The Angel Trials- The Complete Series

by Michelle Madow

  “Of course I want to,” he said with a chuckle. “But Raven…” He paused and gazed down at me, troubled.

  “What?” I frowned, worried I’d said something wrong.

  “Mating is a major decision.” He shifted, looking uncomfortable. “It’s not something to be taken lightly. And after everything we’ve been through, I do want to mate with you. God help me, because like I told you before, if anything happens to me, you’ll never be able to find love again. But when Azazel took you… when I thought there was a chance you might not make it…” He paused, his eyes hardening. “All I felt was regret. Regret for what I’d said to you back in Thomas’s penthouse, about wanting you to be with another human so you could live a normal life. I was trying to be selfless, but I can’t anymore. Because I want you. Only you. I love you. And if you want me too, then trust me, I’m the last person who’s going to stand in your way of making that happen.”

  I stared up at him and gaped. I didn’t know what I’d expected him to say, but it certainly hadn’t been that. A million emotions buzzed through my body. So many that I found myself totally and completely inarticulate.

  But Noah was waiting for a response. Which meant I needed to get my wits back together and respond.

  “I love you too,” I said, wanting him to never doubt that. “I want to mate with you. More than anything. You’ve brought magic, adventure, love, and a purpose into my life that I never dreamed I could have. You’re the only one for me. But mating… it’s kind of like the human equivalent of marrying. Right?”

  “It is,” he said.

  “I never imagined my mom wouldn’t be at my wedding.” I looked around the stark hotel room of the Haven, feeling empty inside. Yes, the mountainous scenery outside was beautiful. Many would call this a paradise—a perfect location for a wedding.

  But it wouldn’t be a real marriage.

  It would be an elopement.

  And that wasn’t what I wanted.

  “When I get married, I want it to be a celebration of our love,” I continued. “I want the people we love celebrating with us. If we mate right now, it would feel rushed. Forced. Like we’re doing it because we’re too afraid we’ll lose each other if we don’t. But we’re not going to lose each other. So yes, I want to mate with you. But I also want to wait for the right time. And that time isn’t right now.”

  “Practical, as always,” he said with a smirk.

  “Hey.” I smiled back and gave his bicep a friendly slap. “I thought you loved every part of me. Even the practical, logical part.”

  “Of course I do.” He leaned forward and rested his hands on my hips, growling a bit. “But you do realize that by waiting to mate, we’ll have to wait to be intimate as well. The two acts go hand in hand.”

  “Right.” I chewed my lip. When I’d told him my feelings about mating, I hadn’t been thinking about the sex part as much as the marriage part. But it looked like now was the time to address that, too. “About that. I’ve never done it before. I’m a virgin.” I lowered my eyes, feeling my cheeks flush again. This was so embarrassing.

  Twenty-one years old and still a virgin.

  I didn’t regret it. I’d never regret saving myself for my one true love.

  Hopefully Noah saw it the same way. Saw me the same way.

  His lips curved up into a devilish smile. “Which means you’ll always and forever only be mine,” he said, looking down at me with such fierce intensity that it felt like my heart stopped beating.

  There were no more words that needed to be said.

  I moved up to press my lips up to his, and in that moment, despite every crazy supernatural thing happening in the world that was out of my control, everything was perfect.

  12

  Thomas

  After leaving Noah and Raven alone to enjoy their reunion, I hurried downstairs to the dining hall where Mary and the witches were chatting with the humans.

  I didn’t envy those humans in the slightest. They had rough choices in front of them.

  We all did.

  The moment Shivani saw me standing in the corner, she hurried up to me and ushered me out of the room. Shivani was one of the kindest witches in the Haven. She was their head ambassador who went from kingdom to kingdom, representing Mary and being a face of peace. I’d hosted her in the Bettencourt for a fair share of gatherings.

  She and Cassandra had been friends.

  The moment we were out of the dining room, grief struck across her face. We sat on one of the benches, sitting in compatible silence for a few minutes. In moments like these, there was nothing that could be said. Nothing could bring Cassandra back.

  It had all happened so quickly that it didn’t feel real. Part of me expected that I could teleport back to the Bettencourt and Cassandra would be in her condo, prepping potions and spells with her awful pop music blaring in the background.

  I’d always chided her for blasting music so loudly that she was going to blow out her eardrums.

  She’d always rolled her eyes and said, “If it’s too loud, you’re too old.”

  I supposed I was pretty old, compared to her.

  It was unfair that someone so young and full of potential had died so soon.

  “Her funeral pyre needs to happen tomorrow,” I said, finally breaking the silence. “Before I head off to Avalon.”

  “It will,” Shivani said. “My most trusted apprentices are preparing her body as we speak.”

  I knew what she meant. They were mending Cassandra’s remains as best they could to make her presentable for the ceremony.

  When supernaturals sent our vessels to the Beyond, we liked to be as intact as possible. We liked to be remembered for who we’d been while we were whole.

  Not for how we’d been killed.

  “She’ll have a hero’s send off.” It was a statement, not a question. Cassandra had died a hero. She’d have the recognition she deserved.

  “Yes.” Shivani raised her hand to her cheek and wiped away a tear. “She will.”

  We were sitting there in silence when another witch—one I didn’t know—approached. She didn’t look a day over seventeen. She reminded me of a school child coming to a professor with a question she was embarrassed to ask.

  “Riya,” Shivani acknowledged the girl. “I take it you and the others are ready to return to the bunker?”

  I sat forward, instantly alert. “Why are you returning to the bunker?” I asked.

  “Reconnaissance,” Shivani answered. “As you know, it’s the job of witches to ensure the supernatural community stays hidden from humans. Cover-ups are a huge part of what we do. We need to get to that bunker before human police stumble upon it. Or worse—before the demons realize something is amiss and remove anything from the scene of the crime that will be useful for us to know.”

  “Of course.” I nodded, since I should have realized it. Cassandra’s death was making my brain feel like it was in a fog.

  I needed to snap out of it. Sitting here doing nothing wasn’t helping anything. I needed to be useful.

  Usefulness was what would end up saving Sage.

  “Riya is training to be the head of reconnaissance missions of the Haven,” Shivani continued. “Thank you for finding me, Riya. Let’s go to the others and begin.”

  “I’m coming with you.” I stood up, not intending on allowing them to tell me no.

  “No.” Shivani stared me down, her expression fierce. “Reconnaissance and cover ups are witches jobs.”

  “They are.” I straightened. Now that I had a goal in mind, I felt more like myself. Cool, calm, and ready to get what I wanted. “But this was an extremely high tech bunker. Yes, witches are best suited for reconnaissance when the places are guarded with magic. But I know this bunker in and out. I studied it as I prepared to invade it. It’s equipped with technology everywhere. The mission will be more efficient with me using my gift of technology to help you move through it.”

  “You’re Thomas Bettencourt.” The young witch�
��Riya—gaped at me like she was seeing a celebrity. “One of the gifted princes turned by Mary. The one who moved to Chicago decades ago. The one gifted with control over technology.”

  “In the flesh.”

  “He should come,” Riya said, turning to Shivani. “You’re always saying reconnaissance should be handled as swiftly as possible. If this bunker is as high tech as Thomas claims, his being with us will be helpful.”

  I lifted an eyebrow and stared at Shivani pointedly. The logic I’d laid out was irrefutable. She had to know that.

  “Yes.” Shivani sighed and motioned for Riya and I to follow her out of the hotel. “I suppose he will be.”

  13

  Thomas

  Since the strongest Haven witches had used their magic to teleport the humans out of the bunker, the reconnaissance mission consisted mostly of lower level witches or witches training to build their magic and take higher rank. Shivani was able to muster up enough juice to come as well to oversee everything, but she was the strongest witch at the Haven. The others still needed their rest.

  The place where the main fight had gone down—the cafeteria—looked exactly as we’d left it. Food and blood all over the place. The body of the gifted human who had been killed in the fight was graying and cold on the floor.

  It was a mess, but at least the demons hadn’t returned yet. And besides the obvious disaster, there was no magic in there to be dealt with. Since the dead woman was human and not supernatural, she’d be left to be discovered by the police… or whoever stumbled upon her.

  Leaving the body like that was certainly disturbing. But supernaturals had our jurisdictions, and humans had theirs. We tried our best not to mix those grounds if at all possible. It was less messy that way.

  The other rooms were exactly as expected from the surveillance cameras Noah, the Devereux witches, and myself had been watching before the mission. Clean and sterile, with no magical traces. The demons had done a decent job at keeping the bunker looking like a regular human fallout shelter.

  Now, we stood in a room we’d dubbed “the vault.” After the demons had stripped the humans of their belongings, they hadn’t bothered getting rid of them. They’d apparently thrown them all into this one big closet-like area. Like dragons hoarding a trove. There were piles of clothes in one corner. But the most interesting corner held lots of trinkets. Bracelets, necklaces, rings, amulets… I even spotted a deck of tarot cards in the mix.

  Most of the trinkets were junk. But I did spot two familiar items at the top of the pile—Raven’s cloaking ring, and the lapis lazuli necklace she’d worn the entire time I’d known her.

  I reached for both of the items and pocketed them.

  Riya gave me a side-eye as I swiped the items.

  “They belong to Raven,” I said. “I’m going to return them to her.”

  “Ah.” She smiled, apparently relieved to know I wasn’t stealing them for myself. “The redhead imprinted on the wolf shifter.”

  I nodded. Gossip sure did spread fast around here.

  The witches collected all of the stuff in sacks to bring back to the Haven so the humans could sort through it there. They called most of the items junk, but noted a few as legitimately magical.

  Once declaring the rest of the bunker clear, we ventured upstairs to the farmhouse.

  Everything was exactly as I remembered it. Down to the two vampire corpses Noah, Bella, and I had left on the kitchen floor.

  They were laid up on top of one another, although one was decapitated. His empty eyes gazed out from his head next to the twisted bodies. And their blood was everywhere. The strong, metallic scent of it filled the entire room.

  Riya stared down at the corpses, her eyes wide and hollow. She took a timid step backward.

  If I hadn’t known she’d seen the dead human woman in the cafeteria earlier, I would have guessed she’d never seen a corpse before.

  Maybe it was different for her to see vampires taken down. It would make sense. Supernaturals were difficult to kill. Especially immortals like vampires. It wasn’t something that ever happened in the Haven.

  Shivani glanced at Riya and three of the other trainees expectantly. “You know what needs to be done,” she said.

  “Of course.” Riya walked up to the bodies to stand where their heads were. “Please, give us room.”

  We all backed away as the other three trainees joined her to form a circle around the dead vampires.

  Riya removed the pack from her back, unzipped it, and pulled out a bag full of dirt. She opened it, and each witch stepped up to grab a handful. Riya was the last to take a handful of her own.

  Shivani took the bag and put it back inside Riya’s pack. Then she reached for another object from the pack—a vial full of either invisibility potion or water. It was impossible to tell, since the two looked the same. Shivani uncapped the vial and dropped a bit of the clear liquid into the dirt each girl was holding, like she was watering a flower.

  The dirt stayed visible, so the liquid appeared to be water.

  Next, Shivani put away the vial, coming back around with a lighter. Starting with Riya, she lit the flame and held it above the watered dirt. At contact, the top of the dirt burst into flames.

  She went around the circle, lighting up the other witches’ handfuls of dirt as well. The flames danced dangerously across their faces. For the first time watching them, I felt like I was observing true witches—not apprentices.

  Riya glanced around at the three other girls, her eyes fierce and ready.

  They watched her, waiting for her next move.

  “Earth, Water, Fire, and Air,” Riya began, staring at the flaming mound in her hand. She continued chanting, the words now in Latin.

  She said the chant once, and then the other girls joined in, their voices rising in volume as they repeated it three times.

  After the third time, they each took a deep breath, raised their hands holding the dirt to their faces, and blew—hard. Bright yellow sparks flared out and joined together in the center of the circle. The magic swirled together, growing into a giant orb. Then it shot down toward the dead vampires below.

  The bright yellow light engulfed the corpses. It flashed bright, filling the circle. Then, just as quickly as it appeared, it was gone.

  The bodies were gone, too. Even their spilled blood was no longer there.

  Their bodies had been sent to the Beyond.

  So why did the room still smell like vampire blood?

  I sniffed deeply, zoning in on where the scent was coming from. The refrigerator.

  Not bothering to explain myself, I marched up to the fridge and pulled the door open.

  Inside was a gallon and a half of blood. Not human blood.

  Vampire blood.

  14

  Thomas

  “Why were the demons keeping over a gallon of vampire blood in this refrigerator?” I asked, casually glancing around at the witches in the room.

  Each of them looked clueless. Rightfully so.

  Because no supernaturals other than vampires knew about the benefits vampire blood had to humans. Sure, the word got out occasionally, but the secret had managed to remain pretty well contained.

  Enough that all of these witches didn’t know.

  I was figuring out what to tell them when a woman dressed in a blue bunker suit came flying down the stairs. Not a woman—a teen. Long brown curls flew out behind her, tears rushing down her face as she half-ran, half-stumbled down to us.

  I recognized her immediately. She was one of the girls in the bunker with Raven. They’d shared the same table at meals, and they’d spent a lot of their free time together.

  I thought I’d seen the last of her when the demons had barged in during breakfast and dragged her away kicking and screaming.

  Now here she was.

  But she didn’t smell human. She didn’t smell supernatural, either.

  She smelled like nothing.

  The witches instantly went for their preferred
weapons and held them out in front of them, ready to fight.

  “Stop,” I commanded, stepping between the witches and the girl.

  They obeyed.

  Probably because the girl collapsed to her knees when she reached the bottom of the stairs.

  “Help me.” She breathed heavily, her glassy, bruised eyes shining with fear as she looked up at me. Her skin was icier than the palest vampire. Inhuman. Like a ghost, stuck between life and death.

  Because right now, that’s precisely where she was.

  “I’m not going to hurt you.” I held out my hands to show I wasn’t holding a weapon. Hopefully that would calm her.

  After all, I’d been where she was before. It wasn’t a time I liked to think about. Or that I even remembered beyond a flash or two. The emptiness, the hunger… it felt like it went all the way to the marrow of the bones.

  “You’re okay,” I said steadily. “I’m sure you’re frightened right now, but you’re going to be all right. You just need to come with us. We’ll get you what you need.”

  “What exactly does she need?” someone whispered behind me. Riya.

  “Human blood.” Shivani looked down at the girl gravely. “So she can complete the transition and become a vampire.”

  “No.” The girl kneeling before me gasped and reached for her neck. Twin pinpoints were there—where the vampire had bitten her, nearly drained her, and then injected her with venom. “I’m a human. The vampire bit me, and I thought she was going to drain me, but then I woke up…” She looked around at all of us, confused. Then something else set in—realization. Dread. “You’re all part of this, aren’t you?” she asked. “You’re working with them. With the demons.” Her voice wavered, and she wrapped her arms around herself, collapsing inward and letting out a horrifying wail.

  She wasn’t making much sense. But that was to be expected. No one remembered much—if anything—from the transition period. At least nothing more other than the empty, gnawing hunger that pounded down to the bones.