Page 52 of Demon Reform Academy, Term 3

52

HUNTER

“ G o . She’s still sleeping, and we need to get rid of any threats to her that we can.” Reed brushed a lock of blood-matted hair from Pandora’s pale forehead. There were dark bags underneath her eyes. “I’ll stay with her…just make Nightwind pay for his part in this.”

“I intend to,” Dex snarled. His shadows slithered along the floor, hungry for vengeance. His eyes gleamed with unrestrained madness, and his hands clenched into fists at his sides.

We managed to get Pandora back to our room, but she still hadn’t woken up. We tried to clean the blood off her the best we could, but it still coated her skin.

Now, she lay safe in Reed’s arms, her breath soft and even, her face slack with exhaustion.

“Take care of her,” I croaked out. My throat was thick with pain—seeing her like that would haunt me into the afterlife.

I never thought I’d be thankful for a dark magic infection, but I was. It fucking saved her life—how ironic was that?

“I’ve got her,” Reed murmured, brushing a thumb across her cheek.

Gumdrop was pressed to the glass of the tank like he was worried for her, too. Comet was also curled up next to them both.

“Good.” Vengeance hummed through my veins, coiling tighter with each passing second. “We’ll be right back.”

Bram and Skel shared a glance, and the thirst of their vengeance ramped up.

Dex’s shadows coiled around us, pulling us back to the lobby in an instant. The air was thick with the scent of blood still.

Nightwind was hunched in a corner, his body trembling. Tears streaked down his face as he rocked back and forth like a child. His hands were pressed against his skull as pitiful whimpers escaped him.

A few feet away from him lay the remains of Shadeberry’s body—a grotesque tangle of mangled flesh and bone, unrecognizable now. Blood pooled thick and sticky beneath it, glinting in the faint evening light.

Vengeance crackled in the air in the form of a tangible jagged web of lightning. My magic struck the flesh pile, searing it with a hiss. The smell of burning flesh filled the room, thick and nauseating.

“Ew,” Skel muttered, gagging as he covered his nose.

One final crack of my magic, and the sharp, violent bolt disintegrated the mess of her corpse. A rush of ash and smoke spiraled upward, dissolving into nothingness. There wasn’t even a trace of bone dust left to prove that Shadeberry ever existed.

“Easy clean up,” Dex purred darkly.

A hush fell over the room, broken only by Nightwind’s pitiful whimpers. His single, wide eye darted around the room, searching for an escape that didn’t exist.

Chaos still guarded him, making sure he didn’t escape.

“Beneficial for us,” Bram muttered under his breath before whistling. “Good job keeping him here.”

Chaos turned his large head and faded back into Bram in a blur.

Nightwind’s sobbing grew louder, more desperate. His one remaining eye darted around, wide with terror, but there was no escape for him.

“I didn’t do anything!” he blurted out, his voice a desperate, broken plea.

Dex turned toward him, his shadows unfurling around him. “You pinned my mate to the wall.”

Fury pushed through me, and my vengeance magic caused the air to crackle. “You didn’t fucking mean to touch my mate?”

“I mean, okay, I did. She’s just—she’s Death’s daughter,” he tried to explain. “The Gravesend name is famous, and I wanted to be tied to her somehow. Even if it was just bragging rights that I fucked her.”

My vengeance lurched, wrapping around his lungs and not letting him breathe. “You were never going to touch her like that. You may have wanted to, but you never would have that chance. You aren’t worthy enough.”

His face turned red and tears leaked down his cheeks. He shook his head back and forth quickly.

“You’re the reason she was stuck here long enough to get fucking shot by Shadeberry,” Skel hissed, crossing his arms. Fear magic slid from him and danced around his face, showing him all of his greatest phobias up close and personal.

“You were working with her, weren’t you?” Bram snarled, summoning a large snake that wrapped around Nightwind’s legs and sank its teeth into his calf.

My vengeance lessened enough to let him breathe, and a broken scream echoed off the walls from him.

“I—I wasn’t working with her. I—I didn’t mean to—” Nightwind stammered. It was clear he was desperate to find some excuse to save his skin.

The trembling in Nightwind’s body grew worse. His hands clutched at the stone behind him as if it could shield him, but there was no salvation here.

Not for him.

“Whether you were working with Shadeberry or not, you didn’t listen to my warning. Did you?” Dex spat, his voice rising with fury. His shadows lashed out, tendrils of darkness coiling around him.

Their magic pulled back for a moment.

Bram strode over to Nightwind and grabbed him by the throat, lifting him off the ground and back onto his feet with ease. “Do you know what happens when someone fucks with our mate?”

Nightwind gasped, clawing at Bram’s hand, kicking his legs wildly in the air. His face twisted in pain as Bram’s grip tightened.

Chaos emerged from Bram once again, his large form dwarfing Nightwind. The wolf’s eyes glowed like molten lava, his growl low and menacing as he stalked forward.

Bram stepped back away from him, throwing him against the wall with force. His skull smacked against it loudly.

Nightwind whimpered as his body trembled as Chaos growled viciously. He was too terrified of Chaos to even think about running.

Not that it would’ve helped.

“ You — you’re just a low-class demon,” Nightwind sputtered. His one good eye glared at Bram with hatred, but there was no strength behind it.

“Low-class or not, we’re stronger than you.” Skel sent him a feral grin.

Nightwind’s trembling didn’t stop, but his rage bubbled up in his one blue eye, flickering weakly. “It doesn’t make sense that she chose you. Pandora is too good for you.”

“Who said you could call her by her first name?” Bram growled.

He scowled. “Darkmore might be good enough for her, but the rest of you? Absolutely fucking insane that she didn’t reject you.”

“Yet she didn’t reject them.” I waved my hand toward the others. “That’s what you can’t stand, isn’t it?”

“Yes!” he screamed, anger replacing his fear. “I rejected my mate because he wasn’t good enough for me. Why didn’t she do the same?”

“Because Pandora trusts the Fates,” Skel answered. “If you had, maybe you wouldn’t be in this situation.”

Dex stepped forward, and his shadows twitched in anticipation. “Now, I never break my word.”

Nightwind froze, his eyes widening in horror. “No, don’t . Stop! Please!”

“Usually, that’s heard in a better context,” Skel drawled.

There was no stopping Dex’s thirst for vengeance. It was a thirst that far surpassed my own. I didn’t know it was even possible, but it was enough that it made my magic calm enough for Dex to deal out what he was owed.

Dex’s shadows sliced Nightwind’s clothes off, cutting into his flesh since he hadn’t been careful about it.

He screamed, pain enveloping his expression.

“Oops. That’s okay,” Dex cooed softly. “You’ll bleed worse than this. I promise.”

I tilted my head, my reserves filling from the vengeance of that statement alone. “What exactly are you going to?—”

Dex’s shadows struck, ripping Nightwind’s balls off. Blood poured from his groin. The tendrils flung the balls at Dex’s feet. He stepped on both with a couple of audible squishy pops.

We all winced.

Nightwind’s screams were full of terror and pain, but it was what he deserved for continuously messing with our mate.

He wouldn’t need them in death anyway.

Skel chuckled, and his fear magic crept forth. “He is really terrified of losing his dick.”

“Don’t!” Nightwind screamed again, choking on his sobs. “I’ll leave her alone. For real this time! I swear!”

“Begging isn’t going to help,” I mused, but nausea churned in my gut.

The vengeance being filled into my reserves was potent, and I knew that Nightwind was escalating with Pandora. Not just her, but a few other demonesses in the academy. He was already on probation. As a council member, I dubbed him a menace to society.

This was justice.

“I won’t even have to give you illusions,” Skel added. “Dex will make your greatest fear come to life—how sweet of him.”

A maniacal laugh hit the air as Dex’s shadow came down at the base of Nightwind’s limp dick. Blood spurted out, covering the walls and floor in gushes.

Vengeance burned bright, overfilling my reserves.

Dex didn’t stop there, though.

Before Nightwind’s appendage hit the ground, Dex’s shadow caught it and shoved it down Nightwind’s throat, blocking his airway.

Nightwind slipped on his own blood, smacking his head on the stone floor as he choked. His face turned red again as tears spilled out, but his desperate attempt at grasping life was pointless.

Once he finally stopped writhing in his own blood, silence hung heavy in the air.

“Uh, did he die of… suffocation or the loss of blood?” Skel coughed, pounding his fist against his chest.

“Whether he died from suffocation or blood loss doesn’t really matter. He’s dead and won’t be bothering our mate anymore,” I said, my lip curling up in disgust at the mess.

Blood was everywhere.

“Fitting,” Bram murmured. “Hey, can I have his skull?”

Dex used his shadows to decapitate his lifeless body, then he glanced at me. “Can you make the flesh and shit disappear from it?”

“Sure.” I lashed out with vengeance and disintegrated his body the same way I did Shadeberry’s, but this time, what was left was only his skull. Nothing else.

“ Sick . Thanks.” Bram bent down to grab it. “She’ll love it.”

“Fuck. You’re giving her Nightwind’s skull?” Dex pouted. “Great fucking idea. I forgot to give her a souvenir from both Shadeberry and Nightwind.”

“What about that ear cuff?” Skel pointed toward the corner. “Isn’t that Nightwind’s?”

“Must’ve fallen off.” I tilted my head.

“Fantastic.” Dex grabbed it with his shadows.

“Let’s go back and check on her, yeah?” I raised a brow.

“Please,” Bram murmured as Chaos jumped back into him.

Dex’s shadows coiled tighter, pulling us back toward Pandora.

Vengeance seared hot in my veins.

It should’ve felt like enough.

But it didn’t.

Not for me. My mate deserved more retribution for what she’d dealt with.

Her safety was our priority, though. It always had been. And while vengeance was needed, it was meaningless if she wasn’t here to reap the rewards of our efforts.

Reed’s gaze met mine as I leaned against the wall in the room, my chest heaving as I stared at Pandora in his arms. “You okay?” he asked, his voice low.

I didn’t answer.

Not because I didn’t want to—but because I wasn’t sure any more.