Chapter Eight
OVER THE COURSE OF THE FOLLOWING DAYS, the city remained deceptively lulled. No sudden war erupted; the world didn’t stop turning. Lilith kept her head down—so far down, in fact, that neither the Nuhra nor the Tenebras could locate her. Sebastian promised they would keep looking, but Candra became more or less resigned to the belief that Lilith would only show up when she was good and ready.
True to his word, Sebastian imparted what he’d learned from Draven the night of the ball. Some, she knew, like the war for supremacy in heaven. He told her about the nightmare visions her father’d had before and after her birth, about how Payne had turned to Draven to protect her from Sebastian. Still, she was no clearer on her role, other than Draven manipulating Sebastian into falling in love with her and joining forces with him. Candra had no idea what would become of her when she had served her purpose.
Her mother had no family, so she had no human relatives, but part of her was human regardless. Certain realities bound her as a human…certain limitations and hopes. However, as part angel too, the information coming her way lately was more and more often bad news and disturbing truths. The human in her wanted to believe in another world, something beyond her imagining. The angel in her knew it would never be heaven without those she loved there. Candra floundered somewhere between hope and misery, between grief and acceptance, reluctant to move one way or the other and waiting for the future to happen.
“Don’t listen to them,” Lofi whispered into her ear, leaning closer as they made their way to their seats in the school auditorium.
“I’m trying. They don’t have a clue what they’re talking about.”
“That’s my girl.” Lofi smiled encouragingly.
Candra did her level best to ignore the few sympathetic glances sent in her direction. The whispers others tried to cover with their hands were so blatant, they could have screamed them as she passed. Ivy was the first student in Saint Francis to fall foul of the crime wave sweeping the city right up to Lilith’s appearance. No one at Saint Francis had died while in attendance in over two decades, something of a record for any school in Acheron.
They knew death, of course. A few of the students had lost parents, grandparents, or others in their extended family. They had never grieved one of their own, never a peer that brought home the unembellished realism of their mortality to them. Candra found that, rather than being universally empathetic for her loss and theirs, many turned brutal. They gossiped about how Ivy had died, saying neither she nor Candra were as innocent as they would have people believe. The latest rumors only went to reinforce Ivy’s rather dubious and utterly false reputation as a party girl with too many boyfriends.
Ivy’s memorial…the concept seemed bizarre to Candra seeing as, for all intents and purposes, Ivy was still very much among the living. They sat in silence as other students continued to shuffle into their seats all around them.
The auditorium was a vast space, built during a time when students had packed every class in the college to capacity. Now the attending students barely filled three quarters of the wooden seats set out for assemblies and removed so the hall could double as a gym. The dark wood ceiling and walls reached at least seventy feet high. Arched windows near the top allowed light to spill in from outside, although sheets of chicken wire protected them from gym activities.
A solemn-looking Father Patrick emerged first from behind the blue velvet drapes at the side of the stage, the epitome of a bereaved educator. It had been set up with chairs placed in a semi-circle and a stand with a microphone in the center. Father Patrick stood off to the side and shuffled small sheets of papers in his hands while a procession of other faculty made their way to seats. Candra was pleased to see at least a few of them showed genuine distress at the situation.
She turned to glare over her shoulder at the arrival of a couple of the uptown girls who had always given Ivy a hard time. They struggled to keep their inane giggling at a semi-respectable level. Lofi gasped, and Candra spun in her seat so fast, her loose hair whipped around lashing Lofi in the face.
“No,” Candra ground out, horrified and through gritted teeth.
Lofi grabbed on to her arm to hold her there. Candra was instantly grateful for Lofi’s presence. She wasn’t sure she could be held responsible for her actions. At least she could count on Lofi to help her make a quick recovery when she tried to launch herself at the dark-haired woman now shaking hands with Father Patrick.
Lilith’s demure smile matched her outfit, a long gray pencil skirt that ended mid-calf, paired with low pumps and a black fitted blouse. Delicate rimless glasses perched on her slender nose. She completed the look with her silky hair pulled away from her face in a knot at the nape of her neck.
“What is…wha…I can’t even…” Candra’s shock at the impudence Lilith displayed prevented her from forming anything close to a coherent sentence.
“I don’t know,” Lofi said in a hushed whisper. She slipped her phone from her pocket with one hand and very quickly tapped a few keys while the other kept Candra in place. “She won’t cause a scene with so many witnesses, and she knows we would never endanger all these kids.”
Candra’s eyes darted to Lofi’s face and realized she was waiting for some reaction. She understood then that Lofi was measuring her composure. She wasn’t only stating that Lilith wouldn’t try anything here, but she was pointing out that neither should they.
Lilith nodded to Father Patrick and turned. A beam of light from one of the windows above caught something around her neck and twinkled, causing Candra to squint for a fraction of a second. When Lilith took her seat, Candra saw what it was, or at least what she thought it was. It was impossible to know without closer inspection, and Candra wasn’t that curious. A high-pitched squeak, vaguely passing for an incredulous chuckle escaped her throat. If she had sat farther back, she wouldn’t have noticed it at all. If she had sat farther back, they may well have slipped out virtually unseen.
But no, Candra had insisted on sitting front and center so no one else could. She’d refused to stand by and let one of those girls who would have relished making Ivy’s life miserable, if Candra had allowed them, pretend to be suffering a loss. So now, that meant spending forty-five minutes less than fifteen feet from the creature who’d hijacked Ivy’s soul. It was the same creature sitting at Ivy’s memorial with, of all things, what looked like a golden angel pendant around her neck.
Suddenly, Candra’s brain felt as if the oxygen had been sucked from the auditorium. She swayed, and her eyes rolled in her head, sure she was about to pass out…or maybe vomit over the unsuspecting students around her.
Lofi quickly pulled out her phone and glanced at it. “Sebastian says to stay put. He agrees with me. She won’t try anything here.”
“Why is that?” Candra hissed under her breath. “Does she really care so much about witnesses? Isn’t here as good as any place?”
“It’s blessed ground,” Lofi whispered back. “The entire school is built on it. It’s probably the reason Brie sent you here in the first place. While we are inside, it provides a certain degree of protection.”
“Blessed?”
“A sort of shield. It’s like the one that kept us from finding you for eighteen years, but this one gives protection. She can’t hurt you here.”
“So, angel voodoo?”
“Exactly.” Lofi nodded.
Father Patrick had begun to speak, but Candra couldn’t process one word he uttered.
“So then why the leech impression if I’ve always been safe inside here?”
The first prayer began, making it easier to speak without drawing attention to themselves.
“Sebastian,” Lofi sighed.
Candra angled her head, waiting for a more in-depth explanation.
“He’s obsessively overprotective of the girl he loves; didn’t you get the memo?” Lofi raised an eyebrow, and the corner of her lips twitched.
Given the situation, Candra was grateful for his overprotective tendencies. She appreciated Lofi’s presence in her life now more than ever. She was fast becoming the closest thing to a real friend Candra had left.
“He’s sending someone to meet us after, and there will be plenty of others around. You will be perfectly safe.”
Lilith caught Candra’s eye and gave her an almost indiscernible nod of recognition. Candra swallowed the bile inching its way up her esophagus while Father Patrick began to call the lecturers of Ivy’s classes to speak to the crowded room.
“Why isn’t Sebastian coming himself?” Candra asked, confused.
“D’know.” Lofi shrugged and caught the stern gaze of Father Patrick from the stage.
Lofi frowned and dabbed away a nonexistent tear from the corner of her eye, instantly causing him to soften his gaze. Just like Sebastian with any women he met, Lofi could wrap any man around her little finger. Candra waited until he was looking away again and leaned into Lofi’s side.
“I want this over. I want my life back. If she thinks she can waltz in here and take over, she has a harsh lesson coming her way.” Candra quickly realized this was probably the kick she needed to wake her from the self-pitying stupor she’d been walking around in. The time had come to take herself in hand.
Lofi bumped Candra’s shoulder to indicate her support. Lilith caught Candra’s gaze again, and this time, Candra held it and glared right back in what felt like an endless game of chicken: first to look away loses.
A quiet muttering broke out among the crowd around her, and still Candra refused to look away. Lilith gave in, leaving Candra to gloat internally at the small victory. It wasn’t much, but it was a warning to Lilith that she wouldn’t give any ground easily, and she wouldn’t give up without a fight. Acheron would not bow to Lilith or anyone. Candra had come too far, and they had all sacrificed too much. She needed to find out for herself if this was it. Was the beautiful woman on stage her nemesis, or was something else coming her way? There were too many details missing from the equation. If she wasn’t the threat, she was certainly a factor in the danger.
Lilith stood, smiling graciously toward Father Patrick and the rest of the faculty, and then finally at the students.
“Guidance counselor,” Lofi scoffed. “We should have expected as much.”
Candra blinked her dry eyes, wondering what she had missed during their standoff. “Why?”
“She wants to get close to you. Whatever her agenda is, it involves you.”
Candra rolled her shoulders back with determination and refocused her attention on the stage where Lilith had re-taken her seat. “Well, then, we are just going to have to find out exactly what that is.”
Father Patrick excused the congregation, reminding them again that the school provided a counseling service for those in need. Lofi and Candra had barely managed to shuffle to the end of their row before Lilith and Father Patrick were there, blocking their way.
“Ms. Ember, may we have a word?”
Lofi’s fingers tightened around Candra’s forearm, hidden by the proximity of their bodies. “Actually, Father, we’re both a little shaken up by your emotional sermon.”
Father Patrick’s lips curved into an indulgent smile. “This will only take a few minutes, Ms. Duarte, and as much as we are delighted to have you back with us, I’m sure Ms. Ember can speak for herself.” His tone left no doubt that it wasn’t a request and he had no interest in arguing with Lofi.
Candra guessed it was Lilith’s influence and made a mental note that it seemed to be dominant over Lofi’s. That nugget of information came as a surprise to Candra, considering that Lofi had once been a high-ranking angel and one of Sebastian’s lieutenants. Then, Lilith had outsmarted the Arch…possibly more than once. Evidently, Lilith was not to be underestimated. Despite that, Candra remained convinced that Lilith underestimating her was a definite advantage.
Candra needed to figure out what Lilith wanted and how far she would go to achieve her goals. She reached into Lofi’s grip and unwound her fingers from her forearm.
“It’s okay, Lofi. I’ll follow along in a few minutes.”
“But, Candra—” Lofi started with a fake smile and showing too many teeth. “I promised I would stay with you.”
Candra knew there was a vital word absent from that sentence—that word being Sebastian. Lofi had promised Sebastian she would stay with her. She also knew his slightly irrational mind would blame Lofi for separating and not, rightly, her. She could deal with that later. She was as much a part of this fight as anyone, and she had as much responsibility to take action when an opportunity presented itself. Candra told herself that she wasn’t one of Sebastian’s subordinates—she was a weapon, and until someone could define what that meant, she remained a useless weapon.
“I’m okay. Truly, I am,” Candra guaranteed Lofi. “It was you who just told me that school is the safest place to be right now. Nothing will happen to me here. Isn’t that right?” Candra’s eyes fixed coldly on Lilith.
She smiled, as if appraising Candra, and then nodded. “Of course, this is a worrying time for everyone in the city, but no harm will come to you here.”
Lofi frowned, her eyebrows knitting together and her lips forming a pout. She was obviously groping for a way to argue without drawing too much attention to them. Besides Father Patrick, there were plenty of other students still loitering around in no apparent rush to return to their studies.
“Oh, come now,” Lilith said with full lips pulling back over glistening teeth, making her look anything but benign. “Candra will be perfectly fine. She’s not in trouble. I just want to talk.”
Candra’s eyes flickered to Father Patrick, who was growing more disgruntled by the second at her hesitation. Lofi nodded reluctantly, but Candra saw she was gripping her skirt so hard, the skin across the back of her knuckles strained over bone and bleached white. Candra took her hand and looked into her eyes, knowing Lofi worried about more than the idea of facing Sebastian. Lofi didn’t trust Lilith, and on that much, she and Candra were in complete agreement.
Father Patrick excused himself to speak to another professor.
“I’ll come find you,” Candra told Lofi quietly.
Lofi smiled tightly. “Okay. I have to go make a phone call anyway.” Her eyes flashed in Lilith’s direction. Distrust and frustration radiated from every inch of her.
Candra didn’t need to be told that Lofi hated feeling so powerless, but so did she. If she could garner any amount of information, it had to be a good thing for all of them in the end. She simply couldn’t sit back any longer and play the defenseless little human, needing to be looked after all the time. She carried Payne’s blood—one of the highest-ranking angels of heaven—and she was intent on claiming that power.
Candra followed Lilith out of the auditorium, aware of the many eyes burning into her back, and gritted her teeth. She had been watched her entire life. The difference was now she was aware of it. Sebastian would be furious. Draven too. It probably wasn’t the best way to prove them wrong about treating her like a delicate flower. She rationalized this impromptu meeting by reminding herself that she had done the same thing once before when she’d snuck off to meet Draven. That had worked out…in the end. Regardless of how they felt, she wanted to know Lilith’s intentions, not only for everyone else, but also for herself.
