Dark Souls Academy: The Sacrifice (Hell Dimension #4)

Chapter 23

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

W e all arrived at the room a few seconds later. Trigger used a potion to get here when the rest of us did. The cooled air and the spicy scent of my men mixed with the lingering scent of sex relaxed me.

Trigger stormed over to me to thoroughly scan my body.

“Are you okay?” His hands rubbed me down, so hard and fast that I couldn’t speak. His shoulder-length brunette hair was down, softening his striking features. Those deep gray eyes never left mine.

When his hands lingered on my hips and ass, Kain barked out. “She’s fine. For now. If you want to protect our mate, get your grabby hands off her, so we can figure out what the fuck Lucifer’s up to.” His tone was growly, filled with pent up energy.

He stomped over to the bar and poured himself a large glass of whiskey. It intensified his natural scent. He tasted and smelled like cinnamon, whiskey, and lemon. It sounded like one heck of a drink right now.

Considering he was the only one I hadn’t had sex with, I could understand why. Poor guy had to be around Sex Demons and horny mates constantly. Then, he had to stress about this new development. Would it be a horrible time to give him a blow job ?

“Ivy?”

Another bark out of Kain had me shaking my head to clear it. That little huddle we did behind the desk got to me. I needed to be thinking about the danger lurking inside the academy walls. I gave Kain’s pinched face a nod that I was here with him now.

“As much as I appreciate the offer, right now is not our time.”

Soon, my poison, he whispered just to me through our bond. I shivered at the desire he let me hear in his voice. He was once the leader of a bond, so I wasn’t surprised he knew how to manipulate it. I would need him to teach me his tricks.

I cleared my throat ready to start throwing out dumb ideas just to get us started when Alaric spoke up.

“We need to make a deal with Lust. Now. Get him to figure it out because we aren’t going to be able to unless we want to somehow turn ourselves into flies.”

Trigger grunted. “We can’t make ourselves that small. Magic can do a lot, but it’s not miracle work. We would become large-ass flies.”

I rolled my eyes, but Alaric didn’t seem fazed. “Well, that just means we really need to make a deal with Lust.”

I plopped down on the couch next to Alaric. Dex sat on the bed and Trigger sat at my feet shaking his head at me. I snorted and ran my fingers through his hair. Bones growled, but just sat on one of the chairs closest to Kain who still stood at the bar practically making love to his drink.

“What about more illusions or making us invisible again?” Dex asked Trigger.

“Nope, Lucifer is too smart for that shit. He has an amulet literally sewn into his skin to prevent that kind of magic being used against him,” Trigger explained, and bit at my leg when it bounced with anxiety.

“I don’t disagree, but we can’t just depend on him. I don’t want to give him a chance to betray us.” I wanted to believe in him considering he was one of my kind. Shoot, his magic helped create Sex Demons, but I was a realist. Demons weren’t the best people to trust without getting to know them first. Even if we did have a way to tell if he was lying now.

“I agree, but Lust has always been against Lucifer in discussions. Him, Sloth, and Wrath never get along. Those three? I’d believe if they said they wanted to take him down. Envy maybe, but he would probably double-cross us to get the throne. Greed is Lucifer’s puppy despite breaking his rules all the time. Gluttony will always side with the Devil. Lucifer is Pride. If you didn’t know or ever saw his pride front man.”

I gasped. Even though I’d had my suspicions, and he was known as the original Pride Demon, it still never occurred to me that he was part of the seven sins.

“Shit. The dick always had seven men next to him at events. Clever.” Alaric leaned over to play with my hair while I played with Trigger’s.

“How have you seen him? He hasn’t let anyone see the sins in like 50 years and even before that he hardly ever brought them out. He made sure to never tell anyone that,” Kain said and sat next to Bones in one of the chairs, facing us.

Alaric’s cheeks darkened as he met Kain’s curious stare. “I might be older than you lot of misfits.” His tone was teasing and the wink he gave me had my core heating. I snorted, giving him a wink as well. “I’m sixty-three-years old.”

Dex and I figured that out the same time Dex figured out my brother was the Incubus that saved him when his anger got the better of him. It was still a shock, though. He looked younger than almost all the men. Him and Dex looked like they were in their early twenties.

“Damn, we got a grandpa in the group,” Trigger teased, but only because Alaric was from the human world, so he had seen humans being grandpas. In the demon world he was still considered young. That was why we didn’t get our true demon-name until a hundred.

“Wait, I don’t understand. Why would he care if people knew he was part of the seven sins?” Dex asked as he stretched out on the bed, getting comfortable. It made me want to go over there and cuddle him.

“It would reveal a weakness because the Sins were known to be connected. So, if someone wanted to challenge him, they’d go after the Sins first. I don’t know if it’s true, but that’s my theory.” Bones leaned forward still glaring at Trigger sitting on the floor in front of me.

Trigger moaned with pleasure from my fingers just to piss him off. I could sense his mischievous nature in the bond. That was his constant state.

“Lust told me the same thing. That they were his weakness. Killing most of them would help weaken him enough to land a killing blow.” I made sure not to sound excited because I didn’t want to get anyone’s hopes up. Especially mine.

“Good, that means we can trust him, for the most part. But I agree, let’s not put all our eggs in one basket,” Bones said.

Kain nodded.

Kain hands rubbed together as he thought. “First, me, Ivy, and Trigger will go to Lust, get that settled. Bones, meet with Trigger’s contacts. They’re a little scared of his increasingly stabby nature. They will come if it’s you. Alaric and Dex, put your ears to the ground around the school, see if you can figure anything out. Dex, if the Headmaster is free, ask him and see what he can tell you. We don’t have a lot of time to waste. One good thing about Lucifer is he won’t stop fucking Mrs. Bee until they are basically both drained. His pride won’t let him stop.” He winced and looked my way. “I mean, if that’s okay with our leader.”

I couldn’t help but smile. The fact he willingly stated his place below me by asking for permission was good enough for my demon. I just didn’t want him to push me out. If he wouldn’t have added that last sentence, my demon would have gotten her panties in a twist, though.

No one moved or even breathed as they waited for my answer.

“Sounds good to me, but school is still going on, so you’ll have to be careful.” My tone was all business. Right now, I needed to be part of the team, not a mate. We had to be ready for the assembly. Before I did anything, I sent out a mass message to my faction, giving them the information.

I had a feeling we wouldn’t find any answers. We were going into the assembly blind. Which meant, I needed to have a plan. I just hoped it’d be good enough to keep us all safe.