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

by Marie Mistry

  When he strode through the doors in his black uniform, the entire room stared. Only when he was beside me, did I straighten my spine and look up at the head table, with a poise even Vendra could be proud of.

  “Headmistress, I believe it's time I offered you overdue notice of my matings.” I had no idea how my voice was so calm and clear.

  “Matings, Lady Carazor?” Professor Saxon used my formal title and I rolled with it.

  “Officer Blaze Inferna, Mr Bane Krossian, Mr Kain Zenunim, Mr Jin Sharax, Mr Daron Abraxon and Professor Aeron Saxon are all my mates.” I left out Enzo purely because adding an assassin into the mix might have upgraded the news from a bombshell to a nuclear blast.

  If I wasn't so tense, the way everyone's jaws dropped might have been comical. The Headmistress turned slowly towards Aeron, eyeing her son strangely.

  Aeron nodded slowly, confirming what I'd told her and her whole body seemed to stiffen slightly before she looked around, dismissing us.

  “Anyone else?”

  Lulu shakily got to her feet at the end of the table. “I mated Professor McKinnax before he retired but I was never in his classes,” she admitted.

  Between us, we'd rendered the entire hall speechless. When the Headmistress recovered her composure, she glanced at the both of us.

  “Are … Ahem … Was there anyone else affected by this?” When no one came forward, she nodded. “I will see those who were honest in my office, immediately after dinner.” With a clap of her hands, unshown poured into the room, carrying plates laden with food to the centre of our tables.

  I expected Blaze to leave, but he sat beside me instead, nudging his sister aside to make room for his bulk. “Thank the Strange God for that.”

  I just stared at him blankly. “You say that like it's a good thing.”

  “They may have forced our hands, but mated demons have rights which are sacred in ancient law. No one can separate a mated pair against their wishes and when I die, there is a grieving period of a year where no one may duel you.”

  I stared at him, my eyes burning with unshed tears at his statement.

  “You're not going to die.”

  He stayed silent, the unfiltered calm he was feeling flowed down the bond to me. Blaze had completely accepted his death, and I just couldn't.

  “We kept it secret as long as we could,” Jin murmured, breaking the ugly silence which followed my statement. “But it was always bound to come out eventually.”

  I dared a glance up at Professor Saxon, who was staring at her son reproachfully, then at Lulu, who still looked as white as a sheet. When I looked back at my Sloth mate, I marvelled at how calm he was about this, how calm my mates seemed to be. “Things are changing too fast.”

  “They always do.” He squeezed my hand under the table. “But now all of us can go out and tell the world that you're ours.”

  “I can carry your bag in public without it being weird,” Daron added.

  “We might get to have more than stolen moments in the dark walking you back to your tower,” Blaze said.

  “Wear your sigillary to that meeting, Sunshine.” Kain was keeping an eye on the head table. “You never know if you'll need to put Professor Saxon in her place, Lady Carazor style.”

  I smiled and withdrew the cold, metal band from my bag, rubbing it as I thought. “I don't think I'll ever like being part of the Assembly, but at least it does have some benefits.”

  Even Bane nodded.

  “If it keeps you safe, I'll kiss the Assembly's ass,” he grouched.

  “Eww, too far.” Rina stabbed at her food with a vengeance. “Almost everyone in the Assembly is over a hundred. No one wants to go near their asses with a ten-foot pole.”

  “How is it going with Fintan?” I asked.

  “It's not.” Her tone made it clear that was all she was willing to say on the subject.

  Fortunately for her, Fintan wasn't a member of staff, so there was no need to confess her mate to Professor Saxon. Although I would have paid to hear the details of that mysterious relationship.

  Dinner finished without any more surprises and we made our way to the Headmistress's office in a subdued group. Even Lulu seemed less bubbly than usual though. Admittedly, she was likely in her head, talking to her mates the entire time.

  Saxon called Lulu in first and when she left, she just shrugged at me. “She just made me tell her that I wasn't mated to any other members of staff,” she explained. “I'm going to go and fill Nelly in on what happened. She'll probably have a meltdown because we all know how much she hates missing out on this stuff.”

  Lulu skipped off down the hall without another word, leaving me to stare at the door like a nervous fool. I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. I had my mates and if Professor Saxon wanted to do anything, well … it would be hard for her to do so, when she wasn't allowed to speak unless spoken to.

  I slipped the sigillary over my crystal and felt the familiar pulse of warmth surround me.

  Perhaps it was a bitchy move, but Professor Saxon was part of a group of people who were trying to kill me—and presently succeeding.

  I looked each of my mates in the eye, then pushed the door open without knocking.

  The instant Professor Saxon saw the gold bands around my horns, she stood and bowed, her golden hair swinging forwards across her face as she did so.

  “You know the veracity of my matings already, so why am I here?” I demanded, keeping my words quiet to offset the abruptness of the question as my men filed into the room behind me in a group.

  “I am required to ask if you have any other mates among the faculty,” she replied, still not meeting my face.

  “I haven't. I expect the College will respect my privacy and not question me or my mates further, if I agree to drop my combat class to prevent any conflict of interest?”

  “Yes, Lady Carazor.”

  “Good.” I started to turn away. “If there's nothing else, I'll take my leave.”

  “There was one other thing, Lady Carazor.” I cursed myself for giving her the opening, as I turned back and steeled myself for what was to come.

  “Yes?”

  “The elders believe that your gift for giving students their showings may be responsible for the reappearance of matings. They wish for you to meet with more first-years from across Europe as soon as possible, in order to ensure that these incidents are not isolated.”

  I grimaced. “Headmistress, you and I both know that I am not responsible for creating matings. Their mates would simply have been unshown, if I hadn't given them a showing. Tell them I am not interested.”

  “Lilith, wait.” Bane's voice was harder to hear down the mating bond than usual, and I strained to listen. “If you lead them on, it may take longer for them to figure out the unshown are their mates and give the Resistance longer to prepare.”

  “You want me to make all of the first-years in Europe go through their showings?” I asked, incredulously. “You do realise that's what she wants, right?” I softened my mental voice. “I don't think it will help.”

  More static filtered through the bond, obscuring whatever he was saying, and I glanced at him, to see him frustrated.

  “All in favour of me agreeing to meet the first-years?” I sent down the bonds to my other mates.

  The results came back as a tie, with Aeron and Daron siding with Bane and the others as suspicious of Saxon's motives as I was. Jin was on the fence, so he abstained, which left me as the tiebreaker.

  I sighed. I was so sick of being a bitch about this. The unshown were treated like shit and I had the option to do something about it.

  I turned back to the Headmistress. I was convinced this was going to bite me in the ass but, once again, saying 'no' wasn't an option.

  “After further discussion, I will do it,” I grated.

  At my words, a massive itch sprang up between my shoulder blades and over my wings, making me miss her reply as I fought off the urge to reach behind me and tear at my ow
n skin. When she paused, I executed a stilted nod and strode from the room without a word, making it exactly ten paces down the empty corridor before giving in and contorting myself to try and get the spot.

  “Pet, let me.” Jin's careful hands took over, followed swiftly by Kain's. They took a wing each and rubbed.

  Gradually, oh so gradually, the horrible feeling went away. And I turned around to find the rest of my mates giving me weird looks.

  “What?” I snapped my wings a few times, trying to beat the last lingering twinges out of them.

  “Are they slightly bigger than before?” Daron pushed his glasses up his nose, as though it might help him see better.

  “Only marginally,” Blaze agreed.

  I slipped the sigillary off my brimstone and sighed. “Great. No doubt the poison playing havoc with my system has changed growing pains into growing itches.” I paused. “At least the Strange God approves. But what, exactly, did I agree to in there? The itching was so bad I didn't hear the last part.”

  Kain smirked. “The elders suggested a winter solstice ball to allow you to meet the first-years from the continent. You just agreed to let Professor Saxon host it at Vice.”

  I let my head fall back in frustration. “I don't have time for a ball.”

  There was too much to do: we had to break into Craven's house, try to figure out the identity of the Grand Master of the Syndicate and stop Ajax before he sent any more assassins after my friends. All whilst I was trying to survive a mystery poison.

  “She has a point. The elders' presence will stop them swarming you at once. In many ways, it's a clever idea.”

  “And it would be a big enough distraction for me to break into Craven's house,” Bane added. “If all the important people are at this ball watching you, they won't suspect you of anything, if it goes wrong.”

  I glared at him. “You are not breaking into that house without me. Remember what happened the last time you went off on your own 'for the greater good?'”

  His ears turned red and he glanced down at his feet before replying. “Point taken. Then we should break in before the ball and hope the hype of everyone getting ready for it is enough.”

  I nodded. “You don't have to do everything by yourself anymore,” I whispered, moving closer to him. “We're a team, remember?”

  He smiled, meeting my eyes as his hand cupped my cheek fondly. “I remember, Precious.”

  Chapter 27

  Since the solstice would fall on the twenty-first, we planned to raid Craven Hall on the nineteenth, which left us barely three weeks to prepare everything. With Enzo and Blaze on board with the plan, getting in and out would be a lot easier. The shadow realm would be our backup plan, in case things went wrong, but we couldn't rely on it completely, since Enzo and Kain were the only ones able to access it at will.

  Blaze had taken the time to practice with his visions, using me as his focus to try and see what would happen during our infiltration. Even though he could now reliably summon a vision whenever he touched me, he still only saw the same vision of Professor Saxon holding a knife over me that Rina had. I could tell that seeing something so gloomy over and over was starting to wear on him, so I made him stop trying after the first ten tries. Instead, I turned his focus to simpler things, like what underwear I would be wearing the next day or what tiny gift from Bane I'd find in my pocket next.

  Those visions were easier on him but the lack of foresight into our mission was disturbing.

  It meant we were going into Craven Hall with only our reconnaissance and wits to guide us. All we could do was hope that it was enough.

  Before that happened, I had a plan to put in motion.

  That was why, the night before we were due to raid Craven Hall, I was standing in the dark, beneath the Covetous Tower. I had a collection of tiny pebbles at my feet and I used Terrakinesis to aim them at the only illuminated window at just past midnight.

  Soon enough, my Envy mate popped his head out of his room, eyes blurry with sleep and, for once, bereft of his glasses as he peered down at me.

  “Lilith?” he whisper-shouted. “What are you doing?”

  I cleared my throat awkwardly. “I wondered if you'd like to go on a date with me?” I asked, shuffling on the spot.

  The grin that lit up his face made me smile back. “I'd love to,” he replied. “Give me a second.”

  His head disappeared back into the window and I sighed in relief. Not that I'd expected him to say no, but I knew I was kind of reversing our roles with this. He'd not asked me on another date since we went to the abandoned amusement park, and I was feeling the loss of those romantic moments.

  But that was the problem with my matings. The guys did everything for me and it was beginning to feel uneven. So I was fixing things, starting with my sweet, nerdy, Envy mate.

  Daron appeared in the doorway two minutes later, wearing casual clothes that mirrored the short, form-hugging dress I was wearing. He offered me his arm as soon as he was near enough and I hooked mine through his, kissing the bottom of his jaw as we started to walk along the path.

  “So, where are we going?” Daron asked.

  “The Carazor Estate,” I answered, just as Kain stepped out of the darkness in front of us, tiny balls of starlight illuminating his path as he approached.

  “Have fun, kids.” He grinned. “Don't do anything I wouldn't do.”

  His thousand-watt smile was the last thing I saw before we tumbled into darkness and out again, standing amongst the bushes of the Carazor Estate. I'd been before, but only to set things up. Now I was ready to explore with my mate.

  “I have a midnight picnic,” I admitted. “But I thought it might be fun to explore first?”

  Daron's blush made my cheeks heat in response. “Lead on.”

  We were quiet as we strolled through the carefully tended flowerbeds. The only sound was the wind and the click of my heels on the paving slabs as I intentionally led us away from the gazebo in the centre and towards the topiary on the edges. Bane has really outdone himself with this garden, I thought, as we passed a hedge sculpted into a perfect dragon.

  “He's so talented,” Daron muttered, his thoughts clearly mirroring my own. “He could make millions doing gardens for the rich if he wanted to.”

  I snorted, trying to imagine Bane as a gardener. “He would never do it. He's too busy being a trickster and a rebel.”

  We lapsed back into silence before I continued, “What about you? What are you going to do after we finish college?”

  He shrugged. “My sisters have offered me a place in their architecture firm, but I think I'd rather set up my own cyber security company.”

  I smiled, because I could totally imagine him doing that. “You'd be great at it.” I steered us right again, towards the end of the carefully manicured garden and onto the terrace, looking out over the edge of a cliff and on to the beautiful, Cumbrian countryside beyond. “It's beautiful out here.”

  “Yes,” Daron whispered, his eyes still on me. “It really is.”

  It might have been a cheesy cliché, but my heart did a little stutter in my chest anyway. I blushed and sent a small spark of pyrokinesis down to the base of the cliff as a distraction. Ten seconds later, the first firework shot into the air, just as my Envy mate pulled my face up to his and kissed the living daylights out of me.

  His soft, warm lips on mine drew me into that fairy-tale world that only kissing my white knight mate could evoke. My heart choked slightly as how much I loved this man overwhelmed me for a second, and I poured that love down the bond.

  In the back of my skull, a headache sprung up with a vengeance. I crushed it back with all the will I had, determined to enjoy this perfect moment. But it just pushed back harder until Daron must have sensed it down our bond.

  “Take some from me,” he insisted.

  “It's supposed to be your night,” I grumbled, pulling my face away to stare at the fireworks. “I'm not going to ruin it by accidentally injuring you because of this
poison screwing with my Succubus.”

  His long fingers carefully tilted my chin back to face him. “Nothing could please me more than to make sure that my mate is well-fed.” It was only because of how much I was scrutinising the bond that I caught the heat that flashed along it. “Take from me. You're mine.”

  “And you're mine,” I whispered back, our breath mingling just before our mouths met.

  And just like that, I was back in fairy-tale land, but this time the sharp, coolness of his power twined with our tongues as it flowed from him into me. His arms wound around my waist, pulling me closer and tipping me backwards as though he were about to sweep me off my feet.

  The headache disappeared as soon as it had come and I stopped taking power, but he kept kissing me. Our breath mingled, our lips clashed and our tongues stroked in a mimicry of other, more carnal deeds. He reached down the bond this time, overwhelming me with the depth of emotion my Envy mate rarely let anyone see, but which consumed us both.

  “I love you,” he murmured against my lips when we came up for air.

  I couldn't help my breathless grin. “I love you too. Now come on. I had more planned for this date.”

  Much, much more.

  I planned to seduce the pants off of my sexy nerd and I had just the thing waiting in the gazebo to help me do it.

  The gazebo in the centre of the grounds was a huge, stone structure, modelled with great, Greek-style, white pillars that seemed to catch the moonlight and radiate it even brighter. Around the side was one continuous circular bench and, in the middle, a slight dais supported my latest addition.

  A pole.

  Daron stopped dead. “Is that…?”

  I smiled and let my hands wander up to the clasp at the back of my neck. One flick of my fingers had the fabric pooling off my body, leaving me only in the emerald green and black lace that I'd chosen specifically for him.

  At which point, Kain appeared out of nowhere.

  “No way am I sitting in the shadow realm with the rest of you peeping toms!” He was yelling into the shadow. “I'm getting a front row seat for this.”