Chapter 6

CHAPTER SIX

AZIEL

I'd been picking up a few things for my uncle when I got a call from the school. It didn't really surprise me that Dante was getting into fights. He'd had a few good weeks after I gave him that info for his dad and he avoided an ass kicking, but I knew it wouldn't last. The school asked that I come in for a meeting, so I finished my shopping, dumped the bags into the backseat of my truck, and headed for the school.

When I stepped into the main office, the secretary looked up from her computer, her lips pressed into a thin line. She pointed to a chair opposite her desk and spoke to me directly, not even a hint of trepidation in her voice.

"Have a seat. I'll let Principal Castillo know you're here. She's speaking with Dante right now."

Resigned, I dropped into a seat. I'd done everything I could to get through to that kid, but nothing was working. If I didn't figure out a way to get him to listen, it'd be my ass on the line when they kicked him out of this school. I gritted my teeth, already mentally preparing myself for the pain.

I masked my irritation when the principal asked me to join her in her office. Dante sat in a chair in front of it, facing away from me, his arms crossed tightly over his chest. He wouldn't look me in the eye, instead facing the wall when I sat in the chair next to his.

"What happened?"

Principal Castillo sat beside her desk, tipping her head at Dante. She waited for him to answer, but when he wouldn't reply, she answered for him.

"Near as I can tell, Dante said some not nice things to one of his classmates. A boy from another class intervened, and they used fists instead of words to solve their issues. Both boys are saying the other started it. Normally, I'd suspend them both, but the little girl who was involved told me it was her fault for bothering Dante in the first place. Though I think we both know she was just trying to be nice."

Dante scowled at the comment, but still refused to look at either of us. I shook my head, resigned.

"Alright. Where do we go from here?"

"For now, I think I'm willing to let this go. Had Dante not had Sophie vouching for him, I probably wouldn't have, but I understand making friends has been difficult. Mr. Nox, I have to warn you, if this continues, I don't see a future for Dante here at Leighton prep. This transition is new and difficult, so I'm giving him a lot of leeway, but we can only tolerate that behavior for so long. And we don't allow fighting."

I caught what she meant. If Dante had been a regular kid, she would've been a lot more harsh. This was the one and only time him being a demon was working in his favor.

"I understand. It won't happen again." I added a deep snarl to that to emphasize my point to Dante. I might not hit him, but his father wouldn't spare him if he found out about this. Only my good graces kept him out of trouble now.

Dante ducked his head as we left the school, his eyes on his feet. If it were anyone else, I'd think he was ashamed of himself. But he hadn't shown an ounce of remorse for any of his behavior since he started school.

"Let me guess. You're better than them, so you decided since he argued with you, you had to beat him into submission?"

He whipped his head up, growling at me. "He started it! If he would've just stayed out of it, none of this would've happened! "

I had a retort all primed and ready, but the mark on Dante's cheek froze my forward motion. The teacher said they fought, but I assumed the boy talked trash and Dante hit him for it. The kid actually hurt him, and that pissed me off.

"Who was he?"

"What's it matter?" he snapped, expression surly.

Kneeling beside him, I leveled him with a look. "Tell me who hurt you. Now, Dante."

He looked like he wanted to argue, trying to be brave and act like he was tougher than he actually was. He was just a kid, though. And he was under my protection. Which meant the kid who hurt him would be scared shitless the rest of his life once I got ahold of him.

"Name!" I barked.

It made Dante jump, and he finally spit it out. "Oliver Gray!"

I couldn't call the family, not if I wanted this kid to live through the night, so instead, I called an old friend.

"I'm busy. What?" she snapped.

"Athena. I need you to help me find someone. It's important."

Athena was an oracle who I'd known since I was a kid. She was the only person who was outwardly against my uncle who was still alive. She didn't care about his power or how dangerous he was. My parents used to ask her to babysit me and my sister when they were forced to do things for the family. They wanted us as far from that life as possible for as long as they could manage it. It meant Athena and I were close, and she knew I wouldn't ask without good reason. She also knew I wouldn't hurt the person I was looking for.

She gave me an address and told me to come see her once I was through. Dante protested when I demanded he go home, so I dragged him with me on foot. It wasn't that far, a few blocks north of my apartment, just on the edge of where the nicer neighborhoods ended. I'd never been in this area. I wasn't aware of any of my uncle's businesses nearby. The shop was small, squished between a smoke shop and an empty business on the other side. There was a gigantic window in front, the word Ink'd stamped in the middle of it, and not much else. I didn't hesitate to go in, ripping the door open so hard, the hinges protested. When I stalked inside, a few faces looked at me apprehensively. A familiar one stood, moving to the center of the room to face me down. With the way he looked at me, I knew he was responsible for the little shit who hurt Dante.

"What do you want?"

"I think you know the answer to that."

He scoffed, not an ounce of fear in him as he glared at me. "I have my assumptions. What? You're here to beat up a little kid? Can't pick on someone your own size?"

Baring my teeth, I snarled at him. "You wanna take his place?"

He huffed out a laugh, like this was some kind of joke. "You know what? Sure. Bring it on, asshole. If you're so pathetic that you want to attack someone outside your weight class, then be my guest. I can see where the kid learns it from."

That pissed me off, and flames tore through me, settling on my horns. The little shit didn't even flinch, his eyes narrowed and his stance ready. He wasn't afraid to fight me, even though I was taller and significantly more muscled. It made me wonder where he got his confidence from. Not that it mattered. He asked for a fight. He was going to get one.

At least, that was the plan. Until the boy I was looking for came out of the back of the shop, racing to stand in front of the tattooed man, his arms outstretched like he was going to protect him from me.

"Stop! Don't hurt my brother!"

I stiffened, wide eyed as I took him in. He was a tiny little thing, scrawny and short, without an ounce of muscle to him. And based on the black eye forming and the red stains on his shirt, he didn't come out of the fight the victor.

Spinning around, I gave Dante an incredulous look. "Seriously? He's half your size!"

Dante wasn't expecting my outburst, and he looked up at me with his mouth hanging open for a second before he remembered himself. He pointed at the little kid, screaming at me.

"He wouldn't fuck off! I told him to mind his business but–"

"But you're such a bigshot that you can't just walk away? Your dad must be really proud. "

It made Dante wince, but I'd gone into this expecting someone bigger to have messed with him. Not some tiny kid getting a lucky shot. Dante had inches on him and outweighed him by at least twenty pounds. And demon kids weren't weak. They built muscle young. He was a damn tank, and he didn't care about using that kind of strength on people so much smaller than him. He was just like his old man. I wanted nothing to do with him if this was his future.

Turning my glare to the tattooed man, who'd tucked his little brother behind him, I scowled. Technically, I owed him an apology, but that wasn't going to happen. I yelled at Dante in front of them. That should be enough. Grabbing my cousin by the arm, I teleported us home without a word.

"Pack your things."

Dante looked shell-shocked, his eyes wide as he gaped at me. "What? Why?"

"You've pointed out plenty of times that I'm not like our family. I don't pick on weaklings just to feel good about myself. You want to follow your old man so bad, you can go live with him. Or one of your older brothers. I'm done. I've tried with you, but I refuse to watch you go down that path."

I'd need an excuse to hand him off, but I'd figure that out later. Maybe it was time for me to leave. I'd contemplated it in the past, but after what happened to my parents, I couldn't pull the trigger. I also didn't want to leave my friends unguarded. But they had each other, and I was tired of living a half life under my uncle's thumb. I stalked to the bathroom, pulled out a healing potion, tossed it on Dante's bed, and teleported away.