Riptide

T he ire that flares up in the new guy makes my gut twist in a way I’m unfamiliar with. His face flushes a lovely shade of pink and the heat that emanates from him is delicious. I love to watch people and the emotions playing over his body and aura are making my Kitsuné poke its head up in interest. That’s not a common occurrence outside of gaming, so I tilt my head to keep my eyes on the meal not being served on plates.

“You could have just asked me. I might not be comfortable sharing everything about me with a room full of assholes I don’t even know the names of, but I would have at least entertained your curiosity. What the hell is wrong with you guys?” Kit crosses his arms over his chest and it’s like I can see invisible walls going up in front of more walls and more walls behind that.

This guy doesn’t know his heritage, but he’s been using some of his powers without knowing what he or they are for a long time.

Jasper snorts. “We don’t ask permission, especially me.”

“That is correct and you should remember it,” Slash mutters darkly. “The Prince does not require your consent to do anything.”

Kit bolts to his feet, setting his plate aside as his eyes blaze at all of us. “Bullshit. Consent is a cornerstone of every interaction and relationship, whether human or demon or whatever the hell you are. I don’t care if you’re the richest fuckwit in this place; you don’t get access to any part of me I don’t agree to.”

He’s shaking and trying to hide it—to his credit, he’s doing it well enough that we wouldn’t be able to tell if we were mere humans. The tremors are slight, his scent is mostly masked, and his expression is full of fire, not fear. But I can almost taste the fear in him. My eyes narrow when I recognize that behavior as well. People have done horrible things to this new student—unforgivable things—and he’s learned to cover it so well even most demons wouldn’t be able to sense it.

“Stop,” I whisper as I notice Oriel and Anton about to interject, using some of their gifts. “Kit is right, though not for the reasons he thinks. We should have been more polite and at least introduced ourselves to our new floormate.”

The Prince looks shocked, and he’s not the only one. I rarely intercede on anyone’s behalf and I don’t take sides. Because of my sensitivity to emotions and auras, I endeavor not to abuse my powers around my brothers. It feels dirty and unless I have to do it, I’m keeping my counsel. Here, I can’t help myself; Kit Camponella has been harmed so deeply he doesn’t know how to defend himself outside of anger, snark, and distance. The human world twisted his perspective so completely that if they could see what I see, Jasper would cancel his plans.

Even the Prince understands abusive parents—both emotionally and physically.

“Zav, we can’t just?—”

I look at Jasper with a firm expression on my face. “No, we don’t. Kit helped Salem without question and came to a roomful of people looking at him with suspicion quietly. Then he repeatedly asked what our rules were and how to make us comfortable. Does that remind you of anyone, Jasper?”

He frowns and looks over at Oriel. His family is the worst of them all, and his fondness for the human realm has always made it worse. The raging bitch he calls ‘mother’ has his father cowed to almost non-existence, while his siblings treat him like he has a disease because he’s obviously not his father’s child. He’s a bastard because his pain demon mother slept with a crow shifter somewhere outside of her marriage to his weak, minor crossroads demon father. All eight of his brothers and sisters are older than him, but the old bat named him the heir apparent because of his tie to their lines’ affinity.

“For fuck’s sake, Zavida,” Oriel mutters before shoving food into his mouth.

Our brother won’t remark further—he doesn’t talk about his home life unless required, nor does he let his pain show in public. The true marker of it lives in his room—a horde of random stolen items and trinkets he fills his space with both on instinct and bloodline demand. His animal is a far better representation of his family power lineage than his siblings; the crow pushes him to steal, hide, and preen over the treasure trove of weird in his room-shaped nest.

You couldn’t ask for a better avatar of greed, if you ask me.

Slash shifts in his chair, taking the attention off of O by moving his enormous bulk. “If Zavida is correct, Prince, then…”

“Fine, fine. Your council is noted, Zav.” He turns to pin the angry new guy with a suspicious glare. “I will keep my eye on you. We all will. If you step out of line, even a millimeter, and cost us the reputation we have built so painstakingly, I will not hesitate to destroy you.”

Kit puts his hands on his hips, then moves them quickly as if the gesture was second nature and he’s hiding it. “Agreed. But I will need someone to give me the rules and regulations you expect me to follow rather than set me to fail by hiding them. And tell me who the goddamned fuck you are, unless you’d rather I call you my own names.”

X looks amused, their beautiful face filled with joy. “What, pray tell, are those names? I find myself very curious, Kit.”

His playful query seems to calm the tension in the kid and his lips curl as he looks at us one by one. Pointing to Jasper first, he makes the rounds. “Asshole Demon, Big Demon, Pretty Demon, Flirty Demon, Goth Demon, Lazy Demon, and Gamer Demon.”

I’ll be damned. That’s spot fucking on. I might be jealous of his insightfulness.

That’s par for the course, though, given my lineage. But I don’t often truly feel it this deeply and my interest in this guy is puzzling as hell. The expressions on the faces of my brothers are varied, but I can tell they are just as fascinated by Kit as I am.

Which could be excellent or terrible news.

“Yes, well, I can’t argue the logic,” Jasper says smoothly. He doesn’t look even a bit perturbed by his moniker, but that’s because his persona is crafted to reflect exactly what he said. “You can use your own names, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t introduce everyone.”

Heaven forbid someone hear the Prince is as ill-mannered as he is ill tempered.

“That is Slash, my second-in-command since we were children.” He points to the large aquatic shifter. “On the couch are Xerxes and Anton, who indeed, are pretty and flirty.”

X winks at Kit playfully and Anton wiggles his fingers. They’re the most outgoing of us all, and it’s not just their affinity that makes them such. Both of them enjoy the company of others and their powers bring mostly pleasurable sensations. It’s not surprising they aren’t as cautious as the rest of us. Kit smiles a little, his gaze intense, like he’s trying to memorize each person.

“You have the rotten luck of rooming with Salem and the darkly sarcastic one is Oriel.” Jasper cuts his gaze to me, smiling softly. “Zavida, there is the opposite of my churlish personality, and that’s the lot of us.”

Nodding, Kit moves to sit, taking his plate to nibble on the food. A loud growl comes from his stomach before Jasper can continue and all eyes fly to him again. His cheeks flame and he mutters, “Sorry. Rude body parts. Continue.”

Salem has been quiet mostly, but he immediately gets up and piles a plate full of the food we prepared. His expression is troubled when he walks over and hands it to our new roommate, growling in a low voice, “Less talking, more eating.”

Jasper rolls his eyes and mutters something in the language of our people, leaving Kit to study the food. None of us speak until he eats again, his face not reflecting whatever is going on inside of him. Once everyone seems satisfied, our leader picks up the agenda he asked me for. He’s done picking on the new dude and ready to get down to business.

“Our caliphate is special. Because of my family, we’ve been allowed to have certain privileges and exceptions made, so we must hold up our end of the bargain. The floor will remain spotless in public areas and presentable in private ones. All duties will be split as Slash and I see fit, with no questions asked. Grades will reflect the excellence of our group—this means you , Oriel—and every single person in this room will represent us in extracurriculars. No one will behave in a way that diminishes our image or it will be dealt with severely. Got it?”

His overbearing crap gets worse every year and now that he’s on faculty, it’s gone to his head. None of us wants to invite the intervention of our parents, so we are careful how we comport ourselves. Even when there’s a coordinated campaign to teach a deserving rival a lesson, we know how to do it without leaving a trail. I suspect that’s exactly what he has in store for Kit and suddenly it doesn’t sit right with me.

The guy clearly has a shitty past in the human world and it feels wrong to compound that with a shitty future in this one.

“I’ll need that damn rulebook if I’m expected to be a good little automaton,” Kit interjects. “I cannot possibly read your mind to figure out what the hell you deign to be appropriate.”

Oriel grins a little and tilts his head in a very crow-like manner. “I can shadow him.”

“Beelzebub laughed,” Slash grunts as he turns to Jasper. “That’s the worst possible plan.”

A smug, cunning expression comes over the Prince’s face and I realize he’s weighing the possible fallout of allowing Oriel to have permission to teach someone rules versus sparing someone more law-abiding for the task. He nods sharply. “Permission granted, O. You will be Kit’s guide to everything Discordia, and the rules of our caliphate.”

Of all the gin joints in all the supernatural world, this dude had to walk into ours. He’s toast.

“We need to divvy up the extracurriculars. I’m not getting stuck with a sweaty sport this year, Jasper Eversore,” Anton says as he preens a few feathers that have popped up. “I want to decide now so the fucking paths to captain or chair or whatever are clear.”

“Dibs on student council,” Xerxes says with a devious grin. “Planning events full of longing and well-dressed people is right in my wheelhouse. Plus, I’m the most social—you animals have reputations.”

“Fine. Who else has a preference? Slash is clearly our demon in the Magic Battles.” Jasper turns to the shark shifter, who nods. “His size, cunning, and magic are only matched by my own. Alas, I can no longer compete, but I will be heavily involved in coaching.”

Of course he will. Jasper is the reigning champion of the Battles at Discordia, as his father and grandfather were before him.

Anton looks thoughtful before he hums. “I’ll handle the arts—plays, music, and the like. Letting Oriel take them after our senior year would be a bloody disaster. He would steal half the props and pickpocket all the dignitaries.”

Our dark friend chuckles softly, shrugging without a hint of remorse. “It’s who I am, boys. You can’t fight nature. I’ll do the Thieves Guild. I’ll learn more there than any other activity.”

The Prince nods again. “Done. That leaves Zav, Salem, and Kit. Now is the time, gentlemen, or I’ll assign you myself.”

That gets the panda shifter’s attention, and he sits up a straighter. “Leave the hospitality committee to me. I can get in tight with the staff in the office and the other house leaders. I’ll behave; I promise,” he says as he makes a pentagram in the air.

Slash and Jasper exchange looks that say they aren’t convinced, but it is a fitting place to leave our least motivated member. He won’t have to exert himself much and isn’t likely to earn demerits for skipping shit to cook. Their gaze moves to me and I know what I want, but I’m worried about what will happen to Kit. He doesn’t have a clue about this place, his powers, everyone’s powers, or the politics. He won’t be elected to a leadership position, and he looks as if he doesn’t want one.

“I think Kit should try everything this first year. We will all be there to observe him and can appoint him as our seconds to monitor his progress. It’s less likely to get us dinged by his lack of knowledge.” I shoot him a sheepish look, hoping he knows I’m not being an asshole. He shrugs and continues eating. “And I should take on the academic clubs.”

The silence hangs for another moment before the Prince finally sighs. “You can always see the entire chessboard, Zav. Your suggestion is accepted. Kit will join all of your activities and we can assess his strength—if he survives past the break.”

From the look on his face, Kit will let no one stand in his way—even us—and that’s yet another worry to file in my hard drive.