Lucifer Reborn by Dante King (the reader ebook .TXT) 📗

The thought of Christina lying on the ground, bleeding from a dozen wounds made my stomach turn. “I don’t like that idea,” I said, shaking my head. “I don’t want to see you hurt.”

She met my gaze for a long moment, regarding me evenly. “You did see me back there with Maddie, right?”

“Of course. How could I forget?” Christina had been a thing of beauty then—a terrible beauty, indeed.

“When I waded out into those demons and started smashing in faces, I...I felt something,” she confessed, looking to Mareth and Xora for confirmation. “I don’t know about the other Schools here at the Academy, but I can tell you this: I’m a fighting demon. A combat demon. When it was just you and me standing between that crowd and Maddie, I’d never felt so fucking alive!”

“In that case, you’d be spending a lot of time here,” Xora said, her smile widening. “There’s lots to learn—combat magic, the use of hellspawned weaponry.”

“Lots of just beating the shit out of people, too,” Mareth said with a laugh. “I don’t come down here very often, myself—my specialities lay elsewhere. But I’d love to come see you spar sometime, Christina!”

Christina gave me a hopeful look. “That’s alright with you, right, Luke?”

I looked out over the field of competitors, thinking. Well hell, I thought, we’re going to have some fighting to deal with sooner or later. I’d rather Christina be prepared for it. Plus, she does look pretty hot ripping out my enemy’s throats…

“Yeah,” I said, grabbing a handful of her ass, pulling her closer to me. “I bet you could teach those guys down there a thing or three about kicking ass, babe.”

I’d never seen Christina look so gratified. Her smile was like Christmas morning. “Fuck yes,” she giggled, giving me a kiss on the cheek. “I’m gonna be your badass warrior babe. Don’t worry—when I step out of the arena, I’ll be more than ready to shimmy into some fancy dress and have you parade me on your arm…”

She pressed her body against mine, her teeth teasing my bottom lip. Sensing the two of us were about to spill into full-on making out if she didn’t do something, Xora motioned for us to focus.

“Well, how about you two have a little practice round? I have two students who are also fairly fresh, and I can promise you that they’ll provide you with more than a taste of the School of Wrath.”

Christina and I shared a look. The blonde seemed more than just willing to hop into the ring—she was excited as all hell. I couldn’t help but feel that way a little bit, too. Now that Maddie was safe, and there was a little distance between our previous fight with demons, I could admit how exciting it had been to fight them.

“Sure,” I agreed, watching Christina’s face light up. “Let’s test our mettle.” I wondered if I’d be able to do that trick with the tendrils again, or if it needed more time to recharge.

I thought we’d fight right there, on the big plateau where the rest of the demons sparred, but Xora had other ideas. She led us across a narrow chain bridge toward one of the farthest flung islands, an inky finger of rock floating in the black. I didn’t need her to tell me what that meant—this fight was about to be no holds barred. We’d be able to use magic, in addition to weapons.

No sooner had we crossed over than Xora escorted two demons over the bridge. A big crowd filled in behind them, eager to watch the newbies take on their first fight, but these two were definitely our opponents. I looked them up and down, trying to get a feel for them. A two on two fight, then—hopefully nothing Christina and I couldn’t handle.

“This is Bryan,” Xora said, tapping the back of her hand against the taller man’s chest. “He’s a Rake.”

He was very tall indeed, so much so that he would have fit right at home on an NBA basketball team if he wasn’t so weird-looking. His arms and legs seemed too long for his lanky frame, almost like Slender Man. Only whatever demons they had down here definitely predated Slender, or the rest of the creepypasta characters.

“He doesn’t look like much of a challenge,” Christina whispered. I had to agree: the demon held no weapon, not even a basic one, and he certainly didn’t seem like some sort of arcane sorcerer. Appearances could be deceiving, however—I’d learned that when Maddie showed up locked in the trunk of my car. Any demon could turn on a dime. Even a scrawny one like Bryan was a threat.

The second demon looked more along the lines of what I’d been expecting. Overlapping plates of chitinous armor sheathed his body, making him look like a massive, overgrown bug. He’d brought two swords with him, curved ones, with enough range to slash or stab without having to step close enough to a target to leave himself open for counter attack. In contrast to the rest of him, his face was almost human, which just made him look even creepier.

“Aztomund,” the second demon said, nodding respectfully at me, then Christina. “It will be a pleasure to spar with new recruits.”

“A Rake and a Scarab Demon versus a Mog and a human,” one of the demons in the crowd cackled. “Oh, this is going to be a massacre! Who wants to lay a few coins down?”

More hooting and hollering spilled from the crowd as they got into it, money exchanging hands.

“Don’t let them get you angry,” I warned Christina. With the eyes of so many demons on both of us, I wanted to put on a good show. “Save that rage for Slender Man and Bug Boy.”

The blonde chuckled. “Good nicknames,” she growled, extending her claws.