Page 23 of Rejected Darkness

"I see you being an asshole," Phoenix retorts. "I know you are trying to protect me. It's what you have always done, and I'mthankful for it. But it doesn't mean that you are always right. Not all Angels are bad."

"Phoenix," I pause, placing my hands on his shoulders. "Brother, please hear me. Angels are all bad. We wouldn't be living the life that we live if they weren't bad. They call the Fallen a disgrace, but in reality, they are the disgrace. I will always protect you. Not because anyone has asked me to but because you are my brother, blood or not. Stay away from Arabella, I won't tell you again."

Before he can say anything in return, I resume walking, this time going in the opposite direction of him. I don't need food from the cafeteria. We have some back in the dorm that I can eat and just get to Angel Law afterward. Right now, I need to be far away from Phoenix and even further away from Arabella. Never in my life has Phoenix ever disagreed with my decision. He has always had my back. That fucking Angel is coming in and ruining everything. I take back my second plan of figuring out what she knows. I'm going back to the first plan and finding a way to get her out of this school and out of my life immediately.

The question now is how. What will make her angry enough to leave? She hardly reacted when I kicked her chair out from underneath her in the cafeteria. She was pissed but took the beating I gave her in combat class earlier this week. Maybe if I fuck with her in psychic magic, she will start to get the hint that she isn't safe or wanted her. If that doesn't work, I can work on getting her placed in multiple detentions. Those detentions would be sure to get her father's attention. He left her at the mercy of the school in the hope she would become what he wanted, or at least that's the rumor I heard on the upper levels of the administration building amongst the council members when I was walking around waiting for my mentorship meeting. If she were to get into enough trouble, he would have every reason topull her out of school and force her to return to Aeris, far away from here.

My thoughts are running a million miles a second as I conjure idea after idea of how to get Arabella into enough trouble that her father forces her to leave when I notice one of the guards of the school on the same path back to the dorms as I am. It wouldn't be unusual, except I know for a fact this guard only works at the school’s front gates. On occasion, I've heard he will pick up shifts in the werewolf section as well, but it isn't often. The wolf always gave me the creeps, but he never gave me any issues coming and going from the school, so I didn't put him on my radar much. Seeing him in the area of the Angel dorms, though, now he is on my radar. What the hell would he be doing over here?

"Hey, Guard Noah," I call out, jogging to catch up to him. I slow when I reach his side and match my footsteps to his. "How are you doing on this fine day?"

"Fallen," he calls out coldly as he looks at me, then looks back ahead.

"Wow, such a cold greeting from you today. Usually, I get to have a good day when I walk past you at the gate," I smile sweetly. His eyebrows raise in question at me but still, he remains silent. Damnit. I need him talking to me to figure out why he is over here. I don't like it. Or I suppose I can just flat out ask him what I want to know and see if he will answer me. It will probably piss him off, but less so than the stupid small talk bullshit I started with. "What brings you to this neck of the woods? I didn't know you were working in the Angel sector now. I thought you were just the front gate and the wolves."

Guard Noah finally stops walking and turns to look at me. He's pissed, and I have a feeling he's about to tell me off for my questions; I just hope he's polite about it. "You are a student at this school. I don't and never will answer to you in any shape orform. What I am and am not doing in the Angel sector is none of your business. Now, be on your way before I report you to Councilwoman Talia." He turns to walk away from me, this time returning in the direction we just came before I can answer him.

That definitely didn't go the way I had planned, but I'll still take it as a win. It got him out of the Angel sector and back to the main part of the school. Now, I have another worry to add to my list. First, deal with Arabella. Second, deal with Guard Noah. In that exact order. Whatever the guard is up to is something that can wait until after I get Arabella out of this school. If I play my cards right, maybe I can do two birds, one stone and get the guard to help me get Arabella out of this school. A few reports of her sneaking out should help lay the foundation.

With that plan in place, I enter the Angel dorms, heading up to my room to grab some food that has never tasted so good in my life. Arabella is about to see what happens when she pisses off a fallen angel. Little hint, she isn't going to be the winner of this game. I am.

Chapter 13

Arabella

"I'm really starting to get tired of combat class, and this is only the second session," I moan as Isis and I enter the women's changing room. Thankfully, the two of us were paired together today which was a lot better than when I had Rhys constantly kicking my ass during the first class. Isis and I are at least pretty even fighters, so we both got some good hits in. I would say it was a good training session, but if the shouting Archangel Cael did is anything to go by, I think he thought we were going too soft on each other. Next session, knowing my luck, I'll be placed with another fallen just because.

"Girl, you and me both," Isis laughs. "Don't get me wrong I like working out and getting some aggression out just as much as the next person but the stuff Archangel Cael asks us to do is next level."

She isn't wrong about that. Archangel Cael is kicking all of our asses. It's almost like he is expecting us to have to go to war soon or something. That is not what I am nor ever will be interested in. I'm almost positive that our world would never survive a war if one were about to take place again. The last one nearly wiped out all of the races. I'm not exactly sure what theoutcome of a second one would be, and I don't think I want to know either.

"What do you have going on this afternoon?" Isis pulls me from my thoughts as we are finishing changing.

"Hmm let's see...," I pause and place my finger against my chin like I'm thinking. "Food, Angel Law, and then my work study. Two of those three I am looking forward to. The third, well, I wouldn't mind skipping that class if I could. It's just another place I have to deal with Rhys. Why can't they have any classes that Angels don't have with Fallen? It's almost like they are shoving them down our throats."

"Divine," Isis shouts, grabbing my arm and pulling me out the door. "Could you have said that any louder?" She asks while rolling her eyes. "If you didn't already have a problem with the Fallen Angels here, well you will now if any of them overheard you in there. I swear, you have a death wish or something. Can you, I don't know, keep your head down for the rest of the day and not cause any more trouble?"

"I suppose I could try to do that if you insist," I chuckle and link my arm through hers as we walk to the cafeteria. "I'm not making any promises because it seems like people have it out for little 'ol me and I haven't even done anything wrong yet."

"I feel like the keyword in that sentence is yet," Isis laughs beside me. "You are a troublemaker, Arabella, and I absolutely am here for it. Just call me if you get into any trouble."

"How do you expect me to call you?" I ask as we push the doors open into the cafeteria. The place is absolutely crowded. Since I wasn't here a couple of days ago I didn't realize how busy it was. Yesterday's lunch was a lot emptier but I guess more students were in class at the time than they are now. I just hope there are still some cheeseburgers left. A good juicy cheeseburger sounds like the greatest thing right now and I will fight someone if they try to take the last one from me.

"You'll figure it out. I know you're resourceful like that. Now, Harper better have saved us a damn seat in here. It wasn't this busy two days ago." Isis grabs a try at the start of the line and begins piling food onto it. Her eyes must be way bigger than her stomach because I have never seen her eat that much food in the time we have been here. I choose to go a different route and only grab what I know I can eat now. If I'm still hungry afterward, then I'll come back for seconds.

"Is that all you're eating?" she asks when we make it to the end of the line. Looking down at my try the only items on it are a cheeseburger, the very last one that was out thank you very much, some fries, a small side salad with ranch, and water. I don't see an issue with my selection, but I watch her place a brownie on my tray as well.

"Who said I wanted dessert?" I ask as we walk to where I spot Harper and Stark sitting. As we get closer I see two empty chairs across from them. Literal fucking lifesavers they are. It doesn't look like there is an open seat anywhere. I'm going to have to find out about going off-campus this weekend and getting some food to keep in our dorm room, just in case. Anything to help me avoid this chaos, and I wouldn't mind getting to shower in my own bathroom rather than sharing one with a bunch of other girls.

"You'll want it, I promise," Isis chuckles as she slams her tray down on the table in front of us. I watch some fries fall off her tray and she doesn't bother to pick them up. I doubt she even noticed with how full the thing is.

"Long combat class?" Harper asks as we take our seats. Stark pays us absolutely no mind from beside her and continues eating.

"You could say that," I mumble, picking up my cheeseburger. The conversation pauses as we all stuff our faces. It isn't until well after I'm done that anyone even speaks.

"Stark, how have your classes been going? It feels like we never see you, or at least I don't," Isis asks before taking a large bite of her cookie. At least she waited until she was almost done eating to start a conversation. With a quick look at her tray, I notice she managed to eat a large portion of the food she selected. Damn.

"That's because you and I were sent here for different reasons," he snarkily replies.

---