Mentored in Fire (Demon Days & Vampire Nights)

But I knew it couldn’t last forever. I knew it. And tomorrow I would gladly hash it all out, and get a bitch slap or get waterboarded or whatever Cahal felt was necessary. Tomorrow. Today was dragon day. I could not let him ruin my high on dragon day!

“Come on. Let’s go wander the grounds while we wait.” I pulled my hair up and fastened it into a ponytail.

“I do not wish to go.” Cahal clasped his hands behind his back, still looking out the window. “I’ll stay here.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “You’re up to something.”

“If I see your delight over the dragons, I will more thoroughly understand your reaction to this place. That will blind me. I have an obligation to you, and it requires me to see your slide objectively, without understanding the reasons for it.”

Frustration overwhelmed me. Annoyance stoked the fire in my middle, and I knew one moment of blind rage in which I wanted to just hurl him out of the window and be done with him.

“You are coming, Cahal,” I said between clenched teeth. “I will not let you miss out on dragons because you think I am emotionally unstable. I’m not. You’re coming.”

“No. I do not wish to go.”

I balled my fists. “This is a test, isn’t it.” It wasn’t a question, and he didn’t answer. “I know you want to see their nest, or whatever it is. The last heir didn’t command you to stay home because he was looking out for you—he did it to deny you something you wanted. And I know you let that little nugget slip the other day on purpose. If a vampire can’t manipulate me, you sure as shit can’t either.”

He still didn’t respond.

Knock, knock…

I turned, stalked for the door, grabbed the handle, and yanked it open. My magic kicked in without any prompting, and I ripped the whole thing off the hinges and tossed it behind me. It was the fourth door in the last week. They never seemed to be put out about repairing them. It was like a fairytale.

My father— Damn it. That was a mental slip.

Lucifer’s eyes widened, and he stepped back with a cheeky grin. “Was it something I said?”

This was probably one reason the last heir had gone batty. Unbridled violence was entirely normal in this place. Welcomed, even. Someone who didn’t express rage wouldn’t do well here, especially if they didn’t release any of their pent-up rage through love or lust. They’d lose themselves to it.

I, however, considered destruction great fun. It was why I’d always chased shifters around or picked fights with bigger dudes. Cahal might think it was me slipping, but that’s because he’d never seen me have free rein.

My constant self-justifications were starting to be exhausting.

“Not you, no,” I barked. “The freaking druid is messing with my chi.”

“Ah.” Lucifer clasped his hands behind his back, the same pose as Cahal, and took an air of patience. He planned to let me handle it.

“Come on,” I yelled back at Cahal. “You’re going.”

“No, I do not wish to go.”

“Notice he didn’t say he wouldn’t go,” I murmured. “You’re trying to force me to make you go, is that it? Establishing me as a tyrant?”

“You know what you want, and you know what I want. What you do with that information is up to you,” Cahal called back, resigned yet stubborn. This was indeed a test.

I was so tired of being tested. Speaking of wanting freedom.

I connected eyes with Lucifer. “What would you do?”

He turned down his mouth for a moment and then shrugged. “If I was as annoyed as you seem to be, I’d make him, probably. It’s a power play. He used to have power over your actions. He is probably realizing he’s losing the upper hand in your friendship.”

His words turned to thoughts. I’ve seen him do it before. But please know, I lost my last heir to his manipulations. I will not lose you. I will step in if I think you are in danger.

I read the truth in his eyes. Felt the certainty in my blood. Felt a level of exhaustion I hadn’t experienced before, with the different forces pushing and pulling at me, each wanting a different thing, me wanting both. But I couldn’t have both, could I? I had to make a choice.

“You’re coming,” I said to Cahal before pushing forward, through the door. I clicked my fingers for Saint Tits by the door. “If he doesn’t come on his own, drag him.”

“Yes, your heinous,” the demon said dutifully.

“Is it time we learn to make some fish?” Lucifer said, walking beside me down the hall.

“I’m frustrated with him. I’m not going to kill him.”

“Noted.”

It wasn’t until we made it down the steps at the front of the castle that I paid attention to my surroundings. A golden buggy waited out front, an empty harness hanging in the air where a horse would usually go. It didn’t have wheels but hovered off the ground as though it did. The door stood open, and a demon attendant in a horsey chauffeur outfit, possibly stolen from a Cinderella retelling, waited beside it.