Stars Beneath Hellfire

Chapter Three

Vespera stood in the middle of the room, unmoving. All was silent around her, save for the distant talking of girls in a room two floors above her. The silence seemed to amplify the noise in her head.

Cassiel Caelion. Seraphim.

Angel.

Vespera scoffed at herself. Of all the people and beings she could have met on her first day, she met one that was her opposite in every way. And though she knew she ought to hate him, she couldn't.

She turned to her side of the room, gazing at the luggage she had yet to unpack. She thought back to the brief interaction she had shared with Cassiel. She provoked him, as she did with all angels. But she had enjoyed his squirming more than anything.

And that surprised her. She knew she had ruffled his feathers when he first laid eyes on her.

She knew he had been battling with the failure of identifying what she was, he reeked heavily of his self-disgust.

On other occasions, she'd let the knowledge of striking another person unsure breeze over her. But with Cassiel, it made her a tad happy that she had gotten under his skin in less than an hour of meeting.

Wait, when had she ever felt happiness? Vespera furrowed her brows, staring at nothing.

What's going on?

What was happening in her was new, and she was unsure how to take it.

'An angel...made me...happy?' she questioned herself. Then she shook her head. Whatever it was, it couldn't be that. She was never created for happiness. Beings from her realm didn't know happiness. So it was something else.

She moved to her bed, and hauled a suitcase onto it.

Whatever it was that she was feeling, it felt good, and she knew how she could experience it again.

Cassiel stood before Vespera's door. He had arrived ten minutes ago, and yet had not knocked. He was a bit flustered, another feeling adding to the growing plethora of his unusual reactions since Vespera's arrival.

He was there to accompany Vespera to her first class.

With much chagrin, he realised that he was nervous.

For a man who never rattled, admitting his own nervousness felt like a humiliating defeat.

Cassiel composed himself and moved to knock on the door, but it swung open. Vespera stood in the doorway, her expression cold and unreadable.

"Good morning," he greeted. Vespera cast a quick glance down his figure, then met his eyes. She nodded in response and moved from the door.

Lyra stood where Vespera had moved. "Good morning, Seraph Cassiel," she greeted with the same respect she always showed him. He hummed in response as he caught another scoff from Vespera.

"Is there a problem, Vespera?"

"Oh no, how could there be a problem when the equivalent of a god lives amongst us?" she replied, her sardonic tone undisguised.

He fought a rising tide of anger, desperate to maintain the control expected of him.

"Well, what else do you expect when one is in the presence of a Seraphim?" Cassiel fires back.

Vespera turned to face him, a humourless smile on her face. "Oh, look at you," she coos. She performed a mock curtsy. "I apologize for not showing you due respect, Lord Cassiel," she said, her voice dripping with mock adoration.

Another pang of rage slices through him, and Cassiel struggles to remain unfazed.

His fingers burned with the familiar feel of the fire he could command, and he clenched his fists to dispel it.

'I refuse to be tainted by this,' he told himself, crushing the feeling of anger.

He strode away from the stunned Lyra, and caught up to Vespera.

"You don't even know where you're going," he pointed out.

"Did you want me to wait before you on my knees before you decided it was time to go?" came the snarky reply.

"I don't like your tone."

"Really? Good to know."

Cassiel bit his tongue, stopping the response that had almost left his mouth. He realised with mortification that he had let her slip under his skin again, this time far enough to provoke equally sharp comments from him.

Primarch Solareth would have been disappointed in him.

"What's your first class?" he asked.

"Oh, not so all knowing, huh?"

"Well, it's hard to be all knowing when you don't even know what you're looking at," Cassiel retorted sharply.

He instantly regretted his response, ashamed of his slip.

Vespera stopped in her tracks, glaring at him. Her grey eyes had changed into a steely silver, and Cassiel felt the atmosphere around them cool a few degrees. He met her eyes, and the cold, unreadable expression had returned.

"Well you can get in line to find out what I am," Vespera said, her voice cold and her tone venomous. She began walking again and Cassiel stood rooted for a few seconds, a little shaken by the response of their surroundings at her reaction.

"We don't have all day, Angel."

Cassiel hurried to catch up, and it annoyed him further.

"It's Cassiel," he ground out. "Not Seraph?" she challenged.

"However you wish."

They descend to the lobby. Their arrival attracts stares from the bustling students, and Cassiel felt the sudden spike of fear that rose.

"History," Vespera said briefly, and Cassiel nodded as they passed through into the hallway.

Students lowered their heads when they passed, and Vespera bit back another scoff. Okay, so he was an Angel.

So he was a Seraph.

It annoyed her that people treated him like he was the Primarch himself. She rolled her eyes when another student bowed.

'So unnecessary,' she thought. She glared at his back. She was a tad enraged by his earlier response. His reply had caught her off guard, and while her origins had never bothered her, it had stung from him.

The good side of it had been that she had gotten confirmation that she could break his so-called rock solid composure, and she enjoyed picking through it. He had caught her by surprise, but that wouldn't happen again.

Cassiel suddenly stopped and Vespera almost ran into his back.

"Distracted?" he asked, amused. Vespera rolled her eyes in response, and the small smile on his face fell.

"Your first class, and I'll be here to get you for your next in an hour and a half," he told her. Vespera hummed. She turned to open the door, but Cassiel's hand covers her hers on the handle. He leaned in, whispering in her ear. "Next time, you walk beside me. You staring at my back has me thinking you might drive a knife through my back, and I'm sure you'd like that, but I wouldn't."

Vespera fixed him a cold glare, opened the door and stepped into the classroom. Cassiel chuckled, happy with himself that he had successfully rattled the cold, snide commenting Vespera.

His happiness was short-lived, as he realised that something had shifted in him, something he couldn't quite put his finger on as of yet, but definitely there.