The Infernal Sacrament (Guardians of Elysium Book 1)

by Nissa Leder

  After the bell rings, releasing us to lunch, I wait for everyone to leave before standing.

  By the time I exit the classroom, Claire is waiting for me.

  “What took you so long?” she asks.

  “I wanted to finish up one more problem,” I lie.

  Her eyebrow lifts in a perfect curve. “Mmmhmm.”

  She doesn’t ask again.

  As we’re sitting at a lunch table in the commons, she asks, “So, you never told me how the party went after …” She doesn’t have to finish the sentence for me to know she means after I saw Darien.

  I feel heat rise in my cheeks.

  “Ava Pierce! Is that a blush? Whatever did you do?” A grin forms on the side of her mouth as her eyes fixate on me.

  Nerves tingle my stomach as I think of Finn. The night might have started on a crappy note, but afterward, I actually managed to have fun. “Don’t judge me, okay, but I met someone.”

  It sounds awful. I would have never imagined myself someone to find a rebound. And I don’t even know if that’s what I should call it.

  “Deets, please.” Claire unwraps the sandwich she brought for lunch.

  “Well, I was upset after seeing Darien and decided I wanted to have fun and not worry. So, I drank some beer and some Jello shots and was spinning in circles on the dance floor—”

  “Ava on the dance floor? You never dance with me!”

  I purse my lips. “That’s not true. We used to dance all of the time.”

  “Fine. Continue …” She takes a bite of her sandwich.

  “Out of nowhere, this really cute guy is standing in front of me. Normally, I would have brushed him off, but I wanted a distraction and there he was.”

  Claire scoots forward in her seat as she swallows the food in her mouth. “My innocent Ava flirted with a stranger?”

  “We danced together for a while and, I can’t really explain it, but I just felt so carefree.”

  “It’s called a buzz.”

  I’ve been buzzed many times, but this was more than that. I’d never felt so light. “After feeling down about the whole Darien thing, it was nice to just be free.”

  “So, you danced and went home?”

  “Not exactly.” The heat in my cheeks burns even hotter.

  “Ava!”

  “We found an empty room and made out,” I blurt. I’m not sure why I feel so guilty. God knows, Claire has no room to judge me. She flirts with almost every guy—and some girls—she meets. But I’m so used to being in a relationship, having no tether feels strange.

  The intrigue in her gaze fades and concern replaces it. “I would never judge you, but are you okay?”

  “Yes, I’m fine. I just want to forget him right now. And maybe I need to be more like you and less worried about everything all of the time. Maybe this whole thing will be a growing experience for me.” I shrug, feigning nonchalance. I’m not okay, but I will be. And the way I felt with Finn was unlike anything I’d felt before.

  “Well, what did mystery guy look like? Tall, dark, and handsome?”

  “Tall and handsome.”

  “Two out of three isn’t so bad.” Claire sticks her tongue out to the side.

  “Actually, I think we took a picture while we were dancing.” I grab my phone from my messenger bag and open up my photo album then click the picture of us. “It’s kind of blurry and totally doesn’t do him justice.”

  Claire takes the phone from me and when she looks at it, grimaces.

  “What? You don’t think he’s cute?” I ask, surprised at her reaction.

  “I mean, if you like the pretty boy type.” She shrugs and hands me back my phone. “You haven’t seen him since, have you?”

  “No. I think I gave him my number but I can’t quite remember. Probably thanks to the Jello shots.” When I glance at the picture before turning off my phone, my heart flutters. “But maybe having fun with someone else is exactly what I need. Weren’t you telling me at the game to move on?”

  “I mean, yes, you should move on. But you don’t even know this guy. What if he’s a serial killer? Hmm? What kind of best friend would I be if I didn’t warn you of the dangers of the world?”

  I’m not sure to be concerned or to laugh. This is so unlike Claire. I’m always the one trying to convince her she needs to make safe decisions. “I doubt I’ll ever see him again. It was nice though. To feel special.”

  Claire scoots her chair close to mine and hugs me. “You are special. Darien is a complete idiot. You deserve someone who appreciates you for the goddess you are.”

  We finish our lunch without any more talk of Darien or Finn. Claire changes the subject to how the new captain of the dance team is driving her crazy. As she’s telling me about all the drama, I hear my phone vibrate.

  When I pick it up, I see a text from a number I don’t recognize.

  Friday was fun ;)

  Finn. It has to be from him. I resist a smile.

  When Claire finishes venting, I’m about to tell her about the text but stop. Something about him weirded her out, and I don’t want her to talk me out of anything.

  After I type It wasn’t the worst night of my life ;) and hit send, I let out the grin I’d been holding in.

  Thinking of Darien so much will eat me from the inside out, and if flirting with Finn will distract me, then how can it be so wrong?

  5

  I fumble with the handle on my locker, but the stupid thing won’t budge. I hoist my new books on my hip and try again. It’s stuck.

  Figures.

  I’m going to have to haul 30 pounds of books around all day, and Darien Crain probably thinks I’m some Fatal Attraction-style stalker, considering I’ve been following him around like some pathetic loser. The hits just keep coming.

  Not only is my counterpart captain quarterback, but he also has no clue what he is—or what I am, despite the fact that he saw me light up like a bomb flash earlier this morning in the commons.

  I can appreciate the irony of my situation, but I really thought he might call me over the weekend. I mean, I don’t hand my number out to just anyone. Dad says that obviously, the truth was withheld from him for a reason and not to interfere just yet, but it goes against every impulse I feel, thanks to our connection. Darien feels it, too. I can tell by the way his eyes had found me this morning in the middle of the crowd.

  What I really need to do is to concentrate on school so I don’t flunk out, which is easier said than done, considering my life has never exactly been conducive to good grades.

  It’s my first day at Cascade High, and so far, I haven’t heard a single word or absorbed any knowledge about geometry, our nation’s judicial system, or writing speeches. Because all I have done all morning is try to find Darien when he’s not attached at the hip with his bestie … or getting cussed out by an exotic beauty with an impressive vocabulary.

  “Rachel, right?”

  Speaking of Darien’s bestie …

  I turn around and come face-to-face with him. He’s tall, even taller than Darien, with skin a shade or two lighter than mine. And his aura is bursting gold. The color Darien’s should be. I don’t want to like him because he’s prevented a lot of serious conversations over the past three days, but he is easy on the eyes.

  “That’s me. Who wants to know?”

  “I’m Tuck.”

  He extends his hand and I take it. The fact that he is smirking at my gloves doesn’t escape me.

  “You know, most people take their gloves off when they come inside.”

  “Well, I wouldn’t want to catch a chill, would I? The weather here sucks.”

  Tuck smirks and holds my eyes, as if he’s choosing his next words carefully.

  “Look, I know who you are to him and why you’re here, so you can cut the ‘cold chill’ act.”

  I nod. “So you are the Priest. I figured as much since you’re constantly attached to him and looked like the first responder at a crime scene back when Darien got tackled at the
game.”

  “Priest or not, D is my best friend, and I thought I should explain the situation before you do something his Gran would not appreciate.”

  “So his ignorance is his grandmother’s fault?”

  “More like grandfather.” Tuck leans in and lowers his voice. “Look, his grandparents both lived the life. D’s Gran passed the inheritance to his mom, but his father died and so did that gift. So his grandfather had to decide to pass on the inheritance. He decided that he would try to give Darien as much of a childhood as he could, but he got sick a few months ago. Well, he died a couple of weeks ago, and we’ve been watching for all the signs. Until Friday, I didn’t think Pops had passed it on.”

  “Well, clearly he did—and with no explanation. You know what this means, right? It’s cruel not to tell him.”

  Tuck sighed. “Look, I know. But it’s Gran’s place to tell him. So I came over here to ask you not to do the honors first.”

  I glare up at him, biting back words that won’t help anyone. I can’t believe what he’s asking of me. If Darien doesn’t know what he’s seeing and why, it could drive him crazy. Like, literally, crazy to the fullest extent of the clinical definition. Even worse, with no one to show him how to use his dark inheritance, he’s a living, breathing target for every level of malevolent being the greater Seattle area has to offer.

  “Do you know what you’re asking me to do?” I ask. “I mean, people have been institutionalized for less-serious problems than this. Do you want that to happen? Because every time he sees …” I lower my voice, “what he sees, he gets closer and closer to the edge.”

  “I know,” Tuck says. “D has been my best friend for as long as I can remember. Our families are close, and everyone knows about our world except Darien. I’ve lived my entire life with this—trying to keep him safe and keep him clueless. I’ve told Gran. She called someone who can help. All we have to do is try to keep him calm until the time is right.”

  I huff at him and shake my head. “I can’t believe I’m agreeing to this.”

  “Obviously, you care about him. I get it. So do I. But for now, this is the right thing to do.”

  Tuck reaches behind me and bangs on my locker door. It creaks open. He grabs my books and places them neatly inside.

  “My arm thanks you,” I say.

  Tuck laughs and flashes a wicked grin. He shakes his head.

  “What?”

  “You really aren’t his type at all,” he says, chuckling. “God has one hell of a sense of humor.”

  He turns and walks down the hall.

  I glare at him until he disappears around the corner. I think I’m going to like Tuck. He gets me.

  I flip through the channels and finally settle on a superhero movie I’ve already seen a dozen times. There’s something about watching something so many times I memorize all the dialogue. Maybe I just have too much time on my hands.

  Rain clicks against the huge windows that line the outside wall of my condo. I glance out to the view of the cityscape. Tall buildings line the sky from up here with Mt. Rainer rising in the distance. Cars honk at one another, engines rev, and sirens sound at least once every hour. After being raised in the suburbs by my mom, I’m not sure I’ll ever get used to the sounds of the city, but I love the energy it has.

  I glance out the window to the million-dollar view.

  I have the old man—Baal, one of the most powerful Greater Demons—to thank for my fancy digs. I don’t know if there’s any way to make up for a decade of practical nonexistence, but buying your son prime real estate isn’t a bad way to try. But he didn’t do it because he actually gives a damn. No, it’s to keep me in check. As the son of a high demon like himself, a lot of scrutiny falls my way. Not all half-demon children take after their demon heritage. Some barely have any supernatural qualities at all.

  I was twelve when my dad finally visited us. I’ll never forget the satisfaction on his face when he saw me. By eight, my demon sight and hearing were fully formed. By ten, my speed and strength had settled in—just ask the bully on the playground that threw rocks at my friend Owen. And at twelve, three weeks before he visited, my demon aura and persuasion took hold.

  As a human, mom hadn’t noticed, but my older sister Nyla saw it, and I saw a change in her. But despite her demon side being even stronger than mine, pops only cared about me.

  “Stupid male egos,” she’d said after he left, but I saw the jealousy in her eyes.

  He never offered her anything, but on my sixteenth birthday, he gave me the keys to the condo. Two days later, the Guardians caught Nyla somewhere she shouldn’t be and threw her in their prison. Demons don’t get the benefit of the doubt when it comes to their stupid society and its laws.

  When I begged Baal to do something, he laughed and said she should have been smarter.

  That wasn’t enough for me, so I found a contact who brought me to meet Seraphiel, the Order’s most prized Seraphim.

  He was as arrogant as Baal had said angels were, but something in me amused him enough to hear me out. I assured him my sister really wasn’t evil. She’d just been careless. He reminded me that we demons needed to know the rules and understand it was only by their grace we were allowed to live normally until we did something to mess it up.

  When I asked him about the forgiveness spoke so highly about in their doctrines, he shook his head and laughed then said, “Very well. I can oblige your sister forgiveness from the Order for a price. Three years of dedication to the Guardian cause from you will obtain her freedom.”

  I wanted to tell him where he could shove his forgiveness if that’s how it was earned, but I agreed without hesitation. It was supposed to be a secret agreement. I’m more useful when no one knows I work for the Guardians. Every time I find someone the Order really wants, an extra week is taken from my term. After graduating high school this past summer—something I promised my mother I would do despite my demon blood—I’ve had more time to dedicate to Nyla’s freedom.

  If word got around I worked for the angels, well, that wouldn’t end well for me.

  And as far as I know, for the most part, it had been kept just between Seraphiel and me. That was until his daughter, Claire, stumbled upon one of our meetings.

  She’s even more pretentious than her father, which I didn’t think was possible. Since she learned of our arrangement, he decided she could be the go-between so he wouldn’t have to anymore. She doesn’t seem to the like the situation any more than I do, but like my sister, her need to please her father is blaring.

  My phone dings on the coffee table in front of me. I reach for it and grin when I see it’s a reply from Ava.

  Friday night took an unexpected turn after the football game. After doing my Guardian shift, Ruben sent me the assignment that led me to a Cascade High party where I met Ava again. I had planned to stay focused, but when I saw the lower demon attached to her back, an urge to shoo it away took over. Then I figured I might as well have some fun since the assignment was a bust.

  Something had been bothering Ava. The demon that had latched itself to her to feed did not want to budge, a sign that darkness had taken a strong hold on her. But once it was gone, she loosened up.

  I could tell from her hesitation that she normally wouldn’t be so bold with someone she’d just met, and something about her reluctance enticed me. My demon side makes persuading humans easier than it is for mortals, but I didn’t want to use it that night. At least not any more than I could help. Even when I don’t try, I radiate an alluring aura.

  Such a problem, I know.

  I had no intention of getting Ava alone, but as my hands roamed her curves while we danced, the idea of ending the night there just didn’t cut it. And the way her vibrant blue eyes stared at me with excitement, well, even thinking of it now makes me hot.

  As I’m about to text her back, a knock on the door interrupts me. I click my phone off and put it in my pocket. Ava will have to wait.

  The walnut floor is col
d beneath my bare feet as I walk around the coffee table. I open my door to see Ruben standing there, droplets of water on his black hair. He walks in past me and heads straight to my fridge.

  Like me, Ruben is half-demon. But he wasn’t blessed with as many of the demon powers as I was. He has slight persuasion skills and better-than-human sight and hearing, but not by much. Somehow, he lucked out and got a job as a messenger for one of the higher-ups, and as such, thinks he ranks above me. Joke’s on him. Despite being a crappy parent, Baal’s blood still swims in my veins.

  Something I don’t share with others, and I plan to keep it that way.

  “Come in,” I say after he’s already in the kitchen.

  “Any beer?” Ruben asks as he rifles through my fridge like he owns the place.

  “Bottom shelf.” Persuasion comes in quite useful when convincing a gas station clerk I’m actually twenty-one and just lost my I.D.

  After Ruben grabs a beer and pops off the top, he falls backward onto the couch. “So?”

  “So …?” I sit in the chair across from him.

  “Well, any luck getting her?” Ruben slurps his beer—something I didn’t know was even possible from a bottle.

  “I told you, she never showed to the party.”

  To my surprise, my assignment from Ruben’s boss on Friday night was to find Claire Atwood, daughter of the infamous Seraphiel. Apparently, someone has a vendetta against him and decided stealing his daughter was the perfect revenge.

  I can’t say I’d lose any sleep if something happened to her, but I’m not sure I want to find myself on an angel’s bad side.

  “I said to capture her.” Ruben set the beer down. “Boss needs her.”

  “You told me to find her. You said nothing of capturing.” Since no one knows about my arrangement with the order, my connection to Claire is also a secret. When I heard talk of a party at some house called The Brown House, I guessed she’d attend. She seems the popular, partying type. But she was a no-show.