“Your mission is to learn everything you can about the Staff over your winter break, including where it might be hidden. Do this without alerting anyone to your true purposes. Return next term with useful information, and the Order will reward your service. Remember, when you graduate from Seraphim Academy, we will help you find prominent, powerful positions in the community. Whatever your dream is, we can make sure you achieve it.” He spreads his arms. “You are dismissed.”
We file out of the cave with golden robes tucked in our arms, and as the cold night air hits my damp hair, I do feel reborn…and more determined than ever to find my brother.
I have no clue how to get to Faerie, but I’m going to find a way.
Guess I’ll be taking fae studies next year.
Final exams begin the next morning. My first one is Combat Training, where we have to fight Callan one by one, using all the moves we’ve learned over the year. It’s obvious he’s going easy on us, because none of us could actually defeat him in a real fight, not even Tanwen, but he still gives us a challenge.
Araceli does really well, even though she missed a good chunk of Combat Training, and Tanwen of course wipes the floor with all of us. The girl is formidable, I’ll give her that.
I’m last.
Callan’s eyes narrow as I move onto the mat in front of him. Somehow I don’t think he’ll go easy on me, but he’s also taught me well over the last few months. He rushes me, and I manage to dart out of the way. But then he’s back, and there’s no use wrestling with him because he’s way too strong. I sweep my leg under him, knocking him down, and then land on him with my elbow. He lets out a loud oof, before rolling out of the way. Then he’s back on his feet almost instantly, and he throws me across the mat. He’s on me a second later, pinning me down, and when I look in his eyes I see he’s as aroused by this as I am. Luckily he taught me how to get out of this, and I manage to bring my knee up and get him off me. I spin on my back and kick him in his way-too-handsome face, knowing he’ll heal fast anyway, and then when he’s stunned, I land another one in the chest. He falls back, and I win.
Hilda lets out a little clap. “Nice job, Olivia.”
Callan bounces to his feet, and then reaches down to help me up. He doesn’t seem to be in pain, even after the entire class beat the crap out of him. Archangel blood is some good stuff, seriously. I wonder what it would be like to feed on him. With two Archangel parents, I bet he’s even more powerful than Marcus and Bastien. Yum.
“Good work this year,” Hilda says. “You’ve all improved a lot. See you next year.”
We all file out of the gym, and Araceli and I towel off our sweat and then prepare to go take our Flight exam, which is by the lake. It should be easy after all the flying I’m done this year, although we’ll be expected to do some fancy maneuvers like spinning and flipping. That stuff scared me before, but not anymore.
“Olivia,” Callan says. He gestures for me to follow him.
“I’ll catch up,” I tell Araceli.
He leads me to the other side of the gym, where we have some privacy from the others. Then he turns on me, and corners me against the wall. “You can’t come back next year.”
“Why not?”
“It’s not safe for you here.”
“I’m fine,” I try to walk away, but he nudges me back against the wall.
“You’re a demon,” he growls.
“Half,” I remind him.
“You don’t belong here.”
Not this shit again. “Yes, I do. I’m half angel too, dammit.”
“I’ll hide you somewhere safe, where no angel or demon can find you. It’s the only way to protect you.”
“No thanks.”
He places his hand on either side of my head, pinning me against the wall. “Why are you so damn stubborn?”
I stare into his eyes, challenging him. “Why do you resist, when you know you want me bad?”
Rage crosses his face. “You don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about.”
“No?” I laugh. “Don’t forget, I can sense your lust. I feel it every time we fight. Every time you look at me. And especially now.” I wrap my arms around his neck and press myself against him. “Just give in, and this will be easier for both of us.”
“Only because you’re using your succubus powers on me to make me want you.” He yanks my arms off him and pushes me back against the wall. His face is so angry, I think he might explode. “I could never want a demon.”
But then he crushes his mouth against mine, funneling all that rage into a kiss so intense, all I can do is let it happen. He presses me back against the wall, kissing me roughly, and it turns me on so much I’m instantly wet and oh so very hungry. Turns out I like it a little rough, from Callan anyway. I can only imagine how domineering he’ll be in bed, and if this kiss is any indication, his energy will fill me up for ages.
I didn’t feed after the football game, but my body healed anyway, it just left me pretty hungry. Now I take some of his energy through the kiss, my eyes turning black as he devours my mouth like he’s just as hungry for sex as I am.
He pulls away and sees my eyes, and that only seems to make him angrier. He stumbles back. “Stay away from me, demon.”
He stomps away while I stand there in a daze of his power. His kiss was strong enough to sate my hunger, for now anyway, but I also feel like I only got a few bites of a meal I wanted to really savor.
Stay away from him? He was the one who cornered me and then kissed me! The man has some nerve.
I roll my eyes and pull myself together, then head to Flight for my next exam.
Chapter Forty-Four
Callan
With Olivia’s taste in my mouth, I head to the bell tower and begin to pace in my usual spot. No matter how much I’ve tried not to think about her over the last few weeks, Olivia’s seductive face keeps popping into my head. Every time we fight, I want to pin her down and spread her legs for my cock. And when I kissed her just now, it took all my power not to fuck her right up against the wall.
Why the fuck do I want that? The son of Michael and Jophiel can’t want a half-demon. My father will rise from his grave and hunt me down if I get together with Olivia. And my mother? She would probably disown me if she found out. Especially since her first son, my half-brother Ekariel, was killed by demons when he was a child. It was before I was born, but still. Between his death and my father’s, I have plenty of reasons to hate demons.
So why can’t I stop wanting her?
Plus, there’s the promise I made to Jonah. I know now that he wanted her away from this school for her protection, because it would be too dangerous if anyone finds out what she is. I’ve failed so far at getting rid of her, but I can make sure she doesn’t come back next year.
This is my last chance…and I’m going to have to do something drastic.
I text Bastien to meet me at Uriel’s house, and he arrives there fifteen minutes later.
“What’s this about?” he asks, as he folds his wings away.
“I need to get a video from one of the security cameras.”
He arches an eyebrow. “Why?”
“Because I fucking need it, that’s why.”
Bastien scowls at me, but I’m the boss, and he doesn’t question me. Luckily Uriel is gone, and Bastien lets me into the office and goes right to the security camera footage. “What time?”
“About twenty minutes ago, outside the gym.”
He finds the footage of me and Olivia there, and we watch as I kiss her and her eyes turn black. Even on the grainy black-and-white footage, it’s obvious what she is.
“You kissed her?”
“Shut up,” I tell him. “Can I get this on a thumb drive or something?”
“Sure.” He looks at me from the corner of his eye as he transfers the video over. “What do you plan to do with this?”
“What I should have done weeks ago.” I grab the thumb drive from him. “It’s time the truth came out a
bout Olivia. As an Ofanim, I thought you’d be on board with this.”
“This is a bad idea,” Bastien says with a deep frown.
I ignore him and leave Uriel’s house, the thumb drive tucked in my pocket, along with the picture of Olivia that Jonah gave me a year ago.
I don’t want to do this, but I gave Jonah my word—and the word of Michael’s son is unbreakable.
That’s the reason I’m doing this. Not because I’ll lose my fucking mind if I have to spend another year with Olivia on campus. Besides, it’s for her protection. I’ll make sure she has somewhere safe to go, where no demon or angel can get to her.
But by the end of the day, I’ll make sure Olivia can never come back to Seraphim Academy again.
Chapter Forty-Five
Olivia
I manage to get through all the rest of my exams, and I think I did pretty well on them, even Angelic History, my hardest class. Kassiel gave me a small smile as I walked out, so hopefully I’m not doing too badly in the class, but I won’t know for sure until I get my grades when they’re emailed to us in a few weeks.
Once exams are finished, we have one final assembly with Headmaster Uriel, and then the school year will officially be over. It’s the end of November, and I haven’t even thought about what I’ll do during my break, which Seraphim Academy takes during the winter, since most angel families like to go somewhere warm during the colder months. Araceli and her family plan to spend the holidays in the Bahamas. And me…I’m not sure what I’ll do yet. Stay here maybe, and keep trying to find Jonah. I’m pretty sure he’s in Faerie looking for the Staff, but I can’t understand why he would do such a thing, or why he hasn’t returned yet.
I head to the auditorium, where everyone is abuzz with end-of-the-year excitement and saying goodbye to all their friends. I see Grace and Cyrus and give them a little wave, then start heading over to them. I’m still suspicious of them, but they’re my friends too.
As I’m walking down the aisle toward them, Callan walks out onto stage, and I pause. He has a determined look on his face, his eyes harder than I’ve seen before, and I’m suddenly nervous, though I can’t say why. What’s he doing up there?
He speaks into the microphone. “Students of Seraphim Academy, before you head home, you should know the truth about one of our students here. The half-human named Olivia Monroe is not what she seems.”
Oh fuck.
“Olivia, what’s going on?” Araceli asks me, appearing at my side, while the entire school whispers and turns to stare at me.
I clutch my necklace and shake my head. “I don’t know.”
Callan’s voice booms through the microphone. “The truth is, she’s not half human, but half demon. A succubus, to be precise. She’s been lying to us to us the entire time.”
It’s happening. Callan’s exposing me. My worst fear, now come to life, right when I felt like I was finally fitting in. Why would he do this now?
A gasp goes up through the audience, and I begin to back out slowly, trying to make an escape. Araceli, bless her heart, yells at the stage, “You’re the liar!”
“I have proof,” Callan says. He turns around, and a video begins playing in black and white. There’s no sound, and the angle is weird, cutting off everything but my shoulders and up, but it clearly shows my kiss with Callan outside the gym. Along with my black eyes when he pulls away from me.
This is why he kissed me. He was planning all along to tell everyone about me, even though he promised he wouldn’t. I feel sick, and dirty, and used. My stomach twists, and I both want to punch something and burst into tears, but most of all I want to run far away and never see him again.
Were Marcus and Bastien part of this plan? I don’t see them anywhere, but they must know about this. The Princes never do anything alone, after all, and that only makes this worse. I trusted those guys, even Callan, and thought they truly cared about me. In the last few weeks, they became my friends. Maybe even something more.
Now they’ve betrayed me.
Araceli’s jaw drops, and she turns to me with shock in her eyes. “What…?”
She doesn’t want to believe it, but I can’t lie to her anymore. “I’m so sorry,” I tell her, and then I dart out of the auditorium as fast as I can, while the rest of the place erupts into chaos.
I fly back to my room and start grabbing my things and throwing them into a bag, including the money in my secret stash. The demons know what I am. The angels know what I am. Everyone fucking knows what I am. I need to get out of here, and go into hiding, fast, except where can I go? There is nowhere safe for me, thanks to Callan. I might need to call my parents for help. Shit. I don’t think I can handle telling my father I not only failed to find Jonah, but that he was right all along about me coming here. I’m exactly what he thinks I am—a mistake. And Mother? I’m not even sure how to reach her, or where she is. I’m alone, completely and utterly alone, just like I was before I came to Seraphim Academy.
A knock on the door makes me freeze. Shit. They’ve come for me already. What will they do to someone whose very existence is forbidden? Kick me out? Lock me up? Execute me?
“Olivia?” Kassiel’s voice comes through the door. “Open up.”
I let out a relieved sigh and open the door. Kassiel is the one person who might be able to help me. As soon as I throw open the door, he wraps his arms around me and holds me close. I take comfort in his strength and warmth, and nearly start crying, but I manage to hold myself together…barely.
“I’m in trouble,” I say against his chest. “I messed up, big time, by trusting the Princes.”
“I know, and I’m going to help you however I can…but I’m supposed to take you to see Headmaster Uriel now.”
I stiffen and pull away. “How is that helping me?”
“I believe Headmaster Uriel will listen to reason, and I’ll help convince him you deserve to be here just like anyone else. Although if you want to run, I can help you do that too, but we need to go now.”
I glance back into my bedroom with my half-packed bag and consider leaving. But then I think about how hard I’ve worked this year, not just to find Jonah, but to learn everything I could about being an angel, and how I’m so very tired of hiding. I’m tired of being ashamed of what I am and feeling like a big mistake. I didn’t ask for this life, or to carry both angel and demon blood, but maybe it’s time I owned it already.
I draw in a deep breath and nod. I can do this. “Let’s talk to Uriel.”
“Good choice.”
We jump off my balcony, and I hold my head up and let my wings pull me into the air. Kassiel follows, then flies out in front of me, leading me to my fate.
Chapter Forty-Six
Olivia
Once we arrive at Uriel’s house, Kassiel walks straight in the front door, through the hallway, and into the office. Inside, Uriel sits behind his desk pinching his nose between his thumb and forefinger.
“Here she is,” Kassiel says. I appreciate that he doesn’t leave my side.
“Have a seat, Olivia,” Uriel says. “You may go, Kassiel.”
“With all due respect sir, I’d like to stay.”
Uriel glances at me. “If Olivia is all right with that, then fine.”
I nod and take a seat. Uriel opens his mouth, but the door opens before he can say anything, and Archangel Jophiel storms in, the angel that recruited me from the hospital to come to the school—and Callan’s mother.
“Is it true? Is there a half-demon at your school?” Jophiel asks.
“Yes, it is,” Uriel replies.
She stops and looks at me. “You. I questioned you myself. How is this possible?”
“She has a fae relic that allows her to lie,” Uriel says.
Jophiel narrows her eyes at him. “You knew all along, didn’t you?”
“Of course I did. I know everything that happens at my school.”
My eyes widen. Uriel knew all along what I am? I glance at Kassiel and he nods. He isn’t sur
prised by this. He must have suspected all along that Uriel knew. Maybe that’s why he didn’t feel the need to tell the headmaster about me.
“How could you let a half-demon attend Seraphim Academy?” Jophiel asks, her face enraged.
“She’s half-angel as well.” Uriel gives a small shrug. “If she wishes to focus on that side of herself in her training, who are we to deny her?”
Jophiel whirls on me, and she’s terrifying in her beautiful rage. “What do you have to say for yourself?”
My shoulders slump, but I suck in a breath and prepare to defend myself. “All I want is the chance to learn, like every other young angel out there. I want to attend classes and go to football games and learn how to fly and use my powers. I want to be part of the angel community. I didn’t have any of that growing up. Is it so wrong to want that now?”
“You shouldn’t have deceived us to get here. You knew you were a succubus from the moment I stepped into your hospital room, and everything you told us has been a lie.”
I take a gamble. Callan hates demons, and I’m guessing it partly came from his mother. “I’m sorry, truly I am. But I can’t help what I am. What I can do is try to suppress my demon side and overcome it, and that’s why I came here instead of going to Hellspawn Academy. I hoped by being here I could bring out my angel half and focus on that.”
Kassiel arches an eyebrow at me, and I know he doesn’t buy it, but Jophiel softens a little.
“I’ve taken testimony from her teachers,” Uriel says to Jophiel. “They speak highly of her. Even Hilda, and you know how she feels about demons.”
“Olivia is an excellent student,” Kassiel says. “She has worked hard in all her classes, and done everything that’s been asked of her. She deserves to be here.”
Jophiel crosses her arms, her nose high in the air. “That may be, but it can’t be ignored that she joined our school under false pretenses. Or that you kept her secret this entire time, Uriel. The other Archangels will not be pleased once they find out.”
Seraphim Academy 1: Wicked Wings Page 22
