Chapter 6
Six
ARCHER
This shit is so surreal.
Growing up in a mixed shifter family, you see plenty of weird things, but not like this.
Now that we’re all mated to Rogue, there’s been so much fucking magic and mayhem that I’m left gaping half the time.
Right now, I’m carrying Javi in this sling thing as we head down to a creepy basement to break enchanted locks.
And we’re in Hell, which is so much weirder than hauling around a small shifter in a baby carrier.
My mom had me doing that for my siblings by the time I was seven, so it’s nothing new.
“Archie, are you okay? You’re frowning,” Rogue says as we pause on the slanted stone steps. “Do you need me to take Javier?”
I snort. She does not want to take this thing in the slightest and we all know it.
“No, I got him, Wheels. I was just thinking about how bizarre my life has gotten since our family came together. Magic wasn’t a huge part of mine, even with the guys around, until then.
Now we’re looking for clues in an inter-realm conspiracy in Hell. It’s just… striking, you know?”
Her brow arches as she smirks. “Regretting that whole big boy lion mating thing?”
“Never,” I swear as I adjust ugly Javi on my chest. “I didn’t wait for over a decade for you to notice how stupidly whipped you had me. Everyone else, too, but that’s beside the point.”
Angelo turns, his eyes narrowed on both of us. “You realize we have no idea if anyone can hear this, right?”
I blink, shaking my head and Damon laughs. “Arch, there won’t only be cameras or typical surveillance here. Like you said… magic. Ang and I are doing our best to check, but if someone is more powerful, they could have anything placed to spy on people trying to get down here.”
“If there were alarms, we’d already be caught, right?” Rogue asks. “I don’t know if demons who live here do it differently than Fae.”
This time, it’s Damon who gives her an exasperated look. “Sparkles, you’re half Cubi.”
“I know, but… No one’s ever talked to me about that side of my lineage.
Everything I know how to do—which isn’t much—is shit I’ve figured out on my own.
I don’t know what demons born and raised or taught here do; I barely fucking know what I can do.
” Her scowl makes my chest ache because I know that actually makes her sad, not angry.
She has no connection to half of who she is, and that’s because the Kellys are speciesist dickwaffles.
I really want to kick her adoptive dad’s ass, but I’ve got my mom and dads working on it instead.
“Princess, we’re not Cubi, but we could have been helping you. Why didn’t you ever mention it?” Angelo opens the door at the bottom of the stairs and holds it as we file inside the hallway. “D and I would have been happy to teach you.”
“Yeah, like asking my stepbrother’s best buds to teach me how to use my powers was an option. Come on, Ang. We were kids and I had a crush on you. How could I possibly have done that?” Wheels shrugs and I feel the anger at her stupid parents rise up again.
Damon leans in, kissing her cheek lightly as we stop in front of a big ass door with a set of iron bars in front of it. “We’ll work on it after we find Rebel; I promise.”
The tightness in her shoulders disappears and baby Javi squawks loudly, making us all jump. I look down at him, squinting as I scold the bird. “You be quiet! You’ll get us caught and that won’t get you food any sooner, bud.”
“Your mom would be so damn proud, babe,” our girl says. “The rest of us are not equipped for the bird-sitting job at all and we would have been screwed without you, you know.”
“Naw,” I reply, shaking my head. “You scaredy supes would have figured it out eventually. It’s just making your ‘bad parent’ trauma kick up and cloud your brains to see a baby. Even I can see that, and I’m not a big analyzer.”
“Thank hell for that,” Angelo replies as he crosses his arms over his chest. “Now can we please focus on this damn cage and the door behind it? I feel like we’re in an Anne Rice novel.”
“Who knew Angelo read books?” Damon mutters as he kneels on the floor, lifting his palms to let his magic brush against the surrounding gate. “Not me, that’s for sure.”
“Shut up, dickweed,” the elder twin joins him in using a red-tinted magic to probe the top half of the iron impediment. “I read plenty; I just don’t wave my smarts around for everyone to worship.”
This is going to devolve quickly if someone doesn’t stop them; Ang and Damon only bicker this much when they’re upset.
“Guys, we’re all worried about Reb,” Rogue says softly. “But we can’t let that distract us from what we came here to do or we’ll miss something. Then we won’t find him in time—or at all.”
“Tell us what you’re doing, maybe.” My suggestion makes Rogue beam. She’s glad not to be the only referee, and I’m happy to help in Rebel’s absence. He’s usually the one who stomps infighting if it starts, because he’s so damn churlish to begin with.
“We’re investigating what spells or hexes or curses or whatever are woven together to protect the physical gate.” Damon turns and looks over his shoulder. “In more magical realms, there’s often both physical and magical barriers around important shit.”
Angelo nods in agreement. “Sometimes, they also have protectors as well. It really depends on what’s inside, where you’re at, and who it belongs to.
Rich demons like the ones who go here? Their personal homes and shit definitely have multiple layers.
The school, however, didn’t have more than two when we were here, though it feels like they’ve upped the quality. ”
“Definitely,” Damon murmurs. “Darkstar has recruited a much better security team than the school had previously. This is going to take a little bit, but I think together Ang and I can do it.”
I hope they can because something in my gut tells me we’re headed in the right direction—even if I don't know why.
It’s been at least a half hour since Angelo and Damon started working on the magically ‘locked’ gate. I’m not saying that I don’t think they can open it, but…
I kinda don’t think they can open the fucking thing.
“Do you think I can help?” Rogue finally says. She’s been about as patient as I think she has in her, and I smile as she pretends to be innocent in her question. Our girl is good at managing male egos and she’s not afraid to bat her lashes if she thinks it will get her what she wants.
“This thing is…” Angelo trails off, raking a hand over his hair. “It’s seriously more complex than anything I ever encountered at this place when we were here. Something pretty damning has to be down there for that kind of effort.”
Damon nods. “Agreed. I think we could do it if we had a couple hours, but we don’t have that. Someone will definitely find us before then.”
“Ahem.”
We all whirl around to see the door to the stairs open and the frame filled with the forms of the demons we met at the Apalachin. Angelo rolls his eyes, groaning as his wings burst free in response. “As he said, no way we’re not discovered before we get this fucker open.”
The wily looking emo demon smirks at him.
“Good old Lucian upgraded the entire campus’ security before our caliphate set one foot on it.
At least, that’s what Zav figured out when he swiped the plans for all the buildings and tunnels.
If you want in there, you need me and possibly a few of the others, plus your girl. ”
“How do you know that?” Damon says indignantly. “You have no idea what we’re—”
“Because he’s the heir to the Greed line and he spends more time breaking into shit in a week than all of you have in your lives.” The sarcastic drawl comes from the one they called a prince last time, and his mood looks even pissier than it was at the meeting.
Rogue pushes to her feet and eyes the group, squinting past the thief and the royal. “Where’s my buddy at? If we have to deal with you mooks, I’d like to see him. Kit’s the only one of you who has their head on straight.”
“Don’t you mean her?” The prince scowls at our girl and I move to her side, noting their curious looks at my passenger.
“Look, royal dude. I don’t know what that means, but no way do you get to be shitty to our woman.
I don’t give a fuck who you are; we have enough bullshit to deal with without your attitude.
” Angelo sucks air in between his teeth behind me, but I don’t care.
Rogue is ours to protect and we have a lot of crap going on.
I’m shooting straight with the asshole and if he doesn’t like it, oh well.
The long-haired pretty demon steps out of the pack, tilting their head. “Sorry, man. We have some… internal issues going on at the moment. Sounds like you do, too, so maybe we should find out why you’re skulking around the forbidden library levels like thieves in the night.”
“Did someone get killed in the stadium thing?” Rogue’s question makes the prince frown harder and some of the others mutter curses under their breath. She must have hit the nail on the head and that’s definitely where their ‘internal issues’ come from. Smart as a fucking whip, that’s our mate.
“Yes.”
“No!”
Both answers are given by multiple demons and it makes Angelo snort with laughter. Once he’s done cracking up, he sighs. “We’re not the fucking enemy. How about we tell you why we’re here and you answer her question truthfully?”
The prince and the biggest demon of them all exchange looks, and then the cranky royal finally nods. “Fine. You first.”
I wave at them, pointing to my baby carrier.
“Well, we got attacked on the way home from my being accused of killing a teammate by some mysterious other realm douchebag. Rebel got kidnapped and Javier had to go boom to save us, hence my little friend in here. Don’t stare, but he’s like a burnt fucking chicken right now. ”
“You got attacked and accused of murder on the same day?” We look at the small, bushy-tailed redhead as he peeks out of their pack. He pushes his glasses up, reminding me of D, and clutches his bushy Kitsune tails in his arms as he waits for a response.
“Affirmative,” Rogue says as she meets his gaze.
“My one non-mated boyfriend got kidnapped during the brawl, too. So it has not been a good fucking week, so we decided to come here and do some goddamn research. Nothing we have up there is useful regarding the other realms we saw represented at the big meeting. I assume you guys don’t know squat about that, right? ”
“No.” The prince looks even more angry and his second-in command takes over while he fumes.
“We should bring them back to the dorm for the night if this project will take much longer.”
I blink at the enormous demon in surprise. “Why?”
“Because there are many things that happen in Hell at night that you, the bird baby, and the Fae woman are not prepared for. Your twins are also not familiar with the new security. It makes sense.”
“Plus, KK will want to see Rogue,” the emo guy says as he taps his fingers on his lips.
“Do you even have room in dorms for four more people and a screaming baby phoenix?” Rogue eyes them, trying not to look excited at the prospect of seeing the guy who I guess is a girl that we met last time.
That situation seems to be the crux of a big fucking problem with their group, so I’m just going to ignore it completely, even if we are in their rooms.
My mama did not raise a man foolish enough to get caught up in other people’s love lives.