by Riley London
“Hot? I’m not hot.”
“And you’re humble, too.” I grinned. “But we’re in a whole new world right now. If you’d told me that you wanted to be together, before all of this, I would’ve said yes in a heartbeat. But now? I just feel like we’re asking for it.”
“Asking for what?”
“To get hurt.” I looked down towards the ground. “Being together, being in love in this kind of situation? We still don’t even know what you are, Charlie. What if the academy decides that we’re not supposed to be together? What then?”
“Then we’ll be together, anyway.” Charlie’s reply was confident. “I’m not going anywhere, Celeste. I’m not going to leave you.”
“Charlie, that’s sweet but I don’t think we get to choose anymore—”
My words were interrupted by Charlie’s mouth crashing against my own.
Electricity.
The same kind of angelic jolts that had let me know that the academy was the place for me, the same ones that I’d felt on that very first night while fighting with Benjamin.
Being kissed by Charlie felt like heaven.
“Shit. Did you feel that?” Charlie whispered beside my ear. “What the fuck was that?”
“It felt good, right?” I asked, wanting to make sure that Charlie and I were sharing the same experience.
“Fuck, yeah. I’ve just never felt anything like it.” Charlie beamed, before he bent to kiss me again.
In return, I wrapped my arms around his shoulders, keeping him in place in front of me.
After a moment or two, the jolts seemed to make their way south of my body, rolling past my waist and slipping between my thighs.
Oh.
I moaned into our shared kiss, as I locked my fingertips.
And I felt Charlie smiling against my mouth. “More?”
“I don’t know. I—” I moaned again, as a small, pleasurable shock vibrated right between my legs. “Shit.”
Charlie then broke off our kiss entirely, as he took a step away from me. “Hey. I’m not going to do anything that you don’t want me to do, okay? If you’re not thinking straight, we should just stop.”
“Sorry. I want to. I mean, I think I want to. But when you’re touching me...it’s like being drunk and high, all at once.” I sighed. “It’s almost too much.”
“Yeah, some might say it’s a lot.” Charlie laughed, as he threw my earlier phrase right back at me. “Maybe it’s one of those things you’ll have to learn how to manage or something.”
“I don’t know if I could ever manage that.” I admitted. “I think it’s just one of those things I’d have to deal with now—”
“Why are you two here?” Benjamin’s voice cut into our conversation. “It’s customary for students to spend their free time out on the quad, socializing. Not cooped up in their dorm room as if they were recluses—”
Benjamin shot a look over at me, as he tucked his arms neatly behind his back. “Celeste.”
“Yes?”
“You’re flushed.”
Embarrassed, I brought my hands towards my cheeks, trying to cover them with my own palms. “I am?”
“Yes. Very much so.” Benjamin then quickly looked between Charlie and me. “Were you two training in here? That’s against the academy’s rules. For your own safety, I recommend training solely in the designated training areas.”
“Don’t worry. We weren’t training.” Charlie replied for the both of us.
“Ah. I understand now.” Benjamin nodded. “You two were trying to copulate, and I’ve interrupted your process. I ‘killed the moment’, as Zachary might say.”
“We weren’t trying to—Okay, yes, we were trying to—But that doesn’t mean—” I had no idea what I was trying to say, but my mouth wouldn’t stop moving.
“It’s not a problem.” Benjamin said, in a calm tone. “As I said before, carnal desires are no longer seen as a sin. And since we know that Charlie is somewhat of an angel, if you two wished to pursue a...sexual relationship...then technically, that would be well within your rights.”
“It wouldn’t just be sexual, though.” Charlie looked over at me as he spoke. “We’d want to be together, romantically, too.”
“Romantically, too?” Benjamin hummed. “I’m less sure about that.”
“Are angels not allowed to be with whoever they want?” I asked.
“Angels are with angels.” Benjamin’s response was quick. “And since we’re unsure of what Charlie is, I’m not able to determine if you two would be allowed to be together.”
“That’s bullshit.” I made sure to keep all the venom out of my voice, not wanting Benjamin to think that I was upset with him.
“It’s the commandments.” Benjamin shrugged. “Anyway, I only stopped by to grab something to read.”
Benjamin reached for the presumed study guide and easily pulled it off the shelf, despite its weight. “I’ll see you two later this evening, or maybe sometime tomorrow. Mrs. Deveraux has called me into a special meeting.”
“A special meeting about what?”
“I can’t say.” Benjamin flipped through a few pages of his book, before he peered over at Charlie. “Charlie, did you touch my book?”
“Yeah, but how can you tell?”
Benjamin flipped back to the front page of the book, before he showed it to us. Plain as day, there were shadows of fingerprints near the bottom of the page. “The fingerprints will fade in time, but when those outside of my familial line touch the book, I will know.”
“So, the book is like enchanted or something?”
“No. It’s blessed.” Benjamin smiled, before he closed the book and tucked it underneath his arm. “Blessed for all eternity.”
Benjamin turned to leave the room, without explaining any further.
“Blessed for all eternity?” Charlie nodded to himself. “Sounds kinda’ tight.”
Chapter 6
Zachary got back late to our dorm.
I was already passed out in bed, when I was woken up by the sound of his footsteps making their way across the room.
“Hey.” I offered, still half-asleep.
“Hey.” Zachary replied, sounding one hundred percent awake.
“Were you at the meeting with Mrs. Deveraux?”
“Yeah.”
“How’d it go?”
“I can’t tell you that.” Zachary sat down in the middle of his bed. “I can’t tell you anything.”
“Because you still don’t trust me.”
“Right.”
“Okay, but how am I supposed to fix that?” I asked, in the darkness.
“Who said you were supposed to fix it?” Zachary replied. “That’s not the kind of thing you can fix. Either I’m right about you, or I’m wrong about you. Either way, we’ll find out soon enough.”
“Soon enough?”
“Yep. I’ve already said too much.” Zachary slid down towards his sheets. “Goodnight, Celeste.”
“Goodnight.” I murmured, as I rolled over in my bed.
Hot.
Why was it so hot?
I opened my eyes, and beads of sweat rolled down my eyelashes.
The room felt like it was a hundred degrees.
“Zachary?” I called out, as I moved away from my damp bedsheets, presumably wet from my persistent perspiration. “Zachary? Can we turn the heat down or something—”
There was a loud thud at the door, like something large was knocking.
Or like something large was trying to get in.
Panicked, I jumped away from my bed, and soon my hips collided with Zachary’s own, as he was crouched near the furthest corner of the room.
“Here.” Zachary whispered, as he handed me a familiar-looking knife. “If worse comes to worst, you’ll need to defend yourself, alright?”
“If worse comes to worst?”
“Yeah, if worse comes to worst, meaning, if I end up fucking dead.” Zachary unsheathed a sword, which he then held at his side.
“I
s that a demon?” I asked, the tension obvious in my voice. “How’d it get into the academy?”
“I have no idea.” Zachary answered. “But that’s not our problem now.”
I nodded in understanding, as I once again assessed our situation.
Something very large continued to thud at the door.
Zachary seemed calm enough, as he held his sword in position.
And all I had was a borrowed knife, one that I wasn’t comfortable using since I’d only held it once before.
Why couldn’t we just call Mrs. Deveraux?
“Why can’t we just call Mrs. Deveraux?”
“Celeste. We have no idea what this thing is.” Zachary kept his gaze on the door. “Are you really willing to risk the lives of your fellow angels, just because you’re a little scared?”
“I’m not scared.” I was lying through my teeth.
I’d never been so scared in my life.
“Good.” It sounded like there was a smirk in Zachary’s tone. “Because I’m going to need you to be braver than that—”
Zachary left off the rest of his thoughts, as whatever had been trying to get into our room finally succeeded.
The door burst open, and I was immediately confused.
There wasn’t some huge monster standing in our doorway.
It looked like a normal-sized woman, with dark hair and dark features. Her black hair was straight and slick, and she was wearing a silver gown, seemingly made from crystals.
“Shit.” Zachary hissed, underneath his breath. “It’s a direct descendant.”
“I can hear you, you know.” She replied. “What is with you angels and your inability to treat the rest of us like we’re thinking beings, with hearts and feelings?”
She then turned her attention towards me, as a wide grin spread across her face. “Ah, so it’s true. You do look just like your mother.”
“I don’t have a mother.”
“Now, now, now. Don’t be so morose. We all have a mother, whether we like her or not.” She smiled again.
“Why have you come?” Zachary asked. “What the hell do you want?”
“Oh, nothing much. I just came to kill that one.” The woman pointed a finger at me, and I could now see that it was much too long and much too curved. “It’ll be a simple task. I’ve heard that she’s weak and untrained, so it should be like strangling an infant in their crib.”
“Why?” Zachary barked out the question. “What did Celeste ever do to you?”
“She existed.” The woman’s words felt like daggers against my skin.
What the hell?
“Alright, then. You can kill her. But you’ll need to get through me first.” Zachary rushed towards the woman, with his sword prominently held out in front of him.
Once he reached the woman, she casually grabbed onto the blade of his weapon, as it sank down into her skin. She bled, but she didn’t seem to mind.
“Auxilium!” Zachary yelled, and his sword began to glow.
The woman winced, but she kept her grip on the sword, as she stared Zachary down. “Sorry, boy. It’ll take more than an angelic trick to keep me from such an important task.”
She suddenly pulled the sword out of Zachary’s hands, entirely, letting it fall to the floor with a clang. And then, within seconds, her fingers were wrapped around Zachary’s throat.
“Zachary!” I screamed, as my feet carried me across the bedroom floor. “Auxilium!”
The knife Zachary had given me glowed gold in my hand, and once I was close enough to the woman, I tried to jam the blade into her side.
I tried to, at least.
But the knife broke against her dress and fell to pieces on the ground.
Shit.
I looked back up at the woman, and caught her eyes staring me down.
She wasn’t moving, at all, and it seemed like she’d stopped breathing, too.
“Your hands...” It was all she said, as she stayed still in place.
I glanced back down at my hands.
Shit.
Holy shit.
My hands were glowing.
Was that supposed to happen? I thought only weapons could get blessings from the angels?
What the fuck was going on?
I didn’t take too long to think about it, though, as I soon punched that demon-witch-whatever-she-was right in her face.
She fell backwards, letting Zachary drop to the floor. He desperately gasped for air, as he rolled onto the ground.
I punched her again, and she let out a piercing scream.
“Have mercy!” She pleaded, as she struggled to stay on her feet. “Won’t you have mercy?”
“You were going to kill me.” I reminded her, as I punched her yet again, this time right in her windpipe. “And I have a feeling, if I let you go, that you’ll just come back here and try to kill me again.”
“Oh, please, daughter of—” She began to scratch and claw at her face, as she produced an agonized sound. “Ah! She still won’t let us say her name! That goddamn witch and her goddamn curse!”
I ignored the woman’s words, as I wrapped my hands around her throat. I didn’t apply any pressure, as just the sting from my glowing hands seemed to be doing enough damage already.
And I watched, as her skin melted away from her body, as her eyes turned black.
I kept watching as she turned into nothing more than a puddle in front of the door.
The glow then faded from my hands, and I took a step back from the dark pool of liquid that used to be a woman.
Or, at least, a demon that looked like a woman.
“You saved my life.” Zachary coughed out, as he rested on his hands and feet.
“Yeah, I guess I did.” I kept a suspicious eye on the puddle. “Is she gone? Did I kill her?”
“Yeah, she’s gone, but you didn’t kill her.” Zachary shook his head. “You can’t kill direct descendants of the Sins, but you can send them straight back to Hell. It might take her a while to get back up to the surface.”
“How long is ‘a while’?”
“Could be weeks. Could be decades.” Zachary shrugged. “We still haven’t worked out how Hell deals with its own children, but we know that being sent back can be a real bitch.”
“She was going to kill me.” It came out matter-of-factly, as I turned to look at Zachary. “Do you know why she wanted to kill me?”
“No idea.” Zachary then rose to his feet. “But I know where we can find out.”
“Whoa.” It was all I said, as I glanced around the academy’s library.
It was gorgeous, instantly reminding me of ancient architecture, as if the library had been built in Greece.
The ceilings were high and gray, and there were wide pillars that connected each floor to another. There were also what looked like wrought iron fences twisted up into intricate designs, placed in-between different sections of the library.
But what stood out to me the most were the statues.
I’d assumed that they were angels, due to their grand height and size, but when I got closer to them, I was able to tell that these weren’t angels at all.
These were philosophers, writers and scientists, men and women carved out in marble and beige. The height of their statues made them appear larger-than-life and commanded a sense of respect just by standing beside them.
I looked over each of their names, written on golden plaques, until I reached a name that I’d never heard before. “Meridian Beauregard?”
“Ah, the reason the academy even puts up with me, in the first place.” Zachary smirked, as he walked until he was standing at my side. “Half man, half angel. He was the first to prove that halfies deserved a shot here, too.”
“What did he do?”
“He stopped a slave ship.” Zachary continued. “Killed its captain, ended up with a nasty gash during the fight. And then, once he found out that some of the slaves had already jumped off the side of the vessel into the ocean below, he prayed to the an
gels for the strength to bring them back.”
“Bring them back?”
“Bring them back to life.” Zachary nodded. “In exchange, he offered up his own life. Once the deal was done, he was able to bring the people back home to their families, and he went on to be with our Father in Heaven.”
“That sounds so...noble.” I was a little stunned by the revelation. “Are all angels expected to make a noble sacrifice like that, someday?”
“Not all.” Zachary looked over at me. “But you almost did that for me today, didn’t you? Without a second thought.”
“I just didn’t want you to die.”
“Why not? It’s not like I’ve been particularly kind to you.”
“Just because you haven’t been kind to me, means that I’m supposed to just let you die?” I scoffed.
“I wouldn’t have been surprised. The world’s a cruel place.” Zachary looked back at the statue. “Always has been, always will be.”
“Hey.” I snapped my fingers, wanting to regain Zachary’s attention. “Weren’t we supposed to be looking for something? Like, I don’t know, a book or two?”
“Right. Biblical lineage.” Zachary grinned. “I can’t believe the one time I actually listened in that class might be coming in handy.”
“Proud of you.” I made sure my tone was sarcastic as all hell. “So, where should we start?”
“Third floor. To the left.” Benjamin’s voice cut into our conversation.
“Whoa, what?” I spun around, surprised to see Benjamin standing right there. “How did you know we were in here? Did Zachary send you a secret message or something? Can angels communicate with their minds?”
“Communicate with our minds? What?” Benjamin looked at me like I was insane. “No, Celeste. He just sent me a text.”
“Yeah, Celeste. We’re angels. Not wizards.” Zachary chuckled. “You need to calm down.”
“Oh, please! Don’t act like some things are possible and other things aren’t. Your weapons glow! You have wings!” I fumed a little in both of their directions. “Whatever. Let’s just go upstairs.”
“Hey, where’s Charlie?” I asked, as we made it onto the third floor.
“Sleeping.” Benjamin answered. “I wasn’t going to wake him up, not for this.”
