Fortune Academy: Year Three - J.R. Thorn Page 0,13
around and drink. How are you paying for this anyway?” I propped my hands on my hips and glowered down at him.
He rolled his eyes and grabbed me by my skirt, yanking me down next to him. “Out of all the things you ask me, that’s your most pressing question? How I’m going to pay for drinks in Hell?”
I chuckled, because yeah, it did sound kind of ridiculous.
Sighing, I gave in and grabbed one of the shots and sniffed it.
“It’s not poisoned, if that’s what you’re worried about,” Kaito said as he took a bottle with a Japanese demon face on it and poured himself another one.
“You don’t know that,” I countered. “Jess admitted to dosing me with pure evil when we’d done shots together back at Cindy’s bar. Who knows what kind of drinks they serve here?”
He gave me a raised brow. “Well, I guess I stand corrected.”
“Damn straight.” I sniffed again and didn’t detect any of the sharp metallic tang I remembered from the drinks Jess had given me. Taking a sip, I was pleasantly surprised to find it sweet, so I knocked it back and stuck out my empty shot glass as I squinted one eye. “This one’s safe. I’ll take another.”
Kaito chuckled and poured. “This is strong stuff, so pace yourself.”
“I’d expect no less from a bar in Hell.”
We drank together in silence as the beat outside the halls gave the atmosphere a comforting drone. It felt like we could just stay here forever, drink and talk while Calamity and the end of the world passed right on by.
Except, the weight of responsibility nagged at me with every breath I took. I was the Champion of the Third Echo of Calamity and Kaito was one of my Virtues—the first one I had ever bonded with, yet the one I knew the least about.
“So are you going to tell me why your face is lighting up like a Christmas tree?” I asked as I leaned over the table and swayed my empty glass. Or maybe I was the one swaying. It was hard to tell.
He lifted up the half-depleted bottle and drank directly from the spout. I giggled after he choked on it and set it down. “Have you ever heard of a Kami?”
I lifted an eyebrow. “No, should I?”
He sighed and twirled the bottle so the demon face looked at me. After so many drinks, it creeped me the fuck out. “This is a Kami,” he announced, all ominous-like.
I turned the bottle away. “An ugly bottle with an addictively sweet center?” I pinched his cheek and then squealed when my elbow slipped off the table and I tumbled into his chest. “If you’re trying to tell me what you are, it’s not working,” I said, my words muffled by his shirt.
He frowned as I fumbled against him, but he didn’t push me away. Instead his arm wrapped around me and pulled me in close as he leaned against the corner of the small room. I’d never seen him like this, so distant and depressed. “My memories came back when you brought us here.” He glanced down at me, his once silver eyes now held an unmistakable red glow that I’d only seen in places of dark magic born of suffering—my Blood Stone and Dante’s dagger. “I’m a Japanese demon, Koneko-chan. One from the lower levels. This isn’t even my body—it’s my prison.”
I stared at him for a moment, then found that statement utterly hilarious as I burst out laughing.
“It’s not funny,” he chided as he pushed me off him and grabbed me by the shoulders. “I’m a demon. Don’t you get what this means? Dark magic created this body and one day my true form is going to escape. I was never supposed to leave Hell, but before I became human all I cared about was power. I scoured the damned souls until I found the prophecy that led me to you. I wanted to use you and that was wrong. I’m a danger to you, Lily.”
“Kaito,” I said as I steadied myself against his chest. The world around me spun but I had never felt more grounded. “It doesn’t matter how we found each other. You were a monster, so what? So am I. I’m the freaking princess of the Underworld, or did you not hear what the other Demonspawn were saying?”
He blinked at me for a few times before thumping his back against the wall again. He brought his knees around me as I