Angels & Demons: The Series

by Megan Linski

  I move closer to him. “I told you she’s gonna be okay,” I say softly. “I won’t ever break a promise to you.”

  He nods numbly. The air around us begins spinning, colors molding together as Texas disappears around us. Thames looks around. I copy him, trying to figure out where we’re going.

  When we finally land, I can’t name the location based on geography alone. The area is dark, stars shining above us. The full moon illuminates an area blooming with spring, leftover piles of freshly melted snow clustered along the bushes.

  We can’t be too far from Texas. It’s still dark, so the timezones have to be similar.

  We’re standing on a hill. Below us is a cluster of buildings, nearly fairy-tale like in appearance. There are houses, and tiny shops, and dozens of lovely lights tinkling everywhere. It’s nearly… a Romani village.

  I look to Lavonne for answers. She gives me a coy smile. “Welcome to the Immortal Legion.”

  “I’m sorry, but what the hell is that?” I ask.

  Lavonne… everyone… turns to stare at me.

  I don’t care if I’m being rude. This town, this place… it’s not right. Sydney should be here.

  And she’s not.

  I don’t think I’ll ever get the image of her burned, limp body out of my head. We kept her alive for months, hoping somehow we could get her soul back from Cody, and it was all for nothing.

  Thames doesn’t say anything, but puts his hand at its usual place, on my lower back. It’s a sign of support, but also a warning. I can almost hear the urgency in his silent words. Be careful.

  “I know you just lost one of your best friends,” Lavonne says bluntly. “But I did, too. And so did Cass. And like it or not, I’m your only option for survival.”

  Lavonne takes a deep breath. “Okay. Let’s go.”

  We walk through the forest, toward the tiny village. Cass jogs to keep up with her friend. “Lavonne, this doesn’t make any sense. You’re supposed to be at Harvard.”

  “I was,” she states. “Until Emalee died. Then I came back here, to help the Legion fight the Perfect Order.”

  “You know about the Perfect Order?” Cassia asks, astounded.

  “Everyone in the immortal world knows about Roman,” Allen says.

  “What is this Immortal Legion?” Athias interrupts. Out of all of us, he’s the most suspicious. “I’ve been with the council for years and never heard of them.”

  “You wouldn’t have,” Allen responds in that deep, gravelly voice that sounds a lot like Morgan Freeman. “They do not seek war, but peace.”

  Allen stands taller. “I was hunted down by the Nephilim council years ago after I refused to join their ranks. They nearly killed me, and left me for dead in the Northern forests,” Allen says.

  He glances at Athias. “You would remember. You led them.”

  A coldness penetrates my gut. Athias appears sheepish. “Yes. I remember you. That I did, and I sincerely apologize. There were many things I did for the council I was not proud of.”

  “At least you are willing to admit fault. For that, I accept your apology, and extend forgiveness.” Allen claps Athias on the back. The old man seems surprised, but says nothing more.

  “What happened in the forest?” I interrupt.

  “Lavonne’s mother found me, and tended to my wounds until I was better,” Allen responds. “We married shortly after.”

  “So you have Nephilim blood?” Cass asks Lavonne, shocked.

  “No. I’m mortal. Adopted,” Lavonne says. “My parents raised me to fight.”

  “I never knew that,” Cass says quietly.

  “There are a lot of things you don’t know about me,” Lavonne says quietly.

  We enter the village. Up close, it’s even prettier. The buildings are built in a pell-mell fashion, crooked, with some walls higher than the others and beautiful designs carved into the wooden doors. Some roofs are thatch, others are tiled, the tops of them spiraling up to end in spires at the top. The pathways between the houses are paved with brick, flowers growing in handmade boxes along the square. Each of the houses is painted a different color. There are no muted tones, but bright and vibrant colors, like purple, or dark red.

  It looks perfectly put together despite the individual chaos of each little hut.

  There’s a small hospital waiting nearby. Nothing fancy; it has perhaps a few dozen rooms. Lavonne pushes a button and a team of nurses come running out with a gurney. A doctor follows, his white coat billowing behind him.

  “What’s wrong?” the doctor asks, looking at Clara. She’s turned ridiculously pale in the short time we’ve spent walking to the village.

  “My mom,” Cairo says weakly. “She’s dying.”

  “We’ll take good care of her.” The doctor gestures to the gurney. “Put her there, son.”

  Cairo lays her on the stretcher; he watches, lonesome, as they wheel Clara away.

  “I’ll go with her,” Isolde says, lying a hand on Cairo’s arm before she glances at Lavonne. “If that’s all right.”

  “Go. She needs you,” Lavonne says.

  Isolde hustles off after the gurney, and a knotted pit of anxiety settles in my stomach. Isolde is like the mother of the group… it doesn’t feel right when she’s gone.

  Almost like it’s not safe.

  Thames hasn’t said goodbye, but he’s very stiff. I give his hand a loving squeeze. “Don’t worry. Mom will be fine.”

  His face is tight. “How can we trust them?”

  “I just have a feeling.” I look around. Ever since I stepped foot in this village, this place feels like… home. I’ve never really had a home before, somewhere I truly belonged. This— this is it.

  Lavonne gestures to us with her hand. “Follow me. I’ll show you where to go.”

  “What are you talking about?” Cairo says. “I don’t want to leave my mother.”

  “You guys need sleep, and rest. We have spare houses for you to stay in,” Lavonne replies.

  “Who said we’re staying?” Thames asks. I give him a sharp look. Now who’s the one being rude, jackass?

  “I’m sorry, Thames, but this is the only place left in the world that’s safe for you,” Lavonne says. “Not to mention Clara needs time to heal, once she’s out of surgery. Hopping around from place to place isn’t going to do her any good.”

  Thames swears under his breath.

  Lavonne and her father begin walking again, as if we don’t have a choice but to follow them.

  We really don’t. We fall in step behind Cass as she says, “If we’re going to stay here, I need to know some things.”

  “Ask.” Lavonne says bluntly. “I’ll answer every question I can.”

  “What is the Immortal Legion?” Cass asks. “And all of… this?” She waves her hand around at the village.

  “The Immortal Legion is a group of Roma who have come together to seek the truth,” Lavonne says. “They are in tune with the Divine and have devoted their lives to finding it. Centuries ago, they moved to this forest and built this town for that purpose.”

  “And why are you here? You’re not Roma,” Cass says, confused.

  “They usually don’t allow outsiders, but since my Dad was being hunted by the council, they took us in,” Lavonne explains. “The Immortal Legion will take in any Nephilim that are targeted by the council, so long as they swear to protect it.”

  “But what’s that got to do with Nephilim?” Cairo questions. “The Immortal Legion is composed of mortals, it seems.”

  “They are mortals who believe all living creatures deserve a chance to live in peace,” Allen says. “All members of the Legion are trained to fight, but they do not think anyone or anything should be hunted down or forced to submit to another’s will. Not even cambions.”

  He glances at Thames. Thames seems cowed. He’s in shock anyone outside of his family could actually accept him.

  “But we are obligated to stop immortals who are determined to harm the human race, and tha
t includes Roman and his thugs,” Lavonne says. “We’re the last guardians between the immortal world and the mortal.”

  She pauses before a set of houses. Three of them to be exact, all identical in structure and form. The lights are off. Are we supposed to live here now?

  “Lavonne, why didn’t you tell me all of this?” Cass steps in front of her friend. “You knew about the immortal world all this time, and you never said anything.”

  “Did you tell me about being a Nephilim?” Lavonne says harshly. “No. Both of us had to keep secrets, because we thought it would keep the other one safe. I found out you were a Nephilim after you changed, Cass, but you were with the council. I couldn’t tell you about us without worrying they would force it out of you.”

  “How did you find us?” Cairo asks. “We were in the middle of nowhere. We left no clues on where we went.”

  “We’ve been looking for you for some time, since Emalee passed away and the council was disbanded,” Allen states. “We received information of your whereabouts from one of our Romani spies in Texas.”

  He sighs. “Unfortunately, we got that information seconds after Roman, it seems.”

  Lavonne takes out a key. She opens up the first house and says, “This is where Cass and Cairo will be staying. The houses are all the same, on the inside.”

  She turns on the lights, and we step inside. It’s a cozy little cabin, with handmade wood furniture, a fireplace, a tiny kitchen, and a comfortable mini-living room. A set of spiral stairs leads upward to the second floor. That must be where the bathroom and bedroom are.

  Lavonne tosses one key to Thames and another to Athias. “We figured all of you would want your own places.” Lavonne wiggles her eyebrows at Cass. She shakes her head.

  Allen steps back. “We’re sure all of you must be tired and overwhelmed. We’ll leave you to rest, and let you know the moment Clara is out of surgery.”

  Cairo nods. “Thank you.”

  “I’ll come back later, girl,” Lavonne says, and she graps Cass’ hand. “There’s a lot we need to catch up on.”

  Cass smiles at her. “Sure is. I’ll be waiting.”

  When the door closes behind Lavonne and Allen, the rest of us are left standing in a circle, staring blankly at each other.

  “So… what do we do now?” Thames asks.

  “What do you mean? The plan doesn’t change,” Cairo says bluntly. “Once we know Mom is okay, we have to find my dad and ask for his help. It’s final.”

  “But… Cairo…” I say. I don’t want to push his patience, but— “Do we even need to anymore? We thought we were alone, but we’re not. We have the Immortal Legion to help us fight Roman now.”

  He scoffs. “Mortals? They can’t stand up to Nephilim and demons.”

  “I wouldn’t be so sure,” Cass says. “If they’ve been around for this long without getting discovered or wiped out, they might know what they’re doing.”

  Cairo lets out an irritated sigh. “Listen. The Immortal Legion can be a backup plan. If my father joins us, that’s even more people on our side, but if he doesn’t, at least Lavonne and her team are willing to help us. Is everyone happy with that compromise?”

  Nobody, not even Thames, challenges him. Cairo sits on the couch and glares at the fireplace. Athias takes that as his turn to leave.

  “I will be next door, should you have need of me.” He bows to Cass. “I’m not sure if we should trust this… Legion… but they do appear to be our best hope.”

  “Thanks, Athias. We’ll keep you posted.” Cass nods to him, and Athias vanishes.

  Being left alone in a room with all this tension between Cairo and Cass isn’t my idea of a good time, and apparently, not Thames either. He grabs my arms and guides me over to the door.

  “We’re gonna get some sleep, Cass,” Thames tells her. “Call me right away when you hear about my mom, all right?”

  “Of course.” Cass leans over to kiss Thames on the cheek before she and gives me a tight, firm hug.

  “I’m so sorry,” she whispers. “I wish we could’ve helped her.”

  Tears spark in my eyes, but I shove them down.

  “Same.” I pull away from the hug. “Thanks for saving us back there. Otherwise, we all would’ve met the same fate.”

  “Yeah. Well, not Thames.” She laughs. “He’d just be standing around a pile of bodies in a burning bunker wondering what the hell to do next.”

  I laugh loudly, imagining the gruesome thought. For some reason, a perplexed Thames hovering over our ashen corpses is just too funny. These past six months have left me twisted.

  “You guys have a weird sense of humor,” Thames mutters.

  Cairo says nothing as we leave… just keeps on starting at the wall.

  It’s like when the door shuts behind us, a boa constrictor unwraps itself from around my form. I feel bad for Cass. I’m dating the hothead, but Thames goes off like a cannon for five minutes and has it over with. Cairo seems like the type that could be angry for days. He’s the guy that has to control his emotions, or rather, stuff them down.

  Thames opens the door to our cottage. It’s identical to Cassia’s, though it’s different somehow… because it’s mine and Thames.

  “Our own little house.” Thames turns in a circle around the living room, then looks at me. I get a strange little wiggle in my stomach.

  Thames walks forward and grabs me. He places a long, loving kiss on my lips, moving his hands over my body before settling on my hipbones. It’s not sensual, though… more or less caring.

  He leans in to whisper, “Sorry if it’s hard for me to get turned on while my mom’s in a battle of life and death.”

  I giggle, though kind of sadly. “Yeah. I get it. I’m worried about her, too.”

  “Though touching and kissing is very distracting.” Thames winks at me, and I snicker. He collapses on the couch and turns on the TV. The channels are in English, all American stations. Wherever we are, it’s somewhere in the US. He clicks through the channels before settling on a soccer game. Sports are his favorite.

  “I wish we had an Xbox,” he complains. “It’d be great to get out some pent-up aggression right now.”

  “Right. Are you hungry?” I ask, looking in the fridge. I find it fully stocked. “I can make something.”

  “Nah. I think if I try to eat I’m gonna throw up.”

  I close the fridge. He’s more worried than he’s letting on. I cross the room and sit beside him. I throw my legs over his and settle onto his lap. I wrap my arms around his shoulders and hold him tightly.

  “Hey,” I whisper. “She’s going to be okay.”

  “You sure?” Thames glances at me… the corner of his mouth twitches.

  “Yes.” I kiss his forehead. “She’s a strong lady. She’ll pull through.”

  Thames doesn’t say anything, but he intertwines my fingers with his and keeps them there.

  I can’t get my mind off of Sydney. The sight of her, destroyed in that way, is an image that will haunt me the rest of my life. But I can’t grieve now, not when Thames needs me. I keep my eyes on the TV and bite my lip until it bleeds when tears threaten to spill. No crying. Now is the time to fight.

  I fall asleep with my head on Thames’ lap sometime past midnight— he stays up for a little while longer. I groggily wake up during the night as he’s carrying me upstairs to the bed. I fall asleep again when he wraps his arms around me in bed, like he’s trying to find someone to hold onto.

  I have strange dreams of golden feathers, a man that looks like Cairo… and Sydney’s face, smiling at me.

  I don’t know why, but I wake up the next morning with a feeling that meeting Christopher is going to break Cairo’s heart.

  Cairo wasn’t easy to deal with last night. We hardly spoke, though I know for certain he got about as much sleep as I did. I tossed and turned, but he remained stiff and motionless beside me.

  Even then, I knew he wasn’t sleeping.

  After Cairo was finally u
nconscious and I texted her that I couldn’t sleep, Lavonne stopped by. We stayed up until the early hours of morning, talking. We didn’t talk about the Immortal Legion, or the Perfect Order, or Nephilim or demons much at all. Rather, our conversation was about other things… things that didn’t seem like they mattered, but now, looking back, seem to matter very much.

  A lot of our conversation centered on Sydney— and Emalee.

  I’d kill to have some sense of normalcy once again. Some peace. One more day of high school, or a week at flight school, doing what I love and flying planes. I want to talk about guys and movies, music and makeup. This fighting demons and saving the world stuff— it isn’t me. I miss being a regular college student.

  The area under Cairo’s eyes is dark. After Lavonne left I crept back up to our room to find him awake. I open the dresser drawer and hand him some fresh jeans, a t-shirt and a hoodie.

  “Here. Lavonne made sure that the houses were stocked with new clothes.”

  “Thank you.” He heads into the bathroom to take a shower and change. I’m already dressed, so I go downstairs and look for some breakfast.

  I can’t cook, so I drag out a box of doughnuts cabinet and brew some coffee before turning on the news. Cairo comes downstairs with wet hair a half hour later, bleary eyed.

  He looks so adorable half-awake. And a little lost. I put a doughnut and a cup of coffee in his hand and kiss his soft lips. “Good morning.”

  “Good morning,” he says. “Any word on my mom?”

  I bite my lip. “Lavonne didn’t say anything…”

  My phone rings. My hand flies to pick it up. “Hello?”

  “You can come back to the hospital now,” Lavonne’s voice echoes. “Clara’s out of surgery. She’s doing fine— she’s in room eight.”

  “We’ll be there right away.” I pocket the phone and turn to Cairo. “Your mom’s doing good. We can go see her now.”

  Although the mug’s steaming, Cairo chugs the coffee and shoves the doughnut into his mouth. “Let’s go.”

  I don’t eat anything. I’m not hungry.

  Thames and Lena are still sleeping… as always. Cairo and I like to rise with the sun, but you can’t get my sister and her boyfriend up much before noon.