Demon Hunter (Hellfire Academy Book 2)

by C. L. Coffey

  “My parents said this was an isolated incident,” one student called out.

  “The police have indeed concluded from their investigation that is the case.” Pinnosa agreed. “And we will be reassessing the situation in a few weeks, but while we work on upgrading our security protocols and equipment, for the time being, you will all remain on campus until further notice.”

  I had to wonder who we consisted of. As far as I was aware, there was no board at this college—just Pinnosa calling the shots like she had a thousand years ago when the college was built.

  “To make things a little more tolerable for you, we have allowed the local coffee shop to set up a pop-up shop on campus. I know this is the reason so many of you go into town.”

  Beside me, Leigh-Ann snorted. “Coffee is not the drink they go off campus for.”

  That didn’t surprise me in the slightest.

  “However,” Pinnosa continued. “I want to make it abundantly clear to all of you, that should anyone try to leave the college grounds without permission, you can expect to face disciplinary action, up to or including expulsion.”

  When I looked back at Dean Pinnosa, her eyes were locked on mine.

  Chapter Five

  “Want to check this coffee shop out?” I asked Leigh-Ann as we left the gymnasium.

  “Uh-huh,” she mumbled, her nose in her phone.

  “Planet Earth calling Leigh-Ann Sinclair?” I waved my hand over the phone.

  “I always knew she wasn’t special enough to be a nephilim, but I didn’t know it was because she was an alien.”

  Beside me, Leigh-Ann seemed to shrink at the sound of Lottie’s voice.

  Rolling my eyes, I turned and found Lottie and Cody behind us. Summoning all the patience that I had in me, I forced myself to not react with anything more than a pleasant tone.

  “I realize the three of us are never going to be friends, but do you really need to do this every time we see each other?”

  “You stole my boyfriend off me, and Leigh-Ann tried to kill me. You’re a bit too hard to ignore.” Lottie stared me up and down, like I was something on the bottom of her shoe. “And on top of that, you manage to make a very expensive uniform look cheap.”

  “I broke up with you because I don’t like you that way anymore,” Harrison said, joining the four of us, with Cash right beside him. “Plus, I’m hardly going to date someone who doesn’t like my twin.”

  Lottie’s pissy expression disappeared the second her dark eyes fell on Harrison. “Harry, baby, can we talk? Please?” She gave me a sideways glance. “In private.”

  Harrison shook his head. “I think we’ve said all we need to.”

  Lottie folded her arms. “We can have the chat here if you prefer?”

  A silent conversation seemed to take place between the two of them as they frowned at each other. Finally, Harrison let out a harassed sigh. “Fine,” he mumbled, turning on his heel and walking away.

  Without missing a beat, Lottie strode after him, leaving Cody and Cash with us.

  “She does realize we’re no longer in high school, right?” I stared at her retreating back.

  “I don’t think it makes much difference when you’ve come from a family with money and a mommy and daddy that let you do what you want,” Cody told me.

  Turning, I cocked my head. “Doesn’t the same thing apply to you?”

  “Definitely.” Giving me a salute, Cody stuck his hands in his pockets and walked back to the dorm.

  “And to think I transferred from a college back to a high school,” Cash said, watching him go. He turned back to us, waiting expectantly.

  “We’re going for coffee, do you . . . want to join us?” I asked Cash hesitantly.

  “No, he doesn’t,” Leigh-Ann answered before he could.

  “Actually—”

  “And even if he does,” she continued as though he wasn’t even there, never mind trying to speak. “I have something important I need to talk to you about in private.” Leigh-Ann linked her arm through mine and dragged me off in the opposite direction of the others.

  “I thought we liked your cousin?”

  “We do,” Leigh-Ann said. While she kept her arm linked through mine, she did slow down our pace. “But you suggested coffee and we need to discuss that cute counselor who was making doe eyes at your man . . . angel?” Leigh-Ann frowned.

  “Gabriel is not my man nor my angel.”

  “That’s funny, because he couldn’t take his eyes off you during that meeting.”

  Much as that made butterflies appear in my stomach; it didn’t change the fact that just this morning he was telling me we weren’t a match made in heaven.

  Instead of reliving that moment again, I kept quiet. We walked down to the river in silence. The last time I was here, there had been snow on the ground and Leigh-Ann was wading in the freezing water, wearing her pajamas.

  The snow was gone now, and the river was full and fast moving. Around the edges, flowers were beginning to bud, as were the trees with their overhanging branches. At the water’s edge stood a small cabin that looked like the green paint had been a recent edition.

  “What is this?” I asked as the wind picked up, blowing the scent of fresh coffee in our direction.

  “The pop-up coffee shop the dean was talking about,” Leigh-Ann told me, grinning.

  I looked around, surprised that there was no one else down here. “Are you sure?”

  “I got back yesterday and saw a delivery truck being unloaded. Boxes of coffee were loaded onto a cart and pushed in this direction. Considering there’s nothing else this way, I took an educated guess.” Leigh-Ann had a satisfied smile on her face as she pushed open the door.

  The smell of fresh paint was still there despite the overriding smell of coffee. With a brand-new floor, tables, chairs, and the fanciest espresso machine I’d ever seen, this place had been put together in a rush.

  Quickly counting the chairs and tables, I figured there was space for about thirty people when I realized Ty was there.

  Behind the counter.

  I turned to Leigh-Ann and arched an eyebrow. “You saw someone pushing a cart, or you saw Ty pushing the cart?”

  “Po-tay-to, po-tah-to.” She bounded over towards the tall counter and pulled out one of the chairs to sit on. Resting her elbows on the counter, she leaned over to kiss Ty. “You could have said you were working earlier.” Leigh-Ann scolded him. “I was worried when you weren’t at the meeting.”

  Ty shrugged. “Pinnosa cornered me on the way down. Said she was making an announcement and the morning would be spent with people complaining about the new schedule, so I should come down and make sure everything was ready. Do you want something to drink?”

  “I didn’t come down here to see you,” I told him, sliding onto the chair beside Leigh-Ann. I glanced up at the board behind Ty’s head. There were dozens of drinks up there. “I’ll just have a latte, please.”

  “What about you, babe?”

  Leigh-Ann gave him a wide grin. “Surprise me.”

  This I wanted to see.

  On one of my first days here, Simone had called this place Good-Riddance Prep: a college where students were rich, troubled, gifted, or a combination of the three.

  There had always been something about Ty that screamed rich and troubled to me but watching him handle the espresso machine had me questioning that.

  Although he’d lost his hand, Ty was operating the machine with ease and familiarity. Which meant he’d worked in a coffee shop before.

  From the little Ty had told me about himself, the two of them had been working together back in Ty’s hometown of New Orleans. There was no way Ty hadn’t come from money.

  So how the hell did he know how to use an espresso machine?

  Moments later, a one-use disposable coffee cup was placed in front of me.

  Subtle.

  Beside it, in a glass cup, was Leigh-Ann’s surprisingly red drink, covered in whipped cream and pink marshmallow
s.

  Leigh-Ann gave a happy little butt-shuffle in her chair as she grabbed a spoon and dug in while I arched an eyebrow at Ty.

  “What is that?”

  Ty pointed up at the blackboard. “Red velvet hot chocolate.”

  Leigh-Ann moaned. “Heaven in a glass.”

  I wasn’t entirely sure Ty had much to do with heaven. Instead of saying anything, I picked up my cup and took a sip. It was . . . delicious. “Where did you learn how to make coffee?”

  Ty shrugged. “Worked in a bar on Bourbon Street. Served crepes and coffee during the day.”

  “You worked in a bar?” I wasn’t going to deny the guy could make coffee—good coffee—but he still didn’t look like the kind of person to serve people.

  “Dad refused to pay for my tuition.”

  “Ty was studying at Tulane,” Leigh-Ann chimed in. Her pride was evident.

  “How’d you end up here?” I looked around the still empty coffee shop.

  Ty picked up a cloth and started wiping down the counter. “Pinnosa said it’s punishment for being caught on the girl’s floor.”

  As tempted as I was to tell him ‘I told you so,’ I didn’t. Mainly because he wasn’t the slightest bit upset about working here. If anything, he seemed relaxed. Then again, he always seemed more mellow around Leigh-Ann.

  Taking another sip of my coffee, I glanced over at Leigh-Ann. She was doing the flirty eye thing, fluttering her eyelashes at Ty. She was officially head over heels for this guy. From the way his blue eyes never left her, the feeling seemed to be mutual.

  “Fine,” I muttered, setting my drink down. I hadn’t meant to say the word aloud, but both Ty and Leigh-Ann looked at me. I quickly shook my head. I may have decided that I was perhaps mistaken with my first impression of Ty, but I wasn’t going to admit it.

  I was saved from having to explain by a chiming sound. Leigh-Ann dug into her jacket pocket and pulled out her phone. “Our updated schedules are here.” She looked over at me. “Dean Pinnosa just emailed them.”

  It took me a moment to realize she was pointing out that I now had a phone I could check this on. I’d put the new phone in my pocket before we left, and I took it out, frowning at the screen.

  With a sigh, Ty leaned over and snatched the phone from me.

  “Hey.” I objected.

  “If you had no idea how to use an iPad, you’ll have no idea how to use this either,” he told me.

  My face flamed, but he was right.

  Using his thumb, he tapped away before handing it back. “Type in your college email password and then hit done.”

  With a little guidance from Leigh-Ann and Ty, I soon had the schedule up in front of me. I quickly skimmed over it. There was a double gym class next.

  Great.

  Considering last semester I was stuck in Gabriel’s office because I accidentally broke Leigh-Ann’s nose with a badminton racket, I couldn’t say I was looking forward to a couple of hours of that again. But at least I didn’t need to high-tail it back to the dorm and get changed.

  But I would need to work out what Gabriel would want me to study while I was stuck in there.

  Picking up my cup, I slid off the chair. “Gym awaits. I’ll catch up with you guys later.”

  As I walked to the door, I realized I’d forgotten all about the extra classes I’d had before Easter. Pinnosa had never seemed thrilled about me attending the college, especially since I’d joined after Christmas in the middle of the semester.

  Oh well . . . it wasn’t like I could leave campus now.

  Just as I reached the door, it opened, and Gabriel was there.

  “There you are,” he said.

  I held up my coffee cup. “Figured I’d grab one of these while we had some time, but I was heading to the gym to see what plan . . .” Gabriel wasn’t paying me the slightest bit of attention. Instead, his gaze was fixed on something behind me.

  Turning my head, I saw Ty feeding Leigh-Ann a spoonful of whipped cream and marshmallow. Neither of them had noticed Gabriel.

  “Gabe—”

  Before I could finish saying his name, he’d pushed me to the side and was using his super speed to rush over to the pair. If I’d have blinked, I would have missed the archangel put one hand on the counter and leap over it, shoving Ty back against one of the tall refrigerators with a bang.

  Leigh-Ann screamed as her hot chocolate went flying with them, her glass shattering as Ty’s back hit the refrigerator door. “What are you doing?” Leigh-Ann shrieked.

  “You have the audacity to be here?” Gabriel snarled.

  Ty couldn’t answer; Gabriel’s hand was wrapped tightly around his neck.

  I reached my best friend’s side, just as the déjà vu hit me.

  “He’s a student here,” I yelled. I continued running around to the other side of the counter. My hand joined Ty’s, although mine wasn’t clawing at Gabriel’s arm like his was.

  “Back away, Kennedy,” Gabriel said through gritted teeth. “You don’t know what he’s done.”

  “Tried to help Angel and accidentally allowed his father to kill an archangel?” I nodded. “Yeah, I do.”

  “His father is—”

  “Dead.” I reminded Gabriel. I moved my head, trying to get him to look at me. Finally, his eyes locked on mine. “It took me a while to warm to him, but I’ve just watched him feed whipped cream and marshmallows to his girlfriend. I don’t think he’s the nephilim you want him to be. And if you judge him on his parent’s actions, what about me?”

  With a shove, Gabriel suddenly let go and stepped back. “You don’t know who your father is.”

  Ouch.

  “No, but what happens if we discover he’s Lucifer?” There wasn’t a single part of me that thought I was Lucifer’s daughter, but he was the only fallen angel who had a reputation worse than Beelzebub.

  “In order for you to be Lucifer’s daughter, you would either have to be a few months old, or a few millennia old.” The anger was still there, but it was beginning to ease off.

  “Please don’t kill Ty,” Leigh-Ann said, suddenly. “I don’t—”

  Just as we turned to look at her, her eyelids fluttered. With no warning, she fell sideways off the chair, landing with a soft thud.

  “Leia.” Ty pushed me out of the way to run around to his girlfriend. I was right behind him, crashing to my knees beside her as he pulled her to his chest. “Leia? Leigh-Ann? Wake up?”

  Leaning in, I peered at her face. Behind her eyelids, her eyeballs were doing a crazy dance. Just as I realized what was happening, her eyes shot open.

  Before I could move back, she launched herself at me, pinning me to the ground. “Cave custodes. Daemon petunt. Et ego daemonium perdere. Cave custo—”

  Ty pulled her off me before I could work out how to free myself without hurting her. I scrambled backwards as he wrapped his arms around her, but it was made clear that even he was struggling to hold onto her as she fought his grip.

  Suddenly, water was thrown over her, and I turned to see Gabriel behind the counter, an empty glass in his hand.

  “What happened?” Leigh-Ann asked, her question almost lost between her panting breaths.

  “You had another vision,” I told her.

  Leigh-Ann went limp in Ty’s arms and panic flushed through me again before I realized she was relaxing into him and not passing out. She closed her eyes, taking several deep breaths until the trembling stopped.

  “What was that?” Gabriel gaze was flicking between the three of us.

  Chapter Six

  “That was Leigh-Ann having a vision.”

  Quickly, I did a mental check of myself. Nothing felt hurt or injured other than my elbow where I’d hit it on the chair leg when Leigh-Ann had grabbed me.

  It wasn’t that I was worried about an injury, but more that I didn’t want Leigh-Ann to get upset if she thought she’d hurt me.

  “You said she only had them when she was asleep.”

  “What on earth is goi
ng on here?” Lottie’s voice trilled across the coffee shop, making me look over at her. Lottie was an exceptionally pretty Asian-American with long, shiny black hair. She was also a nephilim, so she was almost as tall as I was.

  Lottie was pointing at the three of us on the floor, circling her finger. “Is this a lover’s quarrel? Do I need to step back outside?”

  “Yes,” I said, deadpan. “Feel free to head back the way you came.”

  “Kennedy,” Gabriel said in a warning tone.

  I didn’t care. In front of me, Leigh-Ann had frozen in Ty’s arms, her complexion pale. From where she was, Lottie might have been able to see us on the floor, but not that water was dripping off Leigh-Ann.

  “Does this place have a back room?” I asked Ty.

  Ty half glanced over his shoulder, his hand coming up to protectively cover Leigh-Ann’s face.

  “Lottie, I have a class due to start soon; one that you’re also supposed to be in. Could you please go to the gym and inform the class that it is cancelled?” Gabriel asked the woman still standing in the doorway.

  “And what should I tell them is the reason for class being cancelled?” Lottie’s tone was artificially sweet.

  “They don’t need one,” Gabriel responded, dismissing her.

  With a roll of her eyes, Lottie turned and walked out of the coffee shop. No doubt she was going to come up with some story that was going to upset Leigh-Ann later. I would have to deal with it then.

  I got up and walked over to the door. When I saw Lottie’s back disappearing towards the college, I flicked the sign over and locked the door. When I turned back to the others, Ty was busy helping Leigh-Ann into a chair.

  “Are you okay?” Gabriel placed a fresh glass of water in front of Leigh-Ann. It was accompanied by a towel.

  Leigh-Ann took the towel, dabbing at her hair. “Mostly.”

  Joining them at the table, I took a seat beside Leigh-Ann, giving her a reassuring smile. “Are you sure?”