Blessed: Academy of the Seraph

by Brandi Elledge

  I shuffled toward the bathroom.

  “Oh, and Gabriella, the hot commander left you a package at the door this morning. Being the wonderful snoop that I am, I opened it and hung it up for you. It’s in the bathroom.”

  I looked at the tight black dress that was hung up on the back of the door. It was simple, sleek, and beautiful. There were matching stilettos, too. I sighed happily. Finn was hot, powerful, and thoughtful. I had to watch it around him, or my lust was going to turn into love if I wasn’t careful.

  After taking a quick shower, I slid the dress on. Running my hands over the fabric, I came to the realization that tonight was either going to be a night for the history books or a cringe-worthy experience. I had a feeling there would be no in-between.

  The moment we entered the auditorium, I felt Finn. He was somewhere toward the back, and his presence immediately made me more comfortable.

  Hannah tugged me along as music blared and bodies smashed together in rhythm. As soon as we were on the dance floor, Remy made her excuses and headed for the DJ booth.

  After a few fast songs, Hannah pushed me toward the bar. “There is no drinking age at the academy. Let’s order something.”

  I wasn’t sure if that was wise, not with my powers coming to me fully at some point. So, though I took the drink she handed me, I barely sipped from it.

  A hand fell on my back. Turning, I saw Trev beaming down at me.

  “Hey, beautiful. I couldn’t take my eyes from you when you walked through the door.”

  A friend of his came up and slung an arm around Trev. “Yeah, he threatened the whole group to not stare at you, or he would personally take their eyes from their sockets.”

  I raised an eyebrow, and Trev blushed.

  “That’s a tad violent,” I said.

  He shrugged. “Want to dance?”

  I looked at Hannah, who hopped onto a barstool. “Go have some fun. I’ll be right here.”

  “Are you sure?” I asked.

  “Of course I am.”

  I gave her a hug before I followed Trev to the dance floor. He pulled me into his arms with a little twirl.

  “The last time I asked you to dance, I didn’t get to hold you for very long, and then you disappeared.”

  I winced as I remembered that night. “Hopefully, I won’t be running away from the academy tonight.”

  Trev was talking about his family back home when a wave of jealousy and anger hit me. My feet faltered for a bit before I continued to sway again in Trev’s arms. I glanced over Trev’s shoulder to see Finn up against a wall. A few girls were talking to him, trying to get his attention, but his eyes were glued to me.

  Trev chucked me under the chin. His handsome face smiling. “Are you listening, or am I just rambling too much?”

  “Sorry. I was just wondering if I should go check on Hannah,” I lied.

  He shook his head. “She’ll be fine.”

  This time, I listened when he talked about his little sisters. It was clear that he adored them to no end. He was saying, “I would do anything in the world for the twins. Ever since my father died, I feel like it’s up to me to protect them.”

  I patted his chest. Trev was such a sweet guy. “They are lucky to have you.”

  The music changed and, at the same moment, a wave of heat washed over me, and the mother of all headaches started to rage.

  I stopped dancing and rubbed my temples. “Holy hell. I’ve got a horrible headache. It must be all this loud music. I think I’m going to go find Hannah. Go mingle with everyone, and grace all the ladies with those adorable winks.”

  He laughed. “The only one I really care about is the one I’m holding on to.”

  Nausea hit me like a ton of bricks. “Oh, man, my head is pounding. Forgive me if I don’t have a witty reply.”

  He gave me a concerned look. “Let me walk you back to your room.”

  “No, you’re fine. Stay. I promised Hannah I’d get her before I left.”

  He acted like he didn’t want to let me go, but I turned on my heel as fast as I could and headed through the crowd to the bar. People were jostling me left and right as pain radiated down my scalp. Just when I thought I was going to collapse, strong hands grabbed my waist.

  “I can feel your pain. Can you walk out of here?” Finn’s warm timber caressed my ear.

  “Yeah, but we need to hurry.”

  We quickly made our way toward the door where my wolf met me. He nuzzled my hand for a second, knowing I was hurting.

  Finn continued to half-drag me until we were outside. Then he slung me up into his arms.

  My voice was slurred as I asked, “Is Champ following?”

  “You named my wolf?”

  “He’s my wolf.”

  He chuckled. “Yeah, I guess he is. Don’t worry; he’s following.” Finn’s walls were down, and his worry was overwhelming me.

  Along the way, I passed out a couple of times, and when Finn placed me on the bed, I immediately crawled into a fetal position.

  He pointed at Champ. “Boy, lay down in front of the door and don’t let anyone in unless it’s Hannah or Remy.”

  “You think he can see Remy?” I panted out.

  “I don’t know about seeing her, but he can probably feel the air pressure change.”

  Champ did a couple of circles then blocked the door.

  I was about to be deadly sick when Remy came barreling through the door. Then there was a knock. Finn let Hannah in.

  “She’s coming into her powers?” Hannah asked.

  Finn nodded. “It’s going to be bad. She was touched by so many archangels.” The worry in his voice had Hannah tearing up.

  Remy curled up behind me on the bed, laying an arm over me. Of course, it went right through me, leaving chills on my skin.

  Finn was saying, “You two stay with her. I need to go back to the party for at least another thirty minutes. There were a few students who saw us leaving together, and she was really struggling with just walking. I’ll go spread it around that she drank too much. Just in case.”

  Sweat started beading my brow, but I didn’t say a word.

  Finn left, and the last thing I remember was thinking my insides were on fire, and I was almost positive I was dying.

  Voices were making me stir. I swatted at the closest one.

  My head pounded. I felt like I was about to throw up at any second, and no one would let a girl die in peace.

  “How long has she been like this?”

  “Since your perky little ass walked out that door. So … twenty-five minutes,” Remy said.

  “Why didn’t you come get me?”

  “Look at me!” Remy shrieked. Of all the times she had to be a dramatic diva, why now? “I couldn’t go to you like this. Thank goodness I have Ariel’s talents. I was finally able to convince that fleabag to go and fetch you.”

  “And she did this to you?”

  “Duh, pretty boy. Who else could have done this? I was holding her, and the next thing I knew … boom.”

  I tried to sit up, but a large hand pushed me back down. “Rest, Maka.”

  That was easy to say, but I needed to see my friend. Something was obviously terribly wrong.

  I opened my eyes to see Remy in full-on flesh. Then a wave of pain hit me, and she began to flicker.

  “Oh shit, here we go again. She’s got me flickering like a 1950’s channel on the boob tube.” She let out a deep sigh as I groaned.

  I blacked out again during the worst of the pain, and I’d never been so thankful in my life.

  The next time I woke, Finn was sitting at the end of my bed, his knees drawn up with more flexibility than a person his size should have been able to achieve. Hannah and Remy were curled up like cats on Remy’s small twin bed.

  I pulled myself up to a sitting position. “What happened?” I whispered.

  “You got your powers.”

  “I know that, but”—I jerked my head toward Remy, who was currently in human form—“w
hat did I do to Remy?”

  “Apparently, you made her corporal. Not sure how long it’ll last. Unfortunately, because she died before her eighteenth birthday, her powers hadn’t come to her yet. Still, if we can figure out a way for her to become corporal at will, that could be her gift.”

  I gave a tired nod. “Yeah, that’d be cool.”

  “How are you feeling?”

  “Like I’ve been run over.”

  I looked at Finn’s tired face. He appeared exhausted. “How long have you been in here?”

  He looked at this watch. Then he rested his head back on my wall. “Ten hours.”

  That would explain why my bladder felt like it was about to burst. “What do we do now?”

  “We hide you until you are feeling better, and then we resume your training.”

  I looked over to where Remy and Hannah were still sleeping. Then I tried to sit up too fast and ended up falling into Finn. He wrapped his arms around me as I dropped my head to his chest.

  As I snuggled deeper into his arms, I asked, “Do you ever feel like we’ve known each other before?”

  He kissed the top of my head. “It does feel like that, doesn’t it?”

  Before I could doze off again, my bladder shot me a warning. “I need to use the restroom.”

  Within seconds, he was off the bed and had me in his arms. He placed me in the bathroom and shut the door.

  As soon as I was done, I washed my hands then splashed cold water on my face. My legs started to wobble.

  The door swung open. “You need me?”

  Without waiting for me to answer, he picked me up and put me back in bed. As soon as he had me situated, he crawled over me and resumed his original spot. I tried not to sigh, but I was hoping he would hold me again.

  I couldn’t get comfortable. My back felt like I had been bit by several mosquitoes. It was itching and warm. I kept rubbing it along the sheets, but the pain wasn’t going away.

  “Finn? My back is itching. Horribly.”

  He gave me a sleepy smile. “That’s what happens when you get your wings.”

  “You really think I’ll get my wings?”

  He nodded. “You’re Nephilim. We will try to coax them out when we are by ourselves. The itching will go away in a few minutes.”

  His eyes were closing, and I found myself whispering, “You don’t have to stay.”

  “That’s what got me in trouble the first time. I’ve been paying for it ever since.”

  “What are you talking about?” I asked.

  Finn looked so weary as he closed his beautiful eyes. “Do you know what I think, Maka? I think you need to sleep and pray for dreams.”

  “Maka? You’ve called me that before. What does it mean?”

  A half-smile lit his handsome face. “If you truly want to know, then you will remember.”

  He stretched his big body closer to me, and my heart started pounding. He couldn’t kiss me. I looked like death, and I hadn’t brushed my teeth in almost eighteen hours.

  Instead, with his big hand, he gently covered my face and closed my eyes. “Sleep, Maka.”

  I smiled as I scrunched under the covers.

  Sometime later in the night, I felt Finn’s body stretch out beside mine. His warmth cocooned me, and my restless sleep quickly turned into one of deep slumber. I had hoped to dream of Finn and how, if I imagined it just right, his gaze was one of longing and promises that a man like him would aim to keep. Those dreams weren’t in the cards, though. Instead, I dreamt of present times and a fallen angel who was hell-bent on ruining anything that was blessed.

  My dreams were all over the place. One right after another.

  In one, I saw into the future where Camaella stood somewhere in the dirty streets of Los Angeles, commanding demons to do her bidding. The whole state of California was barely accessible. If you were human and wanted to enter the state, well, then you entered at your own peril and with the knowledge that you probably wouldn’t be leaving the land of milk and honey. She stood there in an emerald green blouse and white pants, of all things. There was so much dirt all around her, yet not a spec on her pants. She shouted commands to demons that looked like humans, except for their black eyes. The rims were a faint red. She was planning on marching east. She had searched most of the West Coast and middle America for the academy and had come up empty-handed.

  She stomped her Jimmy Choos on the broken pavement.

  A demon crossed in front of her, and with a flick of her wrist, she had him flying through the air. He hit an upside-down car and was pinned between it and the power she was currently controlling him with.

  “Gather everyone and tell them that we will be leaving in two hours. They have had enough fun. We must find the academy.”

  He grunted.

  Taking that as affirmation, she released him from her hold, and he scurried around her, doing her bidding.

  None of them understood. If they didn’t find the academy before more of those little brats became immortal, all their hard work would be ruined. It had already been reported by an oracle that they had a chosen one in their midst. One who had been blessed by more than one angel. If you added an immortal of that kind of strength to the mix, the archangels could take their army of demis and destroy everything she had built so far. There was destruction, pain, and suffering everywhere she went.

  If she didn’t find that academy soon, Lucifer would kill her instead of making her queen. There was no way she was going to let some fully blessed teenagers take that away from her.

  If the archangels had never interfered, she wouldn’t be standing here today, in the middle of a warzone, with human flesh on the bottom of her designer shoes. It always seemed to go back to them. This was all their fault. She would personally find every single one of the fully blessed and kill them herself.

  The next morning, when I awoke, Finn and Hannah were gone. Remy was sitting in a chair, painting every other fingernail black.

  “Oh, hey,” she said. “So the girl that can make the dead visible is awake.”

  “Are you mad at me?” I asked.

  “Hell no. Actually, your hot boyfriend and I talked this morning. I think, if I can get a handle on how to be solid when I want to be seen and invisible when I’m in stealth mode, then I can be a great advantage to my friends.”

  “He’s not my boyfriend.”

  “Um, okkkuur. But all I’m saying, sista, is any man who keeps a watch over you while you sleep until he knows that you’re going to be fine is probably just a little more than your teacher. That’s all I’m saying. Okay, maybe not all. I need to mention that I’ve caught you numerous times staring at him. I mean, it’s no biggie, because who doesn’t stare? Well, I guess I shouldn’t while in solid form, but that’s not the point. You love birds have it bad for each other.”

  Sitting here, arguing with my ghostly bestie, was going to get me nowhere. I decided to ignore her as I padded into the bathroom. I needed a shower. I felt so gross.

  Taking a long, hot shower, I got myself together. Forty glorious minutes later, I was dressed in regular clothes—some skinny jeans and a plain white T-shirt.

  I was going to skip my morning class. Instead of wasting away in Mrs. Fields’ class, I needed to tell Finn of my dream. Camaella was desperate to find the academy, and once she did, it might be game over for all of us.

  “Are you not going to class?” Remy asked.

  “Nope.”

  “You’ve already missed a day.”

  I gave her my most are you freaking serious? look. “I just had a dream about Camaella.” I quickly explained to her why that in itself was terrifying. “Usually, I have dreams of things that have already happened, but I guess coming into my powers has opened up some new doors. I had a dream of something that hasn’t happened yet. Camaella will destroy California, and then, apparently, she is heading this way. So, in the scheme of things, I think it’s okay if I skip that old hag’s class.”

  “Um, yay, to the futuristic d
reams. Sure that will come in handy. And are you getting snarky with me?”

  “I think so, yes.”

  “Okay, just checking.” She waved me to the door. “I’m going to hide out here until we can figure out this whole how-to-make-me-invisible thing again.”

  “I’m sorry, Remy.” I couldn’t believe the things I was bitching about when she had bigger issues. “I was inconsiderate.”

  “Of course you were. That’s why we’re friends. Also, if I can figure all this out, it’ll be like I, too, have another chance at life.” A beautiful smile came across her face. “Now, I’m about to shave my legs for the first time in forever, so go find your lover, and don’t forget to take your wolf with you.”

  I gave Remy a quick hug and tried to hide my shock as her body didn’t pass through mine. “Come on, Champ, let’s go.”

  Power strummed through me like a current. I had so much energy that it was hard not to bounce on my toes. I felt more alive than I’d ever felt.

  “Champ, let’s go see Finn,” I told him once we got outside.

  The wolf put his gray snout in the air and sniffed several times before he started to trot through the courtyard. The minute he turned onto the familiar, narrow trail, I rubbed his head.

  Right before we got to the cabin, Champ started growling with his tail tucked between his legs. The front door to Finn’s was cracked.

  Something was wrong. I could feel it.

  A few seconds later, I heard someone coming from around the back of the cabin. I tensed before I felt the pull in my belly. Seconds later, Finn appeared.

  He held up a finger, signaling for me to be quiet. Then he crept toward the cracked open door and slipped inside without making a noise.

  I should have waited outside, but after several minutes, I decided to go in after him.

  I gasped when I stepped over the threshold. His place was trashed. The coffee table and ottoman were turned over, the couches were ripped apart, and broken dishes lay everywhere. There were no books on the shelf. Instead, they lay scattered everywhere, all except one. The golden one that held his keepsakes.