I’d left the Awakening ceremony early to drive my mom back, and assure her that I would take care of Mikey. That this Clark guy was someone we could trust, and everything would be okay. Lincoln told me to let myself into his trailer and wait for him, that he’d wrap up his duties at the ceremony and meet me there.

I let myself in, and after fifteen minutes I was bored off my ass.

‘Let’s snoop,’ Sera offered.

I chuckled. ‘Oh my God, how are you an angel’s blade?’

‘Good question. They probably messed up when they made me. That’s why I got sent to Earth.’

My chest vibrated as I laughed again. ‘Wait, are you saying I’m only worthy of a reject infinity weapon?’

‘Did you just call me a reject?’ she retorted.

A grin lit up my face and momentarily all of my worries washed away.

‘What’s that little poetry book?’ Sera pressed.

My eyes flicked to the brown leather-bound book in front of me and I shook my head.

‘No way. That’s messed up,’ I told my blade.

‘They’re just poems. It’s not like a journal,’ Sera pressed harder.

I groaned. ‘Fine, one look. Because I’m bored and curious what he writes in there.’

On nights that I studied over there, he would scribble in the book and play his guitar.

Reaching over, I flipped through the pages to the last, most recent one.

Eyes like the sky, they behold mighty power.

Hair like the sun, I want to stay warm forever.

Her love fills me up, fills me up—

The door handle jiggled and I chucked the book across the table. It slammed against the wall and fell awkwardly onto the bench seat.

“Hey,” Lincoln said as he walked in.

“Nothing,” I shouted.

Oh God, that song sounded like it was about me. My cheeks reddened.

‘What a sweetheart,’ Sera cooed.

“Are you okay?” Lincoln frowned, moving toward me. I scooched over to give him room to sit next to me.

“Yep, fine. Up to nothing.” I laughed nervously.

Lincoln’s brows drew together. “I mean about your brother. Are you okay?”

In my snoop-fest, I’d momentarily forgotten about my brother. “Oh. No, I’m not okay about that. He must be so scared, and I don’t know that Clark guy, but he seemed like a dick. My mom was totally freaking out too.”

Lincoln rubbed my back slowly, up and down, over and over as I vented everything that was bothering me.

“I just want a freaking break, ya know!” I shouted. “First I have black wings, then this crazy prophecy that I’m going to kill Lucifer, and my devil mark tattoo. I thought that was enough to deal with.”

He nodded in understanding. “It is enough. More than enough. But we’ll get through this together.”

“Now my brother told me that my mom’s boss is docking her pay every week, and I’m afraid she’s not even getting enough to eat. She would never tell me if she was struggling that hard.”

Lincoln frowned. “I have ten grand left of my parents’ insurance policy money. She can have it if she needs it.”

My chest shuttered with emotion. Who is this amazing man, and how the hell do I deserve him?

“No, I’m going to send her some money out of my monthly checks. But Lincoln… wow. Thank you for offering.”

He was staring at me with those intense blue eyes, messy dark hair, and pouty full lips, and all of a sudden my mind was off my troubles, and onto the man candy before me.

He must have noticed the moment my mood shifted, because he looked down at my lips then back up at me with a half-lidded gaze.

“I love you,” I whispered tenderly, leaning forward to brush my lips across his.

His hand came up to thread into my hair as he gripped the back of my neck. Our kiss grew deeper as heat pooled in my gut. I’d never been so sexually attracted to someone as I was to Lincoln. Just the way he looked at me behind those dark lashes, with those moistened lips, it undid me.

I stood and grabbed my lower back. “I’ve really had this kink in my back lately. I’d love a backrub.”

He smirked, looking me up and down. “If you want to have sex with me, just say it.”

Laughter pealed out of me. “I totally want to have sex with you.”

‘Get a room.’ Sera’s voice invaded my mind.

Ignoring her snarky comment, I pulled her out of my leg harness and set her next to Lincoln’s sword.

Lincoln’s strong hands came around to cup my butt as he lifted me up to straddle him. I pressed my thighs around his waist to keep myself on him and pulled off my shirt. His eyes fell to the tattoo on my chest before he bent forward and kissed it. Every time he did that, it made me emotional, a lump formed in my throat. It was like he was saying he approved of me, all of me, and he loved every part of me. Even the less desirable ones.

We’d made it to the bed and fell into it together. Lincoln pulled off his shirt in one of those sexy one-handed moves and pressed his pelvis against me. I moaned and gripped the back of his neck, peppering his shoulder with kisses as he started to unbutton my pants.

“School starts tomorrow,” I huffed, panting. “You know what that means?”

His eyes were practically glowing as he looked up at me from kissing my belly button.

“What?”

I grinned. “I don’t have to call you ‘sir’ anymore.”

The grin was wiped off my face and exploded into a moan as he worked his tongue magic. I’d call him ‘sir’ for the rest of my life as long as he kept doing that.

* * *

“Thank you for seeing me, Brielle.” Mr. Claymore motioned me to step into his office.

“Are you kidding? When I got your message, I was so excited I barely slept.”

We were only a few days into school, and he thought he’d found a spell that could remove my devil mark. Setting my bag on the floor, I took a seat in a chair across his desk. Class started in forty-five minutes, but I’d willingly gotten up at six thirty to be ready for this.

He smiled, and I couldn’t help but notice how kind his eyes were. Other than the streaks of gray in his brown hair, you wouldn’t know he was an older man.

“Now, I want to warn you, this may not work. So don’t get your hopes up.” Pulling off his thick black cloak, he laid it over his chair and rolled up his sleeves.

I nodded. “Got it. Totally not overexcited or anything.” I bopped in my seat, trying to hide my grin.

He chuckled. “Come in!”

A frown pulled at my lips, not having heard anyone knock, and was surprised to see Raphael step into the room, tucking his wings back as far as he could to squeeze into the space.

“Hello, Brielle.” His voice was always so calm.

“Hey. Wasn’t expecting to see you here.”

He made his way behind Mr. Claymore’s desk, and looked up at me with his piercing blue eyes. The way his golden blond hair glowed around his shoulders, sort of reminded me of the halos Catholics always depicted around the angels’ heads. “Oh, I’m just here to drop a little Celestial magic and leave. What you two do with it is none of my concern.”

He winked just as his hands suddenly glowed with a crazy bright orange healing light, so bright, I had to shield my eyes. I peeked back over to the desk, through my fingers, to see him pouring the golden light into a large jar. Once it was full, he nodded to Mr. Claymore, and moved back around the desk to the door.

“Have a good day,” he offered cheerfully, and then he left.

I busted out laughing. “That was super shady.”

Mr. Claymore chuckled softly, but then his face fell into a more stoic pose. “Raphael cannot directly help the humans, so he does what he can in obscure ways.”

My lips turned down into a frown. “Why not? What would happen if he did?”

Mr. Claymore put on a pair of thick leather gloves. “If he does… he can’t go home.”

Home?

‘Heaven, you dingbat,’ Sera barked.

‘Oh shit.’

“Oh. Why?” I was totally prying, but I needed to know everything about this.

The Light Mage picked up the jar with his thick leather gloves and sighed. “It’s just his penance, that’s all. Don’t worry. Now, this might hurt a bit, so take a deep breath.”

Raphael’s penance for what?

He was standing over me now, holding the glowing jar of Raphael’s magic, his own purple light beginning to sneak in and mix. I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to drink it or what, until he upended it right onto my bare chest and a burning sizzle erupted across my flesh.

I hissed, as the golden purplish light saturated my chest, and sank into the skin there. Then, a cool minty feeling spread across it.

“Sorry,” he mumbled.

I nodded, breathing in and out heavily, looking down at the tattoo that was still very much there. My skin was starting to turn an angry red, and the burning was back. Mr. Claymore began to chant, sprinkling clumps of salt down my shirt.

I was just starting to think this was going to work when movement to my left caught my eye. My head snapped to the side, and my mouth dropped at the portal that was slowly opening in the middle of the air.

“Uhhh,” I said, and pointed.

The Light Mage looked back at the portal and cursed, nearly dropping an entire bottle of salt on me.

“Get behind me,” he muttered.

Oh shit. Why can’t anything go my way?

I stood, pulling Sera out, and stepped behind the professor.

The portal grew wider and a dilapidated stone building came into view. The building didn’t scare me, but the stench of sulfur did.

“Is… is that Hell?” I gasped.

He was throwing streaks of purple across the room, which were attaching to the edges of the portal and forcing it closed.

My chest no longer burned, or felt cool, or felt… anything. I looked down, and other than a few grains of salt, it looked normal. The menacing skull with wings and a lopsided crown was still there, staring up at me.

My eyes flicked back up to see Mr. Claymore wrestling a tiny Yew demon that was trying to fly into the room with its little bat-like wings. It appeared as though Mr. Claymore had magically bound its mouth, purple energy bands wrapped around it like the rubber bands they put around lobster claws. That was a good thing considering they spit fire.

‘Stop horsing around and point me at him,’ Sera demanded.

Oh. Right.

I tipped the blade over Mr. Claymore’s shoulder and pointed the tip right at the Yew demon. A bright shot of white light erupted from the blade and slammed into its chest, knocking it backward. Mr. Claymore pulled tightly on the purple bands and the portal sealed shut.

Once he was satisfied it was closed, the Light Mage spun around and looked at Sera in my hand. “Thanks for that.” He nodded. His hair was a mess, completely wind-blown.

I just bobbed my head. “That was a portal to Hell,” I stated matter-of-factly.

He looked down at my chest and frowned. “Brielle, I’m very sorry I wasn’t able to remove your mark. It looks as though the dark prince has… a security system of sorts on it.”

My gut tightened with fear. “You mean… you tried to take it off and…” I couldn’t say it.

He looked utterly gutted. “And it opened the portal, which means I won’t be able to remove it. I’m truly sorry.”

A mental fog rolled over me, bringing with it a deep depression. I’d been totally stoked that I was going to be rid of the mark. I’d even told Lincoln and Shea to get ready to throw a party for me if it worked.

“I’m glad we didn’t trigger the demon alarm. I’m sorry to have gotten your hopes up.” Now he seemed to be taking all of the responsibility on himself. I wasn’t about to let that happen.

I plastered on a fake smile. “Hey, it’s all right. It doesn’t hurt or anything. I’ll be okay.” I grabbed my bag and shouldered it.

“Go in peace,” he whispered.

I left the room to find Shea and Lincoln across the hall, waiting expectantly. One look at my chest and their faces fell.

Go in peace, I did not.