Fallen Academy: Year Four (Fallen Academy #4)(57)

“You did it.” He was staring, eyes wide and unblinking, at what used to be the Devil.

I couldn’t respond. I only had one thing on my mind.

“Raksha!” I shouted, blasting past him and the archangels. I slammed into a Brimstone demon, sending it flying over me, and then I was at the base of the tree.

Shea was there, holding the baby in her arms with tears streaking down her cheeks. Noah had his hands over Raksha’s bleeding abdomen, but it was no use. The moment I looked at her frozen face, glassy eyes staring up at the sky, I knew she was gone. Grief and guilt slammed into me with equal measure as I swayed backward.

“I’m… so sorry. She was too far gone. I tried…,” Noah mumbled.

No. No. No.

I fell to my knees, sobbing. The fight had left me, the adrenaline gone, and now I was falling apart.

“Um, is that a baby?” Lincoln asked from behind me.

Shea swallowed hard. “She said her name is Asha, it means hope in Hindi. And that… she wanted Brielle to raise her.”

My grief froze, as my eyes flicked up to my best friend.

“She said that?”

Shea was freely crying. “She said the baby is the only thing that kept her alive down here after you left, that the mom died in labor, and taking care of her—” A sob choked off Shea’s words, and I moved closer to my best friend, placing my arm around her. “I’m sorry, Brielle. I got here and looked for her, but it was too late.”

I’d made Shea promise to get Raksha out, and now she was carrying the guilt with me.

“It’s not your fault. I saw her right after he injured her, and I couldn’t save her either.”

Looking down at my old friend, I reached out and closed her eyelids as I leaned forward, placing my lips to her ear. “I will take care of this baby, and look out for your family until my dying day on Earth. You have my word.”

I wanted to collapse onto my back, cry, and never move again, but I couldn’t fall apart. Not right now. Not when this baby needed me. Raksha was counting on me, and I wouldn’t let her down, ever.

So, I wiped my cheeks and pulled my shit together, standing, and then reaching down to take the sweet baby in my arms. She had the most beautiful blue eyes I’d ever seen. Walking over to my husband, I looked up at him.

“She’s the biological child of Lucifer and a Succubus demon. Lucy used a bit of Archangel Michael’s blood when he made her, but that shouldn’t matter. She’ll probably have black wings and freaky powers, but that doesn’t make her a bad person.”

I moved closer to Lincoln, pressing the baby against his chest, and I saw the exact moment he fell in love with her. His entire face softened, and his mouth went a little slack as he gazed down at the adorable infant.

“She’s blowing spit bubbles,” Lincoln commented, trying to hold in the grin that I knew wanted to grace his face. Babies did that to people.

I nodded. “You wanted kids. Well, she can be our first one.”

Lincoln was a bit prejudiced when it came to anyone who had ties with the demons. Could he raise the Devil’s child as his own? A legion? I just wasn’t sure.

He reached out to touch Asha’s face, and her hand burst from her tight swaddle blanket—still wet with Raksha’s blood. She gripped one of Lincoln’s big fingers with her tiny hand, and pulled it into her mouth, sucking on it.

The grin broke free, and Lincoln sighed. “You know, we’re gonna need a bigger place. Can’t fit a crib in the trailer.”

A half laugh, half sob erupted from me as I nodded.

“And we need to get some formula and bottles. She’s clearly hungry,” he added, looking concerned.

Leaning forward, I gave her a kiss on the forehead. “It’s okay, baby. Everything’s gonna be okay now.”

I’d killed the Devil. Everything had to be okay now that that monster was gone from this Earth.





Twenty-Three





Everything wasn’t exactly okay, but it was better. When I killed Lucy, it set off some type of apocalypse on Earth. Permanent portals from Hell had opened up all over the place, and we couldn’t close them, so hundreds of demons crawled through daily. Our demon problem had definitely intensified, but the Devil was gone, so at least no more new demons could be created, and that was a plus.

Because we’d allowed so many people from Demon City to seek refuge in Angel City, they had shown their appreciation by registering in the Fallen Army. Now we had twice as many soldiers guarding the borders, and we also had Grace’s human demon hunters, who were almost about to graduate their first year. Things may not seem drastically different now, but as we culled the demon population more and more, we could reclaim our land.

“Does she need to be changed before we get out?” Lincoln turned to look into the back seat, where we had Asha clipped into her car seat.

It turned out she was six months old, and did in fact have black wings, and some freaky powers that were already manifesting when she got angry. If Lincoln was late in making her bottle, green smoke would leak out of her mouth as she cried. Also, her black wings intermittently popped out depending on her mood, but all in all, she was the sweetest baby. She slept through the night, and as long as we kept her fed and dry, she was happy. Although she and I had a special bond, it paled in comparison at times to her bond with Lincoln. He was wrapped around her little finger, and she was a total daddy’s girl, always reaching for him and laughing at everything he did.