Chapter 44
The second Kellan saw Nix enter the teachers’ lounge parlor, where Lemmuns had told the council to meet, his eyes widened, and he jumped to his feet. “Nix!”
Right behind Kellan’s dark leather wingback chair, Adar and Elle stood and gaped at her dramatic entrance. Lucky for them, Nix was no longer naked as she had been in the cells.
Bael had returned from Hell, after dropping Lemmuns off, holding a black chainmail dress for her.
The dark, scale-like, flexible metal material served as armor, impervious to the hottest of Hellfire.
Thus, Bael said there was a chance it would not burn off Nix the way all other clothing did when her body lit with flames.
Following Nix into the room were her mates and…students. Missing students, now found.
Nix walked calmly, her hellfire chainmail dress clinking softly against her skin, to where the council sat in a half circle. She stopped, standing a few feet away, and asked plainly, “Did you know?”
The council consisted of Kellan as president and several others, including two fae, a tengu, and a griffin shifter. All men. All meant to represent the best interests of the very diverse species of winged shifters.
They squinted at Nix in confusion. Did the council even know who or what she was? Had they been told anything about her resurrecting her dead classmate at the morning assembly?
“Did you know about the missing students?” she repeated.
Kellan scoffed, but his gaze nervously glanced back and forth at the range of shifters standing behind Nix. Nephilim, dragons, harpies, zhenniao shifters. All of them radiated anger and anticipation for vengeance from being held captive.
“Oadess, what is your daughter talking about?” One of the council members snapped, “I don’t have time for this.”
“If I had a penis, would you have time for me?” Nix shot back.
The council member sputtered in shock.
“You dare speak to us so?” another council member asked.
“I will ask once more. Did—you—know?”
“The council has no ruling over the academy,” Kellan replied. “If students went missing, then we were not told, and that is for the dean of the academy to tell us.”
“But you were the one who disappeared them, who stole them in the night,” Nix stated to Kellan.
“You used your children—Elle and Adar—to enchant students of certain ‘unappealing’ species, get them alone, and then drug them so you could drag them to a hidden location under the campus grounds, where your puppet scientist performed experiments and provided you with rare ingredients. Like dragon scales or phoenix feathers.”
“Phoenix?” the griffin council member repeated, aghast. “Kellan, what is she speaking about?”
Nix informed them, “Your precious president killed my phoenix parents, but kept me, to be able to use me for his own benefit in the future. He wanted my feathers—whether to travel through time or ask the gods to make him into a phoenix himself, I’m not sure.
I don’t care. I am here, only, for retribution. ”
Adar scowled at Nix. “So ungrateful. Father, should I—”
Bael appeared right beside Adar, grabbed him, and disappeared.
Shock slammed over Kellan’s expression, and he gaped. “Wha-What did he do with him?”
Bael reappeared, without Adar.
Nix held her breath and exhaled it on a dry laugh when Adar remained out of sight. “He took him to Hell.”
“Not to worry,” Thierry remarked. “The incubus can only take people to Hell if they were going to end up there anyway.”
“Since your misogynistic son didn’t pop right back…he belongs there.” Bael shrugged and smiled.
“You dare send my son—”
Bael grabbed Elle by her hair and disappeared again.
“Damn it,” Kellan shouted at the gust of wind that blew over him when the incubus transported.
Bael returned, empty-handed again. “Welp.” He dusted off his hands. “Guess you had two bad apples, Pres.”
“You let the demon take away your brother and sister?” Kellan asked Nix, aghast.
“You took away my parents.”
“Everything I did, I did for the betterment of others,” Kellan replied sharply.
A shocked laugh rose from Nix’s chest. Was he really so delusional?
Kellan narrowed his bright blue eyes on her. “There was a time when our species was ruled by the power-hungry phoenix shifters and dragons. Using flames to keep us under their wings. I rose to offer equality and liberation from the violent shifters.”
“Equality? Have you seen the difference in classes offered to the female prey students?”
“You should be grateful you can even attend any classes at this academy,” Kellan remarked.
“There was a time when Alatus taught predator shifters the best ways to hunt us. Prey shifters were not allowed in these halls to take classes,” he said it as if the notion were preposterous.
“I made all of this happen. For my people. My daughters. Plural.”
Nix shook her head. “Because things ‘used to be worse,’ I should be grateful for how things are now? No. You are the president of the council. Make things better. Make new rules and regulations to punish the alphas who abuse prey shifters. Show prey shifters how to defend themselves. Make a real difference.”
“You think it is that easy? What made phoenix shifters so dangerous was their incorrect belief that they could do whatever they wanted—serve justice and leave destruction in their wake. You believe you can play god.”
“Kellan, is she really a phoenix shifter?” the griffin asked. “Tell us she is lying.”
“You would like to keep not believing women, huh?” Nix smirked and crossed her arms. “I am not here to get you to believe me. I am here to know who here might be unknowingly enchanted by Kellan.”
One of the male fae gasped. “Enchanted? We are the shifter council—”
“Because, you see,” Nix started. “If you were unknowingly enchanted and allowing these horrible things to happen to your people, then maybe you can stay.”
The room of men went deadly quiet. They glanced around at each other, some most likely wondering if this was a prank.
“Stay?” the griffin echoed.
“If you weren’t enchanted, then you let him erase entire species of shifters—actual living, breathing people—and you just…
watched. Year after year. You didn’t step in.
You didn’t speak up. You let him cage phoenix shifters, erase their histories, and butcher their bodies in the name of ‘order.’ Did you pretend not to hear their screams?
Did you think the gods would not punish you? ”
Nix’s fingers flexed, and little flames emerged between her knuckles.
“You are meant to be the protectors of peace, the guardians of balance. Yet, you watched while entire communities vanished, while female alpha shifters mysteriously ‘disappeared.’ You let the academy teach girls like me to be soft, silent, and obedient. You let him shape our females into thinking submission is survival. And now you want to pretend you ‘didn’t know’—unfucking likely. ”
Nix lifted her chin, her eyes blazing. “You are either enchanted, or you are a coward.” Her fiery eyes narrowed onto the small circle of men.
“I didn’t summon you all to politely request change.
I came here to tell you that your rule, your power—it’s over.
The shifters you hunted—are returning and hungry for revenge. ”
Nix focused entirely on Kellan as she said, “And the future you tried to control? She’s standing right in front of you.”
“What do you plan to do?” Kellan asked, still sounding so confident. “Kill me? Are you so sure that I am not one of you? Maybe Lemmuns got me enough phoenix feathers in the future. Maybe the gods granted my wish. Maybe I am just like you, Nix.”
“You’re not,” she replied.
“No? You are my daughter.”
“No, I’m not.”
Kellan reached into his pocket and pulled out a long red feather, one that matched Nix’s. “I could use this, go back in time one hour, and change all of this.”
Nix stopped breathing. He had a phoenix feather. From where? Her?
Kellan was not a phoenix. She felt it in her bones. The little flame beneath her chest flared at his lie.
That was one of Nix’s feathers.
Her rage spiked, and the familiar flames licked up her arms. The other council members shouted in fear when they realized she really was a phoenix.
Nix gritted between her teeth, her eyes narrowed onto the feather, “You think…you can use a piece of my body…that you took without permission…to hurt me?”
Nix felt her inner flame, felt the connection between herself and that feather he gripped, exhaled, and…listened.
Look, a voice whispered in her head.
A previously invisible red thread floated in the air, linking her power to the plucked feather.
Nix raised a hand and gave a quick pull on the invisible thread. The feather ignited in Kellan’s hand, burning him as he squealed in pain. Because he was not a phoenix. He was a swan. A prey.
A man with a broken, fragile ego who claimed power by taking it from others.
With the feather no longer in Kellan’s possession, Nix spoke coldly, “Your time is done. Step down or be pulled down.”
“I can always send everyone to Hell,” Bael offered. “If you don’t belong there, you’d pop right back here, so you have nothing to fear. Right?”
Nix smiled softly. “After tonight, there will be a new council. A real one. One that actually protects people. One that values shifters, alphas and prey, male and female, all of us—equally.” She stated, “Your era of power ends here.”
And when Bael took Kellan to Hell, Kellan never came back.