Fallen University: Year Two

“Of course not.” Xero grinned. “He was rich enough to have people who hiked for him.”

I laughed, then a thought occurred. “You don’t think his obsession with flying is a sign that he’s—you know—starting to like this place a little too much, do you?”

“Turning evil, you mean?” he asked wryly. “I thought we decided that was a myth. And no, I don’t think so. He’s not any more evil than he’s always been anyway.”

My eyebrows lifted. “What do you mean?”

“Think about it.” He shrugged, tugging gently on my elbow to help me avoid a jagged rock that stuck up in front of me. “He was a human with predisposition for hoarding money and a knack for brutal business. That’s evil, to some. But he has our backs, he’s saved lives, and he doesn’t want earth to be consumed by Gavriel. That’s good. He’s had opportunities to screw us all over for cash and he hasn’t done it.”

“What opportunities?”

Xero smirked and glanced over his shoulder, then dropped his voice. “There was a girl at the pub on Mönkh Saridag who was completely certain we were supernatural in some way. I think she saw someone use a portal once. She offered him thousands to give up our secrets, and he refused. Of course that was thousands of whatever currency she was using, and he’s rich so thousands is like—I don’t know—a dollar, but still.”

“That’s not real convincing,” I said with a grin.

Xero sobered. “I’m not even supposed to know this next part.”

“My lips are sealed.”

“Your lips are…” He trailed off as his gaze lowered to my mouth, and a spark of fire lit in my veins in response to the hungry look in his eyes. “Mm. Anyway, what was I saying? Oh, right, Kingston. I overheard him talking to one of his CEOs or CFOs or whatever.”

“Oh?”

Xero nodded, a bead of sweat trickling down his mocha skin. He swiped his forearm over his temple, brushing it away. “He was pretty heated, I think, or I never would’ve been able to sneak up on him with that phone. From what I gathered, the guy on the other end came up with some kind of scheme to use supernaturals as a cash source. Or the university. Whatever it was, it would have involved selling out the school and blowing the lid off of the whole supernatural truth—and it would have resulted in billions or more.”

I whistled. “Okay, that’s convincing.”

“Mm-hm. And this was after we’d been here for a few months. Besides, look at me. I never turned evil. Neither did Vee, and she’s been here a lot longer than I ever was.”

“But how many people in the underworld are like you and Vee?”

“More than you’d think, maybe. I can’t guess an exact number, but our time down here has opened my eyes to a few things. The idea that all fallen turn evil is a misconception. We have solid proof of that. The fallen have been—well, demonized I guess—because we look scary and we can do scary things and the underworld is scary. It’s all a fear thing. And I think you’re right. I think Gavriel does perpetuate that myth for his own ends.”

I frowned, considering. “The ratio though. The numbers alone look like evidence that being fallen turns some people evil. I mean, there are more demons doing evil things than humans.”

“Are there?” He let the question hang heavily in the air for a long moment. “I don’t know about that.”

My face wrinkled in a grimace. It’d been over ten months since I’d last been on earth, and another year before that since I’d been a part of human society in any way. But I hadn’t forgotten some of the awful shit I’d seen and read about in the human world.

Yeah, people can be plenty evil, fallen or not.

He looked away for a moment and cleared his throat. “I won’t deny I saw demons and other fallen do horrible things in Gavriel’s service. But for a lot of them, I’d guess it wasn’t even their natural inclination. He warps people, fostering their worst qualities through fear and pain.”

I could hear echoes of those emotions in Xero’s voice as he spoke, and I took his hand, squeezing gently, reminding him through my touch that he was no longer in that place.

Not that the place we were currently in was a picnic either, but at least we had each other.

He squeezed back, shooting me a grateful look. “The point is, he makes it easy to fall. When all the evidence tells you that you’re evil, it’s easy to let evil happen. Because most people aren’t like Jayce or Gavriel—purely good or purely bad. They’re like you and Kingston. They’ve got a little of everything inside them, and what kind of person they turn into comes down to the choices they make. Or they’re like Kai and Vee—disinterested as long as it doesn’t affect them, but willing to help if it doesn’t put them out too much.”

I chuckled, glancing out at the landscape around us as I scanned for threats. “I’m not sure I like your sketch of my character, but you’re not exactly wrong. I like to think of myself as a fairly even-tempered person, but I’ve reached my snapping point before, and it’s not pretty.”

He raised a questioning eyebrow at me.

I sighed. “The last time I can remember losing my shit was right before I was turned. I’d had a long day. My car broke down. My feet hurt. I thought at the very least, I could count on my boyfriend for some comfort sex and a ride home, since I’d broken down right by his place. I walked all the way there in these killer boots—seriously, these boots were badass, but they killed the hell out of my feet—and walked in to find him balls deep in some other bitch.”

“Ooh.” Xero cringed and shook his head. “Shit.”

“Yeah. I beat the hell out of him and took his banana.”