Seraphim Academy 3: Fallen Kings

by Briggs, Elizabeth;

  Azrael lets out a roar and flies toward me with a scythe made of light, his wings spread wide. I level the Staff at him and hit him with a mix of light and darkness, so strong it knocks him back into the auditorium seats. He jumps up immediately, shaking off a blow that would have killed a normal angel, and comes at me again, his eyes seething with rage. Even with the Staff, I’m not sure I can defeat him.

  Suddenly light fills the auditorium as more angels stream inside. Not just angels. Archangels.

  Gabriel, Uriel, Ariel, and Raphael all surround Azrael, wings spread wide, hair flying back as they glow with bright light. Uriel’s voice booms across the auditorium. “Azrael, by a majority vote of the Archangel Council you have been removed as leader of the angels.”

  “How?” Azrael asks, glaring at them. “I only count three Archangels who oppose me here.”

  “Oh, didn’t you hear?” Raphael asks with a smirk. “We reinstated Gabriel earlier this morning.”

  “You can’t do that,” Azrael snaps, and then he spreads his arms and unleashes a huge wave of his void power. The glow around the Archangels dims, but the energy seems to bounce off me while I hold the Staff. I direct another blast of light and darkness at him, which makes him grunt and stagger back, but he fights through it.

  There’s a burst of shadows behind him, and then Lucifer wraps Azrael in chains made of darkness. I let out a relieved sigh, knowing Kassiel’s father is all right.

  “You,” Azrael practically spits. “I got rid of you.”

  Lucifer lets out a laugh that’s somehow both charming and terrifying. “Sorry, I’m not that easy to kill.”

  Uriel clears his throat. “For the crime of stealing the Staff of Eternity and trying to use it against demons, thus breaking the Earth Accords, you and your followers are hereby sentenced to life in Penumbra Prison.”

  “I’m the leader of all angels,” Azrael snaps, as he tries to break free of Lucifer’s shadow chains. “If I decide we must act against the demons, then my word is law.”

  “You also killed Callan, son of Michael and Jophiel,” I yell, my body trembling at the words, and all the Archangels look over with horror at Callan’s prone body.

  “That was an accident,” Azrael says. “I would never harm the son of Jophiel intentionally. I was trying to kill the filthy hybrid. She’s the one who stole the Staff of Eternity in the first place.”

  “Can you save him?” I beg Raphael, whose Archangel gift allows him to bring people back from the dead.

  Raphael bows his head. “No, I can’t. It takes a great deal of energy, almost enough to kill me, and I used that power on a young student caught in the crossfire just now. I won’t be able to do it again for some time, and by then it will be too late. I am truly sorry.”

  I nod my understanding, while biting my lip and wiping away tears. It was a desperate plea, and I knew it probably wouldn’t work, but I had to try.

  “Azrael killed Michael too,” Bastien says, stepping forward with Michael’s sword raised. It no longer burns with light, but it’s still huge, shiny, and impressive.

  “How do you know?” Lucifer asks.

  “Bastien’s Archangel power,” Jonah says. “He can see the past when he touches objects.”

  “Is this true?” Uriel asks, his chest swelling with pride.

  Bastien nods. “The second I touched the sword, I saw it. Azrael arrived at Michael’s home and asked to speak with him. Zadkiel was already there.”

  I vaguely remember hearing that Zadkiel had been Michael’s right-hand man before his death. It’s one of the reasons it made sense for him to take over the vacant spot on the Archangel Council after Michael’s death. But now it sounds like he was secretly working for Azrael all that time.

  “Azrael pleaded with Michael to do more about the demons and to accept that peace was impossible,” Bastien continues. “Ekariel was killed by demons, in Azrael’s mind, and Michael wasn’t retaliating against them. Zadkiel agreed with Azrael, but Michael wouldn’t budge. He said there was no evidence demons had killed Ekariel, and for the most part, the Earth Accords were working. That’s when Azrael said new leadership was required.”

  “This is nonsense,” Azrael says. “You can’t truly believe this child over me.”

  “Silence,” Uriel says. “I can read the past in his eyes and the truth in his voice.”

  “Yes, let him continue,” Ariel says.

  Bastien glares at Azrael and lowers Michael’s sword. “Azrael took this sword off the wall and ran Michael through with it, catching him off guard. With the element of surprise, combined with Zadkiel holding him immobile and Azrael rending him powerless, they managed to defeat him. As they watched him die, they agreed to make it look like Lucifer had done it, and Azrael took the sword as they flew away.”

  A hushed silence fills the auditorium as the truth of Bastien’s words settle over us, along with the enormity of Azrael’s betrayal. It’s nothing compared to the grief I feel over losing Callan though.

  “Even if we excuse the crimes you committed against Callan or with the Staff, the death of Michael is something we cannot overlook,” Ariel says, in a clear, feminine voice. “We remove your Archangel status and sentence you to eternity in Penumbra Prison.”

  The Archangels surge forward and slap those silver cuffs on Azrael, blocking his powers. He struggles and fights and claims he is innocent, then threatens to use what he knows against them, to send his followers after their families, until he is dragged out of the auditorium by Uriel and Gabriel, who look triumphant. Lucifer follows a step behind them, while Raphael slaps cuffs on Simiel and Grace is hauled away by Ariel, who has her in a vice-like grip. She must know that Grace broke her son’s heart.

  Just before they reach the door, Grace shouts, “Jonah, Liv… This isn’t me! He made me do it. I swear!”

  “I don’t believe you,” Jonah says, his voice cold, before Ariel drags Grace away.

  Outside it sounds like the battle has ended, but in here, all I see is death. Zadkiel and Jeremy are dead, along with a few other golden-masked people in the room.

  And Callan. I swallow hard as I stare at his body.

  Marcus is kneeling over Callan and has been trying to heal him. I can tell by the frantic movements and panic on his face that it isn’t working. “You can’t be dead. There must be something in you that’s still alive.”

  We gather around them, and I hand Jonah the Staff, eager to get it out of my hands. It’s too powerful, especially for a hybrid like me. Then I sink to the floor and press my face against Callan’s chest, sobbing hard. I can’t believe he’s gone. I never even got to tell him how much I loved him.

  “Can you resurrect him?” Jonah asks. “Like your dad?”

  “I’ve never tried…” Marcus says with a frown.

  Bastien tilts his head as he considers. “Your Archangel power hasn’t emerged yet. It’s possible this is the reason.”

  “We won’t know unless you try,” Kassiel says.

  I sit back and wipe my tears, giving Marcus space to work. His eyes take on a look of concentration as his hands begin to glow with healing light. I’ve seen him heal many times before, but this time Marcus’s face twists and the light glows bright white with touches of gold woven through it. He gasps as the light surrounds Callan’s body, but then it seems to get absorbed, and the glow fades.

  Marcus sits back on his heels and wipes his forehead, which is now covered in sweat. “I’m close, but I think if I do this, it might kill me in the process. I can see now why my father doesn’t do this very often.”

  I put my hands on Marcus’s bare arms and use my Archdemon power to push some of my own energy into him. Energy I took from him, Callan, and the others. “Take it all,” I tell him. “Everything I have. Whatever it takes to bring Callan back.”

  Marcus looks at me with sad eyes. “That might kill you too.”

  “Not if we help.” Kassiel kneels beside me and grabs my chin, then kisses me hard, filling me with his potent energ
y. Other than Callan, he’s the strongest man I’ve ever been with, and I send all that power directly into Marcus.

  He gasps. “That’s it, yes!”

  Bastien gets the idea and kneels down too, then wraps his arms around me from behind and begins kissing my neck. I turn my head toward him to find his lips to share a desperate, mournful kiss. His energy fills me too, and I give it all to Marcus.

  With the four of us sharing power, the glow around Callan increases until the energy swirls and twists all around him. Marcus lets out a laugh filled with surprised relief. “It’s working!”

  Suddenly the light vanishes inside Callan, and Marcus sits back, looking exhausted. Callan sucks in a deep, ragged breath, like he’s been deprived of oxygen for too long. I break into tears again, relief washing over me like a tsunami.

  I let go of Marcus to grab Callan’s hand. “I’m here. We’re all here. Come back to us.”

  Callan’s bright blue eyes pop open, and his hand squeezes mine tightly. He blinks a few times and I hold my breath, too scared to believe this is real, and then he sits up and faces me. I throw myself against his chest and wrap my arms around him, letting out another happy sob.

  “You’re alive,” I whisper.

  “I’m okay.” He hugs me tight and his deep voice rumbles through me. I didn’t think I’d ever hear it again. “Thanks to all of you.”

  Then I push against Callan’s chest and glare at him through my tears, remembering how he took the blow meant for me. “Why did you do that, you idiot?”

  He wipes a tear off my cheek as he gazes into my eyes. “Because I love you.”

  “I love you too, you brave, noble, arrogant fool.” I shove him again and then pull him back to kiss him hard.

  “Is that supposed to be a compliment or an insult?” he asks with a laugh, before kissing me again.

  I look up at the other men, who surround us with grins on their faces. “I love all of you. Thank you for bringing him back.”

  “Marcus did most of the work,” Kassiel says, clasping him on the back.

  “I couldn’t have done it without all of you.” Marcus lets out a little laugh. “Maybe I’ll be able to someday, when I’m older, but for my first resurrection I definitely needed the help.”

  We all help Callan to his feet, and he hugs every single one of the guys, including Kassiel.

  “Here,” Bastien says, holding out Michael’s sword. “This belongs to you.”

  Callan hesitates, probably for the first time in his life. “Did your mother’s prophecy come true? Did it stop Azrael?”

  “Yes, but not in the way we expected,” Bastien says.

  “When Bastien got the sword, he saw a vision of how Michael died,” Jonah says. “It was Azrael.”

  Callan swears under his breath, while Bastien tells him everything he saw. As the tale ends, Callan says, “I should have known it was him.”

  “This belongs to you,” Bastien says, offering Michael’s sword again.

  “I saw my father briefly, just before you pulled me back.” Callan’s brow furrows. “He apologized for some of the things he did, and he said he was proud of me.”

  “We all knew he would be,” Marcus says.

  Callan’s jaw clenches and he takes Michael’s sword. The second his hand clasps around the pommel the burning light ignites, brighter than it was before. It’s clear it was meant for Callan to wield, and no one else.

  “But you stopped him?” Callan asks. “Azrael is defeated?”

  “The Archangels took him to Penumbra Prison, along with Grace and Simiel,” Kassiel says. “Zadkiel and Jeremy are dead. The battle is over.”

  “There’s just one more thing left to do,” Jonah says, holding out the Staff.

  The entire group stares at it as the enormity of this moment sets in. Kassiel reaches for it, and Callan gives him a firm nod. They move close together and grasp the Staff together, facing each other with determined eyes. The rest of us gather around them, for protection and for strength. Whatever happens, we’re in this together.

  A swirling mixture of light and darkness surrounds the top of the Staff, and it grows stronger as Kassiel and Callan continue to stare at each other. Then the light and darkness burst out of the Staff in every direction, washing through me. It makes the others stagger back, but not me. The Staff fills me with power and energy, replacing everything I gave up to help Callan.

  With a huge blast of energy, the Staff breaks apart into a million tiny pieces of black and white crystal, which then disintegrate in front of us, until the entire thing vanishes as if it never existed at all.

  “It’s done,” Callan says.

  “We did it,” Kassiel says. “It’s over.”

  I let out a relieved laugh and rush toward them, wrapping them both in my arms. Marcus, Bastien, and even Jonah join in our group hug, and we all cling to each other as we laugh and cry and smile. It’s over. It’s really over.

  The auditorium door opens, and three more people rush inside, and I let out another relieved sob at the sight of them. My three best friends are alive, and jumping up onto the stage, and asking a million questions.

  Tanwen’s forehead is bleeding and her armor is dented and blackened in a few spots. “Was that blast the Staff?”

  “Has it been destroyed?” Eveanna asks, looking as good as she did a few hours ago. No marks on her armor, no hair out of place, no signs she was in battle at all. That’s the fae for you.

  Jonah sweeps Araceli up in his arms and they share a long kiss, and then she laughs and looks over at me with hope in her eyes. “Did we win?”

  I pull them all into our group hug, and when we’re all holding onto each other, my heart grows a thousand times bigger. “We won.”

  Chapter Fifty

  Olivia

  Uriel moves to the podium and gazes across the rows of people sitting in plastic chairs on the lawn, underneath dark clouds that threaten rain at any moment. “Thank you for joining us today, as we celebrate another year at Seraphim Academy coming to a close and honor our graduating students. We’ve had quite a year, full of hardship and turmoil, but I’m confident it only made us stronger in the end.”

  Quite a year? That’s an understatement.

  It’s been three months since the battle for the Staff of Eternity. After everything calmed down, Uriel closed the school for two weeks for repairs and to take care of Archangel business. When school resumed, Callan temporarily stepped in as Combat Training professor, Bastien went back to teaching Angelic History, and Kassiel, of all people, returned to finish up Immortal Ethics with us. Having the three of them there made the last few months fly by, especially since I moved back into the dorms with Araceli. At first, we weren’t even sure if we’d return to Seraphim Academy after what Uriel did to us, but then we decided we all wanted to finish up the school year anyway—for us.

  Jonah and I sit onstage, along with Araceli, Tanwen, and the rest of our graduating class. Our parents and friends are in the crowd, and I smile at the sight of them. Kassiel’s wearing one of his sexy suits, looking every inch like Lucifer’s son, and very few people give him a second glance at his presence in the crowd. Callan sits beside him and they occasionally lean close to share a word, like they’re old friends. It still shocks me to see that. Marcus nudges Callan, like he wants in on the joke, and they grin at him. He’s been going back and forth a lot to visit his mom and his brother lately, and I come with him whenever I can.

  My eyes land on Bastien next. Dina was invited to the graduation, but she declined, saying she had no wish to lay eyes on Uriel ever again. I can’t blame her. Bastien found her a small cottage in Angel Peak and made Uriel pay for the rent. It’s the least he could do. She’s still adjusting to life outside of prison, but she and Bastien are making good progress in their relationship.

  Eveanna is on the other side of him, sitting very straight but wearing a small, proud smile. Tanwen’s sister Rhiannon is at her side, along with her shifter boyfriend. Neither sister harbored any
ill will toward us for Zadkiel’s death—I think finding out he was not only working for Azrael but involved in Michael’s murder really soured their memories of their father. But he’s still their dad, and now he’s gone. I’m glad they have people who love them to help them get through this time.

  Beside them sit Araceli’s parents, Muriel and Fintan, and I’m pleased to see they’re holding hands. It looks like Araceli managed to reunite them after all.

  And then there are my parents, seated in the row behind my friends and their families. Dad has the biggest, proudest smile on his face and keeps waving at me and Jonah in a most embarrassing way. Mom just shakes her head with an amused smile every time he does that. To my surprise, both Asmodeus and Lena came too. My whole family, all in one spot for the second time ever.

  The first time was on my birthday a few weeks ago. Dad threw a small family dinner at his house, partly so I could get to know my succubus siblings better. It was…awkward. Asmodeus was charming and funny, but Lena sulked and wouldn’t speak to anyone, much like she’s doing now. Lilith told me for the first few weeks all Lena would do was scream for Ekariel and try to escape. Lilith and Jophiel finally worked out an arrangement so the two can see each other now and then, which has helped them both calm down. Ekariel still has a long way to go though, from what I’ve heard. He sees all angels and demons as the enemy, with the exception of Lena. Every time he sees Callan, he tries to kill him. I’m not sure he’ll ever fully recover. Callan’s worried Jophiel might resort to erasing Ekariel’s memories, but so far she hasn’t done that yet.

  Despite working for Azrael in the past, Jophiel claimed to have no involvement in his search for the Staff, and since she was with Ekariel during the battle, they couldn’t arrest her. She’s still on the Archangel Council and CEO of Aerie Industries, but for now she seems more concerned for her sons—both of them—than anything. She was especially upset when she learned Michael was murdered by Azrael and then killed her son, so even if she was loyal to Azrael before, she’s probably not now. We’re going to watch her closely though, just in case.