Well, guess this conversation was over then.
At least I’d learned quite a bit. Except for what Dezikiel was.
Now I was even more curious.
Creeper (Magnus)
What did the rock signify? What kind of question was that?
I didn’t quite understand the concept of gift giving, and Jack had questioned my gift to her. He said it was meant to be something special. If I gave it to her, didn’t that make it special?
Ugh, this was hard. I thought I was getting a little better with human stuff.
Dezikiel had said I was progressing, although I knew I was the slowest of all of us.
I’d found the rock in my quiet place in the garden months ago, and I’d hung onto it, always keeping it in my pocket.
Dezikiel had said I had trouble with anger at times, and I found the black rock to be useful. Touching it or turning it over in my hand repeatedly seemed to help bring those strange feelings down.
Did they make it special? Did it have special powers? All I’d known was that it was all I had and it was something I valued.
Not that Jack or the others knew that.
I found myself heading to Dezikiel’s office after the birthday thing with Lily.
I wanted to be able to help her best, and Dezikiel had offered to open up my human side more with his powers. I was the only one who had rejected the offer two years ago, and he’d said the offer was always there if needed.
Maybe now I needed it. He said it would grant me the ability to know what I was feeling a little more, and understand the world better.
I hadn’t wanted to, I hadn’t wanted to change. I was a hellhound, that was just how it was.
But now with Lily here, I wanted to do the best by her. Maybe this was what was needed in order to communicate better with her.
Maybe then I could explain the rock.
She’d seemed confused by it. I had learned to read emotions, but my own were still a mystery.
I wanted her to understand.
I reached Dezikiel’s office, rasping my knuckles on his door.
“Come in.” Was the muffled response on the other side.
I opened up the door, gritting my teeth as I shut it behind me.
“How can I help?” Dezikiel asked, as if he already knew I was there for a reason.
“I’m ready now.”
Bug (Tolrun)
“Why’d Creeper go with the rock?” I groaned, flicking my elastic band on my wrist as I sat in the library with Jack.
Chumley was off playing Playstation, something else he’d come to enjoy, and Creeper had wandered off.
“I think it was somewhat important to him. He didn’t allow Dezikiel to open him up like us, so he’s still…” Jack frowned as he searched for the right words.
“Medieval and lacking emotions?” I scoffed.
Emotions, feelings, morals. All things we’d learned a bit with Dezikiel when he woke us up, the rest from lessons and studies. We were slotting in with the other students much better now.
“Yeah, pretty much,” Jack smirked as he flipped the page of his history book.
I found those kinds of books so boring, instead loving to explore all the worlds people had created. Harry Potter to the Game of Thrones books, which had TV adaptations apparently. Not that I watched much TV.
“What powers do you think she’ll have?” I mused as I lounged on the couch.
“Grand ones, I imagine. Being the daughter of Asmodeus,” Jack murmured, focusing on the text before him.
“You can sense it, can’t you?” I asked softly.
Even in our projected states, we had sensed something different about Lily. And now, having her here with us, actually being able to touch her and hug her, we could sense it so much more.
“Yeah,” Jack sighed, knowing exactly what I was talking about.
I chewed my cheek as I wondered about this unique vibe she gave off. Something that drew us to her.
We were created to protect her, but that wasn’t all of it. We’d all felt the strange buzz when she’d hugged us. Touching her was thrilling, it made my stomach tighten and strange feelings wash over me.
Feelings I’d never had before.
But I recognized it. As did Jack, something we’d discussed for a moment with Chumley earlier. Even he felt it too.
And I was sure Creeper did, although it was clearly giving him some grief since he didn’t know it.
We’d spent years watching over Lily, learning everything there was to know about her, all her little quirks and traits, growing to care for her on a deeper level than just her protectors.
But we had to tread carefully.
She was only now meeting us, and as much as we knew her, we were still kind of strangers to her.
“She’s taking the whole demonic thing well,” I stated as I reached for the book I’d been reading.
“I think, deep down, she knew. She knew she wasn’t really crazy,” Jack said as he looked over his book to catch my gaze.
“Yeah. The way she spoke to us sometimes, we were her truest friends it seems,” I said, pursing my lips.
I’d sat with her some nights while she read, and she’d told me about the book she was reading, or spoken to me about how exciting the characters' lives were.
Exciting. Even in the books where they were up against insane odds, she wanted to be a part of it.
Maybe her love for reading had helped her accept the truth about the world. About us.
Many times I’d gone with her to the local library to borrow books. It was one of the places I enjoyed going with her. To sit and watch her read. Sometimes, I’d even read with her, back here in the Academy, while my projection sat with her.
“It’s nice finally being able to talk to her,” I said as I opened up my book to my bookmark.
Jack just nodded, too absorbed in his reading.
I just pursed my lips as I looked at the pages before me.
There was so much I wanted to talk to her about. Like what was her favorite book? I knew she loved the Harry Potter books, they were some of the only books she owned, but I wasn’t sure if they were her favorite. And I knew I hadn’t been there for every book she’d read, had we read a lot of the same ones? Did she enjoy the TV adaptations? Had she seen them?
Would she suggest I see them?
I thought about going and finding her, but Jack thought it’d be best if we let her settle and allow her to wrap her head around everything.
I knew he was right.
So instead, I fell back into my book, into a world of hobbits and adventure.
Fourteen
I found myself in the leisure room after speaking with Mr Baron, curious about my fellow students.
Hadley spied me as soon as I walked in, and waved me over to a game of chess she was playing with Wayne.
Thomas and Flynn were playing the Playstation with headphones in, and Diane was doing a puzzle at the wooden desk.
Matthew was reading a book in the armchair next to the boys, while Paris was on a laptop on another couch, which I assumed was hers due to the stickers on the cover of it.
Hershel and Dylan were nowhere to be seen, along with Xander.
“Thought you weren’t going to come join us. I think Xander went to the library or music room after a while, and Dylan and Hershel are in the cinema watching some action movie,” Hadley informed me.
Wayne moved his piece on the board as I sat down with them. The chess set looked like it was high quality, with carefully carved wooden pieces and an intricate board. It looked like the whole thing was handmade.
Hadley focused on the game for a moment, and then her knight moved, without her touching it at all.
My eyes just widened at the sight, and Hadley chuckled as she noticed.
“Telekinetic. I try to practice it every day to keep it in fine form. Small things like this are easy,” she stated.
“Be curious to see what your powers are,” Wayne said, his voice smooth with
a British tinge.
I nodded, glancing over him. I’d spoken to him a little over breakfast, but now I had the chance to get a better feel for him.
He wore black cargo pants and a grey tee, and his dark brown hair was buzzcut. He had sharp features and broad shoulders, and I instantly thought of a marine. He was built quite sturdy, but so were quite a few of the guys actually.
He just gave off more of a marine vibe than the others, especially with how he crossed his arms as he waited for his turn, his biceps bulging.
“Yeah, I have no idea what to expect. What will happen?” I asked softly as I toyed with my bracelet.
“Dezikiel will take you down to the basement, the back room. It’s built to withstand any powers that awaken and contain them. It won’t hurt or anything, promise,” Hadley smiled at me. “Mine happened differently because I’m a witch, my powers woke up early. All they do is amplify my witch powers. Most other students are the standard midnight on their eighteenth birthday.”
“It’s nothing to stress about. When Paris and I awoke, we were both down in that room. We felt a pull to the shadows, and Dezikiel told us to do what felt natural. We did, and we were able to move through the shadows. We’ve been here two years now, learning and mastering our abilities along with our weapons of choice,” Wayne said as he moved his piece on the board.
“Hadley, you said you two have been here the longest, how do students graduate?” I asked.
“Once they master their abilities and feel comfortable going out on their own,” Hadley shrugged, but she shot a glance at Wayne, who returned the odd look before clearing his throat and focusing on the board as she moved a piece.
“Xander is the newest of us. He’s only been here six months. Thomas, Flynn, and Matthew have been here just over a year, Dylan and Hershel came only a few months apart, so they’ll be coming up on two years. Then Wayne and Paris. We came only a few months before your hellhounds, when there were other students here. Sometimes they still pop in, stay to visit or if they’re passing through,” Hadley said as Wayne took his turn.
“I’ve heard some stories about those hellhounds. The past two years they’ve been fairly good, Creeper has still been a little weird, but the others are more normal. I heard Dezikiel helped them with that,” Wayne chuckled.
“Oh, I know all the stories,” Hadley laughed.
“You mentioned something about their first Christmas earlier?” I coaxed her.
“Oh God,” Hadley snorted. “Hellhounds are primal, simple creatures without some assistance. They came out the first morning of December and saw the Christmas tree in the foyer. We were all coming out to go breakfast, and we all stopped to watch them. They were prancing around that tree like they’d never seen one before. Well, guess they hadn’t. But then Miss Sage turned on the lights on the tree,” Hadley’s grin widened as she began trying to withhold laughter, snorting as she covered her mouth.
“They shifted into hellhound form and took it down, snarling and growling. It was quite a scene. Dezikiel came and forced them to shift back and took them away to teach them a bit,” Diane said as she came over to join us, sitting across from me on the other side of the table.
Hadley was chortling now, and even Wayne had cracked a grin.
“When we got here, they were still having trouble with the whole shirt thing,” Paris called out from her seat on the couch, obviously having overheard the conversation.
“Oh, that’s right. When they first got here, clothes were not something they understood. They thought they were optional,” Diane giggled.
“Then there was the time Chumley kept taking bites out of the soap. I overheard Miss Sage mentioning it to Mr Baron, so I went and had a peek. He took a bite out of the soaps in his bathroom like they were brownies,” Hadley laughed.
“I heard Jack poured pudding on someone’s head,” Matthew spoke up, smirking down at his book.
“Yep. They were talking too much, and I think he was curious to see what would happen. He was only just starting to study human behavior and emotions,” Hadley nodded.
“Chumley used to shift into a hellhound and wreck the furniture, chew and claw at it,” Diane added.
“Creeper used to be heaps creepier, he used to scare some of the older students. He watches a lot, I know he’s trying to understand and learn, but that expressionless face weirded many out. I hear Chumley didn’t understand the whole ‘if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all’ thing. He was so brutally honest he was hated for so long,” Wayne snickered.
“Bug used to run away, like, legit run off down the hall if someone was talking to him too much and he got too upset or nervous. Other times he’d shift and run away to hide. It was a little sad actually. I think he struggled the most with dealing with others. Creeper as well, in his own way,” Hadley sighed.
I felt a little bad hearing these stories about the boys. They’d been funny at first, but now they were just sad. They’d struggled so much to fit in.
Sure, they were laughing about it, but both Wayne and Hadley looked a little saddened now. They obviously cared for their companions here. How couldn’t they? They lived together and ate together. Of course they’d grow close.
“Two years ago, Dezikiel offered to enlighten them apparently. Use his powers to give them some kind of great programming type thing, so that they’d understand how they were meant to be. All the weird stuff stopped after that. No longer toddlers in adult bodies,” Wayne sighed.
“Yeah. I kinda miss it. It really made this place so much more interesting and fun. Creeper still struggles, apparently he didn’t agree to the enlightening, so he didn’t get the update,” Hadley added as she focused back on the game.
Diane was watching me now, those brown eyes searching mine.
“You’re curious as to what Dezikiel is, aren’t you?” she finally said.
Crap, telepathic. Guess there were no secrets with her around.
“Is he a demonic? He seems… different,” I said, unable to explain why he was different. He gave off a different vibe.
“Sort of, you’ll find out eventually,” Diane shrugged.
“I think you’ve learned a lot all in the space of what, not even a day?” Hadley cracked a small smile.
“It’s hard to not ask questions,” I said as I leaned back in my chair.
“Things reveal themselves a little after you’re awakened. Don’t stress too much. Just enjoy your afternoon, it is your birthday, after all,” Diane smiled brightly. “Wanna finish my puzzle with me?”
I pursed my lips, realizing they’d all decided they’d said enough, even Hadley seemed like she didn’t want to spill any more. Maybe they were right, I had learned a lot in just one day.
I nodded, and Diane stood up, leading me over to the table where she had been working on a large puzzle.
I used to love doing puzzles with my mom. After she died, I didn’t do them any more.
Maybe it was time to re-discover my love for it.
I’d finished the puzzle with Diane, chatting with her about all sorts of things, from music and movies, to some shared Netflix shows we loved. She liked my Australian accent too, thinking it was quite different, along with some words I used.
I found we had a fair bit in common, and I actually enjoyed the few hours I spent with her on the puzzle.
A lot of the others had left by the time we’d finished, except Hadley and Dylan, who were playing the Playstation.
Now I was in my room, lying on my bed as I smiled softly.
I liked the people here. They were nice, and this whole Academy thing, the knowledge that I didn’t need to stress about money any more, no more struggling for jobs, it was rather pleasant.
No one here thought I was crazy.
Maybe I could finally make real friends, feel comfortable and welcome.
And I had my hellhounds too.
But what was the point of this Academy? Sure, I learned more about myself, gained powers, and was taught
all sorts of things.
But when I graduated, then what?
I groaned, closing my eyes and snuggling into my pillow.
That didn’t matter right now.
I was getting way ahead of myself.
And I was tired. My brain had been working overtime to deal with everything. Not to mention that I had to stay up until midnight tonight.
My stomach tightened at that thought.
I sighed, focusing on my breathing and taking deeper breaths.
A meditation technique I’d picked up after my mother died. I had been prone to getting riled up, and having some kind of anxiety attacks.
I was surprised none of my hellhounds had brought it up.
My hellhounds. That whole term still sounded weird. I didn’t own them, and yet I couldn’t stop thinking of them as mine.
And when the others had laughed about their antics, a part of me wanted to defend them, even if it was only said in jest.
No. Back to breathing. I needed some rest. I needed to be awake for tonight, so even if all I wanted to do was mull over things, I needed to let it all go.
Just breathe. One deep one in, one deep one out.
I walked through the strange wasteland, my bare feet silent as I carefully eased my way through the warped trees. They had no leaves and looked charred, all bent and reaching up from the ground like wicked claws.
What an eerie place.
My feet left footprints in the black ashy dirt, and I glanced around the area, at the black mountains around me and the red sky.
What was this place anyway?
I continued onward, drawn to something further ahead. It called to me, urging me onward. I obeyed, trudging through the ashy dirt.
The strange, ghastly trees thinned out slowly, their curled limbs and broken trunks slowly fading away, and I found myself in a small clearing.
A man stood beside a pool of creepy red water rimmed with black stones, staring down into it.
Wicked Souls: A Limited Edition Reverse Harem Romance Collection Page 88