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Outside the door, the smoke swells, thickening until the cool charcoal color is nowhere to be seen, and a thunderous black cloud swirls before us, sealing us in tighter as its strength triples. Not even the Gifted’s most powerful shields banned together can break through my father’s prize creation.
“How many people did you bring?” I wonder, knowing we must be surrounded if the protective fog is feeling threatened.
“The usual. Two of each strength.”
Sinner meets my eyes as he closes the door behind them, a silent thought passing between us.
That’s not the usual. That’s twice the usual, in fact.
Mother looks from me to Sin a couple times, and in the end, decides on a simple, “Hi, baby,” as she presses her lips to our cheeks. She’s not an overly affectionate woman, but she’s not stone-cold either, just a little more numb than she once was. In some ways, we all are.
“Do we want to go into the royal lounge or …?” Legend asks, eyes sliding toward the shifter acting as my mother’s shadow. Knowing without the privacy the soundproof room provides, the woman is sure to hear our every word without even trying. Mother is a bitch, but that bitch is a feminist. All of her guards are women.
We could use magic to protect our conversation, but our parents don’t like it when we have to find ways to hide in our own home. We’re forced to do that enough outside of it, so it’s not surprising when our dad decides against it.
“The royal lounge will do.” As always, he takes the lead, holding his arm out for my mother to take, and we wait for them to climb the stairs before following behind. His stature is wide and brute. He’s built for war. A weapon in himself, you take one look at Dad and you ain’t fucking with him. He doesn’t need his royal title to hold the dominance in any room.
Vicente is the only person outside of my family who joins us in the lounge, choosing to position himself in front of the giant floor-to-ceiling window that overlooks the campus. The entire place is set slightly away from the rest of the university, but close enough for us to see everything that’s going on.
Down below, all you see is tinted black glass, but from up here? You see everything. Ancient architecture and stone finishes crafted by the hand of only the finest artists. Our “private dorm” is more like a mansion. Six bedrooms, a gym, a private pool that stretches out onto the patio with water that flows down, evaporating before your eyes. It is definitely our home away from home.
It didn’t take long for us to completely deck it out either. The view from our balcony is the best the campus has to offer, being our house is at the highest point of the hillside. The ample mountains behind the school are the home of the Lycans, and to the far right of them, the catacombs.
Of course, he can’t see any of that at the moment, as the demonic smoke senses his eyes on its power and sparks, taunting the monster staring at it. My lips twitch, but I move closer, and the entity settles, slowly separating until a circle-shaped hole appears, allowing Vicente to keep watch.
When the clink of crystal sounds, I turn back, finding my father and Creed at the bar, pouring each of us a finger of whiskey while Legend prepares my mother’s cocktail just the way she likes it. A skill we learned early. Alcohol helps keep our thirst down, but it does jack-shit for hunger. It’s a good distraction, even if it does nothing to get us drunk without some added party favors.
The sweet little Mage we’ve got in our back pocket provides it all. The Argents here at the school will do just about anything for a taste of darkness. Even if they’d never admit it out loud.
The royal lounge is exactly what it sounds like, a lounge built for royals. It’s nearly identical to the one in our wing of the mansion back in Rathe. Like a battle of war and peace, it’s a constant tug-of-war in Rathe between Argents and Stygians, even though we haven’t had an incident in some time.
Since Creed was here on his own his first year, even if we did portal in nearly every weekend, Mother wanted him to walk into the comfort the Deveraux mansion provides. This is about as close as you’ll ever get.
The royal lounge has walls the color of burning ember right before it turns to coal, and the windows are a satin shade of black. The rooms have their own level. Four levels are for the bedrooms, one for the main living and kitchen area, one for the gym and pool. From every room you have a three-hundred-and-sixty-degree view of the campus below. From the outside, the building looks like a black glass tower, with a sharp castle-like point that’s reaching for the sky.
