Page 34 of Demon Reform Academy, Term 3

34

brAM

S he still hadn’t woken up.

I sat at the end of her bed, gently rubbing her feet. It was the only thing grounding me. As if each stroke of my thumb over her foot was stopping the chaos of my own mind. The others were sitting around her.

Skel and Dex sat on one side and Hunter and Reed sat on the other.

“I can see how touching her is helping you keep the chaos at bay.” Hunter’s voice cracked.

“I need to touch her,” I croaked. “Just like the rest of you. Even if she hasn’t forgiven me yet.”

“I know,” he muttered. “I know you do.”

“Fuck, princess, please wake up.” Skel’s voice was raw and crackling. He didn’t have his pipe anymore, and right now, it looked like he needed it. In the same way I needed alcohol.

Only we didn’t need it. It would just make coping with this easier, but sometimes, easy wasn’t right. It didn’t fix the actual problem.

“I’ll check on her again.” Tears slipped down Reed’s cheek as he laid his head on her stomach and closed his eyes. Dream magic sparked the air as he tumbled into his dreamscape to meet with her. He’d been able to talk with her, but she hadn’t been able to wake up. He pulled Hunter and Skel into it with him earlier.

She seemed fine there, apparently.

The scorpion sting had healed, but she was still unconscious. It didn’t make any fucking sense.

I could feel the chaos crawling beneath my skin. It burned, pulsed, and writhed like it was in agony along with me—itching, seething, angry . Chaos magic was always wild and unpredictable. Yet it settled in Pandora’s presence.

Right now, the chaos gnawed at the edges of my sanity. Rubbing her feet was literally the only thing keeping my magic sated. She was right here but trapped, unreachable —and we didn’t know why.

My chaos whispered through my veins, urging me to let go, to lose control, to burn this academy to ashes just to wake her up. I wanted to. Fates, I wanted to. But I couldn’t. It wouldn’t work. Logically, I knew that. But my magic wasn’t very logical.

I pressed my palm against my chest, trying to hold the pain in, to keep from exploding. It was fucking tearing me apart, slowly.

“You okay?” Dex’s eyes flashed silver, and the pain ebbed away slightly.

I shook my head, working my way to her ankle before heat pricked my eyes at what I saw—a faint bruise made from a chain. “She…has what looks like a bruise around her ankle from a chain.”

“What?” Hunter’s voice cracked as he looked over.

“I didn’t see that before,” Skel muttered.

“Neither did I,” Dex added. “She told me about the chain, but…I didn’t know it left a scar.”

“They’re very faint.” I swallowed hard and squeezed my eyes shut. “She’s really been through it…and I only made things worse on her.”

“We all did,” Skel muttered.

“Not all of us.” Hunter clicked his tongue. “But she’s come so far from her trauma. And you three have made an effort to do right by her now.”

“She has come far,” Dex agreed.

“She’s a badass,” Skel murmured, tonguing his lip ring.

A few minutes of silence passed with us all touching her, watching her, praying to the Fates that she’d wake up.

“Bram should take Blackthistle’s spot on the council,” Skel said suddenly.

My eyes snapped to his. “Slater would be the best bet for that position.”

“Why?” Hunter tilted his head. “Your magic is strong.”

“I’m not nobility,” I dismissed the idea, focusing on Pandora’s dainty feet.

“Neither am I,” Skel shifted on the bed. “I’m still meeting with Malice for the possibility of taking his spot as the fear demon representative.”

“You’re a good fit for it…I’m not.” I frowned. I wasn’t good for anything—especially not the Demon Council.

“You could be,” Hunter said, glancing down at our mate. “You could be a lot of things, Bram. You’re not as useless as your parents tell you.”

“I know that firsthand.” Dex shrugged. “You’re pretty great, dude.”

“Hard agree.” Skel shot me a weak smile.

I bit back a smile as I carefully placed Pandora’s foot back on the bed and grabbed for my flask of water in my pocket. I tilted it back, and liquid burned down my throat.

“What the fuck?” I choked on it, spitting out what I could onto the ground. I jumped off the bed and stumbled backward. My flask dropped from my hand and clattered on the hard stone as the stench of whiskey pierced the air. “That’s not water.”

Hunter sniffed. “It’s whiskey.”

“I didn’t…I haven’t had a drink since that time I drank with Pandora,” I defended myself before realizing there wasn’t any use to.

Everyone expected the worst of me, anyway.

“We know you wouldn’t be drinking,” Hunter murmured. “Your flask was spiked.”

“I know you wouldn’t drink,” Skel added. “You’ve worked so hard at sobriety.”

“We’re aware it isn’t you.” Dex glanced around the room. “But if it wasn’t you, who put whiskey in your flask?”

“Bram!” Hunter screamed.

Something sharp pierced my neck before Dex’s shadows circled my waist and jerked me toward their side of the room. My body smacked against the wall, knocking the breath out of me.

It was only then that I noticed the dark magic portal that had formed directly behind where I was. There was an infected demon within it, holding a knife that dripped with my blood.

“What the fuck…” Healing tingled my neck, sealing the cut on my throat I hadn’t even realized happened. I brought my fingers up and swiped through the hot blood to confirm it had healed.

“Protect Pandora!” Dex snarled before disappearing.

“What the fuck!” Skel and Hunter threw themselves in front of Pandora and Reed, who was still in his dreamscape with her.

I stumbled forward to put myself between them and the demon as well.

“I do hope you liked our gift…we were hoping you’d relapse and get drunk.” It was a woman with blood-stained blonde hair. She tilted her head, her smile showing off rows of rotten teeth.

“Not happening,” I bit out, chaos simmering through my veins.

“Aw.” She pouted. “But drunk throats are so much more fun to slit.”

“You’re not going to be doing that,” Skel snarled.

The air crackled with sinister energy. My heart pounded as we stood protectively in front of our fated mate, who lay unconscious and fucking vulnerable on the bed behind us with Reed.

“Oh?” Her black eyes bore into me as they glowed with dark magic. She reeked of sulfur.

“We won’t let you live,” Hunter growled.

“I’m not worried about my life.” The demon lunged, her blade slicing through the air with a high-pitched whine.

“You should be.” I summoned up an illusion of chaos. Swirling serpents materialized and bit into her black-veined skin while chaotic sounds echoed through the room to disorient her.

The room warped and twisted before us, but the demon cut through it with ease.

“If that’s all you got, this will be easier than I expected.” Her blade dripped with black goo.

We had to keep her away from Pandora.

“I’m going to kill you!” Hunter’s roar shook the room, his fury and vengeance thundering around us as he charged forward. His fists crackled with vengeance magic like I’d never seen before, and he slammed them into the infected demon’s face.

The impact of his blows were absorbed by her with a sinister grin. “You can’t honestly believe vengeance magic will hurt me?” She placed her hand on his chest and blew him backward.

His back smacked against stone with an audible crack. He gasped in pain but was back on his feet next to us a moment later.

“She’s resilient,” he admitted with a low growl.

“Glad you noticed, Darkmore.” She took a step forward.

“Stay back!” Skel conjured illusions of fear, specters that rose around her, whispering her greatest fears meant to weaken her resolve—but they didn’t weaken her at all.

She was completely unfazed.

She threw her head back and laughed. It was a chilling sound that grated against my nerves. “Oh, how cute!”

“We are, aren’t we?” Dex’s voice filled the room as he struck from the darkness with swift and precise movements. His shadow tendrils were sharp, dripping with her viscous black blood as they stabbed her.

Blood gushed from her wounds, but her body healed them immediately.

“ That was a better attempt,” she croaked between stabs before dark magic imploded inside her, sending Dex reeling out of the shadows and against the wall.

“Fuck.” The tang of blood filled the air as he caught himself on the wall. A gash was across his side with dark magic webbing around it.

“Infected again, little Shadowheart. How beautiful you are when dark magic runs through your veins.” She advanced toward him with her sword in a blur of dark magic.

“Dex!” We lunged for her—but we were too late.

“Now, this is from your daddy.” She lifted the sword up and brought it down toward his neck.

Death intervened, coming from the shadows as if he were lying in wait for the right moment. He kicked Dex out of the way just as the sword sliced through the air of where he would’ve been.

“You weren’t joking,” he deadpanned, the golden staff-like dark-magic-absorbing relic clutched in his hand.

“Why the fuck would I joke about this?” Dex screamed as he held the gash on his side.

Death ignored him and held up the relic, muttering an ancient incantation. The relic activated, humming with a low, resonant frequency as it began siphoning the dark magic from her.

Relief flooded through me, but it was short-lived.

“Stop!” The infected demon struck out at Death with gooey dark magic, but he dodged it easily. The dark magic sludged on the ground before slinking back into the infected demon’s body.

“A little help?” Death glared at us.

The dark magic radiated from her like a living shadow. I could see why shadow demons were able to conceal their infections easier, honestly.

“Fuck!” she hissed, and the word slithered through my ears as she tried and failed to make contact with the relic.

We had to protect Death at all costs while he siphoned the dark magic from her, all while keeping them away from Pandora.

Hunter rushed forward first. He unleashed a torrent of vengeful energy, his fists glowing with a strong, crackling energy.

I’d never seen him hit before, but he was fucking good at it. Each punch landed with an explosive blow, shaking the entire building.

The demon staggered back, momentarily thrown off balance, but her malevolent grin only widened as she absorbed the impact, twisting it into something darker. “Good hit, Darkmore. It’ll be your last.”

“Keep her busy!” Death shouted, his voice barely cutting through the chaos.

“They can’t protect you!” She leapt toward him again.

“Yes, we can!” I focused my energy, summoning a chaos illusion that warped her reality. Chaos manifested from me, jumping and biting the demon as I conjured snakes at her feet. The snakes bit her and spread venom through her veins.

She hesitated, momentarily entranced by the pandemonium I created, but I knew it wouldn’t last long.

We’d never had to fight an infected demon before. Pandora had always siphoned the dark magic out of them before we had to.

We needed her.

“You won’t make it out of this room alive.” Skel stepped in, conjuring fear illusions alongside my chaos illusions.

They were dark specters that danced around the demon, whispering her worst fears into her ears. Shadows twisted into grotesque forms around her as if the dark magic was turning on her, and I could sense the moment her bravado faltered.

She flinched from whatever she saw.

“Dex!” I yelled, urgency coursing through me.

“Aw, is the infected bitch not winning?” Dex emerged from the shadows behind her, striking her with lethal precision.

She screamed as his shadow tendrils darted into her body. With each strike, he cut through her flesh, forcing her to focus on him rather than Death, who was still drawing the dark magic from her with the relic behind us.

“I will not lose!” The dark magic surged, and she unleashed another wave of energy.

The oppressive weight of it pushed against my chest, and the air thickened as her power surged. I concentrated harder, amplifying my chaos illusions, creating a whirlpool of predators that attacked her violently.

Flesh and blood scattered at her feet.

My illusions morphed, shifting from violence to confusion, creating duplicates of us that danced around her, making it impossible for her to discern which was real.

“What is this?” The demon swung wildly, cutting through the illusions but never landing a blow on any of us, who were just out of reach. “How is your chaos and fear so strong?”

Death continued using the relic, muttering incantations. I could feel the energy around him pulsating. The relic glowed as it absorbed the dark magic escaping from the demon's essence.

Her shrieks of frustration filled the room.

“Just a little longer!” Death stated, his voice steady and unwavering amid the chaos.

I could feel the dark magic ebbing away as we fought against her, distracting her the only way we could.

The relic hummed, finally siphoning the last of the dark magic from her decaying body.

Death stepped forward. “Your destruction ends here.”

“What? No!”

With an eerie calm, he reached out with his hand and drew the demon's soul from her. The air crackled, and I could almost taste the bitter metallic tang as he began to draw her soul from her body.

His power was different from Pandora’s, but it was equally as terrifying. I couldn’t see his power. He just…ate souls.

With no indication.

It was almost scarier.

The infected demon’s body collapsed to the ground, empty and defeated. It broke and turned to ash, breaking away completely on the floor.

Our heavy breathing filled the air as my gaze returned to my mate. She was still sleeping with Reed lying his head against her stomach. Dream magic sparkled around them, but it wasn’t just dream magic…

I frowned as I studied her still form. Her skin shimmered with a faint, chaotic energy. It was chaos magic simmering beneath the surface.

Chaos stood next to me, lowering his head and growling.

A demonic curse—a chaos manifestation.

The revelation hit me harder than any blow the dark magic infected demon had landed.

“Pandora’s been cursed by a chaos demon,” I croaked, stumbling over my feet until I fell to my knees next to where she lay on the bed.

“What?” Death asked, calmly. “Explain.”

Chaos trotted over and started licking her hand comfortingly.

“Chaos magic is beneath her skin, and it’s not mine. We haven’t bonded. The only other explanation would be that a chaos demon cursed her,” I explained, fear numbing my arms. “Fuck. I didn’t sense it before now, but Chaos did. He’s been itching to get over to her since the scorpion stung her.”

“Blackthistle was just seen on campus around the time she was stung.” Hunter swept his hand through his hair. “Fuck!”

“This is a demonic curse…it’s not…it’s not because of the scorpion,” Dex muttered. “Right?”

“No,” I rasped. “He just took advantage of the situation and cursed her when she was stung. He must’ve been watching us.”

“How do we fix it?” Skel asked. “The curse.”

“We kill Blackthistle,” Death growled.

“I’ll go with you,” Dex and I said at the same time.

“I’ll stay with her and Reed,” Skel and Hunter said.

Their bonds had sealed with her, but Dex and I didn’t have that. It made sense for it to be them who stayed.

“Let’s go,” Death replied, turning and walking out the door with us following behind him.

Blackthistle was going to die.