23. Amell
TWENTY-THREE
Istomp up the tower”s stairs where Professor Hawkins’ classroom resides, more than a little peeved at the interruption to my day. I still haven’t gotten a hold of Cassiel, and I need to report not only the newest Demon attack on the school but the fact that I found my damned Tether.
After my absurd meeting with the bloody Phoenix running this damned school, I had to bring Rafael, the Angelic and Fae representative, back to my office and explain why I had attacked a student and a member of the Balaur Patrol. I told him what I had to but kept my personal information to myself. He is, after all, a simple Fae, and I won”t lower myself to conversing or discussing my life with him. He can give his report to Cassiel or Diana, and I’ll talk with them.
After that, I went over to the small chapel the Balaur Patrol runs so I could do a process report on the newest victim in this never-ending circle of death the Demons have decided to bring down on the school. Usually, Angels don”t step into Fae matters, but the Demon activity has almost doubled in the area, and the pendulums and Demonic rituals I”ve seen etched into the earth around the dead girls in the past three years are enough that I am concerned.
They are planning something. Something big that I”m worried we won”t be prepared for unless I figure out what”s going on. Each girl”s body is found closer and closer to the school grounds. The magic they’re using to kill the girls is also destroying the forest and forcing them further from their marked territory. I”ll be able to act the moment they step over those boundaries, but until then, it’s not my problem.
I’ve already offered more assistance to the Fae than I’m technically allowed. I’m here to observe, to ensure the Demons don’t shift the balance of life. That is all. If Angels mix themselves in every fight or war that the Fae or humans have, their lives would be altered entirely. They would no longer have their unique ways of living and would be bound to do as we instructed. Which is why we stay out of things unless it’s absolutely necessary.
Most Fae and humans don’t know of our existence. Our very species is now mixed into their religion and lore of old stories. We are the heroes to some, the villains to others in these stories. It’s also why I have a glamor on at all times. The only time I can relax is when I’m in meetings with the select few people who are aware of Angels’ existence and my role at the school.
“Healer, Boris. Where is the damned healer!?” I hear the new professor yell as I approach his closed door. He’s upset, and I can feel the strength of his magic from here.
“How about you sit? Atlas has some questions for you,” I hear the rough feminine voice say, making me groan and close my eyes as I rest my forehead against the cold wood of the door in front of me. Of fucking course, Serafina Covington is here. I swear her very existence mocks me and my control. I don”t have time for this girl. The faster I get her off school grounds and out of my way, the better.
Reaching up, I lightly tap on the door before mentally bracing myself, reining in my emotions, and reminding myself that I have been an Archangel for decades. It will take more than a silly Fae girl to unman me.
“Aw, that should be him,” I hear Boris grumble, his deep voice rumbling through the air as I open the door, letting it swing inward. Holding my head high, I feel the moment Serafina’s gaze lands on me. The pull to go to her makes me grit my teeth as I glance at the two other men in the room, purposely avoiding her gaze.
“This is the best you could do?” I hear Hawkins snap at the leader of the Balaur Patrol.
“I—you said to bring a healer! He’s a fucking Angel! They can heal people. Besides, the students believe he’s a Fae with healing abilities so that it doesn”t blow his cover when he helps me heal my Dragons after a Demon fight,” Boris grumbles in defense.
“I think I’ll wait for the Healer. Thanks,” Serafina snaps, and I freeze, my magic lashing in the air around me as I desperately try to control myself.
The healer is for my Tether?
I immediately look to the young woman who is standing next to the chair Boris is sitting in, lording over the two men like a damn Goddess. She’s dressed in simple black clothing, her hair pulled tightly up at the top of her head. She has less make-up on than she did the first time I saw her, but more than she had on last night and… bruises. There are fucking bruises around her neck! The dark purple color is a stark difference to her creamy skin.
Oh, someone is going to die for that.
“Who the fuck strangled you, and are they dead yet?” I snarl at her, ignoring the professor and Dragon, who both stand, the first on shaky legs, as I stomp over to my Tether, reaching for her injured neck. The need to heal her is like a physical itch, something that won’t be settled until her skin is once more unblemished.
Before my fingers can brush against her soft looking skin, a wall of black death magic strikes me, sliding me backward a few feet. It doesn’t hurt; a Reaper”s magic can’t kill an Angel, but it packs a powerful punch I was unprepared for.
“I thought I told you I didn’t like being touched,” she hisses at me, a frustrated look crossing her features.
“And how the hell am I supposed to heal you if I can’t touch you?” I grind out, annoyed at her childish behavior.
“You don’t. I’ll wait,” she responds, flipping her long ponytail over one shoulder, and looking back at Professor Hawkins, effectively dismissing me. Well, that won’t do.
“And what, pray tell,” I grind out, my hands fisted at my sides as she steps closer to the damn professor. I swear if she lets him touch her, I’ll kill him. “have I done to offend you enough that you would rather stay in pain than allow me to heal you?” Serafina looks over her shoulder at me, her cold gray eyes flicking up and down my body, and for the first time ever, I tense, suddenly feeling insecure. I shove the feelings away, already hating how this damn Tether bond to the girl has messed with my mind.
“Your blatant disregard for life in general. I find it distasteful and would rather not be around you. Besides, I am Fae, why would you heal me?” she asks, cocking a brow in a challenge, and I have to bite the inside of my cheek so I don’t lose my shit. “You know, I was raised by an Angel,” she continues, looking away from me as she walks confidently behind Professor Hawkins.
She turns, leaning a hip against the imposing desk as she crosses her arms over her chest. I try to ignore how it pushes her perfectly proportioned breasts higher, granting me an amazing view of her cleavage. “Besides the two I grew up with, there isn”t one I would ever say was a pleasure to meet. Everything I have seen and heard from you only cements the fact that I don’t want nor wish to get to know you better. Besides,” she says, waving a hand through the air. “I’m not in pain.”
Professor Hawkins glares up at her like he too knows she’s lying, and it makes me even more irrational at the thought he knows her well enough to hear the lies spilling from her ruby-red lips.
“Half Angel,” I correct about the silly Nephilim who helped raise her. Dominic Carter is hardly a worthy Angel, and I hate that she classifies him as such. “And I thought I told you not to lie to me.”
Serafina stills, head tilting a millimeter to the side before she bloody smirks at me. The nerve of this girl. “You just proved my point. You are prejudiced to even those of your own kind. Dominic is a far better man than you could ever dream to be.” I scowl at her, her words striking a nerve as Boris leans back in his chair and tsks under his breath.
“Yeah. My bad. I should have waited for the healer. I wasn’t sure if we were dealing with a life-or-death situation since someone…” Boris side eyes the professor, who is still glaring at me. I watch him readjust in his wheelchair, leaning closer to my Tether. She notices, of course she does. It seems not much gets past the girl and she reaches out to pat him, somewhat awkwardly on the shoulder. “chose to hang up without giving me more information.”
“Ambrose. Since you’re here, perhaps you could be useful,” the professor says, resting his elbows on the desk in front of him as he stares me down without a hint of fear or apprehension.
I glare at him, feeling a little self conscious. Have I lost my edge, or is this man certifiable? I press my magic forward once more, wanting to breach his mental shields and see what the hell this man is thinking, but the moment my magic gets within a foot of the professor, Serafina’s magic springs forward, shoving mine back and making me jerk in surprise.
I turn my glare on her, and she responds by grabbing her ponytail, bringing the long, silky strands of hair over her shoulder as she studies the ends, lips pursed like she has no care in the world. This little brat?—
“What creature can call on another being?” the professor asks, cutting into my fuming. “Mentally or Physically. Not only in dreams?—”
“Not a dream,” Serafina interrupts, and Hawkins dips his head at her.
“Alright. Subconsciously enough that the person can sustain an injury?”
“Injury? Is that what happened to you?” I ask, my glare still firmly on my annoyingly uninterested Tether. I have never been ignored like this in all my years, and I’m itching to put her in her place.
“I don”t know,” she snarks, looking up from her hair to meet my gaze. I feel a lurch in my gut and sneer at how she can physically affect me this way. No wonder the idea of getting a Tether is so repulsive to Angels. Not only have I lost control of my magic, but my damn body is also betraying me. “That’s what we’re trying to figure out,” she sighs before looking down at the professor. “He’s useless. Let”s call Dominic. At least we know he has our best interests at heart.”
Useless? I can’t help but stare at her, my rage hitting a new high as I glower at her. “It could be a few creatures. However, in order to have a physical form, they would have to be powerful. Most likely an Angel, which is highly unlikely, or possibly an Asphyx,” I tell her, venom dripping from my words as she tilts her head, looking at me for only a moment before looking back down to the professor.
“What the hell is an Asphyx?” she asks, looking to him once more for an answer she knows I have. I swear my head explodes as Hawkins looks up at her with a soft smile. Boris slowly stands at my side, eyeing me like he knows I’m a disaster about to wreak havoc on everyone in the room. It”s enough of a distraction that I’m able to restrain myself from killing the professor, but only just.
“A Demon with the ability to warp reality. Rare, but they do exist,” he admits before looking at me puzzled. “How sure can you be it isn”t an Angel? I know you lot are getting low in numbers, but there are more of you than there are Asphyx’s.”
“An Angel wouldn’t care enough about a silly Fae girl to warp her reality,” I say coolly, enjoying the dirty look Serafina shoots my way the moment the words silly girl leave my lips.
“And a Demon would?” Hawkins asks in confusion, his words making me stop and think for a moment. No… no, a Demon wouldn’t. If it had been an Asphyx, Serafina would be dead, not here glaring at me like she wishes she could tear my soul from my body. Dammit! Why hadn”t I thought of that before now?
“No, they wouldn’t. Not unless there was a reason for it,” I hedge, looking at my Tether and stepping closer to the desk, my words clipped as they come out. “Have you done anything recently that would attract the notice of a Demon?”
Serafina blinks at me a few times and shrugs. “Not that I’m aware of. But this is the second time it happened, and it didn”t happen until I came here. Didn”t you say it was a Demon you suspected of killing the girls? Maybe the one I interrupted last night is mad at me,” she offers, and I shake my head.
“That wouldn”t be enough. Whoever it is would need to be strong enough to pull you into a new reality. An alternate dimension where you were able to get injured. They would have needed to have a vested interest in you, or else you would be dead right now,” I tell her, my hands balling into fists at the thought of her death. The moment she dies, my magic will crumble.
Hawkins pales at my words, but Serafina doesn”t look too shaken up over the fact that she could have died.
“Hmm. Well, I’m not dead, so obviously there’s something else going on,” she says simply, infuriating me and the professor. Even the Dragon looks shocked at her lack of fear for her life.
“The Demonic activity is high enough that they could be looking for a way into the school to get more girls,” Boris suggests, and I nod, the idea holding some merit.
“It”s a possibility, but odds are they wouldn”t have left her alive,” I mutter, trying to figure everything out.
“They need to shut the damn school down. I told that woman it”s too dangerous for people to be here,” Boris growls, eyes flashing gold as he shakes his head.
“Can”t we go over her head?” Hawkins asks, strumming his fingers on the desk in front of him.
“The school board is the one pressing to keep the university open,” Boris mutters, sighing in exasperation. I ignore them, my attention falling back on the purple bruises around Serafina’s throat.
“Are you going to sit there like a child or let me heal you?” I ask, trying to keep my voice level so she doesn”t go on the defensive. Sure, I could force her to let me near her, but it would be easier if she agreed. Boris sits back down but keeps his attention on me.
“That”s the second time you’ve called me a child in the last twenty-four hours,” she responds, standing up to her full height and letting her hair go.
“Maybe that”s a sign to stop acting like one,” I suggest, then mentally kick myself. So much for trying to keep her off the defensive.
“Fina, let him heal you. There’s no reason to sit there in pain when he can fix it,” Hawkins mutters without looking her way. And this time, I really know I’m losing my mind because, even though he’s telling her to do what I want, it pisses me off that he thinks he can tell her what to do. Serafina is my Tether, and Hawkins has no right to butt in.
“Whatever,” she grumbles as she walks around the desk and steps toward me. I hold out my hand, waiting for her to come to me, just as Boris’ phone starts to ring. “Make it fast, would you?” she demands, arching a perfectly curved black brow as she eyes my hand stretched out between us.
“What!?” Boris bellows, jumping from his chair and startling Serafina, turning so fast toward the giant Dragon that her hip bumps the side of the desk, and she sways dangerously on her heels.
“Oh shit,” she whispers, her voice so soft I barely hear her as I lunge forward, wrapping my arms around her tiny waist and tugging her protectively against me before she topples to the ground. I glare at the big bastard for scaring her as I tuck her into my side, hating how fucking good she feels pressed against me. “Let go!” she hisses, her body tensing as she claws at the arm I have wrapped around her.
“Put away your claws, kitten, and let me heal you,” I grind out, releasing my magic and beginning the healing process while I still have her under control. The damn girl has proven more challenging to contain than I initially thought, and I know the moment I look away, she’s going to try and break free. Since my damn magic is currently having a field day with the bruises around her neck, I focus on healing her as fast as possible.
For just a moment, I feel Serafina’s too small body relax, the tiniest of moans breathing past her lips as my magic floods her, wrapping her in its embrace and searching out every injury it can find. She’s underweight, I realize, anger and frustration filling me as I support her against me. And as my magic moves through her, finding all the injuries that need to be healed, my anger only grows.
“What the hell happened to your back?” I whisper into her ear when I realize the bruises continue over her shoulders and down to her waist. I wince when I feel her pain echoing in our incomplete Tether bond and curse.
Shit, she has a broken rib! How the hell was she standing here this whole time, acting as if nothing was wrong?
“He got a lucky hit in,” she admits with a breathy sigh. I watch, entranced, as Serafina’s eyelids flutter shut, a relieved breath of air escaping her as she slumps in my arms. I’m unsure if I’m more surprised that she answered me or that she’s letting me hold her without a fight. In the next moment her eyes spring open and by the sudden shock I see there, she also surprised herself.
“Don’t,” I warn, knowing she’s about to fight me again. There are a few more injuries that need to be healed, and I don’t want to cause any more harm.
She ignores me, her body tensing like a damn snake ready to strike. I look down at her angry face, ready to give her a tongue-lashing for her silly behavior. But my words catch in my throat when I see her gray eyes darkening, glowing with magic that beckons my own to respond. There is something more there—something I’m not sure I understand—that mingles in the depths of her gaze that excites and terrifies me.
“What the hell?” I rasp, leaning closer, relishing the sweet scent of berries and spice lingering around her.
“What’s happened?” I hear Hawkins ask Boris as he continues to rant at whoever is on the call, but I ignore him, concentrating on the girl in my arms. A sudden pain at my side makes me jerk, and I look down at the small blade my Tether has pressed firmly against my side. The gleaming silver metal glows with death magic, and I eye it in amazement, watching as blood slowly spills across its smooth surface.
Grinning, I look at my young Tether, tightening my grip around her waist while ignoring the sting of pain the move brings as her blade sinks deeper into my side.
“Want to tell me how you possess the magic to cut an Angel, kitten?” I whisper, winding my magic around hers and coaxing it to come out. I thought I had been imagining the odd swirl in her magic last night, but now I know better.
“Why would I do that?” she asks, shocking the hell out of me when she leans closer to me instead of away like I assumed she would.
Fuck, why is her defiance so damn hot and irritating at the same time? I laugh, but it”s not a happy one as I wrap my magic more firmly around hers, yanking it toward me and earning a delightful gasp of surprise from her pretty red lips.
“Shit! I’m on my way,” Boris says to whoever is on the call, stomping past us and distracting me enough that Fina yanks out of my arms. I feel her magic slip through mine as I desperately try to hold on to it, but almost like it has a will of its own, it forces my magic to yield and bend, setting itself free without my permission.
What the fuck!?
“Boris!” Hawkins shouts as the Dragon curses and hangs up his phone. “What happened?”
“Another girl just died, but this time she’s on school grounds!”