Not that I was deliberately trying to piss off ancient deities. It just happened to be the only suitable location for hundreds of miles.
The last thing I needed was some nosy human busting in on me questioning a demon. A viral video of this ugly fucker would literally break the internet.
A demon fang fell to the floor and rolled under the chair.
“Don’t mess with my teeth, dude! I paid good money for these crowns! Look, I was just minding my own business, not hurtinganyone.” The demon struggled against the chains I’d wrapped around his scaly body, but unfortunately for him, I’d paid a mage to reinforce them to ensure they were resistant to demonic strength.
I snorted at the demon’s protestations of innocence.Like fuck he was just minding his own business. Demons were all pathological liars. This one wouldn’t know the truth if it bit him on the dick.
“Why were you hanging around the academy?” I’d picked up his scent on my return from the city. Lower demons like this one had a distinctive smell: a mix of copper and sulfur. Higher-level demons could mask their presence better, but this dumb fuck clearly had a death wish.
“I wanted to get laid, and slutty witches with pain kinks are my type, okay?” He shrieked in pain when I dug the blade in deeper.
“Try again.”
A huff of annoyance told me the demon wasn’t half as bothered by this interrogation as he pretended. “Fine! So I was looking for someone.”
The sound of glass breaking caught both our attention. For the first time in the last two hours, the demon flinched in genuine fear. A blur of darkness swirled into the cellar before he vanished in a fiery explosion, his agonized screams ringing in my ears for several long moments.
Luckily for me, I’d also paid good money for a protection spell, so my eyebrows were still intact when the fire died down. Black blood dripped down my blade as the runes on the bone handle glowed. Whoever took out the demon before I could question him further had used powerful death magic. The sort of magic the council banned decades ago.
By the time I emerged into the cool night air, the spell wielder had vanished. Hardly a surprise. All that remained was a very faint magicalsignature. Not one I recognized, but I hadn’t expected them to leave a calling card.
I shifted into a crow and hung around for a while, watching and waiting to see if any of the demon’s brethren emerged from the shadows. Most demons worked alone because they didn’t trust one another, but a few of the more intelligent ones hunted in packs.
I’d run into this one in a roadhouse a few miles from the campus. He’d masked his appearance with a cloaking spell, but I had spotted him immediately. Unfortunately for the woman he’d lured outside, not soon enough.
At some point, the human cops would discover her remains.
When it became clear no other demons were hanging around the church, I shifted back and blinked through the academy wards. With my senses on high alert, I followed the path from the gate back toward the dorms, but before I reached my building, a large shifter crossed my path.
The bear shifter was tall and built like a semi-truck, but he didn’t intimidate me. Nobody did. Fear wasn’t something I felt. Lust, anger, and frustration, yes. But not fear.
“Something wrong, bear?” I asked, allowing a small smirk to escape.
He folded his arms and scowled. “Yes. You’re not her mate.”
Irritation prickled at the edge of my self-control. I didn’t want or need a mate, but to have him dismiss my claim on the witch rankled.
“Is that so?”
The bear growled despite the clear and present threat I presented. “Yes.”
Fucking bear. I rolled my eyes and went to move past him, but he made the mistake of grabbing my arm. In a flash, I pulled my blade and held it to his throat. “Back off, bear.”
The man won the fight against the asshole bear inside him, finally wresting control, and when he raised his hands in a conciliatory gesture, I lowered the blade. This wasn’t a fight I needed. As we were both her mates, killing him might kill her, and while being soul-bonded to a fucking witch wasproblematic,I had no desire to subject myself to a lifetime of agonizing pain.
Losing his soul-bonded mate had made my father insane, and the consequences of that had followed me ever since he went on a murder spree in the middle of a psychotic episode.
“You killed them.” A statement, not a question.
“I kill often. You’ll have to be more specific.” If this were anyone else, I’d have knifed the asshole and left him for the security pricks to find, but like I said, hurting the fucker would only hurt me. Besides, I knew he wouldn’t report me to the council for crimes against magicals.
“I wanted to end the fuckers,” he grumbled. “You got there first.”
I belly-laughed, surprised by his honesty, considering he was a faculty member and bound by the rules.
“It’s easier for me to get in and out of places without being seen.” I winked, letting him know my stalking abilities extended to the witch’s room. Since the bear wasn’t dumb, he caught my subtext.
