AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I stomped past Professor Warren and out of the room with Oliver at my heels.
“Lucas,” Professor Warren called after me, but I didn’t turn back.
Professor Warren had been there for me for the last two years. I could always go to him when I needed to talk. He was the father figure that my own dad wasn’t. I really needed him to believe me right now…
But he didn’t.
It was too much to even think about, so I pushed it aside. I couldn’t handle it on top of Professor Perez’s death.
My friends would believe me, and I needed to tell them everything right away.
Blood had dried into my jeans, but I didn’t care. I hurried to the cafeteria and found Nadine, Grant, and Talia huddled around a small table in the corner. Nadine scribbled something down in a notebook. I didn’t mean to look, but I caught a glimpse of her notes. It was a list of everything she’d witnessed at the scene. She thought she could solve this.
Nadine turned when she heard me. She subconjured her book. “Are you going to be all right?”
“What happened?” Grant asked.
I glanced around the crowded cafeteria. Several people looked my way. I was certain everyone was talking about what happened to Perez.
“I have a lot to tell you, but we need to go somewhere private,” I said.
No one needed to ask where. There was only one place we could—the old Epitaph room, where The Coven’s Shield had met before.
Our cats rushed into the room ahead of us. As soon as the door clicked shut, the confession spilled out. Nadine tried to comfort me, but I was too worked up to sit down. I paced around the room as I told them everything that happened, from when I entered my Advanced Mortana Magic class to when I met up with them in the cafeteria.
Nadine’s jaw dropped as she listened. “The priestesses let the demon on campus? Are they insane?”
“Yes,” Grant said dryly.
“It’s too much of a coincidence that someone was murdered the day he showed up,” I said. “But he was with me when it happened… and with Perez’s last thought… I just don’t know what to make of it all. Professor Warren didn’t believe me. I don’t know who else to go to.”
Nadine got a thoughtful look on her face. “We can trust Headmistress Verla, but… this is dangerous, and she’ll try to stop us for our own safety.”
“Then where do we start?” Grant wondered.
“Can we figure out what kind of demon we’re dealing with?” Nadine suggested. “That at least should tell us something. Maybe there’s a spell that will get rid of him.”
I pushed my fingers through my hair. “Maybe, but he’s already made a deal, so getting rid of him won’t be easy.”
“Good thing we’re the ones he’s up against,” Nadine said proudly. “We can do this.”
“This might help,” Grant offered.
He had conjured a thick book. I recognized the black leather binding. It was the same restricted demonology textbook we’d found in the library when we snuck in over break. Grant had taken it to help with his demonology research.
“Mandy and I have been researching demons, and we’ve narrowed it down a bit,” Grant said. “Most demons with ram features, like those Lucas described, are lesser demons. They’re more powerful than monsters, but they’re not as dangerous as demonic gods. They like to wreak havoc on small areas at a time, and they enjoy sticking around to take it all in, rather than sweeping across the globe quickly and destroying everything in their path. But there are different types, all with various appetites for chaos.”
“Like what?” I questioned.
“Some feed off of betrayal,” Grant explained as he flipped through the book. “They’ll create gossip and turn friends against one another. Others are energized… sexually. They manipulate affairs. And some feed off murder.”
My stomach clenched. “Which ones are those?”
Grant stopped as he came to the page he was looking for. He turned the book toward me, and the drawing of the demon sent a shiver down my spine. He looked exactly like the demon I’d seen in the Imperium headquarters, with the body of a man and the head of a ram.
“If he’s involved in the murder, I think we can say with certainty that he’s a Nex demon,” Grant said.
“Nex… meaning… death?” Talia asked.
