by Meg Xuemei X
“I’m not even a people person. I’m not going to provide such a service to a beast.”
Cerberus trotted to me, and for some reason, it wasn’t in my cold, merciless heart to hack my blades at him, even though initially I’d planned to cut his heads off.
The hellhound rubbed my thigh and shoulder, and one head turned to gaze at me with a grin.
“Fine!” I said, rolling my eyes at his pitch-black, handsome, yet formidable face.
I put my swords back into their sheaths and scratched his fur like an amateur. He tilted his head to show me where I should scratch. The fucking beast was more demanding than Loki. I moved my fingers to the back of his ear and rubbed his hide back and forth.
I must have done it right since he flicked his tails in satisfaction.
Loki watched us. “I see you two get along. Excellent. Cerberus will be your guard from now on. He won’t interfere in your fights during your classes, but he’ll watch over you at night. And now, he’ll escort you to class.”
Loki vanished in a swirl of black smoke.
CHAPTER 14
__________________
“I don’t like the name Cerberus, as it was given to you by the devil himself,” I told Cerberus as he trotted beside me, leading me to the ominous gate of Satan’s school. “I’ll rename you Angel.”
Demons hated angels, so I took some satisfaction in naming my hellhound after their betters, who’d abandoned them to Earth’s Hell when the angels won the war.
The hellhound gave me an unimpressed look.
“You should be grateful that I didn’t call you Cookie, Buttercup, or Rosebud. And I doubt you’d appreciate being called Lamb!”
I’d once been set against being called all those ridiculous, meek names by my mates, but now in Hell, I’d give a piece of my soul just to hear them calling me those endearments again.
“If you have a problem with your new name, Angel, you can take it up with Loki. But he isn’t available at the moment, so I’m the boss. And even when he returns—if he returns—I’m still your boss. As of this moment, I’m establishing my authority.”
Even before Smoky had dropped me on the hot, black sand, I’d mapped out how I was going to roll in Hell’s Academy.
I would wear my birthright and demand my rights as the Princess of Hell.
I’d downplayed my status in the Half-Blood Academy, for I’d been hiding my heritage, and I’d been sheltered. Here, I would have to use every available weapon at my disposal, including my heritage.
I was who I was.
I accepted that now. I couldn’t choose the circumstances of my birth, but I would never give up the freedom to choose what I wanted to become, to choose my own path to ascension.
My heritage could no longer hinder me, only elevate me.
My enemies were determined to re-forge me in Hell, but I’d rise from the fire and give them hell.
The demon guards posted at the gate didn’t stop me or question me—if they had, I’d have shown them an example of how Hell’s princess ran her blades through her inferiors’ guts. The guards grinned at me viciously, which warned that they expected some nastiness waiting for me in my first class.
Angel growled at them while leading me through the gate into the courtyard. My hands stayed close to the hilts of my swords while my gait remained a brisk swagger. I would show anyone lurking in the shadows and watching that I wasn’t afraid of them, and I would gleefully cut down anyone who got in my way.
The campus bore two color schemes—red and black. Red represented violence, and black meant death. They were Hell’s primary colors. This place, derivative and bleak, was the opposite of the lovely campus of the Half-Blood Academy. I’d hated it here the second I’d stepped in.
I felt worse as the smell of sulfur, brimstone, and ash assaulted my nostrils.
My hands started to twitch, responding to the vibrating violence in the air. Angel turned one head and gave me a thrilling look while his other head stared ahead, looking for trouble. Violence was the hellhound’s language.
He led me down a black-stoned corridor until we stopped before a black door. Screams and shouts came from behind the door. I tilted my head and listened to steel crossing steel, claws slashing flesh, and bones cracking.
This was the class Angel had brought me to.
I pulled out my twin swords and booted open the black door with my Titan might. The door tumbled down with a loud thud.
The battle noises suddenly stopped, and all heads turned to me as I scanned the room.
The walls were also black, except for the blood splashed on it. Red blood was from the halflings—anyone who had an ounce of human DNA. Black stains belonged to the pureblood demons.
Judging from the way everyone stared at me, I was probably the only one who had kicked down the door of the classroom.
“Who the fuck is she?” a demon demanded.
“Fresh meat,” a demoness purred. The bitch had pink horns. How could a demon wear pink? Unbelievable and tacky.
“Let’s chop off her arms first. Teach her some manners.”
A green-horned demon sniffed. “She isn’t human. She’s—”
“What are you waiting for, non-human newbie?” a gray-horned, gray-skinned demon, who looked like a troll, yelled at me. “Get in line. Cut down a halfling, and you’ll be spared.”
Even in Hell’s Academy, half-bloods were targets. I darted a glance around. The one hundred or so students were divided into three groups—half-bloods, purebloods, and witches and mages. One-third of the halflings were down, the wounded still groaning on the ground. The witches and mages stood by, not joining the battle.
I understood why they were spared. Their magic was valued, and they often joined the winning side. I’d fought the black witches and dark mages who served demons near the Brooklyn-Queens border.
I leapt into the air, hellfire hissing on my blades. I swung my left sword in an arc and decapitated the giant demon right beside the gray-horned demon. The gray demon widened his eyes. My blade ran through his throat before he could bring his ax down on a female half-blood.
“Shut you up, motherfucking demon,” I murmured hoarsely. “I might not be a human, but I’m still a half-blood.”
I stood with the half-blood prince.
Bloodthirsty roars rolled across the room, and the rest of the demons rushed toward me. I jumped to meet them, crashing into them, and cutting into their ranks like the meanest demoness. I was their princess, and I carried war in my blood. I had been born for this.
I roared in joy as I slaughtered each pureblood demon that came at me.
“That’s the bitch who killed many of our brethren in the trial,” a demon shouted from the corner. “She then insulted and attacked Lord Lucifer.”
“Impossible,” the demoness who’d called me “fresh meat” barked. “High Lord Lucifer wouldn’t allow this treacherous bitch to live. He must have sent her to us to let us finish her off.”
A lot of demons agreed with her. “She won’t leave this classroom. We’ll fuck her pink flesh until we tear her open from the inside.”
“She’s powerful. Some call her a princess,” one of them warned.
“She’s no princess of ours. Whoever takes her down obtains her power!” The demoness was trying to inspire her peers.
There was a belief in Hell that you absorbed the power of anyone you killed.
Another wave of demons surged toward me with a cacophony of bellows, swinging their axes and chainsaws at me. The prospect of stealing my power was an incentive for all of them. They’d abandoned their former targets to make me their primary victim.
“You stupid demon worms are too stupid to live,” I said, beheading a demoness. “Even fucking Lucifer failed to take my powers.”
“Protect the princess!” a witch suddenly shouted. “She’s on our side.”
The halflings echoed her shouts and charged the pureblood demons, fighting to get to me. Half a dozen witches and mages also joined in, t
ossing spells at the demons surrounding me.
That was unexpected.
I hadn’t come here to look for friends or allies, but now my blades discriminated and skewered only the pureblood demons.
Black blood dripped from my swords, and I grinned demonically.
A boom sounded in the room.
“Stop!” the instructor barked, his archdemon power ripping the air, piercing the violence around us.
The other students doubled over at the potency of his power, all except for me.
All action ceased and killing halted.
I’d noticed who the archdemon was when I kicked down the door. Cold rage had beaten in my middle, demanding I slay him right away.
I’d held back.
Until now.
He was one of the archdemons who’d attacked Héctor in the Brooklyn military compound. He’d nearly amputated my beloved’s wing. Héctor had also severed his crimson horns before he escaped, and now his greasy horns had grown back.
His taunting of my beloved still echoed in the back chamber of my head. “You won’t get out of here alive, Demigod of Death. And don’t worry about the girl. I bet she’s in Hell’s realm now, enjoying my Lord Lucifer’s and your god’s company. There’ll be a threesome—”
He had recognized me as well, judging by the way he leered at me, obsessive greed swirling in his black-pit eyes.
“Cadets,” he called, clapping his claws, “the introduction is over. Now sit your asses down for the class.”
He gestured at the corpses, indicated to them like they were chairs.
So this was what Hell’s Academy was about—we sat on our former classmates’ corpses and listened to lectures, our hands and feet soaking in blood.
The pureblood demons milled around the classroom to claim seats—the better corpses.
“I don’t think so,” I said, leaping into the air toward the archdemon, my twin swords sailing toward his neck.
“How dare you strike your superior!” the archdemon snarled, swinging up his axes to meet my blades.
“You’re no superior to me, foul demon,” I said, shooting my foot up to kick his forehead while our weapons locked against each other.
His head jerked back at the blow.
We pulled back a step and lunged at each other again.
I cleaved his left horn, and he slashed open my shoulder. Pain blared in me. I almost dropped my sword.
We circled each other and crashed in a blur. Our blades wheeled and danced and crossed brutally.
Everyone was dumbfounded that I had attacked a powerful archdemon instructor just like that. When their initial shock passed, everyone started shouting. The pureblood demons cheered for the archdemon like his little bitches.
A few voices from very brave souls supported me, including the witch’s high-pitched one. The rest of the half-bloods were obviously afraid of retaliation from the archdemon, so they kept quiet.
The archdemon brought his ax down toward my head. I stepped aside, faster than a flash. At the same time, my sword stabbed toward his side, but his second ax intercepted it.
He was just as fast as I was. I hadn’t fully recovered from my injuries, and he was more experienced since he was century-old and had probably spent most of his time on the battlefield.
I wouldn’t be able to finish him off in a swordfight.
“Stop, you crazy bitch!” he called. “You need to learn some fucking rules here if you want to live. Rule number one is to follow the order of your superiors—”
“Then you should follow my order, demon,” I said. “Go lie down and die. I outrank you. I’m the daughter of Queen Lilith, the rightful Queen of Hell. I’m also the heir to the King of the Titans, the ultimate conqueror in the universe. I’m above fucking Lucifer himself.”
I conjured my fires, trying to get my Flame of Rainbows to merge with the hellfire. When my Titan flame proved to be but a spark under ash, still bound by dark spells, I poured my hellfire toward the archdemon.
A hot wind passed, and two-toned fire intercepted mine.
Lucifer materialized in front of me. I raged and pushed my hellfire toward him, but it wouldn’t hurt the master of the Hell, where the fire had originated.
Hell’s power chose Lucifer over me.
“Pull back your fire if you don’t want me to hurt you again, Celeste,” Lucifer ordered.
I slowly withdrew my hellfire.
Everyone, including the archdemon I had set out to kill, dropped to their knees. I held my chin high as I glared at Lucifer.
“My mother will come for you eventually, dude, for what you did to her,” I said.
“I hope so,” he said softly, almost longingly. “I sincerely hope so.”
He studied my features as if seeking any trace of her on my face.
I snickered in derision.
“You’ll attend this school and obey all the rules, Celeste,” he said. “Or you’ll return to the iron box that carried you here. You’ll learn what you must and you will serve me.”
I was about to spit to in his face, but it wouldn’t do me any good. If I challenged him in front of everyone and made him lose face again, he’d punish me severely. Who was I kidding? He was the devil, king of the psychopaths.
I needed to bide my time if I wanted a chance to stay alive and overcome Lucifer. I had an edge over him. He didn’t know much about my Living Flame or that I hadn’t activated it.
He’d once stolen my mother’s powers, but I was not her. She’d fallen from heaven for the wrong guy. I wouldn’t allow my feelings, even my hatred for him, to cloud my judgment.
It was time for me to back off.
I sent a glance to the hellhound. He sat beside the black door, watching quietly. Loki had given the hellhound this job description—he would escort me to class and guard me at night, but he wouldn’t interfere with what happened in class.
To my satisfaction, Angel didn’t wag his tail at Lucifer or run to lick the devil in worship, like he’d done with Loki.
He wasn’t Lucifer’s. I’d named him right. Though I couldn’t completely trust the hellhound, I knew he was on my side until the common interests between Loki and me diverted.
I trained my eyes on Lucifer before glancing at the archdemon, then turned to the surviving half-bloods, as if I was in command. “Let the fucking class begin.”
Lucifer looked nostalgic and forlorn for a fleeting second. I believed that in that nanosecond, he saw my mother in me. That was why he craved my presence—he longed for her—yet he resented my existence at the same time, as I was the child his queen had made with another powerful male.
The archdemon stared back at me with white-hot hatred. His nostrils fumed, and I breathed out frost.
Lucifer ignored everyone but fixed his unreadable yet formidable gaze on me a few seconds longer.
“Be careful, Celeste,” he said softly. “I’m watching you.”
“I know you are, dude,” I said.
The devil shook his head in disgust and vanished from the class in a flash of dazzlingly white light.
CHAPTER 15
The Demigod of Sky
__________________
Thunder beat in my blood as we prowled through the secret underground passage in Hell. We’d see Rosebud soon. We’d bring her home and guard her with our every breath.
We’d never fail her again.
I’d been in stasis for millennia until my mate came and made me feel again. Because of her, I’d gained the ability to love deeply and addictively.
“Get a hold of yourself, Zak!” Paxton snapped.
At my emotional outburst, lightning had leaked from me, striking the passageway’s mossy stone walls.
I leashed my power. The lightning trailed off. Once the most leveled-headed demigod, I was now a volatile volcano.
Even Axel had better self-control than me at the present.
We couldn’t afford to let Lucifer get wind of us coming to Hell, and this secret passage was the only path we could t
ravel undiscovered.
It wasn’t easy for the four of us to be in such a cramped space. In the past, none of us could stay in the same room without fighting and wounding each other. But we’d managed to share a mate in peace, and for her, we’d become a united front.
But it didn’t mean we were no longer territorial, volatile, and violent around each other.
“Where’s your prince, Pythius?” Héctor asked, trying to distract us.
“His Highness is attending to Lucifer,” said the Duke of Deception, “to keep his father’s eyes away from Princess Celeste. Also, he’s leading the investigation into the traitors who consorted with the former Queen of Hell and smuggled her bastard daughter out of the Void. As I’ve informed you, my prince has saved the princess several times.”
Héctor’s gloved hand lashed out, lifting the half-demon duke into the air. “Call my mate ‘bastard’ again.”
“Not my word,” Pythius said coolly. “I was merely quoting.”
“You quoted wrong,” Axel growled.
“Will you let me down?” Pythius demanded. “Do you want to see her or not?”
“Let him go, Héctor,” I said. “We need him.”
Héctor dropped him, death light twirling in his eyes.
His death light terrified his enemies, yet mesmerized Rosebud. She always gazed at him as if he held the wonders of the universe. She’d never looked at me that way, not directly, but I’d caught her staring at me with unbridled lust and the same kind of adoration when she thought I wasn’t looking.
I had an eternity to gain her affection and make her gaze at me like I was her whole world, too.
“Bear in mind my forewarning,” Pythius said icily. “Don’t even think of whisking her away from Hell as soon as you see her, which will be your first instinct, as all of you are notoriously territorial hotheads. You’ll never be able to protect her that way, without a solid strategy and cool heads. She wears Hell’s mark now. It’ll set off an alarm the moment she attempts to flee this realm, and then Lucifer and the war god will be upon her and us. Doom my prince before the time is ripe, and I won’t be this meek and accommodating. If you betray my prince, I’ll tear you to pieces.”