Xerxes’ eyes flash with merriment. “Of course I can. I’ll just set off a few things hereaccidentally, and they’ll have to help us resolve it either with magic or diplomacy. That will keep Slash from wondering what you’re doing when I say you’re searching the bathrooms.”
Shuddering at the thought, I pat their shoulder lightly. “Thanks, man. I’d rather catch the fucker red-handed than snoop in the aftermath. Back soon.”
I wait until X heads down the hall to do their thing, and as soon as the others are looking away, I scramble to the end of the hallway for the almost-never-used stairs. My crow is eager to find out who’s sneaking around the hoarder mess my dorm’s become since the arena mess. I have nothing particularly useful to a thief, nor are there valuable things—at least, not to anyone but me and whoever I stole it from. I didn’t leave any clues for them to follow back to me, so thishasto be about us or KK.
The latter worries me, and stealing shit could give them focal objects to use for anything from tracking to hexes that do really bad shit.
“Of course, they could get crap that isn’t technically mine and fuck up the whole thing, but I can’t depend on that,” I murmur to myself as I take the set of stairs to get up to the top floor that my caliphate has claimed our own. “That would be funny, but maybe dangerous, too, if it’s someone powerful. Fuck, I hate dealing with counter-surveillance.”
I don’t like any of the options, and I definitely don’t like that someone got through the outer security to trip the damn extra magical alert. Jasper didn’t believe me this summer when I told him that having the university security on the outside of the rooms wasn’t enough. It worked when he was a student and couldn’t imagine why it wouldn’t be enough for the rest of us. But that was before KK, before all this subterfuge, and before we had shit that we desperately want to protect.
As I open the door to our floor slowly, I shift just enough to enhance my senses. Both sides are demanding retribution for someone invading my space, so my wings spread as my horns sprout. I don’t usually piecemeal like this—not like Slash or Jas or Zav—but everything inside of me is riled up. I’m angry about the intrusion, but worse, I’m afraid that someone getting into my room means they could also get to Salem’s. While KK is fairly protected by the other women at the moment, there are times she’s alone in there.
That’s what has every cell in my body ready to rip and tear the demon with the nerve to enter my hoard.
Slipping down the hall quietly, I narrow my gaze. None of the other doors look disturbed, and I don’t sense magical residue in the hall. There should besomethingto let me know who’s fucking with my shit, but alas… not a damn thing. I don’t want to contemplate how powerful or skilled that makes the asshole rifling through my shit; it will only make my demon and bird angrier. I don’t want that because I also need to keep my wits about me and not just end the son of a bitch.
“Breathe and count to ten, Oriel,” I say to myself as I reach my door. The urge to go check on the girls is strong; however, we promised to let them have their time. If I take care of this and scram, they might not even have to know I was up here.
I use the tip of one wing to dismantle the security on the outside of the door entirely. We each have a fail-safe that turns them off that would be almost impossible to use because it involves parts of us that other demons cannot mimic. That was an addition Zavida hacked into the scanners for emergencies, and it was as much as I could talk Jasper into doing to add to the Discordia-owned locks. I’m especially grateful for it now, as I’m opening the door without whoever is in here hearing the system disengage via the usual methods.
The frown on my face deepens as I enter, noting the lights aren’t on, and there’s a rummaging sound further inside. Nothing about this screams ‘professional’, but they’d have to be to get in here. That is, unless it’s someone with master codes from Lucian. If that’s it, I’m going to make whatever minion that motherfucker sent suffer before I let it loose. And Jasper will file a formal complaint with the school, likely triggering the shithead to be fired and exiled to the Wastes.
Not that Darkstar would give a shit; he’d just find new idiots to use as his pawns.
The noise is punctuated by a soft belch, and I stop moving through my barely balanced piles of stolen shit to listen. I can’t imagine a demon so dumb that it's burping as they rifle through the stuff they want to steal being employed by Lucian. No, this might be one of the other idiot caliphates trying to spy on us. That’slessdangerous, but still pisses me off, so they aren’t getting out of here without an ass-beating.
When I finally get to the area where the sound came from, I squint in confusion. This is where I stacked all the snacks and non-perishable shit I stole, like booze and prepackaged snacks. There’s no reason for anyone to be?—
Suddenly, a hiccup and giggle echo through the room, and a sweatpants-covered ass pops into the air.
Well, well, well… I see this isn’t an enemy trying to get dirt or ammunition to use against us, but a tipsy girl looking for more hooch.
That changes everything, and though I absolutely should back out of here to leave her be, I can’t seem to stop myself from walking over to the wiggling backside. Carefully, I come up behind her and rumble a low greeting. “Someone’s been sleeping in my bed…”
Kat gasps, shooting to a standing position and whirling around with a bottle of Fae wine brandished like a club. “I’m armed!”
Arching a brow, I look at her with a chuckle as I smirk. “You don’t look armed, little shadow. Even if you were, I’m not sure you’d wield your bottle very accurately.”
Her eyes narrow on me, and I see a flash of red in them I don’t recognize. She tilts her head, lowering the bottle as she sniffs the air. “Oriel. It’s you.”
“Uh, yep. Totally me, in my room, because you broke in to steal my booze and set my alarm off, KK.” I study her for a moment, not quite sure why she seems off other than being a bit drunk. “Whose idea was that, by the way?”
She wrinkles her nose and sits the bottle on the floor before she points at me as she walks closer. “You have the… things. You don’t wear wings an’ horns normally. Why?”
Not the answer I expected, but okay.
“I thought someone bad was in here trying to get spell work items or spy on us.” I shrug and let my wings ruffle to get herattention. “The demon and the bird couldn’t decide who got to kick their ass because they were way too close to your little slumber party for comfort.”
Once she’s close enough to look directly up at me, Kat murmurs, “The girls say that’s cuz your animals and demons know something important and it makes them very volatile. They said it’s a big deal, an’ some of you are fighting it. I don’t know if I believe all of that; it’s very… permanent.”
That almost stops my heart. I knew Morgana and Rogue would talk to our girl about sex stuff, and it seemed like that would be a very smart way to let her find things out. I didnotthink they’d stray into shit like fated mates and mating. The girl looking up at me curiously isn’t tip-over drunk, but she’s not totally with it right now.
“I… uh, I mean…” I stammer as my brain tries valiantly to come up with an answer that will satisfy her, but isn’t more than I should say. “We live a long time, you know…”
Oh, fuck, that wasn’t remotely helpful.
“Duh, birdy man! That’s why I said that.” Kat grins, and the red flashes in her eyes again as her gaze roams over me, then back to my face. “Morganaalsosaid you guys probably have alotof piercings and fancy stuff under those towels.”
