26.

  Tav ran back to her room, her makeup running as tears streamed down her face. She ripped her draw open, damn near pulling it off its tracks. She threw away her clothes and found her ingredients. Heart and fang and claw. She also took the iron dagger her mother had given her when she told Tav about her brother the demon in the basement, and this ritual he could do for the young half-breed.

  Tav grabbed her bag and stuffed her ingredients in it, she ran out of the room and darted away from the gathered crowd.

  “If you come near me, I’ll kill you,” she shouted, running off down the hall towards the stairwell. A student tried to lunge for her and Tav threw her hand out forcing a blast of energy forward and knocking him back.

  Cole shouted out, “Tav! Don’t do it,” Flaming sword in hand he tried to push his way through the crowd. But they were so tightly packed, and people were grabbing at his shoulder, begging him to fight the temptation this daughter of predation had cursed him with.

  “Get off me! Get away!” Cole swung his burning sword around, breaking the crowd encircling him. He watched Tav take a corner and head towards the stairway.

  He knew where Tav was going, the basement, the demon, her uncle. The wraith that all these people, people who should be her friends, were about to bring on her was the last straw she needed to go through with this awful decision.

  Benny and Cole fought their way through the crowd, Benny put his hand on Cole’s shoulder, “We heard the commotion, there’s a demon loose, what’s going on?” he asked.

  “A demon lose in the academy will require swift action, where is it,” Gregor said as he and Benny summoned their weapons.

  “It’s not a Demon, it's Tav,” Cole said.

  “Tav? Wait, Tav’s a demon?” Benny asked.

  “No, she’s not, I mean, she is, but she’s not, look we have to stop her,” Cole said.

  Benny nodded his head, “We got to fight your girlfriend, man I’m sorry, but if she’s a demon-”

  “She’s not a demon, it's complicated,” Cole said.

  “Cole, I see your sword is aflame, I trust you’ve found a cause to champion. If whatever this cause is can do that, I trust it involves heroism, what is going on?” Gregor asked.

  “I guess the secrets out now, everyone knows, Tav’s a Half-Demon, and I’ve known for a while, she made me keep it secret. Angelica found out, told everyone, and now Tav is about to make the biggest mistake of her life,” Cole said.

  “Tav’s a half-demon? Can those exist? Wait so what they say about her dad is true? He’s the Betrayer?” Benny asked, “Tav’s dad slept with a demon? Was he really a bad guy, the stories say he died fighting a demon,” Benny said.

  “I can’t speak to his reputation,” Cole said, “All I know is that Tav is about to do something she really shouldn’t, so we have to stop her,” Cole said, holding his flaming sword and rushing down the hall after Tav.

  Benny and Gregor rushed to follow him, “What is going on?” Gregor asked, “What is Tav about to do?”

  “Something that might get us all killed, and worse, something she might regret for the rest of her life,” Cole said, “You’ve heard of the demon in the basement, right?” he asked.

  “Yes, I’ve overheard professors discussing such a demon, I’ve heard it’s a vile creature. An Ichor, very powerful, what reason would Tav have to consort with it?”

  “She’s doing a ritual, she told me, I thought I was able to convince her not to, but after seeing our entire class ready to rip her apart, she probably thinks this is the only thing she can do,” Cole came to the stairway, “Gregor, you know the layout of the academy right, can you get us to the central dungeon?” he asked.

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  “Yes, I versed myself in every inch of this academy, though the basement is off limits while not participating in a sanctioned hunt, there could be punitive actions taken against us if we were to-”

  “I don’t give a damn about any punitive action, we have to get to that basement, we have to stop her,” Cole said.

  “I’m with Cole, if there’s something we need to do, some way to save Tav, we got to help her,” Benny looked to Cole, “I’m with you, anything you need, I’m up for it,” he said, holding his weapon up.

  “Good to know,” Cole held up his flaming sword, “I can’t believe I finally did it, this must be important, this is what I have to do, Gregor, I need you man, we got to find the basement, anything thing you know? What way do we go,”

  “Well, if the maps I’ve researched concerning the academy are correct, left,” Gregor said.

  “Good enough for me,” Cole said, rushing down the stairwell as Benny and Gregor followed.

  Tav rushed through the maze of the academy basement and found the great glass orb containing her uncle. “Wake up, wake up!” she pounded her hand on the glass as the Ichor stirred awake.

  “Beautiful niece,” it said as it swirled around in the glass, “You have come to fulfill your ritual, fulfill our pact,” it said.

  “We have no pact, this is merely a trade,” Tav reached into her back and pulled out her regents. She laid the claw and fang down, and ripped the airtight bag containing the heart with her fingernails, “This is what you needed right, Heart and Fang and Claw,” Tav laid them down before the glass, “You can do it with this right, this is everything you need,” she said.

  “I will perform this ritual, I will fulfill the pact you have offered,” the Ichor swirled around and ungulated, “Are you sure, niece, will you destroy what makes you beautiful?” it asked.

  “I am not beautiful, not yet at least, now are you going to do it or not?” she asked, her voice biting and desperate.

  “I will fulfill,” the Ichor said, “Are you sure you can through with this, you know the price, don’t you?” it asked, swirling around in the glass.

  “I’m aware,” Tav pulled out her iron knife and opened her left hand, she bit her lip and brought the knife to her palm, slicing it open and dripping blood on the three ingredients.

  “By Blood, by heart and claw and fang, I make this ritual, I bring forth your power, and I command you to fulfill a deal of my desire, demon, now give me what you have promised,” she said.

  The three ingredients began to float into the air as the Ichor gathered itself in a great force as the heart and fang and claw thrust into the class, piercing into it and shattering.

  “I will fulfill our terms, I will give you your desire, and I will leave this place and continue the works of our people,”

  “I don’t give a damn if you kill everyone here, just give me what I want,” Tav said.

  “Dear Niece,” the Ichor ungulated and seemed to laugh, “You have brought me everything I need,” the glass surrounding the Ichor began to crack, and with a great explosion it shattered open, throwing Tav back. She tried to push herself up, “You have it, you’re free, now fulfill your deal,” Tav held her bloody hand up, “Give me what was promised,”

  “There are greater things at play here, dear niece,” The Ichor began to expand, and rise up, its body moving out in sick black tentacles, “I apologize, for lying, but you are needed,” one of the tentacles lunged forward and wrapped around Tav’s arm. She tried to pull it away, pull it free, “Let me go, I gave you what you wanted, you have debt,” she said as the Ichor raised her into the air.

  “Sister will know I am sorry,” the edge of the tentacle holding her slithered up her arm, and into the slit that she cut in her wrist, “She denies it, but we are of our father and must do our father’s works,” it said as it slithered into Tav’s arm and held her high in the air.

  “This wasn’t what I agreed to,” Tav fought and fought, trying to rip her hand free as the Ichor slid into her, “We had a deal, what are you doing?” she asked, desperate to try to get her hand free as another tentacle wrapped around her waist.

  “Stop this, stop this right now,” she said, still trying in vain to free herself.

  “You are the key, dear niece, you are the one who will bring the end to this war, you are the one who will deliver, I must show you your destiny,” it forced more of its Ichor body into her arm, Tav threw her head back and screamed as fire erupted from her eyes and she saw a vision of what this demon’s end goals would be. Red skies over the cities of man burned, a cataclysmic wasteland dominating the earth.

  “No!” Tav cried out, as more visions came.

  She saw bodies, hunters, mortals, and demons alike, all stacked up in a great mountain. She saw four horsemen riding through the sky, horses white and black and red and pale, cascading over a blood-crimson sky as the seals of the below were broken, all over the world gates opened and demons poured from them, laying waste to the cities of man, destroying anything and everything.

  “No, you can’t, this isn’t fair, you lied!” Tav cried out as the visions continued to come.

  A great beast, with three heads of a lion, and a leopard, and a goat, with claws of a bear and the wings of an eagle flying throughout the sky and bringing fire and death to everything it saw. This beast, the Morning Star himself. The form he would take when he was finally free in this world after so long being expunged from it.

  “You are beautiful,” the Ichor said, “Your beauty will bring this world to its proper order,” it laughed, rising Tav higher.