Nephilim (Academy of the Fallen #2) (11 page)

TWENTY-TWO

Stephaine was in the room when I walked in.  She was reading a book and I was too exhausted to do anything but to lie down and try to go to sleep.  Luckily, she was too much into her book to chat.

I felt bad that I didn’t get to see Hunter again that day and I was still thinking about him when I fell asleep.

That night I dreamt about those life-sucking demons.  When I woke up in the middle of the night, Hunter was there with me.

“You are supposed to be recovering,” I said.

“I am.  Being here actually makes me feel better than the infirmary.”

“What if they check on you?”

“I haven’t been gone long.  I will be back there before they do their rounds.”

He kissed my forehead.

“You should get some sleep,” he said.

I put my arm over him laying my head against his chest and I soon fell asleep again.

Hours later when I opened my eyes, he was gone.  Stephaine was awake and ready to go.  As soon as I got ready and grabbed something to eat, she took me to Clarissa.

As usual, Clarissa was formal and polite.  She asked me if I had any questions about the lecture from the day before, and I believe that I shocked her once I said, “Yes, what all am I capable of doing and how do I kill a demon?”

After the initial shock, she grinned.

“I know we are trying to rush your lessons, but please, slow down.  First of all, you don’t kill a demon.  You can send them away, trap them, but that is as far as it goes.  The ‘how’ is the tricky part.  It depends on so many things… their age, their weaknesses, their motives, and your strength.  Honestly, I wouldn’t worry about weaknesses.  If they have lived long enough, they have none.”

“Great!  No straight answer.”

“I’m afraid not.  In this world nothing is black or white.  There are a lot of gray areas, and you must use your knowledge on a case-by-case scenario.”  She paused as if studying how I was responding to what she was saying.  “I assume you ask this because of your brother.”  She looked at me curiously.

It was partially because of him, but mostly because of the girl.  I didn’t feel like I should have mentioned that though, so I just nodded confirming that it was about Benjamin.

“It should be easier to protect yourself from Benjamin… easier than other demons at least.  For one thing, he is part human.  What he is trying to do here seems personal and that shows that he does have a weakness.”

“How come you don’t just bring others here to remove him from the property?”

“The property that belongs to us is inside the gates.  They have the right to be anywhere else.”

“But they are a threat!”

“True, but we can’t attack them unless they make a move first, otherwise that could implicate the progress of the fallen.  We can’t intervene unless we are given no choice and what happens outside of those gates can be ignored for now.  If they attempt anything, we will protect our own.”

“…but they have already attacked!”

“True… and we defended our own and made arrangements for more protection.  Once they were outside of these grounds, they were no longer an immediate threat.”

I rolled my eyes.  Sounded stupid to just wait around for something bad and inevitable to happen.

“Kayla, I know that you haven’t been here for long, but what do you know about the Academy’s protection?”

“What do you mean?”

She sighed.  “Well, it is customary that the fallen put up wards to protect our grounds, but something feels off here.  The protection feels different than the other Academies’.”

I shrugged.  “I don’t know.”

Last thing I wanted was Kim getting in trouble for what she was ordered to do.

“Very well, so back to our lesson.  Oh… you asked about what you are capable of doing.  I’m afraid that is something you will find out on your own and only time will tell.  Some affinities will be well developed, others will be barely noticeable, but in general, Nephilim are known to be able to do anything they put their minds to.”

God, I hated those answers that didn’t tell me exactly what I wanted to know.

That day she told me more specific stories about two Nephilim that she had heard of.  Their abilities ranged from mind-reading to premonitions.  She made it clear that it was impossible for any Nephilim, just like the Fallen, to excel in all their abilities alike.  There was always that one ability that was stronger than others.

It was very close to lunchtime when one of the fallen came in escorting Ember.  Based on their conversation I assumed that this fallen had come from the other Academy as well.

“Sorry to interrupt, Clarissa.”

Clarissa eyed Ember from head to toes, probably wondering how in the world she was allowed to wear that short dress and boots.  It was as if Ember had her own personalized uniform.

“What is the problem, Xavier?” asked Clarissa.

“I caught her at the back gates talking to the incubus.  Their conversation seemed… hmmm… friendly and quite inappropriate.”

Clarissa stood up and walked toward Ember.  “Ember, is it?  Fallen for lust --” Clarissa shook her head.  “Please wait here.”

Clarissa stepped outside with Xavier leaving me alone with Ember.

Ember grinned.  “Your brother is quite hot,” she said.

“How do you know he is my--?”

“Oh, he told me that… among other things.”  She looked me up and down, just like Clarissa had done to her.

“Didn’t think you were supposed to have ‘friendly’ chats with Demons.”

She shrugged.  “There is no harm in having a friendly chat.”

“Even for one who is here to try to make up a debt for being a slut?”

Ember laughed.  “Well, well.  No need for name-calling now.  Just because I’m one of the fallen for lust, doesn’t mean that I’m going around like that.”

I rolled my eyes at her.  “Just save it.  I don’t care what you do anyway.”

“Even if Hunter is involved?”

I literally wanted to choke this girl, but I just took a deep breath.

“I just feel so sorry for you...” I said.

Luckily, Clarissa got back before I could get into it any further with Ember.

Xavier was gone, so it was just the three of us.

I just wanted to get out of there too.  “Would you like me to leave?” I asked.

“No, you may stay.”  Clarissa turned around to face Ember.  “Now, Ember…  Do you want to tell me what you were talking to Benjamin about?”

“Oh, I was just having a casual conversation.  You know… what they are doing here… how long they are staying…”

I could instantly see Clarissa’s expression transform from calm to furious in a matter of seconds.

I got the urge to tap into Ember’s mind… well, to try anyway.

“This is not a joke!” warned Clarissa.

I cleared my throat.

“She is telling the truth… she was just flirting with him.”

They both froze and looked at me.  “Ember, you are excused, but you are to go see Mr. Daniels immediately.”

Ember looked back at me, expression unreadable, and left.

“Can you tell me how you knew that?”

“Just a hunch.”

Clarissa gave me a look that told me she knew I was lying.

I started to wonder if I had done the wrong thing.  “I—I did what you said about believing that I could do something and tried to figure out what she was thinking.”

Clarissa grinned.  “Very well.  I just hope you understand that is not a power to be used as you please, but only when necessary.  With time, instinct will take over and you will sense when it is appropriate and when it is wrong.  Until then, use your judgment.  I know at times it will be tempting, but if you respect the people around you, you will not invade their privacy at your will.”

I nodded.

Clarissa looked at her clock.

“Oh my.  You missed your lunch.  Come.  I will make sure you get something to eat and then you will be dismissed for the day.”

TWENTY-THREE

I basically shoved the food down my throat and rushed to see Hunter at the infirmary.  Only when I got there, his room was empty.

“He was released earlier today,” said Angela.  “My guess is that you can find him roaming around with Ethan.”

I got flashes of the Demon girl wandering around the outside of the Academy and I practically ran out of the infirmary.”

Angela had been right.  Hunter was with Ethan, and they were safe, sitting right outside my dorm.

I ran, throwing myself in Hunter’s arms.  I just couldn’t help it.  When we let go, I saw several people staring at us, but I didn’t care.

He didn’t either.  He just stared at me and smiled.

Ethan interrupted to tell me that he warned Hunter about the Demon girl being outside somewhere.  It was best if he knew about it anyway.

We talked for a while and when I was about to leave, he came closer and whispered, “We are leaving tonight.  Meet me here as soon as the lights go out.”

I could feel chills all over my body.  I did not have a good feeling about this… but then I thought about Kelly, Andrew and Carolyn, and pushed my fears away.  I gave Hunter a nervous smile and told him I would see him then.

Back in my room, I couldn’t hide my anxiety.  Stephaine had not made her way back yet and I wondered how I was going to leave with her in the room.

Time actually went by fast.  Stephaine came back eventually and went straight to reading her book.  She could tell that I was nervous about something because she kept asking what was wrong and then whether I was sure that nothing was wrong.

My heart skipped a beat when the lights went off, but a second later the lights were back on, along with the sound of the alarm that told us all to stay in our rooms.

I gasped… a horrible feeling took over all my senses.  “Hunter!” I said aloud.  In spite of Stephaine’s warnings, I rushed out of the room.  I knew that he was out there and something was not right.  Stephaine ran after me, begging me to stop, but I never once looked back.  I just kept running with the mission of going to the place where Hunter and I had agreed to meet.

The fog outside made it difficult to see, but that didn’t stop me.  When I didn’t see him there I started walking toward the guys’ dorm, which was the closest to the front gates. 

Even with the fog, there was something pulling me toward the gates.  Once I got closer, I noticed that the gates were slightly open.  Looking around for the fallen, I remembered Ethan mentioning that he was in charge tonight. 

I jumped when I felt someone’s hand on my shoulder.  I looked back to find Hunter standing behind me, but something about him was weird.  His touch against my skin felt odd.

Still, I turned around and out of habit I threw myself into his arms.

When I looked up at him, he was grinning.  Again, something was not right.

I looked from him to the open gates.  “We should go before everyone else comes around.”

He shook his head.  “No.  We need to stay here,” and he started to pull me toward the dorms, but the way that he had a hold on my arm… he was hurting me.

“Hunter, stop!  What is wrong with you? You are hurting me.”

He ignored me and kept on walking and dragging me along.  With anger built up I broke away from his grip with a strength that I did not know I had.

He stood there grinning and in a split second, he was no longer Hunter.  It was Tucker who I was looking at.

“What the hell?”

Before he could even respond, I started to run toward the gates.

I ran without looking back.  I wasn’t even sure if he was following me, but I soon ran into Ember, and I knew that she must have been the fallen one in charge of the front gates.  She was kissing someone; the guy had his hands all over her. Ugh.  She disgusted me.  As soon as they stopped kissing, the guy turned around and faced me.

“Ah.  Little sis.  I told you our family reunion would soon happen.”

Ethan must have heard me.  Before I could even react to Benjamin being there, Ethan came up behind me, grabbing me by my wrist and dragging me to the side of the building.

“We gotta go.  Hunter is in danger.”

And there he was, with that Demon once again sucking the life out of him.

I closed my eyes and imagined her being shoved away from Hunter.  Then I heard a crashing sound.

“Ouch.”

I opened my eyes to find the girl on the floor.  She grinned and then faced Hunter, who started to move toward her.

I moved and stood in front of him.  “Hunter!  Look at me!  Snap out of it!”

It took him a minute.  I thought my heart stopped beating from the moment I said his name to the moment when he finally responded.

I could tell he was weak again.  He had barely recovered from before.

The girl was now up.  She looked surprised.  “Benjamin, honey.  We have a little problem over here.”

Ethan grabbed me and said, “Let’s go!  Now!”

Hunter spoke, sounding weak.  “I’m not sure what is keeping the others away for this long, but we need to get Kayla out of here before it is too late.”

I turned to face him.  “I’m not leaving until the others are warned.”

Ethan seconded me on that.  He was worried as there should be others already outside as soon as the lights came back on.

Hunter stumbled and almost fell to the floor.

I faced Ethan.  “Stay with him.  I’m just going to find someone I can warn and I will be back.”

Hunter protested.  “No, Kayla.  You stay where I can see you!”

Seeing a dark shape to my left, I was already walking away.  “Just stay here.  I will be right back.”

I wasn’t even sure how much time had passed… it felt like seconds, and we were surrounded by fallen everywhere!  Daniels was at one side, ordering them to get Benjamin and Hannah to his office, and saying that Kim would know what to do once they got there.

I tried to make my way back to Hunter, but the fog combined with the fallen ones… it was pure chaos.  I felt a hand on my shoulder.  I turned around to see Clarissa and Stephaine and I felt relieved.

“Come,” said Clarissa.

I followed them and next thing I knew I was standing outside of the Academy along with more fallen ones like Stephaine and Clarissa; wings whiter than any of the fallen ones here.

“Where are we going?”

“We have to take you out of here.  Don’t worry, you will be safe.”

I turned around and started to move back inside the Academy.

“What are you doing?” asked Clarissa.

“I’m not leaving without Hunter!” I said.

She seemed confused, yet, didn’t waste time in grabbing my wrist, holding me back.

“Let go!” I yelled.

Stephaine interrupted her.  “She is right.  We need him too.”  Stephaine looked at me.  “Go with Clarissa.  I will go look for him.”

I saw Stephaine go back in, but I didn’t move… I wasn’t going anywhere without Hunter.

Clarissa was getting mad and she was definitely confused.  Moments later, the gates started to close.

“Hunter!” I yelled.

I could see him coming in my direction followed by Ethan, Stephaine, and… Chase!

I knew that once those gates closed, there would be no reopening it.  I broke from Clarissa’s grip, rushed to the gates and stood so it could not close.  Once Hunter was close enough, I extended my hand and pulled him just as Chase pushed him out.  We both fell to the floor.  The sound of the gates snapping shut startled me and I looked up to see the terrified look on Stephaine’s face. 

Clarissa looked at her.

“We will come back for you, child.”

Stephaine immediately looked calmer.

I heard my name being called from what sounded like Daniels’ voice.

“Go!” yelled Chase.  “He is getting closer.”

Xavier helped Hunter stand up and we left through the door of the church, the same door that led us to the Academy.  Outside, there was a car waiting for us.  We all got in and were on our way to the Academy that Clarissa and the others belonged to.