Temptation

L ooking at the scrawny kid with a fresh undercut, I snort. This will be child’s play. The entirety of his belongings seem to be in one ratty suitcase and he’s dressed like an emo loving human. I’m slightly surprised by the familiar perched on his shoulder—those are usually reserved for especially powerful demons and hybrids. A sniff tells me this interloper doesn’t have even a hint of unlocked abilities; much like his cheap outfit, he mirrors the mindless sheep on Earth.

So what the fresh fucking hell is he doing at Discordia and in my dorm?

“Get moving. I don’t have all day to play tour guide, shrimp,” I growl darkly. The new kid looks unimpressed, as if my gruff manner doesn’t bother him. That won’t do; I need him to be terrified enough to go running to Lucian for a housing transfer. Grinning evilly, I give him my back as I allow my tail and spikes to transform in front of him. Showing him what the heir to Hell is capable of ought to do.

Lucian chuckles behind me and claps his hands. “Well, since we’re introduced, I must be off. Dank, I expect you to report to me posthaste.”

Coward.

“Thank you, sir.”

The new kid doesn’t comment or make a single noise as he follows me into Canto IV after they leave. In fact, all I hear is footsteps, the chatter of his lemur, and breathing as we make our way to the elevator. I wave my palm over the magic reader, letting it know where we’re going by my signature. If he truly doesn’t have access to his gifts yet, he’s going to have a very rough first month using the steep stairs. There’s no other way to use the lift beyond magical signatures.

When the doors open, I stride in, watching him as he stands perfectly silent and still next to me as it zooms upwards. It’s fucking eerie and I wonder for a moment exactly how this guy learned to turn himself into a living statue. The effect is damn near unnatural because his facial muscles don’t even twitch—it’s as if he’s trying to make himself invisible without having the actual power to do so.

“This is our stop. Hurry,” I grunt as I walk down the hallway of my caliphate’s floor. I reach Salem’s door quickly, surprised again when I realize the little freshman kept up with me despite the heavy luggage he’s towing. He doesn’t look strong enough to lift a fucking fork, but maybe there’s more underneath.

I need Zavida to do his thing and find every scrap of information on this kid stat.

Knocking on the heavy oak door of Salem’s room, I wait for him to get off his ass and open it. He’s smaller when in his humanoid form, but the panda shifter hybrid damn near embodies his family’s demonic lineage. When he finally answers, I give him a seething look despite knowing he can’t actually help who and what he is anymore than I can.

“Salem, this is your new roommate …” I pause purposefully, tilting my head as if his name escapes me and I can’t be bothered to remember it. “... Kent.”

“Kit. Kit Camponella,” the shrimp replies without missing a beat. He doesn’t look ruffled in the slightest, but his familiar is glaring at me like it wants to eat my eyeballs. “Thank you for making room for me. I won’t take up much space.”

You won’t be here long enough for it to matter.

Salem leans against the door, his snow white hair and glittering black eyes taking the two of us in. He nods at me, then looks at the offending freshman. “Come in. That moron Silvera left your shit piled on the bed.”

Again, no reaction from the kid except a nod before he looks at me. “Thank you for showing me to my room.”

My eyes narrow as I work to get a read on him and fail. There’s something not right about this late addition to the student body and I’m going to find out what it is. Blackmail will work just as well as intimidation, and I’m not above using any means necessary to protect my caliphate. “Didn’t have a choice. Salem, we have a floor meeting in two hours.”

“I’ll have everything ready,” he replies with a slow, sleepy grin.

I fucking doubt that, but stranger things have happened.

Nodding sharply, I turn on my heel, heading for Zavida’s room. I want everything he can find before we have to face this weakling. It will give everyone more ammunition to send him scurrying away like the useless shit he is.

“Jasper, I was on a raid,” Zav whines as I spin his chair around. “My team needs me.”

Drawing in a deep, calming breath, I look down at the Kitsuné hybrid sternly. Zav’s family is one of the seven powerful royal lines of hell, but they’re at the lower end of the pole. He’s fiercely intelligent and cunning, but his parents spoiled the shit out of him. Not surprising, given their demonic line, but his petulance sends me into overdrive.

Like now.

I ruffle his red and white streaked hair, then grab one of the spare gaming chairs he keeps for our tourneys. “Your caliphate and leader need you; suck it up.”

He squints at me, spinning back to his screen, and typing like his fingers are on fire. His character disappears from whatever the fuck dungeon he was raiding and the login screen appears before he removes his headset. I’m about to get impatient again when he faces me once more. “What’s the problem, Jas? You’re only this pissy when it is Lucian.”

Fire dances in my eyes as my dragon side flares up in anger. “That sly motherfucker gave Salem a roommate . A fucking newbie, magicless, freshman !”

Zav blinks, his face full of shock. “What the actual fuck? Salem? The only choice worse than him would be you .”

“Glad you see my point,” I chuckle wryly. “Salem is not meant to share space with anyone, but none of us should be forced to, given our status here.” He nods, looking at me expectantly. “We need a full workup before the required floor meeting tonight. That gives you about…three hours.”

“Shit,” the Kitsuné mutters as he spins back to his monitors. “What’s the name and where’s this dead man walking from?”

“Kit Camponella… from the human realm.” The last words are almost spit out of my mouth. While some demons find it amusing to gad about the human realm and play at making deals, royals like us limit our time there to dignitary visits with other supes. Humans are so insignificant in terms of lifespan and abilities; we don’t need to consider them at all. We were here before them and will be long after.

Zav’s fingers are flying across the keys again as all four of his screens fill with some sort of code and running nonsense. “Okay. I’ll have the dossiers ready before the meeting.”

“You have two hours,” I retort.

Zav grins wickedly as he looks at me, then at his screens. “I can do it in one.”

“Good man,” I rumble as I rise to go visit my other brothers. “I knew I could count on you.”

After I left Zav, I headed down the hall to the room closest to mine. Slash is the second strongest of our caliphate, both in terms of physical strength and power. His family lineage is paired with mine irrevocably because they serve the royal family as generals and captains of the King’s legions. One day, I will rule over this entire land, and Slash will be my second-in-command. That’s how it’s been for millennia; neither of us has any reason to question it.

When his iron door opens, I find him watching an action movie with Xerxes and Anton. The two of them are curled together on the couch as usual, and the big shark shifter is sprawled in his huge recliner. Being part of the elite seven families comes with a multitude of benefits, but having staff to outfit our rooms to our specifications is one of the most useful. Everything in here is extra large to accommodate Slash’s enormous bulk.

Of course, X and Anton look miniscule in comparison, but at least it’s comfortable.

Slash nods for me to enter and I shut the door, heading over to the matching chair across from my old friend. No one will sit in this chair because they know by looking at it that he placed it here for me. The shark hybrid is surly and rude to most people, but his respect for our positions is unquestionable. “You look angry, Prince.”

I sigh and rake my hand through my hair as I look at the silver-haired enforcer. “Because Lucian is fucking with us and I have to waste precious time fixing his bullshit.”

X looks up, their eyes transforming to the golden slits of their lineage. They flick their tongue out, tasting the emotion on the air with a shudder of pleasure. “Very nice, Jasper. Your anger is as delicious as your other emotions.”

“Stop fucking with him, X,” Anton says as he squeezes their thigh. “You know, it only makes everything worse.”

Arching a brow at Anton, I give Xerxes a dark scowl. “Your tastes run towards other emotions. Don’t play games with me.”

They throw back their head, golden locks spilling over their shoulders. “True. I enjoy making you look like a thundercloud on the horizon, though. It’s tasty in a different way.”

“Enough!” Slash growls, pounding his fist on the arm of his chair. “Tell us what you need, Jasper. We will take care of it. Whatever nonsense Lucian has put into place can be undone before the weekend.”

My lips quirk and I nod at my most loyal brother. “I knew you would say that, but we have to be more… cunning about this task. If we are too overt, Lucian will know it bothers us and that will make him question why.”

Anton shakes his blue hair, the rainbow tips falling over his eyes as he groans. He hates groveling for anyone and never admits when he’s wrong—also the dominant trait of his family line. The peacock shifter is everything that’s beautiful and compelling, which is why they sit fourth in the hierarchy of the seven. All the pretty things and pretty people owe their eternal gratitude to Anton’s family, so his reach in every realm is immeasurable. “That means you’ve got Zav working overtime, I bet.”

“Yes.” I look at each of them, waiting for a moment before I relay the news. “Lucian gave Salem a roommate—a brand new, late admission freshman who seems to have no powers. Yet, somehow, the shrimp has a familiar. Do you see why I’m concerned?”

X’s eyes widen and they unwind their body from the cuddle with Anton. “Where is this unlucky soul from?”

“Human realm,” I grind out. It makes me sick to even say it and more angry when I realize the kid will be considered adjacent to our caliphate if we don’t make certain to take care of this quickly.

Hell abhors a vacuum, and power keeps you out of the black hole.

“Shit,” Slash says as he rubs his jaw. “Anyone told Oriel yet? He’s going to lose his fucking mind. You know how that feathered bastard gets.”

My smile is wicked. “He’s my last stop. While Zav will dig because I asked him to, Oriel will pry into every crevice of this freshman’s life because it amuses him. He’s a more effective weapon when self-motivated and we all know it.”

Plus, he finds humans fascinating and he’ll prod the scrawny little shit to death.

“We’re never going to hear the end of this,” Anton says with a grimace. “O loves those meat bags, and he thinks everything they do is interesting. He’ll be jabbering about it and every damn thing he steals long after we rid ourselves of this baggage.”

“Guys…” We all turn to X, looking at them as they frown. Hell, even frowning, they’re gorgeous. It’s ridiculous. “I hate to be the voice of reason, but what if this kid isn’t here to mess with us? Humans don’t attend Discordia and they don’t get chauffeured to Hell for an education.”

Scratching his chin, Slash thinks about it for a moment and nods. “Xerxes is correct. I have never heard a tale of a human being recruited to our lands for schooling. The freshman must have latent powers that have not been unlocked. What’s he like?”

I snort. “How the fuck would I know? After D-bag handed him over to me, the kid clammed up like a professional soldier. The only words he said were to thank Salem and me. I swear to brimstone, Slash, the fucker barely moved a muscle in the elevator. You might have thought he was a fucking sculpture.”

“What did you do before getting into the elevator?” X asks as they tap a long nail against their fangs.

Frowning, I think about it for a moment. Lucian showed up, I walked out, there was an intro, and… “Shit. I was pissed at that motherfucker for violating the terms of our caliphate lodging, so I showed the tail and spikes as we walked inside.”

Anton beams, clapping his hands. “Bingo, gentleman. We have a winner.”

“What?” Slash and I say at the same time.

X and Anton look at one another in exasperation, then finally the peacock shifter answers. “You said the little guy is from the human realm with no powers, right?”

“Affirmative.”

“He doesn’t know!” X says with a wicked grin. “You scared the shit out of him as intended, but not because you’re a bully… It’s because he’s a clean slate.”

My eyes widen and roll my head back on the chair as I stare at the ceiling. Slash misses the ocean, so one of the most prolific artists has painted it in the royal court to make him feel at ease. It doesn’t do a damn thing to help me as my mind races. “You think this… Kit… does not know he’s at a demon school? Or in Hell? Or that anything supernatural exists?”

“Humans keep their young sheltered and compliant.” The gravelly voice from the doorway makes us all startle, but Oriel just gives us a sneaky smirk. He looks a bit like the style the new kid is imitating—black eyeliner and black razor cut hair with ink and steel everywhere visible. “They tell them we’re all made up stories; from shifters to demons to gods, human children believe none of us exist by design. So, yes, Salem’s roommate likely shut down because he had absolutely no idea what the fuck was going on.”