Angel Academy: Full Series

by Kate Hall

  If I can figure this situation out, though, she’ll be an angel like me. Things will be back to normal. Just like old times, but better since we’ll have an eternity together.

  These old books are all written in Enochian, which means I’m constantly referencing my textbooks. So far, I’ve gotten about half a chapter translated. Good thing I don’t actually need to sleep, because I haven’t done so in days.

  “C’mere,” Desireé says, curling a finger at me. She looks both totally creepy and unbearably tempting when she does that.

  I stand and stretch, walking slowly toward the bed.

  When I get close enough, she dips a claw in her ice cream and smudges it on my cheek.

  I squint my eyes and scrunch my nose. “Rude,” I say.

  Her long tail wraps around my thigh and pulls me even closer, and she licks the ice cream off my cheek.

  I suck in a breath, and she puts her hands on my waist, right where my shirt and pajamas meet. Her skin is only touching me by the tiniest sliver, but that spot burns like a thousand suns.

  “I have to work on this research,” I whisper, but she places her lips against mine.

  I moan and lean into the kiss. Maybe I would have more work done if it weren’t for moments like this that turn into hours. I tangle one hand in her hair and grip a horn with the other to hold her even closer. Her body pressed against mine lights a fire deep in my belly no matter how many times we kiss.

  When she runs her tongue against my bottom lip, I groan and push her into the bed. Her wings spread out behind her while mine are tucked against my body. Within a moment, her leathery wings are wrapped around the both of us, tucking us into a cocoon.

  “Avery,” she whispers against my hair as I trail kisses down her face and neck. I release her horn and put my hand on her waist, tucking my fingers beneath her shirt. Her claws trail down my eyes back, hard enough to have me gasping, but light enough that it doesn’t actually harm me.

  I bring my lips back to hers, navigating my tongue into her mouth. I have to be careful to not cut myself on one of her fangs.

  A knock sounds at my door, and I groan, pulling myself off of her. She huffs and goes to her hidey-hole in my closet. I just want to keep kissing her, but ignoring my visitor would be highly suspicious.

  I brush my fingers through my hair and ask the room to air out Desireé’s distinct sulphuric scent while I pad over and swing the door open.

  Nicolai.

  “Have you finished your midterm essay yet?” he asks, striding in without an invitation. I close the door and roll my eyes.

  “Not even close," I say, sighing as I collapse on the bed. “I chose a subject that also happens to involve translating a buttload of Enochian.”

  He laughs. “I’m glad I chose something easy, then.” He sits at my desk and glances at my open textbooks and the papers beside them for a moment, but he doesn’t actually seem all too interested in them.

  “What’s up?” I ask, staring at the ceiling and wondering how it would look with a night sky drifting across. The room picks up on my thoughts and transforms, and I smile. No matter how much I do, my little slice of heaven will never cease to be cool.

  Nicolai’s response takes a moment, and I sit up to prick an eyebrow at him.

  “We haven’t talked about what happened between us,” he says, then clears his throat. “The, uh, kiss.” His face turns red. Maybe I should’ve done my essay over how Angels blush red even though our blood is gold. Then, his words absorb into my mind, and I’m thinking about kissing not him, but Desireé, and my cheeks react in kind.

  “I mean,” I say, “it was just a misunderstanding. Not a big deal, really.”

  He nods, but he still isn’t looking at me. The answer seems to satisfy that question, but he still doesn’t leave.

  “Are you alright?” I ask.

  His eyes finally pierce mine. “What’s it like?” he asks. “Killing a demon?” That is not the question I’m expecting whatsoever. “One of the upperclassmen told me that, to get our wings, we have to kill a demon. I just…I don’t know.”

  My heart twinges. The final exams are only in a couple more months, and first-term students will be sent to a base on Earth to kill captured demons and receive their wings. What if one of those demons were Desireé? I glance at my closet door for just an instant, and either he doesn’t catch it, or he doesn’t understand the significance of the look.

  “It’s kind of awful,” I admit. “The first time it happened, I was hurt. Bad. I was only able to kill it because it was either do that or die.” I chew my lip, considering my words carefully before continuing. “I don’t know if I’d be able to do it how you guys have to. They look like people,” I say, putting more emphasis on the final word. “They are people…” I stumble and correct, “Were. People.”

  When I spill the last sentence, I clam up. I’ve definitely said too much. If he discovers that I care about demons at all, it will bring others sniffing around. And there’s plenty of sulphur for them to smell.

  He just nods, though. “Thanks for your honesty.” Then, he stands and walks to the door.

  I stay on my bed, holding my breath. He turns around and looks at me.

  “I hope you know that I still care about you,” he says. “I know there’s nothing romantic between us, and there never will be, but we’re still friends, right?”

  My eyes widen just a little. “Of course!”

  He nods, then sets his jaw. “If any more demons come into the school, I want to come with you. I don’t want you to have to kill one on your own.” He sighs. “I don’t know what I would do if you weren’t here.”

  The whole exchange is getting too close to the secret in my closet. I look at the ground. “I’ll see you in class,” I say.

  When I look up again, he’s gone, and I can finally breathe again.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  It is rumored that Death has the power to exchange a life for a life.

  There it is.

  The mystery I’ve been thirsting to solve. The secret to all I’ve wondered about since I first deduced that my presence in Heaven doesn’t make a lot of sense. I double, triple, and quadruple check the translation, but it remains the same.

  I look at Desireé, who’s sitting on my bed, legs crossed beneath her as she watches a romantic comedy and snacks on a bag of Cheetos.

  I close the book and then my eyes.

  Of course I’m not supposed to be here. On Earth, I was selfish and mean. I was always tired, and I never tried to help anyone. At least, nobody aside from Desireé. And even then, I hadn’t been all that good of a girlfriend. I’m the reason we’re both dead, after all.

  Tears prick at my eyes, and I suck in a breath.

  I cannot handle this information. I might actually vomit.

  I should be in Hell. I should be a demon.

  Desireé had been perfect. She’d done everything possible to make others’ lives easier, and she’d been punished for it. Tortured. Destroyed. Broken down and built back up into a creature of darkness.

  “Are you alright?” she asks, her voice distant as she seems to come back into the room from her movie. She does that sometimes, fades away so that her body is vacant for minutes or even hours at a time. Is that how she coped when she was tortured?

  A sob bursts out of me.

  She stands quickly, her chips spilling all over the bed. She ignores them, though, and rushes over to me, taking my face gently in her hands.

  “What’s wrong?” she asks, her voice whispy, like it’s made of smoke.

  I try to speak, but the words just won’t come out. This is wrong. I’m wrong. She’s everything that’s right in the universe. I wrap my arms around myself.

  “I’m so sorry,” I gasp as she strokes my hair. How is it that, although she’s a demon who was tortured for years, she’s the one who’s now comforting me?

  She kisses the top of my head.

  “It’s not your fault,” she says. Her voice caresses m
e, and I want to float away with it.

  “It is,” I insist. “I came here, and you went there.” I can’t even say the word Hell. “I took your place. It’s my fault you died, and it’s my fault you got punished.” I stifle my sobs against her sweatshirt, and she pets my hair.

  “No,” she insists. “It was my choice. I asked, and she agreed.”

  I shudder and look up, her face bleary through my tears.

  “What?” I whisper. I blink away my tears, only to find a devastated face looking down at me.

  She has to lean down to press her forehead against mine.

  “I made a deal,” she says. Her voice isn’t only wispy now, it’s just the barest of breaths.

  The wheels turn in my head. I close my eyes and clench my fists against her shirt. “No,” I say. I’m not quite sure if I’m protesting or disagreeing. She has to be lying to make me feel better, right?

  “I would do it again,” she says, holding me tighter as I begin to shake.

  “No,” I moan. “You didn’t. You can’t…”

  A memory fades in slowly. A meadow. A very human Desireé lying next to me, our fingers intertwined.

  A woman’s voice.

  And after…

  I love you, Avery.

  “I can’t…” I say, but I don’t have the words for this. Why? How had this even happened? It shouldn’t be allowed. Or possible. There are rules for this sort of thing.

  “I don’t regret it,” she says, her voice strengthening with every word.

  I bite my lip to keep another sob from wrenching out of me.

  I am here because of Desireé. Because she loved me.

  Loves me.

  I shake my head, but I know it’s true. That’s the only explanation. How else could I have ended up here?

  “I can’t believe you would do that for me,” I admit, sniffling. I can’t decide how I feel. Confused, of course. But am I angry? Sad?

  I take in a deep, shuddering breath, taking in her scent. Would I have done the same for her? Knowing that I could have all this?

  I can’t be certain that the answer is yes.

  At that moment, though, before I can process, the door opens, and somebody gasps.

  We’ve been discovered.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Azrael is at the door.

  Her right hand covers her mouth, and her eyes are wide.

  This moment is stuck, frozen. It’s an eternity before anybody moves. When Azrael reaches for her weapon, a glistening ax, everything speeds up.

  “No,” I gasp out. Azrael’s eyes are confused for just a moment, but she puts her attention right back on Desireé, whose body is blocking mine. I shove her out of the way and stand in front of her.

  “Please,” I beg, throwing my wings out to block Azrael from doing anything. My hands are shaking, and my eyes are still wet from tears.

  Azrael’s jaw ticks, but she lowers her weapon.

  “Avery,” she says slowly, “what has it done to you?”

  I turn to Desireé, then back to Azrael. “She didn’t do anything. She’s not…” I search for the right words to explain what’s going on, but all I come up with is “bad.”

  Azrael shakes her head. “Avery. Please. Try to see what you’re saying.”

  A hand rests on my shoulder, and Azrael flinches like she’s just been attacked. “Don’t,” Desireé breathes. “You’ll only get hurt.”

  Azrael’s eyes widen. “Avery, don’t listen to whatever that creature is telling you. They have the power to alter your thoughts. Change your memories.”

  I don’t take my eyes of Azrael. My heart races, and a few students have begun to trickle into the hall, peering and gaping over Azrael’s shoulder.

  “She’s not going to hurt anyone,” I say. “There’s been a mistake. She’s supposed to be here.” A few students look at each other, murmuring.

  “Avery,” Azrael says, taking a gentle step toward me, “it’s going to be alright.”

  I back up, but Desireé is stone-still behind me.

  “It is?” I ask, glancing at Desireé, who merely gives me a piteous look before I turn back to the archangel.

  “Yes,” Azrael says, taking another step. I pull my hands back and search until Desireé wraps her fingers around mine. “I just need you to come to me. Nothing bad is going to happen. I promise.”

  I sigh with relief and look at Desireé once again. She smiles, but it doesn’t reach her sad eyes.

  It’s all going to be okay. We’ll figure this out. Azrael will help. I want to tell her all that, but she presses her lips to mine at the moment Azrael leaps forward and grabs me by the arm. I’m yanked away from Desireé, and when Azrael places a hand on my forehead, everything goes dark.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  I open my eyes to find an arched marble ceiling that’s far too bright.

  It takes me a few moments of blinking and looking around to absorb that I’m back in the hospital wing.

  “You’re going to be alright,” someone says to my left. I jerk my head over, and Gabriel and Azrael are both staring at me. It had been Gabriel’s voice. My lip trembles, and I have to clench my jaw to stop it.

  “What’s going on?” I ask. I look around. “What happened to Desireé?”

  The archangels look at each other, then back to me. Finally, Azrael moves to sit on the edge of my hospital bed. Why is she looking at me like that? Like I’m a wild animal that’s about to either flee or attack?

  “Avery, what do you remember about…Desireé?” she says her name with difficulty, her tone laced with subtle derision. I stare at my hands, which are folded in my lap.

  “She and I were dating on Earth. She’s the one that was in the car wreck with me.” Out of the corner of my eye, Azrael and Gabriel give each other a significant look. I ignore it. How is it possible that I’m so tired right now? Even after sleeping for hours, I’ve never been drowsy in Heaven. What did Azrael do to me back in my room?

  “Go on,” Gabriel prods. He doesn’t come any closer to me, though.

  I sigh. I don’t want to talk about this. Shouldn’t they just trust me? “We were together for a long time. After we died…” I consider whether I should say this next part, but I have to tell them everything if they’re to believe in her innocence. “She was there. With Cain.”

  One half of Azraels lips turn down. “That’s odd,” she admits. “Cain almost always meets with souls alone.”

  I nod. “I read that. But we were together. It was in a field, and then she left first. With Cain. The next thing I knew, I was waking up here.” I shrug. “That’s all I know. Except then, when the second attack came, she was there. I couldn’t remember her until then. It was like everything was static, but when I saw her again, it all came back to me.”

  Azrael seems nervous and concerned. She tilts her head and rests a hand over mine.

  “Avery,” she says gently while Gabriel watches, “I know this is going to be difficult to believe, but some demons have powers. They have different abilities. And some…” She takes a deep breath before continuing, “Some are able to alter memories. They can put things there that weren’t before. Things from your past life that don’t quite add up, people that were never there…It’s a power they use to create weakness in our ranks. I’ve seen it many times before.”

  I pull my hand away and glare at her.

  “You don’t know what you’re talking about,” I say.

  Still, a tiny seed of doubt plants itself in my head, the smallest of invasions. Azrael would know, wouldn’t she? I shake my head and bury it as far back as I can.

  “I know this is difficult for you,” Azrael says, and it really sounds like she cares. “Unfortunately, there’s nothing I can do to fix this. The only way for this curse to be lifted is for you to believe in it.”

  I frown. That doesn’t make a lot of sense. How could I possibly believe that Desireé isn’t the girl I know her to be? The girl who grew up in the house up the road? The girl who wa
s kind to me when bullies came after me in middle school? The girl who anxiously kissed me in the locker room after the pool closed for the night and we were finishing our lifeguarding shifts?

  “Just think about it,” Azrael says. Gabriel doesn’t speak, and his mouth is a thin line. “You’re free to return to your room, but I should warn you that most of the student body knows what happened today. If you’d like, you are free to skip class tomorrow to recuperate and think about what I’ve told you.”

  I nod. “Thanks,” I say. I’m not sure if I mean it.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Desireé is not released, but she isn’t dead. When Gabriel informs me of such with pity, I breathe a sigh of relief. There’s still a chance she’ll be okay. I have time to convince the angels to release her, to bring her to the light. She deserves to be here far more than I do.

  Huỳnh and Gabe still sit with me at dinner, but they don’t invite me out anymore. Instead, they give me wary looks. Maybe Azrael is making them spend time with me to force me out of my thoughts of Desireé. It doesn’t work. They’re uncomfortable around me, and it’s obvious. I don’t blame them. I’d been caught consorting with a demon, and everyone things my mind has been altered.

  Long after midterms, when the halls are buzzing about the final test for first-term students, I find Nicolai waiting at my door.

  “Come in,” I say when I catch him standing there. He steps inside, and I expect him to watch me out of the corner of his eyes, to be careful to not turn his back to me like everyone else.

  He sits on my bed and leans back against my pillows casually, like he belongs here. The fact that he doesn’t have wings means that he seems tiny on the expansive mattress that has grown to fit all of me.

  “What do you want?” I ask, my mood sour. I’ve been reading as many books as I can about Cain, but I haven’t found much more than the single sentence that ruined my life weeks ago. On the bright side, my Enochian assignments are coming back with excellent marks. With all the constant translating, I’m practically fluent in the language.