A Demon's Horns: Vice College For Young Demons: Year One

by Marie Mistry

  Maddox appeared then, and I had to move on to my desk at the front of the room. He was beaming.

  “Good morning class!” He practically purred. “Today’s lesson will be taking place outside in the grounds, so if you’ll all follow me, we’ll get to it!”

  “Sir, what are we going to be doing?” Rina asked.

  Maddox’s smile grew even wider. “Since three quarters of the class have had their showings, we’re going to be doing some practice duelling.” He informed us. “Don’t worry if you’re still in your awaiting, it will be entertaining, I promise you!”

  With that he bounced out of the classroom. The rest of us formed a line behind him and Bane fell in next to me, grinning from ear to ear.

  “This is more like it!” He smiled, and the effect was dazzling. “I’ve been hoping for this since we started watching all of those old duels on the projector.”

  I gave him a strained smile. “I don’t know how good I’m going to be at this,” I replied. “It’s one thing to watch on tape, but another to do it yourself.”

  We left the classroom, following Maddox out of the front door and around to the back of the castle, close to the Covetous and Material Towers (the caste towers of Envy and Greed). I’d not been here before, so I was surprised to see what amounted to a giant circular sand pit cut into the ground. On both sides, large spectator stands drew close like a small wooden colosseum.

  “This is the practice pit,” Maddox announced with glee. “A regular duel will normally occur on the spot after the challenge has been laid down. To save on bruising, we’re going to use this pit to practice on. Now, all of those still awaiting, if you could please sit up on the top rows of the spectator stands, you should be out of the way there. Those with powers please refer to this list and find the partner I’ve picked for you.”

  There was a brief huddle around the piece of paper he held out, and I found myself paired with Vivian, one of the other, quieter girls who had recently shown as a Greed. She was tall and willowy and looked like a strong wind could blow her over.

  “Go easy on me,” she mumbled.

  “Only if you promise to do the same for me,” I replied with a small smile.

  “Will everyone climb down into the pit and stand together in your pairs please.” Maddox instructed as the ten-or-so classmates who hadn’t had a showing made their way up into the stands. “Before we go any further, I wish to explain the basic principle behind your power. As you know, power for demons is a form of psychokinesis, or PK. You can and will apply basic PK theory to more advanced forms of energy manipulations in the future, for example pyrokinesis, hydrokinesis, aerokinesis and terrakinesis, which you will also be learning this year. There are also more specialised forms of energy manipulations, and I teach an elective module you can take next year on those, but the college will require you to take an aptitude test before you can apply. If you did decide to take it, we study things such as ferrokinesis, electrokinesis, cryokinesis, umbrakinesis and its polar opposite photokinesis to name but a few.” He paused. “I never have more than ten students in that class, and those who make it are usually incredibly talented in a particular form of energy manipulation. They are also the ones who do well in these lessons.”

  He clapped his hands together, a bright smile illuminating his face quickly. “I am getting ahead of myself. For now, I just want you to use pure PK energy to practice creating a strong shield between you and your partner. When you’re ready, please begin.”

  I reached for my power like I had last night, directing it with my mind’s eye to create a basic wall structure between myself and Vivian. When I looked at it, a shimmering curtain had appeared between us. No one else had managed it yet, and I tried to dismiss it before anyone could notice, but Maddox saw.

  “Excellent Lilith,” he called out. “See here everybody, this is what you are aiming for. It may look quite fragile, but it’s actually highly effective.”

  I frowned at myself. I was supposed to be aiming for mediocre so as not to attract attention. To be fair, I hadn’t actually expected it to work, but still…

  Bane had his shield up soon afterwards, and the rest of the class followed quickly.

  “Brilliant, brilliant,” Maddox congratulated us. “Now, in your pairs, decide who will be the first to practice striking. Then, attempt to form a small missile of PK and send it flying at your partner’s shield. Once you’ve mastered that, we’ll have a few matches.”

  “You go first,” I told Vivian.

  “If you’re sure, I don’t want to hurt you,” she said.

  “You won’t…” I hoped she wouldn’t anyway.

  Two figures caught my eye, standing at the edge of the pit, talking with Maddox. The headmistress and Aeron, I realised with a jolt. It was a shock to see them standing together; they looked so similar, except for the hair of course. Aeron must have inherited that from his father.

  BAM!

  A blast of PK slammed into my shield – which had been weakened by my distraction - and broke through, knocking me on my ass in an explosion of sand. My ears were singing as Vivian ran over.

  “Are you okay?” she cried, pulling me up. “I didn’t mean to knock you over. I must have been too hard.”

  I smiled and rubbed my tailbone. “I’ll be fine,” I reassured her, even as I heard an explosion of laughter from the stands. Rina, I thought, I can’t wait till she goes through her showing, so I can knock her on her butt.

  “Concentrate Lilith,” Maddox called. “Try again.”

  I worked on reforming my shield, pretending to struggle with it. Once it shimmered into place, Vivian sent a smaller missile my way.

  It barely scratched the flickering curtain, but I made sure to flinch for effect.

  “Your turn,” Vivian told me, and her curtain grew more solid looking, telling me she was putting more energy into it.

  What would happen if I sent a missile around the back? I wondered idly.

  Before I could comprehend what I’d done my small missile – which had been waiting in my mind’s eye – did exactly that. Vivian flopped forwards on her front laughing. “Professor Maddox,” she called, “is there no way to shield our backs at the same time?”

  Maddox grinned. “I can’t tell you everything,” he yelled back. “Try experimenting.”

  We did, changing the shape of our shields from flat planes to cubes to spheres in an effort to find out what worked best, and how to make it use less power. In the end we settled on spheres, since the shape was easy to maintain and visualise yet covered us entirely.

  I confess, I completely forgot about trying to look average in that lesson. I loved playing around with my power and figuring out what would work and what wouldn’t. We did this for so long that there wasn’t any time for Maddox’s planned matches, but I didn’t mind as I made my way back to the castle.

  What did worry me was the way that my power had gone from a surging force against my skin to a gentle pulsing. I must have used lots today, but I had no idea how to get Triston to understand I wanted a repeat of yesterday’s oral sex without doing a Lulu and going up and kissing the life out of him. I was just headed up to the lunch queue when Aeron caught up with me.

  “I thought you were supposed to be keeping a low profile,” he said, with no animosity in his tone.

  I shrugged. “I liked it too much,” I told him honestly. “I didn’t mean to.”

  “Well that girl put you on your butt a few times,” Aeron conceded. “You didn’t look too brilliant if you take that into consideration.”

  “I was distracted,” I muttered. “What were you and your mum doing?”

  He shrugged. “She walks around the grounds with me sometimes. To see how I’m doing.”

  I reached the food and started piling up sandwiches onto my tray. I was just thinking how nice it was to see the friendly side of Aeron when my horn began itching again.

  “If you don’t stop that…” I began.

  He gave me an arrogant smirk. “Yo
u really want to attack me with a table full of teachers looking down at us?”

  I frowned. “Why do you do it? You know it makes me itch like crazy.” I was scratching that horn as we spoke, fiddling with the ring I’d left on it last night without meaning to.

  Aeron shrugged. “So now that you’re all powerful are you going to duel me for those letters?” he asked. “It’s the only way I’m giving them back to you.”

  I sighed. “What part of Vrosis’ speech about unity were you not listening to?” I asked. “I can’t duel you now anyway. I used a lot of power in today’s lesson.

  His gaze settled heavily upon me. “So, you’ll be off to find Triston again soon then?” he noted, casually.

  I shrugged. “I don’t want to seem like a parasite,” I muttered.

  “You know if you’re really desperate you can beg me to let you use me,” he taunted, that arrogant smirk plastered across his face. “Just don’t expect me to let you unless you can prove you’d do a really good job.”

  I went scarlet first from embarrassment and then from anger. “You arrogant pile of dung, I’d rather blow the Tester,” I retorted, leaving the queue and heading straight for our table and my usual spot between the twins. Aeron did the same, but instead of sitting with the guys as he usually did, he pushed Lulu up a spot and slid in next to me.

  “Go away,” I grumbled.

  He ignored me and addressed the group. “Lilith needs to get better at duelling, and quickly,” he told them. “My mother and I watched her fight today and I’m not too sure that Vrosis did a good enough job silencing the Tester.”

  “Why?” Nelly asked, confused. “He’s an elder, his word is law.”

  Aeron leaned in. “Then how come my mother asked me if I was absolutely certain Lilith was an Aphrodisia today?”

  The group paled slightly. “There’d be no way to prove she wasn’t,” Lulu said.

  “Unless they use another Tester…” Babette said grimly, and I grimaced.

  “But to do that they’d need Vrosis’ permission. He’s the Lust elder.” Ryon objected.

  “Unless they do it by force,” Aeron finished grimly. “Hence, Lilith needs to get better at duelling. Now.”

  “Vrosis would let us use his lesson to practice,” Triston argued. “We just have to make sure she never runs out of power.” He gave a small grin. “I declare myself completely at her service for that.”

  I groaned inwardly. Why was my sex life now a caste-wide concern?

  “You can have me too,” Ryon sighed, dreamily.

  “I wish you swung my way.” Babette was giving me a hooded look.

  Lulu smirked. “You wish everyone swung your way.”

  Babette nodded. “It’s not my fault all demons are ridiculously good looking. And Lilith is just...” She waved a hand up and down.

  “She’s supposed to be like that stupid,” Nelly muttered “She’s a predator. She’s designed to draw you in.”

  I frowned. “I haven’t changed since my showing. It’s just a demon thing.”

  Ryon shook his head. “I saw you around before your showing; you have a kind of extra pull now.”

  “Even that crotchety old git Vrosis wants you,” Aeron added.

  I shook my head. “Don’t be ridiculous. He just wants to use me to further his own agenda.”

  “Yeah and shag you,” Nelly muttered. “But you’re totally clueless.”

  I ignored them. “Just because I am what I am, does not mean everything male wants to sleep with me.”

  “Even Krossian wants you,” Lulu informed me, smiling as she reached over as if to kiss Aeron. To my surprise he shrugged her off before she could make contact. Lulu just smirked and moved over to Ryon.

  I groaned and started on a sandwich, refusing to answer their ridiculous suppositions.

  Arazon’s lesson dragged as usual, demonic poetry was long winded and usually self-centric or archaically sexual in nature, and as such had bored me half to death by the time I got to leave. As I headed back to my room, I was surprised to find the door open. Cautiously, I peeked inside.

  Ryon was lying on the bed, wearing only his tie. Seeing me, he cocked a finger.

  “Come here, Succubus.” He smiled.

  Blushing, because he was impressive despite his cockiness I walked inside and raised an eyebrow.

  “You’ll need all your strength if you’re to do extra duelling practice tonight,” he told me, grinning like a loon. “I’ve sacrificed myself to this end.”

  I bit my lip, considering. Earlier I had dreaded asking Triston for a repeat, but now Ryon was offering himself right when I needed him.

  “Third base only,” I insisted, locking the door.

  “Oh, absolutely,” he agreed, striding over and pinning me against the wood, surrounding me in the smell of strong aftershave and sex. His lips questing south as he roughly shoved my clothing out of the way.

  Chapter 11

  After hearing Aeron’s story, Vrosis was more than happy for me to learn duelling from the older students for the second half of his nightly tutorials. As a result, soon I was struggling my way through learning the four elemental forms of demonic power. Nelly and Babette were my main teachers, and they were hard on me even though outside of those sessions we were best friends.

  Often the rest of the group would just watch, calling out encouragement or occasionally volunteering. Aeron alone refused to help, vowing that the only time he would duel against me would be if it was for real and not some pathetic ‘practice’ session. He stood there smirking as I failed over and over. Occasionally, he reached out with the power to agitate my horns and distract me so I would be blasted backwards by whatever form of PK was being directed against me at the time. Nelly would then grumble that I wasn’t paying attention.

  These nightly sessions had two drawbacks. Firstly, I was forced to use either Triston or Ryon for power twice a day, so I would have enough power for both sessions – although I was becoming slowly less hesitant about the demands of my sub-caste. Secondly, it was becoming harder and harder to pretend to be awful at duelling in Maddox’s weekly practical lessons. Whenever I was caught off-guard and reacted instinctively with a better-than-usual shield or small blast of inexplicable aerokinesis Maddox would loudly exclaim that I had natural talent. To make matters worse, Professor Saxon would often walk past at these moments, narrowing her eyes.

  Things finally came to a head when the time came for the Christmas visit.

  There were three times a year when our parents could visit the school. Once at Christmas, a second time in the spring and a third time in summer. There were no holidays or home visits at Vice, and lessons only stopped at weekends and for a two-month period of work placements with staff before the new school year started. Essentially, once you passed the gates for the first time, you were stuck there for four years solidly. For the first-years, it was because the increased exposure to the vast number of demons working in Vice meant there was more chance of them having a showing. After that, keeping demon students in school was a useful means of ensuring they were in full control of their power before they were let loose around humans.

  When the time came for our parents to visit, all the students were rounded up into the grand hall to wait for their name to be called.

  I wasn’t holding my breath for my parents to come; neither was Triston, who didn’t even bother to look up whenever a teacher entered the hall to call someone. So we sat in silence, both of us using the moment to catch up on some homework we’d been set the previous day. Although demons didn’t celebrate the Christian festival, we’d all spent the morning opening presents from each other. I now sported a new set of earrings from Nelly and a matching necklace from Lulu. Ryon and Triston had given me sexy lingerie with a promise of taking it off me later. Despite our mutual animosity, Aeron had gifted me the complete set of Harry Potter books, which I had never read before. The others were looking forward to more gifts from their families, but I had low expectations, since I sti
ll hadn’t received a single letter from my mother.

  Generally, parents in Pride or Envy seemed to arrive first, and I couldn’t help looking up hopefully despite knowing that my mother wouldn’t come. When the clock officially announced that the earliest visiting time was passed, I gave up that faint hope. Mum would have made certain to be here earlier than was technically allowed, and it was Christmas day, so traffic shouldn’t have been an issue.

  “Aeron Saxon and Bane Krossian,” Maddox called as he entered the room.

  I frowned, usually only siblings were announced together. Perhaps their parents had car-shared or something.

  “Lilith Carazor,” Pruitt said, absolute disgust dripping from her tone as she followed Maddox into the room.