A Demonic Year Two: A Reverse Harem Paranormal Bully Romance (Academy of the Devil Book 2)

by Eva Brandt

  “I am not a demon or a deity of romantic love. I couldn’t give you any insight in this if I tried. But in my experience, life is a battle. Once we have determined who our opponents are, we have to strike them down.”

  “And do you think Mikael, Callum, and Stefan are my enemies?”

  “I think they don’t want to be, but your opinion might be different. What they want and what they actually managed to do are two separate things entirely. A demon’s love is a dangerous thing. Some have even called it parasitic. When it comes to fighting it, you cannot hesitate. You have to make a choice.”

  It was pretty much what the dean had told me, and they were both right.

  “I don’t know if I can accept what they did,” I confessed. “They helped Shiro, but on the other hand, I feel so betrayed.”

  “Well, then, there’s your answer.”

  I looked at her ageless face and another question popped in my head. What had she been talking about that day, when I’d overheard her and Lilith arguing?

  I wanted to ask, but something silenced my words. “Lady Morrigan,” I said instead, “I don’t belong here. I’m going to keep the promise I made, then I’ll go back home, to my parents, go to university, like I always dreamed. I’m going to become a translator. Maybe one day, I’ll have an independent business of my own.”

  “That sounds like an excellent goal, child,” she said with a smile. “Just remember to control the power you have, and I’m sure you’ll accomplish it.”

  I nodded and thanked her. Her words had given me clarity and I now knew what I needed to do.

  I couldn’t break the familiar bond outright, not without some kind of backup plan. If I did so, Mikael would get into trouble. Despite everything, I couldn’t allow that. I’d wait until I finished the last year at the academy and get rid of the contract then.

  In the meantime, I needed to have another conversation with my former lovers and make my intentions clear. Since our argument, I no longer shared Mikael’s room, and I barely saw him in the dorms. But they all still came to the grand hall for meals, so I could approach him and the others there.

  Instead of walking up to Mikael outright, I sent Shiro with a message to him. Even if Shiro couldn’t communicate with other people, he could speak to TB and she’d be able to translate. I knew she’d suffer because of my selfishness too, but it was better this way.

  It worked perfectly. While I was sitting at the table, chewing on a delicious dinner that tasted like dust in my mouth, my pup padded to Mikael’s side. From my position, I couldn’t observe their exchange, but Shiro came back shortly after and placed his head on my knee, nodding. I fed him a bit of bacon and smiled. “Thank you, Shiro.”

  Once my familiar finished his treat, I said goodbye to my housemates and left the table. Since I had no desire to wait in the courtyard, I found a spot in the garden outside, under one of the apple trees. As I leaned against a tree trunk, I scratched Shiro’s ear. “Am I doing the right thing, Shiro?”

  Shiro woofed and nuzzled my cheek with his snout. His affection soothed me, a comfortable anchor in a sea of uncertainty. “Yes,” I said. “I’m doing the right thing.”

  My former lovers showed up shortly after, finding me with ease. “You wanted to talk to us, Lyssa?” Callum asked me.

  They didn’t sit down, perhaps knowing I wouldn’t welcome it. Of course, the end result was that they were looming over me, which made me uncomfortable. I got up, hating myself a little for experiencing this anxiety.

  They’d never hurt me physically, although they’d had ample time to do it. And a part of me still didn’t think they wanted to do that. I had nothing to fear.

  “I’ll get right to the point,” I said, straightening my back and meeting their eyes. “I’m going to break the familiar bond. But you don’t have to worry about me doing it now. I understand that it’d be problematic for you. I’ll do it after I finish my time here, next year.”

  Mikael pressed his lips together and clenched his fists, but said nothing. The silence was so awkward that I couldn’t help but fill it. “I’m so grateful for what you did for me and Shiro. It’s true that you manipulated me and all that, but even so, I will never forget the fact that you brought him back to me.

  “Maybe in part, this is my fault, because before I came here, you were well on your way to becoming Satan. This way, you’ll still get your chance. I’m sure that by the time I leave, you’ll be able to find an alternative and occupy whatever role you want.”

  That finally drew a reaction out of Mikael. “There’s no reason to wait,” he told me, his voice as icy as his blue eyes. “We’ve already figured out a solution.”

  “You have?” That was the last thing I’d expected him to say. “What solution?”

  “It’s quite simple,” Callum explained. “Mikael needs to be a familiar to stay at the academy, but he doesn’t have to be your familiar. The bond between the two of you can be transferred onto me. I’m already carrying a connection like that, so it wouldn’t be weird. And since we were all involved in the original ritual, we should be able to do it without too much trouble. I’m sure Dean Mephistopheles would be willing to help us with the tougher parts.”

  The possibility had never occurred to me. It sounded ideal. I’d go my own way and they’d continue with their lives. We could just ignore one another, for as long as I was still at the academy, at least.

  “Okay. That sounds great.”

  “Right. Of course it does.” In the darkness, Mikael’s face looked as pale as the moon. “Was that everything?”

  “Yes,” I replied. I had nothing more to say to them. Further recriminations wouldn’t help me. I would start over and so would they. “I’ll speak to the dean tomorrow morning and make sure he approves it. I’ll send you a message with the time and date of the ritual later.”

  Callum shot me a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “Thanks. We appreciate it.”

  I doubted that very much, but I didn’t call him out on his lie. “It’s for the best,” I said, and the words tasted bitter on my lips.

  “I agree,” Stefan offered. “It is for the best. Just take care of yourself, okay, Lyssa? I mean, Ms. Michaelis.”

  His decision to call me by my last name shouldn’t have hurt as much as it did. It was suitable, since I could no longer be Lyssa for them. Not their princess, their darkling, or their bitch. Ms. Michaelis. “I will, Mr. Schwarz,” I answered. “Good night.”

  “Good night,” Mikael replied.

  The others looked like they wanted to say something more, but in the end, they decided against it. They simply turned away and headed back toward the academy.

  I watched them disappear into the distance with a heavy heart. “Am I doing the right thing, Shiro?” I asked my familiar again.

  Shiro leaned against my leg and licked my palm. Just like before, it helped. Even so, it didn’t completely chase away the sudden emptiness I felt inside.

  A single tear trailed down my cheek and I furiously wiped it away. “Stupid idiots. Why couldn’t you give us a real chance?”

  Infuriated and hurt, I stalked toward my dorm. They’d made their choice and I’d made mine. Soon, the last thing that bound us together would be gone, and I’d be able to truly let go.

  Maybe then, I’d manage to convince myself that nothing we’d shared had been real.

  To Move On

  The morning after my conversation with Callum, Stefan, and Mikael, I found myself in Mephistopheles’s classroom once again. It was Saturday, so every other student was off doing… whatever they did in their free time. Possibly having giant orgies.

  Today, Mephistopheles had decided to give me a brief history lesson on the Original Sin. I had no idea why he’d picked that, since we’d never studied history together, but I found myself unable to pay much attention.

  Sure, I found it interesting that my own teacher, Lilith, had been Adam’s first wife, but I had too many problems in my own love life to think about hers.

&
nbsp; Finally, Mephistopheles abandoned all attempts to teach me anything and let out a sigh. “You’re distracted today. What is it?”

  “I spoke with them again,” I replied, staring at my hands because I didn’t have the courage to look at his face. “I had a tentative idea of breaking the familiar bond at the end of next year.”

  “That sounds like a good plan,” he replied. “That way, Mikael wouldn’t have to suffer much backlash either. What did they say?”

  “They suggested another ritual, something that would allow them to switch the familiar bond to Callum.” I buried my face in my hands, feeling more off-balance than ever. “I don’t know how to feel. I don’t know what I’m doing.”

  I didn’t hear Mephistopheles move, but he must’ve, because the next thing I knew, he was kneeling in front of me, his large hands cupping mine. “I take it you agreed, but you’re not so sure now?”

  “No, I’m sure,” I said, shaking my head. “I just feel… I feel like there should have been another way.”

  It was stupid to think like that, after the betrayal I’d experienced. They’d lied to me and brainwashed me, deceived me in the worst way, taken so much from me. The sheer magnitude of what they’d dared to steal made me feel so utterly violated.

  So why couldn’t I let go?

  “Is this a strange form of Stockholm Syndrome?” I asked Mephistopheles. “I keep thinking that we could’ve had something together.”

  “Asking yourself ‘what if’ is a surefire way to drive yourself mad. I should know.” He chuckled darkly. “I’ve made enough mistakes to last me ten eternities and I still have too many regrets. What matters is to overcome those regrets and look to the future. You can’t turn back time and you can’t change what they did. What we all did.”

  “I know. It’s just… It’s tough to process.”

  “Of course it is, but I’m convinced you can do it.”

  I looked up at him and remembered Gemma’s suggestion—to punish my former lovers by sleeping with someone else. I didn’t really feel like I wanted to punish anyone now, but still, my lust for him was there, just like it had been for over a year now.

  I licked my lower lip nervously and forced myself to say the words that seemed to be suffocating me. “You’re right, Sir. I shouldn’t allow such doubts to get in my way. And I think I’ve been a naughty girl by getting distracted.”

  The dean’s demeanor instantly changed. It was like my simple words flipped a switch inside him. His facade of gentleness dissipated like smoke in the wind. “Is that a fact? Then you have to be punished, right?”

  I opened my mouth to answer, but he didn’t give me the chance. He pulled me upright, surrounded me with his wings, and pinned me against the wall with one single, strong fist. “You really like to play with fire, don’t you, pet?” he asked as he massaged my breast with his free hand.

  It wasn’t that I liked to play with fire. I’d never considered myself sexually adventurous, not before I came here. But I felt like I was suffocating. Everything was so confusing. I couldn’t make sense of my own emotions. Maybe it was weak and foolish to rely on him, but I couldn’t help myself.

  Mephistopheles brushed a light kiss over my lips. It wasn’t the first time he had kissed me, but it sort of felt like it. In the past, I’d never really realized that Mephistopheles’s lips were thinner and somehow, harder. A strange membrane covered his mouth, reminding me a little of the texture of his wings. It was intriguing, and I embraced this peculiarity with just as much eagerness as he embraced me.

  It was also a clear reminder that he was a demon, but I didn’t realize what this meant exactly until I felt my dress shift and move aside. Something hard, yet paradoxically soft, slid over my naked leg, upward, until it reached my groin.

  At first, I couldn’t figure out what I was feeling. His hands were still busy with holding me down and caressing my breast, so what was he using to tease me like this?

  It was only when I felt the triangular tip nudging my pussy that a memory flashed through my mind. That thing… That thing was Mephistopheles’s tail.

  I’d seen Mephistopheles use his tail on that woman in the village, although if I remembered well, he hadn’t penetrated her with it. Clearly, with me, he had other ideas.

  The tail deftly slid past my wet panties and in one single, smooth motion, slid inside my channel. My world turned white around the edges as my body was assaulted by sensation. The tail didn’t feel like a cock. Its shape was different, its triangular tip much thicker than the rest of it. I hadn’t realized it before, but it sort of had ridges too, and they grazed my inner walls in an almost painful, sharp caress. To top it off, the appendage was longer and more flexible, so he could move it around differently.

  As the tail slid in and out of me, its base brushed against my clit. Meanwhile, Mephistopheles’s clever fingers slid under my gown, tweaking my nipples, and sparks of demonic magic danced over my skin.

  It felt sinfully good, and I surrendered to the sensation, lost in the pleasure he was giving me. Before long, I was moving back against him, fucking myself on his tail.

  Of course, Mephistopheles wouldn’t have been himself if he’d made things easy. His shadowy magic pinned me to the wall, keeping me from taking my own pleasure. His tail stilled inside me and I squirmed, trying to get him to continue what he’d been doing before. Or better yet, to fuck me outright, with his dick.

  Mephistopheles almost seemed to guess my mind. “Do you want my cock, pet?”

  “Yes!” I admitted. “Please, yes. Give me your cock, Sir!”

  “Hmm. I’m not convinced. I think you still need to be disciplined. You haven’t done anything to deserve my dick, have you?”

  Right. That was why I was here, to be disciplined. For… reasons. I couldn’t exactly remember why. But I’d agree to anything and everything as long as it got him to fuck me. “No, Sir.”

  “And you want to earn it, to be my good girl. Isn’t that right, pet? You want to please me. ”

  I nodded tearfully. My head was swimming and my pussy was pulsing, clenching around his maddening tail. “Yes. Yes, Sir, let me please you. Let me come.”

  “Not just yet, pet,” he replied. His tail left my body and I moaned in protest, feeling empty and abandoned. He released his hold on me and clicked his tongue at me, shaking his head in disapproval. “Have you forgotten? You yourself said that you’ve been a naughty girl. You need to be punished. On your knees now. You know what to do.”

  He stepped back, just enough to give me room to move. I dropped to my knees in front of him and reached for his pants. I could already see the line of his erection, straining against the leather. With shaking hands, I lowered his zipper, freeing his dick from its confines.

  The sight of his crimson prick gave me pause. He was almost as big as Stefan, and distantly, I wondered if they put something in the water in hell, because this was ridiculous. But no, I couldn’t think about that now. I was here precisely because I needed a way to free myself from the past. There was no turning back, not anymore. I needed this. I needed Mephistopheles’s fire to burn me, to free me, to give me the chance to start anew.

  I pushed back my remaining doubts and took his cock in my mouth. As expected, he was much too large for me, but I made do. By now, I’d sort of gotten used to it and knew how to compensate for my relative inexperience.

  As I bobbed my head up and down his cock, he buried his clawed fingers in my hair, holding on, but not too tightly. He didn’t rush me. Instead, he let me take my time, giving me the chance to explore all the new flavors and textures. It was nice, if different. I’d sort of expected him to be harsher with me, especially after he’d promised me a punishment, but it looked like he lived to surprise me.

  “You’re an excellent pet, aren’t you?” Mephistopheles commented as I sucked and licked on his cock. Despite my best efforts, he didn’t sound in the least bit affected. “Very eager to please.”

  He seemed to expect an actual answer, so I released
his cock from his mouth just enough to provide a reply. “Yes, Sir,” I croaked out, and was a little ashamed to note that I was far more breathless than he was. “I want to give you pleasure.”

  Even as I spoke, I never stopped massaging his cock. But much to my dismay, Mephistopheles was not impressed. Instead, he chuckled darkly. “My beautiful little liar. You want to forget, and you’re using me to do it. That’s very naughty. But I don’t mind it. In fact, I think you deserve a prize for such a rewarding approach.”

  Jerking his hips, he removed his dick from my reach. I whined in protest as I lost my hold on my prize, but my outrage died a swift death when the shadows around us came to life again. “Don’t worry,” Mephistopheles whispered. “I know what you need and as much as I appreciate your talents at fellatio, there’s a better place to put my cock in than your mouth.”

  As the light in the room died, my clothes dissipated, carbonized by a force I couldn’t identify. It was surreal, and much too reminiscent of the incident at The Battle of the Watchers which Professor Grim had shown us. If I hadn’t been so lost in the moment, it would’ve probably terrified me. Instead, I was relieved that I didn’t have to worry about the logistics of taking my clothes off.

  Sometimes supernatural powers were very convenient. I couldn’t be bothered to care about past losses and battles right now, not when I needed to be fucked so badly.

  Disembodied hands pulled me up, lifting me into the air and spreading my legs. My face heated as my wet pussy was exposed to Mephistopheles’s view. There was no reason for me to be embarrassed since he knew very well what he was doing to me. But still, the intensity of his gaze made me a little apprehensive.

  I was more aware than ever that in the end, I was only a human. Before I’d met Lucifer, I’d been a normal, epileptic girl with no real remarkable abilities. As the dean of this academy, Mephistopheles had met far more beautiful and sexually attractive people.

  Could I even satisfy him? I hadn’t been able to give Callum, Stefan, and Mikael what they’d needed either. They’d always held back with me, afraid that they’d hurt me. The pain they’d caused me hadn’t been physical, but I wasn’t sure I’d ever been the right person for them.