My brows gathered in a deep frown. “Fear itself? Or of Lucy?”

My feminine nickname for the Devil, made Emberly grin.

Michael shook his head. “Of anything. Him, dying, cancer, the dark, losing a loved one, not getting a job, not having enough money. Being scared creates an energetic cord into your soul, and it’s like a vacuum, sucking the energy out of your body and giving it away. Lucifer hooks into those ‘vacuums’ and gets control of people.”

Holy shit!

“That’s freaky.” Emberly hugged her chest.

Michael nodded. “It can be intimidating, but if you work on those emotions and realize that you have more control over your life than you think, you can eliminate fear.”

Emberly’s expression said she wasn’t buying it. “Obviously I’m not afraid of death. But public embarrassment? Succubus demon coming at me in my sleep? Not getting asked to prom? That’s terrifying.”

Her father chuckled. “Fleeting worries are normal, but being frightened about a Succubus demon coming for you in your sleep, on a nightly basis, creates a perfect energy vacuum.”

I swallowed hard. There was so much I was terrified of—getting cancer like my dad, losing my mom, Lincoln, or Shea in this war, not being able to live up to the prophecy and defeat Lucifer. Hell, I was even anxious of this training with Emberly not working, and that Lucifer would control my mind again! But I wasn’t actually scared of the Prince of Darkness himself. At first, I was. I was downright terrified, if I was being honest, but spending time with him down there, had humanized him to me.

I hated him, yes, but did I fear him? Not really.

A grin swept across Michael’s lips, and I knew he was reading my thoughts. “Brielle, you have been placed in a unique situation, and therefore, you have unique fears, but Lucifer isn’t one of them. That’s your greatest asset against him. Now, work on calming your other anxieties, and no one can control your mind.”

A chill worked up my arms. “How?”

Michael stepped closer to me, and the brightness he normally dimmed in my presence intensified, causing me to squint. Reaching out, he cupped both sides of my face with glowing blue hands. The moment his palms touched my skin, a pure feeling of love and exhilaration swept through my entire body. Ideas started to flash through my mind, bringing with them information, and clear knowing. Nobody really died; we all went into the afterlife, so fearing death of yourself or a loved one was pointless.

We were all reunited in the end.

Dreading things happening in life was pointless too, because it only served to weaken your body and mind, actually attracting what you didn’t want to happen, on an energetic level. Being terrified of a Succubus demon on a nightly basis, increased the likelihood of a Succubus attack.

Fear was the opposite of love, and it was making humans and the planet sick. I could see that now, felt it, knew it. Michael was gifting me with information that was overwhelming, but powerful. If I lost Lincoln or my mom in this war, I would see them again in the afterlife. We could reincarnate together again, so there was no need to be frightful of that. If I failed at my mission to live up to the prophecy, and rid the Earth of Lucifer, it would be okay. My only true goal on Earth was to love—love Lincoln, love Shea, even love Tiffany.

We just needed to remember to love each other, to stop spreading fear and hate.

When Michael pulled his hands away from my head, I realized I was sobbing.

He gave my shoulders a light squeeze. “May God be with you in the days to come, child.” His voice held a reverence that engulfed me in its warmth. Then he walked away, leaving me feeling pulled in a hundred different directions.

What the hell just happened?

Emberly swept into my side and lowered me to the floor, before sitting across from me.

“He did that to me once. The glowy hand thing,” Emberly shared as I worked to calm my breathing. “I was in a bad place mentally, questioning my existence, and he just grabbed my face and downloaded all that ‘love is the answer’ stuff. It’s overwhelming, right?”

I just nodded. I felt like something inside of me had shifted. This entire war felt pointless; we were going backward when we were supposed to be going forward. If I could kill Lucifer, and we could rid the Earth of his demons, then the humans would be left to their main task of learning to love each other regardless of their differences.

That’s why we all came here, to Earth, to learn and practice that one simple, yet powerful lesson.

Unconditional love.

“Makes you feel kinda shitty for how you’ve treated people, huh?” Emberly asked.

I nodded again. “Having an archangel for a father must be so…” I couldn’t find the right word to describe it.

“It’s maddening at times,” Emberly finished for me. “But also, awesome.”

Offering her a weak smile, I tried to push away that intense… whatever it was. Love everyone, don’t be afraid, was the takeaway, and pretty much the hardest thing ever to actually do.

Determination settled over me, and I stood, clenching my fists. “Let’s try this one more time.”

Fuck fear. I wasn’t going to let it weaken my mind. I was strong, loving, and kind, and I was going to make that my shield.

Emberly stood also, facing off with me, a determination in her gaze. She wanted me to succeed as much as I did. She was tough on the exterior but a complete softie at heart; I could see that now, after all these trainings with her.

I would kill Lucifer.

I would help rid this Earth of his Hellspawn.

I would love more and hate less.

I would not let fear rob me of my power.

I was a badass female, with endless capabilities.

Bring it.

Staring Emberly down, I waited, anticipating for her to make me smack my face or something.

“Hit me with it!” I shouted, fists clenched as adrenaline coursed through my veins.

Emberly gave me a lopsided grin, her eyes flashing purple. “I did. You didn’t move.”

Shock and relief ripped through me.

“What? Try again.”

Her eyes flashed again, and again, but nothing happened. The teenager grinned at me, showing me her brilliant smile.

Whatever her dad had done to me, had worked.

When Lucifer finally came for me, I would be ready.

Five

“At this rate, Angel City will fall in three months’ time,” Michael announced, standing before Uriel, Gabriel, and Raphael.

We were in one of the lecture rooms with the archangels sitting in chairs at the front, and a smattering of Fallen Army captains sitting in the student desks, watching them keenly. I sat beside Lincoln, my eyes flicking from Michael to his wife, Grace. She was wearing full battle armor, hair tied into a tight topknot, and a grim determination on her face.

Gabriel’s eyes filled with sadness as he looked at his brother. “Ever since the falling, we’ve tried to protect the humans so they could get back to some semblance of normal. The normal we stole from them when we fell to war with Lucifer. But now…” His voice broke and he couldn’t finish.

“Now, we may lose the fight altogether,” Michael added grimly.

“How many Fallen Army members do we have at the other academies? Can you spare them to join us in protecting the city?” Raphael pleaded with Gabriel and Uriel.

The two angels nodded simultaneously. “Absolutely, but our numbers pale in comparison to yours. We have maybe two to three hundred in all of the academies combined who are trained for this sort of scenario.” Gabriel informed him.

What scenario? The end of the world?

I cleared my throat and all eyes flicked to me. Swallowing hard, I stood, letting my wings slowly unfurl from my back. One by one the captains’ eyes widened. Even with wings that were white at the tips, I knew the rumors had spread.

“Hi. I’m sure you all know who I am,” I started. “I just wanted to say that I plan to put a stop to all of this. If you can buy me a little time, I plan to end this war.”

Raphael beamed at me with pride, nodding. “We’ll do our best, Brielle. Our numbers are low, but our faith is strong.”

Grace growled from where she stood, leaning against the wall, and all eyes moved from me to land on her.

“Grace, is there something you would like to share?” Michael smirked at his wife.

Pushing off the wall, Grace charged at the council of angels like she might cut off their heads. Anger lined her features as she stood tall next to her husband.

“You say you don’t have the numbers to buy Brielle time, and we all know why,” she declared, addressing the other angels. “Three times I’ve requested that you allow me to start a Demon Hunting Academy. Three times! I could have trained thousands by now! Don’t you see that the solution to your problem, with the growing demon population, isn’t to protect the poor frail humans, it’s to arm them? Let me train them to fight for themselves, so Angel City doesn’t become a page in a history book that no one reads!” She finished her sentence with a growl, and my gaze flicked to Michael.

Nothing in his face said he was embarrassed by his wife’s outburst. Yet, nothing indicated he disagreed with her either. If anything, he looked madly in love with the woman.

Raphael sighed.

“All in favor of a Demon Hunter Academy, led by Grace, in which humans will be trained to kill demons, say aye,” Michael declared.

“Aye.” Gabriel raised his hand.

“Aye.” Uriel nodded.

Michael grinned. “Aye.”

Every single set of eyes fell on Raphael. I didn’t know what the protocol was here, but it looked like it needed to be unanimous.

The archangel swallowed hard. “I’m sorry, Grace, but I cannot allow the humans to be put in harm’s way deliberately. My job is to protect them.”

Grace screamed out in frustration. “Why, because we’re weak? Because we don’t have special abilities like your beloved angel blessed?”

Raphael’s features tightened. He was clearly annoyed with Grace’s outburst, but something else shown there too—he respected her. “Yes, humans are fragile. They don’t regenerate and heal like we do. As a healer, I feel it is my moral duty to do no harm, and I don’t feel right sending them out into battle.”