Why the hell were we playing by the demons’ rules?

“Just go, baby.” The redheaded mother wept as Lincoln nodded, grabbing the girl’s arm. He’d take her kicking and screaming if he had to, I knew he would.

“No. We’re not separating families,” I growled, and Lincoln looked up at me with confusion-filled eyes.

I spun on the demon bound family members who stood around the cages, weeping silently for their loved ones.

“I’m not interested in playing by the demons’ rules anymore!” I roared. “If you’re willing to walk away, leave everything and restart your lives in Angel City with no job, no help, then I extend this invitation to anyone who wants to leave this place today. Start fresh.”

Lincoln made a strangled sound behind me, but it was too late. The joyful tears and murmurs had begun, and the people were rushing forward to leave the cage, and be united with their loved ones.

When I spun, I saw Michael had joined us, standing just behind Lincoln with an unreadable expression on his face.

“You… you can’t do that, Brielle,” Lincoln stammered.

I looked up at Michael, the leader of the Fallen Army. “I just did. With my own free will, I chose to extend safe harbor to any human who wants it. If God disagrees, he can strike me dead right here.” I put a hand on my hip to emphasize my point.

Michael grinned. “You’ve been taking cues from Emberly.”

Lincoln turned to Michael. “We can’t, right? The demons will come for their slaves. They’ll… we’ll be at war day and night, defending the border from them.”

Michael put a hand on Lincoln’s shoulder. “We already are, son. And like Brielle said, she’s free to use her will to extend whatever invitations she wants.” Then he looked at me. “Though I have to say, in all my years of knowing the Creator, I’ve never once seen him strike anyone dead.” He winked.

My cheeks heated. Okay, maybe my taunting God wasn’t the most mature thing to do, but it seemed appropriate at the time. “So, they can come?”

Michael threw up his hands. “I don’t know where to put them, how to feed and clothe them, but we’ll find a way.”

Euphoria spread throughout my limbs. I’d done something on a whim, and it felt incredible.

“We’re going to need more buses,” I told the boys.

“I’ll call Raph.” Lincoln sounded defeated, like he had no idea what crazy woman he’d married until that moment.

As I stepped over dead demon corpses and helped usher families onto the bus to freedom, I couldn’t help but wonder if my dad was looking down on me. I hoped I’d made him proud, because I’d sure as hell just created a lot of work for the Fallen Army.

We took twenty busloads of humans, free souls and demon bound, into Angel City, before the demons were able to shut the border down and keep us out. Word of my offer had spread throughout the city, and people had come in droves to take the proposal. Most of Tainted Academy fled as well. We’d had no choice but to drop them off at the four large parks in Angel City, and tell them we’d figure out how to feed and clothe them as soon as we could.

That night, the 10 percent tithe was born. It was Raphael’s idea. Each citizen of Angel City, if they were willing and able, would give 10 percent of their clothing, food, money, anything they could spare for our new guests. The results brought us to our knees. I’d never been more proud to be a part of this city than I was right then. Our citizens more than delivered. They brought out old mattresses, tents, clothing, radios, makeup, toys for children, food, money. People donated their time, haircuts, bliss donuts, anything you could think of to help the refugees. I watched from the edges of the park, trying to hold in my sobs at the acts of kindness surrounding me.

One man who owned an old upholstery factory on the edge of town, donated his entire building; he said it had been in his family for over a century, and that was the way he wanted it to be remembered. It was five floors tall, and had enough room to fit everyone—if families were willing to bundle together and share the space.

I’d never had more faith in humanity, and the longevity of our race, than I did in that moment.

“You did a great thing.” Michael rested his hand on my shoulder as I watched the citizens of Angel City drop off more and more donations.

I shook my head. “I didn’t do this. This is all them.”

Michael leaned forward. “But they didn’t know they were capable of this, until you gave them the opportunity,” he whispered, squeezing my shoulder and walking away.

Shea sauntered over to me, eyes lined with tears. “I’m not crying, you’re crying,” she said and I laughed, my own unshed tears clouding my vision.

Her arm came around my shoulders and squeezed. “It’s nice to see so much love in the middle of so much hatred.”

I nodded. “It is.”

“So, what now?”

I could no longer avoid the inevitable. Lucifer had upped his game, and so would I.

“Now, I heal Sera, march into Hell, and cut off Lucifer’s limbs before burning him alive.”

“Damn, you went there,” Shea observed.

I did. That motherfucker had reached his expiration date.

Nineteen

Raksha. Raksha. Raksha. Day and night, she was all I could think about in the week following our Demon City raid. I’d told the archangels that I was ready to fulfill my destiny, to go into Hell and kill Lucy, just like the prophecy foretold. Raphael had taken one look at Sera with her black magic-coated blade, and declared I was not.

“Heal the blade, and then I will follow you into Hell myself and fight by your side,” he vowed.

Finally, I had the opportunity to get Raksha back, kill the Devil, and save Earth from his wrath, and it all hinged on this stupid black shit that coated my infinity weapon.

‘Ohh, what if you throw me in fire?’ Sera offered.

I rolled my eyes. ‘We tried that already, remember? Right after the Celestial ball failed, and I slept for nineteen hours.’

‘Oh, yeah.’

“Did you think of anything?” I asked Shea. We were gathered in the small gymnasium, trying out different things while Lincoln played guitar with Noah in the corner, and pretended he wasn’t ecstatic that I couldn’t go into Hell after Lucy. If he had it his way, I’d never fix Sera.

Shea shrugged. “This is Devil magic, way beyond my paygrade. Maybe we ask Raphael for a clue?”

“This isn’t a game,” I groaned. “He’s not going to give three clues.” Besides, I’d already tried. He simply asserted that once I was able to dissolve this magic, I was ready.

Shea just shrugged.

Reaching out, I picked Sera up and stood. “I’m going for a walk to clear my head, until something comes to me. I’ll be back in a bit.”

My bestie nodded.

I was halfway to the door when Lincoln’s guitar stopped. “Where are you going?”

I spun to face him. “For a walk. I need to shake things up, get a different idea.”

“I’ll come with you.” He stood.

“No. I need some alone time. I’ll be fine, and I’ll stay on campus. Promise.” I put my hands out in a gesture for him to back off, and he read it loud and clear. I wasn’t the most pleasant person to be around lately. It killed me that Raksha was stuck in Hell and Lucy was terrorizing humanity while I sat on my ass and couldn’t even dissolve a simple dark spell. Well, obviously it wasn’t simple, but still.

Since the first day I’d come to Fallen Academy, I’d known of the prophecy. I was the black-winged angel of death, who was supposed to deliver a swift end to the Devil. Only, I was just a chick in her twenties with some cool powers I couldn’t exactly handle at all times.

‘Stop being so down on yourself,’ Sera told me as I walked out onto the field.

‘Why can’t I figure this out!’ My voice was growly, even inside my own head.

‘This is a test. Raphael is testing you to see if you’re ready.’

‘Yeah, I know that. Clearly, I’m not ready,’ I fired back.

‘What haven’t we tried?’ Sera kept her cool.

We’d tried a Celestial ball, Shea’s magic, my dark magic, my light magic, my silvery light magic, fire—

An idea popped into my head as I circled the field.

‘What is it?’ Sera sounded intrigued. She must have picked up on my epiphany.

‘Remember when I fought Lucy in Hell, and I threw colored magic for the first time? It seemed to really have an effect on him. Whenever a certain color came out, he knew which archangel it was attached to.’

I’d thrown Archangel Michael’s blue magic right on his face, and nearly suffocated him in front of all of his demons.

‘I wasn’t really there, but yes, I remember it through your memories. So, let’s try that. Do the colored magic on the blade,’ she encouraged.

I let out a big sigh. ‘Problem is, I forgot I could even make colored magic until now. I don’t remember how I did it. It was like a life-or-death thing.’

Halting my pacing, I stared at the crawling black inky magic that ran the length of Sera’s blade.

‘The power of the four archangels is inside of you. It’s what you are, so there must be a way to bring it out.’

She was right. It was what and who I was, and maybe that was what made me such a formidable adversary to the Prince of Darkness. Not only did I harness the dark magic he possessed, I also had that of his four rivals.

‘Give it a go,’ she mused.

Colored magic. Couldn’t be too hard. I’d done it once before. On accident…

I plopped down right there in the field, not caring if any passing students saw me, and set Sera on the grass.

Holding my left hand out, I did a little test magic, playing with the white and silver, willing it to go blue for Michael, but it was no use. The pearlescent magic danced in my palm like a flame, flickering from silver to white as I passed the blade through it.