Chapter 6
dimitri
. . .
As House Head, I had scheduled a mandatory year-four House of Twilight study session.
To be completely transparent, I’d bribed them with snacks and guilt.
We were in the House of Twilight commons area, our usual seating arrangement around the low table and sofa taken. The table had long been buried under open mission files, combat manuals, and three different sets of highlighters that no one but Cora and Seth used correctly.
Rune lay half on, half off the sofa, bare feet pressed against my thigh, a book open over her stomach.
Cora sat cross-legged on the cushioned seat by the table, highlighter in one hand, pen in the other.
Ominous sprawled on the floor, barely focused as he played with his shadows between his fingers.
Seth sat on his knees on the cushion, writing a combat sequence intently.
“As House Head,” I said, purely for the satisfaction of mentioning my role and having the authority to officially schedule nights like these. “I am allowed to organize study sessions.”
“You don’t have to say ‘as House Head’ every time,” Seth pointed out.
“I do,” I argued, looking up from the passage I was reading. “Otherwise, it’s just me being bossy.”
“The idea of you being bossy never stopped you before,” Rune muttered without looking up, her toes flexing against my leg.
“Valid point,” I hummed.
Cora snorted. “Can we please focus on the part where this ‘human civil war’ is bleeding into our missions?” She tapped the tablet in front of her. “I’d like to not die because some humans with a Fates complex got creative.”
“You mean God complex,” Seth corrected her. “Humans don’t believe in the Fates.”
“Actually,” Ominous mused, smirking. “Some humans do.”
Rune’s expression tightened, eyes sliding over the paragraph she’d been pretending to read. I felt the shift from amusement to anger through our bond before I saw it.
“Fucking humans,” she spat.
“Humans are a mess,” Seth agreed, tapping his pen on his notebook. “I’m glad the council is trying to stay out of their war. The last thing we need is to have the different territories pissed off.”
“Mm.” Ominous tapped the edge of a mission file.
“Except the ‘stay out of it’ plan is going great so far. You know, considering our supernatural people are being taken, held in labs, experimented on, and injected with tourmalyke.” He looked up, his eyes flat.
“Feels like ‘staying out of it’ isn’t working. ”
“Humans suck,” Cora muttered. “Officially. I’m writing it into my notes.”
“As you should.” Rune let out a disgruntled hiss.
“It is not all humans,” I reminded them.
They all looked at me with various expressions of disbelief.
“What?” I prompted them. “It’s not. There’s the Human Council and the ones trying to stop the supernaturals from being taken. And there’s…” I flicked a hand. “A handful who aren’t actively trying to murder us.”
“‘Not actively trying to murder us’ is a low bar,” Rune mumbled in irritation. “And they keep letting Aura go on air and call us monsters.”
“Allison,” Seth supplied.
I’d forgotten about that. Another News Sector video aired in the Human Territory of Allison calling all supernaturals dangerous and ticking time bombs. It wasn’t live, and nobody had tracked the location of where it came from.
“Right.” Rune’s lip curled. “Her. Smug little human with imp magic. I’d like to personally introduce her to a cult of starving vampires…hey, Dimitri, do you think…”
The mental image was not unappealing.
I shook my head. “The Cult of the Blood Moon doesn’t just hate humans. They hate any species that aren’t vampires.”
“I know that.” She rolled her eyes. “Oh, come on. I mean, hypothetically, of course.”
“Hypothetically, I think it would be more satisfying to end her life yourself.” I winked at her.
Her cheeks flushed pink as she flashed me her fangs in a big smile. “Aw, overachiever, you know me so well.”
“Yes,” I agreed softly. “I know my lethal darling is very bloodthirsty.”
Cora hummed. “I vote we take down the Resistance Network as soon as we graduate. We’d be the best new agents ever.”
“Same.” Ominous shot a few shadow bullets at the wall. They faded just before they hit.
“Hopefully they’ll be taken down before we graduate,” I mused.
“They’re using my power,” Rune said suddenly, the words edged and quiet. “Like it’s theirs. Like the Fates handed it to them instead of me. It’s a violation.”
Everyone glanced at her with sympathy.
I watched her fingers tighten on the edge of her book, knuckles whitening. Venom simmered under her skin. I felt it like static along the bond.
“I’d feel the same way if they took my power,” I murmured. “There’s a reason humans aren’t gifted special powers from the Fates.”
“Agreed.” Ominous sat up and looked at Rune. “If they took my special power to be able to blind people.”
“You can do that?” Rune and Cora gasped together.
He smirked. “Sure can, and it’s permanent…unless I decide to take the darkness away, of course.”
Before any of us could answer, Rune’s and my phones pinged.
Jesper Wyvernheart
New mission in the Demon Capital. We’re on clean-up and scene assessment. Use the wayfaer teleporter from campus to the Demon Capital’s HQ. See you in five.
Rune blew out a breath. “Of course,” she muttered. “Speaking of humans…”
I met her gaze. “Annoying, isn’t it?” I snapped my book shut. “Duty calls. You three, keep studying.”
“We’re not studying,” Ominous immediately said.
“We were barely studying before you were called away,” Seth admitted sheepishly.
Cora pointed her highlighter at me. “I’m on it. We’ll keep studying. You two, go fulfill your mission.”
Ominous and Seth groaned.
Rune swung her legs off the couch and stood, stretching. “No promises.”
We quickly changed into our academy-issued suits and left for the Demon Capital.
Magic prickled across my skin like tiny electric shocks as Rune and I stepped onto the wayfaer portal.
“Are you okay?” I asked quietly, lacing my fingers through hers.
She shrugged. “Feeling bloodthirsty.”
I chuckled, squeezing her hand. “Perhaps we can vent your anger on the humans who are using your DNA.”
Her throat worked. “Yeah. That part still fucks with me. They stole my blood, my DNA, and my power. And now they’re using it as if it was gifted to them, but it wasn’t.
The Fates gave me that power. It’s mine.
Not theirs. Humans always take. They can’t just accept their limits.
They have to cut into things that don’t belong to them. ”
Anger pulsed through her words and the bond like a heartbeat.
I reached out with my other hand and brushed my thumb over her cheek. “They don’t own your venom, and you can wield your power much better than they can.”
“I know,” she sighed, leaning into my hand. “I just hate that every time we turn around lately, it’s humans. Humans doing this. Humans doing that. ‘Not all humans,’ sure, but the ones we see? They’re all trying really hard to earn the monster label they gave us.”
I couldn’t argue with that.
“I hate them for using you.” I leaned in and kissed her lips softly. “We will get revenge for you.”
She kissed me back. “Promise?”
“Yes.” I dropped my hand from her face but continued to hold her other one. “We’ll handle whatever this mission throws at us. And soon, we will find the Human Resistance Network and take it apart piece by piece.”
“I love you,” she breathed softly.
“I love you, too,” I told her. “Ready?”
She nodded, and the teleporter flared as we cast our intent into it using our magical essence.
Magic poured over us, pressing into my bones. My stomach flipped, my fangs ached, and our matebond thrummed with distortion for a moment until the world slammed back into place.
Except we weren’t at the academy anymore; we were in the Demon Capital.
Heat bore down on me.
It was the first thing I noticed. Dry, merciless heat baking over us. The air tasted like hot sand, carried over dunes that stretched out in rolling waves of gold.
We stood on the wayfaer portal just out front of the Demon Capital’s HQ. Beyond it, the demons’ city rose out of the desert like a mirage of sandstone buildings and narrow alleys that cut between structures like veins.
Visible heat shimmered off everything I could see.
Rune squinted and pulled her hair up, redoing her bun that had fallen as we teleported. “Why do demons live in an oven?” she murmured.
“Because they’re built for it more than the rest of us,” I replied, already hating the feel of sweat beading down my spine.
Cursinia was hot in the summers but never like this.
Standing near the base of the headquarters was our squad.
Jesper stood at the center, arms folded, brown eyes scanning the horizon. His white hair was tied back. You could tell from his shoulders alone that something about this mission already had him tense.
Beside him stood the fear demon and dream demon representatives. Pandora, the soul eater representative on the Supernatural Council, was also there. Her long black hair spilled down her back like a dark waterfall. Red eyes glowed faintly as she turned toward us.
The moment Rune saw her, her mood brightened.
“Pandora!” she called, jogging the last few steps.
Pandora’s face lit up with a soft smile. “Hey, Rune.”
Rune threw her arms around her, and Pandora hugged her back gently.
“It’s good to see you,” Rune said, pulling back. “Despite, you know, the circumstances.”
“Likewise,” Pandora said. Her voice was raspy, and it differed from what I’d expected. Her reputation was deadly, but she seemed so kind. “I ate all the human intruders’ souls already.”
Rune blinked. “All of them?”
“All,” Pandora confirmed. “They don’t exist anymore. Don’t worry about missing out on interrogation. I searched their memories, but nothing of note came about. No locations or anything of the sort. They killed two of our demons.”
Rune’s hands curled into fists. “They used my venom,” she said, pain and anger spiking in the bond again. “Here, too?”