Marie Mistry [Mistry - A Demon’s Horns: Vice College For Young Demons: Year One

A Demons Horns (Vice College For Young Demons: Year One)

Copyright: Marie Mistry 2019

This is a work of fiction. Names, places, brands, media and incidents are either the product of the authors imagination or used fictitiously. The author acknowledges the trademark owners of various products, brands and/or stores referenced in this work of fiction which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorised, associated with or sponsored by the trademark owners.

The right of Marie Mistry to be identified as author of this Work has been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in retrieval system, copied in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise transmitted without written permission from the author. You must not circulate this book in any format.

Dedication

To you, who dared to take a risk on a new author. Thank you.

Authors Note

A Demons Horns is a Paranormal Reverse Harem novel containing sexual situations with multiple consenting partners over the age of 18. This book also contains foul language, descriptions of violence and alcohol, and is written in British English. It also ends on a cliff hanger and the series will have a happy ending in the fourth and final book.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

I glanced up from my bowl of pasta and looked my mother straight in the eye from across the dining table. You did what?

She sighed, gently brushing an escaped lock of blonde hair from where it was caught on the yellow crystal set into her forehead. I enrolled you at Vice College last week, and your acceptance letter came today. She gave me a satisfied pearly white smile which matched the gleam in her bright green eyes. Of course, she was smiling. She had just succinctly ended our three-year argument in one breath.

I tossed my fork at the table and shoved my chair back.

Lilith, my dad chided, from behind the book floating in the air in front of his bowl.

Please may I be excused? I grated out.

He gave a small nod, still not looking at me.

I stood and kicked the chair away, heading out of the kitchen towards my room.

Definitely not Sloth, he murmured from behind the pages of his book as I thundered up the stairs.

Well, well know for sure soon enough. My mother sounded smug. She could still be a Pride.

I slammed my door on their discussion and flopped onto my bed. That same conversation had been going on since my birth and had irritated me since before I could remember.

In theory, I got that all demons first twenty-five years of life followed the same path due to a strange combination of necessity and tradition. We slipped into the national school system at six, two years later than our human counterparts so that we were old enough not to mention our parents were demons. Then, when we finished our years of human education at twenty, we were supposed to just leave it all behind and attend the demonic version of college for four years. All our human friends, all our human lives just abandoned and forgotten.

The first autumnal equinox after a young demon turned twenty marked the point when our bodies naturally stopped ageing. This in turn triggered a phase known as the awaiting, a year-long period during which, at any time, they could go through the showing and be sorted into one of the seven demonic castes.

No one knew exactly why young demons went through the showing, but it was far more likely to happen if they were around other demons. Hence, seven demon colleges had been created in each country to increase our chances of becoming fully-fledged demons and salvage the constantly declining demonic population. There was also the terrifying possibility of a demon remaining un-shown, relegating them to a status that was little better than a human.

My mother, a ninth generation Pride, had started going on about Vice College when I turned seventeen. The most elite of the seven colleges in Britain, it was hidden in the forested hills of the north of England and starred as the setting for most of my mothers recollections of the good old days. It had taken me all of five seconds to decide it wasnt the place for me and turn to my dad for backup. Since he was a Sloth, I should have known he would never bother with entering an argument, but still, I had tried and failed.

My mum, though exasperated with him for not taking her side, had been grateful for his silence, since it meant she could hound me uninterrupted.

The worst part was that I recognised that she literally couldnt help it. Being a Pride demon, my accomplishments fuelled her powers, which in turn made her prouder for being more powerful. So her vicious cycle continued. Having her daughter accepted into Vice was just another source of satisfaction for her.

If I really did turn out to be a Pride, shed be glowing with power for weeks.

I cringed just thinking about what my mother would have written on the Vice application form. The admissions people had probably read through a long-winded recital of my family tree and how excited I was to take my place in their world.

Gag.

A hesitant knock on my door broke me out of my angry reverie.

Yes? I called.

My dads voice called through the door. Your mother said I should come speak to you. He didnt sound too bothered, but he was like that and, most of the time, I didnt mind.

I shifted off the bed and opened the door. As usual, my dad looked completely unruffled by my earlier anger, but he did manage a small smile for me as he came into my room and stretched out on the bed.

Dad was a thin, well-dressed man, despite his caste. Mostly because he was as indifferent to food as he was to exercise. He would do something if told to do it and not care one way or the other. Mum chose his clothes and sent him to the gym three times a week so that he would never fall prey to the obesity that plagued both his caste, Sloth, and Greed. But even exercise couldnt remove the permanently vacant look in his eyes.

Vice is a nice enough place, he began, in his understated way. Coming from my dad, the word nice really meant spectacular. Some people were decent there. Most people will be too consumed by their own showings to care about yours. He scratched slightly at the Sloth crystal set into the back of his neck.

I smiled meekly. What if I dont have a showing? If Im at Vice it will be more humiliating than just being at human university. And, its going to hurt if I do have one...

He gave me an uninterested look. Why wouldnt you have a showing? He was getting bored; I could tell because his eyes were literally beginning to glaze over. Sure, the pain of growing a crystal is bad, I guess, but dont be so worried. Youre not a Pride, Lily.

What am I? I asked, desperate to know his thoughts.

He just looked at me blankly, and I knew he had just used up his communication points for the day. I sighed, took him by the hand and led him from my bedroom and into the sitting room to his favourite sofa so that he could space-out in peace.

My mother took the opportunity presented by my reappearance to spring out of the kitchen with my bowl of unfinished pasta in one hand and a cup of juice in the other.

Hungry, despite myself, I took them from her and didnt complain as she followed me up to my room, leaning against my open door.

Dont worry, Lilith, youll love Vice, I promise, she reassured me, watching as I set the pasta on my desk and opened my laptop. The first year is stressful with everyone panicking about their showings and their castes, but after that it gets really fun. Vice knows everything about preparing you for adult life. You get three years of learning to harness your powers and theyll help you pick out the best career for your talents at the end, like they did for your father and me.