The Angel Trap
Dark World: The Angel Trials 3
Michelle Madow
Dreamscape Publishing
Noah
I sat in the back seat of the Range Rover, Raven’s head laid out on my lap as Sage sped north up the freeway. Sage drove fast. Way faster than any of the other cars on the road.
We needed to get to Chicago as quickly as possible. It didn’t matter if a cop tried to stop us. If they did, we’d throw a pod of memory potion at them and make them forget they’d pulled us over in the first place.
Meanwhile, I ran my hands through Raven’s hair, trying to will her to hold on. Her skin was red, charred, and blistered—because she’d held onto my heavenly knife and used it to slay a demon that I was supposed to kill.
Humans weren’t supposed to handle heavenly weapons. While heavenly weapons felt normal to supernaturals, they burned hot to humans. Apparently it was like getting your hand near a hot stove.
It was a warning to them—letting them know to stay away from magic too powerful for them to handle.
Raven had been too stubborn to pay attention to the warning.
When Raven, Sage, and I were ambushed by a strong warrior demon and the strange red-eyed wolf shifter that accompanied him, Raven had gotten ahold of my heavenly dagger and killed the demon from behind.
Holding the heavenly weapon for so long had nearly killed her.
It still was killing her.
The injuries the heavenly weapon had inflicted on Raven were mortal, so healing potion hadn’t worked on her. She’d been unconscious since killing the demon. Saving her should have been hopeless.
But she’d reached out to me through our imprint bond and let me know that vampire blood could cure her.
I’d never heard of vampire blood being able to do such a thing. Neither had Sage. But it was the last bit of hope I had to save Raven’s life, so I’d grabbed onto it.
Unfortunately, if Raven was right and vampire blood could save her, the vampires had gone to a lot of trouble to keep this secret from all other supernaturals for centuries. Just knowing about the power of their blood could get us killed.
So we had three options.
One: Ask a vampire nearby in Nashville to borrow some of their blood and risk them likely sending their coven to kill us.
Two: Corner a nearby vampire in Nashville, kill them for their blood, give it to Raven, and hope no one ever found out.
Three: Go to a vampire we could trust and hope they’d be willing to save Raven.
I’d been seconds away from choosing option two—finding a random vampire and killing them for their blood. It wouldn’t have been moral or right. But I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I let Raven die.
However, Sage had sworn there was a vampire she could trust in Chicago. A guy named Thomas Bettencourt.
I’d never heard of him before. Then again, I didn’t know much about the supernatural community outside of my hometown of the Vale. Everything else I knew had been what Sage had told me during the past few weeks when we’d been working together to kill demons.
She’d certainly never mentioned a vampire in Chicago by the name of Thomas Bettencourt.
But I trusted Sage. So if she said we could trust this Thomas guy, I believed her. Plus, Raven had sent a burst of positive energy in my direction when Sage had mentioned Thomas.
Raven didn’t want me killing a random vampire to save her life, either. Not when there was another option on the table.
Which was why we were now driving as fast as possible from Nashville to Chicago. The map on Sage’s phone said we could get there in seven and a half hours, but with the way she was speeding, we’d get there sooner than that.
I studied Raven’s face, finding her beautiful despite her red, charred skin.
Was it just me, or was the red a deeper color than before?
She was getting worse.
If I couldn’t hear her weak heartbeat and feel her warm energy through our imprint bond, I would have thought she was already dead.
What if we didn’t make it in time? What if she took her final breath right here in this car, before we had a chance to save her?
My heart descended into darkness at the thought. I’d had so many awful things happen to me in the past few months—I couldn’t handle Raven dying on top of all of it.
Not before I told her about our imprint bond.
If she died, surely it was some sort of cosmic punishment for what I’d done at the Vale.
But I couldn’t let my mind go down that path. If I did—if I let myself think about all the terrible things I’d done and witnessed—I’d get pulled further and further down a spiral of defeat.
I needed to distract myself.
What better way to do that than to learn more about this mysterious vampire that Sage trusted with her life?
“So.” I focused on Sage as she expertly weaved her way around two cars blocking our way. “I think it’s time you tell me about Thomas Bettencourt.”
Noah
Sage’s eyes hardened the moment I said Thomas’s name.
I recognized that look. It was heartbreak.
Whoever this vampire was, he’d done a serious number on her.
“Thomas is the leader of the Bettencourt coven,” she said, keeping all emotion out of her voice. “They’re a powerful coven in Chicago, and they all live in the Bettencourt Hotel. They get their blood from the humans who stay there as guests.”
“They must be able to afford a lot of memory potion,” I guessed.
That was the only way a vampire coven could stay in one place for so long—if they could afford enough memory potion to keep their victims unaware of the fact that they were being fed on. All supernaturals hid from humans. Our community had gotten especially strict about it in the past century, as humans had grown in number and developed weapons that were extremely dangerous—even to us.
Yes, we were strong enough to overpower humans like they were insects. But against a nuclear bomb?
That wasn’t something we wanted to test out.
The vampires were especially strict about keeping themselves hidden. Most vampires lived in one of the six kingdoms—one on each continent—but there were a handful of covens and rogue vampires spread about as well. If a coven or rogue vampire got too reckless and the humans nearby got suspicious, the closest vampire kingdom swooped in real fast to put an end to it.
If the caught vampires were drinking from their victims but allowing them to live, they were usually allowed to take up residence in one of the kingdoms.
If they were draining the humans dry, they were killed.
The only vampire kingdom that allowed their vampires to kill was the Tower. But the Tower was in South America, so their laws didn’t apply in the United States.
Vampires caught out of line in the United States were handled by the Vale.
“They can certainly afford it,” Sage said. “But I’m not sure how often they have to use it.”
“Really.” I leaned forward, intrigued, keeping Raven’s head steady on my lap the entire time. “Why’s that?”
“Because Thomas isn’t just any regular vampire,” Sage said. “He’s a vampire prince.”
I whistled, not bothering to hide that I was impressed. Vampire royalty were far stronger than their common counterparts. Because in addition to their regular supernatural powers, they could use compulsion.
Which meant they could look someone in the eye and command them to do whatever they said.
When it came to erasing memories, memory potion was always a better bet over compulsion. But compulsion could definitely be used to make a human forget about an encounter or two with a vampire.
It explained how Thomas and his coven had
been able to live in one place undetected for so long.
“What’s His Highness doing here?” I asked, not bothering to hide the sarcasm from my tone. “Shouldn’t he be in his kingdom, doing whatever it is that princes do?”
“He was turned by Mary of the Haven,” Sage said. “In the 1930s—after the Great War—Mary searched for strong humans she thought could become powerful vampires and turned them, so she could keep the Haven as protected as possible.”
I nodded, not surprised at all. The Great War of the 1920s was one of the darkest times in supernatural history. It made sense that Mary, the ruler of the Haven, had wanted to increase her numbers to keep the Haven protected.
As the most peaceful kingdom in the world, the vampires of the Haven drank only animal blood. But this made them weaker than vampires that fed on human blood. So they needed other ways to protect themselves. Before the Great War, the vampires of the Haven were already well protected thanks to their alliance with the local tiger shifters. But increasing their population with more powerful vampires—vampires with unique abilities, like Rosella who could see the future—made them even stronger. Everyone knew not to mess with the Haven.
“Thomas was our age in the 1930s—during the Great Depression,” Sage continued. “He had a talent for machines—tinkering with them and getting them to work—but he was only making pennies. Those were hard times back then. So when Mary came to him and asked if he wanted to be turned into a vampire, he took her up on the offer.”
“Hold up,” I said. “Mary made him an offer?”
I didn’t think vampires gave humans an option on if they wanted to turn or not. The vampires I knew—which honestly, weren’t many—had been turned against their wills.
“The Haven is a kingdom dedicated to peace,” Sage said. “Any vampire willing to survive on animal blood is welcome there. And when a vampire of the Haven turns a human, that human is always given a choice. Thomas saw turning as the best chance out of poverty, so he took it. He had access to money in the Haven, and he wanted to wire the money to his family to keep them comfortable for the rest of their lives.”
“But now he lives in Chicago,” I said, and Sage nodded. “If he was turned by Mary, shouldn’t he still be in the Haven?”
“Mary doesn’t want any resident of the Haven to be a prisoner there,” she said. “All Haven residents are free to leave, although it’s their responsibility to remain under the radar wherever they go. Mary isn’t responsible for anything they do if they leave the Haven. Thomas did live there for the first decade after he was turned, but the Haven is more of a… traditional place. They’re not up to date on the latest technology. As Thomas saw glimpses of the progress the outside world was taking, he yearned to be a part of it. So he left, bought the hotel in Chicago, and turned it into the Bettencourt of today.”
“It sounds like a fancy place.” I stroked Raven’s hair as I spoke. Even though she was unconscious, I needed to remind her I was there for her and that I wasn’t going anywhere—not until she was healed, and not ever.
“You have no idea,” Sage said. “Thomas turned the hotel into a fortress.”
“I can’t wait to see it,” I said, since I was curious. “But when I asked about Thomas, I wasn’t asking about his personal history.”
Sage stared straight ahead, saying nothing.
“I was asking about your relationship with him.” Apparently she needed me to spell it out for her.
“I know you were,” she said. “And I was purposefully avoiding talking about it.”
“Why?” I asked.
“Because Thomas and I have a… complicated history.” She tightened her grip around the steering wheel, the broken look in her eyes returned.
“How complicated?” I was more curious than ever. Sage was a straight shooter, so whatever had happened between her and Thomas must have been pretty bad.
“Beyond complicated.” She took a deep breath, and then let it out all at once. “Because once upon a time, Thomas Bettencourt and I were engaged.”
Noah
“What?” I didn’t know what I’d expected, but it certainly hadn’t been that. “You mean engaged to be married?”
She glanced back at me in the rearview mirror and raised an eyebrow. “What other type of ‘engaged’ is there?” she asked.
“I don’t know,” I said. “I just didn’t know you were ever engaged.”
“That’s because I never told you,” she said. “It’s not something I ever talk about. But you’re going to find out at some point while we’re there, so…” She shrugged, letting the statement hang in the air.
“What happened?” I asked, since obviously something had happened. If it hadn’t, then Sage would be married right now.
That was so weird to think about.
“He broke off the engagement and hasn’t spoken to me since.” She shrugged again, but I could tell from the pain shining in her eyes that it was hard for her to talk about.
“What a dick,” I said the only appropriate response I could think of in that moment.
“Tell me about it.” She rolled her eyes and chuckled. “I was only eighteen. I didn’t handle it well.”
“I don’t think that’s something anyone can ‘handle well,’” I said. “It just straight out sucks.”
“It did straight out suck.” She smiled—this time for real. “But when I say I didn’t handle it well, I mean that right afterward, I kissed every shifter in California trying to find someone to imprint with. I thought if I imprinted, it would get rid of the hole in my heart that Thomas had created by breaking our engagement.”
“And you didn’t imprint on any one of those guys?” I asked.
“Oh, I didn’t limit myself to guys,” she said mischievously. “But correct. Out of all the shifters I kissed—and trust me, there were a lot of them—I didn’t imprint on one of them. Not one. I’ve never imprinted on anyone. I’m honestly starting to wonder if I’m defective or something.”
“If you’re defective, then I guess I am, too,” I said. “I mean, who’s ever heard of a shifter imprinting on a human?”
“Good point,” she said. “Two defective shifters. I suppose that explains why we’re such good friends.”
“Yeah.” I was silent for a few seconds, reflecting on what she’d just told me. “But there’s one important thing I don’t get,” I eventually said.
“What?” she asked.
“If Thomas Bettencourt broke off your engagement and hasn’t spoken to you since, why do you trust him with Raven’s life?” I asked. “With all our lives?” I needed to add that last part, since we had every reason to believe that vampires would kill us if they knew we knew about the healing properties their blood had on humans.
“Because despite what he did, Thomas loved me,” she said sadly. “He shattered my heart, but he’d never kill me—or anyone I cared about. Especially since the Bettencourt coven is allied with the Montgomery pack. Plus, I know Thomas. He’s practical, logical, and he’ll agree to any deal as long as it benefits him. And he’s very skilled at figuring out ways for things to benefit him. It’ll be fine.”
“Good,” I said. “Because I don’t care what Thomas wants. I’ll do anything to save Raven’s life.”
I studied Raven’s burnt features, guilt tearing through my heart once more at the sight of her.
She was like this because of me. Because I’d failed at protecting her.
If we didn’t get to Chicago in time…
I shook my head, refusing to think about it. Raven was strong. Stubborn. Even though she wasn’t conscious, I knew she was in there, and that she knew we were on the way to get her help. She was going to hold on. Not just for me, but for her mom. After all, that was why we were here in the first place. Raven needed to get to Avalon to go through the Angel Trials to turn into a Nephilim so she could gain the strength she needed to save her mom, who’d been abducted by the greater demon Azazel.
She had too much left to do to give up now.
Everything we were going through was building her strength so she’d survive the Angel Trials. When Raven and I had gone to see Rosella at the Santa Monica Pier, Rosella had said that Raven needed the experiences she’d have with me on my hunt to survive the Trials. The vampire seer had insisted that Raven accompany me.
At first, I’d thought that was ridiculous. I hadn’t thought a human could help Sage and me. I thought she’d be useless. Worse than useless—I’d thought she’d be a burden.
But I was wrong. Raven had helped us.
Because as much as it wounded my pride to think it, I wasn’t sure I would have beaten that warrior demon in the alley without her help.
And once she was healed, I’d make sure she never felt unappreciated ever again.
Sage
Noah was too worried about Raven to get any sleep on the drive to Chicago. Understandably so. I didn’t bother asking if he wanted to a turn driving, because there was no chance he was leaving Raven’s side in the backseat.
It was a good thing I’d taken a nap yesterday afternoon before we left to hunt the demon in Nashville. Noah always said that one of the most important parts of demon hunting was to make sure you slept whenever there was time to do so, since we never knew when we’d be able to sleep next.
I was too anxious about seeing Thomas again to sleep, anyway. Not because I didn’t think he’d help Raven—I meant what I’d told Noah earlier about trusting him with my life.
But because it was going to be so awkward to face him again after he’d humiliated me by breaking our engagement. At the time, he’d given me some crappy excuse about realizing it was silly to think a marriage between a vampire and a shifter could work out.
I didn’t buy it. I might have been young when we fell in love, but the love between us had been real. He should have told me the truth about why he’d called off the wedding.
Which was why I hadn’t spoken to him since.
The Angel Trap Page 1
