Chapter 20
Twenty
LUCAS
I’d feel smug about getting an ancient demon royal and an older, stodgy-ass professor to question their behavior, but it’s hard to ride that prideful wave at the moment.
Since the prof made his admission, Arces took his leave to go do…
whatever a demon animal guy does… and we’ve been wandering around his visually barren field looking for clues.
I have no idea what we’re looking for or even what I’ve been bumping into occasionally, so my current state of being is more Scooby-Dumb than Velma.
Luckily, I’m not the only one who isn’t having much luck, or I’d be shriveled up like a damn prune in embarrassment.
The Prince and his ginger lover aren’t finding shit, nor is the Gemini, which is the saving grace for my ego.
“I believe we may have exhausted all the options out here, Jasper.”
Relief floods me as Angelo calls out to the stubborn dragon from his corner of the vast animal pen.
We searched the stable-type building first and found squat, then moved to this open field for follow-up.
Not a single one of us has felt or seen a thing that might lead to a discovery in the nebulous amount of time we’ve been here, and I’m glad someone besides me is calling it.
“I agree with him,” Iggy yells from his area. “I’ve bumped into things, but nothing has responded to my magic or even tweaked my spells from your searches. We need to move on.”
Zavida waves from where he’s been searching in Kitsune form, obviously shifted back and in his clothes. “They’re probably correct, Jas. I’m getting zero response to shifter or demonic efforts down here.”
The prince finally growls in irritation, running his hand through his hair as he looks around. “This seemed like a perfect place to hide shit. I don’t get it.”
“Maybe Arces was right about his security?” I venture carefully. “I don’t know dick about demons and their magic beyond the little I’ve seen recently, but… he seems capable.”
Jasper snorts, shaking his head. “Arces is more than capable, but demons are also sneaky, good at subterfuge, and the people who might be involved are old enough to know what they need to circumvent. Plus, it’s easy to get complacent spending decades and centuries being feared and isolated.
We’re all vulnerable to our own egos; isn’t that what you posited earlier? ”
I blink, my face turning red as I kick what I think is dirt. “Yeah, I suppose so. But we’ve tried everything, right?”
Iggy walks over, nodding sagely. “Yes, we have. Everyone used magic or shifts or demonic forms and more magic..we’ve even walked in normal forms, feeling around like fools. This area is either free of hidden clues or we don’t have the right things needed to unlock it.”
“Perhaps we move on to the arena, and if we find nothing by the end of the night, we commit to switching the groups’ search areas to send different abilities to do another sweep tomorrow?
” The elder twin’s wings stretch and then re-settle against his back in a way that tells me he’s not comfortable staying half-shifted.
Morgana doesn’t do it all the time, but when she does let her wings out solo, it’s clear that she’s used to doing it—this guy isn’t it.
Sucking in a defeated breath, the dragon prince nods.
“Fine. We’ll say our goodbyes and thank you’s to Arces, then Zavida can open a portal to the arena.
I’m not fond of showcasing that talent as much as we have lately, but his accuracy in taking us to a less visited part of the structure will be better than Gemini’s. ”
“Gee, Eversore, make me feel inadequate, why don’t you?
” Angelo grumbles, but the teasing look on his face makes me chuckle.
He seems like a good guy, but I think he’s been relegated to the ‘serious’ one versus his twin’s softer demeanor.
That reminds me a bit of Li and Kaspar, which makes it easier to relate.
I’ve always understood people through relating them to my experience, and it’s nice that none of these people are giving me shit as I figure them out.
The prince nods, his tail swishing as he turns toward the back door of the Keeper’s home. “Lead the way if it makes you feel better, Gemini. I’m not fussed about who comes first—just that I get in the last laugh.”
Iggy gives me a look, and I snicker under my breath.
I didn’t realize how obnoxious all the male dragons I’ve ever met are until just now, and it makes me pretty curious about the females.
However, we’ve got enough dick-swinging going on during this damn visit, and I’m pretty relieved that we won’t encounter any female anything outside of our women and maybe staff.
Given the volatile nature of damn near everyone in this motley alliance, it’s a blessing in disguise.
Or a demonic curse, I’m not sure which, but either way, it’s keeping the body count down.
The fox brought us to a spot inside the arena near the equipment rooms, and even from here, I can tell this fucking place will make even the biggest bowl teams’ facilities at home look like garbage.
It makes sense, I suppose, because Hell is probably enormous, and this campus is only one small part of it, despite its size.
Plus, I don’t know what they play in the damn thing, but I assume it’s not something simple like football or soccer.
The whole ‘Games to the death’ vibe the demons have when they talk about what’s going on in this realm tells me I don’t want to find out, though.
“Okay, so where do you think we should start?” Iggy says as he wrinkles his nose.
The prof isn’t used to athletic facilities and their pervasive scent regardless of how well they’re cleaned.
“You’ll get used to it,” I say with a grin. “Though, there’s a lot more blood stink here than in our rink, and I thought hockey was violent.”
Jasper smirks at me, his canines looking sharper than before. “What you can play is simulated violence in comparison, bear. This arena has absorbed blood, sweat, magic, and death for centuries. There’s no time-out when demons compete.”
“Yes, yes.” Zavida sighs and rolls his eyes, his tails swishing around him as he sighs. “Demons compete to the death, and it’s so cool. It’s not like tech has evolved to a place where we could do this without culling entire generations of heirs and demons alike for sport.”
Nice. The hacker’s also a gamer, and he’s not as fond of the whole ‘murdering people’ thing as the rest of his caliphate.
“You’re a different sort,” Angelo says as he claps the smaller demon on the shoulder. “And a lot like my brother. I like it.”
That elicits a snarl from the prince, whose eyes flash with his dragon as he rumbles, “Don’t. Touch. Him.”
The older twin lifts his hand, putting it in the air with the other one in supplication. “Whoa, whoa. I wasn’t hitting on him, Eversore. I don’t swing in that direction, and even if I did, it wouldn’t be to someone obviously mated to another demon and an heir. Calm down.”
I watch as the Kitsune tries to hide his delight at Jasper’s reaction, and I chuckle.
That’s almost certainly how I act when Lady M and Li get bent out of shape about me.
I know how much it delights me to my core at both the praise and the possessiveness—probably because I’m submissive to them and no one else.
“Hey, Zavida, don’t worry about it, man.
Your coloring is made for the redness, hmm? ”
He laughs shyly, clutching his tails to his chest. “I guess so. I never thought about that.”
“I did.” The prince’s grumble makes everyone but him and the fox snicker, and I wink at the shy hacker to let him know I get it. “Now, shut up, and let’s start with these backrooms. They’re full of shit that people don’t use constantly, which means they’d be a good place to hide.”
Thank fuck; I thought we were going to have to pull instructions out of him with pliers or some shit.
“Jasper, if you take the armory stores with Ignatius, and we take the other equipment room, we can do this faster.” Zavida pushes his glasses up, looking at the dragon with a bright smile.
“Fine,” the prince says as he jerks his chin at the professor. “Come on, mage. Start thinking about what fucking spells you want to use, and I’ll do the same. Lucky for you, the stench of death and blood won’t be as apparent as it will be to me.”
How comforting for Iggy, I’m sure.
They walk further down the darkened hallway, and I turn to the Kitsuné and the demon. “So, where’s our room?”
Zavida gestures in the opposite direction of where the others went, far from the actual field entrance.
“We’re going through this set of doors. Unlike them, we’ll all be able to smell how fucking terrible a job Lucian’s cleaning staff does.
That fucker doesn’t give a shit about anything unless important people are coming, so I doubt it will get polished until the Games are super close. ”
I walk with Angelo, looking around the facility curiously. “Are you nervous about the Games? I wouldn’t blame you if you were, dude. They sound terrifying, and we fought a fire drake recently without getting roasted.”
The Gemini twin stops in place, turning to look at me with his mouth hanging open.
I blink, waiting for him to finally speak, and when he does, his voice is strained.
“The battle where Reb went missing and Javier had to flame out was an ambush on the way to our house. Whatever it was, it attacked Rogue and Archie when they were alone. Is that how you guys tangled with a fucking firedrake?”
The implication in his tone means he knows how rare it is for them to show up randomly in areas they aren’t registered in.
“Uh, sort of? Kaspar had a tantrum and ran off to let his dragon loose on the less populated part of campus. He wasn’t expecting to see anyone, much less an unknown drake, and when we figured out he’d been gone too long, we went after him.
That’s when we came upon an epic, Tolkien-esque air battle and everyone had to go Avengers Assemble, you know? ”
This time, Zavida whirls around, his brow furrowed as he stares at me. “You bested it? Really? The odds of that are…”
“Pretty shitty, I know,” I grin as I shrug.
“Lady M and Kas handled the air, and fuck, you should have seen it. She’s a goddamn warrior goddess when she’s fighting; if I hadn’t been in love with her already, that definitely would have done it.
Between the gargoyle and the gorgon? She makes my bear look puny and useless. It’s hot. as. fuck.”
Angelo grins wickedly. “I know how that is. Rogue usually doesn’t even shift into full Unseelie, and she rocks the world of assholes.
But when she does? Holy fuck, the woman is lethal, especially if she pulls out the death dust. I mean, a bunch of jealous bitches beat her to a pulp in an ambush a few months ago, and when we found her, she’d taken one out and injured others.
Only the leaders escaped before she passed out, probably because they were letting the others do their dirty work. ”
The Kitsune licks his lips and then bites the lower one as he thinks.
“I feel like that’s a lot of random attacks up there, paired with a bunch of frame-ups, and weird coincidences.
Add that to the Games, the big meeting, and all this chaos down here?
It’s definitely a pattern—and one that might be trackable if Angelo’s brother and I work together to compile data from both realms.”
I tilt my head. “If Angelo’s girl is a Guardian, she’d be able to find info from the Society people.
I can maybe poke Nana about stats from the rest of the world.
She’s very tied in with the European Councils and the Society.
That might give us an even better view and, uh…
” I scratch my head, thinking about it for a second.
“Maybe that would give us data points to figure out who is calling which plays?”
“Lucas, that’s brilliant!” Zavida rubs his hands together, almost drooling at the thought of gathering, analyzing, and collating a massive amount of input to find answers.
“The big cheeses are probably assigning specific tasks to specific groups with the best facility for it. If we track it all over, we can cross-check with travel and other things to narrow down a suspect pool.”
My smile broadens as I high-five Angelo, and nod at the hacker.
“Hell yeah, man. I don’t have a damn clue how to do whatever you’re going to do, but I’m all in on you and the other demon getting it done.
Point me toward whatever I can do to help or start cracking skulls afterward.
And of course, I’ll send you whatever I get from Nana.
I can tell her I have a paper or something so she doesn’t get suspicious about why I want it. ”
It’s about time I felt like I had more to contribute than kicking ass and judging stubborn princes for bad decisions.