Page 9 of Fallen Demon

All right, I could do this until noon. With a sigh, I grabbed another book and continued researching.

* * *

The hours stretched asif they were years, and I was going out of my mind. I tried focusing on the words I was reading, but nothing stuck to mind. Lavinia and Killian tried entertaining me by taking me to lunch—which had been delicious—then a walk around the castle’s maze, but all I wanted was to have Zadkiel help me get a hold of my magic and find Levi and kick Rhodes’s ass.

In the middle of the afternoon, Zadkiel and Elisa entered the library.

I shot to my feet and my chair almost fell backward.

I had first met Zadkiel in New Orleans, when I was contacted by Norah and asked to help an angel. I took him to the Midnight Cauldron, where he met Khalisa.

Then, we met again while fighting with our friends against Paimon. That was when I asked him about Elysium and what was going on there, but he didn’t know anything. After staying for so long in the underworld, Zadkiel had gone back to Elysium, talked to his mentor, Archangel Muriel, and she had sent him back to Earth to stay with Elisa and help the supernaturals at DuMoir Castle.

As far as I knew, Muriel wasn’t involved with Ylena and Rhodes, and she probably didn’t know anything. I had subtly asked if he had heard about the stories involving me, and he said no, but it was probably because he hadn’t stayed up there long enough.

Since then, he didn’t have much contact with Elysium, and from what Lavinia had told me, ever since the bounty on my head was announced, his mentor had been quiet. The only thing she had told him was to stay put and continue working for Lord Drake.

“Hi there, Ariella,” Elisa said, always the diplomat. She was Queen Thea’s right hand and a powerful witch. “It’s so good to see you.” She walked up to me and gave me a brief but strong hug.

“You too,” I said.

“I hear you've been looking for me,” Zadkiel said. He was the perfect angel: with longish blond hair, blue eyes, and a serene aura to him. Though, like me, his wings were black.

“Yes.” I quickly explained that I had gotten my magic back, but it hadn’t been the same. “I need to train to get it under control.” Before I bought myself a fight with some demons in the underworld or some angels in Elysium. “And I thought you could train with me.”

He probably had already heard all of this from Drake and Thea, as I assumed he already knew everything else I had told them, including what was going on in Elysium.

He nodded. “Of course. Why don’t we go to the training grounds and see what we can do?”

I perked up. “Now? Sure.”

Waving goodbye to Lavinia and Killian, I followed Zadkiel and Elisa out. I hoped the vampires didn’t feel like they should continue working without me and took a break from research.

“I need to go talk to Thea again,” Elisa said. She leaned into Zadkiel and I averted my eyes as the two kissed. “You two have fun.”

She turned on her heels and disappeared down the stairs.

Zadkiel turned to me. “Are you ready?”

4

During the battleof DuMoir Castle when Lord Drake took over leadership, the original training grounds had burned down. They built new ones, which connected to the castle via an underground tunnel or the garden. We arrived at the gymnasium hidden among the trees. From the outside, it looked like a one-story building, with lots of windows, but once we got in, the place was immense. The first floor rose easily four floors high, and then there were the two underground levels with more rooms and equipment than any human or supernatural could ever need.

Which was ironic since vampires and most supernaturals were incredibly fast and strong naturally. I doubted I would ever see a vampire lifting weights.

The place was almost empty, except for a couple of human servants who were running on the track lining the perimeter of the place.

We paused just past the doors and I watched for a moment.

“Will they be turned?” I asked in a faint voice.

“Eventually, if they continue to be loyal,” the angel said.

I knew most humans who lived in the castle wanted to be here and become vampires, and even though I was friends with some pretty cool vampires, I couldn’t imagine a human wanting to be one.

“Doesn’t that bother you?”

“It used to,” Zad said. “But after living in DuMoir Castle for a while, I know turning means salvation for most of these humans.”

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