Fallen Academy: Year Four (Fallen Academy #4)(7)

Four





“What happened?” I screamed at Lincoln, who’d just walked into our trailer, cradling a bloodied and bandaged arm.

He was sweating, probably from the pain. “The war zone has intensified. Lucifer is putting out a new breed of demon every week. Today I got mauled by some animalistic-looking thing. Like a zebra and a Brimstone demon had a baby.”

I cringed. Lincoln had only been back at work for two months, and already he’d been injured three times. He came to sit at the dining table and just like that I had a flashback—being in Hell, helping Lucy create a demon. That cold sterile table, all of his jars. It was the same office where Sera was being held.

Before I realized it, a sob formed in my throat and my hands started to shake. Adrenaline rushed through my body, making me feel dizzy as nausea rolled into me.

I was having a panic attack.

“Oh shit, Bri. I’m sorry.” Lincoln shot up from the table and came around to comfort me, pulling me to him with his good arm.

The moment he tucked me into his side, I felt the symptoms subside a little. My heart slowed, and I tried to control my breathing. I felt so stupid for reacting that way; it was always the little things that brought my time down there rushing back—a smell of sulfur, talk about Lucy. I’d been okay with it when I first got back, but the attacks were starting to get worse.

Lincoln’s warm lips pressed to my forehead. “Maybe you should talk to someone. Maybe keeping it in is doing something to you, making it worse.”

I swallowed hard. It wasn’t that I had PTSD, or that I was holding anything back. It was that each time I was reminded of Sera and Raksha down there, I had a physical response. My fight-or-flight system kicked in, and I just couldn’t comprehend why I hadn’t gone down there to search for them yet. Yet, the answer was right in front of me.

Lincoln.

He still had nightmares every now and then where he would toss and turn, whimpering my name. My leaving had nearly broken him, and I couldn’t risk that again.

Sera would understand. Wouldn’t she? But Raksha… there was no excuse for leaving her behind down there. She had a child waiting for her to come home.

“Brielle?”

Crap. Lincoln was talking to me and I’d totally spaced. His deep blue eyes bored into mine and my heart picked up again.

“You can tell me anything,” he declared.

I need to go after Sera! I need to break Raksha out, and reunite her with her wife and son! I wanted to scream.

“I’ll be fine. Let me look at your shoulder.” Averting my eyes from his intense gaze, I started to pull the bandage back.

He watched me for a few minutes, and I thought he would bring it up again, but thankfully, he didn’t. Lincoln was good like that; he didn’t press me when he knew I was on the edge. The wound on his shoulder had been nicely stitched together, but it didn’t look like a healer had looked at it yet.

“Have Noah or Raph worked on this?” I asked, forcing him back to the table to sit.

He waved me off as he took a seat. “There were too many injured. I figured I would work on it when I got home. Or have my wifey do it for me.”

I grinned. I was so stupid in love with this man that when he called me “wifey", my knees went weak. “Your wifey will work on it if you do her a favor.” The caramel light ignited the second I called forth my healing powers, letting it leak from my palms, and drip onto his wound.

“Hey, isn’t that blackmail or something?” Lincoln raised an eyebrow.

Shaking my head, I chuckled. “My pathetic little summer class isn’t so pathetic anymore, but I only have four more weeks to prep them for the gauntlet.”

Lincoln nodded. “And you want my help. Of course.”

I recoiled a bit. “Not exactly. Shea and I got this, but I need access to a demon. It can be something low-grade though, like a Yew demon or a Snakeroot.”

Lincoln raised an eyebrow. “I can’t bring a demon on campus. It’ll set off the alarm.”

“I’ve thought about that.” I nodded. “We could go to the apartment parking lot, where my mom lives. Raphael spelled it to be safe from Lucy’s eye, but there’s no alarm.”

I’d been over to my mom’s a handful of times with Lincoln for dinner, so I knew he was okay with me going there.

Lincoln was silent a moment, staring at the table salt like it might sprout wings and fly.

“Come on, please? I want them to pass, and they can’t do that by sparing with each other. They need to fight the real thing,” I pressed him. Overprotective didn’t cover what Lincoln was; he was the next-level shit, and I knew this was asking a lot of him. Even a lower-level demon being in my presence would set him on edge. The fact that I could kill them with one hand tied behind my back, wouldn’t matter to him in the slightest.

“I’ll clear it with Michael,” Lincoln answered, sighing resignedly.

I squealed, leaning forward and placing a kiss on his cheek.

“But.” He stopped and caught my gaze. “I want you to speak to someone about the panic attacks.”

Dammit. He’d trapped me. The panic attacks were random, and I didn’t think they were a big deal, but I also trusted Lincoln and that he wanted what was best for me.

“Fine,” I growled. I wasn’t really sure there was a shrink on Earth who would know what the hell I was dealing with, but it was worth a shot.