12.

  Angelica, Cole, and Tav, had to skip free period. Angelica had plans to visit the surface tonight. Now she would only have a scant hour to get ready for her trip above ground. Cole was going to hit the gym, get some training in, work on his swordplay, and, in all likelihood, again try in vain to get his damn sword to light up. It was a wash for Tav as she didn’t really have any plans. Her free periods were mostly spent away from all these people and in her bedroom. A sanctuary so long as Angelica was out doing whatever it was angels thought a proper social schedule was. She just wanted to lay back with her headphones, her iPod full of MCR, Thirty Seconds, and AFI, and drown out this awful life she was forced to be in, for now at least.

  “This is ridiculous, do you two reprobates have any idea how stained my reputation as an angel is with detention on my permanent record? I’m to leave this academy with an unblemished record and your shenanigans have ruined that,” she huffed, crossing her arms.

  “Don’t let Angelica take her part in the next raid, she got detention for talking out of turn this one time,” Tav said, waving her hands, “Do you have any idea how petty you sound?” she asked, “Oh no, of course you don’t, you’re an angel, and angels can never be petty, never, ever,” Tav said.

  “Don’t take that tone with me,” Angelica snapped at Tav, “It’s your fault we’re here,” she said, then turned to Cole, “Apologies for throwing my aggression at you as well, surely a student of your caliber understands that this daughter of predation has worked her awful ways, manipulating us to uncouth behavior and thrown us into this situation,” she said.

  Cole leaned back in his chair, and put his feet up on the desk, “Hey, I was pretty sure I would get detention at least three times while I was here, I’m not mad. Hell, my brother Cedric has the family record, nine detentions. That may be the only record one of my brothers has that I can beat,” he said, smiling and looking over at Tav. Tav then proceeded to role her eyes and give him just a little bit of a smile.

  “This is what she’s going to do to us you know,” Angelica said, begging to get Cole’s attention, “She’s going to drag anyone she can down to her level, girls like her are the ones that need detention, not proud, true demon hunters like us, she is cancer on our class,” Angelica said.

  “You really hate me, don’t you?” Tav asked, “Why? What have I done to you? We’re here because we had an argument with each other, but it takes two to tango. If I was this ranting maniac spouting falsehoods left and right it would just be me here, but you engaged with me, and you spouted your own falsehoods, we’re both wrong so we were both punished,” Tav said.

  “But you had to go and bring down a hero,” Angelica looked to Cole, “Cole, I’m so sorry that my so-called reckless devotion to the truth caused you to suffer this injustice, I was merely trying to warn people, warn you, of this temptresses bloodline, warn you, the man who they say could be the greatest of our profession that she is no one you should consort with,” she said.

  “You’re the one who dragged me into the fight, and look where that fight got us,” Cole said, still leaning back and not giving a damn about what this supposed angel had to say, “You know, the holy scripture says enemies are people you should make peace with,” he said, raising an eyebrow. The easiest way to win an argument with an angel was to destroy their own words with the words of the divine themselves.

  “I still think this is unfair,” she looked to Cole, “You need to think about what side you will be on when the last raid comes. I know I’ll be there, fighting for the above, doing my duty. I shouldn’t tell you this, but you, Cole Longdren, Seventh son of a Seventh son, the prophecies say that the last raid is coming,” she said.

  “What?” Cole’s chair fell forward, and he turned to Angelica, “Raids aren’t important, it doesn’t matter how many we do,” he said.

  “Oh, you can think that,” Angelica said, “But I have it on good authority, that the end is coming. Why do you think raids have been happening closer and closer to each other. The end approaches, and we have the Pitch Fork by the grace of the Divines. Soon we’ll have everything we need to destroy the forces of the below, the last raid that will signal the beginning of the end,” she said.

  “What end? What are you talking about?” Tav asked.

  “Man’s last chance to gather every weapon he can before the last battle with the Below, before the end of all things, before the horsemen ride and the Morning Star rises corporal in this realm just to be crushed by the Above’s reclamation of this world,” Angelica said, “I shouldn’t be sharing this, as an Angel I’m privy to the true workings of this world,” she turned to Cole, “I told you I could help you, to think the generation where the world may end, and we have the Seventh Son of a Seventh Son fighting for the side of light,” Angelica looked down, “I must guide you,” she said, looking back to Cole, “I have to guide you to your destiny. Unlike this temptress. You have a role to play in the final battle, where people of her blood will be marked and desolated,” She wanted to get his attention, but Cole wasn’t having any of it.

  “Just stop, no one knows when the end comes,” Tav said.

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  “Yeah,” Cole said, “Brush up on your scripture, the hour and the day is known by no man,” he said.

  “Cole Longdren! You cannot fall to the below, I won’t let it happen, we need you too much,” she said.

  “You’re full of shit, the last raid coming or not, me being a Seventh Son doesn’t mean anything,” he said, “And stop calling her a demon, she’s not a demon!” he said, defending Tav.

  “My father from the Above told me of men’s weaknesses,” Angelica said, “He told me that I was blessed, blessed to be in the generation that fights the last battle, I’m honored to know I have a place in it,” she said.

  “The Millenium was said to be the final nail in the below’s coffin,” Tav said, “But look at that, we’re all still here, the Order, the Above, they’ve seen through at least three supposed end of times in just the past two centuries,” Tav said, rolling her eyes at the angel.

  “I don’t have these words from the mortals of the Order, I’ve heard this from the Concordia of Angels themselves, the end is coming, and we, all of us, will find ourselves choosing sides in it, I know my side, I know what I fight for,” Angelica looked to Tav, “You will have to make that choice,” then she looked to Cole, “And you will too, and it’s my job to make sure a man like you makes the correct decision”

  “Silence in my class,” Professor Collins said as he entered his classroom again. “I can see by our class there is some unresolved tension between some of my students. I called you out for detention so I can nip this problem in the bud, lest it continue to disrupt your studies,” he said, “We’ll start with you, Ms. Cherebum, what is your problem with Ms. Cosgrove?” he asked.

  “She is a temptress, a Jezebel, she is pulling a man who could be our greatest hero to sympathize with the below, sympathize with demons, if I’m speaking frankly, the first course of action for the university should be to expel her. She is of her father, and her father brought evil into this world,” Angelica argued.

  “He also killed that evil,” Cole said, “He made a mistake and he made up for it,” Cole tried to think of a scripture verse that could summarize what he wanted to say, but he wasn’t that well studied, so he just said, “The scripture says that our lives as mortals are nothing more than trying to make up for one mistake, that man, Tav’s father, he made one mistake, and made up for it with his own blood,” Cole said.

  “Do you not see what is happening, humanity’s flaws are not to be repeated,” Angelica said, “They’re to make up for that one mistake by living above it, not by making it again and then dying fixing it,” she said.

  The one mistake they were referring to was the oldest mistake, to eat from the fruit of knowledge of good and evil. The very act of questioning the Divine was the greatest mistake man had ever made.

  “Can we not bring my dad into this?” Tav said, “I’m sorry, professor, I know all the scripture, I know Original Sin, I know as much as anyone about the folly of a man who’s tempted. The story, the whole cause of the above, is man making up for the fact that they were deceived. My father made a mistake, he was deceived, and then he made up for it, and he died doing it. So, excuse me for being a little pissed off, that this blonde bitch wants to keep blaming me for something I didn’t even do, I wasn’t even born yet,” she said.

  “Calm down, all of you,” Professor Collins said, “We’re not here to debate the will and procedures of the above and below, you’re here to pay penance for driving my class off the rails,” he turned to Angelica.

  “Miss Cherebum, you are of divine birth, are you not?” he asked.

  “Yes, I am, Angelica Loris Shorbian Cherubum, daughter of the Archangel Raphael, and appointed divine guide for the one hundred and seventh class of the East Coast Demon Hunter Academy,” she said, straightening her shoulders and holding her head high.

  “If that’s true you must know that no soul is beyond redemption, not even a demon’s,” he said, “I can’t speak to young Tavalia’s birth, she is but a young woman wishing to fight for the side of light, that’s why she’s here, you must work with her, but not abuse her,” he said, “You bunk together, do you not?” he asked.

  “Yes, we do share a room, and I’ve tried to bring her to the light, but she’s rebuffed every attempt I’ve made to befriend her,” she looked to Tav, “Only a demon would rebuke the ways of the Angels,” she said.

  “I don’t rebuke you because you’re an angel, I rebuke you because you’re a preppy bitch,” Tav said.

  “Miss Cosgrove, you have been learning to live with an Angel, can’t say I’m jealous,” Collins said, “You need to understand that it is in her nature to aid whether or not you want it,” he said, then turned to Cole, “And then we come to you, the famous Longdren boy,” he smiled.

  “Hey, I’m just trying to do what’s right, defending the innocent, that’s all I ever want to do,” Cole said.

  “You have a greater destiny than any student this school has ever seen, you need to take time and think about your role in this world,” he said.

  “I don’t want any destiny, trust me, I’m not the guy you need to turn to, not even for the end of the world,” He looked to Angelica, and got a sly smile out of her, then he looked to Tav and got an eye-roll. “I’m not the one who’s going to win this war, it’s going to take an army of us, and if I’m in it, I want Tav in that army,” he said.

  Cole looked back to Professor Collins, and tried to hold his shoulders high, “I’ll fight this war, fighting this war is all I’ve ever wanted to do, but I’m not the one who’s going to win it for you, for anyone. I’m just a man who’s going to be in the line, greater heroes than me will win this war, and hopefully, that battle is going to happen much later than my time,” he looked to Angelica and Tav, “Hopefully that war doesn’t come for a long time,” he looked back to the professor, “War in this generation or not, I’ll fight either way,” he said, “If it comes to me, I’ll do my best to win it, but I’m not making any promises based solely on my blood,” he said.

  “Let’s talk about your detention,” Professor Collins said, “You’ll be reorganizing the history library, you will be reviewing every text and finding a way to organize them by year concerning the ending of the conflict involved in the text. The order will be by the ending of the story, so look at the back matter of each record and figure it out,” he said.

  Professor Collins led the three to the archives, “We’ll be working in the history section, after all the buzz concerning the raid last year this section has been quite worked over and unarranged, if you start now you should be done before night fall,” he said.

  Cole, Tav, and Angelica shrugged and got to work, none of them saying anything more.