‘What the hell is that?’ I asked Sera, hoping she was seeing this even though she didn’t have eyes, and was on the floor in the corner.
‘Angel fire. Just as deadly. I told you that you didn’t need your dark magic.’ I detected pride in her voice.
I’d called up Celestial magic, I didn’t have to be dark, or use dark magic to be a badass!
The white fire licked down the rope, alarmingly close to his face.
“We submit!” Nadia screamed, her voice was heavy with defeat.
The victory buzzer sounded and the cage door opened.
We’d won.
Shock ripped through me as I called the whip back, letting it fall away from the panther’s neck.
My mom was free, and we’d freaking won. I’d never have to come back to this retched place again. I wanted to cry, I wanted a nap, I wanted so many things.
I sagged against the now unelectrified wall of the cage in relief.
My eyes tracked the Abrus demon, the silver-haired man entered the cage holding a tablet.
“Congratulations, ladies. Where would you like the money to be sent?” He was beaming with pride, and it was bothering the hell out of me.
He’s happy to give me a million dollars and watch me go back to Angel City? Why?
His eyes flicked to the corner of the cage where Sera lay. Using the trick Michael taught me, I called her to me. She floated across the cage and into my hand.
The demon’s left eyebrow raised, and a smile quirked the edge of his lips.
I pulled out the card I’d kept in my pocket that had Grim’s bank details on it.
“You can send the money here,” I said, handing him the information.
He took the card and then met my gaze. “I’ll give you ten million each to leave Angel City, and work for me.”
Ten million each? Who had that kind of money? What did this guy do for a living? I had so many questions, but I also really didn’t want to know.
Shea’s eyes grew dollar signs. “Like ten million up front right now?” my bestie asked.
I cut her a glare and shook my head. “No.”
Short simple answer, I wanted to get the hell out of there, and see my mom.
The Abrus demon looked disappointed, but typed a few things out on his keypad, and then stepped closer to me, handing me the card back while leaning forward. “The Dark Prince is very pleased with your progress. He hopes to see you soon.” He whispered in my ear, pulled away, and winked.
Ew. How dare he wink at me? Winks were for Noah and Lincoln, no one else. Well, maybe Archangel Michael, but that was it.
The demon walked away then, taking the stench of brimstone with him, or I would have given him a piece of my mind.
The Dark Prince is pleased with me? He hopes to see me soon? Pretty much everything I didn’t want to hear had come out of that man’s mouth.
‘Forget it. You’re safe now. Get to Lincoln and your mom!’ Sera reminded me of my priorities.
Noah burst into the cage out of nowhere. “Grim got the money. Let’s get the hell out of here. People are pissed Fallen Academy won, and I doubt they’ll keep it to themselves for much longer.”
Yikes.
I glanced at my shoulder, which was mangled and bleeding freely. Using Sera, I cut the bottom half of my right pant leg off and handed it to Noah to make a quick dressing. He infused it with his orange healing light to staunch the wound, and then we were hobbling as fast as we could, Chloe and Luke on our heels.
“My dad’s crew got kicked out,” Chloe whispered.
“What?” I fired back. “Why?”
“They don’t want any Angel City peeps in here anymore,” she called back, and I noticed for the first time that she was wearing a red demon slave tattoo. So was Luke.
My mouth dropped open in horror and she grinned. “Chill. It’s lip liner,” she said in a low voice.
Oh thank God.
We were lost in the throng of demons, and Tainted Academy students heading across the parking lot when someone shouted.
“It’s the Fallen Academy douchebags! They think they’re better than us, and now they’ve taken our money!” an obviously drunk old man bellowed.
I looked up ahead to see they were surrounding our car. Shit.
“Back up!” Noah roared, pulling his blade, which glowed a fiery orange.
No one moved.
I did a quick head count and decided there were about fifty people blocking our way to the car.
‘Got any ideas?’ I asked Sera.
‘Show your boobs?’ she offered.
How did this weapon have anything to do with angels? She had a dirtier mind than me.