I stood on the balcony of the apartment I shared with Nero, a great suite which sat atop the sparkling white obelisk that held the Legion’s east coast headquarters. It was the perfect angel residence. The view over New York was simply breath-catching, but I didn’t have much breath left in me to spare. I was still catching it from our dash through hell. That had been two days ago, and even though I’d slept every moment since then, I was still tired.
Bella stood next to me. She was dressed in one of her school outfits: a high-collared, cream-colored blouse with a black opal brooch at the collar; and a pencil skirt with a cute ruffle along one side. Her ankle-high brown leather boots matched the belt around her waist. Her nails were brushed with pale pink polish, her strawberry-blonde hair braided and pinned to her head, milk-maid style. A leather handbag hung from her shoulder, large enough to hold a few spell books.
“Calli visited while you were sleeping,” Bella said. “She’s feeling guilty. She tried so hard to protect Tessa and Gin from the pain of their past. She had Zane wipe their memories to give them a fresh chance at life, but she only made it worse. She says she left Gin and Tessa helpless, without the memories of their magic or how to use it to protect themselves. I’m not sure Calli will ever forgive herself.”
“Parents often make horrible mistakes while having the best of intentions.”
I looked back to find Damiel standing in the open doorway between the living room and balcony. “Aren’t you supposed to be hiding your face?”
Magic rippled over Damiel’s masculine body, shifting it into something else entirely—something decidedly more feminine. A tall and sexy supermodel now stood before me wearing a black bandage dress and silver stilettos. Her glossy dark hair shimmered in the sunlight like black diamonds.
“Better?” the model said in a sultry voice.
It was a good disguise, a seamless magical spell of shifting magic. Even knowing I was looking at Damiel, I could only see through his spell if I concentrated really hard—and concentrating that hard gave me a spectacular splitting headache.
I didn’t know how many people knew Damiel was still alive, but I doubted the knowledge extended far beyond the First Angel. He was Nyx’s secret weapon, someone she used to take care of all the unspeakable things even the Legion couldn’t admit to doing.
That was assuming Damiel continued to help Nyx once he got what he wanted, which was to save his wife Cadence. Angels were a bit self-serving like that. And Damiel had been waiting to save his wife for two hundred years. Nero didn’t completely trust his father, but I had a feeling Damiel would pull through in the end. He was a better person than either of them could admit.
A small smile twisted Damiel’s lips. “How many times must we remind you, Leda? We aren’t people. We’re angels.”
He was reading my mind again, but I didn’t tell him off. I just chuckled. This time, I’d let him listen in.
Since our return from hell, I’d been keeping my mind carefully closed. I didn’t want to confront what I’d learned about my origin. I was having trouble coming to terms with it all myself. I needed to process it. Maybe it would get easier with time.
The other reason I was keeping my thoughts under lock was I didn’t want anyone to know what had happened in that dungeon—that I’d crushed the dark angel’s mind and body. And that in my power high, I’d dreamt of ruling supreme over all the known realms.
Bella smiled at me. “It’s good to see you laugh. You’ve been so serious since we returned from… Returned home.”
She didn’t say ‘hell’. Clearly, it was tough for Bella too. After all, she’d only recently learned that she was a demon’s granddaughter.
If only she’d known what I was, the daughter of a demon and a god. I was a magical anomaly, a monster. When I closed my eyes, I saw the dark angel’s mind cracking under the force of my power. I heard his screams. I saw his head hitting the ground and the lifeless look on his face as he lay there dead.
My wounds were healed on the outside, but inside I was broken.
Bella hadn’t asked what I was, though she must have realized that I’d found out. She was giving me time to be ready. I wondered if I ever would be.
“I’m going to find Calli’s friend,” I said, changing the subject. “The one who led her to all of us” I kept talking. Everything would be fine if I could just keep talking. “I have to know why he wanted Calli to take us in.”
“You’ll find him,” said Bella. “You always do.”
Nero stepped onto the balcony. He stopped as soon as he saw Damiel in the body of a woman. A hint of surprise flashed across his face, but it was soon swallowed up by hard, cold composure.
“That’s not funny,” he told his father.
Damiel smiled demurely. “Your lady asked me to put on a disguise.”
Nero opened his mouth, but before he could speak, a knock on our apartment door drew him back inside. Damiel summoned a tube of lipstick out of thin air and began applying it to his mouth.
“You’ve got some on your teeth,” Bella told him helpfully.
Damiel’s teeth squeaked as he wiped away the excess lipstick with his index finger. “It’s not as easy as it looks.”
“Being a woman?”
Damiel pulled out a mirror and tried in vain to wipe off the wayward lipstick. “I should have just shifted into a tiger,” he grumbled.
Nero and Harker stepped onto the balcony. Harker saw Damiel—and he just froze.
“It’s Damiel,” Nero told him.
Harker blinked. “It looks just like her.” His eyes panned across Damiel’s disguise. “Right down to the—”
Nero elbowed him in the ribs.
Harker lifted his gaze and glanced over at Bella and me. “Eyes.”
Damiel giggled. It was a distinctly non-angel sound, contrasting starkly with his previous assertion that he was an angel, not a person. He certainly was making an effort to stay in character.
“Who is Damiel supposed to be?” I asked Nero and Harker. They obviously knew her.
“Sergeant Jordan. She was our trainer back when Nero and I first joined the Legion.” Harker added with a smirk, “Nero had a huge crush on her.”
Nero’s face was unreadable, but I was pretty sure that right now he was fighting the urge to murder his best friend. He watched me for my reaction.
But I didn’t even feel jealous. Maybe this ghost from the past didn’t bother me, or maybe I was just still too numb from everything that had happened recently.
My gaze flickered from Nero to Harker, finally settling on Damiel. “She has nice eyes.”
Harker coughed, swallowing an emerging laugh. Nero’s face remained impassive.
“How is it you can so perfectly replicate a woman from nearly two hundred years ago?” I asked Damiel. “You weren’t even around here back then.”
“I might have been in hiding, but I always kept an eye turned toward Nero.”
Nero didn’t look impressed. The silence stretched on. I could practically picture the tumbleweed blowing across the balcony.
“Leda,” Harker said, finally breaking the silence. “This is for you.” He handed me a leather-bound folder. The gold Legion of Angels monogram on the cover made it look very exclusive.
“What’s this?” I asked.
“Your registration packet for the Crystal Falls Training. It commences next week.”
Already? I’d lost so much time in hell. The Crystal Falls Training was upon me, a long and intense magic workshop for level six and level seven Legion soldiers. I wasn’t sure I was ready to dive back into training just yet.”
Nero walked around behind me. He set his hands on my shoulders and gave them a supportive squeeze.