Scholomance 3: The Devil's Academy Read online

  Instead of a reply, Bram muttered a spell under his breath with his wand pointed at his counterpart. Malcolm jerked and then shakily rose to his feet, and he stared at me before he bared his teeth in a bloody grin as he and Bram raised their wands.

  I thought they would aim for me, but instead their wands shifted to either side of my body.

  “Stupefaciunt!” the two men cried out in unison.

  Twin blasts of red light flew from the tips of their wands and headed straight for Morgana and Akira, but I was already prepared for whatever they had in mind.

  “Novis!” I yelled.

  I expected only one of the spells to go flying back, but to my amazement, my light caught both spells, and they backfired and hit the two warlocks straight in their chests. Their eyes widened in shock as they went flying back into the thicket with a loud and painful sounding thud.

  “Ha! Look at those dumb bitches! That’s what you get when you fuck with our coven!” Akira started to howl with laughter, but my other women turned to look at me with their mouths hanging open.

  “How the hell did you do that?” Faye cried out. “I was about to counterattack until I saw your light ate up both spells.”

  “I don’t know… ” I breathed. “That’s never happened before.”

  “Who the hell cares how he did it?” Akira shrugged. “The point is, he sent those assholes flying backward onto their warlock asses. In my book, that’s a job well fucking done.”

  “Ugh… well… that certainly was interesting,” I heard Malcolm groan as he returned to his spot with Bram by his side. “How about round two?”

  Malcolm bared his teeth, and I noticed another one of his teeth was missing. Bram also had a lump that was beginning to form on his forehead, and a sense of pure satisfaction flooded through my body.

  “Uhhhh, you two idiots are clearly outmatched,” Faye snickered. “Maybe you should just fuck off with your tails between your legs?”

  “No,” Malcolm grunted. “We won’t lose to a bunch of witch-bitches. We are Satan’s chosen, and--”

  “Are you two going to fight, or flap your cock holster?” Akira sassed. “We’ve got shit to do after we kill you fucks.”

  “We are going to fight,” Bram growled.

  “Ugh,” Morgana sighed. “Ugly, cocky, and stupid. We are doing Satan a favor by wiping you from existence.”

  It had been a minute, and I could fire as many spells as I wanted to, but as soon as I raised my wand, my arm was being pushed down by some magical force. I tried to fight it, but it was just too powerful, and the warlocks stared at me in confusion as my arm shot down and remained stuck at my side. I had no idea what was going on, and when I looked at the others, they seemed to be going through the same problem.

  “What the hell?” Akira demanded through her teeth as she struggled and failed to lift her arm.

  “Now, that’s not any way to treat our new guests,” a familiar voice said from behind us.

  I turned my head and saw Headmistress Theodora slowly approaching us with a placid smile on her face. Her dark hair was pulled back into a tight bun, and she was wearing a deep purple gown adorned with black lace at the hem and around her high neck collar. Her boots dug into the soft earth as she neared us, and the bottom of her dress was covered in a thick layer of mud.

  “Headmistress!” Morgana gasped. “These warlocks just attacked Vesta for no reason! We should take them as hostages back to the castle.”

  “Yeah.” Akira nodded, and then she used her free hand to point at Vesta, who was still slumped unconscious against the tree trunk. “She’s all kinds of fucked up. We were only acting in self-defense!”

  “Oh?” Theodora responded in a dark tone, and she shot a sharp look toward the warlocks. “Well, that’s no good… I would have expected our guests to behave. You never know what could happen to those who disrespect a Scholomance student. Those who have done so in the past have suffered very gruesome, excruciating deaths.”

  “Guests?” I repeated with wide eyes. “Headmistress, guests or not, we could kill them, or at least lock them up in the dungeon to use for class experiments.”

  “Tempting,” she replied as her pale blue eyes darkened, and for a moment, I thought she was about to agree with me, but she shook her head instead. “But that won’t be necessary… not for a first offense, at least.”

  She retrieved her wand from her sleeve, aimed it at Vesta, and muttered an incantation under her breath. In the next moment, Vesta’s silver eyes fluttered open, and she looked around with wide, vacant eyes.

  “W-What happened?” she asked.

  “You were knocked out,” Akira said before she rushed over to help the purple elf to her feet.

  “By those assholes,” Morgana added before she shot the two men a dirty look.

  “They haven’t even explained why they attacked her out of nowhere,” Faye said.

  “That’s true,” I snarled as I glared daggers at Malcolm. “And I for one would like some fucking answers, before I kill them both. I’d be willing to sacrifice some of my soul to see them both dead at my feet.”

  “As I said,” Theodora replied in a firm tone, and her eyes stared deep into mine, “they are our guests, and I’m sure that they’ve realized what a terrible mistake they’ve made. Should they repeat such an offense, the consequences will be severe to say the least.”

  “I understand,” I said after a long moment. Theodora obviously had something up her sleeve, since there was no reason she’d let these fuckers live otherwise.

  The beautiful headmistress turned to look at the two warlocks, and her frown deepened. “Now, I’m sure you two understand the gravity of the situation. There will be no more tomfoolery or attacks against my students. As I said, you will deeply regret it. Now, let us go, the welcoming ceremony will begin shortly.”

  “The welcoming ceremony?” Faye asked.

  “You’ll understand soon enough,” Theodora responded with a serene smile. “Come along now. We don’t want to keep the others waiting.”

  “Thank you, Madame Theodora,” the two men answered in unison. “We sincerely appreciate your hospitality, and we deeply apologize for our uncharacteristic behavior. It won’t happen again… we simply made a grave error.”

  Theodora nodded, and as they passed by me, Malcolm leaned in close to whisper something into my ear.

  “I know you think you’re hot shit,” he sneered. “But the only reason you won this round is because you caught us off guard, and you had your bitches with you. We’ll be ready for you next time.”

  It took all my willpower not to raise my mobile arm and punch him in the face, but I trusted Theodora, and I wasn’t about to disrespect her by going against her orders. As the warlocks made their way toward the headmistress, though, I stared long and hard at them with nothing but contempt in my chest.

  “Now,” Theodora said as she looked at us, “let’s drop this little paralysis spell and forget all about this little misunderstanding, shall we?”

  She flicked her wrist, and my arm returned to normal. Then my coven breathed a sigh of relief when their arms were also set free.

  “Now, let’s get back inside before people begin to wonder where we are,” the headmistress added.

  Why would people wonder where we were?

  I shook my head and gritted my teeth as I watched Malcolm and Bram follow Theodora back to the castle, and my coven and I kept our distance as we slowly trailed after them.

  “What the hell is going on?” Faye whispered as we neared the black iron gates.

  “I don’t know,” I responded, “but we’re about to find out.”

  “Well, we know it has something to do with warlocks,” Akira sneered. “Filthy bastards.”

  “Wait,” I said as I slowed down. “Explain the difference between a witch and warlock. You guys said I was the first male witch in history, but there are male magic people in other schools? What’s the deal?”

  “You were the first male witch in Scholom
ance’s history,” Morgana corrected. “Only witches are accepted into this academy, and only powerful witches are summoned by the ritual Theodora and the other professors performed when you arrived, so by default, you’re a witch.”

  “In short, warlocks are magical males with an adequate amount of power,” Akira scoffed. “They think they are the best at everything, but really they are nothing but a species of arrogant pricks that possess some skills… nothing more or less in my opinion. They never seem to understand when to quit, even when they’re outmatched. Hence, the two idiots we encountered in the woods.”

  “Most warlocks also have a slightly different belief system than us witches,” Morgana added.

  “Different belief system?” I muttered, but then I noticed Vesta stumble out of the corner of my eye, and I turned to make sure she was alright and keeping up. She took a nasty hit, but she was pushing through like the warrior she was.

  “Are you feeling okay?” I asked, just as a precaution.

  “I’m fine,” she replied with a slight smile. “I can already feel myself healing thanks to our bond, but thanks for asking.”

  I nodded, and we quietly marched past the black gates and headed upstairs to the banquet hall, and when the doors swung open, my jaw nearly hit the ground.

  The entire room had expanded to about twice its usual size, and there were hundreds of tables lined up with the most fantastical dishes I’d ever seen here at Scholomance. I spotted roasted swan, five-foot tall pumpkin cake, tender harpies, goblets of blackberry wine, purple apples and pink grapes, sweet potato and parrotfish pie, venison with peppered potatoes, and rabbit with raspberry powder. Even all the tables were decorated with ice sculpture centerpieces. Each one resembled a different mythical creature, and I spotted a swan-maiden figure centered right in the middle of the professors’ table.

  As magnificent as it all was, there was something else that really caught my eye, and it was the groups of students who stood at the front of the grand hall. They were shifting their feet awkwardly, and the rest of the Scholomance students were deadly quiet in their usual seats.

  I immediately noticed one of the new groups consisted only of men, and they were all dressed the same as the two pricks we met in the woods. The other group was solely composed of women and beautiful women at that. They all wore a uniform similar to the Scholomance dress code, except their skirts were dark green plaid instead of our black and white. The air of the banquet hall felt awkward and heavy as no one made a move to eat or even speak, but when we walked through the doors, everyone’s eyes were fixated entirely on us.

  “You may take your seats at your usual table,” Theodora said as she looked back at me. Then she turned to Malcolm and Bram and looked at them with a forced smile. “You two may join your school at the front of the room. The announcement will begin in just a moment.”

  Before the pair took their leave, they both flashed me a smirk that grated on my nerves. All I wanted to do was beat the teeth out of their faces, but I knew I had to keep my composure. Something strange was going on, and my top priority was figuring out what that was.

  My coven and I took our usual seats, and we watched as the headmistress glided to the front of the banquet hall and turned to look over the gathered crowd.

  “Welcome, everyone!” Theodora’s elegant voice roared through the room. “It is my immense pleasure to introduce you to the Mors Academy and the Vipera Conservatoire! Please give them a warm welcome.”

  Slowly and awkwardly, people began to clap, and when I glanced at the other witches from Scholomance, I could tell they were just as confused as we were.

  “Now, I’m sure all of you have plenty of questions,” the headmistress continued.

  “No shit,” Akira muttered.

  “So, allow me to explain… ” Theodora went on. “Not too long ago, we used to hold grand tournaments that tested only the strongest of students and their abilities. We have collectively decided to host the games once again, and Scholomance has the immense honor of accommodating the competing schools. Official tryouts will be held tomorrow evening, after class, for all students who wish to enter. Now, that’s enough of that… everyone, please dig in and enjoy this magnificent feast!”

  The students slowly began to dig into the food, and when I looked down, a full plate of food appeared in front of me on a golden platter. Even though it looked amazing, I wasn’t in the mood to eat. My mind was a whirlwind of questions, and I wondered what the hell Theodora was up to now. Whatever it was, I had a deep, unsettling feeling about it, and I couldn’t push it away, because there was something she wasn’t sharing with us.

  It wasn’t the first time, though, and just like before, I intended to find out what it was, no matter what it took.

  Chapter 2

  I continued to watch the pupils from the other schools, and as I observed them, I couldn’t help but wonder how they felt about being in a completely different atmosphere. I remembered how exotic and terrifying it was to be in Scholomance for the first time, and I wondered if any of them wished they could return home.

  However, the more I studied them, the more I realized how aloof and quiet both schools were. Neither tables bothered to touch much of their food, and I couldn’t help but notice each school sat as far away from each other as possible. The women, in particular, were eerily quiet compared to the Scholomance students. The warlocks, however, seemed to be content enough, and despite their reserve, they drank and whispered amongst themselves as if they were the only ones in the banquet hall.

  I averted my attention back to the Wicca school. They were an outlandish group of women, and some were more monstrous than others, but even so, the majority of them were ridiculously attractive. As I studied them from a distance, I accidentally caught the eye of a witch with long silver hair that sparkled like twilight. She had pale white skin, and her bright aqua-colored eyes grew a few shades darker when she narrowed her gaze at me. Despite her noticeable glare, I just couldn’t find the strength to look away. Her delicate features curled up in disgust, and when she realized I wasn’t going to break eye contact, she looked away and stared down at her plate.

  “Heh,” I snickered, and then I tried to focus on my meal, but it was difficult. Between the arrival of these new schools and Theodora’s chummy facade, there were a thousand different questions frantically roaming through my mind, but I knew there was no point dwelling on matters that could not yet be answered. Well, at least not until later, when I could grab a moment alone with Theodora.

  “What are you thinking about, Cole?” Vesta asked. Her light and airy voice snapped me back to reality. “You seem to be in your own little world… and you’re scowling more than usual. What’s up?”

  “Well,” I said before I glanced around to see if anyone was eavesdropping. When I realized everyone was too busy chatting and drinking, I focused my attention back to the lavender elf. “It’s all a little strange, isn’t it? This entire competition thing.”

  “I suppose for someone like you, it must seem… odd,” Morgana said, “but really, the Ludi Mortiferum is a well-renowned tournament dating back to the early ages, as far back as the first dawn of Wicca, so, really, it’s not that strange of a--”

  “I think what Cole meant was holding a deadly tournament after just barely saving the academy from a deranged duke seems a little bizarre, even for Theodora,” Akira cut in. “Not to mention we also stole a stone from some wrathful wizard, and she hasn’t even told us why yet.”

  “You’ve got to let that go--” Morgana started to say, but I cut in before she could finish.

  “Wait, what did you call it, Morgana?” I asked with a frown. “The Ludi what… ?”

  “The Ludi Mortiferum,” she repeated, “or also known more crudely as the Deadly Games.”

  “Why does everything have to murder or kill everyone around here?” I snickered.

  “Cause it’s fucking fun?” Akira laughed. “Sort out the weak, and let the cream rise to the top. We are the cream.�
��

  “You like my cream.” I winked at her.

  “Oh, for Satan’s sake,” Akira groaned. “You are so fucking full of your--”

  “Tell the truth,” I commanded, and her pretty little mouth froze.

  “Yes,” Akira said as her cheeks began to turn bright red. “I love your cream inside of me, Cole.”

  “Where inside of you?” I whispered.

  “In my mouth, in my pussy, and in my womb,” Akira gasped as her cheeks turned the color of tomatoes. “I… Everywhere… It’s really good. I love it. I need your cream. I want it…”

  “And how often do you want it?” I purred as the other three women also started to blush and squirm in their seats.

  “All the time,” Akira admitted with a whine. “I want it all the time, Cole.”

  “Good,” I growled as our eyes continued to stare into each others’. “Maybe, if you are a good girl, I’ll give you some. Will you be a good girl for me?”

  “Yes, Cole,” Akira whispered. “Please… I’ll be good. I’m sorry I spoke against you.”

  “You are forgiven,” I said, and then I turned to the beautiful green-haired woman. “Continue.”

  “As Theodora mentioned, these games are a way to bring the most powerful and gifted students together,” Vesta said as she twirled a purple finger through her sage-green locks. “I think it’s all extremely exciting if you ask me. I can’t wait to watch the tournament. My grandmother said it was one of the highlights of her year here… and I, for one, am dying to see what the first game will be like.”

  “As am I,” Faye said.

  “Same.” Morgana nodded.

  “Me, too.” Akira smirked as her blush started to fade. “I’d love to see some warlock guts get spilled all over a stadium.”

  “We aren’t alone in that mindset,” I responded. “Look around you… every single Scholomance student is just buzzing with excitement.”

  “That’s because they want to officially try out for the games,” Akira replied before she popped a piece of roasted harpy into her purple mouth, and I could hear the small bones crunching before she swallowed. “I’d love to see Scholomance kick those princesses’ asses.”