Cobalt stood in front of his bathroom sink, staring straight down into the basin.

He couldn't bear to look.

He and everyone else were found not long after Diate had released his hold on Izzbelle, and were all swiftly rushed to the hospital. Most of the students were okay; it turned out whatever incapacitated them left no lasting damage. The AD teachers were alright too, and so were Whitney and Elya, though the Fallen had to remain at the hospital to get her concussion treated, which she was none-to-pleased about. Izzbelle, however...

She still hadn't woken up. The doctors looked her over, and after investigating the X-shaped cut on her neck, they found a single sliver of black iron that had been pierced through her flesh. They couldn't fathom what it was.

But Cobalt could. And he was scared. Terrified.

No-one else heard Diate's speech. Nobody but him.

If he truly was a Devil, then it stood to reason that he was unfathomably powerful. They were an ancient people, said to be the progenitors of the modern demon. Masters of metal both physical and magical, they possessed powers far beyond what people were capable of these days. To hijack someone's body like a puppet... It was a terrifying thing to see.

But that wasn't all that was terrifying.

Doctor Elliott truly had no words for Cobalt this time. Every single tooth had been shattered and ripped clean out of his jaws, and in the span of an instant, the Incubus had sprouted an entire new set. According to the x-rays done by the Glutton doctor, there were more already forming within the Incubus' skull, ready to sprout anew should he lose them again.

But these new teeth... there was something wrong.

Though he had been doing everything in his power to put it off, Cobalt eventually came to terms with the fact that he was going to have to look up sooner or later. Swallowing hard, he raised his head and gazed into the mirror.

His teeth looked sharp and pointed, and when the Incubus ran his tongue across them, he felt that they were ever-so-slightly serrated. Stranger still was how natural they felt; like they had been there all along. Opening and closing his mouth a few times, Cobalt hooked his thumbs into his cheeks and pulled them apart, revealing the full array. His incisors were sharpened, his canines had extended, and the edges of his molars were jagged.

Placing his hands back onto the rim of his sink, he took a deep breath.

"The jaws of a carnivore..." Cobalt muttered miserably, stepping away from the mirror.

Out in his dorm room, he heard the sound of something knocking against his window. With a heavy sigh, he opened his bathroom door and stepped out to see Karazelle rapping her knuckles against his newly-repaired windowpanes. Pulling it open, he leaned on the sill and gave her a sad smile.

"Can I help you, Miss Terna?" he asked.

The Succubus scoffed and folded her arms.

"Can you help me? Sugar, you were attacked! They found you lying in a puddle of your own teeth!" she exclaimed, looking uncharacteristically worried.

"Yes, I know. It's kind of hard to just brush past these kind of things."

"And yet the first thing you do when you get home is go sulk by yourself?"

"I..."

Shaking her head, Karazelle stepped back onto the support beam and gestured for her teacher to join her.

"C'mon. We gotta talk about what happened," she said, tapping her good.

He sighed.

"Karazelle, you know I can't-"

"Who cares what you can and can't do?! We're all worried about you, and we want to make sure you're okay! Now hurry up; I made pizza rolls and everything!"

From the other side of the beam, Cobalt heard a cockney voice chime through the Succubus' open window.

"Pizza rolls aren't supposed to be black, Kara!"

"I did my best! I'm stressed, alright?!" she snapped back, before reaching a hand towards Cobalt.

Feeling as though he didn't have much of a choice in the matter, the Incubus took a deep breath and allowed himself to be pulled out onto his windowsill. With his hand firmly clamped in Karazelle's, he made the tenuous journey across the metal support beam over to the girls' dorms. Easing himself through her window, he landed onto the Succubus' couch and rolled rather unsteadily to his feet.

They were all there. Quinn and Lottie were sitting at her kitchen table, eyeing up a pile of rather burnt pizza rolls, while Whitney paced back and forth across the main room floor. Jelli was sitting cross-legged on Karazelle's futon, but the moment Cobalt entered, the Glutton stood up and immediately burst into tears.

"M- M- Mr. T- Trayer...!" she blubbed, barely able to get a word out before the tears began flooding down her cheeks.

With an encouraging shove from Karazelle, Cobalt stepped forward and opened his arms wide, whereupon she fell into his arms and began bawling. His cheeks flushed as he held her close, paralysed by memories of the last time Jelli was so close to him.

"Sir, you're okay!" Whitney gasped, running up to her teacher.

"Alright, alright, let's not crowd him, Butterskin. He's only just out of the hospital," Karazelle interjected.

"Hey, I was there too!"

"Yeah and you were passed out the entire time."

Before everything could devolve into another argument, Cobalt gestured for the two girls to calm down and took a seat on the couch, with Jelli still clinging to him.

"Okay, before you say anything, I have to ask for Jelli's sake; how's Izzbelle?" queried Karazelle, sitting down on the futon.

Cobalt frowned. After he woke up in the hospital, the first thing he did was ask after his student, but she was still undergoing examination. Elliott tried to tell him what he could, but because the Incubus wasn't family, the doctor couldn't say much.

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

"She hasn't woken up yet. From what I've been told, she's okay physically. However, her nervous system - magically, I mean - isn't working properly, I think. They're still looking her over," he explained.

"If you don't mind me asking, what exactly happened to Izzy? Nobody's saying nothing," asked Quinn, slapping a scorched pizza roll out of Lottie's hands.

He didn't answer. This whole mess... It was his mess. He decided to poke his nose into something the town wanted to keep secret, and now he was paying for it. He couldn't involve them.

"She..."

"Don't do that."

Eyes wide, he turned to face Karazelle, who was staring at him with intense eyes and furrowed brow.

"Wh- What?"

"You're gonna lie to us, aren't you?" she sighed, planting her hands on her hips as she got to her feet.

"N- No, I-"

"Sugar, please."

Stepping closer to the couch, she ran a hand through Jelli's hair and gave her teacher a knowing smile.

"I know you well enough at this stage to tell. You wanna keep us safe, I get that. But white lies are still lies, sugar, and you're a terrible deceiver. Whatever happened, we can take it. We're all adults here, but more importantly..."

She moved her hand to Cobalt's cheek. Her touch was delightfully soft.

"We all care about you."

"For once, I agree with her," Whitney concurred.

"J- Ja..." Jelli mumbled into his shoulder.

"Yah!" Lottie called from the kitchen.

"Don't start holding out on me now, blood brother," Quinn added with a smile.

Their words, their gazes... They struck a chord with Cobalt. For the first time, he found himself not sitting before a group of his students, but rather he was sitting before a group of his friends. People who cared about him just as much as he cared about them.

Slowly, Cobalt inhaled deeply and settled his thumping heartbeat.

"Okay... okay. It's going to sound crazy, but..."

Karazelle smirked.

"Try us," she quipped, throwing an arm around Whitney's shoulders.

He nodded and began to explain.

Cobalt told them everything he could, from the moment he first heard about the Hellhound, to what happened that day on the sports field. He told them each about Viola and Lorenzo's relationship to the Incubus hero, and how everything he had learned over the past few months. The New Brimstone Hellhounds, the student riots of 1993, and the Damned Defense just a year after. The Incubus talked about his theories as to why the citystate leadership had the whole debacle buried, and he vented his frustration at the gaps in his information.

After a lengthy explanation, he found himself gasping for breath, whereupon Jelli nervously patted his back, her eyes wide and still wet with tears. Giving her a reassuring smile, he looked at each of them in turn and began to speak about Diate.

"He claimed to be a Devil, and between the power he had over Izzbelle and what Caeneus had told me, I was inclined to believe him. He was able to incapacitate everyone in an instant, and even when I tried to defend myself he..."

He gestured to his mouth.

"He kicked you in the gob until he broke all your teeth?" Quinn finished, quirking an eyebrow.

"Punched, actually, but yeah. Then they just... grew back. And he laughed, like he was expecting them to."

Nodding a couple of times, the Imp got out of her seat and traipsed over to her teacher. Without warning, she pried his mouth open with one hand and started poking at his new teeth with the other.

"Yeah, these are definitely different... Just like a shark, huh?" she mused, running a finger along the fine serrations.

"Ooh! Ooh! Like your penden!"

"Pendant, Lottie, but yeah. Say, if you lose your teeth again, could I keep them? I could make a killing flipping them as necklaces."

"Quinn!" snapped Karazelle, pushing the Imp away.

She just shrugged.

"Can't blame a girl for trying."

Rolling her eyes, the Succubus clasped her hands and knelt down in front of Cobalt.

"So this Diate guy... He's a Devil? So they're real?" she asked incredulously.

Cobalt nodded.

"I didn't believe it either. But he had complete control over Izzbelle, like she was just a puppet. That's far beyond anything a normal demon can do."

"But why's he coming after you?" piped Whitney, her pointed ears twitching.

He shrugged.

"I don't know. The Hellhound - Brass - was an Incubus too. Seeing as he's not around anymore, maybe Diate's just looking to take revenge any way he can."

"But this Brass guy sounded like a hardass. And you're, like, not."

Karazelle raised an eyebrow, the beginnings of a teasing grin already pulling at the corners of her mouth.

"Oho? And what do you mean by that?" the Succubus asked pointedly, shuffling closer to the Nymph.

"Don't put words in my mouth, Whoretits! I mean, like, Mr. Trayer's not a big fighter. Like he's kind and sweet," Whitney quickly retorted.

Her companion grinned.

"You think he's sweet, huh~?"

The Nymph's face went bright red.

"I- I didn't mean it like that!"

"Didn't you~!"

"Agh, why do you always do this?!"

Rising to her feet, she stormed off to the bathroom, leaving Karazelle alone on the futon. Laughing uproariously, the Succubus wiped her eyes and returned her attention to the Incubus.

"She does raise a good point, though. You don't like fighting, sugar. What if this guy comes for you?"

Sighing, Cobalt buried his face in his hands.

"That's what's been keeping me up."

The room went quiet as everyone grew absorbed in their own thoughts. Quinn and Lottie stared at the Imp's shark tooth necklace, while Karazelle lay back and stared at the ceiling, her brow creased with concentration. Over in the bathroom, Whitney was leaning against the sink, scowling at the Succubus.

"M- Mr. Trayer...?" Jelli whispered in a quiet voice.

The Glutton hadn't let go over his arm a single time.

"Yes?"

"Um... wh- why don't we look after you...?" she proposed.

Karazelle shot up, eyes wide with inspiration.

"Jelli Pharmine, you straight A genius!" she cried, leaping to her feet.

She rushed over to Cobalt and grabbed both of his hands.

"We'll keep you safe!" she cried excitedly.

The Incubus' eyes widened.

"Excuse me?!"

"In case this Diate asshole attacks you! We'll hang out with you during the day, and then at night, we can all take it in turns staying over at your place! Like a night watch!"

Over in the bathroom, Whitney scoffed.

"And lemme guess, if you wind up in his bed, that'll just be a happy accident?" she said in a snide tone, planting a hand on her hip.

"Really, Butterskin? We slept in the same bed once and you've been incredibly possessive of me ever since."

"What?!"

Right as Whitney began to kick off, Karazelle looked into her kitchen for approval.

"Yeah, I'd be down with it. I've been meaning to take a screwdriver to the rest of his kitchen," Quinn quipped, tipping the plate of pizza rolls into the bin.

"I wanna sleepover!" added Lottie, bouncing up and down on her chair.

"Do I not get a say in this?!" Cobalt cried.

"Of course not! You're life's in danger, sugar, and you've done enough for us. It's about time we helped you out!"

Cobalt deflated in his seat, already worn down. To allow his students to stay the night in his dorm room was breaking so many rules, but at this stage, the Incubus had long since given up on trying to resist. Karazelle's insane plans always had a way of working out for better or for worse, as much as he hated to admit it.

"Alright, I'll get working on a rota. I'll need to let Izzbelle know once she's discharged too," the Succubus said aloud, diving for her schoolbag.

As she began to scrawl onto a sheaf of paper, Cobalt stared down at his feet. Though he was already dreading the upcoming few nights, in a way, he felt relieved. He had been holding onto everything pertaining to the Hellhound for so long now, it just felt good to get it off his chest. Of course he was still afraid of getting the girls involved, but... well... Karazelle was right. They were all grown adults, and he'd have a better chance of staying safe with them than without.

His train of thought was suddenly interrupted as Lottie flounced onto the couch next to the Incubus, giggling to herself as she wrapped her arms around both her teacher and Jelli, who made a surprised squeaking noise as she was pulled close to the Golem. She was holding Quinn's necklace in her fist.

"Mr. Traya?" she asked.

"Yes, Lottie?"

"You're a demon of Lists, right?"

"Lust, Lottie."

"Like kissing and stuff?"

"Um... y- yes, I suppose."

She looked at the necklace, then back at her teacher.

"Why do you need sharp teeth then?"

His heart nearly stopped. The blood ran cold in his veins. Deep down in the pit of his stomach, Cobalt felt a painful knot form. As cold sweat trickled down the back of his neck, he took a shaky breath, and forced on a smile.

No.

There were some things they couldn't know.

They couldn't learn about Incubi.

He couldn't let that happen.

"I- I don't know, Lottie. I really don't know..."

Karazelle said he was a bad liar, but truthfully, Cobalt was a natural at it. He wished he wasn't. But he was.

"The jaws of a carnivore..."

Lottie cocked her head, her cowlick wobbling back and forth.

"Huh?"

He forced on a smile.

"N- Nothing, Lottie. Nothing at all..."