by Cara Wylde
I’d heard enough. I teleported out of there. Valac and his friends would never know I’d been there and overheard everything about their horrible, disgusting bet.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
I felt like an idiot. It wasn’t even the fact that I liked Davien and Seth and they had taken advantage of my feelings. I felt like an idiot because I’d almost had sex with Davien because I wanted it and because I was an independent woman in control of my own body, and if we’d gone all the way, I would’ve made a fool of myself without even having a clue about what was going on. He would’ve won the bet, and the entire Academy would have found out.
It hurt.
Seth hadn’t stopped Davien twice because he cared about me and respected me as a woman. He’d done it because he didn’t want to let the incubus win. He was worse than Davien, in fact. While Davien had gone the direct, no-bullshit way to convince me to have sex with him, working toward winning the bet through simple lust and desire, Seth had tried to get under my skin emotionally. And he’d almost managed.
I realized now that the only thing that had kept me at a decently safe distance from them was my focus on other things. I was too busy worrying about Professor Wyvern and finding a way to travel to the home dimension of the Great Old Ones. I’d almost slipped on Mabon, that was true, but after that, I’d stayed away from both the incubus and the sphinx.
I felt like shit.
I went to Anthropology, then Anatomy of Souls, but I was barely present. The second the classes ended for the day, I rushed to my dorm-room and locked myself in. I didn’t want to go to dinner, didn’t want to see the five guys who’d made a bet about fucking me. Valac had never had a chance, and I really wasn’t sure who the other two guys at the gym were. But Davien and Seth had both gotten so close that I almost felt sick to my stomach. I plopped onto my bed and buried my face in a pillow. Flashes from that night in the woods invaded my thoughts, and no matter how hard I tried to let them go and think about something else, it didn’t work. Worse. The more I tried to ignore them, the more vivid they became. Details I hadn’t even thought about until now. Davien’s hot breath in my ear as he stroked me. His energy field expanding as he fed from me, as he absorbed the waves of my orgasm. The look in his eyes as he licked my juices off his fingers.
Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck. I groaned.
He’d made me feel good. He’d made me feel pure bliss in his arms, and now the memory of it shattered me on the inside. My chest hurt, my stomach rumbled, but I felt so weak and ashamed of myself that I didn’t even want to get out of the bed, let alone do something about the pitiful condition I was in. I could have taken a pill or a bath. Or both. I didn’t want to be in my own body right now. I felt icky. Dirty. It had been over a month since Davien had touched me intimately, but it was as if I could feel his hands all over me again. And the thought that I’d wanted to kiss Seth on the beach!
God fucking damn it!
I stayed like that for a while, long minutes in which I just focused on my breath and listened to the noises coming from outside my door. The other MDC students were getting ready to go down to dinner. My left arm fell asleep, and I needed to move. My lower back ached from the odd position. I reached inside the pocket of my uniform blazer and took out a small, golden bell. I closed my eyes, counted to five, and rang it.
Corri made her appearance in a whirlwind of pixie dust. She was barely eleven inches tall, with thin, transparent wings, brown hair pulled up in a bun, and big, almond eyes. She twirled in the air, brushing the shimmering dust off her clothes. Nowadays, she had a knack for expensive outfits. Since she could use magic at her leisure – as long as I, her mistress, allowed it, – her favorite hobby was to go shopping at Gucci, Dolce & Gabbana, and the like. Shopping… between inverted commas. She could make herself invisible to the human eye, and when no one paid attention, she simply shrunk the items she liked, and stole them. Yes. It was considered stealing. Why? Because the store attendants then noticed the items were missing, and they had to pay them out of their pocket. But Corri insisted this was the only way she could get nice clothes, because the supernatural fashion stores didn’t have nice clothes for pixies, and to steal from them by shrinking normal-sized clothes she liked was illegal and punishable by the Supernatural Council. But no one cared if she stole from humans. She made up to them, she said. I believed her.
As she landed gracefully on my bed, I noticed she was wearing a designer suit and Louboutins. There was still some pixie dust on her black pants, but that was a given. Since her wings were covered in it, pixie dust clung to everything she touched and everything in her close proximity. Thank God I wasn’t allergic to it!
“What happened? Are you… crying?”
“I’m not.” But I was crying. The pillow I was holding on to for dear life was soaked with my tears. I had a splitting headache, and I needed a box of tissues. Or two.
Corri read my mind. She snapped her fingers, and a box of tissues materialized next to my head. I thanked her, grabbed a couple, and blew my nose. I was now lying on my back, head propped onto a clean, dry pillow. The new position was a bit more comfortable.
Corri fidgeted for a while, and when I didn’t say anything, she shot up in the air, her wings buzzing angrily.
“Whose ass do I have to kick? Huh? Huh?” She punched the air with her tiny fists. “I need names, Mistress. Names!”
I laughed pathetically. More snot came out of my nose, and I blew it again, taking my time to clean it thoroughly. Seeing how mean and determined the pixie was, tears slipped down my cheeks. My eyes were probably red, and I looked like shit. I covered my face with the pillow and yelled into it.
“Oh my God, it’s bad!” Corri shrieked. “I’ve seen you cry before, but not like this. What did they do to you? Those bastards!”
“They? How do you know it’s ‘they’?”
“Because if it had been just one person, you would’ve kicked his ass yourself by now. More assholes ganged up on you, didn’t they? Fuck them! I’ll fuck them up myself! I’m so little, they won’t see me coming!”
I laughed out loud. Corri always had that effect on me. Her sheer presence cheered me up.
“I’m not even sure, Corri.”
“You have to tell me everything. Now.”
“I’m embarrassed,” I sighed.
She landed on the stained pillow I was still clutching to my chest. On her hands and knees, she looked deep into my eyes.
“It’s me, Mistress. You can tell me anything. Anything! And I will never judge you or make you feel less than. You know that.”
I blew out my cheeks. It was true, and not just because Corri was a pixie, and pixies in our society were, unfortunately, treated like slaves. Her kind was bred to serve. The owners sold them for ridiculous sums, and only the wealthiest supernaturals could afford to buy a pixie. Once bought, the pixie remained in the family for generations, since they lived very long lives. Unless, of course, their masters were dissatisfied with their service and returned them. If returned, pixies were rarely bought by someone else, as new clients didn’t want what they called “damaged goods”. So, they were doomed to spend the rest of their days in the Blank, which was a place outside time and space that was utter nothingness. Darkness and no sensory stimuli. It was torture. Many pixie owners had this awful habit of sending their pixies to the Blank whenever they didn’t need them. They also used the Blank as a form of punishment.
Corri belonged to me now. She’d been bought by Valentine Morningstar for his daughter, Mila, and Mila had given her to me. Officially. Which meant she’d had to sign a bunch of papers. As a Grim Reaper, Mila didn’t need a pixie anymore, while I was only human, so I needed all the help I could get. Corri had saved me countless times – from others, and from myself. I hoped one day I wouldn’t need to ring her bell and have her running to my rescue, but for now… Well, today was not that day.
“It’s just…” I closed my eyes and tried to convince myself that talking a
bout it would make me feel better. “These guys at the Academy… I found out they placed a bet. A disturbing bet. I don’t know the details, but…” I bit my lower lip. “It’s something along the lines that whoever gets me into their bed first wins, and the other guys have to relinquish their family heirlooms.”
Corri’s eyes grew as wide as saucers. Which looked funny on her tiny face, because her eyes were already naturally big and round.
“That is the most disgusting thing I’ve heard this century!”
“Tell me about it,” I groaned.
“And did…” She paused, cleared her throat, and adjusted her position on the pillow. She now sat with her legs tucked under her. “Did any of them… er…”
“Win the bet? No. But… two of them came pretty close to it.”
“I’m so sorry. VDC, am I right?”
“Not all of them. One is MDC, which is just baffling to me. A demon. His name is Valac.”
“I will fuck this Valac up, Mistress. Cross my heart!”
“And yes, I know for sure that two of them are VDC. No idea about the other two guys.”
“Do you want me to find out? It won’t take me long. I’ll just make myself invisible and sniff around. I won’t come back until I figure out exactly what’s happening and who these scumbags are. And then, Mistress… then…” Her eyes filled with determination. “I will make them beg for forgiveness. Your forgiveness.”
“I don’t know, Corri… I don’t want any drama.”
“This isn’t drama. This is revenge! So, shall I go sniff around? Do I have your permission?”
I sighed. “Okay, go. But be careful. Don’t let anyone see you.”
She jumped to her feet, saluted me like a soldier, then vanished in a puff of pixie dust.
I stayed in bed for a few more minutes, then wiped my tears and decided to drag myself into the bathroom. One hour later, Corri found me immersed in a tub of hot water, essential oils, and rose-scented foam. I was feeling much better, though my eyes were still red.
“That fast?”
The pixie flappity-flapped her wings around the tub for a while, trying to find a dry spot to sit. I placed a towel for her on the edge, and she finally settled down.
“Well, they talk about it all the time, so it wasn’t that hard.”
My heart clenched. “So, everyone knows.”
“No! Just the Violent Death Cabal, and most of the guys in the RDC. Some girls, too, but they tried to keep the MDC and the NDC out of it.”
“Okay, tell me everything. I’m ready.”
“It’s pretty bad, but… nothing we can’t fix!” She said the last words in her signature cheerful tone. “Apparently, Valac and Davien started it. They came up with the idea, and then Seth, Phoebus, and Huriel wanted in. It’s just the five of them. The other guys who know are just… cheering from the sidelines.”
I nodded. “And the bet?”
“It’s exactly what you said. Whoever sleeps with you first wins. They each threw in one of their most valuable family heirlooms. If I got this right, Seth entered the bet with a gold scarab decorated with emeralds, sapphires, and rubies,” she counted on her fingers, “Davien with a diamond and topaz necklace he inherited from his grandmother, and Valac with his great-grandfather’s medal of honor. Apparently, he fought in World War Two. The false god, Phoebus, I think offered a spelled whistle made of ivory that can call up a storm if you blow it. Pretty serious, if you ask me. In the wrong hands, that thing can cause havoc.” The sparkle in her eyes made me think she would’ve loved to play with the thing. Corri had changed a lot since she’d belonged to Mila. Now more than ever, she liked to cause chaos and watch the things and people she messed with blow up in flames. My guess was that it came from a lot of pent up anger related to her status and inherent lack of freedom. But even if I wanted to free her – which I’d proposed and tried countless times, – it was like her very genes refused the idea. “And Huriel, the archangel, threw in a gold scepter he swears God himself has touched. The winner takes it all.”
“Wow. To bet on their family heirlooms? They’re confident…”
“They’re morons,” Corri concluded. “Obviously, no one will win. But we have to teach them all a lesson. We have to! Please tell me that’s the plan!”
I shook my head, then rested my chin on my knees. I wanted to spend the rest of my life in this bathtub, letting the cold water down the drain, and then adding hot water until the temperature was just right. My only concern from this moment on? The temperature of my bath water.
“I don’t know what the plan is…”
“I can come up with something! Just say the word.”
“I don’t know…”
“Come on, Mistress.” She grinned. “I’m here to serve.”
“I don’t want to stoop that low. I don’t want to be like them.”
“You’re not. Nothing will ever change that. But you can’t let this continue. You have to end it. Otherwise, you will have no peace, and this is just year one. Semester one.”
I dragged in a breath. “Ugh! You’re right. But I don’t want to…” I breathed out. “I don’t want to hurt anyone.”
She chuckled darkly. “Oh, you do. I know you do.”
I looked at her, biting my lip. Of course I wanted to hurt them! I wanted to march up to Davien, spit in his face… No! Punch him! I wanted to punch him again and again, until that smirk of his turned into a grimace of pain. And I wanted to tell Seth what a horrible person he was. Worse than the incubus, worse than anyone I had ever met. I wanted to punch Valac, too, but not as much. The guy was a jerk through and through. It was the way he was born, so I couldn’t exactly hold it against him, could I? And Phoebus and Huriel… I didn’t even know them! Now that I thought about it, I did remember this blond-haired archangel following me around, offering me a pen when I’d forgotten mine in the previous class. I’d thought he was harmless. Well, it turned out I was a bag judge of character. Totally unexpected and surprising for someone who’d lived longer than any other human and had traveled the world for the past century or so. But that right there was my mistake: I’d traveled the world amongst humans, not supernaturals. I knew the human world, with its good things and bad things, with its pettiness and random bouts of kindness. The supernatural world was an entirely different story. A story that I was starting to discover day by day. A story that was proving to be a horror flick.
“All right,” I said. “I’ll let you come up with a plan.”
She rubbed her tiny hands theatrically. “So, do you want me to inflict physical pain? Mental? Emotional?”
“Oh my God, Corri! When have you become so vicious?”
She shrugged. “I’m an honest product of this world. I know you’re not, but… you’re good. Despite all the shit going on out there, you still manage to be good, and I admire that about you. You’re so good, in fact, that I believe you need someone bad on your side. And, guess what?” She beamed at me, as if she was giving me the best news of my life. “I’m the bad guy.” She wiggled her brows. “And I’ve got this, Mistress.”
“Okay, stop!” I pointed my finger at her. “Listen to me. No one gets hurt. Not physically, not mentally, and not emotionally.”
She pouted. “What about their egos? Are they fair game?”
“Yes. That sounds good.” I grinned. “I can get on board with that.”
“We’ll be doing them a favor, if you think about it.”
I laughed. Corri always made me feel better. I relaxed, leaning back and stretching my legs. I let my head fall on the edge of the tub. All the tension had left my body, and now that I knew Corri was here and on my side, as always, I could think about that night in the woods without feeling sick to my stomach. So what? What had happened said more about Davien than about me. Corri would teach him and the rest of his clique a lesson, and then I could put it all behind me. I had to see the glass half full: now I knew who I was dealing with.
“We’re doing at the Yule Ball,” Corri said. “Do you think you can wait another two months?”
“Oh, I’ll wait.”
“Revenge will be sweet.”
“What would I ever do without you, Corri?”
She laughed. “Get into less trouble, live a boring life. Wouldn’t recommend it.”
“You’re right,” I smiled. “I wouldn’t wish that to my worst enemies.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
The Yule Ball was the fanciest yearly celebration at Grim Reaper Academy. All the professors attended, and the parents were invited. To mark the end of the first semester, the four cabals prepared a scythe demonstration. The purpose was to display their skill, strength and grace in handling their scythes. Professor Wyvern should have been in charge of this, but he wasn’t exactly the artistic type. As an Unseelie warrior, he believed that the use of weapons in demonstrations meant to entertain was a waste of time and, as he’d put it himself, nothing short of a disgrace. Yes, humans did that, and that was another reason for which he despised humans. Was that why he despised me? Because I was human? No. There was something bigger here, something that I was missing. In the end, he accepted to dedicate the last two weeks of semester one to our scythe demonstration, but he’d mostly spent his time reading a book in a corner of the gym while his students struggled to come up with a passable choreography. I would sometimes notice he’d laugh silently as he raised his eyes from the page and stole a glance at our sorry attempts at coordination. He truly was the worst! The most useless professor we had! Thank God I was ahead of everyone and I’d learned how to wield my scythe from Mila. In semester two, he was supposed to show us how to teleport using teleportation pins, and I didn’t want to think about the disastrous results of his students. I didn’t consider myself his student. I didn’t consider myself a student to most of the Academy professors. Not a day went by without asking myself: “What the hell am I doing here?!” And then, of course, not a day went by without thinking about the monster sleeping underneath the Academy and how I was no closer to finding my way to its home dimension, so I could continue my investigation into how I might banish him back to where it came from.