by Lucy Auburn
Then Ezra plunges his hips forward and thrusts himself balls deep into me, pushing me off the bed and onto Mateo's cock. I moan around his shaft, and he reaches under to tweak at my breasts, which sway towards him.
"There," Ezra says, grabbing my hips and fucking in and out of me until his shaft is slick with my wetness. "That should shut you up."
They fuck me from either end, making my toes curl and heat gather in my center. Mateo fills my mouth up and tugs against my hair, his grunts, pants, moans, and curses making me feel powerful. Ezra thrusts himself inside me, the hardened act inevitably falling as he curves over my back and murmurs sweet nothings.
"Fuck, you're so hot."
"Suck like that, Dani," Mateo encourages, his hands curling around my head. "Yeah, just like that."
Ezra groans as I sway my hips back towards him. "Oh, Dani. I wish this could never end."
"Such a wet mouth—ah, fuck." I bat my eyelashes up at Mateo as I open my throat and swallow him. He makes a low, pained sound. "I'm gonna come, fuck!"
I swallow around him again, sucking for all I'm worth, as Ezra cries out and plunges inside me, nearly to the edge but not quite there. Mateo spills himself in the back of my throat, his eyes wide, clearly not meaning to come so soon. Heat pulses in me at the sight of him coming undone, whimpers leaving his mouth.
As he pulls out, he says, "I love you so fucking much, Dani."
Wiping my mouth off, I smirk up at him and swallow. "Love you too, asshole."
Then I do to Ezra exactly what I'd planned: pushing my ass back towards him, I lean all the way down against the bed, grab my ankles, and enjoy the gasp that leaves his mouth as his cock plunges deeper inside me then it ever has before. A moan of pleasure leaves my mouth, tremors wracking my body, and Ezra curses wildly as he curves against my back and releases himself, panting and moaning.
Tightening myself around him, I let a slow, deep orgasm wash over me, enjoying the way it pulls more and more of Ezra's orgasm from his body. When he's finally able to sound coherent, he murmurs, "I love you, Dani."
"Ezra. I love you too." Sitting up, I twist around and kiss him, his slick length falling from my body. "You jerk."
Sebastian has been jerking himself this whole time, keeping his cock hard just for me as he watches Ezra and Mateo fuck me at the same time. Prowling over to the bed, he pushes me back against the pillows, barely waiting for Ezra to make room, slots his hips between me, and presses his mouth to the corner of my lips.
"All the pleasure," he murmurs, and stars explode inside me as his cock plunges into my wet, willing, still trembling body. "I want you to have all the pleasure in the world, Dani."
My orgasm starts the instant he's deep inside me, and as he pulls my legs around him and strokes further in, it keeps going. I moan, barely able to think straight as he fucks me deeply and uses his powers on me the whole time.
I come for what feels like hours. Stars dance, my legs turn to jello, and the only thing I'm aware of is the sound of Sebastian's voice. The feeling of his lips ghosting against my skin. And the way his face comes undone as he orgasms inside me, moaning against my neck, the sound of his declarations of love barely audible.
Over and over again, I ride the waves of pleasure. Slowly, I come down. To his ear, in a low murmur, I tell him, "I love you more than the moon and the sky."
Afterwards, we all briefly shower again—all the sweat and everything else has to go somewhere, after all. Then we dry ourselves off and get dressed, meeting each other's eyes but not saying much. Weapons are cleaned, oiled, and sheathed. Supplies are stocked. Minor flesh wounds are bandaged.
Now it's time we face what's coming next: death.
Chapter 13
"Alright, so what's next?" I stare at Auerbach, gathered with him, my quartet, the other teachers, and the warrior students we have left still standing in the big, open space of the shifter gym. "Do I just like... go to the gate? And then my guys..."
"I'm not really sure how it works," he confesses, "but I know how you can get answers: go into the spirit realm."
"I've done that already," I point out. "It wasn't a picnic."
"I'm sure. But this time, you won't be going in body and soul. Just your spirit will enter... in a half-dying state. I have a spell—"
"No way." The voice that interrupts shocks me; Laura McKinley, my fierce, often scary Hand-to-Hand Combat instructor steps forward and shakes her head at Auerbach, mouth a thin line. "No student of mine is sacrificing themselves in a battlefield. Death while fighting is one thing, but this? Magic is no way to die."
Taking a step forward, I tell her, "I've faced worse than this."
"Yes, and you shouldn't have had to," she says, facing me with her chin up. "I may not be able to stop this, but I at least want my objection noted."
"Mine as well." Kade shrugs as I look at him, eyes wide. "If you can't fight it with weapons, Dani, you shouldn't have to fight it at all."
"And we never go into battle alone," Fisk adds, his voice a low rumble, his mouth turned down at the corners. "Auerbach, you're new here. If you want to send one of our students into the fray, you'll have to have a good reason for it. It's one thing for the students to get injured defending themselves, after plenty of training and preparation—it's another for one of them to risk dying for a gamble."
"I can do it," Yohan volunteers, his eyes a steely, dark brown. "I only have the one life left, but I'll gladly give it for one of my favorite students."
I feel my eyes prick with tears at the corners. I didn't think Yohan did much more than tolerate me most of the time, though after I helped ease his sister's transition into death, he had a certain level of affection for me. He's always been gruff, as have my other teachers, but as they stand facing the mage with injured and weary students all around them, I realize the reason why they've been so harsh: they were trying to protect us.
None of the teachers here can stop the powerful Grims from wanting to kill us and take our hearts. They can't put wards around the campus, like Auerbach, or face off against demons with anything other than their hands, weapons, and shifter forms. Protecting us is their duty, but lately they've been unable to do much other than watch us be put in danger, again and again. Now they're stepping up—for me.
"I appreciate the worry." Headmaster Towers steps forward and turns to face her staff. "But please, let Instructor Auerbach explain further. I'm sure he doesn't plan on hurting Dani—and if her designation as a Black Phoenix lets her find answers and close the gate to Hell, that'll be worth the risk."
"No offense, Lana," McKinley says in a disapproving tone, "but after all this is over, maybe we should consider voting on a replacement Headmaster. Students have a startling tendency to die on your watch."
Towers' face briefly crumples before she manages to put a veneer of distance back on her expression. Around us, the students murmur in alarm and curiosity, and I find myself looking at the teachers with new eyes. So often I've felt alone in my time here, special enough to be thrown into the fray but not enough to be fully protected—maybe I was overlooking how much the teachers wanted to protect us but were helpless.
"We can talk about it later," Towers says, clearly eager to move on to any other subject. "For now, we should at least listen to Mage Auerbach's plan before dismissing it out of hand. Especially given the fact that we're all certain to die, students and teachers alike, if we don't find a way to shut the gate to Hell and keep its denizens on the other side, where they belong."
McKinley purses her mouth at this, but stands down. The other teachers do too, though I can tell they're not thrilled. I wonder how much of their trepidation has to do with the fact that Auerbach represents a faction of the supernatural world that keeps secrets and refuses to mingle with the rest of us. The mages set the wards here, because they're paid to, but they don't share their runes freely even though their magic could protect the phoenix whose lives are in danger of Grim slaughter.
While Auerbach may have broken rank e
nough to start teaching here, he still keeps most of his secrets close to the chest. I'm sure the other teachers are worried that he's keeping them even now, in a dire moment of terrible danger. I've come to trust the man—even though I have a bad track record with the new teachers around here—but they have their reasons for disliking him.
"I understand your objections," he says, stepping forward again, face somber. "This isn't something I suggest lightly. The spirit realm is a dangerous place—Dani would know more than most, since she's been there recently." Shock ripples across many faces; my mission overseas was kept on a strict need-to-know basis. "But the greatest danger isn't to Dani. It's to her quartet of demons, who will be key to closing the door to Hell.
"In order to protect us all, they must sacrifice their lifeblood. That's what we know. To find out more, Dani will need to go directly through the gate for answers—and the only way to do that is in spirit form, while her body and soul are separated. I have a spell that will keep her suspended in that state. And while she's on the other side of the door, time will stand still, giving her the opportunity to do what must be done. But I won't pretend there's no danger to her."
Fisk grumbles, then points out, "You keep saying the other side of that door. But the gate leads to Hell—nowhere else. And you're talking about sending a student there."
Malavic's words come to me again. He knew I'd be going to Hell in order to close that gate. While I'm there, I'll get to help the guys break their contracts, and return with their memories intact—if we manage to pull it off. I can't help feeling a little shiver of premonition go down my spine at how much the demon knew, and how little he's told me about his mission in the darkest realm there is.
"I'm willing to go there," I tell Fisk, trying to sound sure and brave, even though it's fucking Hell, of all places. "It's not like I'll be going alone. My quartet will be joining me, once we've figured out how to close the gate. Our research—Auerbach and Lynx's research—revealed that me crossing over is crucial. And I can't exactly just waltz through the way I am now."
Clearing his throat, Lynx speaks, and I notice the unease in the crowd at a demon speaking to them, even after all this time spent fighting alongside my quartet. "Right, my research. One of the things we discovered is that the instructions to close the door are on both sides—part of the spell is on this side, the other part on the side that faces towards Hell. So the only way to close it is if someone goes through to read the inscription on that side. Once Dani has done that, she'll send the other half of the spell through, and we'll complete it."
"Send it through?" McKinley sounds doubtful. "I don't think there will be cell service in Hell."
Auerbach speaks up, "There won't be. Which is why I've fashioned a spellglass." He pulls a small glass vial with a golden stopper out of his voluminous pockets, which contain multitudes of spell ingredients and objects. "All Dani has to do is write the other half of the spell down on the piece of paper inside, stick it in the vial, and send it through. The glass is spelled to find me no matter where I am—see?"
To demonstrate, he drops the vial. Just before it reaches the floor, the thing stops, hovers, and shoots back up into his hand. Auerbach looks pleased at this, but the teachers just seem wary—it's one thing to trust ancient wards around the campus to keep us safe, but another entirely to think that a parlor trick will survive Hell.
I don't have to believe, though. I know in my heart that this is the only way through. For me, for my guys—it's time to face the truth beating at the center of everything.
It's time to go back to where they came from, and find out who they were before they died. Time for a reckoning.
Whether I'm ready or not, whether everyone approves or not, I'm going straight to Hell.
And I won't come back until I've gotten what I'm looking for.
"Are we sure we're ready for this?" Lynx anxiously runs his eyes across us. "We're really gonna do it?"
"Go to Hell," Mateo quips, but without his usual grin. "Apparently we're doing it."
Auerbach turns to face me. We've gathered at the campus gates, on this side of the wards. The instructors and a select few students are at our backs, ready to fight in case we don't manage to close the gate in time, or any straggling demons make their way through. I said my teary goodbyes to Liam, Sam, and Olivia—Petra held me so tight I swear she was trying to break my body in two in order to prevent me from leaving.
"You don't have to do this if you don't want to," Auerbach says gently, no doubt seeing the fear in my eyes. "I can send my spirit to the other side of the gate to get the spell."
"If you die, it's pretty permanent," I point out.
"Dying in Hell is permanent no matter what kind of phoenix you are. That's why we're sending your soul through and keeping your body here—safe and intact. But you're not the only one who can do this."
"I am, though." Straightening up, I tell him, "I've got the power of seven immortals, and my magic will go through with my spirit, with the help of your spell. I can come back from the dead, like other phoenix, but I can also control demons because I was born a Grim. Who else could possibly do all that? Unless you have another Black Phoenix up those ridiculous sleeves of yours, it's me or no one."
He studies me. I make sure my face shows all the resolution I don't quite feel inside. Auerbach nods, as if satisfied by what he sees. "Hold out your wrist—not the arm with the bracelet, the other one. The last thing we need is spells ricocheting off each other. Now, I'm just going to tie this here..."
Pulling out what appears to be a simple length of cotton twine, but is no doubt something infused with magic, Auerbach ties it loosely around my wrist and weaves the ends together in a complicated series of knots until there's a six inch pattern of loops resting against my skin. Once he's done, he steps back, and looks over at my guys.
This is it. We might not make it back from this. Even if we do, there's a good chance we won't be the same. They may not be able to get their memories back. We could lose everything. I have to remind myself that we've already said goodbye a dozen times. Meeting their eyes, we share a wordless goodbye, because we all know that if we try to hug or kiss it out one of us will wind up holding on tight and never letting go.
"Alright." I lift my chin, and nod at Auerbach. "Kill me already."
He smiles a little, even though it's mostly just dark, not funny. Then he places his hands over the series of knots on my forearm, and says a spell in words so strange and archaic that I barely understand a single syllable.
At first nothing happens, and I start to wonder if he's going to have to stab me with a ceremonial dagger or something. Then I feel the flare of power in Gaugin's bracelet as it responds to a spell being performed nearby.
Darkness gathers at the edges of my vision.
The breath leaves my body all at once, and I can't seem to inhale anymore.
Spots dance in my eyes.
Numbness and tingling starts at my fingertips and toes, then spreads up my limbs, finally settling in my center.
It occurs to me that maybe I should've been sitting down for this.
But if my body falls onto the ground in a useless heap, I don't feel it. I don't feel anything at all. All I feel is the sudden sense that I'm not in Kansas anymore, and the world around me has changed.
This is unlike any death I've experienced before. This time, instead of a cessation of pain followed by complete agony, I feel as if I've been yanked out of my body and put somewhere else.
I'm in the spirit world. But not the version of it I saw in that cave full of caged immortals. Instead, as my vision comes into focus and I become more aware of the world around me, I realize that I'm standing in an almost mirror world version of the Phoenix Academy campus.
Everything is a little bit fuzzy, all the color is drab, and none of the people I was just standing next to are here anymore. The grass is dead. The wards are gone. But just past the gates that lead off-campus, sitting in a spot all on its lonesome, is the propped-op
en door to Hell, runes and all.
This is it. Time to go through, send the spell back, and wait for my guys to show up so we can dive into Hell and do what needs to be done.
I don't hesitate. Striding through, I walk straight up to the door, turn sideways, and slip into Hell itself.
Chapter 14
As soon as I'm on the other side of the door, I turn around and take note of the spell symbols drawn around its edges. A few of the runes are complicated, but thankfully there are only about ten total. Pulling on the string inside my pocket, I raise my brows as the little vial comes through—Auerbach really did spell it to follow my spirit into the spirit realm. I jot down the runes on the piece of paper inside, then pause and add a short sentence to the bottom of my note.
I know they have to die to close the door. Make it happen as quickly and painlessly as you can. And tell them that I'll see them soon.
Then I untie the string and let the vial zip through the door, straight to the mage himself. Studying the rest of the door, I grimace at the carvings on it, which depict various upper level demons being gutted wide to unlock the door's spells. Even without understanding the runes or knowing what's on the other side, it's pretty clear what's supposed to happen to open the door. And clearly some tricky upper level demon got the rest of the spell from the mortal side in order to open it and slip through.
There are bowls of dark red blood at the edge of the door, and two bloody knives, but no sign of anyone around me. The demons who attacked the campus must be elsewhere, regrouping for another attack, just as Auerbach anticipated. I'll have to find somewhere safe to hide from them while I wait for my guys to show up so we can go deep into the center of Hell and free them.
Beyond the door is nothing but an impossibly tall wall of hedges. It surrounds me on three sides, curving outward on the fourth. Frowning, I walk forward, and snort aloud as I realize that I'm in the middle of a hedge maze.
