Oh my God, he drank the Kool-Aid. “Lincoln, I’m not doing that.” I stood. “I want to be normal. I just got my family all together, and now I want to focus on my healing studies, and help out with the war in that way,” I declared.

He nodded, dropping the subject. “Okay.” But his words, his curt nod, and stiff body language didn’t match up.

He actually expected me to kill Lucifer?

The smell hit us both at the same time.

“What’s that?” Lincoln’s brows knit together in confusion.

I grinned. “That is my mom’s cinnamon-banana walnut waffles.”

Lincoln wiped his mouth. “I just drooled a little.”

Laughter erupted out of me, and I decided to let the whole killing Lucifer thing go. For now.

“How do you feel?” he asked, as I limped across the room, and made my way into the bathroom to brush my teeth.

“Like I got hit by a bus,” I assured him.

Make no mistake, I’d be walking funny for weeks.

When we’d finally made our way out to the kitchen, I grinned at the sight of Shea, Mikey, and Noah sitting around the table, shoving their mouths full of waffles, piled high with cubes of butter, and maple syrup.

“Hey, bro. I didn’t know you’d be here.” I gave Mikey a side hug. He spent most of his weekends with his pack on Clark’s land. He was still learning to control the beast, but quick side hugs were okay.

“Are you kidding? Mom’s home, so I had to come.” He was wearing a goofy lopsided grin.

Mom’s home. Those two words hit me with the realization of what had happened. I’d gotten my mom out.

“I’m going to need more batter. Especially if we want to take some to Bernie,” my mom declared.

“Oh, I’ve hooked Bernie up,” Lincoln replied, eyeing the piping-hot waffle coming out of the chipped red maker, my mom brought from home.

I looked at my boyfriend. “Oh really?”

He chuckled. “I told Raph about the situation. He said it’s no problem for Bernie to come to the cafeteria and eat after the students have eaten their meals—before they’ve put everything away.”

My mom met my eyes, and I could see she was totally planning our wedding in her head.

“That was very sweet of you, Lincoln. Thank you,” she told him.

I smiled, getting on my tippy toes to kiss his cheek. “Thank you.”

Lincoln’s cheeks were red, and he mumbled a “you’re welcome” to both of us.

My mom held up a dish towel. “Hang on, you call him Raph? The Archangel of Healing?”

Lincoln chuckled. “Yeah, it felt weird at first, but he asked us to. He doesn’t want to seem above anyone. He’s a friend.”

He is a friend. A very good friend.

My mom started to tear up, looking down at the floor.

“Oh, Mom, what’s wrong?” I crossed the kitchen to be by her side.

She wiped the tears and patted my hand. “Nothing. I’m just… happy. I haven’t been happy in a long time.”

Silence descended upon the kitchen. I knew she’d had it hard in Demon City after I’d left, then doubly hard when Mikey was having his issues. Now I could see the stress it had caused her. Close up, she looked tired with bags under her eyes, hair limp and dull.

“Lots more happy days ahead, Mom,” I assured her.

Lincoln stepped in front of us. “Absolutely, but only if I get one of those waffles right now.”

My mother’s laughter filled the space around us, and my chest felt lighter and lighter as each person joined in.

This, our little family moment right here, was one of the happiest days of my life.

Chapter Twenty-One

The nightmares didn’t stop.

Six weeks of never-ending nightmares. Hell. Demons. Lucifer.

It was awful, and I’d turned into an insomniac because of it. I did anything to avoid sleep now—coffee, energy drinks, going for late-night walks. I just didn’t want to be sucked back into that place. It was making me scared to close my eyes. It all felt so real.

And to top off that shit storm, my mom couldn’t find a job. Apparently there was no room for a Necromancer in Angel City—other than tending to dead flowers and decorating cakes, but those jobs were given to Necros who grew up in the city, and graduated from the academy. My mom having been a raiser of the dead in Demon City was akin to having a criminal record.

The one good thing going on in my life at the moment was Bernie. He was thriving. He’d put on some weight, looked clean and happy with his daily showers and shave. Raphael had even given him a small job folding sheets and towels. After the school maids washed them, they’d drop them off at Bernie’s trailer, and he’d fold them. He said it gave him a purpose, but the only drawback was trying to keep Maximus off the clean folded sheets.

Now, I was being called to Raphael’s office between lunch and battle class. I didn’t know what it was about, but I hoped I wasn’t in trouble.

After knocking on the door, Raphael called out for me to enter. Pulling the big heavy door back, I stepped inside to see him standing at his desk.

I smiled. “Hey.”

Please don’t be in trouble for something.

“Hello, Brielle. How are you healing?” Raphael asked kindly.

Okay, that didn’t seem like something you’d ask someone in trouble.

I rolled out my shoulder, which had healed weeks ago. “Great, sir. Thank you.”

He chuckled. “Oh, come on. It’s coming on two years now that we’ve been friends. You can call me Raph or Raphael. All the other students do.”

I sighed in relief. “So, I’m not in trouble?”

He frowned. “Of course not. Why would you…? Oh, right.”

He seemed to just now realize he’d called me to his office in the middle of the day.

“I wanted you to come by because the Fallen Army is giving Lincoln a promotion, and it’s a surprise. I know he’d like you there when it’s announced. It’s this Saturday. He thinks he’s going to be giving a fellow comrade an award, but really I’ll be promoting him to captain.”

My heart nearly burst with pride. Lincoln was one of the most deserving people I knew. He took his job seriously, and was completely dedicated to the war beyond the city’s walls.

“Of course I’ll be there.” I smiled so wide, that I thought my face might crack.

Raphael beamed, and his wings glowed a honey color as his mood seemingly lifted.

“Perfect! You’ll need to be there at six sharp. I’ll have a table for you and his friends, Noah, Darren, and Blake. Lincoln’s been through a trying few years, and having you all there to cheer him on will mean the world to him.”

He had been through a trying few years, and the fact that Raphael had asked me to be at his table meant the world to me.

“It’ll be amazing,” I assured him and eyed the door. I needed to get to battle class.

“Before you go…” Raphael took in a deep breath and stood, crossing the room in elegant strides that would make a cheetah look clumsy. “Lincoln told me about the nightmares.”

Great. Lecture time.

The nightmares were absolutely horrible, and now when I drifted off, I was so full of fear that I’d jerk awake mere seconds later, heart pumping with adrenaline. Maybe Lincoln was right to tell Raphael.

“Sit down. I’ll give you a note to excuse you from class,” Raphael offered.

I sighed and dropped my bag, collapsing onto the couch.

“Why do you think you’re having the nightmares?” he quizzed, sitting cross-legged on the ground in front of me, wings outstretched behind him. He was so casual, it felt like we were just two old friends having a little chat.

I didn’t keep many things from Raphael. Mostly, he knew about my dark magic whip and everything that had happened with Sera in Hell. He was easy to talk to, and never judgmental.

I fingered the pendant around my neck. It was a new one Mr. Claymore had made for me to replace the cracked one, but it didn’t work as well as the first one did. I hadn’t been able to produce anything even close to a Celestial orb.

“I think when I took the necklace off to get Sera… my dark magic took hold and… I dunno, I guess it’s in control now.” I needed to talk to someone about this, and Raphael was the best person to share my true feelings with.

“Wrong,” he admonished. “You are in control, always. You just need to work on a few things.”

I groaned. “Like what?”

Raphael gave me one of his loving looks, the one that usually preceded some hard-to-hear advice.

“That dark magic you house, dies out quickly in the presence of Celestial light, which you are consumed with.”

I chewed my bottom lip, my heart thumping wildly. It reminded me of what Michael had said, that I had the brightest light he’d ever seen in a human, but that the darkness was akin to a moth being attracted to a flame. “Then why is my dark magic still… alive and well?”

If it couldn’t be sustained in the presence of the Celestial light, then what the hell?

Raphael looked up at me sadly. “Because you constantly feed it with resentment and anger. So much resentment, it’s making you sick. It’s feeding the powers you inherited from the Dark Prince,” Raphael stated, staring at my chest like some alien was about to pop out.

I frowned. “Resentment at wh—”

“Me, for not healing your father. The world. Angel City. God. Everyone who let you down, and let your father die.”

Raphael’s words ripped open my chest, a physical pain pinched my heart, and I gasped. Tears started to trickle down my cheeks as every repressed emotion I’d held bubbled to the surface.

“Why didn’t you?” I shouted suddenly. “You’re the archangel of fucking Healing, and you didn’t even touch him!”

My words turned to short sobs and I realized how badly I’d wanted to ask him. He was there in the hospital when my father had been undergoing the initial tests. He was always at the hospitals, praying for people and trying to comfort them, but not once had I heard of him healing anyone.

Raphael looked at the floor. “For purely selfish reasons. If I heal anyone in a miraculous way, I can’t go home.” The way he said home was heartbreaking, like he longed so much to go back to where he came from. Mr. Claymore had alluded to something similar, but to hear Raphael say it was crazy.

I sank back farther into the couch.

“What?” That was asinine. Once again, I wanted to inform him that he was the Archangel of Healing. How could he carry that title if he never actually healed anyone?

Raph shook his wings a little, as if shaking off old memories. “It is my penance for starting the fallen war.” His voice was so soft I wasn’t sure I’d heard him right.

“Wait… y-you started the war?” Now I was sitting forward so far, I was afraid I might fall off. “I heard in fallen history class that Lucifer tried to break into Heaven with his demons, and you and the other angels met them halfway, stopping them.”