“Gabrielle, your mother is on her way.” Mr. Mephistopheles sets a cup of water in front of her and goes to lean on his desk, “Your brother is getting you, Justin.”

“Thank you, sir.” I watch Gabby sip her water, “What happened to our instructor today?”

The demon sighs, “We found him out back behind the dumpster. We’re pretty sure that hunter got to him. He’ll probably be fine, just a bit banged up, and he’ll be taking some time off indefinitely.” He crosses his arms, “I know what you went through today was… worrying,” Our principal has never been a very comforting presence. “But I want you to know that we will be upping our security measures around the both of you.”

“Zelda too, please.”

“Zelda?” A look of understanding settles on his face. “Ah, of course. Your other friend.” Gabby tightens her grip on the plastic water cup, I put a hand on her back between her wings. “Well, hopefully, this won’t happen again this school year. I’d like to see you graduate without your father having to fish you out from his domain.”

“Yes, sir.”

Mr. Mephistopheles pushes himself off his desk, walking around it to his seat, “Please close the door when you leave.” I nod and lead Gabby out to a few chairs in the hallway.

Gabby keeps her eyes down, they’ve faded back to her normal brown, but her wings and horns are still out.

“Wanna talk about it?”

She closes her eyes for a moment and then nods, taking a deep breath, “I just… haven’t lost my cool like that in a long time.”

It’s true. The last time I saw her go full succubus was two years ago when a fallen angel had attempted to kidnap me. She hates that side of her with a passion, she’s never identified with it; the things she’s supposed to do make her incredibly uncomfortable.

“Do you need help with your wings?”

“No… I’ll ask my mom when we get home.”

I smile and rub her back. We go back to sitting in silence.

My brother and Gabby’s mom arrive at the same time. Damien holds the door open for her, smiling as he makes small talk. I can’t help rolling my eyes. They make their way over to us.

“Hi, Justin.” Mrs. Laurent offers me a smile that doesn’t meet her eyes and turns her attention to her daughter. They begin speaking in hushed French.

“You never told me your friend is from France,” Damien is leaning against the wall, arms crossed and a cocky smirk on his face.

“Didn’t see the need.” I swing my bag over my shoulder, keeping my eyes on Gabby. “You’re not getting involved with her.”

He laughs, “Not yet.”

“No, Damien. You’re not getting involved.”

He raises an eyebrow but doesn’t attempt a snarky comeback. Instead, he loudly flirts with the dullahan woman - Maeve - at the front desk as he signs me out, makes eyes at the freshman Spanish teacher, and finally heads out the front door, putting his dark sunglasses on. We don’t speak until he’s pulled out of the parking lot.

“So…”

I glance up, “So?”

“What happened today?” He’s feigning interest.

“No one told you?” Damien shakes his head and I sigh. “A hunter came after me during my battle magic class. I don’t think she hurt any of the students, but she damaged a lot of stuff.”

“How’d you kill her?”

It takes me a moment to register his question, “What?!”

“You mean you didn’t kill her?” My brother raises an eyebrow and looks at me like I’m the weird one for not going to murder immediately. “She came after you! She disrespected you!”

“We’re not the mob, Damien.” I rub my forehead, trying to stave off the headache I always get when I’m around my brothers. “She didn’t disrespect me, she was probably told to go after me.”

He scoffs, “That’s why you have to kill her, it sends a message to anyone else who comes for you.”

“Whatever.” I can at least take comfort in the fact that Damien never saw or spoke to Kelly, her life will be protected. For now.

The house is quiet when Damien and I get there. Cerberus raises one of his three heads to stare at me as we walk inside, and I stop to scratch behind his ears on my way to the kitchen. “Where’s Dad?”

“No idea,” Damien drops down on the couch not bothering to take his sunglasses off. “Said he and Cain had something to take care of.”

“Of course he did.” I get myself a glass of orange juice and find myself standing behind the couch my brother is lounging on. “And you are… staying in tonight?”

He shakes his head, “I have a dinner date with a corporate bigwig. I’m leaving in twenty.”

“Ugh.” I sip my juice and turn to go.

“You can tag along if you wanna,” I can hear the smirk in his voice.

“I’d rather die, thanks.”