A Demon's Wings: Vice College For Young Demons: Year Three

by Marie Mistry

  I inwardly cringed. Because having wings, horns and an over-the-top sigillary wasn't enough. Now even the freaking building was pointing a giant arrow of attention over my head.

  “Lady Rutia will not be pleased to have been shunted further away from the Prime Throne,” she added, oblivious to my growing grumpiness as we approached the three seats at the front of the hall.

  Vendra stopped by the throne to the left, her eyes raking over the gold with its plush red cushions. Now that we were closer, I could see the Carazor crest emblazoned on the seat, and in the seat to my left, was a woman shooting daggers at me with her eyes.

  Vendra left with very little fanfare, striding to the seat on the right of the Prime Throne and perching on it like she was on the Prime Throne, instead of next to it. Gilly stood behind and to her right and behind me, waiting for further instruction, was Leonie.

  I followed her lead, but beckoned Leonie close to me, instead of letting her stay back. She approached and I leaned toward her, like I'd seen the other lords and ladies do when they wished to order their unshown to fetch them something.

  “What are your impressions?” I asked under my breath, knowing that unshown saw things that I never would.

  “I haven't seen enough to make any decisions yet, Lady. But the unshown steer clear of nearly every member of the High Chamber. I wouldn't trust any of them.”

  I nodded sombrely. “I don't.”

  Leonie backed away quietly and I sat lost in thought for a few moments until the air stilled.

  A long, high-pitched chime rang out, echoing louder and louder until it silenced all conversation in the room. When it ended, a short man, wearing the same black robes as the rest of the High Chamber, stood slightly to the side of the Prime Throne and cleared his throat delicately. I knew from Nelly's briefing that this was the Speaker of the Assembly. He wasn't a head of house but his position was hereditary and, supposedly, impartial.

  “In the absence of a Prime, it falls to you to elect a successor.” His squeaky voice was amazingly clear across such an enormous room. “Nomination papers will now be handed around and prospects will state their case in two-minute intervals until lunch. Once that has completed, each candidate with more than two nominations from High Chamber peers will be put on the ballot papers and voting will commence. We will hear the results after lunch, install our new Prime and then commence with our other orders of business.”

  I blinked, looking at my watch. There was no way that so many people wanted to become Prime that it would take three hours to hear them all. Perhaps they just expected us to need time to make the decision.

  Oh, how wrong I was.

  It seemed practically every member of the High Chamber had put their name forward. There must have been over a hundred candidates and it seemed like most people weren't even listening. Instead, they whispered into the ears of their unshown, who then carried the messages to their allies around the room. The unshown were the ears and voices of this place, I realised, watching them bustle between thrones. They seemed to be used to form alliances, and I wondered idly how these demons could rely on the unshown so much and still treat them like dirt.

  “My Lady,” Leonie began, just as the speeches were winding down. I tilted my head to listen to her as she whispered. “There's word that you've been nominated for Prime.”

  “What?” I turned to look at her, eyes wide with astonishment as I struggled to keep my voice down. “I've only been here five minutes!”

  “I know. It's likely that the people nominating you are hoping that your youth will make you an easy candidate to manipulate.”

  “I won't win.” I couldn't win.

  “You've somehow become quite popular,” Leonie disagreed.

  “Who's nominated me? I didn't even make a speech!”

  “The Lord Ajax and the Lord Delaroza.”

  “Lord Delaroza? Why the hell is he nominating me when he's put himself forward?”

  “He's a wild card, but a likeable one. He's been a member of the High Chamber since the late 1600s, after he managed to crawl up from the Low Chamber, which is rare enough to make him dangerous. Whatever his reasons, he's experienced enough not to reveal his motivations.”

  “And Ajax?” I recognised the name but I couldn't place it.

  “He's a banker. From what I can tell, he makes most of his decisions based on how much money it will make him. Perhaps he sees profit in making the Assembly unstable.”

  “Babette was an Ajax…” I remembered, finally connecting the name. “She never spoke about him though.”

  “Your friend who finished Vice last year?”

  “Yes.”

  “I wouldn't place any importance on those kinds of family connections. Most people never have any contact with their head of house. Lady Eliana Rutia is one of the few who run a completely democratic system. All members of her house vote on issues and she uses her vote to represent their will. Even the unshown members of her household have a say…”

  I glanced at the woman sat to my left, who Vendra had pointed out earlier. Her name sounded familiar. I wondered if there was someone at Vice in her family as well.

  Her attention was elsewhere, so I took the opportunity to examine her properly.

  She was clad in black, like the others, with a Wrath crystal glimmering on the back of her left hand. Her corkscrew hair was pulled back in a severe bun, making her face seem grim and determined. It was the kind of expression you saw on the face of an army general, or a world leader. The contrast with the elegant smiles of the ladies beyond her made her even more startling. She might have been a beautiful woman, if she didn't have such an aura of distaste and impatience about her, but my musings were interrupted when she turned to stare daggers at me once again.

  “I don't get the impression that she likes me very much,” I muttered.

  “Don't take it personally. She doesn't seem to like anyone very much—”

  Leonie went to say something else but that odd chime sounded once again, and the Speaker of the Assembly stepped into place.

  “Lords and Ladies, thank you for your patience. The candidates with at least two nominations for Prime of this Assembly are as follows: Lady Vendra Braxion.” I glanced at my grandmother, who seemed completely unsurprised as she nodded her acknowledgement to the speaker. “Lady Lilith Carazor.” I fought the urge to fidget as all eyes turned towards me for a second. “Lord Hannibal Delaroza. Lady Dorothy Faxom. Lord Abernathy Mogg. And Lady Elizabeth Xandler.”

  The speaker paused for a long moment, then lowered his list of paper and spoke again. “The voting begins now.”

  At once, hundreds of paper slips flew out from behind him towards each of our thrones. I expected hundreds more to be sent out to the Low Chamber but when I peered over the balcony, I saw only one piece of paper floating down to them. Leonie grabbed my ballot slip for me and handed it to me with a small bow.

  “The Low Chamber only has one collective vote,” she informed me. “They do a smaller vote amongst themselves and the winner is the person they mark on the official paper.”

  I grimaced at the unfairness of it but I took my paper and a pen from her regardless. “I have no idea who to vote for.”

  “You have to pick someone. Abstaining from electing the Prime isn't allowed.”

  I hesitated with the pen over my grandmother's name, then disregarded it. The entire idea of me being here was so that I wouldn't be under her thumb. Making her Prime would just put me in the position I'd worked so hard against.

  Delaroza had been nice but perhaps the safest option would be to vote for the person he'd named as the favourite to win, Lady Xandler…

  I hesitated, then put a cross in Delaroza's box. Going with the underdog seemed like a good thing to do.

  The moment the pen left the slip, it flew out of my hands and towards a box beside the Speaker. It posted itself through the slot in the side and I sighed knowing that the decision was made.

  “I'll get your lunch, Lady,” Leo
nie whispered, disappearing.

  I blinked and Rutia was standing in front of me. For the briefest second, I hesitated, then pushed out of my chair, uncomfortable with being so much lower than her while she stared at me with that determined, black gaze. Of course, standing didn't help much and merely served to highlight my shortness against her Amazonian height.

  “So, you're the one who put all of the first-year students through their showings last year,” she declared, not even bothering with a greeting.

  I grimaced, remembering how my presence had put one of those students through their showing and killed them in the process. The look in Theo's eyes as he'd sworn vengeance for his friend still haunted me.

  I could have brushed it off, assumed she meant it as a compliment, but I could tell Rutia was not a woman who cared for bullshit, and I already respected her for it.

  “Not by choice…” I admitted.

  She cocked her head to one side. “And you're on the left side of the Prime Throne.”

  I made sure my face was blank so she couldn't see how uncomfortable that made me. “Apparently so.”

  “Interesting.”

  With that, she nodded once and left with a swish of her robes, striding back to her own throne and sitting back in it, just as her unshown brought her lunch and Leonie distracted me with mine. I had no idea where she got the meal from but it looked as though it had been prepared by some celebrity chef. The food on the plate looked like art and the portion size was dismally small.

  “Your starter, Lady,” she announced and I perked up at hearing that there would, at least, be a main course.

  It was odd to eat a three-course meal whilst sitting on a throne, overlooking more than a hundred others eating the same meal at cramped desks. A meal of that standard felt as though it deserved to be served and eaten at a table, not on my lap like some cheap takeout food. It was even weirder knowing that Leonie was watching me eat and clearing away my food. I wanted to insist she at least share with me but when I asked, she reassured me that the unshown had food waiting for them in the kitchens.

  Everything in me rebelled against this place. It was a cesspit of classism and stuffy rules, hidden behind a veneer of beauty and wealth. Just knowing that I had signed an agreement to come here four times every year for the rest of my life made me feel revolted.

  But it wasn't enough to make me wish I had agreed to live under Vendra's rule.

  My independence was worth a little suffering.

  Chapter 9

  After lunch, I followed Vendra's lead and mingled, trying to get a feel of the other members of the High Chamber for myself. Some were clearly only there because they were required to be but others gave me the creeps. Then, there were the obviously power-hungry, whose eyes roved across me like they were assessing my usefulness as we talked.

  To my own credit, I was as ruthless as they were. I used my pathokinesis mercilessly to get the upper hand. The one thing my gift had picked up on was the sense of desperation that seemed to echo from the walls. It made me feel so nauseous that I took to only using my pathokinesis in short bursts, when I really needed to know what someone was feeling. Even then, I still didn't feel like I'd made any allies by the time the chime sounded once again and we all returned to our seats.

  The Speaker wasted no time waiting for the stragglers as he stepped up to his podium, clutching a list in his hands.

  “Lords and Ladies, the vote is in,” he announced. “In last place, with three votes, Lady Dorothy Faxom.” Okay, so I wasn't last. That was a good thing, right?

  Nobody clapped for Lady Faxom and the Speaker only paused for a second before continuing. “In fifth place, with ten votes, Lord Abernathy Mogg.”

  Okay, I could take fourth place. I probably got eleven votes or something. I stared at the Speaker but he wasn't looking at me.

  “In fourth place, with fifty-three votes, Lady Elizabeth Xandler…”

  There was a collective gasp and I frowned slightly. Delaroza had seemed certain that she was the favourite…

  A quick glance at Lady Xandler, revealed her to be glaring at the Speaker, who was carrying on regardless.

  “In third place, Lady Vendra Braxion with one hundred and twenty-four votes.” My grandmother received a polite smattering of applause and looked pleased with her result, as she nodded politely to her supporters.

  But I could barely focus on her.

  I hadn't been announced yet. Why the hell hadn't I been announced yet? I couldn't become Prime!

  I stared at the Speaker, wishing I could force him to announce me as the runner-up.

  “In second place…” The Speaker was dragging the moment out like the sadistic bastard I decided he was. “Lady Lilith Carazor, with two hundred and ninety-three votes.”

  My breath whooshed out of me but no one heard it over the roar of applause.

  “Lords and Ladies, I announce your new Prime, Lord Hannibal Delaroza, with two hundred and ninety-four votes.” The Speaker didn't smile as he announced the news but enough people were cheering that no one else seemed to notice. I glanced around me to see my grandmother wearing a calculating smile as she stood up to applaud.

  I had literally been one vote away from being Prime…

  If I hadn't voted for Hannibal, it could have been a draw, which might have ended with me walking up to the Prime Throne. Either that, or I would have been swatted like a fly in a duel for the position.

  My breath caught in my throat as Hannibal took his place before the huge chair but before anyone else could speak, a man's voice roared over the Assembly.

  “I ISSUE A CHALLENGE!”

  The gasp went around the room as a grey-clad member of the Low Chamber stood up, face purple with rage.

  “Lord Rixon, as a member of the Low Chamber, you are not eligible for the position of Prime. Now sit down before you embarrass yourself,” the Speaker said, turning away, as if to dismiss the issue entirely.

  “Aye, but I can challenge on behalf of a runner-up from the High Chamber,” Lord Rixon insisted, unimpressed by the glares being levelled at him from above.

  “And who in the High Chamber sponsors you to issue challenge?”

  No one spoke. I could have sworn that, for a long minute, the room was silent enough that I could hear people's clothes rustling as they fidgeted. But Rixon wasn't cowed. He just stared up at us, his eyes flicking between the five other candidates. I didn't dare move for fear of someone interpreting it as accepting his offer.

  The Speaker was just starting to shake his head to reject Rixon's claim, when the most delicate cough filled the silence like a battering ram.

  My eyes snapped toward Vendra, who had a tiny smile on her face as she addressed the three men. “Why not? I do love a duel and we could use a little entertainment. Are you up for the sport, Lord Delaroza?”

  Delaroza nodded solemnly. “I understand your wish to test your future Prime, Lady Braxion. Lord Rixon, I accept your challenge on the Lady Braxion's behalf.”

  As if the Assembly Chamber heard the words and responded, a glass platform materialised in mid-air between the two floors, suspended there by thick gold chains.

  Hannibal sprang over the edge of the railing, landing lightly on the glass surface and drawing an elegant sword that looked like it belonged in the Three Musketeers. Rixon used aerokinesis to float himself up and I wondered if that was another handicap that was imposed on the Low Chamber, making them waste power before the battle had even begun. When he landed with a stomp, he drew two hand-axes from his waist and settled into a ready position that made it clear he was an experienced fighter.

  The Speaker nodded. “As with all duels within the Assembly, this fight is to the death. As the rules require, I now give the challenger one last chance to back down with honour.”

  “Never,” Rixon growled.

  “As you wish.” Hannibal twirled his sword in what seemed like a superfluous motion.

  I might have been mistaken, but I was almost certain the Speaker rolled h
is eyes before he said, “Begin.”

  Rixon filled the air with power, racing straight for Hannibal like a berserker. I waited for the charismatic lord to react but he seemed to do nothing. Rixon's axe raised high into the air, poised to smash into the other lord.

  The entire Assembly braced itself to see Hannibal's body torn into pieces.

  At the last possible moment, Hannibal raised a shield so strong that it was opaque.

  Rixon slammed into it almost comically and a few people chuckled as he was forced back a few steps, shaking his head.

  Hannibal seemed to be making a game for himself with how late he could raise his defences. Rixon had the strength and force of a rampaging bull but Hannibal's finesse made a mockery of him every time.

  “FIGHT BACK, YOU SLIMY ARSE!” Rixon bellowed, after his latest failed attempt.

  Hannibal inclined his head just the barest fraction, then narrowed his eyes.

  I watched as a single, strong missile of PK flew straight at Rixon. The furious lord wasn't unprepared; he raised a shield the moment he saw the missile forming. The attack ricocheted wildly, striking one of the columns and chipping off a huge chunk of the marble which clattered to the floor.

  He was going to get someone killed, I realised, bringing my own energy to the ready, just in case I had to shield myself. The attacks were now ricocheting around the room like fireworks.

  Leonie and most of the other unshown had retreated slightly behind the thrones of their respective lords and ladies. But some of them were still being forced to go out into the open, fetching things and carrying messages, despite the danger. Even Gilly was busy, darting between thrones towards Vendra, who was completely engrossed in the fight. The unshown carried a glass of wine in shaking hands, but whatever fear of the missiles she had, it was clearly eclipsed by her sense of duty.