Chapter Five
THEA
“How do you know Camael?” Dani said, her face a picture of disbelief as Thea approached her.
Thea’s heart raced. Although she had missed Cam desperately, she had almost forgotten the intense way he made her feel. Her panties were already soaked, her nipples were hard and that tingle in her stomach fluttered wildly. Cam looked so fucking good. His gray eyes were as intense as ever, his deep brown hair had lengthened a little, curling just above his ears and his gorgeous body just begged for her to press herself against it. When he almost kissed her, she nearly melted into him. She didn’t know if it was appropriate to display affection like that in the training center, but if he had kissed her, she wouldn’t have cared. Although, she may have doubts about his rash decisions, he was still hers and she was still his.
The days in the Angel Realm seemed to stretch on forever. The last time she had seen him felt like absolutely ages ago even though it had only been nearly a week. It was still hard to believe that six weeks have passed in the human world.
“Thea?”
Thea blinked at Dani. “Huh?”
“How’d you know Camael?”
They headed to the common room on the same floor, where most of the training angels spent their breaks.
“He trained me.” They headed over to the water fountain. “When I lived in the human world, he was sent to teach me how to fight.”
“Wow,” Dani breathed. She stood frozen for a moment and then squealed, “I can’t believe it. I know someone who knows Camael!” She whooped and gripped Thea’s forearm. “Do you think you could introduce me to him?”
Thea stared at her, bemused. “Er… Sure.”
Dani clenched her hands and scrunched up her face. “Yesss. I can’t believe it.”
Thea laughed. “It’s just Cam, Dani.”
Dani looked at her like she was crazy. “Just, Cam? You call him Cam? Are you serious?”
Thea stared at her; she was missing something.
“You do know that Camael is one of the greatest warriors in the Realm? Not just the greatest Power angel, the greatest warrior. Period.”
Shit. So he hadn’t been exaggerating. “Erm... Yeah, he might have mentioned it.”
“Everyone in this room, hell, every training angel, wants to be just like him.” She thought for a moment then shook her head. “Nope, scratch that. Every angel that exists.” Dani grabbed a cup and filled it with juice. “He has done so much for the Realm and defeated the most hideous demons.” She paused. “And he trained you.” She gulped down her juice, shaking her head in wonder. “No wonder you’re so good.”
Thea smiled and guzzled her water. At least Dani thought she was good. She hadn’t been sure. The training with Asteroth was so different from training with Cam. Asteroth made suggestions, let her try things out, went to look at other angels and then circled back with further suggestions. She’d grown more confident and honed her attacks and her defenses, using angelic energy in different ways. Each day, he matched her with a different angel, and she learned new ways to approach a demon and how to defend herself. She hadn’t been sure about some of the things she’d tried or how she was doing, but at the end of each day, they had time to discuss things with the angel they were paired with, which was Dani for her.
With Cam, she’d had specialized attention; he pointed out her flaws ruthlessly and she adapted quickly because of it. He’d constantly corrected her form and— Thea stopped pouring juice, in deep thought. When Cam was training her at the beginning, he had been distant, short-tempered, snappy; all the signs were there that he hadn’t wanted to train her.
She shook the thoughts from her head, annoyed with herself. She already knew that. Why did she keep dwelling on it? It wouldn’t do her any good. Over the last week, she had scolded herself numerous times for being so petty. Of course she couldn’t hold how he felt at the beginning against him, he hadn’t even known her and she’d been rude to him. It was the way he reacted after their fight that bothered her. It signified something about him that she couldn’t put her finger on.
Another factor was that he hadn’t truly known what was expected of her in the Angel Realm. She had left her whole life to see what life was like here and be his mate, and the Angel Realm seemed to have plans for her that didn’t include Cam at all. How much could she trust that what he said was true? How much could he prepare her about the Angel Realm and what was to come? Every time she thought back to when she had been without him, she knew she wouldn’t want that again. But how could their relationship be open and true and honest, if she was always wondering if he’d be reliable?
She sighed and grabbed a bowl of salad and some fruit off the food counter. Maybe she did just need time to figure things out.
Thea and Dani strolled to the other side of the common room and entered one of the bookshelf aisles. Thea hadn’t been matched with Dani yet but was looking forward to seeing Dani’s particular powers. Dani was a Virtue angel, which Thea hadn’t ever heard about before. According to Dani, Virtue angels had a special relationship with the elements and used the energy from nature to influence the environment in the human world.
“What was life like in the human world?” Dani asked, dropping into an armchair and turning toward Thea. They found one of the little private areas among the bookshelves called cubby-lounges that held a couple of armchairs and a coffee table.
Thea sat cross-legged in her overstuffed chair and thought for a moment. “For me, it wasn’t that great.”
“How come?”
“I grew up in a poor part of a huge city. There are high levels of crime, poverty, and shortage of jobs. Life was stressful and I grew up with my dad, who has mental health problems.”
“Your dad lives in the human world?” asked Dani, throwing her legs over the arm over the chair.
Thea glanced back to the main area of the room, noticing that Dani was the only angel slouching on a chair. She smiled. Most of the angels took themselves so seriously, it was great to be with someone with a more human demeanor. Dani was clearly more free-spirited. “Yeah,” Thea answered. “He’s human.”
Dani raised her eyebrows. “Your mom’s an angel? Whoa. Normally, it’s the father.”
“I know,” said Thea. She bit into a pear. “So that’s the human world. Not too pretty from my experience, but there are parts of it that are just beautiful. Areas where there are beautiful people, amazing scenery, and pretty things. And that’s just my city. Across the world, there are so many different cultures and landscapes and people. It’s fascinating really.”
“It’s really different than growing up here,” Dani said wistfully.
“What was it like?” asked Thea, curiosity blooming within her. Although she had gotten used to the Angel Realm in the last week, it still seemed a little surreal. There were never any raised voices, most angels smiled at her, and everyone had the same routine—at least they did in the training center—but she couldn’t imagine growing up here.
“Boring,” Dani stated. “All angels are kind of the same—we have the same principles and the same knowledge and the same intentions in terms of humans and the human world. So day-to-day it can be so boring.”
“You’re not really the same as much as you think,” Thea said. “I didn’t realize that angels had different skin colors or such drastically different personalities, like humans.”
Dani shrugged. “I suppose, but that’s normal for most beings.”
Thea pursed her lips and nodded, that was true. “Your upbringing couldn’t have been all that boring. You’re the most fun angel I’ve met.”
“It was,” Dani said darkly. “No, scratch that. I came into existence with eleven other Virtues: six male, five female. And that was fun. We played and laughed and had so much fun with our powers until we began training. Then it became so boring.”
Thea thought for a moment. “When you say ‘come into existence’ what does that mean?”
“It means the moment we start to have a consciousness.”
“Wow. I don’t remember that exact moment,” Thea murmured.
“No.” Dani shook her head. “You wouldn’t. It would probably be too traumatizing for humans to remember that. But we start out with a grown body and our powers. So those first few decades, we’re just experimenting and trying things out. The Seraphim are such pushovers, they let us do what we liked mostly. Our powers were never strong enough to hurt anyone.”
Thea nodded, fascinated. She made a mental note to do some research on the seven orders of angels so she knew what they all did.
“We always watched the human world though,” Dani said. “We had to so we could learn about them and the different natural energies in their world. I stayed close to the northern hemisphere and found human behavior and speech fascinating. So I copied it as did most of my brothers and sisters.” She leaned forward and dropped her voice to a whisper. “I always kind of wondered what it would be like to be human.”
“Really?” Thea made a face. “I think being an angel is better.”
“Nope,” Dani said, shaking her head. “Humans have so many adventures.”
Thea laughed. Adventure was one word for it. She wondered what Dani had seen to make her think that the human world was fun at all. “How long did you watch the human world?” asked Thea.
Dani squinted as she thought. “Only about a century—it was before my first millennium training. I didn’t get to do much while I was there.”
“If we ever get out of here, we can go there together. I’ll take you on an adventure around my neighborhood. That’s all the thrill you’ll need to never want to return,” Thea said, chuckling.
Dani laughed and gave her a look, then glanced at the clock on the wall. “We’d better go.”
Thea almost groaned. Soreness had settled into her body from the morning training—always a sign she had worked hard. She got up and walked with Dani back to the training hall and saw Cam still waiting by the benches. He stood up when he saw her, watching her as she made her way back to the hall, that gray intensity in his eyes and the smile on his lips doing all kinds of crazy things to her. Surely he wasn’t truly going to wait until after her training session? Wasn’t he back on assignments?
“Oh wow, he’s still there,” Dani whispered.
Thea grinned and glanced at Dani. She turned and headed over to him. “Cam,” she said, as she approached. “I’d like you meet Dani.”
Cam’s face widened in surprise as Dani… bowed. Thea blinked. She bowed?
“It’s so nice to meet you, Camael,” Dani said, her usual chat faster than normal. “It’s an honor actually. I’ve heard about you for millennia and I’ve always admired the stories... I mean, you know, the tales of your experiences. My siblings and I listened to our trainers talk about them for hours and we loved learning your strategies and battle plans and combat methods, even though we’d never be able to use any of it. I mean, we hardly understood much—”
Cam tilted his head. “You’re a Virtue?”
Dani nodded. “Two-millenniums.”
“It’s nice to meet you.” He gestured to Thea. “Look after her, will you? And make sure she’s pushed in her training sessions. She can be a lazy one, especially with cardio.”
Thea slid her jaw to one side, trying not to laugh. She tried giving him a deadly look, but his eyes just became more intense on her, hardening her nipples and sending a hot rush through her.
“Yes, of course,” Dani said. “I will—I’ll try, I mean. We haven’t been matched yet, but I’m sure Asteroth is pushing her. I’m sure that what she does with him won’t be as good as her training with you though. I mean, how can it? I’ll ask him, though. I’ll make sure she’s worked hard—”
Cam turned his gaze back to Thea as Dani continued to blab, and they shared a smile. The urge to move closer to him almost overwhelmed her, but she pulled Dani’s arm instead. “See you after,” Thea said to Cam as they headed back to training.
“I think I’m gonna die,” Dani murmured, as Thea dragged her along. “I just met Camael… Wait till I tell my brothers.”
Thea just laughed and shook her head. It seems she wasn’t the only one affected by that gorgeous angel.
In the hall, Asteroth waited for them, a twinkle in his deep brown eyes. “You are matched together this afternoon.”
Dani and Thea grinned at each other.
“Your task, Daniah, is to stop Thea from getting over to the back of the hall. You must do everything you can to stop her.” He turned to Thea. “And you, Thea, must do everything you can to place your hand on the wall. You are not allowed to block or in any way impede Dani from drawing energy from outside.” He gestured to the gap in the ceiling of the hall then looked between them both. “Understand?”
They both nodded and then turned to face each other. Dani‘s eyes narrowed as she took on a wide, low stance. Suddenly, she no longer seemed like the carefree angel Thea knew.
“The other angels will be watching for their own training and may provide you with feedback.” He gestured to the other training angels who were sitting along the wall of the hall. “The battle ends when Thea is either unable to move for ten seconds or places a palm on the wall. Begin.”
Thea shifted and flapped up into the air, intending to glide over Dani’s head.
Dani put her hands together in front of her, steepling them under her chin. Then she did something with her arms, some swift, fluid movement and brought her hands forward, tilting her palms upward toward the ceiling. Dark smoke started to form a few feet above her head, swirling and morphing into the shape of rain clouds. Electricity pulsed through it, bolts of lightning just waiting to strike.
Shit. Dani was powerful. Thea created a shield. She edged over to the right, eager to avoid the clouds, but Dani extended them out in front of her, blocking her way.
Thea inched forward, wondering if it would actually hurt to go through it, but a small bolt shot out and hit her shield, which shook but remained stable. Dani grinned, a mischievous look in her eyes.
Thea grinned back. That had been a warning, but it also told her the bolts wouldn’t penetrate her shield. She threw her spear at the clouds and they spluttered, some of the electricity muting.
Thea dropped to the ground and backed up, deciding to take it at a run. She lowered her center of gravity and ran straight at Dani, who used her hands to let out a couple of bolts of electricity, shooting it straight at Thea. Her shield shuddered and disappeared, but before she could recreate it, Dani threw another bolt that hit her shoulder.
Thea’s left side jerked back, but she was already passed Dani. Another bolt hit her back and she stumbled forward. A rush of wind came at her, throwing her sideways. She focused her mind and created a shield, which helped to deflect the wind.
Dani was moving her arms with such grace and elegance, it was almost hypnotizing to watch.
Thea formed one long spear with angelic energy and threw it at Dani, who dodged it, her violet blue eyes widening. Thea created energy ball after energy ball, throwing them at Dani and trying to anticipate which side she would dodge. As she did, Thea rose into the air and inched back toward the wall.
One of the energy balls connected with Dani’s hip and she cried out, but didn’t change her focus. Dani’s whole body flickered with power. She held her hands out, palms up, hands like claws as lighting crackled between her fingers and palms. The lightening suddenly shot out at Thea, who strengthened her shield.
Dani rose off the floor, her body now fluttering as though she was made from breeze. Thea watched her amazed; she’d never seen anything like it.
A sudden whirlwind materialized around them, hard and punishing. It blew Thea across the room and she rolled in the air and tumbled to the ground. As she jumped to her feet, the wind caused her eyes to water and became stronger as Dani traveled towards her, trying to get between Thea and the wall.
Thea ran toward to the wall. It was only a few feet away now, but with the wind hitting her at such speed, it felt like she was being punched. It seemed to burrow into her skin and tunnel down her legs, forcing her to a standstill and disorienting her. If she stayed here too long, Dani would win. Thea stopped fighting it and closed her eyes, her hair now loose and whipping around her. She started creating another shield but realized She could feel energy pulsing all around her. She could feel the wind. And the other students against the wall. And Asteroth, and Dani. Instead of the shield, she created a wall of energy and snapped it around Dani, pushing her aside.
With a yell, Dani was thrown across the hall and to the ground. The wind disappeared and Thea stumbled from the sudden lack of pressure.
Gasping for breath, she ran to the back wall and placed her palm on it, exhausted.