Page 38 of Messenger of Death (Ouroboros Academy #2)

W e were stuck. There were a lot of gods associated with snakes, but we also could have been dealing with an original who someone had tried to erase. Honestly, that was probably what we were dealing with. Someone knew something or they wouldn’t have been reincarnated.

And then we finally got some help. Saffron plopped next to me and stole one of my fries.

They were made out of these pink potatoes from Fairy and I got them every time they were served in the fairy line because they put them out with this amazing brown gravy.

I couldn’t get enough. I swatted at Saffron, but I didn’t really care if she stole my food.

“You’ll give me all your fries when you hear my news. Scorpia agreed to talk to you.”

“Seriously?”

Scorpia was actually Saffron’s great-great grandmother and a fairy elder.

Saffron called her granny in their home, but if she was referring to her in her elder capacity, she always called her by her first name.

I knew it was a sign of respect, but I was raised by a religious leader, too.

People treated me differently, but Blue Matthews would have had an aneurism if I called him by his first name.

“Yes, but she’ll only talk to you. She said this is fairy business and she won’t be the one that tells it to outsiders.

The Horned God is revered among the fairies, but you aren’t kin.

First things first, Scorpia is very old.

You don’t become a fairy elder just because you age.

You have to be a scholar and a warrior. She’s almost three hundred years old, but she’s sharp as a tack and can probably still beat your arse.

If she thinks you’re being rude or plan on spreading fairy secrets around, she’ll end the conversation. ”

“Wait, I’m mated to Khalid and I’m bonded to Lucian and Liam. Does Scorpia expect me not to tell them what I learn? They are both brilliant and I could use their help.”

“Oh, I’m sure she expects you to tell them.

It’s just an understanding you won’t tell anyone else.

Fairy loophole. She’s not telling outsiders our secrets because you’re both related to the fairies.

She’s giving you the information you need to neutralize a threat.

She’s trusting that you only tell people you trust to get rid of the problem.

I’m not supposed to tell you this, but don’t tell her you’re going to be telling Lucian, Liam, and Khalid.

The fairies will get their revenge if you misuse the information, but Scorpia wants a deniability thing by not talking about it.

I vouched for you, so I’ll get my revenge, too. ”

“You can trust us,” Khalid said. “When does she want to meet with Sage?”

“This weekend. You’ll have to call a ride share to town. The whole town surrounding Ouroboros Academy is supernatural, so if anyone accidentally shifts, it’s no big deal. She lives in one of the fairy neighborhoods.”

“I’ll be kidnapping Lucian and Khalid to check out the rest of town. I have an idea,” Liam said.

“I’m not getting my dick pierced. Or a tattoo for that matter.”

“Perish the thought! I have other ideas. Male bonding, you know.”

“That sounds miserable.”

“It’s for Sage,” Liam promised.

“Oh, fine.”

So, it was settled. It was Thursday, so just one more day before we could hopefully get some answers. A group of succubae came up to my table. I was learning how to tell the different supernaturals apart between my history and Arcane Magic classes.

“Hey, you didn’t happen to scream or feel like screaming, do you?”

“No, why?”

“Odessa didn’t come back to our dorm last night.”

My back straightened.

“Does she do that often?”

“I mean, yeah. She’s a succubus. We feed off sex. Sometimes, she was spending the night with someone else. We all do it. We all check in with each other when we get there and before we fall asleep. She missed both check ins.”

“Who was she supposed to be spending the night with last night?”

“Odessa is into powerful people. Doesn’t matter if they are male or female, they have to be really strong magically and physically.

There are maybe a few people on our side of the school she’s into.

There are powerful people on our side, but they are rather annoying.

She’s been seeing a few people on your side of the school. ”

“Who?” Lucian asked.

Because if anyone needed that information, it was my vampire. We just needed to point him towards a name and he could get the information we needed.

“I mean, that Adrian guy who thinks he’s Jesus, but we’ve all played around with him.

He’s a giant horn dog who doesn’t take anything seriously, but he’s a generous lover and he has this way of making you feel safe.

Trust me, we have built in detectors on that kind of thing because of how we feed.

Some of us are drawn to the dangerous ones, but Odessa was never like that.

“She was seeing someone she wouldn’t tell us about because he didn’t want anyone to know.

We aren’t built for monogamy and we have to feed to survive.

She could have been with her mystery man, but she just as easily could have been with Adrian or someone else.

We only would have known if she sent the first check in. ”

“Can you get me a list of people she saw regularly?” Lucian asked.

We were already looking at Adrian because he was in the same quadrant when Lola was hurt.

I wasn’t a succubus, but I didn’t particularly feel like Adrian was dangerous, either.

He seemed like one of those guys who floated through life never taking anything seriously, but if you just needed to escape your life for a while and have a good time, he’d take care of you.

Then again, I found him kind of gross sometimes when he opened his mouth, so maybe my gut feeling was completely wrong.

“Yeah. Hey, we’re having a vigil at the tavern for the missing and the dead. There’s going to be food and live music. No karaoke this time. There’s an ancient grand piano in the back and a set of bongos. It’s live, original music only because there’s power in it.”

“Can anyone get up there?” Liam asked.

“You have to run it by Old Jingo. His family has been running that tavern for centuries, but Old Jingo was the one who decided you can’t perform if you suck.

He puts fruit at all the tables so people can pelt anyone who can’t sing with it.

I thought you were good, but you weren’t exactly singing and if Old Jingo is doing an original music night, you have to have the complete package. ”

“Thanks. I’ll talk to Old Jingo. We’re looking into who is doing this. We’ll find them.”

“No offense, but we came to you because of her,” she said, pointing at me. “When she wakes up, whoever is doing this should be very afraid.”

Yeah, no pressure on that or anything because I wasn’t even sure if I should trust my own feelings right now.

Adrian was in the same quadrant and was sleeping with someone who disappeared.

Lola had the shit beaten out of her and Lucian’s blood was probably the only reason she’d made it out of the woods.

I just had this feeling Adrian wasn’t evil, despite the gross things he said sometimes, and Lola was. I had zero proof on anything.

Maybe Scorpia would give me something to go on besides my feelings.