Although Rylan spoke matter-of-factly, I had to imagine it was painful to know that your mother was out there, only she chose not to raise you.
“I think she was brave to acknowledge that she wasn’t mother material,” Rylan said. “She could’ve been stubborn and kept me, but I was much better off here.”
“Didn’t stop her from having more after you though.” I heard the trace of bitterness in Zeph's voice and realized he was resentful on her behalf.
“I didn’t say she was particularly smart,” Rylan said. “Besides, she’s a demon. Birth control doesn’t exactly work the same for a succubus.”
“And she sends the other children here?” I asked.
Rylan nodded as she watched the stones crackle in the magical fire. “They come as infants now. She learned her lesson with me.” She met my sympathetic gaze. “The Elders tell me when another one’s arrived so I can meet them. They feel better as they grow up, knowing they have siblings here.”
I didn’t know what to say. Her mother’s actions seemed awful and irresponsible, yet I also understood Rylan’s empathy for her.
“How old were you when you came here?” I asked.
“Old enough to have seen more than I should have,” Rylan said. “She didn’t want to endanger me, so when she heard about this place, she jumped at the chance to send me somewhere safe.”
“How did she hear about it?” I asked.
“A pediatric nurse in the city,” Rylan said. “She was pregnant with another baby—my brother, Des—and she started to cry in the exam room. The nurse had the Sight, so she knew that my mom wasn’t human. She told her she knew of a place that would suit children like us. I went first and Des arrived after he was born.”
“You were in the exam room with her when that happened?” I asked.
“Where else would I be? She brought me everywhere.” Rylan held out her hands for us to join her. We formed a circle around the bowl. “Repeat after me.”
Although I didn’t recognize the words, I knew she was speaking ancient Sumerian from my lessons with Elder Alastor. Zeph and I joined in the chant, repeating the phrase until a puff of black smoke appeared over the bowl.
“It’s done,” she said. “Operation Love Connection can begin.”
“Do you ever worry?” I asked, thinking about my own background. “That you’ll end up like her?”
“I won’t end up like her,” Rylan said. “I’m never going to have children.”
“Won’t that be hard to avoid?” I asked. “You’re a succubus.”
“It isn’t just the act of sex that feeds me,” she said. “It’s the energy. The desire. And it doesn’t need to be of the male-female variety either.”
I expected Zeph to have an immature response, but instead he said, “And the Elders have worked with her to curb her need. Because she’s only half, she can sustain herself without it.”
“My mother isn’t so lucky,” Rylan said. “She’s a slave to it. It’s how she survives.” She scooped the stones from the bowl. “Now, who would like to do the honors?”
It didn’t take long for us to put Operation Love Connection into play. Sage and Barris returned from the armory in time to eat. They sat apart from each other, almost deliberately so. Zeph easily snuck the stone into Barris’s pocket while they were getting food and Rylan offered to fix Sage’s ponytail that had fallen loose after their ‘sparring.’ I heard Rylan say “kad” under her breath—the trigger word to activate the spell.
The three of us watched closely for any sign of the connection. Barris made it easy by accidentally biting his lip instead of the banana.
“Ouch,” Sage said.
Barris glanced over at her, nursing his sore lip. “You don’t have to mock me. I bit it hard.”
“I’m not mocking you,” she said. “Stop making everything about you.”
I stared in awe at Sage’s lip as it began to swell. Barris seemed to notice too.
“You bit your lip too?” he asked. “That’s weird.”
“I didn’t bite it,” Sage said, visibly irritated. “It just hurts.”
“Because you bit it,” Barris said.
Zeph snickered behind his apple.
“You two are like twins,” Rylan said.
“The couple that swells together, stays together,” Zeph added.
Sage bristled. “We are not a couple.”
Barris set down his banana. “I feel strange.”
“That’s because you are strange,” Sage shot back. Her expression shifted and her dark eyes glimmered with emotion.
“What’s wrong, Sage?” Rylan asked.
“I…I don’t know.” She wiggled in her seat as though physical discomfort was the root cause.
Zeph's face strained and he seemed ready to burst with laughter. One look at him told me he was the weak link in our chain.
“I feel warm,” Sage said. “Like someone covered me with a cozy blanket.”
“Aww, that’s so sweet,” Rylan said. “Is that how you feel, Barris?”
The cambion shook his head. “I can’t explain it.”
“Can’t or don’t want to?” Zeph asked.
Splotches of red appeared on Barris’s face. “Don’t want to.”
Rylan leaned forward, squinting at him. “Now I really want to know.”
Barris tried to stand up but moved too quickly and caught his knee on the edge of the table. He and Sage yelled in unison and Zeph erupted with laughter.
“What’s going on?” Barris asked, rubbing his sore knee.
“I’d like to know too,” Sage said. “Why does my knee hurt?”
“Are you making fun of me again?” Barris asked. He actually looked hurt by her perceived mockery this time.
“I swear I’m not,” Sage said. “My knee hurts too. Same one.” Her eyes narrowed. “What did you do, Rylan?”
Rylan fluttered her lashes. “Me? I don’t know what you mean.”
Sage slapped her hands on either side of her plate. “What did you miscreants do while we were in the armory?”
“What did you miscreants do while you were in the armory?” Rylan retorted.
Zeph covered his mouth to keep from laughing again. The move didn’t escape their notice.
“Zeph…” Barris eyed him closely. “What do you know?”
Zeph's hand dropped away. “Nothing.”
Sage grabbed a fork and held it over her other hand. “If I drive this through my skin, it’s really going to hurt.”
Alarmed, my gaze darted to Barris. Sage was much tougher than he was. She could probably manage a smile while she bled, whereas Barris would be in a crumpled heap on the floor. I couldn’t take the pressure.
“Please don’t,” I said. “We only did a harmless spell as a joke.”
Sage’s jaw tightened. “What kind of spell?”
“We bound you together,” Rylan said. “You feel what he feels and vice versa.”
Sage and Barris locked eyes over the table. Something unspoken passed between them, although I wasn’t entirely sure how to interpret it.
“Tell us what’s really going on with you two and we’ll undo the spell,” Rylan said.
“What do you mean?” Barris asked. “Sage was making fun of the way I hold a sword, the same as she always does.”
“Because you hold it like a hot poker that’s about to burn you,” Sage said. “It’s your weapon. You’re in charge of it, not the other way around.” She exhaled loudly. “How do you get to Spire 10 and not know how to wield a sword properly?”
“It’s not my specialty, okay?” Barris said. “I have other strengths and I play to those.”
Sage snorted. “You call those strengths? Okay.”
“Are you two involved?” Rylan asked.
“No,” they said simultaneously, although I noticed that Sage’s response was slightly more vehement.
“Undo the spell right now or I’m going to kill all three of you with my bare hands and play with your corpses,” Sage s
aid. Her expression suggested she was one hundred percent serious.
Rylan seemed undeterred. She simply folded her arms. “Tell us if there’s something going on first.”
“I already answered your stupid question,” Sage ground out.
“Answer it truthfully,” Rylan said. “What’s the big deal if you like each other? Stranger things have happened in the universe.”
Sage hesitated. Her gaze flicked to Barris and back to us. “Because he’s Barris.”
“Gee, thanks,” Barris said. His eyes turned downcast and my chest ached for him. I started to feel guilty about our little prank.
“If you like each other, we deserve to know,” Rylan said. “We’re together all day every day. It seems dishonest to keep something this big from the rest of us.”
Sage twirled the end of her ponytail around her finger. “I don’t know that we’ve really defined what we are. We’ve just been going along with it.” Sage groaned. “Argh! There’s that warm feeling again. Is that you, Barris?”
Barris started to chew his swollen lip, then quickly thought better of it. “I guess so. I don’t really know how the binding spell works.”
“You feel what the other feels,” Rylan said.
Sage looked at us. “Can you make it stop, please?”
“What’s the problem?” Zeph asked. “You said it felt nice.”
Sage slammed her fist on the table. “I said make it stop!”
Rylan flinched. She clearly hadn’t been expecting such a strong reaction from her friend. “I don’t actually know how.”
Oops.
Sage shot to her feet. “You cast a spell that you don’t know how to undo? What’s wrong with you?” She motioned to the two of us. “I expect this from Zeph, but not the two of you.”
“I’m sorry,” I said, because I was. It had been a mistake to toy with their emotions—a lesson learned without the help of the Elders.
“I’ll look in the book,” Rylan said. “I’m sure the answer is there.”
“Barris,” I said, “empty your pockets.”
Barris reached into his pockets and pulled out a balled-up tissue and the rune stone. He stared at the shiny black stone. “Where did this come from?”
I held out my hand. “Give it to me.”
Rylan’s shoulders slumped. “Sage, I need to fix your ponytail.” She slid the hairband out of Sage’s hair and removed the stone.
“You put that thing in my hair?” Sage wore an aggrieved expression.
Rylan handed the stone to me and I put both in my pocket. “That should do the trick,” I said. “I read far enough in the description. As long as the stones are no longer appurtenant to you, the spell won’t have any effect.”
“Barris, do something stupid again,” Sage said.
He whacked his hand against the edge of the table and yelped. Sage’s mouth split into a grin.
“I guess we’re good,” Barris said glumly.
“Don’t be mad,” Zeph said. “We just wanted the truth and we didn’t think you’d tell us without an incentive.”
“Next time, try asking first.” Sage stormed out of the room.
“I think we’ll both be sleeping in the hallway tonight,” Rylan said to me.
Elder Kali poked her head in the doorway. “What in the devil’s name have you done to make Sage so angry? I don’t envy the responsible party, that’s for sure.”
“She’ll get over it,” Rylan said. “She just likes to be in control and it pissed her off that someone else had the upper hand.”
While Rylan wasn’t wrong, I couldn’t help but feel bad for Sage and Barris.
“What was that about?” Elder Kali asked. “Anything I should know?”
“No,” I said. Instinctively, I patted the stones in my pocket. “Everything’s fine now.” Although seeing Sage’s visceral reaction, I wasn’t so sure.
Chapter Four
The day of the field trip was disappointingly overcast. I’d hoped to show my kenzoku around the city when the sun was shining and everything looked its best. Barris and Sage had only seen the tunnels for the most part, and Rylan and Zeph had seen nothing at all.
“Too bad Elder Kali wasn’t feeling well enough to come,” Zeph said. “She has to miss all these gray clouds.”
“At least it’s not raining,” Barris said. He glanced skyward. “Though I think a downpour is in our immediate future.”
“Where’s the nearest coffee place?” Sage asked. She’d been introduced to coffee shops during her last visit and had developed an unhealthy obsession with espresso.
Rylan couldn’t stop staring at the buildings. “They’re all so tall.”
“You do realize the spires are way up there, right?” Zeph pointed to the clouds where the spires were cloaked from view.
“Yes, but we’re always at that height so we’re never looking up,” she said. “We’re usually looking down.”
“I look at the stars,” Barris said.
“Well, aren’t you the hopeless romantic?” Sage said.
“Better than just hopeless,” Barris shot back.
Zeph clutched his chest. “Oomph, I felt that.”
“Where to first?” Rylan asked. “Are we going into one of those buildings?”
Elder Sam motioned for us to follow him. “I thought we’d try a restaurant for lunch.”
“Lunch?” Sage wrinkled her nose. “Where’s the excitement? The slaying?”
“You can attack a cheeseburger with vigor,” Barris said.
Elder Sam gave her a patient smile. “It’s not that kind of field trip, Sage. I just want you all to get comfortable being here. That’s the goal of this trip.”
“Who needs to be comfortable?” Sage complained.
Four hands went up around her.
“I want you all to observe today,” Elder Sam said. “We’re out in the real world now.”
“Surrounded by bounders,” Barris reminded everyone.
“I’m glad I’m not earthbound,” Zeph said. “I can’t imagine being stuck on land all day.” Although the cambion didn’t have wings, he could command a gust of wind like nobody’s business.
“And I’m sure bounders can’t imagine being trapped in a spire all day every day, yet there we are.” Sage waved to the sky. “Do you think anyone’s watching us from the academy?”
“With their all-seeing Eye of Sauron? No, I do not,” Barris said.
“I’m watching you from here,” Elder Sam said. “Now let’s go. I’m getting hungry and, as you’ll see, it isn’t like the academy. We might have to wait for a table.”
“Wait?” Rylan appeared confused. “Why would we wait for food? Isn’t it just ready for us?”
“This is why we do these trips,” Elder Sam said. He started forward and we hurried to keep pace with him.
“Maybe the Elders should start field trips a little earlier in our lives so that we’re not completely out of our depths now,” Rylan said.
“Believe me. I’ve made the suggestion,” Elder Sam said. “Surprisingly, I’m not the most influential voice in the group.”
I smiled. I recognized his wry humor, although I wasn’t sure the others did.
“Can we at least stop off at a cemetery before we have to go back?” Sage asked. The hint of a whine creeped into her voice.
“There’ll be plenty of time in your life for cemeteries when you graduate,” Barris said. “No need to drag us into your puppetry of the perverse.”
“We’ll see how much time we have.” Elder Sam continued his swift pace. I knew him well enough to recognize his placating tone. He had no intention of stopping by a cemetery, but he’d make Sage believe he was considering it.
I was surprised when we stopped in front of a familiar building. “We’re having lunch at Hotel Franklin?” I’d spent time here when I first arrived in the city on the hunt for Mariska’s killer. The hotel was owned by an influential vampire named Balthazar who sometimes arranged for cambions’ safe passage to the academy
.
“This place looks very nice,” Sage said, admiring the historic exterior.
Elder Sam edged closer to me. “I have business here. I figured I’d combine the two.” We passed the fountain but not before Rylan dipped her fingers in and splashed water at Barris.
“This is an interesting place,” I said. “You don’t want to draw attention for the wrong reasons.”
“Sounds like you might have some experience with that,” Zeph said.
We entered the grand lobby with its statue of Ben Franklin lording over the room from its center. Balthazar and Ben were apparently friends in colonial times. I had no doubt the vampire had exerted his considerable influence over the spectacled Founding Father.
“It’s quiet today,” I said. The lobby was devoid of people except for the cheerful woman at the check-in counter.
“The restaurant is this way.” Elder Sam led us to the wide marble staircase and I observed my kenzoku’s reaction with satisfaction. There was no way you could walk into this hotel and not be overwhelmed by its grandeur. Pillars. Statues. Portraits of esteemed elder statesmen. It was like a museum where people were permitted to stay overnight.
With its less ornate decor, the restaurant appeared to be a more recent addition to the hotel. The tables were mostly empty and we were seated right away.
“See?” Sage said. “No wait for us.”
Elder Sam shook his head. “Don’t get used to it.”
The four cambions combed the menu like they were studying for a test.
“Everything sounds delicious,” Rylan said. “How many things do we ask for?”
“I have authorization to splurge,” Elder Sam said.
“How’d you manage that?” Barris asked.
“How do you think? I stole Elder Alastor’s credit card,” Elder Sam said.
Everyone was laughing when Balthazar spotted us across the room. I elbowed Elder Sam to get his attention and jerked my head toward the vampire. “I think your business has arrived,” I whispered.
Elder Sam waved the vampire over. “I’d like you all to meet the owner of this fine establishment,” the seraph said.
“Some of us have had the pleasure already.” Balthazar inclined his head toward me.
Demonspawn Academy: Trial Two Page 4
