As we walked to the gym, I glanced at her gear. This lady was totally ready for battle.

“Are you in the army?” I asked her. She looked ready to throw down.

“God, no!” she scoffed. “They wouldn’t dare recruit a weak human.” The sarcasm dripped from her words as she walked in long, confident strides, and I found myself grinning at her sarcastic personality.

“I think it’s a great idea,” I told her. “That you want to train humans to fight the demons, I mean.”

She gave me a quizzical side glance. “Thank you. Raphael was open to the idea too, but the more we get into logistics, I can see he’s afraid they’ll get hurt. He treats us as if we’re so fragile.”

Humans were the most fragile among all of Earth’s inhabitants, but I didn’t think she wanted to hear that. “With the right weapons and training, I think humans would be valuable members of the Fallen Army,” I offered instead.

She stopped and faced me, a seriousness coming over her expression. “Next year is the last year of Awakening ceremonies, the last year of first year candidates. Everyone who was small during the Fallen War will be grown up, and I think this school could be put to better use as a Demon Hunter Academy. Humans only.”

Her words sent a thrill through me, though I couldn’t say why. It was shocking to hear that the next year would be the last of the first years. The generations to come after us would be mere humans. Yet, there would still be demons for them to fight, and no new students to replenish the numbers we lost in the war.

“You’re right.”

The door opened behind me suddenly, and I jumped slightly before turning.

Emberly poked her head out then. “Oh my God, Mom, don’t be so embarrassing. Brielle doesn’t care about your Demon Hunter Academy idea.”

Did she have super hearing or something? This was the second time she’d done something like this.

Grace raised one eyebrow at her daughter. “Well, I hope she cares, because I hope to convince her to become a teacher after she graduates.”

My heart knocked against my chest. A teacher? For humans? Something clicked inside of me, a knowing, like I’d been waiting my whole life to figure out what I wanted to do with it. Was I a healer because I had Raphael powers, or a fighter because of Michael? Should I slay demons or heal the wounded? How could I make the most impact in the war with the demons?

There had always been this confliction in me, but now… now joy spread through my limbs at the thought of teaching others. Like I did today.

“I’d love to,” I answered immediately.

Grace poked her tongue out at her daughter. “See?”

Emberly just groaned in response, but I couldn’t wipe the grin off my face.

A teacher. I wanted to be a teacher.

Maybe Raphael had seen this coming and was preparing me for my future. I wouldn’t put it past him.

Four

“What happened?” I screamed at Lincoln, who’d just walked into our trailer, cradling a bloodied and bandaged arm.

He was sweating, probably from the pain. “The war zone has intensified. Lucifer is putting out a new breed of demon every week. Today I got mauled by some animalistic-looking thing. Like a zebra and a Brimstone demon had a baby.”

I cringed. Lincoln had only been back at work for two months, and already he’d been injured three times. He came to sit at the dining table and just like that I had a flashback—being in Hell, helping Lucy create a demon. That cold sterile table, all of his jars. It was the same office where Sera was being held.

Before I realized it, a sob formed in my throat and my hands started to shake. Adrenaline rushed through my body, making me feel dizzy as nausea rolled into me.

I was having a panic attack.

“Oh shit, Bri. I’m sorry.” Lincoln shot up from the table and came around to comfort me, pulling me to him with his good arm.

The moment he tucked me into his side, I felt the symptoms subside a little. My heart slowed, and I tried to control my breathing. I felt so stupid for reacting that way; it was always the little things that brought my time down there rushing back—a smell of sulfur, talk about Lucy. I’d been okay with it when I first got back, but the attacks were starting to get worse.

Lincoln’s warm lips pressed to my forehead. “Maybe you should talk to someone. Maybe keeping it in is doing something to you, making it worse.”

I swallowed hard. It wasn’t that I had PTSD, or that I was holding anything back. It was that each time I was reminded of Sera and Raksha down there, I had a physical response. My fight-or-flight system kicked in, and I just couldn’t comprehend why I hadn’t gone down there to search for them yet. Yet, the answer was right in front of me.

Lincoln.

He still had nightmares every now and then where he would toss and turn, whimpering my name. My leaving had nearly broken him, and I couldn’t risk that again.

Sera would understand. Wouldn’t she? But Raksha… there was no excuse for leaving her behind down there. She had a child waiting for her to come home.

“Brielle?”

Crap. Lincoln was talking to me and I’d totally spaced. His deep blue eyes bored into mine and my heart picked up again.

“You can tell me anything,” he declared.

I need to go after Sera! I need to break Raksha out, and reunite her with her wife and son! I wanted to scream.

“I’ll be fine. Let me look at your shoulder.” Averting my eyes from his intense gaze, I started to pull the bandage back.

He watched me for a few minutes, and I thought he would bring it up again, but thankfully, he didn’t. Lincoln was good like that; he didn’t press me when he knew I was on the edge. The wound on his shoulder had been nicely stitched together, but it didn’t look like a healer had looked at it yet.

“Have Noah or Raph worked on this?” I asked, forcing him back to the table to sit.

He waved me off as he took a seat. “There were too many injured. I figured I would work on it when I got home. Or have my wifey do it for me.”

I grinned. I was so stupid in love with this man that when he called me “wifey", my knees went weak. “Your wifey will work on it if you do her a favor.” The caramel light ignited the second I called forth my healing powers, letting it leak from my palms, and drip onto his wound.

“Hey, isn’t that blackmail or something?” Lincoln raised an eyebrow.

Shaking my head, I chuckled. “My pathetic little summer class isn’t so pathetic anymore, but I only have four more weeks to prep them for the gauntlet.”

Lincoln nodded. “And you want my help. Of course.”

I recoiled a bit. “Not exactly. Shea and I got this, but I need access to a demon. It can be something low-grade though, like a Yew demon or a Snakeroot.”

Lincoln raised an eyebrow. “I can’t bring a demon on campus. It’ll set off the alarm.”

“I’ve thought about that.” I nodded. “We could go to the apartment parking lot, where my mom lives. Raphael spelled it to be safe from Lucy’s eye, but there’s no alarm.”

I’d been over to my mom’s a handful of times with Lincoln for dinner, so I knew he was okay with me going there.