Hillcrest Academy

by Cassie Pierce

  “Holy crap! So like teleporting.....but wait!” I exclaim, biting my lip as I try to process everything. “How do you travel at night?”

  It’s a legitimate question. At least I think it is, until Jaxon starts to laugh at me. My cheeks turn pink as my anger spikes. I punch him lightly on the arm.

  “Don’t laugh!” I snap, and he attempts to stop. It takes him a few tries, but he does eventually get himself together.

  “The moon princess. The moon is also a light. Just because you can’t see the light, doesn’t mean it isn’t there. Now come. We need to get to class. I am already in enough shit,” he says, using a rare curse word as he all but drags me out of the door.

  We make our way down the steps in silence, and I am not surprised to see that the house is empty. I pretty much scared everyone off. When we get outside, I am pleasantly surprised to see that this house sits atop a large hill, and the only direction that my beloved high heels will be walking today is down.

  I say a silent thank you to whoever is up there. Walking sucks. Shimmering might be my new preferred way of travel. I don’t tell Jaxon that though. Something tells me he needs time to get his thoughts together before facing the day. That walking helps him clear his head. We make it about halfway down the massive hill before he breaks the silence that has settled over our journey.

  “Sydney was the love was Ryker’s life, and I killed her,” he says simply as he stares off into the distance. His steps slow, but he doesn’t stop. I stay silent. Not because I don’t have questions, but because I know that he needs to say whatever comes next. That this is something he has been wanting to say for a long time.

  “I didn’t physically harm her, but it was my weakness that gave the step-monster the information she needed to have her killed. In Ryker’s head.....hell Maci.....in my heart, that is the same thing.”

  I can hear the pain behind his words. The heartache and anger that Sydney’s death caused him, and I hate that it is something that I can’t take from him. So, I give him the one thing that I can. Someone to tell his story to.

  “What happened?” I whisper, grabbing his hand and pulling us to a stop. I keep my voice soft, but I let my eyes speak what my voice can’t. I hope that they say — I’m here....I’ve got you....trust me.

  “It was last year. Ryker started disappearing for hours on end. At first, we didn’t think much of it. He’s Ryker...you know. He has never cared much for rules, and has never been afraid of father’s punishments like we are. In a way, I always hated him, because he had a freedom about him that I knew would never be mine.”

  He gazes off into the distance, like he is watching a movie from a different time. I hold tightly to his hand, closing my eyes and listening to his words. Watching that movie with him.

  “It was Braxton who first saw him with Sydney. I didn’t believe him when he told me. Ryker was always reckless, but to date a human.....”

  “I’m guessing that’s a big no-no?” I interrupt, unable to stop myself. His eyes snap down, a fierceness replacing the sadness that was there moments ago.

  “The biggest,” he whispers sadly.

  “I tried to reason with him. To tell him that he was putting both of their lives in danger, but he wouldn’t listen. Now that I have you though...I get it. He loved her, and love makes the impossible seem possible.”

  “I’m sorry,” I say, holding up a hand. “I don’t see what the big issue is? So, he loved a human? Why is that such a big deal, and how did any of this turn into her dying?”

  “I know it sounds stupid. Hell Maci.... It is stupid, but it is also one of our most coveted laws. You see when angels and humans mate, they produce....”

  “Me,” I whisper, finally getting it.

  He nods, his eyes filling with sadness as he starts walking again. The school looms closer than before and so I stay quiet, wanting him to continue his story. “Right.....You. You... who have been the exception to every rule. You... who have the power of ten angels, but none of the weaknesses. You......whose very existence is foretold in the apocalyptic text...” he says, raising a brow at me, and waiting for me to get it.

  I don’t though. Not really. I can’t be the only Nephilim in existence. Can I?

  “Jax? People call me a half-breed, so they have to know what I am. The way they say it....like it’s wrong. Like I am wrong?” I question, finally putting a voice to one of the things that has bothered me since finding out what I am.

  “With the exception of you Maci, there have only been three other Nephilim documented throughout our history.”

  My eyes light with excitement. Three in a world of millions isn’t great, but its better than being alone. “Where are they now? Can I meet them?” I ask, hope shining in my voice.

  Jaxon shakes his head, a lock of hair falling into his eyes as he looks at me. His voice takes on a solemn tone as he lets out a shaky breath. I can already tell that whatever he is about to say is going to suck.

  “They’re dead,” he says, locking me in his storm cloud gaze.

  “Dead? How can they be dead? Angels are immortal. Aren’t they?”

  “Yes,” he says. His eyes beg me to understand.

  How can three immortals just be dead? Isn’t living forever sort of the whole point of immortality? Then it hits me. What he wants me to know. The reason that he begged me to leave when I first arrived. The unspoken danger that I never understood until now. Immortals don’t die, but they can be killed. I can be killed.

  “They killed them didn’t they?” I voice my fear, hoping that he will deny it. That he will say anything other than what I already know to be true.

  “Yes,” he says, refusing to meet my eyes. His shoulders hold the weight of a guilt that isn’t his to feel. He isn’t responsible for what his ancestors did. He can’t hold that burden, or it will pull him under.

  I reach out, gently cupping his cheek and forcing him to meet my eyes. I try to tell him without words that he has nothing to feel guilty for. Not with me, and not with Sydney.

  “Jax..... do you know why they killed them? Surely it had to be more than the fact that they were Nephilim. Was there anything special about the three that you speak of? Anything that would make your elders want them dead?”

  Because there had to be. It just doesn’t make sense otherwise. Angels have proven to be very un-angelic. So.... I am not believing that in the history of forever that only three angels knocked up a human. Well....four if you count me. Hell....Michael disproved that when he told me about all of my lives spent as the vessel that protects Jahar’s soul. He said that in each life a new me was born before the old me died. Sure...he used some angelic voodoo to make it happen, but technically I alone have been more than four Nephilim.

  So. I am calling bullshit on the angelic version of history! There is more to this story, but then again there always is....isn’t there.

  “Just one,” Jaxon says, cupping my hand that lays against his scruffy cheek. Any other time I would totally be drooling over that little five o’clock shadow that takes him from sexy to sinful, but not now. Now I need to focus, because I have a feeling that I am going to need to know all of the facts if I plan to stay alive.

  I raise an impatient eyebrow, telling him to hurry up without words. I have never been known for my patience, and today isn’t the day I plan to start.

  “They were all bonded through the Moirai bond. Each was connected to their angelic counterpart, and each was killed when the bond was completed.”

  Ahhh.... I get it now. The guilt that he wears so heavily. He feels responsible, because by saving me he basically sentenced me to die. He doesn’t get it though. I would take fighting for my life beside Jaxon any day, over having a life without him in it.

  Jaxon pulled me from the darkest parts of myself, and piece by piece he patiently put me back together. He found me when I couldn’t find myself. When I didn’t even know I was lost. I would already be dead if it weren’t for him.

  Suddenly I feel the need to show him
that, and I wonder if these angelic powers that I am supposed to have really work. I close my eyes, calling to my mind everything I feel for him. Every thought...every emotion....every ounce of love, and I push it out of myself. I will it to go to him. To show him everything I cannot find the words to say.

  My eyes are still closed, but I don’t miss the soft intake of Jaxon’s breath beside me. The way that his hand tightens on mine. I risk a peek between my closed lids, and this time it is I who gasps.

  All around us a faint purple glittering light funnels like a mini-cyclone. It pours from my hands, mixing with the soft golden light that I have come to associate with my Jaxon.

  A tear falls as the air around us fills with images. Me meeting Jaxon on the first day of school. Jaxon catching me as I fall in the principal’s office. Jaxon laughing. Jaxon making me laugh. Us kissing......

  They all play like a live action film, charging the air around us with something so inevitably more.

  Now this is a kick-ass angel power. I just live streamed my own reality show.

  Jaxon’s lips crash into mine and a pain flares to life on my lower back. I pull away from him at the same time that he lets out a curse. My hand flies to my back, and I pull up my shirt as I try to twist and see what in the world is causing the sudden pain.

  It feels like I just got branded with a hot iron. I finally manage to twist enough to see my skin on my lower back, and when I do I let out a very un-lady like curse.

  “Another damn tattoo?” I fume, angry at the powers that be for marking my otherwise flawless skin. Don’t get me wrong. Tattoos are hot on other people, but I have never wanted one.

  Jaxon’s eyes widen as his face pales a few shades. He reaches out, running his hands over the mysterious mark that I have yet to get a good look at. I had kind of forgotten about it....until now.

  “Not another. It is filling in. The bond. It is completing itself.” His fingers trace the planes of my mysterious ink, and I momentarily forget how to breathe. Hot damn! There is just something incredibly sexy about the way that he is touching me right now.

  “What does it look like?” I ask, my breath hitching as he drops to his knees in front of me and places a soft kiss over the mark.

  Lord help me. I think I need new underwear.

  Jaxon smiles against my skin, his hair tickling me as he pulls back to look at me. Not going to lie. I like him on his knees. A little too much!

  “Noted,” he growls against my skin before placing one more kiss there and rising to his feet. I am equally relieved and disappointed.

  “It is the ancient mark of the triad. I could explain it to you, but I think I will just show you later tonight of that’s ok. I want you to see it as I trace it for you. That way you can feel each loop as I describe it.” His voice is heavy with lust, and I find myself nodding my head .

  Hell yes! That sounds awesome! I would get a million tattoos if Jaxon would trace them with his tongue.

  “Each loop represents a portion of our bond. The loop that means love just filled in. It is now a soft purple. The other two parts of the bond represent sacrifice and sexuality. If we complete all three, they will come for you princess. Even without knowing about the prophecy, they will come. That is why as much as I want to shout it from every roof top in this damn place that you belong to me, we cannot complete our bond. I won’t....I can’t risk you.”

  Anger flares at his words. I am not an expert in old prophecies or bonds, but I can put two and two together. We already love each other. So that part is done. Sacrifice sounds like it would suck, but I would already die for Jaxon. Then sexuality is pretty self-explanatory. So basically, I was right.

  Sex with Jaxon will probably be the thing that kills me.

  You can’t say that the universe doesn’t have a sense of humor.

  “No!” I fume, jabbing a finger in his chest as my anger boils over. “I have already lost too damn much to let some bullshit keep us apart. So NO! I will have you...every damn piece of you Jaxon Lux, and if it kills me...it just kills me. Life is too short to deny love.”

  I am practically shaking as I finish yelling at him, but I want him to understand. I need him to. I have lost so much. I am not losing him too. I turn back in the direction of the school, fully intending on stalking off like the total badass that I think I am.

  What I see stops me in my tracks.

  “Run!” I shout, and the panic in my voice causes Jaxon to whip his head in that direction. He charges ahead of me, taking my hand and pulling me in the direction of the academy.

  The academy that is currently on fire.

  ∞

  ~ Chapter 14 ~

  I lose my heels somewhere halfway between where Jaxon and I first noticed the flames and the now decimated doorway of the school. The large black door now hanging precariously from its golden hinges as smoke billows from within.

  Screams echo into the smoky air as students scatter in every direction. Some run for their lives, while others stay to fight an evil that until this moment, I had no clue existed.

  Demons. Freaking demons are everywhere, and man are they ugly.

  I guess I should have known. I mean, if angels are real, then by the law of the universe demons should be as well. Isn’t there always a darkness to combat the light?

  “Down!” Jaxon yells, yanking me to the hard floor and throwing himself on top of me. The smell of burning flesh fills my nose seconds before a fireball— a mother freaking fireball, smashes into the wall behind where I just stood. Jaxon grimaces before pulling me to my feet, his eyes checking me for injuries.

  Satisfied that I am not damaged, he turns around, glaring daggers at the ugly little demon that just tried to make us burnt toast. I say demon, because I guess that’s what it is.

  It looks like a mutated dog, minus the fur. It walks on two bent legs, and its eyes are the color of burning embers. It snarls at us, opening its mouth in an ear-piercing howl that causes my brain to feel like it is bleeding.

  “What is that thing?” I groan, trying and failing to block out the shriek of its cry.

  “Hellhound,” Jaxon grumbles, whispering words under his breath. Moments later the air charges with a bright golden light and two wicked looking swords appear out of thin air and land in Jaxon’s waiting hands. Each is silver with golden light flowing through them. On the handles, both blades are marked with a pattern that swirls and curves. I look from the blade to Jaxon, recognizing the marking on the blades as the same tattoo on his skin that first caught my attention when I arrived here.

  I file the thought away in my one hundred and one million questions bank, knowing that now is not the time to ask.

  Jax steps forward, his blade whipping out so fast that I almost miss it. What I don’t miss however is the splattering of blood and guts that splashes across my now bare feet.

  Gross!

  Without even blinking, Jaxon charges forward, and because I don’t have a death wish...I follow him. We make it past the entry, and into the commons. It is like a scene from a scary movie. All around us monsters of all colors and sizes attack. Blood splashes the marble floor, staining it with the crimson of life as the two sides collide.

  I notice Braxton and Ryker in the mix, battling with blades much like the ones that Jaxon carries. Together the brothers make quick work of the dozens of demons that linger behind. Each strike of their blades precise and to the point.

  I watch them slightly transfixed, in total awe of how someone as beautiful as the boys can be so deadly. They are vengeance and pain wrapped in sex and sin, hidden behind the faces of angels.

  The Lux brothers are badass with a capital B. I am just glad that they are on my side.

  “Got you,” she whispers into my ear, surprising me. Her arms wrap around me like bands, and I roll my eyes. She doesn’t scare me....not even a little. I eat bitches like her for breakfast.

  “Bianca? If you wanted to cuddle, all you had to do was.......” I start, but I can’t seem to get the word out. My tongu
e feels heavy as my body starts to feel light. I look down, noticing for the first time the syringe that she holds in her hand. My eyes frantically search for Jaxon, but he is lost in battle. He doesn’t see me....none of them do.

  I start to sway. I have just given up hope that she will win this round when C.J. steps into my line of vision. Her brown eyes assess me with worry as she takes a step closer to my side. I reach for her, knowing that she will stop this madness before it gets out of hand.

  “Did you have to drug her?” C.J. asks, and I fight for another few seconds of consciousness as C.J. walks up to me, supporting my weight with her shoulder.

  “Oh.... don’t be such a goody-goody sis. The demons were a nice touch by the way. I must say....I didn’t think you had it in you. Daddy will be proud,” Bianca laughs, going to my other side and helping C.J. support my weight.

  “I didn’t do it for him,” she whispers, and I can hear the pain in her voice. The anguish. Whatever C.J. did, she didn’t want to do.

  “Details,” Bianca laughs. “Now, help me move her heavy ass before the boys realize that she is gone. The drug will only block her connection from Jaxon for a few more minutes.”

  C.J. stops walking, and hope blooms to life inside my fractured heart. I trusted her. She was the first person I trusted since Ashlee.....

  “He won’t hurt her, right? Cause you promised,” she demands of Bianca. I can almost see the eyeroll that Bianca is surely giving her sister, even though my eyes are now closed from the heaviness of whatever drug she gave me.

  “No.....Daddy said he just wants to talk to her,” she lies.

  Don’t do it C.J. Don’t listen! Lies....she is full of lies.