I’d never gone out fighting with my little bro. Hell, I hadn’t been out on army duty since I got back. I’d been sheltered and kept safe here while everyone else did the fighting for me.

That time was over.

Scooping Sera up, I tucked her into her leather sheath at my thigh, and we all started to jog toward the parking lot. Word must have spread fast, because both students and faculty were running around in panic. Even on a Saturday, when the campus was normally dead, it was crawling with people.

“Attention, Fallen Academy.” Raphael’s voice came over the loudspeaker, which played out into every classroom and hallway, and even projected out into the quad. “All army personnel, please report to the parking lot. We have a situation in Demon City that cannot be ignored.”

With a high-pitched whine, the transmission went dead.

Oh God. Lucifer had finally lost it. He was upping his game, and I wouldn’t stand for it.

“Lincoln!” Catia’s voice called out, and we followed the sound to a big Fallen Academy bus. She, Noah and Shea were waiting right in front of the open doors. Archangel Michael was perched on the roof, wings spread out as he spoke to Emberly and Grace, who stood below him.

As we passed them to make our way to the front of the bus, I overheard Michael asking Emberly, “How’s your pain today?”

“I’m fine!” she growled. “Let me kill some demon scum, Dad. You can’t baby me anymore. I’m sixteen now!”

He groaned, while Grace promised she would stay with their daughter on the mission. I didn’t know all the details of the technology Metatron had given her, but Grace was sporting a new sword that had some kind of button on it to activate a laser light, which could cut through flesh and bone. She was probably stronger and more capable than her husband with that thing.

Passing their family, we made it onto the bus, and huddled into the first few seats, joining Catia, who looked shaken.

“How bad is it?” Lincoln asked her. Then, his gaze shifted to me. “She was on duty at the border and witnessed it firsthand.”

Catia’s eyes were red rimmed, and she looked sweaty. “It’s… it’s genocide. The demons are asking humans to take the mark and become a slave. If they refuse, they’re openly killing them… young teenagers included.”

My stomach rolled with nausea, which quickly turned to rage. Those freaking bastards!

“Why now, after all this time?” I growled.

Demon City was mostly filled with demons and their slaves, but a good 30 percent of the population were humans who were either married to a demon slave, or were too poor to live in Angel City.

Catia shook her head. “I overheard a Brimstone demon saying it was some new initiative. Only the loyal could remain.”

Lucifer.

I’d never felt so much rage for a single person in all my life, until that very moment. It was a combination of every single thing Lucy had done to bring evil to my life or the world, and this was the last straw. I simply couldn’t tolerate the mass killing of innocents. Hell, I couldn’t tolerate the killing of a single innocent. This was going to end once and for all.

“Let’s go. Every second we sit here another innocent dies!” I shouted.

Lincoln nodded, getting into the driver seat as Catia called out the door for any available personnel to jump on the bus. It would take Raphael at least twenty minutes to assemble the army and sort out who was staying and who should go. In that time, too many would be dead. This bus was leaving now.

I spotted Darren and Blake across campus near the gates. It looked like they were in charge of protecting the academy during this latest issue; it could be another trap to lure us away, and then they’d probably burn this place to the ground.

Grace, Emberly, and a handful of others jumped on, including Mikey, Tiffany and Luke, and we made our way to Demon City.

“Weapons and armor are under the seats. Suit up,” Lincoln called out over the PA.

We were going to war.

Seventeen

We pulled the bus up to the border gate, which had been fully closed.

“Open her up!” Lincoln called out to a guard, who was taking cover in a cement tower.

The man looked hesitant for a moment. “Sir, it’s a full-on riot over there. My orders were to shut down the border,” he shouted through the fence.

A thump sounded on the roof.

“Open the gates!” Michael thundered, and the guard looked like he was going to piss himself.

“Yes, sir,” the guard mumbled to the archangel, and with a shaky nod he pushed a button, making the solid steel begin to part.

I was wearing a bulletproof vest over a thin chain mail top. Even though modern weapons like guns were often used when fighting demons, they mostly preferred swords and knives, so you had to be careful. A chain mail top was a lifesaver when it came to hand-to-hand combat.

Mikey had already disrobed in the back, shifting into his wolf form, and Luke had done the same. It was completely unnerving to have a massive wolf and bear just chilling behind you, watching you—even if they were family.

“What’s the plan, Linc?” Tiffany asked my husband.

I wanted to punch her for calling him by a nickname instead of ‘Captain Grey’, or even ‘Lincoln,’ but now was not the time. Besides, Michael and Chloe had taught me that coming to Earth was all about love, and I was determined to love Tiffany. A little. Sort of. Never mind.

‘Screw her, she wants your man,’ Sera snarked, and I just grinned. Although I couldn’t fight with her, it was amazing to just have her around again.

Ignoring her, Lincoln pulled the bus into the city, and my eyes darted around for any sign of the chaos. More people than normal were out on the streets, most of them demon bound; and I recognized the red slave mark tattoo on their foreheads. They looked hurried, walking fast to wherever they were going.

“The bus is bulletproof and built like a tank,” Lincoln assured us. “We’ll get as many innocents on here as we can, and then ferry them back to Angel City.”

Okay, so it was a loose plan with a lot of crap that could go wrong. Awesome.

Where were the people going? It looked like the demon bound were all heading in a certain direction. When they’d look up and notice the academy bus—and probably Michael riding on the roof, considering that was a bit conspicuous—they just put their heads back down and walked faster.

Walking over to the side of the bus, I pulled the window down a few inches.

“Where are you guys going? We’re trying to help the innocent!” I called out to a nearby group.

Everyone kept their heads down except one girl—she looked barely eighteen, and wore the slave mark tattoo. Tears shone in her eyes when she stared up at me. “Wilson Park. They have our families.”

Bastards.

Shea relayed directions to Lincoln as to where to find the park, while I grabbed another gun, adding it to my arsenal. I had a really bad feeling about this. We were a good five- to ten-minute drive to Wilson Park, and it was all side streets. Shea and I used to play there a bunch as kids since it had a skate park, which made it the regular teen hangout. It was especially popular for Tainted Academy kids.

Walking toward the front of the bus, I knelt down next to Lincoln. “I don’t like driving into something we have no idea about,” I whispered. “I’m going to get on the roof, and fly over the park with Michael to scout it out.”