“Uh, no,” I said. “I think you’ll find you’re lucky it’s only a flesh wound.”
Rafe grabbed the wizard from behind and held one arm around his neck and used his other arm to secure Mephisto’s hands behind his back. I positioned myself in front of him, this time with a dagger in each hand.
“Why Mariska?” I fought to keep my voice from breaking. “Why did you even come upstairs if the portal went straight into the archives room?”
Rafe loosened his hold on the wizard’s throat enough to let him speak. “She took me by surprise. She was in the room at the bottom of the steps when I came through the portal. I was told that no one would be down there, that it was nearly always vacant, so I hadn’t bothered to cloak myself.” He coughed before continuing. “She turned and ran back up the steps to sound the alarm. What could I do? She’d seen me, so I caught up to her.”
My hands began to shake. “And then you slit her throat.”
“There was no choice. It was her or me.”
I’d always known that when I found Mariska’s killer that I would be angry, but I had underestimated the seismic shift in my emotions. His confession rattled me to the core. The more he spoke, the more intense the rumbling inside me became.
“It seems that it was all for naught,” he said. “The book remains unopened. My employer was unaware of the second layer of defense.”
“Why do they want it?” Rafe asked.
“I don’t ask my client any specifics,” the wizard said. I watched as his nails drew blood from Rafe’s arm. “Only enough for me to complete the task.”
“Why did you only take the Book of Admissions?” I asked. “Why not the other?”
“Oh, they were very specific about that. They only wanted to see the roster of current demonspawn.”
“If they knew enough to pinpoint the location of the academy so that you could create a portal, why would they just not come and ask?” I asked.
“Because I imagine their intentions are not particularly good. Besides, who would be insane enough to enter an entire building of demons uninvited?” His lips melted into a smile. “Other than me, of course. And even I was unable to manage it without technical difficulties.”
My jaw unhinged. “Mariska was not some minor inconvenience,” I seethed. “She was a warm and wonderful caretaker. She didn’t deserve that kind of death.”
“Tell us who you work for,” Rafe said, tightening his hold. “Who hired you to steal the book?”
The wizard sputtered a laugh. “To tell you such a thing would be to sign my own death warrant. You can understand why I wouldn’t be particularly inclined to do that.”
“Well, you’re either going to die by his hand or die by mine,” I said. “Your choice.” It was a lie, of course—I had no intention of killing him, but I needed him to believe it.
Despite his current predicament, the wizard regarded me with amusement. “Do you seriously think a young demonspawn like yourself could defeat a wizard with my significant skill set? I can see they instill you with an excessive amount of hubris. I suppose they tell you that you’re each a special snowflake.”
His head jerked backward and smashed into Rafe’s nose, slipping free of the Watcher’s grip. The wizard’s hands shot out in front of him, releasing a pulse of powerful energy that pushed me off my feet. My head slammed into a headstone and pain bloomed. My daggers skidded across the lawn on either side of me.
The wizard strode over to me. “You understand that I can’t let any of you leave here. Like your dearly departed friend, you’ve seen me. Without discretion, I’m finished. My business would be forfeit.”
I rubbed my head. “You think I care about your business reputation? You’re a murderer!” I leaped back to my feet and lunged for him. Instead of crashing into him, I bounced backward and stumbled but managed to stay upright.
The wizard offered a patient smile. “A simple protection spell does wonders.”
My hands twitched and the spot between my eyebrows thrummed. I squinted past the pain. “Why did you kill Harlan? You made sure he never saw you.”
“Regardless, he set you on the path to me. He was a loose thread that I should have cut the moment I extracted the information I needed from him.” His voice was so cold that I involuntarily shivered. Mephisto was more monster than wizard, yet we were the ones hunted. Such cruel irony.
He laughed when he saw me reach for my dagger on the ground. “I understand that the training you’re given is extensive, but I would think it’s obvious by now that a simple weapon like that won’t kill me. It isn’t even strong enough to penetrate this shield I’ve created, let alone my skin.”
“The Elders don’t train us to kill,” I said. “They train us so that we can protect ourselves wherever we are when we leave the academy. They enable us to take care of ourselves.”
“And how do you think you’re faring now?” He spread his arms wide, practically taunting me from within his precious bubble.
“Remove the protective barrier and I swear I won’t kill you,” I said.
He scoffed. “A likely story. All demonspawn are savages. If it were up to me, the entire academy would have been decimated, but that was not the job I was hired to do. Perhaps I should reconsider asserting my own agenda.”
“They’re innocent,” Rafe said. “They can’t help who their parents are. They haven’t hurt anyone.”
“Yet. Give them time.” The wizard turned to glower at Rafe. “And you call yourself nephilim. You should be ashamed.”
“Oh. I am, but not for the reasons you think.” Rafe threw himself at the wizard with enough force that I knew he was trying to topple him despite the protective barrier. It didn’t work. He flew backward and crashed into a headstone. His body slumped and his head lolled to the side.
The wizard advanced. “You should’ve used your seraph powers, you stupid boy. Or are you simply more human than angel? Perhaps that’s why you were sent to the mortal realm. Because you’re weak like them.”
Rafe shook off the blow and clambered to his feet. “Tell me where the entrance is to the gray market. I know you’re responsible for creating that portal too.”
Mephisto sneered. “Naturally. How do you think I got the academy job?”
I struggled to my feet, my head throbbing. Did that mean that the party responsible for the gray market was also responsible for hiring the wizard to break into the academy? Or just that his work for the gray market served as a calling card for that particular job? There wasn’t time to interrogate him. The way Mephisto’s hands whirled in front of him right now, I knew he was preparing to strike the deathblow.
“Rafe!” I mustered every ounce of energy I had and bolted for him. I threw myself between them and pain exploded from my head. Blue fire streaked toward the wizard and I realized with a start that it was coming from me. The flames engulfed him and he howled in anguish, clawing at his body to put out the flames. His beard was the first part of him to disintegrate and the rest of him quickly followed, leaving only a pillar of salt. I dropped to my knees and vomited. At least the pain in my head was gone. Small mercies.
“Cassia?” Rafe stared at the remains of the wizard in disbelief. “How did you do that?”
“I don’t know,” I whispered. “What did you see?”
“Not much,” he said. “I was behind you. I only saw blue flames and then…this. What weapon did you use?”
“I…I don’t know.” Across the circle, I heard a soft moan. “Sage?” I scrambled to my feet to check on my friends. I was relieved to see that Liesel and Barris were in the process of helping Sage to her feet. Liesel’s wound already appeared to be healing. I wasn’t sure whether that was her own body or whether she’d had help from Rafe in the midst of the chaos.
“Is everyone okay?” Sage asked, her eyes only partially open. “I feel like I fought a war.”
“You kind of did,” I said. “You had your own army of the dead. Well done.”
“A lot of good it did m
e. I still ended up unconscious on the ground.”
“Did you even know you could command that many at once?” Barris asked. “There were a lot of skeletons.”
“I had an inkling,” Sage said. “Back when I was tested, let’s just say there were multiple conferences with the Elders to discuss my particular talent.” She scanned the cemetery. “What happened to the wizard?”
“He’s gone,” I said.
“Gone?” Sage asked. “Where’s his corpse? I want to play with it. Maybe a few rude gestures…”
“Obliterated,” I said. “You missed some crazy magic.” I didn’t want to elaborate, not without knowing more about happened.
“You did it, Cassia,” Barris said. “You avenged Mariska.”
Only I hadn’t intended to kill him. I’d only wanted to bring him to justice. Now I had death on my hands. It didn’t feel satisfying; it felt…complicated.
“What about the book?” Sage asked. “Do you have it?”
“He teleported it out of the circle before we could get to it,” I said. “Probably to the one who hired him.” The thought was nauseating. The book was still out there, but at least it was still sealed shut.
“Did he say who hired him?” Liesel asked.
“No, we’re still in the dark on that one,” I said.
Rafe’s fingers drifted down my cheek. “You’re alive. That’s all that matters right now.” He seemed to realize the intensity of his gaze and cleared his throat. “Everyone is safe.”
“We’ll get the book, Cassia,” Liesel said. “If I have to call in every favor in the city, we’ll find it.”
“I think you mean if I call in every favor,” Rafe corrected her. “People owe them to me, including you.”
Liesel gave his arm a playful punch. “Yeah, still hoping you’ll forget.”
“We’re going to be in so much trouble with the Elders,” Barris said.
Sage beamed. “I know. Isn’t it awesome? Wait until they hear about what happened. Elder Alastor is going to lose his mind.”
A gust of wind rushed past us and took the pillar of salt with it. I was so focused on the wizard’s remains that I nearly missed a pair of glowing red eyes that emerged from between two headstones. For a fleeting moment, I thought we had another demon to contend with until I glimpsed the gnarly fingerlike legs.
“Jiffy?” The dweller demon scuttled to me and I bent over to scratch his head. “Where did you come from?”
Rafe recoiled at the sight of the adorable yet murderous demon. “You’ve befriended this creature?”
“We had to,” Sage said. “He likes peanut butter crackers. You can’t kill anything that likes peanut butter crackers.”
“I thought we couldn’t kill anything that had big eyes,” Barris said.
“That too,” I said. “What can I say? The list of what not to kill is long.”
“We came across him in the tunnel when we arrived,” Sage said. “He must’ve followed us here.”
“But how? We flew part of the way.” I rubbed his head. “Who’s a clever dweller demon?” I resumed a standing position and winced.
“Cassia, you’re bleeding.” Rafe’s gaze was fixed on my torso, where a splotch of blood stained my shirt. Before I could stop him, he lifted my shirt to tend to the wound.
“Don’t,” I said. I tried to yank down my shirt, but he grabbed my wrist.
“You’re hurt,” he said. “Let me help you.” He let go of my wrist.
“You don’t understand,” I began.
It was too late. I knew the second he saw the mark. The light faded from his eyes and he released his hold on the shirt. He continued to stare at the spot on my midriff that the shirt now covered.
“You?” he finally asked. His voice was barely a whisper. “You said you saw it on one of the lesser demons.”
“I didn’t know how to tell you,” I said.
He withdrew from me and an icy chill settled in my bones. “When?”
“When I asked you about it—after the burial ground,” I said. “The amon demon saw the mark and fled. I never knew it was anything more than a freckle until then, I swear it.”
“First you lied to me about the academy and now this?” His pain was palpable.
“What does it matter?” I asked. “You already know I’m half demon. Does it really matter which type?” Even as the words left my mouth, I knew it mattered. The King of the Nether ruled over the entire realm. He was always at odds with the seraphim and, by default, the nephilim. He was the greatest of the greater demons and I was his kin.
“What are you two talking about?” Barris asked.
“Lovers’ quarrel,” Sage said. “Get a clue.”
“It’s not a lovers’ quarrel,” Rafe said. “We’re not…” He took another look at me, his eyes now flat. “Anything.” He turned on his heel and stalked off. Liesel flew after him, casting a worried glance back at me before she disappeared into the darkness.
I remained cemented to the ground, unable to move or to speak. I wanted to call him back to me, but I knew it was pointless. I’d hidden this from him and broken his trust. For good.
Barris seemed to realize that I was in the midst of an emotional crisis. He placed a hand on my shoulder.
“Let’s get you home, Cassia. We need to tell the Elders about Mephisto.”
Home.
Instinctively, I glanced skyward in the direction of the spires.
“They’ll be thrilled to have you back,” Sage said. “The Elders tried to act normal about it, but I could tell they were worried about you.”
“Not Elder Alastor,” I said.
Barris and Sage exchanged meaningful glances. “No,” Sage agreed. “Not him. If it’s any consolation, he seems to hate everyone.”
“I’d wager he’s self-loathing too,” Barris said. “I bet he walks past the mirror each morning and spits at his own reflection.”
I managed to laugh at the mental image. “Thanks for being here, both of you. It was nice to have support.”
“We’re kenzoku, remember?” Sage said, draping an arm across my shoulders. “That’s what we’re for.”
Chapter Nineteen
Unsurprisingly, the Elders awaited us at the portal in the main spire. A lump formed in my throat when I saw the relief in Elder Sam’s eyes. He pulled me into a tight embrace and held me until Elder Bahaira swatted him away.
“Stop coddling her,” she said. “It’s my turn.”
Elder Sam moved aside so that I could be squeezed by every other Elder at the academy, except Elder Alastor, of course. He welcomed me back with a polite smile and nothing more.
“You should have seen her fight,” Sage said. “You would’ve been so proud.”
“Of all of us,” I said. “We all fought well.”
Barris snorted. “If by fighting well, you mean spend half the time unconscious then yes, we all fought well.”
Elder Sam clapped him on the back. “I’m sure your help was invaluable.”
“I meant Sage,” Barris said. “I was more like the medic.”
“Rafe was amazing too,” Sage said. “I can see why Cassia likes him. I never thought I’d have warm and fuzzy feelings toward one of those nephilim, but here we are.” She shrugged. “Hey, do we have any bubbling cold liquid? They have this beverage called champagne…”
“Which she did not have any of,” Barris interjected. “Because we knew we weren’t old enough.”
“I think we can find you a nice glass of fizzy water,” Elder Bahaira said. She steered them toward the kitchen.
“I’m sorry I didn’t get the book,” I said.
“You caught Mariska’s killer,” Elder Asago said. “For that, we are eternally grateful. Aren’t we, Alastor?”
“Eternally,” he said, although he didn’t sound sincere.
“As long as the book is still out there, we’re all in danger,” I said.
“We’re quite aware,” Elder Kali said. “And we’ve taken preventative measures t
o protect the academy.”
“New wards, more powerful than the last,” Elder Asago said.
“She doesn’t need the details,” Elder Alastor said. “She’s not an Elder, no matter how much you treat her like one.”
“I’m not giving up,” I said. “We know Mephisto was working for someone. We just have to figure out who hired him.”
Elder Bahaira pinched my cheek. “Let’s not worry about that right now. You’re home safe and we want to keep it that way.”
“No one is safe if we don’t find that book,” I said. “We have no idea what the real thief intends to do with it.”
“I have plenty of theories,” Elder Alastor said. “None of them good.”
My eyes locked on Elder Sam. “Can I talk to you in private?”
“You two have your little catch-up session, but I expect a full report from you on everything that happened,” Elder Alastor said. “I need no stone unturned. If you so much as brushed your wing against a mortal, I need that included.”
I ignored him and strode toward Elder Sam’s office. He entered behind me and closed the door.
“Would you say this was an educational experience?” he asked.
“In more ways than one,” I said. I’d have to tell him about Faerie later. Right now, I only had one pressing matter on my mind. I raised my shirt and looked at him. “Did you know about this?”
His gaze flicked to the blue mark and back to my face. “You have a freckle.”
“It’s not a freckle,” I said. “It’s a birthmark. Do you know what it means?”
He leaned casually against his desk. “I’m afraid I don’t. I suppose this is where the mentor becomes the mentee.”
“It means I have royal blood, but not just any royal blood. Not faerie blood.”
“Demon?”
“Yes, demon. Do you know who else bears this mark? The King of the Nether and all his descendants.” I released the fabric of my shirt. “You’re not just looking at demonspawn. You’re looking at the spawn of the most powerful greater demon family in the Nether.”
He appeared unfazed by this revelation. “But you don’t know which one?”
“No, surprisingly the mark doesn’t list a name,” I said with a cheeky look. “I’ve narrowed it down to a male though. A prince.”
Demonspawn Academy: Trial One Page 19
