Page 6 of Fatality on the Field

“Now everyone does?” The demons all nod as I mull that around in my head for a moment. “Are they all caliphates or bonded or whatever, like you?”

Salem adds things to bowls before he shakes his head. “Some, not all. And some groups will form for the Games, but may not have a lot of experience together. Except for KK, we’ve all been together for so long that your Prince is the only one who gets it.”

“And I don’t have everything emerged, or control of… anything.” Kat frowns as she lifts a cleaver and chops some sort of sausage with a loud thwack. It makes her men all smile fondly, but I can sense how worried she is about how that will affect them in this bullshit. “So I’m going to get us all killed.”

“You are not,” the panda says as he walks over to check her slicing. “And be careful not to take a finger off because you’re cutting while pissy again. We talked about that, KK.”

A singsong from the living room makes me chuckle. “Slash is gonna be maaaaaddddd…”

“Shut up, Xerxes,” Kat grumbles as she lines up for another whack. “I’m allowed to be angry; this is a healthy outlet for my rage.”

“Only if you don’t lose a digit,” Iggy says as he looks at her seriously. “Which I fear your caliphate friend is right about—I think the shark will be very disappointed and the Prince will lose his mind.”

Scowling, the emerging demon waggles the cleaver at my grumpy professor. “You don’t get to boss me around. I've had enough of that, thank you very much. Morgana, tell him to fuck off.”

Before I can reply, a squawk from the living room rings out, and when we all look, the ugly bird is flaming while it sits on her furry kinkajou. The animal is waving her fist at Iggy as they try to wobble their way over together. I blink, looking at Kat, who just buries her face in her hands with a groan.

“Dottie, please don’t encourage the plucked chicken to set the room on fire!”

That makes everyone laugh, and the kinkajou chitters louder as a small burst of flame shoots past my nose.

Houston, we have a problem… the animals are mutinying.

four

LUCAS

Kaspar is grumbling as he trudges along beside me, and the chipper lion is on my other side. The three biggest demons from the Hell crew are quietly leading the way out of their dorm toward an enormous building, which Archie seems to dislike. He’s definitely the most extroverted of Rogue’s men, and his constant questions are annoying the Prince.

“What’d you call this place again?”

“The Triclinium,” the shark demon says. He doesn’t act like the lion is irritating, which amuses the crow. I guess being talkative is wigging his friends out a bit, but I think the lion could get a statue chatting if he tried.

I wrinkle my nose as I look at the enormous, fancy-looking building. “That’s a bit much for a mess hall, isn’t it?”

“Everything on campus is a bit much,” Oriel says with a smirk. “Demons are insanely overcompensating all the time. Honestly, I don’t know why—we’ve got a pretty vast realm with plenty of shit, and we don’t even let others in easily. Who the fuck are all the leaders performing for?”

Jasper snorts. “Themselves? A lot of this shit happened after our parents took over, and you know it, O. It’s a huge wank-off for their egos, even the buildings.”

Okay, then; I understand that because there’s similar shit above.

“It needs to be this big, though.” Slash looks at us, shrugging as we hit the stairs. “There are many demons in residence here, and the public spaces must accommodate the population.”

“Arena seems a bit much,” I comment as we jog up toward the doors. “But I guess that’s for audiences larger than just the students and staff.”

Archie grins at me. “Imagine playing in rinks that fucking big, man. It would be so anxiety-inducing. Fuck up, and the entire world booing would end you, you know?”

I hold my fist out, and he pounds it as we agree. “I can’t believe you guys have to compete in whatever those games are for that many goddamn people.”

The Prince pauses at the keypad by the door, punching something in before he shrugs. “The stands won’t be as full at the beginning. There will be too many teams for everyone to attend all the rounds to capacity. The crowd will increase as the stakes do.”

Kaspar finally asks, “You mean there won’t be as many demons attending when lesser teams die in the beginning, but as the royal caliphate advances and the chances of the elite being killed increase, so will attendance. Right?”

Shit. I didn’t think of it that way.

“Yes,” the shark demon says simply as he pulls the heavy door open. “Let us continue our quest. I would like to be in the open air as little as possible despite the precautions taken in your appearances.”

“Pulled up hoodies aren’t really a disguise, huh, bro?” I say with a chuckle, and the Prince gives me a dirty look. “What? Seems pretty lowbrow given all the fantastic powers amongst our groups, that’s all.”