The Angel Trials- The Complete Series

by Michelle Madow

  I narrowed my eyes at her. My angel instinct wanted me to fight.

  But because this was my mom, I reined in my urge to attack. If she were any other vampire—or if I were any other Nephilim—I suspected she might have been dead right now along with the demon.

  “She’s a demon,” I said, glaring at the blonde with hate. “I’m here to save you from her.”

  “I don’t need saving from her,” my mom said. “Mara’s the reason you’re here right now. She’s the reason you’re still alive. She helped me save you. Put down the sword and hear us out. Please.”

  Us? I looked back and forth between them in confusion, still holding tightly onto Excalibur. It almost sounded like my mom and this demon girl—Mara—were a team.

  That couldn’t be possible. Demons didn’t team up with non-demons. Controlled and manipulated them, yes. But teamed up? Never.

  “What are you talking about?” I asked.

  “Will you put down the sword?” she repeated. “It’s hard to have a conversation with that thing waving in my face.”

  My mom had never been the violent type. She was into peace, love, and all that jazz. Apparently, becoming a vampire hadn’t changed that part of her.

  I continued to glance between my mom and the demon. I didn’t want to put down my sword. No way was I giving this demon a chance to attack. She might look like a sweet blonde on the outside, but demons were evil to the core. I wouldn’t be fooled by one.

  Mara must have done a seriously good job of getting into my mom’s head if my mom was protecting her like this.

  “Mara won’t hurt you,” my mom said, her voice calmer and steadier now. It was the same voice she’d used to calm me down whenever I’d thrown tantrums as a kid. “She’s on our side.”

  “She’s a demon,” Noah spoke up from next to me. He also held his weapon—his slicer—at the ready. “Demons don’t care about anyone but themselves. Whatever she told you to make you think otherwise, don’t believe her.”

  “I mated with Flint,” Mara finally spoke up, wringing her hands together in front of her as she spoke. She sounded young and innocent. Not demon-like at all.

  It was probably part of the game she was playing. I could see how someone could be fooled. She was pretty convincing.

  “Sage’s brother?” I asked, even though there was no other Flint she could be referring to. “The alpha of the Montgomery pack?”

  “Yes,” Mara said, and I lowered my sword slightly, although I was still ready to strike at a moment’s notice. “Mating with him changed me. It gave me a conscience. And ever since then, nothing in my life has been the same.”

  31

  Raven

  Mara and my mom quickly told us about how much Mara had changed, including her new ability to shift into a wolf. Noah came to the same conclusion that Mara had—she was a dyad.

  By mating with Flint, their souls had melded, and she’d developed a conscience.

  The entire story was pretty convincing. Then again, demons were skilled liars. I wished I had Jessica with me, or a vial of truth potion. But I’d come here so quickly from Avalon that I hadn’t had time to pack up my weapons belt.

  “Why should I believe any of this?” I asked, still holding Excalibur at the ready.

  “You don’t have to believe her,” my mom said. “But you should believe me. You see, Mara and I have been working together for months. I’ve been helping her learn to accept and control her new emotions. It’s been difficult, given that the demon bond on Flint put Mara in a tough situation. The bond took away Flint’s free will. It took away everything that made him the man she loved. And it could only be broken by Azazel’s death. It would have been an intense moral dilemma for someone who’s had emotions for their entire life, let alone someone who’s still adjusting to them.”

  I looked at Mara, seeing the demon girl in a new light. “The only way to get back your soul mate was for your father to die,” I said softly.

  She nodded, her eyes pained at my words. They were red like a demon’s, but they weren’t empty. There was actual emotion in there. There was more than pain. There was intense anguish.

  Mara had been to Hell and back. Both literally and figuratively.

  I wouldn’t wish her problem on my greatest enemy. Well, maybe I would. But as much as it surprised me, I wasn’t seeing Mara as the enemy anymore. At least, not completely.

  “I chose Flint,” she choked out, focused on me. “My father wanted me alive, because to him, family represents power. But he didn’t love me. My time spent here with Skylar taught me what parental love should be like. I’d never had that with my father. Because of what he was, he would never have been able to love me. But Flint loved me before being bound to my father, and I know he loves me now that the bond is broken. Once I knew Flint’s love, I could never live without it. So I chose my mate over my father. It was the hardest decision I’ve ever made. But it was the right one. Because in the end, I chose love. And I’ll never regret it.”

  I stepped closer to Noah, our imprint bond pulsing with warmth between us. As much as I didn’t want to trust Mara, I understood where she was coming from. Now that I knew what the love of an imprint bond felt like, my life would be hollow if I ever lost that connection.

  Mara’s decision to turn on her father, as twisted as it was, made sense.

  “After a few weeks of your mother being here, my father trusted me to guard her,” Mara continued, looking relieved that I was listening. “I gave her a glass of blood and a dose of complacent potion twice a day. He used the complacent potion on her so she could only do tarot readings and predict the future for him. But to save Flint, I needed her to read the cards for me.

  “So I stopped giving her the complacent potion. Instead of dosing her like I was supposed to, I flushed the potion down the toilet. No one knew the difference. Especially because your mom played along, telling my father the truth of what she saw in the cards so he wouldn’t realize anything was amiss. Up until…” She paused, her voice wavering, as if she couldn’t bring herself to keep going.

  “Up until the most recent tarot reading I did for Azazel.” My mom stepped forward, and I lowered my sword completely. “Once Azazel forced the location of Avalon from Kara, he asked me to tell him the best tactic he could use to destroy Avalon. He believed I was on complacent potion and had no choice but to follow his command. So I did a tarot reading. But in my mind, I didn’t ask the cards to tell me how he could best destroy Avalon. I asked them to show me the best way to destroy Azazel.”

  “The cards showed me killing him, didn’t they?” I glanced at Excalibur, which I now held by my side. “With this.”

  “Yes.” My mom smiled proudly. “I drew the Ace of Swords, and saw how to send Azazel to his death. I wouldn’t have been able to do that without Mara’s help.”

  “So what am I supposed to do?” I looked at the demon girl curiously. “Just… let her go?”

  My angel instinct urged me not to do that. But my human instinct—something that was still a part of me, despite my transformation into a Nephilim—wanted me to trust my mom and have compassion for Mara.

  “I want to go to Avalon.” Mara straightened, holding my gaze with hers. “With Flint.”

  I stilled, since that wasn’t what I was expecting her to say. “You’re a demon,” I said, as if she needed reminding. “You’ll never be allowed onto Avalon.”

  That was why Arthur’s simulation existed. To keep demons, and all those who didn’t deserve entrance to Avalon, off the island.

  “That’s not true,” my mom said. “Mara and Flint will pass the simulation and be allowed to live together on Avalon. I’ve seen it in the cards.”

  “And neither of them will turn on us once they get there?”

  “Would Arthur let them through the simulation if they weren’t deserving?” my mom replied with a question of her own.

  “No,” I admitted, although it didn’t make me happy to say it.

  I still had my doubts a
bout how much I could trust a demon, no matter how sincere Mara seemed. But I trusted my mom, I trusted Arthur, and I trusted the magic of Avalon. For now, that was going to have to be enough.

  So I placed Excalibur back inside its sheath, ran up to my mom, and enveloped her in a hug.

  She hugged me back, as strong as ever. I guess that made sense, since she was a vampire and I was a Nephilim.

  “I missed you,” I said. “I’m so glad you’re okay.”

  “I missed you too.” She pulled back and looked into my eyes, as if she were seeing me in a new light. I supposed she was, since my eyes were gold now, and not the green they’d been before. “I’ve always felt you had a great destiny. You fought me on it for long enough, but I’m glad you’ve come into your own. I’m so proud of you, Raven. It’s a mother’s dream to see the strong, powerful woman you’ve grown to be. And you’re going to continue doing great things. I know it.”

  I’d dreamed about being reunited with my mom for so long that this didn’t feel real. Well, it did, and it didn’t. There was a part of me that worried it wouldn’t last.

  But for now, I’d done what I’d set out to do. Azazel was dead. My mom and I were alive and together again.

  Happiness and relief overcame me.

  And so, for the first time in a long time, I let my guard down and cried.

  32

  Sage

  Lavinia was gone. She must have teleported out of the compound once she’d realized the blood bond was broken.

  I’d hoped she’d have the guts to fight. But her departure didn’t surprise me. As strong of a dark witch as she was, even she didn’t want to go up against the Montgomery pack alone.

  She might be safe for now. But the entire pack was out for her blood. Someday—and I didn’t know when that day would be—she had it coming.

  And I intended for her death to be by my hand.

  Once all the demon guards on the premises were confirmed dead, we all met back in the yard. There were also two vampires with us—Derrick and Kara. Now that Azazel was dead, and he was the one to give them commands under the complacent potion, they were no longer bound to follow his orders. The complacent potion was still in their systems, but it would be gone soon enough. As long as none of us gave them any commands—which we didn’t—their will was their own again.

  Derrick was cool and collected, as always. Kara, not so much. The young vampire screamed and demanded to be taken back to her family. It took Derrick plus two of my other pack mates—the two most submissive pack members who were good at dealing with emotions—to get Kara under control.

  Now that the battle was over and the compound was secure, I finally approached Flint.

  The others formed a circle around us, watching us.

  My brother stood strong and proud, although I could tell by his silence that he wasn’t sure what to say to me. I didn’t blame him. What could he possibly say to make amends for allying with Azazel, capturing me, and forcing the pack to go through a blood binding spell with a greater demon?

  Even if I were someday able to forgive him, I’d never look at him the same way.

  However, that wasn’t what bothered me the most.

  What bothered me most was that his eyes were still demonic red.

  When the blood bond with Azazel broke, the red disappeared from my eyes, and the eyes of all the other members of the Montgomery pack. But not Flint’s. His were the same as before.

  He had a slight smoky smell of demon to him, too.

  Had the spell been stronger and more binding for him, since he was our alpha? Was he lost to us forever?

  “Your blood bond isn’t broken,” I accused, holding my sword to my side. Despite how furious I was about what he’d done, he was still my brother and I didn’t want to use it on him. But I was ready if I had to. “You’re still connected to the demons.”

  “I’m not,” Flint said. “I don’t know why my eyes are still red. But I can assure you, my bond is broken.”

  I narrowed my eyes at him. “Why should I believe you?”

  “Because I’m your brother.”

  “Not good enough.” I circled him, each word venomous and full of anger. “Your eyes are red. You smell like demon. You might be my brother, but I don’t trust a word that comes out of your mouth.” I turned to Bella and the other two Avalon witches who had come to help us fight. “Take him to the Vale,” I commanded, since as the vampire kingdom of North America, the Vale upheld supernatural laws in the United States. “Let them decide what to do with him from here.”

  “Wait!” someone yelled, bursting out of the main house and into the yard. Mara.

  Raven, Noah, and Skylar followed behind her. Raven and Noah had their swords raised to protect the young demon.

  Even as Mara stepped between Flint and me, Raven and Noah remained by her sides, guarding her.

  “Why are you protecting Azazel’s daughter?” I asked, looking skeptically at my two best friends. I trusted them, but this made no sense.

  “Flint is no longer bound to my father,” Mara pleaded, sounding desperate. “His will is entirely his own. His eyes are still red and he has a slight scent of demon on him because of his mate bond with me.”

  “Mara.” When Flint looked at his mate, his eyes were pained and broken. I’d never seen him so vulnerable, ever. “I’m so, so sorry.”

  “I know.” She stepped toward him and took his hands in hers. “I love you. Everything I did was for you. I helped Skylar and Raven defeat my father for you.”

  He pulled her in for a kiss, and we all watched, stunned. Except for Raven, Skylar, and Noah. The three of them seemed to know exactly what was going on.

  Bella stepped forward, fierce as always in her killer black heels and even deadlier sword. She pointed its tip toward Mara. “One of you better explain this before I turn blondie here to dust,” she said to Skylar, Raven, and Noah.

  Quickly, Skylar summarized everything she’d been up to with Mara for the past few months. The entire pack listened to the prophetess, more and more shocked with each word.

  Thomas looked at Mara with the most suspicion of all of us. “If you can truly shift into a wolf, prove it,” he said.

  “All right.” Mara stepped forward and gulped nervously. “I’ve yet to complete a full shift, so this won’t be as graceful as you’re used to seeing. But I’ll do my best.”

  I nodded for her to go ahead.

  Her hands shifted first, her fingers turning into claws. That was always the easiest part of the shift—the part we mastered upon puberty, when the witch spells that bound our animal sides were removed so we could learn to shift safely. The law insisted that shifters living amongst humans had the spell done to their young. Shifters in the wild used no such spells—they simply started shifting from birth. It would be too difficult for them to survive in the wild otherwise.

  Her feet shifted next, followed by her legs and arms. The rest of her body followed, finished by her head. The shift was relatively graceful for a first time. I suspected it was because she’d been suppressing her wolf for so many months, and it was happy to be free.

  Where she’d been standing was now a beautiful, golden haired wolf with startling red eyes.

  We all stared at her in silence. But Flint looked most awestruck by Mara’s wolf form of us all.

  “Very well.” Thomas was the first to speak. “You’ve proven your point. Now please shift back so we can continue our conversation.”

  Mara did as instructed, although her shift back to human form took a bit longer and was more piecemeal. Once she was human again, Flint stepped up to her, wrapped an arm protectively around her, and murmured something in her ear for only her to hear.

  “So, Mara’s a dyad now,” Bella said. “But she’s still a demon. And Flint’s now a wolf/demon dyad—whatever that means for him. The supernatural community has never dealt with anything like this before. It’s unprecedented. Sage is right that they should be taken to the Vale so King Alexander and the vampi
re court can decide what to do with them.”

  A few people muttered behind her in agreement. Then they looked to me. As the beta of the pack, the decision about the fate of our alpha in a situation like this was mine.

  But Skylar jumped in before I could give the official okay.

  “My tarot cards have foreseen Flint and Mara being accepted onto Avalon,” she said. “They’ll join the Earth Angel’s army. We’re to let King Arthur judge them—not King Alexander. And he will judge them as worthy.”

  Vampire prophetesses like Skylar and Rosella were some of the most respected and revered beings in the supernatural world. So over the past few months on the compound, Skylar had earned respect from the Montgomery pack. It showed in the way we all lowered our guard at her news and listened.

  Now, my pack all looked to me—their beta—for my final decision.

  I couldn’t send him to the Vale after our prophetess said he belonged on Avalon. But there was something else I could do.

  Something I needed to do.

  I sheathed my sword and focused on Flint. “You failed our pack.” I did my best to block all emotions and stand strong, holding his gaze as I continued. “You should have protected us. Instead, you forced us to ally with Azazel. We lost our free will because of you. We became monsters because of you. What you did is unforgivable, and you no longer deserve to be the leader of our pack. So now I—Sage Montgomery of the Montgomery pack—challenge you for the position of alpha.”

  33

  Sage

  Flint did the last thing I expected him to do.

  He laughed.

  Maybe I should have expected that reaction. By having me abducted from my hunt with Noah, he’d certainly shown he didn’t trust my decision-making skills in the slightest.

  But it made no difference. Because I held my ground—and my gaze—against him.

  He continued staring, daring me to look away and retract my challenge.