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And when they were done with the humans, their golden haloed heads tilted down toward the soil beneath their perfect pale feet. Hell was no match for Heaven despite our best efforts, and we were quickly overcome by feathered fucks intent on conforming us to the word of God. We were rounded up and sheltered like cattle, huddled shoulder to shoulder, while the Archangels sorted us between two groups: Earth bound, or school bound. Those of us who were a little moremischievous, were sent to the schools while the others went on their way, shoved into the new world above.
But it wasn’t just demons who ended up in St. Mary’s, it was anyone the Archangels deemed a threat to their perfect God-loving society. If you dared defy their rules, they would send you to school. The word school being used loosely.
Very loosely.
I was one of the demons sent to St. Mary’s School for Wayward Souls during sorting—aka a prison that was a living Hell inside of Hell itself. Ran by the Archangels, St. Mary’s was an assimilation school with the sole purpose to make the worst of the worst ‘God-fearing and wholesome members of Earth society’. I had spent centuries at this school and finally worked my way up the ranks to become the guard that I was—only a single year stood between me and my freedom. If you could even call it that. Whatever it was, it was better than being here.
Better than being with Rafael.
And I won’t let anything get in the way of my freedom.Nothing.I had spent far too many years rotting away inside this school already to mess it up now. From the moment I stepped foot into St. Mary’s, Rafael had a tight clutch around my throat. An infatuation with me I had yet to understand but had failed to break over the years. The feathered bastard had made sure that every day I dared to keep breathing inside of the iron gates lining the 24 acres of St Mary’s I’d wished I wasn’t.
The touch of Rafael’s lips on my skin pulled me from my thoughts and made my body recoil. My shoulder bumped into his wing, causing his feathers to ruffle. It was hardly a kiss, but a hard scape of teeth and swipe of hot, wet tongue. He was tasting me, licking the salt from my skin, sucking the taste of my anger straight from my pores. It was amusing to him, my emotions. Being an Archangel, he didn’t feel the way he did down here. But the longer an angel stayed down here, on Earth or in Hell, the more emotions they are were able to feel. And Rafael got quite the high off of mine.
“You’ve sinned, Theodora.” One of his large hands pushed up against my hip and his fingers pinched into my skin as they shoved beneath the edge of my skirt. I fought against his grip to no avail, my strength only a fraction of his. “And I shall punish you so that you can learn from your mistakes.” I yelled with frustration as his large wings pressed closer, feathers sucked into my mouth, pressed against my nostrils with each angry breath. “So that you may walk in the light of our Lord without sin tarnishing your soul.”
A large palm splayed along my lower back and pinned me to the wooden desk below as my hair stuck to my forehead and cheeks. Angry, bitter tears leaked from my clenched eyelids as my skirt was pushed up, my naked ass exposed.
“I am your savior, Theodora.” I heard him gulp, heard the slight quiver in his deep voice that he always got when he was holding back. “Now let me save you.”
Only one thought went through my head before my backside was lit up in a soul deep, aching burn—one more year and I am free.
Esther
chapter one
Proverbs 6:25
Do not desire her beauty in your heart, and do not let her capture you with her eyelashes.
fear wrapped around me in chilling, ghostly tendrils, causing me to shiver as the demon guard standing before me eyed me up and down.
“Please,” I tried, voice trembling. “I’m not supposed to be here. This is a mistake.”
The demon just snorted in amusement and continued scribbling on the intake form. His crimson hand was comically massive against the pen held gently in his grip. I found myself homing in on that detail, surprised the writing utensil hadn’t snapped in half already. I felt desperate, manic laughter curling within my chest and swallowed it down, where it settled uneasily beside my panic.
How did this happen?I wondered.How did I end up here?
Herewas St. Mary’s, a Heaven-owned assimilation school. It was where rebellious vagrants and sinners ended up when the Archangels deemed it necessary. Where those who had fallen from His Grace came to repent and earn His favor once more or be sent into perdition if they failed.The school was situated on sprawling green pastures, vivid and bright against the cornflower blue sky. A pretty backdrop for what was essentially going to be my prison. It was located in Purgatory, the world between Heaven and Hell, and prior to today, I had never ventured beyond the golden, gleaming gates of Heaven.
As an angel, I was born into grace. But days ago, I happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time when a rebel demon happened to portal into Heaven with the intention of striking down an Archangel. Seeing the torment the demon was struggling with, I had attempted to reason with him instead of sounding the alarm for an intruder. I had just managed to get the demon to lower his weapon when Gabriel suddenly appeared, golden wings flashing in the flame light of his sword as he swung it down in a swift arc, brutally beheading the demon.
As a cherub, I had never witnessed the barbarity of war before and was overcome with emotion.
The tears I’d shed, and my inaction in calling the Archangels, led Gabriel to name me as a demon sympathizer. Within days, I was charged with treason and sent to St. Mary’s to repent. The small wings were torn from my back, and even now, I felt the ache of the missing limbs. My shoulder muscles still twitched with phantom movements.
I had begged and pleaded with the Archangels to understand, to see that I meant no harm, but my pleas fell on deaf ears.
Now, standing before the demon guard that would lead me to my room, I tried once more.
“You must understand, I’m not treasonous. I’m innocent!” I begged the giant demon to understand, to show me some mercy.
Instead, anger flared in his eyes. “Innocent?” he repeated. “I’ve never met an innocent angel in my life.” A sneer appeared on his face. “It’s only fitting that you wind up here. Welcome to Hell, bitch.”
theo
My ears caught the statement from across the room, and anger burned below my rib cage as I strode toward the demon who had dared to speak so loosely. So lost in his hatred for the angel before him he didn’t notice me stomping his way until I stopped before him, and his eyes widened for a brief moment before he tried to hide it. “You’re done, Malphas.”
His mouth gaped for a moment before it settled into a hard line. “She is one ofthem.She doesn’t deserve our kindness,” he quipped, his meaty fist jutted in her direction.
