by Eva Brandt
Mikael pursed his lips in displeasure. “You’re not putting me out. I insist. You did me a significant favor with TB yesterday and I have to pay you back.”
The latter sentence came out strained, as if he was forcing himself to say the words. I wondered if he was compelled to return the favor I’d made him in some way. If so, was that why Gemma had thrown herself at Callum yesterday? To pay him back for offering to guide me in her place? The thought was a little disturbing, even if she’d more than enjoyed herself with the incubus.
Maybe it would be best to set the score straight with Mikael, so to speak. I wouldn’t want him to get any crazy ideas. “Okay, then. Thanks. I appreciate it.”
Mikael nodded and offered me his arm. “If you’d do me this honor...”
The old-school manners shocked me after the displays of debauchery I’d witnessed earlier. My heart skipped a beat and I shot him a small smile. “You flatter me.”
I felt a little stupid and awkward as I said the words, but even so I took him up on his offer. Mikael guided me away from the classroom, toward one of the side exits of the amorphous mass.
“So, what do you think about the academy so far?” he asked as we reached a winding staircase that ended in... nothing. “Are you enjoying the classes?”
He was just making conversation, filling the silence. Still, I needed to reply.
“To be honest, I have mixed feelings. Someone died earlier today, in Demonology. I know it’s bad form to fall asleep in class, but just the same, it felt... excessive.”
“Everything at the academy is about excess, Ms. Michaelis. You might not have noticed, but we like our conflicts. We demons are fierce creatures. We fuck, fight, party, and die, with the same fire and intensity. If you’re not strong enough to withstand that fire, you get burnt.”
I could understand that, but that didn’t make me any less bitter regarding what had happened to Jax. I was pretty sure Ammit had done it on purpose. She’d switched to Ancient Egyptian, knowing it would make someone slip up. She’d been trying to make a point, to purposefully terrify us. It had worked beautifully, but Jax had paid the price.
“In any case, I’m pleased to see you weren’t the one to fall to Ammit’s claws,” Mikael continued. “But do be careful. Ammit separates the wheat from the chaff, but that’s only in the first week or so. The others will become far more dangerous later.”
Wonderful. I let out a heavy sigh. “And here I’d liked Professor Jones and Madam Lilith.”
“Did you really?” Mikael laughed, and the sound flowed over me like a physical caress, far more powerful than my teacher’s magic. “Well, I wouldn’t worry about Lilith. She can get pretty intense, but anyone who has a familiar is good in her book. Besides, Callum likes you, so I doubt she’d do anything too harmful. They’re sort of distantly related, you see.”
I didn’t much care about Callum’s familial connection to the staff. “He doesn’t like me. He’s clearly expressed his disdain for me and everything I represent.”
“Well, yes, and he’s not wrong to do so.” Mikael’s eyes glinted sharply, his hold on my arm tightening. “You have to understand, Ms. Michaelis, that you’re human. You don’t belong here. You’re fragile and, sooner or later, you will break.
“It’s really quite a shame, because you could’ve been great had you not been born in such a distasteful species. But we can’t have everything we want, can we?”
Shiro let out a growl, warning him to back off. Surprisingly, Mikael did. He released my arm and kissed the air over my hand. “You should be careful, Ms. Michaelis. The teachers in this school aren’t the only ones who are dangerous.”
Considering the fact that Gemma had sicced TB on me with the clear intention to hurt me, I was already well aware of that. But I also had a feeling he was referring to something different. “Thank you for the warning. I’ll do my best to heed it. Hopefully, I can stay out of your way, and you can stay out of mine.”
“I doubt that, Alyssa. If you’ll be in Familiar Bonding, we’ll share a class.” He leaned in a little more closely, not touching me, but still invading my personal space. He took a deep breath, as if he was very deliberately scenting me. “You smell like arousal, little human. It’s delectable. I bet you found Lilith’s lesson illuminating in more than one way. Did you know she also practices sex magic? The people in her advanced class often partner up for certain spells and rituals. I look forward to doing it with you.”
Was he hitting on me, not a minute after he’d told me I didn’t belong? These people were all fucking crazy.
“Thanks, but I don’t think I’ll be sharing my body with anyone here. I have a strict rule, you see. No people who’ve shown their dislike for my whole species. It’s kind of a turn-off, no offense.”
“We’ll see. I’m sure I can change your mind.”
At that moment, I really wanted to punch him in the face, but I was afraid that I’d turn into a complete cliché and break my hand in his perfect cheekbones. And when it came to supernatural creatures, it was better to be safe than sorry—even if they did claim their existence was as natural and normal as mine.
And so, I ignored him and fled, feeling like a coward, but still relieved as fuck that I didn’t have to be in his presence again. Christ, I’d only been here a day, and I was already going back and forth between terror, relaxation, sexual arousal, relief, anger, and countless other things I couldn’t hope to identify.
Thankfully, Mikael had at least kept his word and had brought me to the library. In my haste to get away from him, I stumbled into the room in question, and promptly forgot all about my worries.
Growing up, I’d always been passionate about reading. I fondly remembered younger, simpler days, when I’d stayed up nights to read books I’d borrowed from my local library. It had been before my seizures had started, so I’d utterly ignored my bed time.
I could never go back to those carefree days, but even so, for the first time since I’d been visited by that damn cherub, I felt a little better, happier. Everywhere I looked, there were only books. The tall, black shelves held tomes older than my whole family put together, and some display cases even had ancient parchments that archaeologists would’ve probably committed murder for.
As far as I could tell, there were no librarians nearby, but I kept my distance from the items that were clearly not supposed to be touched. I had plenty of research to do without sticking my nose where it didn’t belong.
And I knew exactly where I needed to start. Mikael might’ve been an asshole, but he wasn’t wrong in saying that I still needed a lot of answers about this place. Relying on people to provide me with information was stupid. No, this was much better. I’d figure out how to handle everything and everyone at The Academy of the Devil, and my solution was right here.
* * *
“There you are. You missed lunch.”
“Did I?” I asked, flipping another page. The letters literally did a small dance as I brushed my fingers over the paper. “I guess I’ll just have a big dinner.”
A sandwich appeared in my line of sight, blocking my view of the paragraphs currently doing the cancan. I looked up and found myself facing a very unimpressed-looking Darling. “Don’t be stupid. You can’t skip meals, especially when you’re a human. You’ll wither away and die within a week. I’m not going to let that happen.”
“I appreciate the concern, but I was going to eat.”
It was sort of true. I’d gotten carried away with the library, but I’d already missed two meals. I’d been well aware I couldn’t skip a third. And contrary to what Darling might’ve thought, I hadn’t completely disregarded my own well-being. I’d remembered to take my pills and had grabbed an energy bar earlier. I’d miraculously found it at the bottom of my bag and had deemed it a sign that I shouldn’t leave the sanctity of this refuge anytime soon.
Even so, I wasn’t ungrateful enough to reject Darling’s gift. I quickly shoved my notes into my bag and took the provided meal from he
r. “Do we have another class after this?” I asked as I unpacked it.
Darling rolled her eyes at me, as if exasperated with my very existence. “Don’t you have it written down in your schedule?”
“Well yeah, but it just says Mundane,” I replied as I bit into the sandwich. It tasted good, salty, but interesting. “Whatever that means.”
“It’s basically a study of human stuff.” Darling let out a dramatic groan. “I hear it’s pretty terrible. Everyone is bad at it and can barely scrape by a passing grade. And you know what happens when you fail a grade at the academy? You have to repeat each class, including Ammit’s.”
I thought about the Demonology class and what I now knew about Ammit. According to my most recent studies, she was, indeed, the Devourer of Souls, an ancient Egyptian deity that was supposed to weigh the heart of a person on the scales of justice. Placing such a person in a school full of demons seemed like a recipe for disaster, but I could understand the logic. Like my ancestor, she was also an adept of balance. She was intended to punish those who stepped a toe out of line and didn’t serve that balance properly.
For that reason, I suspected she didn’t much like students who’d failed a grade, and her approach to it would be as bad as what the Inquisition did to people it didn’t like. My sandwich no longer seemed so appealing. “Does anyone even survive that?”
“And, we have a winner,” Darling said, clapping slowly. “Nope. Every single student who’s failed a grade gets devoured within less than a month. It’s not an official rule but it happens anyway. It’s not just Ammit either. Most of the teachers here hate students that don’t get it right the first time around. Sometimes, they don’t even wait for provocation.”
Well, shit. “That sucks, but I guess it’s incentive to try really hard and not fail.”
Truth be told, I was nervous about the infamous Mundane class. I wasn’t amazing at Algebra and Physics, but I’d passed both classes in high school without too much trouble. I’d been the best at Latin and other foreign languages—thus my chosen career path—and I’d enjoyed Literature. If Mundane was anything like that, I might not have as many problems as the rest of the students. But The Academy had already proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that it had the ability to twist anything and everything into unexplainable, unacceptable horrors, and I’d only been here a day.
Still torn between hope and dread, I ate my sandwich in silence, then shoved the packaging into my bag and made sure there were no crumbs left behind. In the last couple of hours, no librarian had shown up to tell me to take care of the books, but I hadn’t forgotten about the humongous eye I’d seen when I’d first arrived here. I wouldn’t risk making a mess in a public space, not when three-quarters of the school had made it clear that I was in the center of attention and more than one person would absolutely love to see me meet a very sticky ending.
If there was, indeed, someone watching the library, he or she didn’t show up. Darling and I left the place with no incident and rejoined the others in a different structure, one that looked a bit like an obelisk.
As it turned out, ‘Mundane’ meant Computer Science, and we found our year mates already in the classroom, staring at the screen of a ridiculously high-end Alienware in utter bafflement. I was just as surprised, although probably for different reasons. “What are we supposed to do with this?” Bartholomew asked.
Usually, the kind of technology we had at our disposal was meant for gaming, something I doubted demonic beings had much use for. In fact, I suspected whoever had bought this stuff hadn’t focused on the specs of the damn things at all.
“Oh, that head is so adorable,” Olympia was currently saying, poking the Alienware logo on one of the largest towers. “Is it magical?”
“Of course it’s not magical,” L answered, scoffing. Because of his weird face mask, the sound came out distorted, kind of like a piggish snort. “This is a Mundane class.”
“Yes, but even humans have been known to create magical things,” Voldemort-girl pointed out.
I couldn’t argue with that, but I also wasn’t very happy with the way people were suddenly starting to look at me. Where was the damn teacher? Wasn’t someone supposed to be in charge of this class?
“So, Alyssa...” Darling drawled. “Want to show us how this strange, human magic works?”
“Not really,” I admitted, disgruntled, “but if there’s no one else, I might as well.”
I dropped my bag on a chair and left my faithful Shiro to watch over it. Biting my lower lip, I remembered the conversation I’d had with Gemma, earlier today.
Older students knew what to do with technology and they used it primarily for porn. I might as well stick to the theme. They could hardly look down on me for it, considering the fact that two hours ago, we’d watched our teacher being fucked by a demonic entity on her own desk.
“Okay, then, my minions. Gather around. Let me teach you about the Internet, the closest thing to hell humans will ever create.”
My year mates were skeptical at first, but all it took was a quick glimpse at Pornhub, Reddit and 4chan to convince them of the truthfulness of my words. I left them to their own devices and went to sit down next to Shiro. I had an assignment to write for Demonology, and while I’d taken some notes on it—and some convenient photos with my phone—I still needed to put everything together in a coherent essay.
Ten minutes later, as I was writing down the effects of sin on demon biology compared to human one, the familiar face of a certain imp popped up in my view. “I see you’re doing well for yourself, Ms. Michaelis. Congratulations.”
It was, much to my surprise, the imp from the Sloth Dorms. “Oh! Mr. Adolf! I’m so sorry. I didn’t see you there.”
“I’m rarely visible unless I want to be seen,” the imp replied with a small, mysterious smirk.
He threw a glance over my shoulder and I realized in surprise that the rest of the students remained focused on the computers and had completely missed his arrival. “Oh. Well, thanks for checking up on me. And thank you for the help you gave me the other day.”
“It was no trouble.” The imp hummed thoughtfully. “You know, Ms. Michaelis, a wise man once said that if you want to shine like the sun, first you have to burn like it. Most people at this academy... They cannot burn. They burn out. They are consumed in their quest to be stars. What about you, Ms. Michaelis? What will you be? What will you do?”
Was that a quote from Mein Kampf? I’d never thought I’d see the day I’d have such a conversation with a demon. Then again, I doubted the imp’s idea of suns and stars was similar to Hitler’s.
“I never wanted to be a star,” I replied. Taking a sudden leap of faith, I added, “Trying to be as powerful as a fallen angel is a fool’s errand.”
“Indeed.” Adolf’s smile was full of teeth, sharper than Gemma’s had ever been. “Very few can ever reach the levels of power Lucifer had. But aren’t you at least going to try?”
He arched a brow at me, and his disdainful expression made me bristle. “Of course I’m going I’m to try. But like I said, being Satan isn’t my goal. All I want to do is to survive this hellish place with my brain, soul, and sanity intact.”
The imp laughed. “I wish you the best of luck then, Ms. Michaelis. They say fighting a war for peace is like screwing for virginity. Your little battle to save yourself? It’s much worse.”
His words rendered me mute. It was just as well that he didn’t seem to expect a reply. I blinked, and just like that, he was gone.
I had no idea what was going on, but all of a sudden, I suspected Adolf the imp was far more than he seemed. I fully intended to find out what he was hiding.
Through Anger and Envy
The next day
“Say, Gemma, what do you know about imps?”
We were seated together at the breakfast table of the Sloth Dorms. A half-asleep Darling was by my side, staring dazedly at her plate. In fact, almost everyone was still sleepy except me and Gemma. She had s
hown up earlier, claiming that she wanted to avoid sitting with her own house today, on account of its members being ‘classless peasants.’ I hoped to take advantage of this opportunity to badger her for more information.
Gemma eyed me over the edge of her goblet and licked her blood-stained lips. I’d sort of realized she was a vampire even before now, so her diet didn’t really take me by surprise. I’d decided to focus more on my side-project of figuring out Adolf’s true identity.
“Imps?” she asked. “They’re low-level demons, servants of Satan, usually in charge of creating minor mischief or chaos. I heard the academy used to have some as service staff during the time of the Big Guy, but they all left. Unless, of course, they didn’t, and you actually saw one yesterday.”
I’d seen more than one, if I thought about the group I’d run into while on my way to the academy. I debated the merits of mentioning that, but decided against it. “Who knows? Maybe I just imagined it. I was tired as fuck. Those Sloth Dorms hit me hard.”
“I told you that always happens,” Gemma replied. “You seem to be doing better this morning.”
That was because I’d decided, on a whim, to see if I could sleep in the library. No one had come to bug me, and with Shiro watching over me, I’d had no trouble whatsoever.
But that was probably against school rules, so once again, I lied. “Maybe I’m getting used to it.”
“Well, it’s good that you’re well rested! We have PE today. You’re going to need the energy.”
Her words almost made me choke on my juice. “PE? What? But that wasn’t on my schedule!”
“It’s in today’s Mundane slot,” Gemma explained. “Each Mundane class is different and on Tuesdays, we have PE.”
I hadn’t thought I could dread anything more than my upcoming class with Ammit, the Devourer of Souls, but PE changed that. Courtesy of good genes—or, as I now knew it, possibly magic—I’d always been a well-proportioned girl, which was a good thing, because exercising clashed badly with my condition. Having Shiro meant that I did a regular amount of moving around, and that helped, but I was never going to be a fitness-oriented person.
