Page 31 of Fortune Academy: Year Three
“But you know who you are now,” I confirmed, refusing to back away. I ignored the humming warning in my head as all my mates went on high alert. They’d face anything for me, including an unseated King of Hell.
“That’s right,” he hissed, showing off his pointed teeth. “I know what is rightfully mine and I’m going to use Calamity to do to your mother what it did to me. Sonya doesn’t deserve that throne or the power of Hell. She doesn’t know what to do with it. She just fucks around with her mates and lets me cultivate an army right under her nose.”
The barracks. That’s why Lucifer had taken command of them in the first place. He’d been building an army to usurp her.
“I remember what it was like when you were King,” Kaito said with a growl, shoving in front of me and sizzling the air with power and rage. “You influenced all of the demons beneath you, down to the very final layers of Hell. You infiltrated us with your evil… your hatred. All of your pain and your lust for power ruined us until there was no hope for redemption.”
Lucifer grinned. “You’re welcome.”
Kaito roared and went after the demon, finally having a target to place blame other than himself. I lunged, trying to stop him, but Lucifer backhanded Kaito as if he were an unruly child. My mentor went flying and hit the side of the mage dorms hard and a crack split up the wall.
“Insolent child. I gave you a gift,” Lucifer spat.
I released my claws and dared Lucifer to try that again. “Touch him again and I’ll kill you.”
The demon laughed. “Oh, little Princess, you can try. It will take the most vicious, evil source of Hell to even compete with my power, and as much of a monster you think you might be, you haven’t even scratched the surface of your potential.” His red eyes gleamed with delight. “I could teach you. Oh, how that would destroy your mother. You could take her throne with me at your side and we could rule Hell the way it was meant to be ruled.”
“Go to Hell!” I shouted, tossing my Blood Stone to the ground. A portal opened under his feet in a violent vortex that sucked him in.
He spread his wings and glided in, laughing on his way down. “I’ll see you there, Princess. Thanks for the ride. Do bring the Conduit to me like a good little girl, won’t you?”
He disappeared into the swirling pit that closed over his head, leaving the Blood Stone unharmed on Fortune Academy’s broken streets.
I sighed and went to pick it up. “Shit.”
“You can say that again,” Hendrik agreed as his dark eyes locked on the horizon. “This isn’t over.”
Shouts in the distance confirmed Hendrik’s warning just as a hoard of students turned the corner.
I recognized the gathering of Mindfreak thralls by their glazed over eyes that looked right through me. They marched with Melinda at the lead.
“Well, what do we have here?” she asked with a grin.
“We want to speak with the Dean,” Kaito snapped, stepping in front of us before I could slap that grin off of her face.
“What are you doing?” I hissed. “Let’s punch her teeth in and go after the Dean ourselves.”
“You’re not strong enough for that yet,” he whispered back.
“What are you two grumbling about?” she whined. “I have a lot of monsters to round up and you’re in my way.”
“We surrender,” Kaito said, spreading his arms and releasing an aura of red energy that steamed across his skin. “We’re students who’ve been stuck in Hell and it has had an adverse effect. Take us to the Dean immediately.”
“Yeah, and the girl had a fireball,” one of the shifters barked.
Logan, still in his wolf form, snapped at the male’s ankles, making him jump.
Melinda raised her brow. “Huh, is that so? They’re taking prisoners now?” She snapped her fingers at her thralls. “Well you don’t have to ask me twice. Capture the girl and her…” She gave my Virtues a raised brow, seeming to take note how closely they stood to me. “What are you guys? Some kind of harem or something?”
“None of your business, Melinda,” Logan growled.
Leave it,I said into my Alpha’s head.Kaito thinks this is the best way, then I’ll follow his lead.
Logan frowned, clearly not impressed with the idea, but he remained silent.
I didn’t fight when one of the enthralled students grabbed my arm and grunted at me to talk.
My mates followed suit, and I stared up at a red sky that looked far too familiar to Hell’s atmosphere. The frigid cold had disappeared, replaced with a scorching heat that suggested Calamity was doing its work. Fortune Academy was merging with Hell and whatever that meant… it couldn’t be good.
