Chapter 13
“I want to hear everything!” Olivia yelled the moment I entered the room.
Yuri was already pulling out her best cherry-flavored vodka in honor of the occasion. “Time to celebrate!” She hummed as she poured three shots, adding a few drops of something thick and red to her own.
Shutting the door behind me, I gave the vampire a raised brow. “I thought you’d be mortified, Yuri.” I frowned at the bottle she’d set on the counter. “And since when are you a vodka fan?”
“Vodka is in honor of your official boy toy.” She giggled and shoved the shot at me.
“Aaaaand I’m celebrating the fact that you’re still a demon!
I mean look at you. Not even a lay with an angel is going to hold a Princess of Hell down, am I right?
” She nudged me with her elbow before handing Olivia her filled shot glass.
“What’s she talking about?” I whisper-asked my bestie as Yuri excitedly held up her glass and said “Clink!”
The vampire downed her shot then shivered with delight. As we stared at her, holding our glasses, she glared at us until we joined her in the celebration.
The small burn that traveled down my throat barely did anything to me, proving that I’d definitely grown in power. Although alcohol had never affected me that much in the first place.
Supernatural problems.
Azrael also didn’t really feel the buzz of vodka, he just liked the taste and the burn—his words.
“I think you should sit down,” Olivia said as she guided me to the edge of her bed.
I didn’t live with Yuri and Olivia anymore. After our dorm had been smashed to smithereens, I decided it was a good opportunity to stay with the angel twins and keep them out of trouble.
That had been the goal, anyway.
After that failed and they were kicked off campus, I was left to sleep in a giant empty dorm with a massive bed that constantly reminded me that all of my mates were gone or otherwise occupied.
Kaito often busied himself with his maps and scrolls, although he did visit me on occasion. Intimacy with my mentor was a rarity these days, so it had made today super special.
As much as I loved what we’d just done together, it occurred to me that making love to me had been out of necessity.
While I could have felt hurt or annoyed by that, I knew Kaito.
He cared for me more than life itself, and that was saying something when it came to an immortal.
The only reason he kept so busy was because he was distracted trying to keep us all alive.
I was glad that for once, duty and desire worked together in this instance.
Cole, of course, had his very own tower. I stayed there now and then, but I had kept my distance for the most part because it was becoming more and more difficult to avoid attempting to bond him. After our failure, I internally chastised myself for not staying away.
Orion, Hendrik, Logan, and Dante were all trapped in a coma, so I would be the first to admit I was pretty lonely.
I watched Olivia as she scampered into the bathroom, then returned with a hand mirror. She handed it to me with a flat expression on her face.
A gasp lodged in my throat when I saw my reflection.
Kaito hadn’t been kidding about preparing me for traveling to Hell’s Heart.
My eyes shimmered with a delicate silver sheen, an inner darkness roiling in my irises as black streaks of corruption spanned across my cheeks.
My teeth held sharp points like Yuri’s, but my jaw didn’t ache. It was as if I had adapted to this new form.
My angelic wing seemed to hold a deeper ebony hue to each oily feather. My demon’s wing felt lighter and stronger, and I fanned both out behind me, admiring my mismatched wings.
Dark veins trickled underneath my white top that was splashed with specks of black blood where I had fed on Kaito.
“I should… change,” I said numbly as I dropped the mirror, flinching when it cracked on the floor.
“That’s six years bad luck,” Yuri chided from the doorway as she held up two more shot glasses.
“I thought it was seven?” I replied as I went to Olivia’s dresser. I rummaged through her things until I found a lacy black top that was stretchy enough for me to step into.
Black seemed like a suitable color right now.
“You’re already in Hell, so take off a year for good behavior,” Yuri said with a grin.
Hearing her joke reminded me of Kaito’s admission that six was his favorite number.
Then he’d made me come six times.
“I can’t tell if she’s upset or horny,” Yuri whispered to Olivia.
My bestie was watching me carefully from the floor as she cleaned up the pieces of the mirror. “Both, I imagine,” she said with a chuckle, then she flinched when she pricked her fingers on a shard of glass. “Ouch!”
“Let me clean that up,” I chided after I finished changing. Then I bent down and wiped Olivia’s finger with my discarded white blouse. I frowned when I saw that her wound had already healed.
She shrugged as her dark eyes regarded mine. “I already used up my soul for magic, so pain gives Dark Mages fresh magic to work with. It’s no big deal.”
Leaning back on my heels I sighed. “Right, I knew that.”
“You’re distracted,” she said with a smile. Her dark pupils seemed to have taken up all of her irises, which was a look I’d grown used to since she’d sacrificed her soul, although it made me miss Hendrik at times.
I tended to avoid the Dark Mages, mostly because they were just a broody bunch, but Olivia was my best friend. She’d sacrificed her literal soul to keep us all alive. I’d do anything for her.
“Ooooor, you’re not drunk enough,” Yuri suggested cheerfully as she bounced into the room. She handed us both another shot glass.
“I don’t think I can get drunk,” I said with a frown.
Olivia leaned in and lowered her voice to a whisper. “Just fake it. She can’t tell the difference.”
“I can hear you!” she said, frowning as two little fangs cutely poked from her pouty lips. She tapped one of her ears. “Vampire hearing, remember?”
Olivia chuckled and raised her glass, saying “Clink!” before knocking it back. She shivered as if the alcohol had affected her. “Yum! Okay, time for snacks?” She pretended to stumble out of the room.
Feeling a small smile edging the corners of my mouth, I downed my thimble-sized drink, enjoying the burn.
Yuri did another shot. Then she took out a cherry lollipop, undid it from the wrapper, and stuck it in her mouth, seeming satisfied with our performances. Even though I knew her signature candy was laced with blood, it didn’t gross me out anymore.
In a way, I understood Yuri better now. Having to feed to survive was just a way of life for her, and I wasn’t really so different. Except unlike her, I had a limited resource I could feed from.
I only fed from my mates, even if the “feed” itself took various forms.
“Are you okay?” Olivia asked when she returned with a giant bowl of popcorn.
Shaking myself from my thoughts, I sat up.
“Yeah, I’m fine.” I eyed the popcorn. “Doesn’t popcorn usually go with a movie?
” I couldn’t remember the last time I watched a movie.
The kind of life I led at the Academy left little time for relaxation, and we didn’t have much human technology in the underworld.
Olivia grinned and whispered a spell, summoning a hologram that flattened against the wall. Music rumbled through the room and a title appeared, making my eyes go wide.
“I felt like we should have a proper girls’ night,” she said with a shrug.
Yuri squealed when blood dripped from the title. “Ooooh! It’s one of those hot vampire series!” She moved with super speed, blurring through the room as she quickly made a nest of pillows for us to sit. She tugged me onto one and Olivia joined us so that we all sat around the bowl of popcorn.
Yuri had already brought the bottle of vodka when I wasn’t looking and made herself comfortable on her stomach as she held a pillow and squealed. “He’s soooo cute!”
“I like his brother better,” Olivia said conversationally, tossing a piece of popcorn into her mouth.
I giggled when Yuri made a face.
We enjoyed the rest of the night with frivolous fun.
I made sure to savor it, because in the morning I’d be traveling to the Hell’s Heart… hopefully Hell wouldn’t freeze over by the time I found my way back.