Slaying Year Two (Grim Reaper Academy 2)

I couldn’t argue with that. His plan only improved on Paz’s initial plan, and I was on board. For a moment, I wondered whether I should feel weird that I’d be fucking Lamia’s son while she was downstairs, in the dining room. Then I remembered she was a demoness living in actual Hell, and lust wasn’t something she frowned upon. It was only a sin if humans did it. Humans who were not offspring of nephilim and weren’t training to become Grim Reapers, that was.

Paz pushed his pants and briefs down to his knees. His cock bounced out, and I eyed it hungrily, but there was no time for that. He positioned himself between my legs and slapped GC’s hand away. The head of his cock was at my entrance when someone knocked on the door. Which I then realized GC had left wide open.

I pushed Paz away, crossed my legs, and pulled my skirt down. Sariel and Francis stood in the doorway, amusement painted on their stupid faces.

“Sorry to interrupt,” Sariel said. “Your mom said you can show us to our rooms.”

“What rooms?” Paz and I said at the same time.

“It’s late, the Academy is too far, so she said we can sleep here tonight,” Francis explained.

Paz growled, displeased. His cock was painfully hard, and he had trouble stuffing it back in his pants. GC was laughing his ass off. He’d only removed his shirt, so he was cool.

“I can’t let you children travel all night,” Lamia said, appearing behind Sariel and Francis. She assessed the situation quickly, and I had the distinct impression that she saw more than any of us could see. “Mila can share a room with Paz and GC, of course. I don’t mind. And you two can share a room, if you’re into that…” Sariel blushed to the tips of his ears. He was getting ready to tell her she’d gotten it all wrong, but she stopped him with a gentle hand on his shoulder. “Or you can each have your own room. There are so many rooms in this house that I can’t even count them!” She giggled, and the tension dissipated.

Interesting. I’d never thought of Sariel and Francis that way, but now that Lamia had pointed it out, I had to admit they were awfully close.

“Mila, let’s let the boys figure it out.” She beckoned to me, and I followed her out of Paz’s bedroom, entranced, my tights, boots, and panties forgotten on the floor. She pulled me away, down the corridor. “Tell me, honey, why do you settle for two when you could have four?”

“What? Four what?”

“Lovers,” she giggled.

“I… I…” My brain was glitching. She took me by the arm, and I inhaled her exotic, spicy perfume.

“Come on. Let’s get a hot drink and have a good, healthy girl’s talk.”

CHAPTER NINETEEN

I did my best to forget my “girl’s talk” with Lamia the moment we had it. She had an interesting theory about how Sariel and Francis were enamored with me. Interesting, but false. Sariel only wanted to be around me because his parents were forcing him to, and his mother wanted to see us together. Her son dating Mila Morningstar… What a success for the entire family! And Francis had his eyes on me because he knew I wanted to kill his beloved monster, god, or whatever that thing in the well was. But Paz’s mother didn’t know these details, so I let her talk, and forgave her enthusiasm at the idea that I could be fucking four guys instead of just two.

How she doesn’t want me to date just her son blows my mind. Ariela Gracewing would have married me to Sariel in a second. Heaven and Hell are different, for sure.

The finals were coming. With so many projects to hand in, so many books to read, and so much material to cover for the exams, the last thing on my mind was my love life. The finals were going to last for an entire day, with one break, then we’d have a week of vacation while the professors graded the papers, updated the worth scoreboard, and announced our results. I wasn’t as stressed as I’d been the year before. Now I knew I was going to do well, if not even great, and even if I wasn’t going to be the best, my new name would make up for it. I knew I was shallow and entitled. But so was everyone else, and if I wanted to survive in this world, if I wanted to become a Grim Reaper and, maybe, fulfill the prophecy, I had to learn the game and play it better than them.

The finals came and went. I spent my free week with GC and Paz, masterfully avoiding Sariel, who was becoming such a nuisance. To get him off my back, I embraced my mean girl side and spread the word that he and Francis were gay for each other. The juicy piece of gossip took a life of its own, and soon, the whole Academy was making jokes about Sariel and Francis sitting on a tree. It was all nice and fun until Klaus found out I was the perpetrator, came fuming at me, and slapped me over the head.

“How dare you? You’ve changed too much, sister. You’re mean, insensitive, and now you’re making fun of gays? Who are you? Because I don’t know you anymore.”

I felt ashamed of myself. He was right. I apologized, he refused to forgive me, I begged, and we finally made up and were friends again. Reluctant friends. I let the gossip die down. That was when I realized I’d turned into a bully. I wasn’t as cruel and dangerous as Lorna and Sariel had been, but I was still a bully. I even apologized to Sariel and Francis. Francis took it surprisingly well, shrugging it off and declaring he didn?

?t care. He had better things to do than concern himself with gossip. Sariel, on the other hand, took it as the perfect chance to guilt me into a date. A date! What the fuck? I rejected the hell out of him, of course, he pouted for a while, then was back to thoroughly following me around, flirting in his awkward way. He’d never had to work to get a girl before, so he had no idea what he was doing. Not that he was ever going to succeed with me.

I’d never been top of my class. I’d always been a good student, did my homework, did extra projects, did my best, and even though I was among the nerds, I was never first. So, when Headmaster Colin announced the results and the final worth scores for year two, I nearly had a heart attack. For the first time in my life, I was number one. Sariel’s name dropped below me on the scoreboard, and my name, Mila Morningstar, was at the very top. At the finals, I got perfect grades. Lorna, Sariel, and Francis had gotten perfect grades, too, but my worth score set me apart. This was all happening on a Friday, in the dining hall, right before dinner. The last thing Headmaster Colin announced before we could dig in and stuff our faces was the practice groups and the Grim Reapers they were assigned to. Last year, Headmaster Colin had made the distribution, but this year, since the twenty-two Grim Reapers were now familiar with the students, they had been the ones to choose. Shit was getting serious. I already knew Valentine wanted me in his group, and I’d expressively asked him to take Pazuzu and GC, too. I didn’t want to be separated from them. So, when Headmaster Colin said their names way before he’d reached Morningstar’s practice group, my heart jumped right in my throat. I gulped down a glass of water, exchanged fearful glances with my guys, and wondered whether I should protest or not.

“If you’re not with me,” I told them, “then who is?”

“Valentine Morningstar,” said Headmaster Colin in his calm, measured voice. “The students who will practice under his guidance are: Mila Morningstar, Sariel Gracewing, Francis Saint-Germain, and Merrit Castegny.”

“Oh, come on!” I covered my face with my hands. The entire VDC table was looking at me now, and I just wanted to hide. What the fuck was my father thinking?

“He probably doesn’t want you distracted by us,” said Pazuzu. I’d let my guard down, and he could access my thoughts. I immediately shoved him out of my head. Since I’d learned that demons were decent telepaths, I’d learned to be careful around Pazuzu. It wasn’t that hard. I just had to contract my energy to keep him out, and he usually didn’t insist, either. The only time when I let my energy expand and allowed him access was when we had sex.

I sighed, and finally looked up. Sariel was grinning at me. Idiot. Francis was doing his best to look as impassive as ever, but there was something in his mossy green eyes that said he cared. He cared a lot that we were in the same practice group. Merrit Castegny? I didn’t know him that well.

A human, an archangel, a mage, and a… Francis walked into a bar. Because I still had no fucking clue what Francis was.

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