Something unfurled in my chest then. A deep purpose was growing within me; I was having a total paradigm shift. I no longer wanted to just get by and have a job for money. I wanted to fight, I wanted to be the greatest soldier the Fallen Army had ever seen, and I wanted to kill every demon on this Earth. I also wanted to be a healer like Noah, running out into the trenches, and healing humans from their demon-inflicted injuries. The two opposites warred inside of me.

Lincoln’s eyes met mine and something passed between us. I could see it in his eyes—this was his passion too. Each time he came out here, I wondered why he kept coming back. He was always getting injured, or was gone for weeks at a time, but now I knew. We needed to liberate these people.

I needed to find James. My old friend from Demon City was Sighted. He would be able to tell me if the prophecy regarding Lucifer and me was true. Because if it was, I was going to kill that bastard. Even if it cost me my life. I wanted the world back the way it was when I was a kid. Yeah, bad shit still happened, but nothing like this. If I could do that, then I could think of nothing better for which to live my life.

Lincoln’s walkie-talkie squawked, interrupting my life-pondering.

“All available units near Madison and 4th, requesting help. I’ve got a Succubus demon trying to take a little girl. Repeat, all available units, please respond.” Lincoln’s eyes widened and we all just stared at him. He wasn’t answering the call.

What the hell is a Succubus demon? I’d never seen or heard of one, other than in horror films.

“Someone else will answer. We’re not taking calls tonight,” Lincoln told the van filled with terrified rookies.

Standing, Noah walked to the front of the bus, where Lincoln’s hand was poised over the walkie-talkie.

“Mayday!” The voice came back, more urgent that time. “All available units to Madison and 4th. This innocent kid is going to die!” he shouted.

Lincoln cursed and picked up the walkie-talkie as Noah instructed our driver.

“Sergeant Lincoln Grey here. I’m with a team of rooks on a sightseeing quest, not cleared for missions. What’s your status?”

“Lincoln! It’s Tanner,” a new voice came over the walkie. “We’re at the Madison Apartments doing our street patrol, and the girl’s mom ran out screaming for us. I tried to enter the apartment, but the Succubus threw me across the room. She’s already taken one kid. They were twins.”

My whole body flinched as bile rose in my throat. “Tell him we’re coming!” I shouted and stood.

Were. He said they were twins. That meant….

Lincoln cut me a glare and spoke into the walkie. “Noah and I are coming to assist. I’ll have the driver take my rooks back to Angel City. ETA two minutes.”

Pushing out of my seat, I beelined it for my boyfriend. My sergeant. My asshole, who was about to tell me I couldn’t go inside.

I tried to lower my voice. “Sir, we may not be trained for missions, but we all passed the gauntlet. If it means saving this little kid’s life, then let us help you.”

Lincoln looked down at me like I was a child. “Do you know what a Succubus demon is? Have you ever seen one?”

I squirmed, holding onto the rail as we took a hard turn. “No.”

Lincoln looked pleased with himself, as if he’d won some battle with me. “It’s the only female demon we’ve ever seen, and she’s a fucking nightmare. She feeds off children’s fear and bad dreams, which usually kills them from the shock. Then she escapes into open portals back to Hell, which she leaves open so more demons can filter through.”

I winced.

“Oh, and she shoots razor blades from her mouth for fun,” Lincoln added.

Well, that definitely didn’t sound awesome, but it only served to reinforce my point. “You can’t take her on with only four of you. You need all of us, especially me. I have dark magic, and I can use it against her.”

It was the first time in a long time that I’d ever thought about using it.

“We’re going!” Shea shouted and stood. I turned around to see the other rookies suiting up, adjusting their weapons and tightening belts.

Lincoln gave me a death glare. “Has anyone ever told you that you’re really bad at obeying orders?”

I nodded. “All the time. So what’s the plan?”

Lincoln sighed, his eyes dropping to my wrist cuffs.

“You have Sera?” he asked.

I pulled her from my thigh holster.

Lincoln looked back at Noah, who nodded.

“Okay, here’s the plan. Noah, the other two senior Fallen Army guards, and I will go in first. We alone will battle the Succubus while you guys split into three groups. The first group will grab the dead child’s body and bring it back to the van so this poor mother can have a proper burial. The second group will grab the other little girl, hopefully still alive, and ferry her to the van to be with her mother.”

We all nodded our understanding, and then he looked at Shea. “You closed that Hell portal one time. Think you can do it again?”

Shea nodded without hesitation. “Absolutely.” She’d been working with Mr. Claymore in her advanced independent study, and was doing all kinds of stuff she shouldn’t know how to do yet.

“The third group, which will consist of Luke, Shea, and Brielle, will close the portal and make sure everyone gets out of the apartment alive,” he finished with a heavy sigh.

I nodded. He was letting me go in, giving me a big job, and I wasn’t even nervous. That was weird.

Noah crossed the space, and placed a hand on my shoulder. “You’re the only healer here besides Lincoln and me. Remember that. If the girl is injured and it’s minor, you can help heal her while we’re battling the Succubus.”

I gave him a curt nod. I forgot sometimes that I was all of those things: fighter, healer, part angel, part dark magic wielder.

Lincoln threw a sideways glance at me. “Don’t be a hero. Let us handle this, and you just extract the little girl. Do you understand, Atwater?”

Me? Be the hero? Never.

I grinned. “Yes. Sir.”

Our bus pulled up to the curb, where I could see two Fallen Army soldiers comforting a grieving mother.

Lincoln held the walkie to his mouth. “All available units make your way to Madison Apartments. We’re going in to sequester the Succubus.”

The radio squawked. “I’m inbound, but I’m a good twenty minutes from you,” said a familiar voice over the radio. Darren.

“She’ll be dead by then,” Lincoln told us. Over the radio, he simply acknowledged Darren, and then we were moving out.

“Luke, can you shift for me? I might need you to knock the door in,” Lincoln asked the Beast Shifter.

Luke nodded. “Men, always using me just for my body,” he joked and then disappeared behind some bushes. The two Fallen Army soldiers helped the grieving mother onto the bus, then gave Lincoln and the group a rundown of the situation.

“She’s powerful. She chucked me across the room like a tornado,” one soldier said. I glanced down at the insignia on his chest to see he was a Necromancer.

Lincoln nodded. “Let’s move. We don’t have a lot of time.”

We quickly split up into the groups of three, while the driver stayed behind to keep the mother on the bus.

As we were taking the steps up to the second floor, Luke roared behind us, announcing his presence.

“You scared the shit out of me!” Shea shrieked at him as his fur brushed against my leg. He bounded along beside us and then squeezed past me, knocking my body into Shea. Soon he was at the front of the line, right beside Lincoln.

It was in that moment that I heard the small, yet mighty scream of a child. Adrenaline pulsed through me, and emotion tightened my throat. I wasn’t sure there was anything else in the world that motivated a soldier more than the wail of a helpless child.

Lincoln jiggled the door handle and then nodded to Luke.

“We’re on borrowed time!” Lincoln shouted, pulling his sword as blue splinters of light shot from the blade.

Luke wasted no time, rearing up on his hind legs, and then charging the door. Putting all of his probably five-hundred-pound weight into the push, he came down on top of it. The door was one of those cheaper aluminum ones, so instead of cracking or falling apart, it simply burst off the hinges and then fell flat onto the floor, revealing an apartment.

Lincoln waited for no one, charging past Luke and running headfirst into the house. My man was fearless. I hadn’t yet decided if that was a good or a bad thing.

We all waited as Lincoln, Noah, and the other two Fallen Army soldiers ran into the apartment. Then the first team went in—the one tasked with removing the dead little girl’s body. My heart ached at the very thought of seeing a dead child. I had every intention of being a good girl and awaiting Lincoln’s next instructions until I heard Bonnie’s call for help.

“She’s not dead!” my classmate screamed.

Instinct took over then. Bonnie was a Necromancer—she knew death. If she said the little girl wasn’t dead, she wasn’t dead. I was the only healer available, so if the little girl needed help, it was going to have to come from me.

The second I started for the door, Shea and Luke trailed behind me without question.

“What are you doing?” the second group whispered. They were waiting by the door for Lincoln’s okay to come get the second twin.

“Don’t worry,” I told them, and then I was in the apartment.

As I entered the space, the first thing that hit me was the smell. It was surprisingly sweet and alluring—vanilla, but with an underlying decaying odor.

There were some gnarly battle sounds coming from the bedroom, and it took everything in me not to go in there, and try to help out. I had to trust that Lincoln had this handled.

‘If he doesn’t, I’m ready,’ Sera told me. I patted her hilt in an effort to calm her. I had every intention of not seeing that Succubus.