Demonspawn Academy: Trial Three

by Annabel Chase

  As I started to move, Balthazar placed a hand on my arm. “You’re a brave thing, aren’t you? Then again, that was my impression the very first time we met and I am rarely mistaken.”

  “You could fight with us,” I suggested. “We could use the help.”

  He released his hold on me. “I’m afraid that’s not my role in this world. If there’s one thing I’ve learned in my long life, it’s how important it is to play to our strengths. My power and influence are much more useful to you here than on a battlefield.”

  “Then you might want to think about obtaining new weapons for us,” I said. “I have a feeling we might lose a few later.” I managed a smile, despite my growing fear.

  “Consider it done,” the vampire said.

  I flew straight to the portal in a tunnel under Center City and entered the main spire. I found Elders Asago and Alastor in the corridor. Elder Asago held a teacup and saucer. They cut off their conversation when they spotted me.

  “I’m afraid to ask about the ball,” Elder Asago said.

  “I’d like permission to take my kenzoku to the Nether to fight the king,” I announced.

  They stared at me in stunned silence.

  “I can’t decide if I’m more surprised by the content of the request or the fact that you made one in the first place.” Elder Alastor turned to his companion. “Asago?”

  He lifted the cup to his lips and drank before speaking. “Perhaps we could learn more about this fight before we answer? Did something happen in Dominion?”

  “Yes, but this is unrelated,” I said. “The king is planning to publicly execute my aunt and her supporters for treason and we’re going to stop him.”

  The Elders exchanged wary glances. “Are you certain you’re prepared for this?” Elder Alastor asked.

  “Of course not! But I’ll be more prepared if I have backup.”

  “I’ll expect a detailed report about tonight’s activities,” Elder Alastor said.

  “Are you seriously giving me homework right now?”

  He seemed taken aback. “It’s a transferable skill you can use wherever you go after graduation.”

  I peered at him. “I’m about to fight the King of the Nether. I don’t think we should be concerned with my job resume.”

  “It’s the power of positive thinking,” Elder Asago quipped.

  “Plan for the job you want, not the job you have,” Elder Alastor added.

  I rolled my eyes. “I take it I have your permission.”

  “You have ours,” Elder Alastor said gently. “Now you need to secure theirs.”

  I maneuvered between them and headed for the hatch. I knew I was asking more of my friends than I had a right to. Yara wasn’t their flesh and blood. She was mine. Still, we had to look at the big picture. If the king was on a bloodthirsty rampage, every realm was in jeopardy. New Hope and Trenton were only the tip of the iceberg.

  I flew to Spire 10 and Sage immediately assaulted me with questions about the ball. “Did you meet any seraphim hotter than Rafe? Did they think your wings were cooler? Is your grandmother matronly or elegant? And, most crucially, did they have any good weapons I’ve never seen before?”

  “I wore glitter,” I replied, though it had already faded.

  Zeph nodded approvingly. “Nice.”

  Barris scrutinized me. “Where?”

  Sage jabbed him with an elbow. “Does it matter?”

  “As much as I want to tell you about the ball and August…”

  “Oh, right!” Barris lit up. “What happened? Did you toss his butt out of Dominion?”

  “August isn’t a problem now,” I said.

  Sage frowned. “Why do I sense a ‘but’ at the end of that sentence?”

  “We…I need to go to the Nether, and I’d very much like it if my kenzoku came with me.”

  “Back to the Nether, huh?” Zeph shifted uneasily. “Will we see dragons again?”

  “Probably,” I said. “But you’ll also see blood. Maybe a lot of it. Oh, and you might die.”

  Sage took a step forward. “Count me in.”

  “The king is going to kill Yara if we don’t get there in time,” I said.

  Zeph clapped his hands together. “Oh, man. The prophecy is about to come true and we’re going to watch it happen.” His eyes glazed over. “I’ve always wanted to see a prophecy play out in real time. So much better than in the books.”

  “Grab a machete and you might get your wish,” I said. “Let’s load up at the armory. We’re going to need all the weapons we can carry.”

  “And rune stones for the portal,” Rylan added.

  Barris rubbed the top of her head. “Our Rylan. Always so practical.”

  “Will Liesel be there?” Rylan asked, trying to sound casual.

  “It’s not an ideal time to worry about your crush,” Sage said. “I’d worry more about how many arrows you can fit in your quiver.”

  “We’re meeting Rafe and Liesel at the portal entrance,” I said.

  “I’ll grab the stones and meet you at the armory,” Rylan said.

  “I need to change out of this dress really fast,” I said. I didn’t need experience to tell me that a ballgown wasn’t effective clothing for fighting.

  By the time I met the rest of the kenzoku in the armory, they’d torn as many weapons from the wall as they could and attached them to all the available real estate on their bodies. I did the same, not paying much attention to my choices. Elder Sam would not have approved. For a brief moment, I pictured him standing beside me with a look of consternation.

  Are you sure about that one, Cassia? You’re fighting demons, not elephants.

  I kept moving. Now wasn’t the time to get sentimental.

  We arrived on the mountaintop in the Poconos, weary but ready.

  “Good, old Salt Tears Trail,” Barris said. “Didn’t think I’d be back here again so soon.”

  “I wish there was a closer portal to the Nether,” Sage said, hopping from foot to foot and hugging herself. “Maybe one lower to the ground and warmer.”

  “You just don’t like being too far from bones,” Barris said.

  Sage scanned the ground. “I’m sure there’ve been plenty of deaths up here too.”

  Rylan swatted at her. “Can you not?”

  My spirits lifted when I spotted Rafe’s wings in the woods. He emerged from his hiding place when he saw us and I was pretty sure his relieved expression matched my own.

  “Where’s Liesel?” I asked.

  “She’ll be along shortly,” he said. “I hope.”

  “Is she okay?” Rylan asked.

  “Yes, she’s fine. She had an idea and I told her to run with it,” Rafe said. “Nothing to worry about. She’ll meet us.”

  “We sure could use the extra pair of hands,” Rylan said, glancing around anxiously. “I don’t know what we’re getting ourselves into.”

  “Trouble, Rylan,” Barris said. “We’re getting ourselves into a heap of trouble.”

  “Something we never got the chance to do at the academy,” Sage said. “Consider this our teen rebellion phase, except it’s a literal rebellion.” She beamed. “I’ve never been more excited.”

  Barris’s face fell. “Never?”

  “Where’s my stone?” Sage asked, oblivious to the cambion’s crestfallen expression. She held out her hand and wiggled her fingers until Rylan placed one on her palm.

  “Everyone ready?” Rafe asked.

  “I feel like we’re on an academy field trip,” Zeph said. “Except instead of packed lunches, we might die.”

  I felt a rush of guilt. I didn’t want to endanger my friends, but I knew they were skilled fighters thanks to academy training. They were every bit as capable as I was.

  “Last chance to back out,” I said. “No hard feelings if you do. Promise.” I braced myself for the replies.

  “No one’s backing out,” Zeph said. “It sucks that you were separated from us for so long, but that doesn’t make you any l
ess family now.”

  “We’re kenzoku, for better or for worse,” Rylan added.

  “Although it does seem to be ‘for worse’ most of the time,” Barris said. “I’d sure like to see more of ‘for better’ if we make it through this.”

  The knot in my stomach loosened. “Thank you, everyone. It means more than you can possibly know.”

  Sage lunged forward and threw her arms around my neck. Her voice trembled as she whispered in my ear, “We know, Cassia. We know.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  Our arrival at the palace was far less traumatizing than our previous visit. To my relief, there was no decimated village along the way and the dragons completed the journey to the king’s doorstep. Zeph seemed particularly pleased by this fact. Despite the impending bloodshed, the smile never left his face.

  “You know you don’t need a dragon to move through the air,” I said, as he dismounted. “Commanding the wind is kind of in your wheelhouse.”

  Zeph stroked the dragon’s scales. “I know, but dragons!”

  “How are we playing this?” Sage asked. “Are you marching in and demanding your aunt’s release or trying to negotiate first?”

  “I vote for door number two,” Barris said. “Our chances of living longer than five minutes increase dramatically with that one.”

  Zeph was entranced by the sight of the palace ahead. “This place would make a great party house. Maybe you could live here after graduation.”

  “I’m not sure the Nether is the place for me,” I said. I didn’t think I’d ever feel entirely comfortable here, not that I’d feel comfortable in Dominion either.

  “Barris is right,” Rafe said. “We need to go in as friends. Maybe even lie about the reason we’re here.”

  “Thanks,” I said. “That gives me an idea.”

  Unsurprisingly, there were more than two guards at the entrance this time. The king had probably beefed up security in light of his issue with Yara. I wondered what had happened to cause this. What if he’d discovered her deception in connection with me? Maybe she was locked up because she’d lied about my identity and let me get away. There was no way to know for certain until I saw him.

  I moved to the front of the group to address the guards. “I need to see my grandfather immediately. I have important news to share with him.”

  The lead guard swaggered forward—a haborym demon with three human heads. “Your grandfather, eh? And who might that be?”

  “Her grandfather is the king,” Sage said. “Are all your heads stupid or just the one talking?”

  The other guards snickered behind him.

  “Tell him Cassia is here,” I said. “He’ll want to see me.”

  “But will he want to see all of them as well?” another guard asked. “They can’t all be his grandkids. I spot one of the nephilim right there. No demon blood in that one.” He glowered at Rafe.

  “The king met Rafe already,” I said. I omitted the part where the king tortured and tried to murder him. It seemed an unnecessary detail at the moment.

  The haborym demon’s three heads scanned the group. “Why do you have so many weapons? We can’t let you into the palace with all that or the king will have our heads—and trust me, he’s in the mood to collect heads today.”

  “We heard there’s trouble brewing in the region,” Rafe piped up. “We decided it was better to be safe than sorry.”

  “You got that right,” a third guard said. “Family squabbles are no joke.”

  I desperately wanted to know what happened, but I thought it was best not to seem too interested. “Could you let us in? Tell the king I have important information about Dominion.”

  Six eyebrows lifted at the mention of Dominion and the haborym demon backed away. “I’ll send word immediately.” He fell silent and I remembered from my previous visit that the guards send messages to the palace through a psychic link.

  “Can somebody feed our dragons while we’re inside?” Zeph asked.

  To my amazement, one of the guards volunteered. “I used to work with dragons before I came to the palace,” he said. “Marvelous creatures, ain’t they?”

  The haborym demon shoved back the line of guards. “Let ‘em pass. The king says I’m to escort them in. Bale, you’re with me.” A portly guard moved to the other side of us.

  “What about our weapons?” I asked.

  The haborym demon shrugged. “The king said he’s got plenty of reinforcements inside, and I wasn’t keen to argue given his current state of mind.”

  It wasn’t a complete surprise. The king was arrogant enough to think that our weapons were no threat to him.

  We passed the line of guards and I kept my fingers close to the hilt of my sword in case of any sudden movements.

  Bale ambled beside me along the path. “You’re Princess Yara’s daughter, are you?”

  “That’s right,” I said carefully.

  “What’s your other half?” Bale said. “I heard you was fae, but you don’t look fae to me.”

  “Just be thankful she ain’t the prophecy grandchild,” the haborym demon said. “King’s mood is foul enough without that.”

  “I don’t think we’ll ever see that come to pass,” Bale said. “I guess the prince needs to work a little harder to gain the attention of the ladies.” His laugh quickly morphed into a hacking cough.

  “I’d watch your tongue about now,” the haborym demon said. “The king won’t take kindly to anyone speaking poorly of the prince, especially given what’s happening with the princess.”

  We arrived at the door where Du awaited our arrival. The chamberlain didn’t seem particularly enthused to see us.

  “I’ll take it from here,” the chamberlain said. He was a reedy demon with a leopard’s head, the body of a human, and gray wings.

  The guards turned and retreated to their post. “It’s good to see you again, Du,” I said.

  “I wish it were under better circumstances,” Du said. “Your timing is suspect, to say the least.” He surveyed my companions. “And your bodies seem to have been handcrafted from weapons.” He clucked his tongue. “I don’t know how you’ll persuade the king that your intentions are good.”

  “Our intention is not to die if his mood is as bad as everyone says,” I replied. “I need to speak with him now.”

  Du eyed the others with disdain. “He might speak with you alone, but he’s certainly not going to entertain this entourage. You would have been better off coming on your own if it was only news you wished to bring.”

  “You’re not going anywhere alone,” Rafe said. “What if he decides to throw you into that pit? We won’t know what’s happened to you.”

  “The king has no plans to toss his grandchild into any pit,” Du said, enunciating the last word.

  “I’ll be fine,” I said. “Door number two, remember?” I turned back to Du. “Lead me to him.”

  Du bowed his head slightly. “As you wish.”

  We flew to the throne room. “Is he dealing with shades?”

  Du kept his gaze straight ahead. “He’s dealing with nothing except his daughter’s treachery right now, as you can well imagine.”

  The palace appeared exactly the same as during my last visit, with the exception of more intimidating demons wandering the rooms. It seemed that the king had increased security everywhere in light of Yara’s treasonous activities—or maybe because he anticipated a response from Dominion in connection with the attacks on the mortal realm. As anxious as I was, I still felt that it was the right call to leave the seraphim out of this, at least for now. Their presence would likely only serve to escalate matters.

  Du announced me and remained standing by the door. The king sat in the throne, a winged monkey on either side of him. Although he wore his impressive garland of bones, his posture suggested a demon drained of emotional energy. If I didn’t know what he was capable of, I might pity him.

  “Cassia,” he said, and managed a smile. “Come forward so I can see you, ten
der heart. I understand you have news of great importance. Such fortuitous timing, wouldn’t you agree?”

  “On that note, I’d like to see my mother. Would you please bring her up from the dungeon so that I know she’s unharmed? I can’t bear to think of her down there.”

  “I will do no such thing,” the king said. “She has betrayed me. My only daughter. Can you believe it?”

  “What can she possibly have done that warrants execution?”

  The king heaved a weighty sigh. “She’s a traitor.”

  His paranoid tendencies were in overdrive again. “What happened this time? Was she upset about the atrocities in the mortal realm because they reminded her of Enir?”

  The king’s frown was nearly imperceptible. “I understand you have news about Dominion.”

  I folded my arms. “My mother first.”

  He exhaled loudly. “Very well. I can see you have Yara’s stubborn streak. It doesn’t bode well for your future, I’ll say that much.” He flicked a finger at Du and the chamberlain left the throne room. “And which friends have accompanied you this time? I understand that halfling is with you again. Must be serious between you for him to come all the way back to the Nether. I’m surprised he was willing.”

  “I’m not here to talk about Rafe,” I said.

  “Rafe,” the king repeated. “Do yourself a favor, tender heart. If you end up having a family with this halfling, raise them close to you. Don’t let them leave or they’ll turn against you in time.”

  “I don’t think smothering your children is the ideal way to parent,” I said.

  The king reached down to pet the top of the winged monkey’s head. “I’ve made mistakes, I admit. If I’d kept them closer, perhaps we’d still be a family.”

  “I think it was your paranoia over the prophecy that started the cracks in your relationships,” I said.

  The king’s expression soured. “Don’t mention that wretched prediction. My nightmares are filled with it often enough.”

  “You suffer from nightmares too?” The question slipped out before I could filter it. Was I seriously going to bond with my murderous grandfather over our shared penchant for nightmares?