You’re going the wrong way.
Zakeri frowned slightly, glancing at Kissa out of the corner of his eyes. “I am not,” he replied, “I’m just not going to class right now.”
Kissa dug her claws into his shoulder and hissed in his ear, teeth nipping at the lobe. Your uncle will be furious with you if you don’t follow the rules. You know you’re supposed to go to class every day so you can learn how to survive.
“I think I’ve made it quite obvious already that I know how to survive.” Zakeri raised his wrist for inspection: 56. According to the Daeva Digest, there were only four students in the school that had a higher number than he did. A smile tugged at his lips when he realized it would have been five, if he hadn’t killed Abriel on the very first day of school.
Don’t get overconfident, that’s how you get killed, Kissa sniffed, her cute pink nose in the air.
Zakeri laughed at her; she wasn’t the most threatening creature, when that dark aura of her borrowed power as his familiar didn’t shroud her. “Don’t worry, Kissa, I’ll be just fine. I do have you to protect me, after all,” he said fondly, scratching underneath her chin.
Kissa knew she was just being mollified, but he was being so nice, and his fingers felt so good rubbing her fur the wrong way. She was purring before she could help herself, and Zakeri could feel how disgruntled she was by that. It made him laugh again, shifting the kitten into his arms. She put her paws on his chest, stretching up to rub her nose against his.
It was a sweet moment, and for a second, the people watching hesitated to end it. Then Abriel made a gesture with his hand.
“Zakeri, look out!”
The surprised demon looked up just in time to see Cormac hurtling toward him. The redhead bowled him over, knocking him to the ground- Kissa was able to leap free before they crushed her, but only barely.
“Cormac, what the-” Zakeri’s confusion was answered by the swish of a huge sword passing over them. His eyes widened as he realized that, if Cormac hadn’t pushed him out of the way, the claymore would have sliced him in half.
Zakeri looked up at the silver-haired demon he’d known was related to Rahil, eyes huge and mouth slightly open. “I’m really sorry about this, Cormac, but he made me an offer I couldn’t refuse.” Ashe looked down at the redhead with a reluctant frown, before swinging his sword again.
The two demons on the ground barely had time to roll out of the way, scrambling in opposite directions. The sword cleaved right through the pavement as easily as the pavement ripped through the skin on Zakeri’s arms.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing, Ashe?” Cormac shouted, splayed out on the pavement, his green eyes narrowed as he looked up at the silver haired Alpha.
“Stay out of this,” Ashe commanded.
Cormac’s mouth opened and closed silently, and there was outrage in every line of his body; he’d just been given a direct command from an Alpha, and there was nothing he could do while the hidden demons stepped out of their shadows, wielding their weapons with grim determination. When he tried, he ended up writhing in pain, making a terrible choked sound that made Ashe wince.
“I said I was sorry,” he muttered, digging his toe into the ground, his eyes settling anywhere but on the people around him- especially Cormac.
Yoppa stepped forward and put a gentle hand on the demon’s shoulder. “Come on, Ashe, let’s just get this over with.”
Ashe nodded, pulling up as brave an expression as he could muster, and yanked his sword out of the pavement it had lodged in. He’d finally made his decision to act when bright red bloomed on the snowy white of his soft tee, petals of scarlet blooming from the spot over his heart. His mouth gaped open, his mind running in circles of confusion.
None of them had heard the shot go off until too late, but their gazes all went to the demon who had pulled the trigger. Zak had rolled over onto his stomach, and taken careful aim at the demon whose will kept Cormac captive. He didn’t take any pleasure in watching the life drain out of the demon’s eyes- but the death was worth it, as his numbers climbed higher still and Cormac was free to get to his feet with an angry shout.
Cormac hesitated for just a second as Ashe crumpled to the ground, but something brought his attention quickly back to the battle at hand; a hoarse cry of pain in a familiar voice.
“Zak!” Cormac wrenched the barrett out, pulling hairs with it, and flung his hand outward to bring his scythe to its full shape and form.
The silverette looked up at Cormac, dark eyes shining with pain; he was trapped between Yoppa and the pavement, her lance hot in his shoulder, cauterizing the wound instantly so it didn’t bleed after the first few drops that stained the ground. She’d pinned his dominant arm, trapping the hand that controlled the gun, ruining his only chance of fighting back. Still, he struggled, and he was strong enough even while shivering from the pain that Yoppa had to concentrate fully on him to keep him down.
And so she didn’t hear the deadly swish of a weapon slicing through the air, and it sliced through her, too. Her hand fell to her stomach, feeling the oozing heat, and her eyes rolled upward as she fell. The lance fell with her, ripping a gash in Zakeri’s flesh as it came out and making him scream with pain.
That scream was a horrid sound, but it became a sound of rage at the end. While Cormac turned to defend himself against Malred and that deadly spiked club, Zakari struggled to sit up. He propped himself up on his good arm, and raised the injured one, watching his hand shake. Narrowing his eyes at the girl who was coming at him, the girl who’d tried to warn him away from Abriel the last time, he let out a slow breath- and then he pulled the trigger.
Kavara jerked, eyes going wide with surprise; another red flower bloomed across sapphire blue. Her black hair, which had been tied into a braid when she prepared for the battle, looked even darker when her skin paled. Then she, too, joined those who’d already fallen.
That left two. “Cormac.” Zakeri’s voice was quiet, weak- but the command was still enough that Cormac stepped back without thinking.
Another shot rang out, and another body fell. The red flower couldn’t be seen on Malred’s black coat, but Zakeri knew it was there as he jerked forward onto his knees. Moving slowly and jerkily, almost doing an impression of a zombie, he got to his feet with painful movements that made him wince and grimace, his free hand clutching his wounded shoulder.
“Zakeri?” Cormac’s voice trembled as he took a hesitant step closer.
Zakeri’s lethal glare stopped him in his tracks. There was something not quite right in that glare, something slightly unbalanced. Cormac dropped his gaze, and Zakeri stumbled forward, facing down his last opponent.
“Abriel,” he snarled the demon’s name, his lips curling.
Abriel didn’t say anything; defeat filled his eyes, slumped his posture, made his hands hang loose at his side. He watched Zakeri raise his gun, holding it with both hands when it proved he was shaking too bad to keep it steady with one. Abriel’s eyes closed, and he bowed his hand, his ebony hair falling to mask his face.
He flinched at the click that was loud in the silence, but the pain he expected didn’t come. Abriel looked up slowly, full of disbelief when he saw the click had been Zakeri putting the safety on his elegant gun. The silverette stowed the gun safely away in its holster on his side. The rage and the purpose drained out of him, and suddenly he was swaying, the pain and exhaustion getting the better of him. And he fell.
Both Abriel and Cormac cried out their alarm, diving to catch him, but they were both too late. A small girl with snow white hair had caught him, her slim arms wrapped protectively around Zakeri. A pair of tufted ears nestled in her hair, and a long white tail lashed the air as she hissed at them, baring a pair of lethally pointed canines.
“Stay away from my master,” she growled, her fingers curling like claws and digging into Zakeri’s unusually pale skin. He made a soft sound, and her features changed completely. When the snarl was gone, replaced with sweet concern, she revealed herself to be a beautiful young girl. “Don’t worry, ääliö, I have you,” she whispered into his hair.
Cormac and Abriel stood frozen as, displaying the extraordinary strength of a familiar of an extremely powerful demon, Kissa hauled her master to his feet. His head lolled on his shoulders, and his eyelids flickered, but he didn’t wake. Kissa looked up at him with a soft expression that could have been love, before muttering, “I warned you, ääliö, why don’t you ever listen to me?”
The two stunned demons could do nothing but watch, useless and unwanted, while the familiar took her injured master away.
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