the hell was I doing? Spank me? I’d never said something like that in my entire life.
I was so mortified. Why didn’t Michael just come and kill me now? Save me from myself already.
A thunk from the other side of my door reminded me Dex was still waiting on me. I hurried to change out of my tank top and into my bra and school shirt. I picked up the necktie and gave it a long look. Sighing, I looped it under my collar and tied it into a bow. I grabbed my bag and pulled my boots on before heading to the door.
“Ready?” Dex lifted a brow, pushing off the door frame.
I didn’t answer him. No, I wasn’t ready to pretend everything was okay. I wasn’t ready to act like I belonged here when I didn’t. My hand tightened on my bag, and I dipped my head. I wished Mom was here. She’d know what to do.
My babysitter stayed silent for the most part as he escorted me to breakfast. The others were nursing massive hangovers, so it was a pretty quiet affair all together. None of them knew what had happened to me after I left the party, and I planned to keep it that way.
“Hey.” Ayden tapped her spoon against my hand. “Why the long face? You didn’t drink near as much as the rest of us. Plus, we got busted by Professor Rufus shortly after you left. Detention for the rest of the semester.” She rolled her eyes but smiled. “Besides, you have the hottie Dex giving you the hungry eyes.”
“What?” I made a face before turning in my seat to search out Dex at the back of the dining hall. He was indeed watching me, but I wouldn’t call the look on his face hungry, more like annoyed. Which I couldn’t blame him. Who wanted to play babysitter to a grown woman?
“For real.” Coral gave a wistful sigh. “You’re so lucky. Every girl with two brain cells to rub together has had a crush on Dex at some point or another during their stay here.”
I shot a look back to Dex for a moment and then back to them. “How old is he?”
Ayden shrugged. “Who knows? We don’t exactly age the same as humans. Could be a few decades, could be centuries. Hard to tell.”
“But Sarah looks like a grandma,” I pointed out with a frown.
“Well, Sarah’s been around for a long time. Emphasis on the long.” Joash chuckled and slapped hands with the twins.
Coral sat next to Bayu rather than by Joash, which made me wonder if something happened between them after I left. They’d been held together by saliva and hormones last I saw them.
I don’t care, I reminded myself. I’m only here temporarily. I can’t get attached to them and their problems.
After breakfast, my babysitter stayed close on my heels, no
t even pretending not to be following me. His presence gained me a lot of curious glances and glares from others. Usually of the female persuasion.
The only time Dex left me was when he dropped me off at each class. Professor Rufus gave Dex an understanding look as he dropped me off at my first class. Professor Rufus avoided my gaze as I walked past him and over to my seat. Trevor was already in his and eager as ever to talk to me.
Oh boy.
“Hey, I heard there was a party in the woods last night. Did you go? Was it awesome? I bet it was awesome.” He beamed, practically bouncing in his seat.
“Uh, yeah. Awesome.” I shifted in my seat, my fingers tapping on the surface of my desk. I needed a cigarette bad. I missed what Trevor said as I tried to contemplate the likelihood that my guard dog would let me sneak out to have one.
“Did they? Did they?”
“Huh?” I jerked my eyes back to the boy and cocked my head to the side. “Did they what?”
“Harmonize their powers?” Trevor asked again, exasperated by my lack of response.
I thought back to the show I’d seen. The display of violence and beauty all mixed together into one. Harmonizing, huh? Well, they have that down to an art. I’d definitely call what they did a display of harmonization.
“Yeah, they did.” I picked up my pencil as Professor Rufus began to write on the board. Today we were talking about the fall and rise of Lucifer, the Morning Star. Samael. Who apparently ran a high profile business office in New York City. It made me suspicious about who exactly my dad worked for. Too many coincidences.
I tapped my pencil against the side of my desk, my leg bouncing in place. I so didn’t want a history lesson right now. I needed to get my phone back and let Nikki know what happened. The last thing I needed was for her to show up here. Especially since those so-called angels actually existed and wanted me dead.
Go figure.
Professor Rufus’ speech became background noise as my mind wandered.
There was so much I didn’t understand about this place. Or about my dad. Even everything I knew about myself was becoming more and more of a mystery. My fingers circled the mark on my hand, which was barely there today.
Sarah told me there were more to my powers, but what? How far could my powers go? I saw visions of death, which wasn’t exactly something you could expand on.
It’s not like I’ll suddenly sprout wings and fly.
Out of the corner of my eye, Trevor’s pencil rolled off his desk. It dropped to the floor and continued until it was hidden under the person in front of him.
“You dropped your pencil.”
“What, where?” Trevor lifted his book up, searching for his pencil. The pencil that was underneath the edge of his book, and when he lifted the book up, it knocked the pencil off, just like I’d seen before. I watched as it fell to the ground again and rolled under the chair in front of him.
“Hey, that’s not funny.” Trevor stuck his tongue out at me, getting out of his chair to retrieve his pencil.
“Uh...sorry.” I dragged my hand through my hair, catching my fingers in the tangles. Great. I was seeing things and had a bad case of bed head.
WHEN CLASS WAS over, Dex was waiting right outside the doorway.
“Don’t you have your own class to teach?” I shot at him, trying to quicken my steps to lose him.
“Yes, but since someone has to keep any eye on you until your father is able to, a substitute is covering my classes.”
The mention of my dad made me stop. “What about my dad? Is he okay?”
Arching a brow, Dex continued to walk past me. “I didn’t think you cared one way or the other.”
“Well, no,” I explained, catching up to him as I darted by the other students and trying my best not to hit every single one of them. “I mean, I do, but more in a curious, did-that-angel-kill-him-last-night kind of way.”
Dex snorted. “It will take far more than Michael to take out your father. Besides, they don’t want to kill him. They need him.”
I frowned. “Why?”
He stopped abruptly, and I barely caught myself from walking into his back. “To get to this place, of course.”
“What?”
“Who do you think funds this place? Keeps it hidden from the angels?” Dex stared at me as if I’d grown a second head. “Your father is single handedly responsible for finding and keeping all of these children alive.” He gestured around the hallway. “He is the reason none of the angels have stormed this place and taken us all out.” His expression grew serious. “We owe a lot to him.”
I hummed and shifted in place, uncomfortable with the way he was talking about my dad. “So, he neglected me all my life to protect the kids of everyone else? Great to know my childhood wasn’t ruined for nothing.” I huffed and stalked away, not caring if he followed me or not. He would anyway.
“You have issues, you know that?” Dex’s voice came from the left far faster than I expected.
I rolled my eyes. “You think?”
“Look, my mom wasn’t around either. She had me, dropped me off with my dad, and took off,” Dex explained, his eyes forward as we walked. “So, I understand the whole being mad at your absentee parent, but your dad...”
He huffed a laugh. “He’s doing something unheard of. He’s changing the world. You have to see the bigger picture.”
“Yep, I got it.” I gave him a sideways look. “The many for the sake of one. If I’d been in his place, I’d probably have done the same.”
Dex nodded in satisfaction at my answer.
“Unfortunately,” I continued on, stopping before the door to my next class, “that doesn’t make up for years of neglect and letting my mom die in a horrifying car accident, but thanks for trying.” I gave him a big two-handed thumbs up and grinned obscenely from ear to ear.
I didn’t give him the chance to answer before I ducked into the gymnasium.
Pfft. Changing the world. Sure, fine. My dad can play superhero to the masses, but I’d stick with what I knew. A dad who didn’t care enough to save his own wife from a horrible death.
“Let’s all gather around,” the gym teacher called out, her shorts a bright fire truck red and clashing loudly with the dark orange polo shirt. “We’re going to practice those powers of awareness today.”
I took one look at the pile of silk ties and balls and turned on my heel. Nope. Not gonna happen. We played that game at my old school. No way was I letting someone I couldn’t see throw a ball at my face.
I rubbed my nose in remembrance. Not gonna happen.
The teacher called out to me, but I waved a hand behind me as I walked out the door. Let them give me detention.
Thankfully, Dex wasn’t waiting outside the door. Maybe he had a class to teach after all?
Either way, I wasn’t going to look a gift angel in the mouth. I booked it to the nearby side door leading out into the courtyard. I dug into my bag for my cigarettes and lighter, and quickly lit up before I got caught. I wasn’t about to waste these precious moments or puffs on finding the perfect spot.
I hadn’t even gotten halfway through my cigarette before I heard, “You’re not allowed out here.”
Sighing, I didn’t bother look over at Dex as I took another drag of my cigarette. “Don’t you have class to teach?”
“Aren’t you supposed to be in gym?” He stopped beside me, snagging my cigarette out of my hand to take a drag from it.
“Do I really look like the gym going type?” I snagged the cigarette back from him with an arched brow, taking a pointed drag of it before blowing the smoke in his direction.
To his credit, he didn’t even cough, but he did take my cigarette again. “You really shouldn’t smoke. You’re too young.”
Getting tired of this game, I placed my hands on my hips and scowled. “I’m old enough. Besides, you have room to talk.” I gestured to his form. “You can’t be more than twenty-five.”
“Actually, one hundred and twenty-five, this yea
r.”
I frowned. “Oh, yeah. The others mentioned something about that.” I shook my head, pulling my hair over one shoulder. “How is that possible?” I reached into my bag for my pack of cigarettes, shimming one out, I stuck it in my mouth and fumbled for my lighter.
“We don’t age like humans. A human life is only a fourth of our life spans,” Dex told me as he reached out and lit my cigarette for me.
I cocked my head at him, taking the cigarette between my fingers. “I thought you were a mind reader. How can you do that too?”
“I am, but I am also a fire element.” He let a ball of fire dance around on his palm and gave me a rare lopsided smile. “On my mother’s side.”
“Isn’t that incestuous?” I sucked in a breath of smoke, this time blowing it to the side. I wasn’t a complete bitch.
“Not really.” Dex shrugged. “They were created by the same person, but not of the same line.” He lifted the almost finished cigarette to his lips, sucking it down before using his powers to burn it into ash. “In a way, we are all brothers and sisters in God.”
I scoffed at that. “Yeah, okay.”
“You don’t think so?”
Humming to myself, I tried to figure out how to response. “I’d never been one for religion. Or God for that matter. If there is a God—” I stopped and barked in laughter. “I suppose that’s a moot point now, huh?”
Dex arched a brow, smiling slightly.
“Anyway, God’s never done much for me. One way or another.” I dropped my cigarette onto the stone beneath my feet and stomped it out with my boot. “So, if I had to have an opinion on Him, I’d have to lump Him in with all the rest of my experiences with dads.”
Nodding in understanding, Dex didn’t try to make me change my mind. He didn’t try to tell me how much God cared about me and was looking out for me. I wasn’t sure if it was because he didn’t think so or if he just wasn’t the type. It was also quite possible he thought I just wouldn’t change my mind. Which was a valid assumption.
