Chapter 14
“You care to tell me how you managed to befriend a vampire while I was gone?” I asked as I crossed my arms.
“You saw for yourself how the veil to Hell is thin,” Olivia said.
“Lots of Hell creatures have been popping up, including students from Monster Academy.” Olivia took a spray bottle while she talked and coated a length-wise mirror I didn’t remember being in the middle of our living room before.
I gave her a raised brow when a black inky substance trickled down the glass.
“You know, you’re not making that thing any cleaner.”
She chuckled as she added a few more spritz before stepping back. “It’s a portal. Not all of us have VIP access to Hell like you.” She glanced at my necklace. “Impressive work, by the way. Banishing a demon like Lucifer. Yuri’s going to flip when she hears about that.”
I narrowed my eyes. “You sound chummy. I didn’t get replaced while I was gone, did I?”
Olivia pinched my cheek. “Nobody can replace you, bestie.”
“Uh-huh.”
The mirror rippled as a long leg came through, followed by a gorgeous vampire with bright pink hair and ruby lips wrapped around a pink lollipop. I was suddenly glad my guys were no longer in the room.
She smiled at me as she took out the candy, revealing fangs red with blood that dribbled down her chin.
Olivia cleared her throat. “Uh, Yuri. You’ve got… something…” Her words trailed off as she tapped her own chin to indicate her meaning.
Yuri blinked her red eyes and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. “Oh, sorry. I just fed.”
I rolled my eyes. “Well, that’s not creepy or anything.”
“I was being polite!” the vampire exclaimed. “Trust me. You don’t want to be around me when I’m hungry.”
When I glanced at Olivia, she shrugged as if that sounded legitimate to her.
The vampire giggled as she waved around the piece of candy. “You know, a cherry lollipop makes the blood taste all fruity. It makes the experience much more tolerable.”
Olivia nudged Yuri to the couch. “Why don’t you sit down and quit creeping Lily out.”
“Lily?” Yuri asked, her red eyes going bright. “Why does that name sound familiar?”
“Because I talk about her all the time,” Olivia said, with a told-you-so face at me.
“She’s my best friend and she’s been stuck in Hell.
You were supposed to help me find her in exchange for me helping you release your buddies from the Monster Arena.
” She crossed her arms. “The fact that I have to remind you is not encouraging.”
“Wow, making deals with vampires.” I tsked as I sat down. “Can’t say I approve.”
Yuri flipped a pink curl over her shoulder.
“Well now that you found her, our deal better not be off,” Yuri said as she pointed the lollipop at Olivia’s face.
“Luc doesn’t know I’m double-crossing him.
If he finds out that I’m planning on helping all of the supernaturals escape to Monster Academy and form a coup against his little uprising, he’ll have my head.
” She shivered. “I’ve seen him do it, too. The guy is a certified psycho.”
“Monster Academy?” I asked, perking up. “Aren’t they the ones attacking us?”
“Only because we can’t stand up to Luc,” Yuri said as she stuck out her lower lip into a pout.
“He’s blocked our communications with the Queen and everything.
We’re just a bunch of students who haven’t even graduated yet.
” She tapped her baby fangs. “I mean, look. I can’t even get them to grow to their proper size. ”
Olivia snatched up Yuri’s lollipop. “Maybe it’s because you keep rotting your teeth with sugar. I know you’ve recently turned, but you have to survive on blood. You told me that yourself.”
Yuri folded her hands in her lap and plucked at her skirt.
“Yeah, I know. It’s just… blood is kind of icky, you know?
And my Maker who was supposed to teach me everything…
” Her gaze took on a distant pain before she shook her head.
“Damn, that memory spell you put on me isn’t holding. Can you refresh it?”
Olivia gave the vampire a soft smile as she took her hand. “Sure. Just close your eyes.”
I watched as a faint golden aura surrounded the pair and a current ran through the vampire into my best friend. Yuri shivered when it was done. “There, better?” Olivia asked.
Yuri blinked. “What?”
Olivia chuckled. “I’ll take that as a yes.” She got up and threw the candy in the trash as she went to the fridge. “I’ve still got some of that blood champagne you stashed here. Why don’t you have some?”
I leaned as I spotted an entire raw fish on the top shelf. “What the heck is that?”
Yuri clapped with excitement. “Oh didn’t you know? Olivia is dating Trevor, the son of Poseidon.” She put her hands together and pressed them against her cheek. “He’s so dreamy.”
Olivia slammed the fridge door closed and stuck out a bottle of pink bubbling liquid. “If you stop tattling on me, I’ll give you some of this. Or do you want me to throw it in the trash too?”
Yuri perched her hands on her knees. “I’ll be good, I promise.”
“Trevor?” I balked. “You do realize that the Demis are huge dicks.”
She smirked. “And your mates aren’t?”
I laughed. “Touché.”
Olivia smirked as she poured the sparkling drink and handed the glass to Yuri.
“So, what’s your story, Yuri?” I asked. “You’re not like any vampire I’ve ever met, not that I’ve met many.”
“There aren’t any vampires out there like Yuri, I’m pretty sure,” Olivia said.
Yuri smiled. “I’ll take that as a compliment.” She sipped happily at her drink while Olivia took her seat.
“So, Yuri,” Olivia said. “Since I don’t need your help finding Lily anymore, there’s something else I could get your help with. Do you know a demon named Cole?”
Yuri choked and splattered the bubbly liquid everywhere. I flinched and swiped a droplet from my cheek, wrinkling my nose.
“Sorry…” she said as she wiped her mouth. “It’s uh, just. Yeah, I’ve heard of Cole. Who hasn’t? He’s the meanest, most savagist demon out there, aside from Lucifer.”
“Savage-ist?” I repeated. “Pretty sure that’s not a word.”
“Well if it was, Cole and Luc would be the inventors of it.” She leaned in and lowered her voice. Rumor is they’re brothers.”
I raised an eyebrow. “How do demons have brothers? I thought they just… existed.”
Yuri shook her head. “Monster Academy 101: Angels and demons are a reproductive humanoid species. They’re no different than other supernaturals, except that there’s that whole divine component to them, of course. They tap into their respective sources of energy, kind of like magnets!”
“Magnets,” I repeated.
“Yup,” she said, grinning. “So think of Heaven as the positive and Hell is the negative. They constantly push against one another. That makes demons kind of like Dark Mages and they can feed off of suffering, especially their own. And since they’re immortal, well, it makes them superpowered.”
I frowned. “I see.” I glanced at Olivia. “A vampire just summed up the entire morality of the universe as a giant magnet. Now I’ve heard everything.”
Olivia crossed her arms and smirked. “Yeah, Yuri keeps things lively around here.”
Yuri burst out laughing. “Ha! Lively. That’s hilarious.” When I stared, she pointed at herself. “Undead vampire, get it?”
I rolled my eyes. “How is she supposed to help us get to Cole?”
Olivia smirked. “She’s going to get Luc to call off the monster attacks so that we can get the Dean’s guard down.”
Yuri’s eyes went wide. “What? No. I am so not talking to that asshole again. He—”
“Yuri,” Olivia warned. “You owe me, remember…? Oh, wait.” She chuckled at the insensitive joke. “I do love my puns today.”
Yuri frowned. “Just because you helped me forget about my Maker and the soul-crushing grief that comes with that can of blood-worms doesn’t mean I want to lie to a demon I’m already double-crossing.”
“Tell him it’s a challenge from me,” I said, straightening. “If he can lay off of the Academy for six months, then I’ll face him in Hell—alone. No mates. No one else. Just me and him. But I need time to prepare… and to say goodbye.”
No fucking way I was going to say goodbye to my guys, but it’s something an arrogant asshole like Lucifer would believe.
Yuri rubbed one of her tiny fangs. “Huh. He might go for that. He does love a good challenge.” She jumped to her feet.
“All right. But you two better get all my friends out of there in one piece by the time this is over.” She tapped me on the nose, making me flinch.
“That does not include the psycho-demon named Cole. I’ve got enough of those on my plate as it is. ”
“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.