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

“We don’t base our classes on anything as restrictive as years,” the Headmistress explained with pleasure. “Our instructors teach the relevant skills to demons, giving them hands-on instruction in the impious and infernal Arts. Then, you are tested. Once a student passes their tests, they’re promoted to the next rank in that particular school.”

“It sounds like things could get a little lopsided,” Christina said, her face skeptical. “What if a demon excels in one area, but struggles in another? Take me for example. I’m a Wrathlust—what if I rise higher in the Wrath school than I do in the Lust one?”

“Oh, you definitely won’t struggle with Lust,” I growled, raking her up and down with my gaze.

Christina had the temerity to blush, but I could tell she’d be doing something very different if Lilith weren’t present. Probably getting a little more of that ‘hands-on’ experience the Headmistress kept going on about.

“Even so,” Christina said. “It’s a possibility, right?”

“It can be,” Lilith said, giving us both another one of those expansive shrugs. “But it’s not something most demons run into, in my experience. Most do put more emphasis on their majors rather than their demonic minors, to be sure, but there’s an equal amount of experience to go around.” A wicked grin rose to her face. “Besides, you’ll be sampling all our classes, won’t you, Luke?”

“Absolutely,” I said as Christina gave me a proud little glance. “I’m looking forward to sampling everything the Academy has to offer.”

“Oh, really? Everything?” Lilith leaned over in a way that made the Headmistress look less like an authority figure than a cougar on the prowl. “Perhaps you’d be interested in some private lessons later, then?”

 Again, that vision of her riding me upside-down filled my mind. No amount of coffee could prepare me for that proposition.

“Any other rules we should be aware of before you let us go?” I asked, glancing over my shoulder at the tent flap. Mareth must have been getting antsy by now. Maybe she’d found something fun to do, but I didn’t like the thought of her standing outside like some kind of puppy, waiting for us to finish up in here. “We’re both pretty wiped—I’d love to see these dorms…”

Lilith cleared her throat. “There is one thing,” she said, rising smoothly from behind the desk. “Normally, this would be taken care of at the admissions desk, but since you’re already here—ah, here we go…”

The beautiful demoness waved her hands in a complicated pattern, tracing symbols in the air. For a moment, there was the merest suggestion of a sigil in the space between her fingers—then the symbol erupted with light, forming a rent in the air. A subspace, I realized, watching as Lilith reached inside, a look on her face like she was waiting for someone to hand her something. I guess she wasn’t kidding when she said every demon has one…

What Lilith removed from her personal subspace was a massive tome, like one of those oversized Bibles they kept on display in historic churches. Only this thing was the antithesis of a Bible. Arcane symbols studded every inch of available cover space. The book crackled like pigskin as Lilith opened it and set it on the table. I swallowed hard, trying not to think of what they’d bound this book with.

“I’ll need just a little bit of your essence,” Lilith said, turning to a blank page. With a start, I noted columns of names stretching across the page, in letters so tiny they were almost unreadable. “Don’t worry, it won’t hurt very much. Christina, you first, please. Give me your hand.”

When Christina wasn’t quite fast enough, Lilith took her wrist and tugged it over the page. The demoness’ fangs flashed, one of her long dark nails pressing into the pad of Christina’s index finger. Christina let out a tiny expression of pain as the nail pierced skin, drawing a black drop of blood from the newly formed wound.

“That’s better,” Lilith said, sounding like she was getting off on Christina’s pain. For all I knew, maybe she was. “Just touch it to the page, dear. Don’t be shy. You’ve signed enough contracts already—we know exactly who your soul belongs to…”

A drop of Christina’s blood trickled to the page. It landed just beneath the latest name in the column, sizzling like a spoonful of oil spilled on a hot stove. A thin plume of acrid black smoke poured from the page, obscuring the blood. When it faded, Christina’s name lay beneath the most recent one in the book.

“You are now an official student of the Infernal Academy,” Lilith intoned solemnly. “While the previous strictures on your soul remain, you’ve also pledged yourself to the Academy and all the evil for which it stands.”

“One Hell, under Lucifer, with lust and lechery for all,” Christina added, smiling faintly. “Your turn, Luke. Give Lilith your finger.”

With more than a little hesitation, I extended a hand. Lilith seized it like she was about to slide it between her slender thighs, yet all she did was take the same nail that had just pierced Christina’s finger and use it to cut into mine. The pain felt sharper than it should have, the world blurring for just a moment as if some power flared inside of me. Deep down, I knew whatever ritual this entailed involved far more than a single drop of blood.

More smoke poured from the pages, and my name appeared beneath Christina’s. Lilith’s hand remained on mine, caressing it, then she let go and allowed me to sink back into my chair.

“You know,” I said, “I was joking to myself about signing forms in blood when I came in here. I didn’t expect I might actually have to do it…”

Lilith laughed knowingly. “Congratulations, Luke. You’re now