Page 29 of Demon Reform Academy, Term 3

29

HUNTER

T he Supernatural Council ruled Kalista’s supernaturals.

Demons didn’t concede to them, though, which was why we had the Demon Council. It had been that way since Kalista’s First War. Humans also had their own council and worked with the Supernatural Council whenever they needed to. The Bizarre, a territory in the far south, used to have their own council, but after Kalista’s Second War and the abolishment of the Hierarchy, they joined the council so each native supernatural of their territory could be represented. The fae also had their own ruling structure. They were comprised of four royal families that ruled each kingdom: earth, air, fire, and ice. They usually kept to the fae realm, though.

We all worked alongside each other when times called for it, but that didn’t happen very often.

Which explained the paramount tensions spiking as we, the Demon Council members, sat at the large meeting table across from members of the Supernatural Council in our headquarters.

The entirety of our council was in attendance and six members of the Supernatural council were as well.

“Thanks for coming,” Death greeted smoothly, his dark eyes scanning over their members before resting on their council head: Rowan Clearwater. “We appreciate your willingness to meet us at our headquarters.”

“Doesn’t seem as though we had much of a choice,” Clearwater replied, smoke pluming from his nostrils.

The leader of the Supernatural Council was terrifying for all intents and purposes. He had fiery red hair that was pulled halfway back and orangey eyes that had no pupil, just flames swirling in them. He had an overwhelming scent of embers, but there was bearberry mixed in.

“True.” Death’s lips twitched in amusement.

“Being as this is our first official meeting in a few decades, we should introduce ourselves. As you know, I’m Rowan. Firedrake representative and council head.” Rowan Clearwater flicked his gaze over his members with an unspoken command.

A woman cleared her throat, tucking a piece of her long gray hair behind her ear. “I’m Kaelith Talonspire. I’m the dragon representative and the cultural liaison. As a reminder for my council, it’s demonic culture to call demons by their last name unless told otherwise.”

Clearwater rubbed his chin. “I’d almost forgotten. My apologies. My mate has two other fated mates that are demons, and they never followed the customs.”

I vaguely remembered hearing about that. I knew Rhett Everhart, an incubus who used to be on the Demon Council, was his mate’s mate, but so was Damien Fletcher; a shadow demon that was known for his cruelty in Kalista. They were quite the mated group, especially with her four other infamously known mates.

“Apology accepted,” Death replied easily.

“I’m Ted Wraithmore, the phantom representative and chief strategist,” a man spoke with a wavering voice as his form flicked in and out. He had gray hair and pale eyes.

“Drecken Grimsworn.” A warlock grinned at us as a blast of magical energy expelled from him, sweeping around the room. He had bright green hair and blue eyes, and he’d been on the council as long as Clearwater had. “Warlock representative and magical research director.”

“Good morning,” a melodic voice rang out of a woman with long golden hair and bright blue eyes. “I’m Aurelia Shellsong; siren representative and communication specialist. I’m mainly here to calm any tensions down.”

“Amunet Shadowpaws; sphinx representative and knowledge keeper,” another woman stated simply. She had black hair with an almost neon purple eye color.

“I’m Gravesend, but you probably know me as Death.” Death smirked. “I’m the soul eater representative of the council.”

“I’m Darkmore, the vengeance representative of the council.” I nodded to them.

“Hi, I’m Craven. Incubus representative.” Joel grinned at their council members.

“Bane. Shadow demon rep,” Bane added, green eyes narrowed at the council.

“Grimes,” Grimes introduced herself. “I’m the drude rep.”

“I’m Everglow, but I would be fine if you called me Gloria.” Everglow smiled at Clearwater and Grimsworn. They smiled back. They’d known each other because they worked together during Kalista’s Second War. “I’m the dream demon representative.”

“Malice,” Malice grunted, running a hand through his gray hair. “Fear demon rep.”

“Now that we’re all acquainted, let’s discuss why we’re here,” Death said, gesturing to the folder in front of everyone. “I’ve taken the liberty of tracking all dark magic infections and attacks in the Demon Capital for the past two years.”

“Two years?” Clearwater growled, his eyes flaming. “Why didn’t anyone inform me of this?”

“It’s our situation,” Grimes snapped.

“A situation you don’t seem to be handling very well at all considering one of your own was a mole in the dark magic cult,” Wraithmore cut in.

Grimes growled, and her horns slid out.

Malice rolled his eyes.

“Hold on,” Bane interjected with a frown. “If you could wait for a moment you’d see that we only had one documented case two years ago.”

“It was only a year ago that we had periodic issues,” Death added. “Then I reached out to Clearwater and he lent us the dark magic relic to absorb it. You’ve been aware of the problem since it became serious.”

“Very well.” Rowan breathed out, little sparks of fire came out with the air.

“Perhaps Death could become the demon representative for the Supernatural Council since maintaining the Demon Capital is getting too much to handle?—”

Talonspire was cut off by all of the demons on our council growling in protest, including me.

“If demons were to join the council, we would include all subtypes of demons as representatives,” Clearwater said. “However, that’s only an invitation. If you aren’t interested, that’s that.”

“I’d prefer not to be told we aren’t doing our job when this entire issue started because Apex Penitentiary was unable to hold a dark witch,” Bane snapped.

“Sybil Shaw?” Grimsworn’s gaze darkened considerably. “Has she made contact?”

“Yes,” I growled, the force of it vibrating the room. “She has. To my mate.”

“And my daughter,” Death added.

“Calm down, everyone,” Shellsong instructed, her voice literally calming our heart rates. “Let’s talk and be productive.”

“Thank you, Aurelia.” Grimsworn smiled gently at the siren as if he felt bad for making her speak up.

“Don’t tell me to calm down!” Bane slapped her palm against the table.

“Bane, stop,” Death growled.

Bane flinched before shutting her mouth.

“I don’t want to fight with you. We need your help.” Death reached into his bag and set the dark magic beacon Reed’s mother had stolen from Dark Veil onto the table.

Everyone stilled.

Bane’s green eyes widened considerably. “Why didn’t you tell me about that?”

“We had a mole on our council. I don’t trust the Demon Council anymore.” His black eyes met mine. “Except for Darkmore.”

I smirked.

Bane growled.

The others stayed silent.

Grimsworn squealed in glee before literally crawling over the table and snatching up the relic. He started humming and inspecting it immediately. Magic blasted off him in waves as he did so.

“This is interesting. Very interesting,” he murmured, studying it closely as he kneeled on top of our meeting table.

Wraithmore’s pale eyes locked on it as his form flickered. “Indeed. This is the dark magic beacon. A magical artifact that was also stolen from Cursina’s Museum of the Dark and Twisted long ago. Its purpose is to call forth dark magic. Not only dark magic that might’ve been local to the relic, but this is known to call dark magic from the Veil itself.”

Shadowpaws cleared her throat. “Sybil Shaw stole it after her escape from Apex Penitentiary. She killed eleven supernatural agents guarding it and five innocents that happened to be there.”

Clearwater’s eyes darkened, and flames licked up his arms as he took a deep breath. “Thank you for giving it back. We will place it somewhere safe.”

“I’ll find somewhere for it—somewhere not on display,” Grimsworn promised, scooting back off the table and into his seat, not once taking his eyes off the relic.

That wizard was obsessed with relics, it was a well known fact.

“How is the dark magic relic?” Wraithmore asked.

Death sighed, meeting his gaze. “It’s safe, but it’s working incredibly slowly now. Every time we extract dark magic from an infected demon, the time it takes to clear it is increasing with every use.”

“Not surprising,” Grimsworn muttered, finally tearing his green eyes from the relic. “All magical artifacts need to be recharged. Recharging is simple. Set it out in the moonlight or sunlight. Unfortunately, siphoning artifacts have an internal limit on their purpose. Think of it like a vacuum. That artifact is one. Unless there is a way we could clear the dark magic out of it—by killing it, not releasing it—then, there will become a point where that artifact will be rendered useless.”

“When that time comes, bring it to us, and we will hide it away,” Wraithmore said. “The last thing we need is that dark magic releasing.”

“No kidding,” I snorted, gaining the attention of everyone. “As you know, my mate, who is also Death’s daughter, was kidnapped by Dark Veil. There was also a dark magic attack on Demon Reform Academy that killed quite a few students. Dark Veil’s influence is getting bigger, and their access to dark magic is immense.”

“We dispatched agents to search for your mate after you reached out for help,” Clearwater told us. “That gained us some… insight into how bad the cult has gotten in the Demon Capital. That said, we realize it’s a threat to Kalista as a whole—not just your territory.”

Death rapped his knuckles against the polished stone table. “So you had your agents infiltrate Dark Veil.”

Clearwater nodded, the fire in his eyes swirling fiercely. “I won’t apologize for meddling in Demon Capital affairs when the threat is this serious.”

“I wouldn’t expect you to.” Death slapped the note Pandora was left on the table. “It explains why we got intel that my daughter has a hit out on her by Dark Veil. Your agent risked letting us know. We appreciate that.”

Clearwater nodded, but his jaw tightened. He hadn’t known the agent contacted us. “Sabine Bloodwyne is the agent coordinator. She handles their missions. I will pass this along to her and see if she knows anything more about the hit.”

“Thank you,” Death and I said in sync.

“You should know of my daughter’s Fate-gifted power if you’ll be working with us against Dark Veil,” Death continued, meeting my gaze briefly. We’d discussed this before coming. If the Supernatural Council was involved, they needed to know about Pandora and why she was a threat to Dark Veil.

“What special power does Death’s daughter have?” Grimsworn grinned, encouraging him to tell him.

“The power to kill dark magic,” I answered for him.

Gasps rang out from the council on both sides. We hadn’t disclosed this information to our council either. Though, Bane didn’t seem surprised.

“You’re kidding,” Grimsworn breathed out. “This is truly remarkable! May I meet her soon?”

“Kill dark magic?” Clearwater repeated, disbelief clear in his tone.

“She’s my daughter,” Death snarled. “You will not experiment on her.”

“My mate, too,” I mumbled, agreeing with Death’s sentiments.

Grimsworn barked a laugh. “I apologize to you both. Of course I wouldn’t. I’m just remembering Rowan’s mate, Wren, when she was infected with dark magic—” Clearwater growled at the mention of his mate being infected, but Grimsworn continued—“It was fascinating. We had no hope of destroying it. We didn’t even know about the dark magic relic at that time. I would love to meet someone with the power to destroy it altogether.”

“Speaking of dark magic infections…we believe Dark Veil tried to kill her by overwhelming her with dark magic consumption. They used dark maginite imbued with dark magic. Pandora’s magic went haywire and consumed it all. It was painful, but thankfully, didn’t pose a threat to her life as they’d thought it would,” I explained.

“Dark maginite?” Grimsworn hummed, glancing at Wraithmore.

“It was a method written in the Dark Magic tome that was stolen,” he supplied.

“I thought it sounded familiar,” Grimsworn muttered.

“Back to the immediate matter at hand.” Clearwater cleared his throat. “We will provide the academy she attends with several of our supernatural agents with clear orders to protect her. They won’t hover, but they’ll be around if needed.”

“Thank you,” Death said, relief sweeping through him.

“Appreciate that,” I added.

“Your demons have been requesting aid from us because they fear you are not competent. I know that’s not the case, but you should be aware of it nonetheless,” Clearwater continued.

“We’re aware,” Bane snapped. Her shadows encircled her neck. “The dark magic plague is spreading ruthlessly. We’re trying.”

“And now, you will have our help to put a stop to it,” he replied, fire blazing in his eyes. “Consider us partners for the remainder of Dark Veil’s presence.”

“Thanks for your help,” Death answered with a hint of a smile on his lips.

“We surely appreciate it,” Everglow responded.

“We look forward to working with you,” I added.

“This is bullshit,” Bane muttered.

“I’m happy to have another council by our side,” Joel grinned at them.

“We could’ve handled it, I’m sure,” Malice said. “But thanks.”

“With you, this situation will be handled faster than if we did it by ourselves.” Grimes nodded at them.

“Happy to offer our services,” Clearwater said.

A bead of dread dropped into my gut. Sure, with the Supernatural Council on our side, we had a better chance of gaining a lead on Dark Veil, but the fact that we even needed help meant this was a bigger problem than we feared.

Dark Veil was formidable, and they were after my fated. We had to end them once and for all.