Fallen Academy: Year Two (Fallen Academy #2)(63)

I laughed. She really was and I told her so.

After a nod, she leaned in closer. “Did you hear that Fallen Academy will only be open a few more years? After that, all of the children left will be human.”

Her declaration shocked the crap out of me. I quickly did the math and realized she was right. I was five when the war started, so five years after entering the academy, the last angel gifted or demon blessed teen would have their Awakening ceremony and then…

“What are they going to do with the school?” I’d completely stopped dancing by that point, enthralled with the conversation.

Shea looked left and right, as if she was about to reveal some big secret. “I heard Raphael was going to start a demon hunter academy. Training humans.”

Whoa.

Humans? I mean, no offense to humans but they were… weak little humans. It would be a waste to just have the school sit there, though, and I was sure we’d still need soldiers for the army.

I nodded. “Yeah, that makes sense.”

Shea was about to respond when the shrill of the demon alarm went off.

The music skidded to a halt and my entire body froze.

My best friend’s eyes widened. “Is that…?” she asked with a shaky voice.

“Brielle!” Lincoln shouted from across the room.

He was looking not at me but behind me, horror marring his face. I knew then, without a shadow of a doubt, that the Dark Prince was standing behind me, probably with his horde of demons. He wouldn’t stop coming for me, I knew that now.

I spun on my heels and faced him. Standing in an immaculate suit—not a dark hair out of place—was Lucifer in all his evil glory. His inky black wings were stretched out behind him, and just as I thought, he had an assortment of Hellhounds, Yew demons, an Abrus, Brimstone, and three or four nauseating Larkspur demons splayed out beside him. Behind him spun a swirling portal right to Hell—I could smell the sulfur from where I stood.

“Brielle, my darling.” Lucifer stepped forward and I moved away from Shea, snapping my wings out to cover her and everyone I loved behind me. Lincoln, Shea, Noah, Chloe, Luke—nearly every person I loved in this world was in the room.

Sera flared to life at my hip, nearly burning my leg.

‘You have no idea what I’m capable of,’ she told me menacingly.

Holy shit.

‘Well, now would be a good time to show me. All of these people could be hurt because of me.’

Sera pulsed as I took her in my hand. ‘The greatest power on Earth is love,’ she said, and then my arm raised out before me as the demon horde advanced, and a firewall of light shot from Sera’s blade, spreading out like an ocean wave.

I had to dig my heels into the wood floors to keep from sliding backward with the powerful thrust that came from her blade. The Celestial light rose like a tidal wave, completely saturating the Dark Prince and his demons. Hissing and screams rang out as the light washed over them. When it passed, Lucifer was standing in a protective black bubble while the rest of his demons were charred to a crisp.

Holy. Freaking. Shit.

Sera had been holding out on me, but it hadn’t been enough, Lucifer was still standing.

Lincoln stepped in front of me suddenly, sword raised. “Back to Hell with you!” he roared, then started to run at the Prince of Darkness. Noah, Blake, and Darren were right behind him.

Idiots!

“Lincoln, no!” The words barely left my mouth when the room exploded.

Lucifer clapped his hands together and then thrust them forward, shooting a million tiny shards of black magic into every single person standing, including me.

It felt like a dozen tiny arrows had sliced through my body.

I fell backward, trying to dodge the black glasslike shards, and that’s when Lucifer really brought out the big guns. He lifted his sword into the air, a red fire erupting along the blade, then slammed it down into the hardwood floors, causing an earthquake to split the room into four different pieces. Shea had to jump to avoid falling into the abyss. I saw Lincoln and Noah dive to try and get on the cracked piece that the Dark Prince stood on but they couldn’t, their wings banded to their backs with dark magic.

Oh God.

‘Don’t panic,’ Sera attempted to calm me.

By the time the room had stopped shaking, Lucifer and I were on the same piece of flooring, only ten feet from each other, with the portal spinning behind him. He snapped his fingers and I started to be pulled in his direction against my will.

‘Okay, let’s panic,’ Sera agreed.

“No!” Lincoln roared. His wings snapped out, pushing against the black bands that bound his arms, the sound of absolute agony ripping from his voice.

They’re broken! He’s trying to pull out broken wings!

I tried to pull my arms up, to aim Sera at the Devil but I couldn’t move, completely immobilized. It was at that moment that I realized Lucifer had been toying with me before, taunting me, and waiting for me to be trained so he could grab me when he wanted to. He could have easily taken me that first night in the gauntlet, but he let me stay. Let me fall in love with all of these people, train to be a badass killer, and for what?

I pumped my wings, trying to fight against the strong pull of his lure. Shea threw purple spell after purple spell, but they all crashed into his dark shield, breaking up and causing no harm.

“A young girl with black wings will go into the underworld and kill Lucifer, ending the war,” the Dark Prince sneered, and my stomach dropped.