Fallen University: Year One

“Thank you,” I murmured, letting the power vibrate through my voice. “You did the right thing. I have to go water my plants now. You have a nice day.”

“You too.” Her hand dropped away from my arm.

If I’d been smarter, I would have bolted away from the fray. But I was more impulsive than smart on a good day, and this had definitely not been a good day. I was still fucking pissed. Besides, they still had Hannah. So instead of fleeing for the hills, I spun away from the redhead who’d just let me go and bum-rushed the pair of guys who were holding my new friend. Moving quick enough to catch them by surprise, I knocked one in the jaw with my elbow and threw a punch at the other.

“Damn it, Sonja! Grab her!”

“…what? Oh! Crap!” The redhead—Sonja, I guessed—snapped out of whatever trance I had put her in and rushed me. A stream of curses fell from my mouth all the way down to the ground.

“You think you can make a fool out of me, you little bitch? Stay down.” She had her knee in my neck and a fistful of my hair. The way she was yanking my head back made my jaw ache like it would snap if I even tried to talk.

Hannah was crying. Sobbing, really. It would’ve broken my heart if it didn’t make me so angry.

“Let’s get this over with!” The redhead punctuated her shout by shaking my head. The only plus was that she repositioned me so that I could talk.

“Get what over with? You kill people for looking funny these days?”

“What are you waiting for, Kyle?!” Her screech threatened to lance my eardrums.

“Okay, okay!” One of the guys dressed in black straightened, his tone shifting as he spread his arms wide. “Demons, hear me! You are banished from this realm!”

He kept speaking, his voice booming so loud it almost seemed to have an echo. As his words resonated across the empty parking lot, a purple spot appeared in the air over his shoulder and began spinning.

“Have fun in the underworld, bitch,” the redhead snarled in my ear.

“Wait!” The man whose throat had caught my elbow croaked like a frog, but he held up one hand, and the guy named Kyle stopped chanting. The purple spot still spun behind him, but it had stopped growing larger.

“Skipping a step, aren’t we?” the first guy rasped.

Sonja muttered something under her breath and tightened her grip on my hair. The man shot her a disapproving look, and she relaxed her hold slightly. But just slightly.

“We were each given the chance, Sonja. This is how we operate—everyone has a chance to choose. Following protocol protects everybody.”

Hannah was still crying in little shuddering sobs. The man, who had short brown hair and a straight nose, put a comforting hand on her shoulder. I wanted to shove him through a wall.

How can you terrorize a girl and then dare to pretend you care?

“Do you two swear allegiance to the human race?” he asked quietly, the roughness of his voice finally smoothing out.

I blinked at him. “Um… yeah? Duh? What do you think we are?”

He didn’t answer. He looked at Hannah, who had stopped crying. Her mouth was hanging open.

“Who else would we swear allegiance to?” she blurted. “We are the human race! Or we were. Until yesterday. Of course we do!”

“Damn it,” Sonja breathed.

“Let them up.”

I shook Sonja off of me as she begrudgingly let me stand. Hannah ran into my arms, and I hugged her tightly. It was weird. Day before yesterday, I wouldn’t have even considered that a perky, bright-eyed girl like her could befriend someone like me, and vice versa. But now that the world had turned upside down, she was the closest thing I had to family. We stood arm in arm and looked at Not-Kyle.

“My name is Dru,” he said, inclining his head toward us. “You’ll come with me.”

Hannah looked up at me for approval, her entire body still shaking with fear. Our other options were purple orb thingy or getting our asses kicked, so I nodded.

“Fine. Where to?”

Chapter Four