by J. L. Weil
A stream of moonlight filtered in through the small window, casting shadows over the worn out, oak floor. “You got something better?” I countered.
Silence.
“That’s what I thought. You want an A in Mrs. Roman’s class, don’t you? This is guaranteed to get us the best grade.” And in a whole lot of trouble, but I left out that little tidbit. “Besides, it will be fun,” I added, crossing my legs.
Oliver ran a hand through his dull blond hair. “Your definition of fun is questionable, Renna.”
I grinned. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”
Mrs. Roman was one of the professors at the academy. She taught History of Supernaturals, and had given us a group assignment for our end of semester project. I needed this A or I risked failing her class, which would be bad on so many different levels. Explaining to my father why I was one of STA’s most lethal students, but couldn’t pass a class about the history of supernaturals wouldn’t go over well.
Being the daughter of the headmaster earned me no special treatments.
The Supernatural Taskforce Academy, or STA as it had been coined, was a college for supernaturals with elite skills, or those who showed potential to be extraordinary by the highest supe standards. Sure, having otherworldly abilities made us unique, but STA didn’t just want unique. They strived to train the best of the freaking best, in order to assemble supernatural units in case the world ever went to shit.
A backup plan, if you will.
It all seemed like a waste of time to me, but what did I know? I was just a bloodthirsty vampire, with exceptional taste in clothes, and a bad attitude that constantly got me in trouble. For someone who’d grown up with a chip on her shoulder, being turned vampire two years ago—on my twenty-first birthday—had done little to change my outlook on life.
If anything, attending STA had only made me more cynical.
The academy might have taken me off the streets, but they hadn’t taken the streets out of the girl.
According to the Consilium Aereum, aka the Aereum—the divine supernatural council of which my father was part of—if we existed, then, so did a bunch of other nasties. There were other worlds and realms I was eager to see, not just learn about from ancient texts or the internet. You’d be surprised how often conspiracy theories weren’t theories at all.
So, for our project, I’d gotten the bright idea to prove it was possible to see into other realms. Ambitious, yes, but I’d always loved a challenge. Roping in a few of my friends to help had been the easy part.
“So, what’s next?” Melody, my vampire BFF, asked.
“I need a minute to form the circle. No one move,” Tricksy ordered. She had this high, sweet voice that made it difficult to take anything she said serious. At first glance, I would have pegged her as fae, not a witch.
“Does this work with any mirror?” Melody asked, as we all watched Tricksy draw random symbols on the floor around us.
“No. It has to be a witch mirror for the level of spell we’re using,” Tricksy replied.
Good thing our school was equipped with all types of magical artifacts. Tricksy and her coven had stumbled upon this last week. I didn’t ask how or why, but thanks to my ridiculously sharp hearing, I had overheard them talking in class, and my brilliant idea had been born. My fangs weren’t the only sharp asset I possessed.
Students were forbidden to use any of the artifacts collected by the school, they were strictly for the professor’s use, but I was sort of special—or so I told myself. I didn’t give a rat’s ass about what was deemed forbidden.
“Normal mirrors can be used for many things, but not spells of this magnitude.” Tricksy’s hand moved as she spoke, drawing a line with chalk on the floor, and connecting the symbols.
I didn’t have the patience for spells. Already, I was getting antsy.
“And you’re sure you’re strong enough to pull this off?” Oliver asked for the third time tonight.
Tricksy’s violet eyes lifted to his. “Does the pizza here smell and taste like your sweaty socks?”
Melody and I chuckled. The cafeteria at the academy was a travesty. Our chef loved to experiment with our food, which often ended in takeout.
My main source for sustenance might be blood, but I could also eat human foods. It allowed me to keep in touch with that part of me I’d lost when I was turned immortal. And of course, there was something to be said for fitting in—even in a supe college.
When the circle was completed, I shuddered, sensing the sudden energy that filled the room. It had the hairs on my neck standing straight up.
Tricksy held out her hand to Oliver, and one by one we connected—a source for Tricksy to stay grounded. She took a breath while she centered herself. Her eyes fluttered closed, and when she opened them again, they were glowing bright in the darkness, embers sparking in the center of her irises.
Clearing her throat, she recited the ancient spell, summoning a window between worlds that would allow us to see through it, but not travel.
I stared into the mirror, waiting for something epic to happen, but only my reflection gazed back—a face that seemed the same, yet different. Hair like an obsidian waterfall cascaded over my shoulders, framing my heart-shaped face. There had only been a few of my features changed by my vampire awakening.
The color of my eyes, once as blue as the ocean, was now a piercing sapphire, bolder and truer in color. My tan skin had paled. But it was the thirst for blood that had been the biggest challenge, an unyielding desire I learned to control through fierce discipline. It was my control that set me apart from other vampires. Oh, and the addition of my iron fangs.
My fingers shifted in Oliver’s hand and I loosed a breath, about to call this experiment a bust.
“Give it time,” Tricksy whispered, sensing my impatience. It hung thick in the air, alongside the tang of her magic.
Witchcraft made me itchy. There was something about that sort of power I didn’t trust.
Slowly, the mirror began to shimmer, like the surface of a lake on a cloudy day. The marks on the ground burned in a pure white light. We all gaped, transfixed by what unfolded. A black mist swirled on the other side of the mirror, so dark and cool that it seemed to radiate throughout the room.
Goosebumps covered my arms.
“Holy crap. It worked,” Melody whispered.
Tricksy’s lips stretched into a smug smile. “Of course, it did.”
When the obsidian mist started to disperse, a phantom wind danced through the room, sending the flames sputtering until each one winked out, like a ghost blowing out its birthday candles. My eyes adjusted swiftly to the utter darkness, the silver moonlight providing the only source of light.
“Are you getting this?” I asked in a low voice to Oliver, whose eyes slid to the camera he’d set up in the corner of the room. The little red light blinked steadily.
“Hell yes, we are,” he assured, with the kind of pride only a geek could feel for setting up a camera.
“It’s so dark,” Tricksy noted, staring at the world that lay on the other side of the mirror, and searing heat slipped through slowly.
There was nothing, nothing but an endless void—emptiness.
Or so we thought…
“Hello,” I called, unsure if anyone or anything would answer. Did I want someone to? What kind of world was this? Perhaps there was no life at all? Wouldn’t that be my luck? The longer we stared into nothingness, the further our chances of passing history class got.
“Whatever you do, don’t break the circle,” Tricksy reminded.
Oliver and Melody’s hand tightened in mine at the warning.
“Hello?” I called again, desperate to make this brilliant idea succeed.
From somewhere far away, a murmur carried through the void. We all stopped breathing as a shadow slithered along the perimeter of the mystical window we’d created, like it was checking for a crack or a tiny gap to slip through it.
No. That couldn’t happen.
The darkness within seemed to reach out toward us, and it instinctually caused me to recoil, my head shaking in denial. We had to stop the spell. Now!
But the shadow shimmered from black to seaweed, to green, and its center morphed into a man. He wore all back, his lime-colored hair bold against the stark darkness, but it was his eyes, black as sin, that had heaps of dread sinking into my belly.
I swallowed, debating with myself. Do I speak? Ask him his name? Or wait to see what this man from another world will do?
Do not trust him, an inner voice cautioned. Many believed vampires were evil. Legends and fiction portrayed us as killers, filled with darkness, and something in my blood stirred as the man took a step forward. And then another.
Did the dark blood in my veins recognize the darkness in him?
Then he was running…
Straight for us, for the doorway the mirror had created—that we had accidentally created. The world shifted underneath me. It didn’t matter if he was good or bad, because we had only seconds to decide our next course of action. If we did nothing and this unknown thing came into our world... There was breaking the rules, and then, there was breaking the whole damn universe.
I didn’t want that type of stain on my conscience.
Oliver screamed like a girl, joining Melody and Tricksy.
I had to do something. Like now.
Grabbing the first thing I could find, a copper statue of the Goddess Branwen, I hurled it toward the mirror. “No trespassing, asshole,” I said with deadly calm. The glass shattered, fragments showering everywhere and with it, closing the portal we’d opened. “I hope that wasn’t valuable,” I muttered.
No one moved or said anything for a few prolonged heartbeats, as we all collected ourselves, our breaths coming out in rapid bursts. The air was a wintery storm in my chest.
“Fuck,” Melody rasped, a hand pressed over where her dead heart lay, unbeating in her chest.
My thoughts exactly.
“What the hell was that?” Melody breathed, her face grim and blue eyes wide.
“I-I’m not sure.” Tricksy’s words fumbled, still staring at the shattered mirror.
“It wasn’t Oz,” Oliver muttered.
I was about two seconds away from smacking him on the back of the head. “No kidding, Captain Obvious.” Crap. This was bad. The skin on my arms beaded with unease, and I could still feel the heat from whatever that place had been.
He scowled in my direction, but what he couldn’t hide from his eyes, not from me, was the lingering fear I saw there. What we’d seen in the mirror had spooked him to his core, and if I was being honest with myself, I was just as freaked out as the rest of them, but I wouldn’t let it show. Unlike Oliver, I was exceptional at hiding my emotions. Hell, I didn’t have a heart, so what did I need feelings for?
Pulling her knees up to her chest, Tricksy wrapped her arms around them in a hug. “Do we actually believe we somehow opened a portal to another world?” Opening portals in our world was no big deal, but to others… a big no-no.
“I thought you said it was one way,” I ground out at Tricksy, and tears welled in her violet eyes.
“It was supposed to be like a window,” she replied.
“Did you lock it first?” I shot back.
Her lip trembled. “Is that a thing?”
I threw my hands in the air. “How am I supposed to know? I’m not the witch!”
“You broke the circle,” she said in a wobbly voice, as if she just realized her protection ring was severed.
“I didn’t have much of a choice. Would you have preferred I let that… that thing through?” I proposed, not caring that my voice was rising. This whole assignment had turned into a supernatural mess.
Oliver’s shoulders slumped.
Shoving to my feet, I stalked across the room, grabbing Oliver’s expensive camera. “No one speaks of this. Ever. Is that clear?” I met each one of their eyes. “Unless, of course, you want to deal with me,” I hissed, letting my iron fangs drop down, and gave them a lethal smile that made grown men cry.
A round of nods and grumbled promises to keep their mouths shut echoed around the room.
“Good.” I flung the camera onto the ground and smashed my boot on top of it. Screw the A.
My Friday class schedule was always lighter compared to the other days of the week. After the shitty day I was having, I needed a release and weapons training was just the outlet I craved.
Neither Melody, Oliver, or Tricksy had spoken about what happened in the tower room earlier this week, and if they valued their lives, they’d keep it that way.
After forty-five minutes of beating the crap out of the guys in my class, I gathered my discarded shirt, and strutted into the locker rooms. Sweat dripped between my boobs—smashed into the sports bra—as I grabbed my bag and headed into the hall with only one thought.
Cold shower.
“Hey, Renna. Wait up!” Someone called my name, before I made it around the corner.
I did no such thing. Nothing was going to stand between me and that shower.
Footsteps trotted up beside me. “So, what’s the plan for tonight?” Jacob Westby asked, coming up on my right. Jacob was one of the witches in Tricksy’s rival coven—and her boyfriend.
Don’t ask me how that worked. I didn’t get involved in the politics of witch covens.
“What makes you think I have plans?” I asked, half annoyed, but my pace never faltered. If he wanted something from me, he was going to have to keep up. And he did, making sure to match my hurried footsteps down the hall.
He raised a dubious dark brow at me. “Uh, because everyone knows that you have something planned every Friday night.”
A ghost of a smirk curled over my lips. True. Very true. “Doesn’t anyone have anything better to talk about besides me?”
“Nope. Not really,” he grinned, flashing me those adorable dimples that probably got him laid more than I wanted to know.
“Fine.” I rolled my eyes. “Meet us by the gate after lights out.”
The guy had the most gorgeous mocha skin, flawless and smooth. He was lucky he was cute. “Sweet. Thanks, Renna.”
My fingers suddenly curled around the front of his white T-shirt, fisting it before he bounded into the classroom. “And if you get caught, my name doesn’t come up. Is that clear?”
He swallowed, his Adam’s apple bobbing against the smooth column of this throat. My eyes were drawn to that pulsing vein and I licked my lips, letting my iron fangs slide out to get my point across—and because it was damn fun.
“Got it. I’m not a rat,” he insisted.
“We’ll see,” I taunted, releasing the grip on his shirt and began walking again. “Hope you make it, Jacob. Don’t make me regret this.”
“Renna,” a voice whispered my name in the dark.
I groaned, halting my silent footsteps. Geez. Didn’t anyone sleep around here? “Get back in your room,” I hissed through the shadows, letting my fangs flash. It got the job done as the door slowly squeaked closed.
They were my first weapon of choice.
The thing about going to a supernatural academy, was that it made sneaking out on a Friday night a near impossible task. Everyone and their damn mother had some kind of special ability, whether it was enhanced hearing or invisibility, which I’d admit, would come in pretty handy right now. The last thing I wanted was a first-year shifter trailing along.
Melody and Oliver were waiting in his room, our usual spot, bickering softly about some stupid TV show. “I see you went with the goth look tonight,” Melody said, eyeing my entirely black ensemble.
Oliver snickered.
So, I loved black, and the tights, the little leather miniskirt, and the cropped tee that flashed a hint of skin looked lethal on me. “Smartass.”
“So what party are we crashing tonight?” Melody asked. Her hair was purple today, and curled in loose waves that she swept into a ponytail. She wore her favorite ripped jeans a
nd a tiny top that was probably a bra.
“Anywhere but here,” I mumbled, crouching through the open window of Oliver’s room, and plunged into the night. The shifters’ dorms were on the third floor, a much easier drop than the vampires’ dorms on the fifth.
Oliver dropped down beside me, his wolf eyes gleaming. “I have a bad feeling about this.”
The cool evening air kissed my skin, millions of stars twinkling so close, I swore I could reach out and capture one. “What else is new?”
“Did you eat lunch in the cafeteria today?” Melody asked Oliver, after landing with a soft almost inaudible thump.
“Yeah, what does that have to do with anything?”
“How many times have I told you not to eat the burgers on Friday?”
“It’s the only day of the week the meat is pink,” he reasoned. As a carnivore, Oliver liked his food bloody and raw.
“Precisely,” she sung, twirling a section of her hair and popping her gum.
The three of us raced to the southern gate, seeing Tricksy and Jacob already there. At this time of night, the security on the south side of the academy went silent thanks to Oliver and his geek skills.
The refreshing air, carried with it the soothing mist and sound of the cascading water from “the guardians”—the hundred mystical waterfalls that surrounded the academy, some intertwining with its towers.
Tricksy was already opening the academy portal as we stopped before her, it would take us to wherever we wanted to go. “Why do I always have to be the first to cross the damn portal?” I snarled, seeing them stare at me expectantly while the mirror flared with magic.
Melody and Oliver shifted uneasily on their feet, under the glare of my scowling eyes.
“Fuck it,” I muttered, and jumped through the shimmering oval outline of light. A few seconds later, the others joined me onto the city streets of Washington, DC.
Music pounded from the club before us, bass pumping and shaking the building. Outside, a group of teens stood, smoking and talking while waiting in line. When Jacob opened the black metal door, colored lights flared out into the evening. “Ladies first,” he said to Oliver.