I practically ran into the classroom. The ring box on my desk was too much this morning. I suspected Andrei had people spying on me so that he could stay one step ahead. Heck, I wouldn’t have put it past him to sneak into the class unseen. I swiped it aside. It dropped like a poisoned apple onto the floor. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Andrei raise his brows. I didn’t have time to deal with that today.
Both professors entered the classroom. I flexed my hands and balled them into fists. In my head, I went over the words of light one more time. Ever since Professor Suleiman had said we were close to being able to start the practical portion of the class, I had been practicing my pronunciation every waking moment. They were the last thing I thought of when I closed my eyes. I recited the words to myself when I took care of my chores in the Grove. The nymphs thought that I was nuts.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” Professor Mortimer said, “get yourselves ready. We’ve had two new possession cases overnight. They’ve been moved into the secure wing at the prison. The Dominion has given us permission to attend as they attempt to exorcise the demons.”
A flutter of excitement thrilled through me. That dimmed a little as Professor Mortimer waved his arms and opened up a portal right at the front of the classroom. Not this again.
I shut my eyes and forced myself through. Phew. Still here.
“Everybody over this way, please,” Professor Suleiman said. I made a beeline for him.
Professor Mortimer was speaking to the female guard in the administration office. After five minutes he waved us forward. We went through yet another long corridor in the top floor that opened into the observation room. It was the size of a football field.
Once inside the room, we were flanked by at least half a dozen Dominion guards. I felt Andrei pull up beside me, but I was too busy taking in the scene in front of me. There was a glass observation wall between us and the patients. That didn’t detract from the abject misery of it. There were a dozen or so patients in the beds lined up against the two sides of the room. Each bed was ringed in an arcane circle that glowed in transparent silver motes all the way up to the ceiling.
Some patients were asleep. Others had their eyes open, staring up at the empty air. The two closest to the glass wall were the only ones making a fuss. They clawed and spat at their bindings. Their mouths open into dark, gaping holes. It was like the start of every one of my nightmares when I’d first been put into the foster homes.
Despite the cold that splintered through me, the room itself was heated via an everlasting flame. It roared inside the fireplace against the far wall. Fire was often a deterrent to demons, so its presence wasn’t unexpected.
Every patient was strapped down with bars of light across their chest, knees, and feet. Their bindings glowed orange.
A golden-haired Nephilim teleported into the room. She had a long face and even longer figure. Two mages in red cloaks stepped up beside her.
“Who can tell me why we are unable to leave these humans in the care of their own species?” Professor Mortimer asked.
I knew the answer before the Fae girl stuck her hands up. “They have been deemed volatile but the Dominion,” she said.
“And what makes them volatile?” the professor prodded.
“Their demons are actively trying to use their essence as a way of trespassing on this dimension.”
“Why don’t we just put them down?” one of the boys asked.
“Because we’re not in the business of killing humans,” Professor Suleiman said.
“Why can’t the Nephilim just exorcise them with their angel blades?” the boy kept pressing.
“Because to exorcise the demons at this stage would automatically kill the human host.”
“It makes no sense that these humans are susceptible and others aren’t,” one of the other girls commented. “Why don’t they fight?”
“Why indeed?” Professor Mortimer threw out to the class. There was a momentary silence. I’d read ahead in the textbooks. On the weekends when everybody else was resting, I was in the library trying to figure out the reason why Nanna’s demon hadn’t been able to break her. There was no consensus in the supernatural community about why some humans were possessed and others not. But I had an inkling. Transfixed by the sight of the struggling patients in front of me, I was speaking before I even realised what I was doing.
“It’s because these humans have given themselves over to the demons,” I said. I could feel their gazes turning to me, but I was riveted to the slow walk of the Nephilim as she entered the room with the mages. “They’re not more susceptible. These humans wanted to let the demons in.”
Nanna had no choice in the matter. Her mind had tried to fight the demon. These humans had made a deal with the demons for their own personal gain and the demons had betrayed them. Now it was too late and they were fighting for their lives. I shuddered to think of what might happen if the Human League got their wish and humans became aware of the presence of demons. Would they give up their humanity for a shot at power? I thought of Randall sitting in the Terran hospital and I knew it was a resounding yes. When you had nothing, there was nothing to lose.
I couldn’t take my eyes off where the Nephilim was approaching the new patient to the left of the room. He was a man in his mid-forties. His eyes were sunken. The skin around them was sagging and bruised. His frame was nothing more than skin and bones. They’d taken away
