Fortune Academy: Year Three, page 12
part #3 of Fortune Academy (Part 1) Series
“Got it,” I murmured. She didn’t have to worry about Cole, because by the time I was done with him, he’d be on our side.
Hopefully.
Olivia showed Yuri back to the mirror which she spritzed with the black ooze again, sending the vampire on her way back to Hell.
“Six months,” Olivia repeated as she blew out a breath. She propped her hands on her hips and stared me down with golden eyes that suited her. “That runs into graduation. What are you planning?”
“The less you know, the better,” I said as I rubbed the back of my neck.
My mind raced through my plan. Graduation was the only time the founders made a visit to the Academy, which just might give me the distraction I needed to take out Calamity and Lucifer all in one fell swoop.
“I hope your plan works better than the last one,” she said with a smirk. “You know, the one where I was captured and you were trapped in Hell.”
“It has to work,” I said, the stone in my gut already sinking.
Because if I failed this time, we were all screwed.
Chapter 15
Olivia had picked up a few new tricks since I’d been gone. There weren’t any classes on how to be a Light Mage, so she was learning it on the fly. She’d taught herself how to mess with other people’s memories, which was how she’d gotten in good with the Dean in the first place and wiped my slate clean—for now, anyway.
She’d also touched on the gift of foresight that few mages ever gathered enough power to be able to do. Hendrik had endured a few visions for the sake of his clan, but I knew that came with a buttload of Blood Duty sacrifices and some illegal fights in the Monster Arena.
Olivia, though, had more than enough power at her disposal since she’d regained her soul, she could feed on herself again. She claimed that she had more than enough power to go around before she endangered herself, but I made her promise not to have any more visions or use significant magic that would put further strain on her. If she lost her soul again after she’d just gotten it back, I’d kill her myself.
The vision wasn’t as helpful as I would have hoped. Olivia saw multiple futures, some where we all burned up in Hellfire and others where I died at a demon’s hands—not comforting.
But there was one vision where we got out of this alive. She backtracked from there, finding us together teaching classes, which meant I needed to mentor with her—gross.
The final vision she came across that spurred everything into action contained a vampire, a young woman who wasn’t wearing a uniform, and blood.
It all made my head hurt and I decided the best way to deal with it all was to get some much-deserved rest, so I curled up under the sheets of my bed in the freshman dorms that had started to feel like home.
It felt nice to sleep in my own bed, despite not having my Virtues with me. Only because I felt them in my head anyway, ever-present and in tune with my current mood.
While I drifted off to sleep, I indulged by walking through the mate-circle bonds, envisioning it as a long road with a rope that I played through my fingers. I veered down a path that filled me up with my wolf’s emotions. He lived in the present and didn’t worry about the future, and that was something about him that I loved. His animalistic side had a tendency of taking over wanting to play, to bite, and to mate until the moon set and the sun came up.
Logan was thinking of me, too, and he was tempted to patter in through his secret entrance by the window as his wolf, but he had his own pack to deal with. Even though they couldn’t remember him, their instincts recognized him as their Alpha. He wouldn’t admit it to me, but he’d missed them and I was glad he had a chance to just be a wolf again among his own kind, even if it was temporary. I didn’t know what our lives would look like when this was all over and my brain wouldn’t let me think ahead that far. Survive the end of the world first—then we’d deal with the rest.
I’d learned my survival mindset from my Hunter. Thinking of him took me down a new path, one where a shadow fell over my feet and screams of his victims echoed in the distance, but I wasn’t afraid. This was my Hunter’s mind, one just as dark as my own.
Dante was used to playing it solo, but getting back to his Hunter’s lair underneath the Monster Arena was going to prove difficult. I felt him in the dark rummaging through Kaito’s office over in the Counselor building for an answer to our predicament, any weakness of the Dean’s that could be exploited, but I doubted he’d find anything—and so did he. He just needed to keep busy, keep moving, and that was a sentiment I understood.
I brushed his mind with encouragement, to remind him he wasn’t alone, while I drifted off into a deeper sleep and continued to explore my connection to my mates. Sunlight hit my face as I went down a new path. I licked my lips, tasting the sweet addiction that sprinkled the air when I thought of my demigod.
Orion had returned to the Demis and was welcomed back, especially by Ally. I should have felt a spike of jealousy, but the way Orion hugged her was the way a brother hugged a sister. He was proud of her, of all of them, for learning how to shine without his starlight to guide them. They were all growing up and Orion was glad that they would be okay when it would be time to leave.
Satisfied, I ventured onward in search of Hendrik and Kaito, only to slam right into a wall.
Damn Dark Mage.
I spread my fingers over the smooth, onyx barrier, sensing Hendrik on the other side. I felt the shift in the air as he took note of my presence.
Rapping my knuckles on the barrier, I attempted to get his attention. “Hendrik? You okay over there?”
Silence.
“Okay… I guess you don’t want to talk right now. Go ahead and get your sulking over with, because I’m going to be checking again on you later!”
A slight breeze carrying the scent of roses and blood was the only indicator that he’d heard me.
“Stubborn bastard,” I grumbled as I ran my fingers along the wall.
I understood maybe he needed his space right now, and I’d give it to him, just not forever because whether he liked it or not, he was my mate and I cared about him. The Dark Mage had lost his role in his clan and I knew how important his mages were to him. Unlike Logan, the only family he’d ever had wouldn’t innately recognize his hierarchy in the group, much less the sacrifices he’d already made for them over the years. And if they’d learned to move on without him, they might have decided they didn’t need him as a leader whether they believed his story or not. I decided that’s probably what bothered him the most.
Moving down the final path that turned to a dusty road, I searched for my Japanese Mentor. I wandered deeper into the fog that curled around my ankles and ran a cold chill up my legs.
Deafening silence closed in around me, making me feel closed off from my mate-circle as I delved deeper into the unnatural void, but Kaito had to be around here somewhere. A frown tugged at my lips as I searched for his familiar heat and mystery that had been ever-present in the mate-bond. Now that I knew what Kaito was, I knew what to look for. His powers stemmed from the same eternal sorrow that created a permanent knot in my stomach. Hell’s powers stemmed from the weight of sin itself, the suffering it brought on those who fell into its trap and all the emotions that came with it. Learning how to use that power made me go into places of myself that I wasn’t entirely comfortable exploring, but with my mate-circle as my anchor, it didn’t matter how far I sank, I’d never have to fear hitting rock bottom because they would always pull me out again.
That’s what I had to do for my mates now. Kaito, in particular. The martyr had gotten himself captured and he’d better not get himself killed, or I’d find him in Hell and resurrect him so that I could kill him myself.
Still, I wandered the dark fog of my dreams looking for him. After I turned into a particularly dark corner, I felt a surge of all of my Virtues tugging in the back of my mind warning me not to continue, but it bothered me that Kaito was somewhere I couldn’t reach. I had to see where he was hiding.
“Who are you?” asked a male voice with a sexy low rumble to it that made me jump.
“Who’s there?” I asked the black fog, turning around in a circle as it swirled around my ankles.
A looming presence in the distance made me freeze as a warning chill ran up my spine. The connection to the rest of my mates thinned and strained against the overpowering aura coming from this… creature.
Long, bat-like wings spread from the male and he stepped through the fog, revealing a wickedly gorgeous demon face and red eyes that danced with the fires of Hell itself.
Power emanated from him and banished the fog around our feet. He tilted his head in a predatory way as his gaze ran over me.
Realizing I was completely naked—because my dreams loved to play cruel jokes on me—I covered myself as best as I could with my hands. “Who are you?” I countered. “Some kind of dream-peeping demon?”
He chuckled and the sound went straight through my body, vibrating in my chest like I’d wandered too close to one of those bass speakers at a concert. “You’re the one who summoned me, Lilith.”
I flinched at the way he said my name, as if he knew exactly who and what I was. “My name’s Lily,” I countered.
He smirked, taking a step closer. I tried to back up but my ass ran into a wall that hadn’t been there a moment before. It wasn’t like Henrik’s barrier. This one radiated heat and spread immediate warmth through my body that made me relax despite the demon closing in on me.
He kept on his approach, slowly caging me in with his broad wings as his arms boxed me in from either side. A screech sounded as the talons on the ends of the arches scratched along the wall behind me, working as an unspoken threat that any wrong move would result in certain death. “I don’t want to know who you are, Lilith, I know enough already,” he said his voice silky smooth in ways that made me tremble beneath him. “I want to know who you think you are. I am a demon of rage.” He ran his fingers up my chest and closed them around my neck. I swallowed hard before he blocked my airway. “And you, Lilith, test my patience.”
My thoughts raced as black dots began to sprinkle around my vision. I didn’t know how this demon managed to paralyze me so easily. Maybe it was because it was a dream, or maybe I just didn’t expect one of my Virtues to seriously hurt me—because I had no doubt who this demon was.
“Cole,” I said his name, managing to rasp it from his strangling grasp.
He frowned as if irritated I knew who he was. His grip on me tightened.
He wanted to be an asshole? Fine.
I took a page from the “how-to-deal-with-immortals” book and kicked him right in the balls.
He doubled-over, loosening his grip around my neck enough for me to slip underneath him and escape.
“Get back here!” he roared, but I was already sprinting with all my strength back the way I’d come and out of the mind-sucking void where Cole reigned supreme. When I faced him again, it would be on my terms.
“This is my dream, asshole!” I yelled back over my shoulder. I had super strength, as well as a solid determination not to get killed in my own head.
A low, rumbling laugh rolled over the black fog as it closed around my body and I spent the rest of the night running from a Virtue who was going to be my biggest challenge yet.
“Hey, sleepyhead,” Olivia said, waking me up as she held coffee under my nose.
Still trapped in my relentless need for escape from my sexy but jerk-face dream-demon, I flailed, nearly knocking over the cup as Olivia tried to offer it to me. “Kick the bastard in the balls!” I yelled, my vision going in and out of focus as I tried to pull myself into consciousness.
Olivia jerked back, saving the coffee from dumping over me as she held a hand to her chest. “Holy crap, Lils. Don’t scare me like that.”
When I calmed down, she gave me a raised brow. “Sorry,” I grumbled. “Bad dream.”
She chuckled. “Yeah, I can see that.” She offered me the coffee again, swaying it back and forth under my nose. “So, I was hoping to wake you up peacefully, because he agreed, but there’s a little asterisk to deal with.”
“Who agreed to what?” I grumbled as I wrapped my fingers around the cup and pulled myself upright. I sipped at the warm delicious drink as my eyes fluttered closed. “Gods. Where did you learn to make coffee like this?”
Olivia grinned. “From Trevor. He uses water from Olympus.”
I opened one eye and spit the coffee back into the cup before handing it back to her. “Um, ew.” If I knew anything about Olympus, it was that nymphs bathed naked in it.
“Oh come on!” She set the coffee onto the end table. “A lot has changed since you’ve been gone. And need I remind you that you’re dating five guys, one of which tried to kill me?”
“Hendrik didn’t try to kill you,” I countered. “He might not care about much, but his clan is his life. The second you Awakened as a Dark Mage you were part of his family and he wouldn’t have let anything happen to you.”
She crossed her arms. “Well, he did a good job of manipulating us by threatening my life all the same whether he was going to go through with it or not. I’m not going to forgive him for that,” she said, narrowing her golden eyes at me. “I’m not getting freaky with him, so maybe your mind is clouded.”
“Oh yeah?” I asked, sitting up. “And your mind isn’t clouded over Trevor? I’m not going to forgive that fishy bastard for using Orion against me,” I said, shrugging. “Guess we’re even.”
She sighed and rummaged through her backpack. “Well, I had hoped to warm you up with coffee, but since that didn’t work out I’m just going to have to do this cold turkey.”
“Or cold fish,” I suggested with a grin.
She rolled her eyes and pulled out a golden bracelet with studded red gems and shoved it at me. “Lucifer agreed, but only if you wear this. That’s the asterisk to our plan.” She turned it over and pointed at each gem, counting them out to six. “This is a timer. Once you put it on these gems will light up, one for each month that has passed. You won’t be able to take it off until time’s up.”
“What happens when all the gems are glowing?” I asked, taking the bracelet and turning it over. My fingers warmed against the unnatural heat coursing through the metal.
“You get pulled into Hell.”
“Damn,” I murmured with a low whistle. “And then what?”
She chewed on her lip. “So, Yuri wasn’t able to be more specific than that, but my guess is it’ll be on Luc’s turf to challenge him, but I doubt he’ll fight fair. You won’t be able to bring anyone with you and we don’t know if there’s even a way to get you back.” She gripped my arm. “You don’t have to do this, Lily. We could find another way.”
“What happens if I say no?” I asked, matching her gaze. “He’ll send his entire army, right? Then the Dean will make sure none of us get into the Monster Arena. I’ll never see Kaito again, or get Cole on my side, assuming we even survive.” I leaned in. “Tell me the truth. How bad has it been since Lucifer began his attacks?”
“Bad,” she admitted. “But that doesn’t mean you have to—”
I slapped on the bracelet before I could think too hard about it. A groan escaped me as a shot of scalding heat ran through my body, spreading up my arm and going through my bloodstream until I thought I’d burst on fire.
Olivia jerked back from me as my skin turned red. “Shit!”
I panted as I allowed the Hellfire to course through my system. I was part Demonspawn and Princess of Hell, which meant that I could survive anything Lucifer threw at me—that was my working theory, anyway.
Don’t burst in flames, Lils. You can do this.
It took three long, deep breaths before the pain subsided. Dazed, I turned the bracelet around my wrist, looking for the latch in case I wanted to take it off again, but the entire band had gone solid.
“Don’t scare me like that,” Olivia chided as she gave me a hug. “You’re so damn reckless.”
“I didn’t want you to talk me out of it,” I admitted. “I have to get to Kaito and Cole, and I need time to figure this out. Now we have six months.” I hugged my best friend, grateful that I didn’t have to do this alone. “We’ll figure this out, I promise.”
She squeezed me. “We better.”
I hoped I didn’t just make a promise I couldn’t keep, because I’ll be damned if I let anyone else I cared about down.
Chapter 16
Five months, twenty-nine days and twelve hours. It felt like an eternity and now I had precious time left before I got yanked into Hell.
The last gem on my bracelet had already started to emit a faint glow and that didn’t help ease my nerves any.
It had been a long five months and I missed my Virtues, except Orion. He found plenty of occasions to warm my bed even if the others had kept away, although he hadn’t been pleased when I’d explained the bracelet to him.
My other Virtues, though, didn’t know I was on a timer, and I preferred it that way. Something was messing with the mate-bond and until I found Kaito and Cole, I knew I wouldn’t be able to repair it.
Still, I couldn’t hear their thoughts and they didn’t seem to be able to hear mine, and it made everything feel… off. Orion thought it had to do with Cole after I’d told him about my dream. He also said that the Dean was watching us, so while it wasn’t so odd that I might hook up with the god of sex, messing around with my other Virtues might get me the wrong kind of attention.
I’d kept myself busy trying to get to Kaito and Cole while figuring out how to deal with the Dean. Once I had Cole, the mate-circle would be complete and I would have the strength to face Calamity. Plus, I didn’t have to fight the Conduit. I just had to distract her long enough to trap her in the Angelstone.
