Seraphim Academy 3: Fallen Kings

by Briggs, Elizabeth;

  I hold up my hands and yell, “Enough!” Everyone quiets down immediately and stares at me. “This is not the time to argue about this. If we manage to get the Staff, we can figure out what to do with it then. Right now we need to rescue Kassiel. That’s our number one priority. Trap or no trap, we need to leave immediately.”

  With a sense of impending doom, the others agree, and we make our plans.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Olivia

  Flying long distance as an angel is possible, but exhausting. We did it in Faerie, of course, but we want to save our energy while getting to Kassiel as quickly as possible. As such, we decide to book a flight to Salt Lake City and go from there. The plane leaves early the next day, and since it’s Saturday we don’t have to skip classes at least. I’ve only been on an airplane twice before and it’s a bit odd to be trapped inside a flying machine when we have wings ourselves, but I’m so focused on rescuing Kassiel I barely notice.

  We land around noon, get our things, and head outside the airport, where Jonah and I make our group invisible so we can spread our wings and take off. It takes another hour to get to the location Cyrus told us, an abandoned farmhouse in the middle of nowhere.

  As we land just outside it, I’m reminded of the other abandoned house we investigated a few months ago. I pray this place isn’t also a dead end.

  Jonah sets Eveanna down and we all ready our weapons. Callan directs us with hand gestures, sending Marcus, Bastien, Araceli, and Tanwen to approach from the air around back, while Callan, Jonah, and Eveanna are with me on the ground in the front. I draw out Lilith’s daggers, one glowing brightly, the other writhing with shadows, as I nod at Callan.

  I’m ready. I’m so fucking ready.

  It’s mid-afternoon now and the sun is bright and hot, bolstering the angels’ powers. We approach through the overgrown field slowly, carefully stepping over rusted metal fences. I lose sight of the other group in the air, but I can see the farmhouse clearly up ahead. Peeling white paint. A quaint little porch with a swing creaking in the breeze. Dusty windows. No sign of life anywhere.

  The second I step on the porch a loud alarm blares. Callan shoves me back, blocking me with his large body and his huge sword. Angels pour out of the house wielding weapons, and our group stands back to back in the front lawn, ready for their ambush.

  As the fighters reach us, Callan shows everyone why he really should be at the head of the angelic armies. With one hand he shoots bursts of Erelim burning light, and with the other he slices through the crowd with his sword. Jonah shows off the moves he learned in Faerie with his own sword, and rocks fly at our opponents thanks to Eveanna’s powers.

  None of them let anyone get close to me. I wield my daggers, prepared to fight, but I’m well-protected. I can do something else though. As more angels surge forward, I unleash my succubus powers on them, inciting their desire. A few men and women drop their weapons and gaze at me with feral lust, and I give them a seductive smile. “Kneel to me.”

  They drop to their knees and the others knock them out. No need to kill them if we don’t have to—especially if they’re trapped in the Order like Cyrus was. He’s with my Dad now, who’s promised to get Cyrus’s entire family into some sort of protective custody.

  As we approach the porch again, more angels swarm us and it’s way too many for me to control when I’ve only been feeding on Bastien and Marcus for a while. Callan’s face is a mask of rage as one angel after another tries to get at me. They must have orders to capture me because they are relentless. One of them shoots an Erelim beam of light toward me, but a shield of shimmering gold goes up to protect me just in time. Callan’s Archangel power. I’ve seen it once before when we were fighting the Duskhunters.

  There’s fighting in the air above us too. Marcus and Bastien fly overhead, fighting together to hold off the attackers on the roof. Tanwen swoops over us, blasting angels with light and wielding her Valkyrie sword. Araceli flies right behind her and lands beside Jonah, engulfing one of the angels he’s fighting in flames.

  “Whoa,” he shouts as he jumps back.

  “Sorry! I’m still learning.” A few more bolts of fae flame shoot out of her hands and hit two of the angels running toward me with their swords raised.

  Still no sign of Grace though. Or Kassiel. They must be inside.

  With everyone distracted, I weave my way through the fighting, slicing down anyone in my path with my daggers. I make it inside the farmhouse and it’s quiet in here. Way too quiet. I hear a footstep behind me and spin around to find Eveanna’s followed me.

  “I sense people in the basement,” she says. “This way.”

  I hurry after her as she busts through a locked door with her shoulder and takes us down a staircase. The lights in the basement are blindingly bright, but I immediately focus in on two things—Kassiel, beaten and chained to a wall, and Grace, holding the Staff of Eternity as it glows white. She grins in triumph as she points it at me and a beam of light shoots at my chest, sending burning pain through my body and knocking me back against the stone wall.

  “Get her!” Grace commands, as I gasp through the pain and struggle to stand.

  Two angels rush after me, but Eveanna makes the wall crumble and collapse on them, keeping them at bay. It gives me just enough time to get up, and my eyes land on Kassiel’s unconscious body. When I see his condition, my fury chokes me. I send out a wave of succubus power and it forces the other angels to submit to me, but Grace isn’t weakened by it at all. She narrows her eyes and shoots another beam of light at me from the Staff, but this time I manage to dodge it just before it sears a hole into the wall.

  Callan flies down the stairs, with Jonah and Tanwen only a few steps behind him, and even with the Staff, Grace can’t fight all of us at once. I hope.

  “Grace!” Jonah calls out, and I hear the pain in his voice.

  She barely gives him a second glance as she shoots the Staff’s light at us. Callan and Tanwen both rush her at once, knocking the Staff aside, and Jonah quickly rushes forward to retrieve it. The second they grab her arms though, she seems to fade out of view, and they’re left holding nothing. Somehow, she slipped free. No…she became intangible. What the…?

  Jonah spins and shoots Grace with the Staff, and she’s knocked back. It’s over for her. We’ve beaten her. Especially when Araceli, Bastien, and Marcus run down the stairs to join us.

  Suddenly the entire ceiling is ripped open like it’s tinfoil, and someone flies over us with white and black wings, long white hair, and menacing black eyes. Azrael.

  He swoops down and picks up an unconscious Grace, then goes invisible as he flies away, holding her in his arms. We all gape after them, wondering what the fuck just happened. Why did Azrael save her? Is he in the Order?

  I don’t have time to work that out right now. I rush forward to Kassiel’s limp body, but his head lolls and he’s barely alive. I send some of my power into him, using my Archdemon gift in the hope it will help, but what he really needs is darkness and some Malakim healing. Will that work on a Fallen? Guess we’ll find out.

  I can’t get the light-imbued chains off him and I let out a futile cry as they burn my fingers. Eveanna is at my side seconds later, and she uses her magic to break them—the light doing nothing to hurt her. Good thing they’re not iron or we’d be in real trouble. I let out a sob as Kassiel falls forward into my arms and I stroke his blood-soaked hair, willing more energy into him. I’ll give him whatever I can as long as he lives.

  “Let us help,” Araceli says, with Marcus at her side. They pry Kassiel away from me, and I sit back against the stone wall to catch my breath while they work on healing him.

  “Uh, Liv?” Jonah asks and points at my chest.

  I glance down and let out a soft whimper. My mother’s necklace, the one her fae lover made for her that kept me safe and hidden for so many years, is no more. The aquamarine in the center is gone, replaced by a scorch mark. It must have been destroyed by the Staff’s beam
of light.

  “We need to get out of here before they come back with reinforcements,” Tanwen says.

  Marcus has his hands on Kassiel’s head. “This is going to take time. He’s got several broken bones throughout his body and a bad concussion, along with the light-imbued wounds.”

  “I’ll carry him to safety,” Callan says.

  I look at him in surprise. “Thank you.”

  He gives me a quick nod as he scoops Kassiel into his arms. We fly straight up and out of the house, since Azrael basically tore the entire thing apart. Jonah carries the Staff, while Tanwen carries Eveanna.

  We did it. We rescued Kassiel and got the Staff. But Grace escaped…with Azrael.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Callan

  Kassiel’s in bad shape. There’s no way we can get him on a plane like this, so we find a motel in the middle of nowhere about five hours away from the farmhouse. The entire way there, Jonah and the other guys kept offering to take Kassiel off my hands, but I refused. I had to do it on my own.

  I don’t owe Kassiel anything. He’s still the son of Lucifer. But he didn’t break under torture, and he was a good teacher once, even if he was deceiving us the entire time.

  More importantly, Liv cares for him.

  Bastien manages to get us four rooms with two beds each, and the others sort it out while I stand in the shadows with Kassiel in my arms. He hasn’t stirred at all. I’m not sure if he’s just that far gone, or if the Malakim did one of those healing trances, but I’ll feel a lot better once they have a chance to work on him some more. For Liv’s sake, obviously. She’s been a worried wreck this entire time, hovering near me and casting concerned glances at the Fallen. He better not die on her.

  “This way,” Marcus says, once the rooms are ready. “Araceli and I will be taking turns between healing him and sleeping during the night.”

  I grunt as I carry Kassiel inside the dimly lit room. The motel seems to be decorated in what can only be described as 70’s puke yellow, green, and brown, but it looks clean enough. I set Kallan down on one of the two beds in the room, and then back away so the healers can do their thing. My job is done, and I’ll only get in the way now.

  As Araceli and Marcus discuss who should sleep first, Olivia rushes in and sits on the edge of Kassiel’s bed. He manages to open his eyes and gives her a weak smile, and she lets out a soft cry and kisses his forehead. Pure adoration shines from her eyes as she whispers something to him, and the expression on her face makes my chest ache.

  She loves him.

  I pull the door closed and stand outside the motel room as a great hollowness fills me. She looks at Marcus and Bastien the same way sometimes.

  But not me. Me, she hates.

  “You’re with me tonight,” Jonah says, from the doorway of the next room over. “We’re guarding the Staff.”

  “Fine.” I gaze across the courtyard and spot Tanwen and Eveanna heading into a room together, while Bastien slips into the one next to it. “Where is Liv staying tonight?”

  Jonah grimaces. “With Bastien.”

  Of course. She’ll need sex after using her powers today. Kassiel is injured, Marcus is busy, and I’m off the menu, so Bastien it is.

  I try not to feel bitter and jealous about it, but it’s hard.

  Jonah heads inside, but I need to be alone with my thoughts or some shit, so I wait outside, leaning against the wall while inspecting a wound on my side that’s slowly healing up. A few minutes later, Olivia emerges from the motel room and looks at me with exhausted eyes and dried tears on her cheeks. The sight makes me want to wrap my arms around her and hold her tight, but she’d probably punch me in the face if I tried.

  As she heads across the courtyard, I call out, “Olivia, wait. We need to talk.”

  She gives me a suspicious look and crosses her arms. “About what?”

  I suck in a breath. “I never apologize.”

  She snorts. “Tell me something I don’t know.”

  “It’s not in my nature,” I continue, ignoring her snark. “But I was wrong about Kassiel. And Lucifer. I was wrong about a lot of things.”

  Her arms fall to her side. “Callan—”

  I cut her off before I get frustrated or say the wrong thing. “I care about you, Olivia. I know I’ve made mistakes. Lots of mistakes.”

  “No kidding.”

  “I hurt you with some of my actions, but I did what I thought was right at the time. I always do.”

  “Yes, but—”

  “Let me finish.” I grit my teeth and force the words out. “For years, I’ve been taught that demons are the enemy. That they killed my brother Ekariel. That Lucifer murdered my father. That it was my destiny to avenge my family and lead the next war against Hell.” I take a step forward. “I don’t want that anymore. I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to trust Lucifer, but I’ve accepted that demons are not evil. I don’t want a war. I just want you.”

  Olivia’s jaw drops and she stares at me for an eternity. I keep hoping she’ll accept my apology, rush into my arms, and tell me she cares about me too, but instead she just sighs. “I can’t do this right now.” She shakes her head, her eyes weary. “Good night, Callan.”

  She heads into the room with Bastien and I turn away, my jaw clenched. All I want is to make peace with her. I know I’ve fucked up in the past, but I’m doing the best I can to change. It isn’t easy, but the thought of Olivia hating me for the rest of our immortal lives is gut-wrenching. I can’t live without her. I realize that now.

  And I vow to do whatever it takes to win her back.

  Chapter Twenty

  Olivia

  In the morning, I throw my arms around Kassiel and practically sob into his chest, seeing how he’s recovered. Thanks to some sleep, some darkness, and some major healing from Marcus and Araceli, he’s almost as good as new, although he’s thinner and paler than before, and there’s an exhaustion in his eyes I’ve never seen before.

  I hope that a good meal will cheer him up, so I drag us all to a local waffle house where we can chat. Jonah brings the Staff with us—it’s not like we can leave it at the motel—but Eveanna glamours it to look like a golf club bag. No one gives it a second glance as we walk inside and set it beside us.

  The waitress seats us at a huge booth in the corner, and we all scoot in. I’m wedged between Callan and Kassiel, which might have been awkward before, but I’m so over it all I can’t find the energy to care anymore. I can’t even wrap my head around Callan’s speech last night, or how he carried Kassiel for hours to the motel yesterday.

  After we’ve all squeezed inside and given our drink orders, Kassiel glances around the table at the faces of all my friends. “Thank you,” he says sincerely. “I would have died there if you hadn’t come for me. I owe each of you a great debt.”

  “Of course we came” Araceli says. “You’re one of the group.”

  “Yeah, we couldn’t let them kill our favorite professor,” Marcus adds.

  Jonah offers his hand. “Liv cares about you a lot, which makes you important to me too. Welcome to the family.”

  Kassiel shakes it with a weak smile. “I appreciate that.”

  I take Kassiel’s other hand and squeeze it, but then my eyes dart to Callan, who’s been sitting there with a face like stone this entire time.

  “It was our duty,” he simply says, as if that explains anything. Classic Callan.

  “Indeed,” Bastien says. “Besides, it was imperative that we retrieve the Staff.”

  “Yes, and now that we have it, what are we going to do with it?” Tanwen asks.

  “I still maintain that it should return to Faerie,” Eveanna says.

  “Of course you do,” Tanwen replies, sounding almost bitter. “You just want to end your banishment and return home.”

  Eveanna’s nostrils flare a little at that. She’s glamoured herself to look like a brunette without pointed ears while we’re in public, but she still has something otherworldly about her that se
ts her apart. Getting rid of her hunter green hair isn’t enough to make her look human.

  The waitress sets down a huge steaming cup of coffee in front of me and I wrap both hands around it and take a long sip. I’m going to need a lot of it to deal with this group so early in the morning.

  “That is not true,” Eveanna finally says to Tanwen, after the waitress leaves again. “I have come to appreciate many things about Earth, such as your coffee and your movies and your internet. However, Faerie is the safest place for the Staff.”

  “Obviously not, since we were able to track it down without a problem, and then the Order was able to steal it,” Bastien says. “Faerie may have been safe before, but no longer.”

  “I’m sorry, but he’s right,” I tell Eveanna. “We can’t send the Staff back to Faerie. It’s what the Order will expect. But if we can do anything to convince the High King to allow you to return home, we’ll do it, I promise.”

  “We can take it to my father,” Kassiel says, his voice still weak but firm. “He created it with Michael, and together they sent it to Faerie. He can keep it hidden again now. Or destroy it.”

  “No way,” Callan says. “I’m willing to give you a pass, but we don’t know if we can trust your father. Things might have changed since he sent the Staff to Faerie.”

  “Who do you suggest instead?” Kassiel asks. “One of the Archangels? We can’t trust them either.”

  “He’s right,” Jonah says. “While you were searching for Kassiel, we learned from Jeremy that Aerie Industries is controlled by the Order. That could include Jophiel.”

  Callan sits back with a frown. His mother became the CEO of Aerie Industries after Azrael stepped down from the position to become the Archangel leader. We definitely can’t trust her. I haven’t totally forgiven him, but I hate the pain that blooms on his face. After losing his father, the thought that his mother could be corrupt and working against everything his father stood for must be torture.