“I did leave, but then I remembered I needed something for a spellcasting assignment.”
Rink’s beady little eyes narrowed in suspicion.
“The academy provides everything students need.”
Alaric rolled his eyes. “Yes, but this is an extra-credit assignment. I’m not an average student.” The mage pursed his lips in annoyance at the mage’s arrogant tone. But because Alaric was his boss’s son, he quickly forced a smarmy smile.
“Of course. How silly of me. Like father, like son, eh?” Then his gaze slithered over me, and he frowned again.
“Tomas, I thought you had a night off?”
“Wasn’t feeling well after catching mage lice.” I scratched my tiny balls for effect, enjoying the way Rink took a giant step back at the mention of the pernicious little beasties that caused uncontrollable itching and were a bitch to get rid of.
“Oh my goddess, seriously?” Alaric turned on me with a furious glare. “You could have mentioned this when I asked you to follow me down here. Get the fuck away from me, you disgusting wretch!”
Damn, the mage had some fine acting skills. He even had me convinced I was utterly repulsive.
“Yes, sir,” I muttered while scratching some more. Fuck, even though I definitely didn’t have mage lice, it sure felt like I did.Gross.
“Goddess, if I catch mage lice, I’ll slice the skin from your body and make you fucking eat it,” Rink growled.
I smothered a snort and shuffled back upstairs to wait for the storm mage by the perimeter wall. He appeared a few minutes later with the box tucked under his arm. We headed for the main gate, where two yawning mages stood huddled under a small shelter.
They nodded at Alaric and ignored me as I followed the mage. Once the gatehouse was well behind us, he spun around.
“Let’s go before Dad finds us and rips me a new one.”
I grinned, still in my repellent Tomas form. “Happy to do that with my giant dick. Just say the word.”
He lunged for me just as I shapeshifted back to myself and blinked us to the crypt where I’d offed a demon.
Alaric heaved his guts up for the second time this evening as I examined the stone floor, searching for the freshest demon blood deposits. A dried puddle of black sludge beneath the altar looked perfect.
“Did Adam say how much demon blood he needed?” I called.
Alaric coughed and grimaced, taking in the dust, cobwebs, and demon stench.
“A few flakes.”
I summoned a blade from the ether and scraped up a hefty amount of semi-dried blood. Better to have too much than not enough.
“Got a jar?”
He scowled. “No.”
The blood on my blade gleamed in the light from the small glass window above the altar. It also stank of death.
It was a pity the spell hadn’t called for fresh demon blood. I was in the mood to slay a few demons.
Or a sea witch.
The blood had dried enough that it stuck to my blade like glue. Perhaps I didn’t need a jar after all.
“Let’s go, vanilla boy.”
“For the love of the goddess, I’m not vanilla!” the mage roared before his voice cut off when I blinked him back to the bear’s cabin.
10
