Chapter 4
SIMONE
“Look,” my team leader, Lana, says, her words slightly slurred from vodka she apparently pilfered from Maalik’s kitchen. “We’ve been here for four months, and I’m still not convinced the Fallen have dicks.”
Kevin groans, hiding his face in his hands. “Please, for the love of everything unholy, change the subject.”
My hand is over my mouth, a scandalized giggle escaping me, while Jessica laughs outright with a boisterous guffaw. Liam tries to shush her, and Ethan just looks like he’s enjoying the show.
We’re in Lana’s room, since hers is in a separate wing of the fortress, away from both the Cambion and Nephilim.
It’s been our favorite hideout since we became a team, learning to fight and use the ether—which is a bit like Celestial magic—together under the tutelage of Maalik, Daniel, and a few of the other fallen angels that call Abaddon home.
During these months in the Underworld, I’ve learned to heal minor injuries, throw a punch, and I actually became pretty good at throwing knives. I’m not as confident as the rest of my team—or really most of the Elioud here—but I’m growing into the person Daniel saw in me when we first arrived.
“Is there any Fallen’s cock you’d like to see in particular, love?” Ethan asks, ribbing Lana. “Daniel, perhaps? You two seem attached at the hip sometimes.”
Lana makes a gagging sound. “He’s such a dad. I don’t want to even think of him that way.”
“He looks the same age as us,” Jess snickers.
“It’s the vibe,” our auburn-haired team leader declares sagely. “Dad vibes, and I don’t mean Daddy.” She wiggles her eyebrows.
“Does no one else find it suspicious that Daniel and Maalik share a hallway, a kitchen?” I pipe in. “When all the other Fallen keep to themselves in separate towers. No one?”
Liam blinks at me. “You don’t think…”
I wink at him. “Oui.”
“No way.” Lana shakes her head and takes the vodka bottle from my hands. “No more booze for you, Simone. Giving me mental images I’m going to need bleach for.”
“Mmm, no,” Jess says slyly. “I’m okay with the mental images. Chocolate and vanilla swirl.”
I laugh at the sounds Lana makes as she pretends to throw up.
Ever since the Fallen divided us into teams and we started learning the ropes, I’ve watched these people open up. Well, except for Ethan—he’s always been as open as one gets. I never had friends before, and I certainly didn’t expect to find them in Hell.
Well, not everyone is friend material here.
There’s Nick, an insufferable Cambion who thinks he’s God’s gift to women—human or Elioud—and just won’t take no for an answer.
I’ve felt his gaze follow me one too many times to feel comfortable around him.
Once again, I’m starting to feel like I should watch my back, in danger from a man.
Putain d’hommes. Tous les mêmes.
All men are the same. Except perhaps Daniel and Liam.
While Kevin and Ethan are Cambion like me, and Lana is of mixed heritage—which makes her a veritable celebrity in the fortress—Jess and Liam are Nephilim. I know the Fallen said a few drops don’t make someone good or bad, but I can feel kindness radiating from Liam especially.
“So, we’re going out to Hell tomorrow,” I comment, gesturing for the bottle. I need some liquid courage.
“Maalik and Daniel will be with us,” Lana soothes, handing me the vodka despite saying she’s cutting me off. “We’ll be fine.”
I snort, bringing the liquor to my lips. Lana’s very motherly, always comforting people, always wanting to be the one who does the hard things for us. Maalik must have seen that in her, and that’s why he appointed her our leader.
“Yeah, we will be just fine,” I mutter, my eyes watering from the burn of the alcohol. “Likely get attacked by demons and these putain manifestations.”
Ethan slaps my back, making me cough. “Then we’ll kill them all,” he says gleefully.
A loud crash against the door makes us all jump, Jess and I yelping in a way that probably doesn’t befit half-blood soldiers in Hell.
“Stop drinking now, or I’ll kill all of you,” Maalik’s deep voice booms. “I’m throwing anyone too hungover to keep up tomorrow into the Phlegethon.”
Lana bites her lip to keep from laughing, Kevin looks a bit scared, and Liam’s face turns completely red from obvious embarrassment. Jess and I exchange worried glances while Ethan continues inspecting his nails, seemingly unfazed.
“Yes, Daddy,” he chirps, making our eyes bulge out.
Kevin punches Ethan in the arm. “Are you fucking suicidal?” he hisses just as a low growl comes from outside Lana’s room.
“Get your team in order, Lana,” Maalik says before his heavy footfalls fade into the distance.
“I should make you clean the toilet with a toothbrush,” Lana grumbles, then makes a shooing motion. “Go on, get out of here.”
Quietly, we file out of her room, heading to our own wings with a whispered conversation. Liam and Jess veer off toward the Nephilim quarters, and Ethan, Kevin, and I turn to the Cambion rooms. Kevin’s room is closest, so he’s the first to say good night. Then it’s my turn.
“See you in the morning, Sese,” Ethan says with a smirk, making me roll my eyes and groan. He’s been trying different nicknames to see which one annoys me the most.
“That doesn’t even make sense,” I mutter. “Bonne nuit, Ethan.”
The smell of my room has become familiar over the last few months. Not the home I ever imagined I’d have, but a home nonetheless. That’s why I know instantly that something isn’t right. That someone else is here. Someone who doesn’t belong.
I take a sharp breath and step back on instinct, but the door slams shut behind me.
“Don’t scream,” a familiar smarmy voice says. “It’s just me.”
I whirl around to find our most annoying classmate, Nick, lounging with his back resting against the closed door.
“Nicholas,” I hiss, my heart lodged in my throat. “Why are you in my room? Leave, now.”
He rolls his eyes and takes a step closer. “Are all foreigners this rude?”
My hands clench into fists. “We’re in Hell, imbécile. Everyone is a foreigner here.”
His eyes flash in a way that triggers a familiar fear response within me. But I’m too tired of always being the victim to give in to it and cower.
“Why can’t you just be nice to me, Simone?” he says lowly. “Plenty of chicks here would be thrilled to have me interested in them. Why do you have to be such a bitch?”
A hysterical laugh crawls up my throat. “I can only imagine how enchanted they are by your charms.” He takes another step closer, and I raise my voice. “Stop.”
Nick freezes, waiting to see if anyone heard me.
“Leave right now, or I will yell,” I say, my tone brooking no argument. I’m done being pushed around by infantile men. “Come near my room again, and I will tell our trainers you are harassing me.”
Nick’s teeth grind together audibly, and I can see the wheels turning behind his beady little eyes. He opens his mouth to say something undoubtedly brilliant, but I don’t let him speak.
“Don’t say another word. Turn around and leave.”
With another second of hesitation, he finally listens, leaving my room with stiff motions and closing the door with another bang. All the fight leaves me as soon as he’s gone, and I lower myself onto my bed with shaky legs.
There’s a quiet knock on my door, but it makes me jump anyway.
“Simone? I heard banging. Are you alright?”
Akira, a Cambion from Corson’s team who’s so quiet, I don’t think he actually ever addressed me before. I only know it’s him because of his faint Japanese accent and the fact that his room is across from mine.
I clear my throat and speak up, not feeling up to opening the door. “It’s alright now. I’m fine.”
Akira is quiet for a moment. “Very well,” he finally says. A few seconds later, I hear the quiet snick of his door closing behind him.
I release my breath out through my nose and let myself fall back onto my bed.
I was so worried about the dangers that await me tomorrow in Hell, I let my guard down to the dangers around me here. It won’t happen again.