Page 28 of Fortune Academy: Year Two
… Monsters.
That’s where I needed to go.
I scanned the room and looked for an entrance to the tunnels that wasn’t attached to the cage. Pretty sure I’d be spotted if I tried to use that one…
“Bingo,” I muttered when I found another smaller hatch stuffed at the end of a small room. I felt another wave of queasiness when I hit an invisible barrier, finding that no one was within the immediate vicinity of the locked door.
I waited until the next selection of fighters took the stage before I slipped past the crowd to examine the door.
Given the spell barrier, it didn’t surprise me that there wasn’t a palm reader pad, but there was an actual lock. Extending my claws, I shoved one inside and destroyed the mechanism.
At least THE CLAW had its uses.
My eyes adjusted to the darkness in record time and I tried not to get too worried about how my body was changing. Once I found Jess, she’d tell me how to keep myself from transforming completely into a hideous monster. After all, she’d managed to keep a human appearance.
I tried to see where Hendrik had gone, but the place was like a damn maze. I pattered on in the darkness, trying not to get too freaked out by the fact that I had no need for a flashlight.
That cold pit in my chest spread and I instinctually drew another sliver of warmth from the Blood Stone as I continued my search. Hendrik probably didn’t know I was capable of using the blasted thing, but that encouraged me. It meant he didn’t know what it meant to be a demonspawn. Because, yeah, I’d made the connection that the Blood Stone was an artifact from Hell. I mean, what else could it be? It drew other demonspawn to me and it fueled off of the suffering of others. If Hell had jewelry, that sounded about right.
With the new wave of power I took from the stone, my sight through the underground amplified, showing me Hendrik’s form again. He seemed way too far away and I cursed. Perhaps I was lost.
I turned back, but there were no other tunnels I could have taken. This route was one straight line to… somewhere.
Chewing on my lower lip, I resumed the trek and decided to find where this path led. For a long while, all I could hear was the scratching of my nails against the walls and the patter of my own heartbeat. But after an insufferable amount of walking, I heard voices.
Perking up, I drew from the Blood Stone again and searched for the source. I couldn’t see anything, but I had to be close to someone. I furrowed my brow and crouched as I continued.
The tunnel finally ended in a short drop-off to a larger room where soft whispers echoed off of the walls. A row of dim magical lights lit up gated corridors, and then I realized that the room held a long series of cages. Inside were prisoners, but I hadn’t picked them up on my new radar skill.
Then I saw why.
Men, women, and even adolescents huddled together in groups as some talked amongst themselves. Others cried, and then there were the silent ones that terrified me most of all. They stood in neat rows and stared ahead, unblinking. The only sign of life was the slow rise and fall of their chests.
These were humans. Families.
Was this the Academy’s doing?
A hard grip around my arm almost made me shriek, but a hand wrapped around my mouth to hold it in.
“You shouldn’t be here,” Dante hissed at me, clearly enraged.
I was too shocked to fight him off as he dragged me through the shadows and down another corridor, leaving the prisoners none the wiser of our visit. When we were finally out of earshot, I bit him and he cursed, but didn’t let me go. I tried to scream, but any sound was muffled by his tight grip over my mouth.
“If you think I’m going to let you mind-control me again with seductive words, you’re insane,” he growled in my ear, holding me close to him as he hauled me along. For a guy with one arm, he had amazing strength.
It wasn’t until we arrived at a door did Dante let me go, giving me a glare for good measure. I thought about testing out my succubus powers on him, or just bolting, but I had no idea where we were, and I was curious where he’d brought me. First I’d get answers from him, and then I’d kill him later for being such a psychopath. He clearly knew about the human prisoners and was scowling at me like I was the one being crazy.
He slammed his hand up against the palm reader and the door opened with a softclick.“Come inside,” he said, the words an order.
I thought about defying him just for the sake of it, but my stomach rumbled when I smelled something delicious as a mouth-watering aroma wafted from the room.
“You’re going to explain what I just saw, first,” I demanded even as my stomach protested again.
Dante sighed. “I’ve been helping the Dean gather the prisoners, but I’m not the one locking those people up, okay? I’ve been working with Kaito to try and free them. If you just come inside, I can explain. It’s not safe to talk out here.”
I glared at him for a moment and he just glared back. Damn, the Hunter was stubborn.
He rumbled a growl and entered the room, leaving the door open and the promising aroma of meat tickled my nose. Okay, I was pretty hungry. Maybe I could eat and murder him at the same time.
