“Perhaps we move on to the arena, and if we find nothing by the end of the night, we commit to switching the groups’ search areas to send different abilities to do another sweep tomorrow?” The elder twin’s wings stretch and then re-settle against his back in a way that tells me he’s not comfortable staying half-shifted. Morgana doesn’t do it all the time, but when shedoeslet her wings out solo, it’s clear that she’s used to doing it—this guy isn’t it.
Sucking in a defeated breath, the dragon prince nods. “Fine. We’ll say our goodbyes and thank you’s to Arces, then Zavida can open a portal to the arena. I’m not fond of showcasing that talent as much as we have lately, but his accuracy in taking us to a less visited part of the structure will be better than Gemini’s.”
“Gee, Eversore, make me feel inadequate, why don’t you?” Angelo grumbles, but the teasing look on his face makes me chuckle. He seems like a good guy, but I think he’s been relegated to the ‘serious’ one versus his twin’s softer demeanor. That reminds me a bit of Li and Kaspar, which makes it easier to relate.
I’ve always understood people through relating them to my experience, and it’s nice that none of these people are giving me shit as I figure them out.
The prince nods, his tail swishing as he turns toward the back door of the Keeper’s home. “Lead the way if it makes you feel better, Gemini. I’m not fussed about who comes first—just that I get in the last laugh.”
Iggy gives me alook, and I snicker under my breath. I didn’t realize how obnoxiousallthe male dragons I’ve ever met are until just now, and it makes me pretty curious about the females. However, we’ve got enough dick-swinging going on during thisdamn visit, and I’m pretty relieved that we won’t encounter any femaleanythingoutside of our women and maybe staff. Given the volatile nature of damn near everyone in this motley alliance, it’s a blessing in disguise.
Or a demonic curse, I’m not sure which, but either way, it’s keeping the body count down.
The fox broughtus to a spot inside the arena near the equipment rooms, and even from here, I can tell this fucking place will make even the biggest bowl teams’ facilities at home look like garbage. It makes sense, I suppose, because Hell is probably enormous, and this campus is only one small part of it, despite its size. Plus, I don’t know what theyplayin the damn thing, but I assume it’s not something simple like football or soccer. The whole ‘Games to the death’ vibe the demons have when they talk about what’s going on in this realm tells me I don’t want to find out, though.
“Okay, so where do you think we should start?” Iggy says as he wrinkles his nose.
The prof isn’t used to athletic facilities and their pervasive scent regardless of how well they’re cleaned.
“You’ll get used to it,” I say with a grin. “Though, there’s a lot morebloodstink here than in our rink, and I thought hockey was violent.”
Jasper smirks at me, his canines looking sharper than before. “What you can play is simulated violence in comparison, bear.This arena has absorbed blood, sweat, magic, and death for centuries. There’s no time-out when demons compete.”
“Yes, yes.” Zavida sighs and rolls his eyes, his tails swishing around him as he sighs. “Demons compete to the death, and it’ssocool. It’s not like tech has evolved to a place where we could do this without culling entire generations of heirs and demons alike for sport.”
Nice. The hacker’s also a gamer, and he’s not as fond of the whole ‘murdering people’ thing as the rest of his caliphate.
“You’re a different sort,” Angelo says as he claps the smaller demon on the shoulder. “And alotlike my brother. I like it.”
That elicits a snarl from the prince, whose eyes flash with his dragon as he rumbles, “Don’t. Touch. Him.”
The older twin lifts his hand, putting it in the air with the other one in supplication. “Whoa, whoa. I wasn’t hitting on him, Eversore. I don’t swing in that direction, and even if I did, it wouldn’t be to someone obviously mated to another demonandan heir. Calm down.”
I watch as the Kitsune tries to hide his delight at Jasper’s reaction, and I chuckle. That’s almost certainly how I act when Lady M and Li get bent out of shape about me. I know how much it delights me to my core at both the praise and the possessiveness—probably because I’m submissive to them and no one else. “Hey, Zavida, don’t worry about it, man. Your coloring is made for the redness, hmm?”
He laughs shyly, clutching his tails to his chest. “I guess so. I never thought about that.”
“I did.” The prince’s grumble makes everyone but him and the fox snicker, and I wink at the shy hacker to let him know I get it. “Now, shut up, and let’s start with these backrooms. They’re full of shit that people don’t use constantly, which means they’d be a good place to hide.”
Thank fuck; I thought we were going to have to pull instructions out of him with pliers or some shit.
“Jasper, if you take the armory stores with Ignatius, and we take the other equipment room, we can do this faster.” Zavida pushes his glasses up, looking at the dragon with a bright smile.
“Fine,” the prince says as he jerks his chin at the professor. “Come on, mage. Start thinking about what fucking spells you want to use, and I’ll do the same. Lucky for you, the stench of death and blood won’t be as apparent as it will be to me.”
How comforting for Iggy, I’m sure.
They walk further down the darkened hallway, and I turn to the Kitsuné and the demon. “So, where’s our room?”
Zavida gestures in the opposite direction of where the others went, far from the actual field entrance. “We’re going through this set of doors. Unlike them, we’ll all be able to smell how fucking terrible a job Lucian’s cleaning staff does. That fucker doesn’t give a shit about anything unless important people are coming, so I doubt it will get polished until the Games are super close.”
I walk with Angelo, looking around the facility curiously. “Are you nervous about the Games? I wouldn’t blame you if you were, dude. They sound terrifying, and we fought a fire drake recently without getting roasted.”
The Gemini twin stops in place, turning to look at me with his mouth hanging open. I blink, waiting for him to finally speak, and when he does, his voice is strained. “The battle where Reb went missing and Javier had to flame out was an ambush on the way to our house. Whatever it was, it attacked Rogue and Archie when they were alone. Is that how you guys tangled with a fucking firedrake?”
The implication in his tone means he knows how rare it is for them to show up randomly in areas they aren’t registered in.
“Uh, sort of? Kaspar had a tantrum and ran off to let his dragon loose on the less populated part of campus. He wasn’t expecting to see anyone, much less an unknown drake, and when we figured out he’d been gone too long, we went after him. That’s when we came upon an epic, Tolkien-esque air battle and everyone had to go Avengers Assemble, you know?”
