Page 53 of Demon Reform Academy, Term 3

53

REED

P andora was wrapped up in my arms, nuzzled into my chest, but all I could think about was the fact that she was shot in the head because of Vane.

I could still see the way Pandora was limp in Skel’s arms, blood pouring out of the two holes in her head and the one in her eye socket. The icy cold grip of fear that seized me when I thought she was dead.

She almost died.

Because of Vane.

I gritted my teeth so tight that pain ebbed along my jaw, radiating down my neck. Betrayal clawed at my chest.

A woman I used to regard as my best friend did this. Charlotte Vane tried to kill my fated mate, and for that, she signed her death warrant at my hands.

Pandora stirred in her sleep, her breath hitching softly against my chest. I leaned down and pressed a soft kiss to her crown. Her hair was damp against my lips, and I inhaled the soft scent of caramel that clung to her. The aroma was warm, soft, and Pandora’s. A reminder of everything pure that Vane had dared to jeopardize.

Mark my words—Vane would die tonight.

Exhaustion tugged at me, heavy as it coiled lazily around my limbs. Magic pulsed through my veins, drawing me under. My anger didn’t relent, but I let my power guide me until I felt the unmistakable pull of her essence. I could feel her—my ex-best friend.

Vane’s subconscious called out to me, unguarded and exposed. She was asleep, and her mind was a door I intended to fling wide open.

Drudes lacked true dreamscapes. Their subconscious minds were clumsy and untamed. Not at all like the intricate sanctuary that only dream demons could weave. They couldn’t summon others into their worlds or bend their surroundings with a thought alone. But they dreamed, and dreaming was all I needed to enter uninvited.

Magic hummed through me, a low, resonant thrum like the distant rumble of thunder.

I reached out, feeling the tendrils of my power curling and coiling around the threads of her dream.

The connection snapped into place, and the world around me shifted.

Her dream unfolded in a swirl of muted light, dissolving into a dull, boring bedroom. The scene was bland, devoid of any vibrancy. Plush cream carpets muffled my footsteps. A beige canopy bed dominated the center, its sheets and pillows carefully arranged in perfection. Everything smelled faintly of breezy meadows—a fragrance too sweet, too cloying, like air freshener sprayed to mask decay.

Every detail was too neat, too precise, as if her subconscious mind had lazily sketched the scene. The only detail that stood out was the scattering of black rose petals across the floor.

It was my first time infiltrating her dreams, but it didn’t scare me like I thought it would. Maybe it should’ve, but it didn’t.

Vane's dream was fragile, a threadbare tapestry barely holding together.

She couldn’t hurt me here. She wasn’t strong enough.

Dream magic thrummed through me as I sifted through Vane’s subconscious—the very core of her worst nightmares. Her nightmares were of what my dreamscape was made of—Pandora and I.

As I dove deeper, the nightmare’s surface began to crack, revealing the vulnerable, rotting dreams beneath. Her happiest dreams bubbled to the surface, and they made my skin crawl. The taste of bile rose in my throat, acrid and sour. Each scene was a mirror of my life with Pandora, but warped.

They transformed into us together.

Me with her —with Vane .

My smile directed at her .

My laughter shared with her .

My touch on her skin.

A wave of nausea swept through me, my pulse pounding with loathing as I looked for anything else.

Each desire she conjured felt like claws raking through my mind.

How dare she want this with me?

She must have spent a lot of time imagining our future for it to show up so vividly like this in her subconscious—and that was all there was. There was nothing about Dark Veil in her dreams or her nightmares. Just me. Us.

I clenched my fists, my nails biting into my palms until pain lanced through my hands. Blood roared through my ears as my magic surged, hungry and ready to tear apart the fragile web of her delusions.

Shadows flickered along the edges of the room, and my tail lashed behind me, each flick a sharp crack in the stillness.

It made me so fucking sick to see what she wanted.

This may have been her dream, but it was my retribution now.

“Reed?” Vane’s voice was brimming with excitement, tearing my focus. “You’re actually here? In my dream?”

I turned my head as Vane stepped into the room from a door on the left.

She wore a silky bronze robe and was bathed in a golden glow that painted her features in soft light. Her breezy meadow scent soaked the air further, but it made me sick.

Red hair cascaded in fiery curls down her back. Her green eyes sparkled with an otherworldly sheen. They used to bring me comfort.

Now, I only wanted to gouge them out.

“You overcame your fear for me?” She smiled, her lips curving upward.

The sight ignited fresh fury within me.

“Care to tell me what you’ve been up to?” I asked, venom dripping from my tone.

Her breath quickened, the sound hitching in her throat. Instead of fear, there was yearning—a need despite the weight of my hatred for her. “I…Have you finally come to me? Truly?”

She had betrayed me many times, but to set my mate up for death?

I’d been waiting for an opportunity to kill her after learning about her part in Pandora’s kidnapping. Her life had an expiration date the moment she moved against my mate.

That was today.

I clenched my fists, keeping my jaw tight as I fought to keep my composure. “Come to you? What do you mean by that?” My voice cut through the dream like a whip, sharp and venomous. “Why do you think I’m here?”

“You’re here for me, right? Now that Gravesend’s out of the way?—”

“Shut up,” I snarled, stepping forward. “You’re right. I am here for you, but not in the way you’re hoping.”

I watched her flinch, her glowing skin paling as cracks formed in her perfect, golden facade.

My magic shook her dreams, and my tail flicked behind me in warning. “Shadeberry told us how you let it slip that Pandora killed Dreadful, so she went after her. You purposefully sought her out because you knew she’d try to kill Pandora for revenge.”

“I won’t deny that,” she admitted, taking a small step forward. “I did it for us, Reed. Now that she’s out of the way, you’ll see that?—”

“Shut the fuck up!” I snarled, my magic quaking the very fabric of her dream,

“She’s brainwashed you.” She blinked at me, concern flickering in her gaze. “She was stripped naked in that cage, and she had scars all over her body. Surely, you can’t stand that. I mean, she even had Shadowheart’s son obsessed with her. He’s hot, but you’re everything. Reed, I only want you . She wanted to play you and be with others, too. You weren’t good enough for her. You’re perfect for me. I?—”

“Shut up, Vane!” I used her last name, and agony cracked her expression from the realization.

“You…You just called me by my last name,” she whispered, tears filling her eyes. “Why would you do that?”

“I’ve seen your dreams. I’ve seen your nightmares,” I stated, my lip curling into a sneer.

“You know that you’re my dream. Being with you is all I’ve ever wanted,” she whimpered. “Seeing you with anyone else has always been my nightmare—especially with someone the Fates thought you should be with. The Fates shouldn’t have the power that they do. The Veil would’ve let you be with me.”

“I would never want to be with you. I hate you! ” I roared, magic sparking through my body.

I overloaded her dream, creating true versions of her nightmares around us instead of the room she’d conjured up. “This nightmare of yours isn’t a nightmare at all. This all happened.”

I showed her the moment Pandora and I shared on the bridge at Odyssey Bluffs when I brushed my lips against hers for the first time.

“You… kissed her? I mean…I knew that, but to see it?” Her voice cracked, and tears brimmed in her eyes before spilling over her cheeks.

“I’ve done more than kiss her.” My magic rippled, and the scene changed.

“Reed, please don’t?—”

Pandora and I were snuggling on the bed in her dorm, talking and laughing as we read a book together. Gumdrop was watching us, and Comet was snuggled next to us on the bed.

“You can’t be that happy with her, Reed. It’s a lie!” Vane screamed. “This is all a fucking lie!”

“But I am!” My magic shuddered, switching the scene into one of my favorite memories. “I’m so blissfully happy with her!”

It was of me behind Pandora on the bed, spreading her legs and fucking her from behind. My hands were on her breasts, and I was telling her I loved her as she moaned my name.

Vane stumbled back, her hand clutching her chest. “That isn’t true. You… Tell me it’s not true!”

Dream magic distorted our surroundings into the most recent scene of Pandora and I during the thunderstorm where I made love to her at Odyssey Bluff.

Vane’s nightmare fueled my reserves until they overflowed.

“I love her and only her,” I growled at Vane as thunder rolled above us. “I will only ever touch her.”

“But she didn’t love just you ,” she choked out. “I love just you , Reed!”

I sent her a feral smile as the nightmare changed again, this time, we were in the dorm as Hunter and I shared Pandora. We both told her we loved her. She moaned and writhed under us, telling us both how much she loved us back.

“I want her to love her other mates as much as she loves me. Pandora is my entire world. I could die inside of her and die happy.”

“But why not me?” She stumbled forward, sobbing, and she clutched the front of my shirt. “Why not me?”

Her screams echoed through the room. The sound was brittle as her dream began to collapse under the weight of my truth.

“Because…” I reached out with my clawed hands and grabbed her by the throat, lifting her off the ground until her nose almost touched mine. The dream cracked until a field in the middle of nowhere surrounded us. “I loathe you, Vane.”

“Reed—”

I plunged my transformed hand into her chest, feeling her ribs crack from the pressure. Hot blood gushed out over my claws and dripped down my arm as I yanked out her heart and held it up for her to see.

It was insignificant to me, and she needed to know that.

The rhythm faltered before stopping altogether.

Her scent shifted and soured as her life began to ebb.

Her eyes were wide with betrayal as I crushed her heart in my hand. The blood was warm and sticky as it dripped between my fingers.

“I never wanted your heart.” I tossed the mangled organ over my shoulder. “And my heart belongs to Pandora.”

“Belongs?” She choked on her own blood, and it dripped down her chin from her lips.

“Yeah. She’s alive.”

The dream oscillated, and I escaped it as her life-force shut down.

Charlotte Vane would no longer be a problem.

My eyes fluttered open, and I tugged Pandora into my chest, kissing her forehead.

Black webbing had appeared on her skin, and terror seized me as I realized it.

“Pandora,” I whispered just before Dex, Bram, Skel, and Hunter walked out of the shadows. They were all splattered with blood.

Hunter had an expression of despair carved into his face as he leaned against the wall, his chest heaving.

“You okay?” I asked.

“She’s still asleep?” Hunter frowned, dodging the question.

Bram held a demon skull in his hands, and Dex held something in his fist.

“Yeah, she is.” I traced the black veins over her cheek. “The infection’s spreading.”

“Fuck,” Skel muttered as he sat down on the bed.

“How’d it go for you?” I asked.

“We handled it,” Hunter answered.

“Nightwind’s dead as fuck.” Dex grinned.

“So is Vane,” I murmured.

He blinked at me for a moment before chuckling. “I always knew you had it in you.”

“Great job, Reed.” Hunter nodded.

“Why do I smell marshmallows?” Pandora scrunched her nose up. “I thought you would kill Nightwind this time?”

“Oh, we did, trouble.” Dex outstretched his hand and revealed a silver ear cuff. “Your souvenir.”

She tilted her head and grinned. “Why, thank you. Put it on your shelf.”

“Anything for you.” He bowed dramatically before going over and placing it on his trophy shelf.

She frowned, staring at the skull in Bram’s hands. “Is that…”

“It’s Nightwind’s skull. For you.” Bram went over and placed the skull on the shelf with the animal skulls he got her.

“Aw, thanks, Bram,” she cooed. “How’d you kill him?”

“I cut his balls off, stepped on them, then cut his dick off and stuffed it down his throat,” Dex gloated, practically brimming with pride from it.

My mouth fell open in shock.

“ Brutal,” Pandora rasped.

“It was.” Skel ran a hand through his hair.

“How’d you kill Vane?” Dex asked.

“I ripped her heart out,” I admitted. “After showing her the reality of her nightmares.”

“Good,” she hummed, nuzzling against me. “Super hot that you all killed for me.”

“So, what are we going to do about you being infected?” I asked.

She shrugged. “I need another shower.”

“I’ve already messaged Death,” Hunter murmured, his eyes tight. “He’s on his way with the relic.”