Page 14 of Fatality on the Field

“Morgana asked if you’ll do your thing and cast after breakfast so the mess is cleaned up quickly. Our hosts don’t seem to use magic for day-to-day shortcuts, and she wants to get moving on the after-breakfast tasks. I don’t know if it’s because she’s worried about the book or about getting home, but…”

Iggy smirks a little. “She couldn’t ask me herself? Doesn’t sound like the Dean I know.”

I give him a wry expression. “I suppose because she knows something happened last night, she believes that I’ll be able to get you to agree with little quibbling.”

“Mmm. Do you believe that, Slade? That you can sway me now?”

Swallowing hard, I look at him earnestly, my eyes soft as I reply, “I think I’ve always been able to, but now, you can admit that’s why you’re doing it.”

And that’s as much raw vulnerability as I’d like to give up this morning, so I hope like hell he doesn’t decide to be an asshat.

“Salem, if someone was cooking like this for me every morning and night, I’d be rolling up the stairs to bed at night!”

“And you’d be hot as fuck, Princess,” the elder Gemini says as he looks at the pink-haired woman possessively. “Don’t even start.”

I grin a little as Lucas winks at me across the table. Clearly, the Bay City folks are as well-versed in keeping their mate from spiraling out about ridiculous patriarchal standards as the rest of the men at this table. I’ve noticed that the prince may call Kat ‘shrimp’, but it’s clearly tinged with more fondness than she realizes. Not a single person in our group comments on the fact that Morgana could definitely bench press all of us—maybe some simultaneously. It means the women at this table are eating normally and not demurring when sweets or carbs get passed down the line, as I’ve watched in the past at various functions.

This is so much better than watching people be miserable, and I have no idea why the fuck men ever put that pressure on women, anyway.

“We will need as much energy and power as possible,” Jasper says as he sips the juice someone called ‘Cantu berry’. “The large amount of food we all worked to prepare is to ensure we have that. Xerxes, Anton, Slade, and the professor will probably need refills if the item proves difficult to crack.”

I lick my lips and blow out a soft breath to gather myself before I ask, “Are we the only ones who will work on it? I assumed—based on information that could be flawed, I know—that all demons have magic. I said nothing yesterday, but it appears if we’re being taught accurately on the surface, there should be more power to assist than we’re using.”

Damon saves me by grinning and waving his hand. “I’ll take this one. I’m much more diplomatic than my twin or these dudes.”

“Please, go on then,” Morgana says as she elbows the smaller female demon sitting next to her. “I’m sure Kat will be thrilled to hear things she’s probably not realized.”

“Oh, snap,” Rogue mutters. “Tell ‘em little D. I’m curious now, too.”

The younger demon twin sits up straighter, and our hosts all watch him with narrowed gazes. This is going to be interesting; I’m not sure if they’re pissy about his offer or not. “Demons all have some magic—it’s in our heritage and our creation. They have magic tied to their species and their lineage in a myriad of ways now that the house no longer forbids summoning outside of your lines.”

Liam waves his hand. “Summoning? You are not live births in a… more traditional sense?”

“No,” the big shark says flatly. “Demons decide about propagating their line, as vampires do with the creation of their progeny.”

The foxy hacker mutters, “That’s because they’re tied to us, obviously, as are Cubi and some other species.”

“No accidents, then?” Lucas says with a grin. “Sounds like it’d be much easier to be a fucking teenager down here.”

The crow demon snorts. “You’d think, but you’d be mistaken. Whenever there’s a boundary, there are people who develop a way around it. Just like Zav and the younger Gemini hack electronics, there are many, many shadowy industries dedicated to making sure that choice is not always a choice. Biology also dictates that if demons meet their fated or fuck non-demons or hybrids, it is not so simple.”

That seems confusing, and I assume they just use protection spells and shit anyway so they’re not risking it.

“Are you saying that it should be very easy not to have kids if you want to, but assholes managed to fuck it up even in hell? Fucking typical,” Kat grumbles loudly enough that everyone hears it.

Morgana and Rogue burst out laughing, and the tenor of the conversation lightens enough that I can feel it. The not-fully-emerged girl gives them a grin in return and then goes back to chomping down the food that the big dude heaped on her plate. I get the feeling they’re working hard to make sure she’s eating enough to support her new powers, and by her appearance, it’s clear she was food insecure before she got here. I’m glad they’re taking care of Kat despite their leader’s grumpy shit, and that she’s allowing it. It will definitely help as her magic continues to erupt bit by bit.

“That doesn’t answer why you’re not all slinging spells,” Iggy says wryly, bringing the table back to the topic. “It just answers why demons haven’t overpopulated their realm.”

Always the sourpuss, that’s my Iggy.

“Yeah, well, the point is that all demons have some magic, usually related to species and line. It may or may not be useful to the situation, Professor Dickhead,” the crow snarks back at him with sparkling eyes. “As in, Salem’s has to do with dreams and the sleepy time world, which doesn’t help with the book unless someone got a drude or a dream demon to give up a little power. Mine has to do with shadows and thievery-type shit. I definitely can help if someone has shadow magic on it, and I can feed some powers to help unlock it—possibly.”

Morgana looks at the now quiet twins. “So what do you two bring to the table then? And the rest of the clown car from Hell?”

“That’s a good question,” I murmur to support her. “You definitely know what everyone else brings—at least, mostly.”

Angelo sighs and rolls his eyes. “D is chaos and I’m vengeance. The Geminis come from the Greed line, which shouldn’t surprise you at all given our father.”