Ascend (Celestial Academy Book 1) Read online

  We moved around the side of the building to an access road where large tractor trailers could have access to loading docks. A chill ran up my spine as we made our way to the next building. I felt like something was going to jump out and attack us.

  "This is like looking for a needle in a haystack. It's going to take forever to check all of these buildings. Can't we split up?" I felt restless, even though we were moving. The thought of having to look in each and every building was daunting.

  "If we split up then two of us won't have Tobias's suppression skills," Olly explained.

  "I can extend it, but every angel in the bubble will have it and they will notice when they can't sense each other."

  "Unless they have an angel that can suppress too. I can't sense any angels in any of these buildings," Olly said, stopping and shutting his eyes.

  We turned towards him, curiosity on our faces. He shook his head and opened his eyes again.

  "How far can you do that and why didn't you mention anything before now?" Asher let out a heavy breath of air like he was trying to suppress the need to wring his neck.

  He shrugged. "No one seemed interested in what I had to say. Besides, I really wanted to fly with Danica in my arms."

  Tobias squeezed the bridge of his nose and Asher started walking back the way we had just come. I felt bad for Olly and I was tempted to wrap my arms around him and tell him I was interested in what he had to say. Even if sometimes what he said was off by a mile.

  "To answer your first question, I haven't really tried to see how far I can see. Michael is supposed to train me on how to use the sight fully."

  "What is the sight? Is there an 'Angels for Dummies' book somewhere?" I was really feeling out of the loop. It was possible that I missed all of the information I needed to understand angels in the first semester of the year.

  "I can focus on something and locate it. The location will flare in my mind. If I've been close to the person then I just know the little flare is them. Not sure how that works. That's how we found you last week. All angels have some sensing ability but it usually only expands a short distance."

  "You could sense her from campus all the way here?"

  "Yes."

  "And you're just now telling us this."

  Olly looked down and kicked at the ground. "What would I even look for? There are angels and Fallen all over the Los Angeles area. It's a giant speckled map of light."

  "If you look for a large group of Fallen or even a few together... remember Fallen usually aren't with other Fallen," Asher suggested.

  We were back at the edge of the field we had landed in and stood in a small semicircle around Olly. He shut his eyes and took a deep breath. I could see his eyes moving under his eyelids, like he was dreaming. What other special abilities did these angels have that I didn't know about?

  "No large groups. There's a group of four Fallen moving in downtown like they’re in a vehicle. No, wait. Three Fallen and an angel. It's..." He gasped and his eyes popped open. "We have to go! They have Levi."

  He grabbed me and his wings extended. "Wait! You need to see where they go. If we go in there with guns blazing then we might not figure out where they’re taking them," I said, pulling away from him.

  "So we just let him get taken? That's ridic-"

  "She's right. Plus, if he's stupid enough to get abducted twice, I have no problem using him as a sacrificial lamb," Asher said, putting his hand around my waist and pulling me to him.

  Olly narrowed his eyes at Asher, for what seemed like the hundredth time, and then shut his eyes again. Asher drummed his fingers on my hip before sliding his hand in my back pocket and squeezing my ass. Tobias watched us and licked his bottom lip before turning his attention back to Olly.

  Asher put his lips to my ear, his warm breath tickling my ear as he said, "He likes to watch."

  My eyes went wide and I turned my head to look at Asher, our faces inches apart. He glanced down at my lips and then lowered his to hover over mine.

  "If you're interested in that kind of thing," he said.

  "They vanished!" Olly said. I pushed away from the trance Asher had me in and tried to look innocent. "That must be where they’re taking them, but I thought Fallen didn't have any of their abilities?"

  All eyes went to Asher who said, "We don't."

  "Let's go," Olly said, scooping me up, causing me to let out a small squeal.

  Tobias picked up Asher the same way as he grumbled under his breath about feeling like a damsel in distress. I shut my eyes as we took off from the ground. I was still too scared to watch but as soon as we were in the air, it felt like we were in a pneumatic tube, like in the bank drive-thru.

  We landed softly and my feet touched the ground. I blinked my eyes open and stared up at a five-story white building with a domed roof in the center, a cross reaching into the night sky. Chills ran up my arms and I rubbed them through my leather jacket.

  "What is this place?"

  "It's an abandoned hospital," Tobias said, taking my hand as we jogged to the building to stay out of plain sight. "What's the plan?" He looked at Asher.

  "Figure out what they’re doing, how many angels they have. No heroics, at least not tonight." Asher looked at me and then at Olly. "No matter who or what you might see. There are going to be more than just three Fallen in there."

  "Let's split up. Now, I know you aren't going to like this, Asher, but you and Olly pair up. I'll be with Danica. That way there's experience plus someone with wings."

  Asher grumbled something under his breath but then nodded.

  "Let's do this." I tried to sound confident but wasn't so sure.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Oliver

  Asher Thorne. His last name fit him to a T because one thing was for certain, he was a thorn in my side. Not only was he Fallen but he also looked at and touched Danica like she was a piece of meat.

  They both did. Tobias and Asher were predators and she was their prey. When I had walked in after she and Tobias had done who knows what on his desk, it took everything in me not to sling her over my shoulder and get her away from him. I may have been naive and inexperienced, but having sex on a desk, in a classroom, is no way to treat a lady of her caliber.

  Too bad Tobias knows too much. Could you imagine if it got out that I lost the Holy Grail? Everyone already laughs at me because I'm quirky. Yeah, we'll go with that. I'm a quirky guy.

  It was Tobias's idea to split up to check out the abandoned hospital that probably had ghosts. Or zombies. Or a nest of vampires. Or the Gargoyle King. I wasn't nervous, not one bit. I could take on any of those.

  I followed Asher just far enough away from him to be out of reach. We did not get along and I wouldn't put it past him to choke me or snap my neck. Neither of those would kill me, but they wouldn't feel pleasant.

  As we moved around the front of the hospital we looked in windows and saw nothing except the faint glow of exit signs and a few dim lights running down the length of the hallways. Why did it still have power?

  "It still has power," I commented.

  "Thank you, Captain Obvious."

  God, he was such an asshole. What Danica saw in him was beyond my comprehension. Well, maybe not completely beyond my comprehension. He wasn't ugly, at least on the outside. Also, it seemed, at least from what I had watched, that women seemed to forgive a man for being an asshole if he had abs and a big dick. Asher probably had the biggest dick known to man to make up for how much of an asshole he was.

  Why was I thinking about Asher's dick?

  We rounded the side of the building and ended up in a partially closed off area. Parked in a neat row were five gray vans, the same as the one that had tried to take me. Asher put his arm out and stopped me from moving forward and we moved behind a dumpster. He pulled out his phone and sent a text to Tobias.

  What we needed were walkie talkies or those ear communication devices the secret service used. I would want my name to be Golden Cherub. It has a nice ring
to it.

  "We need to find a way in. Stay close." He crouched down and I rolled my eyes at his back before following him.

  I didn't really agree with this plan of theirs, to just check things out. Levi was in there, and probably Brooklyn too. We needed to act fast. Angels couldn't exactly die again, so whatever was going on with them was something I didn't even want to think about, but I couldn't help it. Was it like a torture chamber in there? I shuddered. Danica was right; I needed to stop watching so much on television.

  Asher stopped at a window and tried it. Locked. I shoved him out of the way and put my hand near the lock and then slid the window open.

  "Wipe that smug look off your face, angel baby." Asher moved me out of the way with his shoulder and climbed through the window first.

  I followed and resisted the urge to slam him against the wall. That would make too much noise. He opened the door leading out of the abandoned office we were in and peeked out.

  "You are damn lucky they didn't get you and your friends the other night." I knew it was only a matter of time before he yet again made me feel like a complete fool. I knew I was lucky, both me and Levi. If Asher hadn't rescued us, I would probably be living out a real-life horror movie. Except now, Levi was.

  "That stupid idiot. He can't even go two days without checking in on his record. I bet that's why he was in the city."

  "What do you mean?" Asher turned back to look at me.

  "He has the top score for some arcade game in the mall. He’s obsessed with it."

  Asher's frown deepened as he studied my face. He then made a gesture with his head for me to follow. It wasn’t like I could argue with him. We crept down the hall, the silence in the abandoned halls deafening. We stepped lightly, trying to keep the sounds of our footsteps to a minimum. There were so many hallways it was going to be difficult to remember where we came in, if that even mattered. Asher cut across a large open area that looked like a former emergency room and started going up the stairs.

  "Is that a good idea?" I whisper screamed. They could come down at any minute.

  He shrugged but continued up, with me hot on his heels. I might be safe from dying, but Fallen could die. Did this guy have some kind of death wish? Fallen lost their wings, their healing ability, and their sanity.

  We reached the top of the stairs and Asher grabbed my arm and yanked me behind a large desk in a crouch. The faint sounds of voices came from down a corridor, but we were still too far away to see what was going on or to hear what they were saying.

  He pulled out his phone again and texted Tobias, then we were on the move down the hall, ducking in a few rooms to make sure no one was coming. If I could sweat, I'm sure I'd have been sweating bullets. We made it to the last room before a large open area and Asher put his index finger over his lips.

  Did he think I was a complete idiot and was going to talk? He crouched low again and we darted behind another large circular desk and then into a dark storage room. We couldn't see much, but could see the backs of a few men.

  "Any problems tonight?"

  "None. The kid says the academy has told the students to stay on campus. He was able to get us that sweet little thing last night, but tonight we were unsuccessful. Maybe we should go back to finding guardians."

  "The guardians suppress their signatures most of the time, that's why we switched to the academy punks. When do you twerps learn suppression? Back in my day they didn't have a fancy training academy."

  "Third year."

  My eyes went wide at the sound of Levi's voice and Asher's eyes met mine. He shook his head at me and then turned back to watch out the door.

  "She says we’re taking too long. We need to recruit more. After those nine were killed, we need all the help we can get. The last thing we want to do is piss her off."

  I was about to mouth something to Asher when the sound of squeaky wheels and weeping drew my attention back to the large open room. Judging from the signs still hanging on the walls, it was the holding room for the operation room.

  I strained to see and caught a glimpse of a rolling cage of sorts and a head of brown curly hair that was tangled but sat in a distinctive bun on the top of her head. I was so focused on looking that I didn't notice my foot was right next to a fire extinguisher on the floor. When I moved back, my leg knocked it over, the clang of metal on linoleum loud in the mostly silent emptiness.

  "Who's there?" Quick footsteps made their way towards our hiding spot, but there was nowhere to go.

  My wings extended, quickly folding forward and grabbing Asher. I moved us toward the back of the storage room, Asher tripping over something in his backwards movement, sending us falling to the floor.

  "Wha-" I put my hand over his mouth and shook my head, pleading with my eyes for him to stay quiet. He tried moving out from underneath me, but I had several inches on him, plus my wings helped hold him still.

  It was dark, but I could make out the white of Asher's wide eyes before they clenched shut and his body trembled underneath mine. What the hell was he so scared for? He could snap necks like it was his job.

  A light flicked on overhead and I breathed slow, even breaths as a few sets of heavy shoes walked into the room. Someone moved the fire extinguisher.

  "Maybe it was a ghost."

  "They do say this place is haunted. I don't see anything. Let's go."

  The light was flicked off and the footsteps retreated but the men stopped outside the door to talk with two other men. Asher continued to shake. Moisture soaked into the side of my hand, which was still against his mouth. I wanted to take my hand away but knew that would be a bad idea.

  I heard the men move a little farther away, but not far enough for comfort.

  I lowered my mouth next to his ear and whispered, "Are you okay?" He shook his head. "I can help but I need to move my hand off your mouth. Can you stay quiet?"

  One of his hands clutched the back of my shirt. He nodded. I took my hand off his mouth, ready to put it back if he made any noise. I placed my hands on his cheeks; the wetness felt like tears. I wiped them away with my thumbs.

  I could feel his heart hammering into my chest. I'd only tried this once with Abby when she had a memory from her past and freaked out. I hadn't even known what I was doing at the time, but when I had grabbed her face in my hands to get her to stop screaming, she calmed.

  I stroked Asher's cheeks with my thumbs until I felt his body relax and a sigh left his lips. As much as he was a complete asshole, the sound of relief in his sigh made a warmness fill inside of me. I made one last swipe with my thumbs and went to move my hands but his hands went over mine, stopping me.

  "Don't stop until you get off of me." His voice was barely a whisper.

  Those damn Fallen were still too close by so I relaxed on top of Asher, keeping my thumbs lightly stroking his slightly rough cheek. He needed a shave. I was glad I didn't have to deal with facial hair.

  I shifted on top of him and he let out a grunt as my dick rubbed against his erection. His erection? I froze and my hands stilled on his face. Did Asher Thorne have a boner for me? He despised me, but my own dick didn't care and I let out a frustrated noise as it twitched to life.

  "Fuck." Asher gritted out.

  I wasn't even entirely sure I liked men sexually. I knew I liked women, but a man? That night Levi had kissed me and I had kissed him back, it hadn't excited me like I thought it would.

  "There! Go, go, go!" Shouts and loud feet snapped me out of trying to figure out what I was feeling.

  My wings snapped back and I jumped up, holding my hand out to Asher. He glanced at it briefly before getting to his feet on his own and adjusting himself.

  The men had taken off down a different hallway so we retraced our steps until we were outside the building. We heard shouting from a distance and moved back around to the front of the building.

  "Fuck. They were probably after Toby and Danica."

  "Thank you, Captain Obvious." I couldn't keep the snark out of my voic
e.

  He grabbed my arm. "Thanks for that back there. Sometimes I can't stop my brain from freezing up." Then he narrowed his eyes. "And not a word about my dick getting hard."

  "I make no promises." I went to walk back towards the lawn in front of the building but he pulled me back and pinned me against the wall, the bumpy surface digging into my elbows.

  "Don't fuck with me, angel baby. It won't be pretty." He sounded like he was half beast with his growly voice.

  "It felt to me like that's exactly what you wanted. To fuck me." I inwardly cringed at my words.

  "The only ass I'll be fucking is Danica's." He shoved himself away from me and took out his phone, cursing at the cracked screen. "They’re back at my place. Let's go."

  I grabbed him and lifted him with a grunt and took off. He stared at my face until we landed on his roof.

  "That's the problem, Danica, you didn't think and you almost got us killed or even worse, captured!"

  "I wasn't going to just stand there and watch them take her into that... that... that room!"

  Asher and I exchanged glances and rushed to where Danica was jabbing her finger into Tobias's chest. I took Danica's elbow as gently as I could and steered her away before she took a swing at him.

  "What happened?"

  Danica shook her head and sat on a chair, crossing her arms over her chest. Tobias had his hands on his hips and was shooting daggers at her.

  "The plan was to see what they were doing in the operating rooms. They roll them in and out in cages and drain their blood on those grated tables they use in morgues." He shuddered. "And of course, after the angel they drained, they brought in Brooklyn and she decided to be a fucking hero." He turned his eyes back to Danica. "Well, I hate to break it to you, but heroes end up dead!"

  "I said I was sorry!" Her voice cracked with a sob and she covered her face with her hands.

  "Dude, calm down," Asher said, putting his hand on Tobias's shoulder, which he aggressively shoved off.