Page 8 of Dark Souls Academy: The Sacrifice

Laughter overtook me. Demarcus sat up with a stiff back. “I was just helping the wounds...” His voice trailed off as my laughter turned to giggles.

“Stop laughing!” Lilah screeched, throwing a pillow at me. Her face was beet red.

I pointed at her. “You win! You’re the first to get caught having sex, and I’m the Sex Demon. Vivian said it would be me or her. We never thought it’d be you.” I lifted my communicator to send the message right away. “I’m going to message Zar, he’ll tell her for me.” I turned to the door, the weight on my shouldersnot as heavy as it was a second ago. The smile on my face wasn’t fake this time.

Lilah covered her eyes with a groan. “No, don’t.” She hiccuped. “He wasn’t… My vagina was broken and?—”

I lifted my hand with a small chuckle before I lost it again and made her mad with my amusement. “I’ve decided to head back out for a bit. Carry on.”

She squeaked when Demarcus sat on the bed. “No, nothing to continue. My vagina is fine.”

I kept moving away.

“Ivy? My vagina is better. Nothing was going on,” she cried out. The desperation for me to believe her was clear in her tone. I was many things, but a faker wasn’t one of them.

"If you let him finish, it would be evenbetter.” I moaned out the last word.

That had Demarcus joining in on my chuckle fest. The smack that followed was priceless. Good for her.

This was exactly what I needed. A good laugh. I had forgotten what that felt like. It gave me hope for the future. Now, I just needed to let the small reprieve from the acrimony of my life to help my mind come up with a plan or tons of innocents would be lost. Damn, there went my good mood.

CHAPTER FOUR

My smile faded as I left the apartment. Though it was just a few floors away from mine, it offered little solace. None of my mates were in sight, which was a relief. I needed to escape after being overwhelmed by the lust radiating from my best friend and her mate. The intense craving to feed gripped me like a bull, and I fought against it, trying to shake off the relentless hunger.

My feet hit the floor hard as I ran, but the sound was thankfully muffled by the carpet. I fled to the place no one else went. A place near and dear to my heart now. The roof.

The curses and spells on the building were irrelevant since I had bested them before. I didn’t think anyone knew that little detail, which meant I would have the roof to myself. A smirk played on my lips as I glanced at the bucket of cold water, I’d used to counteract the curses.

Despite the pain and struggle of reaching the roof initially, my determination had never wavered. Lilah had been assigned to Night Duty, facing a horde of demons no slave ever survived. I had found a loophole in the rules. Demons did love their loopholes.

After jumping off the roof three fucking times, and nearly killing myself each time, I found this place beautiful. A sanctuary, even.

I wish I could use the roof to save people again. How was I going to keep Zar or anyone else safe? How the fuck could I help any of them from inside of these walls? The Headmaster was bound by magic to not let anyone out, even if he wanted to. The only person that could was the delivery boy. I briefly wondered if I could become one.

According to the Headmaster, I would need keys from both the Light and Dark councils to open the walls. But the Light never ventured into Hell, making that an impossible task. Vehicles bringing demons were magically altered so that only the people inside could leave. A day after I woke up from my mating from the Goddess, I had a crazy idea that didn’t pan out. I clung under a vehicle as it slipped through the shimmering wall, but it was futile, and it left me unconscious for a day. It was reckless, I knew.

The angry faces of my mates when I awoke made me smirk as the thought hit me. Knowing that they cared warmed my heart, but after that, their concern turned bitter. My desire to go the extra mile to get the answers didn’t sit well with them. Wanting to hide in a room and never come back out was ridiculous, though.

Our first reaction was to escape and run. Now, it was to fight. We just needed a weakness to exploit. I still needed answers, but rebellions didn’t run themselves.

Finally, I reached the roof and taking a deep breath of the surprisingly cool air, I moved to the edge. My hands rested on the border and sighed. I let all my worries and stress out for a while. Well, I tried to. If I didn’t figure out a way to stop Lucifer, the weight of all those deaths might actually kill me. My head dropped.

The Fae forest and creatures moved around down below. They had to fight to survive too. The professors liked to capture and use them in their classes or spells. Still, I wished my life was as carefree to only worry about avoiding capture. I’d welcome it.

I smiled when a foxlike creature jumped onto another, scaring the crap out of it. Who would have thought that I’d be jealous of hunted creatures in Hell? In the distance I could see some of my faction patrolling the grounds.

I soaked up the silence until grunting and crashing noises startled me. My heart rose in my throat and wanted to choke me. Or at least that was how it felt as the people roared their way through the magic that I thought would let me be alone. Why would someone fight through all those curses and spells to get up here?

My heart slammed against my chest. Fighting didn’t sound appealing in my overwhelmed state. My head was too clogged with shit to focus on. Couldn’t I get a small fucking break? Regardless, I stood with a groan as the sounds got closer. They were going to make it through. The splashing of water told me that whoever it was, they had some amount of intelligence.

“Great. I can’t even have my quiet place anymore,” I muttered to myself. “I need a vacation.” When all this shit was over, maybe I’d get those words tattooed on my forehead because I bet, I’d never stop saying them.

The door swung open, slamming against the wall. The sound jolted me from my thoughts. I tensed until my mind told me whose scent drifted in the air. It might be mixed in with stale water and the sourness of a curse, but I recognized them. Dex was the first to appear. Since I had dimmed the bond link instead of locking it up tight, they knew my location, and I regretted it.

“Succy, my Queen. I can feel you. Let me massage your perfect body. You should never be as exhausted as you are rightnow. Come home, and you’ll be pampered like never before.” Damn, I never fully closed the bond, and Dex’s words sounded amazing. I was in trouble. His voice was a raspy purr that I loved as well. I wanted his hands, all their hands, on me. It would relax my racing mind and let me rest fully.

“Please,” Alaric’s voice joined in. His red eyes pierced through my soul.

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