Chapter 17
Seventeen
IGGY
The demons lead us to a fairly barren part of their campus that has two features of note.
One, a blocked-off gateway to what I assume are ‘The Wastes’ as they’ve referred to it.
I’m happy not to be headed in that direction because it’s dark, spooky looking, and I guarantee it’s filled with awful shit.
Intellectual curiosity aside, I know a horror movie basement when I see one, even if it’s an old iron gate.
“Tell us about this house and the land fenced in behind it,” I say as I tear my eyes away from the bad place. “Who lives here and why is it so far from campus proper?”
The demon prince sighs, looking at Lucas and me specifically.
“This is the home of an ancient demon called The Keeper. He was a war hero and took this position at Discordia to avoid staying in the army once it was over. It wasn’t his first war, nor even his fifth, though the last one was the biggest, as we’ve said.
He works with animals, hell beasts, and students who are gifted with familiars by the Moirai. ”
Lucas looks puzzled, and I lean in to murmur, “He means the Fates; he’s just being fancy for no reason.”
“Dude, be cool. We know you’re a royal, and this is your realm. No need to be overly showy, yeah?” The bear gives Jasper a pointed expression, and I blink, hoping that will not get us toasted.
“Jasper hates naming them in the open air,” the Kitsune pipes up as his tails swish. “They’re not very interested in Hell, usually, and they’re really more active in other realms, no matter what you call them. It’s his way of giving them the finger, I think.”
“I can speak, Zav,” the dragon drawls wryly as he rolls his eyes.
“But yes. It was not to rub anything in your faces, surface dwellers. I simply dislike believing that anything a cackling group of people who enjoy screwing with everyone’s lives prefer is something to avoid.
It feels like… what do they call them again? ”
“Mean girls.”
That hits me just right, and I snort. Only a demon prince would accuse the weavers of the universal tapestry of being ‘mean girls’; no one else would dare. “You think they alter things to amuse themselves and punish people?”
“Duh,” Lucas says before Jasper can answer. “Why else do good people suffer and assholes like the ones we saw at that stupid meeting thrive? Don’t be dense, Iggy.”
I don’t think it’s quite so simple, but since I don’t have the actual answers, I let it go.
“Regardless of their true intent, they have more power than a great deal of beings, and pissing them off feels… ill-advised.” I give the lizard another serious look, but he waves his hand dismissively.
“Cultural difference, right, Gemini?”
Damon looks away from the fenced-in land, his brow furrowed. “Why don’t I see any animals if this is where he has them?”
Guess he’s not taking a side in this little spat.
“Because Arces is very powerful, and you cannot see them if you don’t have the capacity to be chosen for a familiar. It’s a blended magic he learned in his travels through various realms before the last war.”
Lucas rubs his hands together, looking excited. “Kinda excited, to be honest. Sounds like this guy is mega old and has seen a kajillion times more than me. I can’t wait to pick his brain.”
“We’re not interviewing The Keeper,” Zavida says ruefully as he shoots the bear an apologetic smile. “He will let us into the fields, and we’re going to poke around there, plus the shelter, for anything that tweaks our intuition.”
“Aw, man…”
Jasper chuckles as he approaches the door to knock on it firmly in a rapid pattern.
“Perhaps another time, young bear. This visit is about searching for a place that would appeal to anyone hoping to hide things in a less frequented place on campus. Demons don’t come out here unless they have a familiar or someone has identified them as a possible. ”
I scratch my chin, nodding as his explanation resonates. “That’s actually a pretty solid idea. Not that you can’t have them, but if I were going to enchant something and hide it at our school, I’d seek the least trafficked area.”
“Damn tech building,” Lucas grumbles. “Everything there is fucking robotic and scary.”
I laugh, shaking my head. “No, not there, but good guess.”
Damon tilts his head as he says, “How does the Keeper know if a student is a ‘possible’ familiar owner?”
The prince shrugs. “I recommend demons who seem like they have a talented vibe and no overt red flags in their behavior. I rarely follow up, though, so I’m not sure how good I am at it.
I imagine some of the staff do the same; familiars aren’t as common in Hell as above, and it looks good on a resume to find a demon who could attract one. ”
“Why?” Lucas asks curiously. “Familiars are like… pets, right? I mean, more I’m sure, but why is that some sort of badge of honor?”
Zavida waves his hand, and we all look at him.
“There are a lot of jobs—legal and illegal—that are hard to accomplish without a familiar or well-trained pet. Familiars have special powers that make them much better at those things. It can really help a demon get hired in some in-demand places. Plus, everyone sucks up to their bosses, who suck up to the Court.”
I can see the parallels here to State U before Morgana, so that makes sense. “Okay. But this guy isn’t answering his door, because we’ve been a few minutes and—”
“Welcome to the Wastes, surface dwellers,” a huge bearded demon says as the door flies open. “I waited until you were done talking about me before I opened the door. That’s polite where you come from, yes?”
This is going to be a very odd visit; I can feel it in my bones.
“I have many hexes woven into the protective layer of magic on my land. There aren’t troublemakers invading it, Jasper.
” The demon who identified himself as Arces walks beside the grumpy prince as we leave his modest home.
“You know what kind of traps someone with my experience can leave for those who do not respect my privacy.”
“Yes, but what if the sneaky fuckers aren’t breaching your perimeter themselves?” The dragon royal arches his brow at the big man, his expression knowing. “If they used coercion or demonic powers to infect someone who had a right to visit, it would be harder for your defenses to detect.”
“Like a sleeper agent,” I say as I think about Lucas’ poisoning and the murders. “An interesting gambit, and likely one that could be used in our realm as well.”
Arces puffs up, his eyes going black as he roves his gaze over the empty-looking fields and structures behind his home. “Rook is not gifted with empathy or truth-tasting, nor am I. It would be easier to slip through if I believed the person to be one of my students.”
“No staff have dropped by other than Jas, right?”
I smile when the clever fox brings up another possibility.
From what I understand, he combines the talent of Eli with magic and study like me, and that makes him a very useful shifter in my book.
It’s also clear that the prince is very protective of him, and that makes him exponentially more important to their group.
A smart enemy would look to get a hold of this one or the pretend girl if they wanted to fracture the caliphate.
“Not a soul, Zavida. Cross my hearts,” the big man says with a chuckle at his own humor. “Only students, and as ye know, most recently was your new member.”
Jasper looks out into the field as he grumbles, “Puts the shrimp squarely back on the ‘maybe’ list if you ask me.”
Is that what I sounded like? Fuck. No wonder Morgana is making me earn my place.
“Not to stick my skate in where it doesn’t belong, dude, but… What the fuck?”
My eyes widen as Lucas turns to glare at the nebulously high-powered hybrid whose realm we’re currently visiting. Obviously, youth and lack of exposure are why he’s just challenged the prince of an entire realm, but I have no idea how to walk that shit back.
“Excuse me?” Jasper’s eyes fill with flames, and a mist of dark shadows escapes him almost immediately. He’s on the edge because of the problems in their group, and Lucas just put himself right in the firing line. “What did you just say?”
“I said… What. The. Fuck. Are you hard of hearing, too?” The stubborn polar bear crosses his arms over his chest, and the vibes around us shift menacingly as the Kitsune grabs his tails to hug and the Gemini twin smirks.
“Listen, you furry little shit…”
Arces claps his hands, and it sounds like thunder as it echoes over his land. “There will be no battles on my property.”
“I cannot allow—” The prince cuts off as the Keeper gives him a dark, unyielding look.
“Now, if the boy has something to say, we should let him. I have a feeling that it’s important, and I have little concern for puffed-up egos and dick measuring, young prince.” Arces looks at Lucas, something shining in his eyes that makes me believe he must be on the girl’s side. “Go on. Tell him.”
Lucas blows out a breath, and I realize he’s probably pushing his bear back after the threat.
Once he’s ready, he looks at Prince Jasper with an irritated expression.
“Look, it’s not my place, but I don’t care.
We’re all here to work together for something huge, but you’re focused on some shitty slight.
It’s distracting you, and what’s more? It’s stupid. ”
“Holy shit,” Angelo mutters as he blinks at the bear. “You’ve got balls of titanium, kid.”
“No, what I had was a great Nana and shitty parents. I was rich like him, but I didn’t have a group of bonded brothers, only people who used me.
When I found Morgana at State U and the mating bond clicked, it was the first step toward a new life—to happiness for once.
Sure, we’ve got issues with dickheads framing me and I was poisoned…
but it brought the rest of my family to her. ”
Damn. I didn’t think about it that way.
“That’s worth more to me than being mad that Iggy over here is still fucking around about how he feels about Morgana and Slade.
It’s bigger than our damn dragon being an asshole all the time until just before we came here.
Because I have a real family who are my friends and some of my lovers and mates…
And I can’t keep my mouth shut as I watch this puffy asshole ruining his chance to have something good over something as small as what’s in the chick’s pants. ”
I blink, shaking my head as I gape for a moment. Clearing my throat, I say, “He’s not lying; he didn’t care that Liam was a guy, and he’d never been with a guy before when they mated.”
The Keeper smiles broadly, reaching over to clap Lucas on the shoulder. “Excellent speech, lad. That’s spot-on, and you had the stones to tell off the future king of Hell. My new favorite student is lucky to have friends such as you.”
Angelo nods and then adds his own two cents. “My brother and our furry hockey player are also lovers… probably mates, too. The ugly bird seems like he will join them with our girl. It’s much less worrisome to be flexible with sexuality in Hell, as we’ve seen by the connection you have to Zavida.”
The Kitsune turns bright red and hides behind his tails, which gets the prince to look at him with a rueful expression. “You made a promise, Jas. I’ve been trying to remind you, but your fury was too great.”
“I fucking did, didn’t I?” The cranky dragon sighs heavily, raking his hand through his hair as the lizard tail swishes angrily at his feet. “And my dragon is saying much worse to me than this kid just did.”
“I think I just had a revelation, too… if that helps.”
My words make the prince roll his gaze up to the weird starless sky of Hell, and I can tell by his posture that he’s trying to figure out what he’s going to do.
Finally, he looks at the group. “We have to search this place and move to our next target, so we cannot waste more time on my stubbornness. But I will think about it as we go. Is that enough to press pause on this topic?”
By the looks on everyone’s faces, I think it is—but I don’t think we’re the ones he needs to discuss it with, anyway.