Page 11 of Demon Reform Academy, Term 3

11

HUNTER

“ B lackthistle’s a wanted demon,” I spat out with venom as we sat in the meeting room inside Reform Hall.

Death had called a Demon Council meeting after everything that went down, but we’d been so swamped with dark magic infections across the capital that we couldn’t have everyone attend it until now.

For the last few weeks, we had been communicating through a group chat. It was less than ideal.

“I can’t believe he was under our noses for so long and nobody knew.” Death narrowed his black eyes at everyone, but they lingered on Joel. “I knew I didn’t like him.”

“Nobody liked him,” Bane barked, her shadows circling her wrists. “But to work within the academy that was attacked? Obviously, he was involved.”

“I don’t see how that’s helpful,” Everglow sighed, running a hand through her brown hair. “We didn’t know.”

“Dark Veil is messed up.” Joel shivered. “They almost killed me.”

Death snorted.

I shot him a look.

What was his deal?

“Dark Veil has truly fucked us,” Bane muttered, her green eyes darting over us. “The dark magic plague has spread so far that the increased crime because of it has made demons start to doubt our leadership. They’ve lost faith in our council.”

Grimes gave a deprecating laugh, her brown hair falling behind her shoulders. “Maybe they should lose faith. I mean, one of our own was a Fates-damned cult member!”

“Like we knew!” Bane sneered.

“Doesn’t matter,” Everglow interjected. “We have a problem, yes, but it will be solved. Blackthistle fooled us all for so long.”

“I agree,” Malice stated with his purple eyes meeting mine. “He was also a terrible headmaster.”

“Well, hopefully the new headmistress will work out,” I muttered.

“That’s right. You work at Demon Reform Academy.” Bane pursed her lips. “I still can’t believe the academy board went to the Supernatural Council for help replacing Blackthistle instead of us.”

“Can’t blame them,” Grimes added.

I agreed with her.

The Supernatural Council appointed Rowan’s daughter, after all. Verity Clearwater was a powerful succubus, taking after her father, Rhett, but she followed in Rowan’s footsteps and knew the ins and outs of running an academy. Her mother, Wren, had seven mates, and all of their eight kids ended up inheriting many different attributes of their fathers.

Therefore, we knew Headmistress Clearwater wasn’t corrupt, and that was enough for me.

“How could we possibly salvage this?” Bane snapped. “Demons don’t trust us.”

“So, we should just give up then?” Malice snarled at her.

“Of course we shouldn’t.” Everglow’s soft voice filled the room. “But we need a plan to better the Demon Capital and regain demonic trust.”

“How do we do that? How would anything we do work?” Bane asked bitterly. “We’ve overused the dark magic relic to the point that it’s a lot slower at absorbing dark magic and can’t even take as much anymore. It’s a fucking problem.”

Grimes sneered at her. “Then we need to fix the problem like Everglow suggested.”

“How the fuck do we do that?” she snapped back.

Death calmly cleared his throat, and everyone stopped and turned their attention to him. “Dark Veil will be wiped out as soon as I find their location and members. Then, we will have plenty of time to win back demonic trust.”

Bane shifted in her seat. “You’re so sure you’ll wipe them out?”

“They went against my daughter.” Death shrugged. “They’ll all die.”

She blanched. “Right. Good point.”

“I agree,” I added. “They targeted an academy with reform students, infecting a fourth of our students that have since gone missing. We don’t know if those students that were infected were killed or taken to serve the cult. They kidnapped Pandora and her other mate. They decapitated a shadow demon, infected him and a member of our own council with dark magic. Their crimes are grave, and their punishment is death.”

“They also infiltrated the council and are working with a wanted witch, Sybil Shaw. So, ya know. We’re fighting an uphill battle right now,” Joel grinned but crossed his arms.

He masked a playful demeanor, but I could tell that he was struggling.

Joel couldn’t access his pheromones or get hard. For an incubus, that was unheard of. A complete nightmare. I’d been trying to talk him through it, and we’ve been looking for solutions to heal the part of his soul the dark magic ate away at. Unfortunately, we haven’t found anything yet.

Jenni and Joel had also formed a sort of trauma bond after being locked in a cage together. That has helped Joel with his depression, but Death absolutely hated it.

Everglow gasped. “Sybil Shaw?”

“We discussed this in the group chat.” Bane rolled her eyes.

“Actually, we only mentioned a wanted witch,” Malice clarified, narrowing his eyes at her. “Not the wanted witch.”

She frowned. “It’s not hard to guess who they meant. Sybil was already a theory.”

“Don’t forget Dark Veil also took Death’s mate. Not just his daughter,” Joel mentioned. “Their punishment is set in stone.”

“Don’t talk about my mate,” Death snapped at him.

I raised a brow in his direction.

“I’m only backing your stance, Death.” Joel shot him a hurt look. “Besides, Jenni and I are friends?—”

“Then stop talking to my mate about your limp dick,” he snarled.

Joel’s jaw dropped. “She promised she wouldn’t tell anyone.”

“I’m her mate. She tells me everything.”

“But…” Joel frowned.

“It’s normal for mates to talk. Don’t take it to heart. But Death, come on. Don’t throw that back at him. He’s struggling enough as it is,” I growled at him.

Death pouted, crossing his arms. “Fine.”

“Let’s focus on the fact that, like Darkmore mentioned, Dark Veil launched an attack on Demon Reform Academy. A lot of students are missing, but at least five students were killed in the attack,” Everglow gently guided the conversation back on topic.

“The barrier should’ve withstood that attack. It’s an academy barrier, for Fate’s sakes!” Bane slammed her fist on the table.

Irritation flickered through me, but before I could retort, Death tossed a relic on the table.

“Barrier breaking magical artifact,” he drawled. “It would’ve broken a barrier even fueled by a drake’s scale. That academy stood no chance. Only a handful of these are in existence. Dark Veil broke the barrier with this then infected the drake scale itself. That was how the dark magic barrier was formed. I had a witch look into it.”

Grimes went to take the relic, but Death growled.

“No.” He put it back in his bag. “This belongs to the Inferno family.”

“I just wanted to look at it.” Grimes arched her brow at him but raised her hands in defeat. “I didn’t mean any harm.”

“Death gets twitchy about his mate, and since that technically belongs to her…” Joel shrugged dramatically.

Grimes huffed and crossed her arms.

“As for the Chaos Representative spot on the council, we should hold the spot. We don’t want to risk another mole.” Death rubbed his eyes.

“I agree,” Everglow murmured. “It’s too risky.”

“Agreed,” I added.

“Yeah, same.” Joel nodded.

“I agree,” Malice said.

“Sure.” Bane frowned.

“Good idea,” Grimes stated.

“All are in favor. The position is being held,” Death announced.

“Shit,” Grimes muttered before glancing up from her tablet in front of her. “Another dark magic infection. This time, it’s an entire fucking cafe.”

Groans escaped all of us, but vengeance still buzzed beneath my skin.

When would supernaturals realize dark magic wasn’t meant for our world?