Page 33 of Fatality on the Field

Li’s lips twist, and he gives me an apologetic smile. “The energy burst as we came in was from the phoenix… we think. He’s definitely a lot bigger now, and we think he and Dottie bonded a bit while we were gone. They probably thought we were intruders.”

“The rat reacts hastily if she thinks you’re in danger,” Jasper says drily. “And I wouldn’t put it past her to teach that damn bird guy bad shit when no one is looking.”

“Javi is a person,” Archie says as he offers Lucas a hand up. “He’s not a familiar, man. Why would he be learning things from an actual animal?”

Kat clears her throat as she looks at everyone from her spot on the floor. “Maybe Javi-bird was teaching Dottie things. Arces says she’s very receptive, and she picked up a lot more than I knew during my session with him.”

“The point is,” Anton cuts in as he gets up, dusts himself off, and then holds his hand out to Kat. “They were probably working together to make sure the room stayed safe. It’s not relevant why, nor is it going to change what happened.”

Jasper and Salem just stare at the peacock demon as my friend accepts his help to struggle back to her feet without dropping the familiar.

I arch a brow, looking at my guys, but they simply shrug. Archie doesn’t seem to know why they’re so surprised, either, so I give in and ask. “Fine. Now why are you two gaping like fucking wide-mouth bass?”

“Uh, Anton is a bit… particular about a lot of things,” Salem says as he watches his roommate dust herself off. “That’s all.”

Before the dragon can add anything, Anton rolls his eyes and turns to me. “I have an enormous list of things that bother me. It’s not something we make a big deal about, and my brothers are very good at accommodating my quirks. However, they are shocked that I feel comfortable enough to include Kat in that now. Since that has happened fairly fast by my normal standards, it’s causing them to act as if it’s more important than it is.”

Some of that is true and some of it is definitely bullshit—that boy is either lying to us or himself.

However, I don’t need to meddle in that at the moment, so I nod. “Thank you for explaining. I didn’t mean to be rude, but I’m not used to being left in the hall, so to speak.”

Lucas chuckles as he confirms my declaration. “Lady M likes to be at the front of the fight always. You doofuses stuck her in the back like a human or something. Do better, dragon dudes.”

“I don’t have to point this out, but I will,” Jasper says as he smirks knowingly. “Liam and I are required as royals of both our realms to protect all our families to our own detriment, and his bodyguard is likely honor-bound to protect him while he does it. We had to jump in front of everyone else or be disgraced if anyone found out. That shit is so ingrained in royal households that you don’t even think about it if you’re faced with danger.”

Kat blinks as she waggles a finger at the demon prince. “That’s why you went soaring after that damn orc, right? You had to take it down because of some ridiculous rich guy shit or be embarrassed.”

I snort as both of the princes huff a bit. She’s definitely right, and neither of them wants to admit it, especially her cranky floormate. “Ah, I see it now. Good point, Kat.”

“It’s also why he lost his shit in the arena… twice,” Salem mutters as he grins knowingly. “Supposedly.”

“What the hell does that mean?” Jasper growls at the panda, taking a swipe that just barely misses the laughing demon.

Rolling his eyes, Anton looks at me with a very matter-of-fact expression. “This is quite normal for them, I fear. However, if we’re lucky, the others will join us soon so we can go over the results of the book project. That will allow you and your friends to go home.”

“Angling for us to leave, hmm?” I ask as I grin. “I can’t imagine why.”

The peacock demon frowns, looking puzzled. “Only because the holidays will be over, and you need to attend to your duties up there. Why else would I say that?”

Now I get why the other two demons were shocked, and I understand why my friend was so careful with his new familiar… not that I’m going to say a word.

twenty

IGNATIUS

Ireally wasn’t ready for this secret to spill out amongst people not even in my family, but I had to tell the entire group the Briarton line has a deeply hidden, very protected secret.

The entire line has the blood of a demon somewhere way back that grants some unusual powers every couple of generations.

It’s not a predictable pattern, nor has anyone figured out how to know which of us will get this ‘gift’ until something like raising a cemetery full of dead people by accident happens to one of the children. That was my ‘coming out’, by the way. The funeral was for a great-grandmother who did not have the powers, so we couldn’t tie my five-year-old emergence to it. My father has tried to force this kind of thing out of me many, many times at great personal suffering since; however, it didn’t work. I believe the funeral incident was because a small child can’t regulate grief well and I had no control. By the time I was old enough to understand the various things he and his cronies were doing to me to draw necromancy out, I was also smart enough to lock everything down inside as hard as I could to prevent it.

The result was a lot of ‘sick periods’ as a kid where I was just out for weeks at a time, and doctors couldn’t figure out why, nor could the healers. They were paid off by Septimus, just like others were in the past for the prior Briartons who had demon powers. It’s not always necromancy; in fact, I’m the first to ever have it and it’s a constant frustration to him that I cannot replicate my ‘mistake’. Of course, once I understood why he was furious and what our dark past meant, I consumed every library book, every story, and every instruction in every place I could as I got older. I absorbed it all, practicing on my own where he wouldn’t find out until I was so good at calling or suppressing my demonic heritage that no one could get it out of me.

Not even the gang of mages my father used to torture me as he attempted it once a year on my birthday until I was eighteen and left for college.

Unfortunately, the first year I lived with Slade, I had to break down and admit the issue because after one of the ‘family gatherings’ where he drove me to the brink, my control slipped. I brought back one of his plants that I’d forgotten to water as I passed by it, and he stood there like a statue as it grew into the flowering insanity it is today. I was also supposed to throw it away and replace it earlier in the week, which had caused a small tiff before I left for dinner. The combined pressure and emotional drain just… fucked up my carefully constructed walls in a way that I didn’t get back then.

I get it now, though. Slade threatened to move out, and my entire soul filled with fear because I was already falling for him. It might be why I pushed him away for so long unconsciously as well, though I haven’t had the time to really examine that while we’re here in Hell amongst a throng of people all the time. I’ve got a lot of damage from my life with the Briartons that I’ve never unpacked, and now it’s leaking out little by little because two hockey players shook the bottle until it exploded. Not something I expected in the slightest, and a bit hard to handle in the current situation, but I’ll live.