Page 5 of The Prince of Demons
HYDRA ALERT! HYDRA ALERT!
Cell phones and tablets buzzed as the university alert system rang. The sounds of zippers and shifting backpacks filled the air as a message popped up on every university-owned screen:
Run, hide, fight! A wolf stabbing has been reported on campus, behind Einstein Tower, and across Constellation Lake! The suspect is heading toward Curie Hall!
Whoever slays the first demon of the year earns 1000 points!
“We’re in Curie Hall!” Cordelia gasped.
“I’ll handle this,” the Alpha wolf, Adam, proclaimed, voice echoing across the cavernous lecture hall. His red frame fled the room, trailed by his brown-haired Beta, Xavier.
“No, you won’t,” the annoyed siren, Lukas, mumbled. “Sorry, ladies. The Housed will handle this.” He shook out his hair before careening after them.
“Are we in danger?”
“What’s happening?”
“What should we do?”
Frenzied panic filled the air. Several students darted away, opposite where the boys went. A couple of them stuffed themselves under seats.
“Sirens are so egotistical. They think none of the other houses can handle anything,” Cordelia said. She ignored the surrounding havoc.
“Every time a House tries to do something, there’s always at least one siren trying to outdo them,” she told me. “Because the sirens make such sizable donations to the university—you know, by seducing rich people on the outside—they think they’re better than everyone else, and that they can fix everything themselves.”
“Shouldn’t we be, like, doing something?” I interrupted.
“It’s probably just a rogue demon. They cross the veil from the Beyond all the time. We just have to stay out of their way until one of the Housed handles it and claims the points.”
“How do you know all this?” I pulled my backpack onto my lap before fleeing students trampled it.
“Me and the sirens go way back.” She grabbed her water bottle from her desk and shoved it back into her backpack.
“How?” I ducked as another student jumped over me in his haste to exit.
Green specks swirled in her eye like she was under some spell. She pressed her lips together, like she was thinking, but then changed the subject.
“This is crazy!”
“Maybe someone unaffiliated should check this out,” I shouted over the chaos. “Do unhoused freshmen get points?”
“Yeah!” she yelled back. “It gets calculated into grades with your class rank!”
I grinned. “Let’s go then! We can split the points if we defeat it together.”
“You want to go fight a demon?” Shock crossed her pretty face. “You have no House and no magic. What are you going to do to defeat it?”
“Ah, there’s where she’s wrong,” Gaksi whispered in my mind. “You have plenty of fun up your sleeve.”
“Silence!”I told him internally.
“I have some regular weapons,” I suggested. Mom had sent me off with an obscene amount of pointy toys to stab villains with.
“Maybe while you’re there, you can seduce one of those boys that has just run off,” Gaksi suggested.
“Count your days,”I threatened.
“I have infinite days; I’ll have you know.” His internal amusement warmed my thoughts, smoothing out my annoyance.